Silas woke up slowly the following day, blinking his eyes and looking around his small shack. William was already awake and sitting in lotus pose, cultivating. Silas raised his eyebrows, but he understood. Silas was once like that as well, back when he could develop. It took Silas a moment, but he narrowed his eyes at William.

"Did you even sleep last night?" Silas asked him, cocking a brow.

William slowly opened one eye, looking at Silas. "Of course I did. I am not immortal, you daft kook. I slept. I need a little of it since I'm far along my path and not injured like you." William then frowned for a moment and opened his eyes, looking at Silas before grinning wildly.

"We're going to get you all straightened out, Silas. I can feel it. Soon, you'll be as good as new, if not better!" William exclaimed, then jumped to his feet. "The Old Man, Silas, he knows things! He knows things about cultivation you didn't think were possible!" William was wild-eyed now, looking down at Silas, who was still sitting, leaning against the wall. His accent was thicker than it usually was in his excitement.

Silas just chuckled and nodded, pretending to be hopeful. "I hope so, William. I have trust in my friend Kio. She is a very old friend of mine." In truth, Kio was more than just a good friend. She was one of the first friends he made when he went to the School of the Jade Mountains, and had stayed friends ever since. It shocked some when Silas fell in love with another woman and left the school to live his life with her.

Silas finally stood slowly with a grumble. "So, what's the plan, William?"

The pair stood in the shack, readying themselves for the day and their upcoming journey. Silas dug around, found that original leather messenger bag, and slung it over his shoulder. With it, he found the overly long black scarf that belonged to his wife. He had refused to wear it during his time at this camp because he didn't want to ruin it or change the smell. Now it would be a reminder for him. A reminder of what he was doing and why. Not that he had forgotten through the winter months, but now with the snow melting, he could leave this area and get some work done. Who knew what his future held for him?

Once William seemed to be put together and washed his face in the bucket of warm water by the fire. He looked at Silas once more with that wild gleam in his eye. "I came up on a merchant ship that traveled the rivers through the lands. He's leaving once more to go back south tonight, and we're going to be on his ship."

Silas ran what William told him through his head for a moment and then nodded his head. "By water, it should only take us a couple of days to get down to The Desolation and then hike for about a day?" Silas was trying to think of geography. He had only been through there once or twice, so it was a little fuzzy for him. With the winter over, Silas was dressed in the new robes he had gotten and left the bearskin cloak and hat on his bed.

While Silas stood there, washed his face off in the water, and thought it over, William had already packed the messenger bag with dried meat and some berries. Along with anything else, he could fit in it. Not without scolding Silas a little for not having a bag of plenty or something like that. He had his storage ring typically, so he never needed a bag with the ability to hold as much as he could ever need. It was still more of a bag than William, who only used his storage ring. Silas gave him a slight glare, but shrugged.

"Aye, well, speaking of storage rings, you think you'll be able to pull that hammer from yours?" William asked him as they left the shack.

Silas went over and grabbed the bow he had been using for hunting and the quiver bolt and slung them around his back, now nodding his head. "I can. Why? It's heavy for everyday use, though, for me."

The pair went to the edge of the camp, getting ready to leave. Silas looking like a pack mule with the bulking messenger back on his side and then the bolt of arrows with the bow shoved inside. Silas turned around and looked over the camp that had been his home for many months. The nasty harsh winter he endured, living in a log cabin and a small fireplace, kept him alive. That weird fever nightmare he had when he first got here lasted days, not the one night it seemed.

"I'll have to make a stop at The Dagger's Sheath before we leave. Say goodbye." Silas told William, "there are some decent people in there, and they helped me through the season."

"Aye, whatever. You'll have to be quick, Silas. This boat captain, he ain't the most patient man out there," William told him, ushering him to leave the camp finally. Silas obliged, and they went walking through the bit of woods until they reached that main road.

"And as for the hammer, we're only getting free passage because we're both supposed to be some great cultivators, you know? Not one great cultivator," William put his hand on his chest, "and his hobo sidekick," then motioned to Silas.

Silas stared blankly at William and shook his head, "yeah, yeah, alright. I'll get my hammer out once we hit the docks. I'm not walking the entire way carrying that thing. It's gotten to be too heavy for me. I've had to use this dagger and bow for everything since I've gotten really sick."

William seemed content with this answer and nodded, clapping Silas on the back as they walked along. It didn't take long before they walked up the porch to the Inn and through it. Thanks to training with Leo this season, Silas was in better shape than he had any right to be. Silas had stopped trying to cultivate long ago since all it did was hurt him and strain his channels.

Still, it seemed his physical body had never been more muscular. He lost most of the belly he used to have. He was leaner, more traditional looking among the cultivators, but still shorter.

When they walked in, Leo was standing at his usual place behind the bar counter, wiping up the bar counter. A girl was sitting there Silas had never really talked to and didn't even know her name. Outside of Maisy, Silas didn't really speak to any of the workers of The Dagger's Sheath. He just smiled and gave her a nod before he turned to look at Leo, clapping his hands together and bowing his head lightly.

The Inn looked like it always had, with a few overstuffed plush chairs and some tables sitting around for the patrons, and the bar only had a few stools. It wasn't a vast building, since the practice wasn't strictly legal this close to the head city of the empire. They only had a few seats and customers at a time. The hearth had a small fire, and the Inn looked and felt cozy.

"Leo. It's time. The snow has melted. I'm leaving." Silas lifted his head and looked at Leo with a smile. William waited behind Silas respectfully. "I'd like to introduce you to a friend named William. Apparently, he knows someone who may help me."

William straightened and then gave the standard bow between Sacred Artists, hands clapped together and then a slight bow of the head, "well, met Leo."

Leo returned the bow, but you could tell it slightly annoyed him. "Yeah, yeah, Silas. It'll be good to keep all of my supplies for the girls and me, finally."

Silas frowned a bit. He had thought the pair of them had gotten closer than that from their training. He stared at Leo, searching his face to see if he could pick up that he was hiding something. Seeing nothing, Silas shrugged a little to himself.

"I thank you for everything and the training. Your generosity was a big help to me and allowed me to survive the winter. Since I'm leaving, take whatever is left in the camp I had. There is some frozen meat, the lumbar, whatever. I wanted to come to tell you so you could take it and make use of it," Silas explained his reasoning for coming now, smiling at Leo as he spoke.

Leo's hardened expression seemed to crack slightly, and he stared at Silas. "Thank you, I appreciate the meat, and whatever else you have over there will come in handy for me taking care of these girls, even though there's one less now."

Silas cocked his eyebrow curiously at Leo, but he didn't have to ask. "The one you became friends with, Maisy, she left this morning. Barely said a word, and then she was gone."

William seemed to make a noise behind Silas when he heard the name, but when Silas looked back at him, William just smiled and nodded. Silas narrowed his eyes at him, but then looked back to Leo, frowning a little once more. Maisy was the girl Silas had gotten close with during the winter. She usually fetched the things Silas was after and looked after Silas's injuries from their training sessions. Not to mention it was she who was to thank Leo offered the deal, to begin with partly.

"It doesn't matter. Now that spring is here. There will be girls lining up to work." Leo shrugged. "Go on, Silas, have a safe journey." Leo paused for a moment and then leaned in, signaling Silas to do the same, which he promptly did. "Good luck Silas, it was nice training with you," and then Leo clapped Silas on the hand that was resting on the bar counter.

Silas smiled and nodded his head. "Thank you, Leo, for everything," Silas stood back up, headed for the door, and left William closing it behind him.

"There ya happy? Got to say your goodbyes? Now we really need to hurry. If we miss this ship, we'll have to barter for some horses or something," William said, walking quicker than he was before.

Silas pushed himself to keep up, and the two walked along quietly for a while. "William, what was that noise you made when you heard the girl's name who left the Inn?" Silas looked up at William questioningly. "Did you go to the inn before you were here and fall in love?"

William narrowed his eyes at Silas and shook his head. "No, I didn't go to that shite. What do ye think of me, Silas?"

Silas laughed at William's reaction and clapped his friend on the back. "Okay, okay." That didn't really say what the noise was, but William got so quick on the defensive that maybe it wasn't best for him to push the subject.

When Silas and William got closer to the main gate to the city, Silas looked around, wondering how they would get into the city. Silas knew he wasn't welcome in the city, so, like the time before, he had to blend in. This time, however, there were so many farmers and people coming into the city that the guardsmen weren't even really paying attention. They got involved in a small fight that broke out when someone tried to pickpocket one merchant heading into the city.

"Alright, we need to pick up one thing, then we're heading for the docks," William told Silas, who bobbed his head and followed along. He was following William at this point, regardless of where he took him. William was on the path to trying to fix him, and he would follow it no matter where it went.

"Tha's a good lad, and you'll like it, anyway. It's a slight surprise for ya." William looked back to Silas and chuckled. The pair went through the winding city that was buzzing with activity.

Since it was getting nice out and the city was getting nice out. More people were migrating to the city from the outskirts to get supplies and see how everything fared in the winter. The people of the empire had gone stir-crazy, and now they were getting it out of their system. The guards, you could tell, were overwhelmed by the number of people. They stood on horseback by themselves in various areas, trying to navigate traffic and watch for pickpockets or any other sort of wrongdoer. You could tell they should probably work in pairs.

It didn't take Silas long to recognize the area William was leading him through, and he smirked. "Are you looking for some hint of the future, my friend?"

William narrowed his eyes back at him suspiciously and then rolled his eyes at Silas. "Alright, so I'm not as clever as I thought I was. Ye could have at least played along."

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They laughed and continued walking through the streets for a while. William narrowly avoiding getting run over by one guard chasing down a kid who apparently had stolen something from one vendor that had set up shop. William made a slight hand gesture to the guard, who ignored the fact he almost ran someone over since he was chasing after someone.

Once they got going again, it didn't take them long until they were at the same shop Silas had found Kio the previous day. It was closed down, and Kio was standing in front of it with her arms crossed and a smile across her face.

"I'm so glad to be done with this gig," she told them, looking each of them over with her almond eyes. "Looks like you put my gold to good use, Silas."

Silas blushed a little and clapped his hands together, bowing to her, "I thank you for the help, Kio. It helped me buy supplies and new clothing for this trip."

Kio laughed and reached to put a hand on Silas's shoulder. Silas looked at her and noticed that she was very much a fairy. She even had a small mole above her lip that added to her flawless skin and eyes. "It's fine, Silas. I don't need the gold. The sect takes care of everything we need," she told him, still laughing at him.

Silas lifted his head and smiled, nodding. "It'll be good to travel with you, my friend. It's been too long."

"Alright, yeah, this wonderful lil reunion is tugging on my heartstrings, but we need to get moving. Silas, you should go ahead and pull out ye hammer," William interrupted any conversation the two could have from there. They'd have plenty of time to speak up on the boat heading south.

Silas nodded, looked at William, and closed his eyes. "Ye sure you can do it?" William interrupted his concentration.

Silas nodded again. "If you leave me alone for a moment, I can do it, yes. No problem."

He then closed his eyes again, feeling his core and spirit. He hated sensing his madra anymore. What was once a cool, flowing gray river was a black sludge with bits of gray running through it. Silas sighed but pushed the depressing thoughts from his mind and reached out for the bits of madra in his channels.

Trying a bit, the tiniest bit he could muster into the ring on his finger, he thought of his hammer. It took a moment longer than it should have, and Silas worried at that moment that seemed to last a lifetime. Finally, though, the enormous war hammer was in his hands.

Silas opened his eyes and tightened his grip on the hammer. The leather felt good in his hands, comforting. It reminded him of a better time in his life, before all of this, before all the worry and hurt. It only lasted a minute, though, and then the hammer crashed into the stone-lined road, smashing some stones. Silas grunted, keeping his grip on the hammer. Only the head of the hammer had fallen. He frowned and looked at the other two, who flashed a look of worry but covered it with a soft smile.

"Well, hey, at least you could get it out! I didn't think ye were even going to be able to handle doing that!" William crowed at him, happily laughing.

Kio nodded, but her look of worry returned, and Silas could feel her spirit reaching out to him, sensing him. He couldn't stop her. She was much more powerful than Silas was at the moment. Hence, he just gave her a look of pure determination as he felt her spirit move through him inch by inch, the look of concern only growing on her face.

"You're worse than I thought you were, Silas," she remarked, looking him in the eyes.

Silas nodded his head, keeping that look of determination on his face, "I'm fine. We're heading to the docks, right?" He looked at William, who nodded his head. He realized he sounded a little colder than he meant to sound when he spoke to Kio. They came up together along their paths, finding their power, and that, at the moment, he was so far behind stung his pride more than it should have. It was his pride, and Silas didn't want her to feel bad for him.

Without another word, however, he mustered all the strength he could and lifted the war hammer, slinging it on his shoulder, grunting. Once he had it slung on his shoulder, he decided he'd be able to take the weight and started walking toward the docks. This only seemed to elate William even more.

"Haha, told ye, Kio. The man Silas is one of the strongest Sacred Artists in the realm!" He cheered as he walked behind Silas, and Silas frowned. William didn't need to puff him up like that. He knew he was far from being one of the strongest. Maybe one day he could have been, and maybe if this Old Man were as good as William and Kio said he was. Perhaps then he would be powerful again, but, as hard as it was, he tried not to get his hopes up.

Silas had to stroll while he had the hammer, the weight slowing him down. The two didn't leave him behind, but they walked in front of him. Luckily, since Kio's shop was on the lower side of the city, they weren't far from the docks. It wasn't long until Silas smelled the salty air of the river. The river flowed and opened on both sides of the continent to the great seas.

William led the trio down onto the docks, which were even busier than the city entrance, if they could believe it. There were boats with merchants, fisher boats, and prominent rough-looking men unloading and loading the different vessels. In between all of this, a dock master was running around with a clipboard yelling at other ship captains and their crew for being early or docking too late. People were trying to shop right on the docks, and a few lined up at one landing with a man shucking oysters for them.

Silas and Kio stepped up behind William as he talked with a man, then they started arguing. William didn't bother with any of these people. Instead, he went for a dock near where the man was shucking the oysters. Silas noted the ship was called 'The Lotus Vale.'

Several moments later, William retreated and looked at the pair. "Alright, this pantywaist is saying now we have to pay him. He only expected there to be two of us, so we're going to need more food than he expected. I told him three cultivators instead of just two would mean he'd be better protected, but the man didn't see it my way. You got any o' that gold left, Kio? Or ye think you could yanno, uh, use a bit o' that fairy magic?" William smiled uncomfortably, like he didn't just say anything wrong.

Kio glared at him. The slight here was that Kio did not like to be referred to as a fairy. She was foremost a devoted and powerful cultivator. The fact she looked as good as she did not play into her mind, and she held it against anyone who let it dictate their behavior towards her.

William kept that awkward smile and even tried laughing a little before he gave in. "Oh, come on, Kio, ye know I don't have any money, and I'm sure the wild woods hermit here doesn't either. We need to get Silas down to The Old Man."

Kio, still glaring, reached into a purse on her robes and pulled a few gold coins from it. Shoving them in William's hand, "never again, William," was all she told him as she pushed the gold into his hand.

"Aye, aye, yes, ma'am. All mighty Kio of the notorious beggars!" William told her and rolled his eyes before returning to the ship's captain and giving the gold to him.

"Alright, lads, meet Captain Craig, captain of the finest vessel along the inner lakes! He's a bit of a salty fellow, but he's going to make sure we get to where we gotta go!" William was all smiles again.

Captain Craig glared at William a moment before looking at Kio and Silas. "Alright, you two, I don't care if you’re cultivators. I have a bit of a skill myself, and while I may not be some almighty Sacred Artist like you three. My crew and I have never had a problem we couldn't scrape our way out of. We've run across monsters, pirates, and anything else the damn empire could throw at us, and ain't never needed a cultivator before. Stay in your cabin and out of the damn way, and we'll get along fine. There are three meals served in the galley, and if you miss a meal, you miss a meal. Get on the ship, and William can show you where you're staying. I have work to do."

The Captain was a larger man with a short shaved head. You could make out the widow peaks where you could tell he only shaved his head like this because he was balding and wanted to ease the process. Craig wore plain black slacks, a brown shirt, and a long leather sleeveless coat, he was a bigger man in the midsection, but he didn't seem flabby. Maybe once he was, but the fat had a specific muscle. He spoke gruffly, like he had smoked too much pipe tobacco while in his years of sailing.

William, Kio, and Silas headed onto the ship, walking between the sailors working, loading, or unloading various goods from the boat. William nodded to a few of the crew he must have remembered from his trip up and told the other two that many sailors liked to gamble. Which may be why William didn't have any money to pay the Captain with. This was met with a glare from Kio and a shaking of her head. William gave an innocent grin and shrugged.

Getting below deck and into their cabin, Silas discovered one large bed the three would have to share, and the cabin was a little cramped. Still, they were all friends and could make the best of it. Offloading their things onto the cabin floor, Silas finally let himself drop the hammer with a loud thud and was surprised he didn't break through the deck. It must have been made with some reinforced wood, or there must have been a script running along the ship somewhere to strengthen the wood.

"The trip down to the Wastelands should only take a day or two. We can just have a big ol' cuddle puddle when it comes time to go to bed," he laughed.

"You're sleeping on the floor," Kio looked at William and gave him a look that dared him to argue the point, which he didn't.

It wasn't long after that the ship had set sail. The three of them left in the cabin as the boat drifted along. William had some small marbles. They entertained themselves with a game where they drew a circle and tried to knock each other's marbles out of the circle. The first day and night went smoothly and utterly dull.

They stuck to the Captain's rules and only left the cabin when the meal bell rang and ate decent-quality food. Better food than Silas had eaten since he first left Kyoto. It was primarily stews and soups made with fish and vegetables, but the cooks knew how to stick them to your ribs.

It wasn't until before dawn had first broken their last day on the ship that any trouble had happened. Someone flinging their cabin door awoke the three open and yelling, "The captain wants you three on the deck. We're being attacked!" Before the man ran off again, Silas could make out the sound of metal leaving its sheath.

Silas was sound asleep when they were interrupted, but it seemed like the other two were awake. They didn't require as much sleep as Silas did in his condition. It looked like they were cultivating when Silas took stock of what was going on as he blinked his eyes. They were already on their feet and ready to go, waiting for Silas.

"Come on, Silas, leave your hammer. Fight with your fists if you must, but you know you can't use that hammer in battle," Kio said quietly.

Silas nodded and grabbed the dagger he had put on the floor next to his messenger bag, holding it at the ready. He wouldn't bother with the bow and arrows. He wasn't good enough of a shot to use them in a fast-paced battle, but he could fight people off with the dagger. A moment later, they were rushing from the room. William in the lead with his long blades out at the ready for anything that might come at them above deck, or so they thought.

When they reached the top deck, they all stared in utter amazement as there was a giant glittering green dragon in the skies circling above their ship. It was long and thin, flying as the creature was swimming through water. Silas made a strangled, gurgling noise at the sight. This was no illusion like he and William had seen in the Desolation, thanks to the Heavenly Dragon Sect. This, there was no doubt in his mind, was an actual dragon.

Captain Craig advanced on the three, and his voice brought them out of their collective stupor. "Alright, you've seen the one thing me and my men have never gotten through. You three great and powerful cultivators have any ideas?" His voice, still stern, which was so full of confidence when they first boarded the ship. It now sounded as shaky and worried as Silas's when he first saw the demon thing that attacked Kyoto.

Silas looked at the Captain, his jaw on the floor. He didn't know what to say. Silas thought of himself as a man who knew much of the world, but he did not expect to see this. He had heard, and half suspected, dragons were still alive and well. To see an actual, breathing dragon circling over the ship sent waves of panic through his body as he thought he'd never feel. Silas looked at the Captain, his expression matching the Captain's voice.

The other two seemed to shout orders to the sailors on the vessel. They had either seen this sort of thing before or were quicker to recover from the shock because they weren't injured and broken like Silas. Silas's vision was closing in on him now as he looked at the Captain. Silas breathed in deeply and looked to the skies once more. He knew this feeling. He had felt it once before. The fever dream in his cabin when he first set up his camp.

"Kio," was all he could gurgle out, trying to call to his oldest friend before Silas's vision went utterly back, and he fell to the deck.