When Dave came to himself, he was sitting on a cliff, looking over a huge body of water stretching out in front of him. Max sat right next to him, eyes looking over the crystal blue water, lost in thought. Dave’s thought felt a little muddled, and it took a few seconds before things started falling into order.

“Where are we?” Dave asked, voicing the first of many of his worries.

“You’re awake!” Max exclaimed, unable to hide his relief, then he started looking around before continuing. “Actually I don’t really know where exactly we are, but looks a little like Europe doesn’t it?.”

“So the token worked?” Dave looked around, behind them was the edge of a forest.

“It did,” Max chuckled. “And don’t worry, this is definitely not our forest.”

Dave breathed out in relief when he realized the ocean of trees behind them were the normal sized variants, not the giant trees he had gotten used to. He allowed himself to relax a little, grabbing a handful of sand from the floor. Enjoying the feeling of it, as it was trickling down his hand.

“Is Mira okay?”

“Oh yeah, she’s out in the woods there somewhere, I think she wanted to recuberate a little or something.”

Dave breathed out in relief even deeper.

“Wait, how does it look like Europe? It’s literally only water and trees here.”

“Well those trees are a European variant, and the body of water aligns perfectly with my calculations of where the red sea should’ve ended up,” Max smirked at seeing Dave’s incredulous look. “Or maybe I’ve just gotten a hunch when using the token.”

Dave burst out laughing, but quickly stopped when a flare of pain erupted from his ribs.

“Careful, you were beaten up pretty badly and I think Sam’s slowly starting to lose his interest in stichting you up all the time.”

Grunting in agreement, Dave slowly rotated his body to get a better look at his surroundings. “Where are the others?

“Oh somewhere around here. Now that we don’t have to look out as much anymore, we’ve found that it’s good to have space. We were really cramped on that clearing man.”

“Yeah I guess that’s true,” Dave said mildly. He took another handful of sand and let it run through his fingers. He looked around the camp, they had build a big fireplace, bigger than they had back in the forest. The tents were also new, more spacious and strewn out farther so that everybody had his little privacy.

Max sighed audibly. “You know you don’t have to sit here. We both know you don’t want to. Not really. Go to her.”

With that he turned away from Dave towards the ocean again. His face was relaxed and his shoulders held less tension than Dave had seen in them in a long time. It was almost like Max was the Max from before the apocalypse again.

But only almost. The slight crinkles around his eyes, and the air he carried himself with, told the story of what he had been through.

Dave stared at him wordlessly for a few seconds, happy for his friends, yet scared of what came next. Gathering his nerves, he finally stood up and walked towards the edge of the forest.

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It didn’t took long to find her. A few meters into the forest, Mira was sitting in the middle f a clearing on a broken tree, facing away from Dave.

She seemed to be lost in meditation, and Dave could feel one of her Skills at work. This time though, it wasn’t one as sinister as the last one. The whole air vibrated with radiant life energys, and the whole forest seemed to come alive around her. Mira was hulled in a soft green glow and all around the clearing smelled like springtime.

If she had only drained life forces around her before, it now seemed as if she was boosting life around her. And not just her, but nature around her seemed to be affected as well. Even Dave found his step lighter and his pains less severe in her influence.

Once again Dave found himself stopped in his tracks by her marvelous skills. He watched for a few minutes before he broke out of his trance and stepped towards her.

She looked up to the source of the sound and Dave’s heart skipped a beat. The last time he had seen her face, it had looked ashen and fallen. He could clearly remember Mira only hanging onto life by a thin thread. But now she looked like spring reborn. Her face was flush and full of color, a soft smile played around her lips as she noticed Dave, and Dave couldn’t help but grin.

The only thing that marked her close to death experience was a strand of gray hair hanging loosely into her face, a stark contrast against her usually golden blond hair.

For a moment none of them said anything as they stood next to each other. Dave looked at her, then at the gray strand of hair, and back to her again. “I’m sorry,” he said.

Mira looked at him with confusion. “What for?”

“Because I wasn’t strong enough, you had to resort to using a skill like that. My weakness has almost cost you your life, and I’m sorry.”

Mira squinted her eyes before she snorted and broke out in laughter. “Stop talking like that dumbass. You’re the only reason any of us are alive.”

“Okay. But please, please, don’t use that skill again. Ever.” Dave said pleadingly.

Mira tiptoed forward and pressed a soft kiss on Dave’s lips. He could feel his heat rising. The moment was over as quick as it came, and Dave found himself staring dumbfounded into Mira’s smiling face.

“Now go,” she said teasingly. “I want to practice my new skill, and you’re not the only one entitled to some training time alone.”

“Fair point,” Dave said as he stepped forward and went for another kiss. After their lips parted, they stood there for a moment. The rest of the world faded and all that was, were their faces inches from each other grinning madly. Time lost its meaning as they stared into each others eyes, but after a while, Mira pulled away.

After a brief farewell that broke Dave’s heart, he went off, back towards Sam. On his way he had a lot to think about.

He would’ve never dreamed things could turn out so well with Mira. Or even well in general. Could he really be safe here? It had been such a long time that the word had slowly lost its meaning to him. Could things finally start being good again?

Dave’s steps were light and joyful on the way back towards the camp.

There were certainly lots of things that had happened over the last few months, but right now things seemed good. His mood was high after the talk with Mira, there was no danger lurking behind the trees and the weather was beautiful. He found himself whistling.

He was checking a few of his status notifications after the last fight and was happy with the result. Lost in thought, and skill upgrades, as he was, he didn’t notice Max and Sam talking until he stood almost next to them.

“Oh hey guys,” Dave greeted cheerily.

Both stared at him dubmfounded. “What’s with your face?” Sam asked, eyes wide in mock horro. “Is that… is that a smile?”

Max clasped a hand on Dave’s shoulder. “I almost forgot how your face looked when smiling!”

“And I didn’t even know you could smile!” Sam added with a sarcastic tone.

Dave chuckled. “You assholes.”

“We’re just kidding,” Max said. “Good for you by the way.” He winked.

Sam looked confused between them, but Dave and Max simply shared a knowing smile.

They continued their amible chat, when suddenly Sarah and Bixby rounded the corner, hastily walking towards them.

“What’s up with you?” Dave asked, noting the excited look in his friends faces.

Sarah looked between Bixby and the others before saying the words Dave had believed he would never hear again.

“We found people.”