T’was a magnificent battle, Emissary. Well fought. Alas, it was a victory born at great cost. My kinsmen were all slain by the giant. I only narrowly escaped his crushing hands.

Riley glanced all around himself as the voice echoed in the back of his mind. His attention eventually settled on the mohawk-rat, scurrying his way across the snowy ground. “Ah, yeah. Apologies about that. I didn’t mean to get all your people killed.”

They understood the risks. And a life lived without risk is no life at all. I was a princeling among these rats. And now, it seems, I am a prince with no kingdom.

Riley nodded stiffly. “Well, uh... you could come with me, if you’d like?” he eventually offered. Perhaps the little guy could come in handy? And, in truth, it wasn’t like Riley was in a situation where he could discard a friendly face.

You would welcome me into your company? Truly? The rat tilted his head to one side, his whiskers rapidly twitching. Then I shall be a stalwart ally unto thee. Call me Mesquard.

“Riley,” he replied, nodding toward the rat. He crouched and held a hand to the rat, who scurried up his arm and perched himself comfortably on Riley’s shoulder. Ordinarily he wouldn’t dare let a rat anywhere near him, for hygienic reasons if nothing else. But as a plague wizard, it wasn’t like he needed to worry about such things anymore.

“Right then. Let’s be on our way.”

The road ahead was dark and silent, the only sounds coming from the snow crunching under Riley’s boots. Fortunately the lenses of his mask still offered him some illumination, though the winding road that led up to Fort Bane hadn’t fallen entirely to disrepair.

It was a somewhat steep and angular path to follow, and he spied more than a few corpses frozen in the snow. Like statues, glittered with frost. An unpleasant sight, but Riley was already no stranger to seeing dead bodies at this point.

Still, it boded poorly, and a knot of discomfort settled in his gut.

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They pressed on for a while, until Riley’s exhaustion became too much to endure. The more time that passed from his duel with Klaus, the more pronounced the ache in his muscles became. He no longer had adrenaline to fuel his body, after all. Mesquard, armed with an uncanny knowledge of their surroundings, led the way to a gnarled tree with a hollowed-out trunk.

Some holdover of the past, he said, where Klaus’ scouts would lie in wait and watch for any trespassers, or fleeing apemen. It wasn’t exactly a comfortable sleeping spot, but it was better than lying down in the snow. And, as ever, Riley's robes provided decent protection from the chilly wind.

“I guess... this isn’t so bad,” Riley murmured, pressing his back against a groove in the blackened wood. Mesquard curled up on his shoulder and was soon fast asleep, his ears flat against the sides of his head. “Frankly, anything is an improvement from that damn fort.” But damn if he didn't miss the comfort of his bed.

“Indeed,” Arubis said. And, to Riley’s shock, she climbed into the hollow to join him. There was just enough room to fit the two of them, scarcely an inch keeping their knees from touching. “I have seen much of this land, across the length and breadth of Kerberos. But Fort Bane was... particularly unpleasant.”

Riley swallowed hard, thankful of the mask concealing his face. He felt awkward, foolish, but he couldn't blame her for joining him. Against the sheer cold, this was a simple method to ensure their mutual survival. “Kerberos, huh?” he murmured, largely to distract himself. He recalled the word, vaguely, but everything he had heard from the Arbiter was chaotic and hazy to him.

“The name of this world. One of many, besieged by insidious forces” Arubis said, gesturing lightly as she spoke. “How blessed we are, that Wardens like you are still born to protect it.”

“Yeah.” Riley turned his head from her and closed his eyes, too tired to try and refute her words. “I’m feelin’ lucky right now,” he sarcastically murmured. “Say, Arubis, I got this... weird thing from killing Klaus. An ‘Aspect’?”

“Oh my!” Arubis said, suddenly reinvigorated. “Well, that is perhaps to be expected. Klaus seemed rather strong, it’s likely his soul was potent enough to leave a trace behind. Well, an Aspect is... an echo of a powerful being. A Warden can equip such things as a sort of additional weapon, mimicking the abilities of their quarry. Only...” She trailed off, briefly furrowing her brow.

“Only... what?” he asked, inclining his masked head toward her.

“Well, Aspects are rather powerful. Perhaps too powerful for you to handle at present. When your Capacity and Fortitude are higher, perhaps then your flesh can handle the strain of the power.”

“Mm. I guess that makes sense.” He tried to imagine the power of the Aspect, his mind flashing with vivid images of Klaus in motion. The mighty stomps of his feet, the slashes of his axe, and the frozen cyclones he generated when his desperation grew too intense.

It certainly would be a potent power to call upon. And, now that he thought about it, he had enough Essence to get a few extra stat boosts. Something to deal with later, he told himself. He was far too tired for any rational decision making.

He settled into the hollow as best he could, swiftly drifting into a dreamless slumber once his exhaustion overcame him.

He died five times in the span of a single day, and had fought a giant beast of a man with the kind of ferocity that would have made his caveman ancestors positively ecstatic.

As far as introductions to a new world went, he was sure some people must have had it worse.