“What do you mean?” I asked as Kenos sat on the dirty stone floor.

“Simple. As we speak, I’m slowly absorbing darkness. I’m sure your lady friend has noticed this as well. Probably why she didn’t kill you instantly, hehe. Anyway, I’m doing this passively, but if you increase you understanding of magic, you could potentially speed up the process by a few folds. Cause at this rate, it’ll take me a millennium to heal, hehe.” Kenos said.

“Why such a large number?”

“Well, your tiny adorable body can only take in so much, right? I don’t want to hurt you.” Kenos said with a gentle smile.

“Mmm… ok, I’ll learn what I can about magic. Also, can I ask why you were injured in the first place?” I asked, but a strange sensation overcame me right after the words left my mouth.

“Oh? Looks like it’s time to wake up.” Kenos said as my head slowly fell.

I sat beside Kenos and he gently rubbed my head.

“You better tell me what happened when I get back, ok?”

“Ok.” Kenos said as my eyelids fell.

.

..

I slowly opened my refreshed eyes to find that the cabin was empty.

I looked around, but couldn’t find any traces of Yna.

I deduced that she must have gone hunting.

Oh well.

I hopped out of the blanket Yna had kindly given me before sitting in a more comfortable position.

I wanted to start absorbing darkness as soon as possible.

Having Kenos around in the waking world sounded like it would be… interesting.

Anyway, I slowly harnessed what little darkness I could from the feint shadows.

I could feel it, even with closed eyes.

The dark felt like an extension of me.

The deeper the shadow, the further I could reach, but the further I reached, the sleepier I got.

I stopped absorbing darkness for a moment before standing up and walking towards the door.

I wanted to test if the darkness stored inside me could manifest itself on command.

I imagined a hand grabbing the door’s handle and like that, a dark hand appeared.

I tried moving it, but the hand, although pretty detailed, was solid and couldn’t move.

It would seem as though I’d need to be more detailed in my approach.

The hand would need internal mechanisms that allowed it to move.

Those mechanisms would be powered by my control over the hand.

I then spent the next few hours of the morning recalling my knowledge of human anatomy and mechanical physics.

It was at this point that I regretted not paying attention in class back on earth, but I knew the basics.

.

..

The door slowly opened and Yna found me lying on the floor and I was surrounded by black hands.

They contrasted rather nicely with my white fur.

“What the-?” Yna gasped as she entered the cabin. She held in her hand a rabbit and for some reason, I really wanted to eat it.

Can goats even eat meat?

Meh, only time would tell, cause I was really hungry!

Yna must have noticed my hungry eyes, because-

“No! This is mine. Also, can goats even eat meat? Go outside if you’re hungry.” Yna said as she pointed at the door.

“Ok,” I said as I lowered my head in shame.

I really wanted to eat that rabbit, but it would seem as though fate had other plans for me and so I plopped down on a patch of grass and ate away as the morning sun brilliantly lit the forest.

I eventually finished feasting and I hopped onto my feet before entering the house to find Yna cooking the rabbit.

The rabbit which we could have shared!

Anyway, I got over my carnivorous desires and moved on to my next goal.

The history of this world.

I wanted to know where I was, the world's citizens and other such important things.

“Say, where are we?” I asked, unsure if this world even had the same geopolitical structures as the ones on earth.

“We’re in the northern part of the dark expanse. It’s a pretty barren desert that goes on forever. To the north is Lanceberg, home to most humans. Further north are the Araena Mountains.”

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Mind if I ask what you’re doing in the dark expanse?”

“Mmm… honestly, I don’t know. I’m just watching idly as time passes me by.” Yna said as she looked at nothing in particular.

“Anyway, why don’t I show you around as I give you this info dump,” Yna said as she served some of the cooked rabbit on a simple plate.

I watched with envy as she ate at the rabbit's tender meat.

Curse this herbivorous body!

Yna eventually finished eating and after she cleaned up the kitchen area, she guided me through the forest as she explained various things.

“About five hundred years ago, a great cataclysmic event occurred and four worlds collided as the dimensions warped. Countless organisms were displaced as their respective homeworlds shattered beneath their feet. Among these species were the Dragons, humans and the Rendaro. They all found shelter on the largest and least damaged planet. This one. Edenton. Unfortunately, the dragons weren’t very keen on sharing a planet and so they threatened to burn everyone and everything until only they remained. The other races suggested that the planet be split into three territories, but the dragons would have none of that and thus began the Age of Cataclysm.” Yna said as we walked through the tranquil forest.

“Mankind forged a desperate alliance with the Rendaro in an attempt to stave off the dragons, but the coming war would take more lives than anyone was comfortable with and so, after many years of fire and bloodshed, the king of mankind decided to bring an end to all the chaos and so he sent out his son to end the war. The Moon King is also the host of space."

“Wait a minute! Are you saying that he can control all of space?” I asked as metaphorical sweat formed on my fur.

“No, not really. He just has the highest degree of control over the aspect. Same with the golden prince. He is the Host of Light. They can bend the aspects to a great degree, but they don't have full control. Anyway, the king created fifty legions of knights with his newfound power and knowledge leading to the darkest days of the war.” Yna said before she stopped walking.

“Hehe, it got so bad that a large chunk of the planet was scorched by the dragons as their rage consumed them.” Yna said as a soft wind whistled by.

“Anyway, the war eventually ended, but unfortunately, the bloodshed and conflict over territory didn’t. You see, the Golden Prince declared that ninety percent of all land on the planet would be for mankind and the Rendaro would have the rest. He reasoned that it was only by the labours of him and his father that the war was won. This didn’t sit well with the Rendaro. More war and bloodshed followed and eventually, the moon king gave Rendaro the scorched land that is the dark expanse. At this point, all parties involved had suffered immeasurable losses and so the other races accepted their fates and thus began the Age of Ash.” Yna said as she led me to what looked like a steep drop off.

I looked down to see nothing but acres and acres of black sand. Even the distant mountains were dyed black.

I could also feel something beneath every grain of sand.

A deep darkness that went on for as far as I could see.

I also spotted a stream of contaminated water flowing to the far east.

“The Rendaro still live here. Although their civilisation is fragmented. Now they live in small tribes that would benefit from peaceful cooperation, but the lack of resources around here makes feeding many mouths rather hard. I don't think any dragons survived the great war. That's the history of this world in a nutshell. What do you think?”

“It’s pretty tragic. The Rendaro can never return to their planet and must share this broken one with mankind.” I said as the two of us overlooked the barren wasteland before us.

“What about this place? Seems pretty nice. How big is it?”

“Oh? This little oasis of mine? Not sure, a few square kilometres. Why do you ask?”

“I was wondering why the Rendaro haven’t settled here.”

“Mmm… I have no idea. It could have something to do with the vortex of darkness that once called this place home.” Yna said.

“Vortex of darkness?”

“Yep. That’s what I’m calling whatever lived deep beneath this oasis. It was so purely ominous that most people avoided this place.” Yna explained.

“Oh? And you’re here because…”

“It's quiet here. When I first arrived, I found that it was quite peaceful, but after a few years, I got bored being by myself, hehe.” Yna said with a soft chuckle.

“I see… what happened to the dark vortex thingy?”

“Oh, it disappeared a few days ago,” Yna said while I looked down the cliff.

“Can you drop me there, please?” I asked.

“Sure!” Yna said before roughly grabbing me and jumping off the cliff which was about twenty meters high.

The giant of a woman landed easily and she gently placed me down, allowing my hooves to dig into the black sand.

I could feel it.

There was darkness within every grain of sand and every rock.

I Looked up to see the luscious trees and I reasoned that Kenos must have slowly absorbed the darkness up there, resulting in a beautiful garden of sorts.

This led me to wonder what had led to the appearance of all this darkness.

When I found Kenos, he was injured.

Could he be the one responsible for tainting so much land?

Also, Yna said that the dragons burnt most of the land.

Wouldn’t that mean that this place had been destroyed twice?

Sheesh, such misfortune was in character for Kenos.

After all, he had been stabbed with a giant gold sword.

Anyway, I raised my hoof and absorbed some of the darkness in the sand.

Yna and I both gasped as the sand slowly turned brown.

“I still can't believe that you can manipulate darkness so efficiently.” Yna said, her eyes wide.

“Yep. Go on. Praise me more. Maybe I should cleanse the dark expanse and help the Rendaro, no?” I asked as I tried brushing aside the fact that I’d spent the whole day trying to create operational hands.

I mean… I was a goat, no? A pair of hands would be beyond useful.

Wow.

You really don’t appreciate your hands until they're gone.

“Mmm… shifting the natural way of things would definitely attract the Golden Prince's attention,” Yna said.

“He’s still alive?” I exclaimed.

“Oh yes, he is practically immortal. I heard that his bones are made from cavumium. It’s a rare crystal that can be imbued with magical properties.” Yna said.

“Why would he care if the Rendaro situation got better?”

“Oh, the Golden Prince isn’t dumb. I'm sure he knows that the Rendaro hate him for what he did. Not just that, his army of super knights is but a mere shadow of its former self and so now would be the best time to strike, for those who are so bold.” Yna said.

“I see. What do you think about all this? I mean, as a human.”

“Mmm… what we did to the Rendaro was wrong. I guess helping them out a little couldn't hurt.” Yna said.

“Awesome. Let me practice a little bit more and we’ll go around purifying Rendaro settlements!”

“Ok!” Yna said with a big smile.

I had another reason for helping the Rendaro.

The more darkness I absorbed, the faster Kenos would recover.

I plopped down on the ground and began absorbing as much darkness as I could.

“I have a feeling my boring life is about to get a whole lot more interesting,” Yna muttered.

“Don’t say that! Those are famous last words, ya know?” I retorted with closed eyes.

.

..

The sun slowly sank into the horizon and Yna sat patiently beside me as I absorbed darkness.

With every cycle, my control and knowledge grew ever so slightly.

Every “element”, so to speak, existed as particles.

I had control over particles of darkness.

I tried testing if I could control light, but hope was quickly killed as every attempt was met with failure.

Anyway, I eventually grew too tired and too hungry to work and so we returned to Yna’s little cabin where she asked that I tell her more stories about earth.

As I spoke, I saw an almost childlike amazement, which was weird considering that she was an adult and she was gigantic.

Maybe even as big as Kenos... or did he seem bigger because I saw him while in the process of dying?

“So when the other team loses, there are no fatal repercussions or penalties?” Yna asked.

“Yep. My world has experienced its fair share of wars, but when we’re not finding new ways to kill each other, we’re smiling, laughing and living.” I said rather softly.

“Fascinating!” Yna said as she rubbed my little head while the night hung over us.

The time to sleep eventually arrived and I noticed that Yna’s golden markings glowed slightly in the dark.

I brushed such thoughts aside before closing my eyes to sleep.