“Hey,” said a disembodied voice. “You still have more stories to tell. Don’t tell me you’re giving up.”

Was it a dream? Narati wondered if that’s the case. It felt more like an afterlife than a dream, but he could either be wrong or right. Raine once told him that dying was like an eternal pleasant dream where he would be eternally happy and in true peace. He did, however, added that it would only work to someone who died peacefully in his sleep, not someone who died a violent death.

Way to ruin the mood, Raine, thought Narati. He soon returned his attention to the voice. It sounded pleasant and ambiguous at the same time. He wasn’t sure if the voice was a female’s or a male’s.

Then suddenly, the voice became familiar when it started speaking again.

“I wouldn’t want you to go out like this, Nara,” said Jacques’s voice. “Like I said. You have more stories to tell.”

“Jacques?” asked Narati, looking around. He couldn't find the wolf man, nor sense his presence.

“You have a kind heart, despite your taste of violence,” said Jacques. “I know you can’t help it, considering this broken world and your kind’s history. It feels such a waste for you to die without showing your true potential.”

Narati slowly started to notice a bright figure in the distance. It was a hazy recollection with a dark background, making the bright figure stood out. The figure approached him slowly. When he was close enough for the Fa’ar to see, it astonished him.

Standing right in front of him was a wolf, with bright, blue eyes and fur as white as snow. Narati was used to seeing a Loup, so the appearance of a feral wolf as beautiful as the one in front of him stunned him. This was the first time he had ever seen a true wolf, who looked like a Loup who walked on all fours and with paws instead of clawed hands. He was also clearly not Jacques, though Narati wondered if this was the form his ghost took to communicate. Not that Narati believed in such a thing, but everything was possible.

“So, you better wake up,” said the wolf. His voice was undoubtedly Jacques. “I’m curious to see how things go from here. And no. Despite your attachment to Jacques Barlow, I am not him.”

“Then what are you?” asked Narati, prompting the wolf to smile.

“You’ll know soon enough,” said the wolf. “But for now, it’s time to wake up. Oh, and you owe me one.”

“I don’t remember owing a spirit anything.”

The wolf chuckled. “You’ll see.”

The white background was slowly bathed in blinding white light. The wolf, his fur white as snow, disappeared as the world turned from black to white. Narati could hear someone calling for him, at first faintly, but slowly and surely, it became clearer until….

“Narati!”

Narati opened his eyes and gasped. The first sight he saw was the black, starry sky. It was nighttime. He moved his body up, but then winced in pain.

“Easy. Your body is recovering from Aether contamination. Your organs are extensively damaged, but we managed to get you out to open air with clean mana particles to heal you up. Well…as clean as the Wasteland can provide, anyway. Good thing you're asleep. Otherwise, it will be as much an agony as it is exposed to Aether."

Narati turned to face the person talking to him. It was the blonde-haired elf he saved earlier. She let out the sweetest smile, something he did not expect coming from a light-skinned elf.

“W-where are we?” asked Narati weakly.

“On the way to one of the nearby free towns. We simply hope that they would not mind us staying for a while. They are not exactly welcoming towards Haven citizens.”

“Endsville?”

“Yes. Your Crocodilian friend told us to get there to seek shelter until we have sufficiently recovered.” Then the elf fell silent.

“What? What happened? Karkas, what happened to him? I remembered him laying on the ground. Did he wake up? Where is he?"

The elf reluctantly said, “He’s…Darkened by the Aether. He fell into a coma.”

“Darkened? What are you talking about?”

“I think it’s better if I show you.” The elf offered her hand without so much of a hesitation. Narati took it and was helped up on his feet. He felt weak, but he could still walk with a little guidance.

The sight of the Desert Wasteland at night was not accommodating, considering that he was already used to the forested region of the Emerald Valley. He loved the sound of nocturnal animals from the nearby forest whenever he had a hard time going to sleep. The Desert, in comparison, felt empty and cold.

Trying to distract him from the depressing scenery, he turned towards the fair-skinned elf and said, “I didn’t catch your name.”

“Tallinn of Gal’Doris,” said the elf.

“Gal’Doris? Where is that?”

“A haven on the east, south of the Emerald Valley region by the inland sea, the only place in this world where you will find marine life. I am a traveler and am not expected to return anytime soon.”

“I want to say that I wish to see it, but then…I’m a rat.”

Tallinn smiled. “One day, it will be open for all. My travels have showed me that this world is mending. It is a reassuring thought after five hundred years.”

“Five hundred years? So, you’re as old as Aranis, then.”

“I presume that is your Forest Child friend?”

“Forest Child? Oh, you mean wood elf. Yeah, that’s her.”

“I see.”

Narati soon returned to the situation at hand. “Where’s Karkas?”

“He’s in there.”

Narati followed Tallinn’s finger towards a dome maintained by two mages flanking it. The dome, supposedly a barrier, had visible outline that was dome-shaped, while also emitting bright blue aura. Within it, a human was tending to a black-scaled Crocodilian, just before another human tapped her shoulder, relieving her of duty. She resumed the other human’s duty.

“That is your friend, Karkas,” said Tallinn solemnly.

“That’s Karkas? But Kar has bronze scales, not black.”

“Indeed, he did, moments before the Darkening took hold. The Darkening is an affliction caused by severe Aether exposure that does not kill the victim, but instead changing the properties of his mana reserve. The healers in that dome are in the process of stopping the affliction from corrupting him. We managed to stop it from progressing further, but I’m afraid he was in the intermediate stage, hence the black scales. We cannot reverse the process. No one can."

“What happens if it’s a late stage?”

“Your friend will be taken over by his evil desires. Whatever he was before, whether he was a kind, reserved person, will be replaced by a murderous, sadistic person whose purpose is to plunge this world into chaos. Sounds familiar?”

“No.”

Tallinn sighed. “Forgive my prejudice. That is…the sole reason why your kind was created a thousand years ago. Not many remembered it, but elves have long memories. That is what my elders told me based on their experience fighting the Nuremnians.”

“You mean, we are born evil?”

“That is true…when you were created. A thousand years are long enough time for the Darkening effect to be diluted. So, you see, I am willing to trust that you are not like your ancestors.”

Narati responded with a nod, acknowledging the fact that Tallinn had a point. What else could explain the Fa’ar’s violent approach in dealing with hostile situations? Both his friends had reprimanded him several times on how he preferred to either blow things up or mutilating his enemies with his circular saw axe instead of talking. Not that he was as charismatic as Raine, though. He accepted this fact while noting that he only showed this dangerous side towards his enemies.

“So, what now?” asked Narati when he returned to the situation with Karkas. “I know my way home from here. It’s just…when will Karkas recover?”

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“At this point, I am unsure. In this time and age, only a handful of people, mostly elves, who had been trained to deal with the Darkening affliction. The ongoing efforts to heal the world have neutralized Aether contamination in most of the major regions. There has not been a reason to train healers on how to deal with the Darkening affliction. It has been a while since someone weaponized Aether, and Aether-afflicted creatures are rare. Alas, while I remembered my training from centuries ago, my focus was as a scholar.”

“But will he ever wake up?”

“Only time will tell, Narati.”

Narati let out an exasperated sigh. “How am I supposed to explain this to Raine?” he whispered to himself.

As he slowly recovered from his ordeal, Narati walked around the makeshift camp, meeting with those that he saved earlier and learning what he missed while he was knocked out. After they escaped Asran’s base, they wreaked havoc on Vermin House after their magic returned while escaping into the Wasteland. Tallinn was alerted by Tulis when she came up from the basement to check on the group. The Mygalean took her to where the unconscious Narati and N’Dari were, with Karkas struggling to stand while carrying Narati on his back with help from Tulis. Tulis managed to restart his heart after a near-fatal arrest, based on what the Mygalean told Tallinn.

The five of them joined the escapees towards Endsville, helped by Karkas. The Croc managed to lead them quite a distance before he started noticing his scales turning color from bronze to black. Before he fell into a coma, he asked Tallinn to lead them and leave him, anticipating his death. The elf refused to leave the Croc just as he lost consciousness. She deduced Karkas’s closeness to Narati, and decided to take him along and taught the healers among the escapees on how to halt the Darkening.

Narati soon found N’Dari, who was covered in bandages treating his burn, and Tulis, who preferred to stay away from the others owing to her appearance. In fact, Narati was only made aware of Tulis’s whereabouts from N’Dari. Walking towards a nearby rock formation, he found the Mygalean deep in thoughts.

“You’re awake,” said Tulis without ever looking at the Fa’ar. “Good.”

“For a moment, I thought you have gone your way,” said Narati.

“And I am considering it, until you came,” said Tulis. “It is hard to cope when you are being stared at by curious people.”

“They don’t fear you.”

“But their stares are uncomfortable. Granted, a Mygalean is far too unusual for them, which I understand. I have experienced some more…violent reactions towards my kind. It is what it is, and I have no means to change it.”

“Come on, Tulis. Albas aren’t that terrifying.”

“For you, perhaps.” Tulis paused, then said, “We may not meet again after this.”

“Why?”

“I have left my sisters for too long and I miss them dearly. My home…it’s far from here.”

“Is it far from the Emerald Valley, though?”

“I’m not sure, but not as far as it is from the Wasteland. You are from the Emerald Valley?” Tulis clicked her mandibles. “I’m surprised. Fa’ars are rare in the Valley.”

“I happened to be the only one in the town now. It’s a small town called Dragon’s Rest. We have just established, so it’s not much. It’s close to the desert.”

“Then again, it might just be far from where I lived.”

“Yeah. But at least you know its name. One day, when we have properly settled, I’m sure the town’s going to pop up in a map somewhere. You do have maps, don’t you?”

Tulis chuckled, which came out as clicking sound from her lower mandibles. “You’re funny, Fa’ar. Very funny.”

Before Narati could realize what amused Tulis, the Mygalean climbed down the rock she was on.

“I might think about it,” said Tulis. “Don’t expect your friends to react like you do.”

“Yeah. I understand.”

Tulis returned to her pondering, though she said, “After we leave Endsville, I will accompany you along with N’Dari, in return for you saving us. Your Crocodilian friend is in no condition to travel, and I’m sure you need to explain his absence.”

Narati wanted to say that he was willing to wait for Karkas, but then he changed his mind. It’s better for Raine to learn what happened from him. Karkas needed his rest and it could take a while. It could take weeks. Months, even. He knew his way to and from Endsville, so he could visit from time to time. That was if Karkas would be willing to stay instead of setting off on his own. Knowing the Crocodilian, he would do just that.

In the end, Narati agreed with Tulis. The next morning, they continued to Endsville, entering the town before noon. The unusual group attracted the attention of the townspeople. They never expected a Mygalean to be among their group and, surely enough, some of them were stunned by her arachnoid appearance. Narati was unsure if they were terrified or was it because of something else.

Hasheti, the Crocodilian madame, met with the group after noticing Narati among them. She was going to ask about Karkas when she noticed a black-scaled Crocodilian being carried on a makeshift stretcher, made light by the feather spell. He was set down gently as Hasheti looked at him. Being a Crocodilian, she immediately recognized the Crocodilian even if his scales had changed.

“What happened?” asked Hasheti. “This isn’t body paint.”

Narati explained the best he could about the situation with Asran along with the group that he traveled with back to Endsville. Hasheti listened intently, but lost herself halfway through the explanation; it was too unbelievable to comprehend.

“Asran did this to him? A Darkening affliction or whatever the hell this is?” asked Hasheti, bewildered. “And you think I’m the best person to keep him safe?”

“He asked to be brought here,” said Tallinn.

“Look, elf, in case you don’t know, this is a brothel, not a clinic. We haven’t had a proper clinic ever since the last doctor got killed by crackheads. They have since gone away, though, so, if you know how to treat him while looking after yourself, be my guest. This isn’t called a free town for nothing.”

“But you seem to be the one in charge.”

“In charge of the girls I am protecting from unruly customers. No one’s in charge of the town, elf, especially not an Unmarked Crocodilian like me.”

“The way I see it, this place is the only place that’s properly maintained,” said Tulis, looking at the brothel. “That makes you the only one who’s in charge, given that you are the only one who cared enough to protect your people."

Hasheti turned to face the Mygalean. Like the others, she was shocked with the spider person’s appearance, which did not faze Tulis. Yet, after she recovered from her shock relatively quickly, she commented, “You know someone would pay extra to have a go with exotic kinds.”

This in turn surprised Tulis, so she retorted. “I am not for sale. And besides, Mygaleans eat their mate’s head. You do realize I’m a spider, don’t you?”

“Well…does that extend to female spiders, too?”

“I am not offering myself. End of conversation.”

Not wanting to antagonize the Mygalean, Hasheti stopped and returned to Tallinn.

“Use the building beside this brothel. It’s the best space we got that isn’t ruined too badly. It needs a bit of work, but I’m sure you know what you’re doing. It’s free for you to use. Just don’t expect privacy.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, Crocodilian,” said Tallinn. The elf then turned to Narati and said, “If you wish to keep yourself updated, I may have a solution for it.”

She promptly took out a pair of bricks from her satchel, then carved three runic symbols on them before whispering an incantation. The symbols glowed brightly as she incantate and dimmed when she was finished. She gave one of the bricks to Narati while keeping the other pair.

“Forgive me for the choice of item, but it’s the only object big enough to fit all three runes while also being hardy,” said Tallinn. “If you need me to help you explain, simply ask your friend to feed mana into this.”

“Feeding mana into a brick?” asked Narati, confused.

“This is not just any brick. In ancient times, there are communication devices that made use of ley lines, amplified by communication towers. Most of the knowledge from that age is long gone, but that doesn’t mean we can no longer have long-range communication. I carved three runes to turn these bricks into improvised communication devices.”

“But this isn’t something that I can use,” said Narati.

“Not unless you have a mana source connected to it, which I’m sure you know what to do, given the enchantment you gave your axe.”

“It’s still a brick, though. Featherweight spell aside, no one’s going to lug around a brick unless you want to smack it on someone’s head.”

“What you do is your choice, Narati. When are you going to set off?”

“Tomorrow, I guess. And don’t worry. I’m not going to travel alone.”

Tallinn wondered about that until she noticed the Mygalean and said, “Ah. She will make a very…interesting companion, indeed.”

After Tallinn excused herself, Narati had one more thing to do before he took his rest, still exhausted after his recovery. The Fa’ar slowly walked towards the only Leonian in the group, checking on his bandaged wounds outside the brothel near a ruined brick building. He immediately noticed Narati and cracked a smile on his feline face.

“So, are we ready to go?” asked N’Dari.

“Are you that eager to travel already? Dragon’s Rest is not going anywhere, you know,” replied Narati.

“Ah, that’s disappointing,” said N’Dari with a disappointed tone. “But you got a point. I can’t be of use if my shoulder’s still stiff.”

“It’s not like we’re going to fight anyone on the way, you know.”

“You never know, rat. A warrior must be at top shape to anticipate anything. I’m hardly a warrior, but that doesn’t mean I am abandoning that piece of advice.”

“Good to know that’s the case,” said Narati. “So, uh. What’s your answer?”

“About the offer? Come on. I am not changing my mind on the fly like some people. If I say yes, it means yes. I can regret my choices later, but most of the time, I know I made the right choice. You are a unique rat, and you need an artificer working alongside you. I’m the only one you know, so I’m in.”

Narati let out a satisfied squeak. “Glad to know that, N’Dari. Good thing you won’t be alone in Dragon’s Rest.”

“And why’s that?”

“You said you’re from the Southern Plains, right? We already have a Chitra living in the town. She taught me a lot about fighting, though after our latest battle, I realized I still have a long way to go.”

“Well, whoever this Chitra is, I’m sure she’s going to be an interesting person. They traded strength with agility, and their brand of magic favors speed. They look fragile, but in truth, they are as dangerous as a lion man. But, uh…why is she even up here in the first place?”

“She has her reasons,” said Narati. “It’s not something I’d speak openly about. I made a promise to her.”

“One that I’m sure you’ll uphold. I don’t generally trust a Fa’ar with a promise, but like I said, you’re the exception. Which is why you and I should take a good rest before we set towards your hometown. I want to see the green plains of the Emerald Valley for myself.”

“Beats the desert all the way. It’s like day and night.”

“But does it compare with the grasslands of the Southern Plains? It’s still my judgement, rat.”

“Yeah. I guess so. But look at it my way. I lived my whole life in the desert, most of the time in chains or ropes or whatever they tied me in. Your bare feet either burned in the scorching desert or severely cut trying to clutch something while they, uh…never mind. My point is, once you touch grass, you never want to suffer through sand again. Unless it’s necessary.”

“That’s, uh…something else,” said N’Dari, taken aback by Narati casually talking about his past sufferings.

“Yeah. It was something else.”

Narati would usually be reluctant to talk about his past to a stranger, especially if they were not what he considered a friend. Nevertheless, both Tulis and N’Dari were good people in their own ways, even if they were unusual company in the eye of others.

Tomorrow, they would start their long trek back to Dragon’s Rest. Narati better take a good rest before then. He wasn’t sure if his body could withstand the travel after the Aether exposure.

It would be great to have someone to lean on. Someone soft on touch and not covered in hard, ridged scales.