Kael was finally here, he knew he had crossed the threshold of the safe zone and entered the Despair when breathing caused him to feel a slight burning sensation in his chest. He had long read that most deviants could tell when they where in the presence of ambient Despair and burning breath was by far the most common sign. Some claimed they just knew, others felt tingles in their loins or a subtle change in their deviations. Others on the other hand felt nothing, only after absorbing a significant portion of Despair would they know, in a similar vein some deviants where extremely sensitive to changes in ambient Despair, a precious ability used to determine locations that could serve as gardens.

Kael had always pictured it differently, leaving not the environment. The environment he had got mostly right, it really was just a dirt road in the middle of a forest. He supposed from afar he had not noticed how beautiful the trees looked in their coats of multi coloured fungi. Still nothing shocking, which wasn't a surprise condidering areas surrounding clean zones often had the thinest concentrations and in turn least visible changes.

What he hadn't pictured was, that he would be clutching the bleeding body of a child leader, threatening to finish the job if any sudden moves were made or that his only companion would be the person he detested most, Gerald. He certainly hadn't predicted that he would be fleeing his father and everyone he had ever known, yes he had always planned to run away once he deviated but the how had been much different in his head. First if his ability had combat potential then naturally he planned on mastering it, understanding what it did and how to use it in a fight. Experienced deviants died out here regularly due to a bad stroke of luck, to an inexperienced deviant venturing into corrupted lands was suicide, plain and simple.

Perhaps the biggest anomaly was that the most powerful deviant he knew would be flying above him, well concealed but within striking distance, promising death if he made a single misstep or maybe even if he didn't. The pressure was ridiculous, he felt like if his deviation hadn't petered out already he might have spasmed and tentacle stabbed his hostage already. As it was, he was having a hard time not placing the boy down gently and begging forgiveness from the man upstairs. Yet despite it all, what Kael wanted to do was sleep, a nice long rest which was ridiculous in a situation like this he was supposed to be brimming with adrenaline, farther more he had been sleeping for Gods know how long already. He had an odd feeling, like it was related to his deviation and even if he hadn't had that instinct or whatever common sense would have linked the two. Gods bless Gerald for going so fast and bumpy, Kael needed all the help he could get if he wanted to survive this.

Kael just couldn't understand what his deviation hoped to gain by putting him to bed. Or were random bouts of lethargy some dim witted joke the God of Chaos attached to his deviation?

For what seemed like hours but was really little under half an hour Kael struggled with the fear of falling asleep on the job, dooming Gerald and himself to long terrible deaths until he couldn't bear it anymore. With a grunt he kicked Avin's body of the cart. If death would come let it come, he had already accomplished what he had set out to do. He had burnt those close to him and they wouldn't be forgetting his sting anytime soon but most importantly he had tasted Despair, he had tasted freedom. He wasn't afraid

Cleaves emerged from the sun almost immediately, covered in resplendent golden tongues of flame. To Kael he was like a god of death, invincible and so very final. He was very afraid.

Cursing, Gerald urged the stallion to move faster, pointless struggling, all it would achieve was break one of their wheels. Yet Kael found himself mentally begging the bloody horse to move it's behind.

Cleaves just floated there, watching their futile attempt at escape. Gerald looked back and saw it and he understood as Kael had just come to, what Cleaves was telling them. I could kill you both in less time than this but I won't? But why? Because a delirious Avin had charged him not to? Whatever the reason they were both spared. The two of them beat a hasty retreat, shaking all the while. Even Kael's persistent desire to sleep abated... for a while anyways.

Eventually Kael decided it would be best to simply give in to urge to sleep but first he needed to make sure Gerald and he had the same destination in mind.

"I think we should head for a city... one of the larger ones even"

"You want to hide behind the larger populace in case they send someone after you"

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Yes" Kael affirmed.

None of them said what they where both thinking. Kael was black and being black was so rare that not even a city would hide him, not if people were aware he was a deviant as well. Fuck.

"What if they are based in the city we run to? Guys like those don't come out of small towns" questioned Gerald.

"That's a risk we will just have to take"

Gerald nodded he agreed with Kael, if there were more small towns in the area they would be the best choice but as it was a large town or perhaps a city was the right move.

"Well why aren't you changing course?"

"I was already heading for one"

"Then why were you asking questions? Why not just say so?"

Gerald simply shrugged, so fucking annoying. Damn him, if Kael didn't need him, he would have left the bastard behind to fend for himself!

Kael didn't trust Gerald but he had never left Tenlight before and had no way of knowing which way was which. Maps where so rare that he only ever had one and it was of some region far to the north. Not to mention, he wasn't certain he could read them right.

"Listen man, I agree that we are not friends or anything but if we are going to get out of these woods alive it would be a lot easier together" Gerald stated calmly.

"I agree... lets not kill each other till we get out of here alive yeah? Fuck it, I'm going to take a quick nap"

Without wait for a response Kael set to giving himself a well deserved rest. He fell asleep almost as soon as he stopped trying to stay up.

In the 'dream'? He was back in the black, he could feel the presence of the black tendrils of his deviation and something else. Why did his head hurt so much all of a sudden?

The pain didn't leave so Kael decided to investigate the second thing. From what he could tell it was either the white tendrils or whatever was causing all this pain. It was... Rufus? Kael reeled back, stunned. What the fuck was Rufus doing inside him? It was so very weird, there was no sight in the black, just knowing. So Kael knew Rufus and despite trying to get away he just couldn't get away from the knowledge. It was so precise, so weird, so different and now no amount of pretending could stop him from feeling like Rufus was in him. Gods his head hurt, why was Rufus here? All he wanted to do was wake up, why couldn't he wake up?! Was he going mad like the priest warned?

After gods know how long Kael calmed down. The throbbing had eased or maybe he gad gotten used to it, he couldn't be sure. Rufus was still there in his head and he obviously wasn't going anywhere, not unless Kael did something about it. Kael 'approached' the feeling of Rufus, moving was weird when the was no up or down or even sight really. Distance was simply an approximation of how detailed his 'knowing' of his tentacles or Rufus was.

Again he knew everything about Rufus, the knowledge was so detailed and weird that he was sure he hadn't imagined or misinterpreted it. It was Rufus and Kael could do something with him, but what exactly Kael couldn't tell. Only that he would sleep for a long time, unable to wake up if he did. Unlike now were he just had to... wait for a while, it was almost over. What was 'it'? When was almost? Almost according to whose perspective? Kael forced himself to calm down and the he waited. Trying to think of nothing.

Roughly an hour and a half after Kael went to bed, he shot back up, gasping like a man who had been drowning. He noticed something was different almost immediately. It was hard to tell what exactly though since he felt so disoriented. That wasn't 'it' however, that was more of a result of the change, why was he 'knowing' things, uh, and why was the information always so useless.

"Finally up Milord" Gerald sneered "would you like a cup of tea or perchance some coffee?"

Kael ignored him, dealing with his odd feeling body came first. It took Kael another twenty minutes and three failed attempts at throwing up to realise what was different. His sense of smell had changed, heightening to a degree were he felt like the curtains had been ripped open and world of scents revealed. It was as if his eyes had been swollen shut all this time allowing him glimpse distorted colour but not shape or distance and suddenly he was healed only with his nose. He had always known known that everything had a scent but now he understood it and not only that, there seemed to scents that had no physical representation, none that he could see anyways. For a second he was puzzled and then everything fell into place with a second deep whiff, some of the mystery scents where the less noticeable smells clinging to a single body. Gerald for a examples was a blend of smells, there was vomit which dissolved into further components of it's own, cum, urine, sweat, blood, and Gerald (what Kael suspected Gerald would smell of without all the noise, his true scent). The other scents he could not place, he believed to originate from outside his field of vision or from objects whose scent he he did not know already. They outnumbered those he did know ten to one.

The experience was both euphoric and queasy. It was hard to process all the information at once and it was messing with his other senses. Gradually Kael learned to ignore his nose, recovering full use of his other senses but by the time he did it was too late. His mark was spinning, he had to warn Gerald, the had to stop moving.He rose to his feet, calling out to Gerald as he did but at that moment the ground beneath the wagon shook causing Kael to lose balance and hit it's wooden floor hard.

"Grraaaaaagh" a large stone golem leapt out of the ground beneath them with a deafening roar.