Fred floated through a great black void. Immersed in the sensation of weightlessness. He had a small smile at the feeling of being without a burden. No single care able to wear him down. The void opened its eye and looked at him. Its pupulis had a familiar red.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Fred lurched awake. His face was pale and slick with sweat.

"You okay man?" Said Rodrigo as he looked at Fred. He did not respond more concerned with pulling air into his lungs. "I got you some dinner. If that helps." Said Rodrigo. He put a meal consisting of steak and rice down next to Fred, then after giving Fred a concerned look, he walked off to sit at the bed of his room giving Fred his space.

*Haaaa* *Haaaaa* Fred's mind was twisting and contorting with ideas. ~What was that thing. What was that thing!~ Fred began to shiver. ~Was it the thing that killed me. The beetle lady had said I had died~ Fred bit his tongue.

~SHUT UP! Shut the fuck up you idiot! You are in a high threat environment filled with beings beyond your ken. Your goal should be one thing and one thing only. To escape. If you can be brought to this world then you can get back.~ Fred picked up his food and ate in silence. Rodrigo walked over to Fred and sat down next to him.

"You sure calmed down quickly." Said Rodrigo. "You were looking pretty rough for a second there."

"Do you know any anthropomorphic beetles that wear dresses?" Asked Fred. Rodrigo blew air out his mouth as he leaned back.

"That! Was a non-sequitur and a half." Said Rodrigo speedly. He looked Fred in the eyes. "To answer your question. I know of only one. The queen of the insect folk. Betala."

"Pfft." Fred scoffed. ~A beetle person named Betala. Real original. Still she should be a similar being to the being who sent me here. So it's a good idea to see what I can learn from her~ "Can you take me to this Betala?" Asked Fred.

Rodrigo froze and stared off into the distance for a moment.

"No I don't know how to find her. The insect folk are quite skittish nomads you see. But i have a mage friend who sometimes works for them. Want me to take you to her so we can find Betala's location?" Fred nodded.

"I'm okay with that." Rodrigo immediately walked over to the bars of his prison cell. With a wave of his hand all the bars were bent and he was able to squeeze through. He froze just outside the cell.

"Shit. Forgot to talk." He turned to look Fred in the eyes. "I'll gather my things now. We'll leave tomorrow." He took another step down the hallway. Then he locked up his ear growing red. "Could you give me my helmet please."

He said his face flushed with embarrassment. . Fred walked over and grabbed his helmet from the floor. Tossing it to Rodrigo. He Fastened it onto his head and then finally walked off.

Fred spent the next thirty or so minutes just thinking, as there was not much to do in the cell. Until finally a man walked in front of the cell. He was a dark man with fluffy black hair. "Yo. I've seen some people talking about you. And I just have a question. Are you from Gredlund." Fred shook his head.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

"Never heard of it." He responded. The man nodded.

"I was right. You're a foreigner so you wouldn't know this. So! In Gredlund, if your beard is braided it means you've drunk so much. That you didn't remember what you did, when you were drinking at some point. I was worried that people might be attacking you for being some unruly drunk, when you're really just a foreigner with bad fashion sense." Said the man. Fred smiled, ignoring the casual insult.

"So that's why they were calling me a drunk! Do you have something I could cut off this beard with?" He said while pointing towards his beard. The man took a knife from his back pocket and handed it to him.

"I was going to use this to stand up a guard. But with how distracted old Rodrigo is making them I don't really need it. Here you take it." He pushes the knife into Fred's hands. Fred looks down at the knife in his hand. His jaw slack. ~Wait. What did he say?~ Fred looks up to the man. He's gone. ~Did that guy just escape from jail? I was just having a conversation with an escapee then. Crazy. Hope he isn't in for rape or somthing equally as bad.~

Fred groggily stretched his arms, the knife in his hand. ~Not like I care though.~

"You know. I never really liked a big beard. I prefer just a bit of stubble." Said Fred talking to the air. "So it really is pretty easy for me to cut it." He Placed the knife behind his beard and pushed. Immediately the fibres began to snap. Until his arm flew into the air. Moved by his momentum. "That gets rid of that inconvenience."

Fred spent the rest of the day lifting Rodrigo's weights and playing with his weapons. Refusing to go outside for fear of jeopardizing his safety. His delicious safety....

The sun fell and the moon rose. So Fred slept as the moon was looking at him. Until the moon fell and the sun rose. A new day. So he woke up.

Fred Groggily opened his eyes, the sun shining down on his face through a tiny barred window, in the cell. Most likely placed there to stop the prisoner from descending into madness at the uncertainty of an unchanging light cycle. Aside from that pleasant thought Fred was most engaged by the scent of Decay. ~Oh yeah. I forgot about it.~

Fred sat up, his sandy eyes looking at the corpse across from him. ~This dragon had tried to kill me.~ Fred walked over to the dragon. Looking at its scales which had changed from dark red to hot pink.

He kicked it.

"Fuck you!" Yelled Fred. He kicked it again. "Fuck you!" He kicked it once more. "FUCK YOU!" He kicked again. "FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU!" He kicked it five more times. The dragon's flesh almost collapsed under his foot. He stopped for a minute to catch his breath.

"You done?" Rodrigo's voice echoed through the cell. ~Shit. He saw me.~ Fred turned around to look at Rodrigo, his face red.

"Yeah. Sorry about that." Said Fred, Rodrigo nodded.

"No worries man. Who hasn't beaten a dead corpse before." He said rhetorically.

Fred was sure that if he was not wearing armour he would see a sarcastic grin on his face. "Anyways, I've gotten a wagon and everything." Said Rodrigo. "So let's go. I'll drag it while you sit on the top." I don't think I could stomach seeing the murderers. Fred looked at Rodrigo with a smile.

"Do you have a blind fold?" Asked Fred.

"Yeah I have one that I use to train proprioception. You can use that if you want."

"Yeah. I'll use that one." Said Fred. Rodrigo nodded.

"I'll get it for you."

After about ten minutes of Rodrigo scrounging through his room he found

his blind fold. It smelled of sweat. Better than nothing. Rodrigo placed the blind fold over his

Eyes. Finally with Rodrigo leading him Fred walked over to the wagon. Rodrigo hoisted him

Onto the top of it. Then with a grunt he began to pull it.

"Why didn't you decide to buy a horse anyways?" Asked Fred as Rodrigo pulled him

In a direction Fred could not see.

"Because. I need to get my workout in somehow." Answered Rodrigo. Fred had no

response to that.

Fred sat with the blind fold on for another thirty minutes. ~Judging by how much the air is

pushing against my face. We're moving pretty fast. I'd say we're far enough away at this point that

there shouldn't be any killers nearby.~ Fred reached up and removed his blind fold. He was in a wasteland with brown lifeless soil the bodies of trees in various different states of death and twisted skeletons salted throughout the land.

"Weren't we in the forest just a few minutes ago?" Asked Fred. Rodrigo spun around leaning back, pulling the wagon with his body weight.

"They just plant those trees around cities to make it look all green and nice. There's been a fair few too many world wars for this place to withstand the mages magic." ~World wars plural. Don't tell me this world is already on its third.~

"How many world wars have there been?" Asked Fred.

"About seventy." Said Rodrigo. Seventy! How is this world still standing?!?!?!?! "I can tell what you're thinking. The priests restore the world every century or so" Said Rodrigo as he pulled the cart along.

They spent the rest of the day in relative silence, with Rodrigo resolutely pulling the cart and Fred watching the clouds as they drifted above him.