I stared at Lham with tired eyes and an aching body.

We both sat still in the mud as the sounds of the forest filled the air.

Lonely howls and countless insects made it hard for me to even thing.

“We are but fragments of a greater whole. Together, we are still but shards, but through rite do we become part of a hand. One that enforces Summus's will." Lham said without expression.

“Those are the words of the Last Saint, Viden, who died in 250bc. Before the most recently recorded collision. Do you know what whole he spoke of?” He asked while I struggled sitting upright.

“The first man to ever write of Summus and his will was the great Saint Ariolus. He was there when the Golden Prince was born and he witnessed the greatest of miracles. He watched as the light of Summus came not from above, as per the norm, but from within the prince himself. Caligo Corriandos, son of Luno Corriandos the Moon King, was a vessel of Summus’s light and it is this revelation that led to the birth of Summusism where the light of Summus is studied and his will is preached to this very day. It is Summus who gifts his children with the ability to bend the very laws of nature, but you must take heed of the dark hexes. Those who have control over darkness and death and naught but agents of chaos and destruction.” Lham said through gnashed teeth.

“Please recite the Oath of Hands.”

I did as he instructed. Although speaking pained my throat.

“Good. The first rite is the break all that once is. The person who you were, be it sinner or saint, is not who will emerge from this place. You are but Clay and with great effort will you prepare yourself for moulding.” Lham said as he stood up.

“You have four days to return to the mountain. I will leave you to digest what you have learnt and I will return when the sun next sets.” He said before walking back into the forest deep.

I squeezed my bloody fists before looking around.

I still hadn’t found a place to rest.

I crawled onto my feet and walked in a random direction hoping that I’d find something that resembled shelter.

Many minutes ticked by as I walked.

At this point, my vision had grown so blurry that I could barely see, but I kept moving.

Eventually, part in thanks to the darkness and my bad vision, I bumped into a wall of some sort.

My vision returned, revealing to me a steep cliff face.

This was both a good and bad thing.

I was near the elevation I wanted yes, but I was also cornered.

I squeezed the rock in my right hand before following the wall to my right.

I walked for minutes on end as the rain continued to pour onto me.

My eyes widened upon noticing a small hole in the cliff.

Without hesitation, I dove into the hole to find that it was littered with small bones.

It also smelled like urine and wet fur?

I heard strange noises, but before I could investigate the noises, I heard loud barks and snarls from behind me.

I turned to find a strange creature I didn’t recognize.

It was like a Cheetah, only it had a thick leathery hide and large powerful limbs.

The beast leapt towards me while wildly swinging its claws.

I crawled away before rushing towards the beast and thanks to the cramped nature of the hole, it couldn’t move away.

I violently bashed it in the head, prompting it to let out various pained whines, but I didn’t care.

I couldn’t care.

It needed to die.

Otherwise I would die.

So I beat it to death while pushing it against the wall.

The beast eventually stopping breathing and I attributed my victory to the hole and my rock which I wiped on my dress.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Every breath I took was sharp and my legs grew far to weak to move.

I then heard a certain sound again, prompting me to crawl further into the dark hole.

My eyes widened upon seeing what six pup like beasts sitting on a pile of grass and bone.

So the beast was a mother…

And she had failed in protecting her young.

I thought about what Lham said as I grabbed one of the soft, warm pups.

To become a hand, I had to shed who I was, but in this moment as I tightly wrapped my hand around the pups head.

I couldn’t let go.

I wanted to be with Adia more than ever.

If anything, these trails and my time in Edenton strengthened that desire and so I accepted all of Lham’s teachings while reinforcing my own desire.

I twisted the pup’s head before mindlessly biting off its hind leg.

I chewed off the limb before eating the meaty bits while cute squeals filled the air.

I ate the rest of the pup’s limbs before dropping it and picking up another one.

My feast continued and my only company was the sound of rain and the chewing of flesh.

I eventually ate the last pup, but just as I thought about laying down to rest, my stomach convulsed and I vomited everything I’d eaten.

I could feel the warm wasted food as it landed on my thighs.

This was the last straw.

My mind could no longer bear the pain.

I fell onto my side and loudly wheezed as distant thunder filled the air.

.

..

I awoke with a loud painful cough that made me wish I didn’t have a throat.

I slowly sat up to find that I was covered in dried faeces and vomit.

The morning sunlight crept into the hole, but my vision was blurry so I couldn’t really see anything.

I crawled out of the hall and tried making my way back to the stream, but I quickly realized that there was no point in getting cleaned up.

I returned to the cliff and followed it before eventually finding an incline that led up the cliff.

I smiled as I clawed my way up the hill.

My destination would soon reveal itself.

I felt the gentle warmth of the sun and it bathed my body and I just knew that it was Summus giving his newest child a nudge in the right direction.

I eventually reached the top of the hill before falling to my knees as a terrible reality crushed what little hope I had left.

The forest I was in was surrounded by mountains.

This would have made finding Mount Nuru hard, but that wasn’t the case.

Far in the distance, sitting on the horizon was the largest mountain and floating above that mountain was a strange golden object.

That was my destination.

The Horizon.

I didn’t know which direction it was in and I couldn’t really tell north from south and so I looked at the rising sun.

That was supposedly east, if I remembered correctly.

The mountain was several degrees to the right…

My eyes fell a little as I knew that such little information would be meaningless in the forest and so I looked for key points on elevation-

My eyes widened upon noticing that a certain stream went right up to a point near the mountains.

All I needed to do was follow the stream and begin my ascent once I got close to the mountains.

I weakly clapped my hands before taking a deep and painful breath.

All I needed was some food and shoes.

I walked down the hill before grabbing countless leaves and vines.

I then wrapped my bloody feet in some makeshift shoes before making my way back to the stream.

I had my dear rock in hand and even named it Dia.

He would be my companion on this journey.

.

..

I had been following the stream for a few hours and my stomach had grown so painful, that every step I took was like getting stabbed in the gut.

I eventually spotted what looked like fish in the water, but I had no hopes in catching them.

Not with my bare hands, at least.

I painfully swam to the other side of the stream before digging out a funnel that went from the stream to an isolated part of the riverbank. I placed a basket at the end of the funnel and made sure it was big enough for water to pass through and return to the river but small enough to catch any fish that entered the funnel.

I then waited for some fish to foolishly lose their way.

Minutes turned into hours as I waited.

I eventually grew tired of waiting and so walked into the stream before trying to catch the fish with my hands like an idiot.

“Ha!” I chuckled as the fish easily avoided my cold, trembling hands.

“HAHAHA!”

I walked back onto the riverbank where I fell face flat onto the sand and there, I continued laughing.

It was amazing just how fiendish those fish were.

It’s almost as though they didn’t want to be caught!

My eyes quickly grew heavy as my head ached painfully.

I then looked for Dia, my dear rock and saw that he was sitting just beside me.

I knew it was him because of the blood that covered his dark surface.

I grabbed him before placing him between my breasts as my body weakly convulsed

.

..

My eyes were closed but I hadn’t managed to get any sleep.

Instead, a loud crashing noise kept me awake.

Although, the more I thought about it, it sounded less like crashing and more like splashing…

A moment passed and I dashed towards my funnel where I found two fish about the size of two hands trapped in the basket.

I quickly grabbed one only for it to slip out of my hand and dive back into the stream.

I bit my teeth before grabbing the basket and dashing onto the riverbank where, after throwing out the fish, I bashed it’s head with Dia.

I then grabbed the now still fish and inspected its bloody, scaly self.

I needed to remove its scales and so I quickly looked around for something to remove the scales with.

I eventually found a rather sharp rock and used it to slowly peel off the fish’s scales.

I quickly grew impatient and so I took a bite of the flesh I’d managed to uncover.

I didn’t remember what the pups from the day before tasted like, but this fish definitely tasted like fish.

I quickly ate the thing before dropping its carcass into the stream where I washed my hands.

I then continued my trek along the stream with Dia in hand.

I thought about many things as I walked.

If Summus truly created everything, them he must’ve created the earth and that’s the world where Adia and I were born and for that I was thankful.

My question was why there wasn’t any magic on earth.

Well… maybe people could use magic and I didn’t know it.

After all, on earth, many legends and fairy tales existed.

Maybe, after the first collision occurred, some things were taken from earth to Edenton and vice versa.

I had the energy to think of this questions, but I wasn’t smart enough to think of any answers or come to any conclusions.

I’d need to ask Lham about them.

And also ask him for some food.