A month passed by slowly.

  The reptilian beast had scared the shit out of him. He worried that it would stalk him and eat him. It didn’t help him sleep. The books in the library proved to be a valuable resource at distracting him from his thoughts. He had never before looked death in the face, and it had shifted his view. Jumping had just been too quick, too muted, compared to this encounter. 

  He practiced the arcane even more seriously than before, determined to become stronger. The flames that sprouted from his hand no longer reached the cavern ceiling. They were only half way to the stalactites. His control had improved a little. 

  That wasn’t the only thing he had been doing. During his many nights reading, he had discovered a map of the world. It was old and hand written, but it very detailed. It was because of this map that he learned just how screwed he was.

  Of the places listed on the map, there was only one that could have cliffs facing each other. It was known as the hole of the world, the Pandel void. When he discovered the name of the place, more information came to mind. He had actually come across the name while reading books, and it had interested him. The void cut across the great plains of southern Pandel. A jagged gash in the land that acted as a natural barrier for three countries it intruded on.

  Those three countries, the Brirus Principality, the Abugon united Duchies, and the Sacrigia Dynasty, used the void as a prison. They tossed the worst of the worst into the hole, though apparently a political prisoner or two had found their way into it as well. He realized that those that were thrown into the void most likely died when they hit the ground, the trees being enough evidence.

  This information came in extremely handy, as he couldn’t walk the length of the Pandel void even if he walked for a month without stopping. It led him to attempt to build a climber. When he wasn’t practicing his powers, or reading, he was building a way to climb the towering trees.

  He had some experience with climbers, as he had hunted plenty of times, but those came pre made. Building one turned out to be a completely new experience. He was down to his last few books, making him all the more motivated to finish the climber and escape his prison. 

  Today was the day though! Today he would begin the climb. He figured it would take most of the day, so he had woken up as early as possible. He had left the climber on the tree the night before, so all he had to do was eat a quick meal and get into it.

  Just as he was about to though, he turned back towards the cavern. It had sheltered him, taught him, and he considered it his home now.

  “Thank you, whoever you are, for gifting me with these treasures, and especially this knowledge. May your bones rest in peace.”

  With that, he made his way into the sky.

  The contraption was not complicated. It consisted of two pieces, a top and bottom. The bottom would cinch into the tree, and he would move the top higher, before cinching that into the tree and lifting himself, then cinching the bottom into the tree again.

  His feet had slipped from the bottom several times during his climb. He would have been screwed, as the bottom would fall back to the ground in such an event, if not for the rope he had found in the ring. It connected the top to the bottom, prevent either from getting too far from the other.

  And so he climbed.

  The brightest part of the day, which was really just a brighter twilight, came, and passed.

  The hours ticked by.

  His arms ached, his lungs burned. He had been using the arcane power to reinforce his body through the heart path, but he was becoming exhausted form exertion. Muscles that had not been used in a long time screamed at him to just let go, to fall, but he did not listen.

  Eventually, like a light from the heavens that he used to believe didn’t exist, sunlight began to envelop him. He had passed through the dense mist that clung to the lower part of the void, and was nearing the climax of his climb.

  He saw it. One hundred feet above him, sat the top of the Pandel void. The only problem was that he could go no further with his climber. The tree he was climbing was not all trunk, it had many branches at the top, and there was no way to shimmy the climber by them. They were too thick to cut off, and there were too many to circumvente. In order to go further, he would have to abandon the climber.

  “So close, I’m almost there. I can do this!”

            He was not upset about abandoning the climber. During these hours of constant climbing, he had come to dislike the climber. It was uncomfortable, it wobbled. He moved into the branches with a light heart, leaving the climber to hang above the void for eternity.

  At first, the branches were as thick as his leg, but as he got closer to salvation, they periodically got smaller. The last few feet the branches were barely the width of his wrist. Every branch creaked under his weight.

  “Please don’t break, please don’t break.”

  He was level with the cliff. He was so close to salvation, from escaping the void. Just to be safe though, and help him make the leap, he climbed further to give him a height advantage.

  ‘Snap!’

  The branch he had been standing on snapped, sending it, and almost him, back into the depths of the void.

  The branches supporting him groaned as he hugged the trunk.

  “Holy fuck! That was way too close…”

  Then he laughed a little. A chuckle or two at most.

  “For someone that jumped off a skyscraper, I sure am afraid of falling!”

  Instead of attempting to go further up, he decided to risk jumping from his current positon. While only a couple feet higher than the cliff, the branches had proven themselves to be sturdy.

  He slowly rotated his body, holding the branches above him tightly as he put his back to the tree, and faced the cliff. His feet were firmly in the shoulder of two branches, where it would be strongest. If one of those broke while he jumped, he would be done for.

  "I could jump. jumping to death from a tree this tall is barely different from a skyscraper... Yet. I dont feel like jumping. Maybe i just dont want to end up as monster food. Might as well see what this world has to offer, right?"

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  Inhale.

  Exhale.

  “Here goes nothing…”

  He flew. For those few seconds of weightlessness, he felt that same feeling he had while falling from the skyscraper, that feeling of nothing pressing down on him.

  Then he smacked against the cliff, knocking the wind from his chest. His hand scrambled to catch someone as he slid farther towards death. An exposed root would be his savior.

  His left hand barely caught the root as he slipped completely off the edge of the cliff.

  “AH!”

  The root bit into his hand as he held on for dear life, his other hand swinging in the breeze, along with his body.

  “fucking hell!”

  He swung his body up, grabbing the root with his other hand. His arms pleaded for release. His answer was to pull himself higher. He moved his left hand higher, grabbing at the cliff. His head was now above the cliff.

  Slowly, steadily, he pulled himself onto the cliff. With a final heave, he yanked himself onto the cold stone. He fell limp right there, feet hanging off the cliff still.

  He was so exhausted.

  Yet, he couldn’t give up. If he was to die, he would be the one choosing it. He would not allow a mere cliff to be the reason he died.

  With words of motivation in his mind, he pulled himself farther from the cliff. Then he got to a knee, and then two. He stood. The cliff disappeared in the rear view mirror as he wandered into the grassland that butted up against the Pandel void.

  In the distance stood a city. It was the only thing he could see in the distance, and he could see for miles. Half naked and weary, he wandered towards the city. It was not a far walk. The city was one which would facilitate the tossing of criminals into the void. As he got closer, he picked out the details of the city easier.

  It was walled, though that might be an overstatement. Walls barely taller than himself, and made of clay and mud, protected the city. The buildings got taller as they got closer to the center of the city. Spread out around the city were fields for miles. He had to walk through a couple fields before he came across a dirt path, leading towards the city.

  He saw his fist humanoid once he got a little closer. It looked, almost the same as him!

  The humanoid was thinner, but it was a human. The only differences were minor traits. Thick brown hair that reached the shoulders. This person was a man with a bronzed skin. It hinted at his lifestyle, as did the unkempt hair. As he passed the man’s fields though, the man stopped and openly gawked at him.

  He hurried past, confused as to why he was being stared at. Sure, he had hair black as night, which stood out when compared to the man’s own hair, but it shouldn’t be that odd, right?

  The next person he saw was leading what looked to be a wagon. It was pulled by something that loosely reminded him of a donkey. Well, it had four legs. It was much stockier than a donkey would be, and also completely hairless. It didn’t notice him. The man, however did.

  He didn’t look too different from the farmer he had seen earlier, and like said farmer, he stared with wide eyes. He hurried past.

  The few people turned into a throng of at least thirty making their way to the city. To say he stood out would be an understatement. First, while he was not the only shirtless person, he was the only person that did not bear a multitude of scars. His scars on his shoulder looked like cat scratches compared to some of the ones he saw. Secondly, he was the only person that hadnt been permanately darkened by the sun. 

  He tried to listen in on peoples conversations, but the people around him seemed partial to whispering. Hopefully he could find a place to learn the language, because reading and speaking the language are quite different.

  Four men and four women, garbed in some type of metal armor, guarded the gate. He saw that every once in a while, one of them would walk over and talk to someone entering, but they did not collect any money. Whatever the money was here. He had plenty of coins of differing colors in the ring, but he would have to be careful to not get ripped off.

  He passed the guards nervously, but none came and spoke with him.

  He had made it to civilization. His revelation was halted at the sight of several guards attacking someone curled up on the ground. The person was getting their ass kicked. He spotted several teeth missing, and blood coated the man’s clothes. 

  He thought about helping, he really did. Then he noticed some more guards exchanging grey coins as they watched.

  “Best not to get involved…”

  He could probably win in a fight, if he used the arcane. That would set half the city on fire though, as the buildings closer to the wall were all some kind of light colored wood. He didnt know where they got the material, as he had not seen a tree since he left the void.

  He wandered aimlessly down the street, reading shop signs while he looked for something he needed. The signs were, thankfully, in the same language the books had been in, though he had never heard it spoken before. He also didn’t see any visitor centers around.

  He gave up and entered one of the shops that had an intricate drawing of some trousers. A woman managed the shop, and greeted him as he entered.

  In English.

  She spoke English.

  He tried to hide his surprise, but he failed miserably as he blurted “I need a shirt!”

  She nodded, very businesslike, and brought him over to a selection of shirts that might fit him. There wasn’t much variety in the way of colors. In fact, nothing looked to have any color. Plain cloth, and leather shirts.

  Still, he didn’t care much, he just felt which one was the softest, as he hated itchy shirts. “I’ll take two of these. Also I need some pants and under garments.”

  She glanced for a second as the remains of his pants, confused as to the material. He wasn’t surprised, considering they were machine washed denim. He didn’t think they had that here.  

  She quickly regained her business demeanor and brought out several pairs of trousers and pants. Again, he felt for which was softest, and picked out two pairs of pants that felt nice. She nodded and brought the clothing to the counter she had been standing behind originally. From a cabinet under said counter, she removed some undergarments.

  All she took out was socks. Well, something that resembled socks that a grandmother would hand knit. Well, they would work with his shin high boots, so he nodded. She piled up the clothes and wrapped them in some type of fabric. Then she gave him a look. The look all merchants give their customers, right before they rip them off.

  “How much?” He asked nervously…

  “For you, as I notice you need some clothes, only three Seps.”

  She flashed him a pretty smile, and he came up with a plan. He a hand behind his back, and several coins appeared in it.

  “I have a proposal for you”  

  She looked at him skeptically, but nodded at him to continue.

  “I’m not from here, and I don’t know the currency.” He brought the coins from behind his back, and showed her. Her eyes flashed with surprise.

  “If you will tell me which of these are what, I will not only give you three Seps, but four. How’s that sound? I must warn you though, if you cheat me, know that I will eventually learn that value, and you may very well lose a customer permanently…”

  "Even if she cheats me, I have plenty more in the ring..."

  At the beginning, she smiled evilly, but that disappeared at the end of his words. She didn’t speak, studying him for almost a minute.

  ‘Sigh’

  “Alright, I will tell you… But make it five Seps.”

  He smiled, then nodded. She slowly grabbed a grey coin from his hand.

  “This is an iron Sep. There the lowest currency. One hundred of them make a Sep—” she set the iron coin down and picked up the silver coin, “this is a Sep, the standard currency. Half a Sep will get you a cheap inn for a night. Or really cheap food or clothing. Likewise, one hundred of these make a Septum, that’s that gold one with a hole in it. Those are the usual coins used in business.

  The only time you would see a royal Septum like that gold coin, a solid gold coin like that, is when dealing with an extremely large amount of money. One thousand Septum’s make a royal Septum…

   I really want to know where you got your hands on a royal Septum. If you showed that to anyone else, they’d have likely stabbed you and stole it. That’s a fortune after all…”

  She set the coin she had been holding back in his hand, and he put his hand behind him. All but a Septum disappeared. He flicked it at her. She barely caught it, surprised when she saw it.

  “this is for not stabbing me, miss?”

  “Rosalina Quinn, but please call me Rosa.”

  “my thanks, Rosa. Could you perhaps point me in the direction of a reputable inn?”

  She smiled,

  “Of course, there’s one just down this street some ways. Look for the sign that has several arrows sticking out of it. They even have baths. May I have your name sir?”

  “Ryder Guerra Cail’te, but Ryders fine. I appreciate the help Rosa. Until we meet again…”

  Ryder gathered the clothes under his arm, and waved as he left the building.

  The street was just as busy as before, and he quickly disappeared in the crowd. Rosa let out a small smile as he left, though she smiled at the coin…