Through the travel, Daniel hardly slept. It was only when he was truly tired did he find a place to hide, typically in a tree. He would climb up and sleep on a branch. He only allowed himself an hour at most of rest before he continued on with his journey. During that time, Daniel field that he was going to die from exhaustion or that he might not make it in time. Migraines started. They first came as a rather small annoyance. Before, he would only need a single rest. But as time waned on, he found that his short little rest only cured them a little. It was a little balm that he placed over a gaping wound. He tried to push past the pain, push past his body’s limits.

Daniel took a sip of water. The cool, fresh water was able to help him stay awake. He wiped the remnants from his mouth as he looked ahead. From what he saw, it seemed like an endless amount of forest left. Daniel felt an ache in his chest. He grasped at it, but it was deep inside.

He wanted to be there for his uncle. He wanted to stop Scarlet Grove and the Traditionalists from fighting, but there was only so much he could do.

A pain shot through Daniel’s head. It was as though his brain was about to explode. It coursed through him as though his brain was going to open with a fissure revealing the insides to his skull. He wondered if this was it, if he was going to die right then and there. He started to fall.

Not yet. Daniel’s thought was weak. He held out his hand as he fell. His hands caught him and he fell on his knees. His breathing became heavy all of a sudden. Daniel didn’t remember having trouble breathing before, but that heaviness was there now. It was as if someone had poured lead down in his lungs. He tried to endure it, the pain. The pain. It was dragging him down.

The water? Daniel turned to look at the water. Something must have been in the water. Had the Lone Riders and Fifty Leagues Shark Gang poisoned it? Daniel didn’t think so. The river was too valuable a resource. Even the most evil person in the wasteland would do something so stupid, would they?

It didn’t matter now. Daniel felt like he was going to die. His only regret was that he wasn’t going to be there for his uncle.

Just as Daniel felt that he was about to go, he saw a hand appear in front of him. “You don’t look good there, son. Do you need help getting up?”

Daniel tried to speak. He wondered who this person was, couldn’t they see how hard he was breathing? How he was struggling to even stay conscious?

But something called out to Daniel. It wanted him to reach for the man’s hand. And he did. Before Daniel could even think, he reached for the man’s hand and held onto it. The moment Daniel touched the man’s hand, he felt a jolt rush over him. It was an influx of energy, but this wasn’t a rush of wild, violent energy. This was a calmness, the feeling of relaxation as though sitting down after exercising or getting in the shade after being out in the hot sun.

Finally Daniel was able to stand up. He no longer felt as weak as he had before.

“Thank you,” Daniel began to say as he began to stand up. His legs were still rather shaky, but it wasn’t so bad. As he stood up, he could see the person who had rescued him. His eyes went wide when he saw the man’s face.

“Hello son,” Spencer said.

“Dad?” Daniel asked. He reached his arms around. He grasped at his father, but he went right through him. Daniel looked in horror at his hands. He then turned to see his father turning around. The two of them faced each other once again. “How are- Am I dead?”

“Not yet, but if you keep this up, you will be.”

“Keep- Dad, I don’t understand.”

“Your body, Dan-dan. You’re pushing yourself too much.” Daniel knew what his father meant. But how else was he supposed to reach his uncle in time. There was still an endless amount of forest in front of him.

“It is probably for the best,” Spencer said. Daniel gave a confused look at his father. “You’ve already ended up failing us.”

“Failing- what?”

A figure stalked behind Daniel’s father. She came out from behind him, leaving a gentle hand trailing on his shoulder. Colleen stared at Daniel, her face as cold as Daniel remembered. Cold and exacting. “Yes, you failed. Your father raised you to be kind. But what was the first thing you did after we died, you went and killed someone.”

Daniel tried to think back. It had been so many years. He didn’t remember.

A hand grabbed at Daniel from behind. With a jerk, he pulled Daniel to look at him. The man was a mess, his face was covered in blood. “Do you remember me, you jerk?” Daniel could barely recognize the man. He was the one Daniel killed, the one part of the Fifty Leagues Shark Gang. He shook Daniel back and forth. “You killed me. You killed me. How dare you!”

Dan’s hand moved before he could. His hand came up in a vicious slap. The man’s face bent and hung off. Blood and other meat matter began to trickle to the ground.

“You are failing,” Colleen said to her son. “Join us. Join us in death.”

“Join us Dan-dan,” Spencer held out his hand. “You don’t have to worry any more. Not about your uncle, not about failing us. You’d be free of your responsibility.”

“Join us, you little punk,” the Fifty Leagues Shark member said in excitement.

“Join us.” The three of them began to chant. Their voices were only three, but soon they were beginning to come from all around. It was as though the forest itself was speaking, asking Daniel to join his parents in death. The wind began to howl. It spoke of joining them.

Spencer grabbed one of his son’s wrists. Colleen grabbed the other. The ground then began to pull them down. It pulled them deeper and deeper.

Daniel tried to break free. He tried to leap into the air to get away from them.

He only got about an inch before a hand grabbed at him from below. The Shark member had already begun to sink. He was up to his chest in the ground. His skin was now a sickish green color. “Join us,” he laughed.

Daniel tried to break free, but it was as though his parents grips were made of iron. They sunk deeper and deeper into the ground. They were now up to their shoulders. As for Daniel, he was sinking as well. He was up to his waist in the ground.

He needed to break free. He yanked and pulled until the ground was up to his wrists.

“No!” Daniel screamed. “No.” He tried gather his qi, to use the reservoir of energy to help him get out of the situation. But the fact was that he just couldn’t. He had used up all his qi. Everything he had, he had placed in getting to his uncle. Now when he needed it most, he couldn’t.

Daniel looked up into the sky. He screamed as he tried to break free. The primal fear was unlocked inside of him. Images of his parents being in that hole in the ground. The fear, that he would end up there one day too.

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“Please help,” Daniel cried.

He was now up to his neck. He could see the insects crawling around him. He could see bits of fish that swam too close to the surface. There wasn’t anyone around. No one to save him, no one to rescue him. This was it.

His eyes were now gone.

Everything was dark.

Then…

Daniel shot up. He found himself lying next to the river. He looked up at the sky. It was dark now. He didn’t know when he had fallen asleep. But his body was still aching. It hurt to even just move a single muscle. Daniel tried to loosen his body up by stretching, but that just caused his body to roar in protest. But the pain was nothing compared to what his uncle inflicted on him. He stood up and made his way to a tree. He leaned his aching body against it.

Daniel looked up at the sky. He let out a sigh. He thought back to how he got to this point. After some time, Daniel fell back asleep.

This time, he didn’t dream. He woke up, feeling better than before. Daniel stretched his limbs, getting the pressure off his joints. He looked at the sun in the sky and continued on.

As Daniel ran, he wondered about what his dreams told him. Was he really failing his parents? He thought back to what his father’s words:

This world is a miserable place

Pity the humans that live in it

Alleviate suffering from this world

Is a long and arduous task

But only then will I be exultant

“Father,” Daniel called out. He thought of what he had seen, all the pain, all the suffering. People were hurting people. That was the simple fact of life. The sects, the gangs, the organizations they all had their agendas. Whenever someone came into conflict with them, they’d kill them. That was what Daniel had learned over the years.

So then what was the answer? Words were useless, but power would only breathe hate into society. Was there some other answer, a third answer? There was one that Daniel could think about, but it was too harsh. His parents would have been ashamed of him for even thinking it.

Days past. Daniel had put the thought of what would bring peace to the world out of his mind. First he would get to his uncle. That was his goal at the moment. But the thought kept popping up, entering his thoughts.

Finally, Daniel made his way out of the forest. And a few days later, he made it to the edge of a cliff. He had an aerial view of Blue Creek.

Down below, the town had been engulfed in war. The buildings were set ablaze and townspeople were running around. The two sects fought against each other. Daniel didn’t see his uncle, not yet at least.

Daniel checked first for a hand hold, then he leapt off. The air was rushing all around him. It was as if he had gone back to when he was a kid at Paragreen mountain. Muscle memory took over and Daniel grabbed at the hand holds. When there were none, he would simply use his qi to slowly glide down until he found one.

Soon, Daniel found that he was low enough that he could leap towards one of the buildings. The fire down below had already spread, and just a second after Daniel landed on top, the building tipped over and began to fall.

People screamed in terror as the building fell. Thankfully, everyone was far enough away that no one was hurt.

Daniel slid off and watched as all around people were screaming in terror. All around him was in utter chaos. It was one thing to look from above, to see the world below. But it was another to be a part of it. All the screaming, all the figures running around. No one even noticed that Daniel came from the top of the burning building.

Screams were everywhere as bodies fell from both factions. Daniel could only recognize the traditionalists. But none of them were the ones he was looking for.

Daniel began to move. He didn’t know which direction, if any was the correct one. So he picked one and ran.

The landscape was even worse than his nightmare. At least in his nightmare, he could wake up. But this was the world, a world of running, screaming people. Daniel had seen death, he had seen the skirmish. But this was different. He could tell that some of the bodies had been left on the ground for days. Flies covered a person’s body. So many were they that Daniel didn’t even know what the person’s face even looked like.

But there were others, some had died of cuts and slashes. There were more than a few that had been burnt to a crisp. Some Daniel had seen with the Traditionalists. Others were from Scarlet Grove. But the majority were people from the town. The people who had never known violence.

Just a few feet in front of him, Daniel saw a man appear. He was dressed in a rather regal clothes, long black pants with a pristine white shirt and black coat. The man leaned on a can with the head of a lion on top. Surrounding him were many children. They huddled around him, trying to keep their eyes away from the violence all around. The bent low and began leading them towards Daniel.

The man walked up to Daniel. He bent low. “Hello there, son. Did you lose your family?”

“I’m fine,” Daniel said.

The man laughed as though they weren’t in a war zone. “Well, I don’t see your parents anywhere. Tell you what, how’s about I take you with me. I promise I can take you far away from here.”

Daniel narrowed his eyes. He could see what this man was doing. But he wondered what he would do to the kids.

“I’m fine, honest. I just need to find someone and I’ll be out of here.” Daniel turned around to try and leave, but the man caught him by the wrist.

The man’s face wasn’t so friendly anymore. “Now listen here, I’m offering you safety from all this. Are you really going to turn that all down for someone, just one person? Because I really think it is in your best interest to come with me.”

“And I think it is in my best interest that I should leave.” Daniel pulled his wrist away. The strength he yanked his wrist away caused the man to be in shock. Daniel turned to the children surrounding the man. “Those of you who want to find your families should leave. Those that don’t have any should follow the river and leave town.”

“How dare-” the man began to say. But before he could finish his sentence, Daniel leapt in the air. His knee cracked against the man’s jaw.

“You Fifty League Sharks don’t have much of a vocabulary. The last one who threatened me ended up in an early grave.”

The man in the pristine suit massaged his jaw. “You’ll pay for that.”

“All of you, stand behind me.”

The children all began to run. The man looked around, watching as the children left him. He tried to grab at them, but the sheer number of them was too much, he couldn’t decide on which one to grab. Before he knew it, all of them had left him. With all of them gone, he glowered at Daniel. “Your parents must have never taught to respect your elders.”

“My parents are dead, asshole.” Daniel charged towards the man.

In the amount of time it took Daniel to reach him, the man grabbed at the middle of his cane. From it came a glistening blade. He held out the blade, stretching it and aiming it towards Daniel.

Daniel ducked underneath the blade and slid underneath the man’s feet. Daniel grabbed at the man’s coat tail with one, and striking with the other. The two objects collided with Daniel’s fist digging into the man’s back. The man yelped in pain, but was able to use the force of the blow to move back.

He moved his body forward into a sprint.

Daniel was confused, thinking the man was bolting at the first sign of trouble. Instead, he saw the man reach one of the children who hid behind Daniel. The little child was a kid no older than five. The man lifted him up by his now dirty white shirt. The kid stared right into the man’s eyes, fear paralyzing him. He didn’t dare look down. He could already feel the end of the blade placed right on his stomach. Tears began to roll down his eyes.

“You seem to have a good head on your shoulders, kid. How’s about this: you let me go. Once I’m far enough away, I’ll let this kid go? What do you say?”

“Let the kid go first and then I’ll let you go.” Daniel tried to think of a way to get the kid out of there. There were the other kids, but one of them might get hurt. And with the chaos all around, who knew if anyone would be willing to help out.

“Do you think I’m dumb? As soon as I turn my back, you’ll just do a sneak attack.”

Daniel held up his hand. He saw his father do this a few times when his mother was mad at him. “I can swear to you, that if you let that child go, I will not chase after you.”

“And what good would the word of a child do?” The man began to twist the blade around. It dug a hole into boy’s shirt. Blood hadn’t spilled, but it was only a matter of time. “I should gut this kid for even suggesting something as stupid as that.”

Maneuvers and scenarios danced in Daniel’s brain. He needed to think of something. But everything ended with either him, the kids, or those around getting hurt. There wasn’t much time left. Daniel needed to make a decision.

He decided it needed to come down to luck. He needed to get there before the man even realized. Sure the kid may die, but there were many more kids. People died every day, what was one more in the grand scheme of things?

Qi burst through Daniel’s body. He needed to be fast, but there was no time to get in a running position. He needed to be fast, as fast as he could. No time to waste. Move!

Daniel moved. He could feel the energy coursing through him.

But before he could even get to the man, a figure came into view. It kicked the man in the face. He went flying through the air, landing on pieces of burning rubble. The man screamed out in terror as he got up and began to roll around on the ground, desperately trying to put the fire out.

Daniel didn’t pay attention to the man anymore. He didn’t even pay attention to the figure. With the battle over, he couldn’t help but realize what he had almost done. He had just risked the life of another child. It was one thing to risk the lives of a gang member or soldier, they knew what they were getting into. But a child?

Perhaps his parents were right? Maybe he was failing them.