All things considered, our first night back in the Wildlands had gone over well, and I couldn’t have been happier about being woken by the sound of birds chirping and the sensation of being blinded by the sun first thing in the morning. Reminded that we weren’t inside Alarna’s walls anymore filled me with confidence that things would get better, and I closed my eyes as I rolled over to stay like this for a while longer. However, as was usually the case, even dozing proved difficult once my brain was starting to boot up.

With the Rulers revolting, I had grabbed the rather convenient opportunity to ditch our responsibilities in a heartbeat, and there wasn’t a concrete plan to take them back either. Of course not. What point would there be in ditching your responsibilities if you tried to get them right back? And who cares that we didn’t accomplish everything we set out to do?

If you thought about it, our departure wouldn’t even have much of an effect on the lives of most townsfolk. With Arax dead and the mana barrier stopping most normal beasts, the people of Alarna wouldn’t have to worry about monsters in the short-term, and this alone would inevitably have a positive effect on the town. Granted, they lost the ability to do special rituals, and maybe the new/old leadership wouldn’t let them stroll around outside, but those were just bonuses anyway. The big one was being able to live in peace.

From this perspective one might say there wasn’t much of a point in us staying there at all. Tomar and I didn’t want the job of king in the first place, and we had accomplished our main goals. Yes, there were still other issues to worry about... But really, sooner or later, in some form or another, somebody else would’ve had to do that job anyway.

In truth, I was well aware that I was rationalizing things away, and that I didn’t truly care all that much about any of this. I wanted to get out of there. I had felt overwhelmed and depressed, as one catastrophe chased the next. And while Hayla was a big help in managing everything, there was always a need to keep an eye on everything. It was gnawing on me.

This part of me, that was almost eager to weasel its way out of situations I wasn’t happy with, was something I hadn’t yet experienced since coming to Erinn. Though I was very familiar with it from my previous life. I would never deal with something I didn’t feel like doing if there was any way around it.

It was Hayla’s theory that this quirk of mine might have been what upset Berla, because she didn’t know it yet and didn’t understand it. To a Fighter, duty and loyalty were of significant importance, and the thought of simply doing your own thing simply seemed wrong to them. With us taking over control of Alarna, we were falling into roles that, in her mind, were carved in stone. A leader didn’t just abandon his post, and a soldier didn’t stop protecting people. I had essentially done both.

Surprisingly, Hayla appeared to have some understanding of my plight. Their uncle, the king, wasn’t always enjoying his job either. She had listened in on him and his sister talking more than once, when he seemed ready to throw in the towel as well. Even if he never did. He also admitted to Hayla that it was a taxing occupation. Heavy is the head that wears the crown and all that.

I figured that I might have to try to explain myself to Berla one of those days, but at this point I was still hoping it would just blow over—that she would simply accept us leaving. Not because I didn’t want to have that conversation, but because I didn’t want to upset her even more. No, really.

Another theory was that Berla was considering the theories the Rulers apparently had to be true. That I was able to control people, and make them follow or even fall in love with me. But I doubted that Berla would actually believe something like that after all the time we spent together. Not to mention that she came onto me... For now, I decided to just hope for the best.

My mind slowly cleared and I realized that I had evidently fallen asleep the night before. This was still new to me. I also hoped that someone had stayed up to keep watch, which had always been my job in the past. We didn’t agree on any new arrangements, but there wasn’t a doubt in my mind that one of the others would’ve done so—Reurig most likely.

Deciding to check, I pried my eyes open and suddenly found myself face to face with Hayla, lying right next to me on the ground. She was sound asleep, resting her head on her arm. I was taken aback for a moment as I studied her facial features. She really was a pretty girl, and a thought crossed my mind.

Smart, good looking, ambitious... Under different circumstances one would probably have to be happy to be engaged to her.

I couldn’t help myself but think about how things might have turned out if I wasn’t with Berla and I didn’t try to keep a certain distance from her cousin. I was enjoying my talks with Hayla, and to a degree, I found myself attracted to her. It was natural if you stripped away all matters of morality. And yet I was a little exasperated at myself for allowing such thoughts, given her age of sixteen.

As if my relationship with Berla isn’t weird enough.

I don’t know how long I was staring at her, but I hurriedly propped myself up into a sitting position and scanned the clearing. I was relieved to find Berla sleeping next to me on my other side. Not only having returned, but also not hating me enough to put a significant distance between us. On the other side of the campfire lay Reurig, and then there were Riala and Hati, cuddled together. The only one I didn’t see immediately was Aelene, though she appeared from behind a tree a few seconds later.

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“Good morning,” she said quietly as she came closer and sat down on a nearby tree trunk.

I was a little surprised to see her awake. For some reason she would’ve been the last one I expected to see keeping watch. I stood up carefully and walked over to her.

“Morning. Did you stay up all night?” I asked.

“Mhm,” she confirmed. “I offered it after you fell asleep. The others seemed exhausted.”

“Yea... Yesterday was tough. Thank you.”

Aelene shook her head. “No problem. I don’t know if I would’ve been able to sleep on the ground anyway.”

“You might have to get used to that though,” I said, smiling wryly.

“Is that so?” she said with a light frown. “Honestly, I was hoping this wouldn’t turn into a permanent arrangement.”

“You don’t like it out here in the Wildlands?” I asked curiously. So far, everybody else had seemed rather enamored with the outside world when they first saw it.

“That’s not it. It is beautiful, but... The standard of living could be better,” she said, smiling and grimacing in equal amounts.

Hayla, our literal princess, had been rather excited to see these new, beastless Wildlands, to walk the woods, and sleep outside, but Aelene was evidently not in the same boat.

“I guess I know what you mean. Being outside is nice, but there’s something to be said about having a roof over your head, walls, a bed to sleep on, and so on.”

Even though I got used to being outside, and was even looking forward to it at times now, I understood the comforts a house brought.

“That’s right,” she said, sounding disappointed.

Somehow it hadn’t crossed my mind before, but seeing Aelene’s frustrated expression, I wondered whether we couldn’t do something about this problem. I was planning for us to stay here in the woods for at least a couple of days—perhaps longer depending on how certain things went—and I thought having some kind of dwelling might be nice during that time. In typical fashion, the gears in my mind immediately began turning, at this new, challenging, and potentially fun project I could dig my teeth into.

“Maybe we can do something about that... Let me think about it,” I said absentmindedly, while pondering, How difficult could it be?

Aelene looked at me somewhat confused, but her voice was hopeful when she said, “Alright.”

If she said something afterwards, I didn’t hear it, while I scraped my memories for everything I knew about construction work. There was a lot of superficial knowledge, but a few things I would definitely need to figure out myself. At least that’s what I thought at first, until I started remembering things I wasn’t sure I ever learned about.

More hidden knowledge?

***

Oryn had been stuck in his room inside the temple for almost an entire day. As the only scripture sigil researcher in town, and as an acquaintance of Lilly’s group, he was deemed a person of interest by the Rulers and was locked away even before they went for Tomar. Their intel told them he wasn’t capable of the same feats the other Sourcerers were, which made him harmless, but if he cooperated, he might become an asset to the true leaders of Alarna. That’s what they told him before leaving him inside his room for hours and hours.

By this point, a few priests passing through the hallway had dropped pieces of information about what happened outside, and Oryn had a rough picture of the situation. The entire group, including Aelene, had left Alarna. He was sitting in a dark, windowless room, without so much as a lit candle, contemplating his life choices, while they were out there, free to reach new heights with their scripts.

Frustration was building up inside him. He was the only scripter in town now, which could’ve been exciting, but he wanted to learn so much more from Tomar and Riala. Would he even have a chance to reach their level without their help? Given how much they learned in such a short amount of time, while he had been researching sigils for years, it seemed unlikely. Maybe he wasn’t cut out for this job. Maybe he had actually wasted his life away. If three kids were able to come in and leave him in the dust in a matter of weeks, he could only see his own accomplishments as meaningless.

At the same time, he felt a bit of excitement, thinking about what they might do in the future. If you thought about it, they were only just getting started, weren’t they? Despite their apparent strength and knowledge, it seemed like they were still just scratching the surface. Tomar himself said that there were a lot of things they didn’t know yet, and Oryn had seen Riala show off a new script never seen before by anyone.

These thoughts in turn irritated him once more, however, because he wouldn’t be there to witness it. If they left and weren’t coming back, he might never hear from them again. Perhaps books would be written about their achievements at some point in the future? Would that end up being the way he learned about what became of them?

Oryn hung his head—on the verge of falling into despair—when destiny knocked on his door. Albeit not literally. In fact, his door was simply unlocked and opened, daylight streaming into the room. Inside the door frame stood an old man in an ornate priest robe.

“High Priest Orthur...” Oryn whispered, his eyes widening.

“I expect a detailed report about everything that happened, Oryn!” Orthur commanded.

Seeing the High Priest was a surprise. After all, he thought the Rulers wanted his cooperation. But it didn’t really matter. He actually felt a bit of happiness. Orthur had always given him free reign about his experiments. If he was going to continue without Tomar in some way, this might be his preferred way of doing it.

As the High Priest turned around and left without closing the door, Oryn reflexively stood up and followed him wordlessly.

What could I accomplish without them? he started to wonder as he closed the door to his room behind himself.