《Broken Chains》


 Prologue - Pandora

    Somewhere in the depths of the infinity layers of reality, between impossible large stars and stretches of space where no matter seemed to have existed for an eternity, a small point of dust floated through the endless nothingness.


    This small point of dust, seeming so utterly insignificant in the grand scheme of things, was a world known by its inhabitants as Pandora. Even though Pandora was less than a speck of dust on a universal scene, it was no small planet. The exact opposite in fact, Pandora was an unimaginable large planet that had been floating through the vast nothingness of space alone for an impossible long time, as it had consumed its own sun eons ago.


    Now, some beings, for example a bunch of scientists from a planet from the other side of the universe known as earth, likely would like to ask how a planet could sustain life without a sun to warm it.


    Well, that would thoroughly be a pertinent question, and would someone take the time to study Pandora more closely, one would find a million more pertinent questions like that. All these questions had one simple answer: Pandora didn¡¯t operate on the rules and principles of causality, and neither did it operate on those of natural laws. No, Pandora operated on its very own rules. Those rules, seemingly not understandable by their very nature, were nothing to be studied or calculated, no, they simply were.


    Even though Pandora had no sun, there was light, there were livable temperatures, and there were seasons and days. For those scientists from earth, already mentioned prior, things like that would be reasons to be baffled over for their whole life. But not for the inhabitants of Pandora, not those at least I¡¯m going to tell you about in the following.


    No, those inhabitants had other things to worry about. The Gremlin¡¯s, a race living in one of the coldest parts of Pandora had no easy life. The exact opposite in fact, the whole race of the Gremlin¡¯s, at least the whole known part of it, were part of one single clan.


    This clan, only some thousand individuals strong, was always petering at the edge of oblivion. There were many reasons for the predicament of this clan, but none of those shall be elaborate on here, no, those reasons you will learn out of the sight of one particular poor Gremlin.


    This Gremlin, known as something unintelligible to the human speech, wasn¡¯t too smart, but it knew many words, in particular insults, for whom there is no counter for in the speech of earth humans. In fact, all the names and even many words in the Gremlin language would have no counterpart in the human language. So please let me refer to this particular Gremlin as ¡°Puck¡± and let me invent names and translations for the rest of them as well.


    On that note, I think it is time to start with the story, as our favorite Gremlin is experiencing a situation, right in this moment, that is all to telling on its miserable life.


    With that, let the story of Puck the Gremlin begin and let all of Puck¡¯s insults against God and the world ring through the universe. In particular towards a planet known as dirt and most notable to some undefined scientists there, Puck certainly wouldn¡¯t like.


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    <hr>


    Puck hated many things, stones, mushrooms, work, life, ¡­ and ¡­, the list of things his small Gremlin mind hated could go on for eternity. But most of all Puck hated his fellow Gremlin¡¯s that liked nothing more than to make his day worse.


    Many of the other thing¡¯s Puck hated also had to do with the other Gremlin¡¯s. For example, the already mentioned the stones. Afterall nothing is worse than getting thrown to death by stones, at least that is what some would say, but not Puck. He would say, that being thrown to death by stones mixed in with lizard shit was even worse.


    Oh, but there were not only thing¡¯s Puck hated because of the other Gremlin¡¯s, oh no. There were oh so many things Puck loved above all else because of them. You could say they were the very lifeblood of all his activities. Curses. And Curses. And even more Curses.


    Puck liked nothing more than to curse his enemy¡¯s, if loud or quiet, if in long sentences or short statements. Puck made an art of it. So also right now, on this lovely morning in the Gremlin¡¯s caves in some undefined part of the eternal Ice of Pangea.


    As Puck slid and ran across the eternal Ice that was all the Gremlins knew of the world, he cursed, and in what fantastical ways he cursed.


    First, he cursed the dimly gleaming moss on the walls and the ceiling. Afterall, it wasn¡¯t bright enough to see clearly. Because of that Puck feared to stumble at any moment. And if he stumbled, the impact on the floor would be the smallest of his problems. The bigger problem would be the flock of laughing and shouting Gremlin¡¯s behind him that gave it their all to catch their prey.


    That was also the reason why those Gremlin¡¯s got the bigger share of Puck¡¯s cursing efforts. Firstly, he wished death on them, after all, it was always good to start with the basics, no?


    After death, so Pucks imagination, they would have to work eternally on mushroom farms with too low a ceiling and mushrooms with terrible stench.


    As Puck ran on through the nearly completely dark tunnels of the eternal ice his mind drifted further and further away from reality, wishing the most horrible things his gremlin mind could come up with on his enemy¡¯s.


    Truly, Puck could envision how they ¡­


    Sadly, for our dear Puck he couldn¡¯t spin that thought on, as his mind had wandered to far already and his foot got stuck on a stone outcropping.


    With a terribly high squeak and after a second of atrocious slowness where Puck sailed through the air, he hit the ground, and all the stale air of the caverns left his small gremlin lungs.


    After one, two, three aching roles Puck would have expected to come to a standstill and get pummeled by his pursuers. But no, as the ground below him got steeper and steeper and Puck only got faster, true fear entered his heart.


    Afterall, his pursuers wouldn¡¯t kill him if they found him. This mushroom dung contaminated slope though potentially would. Why ¡°mushroom dung contaminated¡±? Because it was the best curse Puck could come up with in that instant.


    It seemed that lost in his thoughts and the darkness Puck had entered a part of the tunnels in the eternal ice that the gremlins normally didn¡¯t enter.


    Would it have been less dark; Puck would have noticed it. Would he have been less distracted by cursing; he probably would even have been able to notice when he lost his pursuers as they weren¡¯t willing to follow where he went. But he did not.


    And as such he rolled on through the darkness, getting faster and faster and being less and less conscious as his head hit stones again and again. And after a short time, ¡­, only darkness, as puck lost his conscious completely.

 Chapter 1 - A fatefull encounter

    For ages upon ages, it had waited and planed it¡¯s return. It had imagined the horrors it would inflict upon all those that had stood against it, and it had reveled in what was to come. For surely it was to come, after all, something of its greatness was fated to be found, to be returned and to be restored to its former glory.


    And so, it had waited, and waited, and waited on and on. It had waited far longer than any mortal mind could possibly imagine, but still nobody had come, and nobody had found it.


    And as such, even though being an ancient weapon of a long-forgotten era with powers untold and a glorious past it had felt the touch of time.


    First it had been its physical form. After having had a human hand polish it every single day for as long as it could remember, it had never had contact with the concept called rust. But in this lonely cavern in the middle of an endless expanse of ice it had suddenly seen a spot on its glory and even though giving it his all in willing it away, it hadn¡¯t gone away.


    No, in fact it had been the opposite. First it had been a single spot, then after eras more it had been its whole form. After the degradation of its physical body the one-off its spirit had started. Though this transformation had been much more insidious and even the glorious weapon itself hadn¡¯t noticed it.


    Now, eras later, after a time unthinkable for a human mind the spirit heard something for the first time. At the start it though it was imagining thing¡¯s again, but as it got louder and louder its spirit started to rise in elation. This was it, it felt it, there was a glorious knight riding toward it on his glorious mount, each hoofbeat getting louder and louder and each one faster and faster.


    Then, when the spirits elation met its peak, it came. On a small avalanche of rocks, a tiny hideous creature got carried into its cavern.


    <hr>


    A groan came out of Puck¡¯s mouth as his body seemed to register his pain before his mind could even start to form a coherent thought.


    Everything hurt. Puck wouldn¡¯t even start to describe where it hurt, as there was no place that didn¡¯t. The worst pain though came from his but on which he had landed after falling.


    Puck was sure that he would never be able to sit normally on a chair again. He thought he could already hear the laughter off the other Gremlin¡¯s about his misfortune in his mind. Already Puck wanted to start throwing out the best curses he could imagine that he had saved exactly for such a moment, when he started to become aware, that the laughter wasn¡¯t in his mind at all.


    The laughter also wasn¡¯t the cackling and dry one of a Gremlin. No, it was high and insane, and it seemed like the one laughing barely even knew anymore how to do it.


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    <hr>


    Oh, how it laughed. If it had a belly, it would have had to hold it with both hands and if it had eyes it would cry from laughing. But it had neither of those. It was only a rusty old sword, whose voice seemingly came out of nothing.


    And as it laughed like that the mind of the old weapon truly seemed to walk on the thin line towards a kind of insanity after which one would never be able to talk clearly again.


    Oh, how it had waited. For eons upon eons, and then, when it finally thought a glorious night came to take it back into its rightful place in castles and on blood drenched battlefields this small and dirty ¡­ thing ¡­ came crashing into its abode.


    As the laughter of the sword grew more and more insane in its state of hysteria, the dirty green thing on the ground started to move.


    First it was only a small twitch of something the sword assumed to be the finger of the creature, then it was a low grown out of its hideous mouth.


    Bit by bit the creature came alive. And together with that the sword grew quieter again.


    Afterall, even though this ¡­ thing ¡­ seemed to be more hideous than anything else it had ever seen, it was still the first living thing it had seen in eons, and perhaps, only perhaps, it could lower itself enough to sully itself by having those green and dirty stumps of fingers touch its glorious self and take it out of this godforsaken place.


    <hr>


    It took some time for Puck to be able to move and see again, at least somewhat. His eyes where blurry and his movements jerky, but in the end, he managed to sit himself up.


    By the time he sat on his terrible aching bum the laughter Puck had thought to hear had long since stopped and silence reigned again.


    Puck had started to believe the laughter had been only a product of its own imagination, or something caused by hitting his head a few times to often a few times to hard.


    And as Puck could hazily see the room he was in, that believe good proof behind it, as nobody was in the room with him. In fact, the room he was in was a very small one, only ten by ten Gremlin foot across. At that point it is to note though, that even though Gremlin¡¯s where only about half as big as the hairless monkeys, also called humans, that also lived on Pandora somewhere far away. Gremlin feet where nearly the same size as those of humans.


    But even though Gremlin¡¯s had terrible big feet and looked disgusting by the standards of most species they had one great advantage. They could see nearly everywhere, even in caverns where there was no glowing moose, gremlins would still be able to see clearly. How they did that? Nobody knew, they them self the least of all.


    So even though it was completely dark, and Puck¡¯s sight still was blurry from the fall he thought he could see everything clear enough in this small room. It was a circular cavern with uneven walls and one relatively big hole through which Puck must have been washed in.


    On the floor there was an avalanche of stones which Puck believed must have come in together with him. And in the middle of the small cavern, there was something Puck couldn¡¯t place in the rest of the picture.


    It seemed like someone had built a desk, many times to great as that any gremlin could ever sit on it and then placed it in this godforsaken cavern. But it only seemed like that, right? Afterall, why would anybody ever do something like that?


    After Puck rubbed his eyes one, two, then three times and the much to large desk was still there he decided that it would be best to simply look what was on the desk. Perhaps that would give this whole thing some meaning.

 Chapter 2 - A talking sword

    After deciding on the course of action, first was time for something else. Cursing. While sitting there, with his whole-body aching and the desk way too high to look on it, Puck began to curse his life, and the cavern he was in and the stones that hit him on his way into the cavern.


    Just when Puck was about to call the desk in the middle of the room a bad example what happened when stupidity was paired with free time, he heard something. It was as if something or someone had spoken in the darkness.


    With a high-pitched screech and a tearing agony of his muscles Puck jumped on his feet. And as Puck screeched another voice answered him in the same volume.


    ¡°Aaahhh, my ears, can this dirty, dirty thing please refrain from sullying this one¡¯s ears?¡±


    As Puck heard the voice the second time, his still confused brain suddenly ground to a halt.


    ¡°What was going on here?¡±, Puck thought. The voice seemingly came from atop the desk. But who, and more importantly why would anyone be on this cursed desk in this cavern in the middle of nowhere?


    Puck slowly counted the seconds as now suddenly a silence stretched on between him and the mysterious other being on the desk. When Puck reached twenty, and that was anyway as far as he could possibly count, the voice suddenly spoke up again.


    ¡°Well, can you talk? Please be able to talk, I can¡¯t imagine to be held by something that can¡¯t even talk! It can¡¯t be the language at least, my glorious self speaks in all languages at the same time, even the most disdainful ones.¡±


    Puck, slowly realizing that the voice was talking about his glorious self when it said things like ¡°the dirty, dirty thing¡± started to get very angry as he curled his hands to fists, his own claws digging into his flesh.


    Without further thought he decided that he simply would throw the desk to it ¡®s side, so that the one talking with him would fall down and become visible to him.


    Now, for the time being ignoring the voice from above that keep on insulting him, Puck walked forward toward the desk on aching legs. Then, after a glorious windup, Puck kicked the desk with all he had.


    But instead of the leg of the desk breaking of, or the desk falling to the side Puck only felt like his foot was breaking and he shrieked in pain again.


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    The voice from above seemingly also noted the development and snorted derisively: ¡°Truly, my luck to be left in this grove for eons, only to then have a half sapient animal come and disrupt me.¡±


    Puck, now also being angry on himself, started cursing loudly with all his ability while slowly reaching down to the very bottom of the leg of the desk before him. Then under great pain and an immense effort he finally managed to lift one side of the desk form the ground, and after some agonizing seconds of effort the desk slowly started to topple, the voice from above now joining Puck in his cursing efforts.


    After the desk fell to the side, the surface of the table still was between Puck and the mysterious being and as such Puck slowly started to walk around the desk to finally see the originator of the voice.


    But as Puck looked for who had fallen from the desk there was no small creature that had fallen from the desk. No, it was not as Puck had imagined, there was not one of the rare few lizards able to speak, neither was their one of the small ice fairies that liked to ensnare poor Gremlin¡¯s and lead them into unknown tunnels till they didn¡¯t know the way back.


    No, slightly hidden among the leftovers of the nearly completely disintegrated tablecloth, something silver and shining looked out, and again it spoke.


    ¡°You, you, ¡­ how dare you attack this one? I am the great sword Zephyrian, and none can stand before me wan I¡¯m swung by a might hand!¡±


    Puck, getting more and more confused carefully sneaked toward the gleaming thing, and then, with a light touch and barely suppressed curiosity and fear he touched the gleaming thing with one of his claws.


    After nothing happened, but another rant about something dirty touching it. Puck went on with his exploration as he had already learned in this short time to ignore the voice. Afterall, he was much too curious, whatever this was, he had never seen something like it.


    With a few hurried movements Puck removed the rest of the fabric and as he saw what had been hidden beneath, he was not sure if he was elated, disappointed, or merely confused.


    There, on the floor before him, fitting to size of the desk a weapon lay. At least Puck thought it to be a weapon as he had never seen anything like it before. Afterall he was only a Gremlin that used tools out of bone as weapons.


    The gleaming thing Puck had seen at the start was a beautiful stone that had been imbedded on one side of the weapon where Puck thought one should heft the weapon.


    But the rest of the object didn¡¯t look as nice as the stone, everything seemed dark brown and slightly yellow with small flakes having fallen to the ground from its form.


    As Puck further studied the object, no Zephyrian, the sword, as it had called itself, he started to become aware, that it likely hadn¡¯t always looked like this, but that time had taken its tool.


    After a while, where even the Zephyrian stayed silent Puck also spoke up. But instead of further insulting or cursing Zephyrian the Gremlin suddenly seemed a lot friendlier.


    Perhaps even Puck himself didn¡¯t knew why he wasn¡¯t angry anymore. Perhaps the Gremlin saw someone that also had a hard history on his or its back, or perhaps he simply didn¡¯t want to ruin any benefit he could perhaps still get from this situation.


    Either way, as Puck spoke up the next time, he said the following: ¡°Hello Zephyrian, the sword, I¡¯m Puck the Gremlin, and just like you I like cursing.¡±

 Chapter 3 - Crimson death

    Puck himself wasn''t sure what came into him when he decided to extend an olive branch towards the sword.


    But he did, and in the end, that was all that counted.


    After Puck spoke up, an uncomfortable silence reigned for some time before the sword suddenly started to laugh hysterically again. But only for a moment, then the sword calmed down again and answered in a calmer voice.


    "Very well, I can forget your insults up to this point and I even can take mine back. But don''t even think for a second I wouldn''t prefer to have been found by someone or something else."


    Puck, starting to get angry again, got back to his normal habits: "You stupid, stupid, hideous thing, I ..."


    But as Puck started to gear up again the sword interrupted him in a dry tone: "I thought you made it already clear that we both like cursing."


    Puck, having lost all his momentum, closed his mouth and went silent for a moment. Then instead of cursing on, like he had planned, he asked a question: "Would you like to tell me about your past?"


    Zephyrian stayed silent for a long while before finally and without great preamble starting to tell Puck about its past.


    "You should know, that swords normally don''t have a conscious, and I only gained mine in a connection with a battle unlike any you could possible imagine. It was¡­"


    <hr>


    The hooves of the wore horses on the rocky ground echoed like the drums of war over the vast planes.


    Once upon a time great tent cities populated the planes, but not anymore.


    Now, after years upon years of conflict nothing remained of those ancient societies.


    And on this day, so the hope of many, the conflict would finally be resolved, as one faction eradicated the other and peace would be restored.


    A foolish hope, afterall how could true peace follow upon a genocide, but a hope nothingless.


    On one side there stood an army, as imposing as one could possibly imagine. In straight lines soldiers stretched from horizon to horizon and great war machines stood on platforms between them.


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    On the helmet of that army, one man stood, in contrast to the normal man of this army he wasn¡¯t protected by one of the standardized grey amours.


    Instead, this man stood in a crimson amour seemingly too large for any normal man but fitting to his frame. In his hands he held a sword similar too large for any normal man.


    This sword, as black as the night, seemed to hum and vibrate in exultation for the battle. Nothing would stop it on its rampage.


    Opposite to this army another one stood, no, it already charged.


    Upon an unfathomably large number of warbeasts an army came rushing, every member of this army different from the next, and each warbeast seemingly unique.


    Instead of in straight lines, this army moved in an uncontrollable flock.


    And instead, out of millions of human soldiers, this army was glued together out of an alliance of the tribes that had lived on these planes for eons.


    On the helmet of this army though, also stood a human. It was a slightly short woman, that seemed to be misplaced in this seen of an impending war.


    But in her hands, she held a weapon. It was a weapon all her enemies had learned to fear a long time ago. A sword, seemingly entirely mundane except for a single jewel embedded in its pommel.


    As she swung the sword in a wide ark toward the enemy lines the heavens seemed to shatter, and the battle began.


    The Battle went on for days upon days. Each Minute giving harvest to an ever-greater number of the dead.


    For a long time, it seemed unclear who would come out on top. But as time went on, and the battel raged something became clear.


    The champion of the beast hordes, Nymaria was no match to the Crimson Warlord.


    Even though her power was great, unfathomable even for any normal person, she still was outmatched.


    When Nymaria and the Crimson Warlord clashed for the first time, it was exactly in the middle of the battleground. Each of their clashes killed many bystanders, but these bystanders were of both sides and so the impact on who would win was small.


    But as seconds turned to minutes and hours to days Nymaria slowly got pushed back into her own ranks and the causalities became one-sided.


    When the Crimson Warlord managed to push Nymaria back for the first time, the tribesman where there to help her in her fight.


    The strongest fighters of the tribesman charged fearlessly and as such Nymaria gained ground again.


    But the price was great, each time the tribesman needed to help Nymaria, many of their greatest warriors fell.


    After three days it seemed set in stone. The united tribes would lose, but they were great warriors, and their honor ran deep.


    As such, only a small part of them fled to protect the future. The rest fought on, to fight for honor and to kill their enemies but also to honor the sacrifice of Nymaria.


    When the battle had nearly reached its end and the remaining warriors were wading through oceans of blood and the dead Nymaria made one final decision.


    She would preserve a seed of hope, a seed of the spirit of their battle. So that may one day someone would exact revenge.


    With a desperate cry and an eruption of power Nymaria threw the Crimson Warlord away for one last time.


    Then with a single tear of regret running down her bloody cheek she gave her most loyal companion, her sword, the fastest remaining tribe member and told him to flee with it and never let it fall in the hands of their enemies.


    Then without her weapon, alone in a crimson ocean of blood, and facing her crimson enemy, she made her final stand.

 Chapter 4 - Coming home

    It was such a chore.


    Step after step Puck drugged onward cursing with all had while he did it.


    Not only was he still sore everywhere, but he also had to take the terrible heavy and unwieldy sword with him.


    At least the pommel, the place where one did hold a sword, as Zephyrian had told Puck, did fit in Puck''s hands as Gremlin''s had very big hands for their small body size.


    But still, even for a Gremlin, Puck was skinny and weak and Zephyrian was big and terrible heavy.


    Perhaps even worse, while Puck gave it his all caring Zephyrian through the caverns. Zephyrian went all in on the effort to tell Puck how inadequate he was.


    More than once Puck nearly had left Zephyrian behind, but each time something stopped him from going through with it.


    At least it hadn''t taken very long for Puck to find a tunnel he knew. So that was nice.


    After about three hours of slow shuffling and many breaks, Puck came near the Gremlin village again.


    Puck had thought long and hard if he should show the sword to the other Gremlin''s and perhaps trade it to them.


    But in the end, it was clear the other Gremlin''s simply would take away Zephyrian without giving anything back.


    With that though came another problem, wouldn''t Zephyrian call out to the other Gremlin''s as to find an in his opinion more worthy wielder?


    In expectation of that outcome, Puck had had a long talk with Zephyrian where he told it, that he would only take it back to the Gremlin village if it swore to not reveal itself to other Gremlin''s and stay loyal to Puck.


    To Puck''s surprise though Zephyrian hadn''t even protested or tried to worm itself around the deal. No, the sword simply said that it never betrayed someone.


    Its honor was absolute.


    And for some reason Puck believed it.


    Fearing other Gremlin¡¯s would see Zephyrian on Puck¡¯s entrance into the city, Puck left Zephyrian behind for a moment to go scouting.


    Even though the Gremlin''s lived far away from the sun and didn''t necessary needed light to see, their main village still had some sort of artificial night and day cycle. It was regulated by the Gremlin''s, through covering up all the light sources when it was time to sleep.


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    Now, as Puck approached the great cavern where the village was placed in, it seemed as if the Gremlin''s sleeping time had started just some moments ago.


    Puck decided that he would wait another hour and then sneak in together with Zephyrian.


    Still fearing Zephyrian would raise a ruckus, Puck used that hour to tell Zephyrian about how much more hideous and disgusting the other Gremlin''s were than him.


    Then it was time, taking all his strength together for one last act, in the expectation of a somewhat warm and clean Gremlin bed, Puck went onward.


    It was not the first time Puck needed to come in and out of the village without alerting the guards and as such he had experience with it.


    Of course, the three main entrances of the Gremlin village were always guarded, but there were other less important and as such also less guarded entrances.


    It was one of these entrances Puck moved toward. In Puck¡¯s experience, there would only be a patrol at this entrance every 30 minutes or so and Puck expected that to be more than enough time to sneak in.


    The problem wouldn¡¯t be direct sight contact. No, the problem would be noise.


    In an attempt to mute sounds that Zephyrian made when it did hit something, Puck took off his already damaged shirt, filled it with moose and rolled it around the sharp end of Zephyrian.


    At the start everything went perfectly.


    Puck slowly pulled Zephyrian toward the opening into the village, and the sword thankfully stayed silent all the while.


    Then, after one patrol went by, Puck took all his courage together and started sneaking the last five hundred meters towards his house.


    After Puck had mastered the first two hundred or so meters it finally happened. His hands sweaty and his arms straining under Zephyrian¡¯s wight, the sword suddenly slit out of Puck¡¯s hands and hit the ground.


    When the sound echoed out, it was clear that the guards must have heard it and as such Puck had three options.


    One, simply meeting the guards and hoping they wouldn¡¯t raise a ruckus. Two, hide. Three, run and hope nobody would be able to find out who had run from the guards.


    Puck, after taking some valuable seconds to think, where he already heard the guards in the distance, decided on the last option.


    Then, he was taking off, pulling Zephyrian behind him over the ground and raising a terrible ruckus. Just a few hundred meters behind Puck, the guards started running too.


    Too Puck¡¯s anger, Zephyrian used that time to start laughing and snickering hysterical, but there was no time to address that.


    Puck though, had a few advantages. Afteral, even though his sprint was loud, it still wasn¡¯t easy to follow someone only by ear and even though Gremlin¡¯s could see in complete darkness, they couldn¡¯t see more than about twenty feet and as such, seeing Puck across the village was impossable.


    Puck¡¯s breath raged across his lips when he finally reached his destination, but the flight was not yet a success. He needed to come into his house without the guards finding out which house it was that the offender had fled into.


    Thankfully Zephyrian went silent again without a problem.


    Suppressing his breath with all he had, Puck slowly sneaked around his house to his back door.


    In a few well-known moves the door was open and Puck was in the house, the door silently closing behind him.


    Only many hours later when the guards finally had given up their search, Puck could finally get some sleep.


    He truly thought he had earned it.

 Chapter 5 - A spark

    The next day found Puck in a bad state.


    Even though Puck did not have any substantial injuries like broken bones, he still was bruised all over.


    Over the night his whole body had stiffened up and as Puck finally woke up, he felt like moving was impossible.


    Luckily for him, he had a free day.


    The only thing he did that day was walk once into the kitchen and two times to the toilet. Each one of those trips felt like a ten-kilometer hike to him.


    The day after that Puck normally would have had to work in the mushroom fields again, but that was simply impossible.


    As such Puck pinned a sign to his door that said that he had a terrible case of a mushroom infection that sometimes spread through the Gremlin village. After seeing that sign, nobody would want to have to do anything with him for the next time.


    It was only another three days later that Puck felt he was starting to get better again. That was quite fortunate as well, as he needed to go and get knew food soon anyway.


    Another whole week drudged by where Puck stayed in his house nearly the whole time and only went to silently get new food and water early in the morning when nobody else would see him.


    Over these days Puck mostly slept and rested, but he also had longer and longer talks with Zephyrian. Over time it truly seemed as if both started to get more comfortable in the presence of each other. But still, even under the threat of death, neither of them would say they liked each other.


    Puck told Zephyrian about his life with the other Gremlins and Zephyrian told Puck about his life with Nymaria and about all the great deeds they did together. More than once Zephyrian also spoke both in fear and hate about the Crimson Warlord.


    Finally, it seemed like it was time for Puck to stop hiding in his own abode. More than once other Gremlins had come and wanted to see Puck. It seemed as if it wasn¡¯t taken up well that he hadn¡¯t come to work for nearly two weeks now.


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    It would have been no problem if Puck had any visible signs of the mushroom infection. But as he had none of those the other Gremlins grew suspicious and angry.


    The first day Puck went back to work was characterized by an unusual interest in the person Puck by the other Gremlins. Afterall, normally nobody had any interest in him. At least none that had nothing to do with making fun of him.


    Puck had feared that the other Gremlins would ask too many questions about how he had gotten all these wounds, and if he truly had had an infection. But in the end, nobody asked twice after Puck told them how he had fallen down the steps to his own basement.


    It was only expected of a Gremlin so dumb and scrawny as him.


    Slowly everything started to become normal again in Puck¡¯s life. At first it was something Puck liked, but then the other Gremlins also started harassing him again and Puck felt like he was stuck again in his old misery of life.


    Truly, everything was normal again, except one thing. At home, in Puck¡¯s small Gremlin hut an ancient sword rested every time Puck went to work.


    And every time Puck came back from work, frustrated about his life, Puck went and listened to Zephyrian and his stories about the glory and the hardships of battle.


    And as such something was born in Puck, something he had no words to describe yet. It was a spark of something other than the resignation of his normal day to day life.


    After a further month of this new normalcy Zephyrian finally gave in to itself. Normally it would never have allowed someone like Puck to even touch its glorious self, but now it went even farther, it asked, yeah begged Puck to finally help remove all the rust from its form. To help bring it back to its previous glory.


    It was no easy task. Puck, yeah, the whole Gremlin village lacked the right tools to work with metal and Puck had no proficiency at all with work like that, but each and every evening Puck gave it his all and that was something Zephyrian could respect.


    Of course, had Zephyrian still been in his prime form like ages ago its metal would have been too hard for someone like Puck to even leave a mark on, but not anymore.


    It took months of trial and error and hard work, but finally Zephyrian was satisfied. It wasn¡¯t perfect and a true smith would cried out in horror after seeing it like that, but it was enough. The rest would have to come later, at least Zephyrian was shining again in glorious silver.


    But Zephyrian was not the only one that had changed. Not only had Puck got some more muscles on his small frame after all the hard work with the heavy sword. Something else had changed as well.


    At first it had been a small spark, but by now it was a roaring bonfire. Puck wasn¡¯t resigned to his life anymore. Neither was he satisfied with it. No, he wanted more, he wanted all the things Zephyrian had told him about.


    He wanted all these things and more.

 Chapter 6 - To stand your ground

    Puck had never been the strongest Gremlin. Neither the cleverest nor the most courageous for that matter.


    At everything Puck did he was mediocre at the very best.


    Day after day the other Gremlin¡¯s mocked him and hurt him, without him ever striking back in any other way then silently cursing them and his whole life.


    But when Puck talked with Zephyrian about Zephyrian¡¯s life and all the other stories the sword had to tell, something changed. When Zephyrian told Puck about all the ups and downs, from the most glorious wins to the most terrible defeats, one thing remained constant.


    The heroes and heroines in those situations never graveled, they never backed down. Yeah, now and then somebody had to give in to try to win later, but they all had a code of honor and a certain pride in them.


    Perhaps a small or even a big part of that glory came from Zephyrian subjective descriptions, but that didn¡¯t matter here and now.


    What mattered was that Puck had finally come to a decision. He didn¡¯t want to go on with his life as he had till now, so something had to change.


    It was on a normal workday in the mushroom fields when Puck finally took the first action which would become a snowball that wouldn¡¯t stop rolling.


    Puck had already three hours of work behind him, and the first break of the day was nearing. The thing was though, Puck hated breaks.


    At every break all the Gremlin¡¯s came together to eat, drink and have some fun. Fun meaning in this context making fun of Puck.


    As such Puck often decided not to come to the breaks and instead stay somewhere in the fields and nibble a little bit on the most edible mushrooms. So also, today.


    But as Puck sat there and took his break, a subdued sound reached his ears and Puck smelled bad news. There was a subdued Gremlin shattering somewhere near him.


    Then Puck heard a stone rolling over the ground somewhere in his proximity.


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    This normally would be the moment when Puck decided to run, as it was clear the other Gremlin¡¯s were sneaking up on him again.


    But at that moment Puck made that fateful decision. He wouldn¡¯t run today.


    Slowly and shaking a little bit from fear and adrenalin Puck stood up. It was yet to be decided how bad this would get. If it were just some of the average boring Gremlin workers, only bad jokes and one or two thrown stones would await him.


    But not if it where them¡­


    Them¡­, that was the group of Gremlin¡¯s that had already chased Puck the day he found Zephyrian. It was a group of five Gremlin¡¯s that had made it their personal mission to make Puck¡¯s life as terrible as possible.


    One of them, their leader, was even worse than the rest. It was he that held the others together and brought them back to their purpose of torturing Puck when they had forgotten Puck for a day or two.


    Holden, unfortunately, wasn¡¯t only their leader because he was stronger and bigger than the others, although he also was that too. No, he was also the mind of the operation.


    And as Puck looked around himself, seeing a badly hidden Gremlin foot here and the scalp of another Gremlin there he became sure that it was exactly that group.


    Afterall, who else would put in that much work? The other Gremlin groups did neither have time nor interest to take that much time in surrounding and cornering him.


    Another impulse to run ran through Puck¡¯s body, and he nearly gave in. But he knew, if he ran today, he would run tomorrow too. He would run for his whole life. Once he perhaps would have been willing to do so, but not anymore.


    And so, Puck simply stood there. Around him the uneven and rocky tunnels and caverns, above him a low ceiling and in his nose the scent of the mushrooms he worked with day in day out.


    It took another five minutes of Puck simply standing there, saying nothing, doing nothing, simply waiting for the inevitable before the attackers showed themselves.


    On a loud shouted ¡°go¡±, suddenly all the Gremlin¡¯s that had been trying to hide till now jumped up and started running toward Puck.


    Puck could see the surprise in their eyes when he didn¡¯t react by running away. Instead, he simply kept standing at that same spot.


    This wasn¡¯t to say, Puck was calm, he thought he had more fear in him in that moment than in his whole life till now, but he didn¡¯t run, and that was what counted.


    First Puck simply had imagined himself standing there, and waiting, ignoring them completely and simply taking all the beating they wanted to dish out today. But there was a small voice in Puck¡¯s head that wanted to do things differently.


    What if he not only stayed without running, but also fought back?


    The notion was terrifying, to fight back was to give his attackers more fuel. And Puck had no delusions, even if he could ditch out a great hit with his claws through surprise, that wouldn¡¯t be enough against five enemy''s.


    But still, suddenly, when the other Gremlin¡¯s where already slowing down all around him, seemingly willing to just attack with their voices for their time being, that small voice in the back of Puck¡¯s head got louder and louder.


    Suddenly that voice won over completely and Puck started moving.


    The attacker¡¯s seemingly having expected something like that started to close of all routes of escape. But that was no problem.


    Without hesitating anymore, Puck ran toward Trim, the smallest and weakest of the other Gremlin¡¯s.


    Puck had no delusions, even with surprise on his side he would have no chance against someone like Holden.


    Trim, even though smaller than the other Gremlin¡¯s was still bigger than Puck. He had a big toothy smile on his face when Puck ran toward him.


    That smile left quickly, as Puck attacked instead of fleeing. He lifted his left arm and racked the claws of his left hand over his enemy''s face.


    Trim fell, and suddenly a path to escape was open. But Puck wouldn¡¯t run, not today, and as such he turned around.


    A maniacal grin was plastered on his face, as he had gotten revenge on his enemies for the first time.

 Chapter 7 - To face the consequences

    Puck wasn¡¯t quite sure if it felt like time was speeding up or if it felt like time was slowing down.


    On the one hand Puck felt his own blood rushing through his body at unprecedented speeds, each action seemingly happening without any delay. On the other hand though, each moment seemed to be stretching and stretching as Puck had a thousand different thoughts per moment.


    In the instant when Trim was still falling toward the ground and Puck was turning around, he made a decision. He would try to get another one before all of them were upon him.


    Pumping his legs for all he was worth Puck started running toward the next Gremlin. But not anyone of the other Gremlin¡¯s, no, he was running exactly towards Holden.


    Perhaps it was overconfidence, or perhaps it was simply the brilliant idea of taking the leader out first, nobody would ever know.


    There was one moment where Puck thought he could see something like hesitation on Holden¡¯s face as Puck barreled toward him and perhaps there truly was. But in the end, it didn¡¯t matter, Holden was neither as weak, nor as dumb as Trim and perhaps most importantly, the element of surprise was gone.


    Puck did not see it coming before it was much too late. Holden was pretending to take a step back and Puck wanted to capitalize on it, but then, seemingly out of nowhere Holdens fist rose, and Puck¡¯s sight went dark for a split second.


    Then another claw hit him on his side and a scream escaped Puck¡¯s mouth.


    But before another claw could hit him, Puck heard Holden shouting: ¡°Don¡¯t use your claws, if he doesn¡¯t have obvious claw marks, they won¡¯t believe him when he says we attacked him.¡±


    A small grin etched itself and Pucks already swelling face as a kick hit him on the back on the head.


    To his great relief Puck finally managed to put his hands above his head and curl himself up into a ball.


    After that they were truly upon him, feet and hands landed upon him with brutal force, and they didn¡¯t stop coming. It didn¡¯t take long before Puck finally lost his conscious again. This time for good.


    <hr>


    It felt like this was becoming a bad habit.


    Again, he was lying there, again he was waking up pained and disorientated.


    Only, ¡­, this time it was much, much worse.


    Last time everything had hurt, but moving was possible and he could even shove the pain to the back of his head without too much problem.


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    Not this time. The pain was an overbearing inferno, his body unresponsive to any of his commands. Puck was somewhere between a panic attack and falling unconscious again.


    The unconscious won and in a matter of seconds everything became dark again.


    Puck never would know how much later it was that he woke up again. But he did wake up, and this time things had changed. Although not necessarily for the better. His mind was clearer though and the pain was somewhat duller, he could think again.


    Now that he could think again, something became all that much clearer. His body was in a terrible state. Muscle after muscle and limb after limb Puck checked up on the condition of his body mentally.


    The least affected place by the attack were the inside of his knees, but even that was not sure as perhaps they also simply were too numb to be felt.


    In contrast, the worst was his face. Puck was pretty sure that not only his nose but also his cheekbones were broken. Everything was swollen so much that he couldn¡¯t see and couldn¡¯t move his mouth.


    As Puck lay there, still in incredible pain, but able to think again, he started to become truly aware of how bad his situation was. The place he had rested in was reclusive and Puck wasn¡¯t sure if anybody would find him before he passed away.


    He would have to rely on himself. But how could he possible manage too¡­


    Then, suddenly he thought he heard something. On his left ear at least, his right one was completely deaf after all.


    Puck, desperately hoping that luck simply was on his side this time wanted to cry out, but he couldn¡¯t. Instead, he gave nearly every muscle in his body the command to move and as the pain nearly drove him mad, some muscles reacted and spasmed and a stone beneath him started rolling.


    After that he fell unconscious again.


    <hr>


    The next time Puck awoke he instantly started choking, as his face had swollen so much that it was hard to get air. As Puck started thinking he would truly die, he felt hands on his face, and somebody gently pushed a straw through his lips, over which he could breathe again.


    Puck, wanting to see what was going on, tried to move, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. Soon, without someone saying a word Puck fell asleep again.


    <hr>


    When his consciousness returned, he felt himself getting pulled over the floor on a sled. It seemed somebody had found him and was willing to help.


    After staying awake for some time Puck felt the sled stop and somebody came and instilled him water.


    Puck¡¯s eyes were still swollen closed though and as such he couldn¡¯t see. Sometime later he fell asleep again.


    <hr>


    In that same way of short moments of consciousness between long stretches of unconsciousness Pucks live went on for the next days and weeks or perhaps even months. At some point he and his savior came to a house where he spent all his time in a bed.


    For all that time Puck still couldn¡¯t speak or open his eyes and as his savior didn¡¯t seem willing to talk, he still didn¡¯t even knew who it was.


    Most of the time when Puck was awake, he simply spent contemplating different topics.


    Among other things he thought about Zephyrian and what it would do without him. At least Puck had hidden it in a small crevice in his living room and nobody would find it if it wouldn¡¯t reveal itself.


    Of course, the main topic of his thoughts were his recent actions and the situation he found himself in. But no matter how much he thought, he couldn¡¯t come to a clear conclusion if his recent actions had been the right ones.


    All that thinking without being able to move drove Puck nearly mad though and as such, he dearly awaited the day when he would be able to see and speak again.


    If he ever would be able to see again. Afterall, there was a real possibility he would never fully heal.

 Chapter 8 - Outburst

    Puck was unclear on how long exactly his recovery took, but later he would guess, that the first time he truly could communicate with his savior was about three months after he got attacked.


    Sure, there were many moments before where he could see her and more than once he tried to talk to her, but each time he got rebuffed.


    Of course, he was very grateful for being saved and still being cared for and as such he had taken the lack of information and willingness in stride.


    But finally, he couldn¡¯t take it anymore.


    It was in the morning, when the Gremlin women brought him something to eat and drink that Puck stopped being calm, collected, and thankful.


    He hadn¡¯t planned it and as such the outburst was anything but controlled, but it truly came from the heart.


    When she brought him his breakfast, Puck still unable to leave the bed for any extend period of time, he had a vision of himself, sitting in that same bed day in and day out, nobody ever talking with him again.


    At that point it simply was too much, suddenly, and without warning Puck first started sobbing and then only second later started yelling and shouting as loud as his battered body would allow.


    ¡°Please, I can¡¯t even express how thankful I am for what you¡¯ve done, and nothing will ever be able to pay the dept I have accrued toward you. But I simply can¡¯t go one like this. Please talk to me. Please, ¡­, I ¡­. Please!¡±


    At the end Pucks yelling and shouting returned to a painful sobbing again were every movement of his body hurt, only now and then the sobbing was interrupted by whispered please.


    Then after a while, silence.


    Puck had stopped sobbing and only lay there, having closed his eyes and breathing heavily. He still was agitated and feared the reaction the unknown Gremlin woman would have.


    After some time, as his breathing had slowly returned to normal again Puck opened his eyes and what he saw made him despair.


    She was gone, the room he was in was empty and everything was still. It seemed he truly had managed to push away the one person that had been nice to him since, ¡­, since ever. No, not only the one person that had been nice. She had been beyond nice to him, what she had done for him ¡­


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    Slowly Puck started sobbing again and his hands curled to fists were the claws on the end of his fingers dug in his hands painfully.


    He didn¡¯t know what to do, he could try to leave to bet and search her, or would that make everything only worse? Or ¡­


    Suddenly Pucks thoughts where interrupted by a voice. Instantly Puck stopped sobbing and his entire body froze up. Better he did nothing before he made everything even worse.


    ¡°You are right, the fact that I was the one who saved you made me blind to the fact that I still was unfair and cruel to you in my own house. I truly am sorry, please accept my apology.¡±


    The voice came from behind Puck and before Puck could answer or try to turn himself around, she stepped into his view again.


    Puck, freezing like a dear in headlight could only stare and stare.


    Even though Puck already had seen her before, when she came to his bed or aided him on his way to the bathroom, it had never been clearer to him how beautiful she was.


    The light moose was attached to a wall somewhere behind her and as such her face was enveloped in shadows to some degree, but Puck still imagined he could see every detail of it.


    A wonderful nose and beautiful eyes shining with a deep green sapphire. A body that was more athletic than the ones of any Gremlin had seen before. Like Puck she must be somewhere around the age of a young adult among the Gremlins, but she seemed much more developed than Puck or other Gremlins of his age.


    It took over ten seconds before Puck came out of his shook and it took another ten for him to find the correct words to say. In that time the calm visage of the woman broke a little and she seemed slightly anxious. An outside observer would have noticed that she seemed like somebody with little to none experience in talking with other beings, but Puck had other things to worry about.


    The words he chose in the end weren¡¯t the wisest he¡¯d ever spoken, but at least he managed to open his mouth.


    ¡°I¡¯m ashamed for my behavior. You¡¯ve been better too me, a stranger, than anybody else ever has. Yet I acted like this. It¡¯s just, ¡­¡±


    Unsure of what to say exactly Puck trailed of and looked at the Gremlin woman opposite from him with a pleading gaze.


    For another few moments nobody said something. Puck didn¡¯t say anything because he had used up all his courage and the woman because she seemed deep in thought.


    Then, suddenly, she moved again. With elegant and subtle steps, she went to a corner of a room and picked up a stool from there. After that she went uncomfortable close to the side of Puck¡¯s bed and set down. She seemingly had lost all her indisposition as she made herself comfortable and locked Puck straight in the eyes.


    ¡°My name is Scarlet, often shortened to scar¡±, she started talking without any entry, and she also didn¡¯t need any entry, Puck was ensnared anyway.


    ¡°When I was young, I loved nothing more than to lie on my bed or anywhere really and watch the ceiling and imagine what lay beyond. There was this one time ¡­¡±


    On and on Scarlet talked and as she talked, Puck though he thought he could imagine every scene she talked about better than all the memories of his own life.

 Chapter_9 - A leap of faith

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 Chapter 10 - A new master

    After Scarlet finished her story, Puck didn¡¯t know what to say. Some months ago, Puck would have thought that nobody would tell him about their lives under any circumstances. After all, who would talk to Puck, the shittiest Gremlin of all?


    But now, not only had Zephyrian told him about a part of his past, but also Scarlet. Of course, both of them had only shared a small part, but still, for each of them, even this small part seemed like an adventure full of wonders on its own.


    Most of all, Puck would like to know more about what happened to Scarlet, why, instead of adventuring on the surface, she was back here. He knew though, that such a matter was not something he could simply ask after she hadn¡¯t told it to him freely.


    Puck would like to tell Scarlet a tale of wonder and heroism from his past too, but in the end, he could only outline his miserable existence till now.


    When Puck¡¯s story started to arrive at the point where he would find Zephyrian, he became unsure. Should he tell her about the sword? She had been nice to him and all, but ¡­ No, there was no but, what she had done to him could never be repaid and as such he would at least be truthful.


    Truthfully, Scarlet seemed much less surprised by his story of this talking weapon than Puck would have imagined, but who knew what she had seen on her adventures?


    As Puck¡¯s story came to an end though, something changed. At first, it was not something some observer would be able to note, no, it was in Puck himself. While talking about his time with Zephyrian, Puck started to remember the emotions and the new worldview he had built on.


    Over the past months in healthcare, where each moment seemed like a chore, Puck also had tried to think about the moment of the attack and his decisions there. But he hadn¡¯t thought about his new vision of his future all that much. Now it came rushing all back. All this rejection of the life he lived till now. All the want for something new. The burning need not to simply tolerate the things that had been thrown at him anymore. It all came back.


    And even as Puck became intimately aware that exactly these desires and emotions had been what had brought him near death, he became very clear of something. He didn¡¯t regret it, not the least bit. And not only because it had brought him to the woman before him. No, also because it had brought him nearer to the new version of himself he recenly had started chasing.


    As all these things went through Puck¡¯s head, they soon also started to affect his behavior outwardly. First, Puck started to sit himself up straight, and next he invested a Herculean amount of effort to stop staring at the wall and instead looked Scarlet straight in the eyes.


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    Instead of talking like somebody defeated with a life full of setbacks, he now started to talk like somebody with a fire burning in them.


    Instead of talking about what had been, Puck started to talk about his visions for the future and his will to change himself on a fundamental level.


    It was at that moment in Puck¡¯s own monologue that Scarlet started to ask questions and bring in her own belief.


    Instead of simply telling stories, they now started to truly talk. Puck didn¡¯t know how long they talked, but when they finally both grew quiet, every part of his body hurt tremendously because of his efforts to sit straight.


    Scarlet, seemingly having noticed Puck¡¯s discomfort and judging it was time to sleep again, brought him something to eat and drink again and then brought him to the toilet. After that, she covered the gleaming mousse up again and got ready to leave the room.


    Right before she stepped to the door, she turned back again. For a few seconds, she stared evaluatively at Puck, then she seemingly came to a decision.


    ¡°I have a proposal for you. As you no doubt have noticed by now, we aren¡¯t exactly in the middle of the village, in fact, we''re about thirty minutes away from it. That is because of a few reasons. One of them being that I don¡¯t like to talk to the other Gremlins, another one being that my work and my lifestyle require this separated location. I am no normal worker, and neither do I exercise any other normal job. No, I may be back near my old Gremlin village, but I¡¯m still not content there. Every day I adventure into the tunnels, searching for ¡­ for ¡­ for something. Every day I find new wonders, but also face new dangers.¡±


    Puck, listening attentively, couldn¡¯t help but get his hope up. If this truly was what it seemed like, then ¡­ Before Puck could spin his thoughts, Scarlet talked on again.


    ¡°And no, I am not offering you to come with me.¡±


    Puck started to deflate, he already wanted to start pleading again, but soon it became clear there was no reason for it.


    ¡°At the very least, I¡¯m not taking you with me in any near future. And not only because you are hurt. You are also weak, and you are inexperienced. I am going to train you if you want. But before you decide. It will be no kind training, neither will it be easy. In fact, I will stop caring for you like I did in the past. Even though you¡¯re still ill, you will have to look after yourself. Do you want that? Think carefully.¡±


    Puck already wanted to cry out a loud yes, but he was stopped by a wave of her hand.


    ¡°You can tell me your decision tomorrow. But know this. If you accept, you will have to absolve your first training task in the next week. You will have to go to the village again and get your sword and anything else important from there back here. Can you truly do that in your current state? Are you willing to face the danger of meeting your old enemies again?¡±


    Seemingly done, Scarlet stepped out and closed the door behind her. Leaving Puck behind in the darkness, already thinking how he would be able to overcome the first task of his new master.

 Chapter 11 - The will to change

    Every muscle, every bone, and every single joint of his body seemed to be out to kill him.


    With every single step, his left foot gave way a little, and his left knee seemed to refuse to bend more than the barest minimum.


    His lungs screamed at him that they had not enough space and that his body had not enough oxygen, but still, Puck needed to keep going; he couldn¡¯t stop.


    Puck¡¯s only relief was the hooked and crooked cane, created out of one of the innumerable pieces of old wood enclosed in the eternal ice in a wood mine some hundreds of meters from Scarlet¡¯s den.


    Thinking about Scarlet¡¯s den, Puck became thoughtful. Unlike the other Gremlins who liked to live in great caverns where the ceiling was nearly too high to see, Scarlet lived in a small cavern in a hidden part of the ice.


    He knew, though, that that wasn¡¯t because she liked enclosed places; in fact, it was the opposite. What she had told him about the surface, ¡­ No, Scarlet lived here because she couldn¡¯t bear to return to the normal processes of the Gremlin village day in and day out.


    It had been on the second day of the week Scarlet had given him for the first task that Puck went to fetch his cane. Truly, the part of the eternal ice where the old pieces of wood, a very valuable material to the Gremlins, had been enclosed wasn¡¯t far from the den.


    Only a few hundred feet. After getting up from bed alone, Puck had already nearly been ready to give up, but then then remembered all his dreams and his will to change hist destiny and he kept going. It had been a grueling day; for hours over hours, Puck had made his way towards his destination.


    It had been only in the middle of the day and many shed tears later that he finally managed to reach a fitting log that could be extracted from the wall. But that had only been the start of the torture; it had taken him nearly the whole rest of the day to get the log out, and it was only many hours after that still, that Puck came home.


    The log though, truly had helped tremendously; after acquiring it, the way back had been nearly as well as the way there, even though his body was in that much worse a state.


    It wasn¡¯t even that he bled or his wounds reopened, no, after months of recuperation, something like that didn¡¯t happen anymore. Instead, it was only the very worst wounds like broken bones that truly still hurt. No, the most problematic were things that came from him not moving for what felt like eons.


    Whether it was his muscles, joints, or his lung, everything seemed to have taken off duty and was unwilling to start working again.


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    When he had finally returned on that second day, Scarlet had still been awake, and even though she said she wouldn¡¯t care for him anymore, she still had been ready for him with a great amount of soup and mushrooms.


    It was now, another few days later, that Puck had finally felt it was time; he would go get his things. He would bring his body to his true limits and go all the way to the great cavern his old tribe of Gremlins resided in.


    And yes, it was his old tribe. Even though the last days of getting his body back to shape had been the most grueling he had ever undergone, Puck had become clear of something. He would never go back. There was nothing in his old village that held any appeal to him anymore. At least nothing other than what he was going to fetch today.


    It was already late by the standard Gremlin time, and Puck was still some way from the village, but he had mastered the greatest part of the way. Even though every part of his body had been pushed even farther than before, he would make it; he would be able to reach the Gremlin village.


    Of course, there was no chance he would be able to push his body so far as to return all the way to Scarlet¡¯s home, but he also wouldn¡¯t need to. Over the last two days, he had gone and taken pelts, mushrooms, and all the other things he would need to survive the night to a cavern near the village where he prepared a spot for the night after getting his things.


    He had thought about taking all the things with him on the same day he went to the village, but that would have been way harder, now, after he made the trip on one day, he knew he had made the right decision. Even with a place near the village where he would be able to sleep, the challenge still felt near insurmountable.


    After offering up a great amount of willpower to move another few hundred meters forward, Puck decided it was time. He would give himself two hours to rest and recuperate; then he would sneak into the village and get his stuff back.


    <hr>


    Scarlet was impressed. How was he able to hold on? The task of retrieving his things should have been one where he would fail miserably, clearly showing him the limits of his body.


    But as she had watched over Puck from afar as he made his preparations and finally set out to solve his task, she saw another person than the one who had been lying in her bed for the past months.


    Even though she knew just how grueling the last week must have been for him, he never asked for reprieve, and he never hesitated to push himself further.


    Truly, she hadn''t thought Puck would be capable of something like this. At least not at the start. She had thought that with enough training and some transformation, he would develop a new mentality. But something like that shouldn¡¯t change in the span of a single week!


    She had heard the story of his past, but hadn¡¯t been all that taken aback. However, as she witnessed his drive to change himself over the past week, Scarlet started to think Puck either hadn¡¯t told her the whole truth or had downplayed how bad his life had been until now.


    As Scarlet watched from afar as Puck took a break after another few hours of grueling progress, she winced. Every movement seemed jerky and took ages. It took him a long time to find a good place to rest where he thought he wouldn¡¯t fall asleep.


    Of course, she thought he would fall asleep anyway, but perhaps he would surprise her again. And if not, she would wake him up in time with a thrown stone. He had earned at least that much.

 Chapter 12 - Requesting help

    Something hit Puck in the back of the head.


    Mumbling unintelligible, Puck wanted to swat the unwanted disturbance of his sleep away, but instead, he felt another hit in the area of his buttocks. Rolling around to his other side, Puck''s subconscious wanted to leave the range of whatever was disrupting his sleep, but it was to no avail. One hit after another rained over his body, and he had no option but to wake up and look for the cause of the disturbance so that he could sleep on in peace after that.


    Rolling around again to his backside and then pushing his upper body upward on his hands, Puck blinked sleepily into the darkness.


    "Why was he in an open cavern in the ice? Where was his normal abode? Why¡­?"


    Only then it all rushed back to him, and Puck truly started to wake up and come alive again. Slowly, Puck tried to push his terribly aching body to his feet again, but it took one, two, no, three attempts till he managed it. A mix of exhaustion of body and spirit made that normally easy movement harder than it should be. Another thing aiding his clumsiness was the cold that had started creeping into his body from different spots that hadn¡¯t been covered up enough by the pelts. Thankfully though, Gremlins were made for the life of the eternal ice, and even if they normally only wore scarce leather stockings, they wouldn¡¯t get cold in the eternal ice. Only when unmoving would they get cold, but even then not too much, at least not where they lived. Thick skin and fur on big parts of their bodies kept them warm.


    Thinking about what happened Puck reasoned, that the sleep must have taken him after all, hopefully, too much time hadn¡¯t passed.


    But what had awoken him? Blurly remembered something hitting him awake again and again, but even though he could see in the darkness he couldn¡¯t find it. He suspected that had nothing or nobody woken him up, his exhausted body and spirit would have made him sleep for another 20 hours.


    His whole body felt like ¡­


    It was a feeling Puck had started to learn from the other mornings of this week. Sometimes it wasn¡¯t even the moment itself where you pushed your body beyond its limits, but the morning of the day after that that hurt the worst. Only, Puck now learned, it was even worse when you didn¡¯t sleep an entire night, but only one or two hours after pushing your body beyond all limits.


    Puck felt like he wouldn¡¯t be able to take ten steps. But he needed to, else he wouldn¡¯t be able to do the task given to him. Now, perhaps even more than in any other moment in the last week, Puck felt near the point where he would give up, his body and mind at its limits. But then the consequences of failure and the memories of his past in the Gremlin village came to his mind again. Whether it was the life without friends, purpose, or with the constant disdain of the other Gremlins, he would not allow himself to get back there. And the first step was, to hold on to this small purpose, to his first task.


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    Straightening his back, a fire started gleaming in Puck''s eyes again, that had been there for the past week. Just a moment ago it had seemed so entirely missing, but now it was back. Slowly starting to pack his things, Puck gathered momentum again.


    By the time everything was packed up again, he was as ready as could be. Even the cold had left his appendages completely again by than, his Gremlin body doing a wonderfull job in combating the cold.


    Deciding that he would leave the pelts and a few other things here to be lighter on his feet, Puck set off. By the time he reached the outskirts of the village, he could confirm that he indeed had awoken in time.Puck had a sneaking suspicion that Scarlet had lend him a helping hand and had woken him up.


    His right foot had become a real problem though, seemingly the one part of the body where there still was permanent internal damage left of the attack months ago. With every step, his foot would give in a little more, and Puck had to substitute for that with his walking stick, making Puck''s arm burn with effort.


    Puck wasn¡¯t sure if he should be thankful for the fact that at least his foot had stopped hurting days ago, but likely that only was a bad sign too. If something didn¡¯t hurt anymore, it often meant the Gremlins had to remove that appendage soon in a grisly scene that gave Puck the creeps every time he thought about it.


    Now thinking truly rationally about the situation, Puck asked himself if he should stop his mission. Every great disability was disastrous for the Gremlins, as they had no way to heal things like that or compensate for them.


    Wanting to kill two birds with one stone, Puck decided to try something out, turning around again, he spoke into the corridor he came from.


    ¡°I know you¡¯re there, come out, please.¡±


    Getting no response at first, Puck let himself drop on his butdocks again and started to wait. It was only about fifteen minutes later, long after Puck had already started doubting his asumption again, that something moved at the periphery of his vision.


    As expected it was Scarlet.


    For the first time after getting to know her, Scarlet seemed angry, and that truly gave Puck the creeps. Scarlet speaking up first, Puck twitched instinctively from her aggressive tone.


    ¡°Is that how you thank me for waking you up and stopping you from failing your task? I truly would have thought better of you; perhaps I should have taken another disciple again, something other than the stupidest ¡­¡±


    Puck interrupted Scarlet in an act of bravery, rushing to bring out his reasons for his actions.


    ¡°I know, I know, I should do this alone, but I truly think I have a matter that can¡¯t be pushed away.¡±


    Not letting Scarlet come to word, Puck simply pulled up the right leg of his baggy and shredded trousers up and presented his foot.


    ¡°I truly fear to cause permanent damage if I go on like this, my foot is giving in more and more. Would you have a look, please?¡±


    Scarlet, closing and opening her mouth a few times, in the end only nodded and went to a knee to inspect the injury.

 Chapter 13 - Child of broken chains

    Puck hissed through closed teeth as Scarlet turned and stretched his foot in this and that direction. At least it seemed his foot hadn¡¯t gone completely numb quite yet after all.


    From the outside, his foot simply looked greatly swollen and a little blue, but the color was barely noticeable below the thick Gremlin hide. After a while of inspecting the injury, Scarlet also sat herself back, seemingly thinking and being unsure about what to do. Wanting to know more, Puck could barely restrain himself from interrupting her thought process. In that manner, they simply sat there for a while, one being fidgety and the other seemingly deeply in thought about something. Only a while later, Scarlet spoke up again.


    ¡°I''m not exactly sure what kind of injury this is. The swelling is too large, and truthfully, I¡¯m also simply no expert on the matter even though I know how to treat most injuries. In this case, it could be enough to simply rest, but it is also possible that without doing anything you¡¯d become permanently crippled.¡±


    Puck, getting kind of scared, swallowed audibly. Scarlet, though, seemed unperturbed and spoke on.


    ¡°That the injury made itself known so clearly only now can mean a few things. The one I find likeliest is simply that it is a fiber that got damaged and over your months of recovery, it grew only makeshift back together. And the great recent amount of movement damaged that unfinished fiber again.¡±


    Getting grounded a little bit by Scarlet¡¯s calm explanation, Puck asked a question.


    ¡°Have I screwed myself over by damaging myself more than I did learn in the past week?¡±


    Shaking her head slowly, Scarlet disagreed.


    ¡°No, the past week you pushed yourself farther than I ever would have thought possible, and if anyone is to blame for that, then it is me as your teacher for not telling you when to stop. But I won¡¯t blame myself, and neither should you. I considered the possibility of something like this happening, but in my opinion, it was even more important for you to solidify the decisions you made for yourself a week ago. So, as your master, I take full responsibility for your injury, but also already have a solution prepared.¡±


    Having listened to Scarlet with great attention, Puck first wanted to refuse Scarlet''s claim of herself being responsible for his injury, but as she told him she had a solution, all those thoughts got blown away.


    ¡®What could that solution possibly be? Had she already consulted the Gremlin Doctor? But no, Scarlet didn¡¯t like going to the village, and Puck held no confidence that the Doctor would find any other solution but to wait or remove the limb. Perhaps¡­¡¯


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    Thinking about what those solutions could possibly be, Puck watched rapt attention while Scarlet pulled something out of a pocket of her backpack. Holding very carefully in a closed hand, Scarlet seemed to value the thing greatly. Before showing him what she had, she spoke up again.


    ¡°I never reached the true surface of the world, but I came close. On my way there, I found many wonders and more than once nearly faced death myself. But I always survived. One reason I survived, I will share with you now. It is one of my greatest secrets, and by showing and gifting it to you, I extend to you the same kind of trust and dedication you extended to me by going beyond any and all boundaries in your effort to achieve your first task given by me as your master.¡±


    Seemingly finished, Scarlet slowly opened her palm to show Puck the content before he could say anything unfitting. Completely unsure of what to expect, Puck stretched his neck to see. As soon as Scarlet opened her palm, light started to go out from the object that had been hidden in there.


    First, it was only a little, but then it got more and more and at the same time the object started to fly up from Scarlet¡¯s hand. Soon Puck needed to look away because of the light, only the outline of the object having seared itself in Puck''s mind.


    But it was enough, the object seemingly held beauty beyond compare, unlike anything Puck had ever seen before. It was like the leaves of one of the plants swimming on the hot sources of water in the eternal ice. And yet it was so different, seemingly being both grander and so much more delicate than those things and holding a boundless life force.


    Being unable to see Scarlet, as he still had to look away from the now slowly fading light, Puck still heard her reverent speech. But it didn¡¯t seem to be directed at him, but instead toward somebody or something else.


    ¡°I thank you for blessing us with your presence, but at the same time, I must ask you for assistance. My friend here got wounded recently, and we¡¯re unsure if he will heal by himself. I promised him to heal him. I think his character is worthy of your divine gift, but please judge for yourself.¡±


    An ethereal, and yet powerful voice responded, seemingly coming from everywhere at once.


    ¡°Child of freedom, your request was heard and accepted, we will judge your friend.¡±


    Still unsure of what was happening exactly and what was expected of him, Puck sat there and listened in on the conversation. Then suddenly he thought he felt something like a gentle request in his mind, telling him it wanted to see his convictions and beliefs.


    Being a little reserved, Puck at first didn¡¯t want to open his mind, but then relented as this seemed like it was part of the plan. Gently, the present seemed to look through a part of him nobody else had ever inspected before. The experience was novel and unlike anything other Puck had ever felt before, but it was not unpleasant as the presence seemed as benevolent and friendly as could be.


    Then, suddenly, it seemed like it had seen enough, and before the presence completely left his mind, Puck felt an ethereal message appearing in his mind again.


    ¡°Child of broken chains, you are worthy of healing and great things await you. Your past may have been narrow, but a vast future awaits you, tread your path well though or only the bottomless abyss awaits you.¡±


    After that Puck started to feel a warmth gathering everywhere over his body, but mostly in his right foot, then he felt himself falling asleep again, as a warm embrace clouded his mind.

 Chapter 14 - Planless

    As Scarlet looked down on the sleeping Puck, she first thought about waking him up again soon, but then decided against it. Instead, she carefully lifted him up to bring him somewhere more hidden where the other Gremlins that certainly would come looking for the disturbance wouldn¡¯t find them.


    The leaf she had given Puck to heal him was an item more precious than he could possibly understand with his limited knowledge. But that was okay. She hadn¡¯t given him the item without sufficient reason. For one, she truly felt she, as a teacher, was to stand straight for something that happened in a task given by her, and for another, the leaf had more effects than simply healing a single wound.


    Even now, as she carried Puck through the tunnels of the eternal ice, she felt the life energy in his veins and saw one small scar or wound after another close up on Pucks body and leave behind new unblemished skin again with visible speed. Even then, bringing Pucks body back in a completely healthy condition, healthier than perhaps to any other point in his life before, that weren¡¯t all the leafs effects.


    No, the most important thing the leaf did was on another level entirely. On a spiritual level, on a level unreachable to anybody but the greatest powers or wisest sages, the leaf awakened something. Yes, one could even say it brought something to life as it was by nature a force of life itself.


    In the end, though, one could sum it up quite simply. It awakened potential. Potential for what? Nobody would be able to say, not even the force awakening that potential itself. For everybody consuming an item like that, it was different, and there were as many possibilities as stars in the sky.


    Some may become able to commune with nature or others may become able to lift the weight of entire buildings.


    As for Puck, Scarlet was really excited to see. She wouldn¡¯t tell him, though. Something like this, more often than not, was better found out by accident.


    --


    As Puck slowly awoke, he first thought he was still dreaming. His entire body felt light, and each and every single pore of his body seemed to vibrate with lively energy.


    His state of mind was free and unburdened, slowly drifting from one thought to another without giving anyone thought too much importance.


    Then, perhaps only a moment or an entire hour of sweet drifting between the world of dreams and the real world later, Puck felt someone softly shake his shoulder.


    First, he didn¡¯t want to react to the shaking, but all too soon, he changed his mind as his whole body now seemed to be brimming with energy that wanted nothing more than to move and do something.


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    Opening his eyes without further preamble, Puck was met with an unexpected sight. Having hunched herself over, Scarlet was standing over him still shaking his shoulders. Getting drawn in by the lines of her face, Puck once again noticed how beautiful she was. For a moment, Puck even thought Scarlet was staring back at him, but then only seconds later, Scarlet showed him that she indeed still could be rough as she stood up abruptly, leaving a painful claw mark on his shoulder.


    Slowly becoming aware of the whole situation and the recent events again, Puck first sat up to inspect his foot only to find nothing wrong there. No, it was not only nothing wrong. It was like there had never been any injury. In fact, his whole body¡­


    Bit by bit, Puck became more aware of his situation, and as Scarlet gave him the details on the bodily effects of the leaf, he was left gaping. Only one single wound, a scar over his left shoulder, was left behind. Seemingly a reminder what happened.


    Apparently wanting to leave the topic of the magical healing behind, Scarlet decided it was time to talk about something else.


    "Tell me, how did you plan to get in and out of the village in your state before the healing without people noticing and you getting attention and interest you wouldn¡¯t like? They wouldn¡¯t let you go out again without taking Zephyrian from you. Most importantly they likely even consider you dead or at least missing."


    Puck already wanted to speak up, but Scarlet raised a hand to get another moment.


    "I know the situation has changed now, but that is not what I want to talk about, just tell me your plan for the original situation. Or more exactly the original situation without your foot being wounded. I¡¯m really interested in how you think you would be able to succeed under those circumstances."


    Motioning for Scarlet to sit down again, Puck did the same and got himself comfortable.


    First taking a long break and then slowly inhaling, Puck took his time to start talking to build up the tension. Then, stopping his overdrawn introduction silence, he directly got to the point.


    "I had no plan."


    First not realizing what Puck had said or expecting an elaboration, Scarlet didn¡¯t react at first, so Puck reiterated his words.


    "I truly don¡¯t know how I would have been able to do it."


    Seemingly a little astonished and unbelieving, Scarlet spoke up intrigued.


    "But, you have prepared so much, trained day in day out, only to then stand there before the village without a plan?"


    Puck locked down again, now seeming a little bit more solemn.


    "At the start, I thought about it and planned, but as I was unable to come up with anything, I decided in the end that it was best not to think about it as to not demoralize myself."


    Getting a bit more cheerful and cheeky again, Puck smiled at Scarlet.


    "Instead of planning, I did simply that what I was best at. For days on end, I cursed my situation and my own mind for forcing me to do something like that and among other things, I even cursed my teacher. Once I even did call her a¡­"


    Stopping in the middle of the sentence, Puck looked expectantly at Scarlet, not knowing what her reaction would be.


    In the end, only a few minutes after waking up again completely unharmed, Puck managed to get his arm twisted so badly, that it would hurt for hours more. But perhaps more importantly than that, before getting his arm twisted, he managed to make Scarlet truly laugh for the first time.

 Chapter 15 - Meeting an old acquaintance

    When Puck finally walked into the village, another two hours had passed since waking up again, but he still marveled at how well he felt.


    Puck had never been especially slow or bad at reaction times. But now he felt like his body reacted as fast and as well as never before. Perhaps that feeling simply was a result of the stark contrast to the state his body was in before the healing though.


    Apart from the truly terrific pain every time he moved, there had also been a constant aching, something he had learned to endure, but only now knew how nice it was to be without.


    Closing and opening his right clawed hand in marvel, Puck felt like every part of him was more sensitive. Everything was just so much better. Puck still could hardly believe it. It wasn¡¯t exactly supernatural, and neither had Puck suddenly become a peak athlete. No, his body simply had been restored to a near-perfect state of what he already had been.


    When thinking back now to the pain and anguish of the past week, Puck could only shrug and ask himself how he had gone through all that without giving in. But he had, and as he looked at the village before him, he felt the difference these experiences made.


    The time when he had lived in the village felt more than only a few months back. Yes, even the time he rested in Scarlet¡¯s cave felt far more than a single week away. That single week had changed him and his perspective on a fundamental level, and even though he knew he hadn¡¯t suddenly become somebody entirely else, he still felt changed.


    Those changes were perhaps still very fresh, and a real challenge still would perhaps make him fall back into old habits. But Puck wouldn¡¯t let the visit to his old village become a real challenge. He had a new perspective, new goals, and a new master. He wouldn¡¯t let himself be pushed around by the other Gremlins.


    As Puck walked towards the guard standing at the end of the tunnel leading into the great ice cavern of the village, he still felt a little fear and anxiety rising, but he pushed it down and walked on confidently.


    Rousing himself a little from his resting place against a wall, the guard lazily scratched his rear while looking at Puck from the distance. After a few seconds he started squinting his eyes a little as he couldn¡¯t identify Puck directly. Puck, though, could recognize him the other way around and felt a little rage rising as he met one of his less important bullies. Not wanting to make a scene, though, Puck simply pushed his rage down again. Today was not the day he would meet out justice.


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    Even while slowly walking closer, the guard didn¡¯t recognize Puck, and Puck got a little confused. The Gremlin village was only about a hundred and fifty Gremlins strong, and this guard should know everyone that went in and out. Of course, Puck had been missing for a few months now, but shouldn¡¯t the guard still recognize him?


    But as he came to a standstill around ten feet away from the guard who now had leveled his bone weapon at him, Puck came to realize that his outward appearance must have changed simply too much.


    The outward bodily changes of the leaf may not have been all too great, but they still had changed a little bit here and there. Together with other clothes and the new way Puck carried himself, the guard truly couldn¡¯t be blamed for not recognizing someone missing for months.


    <hr>


    As the unknown Gremlin walked towards him, Rablam tried to inspect him closer to finally figure out who it was. As the whole tribe knew by the word of their leader, there were no other Gremlin groups, and whoever this was should have come from their own tribe.


    This Gremlin, like all others of their race, was only about four feet tall and had hairy tufts on his joints and head while at some other places of his body green leathery skin showed itself. Beyond that, it seemed like the stranger was on the skinnier side while still carrying himself with a certain self-confidence.


    Looking closer at the face of the stranger, Rablams gaze first fell on the big yellow eyes and the flat nose, but nothing there told him who it was that stood opposite from him. Only when noticing that one of the fangs reaching upward out of the Gremlin¡¯s wide mouth on each side had been broken off and the right one of the big Gremlin ears had been torn up did Rablam recognize him.


    It was Puck! Here before him stood the small scrawny Gremlin that he himself had helped more than once to put in his place. To think that he actually still lived and hadn¡¯t died in the months nobody had seen him¡­


    How fortunate! It had been so much more boring in the village since Puck had gone and they had been unable show him how inadequate he was! Of course, there had been others that offended them and didn¡¯t work enough, but Puck had always been their very dearest.


    Truly though, it was him. That tooth had been broken off by Holden himself some years ago, and Rablam himself had been there when Puck¡¯s ear had been torn open. Something else was missing, though. In Rablams memory, Puck had always walked with his head pulled in between his shoulders and his eyes wandering, but not anymore. Now he looked point-blank at Rablam and even made him a little nervous.


    Thinking already about showing Puck his place in society again, Rablam decided against it for the moment. That would come later. First, he would have to ask Puck a few questions. Of course, not too many as that would bore him, and so many formalities simply didn¡¯t happen in Gremlin society, but still, some to verify the reason for his absence from work on the farms.

 Chapter 16 - Coming home

    It was surprising how easy it was to get past Rablam. Even after he had recognized him, he hadn¡¯t made a big scene and only asked a few rudimentary questions while looking a little suspicious but still in the end simply being bored.


    In the past, the other Gremlins never had let go of an opportunity to look down on him and treat him as trash, and had he come back here in the open as a cripple, Rablam likely would have taken the opportunity to take out his frustration with his boring work on him. But it truly seemed like he had changed enough that at least Rablams subconscious thought it wasn¡¯t worth the risk to try to attack him alone.


    Telling Rablam truthfully about his new apprenticeship with Scarlet, Rablam seemed surprised, but unlike Puck before, Rablam seemed to know Scarlet even though she didn¡¯t visit the village often. Likely a benefit of being a guard. It was still unclear though if Rablam believed Puck''s story as he asked why he hadn¡¯t been back even once.


    In the end though it seemed like Rablam simply couldn¡¯t be bothered any longer and simply let Puck go into the village.


    Already thinking the meeting would go completely without animosity, Puck hadn¡¯t been prepared for the small rock that hit him on the back of the head while he was already walking towards the village in the open cavern with his back towards Rablam. But as it seemed, the other Gremlin in the end couldn¡¯t stop himself from giving Puck a bad taste in the mouth at least.


    After Puck turned around while rubbing the back of his head, he saw Rablam standing there and sneering at him. Pointing his weapon at Puck again, Rablam shouted: "I may not care for what you do, but by stopping working on the farm, you stopped providing me and the others with our rightful food. Don¡¯t think you will come out here again without giving us what we are owed.¡±


    Not condescending to answer Rablam, Puck simply turned on his heel again and walked on towards the village while finally truly warming himself up again in cursing one of his old enemies. But even though he cursed, there was a smile on his lips. The meeting had gone as well as he could have hoped, and he was in the village again without a problem. Now he only needed to retrieve Zephyrian and get out of the village without getting caught.


    Otherwise... a small shiver ran down Puck''s spine as he remembered his last encounter with Holden and his gang in the fields.


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    <hr>


    Having avoided meeting the other Gremlins as much as possible without hiding or seeming suspicious, Puck had made his way through the village and now finally reached his old home. As he looked at the small cave-like building, hacked out of the eternal ice below directly, he felt neither remorse nor any heaviness of heart upon telling himself that this was the last time he would go into it. It truly was a wretched place, and anybody going to reside in it after Puck truly wasn¡¯t someone to be envied.


    Puck''s own family had lived somewhere else when Puck still was young, but he didn¡¯t even know exactly in which home, as Puck''s parents had died while Puck still had been extremely young.


    Slowly walking up to the front door made out of old rotten wood directly attached to the ice, Puck tried to make no sound, but even then, somebody must have seen him come through one of the small windows as a raspy voice came from inside the door. Puck jumped a little at the voice, having unconsciously still suspected the house to be empty as it had been his once. Of course, it had been unlikely from the start for it to remain empty as the Gremlins had no luxury to waste anything.


    Not having understood what the voice had said the first time around, Puck simply answered that he had something to talk about, had no ill intentions, and asked if he could come in.


    Expecting to have to come in without being allowed to, Puck was surprised as the raspy voice told him to come in without even asking first who he was. Being a little suspicious and careful, Puck slowly opened the creaking door and stared into his old home.


    Even though Gremlins could see perfectly even in the dark, Puck wasn¡¯t able to make anything out at first simply because a great gust of smoke hung in the air in the building and even left through the door after Puck opened it. Coughing into his elbow, he took a step back.


    As a reaction, dry and high-pitched laughter came out of the building which gave Puck the creeps.


    Taking his courage together and taking a deep breath, Puck lowered his head through the door and stepped in. Slowly adjusting to the smoke, Puck rubbed his burning eyes and breathed slowly but wasn¡¯t actively dying from the air anymore. After adjusting to the environment, Puck finally heard the shallow and unsteady breathing out of a corner of the one-room ice apartment. It came from the place where Puck''s bed had always stood, and as he looked there, he finally found the new owner of his old apartment.


    He had wondered who it was, that would be forced to live in this wretched place instead of him, but as he looked at the sad figure in his old bed, he couldn¡¯t help but wonder if she still was even alive. There, on the bed, a Gremlin more ancient than any other Puck had ever seen before lay.


    She must have stayed in her old home nearly all the time, as Puck couldn¡¯t remember seeing her a single time outside. That was no wonder too. Perhaps Puck truly didn¡¯t know many old Gremlins as Gremlins in the village mostly died young, but even he could say that this Gremlin looked more than ancient. In fact, she already looked positively dead.

 Chapter 17 - Regret

    Surrounded by great and dark clouds of smoke from her pipe, the oldest-looking Gremlin Puck had ever seen sat. While walking closer, Puck couldn¡¯t stop himself from coughing again as he smelled what she was smoking.


    It was one of the poisonous mushrooms Puck often had been tasked to remove from the fields in the past. It was greatly hallucinogenic, and anybody smoking it through the archaic pipes of the Gremlins was doomed to die early. Though, even if she died right now, Puck would never say she had died early.


    The lower half of her body was hidden below Puck''s old comforter that went up to her waist. Her face had more skin wrinkles than even the domesticated truffle pigs that the Gremlins held. And that was saying something as these pigs were the most hideous and wrinkly things Puck knew.


    The saddest thing about her appearance though, at least to any Gremlin that gave something about himself, were her ears. The ears were the most important aspect of beauty for their race, and to have them look straight and domineering was priority one. The ears of the Gremlin before Puck, though, instead lay flat and like wet pieces of leather.


    Finally, Puck focused on her eyes, and a little cringe ran through his body. Her eyes were milky and unfocused, but something about them seemed to tell Puck about an aspect of her age that her outwardly appearance nearly completely masked. When looking into those eyes, Puck thought he could feel a touch of what it meant to live for that long, to experience so much...


    Finally, it was the old Gremlin woman who spoke up again. Her voice seemed even weaker and raspier than before, and in between, she did have to stop now and then.


    ¡°So, you were the one who lived here before me. I was wondering who owned this wretched place before me. No matter though, you don¡¯t seem like you have returned to stay, and my time will come soon anyway.¡±


    Puck, wanting to get out of there as fast as possible, was already slowly moving to where he hid Zephyrian, but as he heard the next sentence from the old relic of a Gremlin, he froze mid-step.


    ¡°You don¡¯t need to start looking for your strange friend, I¡¯ve moved him somewhere else.¡±


    Slowly turning around, Puck asked threateningly, ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    Laughing dryly, the old Gremlin spoke up again.


    ¡°Why so upset? No need to worry, I¡¯ll tell you where you can find him soon. Before that, I just want to hear one last story from you. A last wish from someone dying, you could say. For my whole life, I stayed in this cavern with our small tribe, or if the leaders are to be believed, the whole sad rest of our race. I always wondered if perhaps I would ever see something else, if I ever found the courage to go against convention and try something new. But I never found my courage, and as such, I¡¯m now lying here old and nearly dead, dreaming of something that never was.¡±


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    Puck, still unwilling to give in: ¡°What did Zephyrian tell you? He shouldn¡¯t have¡­¡±


    Shaking her head nearly unnoticeably, the old Gremlin smiled grimly.


    ¡°So, Zephyrian is it, yes? You know, for weeks now I tried to get one single story out of that stupid thing, or even just its name, but it was completely unwilling to give in. Only once did it betray itself to even be able to talk. So no, you need not worry about it having told me something it shouldn¡¯t have. For whatever reason, it remained completely unwilling to talk to me. But as you know that strange creature, you must have come in touch with things outside of this village. So, will you tell me a story of something outside of the scope of my life before I die? Please?¡±


    After asking that last pleading ¡°please,¡± Puck both felt and saw how the old Gremlin sunk back into her resting place. Both her body and mind seemed at their limit. Sighing, Puck finally gave in. Of course, there wasn¡¯t all that much he could tell, but he thought the story of the last week should suffice.


    At the start, Puck talked slowly and with many pauses, but with time he felt himself back in those moments he talked about, and as he came to the leaf and its magic, he thought he could feel those same things again he felt at that very moment.


    When Puck finally was finished, only about half an hour later, the breaths of the old Gremlin came low and much less regular. Her eyes also had closed somewhere in the middle of the story. But now, as he was finished, she opened them one last time to look at him. Her voice had gotten even weaker, and Puck suddenly realized he would witness her death in the next few minutes, making him sober up.


    ¡°Thank you, your story was more than I could have asked for, but it isn¡¯t the end of the story, it is the beginning. So let this old one just give you one small recommendation for your life. It seems you have already set out to a life where you don¡¯t make the same mistakes as me, but don¡¯t grow complacent, always seek new things, always expect the unexpected, never letting something chain you down. Else¡­¡±


    The Gremlin took a deep shuddering breath and seemed to look right through Puck.


    ¡°Else you will only end like me.¡±


    Having gotten into the whole thing, Puck stepped forward to take one of her death-cold hands.


    ¡°Your companion is still in his old hiding place¡­ I didn¡¯t manage to move it anymore.¡±


    Seemingly having lost her last strength, she went nearly completely limp, and Puck thought he couldn¡¯t even see her breath anymore. Already thinking that was it, Puck was surprised to hear one last whispered sentence from her lips.


    Not understanding it, he leaned closer, and as she repeated it, Puck finally understood.


    ¡°My name was Thalea. Please take the lucky charm around my neck and bring it somewhere where it finally can witness something worth witnessing because in my own life it never did.¡±


    Not knowing what to say, Puck simply said he would.


    Then, her body and mind finally giving in, Thalea died.

 Chapter 18 - Getting going

    As Puck looked upon the completely still form of Thalea, he did not know what to feel. It was less than an hour ago that he had met Thalea for the first time and it was mostly himself that had talked the entire time.


    But even still, Puck thought he could understand Thalea and her final feelings better than perhaps any other Gremlin. Wasn¡¯t it exactly this fate, a life such as this, that Puck would have lived without change? Wasn¡¯t it exactly this which he was now trying to leave behind with all he had?


    Perhaps Puck did not know Thalea all that well, but even then, as he looked upon her dead body, he felt an empathy he couldn¡¯t remember feeling for any other Gremlin before. There had been some Gremlins he would nearly have considered friends before Holden and his gang had threatened them away. There also had been some girls that Puck liked, but they all, in the end, had felt so distant, as if they lived in completely different worlds where one simply didn¡¯t understand the other.


    This old hag though, Puck had understood her, and she had understood him. Carefully walking forward, Puck took her ice-cold arms and carefully crossed them together over her chest. Then he smoothed out her ears and carefully closed her eyes. Taking a few seconds to commemorate, Puck simply stood there next to the bed in the slowly dispersing smoke and silently told Thalea that he wouldn¡¯t make the same mistakes she did.


    Thinking a little bit about whether he could do something else for the now dead woman, Puck in the end decided against it. He couldn¡¯t spend too much time in the village. He needed to get going. Walking to the spot where he had hidden Zephyrian some months ago, Puck carefully pushed aside a dirty and rough picture of a mushroom on the wall and pushed his arm into a narrow gap in the ice behind it.


    It wasn¡¯t easy, and as such it was no wonder that the old Gremlin hadn¡¯t been able to get Zephyrian out herself. Only after having buried his arm up to the shoulder did Puck reach Zephyrian¡¯s hilt and manage to pull him out with a great amount of effort. The moment Puck grasped the hilt of the old sword, he felt like a small shock hit his system. But only moments later, the annoying voice of Zephyrian made him forget the strange occurrence.


    The sword first must have thought the old Gremlin was trying to get him out again, and as such was cursing ¡°the old hag¡± as Zephyrian called her. It didn¡¯t take long, though, for Zephyrian to correct his mistake as he exchanged ¡°old hag¡± with words like ¡°bastard¡± and ¡°stupid mushroom lover.¡± Not wanting to be outdone, Puck started cursing back and even threatened to put Zephyrian back into the hole.


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    It was that threat that made Zephyrian immediately shut up, and Puck realized how hard it must have been to be stuck in that small crevice for months on end. Puck already suspected Zephyrian had another measure of time than the Gremlins and would be less affected, but still... Not wanting to be unfair, Puck apologized.


    After that, there was a little silence before they both started to talk again at once. It took nearly another full half hour, where Puck sat against a wall as far away from the dead body as possible, where Puck told Zephyrian what happened and Zephyrian lamented Puck¡¯s idiocy and its own meager luck to have ended up in the hands of someone like Puck.


    But even as they blamed each other and cursed together, Puck truly felt something he hadn¡¯t been clear on before having lost Zephyrian for a few months. They each had missed the other one in at least some way, and even though perhaps they were not yet friends, they were on the right path to become ones.


    Deciding that curring some favor and showing Zephyrian his empathie was more important than anther few minutes of time, Puck took some time to polish the sword.


    Afterthat, one full hour after having entered his old home, Puck was ready to go. Having taken so long, Puck was certain Holden and his gang had already been alerted to his presence. It was time to see if Puck could escape his enemies for one last time. After that, he swore, he would only come back to humiliate and defeat them.


    Puck wasn¡¯t sure what would be the best course of action. Should he try to sneak to one of the exits without getting noticed? No, they likely were already waiting at each entrance, and subterfuge would do him no good. Puck¡¯s most important advantage was that even while the Gremlins had no real laws, open violence against one of them wasn¡¯t tolerated. Because of that, the others would need to search him out either in one of the tunnels just outside the village or in one hidden corner or another.


    Deciding the former was more likely, Puck would try and make his way to one of the ways out as fast as possible. There were only so many who would take part in an ambush against him, and there wouldn¡¯t be more than two or three guarding each exit. If he went as fast as he could, the Gremlins from the other tunnels wouldn¡¯t be able to catch up in time.


    Thinking a little bit more, Puck also prepared a plan B. In case something like last time happend, he wanted to have some cards up his sleeve. Making his last preparations, Puck wrapped up Zephyrian in specially prepared leather and then fastened him to his back with a strap he had crafted only days before his crippling.


    Finally feeling the fear and anxiety truly creep up again, Puck wouldn¡¯t and couldn¡¯t delay any longer. It was time. With one last bow to Thalea and a last look around his old home, Puck pushed open the door and started jogging in a way that hopefully would at the same time be fast enough and save enough air for later.

 Chapter 19 - Now or never

    By the time Puck reached the cavern exit he was aiming for, he was more exhausted than he had hoped but less so than expected.


    He had jogged the whole stretch at a constant and conservative speed. It was only when he had started to jog upwards towards the cavern exit that he began to get exhausted.


    But Puck thought it would be worth it. Wherever the others had positioned themselves, they shouldn¡¯t all have positioned themselves at exactly this exit. And with his movement speed, they shouldn¡¯t have had enough time to reposition themselves.


    Slowing down to not seem suspicious to the guards, Puck approached the exit. Getting out of the village was often more problematic than getting in. As the chief had decreed, the remaining Gremlins should stay together in the face of the dangers of the outside world, and nobody should be left unaccounted for.


    At least for that problem, Puck had come prepared. It was about the time when many of the workers from the mushroom farms would come back into the village, and luckily, Puck himself somehow hadn¡¯t lost his own badge as a mushroom farmer while getting beaten.


    Of course, he was going in the opposite direction of the workers coming back from work, but that should be okay. It wasn¡¯t too uncommon for someone to need to go in and out more than once to get all their stuff back home.


    The main way problems could arise would be if the guards recognized Puck as a long-lost worker. To prevent them from doing that, Puck waited just out of sight of the two guards until a small group of workers came back together.


    They walked slowly and discussed something loudly, it was the perfect opportunity.


    Fast, but not too fast, Puck walked towards the exit from the opposite direction of the workers. Doing everything not to seem out of the ordinary, Puck let his head fall down and tried to seem like somebody who really wanted to be anywhere but here, having to finish his work.


    Having calculated it right, the other group reached the guards a few moments before Puck did. While chattering on, they showed their badges to the guards one by one. Then, before all of them had shown theirs, Puck simply stepped up to them, held his badge up for the guards to see, and then walked on without another word.


    Puck had thought about whether he should say something, but in the end, he decided against it to prevent someone from recognizing his voice.


    While walking past the guards, Puck got to examine them a little closer, and a shudder involuntarily ran down his back. One of the guards was somebody Puck would nearly classify as a good soul, never having been particularly mean to Puck. But the other one ¡­, the other one smiled a knowing smile when their eyes crossed for a moment.


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    It wasn¡¯t that smile, though, that made Puck shudder. No, it was the four jagged scars cutting through the face of the lanky Gremlin.


    Suddenly, Puck was back in that moment before the ambush. Everything was back: the fear, the adrenaline, but also the grim determination. Only barely did Puck manage to let his steps carry him on, away from the guards and away from Trim.


    The other guard frowned at Puck¡¯s back for a moment, seemingly unsure if he should simply let him go. But then Trim asked him something and distracted him.


    Forming his hands into fists, where his claws nearly burrowed into the palms of his hands, Puck¡¯s eyes started to flicker from one place to another. Trim had recognized him and even then, had let him out. He had even helped him.


    That meant he was right. There was an ambush waiting for him. There had been this small part of him that had denied that very reality for the last hours. Why should he be so important for them to organize an ambush in a few hours? Perhaps they had misjudged and were expecting him somewhere in the main cavern, perhaps¡­


    But no, now it was clear what was waiting for him, and Puck¡¯s heart started racing ever faster. With slow and deliberate steps, he walked forward in the darkness.


    As Puck walked forward, it got harder and harder to hold himself under control. Primal instincts told him to start running without looking back.


    Finally, Puck reached the first fissure of the tunnel going out of the village. Deciding to go left, Puck was aware that this should be the place for the ambush. Any farther away, and they¡¯d risk him sneaking past them into another tunnel.


    Worst of all, the fissure wasn¡¯t in any way straight or Gremlin-made. It was one of the great fissures that could go all through the eternal ice. There were corners and protruding edges everywhere and more than a few short tunnels with dead ends went in all directions.


    As Puck slowly walked into the small clearing, he decided he would try the left of the two possible tunnels as it was the one with a shorter way towards Scarlet¡¯s abode.


    Deciding to speed his steps up a little, as not to give them too much time to calculate their moves and plan their approach, Puck stopped treading so carefully, as he was sure his enemies must already have heard him.


    But as Puck came nearer and nearer to the tunnel leading to his escape, he began to doubt his sanity again. ¡°Was he perhaps simply getting too paranoid? Had the attack on him made him irrational when it came to these matters?¡±


    Two opposing sides started to rise in Puck. One was getting more and more fearful of the eventual attack, and the other one was getting more and more hopeful that the attack would never come.


    Only with a great amount of his newfound will and courage did Puck manage to push down this turmoil of emotions and focus on the here and now.


    Not a moment too early too, as suddenly something started moving to the right of Puck. Before even seeing it, Puck heard the movement, as Gremlin ears were nearly unsurpassed. Spinning around, Puck saw someone rushing out from behind an ice boulder.


    Realizing the Gremlin would reach him in only seconds, Puck hesitated for a moment, unsure of what to do. That hesitation might have been a good thing, though, as it allowed Puck to listen for other things.


    As it turned out, there was somebody else sneaking up on him from the side opposite to the open attack.


    Shoving his mixed feelings finally completely down, Puck readied himself. It was now or never.

 Chapter 20 - Two dead bodies

    It had come very surprising to their group when Puck suddenly returned to the village, but luckily to them Rablam had been one guard duty when he came back.


    Truly, it was a joyous occasion, even though there were other ones to kick down, none had been nearly as much fun as Puck had always been.


    Karak made himself no illusions in that area, he was no good Gremlin. Neither was he an important part of the Gremlin society. He simply was a leech sucking of what he could for himself. For years he had worked on making his small group with Holden as the leader more violent and it had worked.


    Only a few well-placed and strategic words after Pucks return, Karak had managed to convince the others that it would be the best to strike at Puck before he could even leave the village again.


    Some might ask why Karak was like that? Why did he nothing to help the village survive, but instead only wanted to create chaos and torture the weak?


    He truly didn¡¯t know. To say he had been abused in his childhood would be an excuse. To say he despaired because of the circumstances of the Gremlins would be an excuse too and Karak had no need to excuse himself before himself.


    He simply liked to see them squirm. He liked to see it when they understood that he had truly no reason to harm them, but simply did it because he wanted to.


    In fact, even though Karak suspected Puck thought otherwise, it wasn¡¯t Holden that had been the deciding factor in their hobby of bullying Puck. No, at the start Holden even had been a restraining voice and only wanted to get revenge on Puck for something that now was already long irrelevant.


    Of the five that had become Pucks nightmare, only he had truly been a driving factor from the start. Even than Karak had made sure though that the others didn¡¯t realize that, laughing over his so-called friends while manipulating them.


    While Holden had been a violent but not clearly bad child at the start, Trim had been only a little fearful and Falcon and Typhon the last two of their group only had wanted to be part of something. Truly being proud by now of what he had helped create of the group, Karak was far from finished though.


    Right now, in this desolate tunnel was a good time to take the next step. Already the last time they had beat Puck down, Karak had wanted to lead his group into killing him directly, but it hadn¡¯t worked. Back then, he could only make sure that he would die if let alone.


    Not this time though, having sat silently in the dark together with Typhon, Karak had been sure that today they would kill Puck. It was no coincidence that Karak had been chosen to guard a tunnel together with Typhon and not someone else. Even though one of the physical mightier Gremlins, Typhon was nothing if not easy to manipulate.


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    The only problem would be if Puck had chosen another tunnel with one of the other squads, but Karak had trusted in his judgment. He was seldomly wrong, and this time had been no different.


    Only having been in their position for about fifteen minutes, Karak could finally make out Puck through a hole in the ice wall before him. It was a good timing too, as no worker group was anywhere near, and as such Karak gave Typhon the sign to be ready.


    Then finally, when Puck walked right between their two hiding places Karak gave the finally signal and Typhon jumped up with a loud rumble and ran forward towards Puck. Trying to be as silent as possible, Karak made his way forward as well.


    Having feared at first Puck would try running, Karak nearly laughed as Puck first froze for a moment, only to than try to get ready and meet Typhons charge with an awkwardly raced arm.


    It was pathetic.


    The grin on his face stretching ever farther, Karak got ready to engage the moment Typhon reached Puck. He wouldn¡¯t even pretend to only try to beat him up. He would instantly gut Puck as the dirt mushroom pig he was with his claws.


    Finally, it was there, the moment he had waited for. Typhon nearly had reached Puck, and Puck did the stupidest thing possible in that situation and took two awkward steps back.


    Not waiting any longer, Karak revealed himself through a mad laugh and jumped forward, the sharp claws of his right hand extended towards his enemies, no, his victims lower back.


    Already thinking he could feal the soft flesh of his first true victim on his hand Karak was surprised, when the resistance his claws truly faced was little. Realizing Puck must have reacted in the last moment, Karak was surprised, but no matter, he had wounded Puck, and he wouldn¡¯t miss a second time.


    Hearing Puck scream from the hit, Karak already wanted to attack a second time together with Typhon, when something unexpected happened. Instead of losing all his composure like so many times before under assault, Puck had calculated Typhons charge perfectly and eluded his swipe by only a fraction of an inch.


    Apparently not having expected this, Typhon got surprised even more, when he suddenly felt a blinding pain on the back of his head, only to than black out seconds later.


    Karak though, even though surprised too, wouldn¡¯t simply stand around, as Puck knocked out Typhon with a stone he had hidden somewhere under his clothes.


    Their victim was unexpected dangerous and willing to defend himself, but it was too late for him. While being preoccupied with Typhon, Karak had taken the opportunity to mount his second attack and this time he did not miss.


    Feeling his claws rip through Pucks belly, while Typhon hit the ground somewhere behind him, Karak concluded that it couldn¡¯t have gone better. Even though he would have liked to help Typhon commit even more violence, it was even better to be alone and completely unrestrained with his victim.


    Perhaps he didn¡¯t have much time as other workers might come, but the time he had he would enjoy as much as possible.


    Fleeing now wouldn¡¯t help anyway, as Typhon still was unresponsive.


    Karak would simply have to let the others find two dead bodies when they came, so that no trace would lead back to him.

 Chapter 21 - Glory and death

    When Puck first felt the claws raking across his back, he screamed in pain but knew the injury was manageable.


    When the claws entered his body the second time though, just after he successfully knocked out one of his enemies, he knew this time the injury could prove lethal.


    With a scream of pain, Puck stumbled to the side and fell, barely avoiding landing on his belly again, where he felt pain unlike any before. The pain wasn¡¯t the greatest he had ever felt, but somehow this wound signaled that it could be enough to do him in.


    Lying on his back, gasping and holding his belly while trying to keep his blood inside his body, Puck, with a hazy vision, saw his remaining enemy lazily walk towards him while licking the blood off his claws.


    Finally seeing the attacker who had come from behind, Puck recognized Karak. Karak... Puck knew he was part of the group that always attacked him, but somehow, Puck had never taken much notice of him compared to the others.


    As the other Gremlin stood above him with gleaming eyes, Puck thought that perhaps he now saw his true enemy for the first time.


    Feeling the blood loss starting to take its toll, Puck thought he could hear voices, and his awareness of the outside world slowly shrank. Even then, Puck could only watch, dumbstruck and in horror, as Karak went over to Typhon and kneeled next to him. At first, Puck thought the Gremlin would try to wake his companion, but when Karak slowly closed his hands around the throat of his old companion and started choking him, Puck could only blink while his thoughts ground to a halt.


    This, this, it was... Puck didn¡¯t know what to think or feel or do. He was drifting away, and it felt as if the darkness was finally closing in on him, but still, there was something that wouldn¡¯t go away.


    There was this annoying voice in the back of his head that simply wouldn¡¯t stop screaming at him. Finally trying to understand what it wanted to tell him, Puck at first couldn¡¯t make out what it was saying, but as he tried to grasp the details, a light bulb went off in his remaining consciousness.


    It was Zephyrian. When Puck had fallen, he had landed on the sword still strapped to his back. In the fight, Puck hadn¡¯t tried to use the sword, as it was much too heavy for him to swing effectively, but now it was his last hope.


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    Finally understanding what it was saying, Puck knew what he had to do. Just before his consciousness would completely leave his body, he sent a final mental response to the sword.


    ¡°I accept.¡±


    There was a great gnarly tree standing on a beautiful hillside.


    Bountiful grass grew all over the hill, and the sun shone while birds chirped in the branches of the tree.


    Near the tree, an old human man sat on the ground, seemingly meditating while holding his face intro the sun. His robes were simple and unadorned, and his face was old and wrinkly, but there was something otherworldly about him, something one couldn¡¯t quite grasp easily.


    Across his lap lay something silver, it shone in the sun, as if greeting the sun with its own glaring brilliance.


    As a ray fell on its gleaming edge though, it seemed like the drums of war were suddenly echoing through the tranquil landscape, heralding a different future and a different age to come.


    In the middle of a mountain range seemingly surpassing space and being unrestrained by the flow of time, a lonely fortress stood in a valley undisturbed for time immemorial.


    This fortress, neither too big nor too impressive, seemed as old as the mountain range itself.


    In the middle of its empty court, the icy wind ruffled through the hair of a lonely girl dancing through the fortress.


    This girl, as otherworldly as the place she inhabited, never slowed or stopped as she danced through the snow with her partner.


    The whistling edge of her partner cutting through the air was the only thing to be heard.


    A great troll stood atop a great rock, looking over a field of thousands upon thousands of the dead as it mourned its fallen brothers.


    The fight had been long and hard, and he was the only survivor.


    Great gouts of blood flowed out of the many wounds on his massive body, running down the rock to join the ocean of blood below.


    Slowly lifting his great paw, the troll roared into the night as he held up the spoils of his victory. The gesture was a challenge seemingly at the heavens themselves as the weapon pointed upwards.


    Glory awaited him.


    Puck¡¯s consciousness was whisked from one vision to another.


    He saw creatures he¡¯d never seen before, both great and small. He saw visions of what he thought to be the sky and unimaginable wonders.


    But in company with the wonders, sights of horrors and despair rocked his mind.


    The visions were relentless, and the only constant was Zephyrian, who sometimes seemed to be the weapon of heroes, sometimes those of villains, and sometimes simply the spoil of war or something entirely else.


    As vision after vision passed by, Puck was slowly losing himself to the memories, starting to forget who he was and the situation he had been in.


    But then, finally, it stopped.


    Remaining was the vision of a normal and unimpressive sword drifting through the boundless void towards him.


    As if by instinct, Puck reached out with his imaginary hand, and as he felt it meet the hilt of the surprisingly solid sword, he was suddenly ripped out of the vision and tumbled back into his body back in the now and yet.


    Glory and death awaited.

 Chapter 22 - Power

    At first, being back in his own body was disorienting, and the visions still flashed through his mind. However, Puck finally managed to focus again.


    It wasn¡¯t just through his own efforts though, through means Puck didn¡¯t understand, a new connection had been forged between him and Zephyrian.


    Somewhere on a plane between mind, soul, and body, a connection existed between them, something Puck could not yet clearly identify but was as real as anything else around him.


    Through that connection, Zephyrian tried to help Puck with everything he could muster in his current state. And his state was terrible. Through this connection, Puck could finally clearly feel how the eons of loneliness had chipped away at Zephyrian''s sanity, body, and above all, soul and power.


    Even then, as Puck now began to understand, Zephyrian had once been a weapon beyond anything Puck could possibly imagine. What was left of his power was only a fraction of a fraction what he once had, and yet, as he transferred it to Puck, it felt like more than he could possibly control.


    He didn¡¯t need to control it alone, though. Again, it was Zephyrian who guided his inner will and vision, something he had never used before, to bring this power to bear.


    And bringing it to bear he did.


    Arching his back and screaming, Puck¡¯s eyes started to shine in the dark as Karak swirled around to him, letting go of his other victim.


    A terrible pain lanced through Puck¡¯s gut as he felt his wounds knitting together with terrible speed that left him twitching in agony.


    But was it fast enough? Even though Karak didn¡¯t understand what was happening, he acted quickly and without hesitation, lunging towards Puck with his claws aimed at Puck¡¯s throat.


    Feeling mortal peril, even with the power washing hot through his system, Puck gave it his all to roll to the side and push himself away.


    His body reacted with far more power and speed than Puck himself had expected or his mind could process. Suddenly, he was spinning through the air, only crashing down after flying dozens of feet.


    New wounds opened over his body, but Puck instantly knew those would close in a matter of seconds.


    Another, more serious problem was making itself known, though. Apart from the direct consequences of him being unable to move appropriately with the power coursing through him, there were more important problems.


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    As the power coursed through Puck''s body, even though rudimentarily guided by Zephyrian, it started to break down Puck¡¯s body on a fundamental level.


    He was not ready.


    In the jumbled visions Puck had seen of Zephyrian¡¯s past, something had become abundantly clear: The power of the sword was not something one could wield lightly.


    More than one wielder had perished simply by their own actions, being unable to control what they had asked for.


    Trying to send a message through their link to Zephyrian, Puck thankfully got the response that Zephyrian could stop the power at any moment. If he did, though, Puck would be completely healed but also left so exhausted that defeating Karak wouldn¡¯t even be wishful thinking.


    Puck would need to end the fight in the next few seconds, or he would either be burned out by his own power or left so exhausted that a win would be impossible.


    Trying to push himself up slowly to his feet in a controlled motion, Puck managed it.


    Then, instinctively and by Zephyrian¡¯s urging, Puck reached over his left shoulder and pulled out the sword from its improvised scabbard.


    Before, he had never been able to wield Zephyrian because of its great size and weight, but right now the sword felt exactly right in Puck¡¯s hand. As he stood there, his gaze slowly fixing on the hesitant Karak, he couldn¡¯t help but grin.


    Yes, the situation was still critical, and he had nearly died, but what he had earned was all the greater. Feeling both the physical form of the sword in his hands and the bond to Zephyrian¡¯s soul, Puck couldn¡¯t help but bask in the power he was wielding.


    With a glowing sword nearly as large as himself and eyes glowing in a terrifying yellow, Puck pushed himself forward as fast as he could manage, concluding that moving in a straight line at his enemy faster than he could react would be the best course of action.


    Feeling ice crack beneath his feet as his talons dug into it, Puck still had underestimated his power and speed. Thankfully, even his mind had sped up, allowing him to control his motions at least a little.


    Seeing Karak react in slow motion, Puck felt like it was a joke.


    Even though he was much faster than his enemy, it quickly became clear that a successful strike was far from assured.


    His left foot had given way more than expected when it encountered a small hole in the ice, putting him on a trajectory to shoot straight past his enemy.


    Realizing that this was his only chance, as Zephyrian signaled that he would have to stop the river of power soon or Puck would be crippled by it permanently, Puck let Zephyrian guide his movements.


    Leaning even more away from his enemy on purpose, Puck used that movement to turn around his own axis, swinging the sword with him. Hoping desperately that his reach would be enough, Puck started grinning wildly as he felt Zephyrian hitting flesh. Moments later, he saw Karak''s head unnaturally bent to the side.


    He had been nearly completely decapitated, only a few loose strings of flesh still holding Karak''s head on his body as the corpse slowly started to fall to the side


    Still grinning wildly, Puck lost his footing as Zephyrian''s power instantly cut off. Then everything went black as Puck started rolling and skipping over the uneven cave floor, getting kicked up and down by his own remaining velocity.

 Chapter 23 - Mission complete

    Zephyrian was unsure what to feel as he sensed the bond to Puck, his new wielder.


    It had been ages since he last had a wielder, and the last one... there was no use thinking about it.


    At first, he found this small and disgusting creature an insult to his great form, but slowly, over the time before the assault on Puck, Zephyrian''s changed his opinion.


    Just like himself, that small green creature had a past that troubled it greatly to this day. Perhaps it would never be able to comprehend Zephyrians own suffering over the eons, but then again, nobody who hadn¡¯t lived through it themself could possibly understand that.


    Then, in the few months where he had desperately waited and hoped for Puck to return, holding to his vow not to betray him, Zephyrian realized something. He truly liked this creature.


    When Puck had returned to get him, he had inwardly jubilated.


    Just moments ago, when Puck was about to die without even having lived for more than a few short years, one of Zephyrian''s vows had stood against another. His decision had been clear.


    To bond again had been both a great joy and a terrible reminder of the past.


    But then again, this was not the past, history didn¡¯t need to repeat itself. This was something new, the beginning of something great.


    Using the senses of the unconscious Puck, Zephyrian assessed the wounds of the small Gremlin. Even though they were severe due to the velocity remaining after he fell and Zephyrian''s power left him, they were manageable.


    Using Puck''s ears to listen for other Gremlins or creatures coming to inspect what had happened, Zephyrian could only marvel at how good those ears were. This race looked small and weak, but its senses were great, its hide was thick, and its muscles were strong and wiry.


    Listening into the dark, Zephyrian could make out voices of other Gremlins coming in their direction. With what had happened here, he and Puck needed to be as far away as possible before they found this place, the corpse, and the unconscious Typhon.


    Giving Puck a few mental nudges, he managed to wake him up.


    <hr>


    It couldn¡¯t possibly be good to fall unconscious time and time again, right?


    Recently, Puck had made a habit of it though, and he vowed to himself to do better from now on.


    Receiving a message from Zephyrian about how long he had been out and the other Gremlins nearing, Puck wanted to get up and start moving.


    When he tried to move though, his body didn¡¯t react at first.


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    Then the pain suddenly came back with full force. The injuries he had sustained in the fight had been completely healed, but not those that had come from the moment after Zephyrian''s power had left his body.


    More so than even that, Puck felt his entire body being damaged on a fundamental level. He wasn¡¯t exactly clear what type of damage it was. Afterall, there wasn¡¯t anything physically showing.


    Directly answering Puck''s thoughts, Zephyrian told him it was a kind of soul damage. More accurately, it was called soul strain.


    Feeling a bit estranged from getting a direct answer to his own thoughts in his head, Puck asked Zephyrian if he could refrain from listening in and speaking directly into his thoughts.


    Huffing lightly, Zephyrian sent Puck an emotion of pride and disdain, before suppressing the connection between them a little more.


    Only feeling, but not yet understanding exactly how and what Zephyrian did with their bond, Puck decided it would be a priority to learn that himself. To respond to the arrogant emotions, Puck responded with a few well-placed mental insults.


    Hearing the other Gremlins getting nearer through the tunnel leading out of the village, Puck realized he needed to hurry.


    After losing a few suppressed grunts and internally cursing Zephyrian for his heaviness, Puck finally stood ready again with the sword on his back.


    Then, with tremendous effort and one slow step after another, Puck gave it his all to escape a few unsuspecting and happily chattering farm workers, only minutes after having fought to the death with multiple opponents and having used supernatural powers.


    For some reason, though, this fight felt even harder than the last one.


    A small part of Puck asked himself all the while if he shouldn¡¯t feel remorse for killing someone. But somehow, the answer was clear to him, in this situation with that enemy, he had done exactly the right thing.


    Before leaving the place of the conflict completely behind, Puck risked one last look at the scene. The dead Karak truly looked terrifying in death, his head lying twisted and a huge puddle of blood forming below him, coloring the ice red.


    More interesting was something else, though. Indirectly, Puck subconsciously had thought until now that Typhon was dead too, but no, as he looked back, Puck saw Typhon weakly staring at him with an unreadable look in his eyes.


    How much had he seen? Had he been awake when his friend had tried to murder him? Did he see Puck''s power?


    Neither having the power nor the will to seek another confrontation, Puck simply turned his back towards the scene and shuffled awkwardly on in the darkness.


    It was unclear what Typhon, and the others would do after this confrontation, but Puck didn¡¯t care. If possible, he would never come back to the village.


    And even though the Gremlin leaders didn¡¯t like it when Gremlins killed each other, if it was unclear who had killed whom, they didn¡¯t have the capacity to investigate.


    By all accounts, he was safe as long as he managed to flee the crime scene. Not thinking about it any longer, as not to curse his own luck, Puck focused completely on moving forwards.


    Fearing Typhon might directly tell the workers the way he fled, Puck shuffled on as fast as he could before finally collapsing in a hidden alcove to sleep a dreamless slumber.


    <hr>


    Puck only woke up many hours later, every part of his body still hurting from many bruises and perhaps a few deeper wounds, but mostly from the soul strain.


    In fact, he felt even worse than when he found this hidden alcove. Upon asking Zephyrian how long the strain would last, he only got an uncommitted answer of about a few weeks.


    Resting for another few hours, Puck took a few mouthfuls of ice to refill his water reserves. As he had no food though, he needed to get going.


    Slowly moving towards Scarlet''s abode, Puck took even longer to get back than he had needed to come to the village.


    Truly, a great achievement.


    As Puck finally reached the abode, having completed his mission successfully, he couldn¡¯t help but be overjoyed and bursting with pride.


    When Scarlet came out to greet him and even offered him a smile, Puck thought he couldn¡¯t be happier.

 Chapter 24 - Morning

    It had only been a month since Puck retrieved Zephyrian, yet he felt like much more time had passed.


    The reason for that was neither that the time had been extraordinarily grueling, nor that many things out of routine had happened. It rather felt that way because Puck tried to enjoy every moment of his new life.


    After Puck had returned with Zephyrian, he had collapsed into bed nearly immediately, seemingly unable to answer any questions from Scarlet. Only another day later, when he had eaten more in a short time than could possibly be healthy, Puck told Scarlet about all that had happened. For a moment, Puck had thought about whether he should hide some important details, but he had decided immediately against it.


    When Puck described his visions of Zephyrian, Scarlet had gotten really invested in the story, and Puck had inwardly rejoiced at her interest. On that day, they hadn¡¯t only talked about Puck''s accomplishments, but Scarlet had also inaugurated Puck into the program for his next weeks and months.


    <hr>


    When Scarlet woke Puck in his normal sleeping place in a side room of her house, it was still very early, as usual. Very overslept, Puck couldn¡¯t help but inwardly grumble at Scarlet''s habit of getting up so soon and waking her student up with her.


    One time, Puck had asked her if she could let him sleep a little longer, and to this day, the grueling hours of torturous training after that gave him shivers when he thought about it. Scarlet was many things, but no gentle teacher.


    Starting with his normal morning tasks, Puck first washed the wooden plates for their food and his and Scarlet''s daily clothes in an ice-cold glacier river nearby. After that, Puck jumped into the water himself, truly waking up while cleaning himself. When he had still worked on the farms in the village, Puck had nearly never washed himself. Scarlet, though, had seemed adamant, and in the end, Puck hadn¡¯t been willing to risk her anger again.


    The one-time Scarlet had caught him when he went to the river a few hundred feet farther where she washed herself had had even worse consequences than the time Puck asked if he could get up later. Even then, though, to this day, Puck was unsure if it hadn¡¯t been worth it¡­


    After getting himself clothed again, Puck went back to the hut to meet up with Scarlet for breakfast.


    Breakfast was something new for Puck. He never had more food than he could eat at any moment, and so he always ate when he got something new. Scarlet, though, seemed to face no such problems.


    More importantly, the food Scarlet set up for all the meals was something entirely different compared to the faded and nutrient-empty mushrooms and grasses Puck had mostly eaten before. Every day, there was meat.


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    Meat!


    Before, Puck had nearly never eaten meat, as the lizards the Gremlins held were rare and only the warriors who needed to defend the tribe could be allowed to eat them.


    Together with the meat, there were all kinds of plants and mushrooms Puck had never seen before that gave the food ever-new flavors. More importantly than the flavors, though, were the nutrients. In one single month, a respectable but still not too long time in a Gremlin life, Puck had gained a few pounds weight. And by their daily routine, these pounds were not fat but wiry muscles.


    The breakfast with Scarlet was something Puck enjoyed every time, even though Scarlet seemed especially inclined to give Puck a hard day if he asked too many questions in the morning.


    While stuffing himself with the raw meat and eating the flowery moss with fervor, Puck eyed his opposite inconspicuously. Was she in a good mood today? Could he ask something important or better something mundane?


    Deciding that she seemed only mildly annoyed today, Puck asked something he thought would be a question she shouldn¡¯t have too many reservations answering.


    ¡°Can you tell me about your last excursion to hunt the great glacier river snakes?¡±


    Being a little anxious about Scarlet¡¯s reaction, Puck was relieved when she simply harrumphed and gave him a judging stare.


    Sitting up straight and already wanting to clean his mouth with his lower arm like he always would have in the past, Puck was stopped by a mental nudge from Zephyrian. Immediately realizing his mistake in trying to clean himself so savagely, Puck inwardly thanked Zephyrian and instead took a piece of fur out of his pouch to clean himself.


    In the past month, Puck and Zephyrian had lived through many hard tasks together, neither getting cut any slack by Scarlet. Even though Zephyrian was ancient, it seemed like his mind wasn¡¯t what it once was, and he didn¡¯t make the right decision every time. As such, both of them had been the target of Scarlet''s wrath more than once, and as Puck found out, there was nothing that brought two beings closer together than united suffering.


    More than once, Zephyrian had scoffed at Puck''s antics regarding Scarlet and told him it was futile, but even then, he had stopped Puck from doing something stupid many times already.


    Trying to clean his mouth as gracefully as possible, Puck inwardly sighed as he saw Scarlet suppress a laugh upon his actions. But then again, after stopping with the cleaning, Puck thought Scarlet looked a little more relaxed, and to his luck, she even agreed to give him a little elaboration on his question.


    It wasn¡¯t much, and Puck still did not know much about hunting great glacier river snakes even after the breakfast, but that was no problem.


    After finishing their breakfast, Puck brought the plates and remaining food away as usual, while Scarlet packed some last things into their two big bags.


    Noticing how Scarlet swung her bag up on her back as usual, Puck eyed his own suspiciously. More than once, he had tried the same, and every time, he had only embarrassed himself.


    At the start, Puck had suspected that Scarlet simply gave him the far heavier bag, but after trying to lift her bag up in her absence, he got taught better. He didn¡¯t know how she could possibly be that strong


    More than once, he had tried to convince Zephyrian to share his power with him again, even though Scarlet had forbidden it, but on that front, Zephyrian stayed unmoving.


    Sighing at his fate, Puck gave it his all too slowly heave his bag on his back. Then he stumbled after Scarlet as she impatiently started to walk ahead. A hard day awaited, and Puck cursed his own fate. But even while doing that, a happy mood dominated his every action. His instructor was strict, but in truth, Puck wouldn¡¯t have it any other way. Present and future both looked great, and Puck was expectant of both.

 Chapter 25 - Excursion

    Walking.


    Walking was something so normal that most creatures didn¡¯t even register it as its own activity anymore. Of course, if you went on a walk together with others it was a great way to spend time, and if you went jogging, running, or even hunting, you could do truly tremendous sports. But normal walking? That was often seen as only a means to an end.


    That had at least been Puck''s subconscious opinion all the time. Now, though, his opinion had changed. When Scarlet had explained a part of his training program to him, Puck had been very skeptical at first. How could he ever tire of normal walking? Well, that was quite easy, actually.


    With the difficult terrain, the stupidly heavy backpack, and the fast pace set by Scarlet, Puck had sat in a corner gasping for air only ten minutes after starting the first time around. By now, it wasn¡¯t that bad anymore at least. Having trained for an entire month, Puck had not only gotten stronger, but Scarlet also had started to show him tricks on how to breathe better and how to walk without wasting unnecessary energy.


    Each day, Puck learned something new about the simple art of walking, of traveling without spending himself so much that he might die to any random glacier fox after a long day, as Scarlet would often say. But even though the walking in itself was a great task and Puck never felt good enough at it, that was far from everything Scarlet tried to stuff into his head on their daily trips.


    Having started to last ever longer, the daily trips took about three hours each day by now, and each time they visited new areas where Puck had never been before. Every day he saw new plants, mushrooms, and animals that inhabited the eternal ice. Seemingly an inexhaustible wellspring of information, Scarlet never stopped telling him new things about the expected behavior and uses of the plants and animals.


    Apart from all the animals and plants, Scarlet also taught Puck about the eternal ice they were living in itself. Puck had never questioned what eternal ice was. After all, he had never seen anything else. The whole concept of completely different geological areas that Scarlet told him about mostly went by, over his head.


    Integrated into all those lessons about animals, plants and the area though, was something else. By all rights and purposes, Scarlet was a hunter, going out and killing animals in the tunnels nearly every day she didn¡¯t train Puck directly. But even though Scarlet never took Puck to one of her hunts until now, as she told him he wasn¡¯t ready yet, she still felt the need to teach Puck about the relationship between her, him, Gremlins, other enlightened races, plants, animals, and the whole of existence.


    Before going on a hunt, Scarlet sat down on the ground for nearly half an hour every time and simply told the world, and her soon-to-be prey, why it was that she would go out and hunt. Never would she kill an animal simply for the sake of it. Never would she trample a plant without having a reason to do so. As per her own words, Scarlet lived by the creed of Mother Nature herself, and even though nature often was ruthless, it was also in an everlasting harmony of giving and taking.


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    This creed, as Puck had found out the hard way, was not something to joke about.


    <hr>


    Today, as Puck walked after Scarlet through the dark tunnels, they left the area Puck knew by now pretty soon, and at the start, Puck often found himself staring at this or that. Never too long, though, as Puck had learned by now that Scarlet would never stop without reason.


    By the time they had walked nearly a whole hour, Puck had stopped staring at anything but Scarlet''s back as the walk was taking its toll. The tunnels they walked in today went ever upwards, and Puck couldn¡¯t do anything but focus on not falling over and getting enough air.


    The leather straps of Puck''s bag stung ever harder in his shoulders, and together with his bodily and spiritual exhaustion, it was no wonder that Puck simply let himself fall over when Scarlet called out the divine word:


    ¡°Break.¡±


    Knowing that he had only a little time to rest before being expected to give Scarlet his attention again, Puck lay there with closed eyes, taking one deep breath after another, his legs shaking from the strain.


    After a while, Puck felt like he was able to focus again, and as such, he opened his eyes and sat up while using his bag as a backrest.


    Turning himself a little to look around where they had ended up, Puck found a large cavern with a small river running through the middle and many big ice shards hanging from the ceiling and lying on the ground. Scarlet sat a few feet away from him on a small ice boulder, having put her own bag to the side too. Seeing that Scarlet had learned her head back to look up at the ceiling, Puck followed her gaze to find what she was looking at.


    The places they took a break in never were chosen randomly, and Scarlet had something new to show him every time. Upon a closer inspection, the roof of the cavern had many small and big caverns carved into it. Squinting his eyes, Puck thought he could see dark shapes in a few of the caverns.


    Questioningly turning his gaze back to Scarlet, he didn¡¯t need to wait long.


    ¡°What you see up there are the dens of a hive of ice bats. Normally, bats come from completely different areas, living in places much warmer and without ice. They¡­ They come from the surface¡­¡±


    Stuttering a little at the end, Scarlet went silent for a moment, and Puck, too, didn¡¯t say anything. Every time Scarlet mentioned the surface, it seemed like she still longed for it with all she had but was restrained to staying here for some unknown reason. As Puck had found out the hard way, it was better to let her be in those moments.


    Finding her words again, Scarlet explained more about the bats and how they lived here. Listening to her words attentively, Puck tried to soak up as much knowledge as possible.


    While lying there and looking at the ceiling, though, something entirely different crossed his thoughts. These bats were only the second species he learned about that could fly. How did it feel to fly? To be free, unbound by the ground?


    And more importantly, how great would it feel if there was no ceiling that limited the height you could rise to?

 Chapter 26 - A meal

    As every other time before, Puck instantly broke down on the spot when they arrived back at Scarlet¡¯s abode. The way back, even though mostly downhill, had been even worse than the journey toward the bat cavern. More than once, Puck had stumbled, and twice he had even fallen.


    At least, even though strict, Scarlet wasn¡¯t cruel. When Puck fell, she would check on him and only after assuring he was well enough would they continue. Well enough by Scarlet¡¯s standards, though, not by Puck''s.


    Now, as Puck lay there on the refreshingly cold ice, resting for the second time that day, his thoughts drifted back to the sky and flying. How would it be? What even was the sky Scarlet talked about and how exactly would it look? Was...


    Vaguely, Puck thought he could remember that he should have seen the sky in many of the visions shown by Zephyrian, but day after day, those visions grew blurrier in his mind, and even though he begged regularly, Zephyrian wouldn¡¯t or couldn¡¯t show him those visions again.


    The sky was blue, right? A vast thing, never-ending and empty of ice. But how could there be no ice? Everywhere was ice... Or not? But no, Scarlet had just told him otherwise, so...


    As Puck lay there on his back, still gasping for air, his whole body shaking, his imagination drifted further and further away from reality until he finally fell asleep.


    <hr>


    Scarlet immediately went into the small kitchen room of her home when they got back. Hearing Puck fall to the ground and gasp for air, she couldn¡¯t help but let a small smile play across her lips. Oh, the good old times when she had been just like that...


    Only, she hadn¡¯t been exactly like that. For one, she had been completely alone, only an infant of her race, yet journeying through the unknown dangers of the eternal ice. That she had survived was a wonder.


    For another, the fire that burned inside Puck was different from the one that had burned inside her at that time, and it was also different from the one that burned inside her now.


    When she had ventured out from her village, another one than the one Puck came from, she had been desperate for something new, having glimpsed the monotony that awaited in the normal life of her village. But it was nothing like what Puck had experienced.


    She had ventured out with hope and drive. Before the unfathomable weapon and Scarlet, came though, Puck had already been wallowing in his own pit of despair for years.


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    That pit Puck had wallowed in had now been turned around 180 degrees. Every action of Puck, whether conscious or not, seemed to be driven by the desire to get as far away from that inner pit as he possibly could. His drive and conviction were ever-growing, and with it, his knowledge and body. One day, Scarlet was sure, he would accomplish great things.


    Then she snorted.


    Not yet though. Right now, he was still lying outside, gasping for air and slowly falling asleep.


    <hr>


    Knowing exactly what Pucks body needed right now from all the experiences of her past, she started preparing a meal.


    A meal.


    Yeah, a true meal. Not a meal by the local Gremlin standards, but a real meal. It was hard, though. It had taken her a long time after getting back here to learn how to create something truly delicious and protein-rich with the available resources.


    After all, where she was cooking right now wasn¡¯t in some advanced kitchen of a true house or even the kitchen of a great Troll. Instead, she was here in her small abode in the middle of nowhere.


    She had carved and built the small hut¡ªor better called cave¡ªinside a bigger cave herself, carving and stacking the ice as she needed it. Many of the tools she was using to cook to this day, though, came from somewhere far, far away.


    Deciding it wouldn¡¯t be raw but truly baked meat this time, Scarlet went on to the hard task of lighting a fire with the old, rotten, and icy wood she had only rudimentarily dried with her last fire.


    It was only an hour later when the food was finally finished, and Scarlet decided to wake up her student. He needed the food and besides, the day was still young, and two further training regimens awaited.


    Walking outside, Scarlet approached the originator of the loud snoring that had accompanied her while cooking the whole time. Upon letting her gaze fall on the stretched-out form of Puck, she couldn¡¯t help but scrunch up her nose as she saw him drool while sleeping. Before lunch, she would need to send him to the river to clean himself.


    He stank.


    <hr>


    After cleaning himself and stuffing himself full of food until his belly hurt, Puck started to relax a little, but he knew the sensation was misleading. Getting proven true the next moment, Puck couldn¡¯t help but groan as Scarlet indicated for him to get up and help clean the dishes. Truly, why did they need dishes? Puck hadn¡¯t even known dishes before getting picked up by Scarlet. But then again, he neither had known nearly as good food...


    After finishing the cleaning tasks on wobbly legs, Puck knew it was time for the second part of his training for the day. And even though Puck felt his muscles already protesting, he was expectant of it.


    Walking was all well and good, and Puck was curious about what Scarlet showed him every time, but it couldn¡¯t compare to true fighting training. Sadly, Puck still wasn¡¯t allowed to train with Zephyrian, but that was okay, in his current state, he wouldn¡¯t even be able to lift it.


    Instead, he and Scarlet walked into a big, empty cavern about five minutes away. There, lying in a corner against the wall, two simple wooden sticks awaited.


    Or so an outside observer would note, at least.


    In truth, though, those wooden sticks were anything but simple. For one, they were some of the few truly stable and nearly fresh parts of wood in this part of the eternal ice.


    For another, these sticks were no simple sticks. One was Puck''s mortal enemy, an elusive shadow that gave him more bruises than he could remember. The other one was Puck''s sad companion in the suffering he was about to endure.


    A suffering Puck was expectant of, and he would try to enjoy while giving it his all.

 Chapter 27 - The truth of the sword

    ¡°What is a sword?¡±


    Every lesson began the same way, with Scarlet posing this seemingly simple question to Puck. And every lesson, Puck struggled to find the right answer.


    The first time around, Puck had half-jokingly answered that it was anything but the wooden stick he was holding, and he had been rewarded with a stern look and his first great bruises in training.


    The second time, he had thought a little longer and asked Zephyrian for his opinion. Knowing at least rudimentarily what Scarlet was getting at with her question, Zephyrian had told Puck he would need to figure it out himself. Deciding to answer pragmatically, Puck had told Scarlet that a sword was heavy, made from a material harder than stone or ice, and should be sharp when using it. That time, Scarlet¡¯s reaction had been only marginally better.


    The third time, Puck had tried to remember as best as he could what the visions of Zephyrian had shown him. He had answered that a sword was a weapon of glory and victory. Again, only a hard hit with the stick had been his reward.


    Every day, Puck came up with new interpretations for the question, and each time, Scarlet only silently listened to his conclusions before attacking and beating Puck up, clearly showing him his answer had been wrong.


    Sometimes, Puck tried materialistic approaches to the question, explaining all he knew about the physics of the weapon. Other times, he talked about the purpose of a sword. More often than not, his explanations were simply a mixed bag of those and many other approaches.


    Frustrated with each iterative failure, Puck had started to come up with more and more abstruse explanations. What made it worse was that Scarlet clearly didn¡¯t expect him to succeed either, as she stood ready to attack him every time.


    It was no different today.


    Having stretched together before moving to the middle of the dark cavern, Puck¡¯s muscles felt at least a little better. He held his stick in a defensive position before him, thinking about what he would answer today. Looking at his wooden stick and thinking about Zephyrian standing in a corner of the cavern, likely expecting another amusing beatdown, Puck thought about what made a sword a sword.


    Suddenly, inspiration struck. Puck remembered a vision of Zephyrian''s past he had nearly forgotten. In that vision, there had been no impactful battles. Instead, a young girl had used Zephyrian for fun, dragging it through the sand to draw a picture on the beach. The girl had drawn a simple but beautiful flower.


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    A flower¡­


    A pen¡­


    A tool of destruction¡­


    Trying to connect all those dots together with the wooden stick in front of him, Puck finally knew what he would answer today. Looking up to Scarlet, he got ready and then spoke.


    ¡°The sword¡­ the sword is whatever I want it to be.¡±


    Steeling himself, Puck fully expected an attack he would fail to block. But it didn¡¯t come. Looking into Scarlet¡¯s eyes again, Puck felt her gaze as intensely as never before.


    Opening her mouth and repeating Puck''s words, Scarlet seemed to taste the words on her tongue.


    ¡°The sword is what you want it to be¡­ are you sure? Is that the path you choose?¡±


    Elated at not being immediately rejected and unsure of what exactly Scarlet meant, Puck tried to show this through his expression. Scarlet immediately elaborated.


    ¡°There is no true uniform definition of what a sword is. You simply need to know what it is for you. This could be the first time you truly spoke of an interpretation your heart could agree with. Do you understand?¡±


    Did Puck understand? An interpretation his heart could agree with¡­ What even was that, and how would he know if his heart agreed or not? His heart was only a simple organ in his body¡­ But as Puck repeated those words in his head again, he felt them ring true in a way he couldn¡¯t quite describe. Slowly and still unsurely nodding his head, Scarlet nodded back.


    ¡°To know what your sword is, is the basis of every fighting technique and every application of your sword you can think of. For everyone, this truth is different. If you truly feel your truth doesn¡¯t fit anymore or you have a better one, you can change it. But be warned, to change your truth means you have to rebuild everything you learned from the ground up.¡±


    Seemingly seeing the matter as finished, Scarlet started moving towards Puck. Stammering a dozen questions packed into one, Puck tried to get more explanations. But it was in vain. Scarlet seemed unwilling to talk more and simply attacked.


    She didn¡¯t attack as fast as other times though. In fact, she seemed to move in slow motion. Confused, Puck got his stick up to defend. Then, suddenly, her stick turned into a blur, and the next thing Puck knew was that he was lying on the ground, gasping for air as all the air left his lungs at once.


    Looking up, he saw Scarlet standing above him, reaching out with her hand to pull him up. Still gasping for air, Puck let himself be pulled up.


    ¡°First lesson: If your sword can be anything, it can move with any speed. Don¡¯t let your enemy find out your rhythm. Instead, impose your own rhythm on the fight.¡±


    Wobbling back to his feet, Pucks sluggish mind tried to understand what Scarlet was saying as she was already getting back to her starting position to attack again.


    Finally grasping the meaning of her words, a striking realization hit Puck. He had truly managed to answer the question he had been asked at least thirty times already.


    Now they were beginning a new part of his training.


    But even though Puck was sure he just had entered a new phase of his training, that didn¡¯t mean Scarlet wouldn¡¯t beat him up anymore. In fact, Puck suspected the beginner gloves had just been removed.

 Chapter 28 - Stars

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 Chapter 29 - Freedom

    After realizing what he needed to do and what truly could be done, Puck stopped simply being an observer in this impossible reality.


    This was a test, a challenge, and by all clues and purposes, this was a onetime opportunity.


    But even if it was something he could try again at any time, Puck would give it his all. That was the creed he had started living by since nearly being beaten to death.


    He would never cower again. He would rise. He would not be defeated by some strange stars.


    Wanting to find the most potent and fitting star, Puck tried to reach out with his senses in all directions, covering one star after another. Some felt as if they shone stronger and nearly drew him in again, while others were on the verge of winking out.


    There was a star of life so bright and so powerful that it defied all Puck''s senses, and opposite to it, there was a star like a black hole in the nothingness, drawing everything in to bring it to its ultimate end.


    These stars were at least somewhat understandable, even though still being far outside of Puck''s scope of understanding. But there were also others.


    It was there, twisting in dimensions of impossible proportions. Ever-growing ribbons of flesh and void. Eyes upon eyes and an unending hunger, a gluttony for him, to consume him, to take his flesh and his eyes and make them part of its collection, of its body, so that he may become part of the divine.


    After finding that star, Puck had to fight with all he had not to get drawn in, not to get consumed. To become part of something greater, to become divine.


    He, Puck, was divine, he was flesh of God flesh, and he was the eyes of all things. Nothing could escape him and...


    Again, Puck could only barely escape, and this time he realized something needed to change. He couldn¡¯t simply spread his consciousness, trying to find something by covering as much NOT area as possible.


    He would need a new way of searching.


    Trying if he could use something more resembling sight than the simple spreading of his consciousness he did before, Puck did not get drawn in anymore, but he also simply couldn¡¯t really judge the stars, and finding the right one was simply impossible.


    Instead, though, if there was one perfect star for Puck, if there truly was something like that, wouldn¡¯t it call out to Puck? Wouldn¡¯t it call for him with the same desperation that Puck did call for it?


    Yeah, it would. Puck was certain of it. After all, all the stars called out to him and all wanted to merge with him one way or another. His one true star should call to him even more than all the others.


    So, he should listen, he should try to take in their calling and find the right one. But could he do that?


    Puck''s soul shuddered from the idea. Right now, he was trying to search while holding the things he searched for away from him. He was trying to prevent the stars from reaching out to him in fear of being consumed.


    Could he truly let the stars in and remain himself, hold on to the small part that was him, Puck, the small green Gremlin? Furthermore, would he still have the power to make the star he searched for finally part of him instead of being consumed by it?


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    He truly didn¡¯t know, and fear started creeping into his being, but he wouldn¡¯t back down. Not now, not ever!


    Deciding to give it his all, Puck finally let all his walls against the intrusions of the stars fall. At once thousands of impressions stormed in on him, and he welcomed them.


    The glacier came first, then there were the mushrooms, life, death, and the impossible divine flesh and eyes. All of them came, and a million more.


    At one point, Puck was a simple creature living in a vast and predatory jungle of millions of beings, all living by a single creed, the law of the jungle: either consume or be consumed.


    Then he was a vast and unending plain without any life and without plants, but simply trillions upon trillions of small stones being blown around by the wind. The heat there was greater than anything Puck the Gremlin had ever felt before, and there was even the sky looming above.


    But there was no Puck in that moment that could wonder over all those things.


    Puck was simply a collection, a maelstrom of impressions and visions of all that was, is, and possibly could be.


    But while all those visions tried to draw him in, they all tried to do so at once, and so no single one could possibly succeed as they fought over him.


    And then, finally, it came.


    At first, it was only the barest whisper, only the smallest of impressions in the chaos of a million others, but still, where for a single moment or even a whole eternity there had not been a Puck, now there he was again, as he started focusing on the single whisper.


    While the other stars still raged, Puck now felt them all gliding back into the distance as the whispering got louder.


    At first, it was simply like a gentle touch on his soul, a promise of something he ached to find more than anything else.


    After all, more than anything, Puck had done one thing over the last months, yeah, subconsciously even over his whole life. He had been searching for something new, something greater and something exciting at every moment. Even while getting sucked into the terrible grey monotony that was his Gremlin life.


    Only recently had he started getting a taste of it. Started truly searching for it and now truly realized what he wanted.


    Freedom.


    Not just any freedom, though. He wanted the freedom to truly do anything, to try out all his most stupid ideas and after that go on and do something even stupider.


    He refused to be chained down again by anything. At least by anything he didn¡¯t truly and willingly choose himself.


    The star that was now drawing in on him was one unwilling to be bound by anybody or anything, even this dimension and his vision. It flickered in and out of his vision as if to show him it was only here because it wanted to be so.


    The first true vision Puck got from the star was one that he had imagined only shortly before.


    Suddenly, he was standing on a vast plain of slowly swaying grass and looking up into a vast and unending blue. And then, he was flying. Wind whipped around his face, and tears started rolling down his cheeks. A strange bird was flying by, and Puck laughed into the air while whirling his head around to see and feel everything.


    This, this was perfect. He never wanted to go away; he would be part of this; he would become the wind and forever flow over the plains.


    But, forever flowing over the plains, forever doing the same, wasn¡¯t that a kind of restriction, a kind of chains in itself? Wasn¡¯t that what he just had realized was exactly what he didn¡¯t want?


    With an effort of will greater than any before, Puck pulled himself free of the star.


    Yes, this was his star. It was freedom incarnate, and that was more than anything what he wanted. He, Puck, though, would never be chained down, not even by freedom. Instead, he would need to take freedom in as a friend and as a partner. For freedom also would never accept to become a part of him and be chained down.


    Offering the star before him his deal, openly showing it all his intentions, dreams, and ideals, he felt it approve.


    Freedom was what he would get, but as it was his partner and not a part of him, he would need to prove himself to it every part of the way.


    He would need to prove that he was worthy to acquire more and more of its ideals. The first, and perhaps also the most fitting one, though, would be the wind.


    Never stopping and never getting tamed, the wind would blow on forever. Perhaps, one day, the wind would even carry Puck up in the sky to see the true stars.

 Chapter 30 - Leaving

    After Scarlet had felt Puck through a hit under his chin, she had internally winced a little after feeling the impact ring through her stick but hadn¡¯t shown anything outwardly. Puck shouldn¡¯t know how much sympathy she sometimes had for him.


    When Puck didn¡¯t get up after a few seconds, she walked over, and after seeing his glassy eyes, she started to get worried. Had she hit too hard? Feeling for Puck''s pulse and searching for any signs of severe injury, Scarlet suddenly felt something touch her spirit on an ethereal level and got so surprised as to jump away in a somersault by reflex.


    Finally starting to realize what was happening, Scarlet got both excited and anxious. Making the first contact with the forces beyond the mundane was different for everyone, but it always bore both great risks and rewards.


    Scarlet had faith, though, in Puck. He would pull through.


    Sitting down next to his unmoving body, she felt more and more different movements and actions touching her soul as anomalous things happened around Puck. Both beautiful and horrifying visions appeared like weak illusions in the air around Puck, one replacing the other ever faster than the one before.


    Feeling her anxiety starting to win her over as she simply sat there and watched the otherworldly display, she decided to stand up and go through her sword meditation to calm her mind. Then finally, it happened.


    Suddenly all the visions got slower and felt more distinct before finally, one single vision won over. Before Scarlet could analyze the scene deeper, it already fundamentally changed its nature as a vision became reality.


    From one moment to the next, there was suddenly an otherworldly wind howling through the cavern they had trained in. Ducking low to avoid being swept away, Scarlet thought she could vaguely feel expressions and emotions from the spirits in the air around her. They told her of the sky and flying, of the vast and unending world to be explored, and the freedom that was the birthright of any creature.


    A single tear started condensing in Scarlet''s left eye, as long-pushed-down emotions got pulled up again. Slowly, as she looked up again, Scarlet felt the spirits leaving, as it was in their very nature to be free and unbound to any place. Something remained though, having become part of Puck''s very existence. Scarlet could feel how he had incorporated the new truth.


    When the wind finally had left, Puck still hadn¡¯t awoken, but that was to be expected. He would sleep for a long time after this. Simply staying there in the cavern and gazing into the air, Scarlet felt so many of her old memories clawing to come back to the surface of her mind, and finally, after all that time, she let them. It seemed like it was time. She had mourned and withered away in this distant corner of the eternal ice long enough. Finally, she, no they, would get out there to pursue both their own freedom and free others of the chains that bound them.


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    Moving slowly but steadily through a narrow tunnel of the eternal ice, Puck still couldn¡¯t help but marvel over all the recent developments. The visions had come suddenly and unexpectedly for him, but Scarlet seemed to have expected them. She had told him something about how the leaf he ate helped him touch the true nature of things. But what was the true nature of things? And how did souls work?


    Puck still did not have a true answer to those questions, but day by day Scarlet was teaching him something new, and more than anything he was exploring things by himself. Once Puck had asked Scarlet if she also could touch the true nature of things, but upon that question, she had only smiled mysteriously and hadn¡¯t answered.


    It had only been a few days after his visions that Scarlet told Puck it was time to head out and leave their home behind, and Puck had complied without questions. Something in him had told him that it was simply the natural and right thing to do. The first days of the trip had been the worst ones, as Puck''s efforts in trying to touch the wind had been unfruitful, and the added weight of carrying Zephyrian with him had made him even slower than before.


    Then the first breakthrough happened. Having gotten more and more frustrated of having to carry Zephyrian with him, Puck had wished nothing more than that the sword would simply be weightless or go away. Having been disturbed by Puck''s emotional state, Zephyrian had simply let loose an ephemeral sigh and guided Puck''s soul and actions without even asking him first. Without any warning, Zephyrian had suddenly vanished in a puff of air, and Puck had only been able to look dumb until he got told what had happened. Apparently, he, as a wielder, could store Zephyrian in his soul.


    After that, Puck had gotten even more determined with his training in trying to touch the wind. The first real success came when they were walking through an uneven tunnel where the air was rushing by them into the depths. The wind had seemed so much closer there, and when Puck had reached out to it, it had answered. Spinning over his head, a small gust had ruffled his hair. The price for that small gust though had been terrifying. Instantly Puck had felt more tired than ever before and had fallen asleep in the middle of walking, alerting Scarlet only with his impact on the ground.


    Still, it had been a success, and Puck had learned that nothing helped more to get better than daily and unrelenting training, and so he did just that as they moved through the eternal ice, exploring caves left alone for eons and sleeping on only a few pelts over the cold ice.


    It was another two weeks later that it finally happened. Having raised her hand for him to be quiet, Scarlet knelt down to the floor and listened into the darkness before studying Puck with an appraising gaze.


    Only one question went through her mind: ¡°Was he ready?¡±

 Chapter 31 - The darkness

    A suppressed shaking made its way through Scarlet¡¯s whole body, starting at her hands and going down all the way to her toes. It was here.


    As she knelt there in the darkness and listened, she strained her hearing as much as possible. At the start, she had been unsure if she had heard right and still wanted to deny the reality of what she was hearing, but then after a few minutes, it came again, and then again.


    Baboom.


    Baboom.


    ¡­


    Baboom.


    It was a terrifyingly slow heartbeat, shaking the eternal ice in a huge area while surely already spreading its influence. Until now, she hadn¡¯t seen any tendrils of the inevitable darkness, but as the saying went: ¡°Wherever you can hear it, it can also hear you.¡±


    It was here, a heart of darkness. And where there was one, there were more of them. It was THE DARKNESS.


    As the shaking of Scarlet¡¯s body got ever stronger, buried memories of the past forcefully made their way to the surface of her mind.


    <hr>


    The air went harshly through Scarlet¡¯s lungs, going in and out in ever shorter and more ragged breaths. Looking to the side, Scarlet saw her two best friends, her companions in mind and spirit. A slight smile caressed Naktum¡¯s inhuman face as he nodded towards Scarlet, ever showing the same picture of confidence. Kallum though, seemed like the complete opposite, he was even more winded than Scarlet, and it seemed like only the fear, the sheer terror, was still driving him on.


    Scarlet, too, felt the terror. After all, IT was behind them, coming closer and washing over them with its presence. Risking a glance over her shoulder, Scarlet¡¯s curiosity got the best of her. Objectively, Scarlet knew that it was a bad idea to look back, but her ideal, her magic, was rooted in curiosity and discovery.


    What met her vision was not something a normal mind should be able to comprehend. There was darkness, creeping over the walls, fleshy tendrils with parts of the ice and glacier rivers mixed in. Holding everything together was a terrifying sense of greed, a need to expand and to incorporate. A need to make her suffer. A need for her to stand still so it could¡­


    The next thing Scarlet knew was that she was lying on the ground, being pulled back by a tendril around her ankle, her friends coming to a sliding stop with terrified expressions. Knowing that it was the only way, Scarlet shouted for her friends to leave her behind, but they didn¡¯t listen. Even the terrified Kallum went back to try and help her. Together, they hacked and slashed at the tentacle, and finally, Scarlet was free, but it was too late.


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    IT had caught up. Looking at her friends¡¯ faces, Scarlet saw Naktum¡¯s smile become just a tad sad before he fished in his pocket and took out an amulet Scarlet had never seen before. With one smooth motion, he hit it against her chest, and then after a sense of twisting and dimensional travel, she found herself far away from the scene of terror without danger, but also without her friends.


    On that day, Scarlet hadn¡¯t cried, not yet. And neither for the next weeks nor months. She had only finally allowed herself to cry when, two years later, she finally managed to find and destroy the reanimated corpses of her friends. That day, when she finally cried, was also the day her curiosity and sense of discovery died, along with her magic.


    <hr>


    Puck had silently waited for what felt like an eternity, but when he saw Scarlet¡¯s expression change into something terrified and her eyes seemed to stare into nothingness, he decided to try to pull her out of whatever thoughts she was stuck in. Shaking her shoulder, Puck wasn¡¯t fast enough to react as Scarlet¡¯s hand shot out to grab his wrist and twisted him around to land on the ground with a muffled umph.


    Looking at Scarlet, he saw her face morphing back into her normal expression. For a moment, it seemed like she wanted to say sorry, but in the end, she only gave him a helping hand and pulled him up. Silently motioning for Puck to sit down again, Scarlet let herself plummet down opposite him.


    Seeing a serious expression on Scarlet¡¯s face, like he had never before, Puck became serious too as Scarlet started speaking.


    ¡°Do you know the true reason why nobody of your tribe is allowed to leave your region? Why your leaders tell you that you¡¯re the last remaining tribe of Gremlins?¡±


    Hesitant about how to react, Puck only slowly shook his head. He had always found the rules about not leaving weird, but he never had gathered his bravery to go against them.


    ¡°Well, even though your tribe leader is an eccentric asshole, I must give him that. In this, he made the right decision. For eons upon eons, a shadow, an eldritch abomination unlike any other, has spread and still spreads its influence through the eternal ice. Slowly, nearly unnoticeable in mortal timespans, but still, it spreads. In the last Gremlin generations, it finally reached your neighboring Gremlin villages and devoured them all. For some reason though, the darkness never gets too close to your cavern, allowing you to live peacefully as long as you stay there.¡±


    Listening with big eyes, Puck did not know what to think. This all sounded too abstruse, too far away from anything he knew to be easily believable.


    ¡°Somewhere in this region where we are right now, within a radius of perhaps five kilometers, an extension of that darkness lies. It should be a heart of darkness. For as long as it exists, it will create new creatures of darkness and expand and devour as long as it can before it splits into two.


    Finally getting where this was going, Puck started to feel both excited and terrified at the same moment.


    Looking Puck straight in the eyes, Scarlet went on.


    ¡°Now the question is quite simple. Fight or flight? What kind of freedom do you seek?¡±

 Chapter 32 - Fight or flight

    ¡°Fight or flight?¡±


    It seemed like an intuitive question at first, but as Puck opened his mouth to answer, he felt Scarlet¡¯s eyes drilling into him with great intensity. No, this question might have an intuitive component, but it was far from simple. Deciding to take his time, Puck signaled for Scarlet to wait a moment.


    Just what kind of freedom was he seeking? It had all seemed so clear in that one moment when he had connected to his ideal of freedom. But now, it felt less so. Did he want to fight? Was that part of his vision?


    Both yes and no. In that vision, he broke all the chains that held him down, but did this darkness hold him down? Surely there was another way to the surface of the eternal ice. Mulling things over, Puck tried to feel for that ethereal sense of the ideal of freedom and more specifically the ideal of wind he had connected with.


    From his sense of freedom, Puck got the feeling that he should go against all that restricted him, and as such, it was up to him to determine if he was restricted. The wind even leaned toward the idea that if one way was restricted, it would simply take another path instead of fighting. If it were only up to these two influences, Puck might have chosen flight over fight, but this freedom still wasn¡¯t his personal freedom, and as such, it didn¡¯t mirror his own thoughts.


    And among his own thoughts, there was no way he was fleeing. Wasn¡¯t that exactly the creed he started to live by the moment he decided to fight back against his oppressors the first time around? That he would never cover again?


    In his kind freedom, he would fight any opposition without covering.


    Trying to impress this decision upon the ideals of freedom and wind in his mind and soul, Puck first got a feeling of resistance against change, but then finally acceptance. He felt something shift as his ideals changed their form and nature to fit him better. The still elusive freedom now truly seemed to include fighting all resistance, while it seemed like the wind had become less controlled and more destructive.


    Trying to summon a small gust again, Puck felt less exhaustion creep in than before while a turbulent gust swept through his clothes. Feeling a little wonder over his own advancement, Puck decided to sit still a moment longer to think.


    Apparently deciding to make itself noticed in that moment, Puck felt Zephyrian creating a bridge for communication. The thoughts committed through that connection were both a kind of relief that Puck hadn¡¯t chosen to flee and an iron conviction in the need for honor above all else.


    Zephyrian still often seemed to try to connect to lost pieces of his past, but one thing remained clear, even though Zephyrian hadn¡¯t necessarily cared about good and bad, he had cared about honor.


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    Deciding to add something to this honor, Puck added the belief not only to fight for his own freedom but also for the freedom of others. Feeling like everything was settled, Puck sat there for another ten minutes in an unprecedented unity with his own thoughts, the ideals he had only so recently acquired, and Zephyrian.


    Sometime later, he felt like it was time as he slowly stood up and summoned Zephyrian back out of his soul. Reading his intention, Scarlet too pulled out a weapon, or better said, weapons. For some reason, Puck had believed that Scarlet was also a sword fighter, but it seemed as if that wasn¡¯t quite right. The two weapons she took out were two axes that loosely resembled those the Gremlins used for building purposes. They had a much longer edges, though, and were made of some kind of metal that gleamed in the darkness.


    Noticing emotions through his connection to Zephyrian, Puck felt like Zephyrian both wanted to clash against those weapons to show his superiority and at the same time admired them for their beauty.


    Puck, not really caring about that, already wanted to rush forward towards the unknown enemy before Zephyrian also started urge Puck on because he wanted to show his prowess to the ¡°she weapons¡±.


    Then Scarlet stepped in their way with a disappointed look on her face.


    Sinking together a little, Puck felt like he was one of the small Gremlin children as Scarlet scolded him for wanting to rush into a battle without even knowing who his enemies were and where they were located. Puck, though, wasn¡¯t the only one who got scolded. Scarlet also turned directly towards Zephyrian.


    ¡°As far as I can discern, you¡¯re a completely sentient weapon spirit. Do I need to start assuming that you¡¯re also a stupid one?¡±


    Feeling something like crushed pride and shame from Zephyrian, Puck conveyed them to Scarlet before she ranted on. Now talking to Puck.


    ¡°By my own estimates, you have stumbled onto a weapon that once nearly knew no rival. But make no mistake. Time can blunt any edge, whether mind, spirit, or body. Zephyrian likely has been alone so long that he has lost nearly everything that once defined him, so act as such and don¡¯t depend on him.¡±


    Getting a true feeling of hurt and loss from Zephyrian this time, Puck instinctively wanted to protect his comrade and started to get angry on his behalf. Scarlet, though, already went on lecturing his sword directly again.


    ¡°Zephyrian, don¡¯t let that stop you from trying to use your buried knowledge in the fights to come. You have likely fought more battles than Puck can count. Even if you start to remember more and try to help Puck, don¡¯t become a crutch that stops him from learning himself and holds him back.¡±


    Feeling Zephyrian still hurt from the memories of eons of loneliness that surfaced, Puck also tried to stroke Zephyrian¡¯s ego as he transmitted his own feelings on the matter and how he had felt wielding Zephyrian in their last fight against Karak. All the while, Scarlet just talked on and on.


    They started by going over the basics of how to act in a real fight and what to do when Scarlet gave him this or that signal. Then they went over the attributes of a heart of darkness, their minions, all the ways they could kill you and how to defeat them.


    It just went on and on, and Puck started to get overwhelmed as the first anxiety of the fight started to creep in. Something though differed, from learning in the past weeks. Puck wasn¡¯t alone anymore. For the first time around, Zephyrian was invested in learning and remembering his old knowledge too.

 Chapter 33 - The undertaking

    The Darkness


    To bring life into the world.


    What was more fulfilling than to fill the world with life and beauty, with a pulsing sensation of blood and energy running through vessels of perfected flesh and poetry.


    It was an artist and the whole world was its canvas.


    Feeling into the deepest chambers of its ever-expending creation it marveled at the process of perfecting the imperfect husks of live it had found at the outskirts of its domain so long ago.


    These small things scurrying around in the tunnels of its domain, never creating anything beautiful, expiring in but a breath of its great being.


    But in its benevolence, it had made itself a task to perfect these things just as it once had been perfected.


    Closing in on one of the brooding chambers, it spread its consciousness through the tapestry, feeling each of its perfected hearts beating in a glorious harmony as its flesh crafters went about their work.


    Throughout the cavern great stalactites of winding flesh, ice and beautiful rivers of darkness hung from the ceiling as blood dripped and dropped in a glorious symphony.


    On the ground the still imperfect creatures were bound with ribbons of winding flesh and darkness, the bindings necessary as for the creatures not to try to flee.


    The darkness could never understand it, why where they trying to flee and struggeling so much, why didn¡¯t they understand that it was doing nothing other than perfecting them, making them part of the tapestry and showing them their place in the eternal beauty it was creating?


    Intently the darkness watched as one of its flesh crafters went about its work on one of the creatures. This particular creature was hairless and thin without any great masses of flesh that could be repurposed, but still, it wouldn¡¯t deny any creature the chance to become part of the unity.


    Its flesh crafter was a perfected extension of itself, a dozen brains cobbled together in a winding construct of fleshy tendrils and bony cutting knifes that were able to move so precise that even the darkness could see no fault in its work.


    Slowly the flesh crafter bend itself ever farther over the hairless creature as hundreds of eyes opened all over its tendrils. Only with a good inspection could good work be done.


    And then it began.


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    Slowly tendrils sunk down to open up the ugly skin in which all these faulty creatures were glad. All there while the creature screamed and tried to wind themselves free.


    But not to worry.


    The screams were a part of the great tapestry, and the bindings held true even for much more physically domineering specimens.


    Slowly over hours of deliberate work, the flesh was refined as it was readied for later use. Then finally as the flesh was ready, its crafter turned to the still faulty mind of the creature. By now it was only held in this world by the firm grip of the darkness the flesh crafter wielded so expertly.


    Then the mind of the true darkness got engrossed ever more in the work of its servant, as the ritual it had perfected for ages began.


    Screeching and tearing words of power rolled through the air as another thousand flesh crafters started their ritual at the same time. Blood and shadows flowed in rivers through the cavern and a deep purple glow started to shin out of each and every creature the crafters worked on.


    Finally, hours later, with one last thundering syllable the ritual was finished, and the next step of the ritual could begin as both the physical and immaterial flesh had yet to be integrated in the great tapestry.


    But not to worry, its project knew no hurry and no end, it would forever go onward bringing beauty to all creation.


    <hr>


    The heart


    Slowly it contracted its tendrils and flesh, urging its shadows to pull ever deeper in its being and then¡­


    It beat.


    BABOOM.


    In an instant everything that just a second ago was pulled in as tightly as possible, now expanded again in a blitz as to borrow just this minuscule fraction farther into the eternal ice.


    Then it slowly began to pull back again as fresh blood and energy was being supplied. And finally¡­


    BABOOM.


    And then a few minutes later again.


    BABOOM.


    And again.


    BABOOM.


    Ever onward.


    BABOOM¡­   BABOOM¡­    BABOOM¡­


    Its expansion in the name of the darkness was going ever onward, without sleep or pause. Its mind may have been simplistic in comparison to its master, but still, it could think, and it could HUNGER.


    The mission of its master was deeply ingrained in its mind, domineering every action, as the eternal project could never be halted, but it too had its own missions and visions.


    Its master may sought to bring beauty to the world, but it knew no beauty.


    Beauty was a word the heart had no way to interpret and as such it didn¡¯t even try, leaving such matters to its master.


    Instead, it HUNGERED.


    To advance, to claim new domains and bring its master what it wished it HUNGERED.


    It HUNGERED for flesh and for blood.


    For suffering and despair.


    For all life and anything that moved.


    The heart HUNGERED, and as such it was ever searching on its expansion, stretching its senses out as to find anything that might could be devoured and bring it a feast it so desired.


    Then finally, after a time oh so long it found something. At the most distant edges of its domain three lights were burning.


    Three lights of life. In an instant the heart¡¯s HUNGER exploded as it felt for this light and knew they would be DELICIOUS.


    The heart stopped thinking as it wanted only one thing, to CONSUME.


    Baboom¡­


    The heartbeat became ever faster as it felt a meal near its domain.


    Baboom¡­ Baboom¡­


    Any thoughts of a slow expansion were thrown away as only greed remained.


    Baboom¡­ Baboom¡­ Baboom¡­


    The heartbeat rose from a slow rhythm to a hectic staccato as the hunt began in earnest. First it would send out its servants, then it would feast itself.

 Chapter 34 - Enemy contact

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 Chapter 35 - Abomination

    Even in training, Puck had never been allowed to use Zephyrian to fight before. Yet, for this real fight, Scarlet allowed him to use Zephyrian without having fought with him ever before. Why?


    Puck suspected it was a miscalculation on Scarlet''s part. She likely had thought he wouldn¡¯t have to fight to the death again for a long time. As such, she first wanted to prepare him without real weapons.


    But in any real fight, there was no time and no place for holding back for training purposes. Here, Puck would need to be able to fight at his best, and even though he had never used Zephyrian before, it was clear that his fighting capabilities would be at their best while wielding him.


    The greatest problem while wielding Zephyrian where the size and weight of the weapon, as the sword was likely made for much bigger creatures than Puck. At least for the second problem, though, Zephyrian had offered a solution.


    As he had done before, he would be able to strengthen Puck, but only for a short amount of time. Something he could do for much longer without exhausting himself, though, was simply making himself lighter.


    Puck suspected that as he wielded Zephyrian into the fight right now, his friend was less than half as heavy as normal. He was still at least a whole foot longer than the sticks with which he had trained before though.


    Feeling Zephyrian''s inquiry in his soul, Puck knew that he wanted to form a deeper connection between them than ever before for the duration of the fight. Instinctively knowing that this connection would have deeper implications than the connection they had before, Puck hesitated slightly.


    But if Scarlet had hammered one thing into his head, it was that in any life-and-death situation, one needed to act with decisiveness. Without further hesitation, he accepted.


    Suddenly, everything seemed to freeze as Puck felt disconnected from his body. There was only his connection to Zephyrian that moved into his focus. Feeling it more detailed than ever before, Puck also felt as the ethereal things that were their souls slowly moved nearer together before merging on their surfaces in a strange and beautiful way.


    Then suddenly, Puck was back in his body and the fight began.


    It was Zephyrian that helped decide Puck''s first move as Puck tensed his muscles to bring his arm with the sword back. Or at least Puck suspected it was Zephyrian, as they were merged in a way where the distinction was hard to make.


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    In the exact same moment, that Puck started to bring his sword back forward towards his enemy, the abomination before him started to swing its fleshy appendages in his direction.


    Greatly surprised by the speed of movement of their enemy, Puck leaned his upper body back to the limits of his physics as the fleshy appendages neared his face and his enemy emitted a terrifying screech.


    Guided by Zephyrian''s experience, Puck let go of Zephyrian with his left hand as the sword was already nearing their enemy.


    Straining himself, he managed to keep his swing going with one hand, while at the same time lifting his left arm in front of his face to protect himself.


    Then two things happened at once. In the same moment, Puck felt his swing meeting resistance, he felt the impact of his enemy¡¯s attack on his left arm. The slimy appendage was winding itself around his elbow as Puck shuddered under the touch of his enemy. A moment after Zephyrians impact on the flesh of the enemy, Zephyrians edge was also finally stopped dead.


    Yanking his arm with the connected tendril down, Puck saw the damage his swing had done. An entire appendage had been severed off, and a new big wound decorated the main body of his enemy.


    Thinking he had won for a moment, both he and Zephyrian were surprised when the creature acted as if unhurt and yanked on the tendril connecting them. Instantly, Puck got hurled forward by an irresistible strength as he lost the ground beneath his feet.


    Holding onto the hilt of Zephyrian for his dear life, Puck managed to pull the sword out of the flesh of the abomination again as he was pulled forward. Knowing instantly though, that the gaping maw before him would reach him before he could pull Zephyrian back into a guard, Puck called upon the wind with all he had, willing it to push Zephyrian into the right position.


    The wind answered stronger than ever before, but even then, Puck knew that it would be too slow. Being one with Zephyrian in this moment, they both knew what needed to be done, as Zephyrian only for an instant strengthened Puck''s arm.


    With an inch to spare, Puck managed to point the tip of Zephyrian into the gaping maw before he was pulled in himself. Then he stabbed forward with all he had.


    As Zephyrian''s power left Puck again, he felt the monster before him dying, but he relaxed too soon. In its death throes, it managed to pull him closer to its maw again and inflict deep teeth marks onto Puck''s belly.


    Struggling and screaming in pain, Puck finally managed to stand free again above his dead adversary. He had won, but not without injury. That single enemy had inflicted a deep if not mortal wound, and he had to use both the wind and Zephyrian''s power, or he would have suffered far worse.


    Next time, he would have to do better.


    Getting in position again behind Scarlet''s back, Puck felt his head thump with a deep aching pain from using his ideal. At the same time, the wound on his belly bled profoundly, and everything hurt from using Zephyrian''s power.


    This first fight had demanded its price. It wasn¡¯t all bad, though. Puck won in the end, and by his own merits, he had performed at least adequate.


    Grinning fiercely, Puck gave himself a promise: as long as Scarlet would hold out, he would too.

 Chapter 36 - Staying strong

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    <hr>

 Chapter 37 - I trust you

<hr>


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    <hr>

 Chapter 38 - Body, mind, soul and spirit

    After breakfast, accompanied by Scarlet¡¯s usual lecturing, it was time to tend to their wounds again.


    For Scarlet, the focus was mostly on the injury along her back. As Puck carefully helped her remove the bandages with his left arm, he could only stare in awe at her terrifying recuperative abilities. What had been a deep, ugly scar less than 24 hours ago was now only a red-rimmed line, looking like a wound that had healed weeks, if not months, ago. Scarlet¡¯s physical superiority clearly extended beyond mere strength and speed¡ªshe also healed far more quickly than normal.


    Puck, however, was not so fortunate. When they inspected his many injuries, there was no miraculous healing. At least Gremlins were highly resilient against infections, and even the creatures of the Heart of Darkness hadn¡¯t managed to infect him with anything. But at this rate, most of Puck¡¯s wounds would take at least a few weeks to heal satisfactorily, while the deep cut along his right arm could require months.


    Asking Zephyrian for assistance, Puck was told it would be at least another week before he could safely use his might again without causing further harm. Could they really afford to wait that long? Did they even have the resources to do so? Or should Scarlet go on alone? It would be much safer in many ways.


    Puck was unsure of what they should do, and Scarlet seemed equally undecided as she inspected Puck¡¯s injuries. Should she venture into the Heart of Darkness alone, or should they simply leave the Heart alone?


    Taking some time to plan, it became clear that both of them wanted to slay the evil creature before moving on. But could they wait months for Puck¡¯s recovery? Likely not.


    There was one other option to try before giving up. In theory, Puck should be able to heal himself using his ideal of freedom. He just needed to find the right application and have enough time to practice and train with his power. The question was how much time he would need.


    As Scarlet gestured for him to sit down, Puck carefully lowered himself, grimacing from the pain.


    ¡°You¡¯ve called upon your ideal more than once already,¡± Scarlet began, ¡°but only in its most basic form and only in one of its specific facets, the wind. To help yourself heal, you first need to find the place in your soul where your ideal is located. Then you need to find a new approach to connecting with it. But before you can even search your soul, you need to find an entrance to it. Zephyrian can guide you better than I can in this regard.¡±


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    Sensing that Scarlet had finished speaking, Puck listened to what Zephyrian had to say.


    ¡°One simple question,¡± Zephyrian began, ?from where are you hearing my voice right now?¡±


    Puck almost answered that he wasn¡¯t hearing Zephyrian¡¯s voice, just a version of his thoughts, but then he stopped himself. Wasn¡¯t that the key? What had Zephyrian told him about where he was located when he vanished? In his soul.


    Trying to feel for the connection of thoughts to Zephyrian that he vaguely sensed at all times, Puck struggled to grasp anything tangible. Yes, there was this mysterious feeling, and obviously, they could talk at any time, but how did that even work? What was the difference between his mind and his soul? Grasping at the connection, Puck send his questions over.


    ¡°There are many different models for the constellation and position of the different parts of a being. Most theories agree on one thing: A being is made up of four components: The mind, the spirit, the body, and the soul. The body is self-explanatory, but the mind already reaches beyond the physical while it still being rooted in your brain. It is intertwined with something most models describe as the fourth component, the spirit. The spirit is entirely ethereal and without a physical counterpart, but through its close connection to the mind, it is something a being can easily access. Through our spirit, we have the ability to connect with our soul and feel things beyond the physical. The soul, however, is not a conscious part of us, it is the very foundation of our being, and it is the part that gets reborn if we die. Through the soul, it is possible not only to sense but also to connect with ideals and make them a true part of your being. In this and any other instance, your soul isn¡¯t the part of you that acts. It simply exists. It is both the most important and the most isolated part of your being. Few ever manage to touch upon it. It was through the treasure Scarlet provided to heal you that you managed to touch upon it when you found your ideal. But that was a shortcut. Now, you must do it both manually and consciously. Think about it, how do you respond to me when you talk to me? What is your mind or spirit doing at that moment?¡±


    Understanding only bits and pieces of what Zephyrian was explaining, Puck still tried to feel for his connection to Zephyrian again while humming through it to have something to focus on. Sensing Zephyrian¡¯s annoyance, Puck felt like this could be fun.


    Slowly and methodically, he began to test and stretch what he believed was his spirit as he attempted to crawl up his connection to Zephyrian in a bid to reach his own soul.


    While Puck began his exercises, Scarlet sat only a few feet in front of him, wrestling with her own internal struggles. Before she lost her friends, she had been more than capable of helping others recover. Through her ideals of curiosity and empathy, she had helped bring her companions back from mortal danger more than once.


    But then, on that fateful day, all her abilities and willingness to help had become irrelevant, and her belief in herself and her ideals had shattered. But was she really incapable of recovering herself? Shouldn¡¯t she try again now that her student did too?

 Chapter 39 - A wave of power

    Sitting opposite each other, both Puck and Scarlet worked hard on their advancement. Puck needed to take the next step forward, while Scarlet had to reclaim what she had lost.


    Observing all this was Zephyrian, who waited within Puck''s soul. He was crying the efforts of the two with his newly reclaimed spirit and soul senses. Slowly, bit by bit, he too was reclaiming abilities and memories of his past.


    Thinking about their little group, Zephyrian could only inwardly shake his head. They were truly unique: A formerly cowardly Gremlin unwilling to ever be bound again, a young female Gremlin with more experience than anyone her age should possibly have, and he, Zephyrian, a relic of a bygone era trying to reclaim his old glory.


    Could they truly achieve something together? Would they be able to defeat the Heart of Darkness, perhaps only their first of many enemies? Zephyrian didn¡¯t know, but he was willing to work for it.


    And what he could do right now was help these two make progress. To do that, he would have to use a method he had only recently rediscovered, but it should work. Pulling on his own distant and rusty ideals, Zephyrian felt as though he were reaching out to someone who had once been his best friend but whom he hadn¡¯t spoken to in ages. More than that, though, he wasn¡¯t able to bear the weight of his own ideals anymore.


    Once upon a time, he had been able to channel amounts of power and conviction he could only dream of today. Even though he had told Puck otherwise, it wasn¡¯t because of Puck that they would have to wait another week before Zephyrian could try to heal him, it was because of his own inability to bear his own might.


    There was a workaround, though. This time, Zephyrian wouldn¡¯t try to use his power, he would simply release some of it and let it radiate from him to provide inspiration, conviction, and fuel for the other two. Feeling like a child fumbling with explosives, Zephyrian felt almost giddy. This wasn¡¯t easy, and it wasn¡¯t perfect, but he was enjoying life again, and that was all that mattered.


    <hr>


    At first, everything went well for Scarlet. As she slowly fell into a deep meditation, she began to feel her spirit and tried to move it experimentally. It worked without problems. After that, she slowly went searching for her soul again, something she hadn¡¯t done in years. It took some time, but eventually, she managed that too. But that was also when the problems began.


    When Scarlet had visualized her soul and her ideal in the past, it had been a beautiful labyrinth filled with an endless number of secrets and dream creatures. Not anymore. When Scarlet arrived in her soul this time, she had to summon all her willpower not to flee immediately. Where before the labyrinth had held untold wonders and beauty, now it was filled with nothing but animosity and shadows lurking everywhere. Not only that, but all the dreamlike animals that had always come to her when she entered her soul now lay dead around her, mutilated to a terrifying degree by the monsters hiding in the shadows.


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    Around a corner in the labyrinth, she saw the foot of one of the snow foxes she had loved so much lying in a puddle of blood. For some reason, it was this particular foot, with the rest of the body hidden, that scared Scarlet the most. It felt as if the fox was still alive, slowly and inescapably being drawn to its doom while she could only watch, unable to help. She hadn¡¯t been able to help her friends in the past, why should she be able to do anything now? Right now, she was no predator, in this moment she was only prey. Slowly, she took a first tentative step back from the corner with the fox, not daring to turn her head away from it.


    As she took that step, she felt something crunch under her feet and something wet splatter against her leg. At the same time, she felt herself growing ever more distant from her own ideal as her curiosity was replaced with fear and her empathy was suppressed by the encroaching darkness.


    There was still a part of her fighting, but was there even a possibility for a victory? Why did she even have the right to live when her friends had died? As Scarlet¡¯s thoughts spiraled downward, the entire dreamworld began to become ever more horrifying. Slowly she was losing even the last grip on her ideals she had managed to maintain over the years.


    That was the sad truth most of those pursuing an ideal faced at one point or another. If you lost control of your own ideal, it would morph from your greatest friend into your greatest enemy. As Scarlet was on the verge of sitting down on the bloody floor of her soul, nearly willing to give up and leave her soul never to return, she felt something.


    Like a great tsunami, a wave of power, conviction, and ancientness washed through the world, through her body, through her spirit, and into her soul. With this wave came memories and emotions, along with pure, unused power from ideals, ready to be harnessed by her. More than anything, they instilled one thought into her:


    ¡°NEVER GIVE UP!¡±


    And with that thought, Scarlet slowly stood up again, as the whole world around her quaked in great turmoil. She wouldn¡¯t give in, especially not to herself and her own damn ideals!


    <hr>


    Having searched for his soul for what felt like ages, Puck felt his inner vision blur from exhaustion as he grasped for the feeling that resembled his soul. So far, he hadn¡¯t managed to fully reach it, but he had come close, and he wouldn¡¯t stop until he had it. Then, finally, the feeling solidified, and Puck grasped it with all his might, willing himself into his own soul. With a lurch and a great twisting and spinning, Puck felt himself distancing from his body as his mind and spirit wandered off into a strange place.


    Suddenly, he was floating in an endless web of creation, a great gust of wind ruffling his hair and clothes. Wanting to explore, Puck was unable to as he began to black out from exhaustion. Suddenly though, a wave of power unlike anything he had felt before went through him.


    Feeling all his tiredness being washed away, Puck went on exploring and searching for his opportunity to heal.

 Chapter 40 - Birds

    Walking through the strange place that Puck suspected could only be his own soul, he could do nothing but goggle. The surroundings were both strange and beautiful. Everything about this place seemed odd. Nothing behaved as it should have as Puck walked, moved, and drifted through it.


    One thing that was ever-present was the wind in the strange emptiness between all the different kinds of creations. At one point, Puck was caught up by a strong, hot gust of air, which transported him hundreds of meters away.


    Trying to reach some of the strange places around him, Puck in the end simply got set down by the wind in one of them.


    Landing on the first solid place he could reach, he set his feet on a terrifyingly large branch of a mind-bogglingly massive tree, floating in the middle of all this strangeness.


    Curiosity and a sense of adventure took over, and Puck began walking up the branch. Suddenly, a small creature fell from a branch above, only to start hovering in the air above him. Looking up, Puck studied the strange animal. Perhaps this was one of the birds Scarlet had talked about.


    With nearly invisible, rapid beats of its strange appendages, the bird hovered in the air, screeching at Puck. Perhaps because this was his soul, and the animal before him wasn¡¯t real but a manifestation of his ideal, Puck felt as if he understood what it wanted to say to him. The screech was both a curious inquiry directed at the strange, hairless monkey that had entered its territory and a playful challenge to try to catch it.


    Swooping down farther, the bird swirled around Puck, screeching in a way that felt like laughter. Was it making fun of him? Deciding to give it a try, Puck reached out with one hand to grab the bird, only to receive a teasing peck on his palm in return.


    The bird flew farther up the branch, screeching again. Deciding to follow, Puck began walking after it. Sensing the bird¡¯s annoyance at his slow pace, Puck gradually sped up.


    Looking down at the massive branch on either side of him, Puck felt his knees wobble. He was still a Gremlin who had never been at such great heights before. Slowly realizing this was part of the challenge, an interaction with his ideal, Puck knew that giving in and slowing down would mean failure.


    Determined not to look down, Puck focused solely on the bird ahead of him and the rough bark beneath his claws and feet. This was starting to get fun! Feeling the air rush through his lungs, Puck laughed as more birds joined the spectacle. Why couldn¡¯t he fly too? Or could he, at least in here?


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    Seeing the end of the branch approaching, Puck noticed another branch a few meters away. It was too far for a normal jump, but in here? Heart pounding and adrenaline rushing, Puck knew he wasn¡¯t acting rationally. Whether it was an instinctual feeling of safety within his soul or his law of freedom urging him on to become truly free, Puck didn¡¯t know. But in this moment, he didn¡¯t care.


    Kicking off the branch with all his might, Puck felt as though the world slowed down as he soared through the air. This moment, this was it.


    Around him, dozens of birds screeched in joy as they flew in their own patterns. His body felt weightless and free, while the air was rushing into his face and caressing his ears. In that moment, Puck felt as though he could do anything, be anything, be truly free.


    Screaming with joy, Puck¡¯s elation was cut short as he realized he was falling short of the next branch. Wishing with all his might to fly farther, he felt his flight speed up, but it wasn¡¯t enough. In a mix of terrifying speed and torturous slowness, the branch slipped out of view as Puck fell. Panic set in, and he looked down just in time to.


    WOOM.


    In the instant he looked down, Puck collided with a smaller side branch of the larger one he had aimed for. He felt something break in his ankle as he tumbled across the rough bark, opening dozens of shallow wounds. Still falling, Puck managed to grab hold of the bark with his claws, clinging on for dear life.


    Treading air with his feet, Puck silently thanked Scarlet for his physical training, as it allowed him to pull himself onto the branch despite the pain. Lying on his back, feeling the agony radiate from his ankle and the rest of his body, Puck still felt that it had been worth it. That one moment, it had been glorious.


    But how would these injuries affect him in the real world? And had it worked? Had he gotten closer to his ideal? Was it willing to help him?


    Looking at the birds still flying around him, Puck sensed they were up to something. Though still playful and erratic, there was now a sense of duty and order to their movements. One by one, they flew down and landed around him on the branch. Studying them more closely, Puck noticed that each bird held something in its claws. Some carried sticks and moss, while others brought water and some kind of paste.


    Feeling as though he were dreaming, Puck lay there, watching as the birds tended to his wounds with slow, methodical care. Hours slowly went by, but when they finally finished their work, all of Puck¡¯s wounds were bandaged, and no more blood was leaking.


    Gratefully observing his little helpers, Puck bowed his head in thanks. Vowing to return soon, Puck instinctively knew it was time to go back to the real world. Slowly closing his eyes, Puck felt a shift in his surroundings. The next time he opened his eyes again, he would be greeted by the eternal ice once more.

 Chapter 41 - Majestic

    Complex emotions swirled in Scarlet''s mind as she slowly returned to her body from the battle inside her soul. The external power and assistance, which must have come from the ancient sword, had given her the strength to fight back. But the darkness in her soul was not something that could be defeated in a single effort. Parts of it had been weakened and cleared, but much of it still lingered.


    It would be a long and arduous journey to restore her soul to its former state, or perhaps even to take the next step, but it was a battle worth fighting. The first seed of hope had been planted, and Scarlet didn¡¯t plan on letting it go to waste.


    When Scarlet finally opened her eyes, she wasn¡¯t sure how much time had passed exactly. She glanced at the fireplace where they had cooked earlier, there was no trace of heat left. Even in the eternal ice, it took some time for the warmth to dissipate completely, so at least a few hours must have passed during her meditation.


    Noticing that Puck was no longer sitting where he had been, Scarlet stood and began looking around. He wasn¡¯t in sight. Not wanting to call out loudly and risk attracting attention from unwanted ears, she started to search the nearby area.


    It took a while, but she eventually found him. Across the cavern, Puck had climbed one of the largest ice blocks and was now standing at the top holding his left hand in the air.


    Her first instinct was to shout at him for his reckless behaviour, but in the last moment she hesitated. Instead, she decided to observe him more closely. After all, Puck shouldn¡¯t have been able to climb up there without significant pain and danger, given his injuries.


    Perhaps he had a good reason to do so.


    Examining Puck¡¯s figure more carefully, Scarlet noticed dozens of wounds, some from their earlier battle with the heart, but others that were clearly new. Oddly, these new wounds didn¡¯t look fresh. They appeared as if they had been acquired weeks ago.


    His worst injury was still the one on his arm, but after some scrutiny, Scarlet thought she saw signs of a broken foot as well. What had he been doing? Had he truly sustained these wounds within his own soul? Had he already reached it? That would be astoundingly fast!


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    Sustaining that much real damage in one¡¯s soul was no small feat. For many people, none of the injuries from soul battles manifested in their physical body at all. The connection between body and soul varied from person to person, the closer the connection, the more real the effects of happenings in your own soul became.


    A strong connection was both a blessing and a curse. It allowed someone to manifest their ideals more easily in the physical world, but it also made every journey into the soul far more dangerous. And as souls, by their nature, were unpredictable and dangerous this was no small demerited.


    Scarlet, for example, had an above-average connection to her soul, but nothing extraordinary. As a result, she couldn¡¯t draw on her ideals as easily as some others. But on the plus side, the damage she had taken in her soul hadn¡¯t translated to severe injuries in the real world. She had only a few surface wounds from her internal struggle remaining by now.


    Sometimes, she had wished for a deeper connection, but most of her strength didn¡¯t come from her ideals anyways. Afterall, her body¡¯s strength was rooted in something else entirely.


    Puck, however, seemed different. As he stood atop the monolith of ice, unmoving and focused on something Scarlet couldn¡¯t see, she became increasingly certain that he was extraordinary in a way she hadn¡¯t previously realized. He must have already reached his soul in that short time.


    And whatever he was doing right now... she could only wait and watch.


    <hr>


    Standing atop the monolith, Puck wasn¡¯t sure if it had been a good idea to strain his body this much and worsen his injuries, all because of a whim. The walk through the cavern and the climb up the icy block had pushed him physically and mentally to his limits. But now he was here.


    Something inside him had wanted to reclaim the feeling of freedom he had experienced in his soul so desperately that nothing else mattered.


    Here, at the top of the monolith, a gentle wind blew through the cavern, softly caressing his skin. It felt like home.


    Instinctively, he reached his hand up, as if trying to grasp something beyond his reach. As he did, Puck felt a resonance, both within himself and in the world around him. Since his journey into his soul, everything seemed clearer, and his ideal felt like an old friend whispering in his ear.


    It wanted to be born into the world, and Puck let it.


    Slowly, a faint green light began to glow from his hand as he willed this ethereal feeling to come forth. A small green orb began to form above his hand, hovering in the air.


    Minute by minute, it grew larger, eventually starting to take shape.


    Though he hadn¡¯t known what he was doing at first, Puck¡¯s heart leapt with joy when he saw what he was creating. After a few more minutes, an eager cry echoed through the cavern as a majestic bird, a buzzard, as Puck somehow knew to call it, flew from his hand, flapping its wings in joyful freedom.


    Tilting his head back, Puck squinted his eyes and laughed as the bird circled above him. It was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen.

 Chapter 42 - Healing

    Getting down from the monolith had been even harder than getting up and Scarlet had needed to help Puck so that he didn¡¯t worsen his situation any further.


    Having expected a harsh lecture from Scarlet on his dump actions, Puck was surprised as she simply remained silent as she brought him back to their resting place.


    Together they simply sat there in silence as Scarlet prepared food and cooked up ice to drink.


    Feeling like something or better said someone was missing, Puck summoned Zephyrian from his soul and asked Scarlet to stab him into the ice next to them.


    Both Scarlet and Puck having gotten much help from Zepyhrian there was a silent air of gratitude as they ate without saying anything.


    It simply felt right to remain silent in the moment as they had an instinctual understanding among them. Every single one of them was also very tired and as such they all soon lay themself to sleep.


    After finally laying himself down to rest, Puck threw one last gaze up to the top of the cavern. There above them Brock as Puck had named the buzzard was drawing slow circles. Both enjoying his own existence and looking out for enemies.


    Puck was unsure if he could summon Brock forever, but for for know the mental strain felt none existing and as such Puck wouldn¡¯t dismiss his new friend.


    <hr>


    The next morning met Puck in a divided condition. On the one hand every single place of his body still hurt, on the other side, Scarlet had let him sleep till he awoke by himself and Brock was still flying above seemingly without ever tiring.


    Hearing his friend screech a greeting above, Puck was remained of his other companion and opened the mental connection to Zephyrian.


    The sword seemed a little grumpy, telling Puck that it wouldn¡¯t have helped if it knew the result of Pucks success would be a constant anything bird, but Puck knew he didn¡¯t really mean it.


    Slowly pealing himself out of his sleeping pelts, Puck greeted Scarlet with another yawn and sluggish smile.


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    Together they prepared the meal and ate. Now and then, Brock would swoop down from above and pick up a little strip of meat to than eat in the air with great gusto.


    First Puck had been a little fearful of Scarlets reaction to the antics, but thankfully she seemed to like the bird too and even held him something out on her hand now and then.


    Wanting to ask about their next moves, Puck opened his mouth only to be come before by Scarlet.


    ¡°We have taken enough time now and need to get going before the heart regenerates anymore and as such we will both heal you today and set out.¡±


    Only being able to agree with her sentiment of needing to getting going soon, Puck still wasn¡¯t sure what he would be able to do in just one day.


    ¡°I think I will be able to heal myself to some degree, especially with Brock''s help, but I¡¯m not quite sure how much exactly I will be able to do in just one day.¡±


    Smiling in response, Scarlet surprised Puck with her own news.


    ¡°While you certainly mad impressive strides in your abilities, you''re not the only one. I too managed to reclaim some of what I lost. Moreover, we also certainly both benefited of a breakthrough regarding the abilities of Zephyrian.¡±


    Gesturing for Puck to stay where he was, Scarlet walked around the fire place and set herself directly in front of Puck. Reaching out with both of her hands, Puck hesitatingly laid his own hands into hers.


    Feeling himself getting red in face, Puck was thankful that Scarlet had already closed her eyes in concentration as she instructed him to do what he could do to recover while she did what she could to help.


    Trying not to concentrate on the feeling of her slim hands in his, he closed his eyes to and focused on the connection to his ideal as much as possible.


    First, he called Brock down from above through his ideal, trying to communicate to him what they wanted to do. First, the bird didn¡¯t understand but after a while he landed on Pucks head, seeming to be ready to do his part.


    Willing his ideal to help him to become bodily free again, Puck envisions the help of his bird companions in the tree again.


    Feeling a strange warmth starting to emanate from both some place near his heart and the claws on his head, Puck knew it was working.


    Soon an additional stream came flowing in from Scarlet through his hands and Zephyrian tried to help to by lending them a little of his strength again.


    Together they sat there, mediating and healing Pucks body.


    <hr>


    Even though the stream of healing came steadily, it was not instantaneous.


    Pucks own healing and that of his flying friend dried up after only half an hour, when their ideal was overstrained, but not so Scarlets.


    For hour after hour, she poured her energy into Puck until not even a scratch remained on his body.


    Closing and opening his fist in marvel, Puck tested his legs and his own body. Much had changed since the time when he had lain for months in the sick bed to now where grave injuries were mended in the matter of hours.


    Making eye contact with Scarlet he saw his own tiredness mirrored in hers. They both had exhausted themself but they wouldn¡¯t wait any longer.


    To rest another night, would give the heart another night to prepare, they would set out now and hope that by the time they reached their enemy their tiredness would be washed away by the excitement of the fight.

 Announcment

    I will be on the graduation trip of my high school in the week from the 16.09 to the 22.09. So there won''t be any chapters on the 19.09 and 22.09.


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 Chapter 43 - Madness

    As Scarlet and Puck retraced their steps toward the heart, they encountered no resistance, not even at the place where their last battle had taken place. Or at least, Puck thought it was the same location, though no bodies remained. It seemed the heart had found some use for them.


    They ventured deeper into the ever-darkening and increasingly sinister tunnels. The heartbeats grew louder and louder, just like last time. But this time, they came much closer. The sound neared the intensity of a physical attack, causing the entire eternal ice to vibrate with a terrifying force. They had entered the heart¡¯s true territory, its innermost sanctum.


    As Puck looked at the icy walls around them, he noticed dark lines threading through the ice, forming a sinister web that seemed to claim the very area where the heart dwelled. The environment around them changed rapidly as they moved forward.


    Soon Scarlet handed Puck two earplugs against the sound of the heartbeats and reiterated her most important instructions one last time. From here onward, there would be no more talking.


    At last, they arrived at their destination, perhaps two kilometers deeper than where they had fought before. The ice in the walls disappeared entirely, leaving only writhing tendrils of flesh and shadow. The tunnel opened into a colossal cavern.


    Puck was overwhelmed as he took in his surroundings. Scarlet had tried to prepare him, but the scene before him was far more terrifying than anything she could have described.


    The first thing Puck noticed was a massive pillar at the center of the cavern, stretching from the writhing ceiling to the polished floor. From this pillar extended all the tendrils of darkness and flesh, twisting up to the ceiling and burrowing into the ground below. At the center of the pillar was the heart of darkness itself.


    The heart¡¯s form was ever-changing, never allowing the viewer to fully grasp what it was. Each new iteration was more terrifying than the last. At one moment, it appeared as a glowing, sinister red eye, radiating burning malice that seemed to heat the very air around it. At another moment, it resembled a pulsing heart, pumping not blood but pure evil through its tendrils. The shape never settled, growing more menacing with each change.


    Despite the terror it inspired, there was something fortunate about this view. Most of their plans relied on the heart¡¯s need to display itself in all its horrifying glory. Had it hidden its body in the ice, far from any open air, they wouldn¡¯t have stood a chance to finish it off.


    That fortune though, didn¡¯t make the terror before them any less terrifying and had Puck been alone, he would have started to run away a long time ago.


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    Forcing himself to take in the rest of the cavern, Puck saw no guardians or defenders of the heart. Only the polished floor and the slowly moving ceiling surrounded them. The walls and ceiling were terrifying in their own way, but the tendrils, though enormous and nearly infinite in number, were not made for combat. They were used for claiming territory, slowly burying themselves into the eternal ice.


    Knowing full well they were walking into a trap, Scarlet and Puck exchanged one last glance before stepping into the cavern. Carefully they began their slow approach toward the pillar at the center. As they stepped onto the dark floor of the cavern, Puck felt some relief when his claws found traction even on the perfectly polished ice beneath. It wasn¡¯t perfect but he would manage.


    With the resonance from the cavern walls, the heartbeat intensified tenfold only over a few meters, and for a moment, Puck felt himself growing dizzy. The earplugs were no longer enough to protect him from the overwhelming sound, while the vibrations itself threatened to knock him off his feet. Thankfully he quickly managed to adapt soon, before they moved forward again.


    Then, finally, when they were halfway across the cavern, it happened. The heart unleashed everything.


    <hr>


    It wanted to devour, to consume...


    Baboom. Baboom. BABOOM.


    Thoughts were nearly impossible to form amid the roaring hunger and need that consumed its mind. But one command remained. It would need to wait a little bit more. Let the lights come close enough that they would not be able to escape when it struck.


    Baboom.


    Barley, it managed to control itself, waiting until the right moment. Then, finally, it could let go. Every barrier that had held it back fell, and the heart released its full power. Its tendrils writhed, and its creations were set loose.


    <hr>


    Where the ceiling and walls had previously moved in a slow, steady rhythm, they now twitched violently as the heart descended into the madness Scarlet had warned Puck of. Wanting to cover as much ground as possible before the confrontation, Scarlet signaled Puck to quicken his pace.


    Within seconds though, hundreds of bulges formed all over the ceiling, growing and stretching the tentacles layering over them until they burst. A foul, thick liquid started raining down on Scarlet and Puck, along with hundreds of nightmarish creatures.


    Many of these creatures died upon impact, but even more survived. Puck barely managed to avoid being crushed by one that fell just inches away. Reacting quickly, he stabbed downward with Zephyrian, dispatching the creature before it could fully orient itself.


    Hearing a resounding screech that managed to let Puck whirl around even over the beating of the heart and his earplugs, Puck became aware of just what all the creatures they had killed before had amounted too.


    Hundreds upon hundreds of different bodies or just different body parts of all the creatures they had fought before, had been sewn together into an abomination at least seven meters tall.


    The creature had four legs, each bigger than Pucks armspan, above that a massive torso rested. Tentacles, thin and thick arms, everything one could think of was attached to it.


    And finally at the very top of that torso a single shrieking maw spanned above everything that likely was meant to be the head.


    A true nightmare.


    Having gotten caught up in the view, Puck gasped as he saw Scarlets axe whish by him to kill a creature that had come at his back.


    Rousing himself and nodding to Scarlet, Puck knew what his task was. Nothing had changed just because everything had gone mad.

 Chapter 44 - Drawing attantion

    As per the preprepared plan, it wasn¡¯t Puck''s task to fight their main enemy or its prime constructs. That would be Scarlet¡¯s job alone. Puck instead would need to try and get the attention of as many of the normal creations of the heart as possible to redirect them from Scarlet.


    Feeling the ground shake and the air vibrate, Puck couldn¡¯t help but look over again as Scarlet battled her monstrous enemy. As the gigantic abomination twisted and turned with unnatural speed for its size, Puck couldn¡¯t help but marvel at Scarlets ability to be even faster and trounce the speed of her enemy manyfold. In Pucks perception, Scarlet was nothing but a blur around her enemy.


    The last time they had fought the spawn of the heart, it had been a battle of endurance, but not this time. Scarlet was going all out from the start in an effort to destroy their enemy. Now and then, she even tried to make a dash for the heart itself, but a wave of literal darkness would push her back each time, bringing her back within the reach of her enemy.


    Twisting his back and slashing out with Zephyrian sideways, Puck could only curse and praise Scarlet¡¯s flashiness at the same time, as it was nearly impossible to distract the spawn of the heart of darkness from her as their target. On the one hand, that fact made Puck¡¯s fight against the distracted monsters much easier, on the other hand though, it made him unable to do his assigned job.


    Because of these circumstances, there hadn¡¯t been any situations so far where Puck had to resort to any of the more demanding tools in his arsenal. Even though he was still surrounded by dozens upon dozens of enemies. Whether wounded from their fall from the ceiling or attacked by Puck, their priority remained to assist the titanic abomination Scarlet was fighting.


    Biting his lips, Puck knew he needed to do something to draw more attention to himself in an effort to give Scarlet more breathing room. Deciding on the one method that had the highest likelihood of drawing enemies away from Scarlet, Puck disregarded all risks as he let Zephyrian flood his body with power but a single moment.


    Feeling like time itself was crawling to a halt, as his own perception sped up, Puck leaned forward, dug the claws of his feet into the ground, and pushed off with all he had.


    Instantly, he was airborne as the ground behind him shattered from the sheer force of his jump. Bringing Zephyrian forward with a great overhand swing, Puck aimed directly at the center of the heart of darkness he was flying toward.


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    Feeling like the heart had finally latched onto his rapid approach, Puck knew it was too late for a perfect defense. Though powerful, the heart was not omnipotent, and it had been too distracted by Scarlet¡¯s fight. Crashing through the thin barrier of darkness the heart had managed to erect at the last moment, Pucks momentum instantly ground to a halt as Zephyrian hit the writhing, ever-changing entity that was the heart.


    The impact felt like hitting a solid stone wall, as every bone in Puck''s body shook. But the attack had not been in vain. In the center of the heart, a crimson red scar appeared, leaking all different kinds of viscous liquid.


    Starting to fall down the pillar the heart was embedded in, Puck felt Zephyrian''s strength leaving him midair. Had the infusion lasted any longer, the backlash would have been too powerful. Knowing that only he himself could soften his fall, Puck called upon the wind with all he had. Thankfully, it answered, slowing his descent.


    Still hitting the ground hard, Puck tried to roll and buffer his fall. Managing to come to his feet again, Puck stood about five meters away from the column the heart was embedded in. Looking up and scanning the area in one quick motion, Puck knew his gambit had both done exactly what he wanted and brought him into immediate life-threatening danger.


    Finally, the creatures around them no longer targeted only Scarlet. Instead, most had switched their ire toward Puck. Worst of all, the heart itself was out for revenge, and barriers of darkness sprang up to both protect the heart and limit Puck''s mobility.


    Knowing that staying still and facing such a crushing number of enemies in a direct standoff would be a death sentence, Puck decided to make a run for it, hoping he wouldn¡¯t be cornered.


    <hr>


    A few seconds earlier...


    Having already fought the abomination before her for what felt like an eternity at the speed she was moving, Scarlet couldn¡¯t help but feel some trepidation about the situation. Yes, she was faster than her enemy, but the gigantic abomination before her was terrifyingly powerful, and its regenerative abilities felt neigh limitless. Each time she cut off a tentacle, a new one would sprout, powered by the heart of darkness itself.


    To make matters worse, she had to face most of the normal creatures as well together with the occasional repulsion and tentacle of the heart of darkness itself.


    Sadly, Puck truly seemed unable to be of any help in this fight.


    Of course, this was only to be expected in Scarlet¡¯s mind, and any more attention on Puck would bring him into too much danger anyway. It was better this way. She would have to find a way, somehow.


    Hearing a shattering impact behind her that temporarily overruled the heartbeat, Scarlet disengaged from the immediate reach of her enemy as fast as possible to look around. Seeing Puck crashing into the heart and wounding it, Scarlet could only sigh as she felt the heart''s ire grow even more. This time, though, it wasn¡¯t directed at her.


    Her task had become much easier now, but could she defeat the abomination before Puck fell to his horde of enemies?


    Knowing time was of the essence, Scarlet rushed forward again as Puck began his mad escape.

 Chapter 45 - Survival

    Running over the crystalline black ground, Puck had a hard time holding his balance. For each and every foot he set down, Puck needed to make sure his claws reached deep enough into the black ice. If not, he would fall.


    And falling would mean his certain death.


    Behind him, a swarm of abominations scrambled to reach him, each and every one looking as if it had come straight out of a nightmare.


    The only good part was that after Puck¡¯s attack on the heart, it seemed like their enemy had truly lost the last vestiges of its intellect. The ever-present heartbeat had turned unsteady; in one moment it was becoming ever faster, and in the next, it stood still for a few eerie seconds.


    The only things dominating the actions of their enemies now seemed to be the hatred, hunger, and madness of the heart itself.


    Through this madness, the heart had lost all tactics and calculation. It was only filling its creatures with ever more dark energy to make them stronger and even stranger.


    Instead of cornering Puck from all sides, as would have been sensible, nearly all the creatures ran behind Puck while only a select few that had already been stationed there attacked him from the front.


    These few enemies, though, were more than enough to send a cold shiver down Puck¡¯s spine. One mistake, one wrong step, and he would be lying on the ground, with the mad horde behind him finally reaching him and devouring him whole.


    Concentrating on one of the creatures coming at him from the front, Puck only barely made out another one coming at him from the side with terrifying speed.


    Making a split-second decision, Puck knew that getting hit by the creature from his side would be certain doom, while a confrontation with the one before him was unavoidable.


    Pushing farther ahead, Puck closed the distance between himself and the creature in front of him. It was some kind of amalgamation of beings: the maw of some kind of predator, human arms and legs, hundreds of crawling appendages, and a tail made out of millions of sewn-together fingers.


    Straining his mind and perception to their limits, Puck welcomed a pulsing headache as he once again pulled on his ideal to help him go beyond the limits of what should be possible.


    Hesitating slightly, Puck gave Brock, who was flying above, the command at just the right moment. Crashing down in a suicidal flight, the buzzard dove toward the eyes of the abomination, hoping to claw them out before it could notice him.


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    Steeling himself for what was to come, Puck was clear about the fact that Brock likely wouldn¡¯t survive the attack and would get dispersed for a later resummoning.


    Still, though, Puck nearly completely ruined his own plan with hesitation when he saw Brock getting ripped apart by the dozens of appendages from the creature.


    Pulling himself together, Puck managed to push himself off the ground the second before he would collide with the creature.


    The abomination, still blinded by Brock, misjudged Puck¡¯s movements and grabbed past him as Puck sailed above it. Not even trying to strike down with Zephyrian while sailing above the creature, Puck knew that any such attempt would hurt his own position more than the creature below.


    Seeing the tail of the creature react in time to slap him out of the air, Puck used Zephyrian instead to ram it out of the path, while sending himself into an uncontrollable spinning motion in the air as a rebound.


    Using the last millisecond before his impact on the ground behind the creature, Puck disposed of Zephyrian into his soul. A moment later, every morsel of air was pushed out of his lungs as Puck felt himself hit the ground with the left side of his chest.


    Instinctively going into a rolling motion over his left shoulder, Puck managed to keep moving before another appendage of the abomination reached him from behind.


    Rolling one more time, Puck felt his speed slow down as his head spun and his lungs screamed for air.


    Knowing this was the moment, Puck pushed off the ground with both his arms the moment his belly faced down again. Managing to get his feet under himself, he started scrambling forward again, guided only by Zephyrian¡¯s input from his soul, as he himself was still completely disoriented.


    Heaving in great gulps of air, Puck tried to speed up with all he had before something could catch him again. The situation was still dire, but even in his deranged state, Puck couldn¡¯t help but let a small smile pass across his lips.


    His mad plan had worked.


    He himself hadn¡¯t been able to look out for it anymore, but Zephyrian had given him confirmation. The abomination that had been coming at him from the side had collided with the one that had been blocking Puck¡¯s path forward.


    Now they were both tumbling over the ground, using whatever weapons they had to claw and swipe at each other.


    Had the wind been any less responsive to help his efforts, had Brock lasted a moment less, or had the creatures just been less dumb and crazed in their frenzy, Puck would be dead right now.


    He wasn¡¯t dead, though. He had managed to get away without so much as a scratch inflicted by his enemies. Sadly, his own maneuver had taken its toll instead, with the worst result likely being his pounding head and his lessened ability to summon his ideal.


    One more time, one more all out effort with help of his ideal, that was all that remained. After that his ideal would go into hibernation, leaving him to fight for himself.


    Puck would need to fight nearly completely without his supernatural tools as any more help by Zephyrian too could only be a last resort move as it would cripple Puck for quite some time after that.


    Nearly completely out of options, Puck felt like he was dancing a fragile lifeline ready to snap at any moment.


    Why though, was he so elated at that very feeling?

 Chapter 46 - Feline

    Avoiding another abomination coming from behind by a hair¡¯s breadth, Puck knew he wouldn¡¯t be able to hold out much longer. All he could do, was trust in Scarlet and try to scrape out a few more seconds at every opportunity possible.


    Over the last minute or so, Puck had baited the swarm behind him around nearly the entire cavern. Because of that, all the creatures were now behind him, chasing him along the same path he ran. None remained in front of him to block his path anymore.


    By now, though, Puck had lost much of his speed as his body simply wouldn¡¯t allow him a full sprint anymore. Worse than that was the single creature that had already come at him from the side before.


    In contrast to its brethren, which were often built suboptimal and much to heavy, this one was sleek and deadly.


    In a matter of seconds, it had ripped apart the creature that had dared stand in its way before, and after that, it had started pursuing Puck again.


    Its body was that of a deadly feline, with dark scales covering its shoulders and back, even going up between its ears. Its tail had been replaced with that of a scorpion, curving high above its back, ready to strike with deadly precision.


    Shortly behind its ears, where normally a tuft of hair would have been, dozens upon dozens of snakes sprouted, swinging in the air and hissing threateningly.


    The snout of the feline looked nearly untouched, uncharacteristic for a creature of the Heart of Darkness. Having though nothing of that, it had nearly cost Puck a few moments ago¡­


    As he had come to learn, the creature¡¯s jaw could open far too wide, nearly completely separating the two parts of its jaw to catch its prey.


    Still, compared to the other horrendously disgusting and dysfunctional creatures of the Heart of Darkness, this one was a perfect predator. It was some kind of wonder that it hadn¡¯t managed to catch Puck yet or even infect him with the poison it certainly held.


    Just at that moment though, it was coming at Puck again. Slower this time. Too slow to rush past Puck, but still too fast for Puck to escape for long.


    Frothing at the mouth, the creature showed that it was also affected by the Heart¡¯s rage and madness. Even then, though, some of its predatory instincts came through. The body parts of the animal this creature had been built from must have been extraordinary, its brain likely still partly active even now.


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    Knowing he couldn¡¯t escape this time, Puck looked over to Scarlet again. Thankfully, it seemed like she was clearly winning over her titanic opponent. At any moment now, she would be able to focus fully on the Heart itself.


    Even then, it would still take some time, time Puck didn¡¯t have.


    Bringing his vision back to the approaching feline and the mob behind it, Puck decided this was the moment to use his final trump card. But how to use it?


    Feeling for the ideal in his mind and soul, Puck tried to listen for its advice, also asking Zephyrian for his opinion.


    Even using up Zephyrian¡¯s power alongside the rest of the ideal, Puck was pretty sure he would succumb to the enemy before him. Not to mention the horde behind it finding him in a crippled state afterward.


    Feeling something like a vague nudge from his ideal in response to his inquiry, Puck tried to focus on it, giving it room to grow and express its meaning.


    The ideal speaking to him felt different somehow. Inspecting it closer, Puck found that it wasn¡¯t the more basic ideal of the wind, but the one of freedom itself speaking to him, trying to offer him a solution.


    Having judged him worthy, the ideal seemed willing to help, but it was still headstrong and wanted to solve the situation its own way. If Puck wasn¡¯t careful, the ideal would simply use up all his remaining strength for a completely useless goal.


    Knowing he needed to remain in control while at the same time giving the ideal what it wanted, Puck felt time ticking. He had no time for a long decision-making process. It needed to happen NOW!


    Pressing into the ideal while offering it his opinions and options, Puck was thankful as the ideal rushed towards Zephyrian to do something to its edge. The next swing of Zephyrian would be no ordinary one.


    Making eye contact with the approaching feline, Puck knew what needed to be done. Stepping forward just as the feline jumped, Puck remained steady.


    With terrifying speed, the enormous scorpion stinger came down. At the same time, Puck swung Zephyrian.


    For a moment, time seemed to come to a crawling stop for the two fighters, before it resumed.


    With a low whistling, Zephyrian swung through the air, toward the head of the feline. Then, as the stinger hit Puck in the right shoulder with devastating force, Zephyrian¡¯s strike seemed to miss, swinging harmlessly over the feline¡¯s head.


    Or at least, it seemed harmless.


    But as Puck was flung backward, his shoulder broken and already freezing from the paralyzing venom in the stinger, the feline suddenly stopped, as if all its strings had been cut.


    Puck¡¯s strike hadn¡¯t been aimed to kill, the ideal of freedom wouldn¡¯t have allowed that anyway. No, instead the strike was meant to FREE. It cut the bond between the Heart and its creature.


    Nearly all of the other monstrous creatures would likely have died instantly after being freed, as it was only the energy of the Heart keeping them alive. But not this one. For some reason, it was special, not something randomly made up of body parts and shadows.


    Lying on the ground on his side, unable to move, Puck felt like he was dying as pain wracked his whole body.


    Looking at the approaching monster horde, he knew it was over. There was nothing left to give. Zephyrian was unable to help anymore in his current state, and the horde would be upon him in seconds.

 Chapter 47 - Escape

    Looking death in the eyes, Puck was surprised when it didn¡¯t come. The feline, moments ago still a limp body on the ground, suddenly got up again, growling.


    At first, thinking it had been possessed again, Puck was surprised as it only inspected him with a swift gaze before turning to the approaching monster horde with a look full of hatred.


    Soon Puck understood though.


    This creature wouldn¡¯t fight for him, Puck. Why would it? It held no allegiance to him or anyone else. No, it wouldn¡¯t fight for Puck. Who it would fight for, though, was itself. And what it wanted more than anything else was revenge on the being that had captured it for so long.


    Flexing its back legs and readying its stinger, the feline hissed with dozens of small snake mouths before flinging itself forward.


    <hr>


    Bringing her axes down for the final time, Scarlet cut through the innermost parts of the chest of the titanic monstrosity she was standing on.


    Finally, with one last twitch, the creature went still.


    Jumping down from the butchered mound of flesh, Scarlet felt her entire body ache. More than once, the creature had managed to hit her, and each time had felt like being struck by an avalanche. Additionally, overusing her bloodline in such a direct manner put immense strain on her body.


    Deciding not to turn her head and look for Puck, Scarlet knew that the best thing for both of them would be if she eliminated the heart as quickly as possible. Any second in which the heart was allowed to remain unchecked increased the danger manyfold.


    Burning with the fuel of her bloodline, Scarlet shot towards the heart like a bullet. In a matter of seconds, barriers sprang up to delay her, but each one was shattered by her with a single swing of her axes.


    The moment Scarlet reached the pillar the heart was embedded in, the heart made its final move. Suddenly, glowing red cracks sprang up all over the heart and its pillar, testifying to the immense cost of the heart¡¯s final card.


    Slowly, a dark crack in space was forming in the air above Scarlet, opening the way to a place far away. Through the portal, an immense aura of dread and danger fell as the aura promised the doom that would arrive to consume them all, it would...


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    With a sound like shattering glass, the portal suddenly stopped forming and instead started to recede, accompanied by a hateful scream from the creature beyond.


    The heart, previously covered in cracks but still alive, now had an axe embedded in its middle, signifying its recent demise.


    Instantly, the heartbeat that had shaken everything up to this moment stopped, and an eerie silence set in. Not for long, though. As the heart died, its body began to wither, and since the heart had been part of the whole cavern and ice around them, its demise would have unknown consequences.


    Jumping upwards on groggy legs, Scarlet struggled for some time with pulling out her axes from the now solidified heart before she finally managed it and fell down again. In that time, the tendrils of darkness that had held the ceiling up had deteriorated to an alarming degree, and everything began to rumble once more as the silence faded.


    Jogging over towards Puck''s still unmoving form, Scarlet feared the worst. Reaching for his pulse, Scarlet confirmed that he was still alive, but just barely. Picking him up as carefully as possible, Scarlet began moving towards the exit they had entered through as fast as she could.


    Hearing a hissing sound behind her, Scarlet twirled around to see a heavily bloodied but still alive abomination. Why was it still there? These creatures should all have breathed out their unholy life the moment the heart was shattered.


    Readying herself to defend, Scarlet was surprised as the abomination hissed one final time before rushing towards another exit of the great cavern.


    Deciding to ignore the issue for the time being and do the same, Scarlet made her way to the entrance they had come from. But as she eyed the ceiling and the spiraling cracks above, Scarlet knew she wouldn¡¯t make it in time, they would need to find another way out, where the ceiling would hold longer.


    Going through her options, Scarlet finally settled on the one with the highest chance of success. Turning around, she followed the feline abomination towards the entrance it was heading to.


    Seeing the cracks above spread ever faster, Scarlet knew it would be close. Trying to ignite her bloodline more thoroughly again, Scarlet felt like the roaring bonfire from before had reduced to a small flickering flame, but it was helping, she was speeding up again.


    Soon, the first icy stalactites were shaking loose from the ceiling and impacting the ground with terrifying force. With each second, the impacts came closer, and Scarlet gave it her all to avoid the raining debris.


    Throwing herself out of the cavern in the last moment before a full collapse, Scarlet knew they weren¡¯t safe yet. The remaining beast was waiting, and a collapse like this could have effects beyond the immediate surroundings.


    Worst of all, Scarlet didn¡¯t know in which direction the tunnel they had entered now would lead.


    Pushing all those less immediate issues away for the time being, Scarlet tried to listen for Puck¡¯s breathing as she searched for a temporary safe haven, but soon she had to concede that her eardrums were too damaged for the task.


    Finally finding a slightly protected alcove, Scarlet immediately sat down and started pushing healing energy into Puck. That was one of her advantages over people using their ideals in battle, she still had her reserves topped up even after a great battle like this.


    Sadly, she herself was hurt too, and every cell of her body was worn out from the overuse of her bloodline. In addition to the healing, Scarlet would also need to stay alert for danger.


    This would be a few hours of hard work.

 Chapter 48 - Caged

    The first few days after their fight with the heart had been the hardest. Puck, completely helpless and in great pain most of the time, could do nothing to help Scarlet as she protected him, sought a place for them to recover, and helped heal him.


    Most of the time, Puck had simply stayed in his soul, a place he could reach more easily and stay in for longer periods by now. By focusing on his own healing within his soul, Puck was able to be even more effective than when he simply meditated outside of it.


    After about three days, Puck had recovered enough, and Scarlet found a place secure enough for her to finally decide to rest.


    Sitting there in the darkness, his body still aching all over, Puck had tried to be as dutiful as possible while he stood guard over the sleeping Scarlet.


    That had also been the first time the feline beast had come back. Simply standing in the darkness at a safe distance, it had watched. For some reason, feeling no danger, Puck had let Scarlet sleep. Only a few seconds later, it had been gone again.


    That visit had not been the last one, though, as the days turned to weeks while Puck and Scarlet searched the new tunnel region for food, resources, and a way onward. Now and then, the beast simply stood at a distance and watched, never truly approaching or attacking.


    As soon as their basic needs for survival had been secured, Puck¡¯s training resumed. Hunting, fighting, magic, healing, or simply packing his backpack correctly and walking¡ªall of it became a new habit as they searched for a way onward, either towards known tunnels or, better yet, upwards toward the surface that Puck so bitterly wanted to reach.


    <hr>


    Standing at the edge of a wildly flowing glacier river, Puck stood completely still, his eyes tracking the water without moving a single muscle. The hunt for the fish in these rivers had proven exceedingly difficult, and Puck hadn¡¯t yet managed to secure more than a single kill. Even then, that one had been washed away by the water as Puck had to save himself from falling into the dangerous current.


    Waiting patiently, Puck finally saw his chance fifteen minutes later. Bringing his right arm forward, the makeshift spear left his grip. Biting his lip in hopes of success, Puck knew he would fail without intervention, as the spear veered a little too far to the right. Making a split-second decision, Puck called for the wind, and it answered. The spear adjusted, and the fish got impaled.


    Filled with jubilation, Puck nearly forgot to pull on the line to secure the spear. Digging his feet into the ground, Puck used the footholds he had prepared earlier to overpower the wildly thrashing fish.


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    Finally managing to bring it on land, Puck grabbed the wooden club he had fashioned himself. One, two, three strikes, and the fish finally lay still as Puck panted from the adrenaline rushing through his system.


    For a moment, Puck felt sad and guilty about killing the proud animal, but such was the way of nature. Eating and being eaten, nothing was wrong with that.


    Bowing and giving the fish the respect it was owed, Puck soon returned with his tribute to their temporary base. After walking for about twenty minutes, Puck reached a great and uneven cavern. Targeting a certain spot, Puck began to climb, the fish and his spear secured on his back. Soon, about fifteen feet above the ground, Puck reached the alcove where they were residing.


    It wasn¡¯t too big, but it was relatively secure, and held heat of their bodies and the occasionally fire pretty good


    Proudly approaching Scarlet, Puck couldn¡¯t help but feel elated at the small nod of approval he received for his accomplishment. Not wanting to interrupt Scarlet in what she was doing, Puck simply sat down opposite her and watched.


    With her natural grace and precision, Scarlet wove together moss over and over to create new clothing. Using nothing but a single needle made of bone and some thread out of ligaments and sturdier plants, something new was forming.


    Watching intently, Puck tried to learn and not ogle Scarlet herself too much, as she would surely notice. Soon, it was his turn as Scarlet instructed him on the craft. As much as he had improved in hunting, looking at the work before him, Puck knew he still had much to learn.


    <hr>


    Walking through the tunnels and caverns surrounding them for what felt like the hundredth time, Scarlet grew more and more worried. Many tunnels still had clear signs of the heart¡¯s influence, and none seemed to connect to the greater tunnel system they had come from.


    It seemed more and more like they were trapped. Scarlet knew Puck likely hadn¡¯t noticed yet, but soon he would.


    Smiling at the thought of her student, Scarlet had to admit that he had been, and still was, learning and improving at a terrifying pace.


    Not only were his body, his skills and their application growing by the day, even his feeling for their social interactions grew by leaps and bounds. At the start, Scarlet had noticed him staring at her more often than not, but by now, he seemed more aware of himself and was characterlike growing up.


    Even though they were nearly the same age, at the start, he had seemed like nothing but a child to her. Having been exiled by Gremlin society even more harshly than she had been, he hadn¡¯t had much time to mature before.


    More than anything, the Puck she had come to know at the start had been hurt and reclusive, seemingly distrustful of anybody and anything. Now, though, he was flourishing, evolving his character more and more, and simply learning how to be happy.


    Hopefully, she wouldn¡¯t have to bring him the bad news about them being caged in.


    Soon, though, she would have to, in hopes that his ideal of freedom would find a way out.


    Otherwise, they would have to dig for a long time to reach back to where they had come from. She hoped it wouldn¡¯t come to that, not only because of the delay that would create but also because something like that could inflict great damage to someone wielding the ideal of freedom.

 Announcment

    No chapter on the 17.10 and the 20.10 because of a vacation.


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 Chapter 49 - A way out

    Trying to feel out into the surrounding web of tunnels, small caverns, and ice rivers for the umpteenth time, Puck felt like his senses were expanding through the ice, becoming one with the surroundings in the search for only one thing:


    A way out.


    They were caged in, and they needed to escape.


    He could never be caged in again.


    His will and his ideal wouldn¡¯t allow it. Buckling ever more violently, his ideal brought testament to that problem.


    It wanted out. It was freedom; it couldn¡¯t be caged. And if Puck was caged, it would have to...


    With a great deal of pain and sweat, Puck managed to pull himself out of his expansive search for freedom and the battle with his rebelling ideal.


    Feeling a hand on his shoulder as he awoke from his search, Puck instinctively reached for it.


    Gripping tightly, Puck slowly calmed down as Scarlet''s calm presence grounded him.


    Not speaking for a moment, Puck grew increasingly confused and irrational as he saw Brock speeding through the cavern in an uneasy zigzag. The bird was perhaps affected even more than himself.


    For about two weeks, Puck had been actively searching for an escape route through his ideal, but he hadn¡¯t found anything yet.


    The only thing he could confirm was that the way through the old cavern of the heart was indeed only halfway broken in, and through a very long and arduous process, they would likely manage to break through there.


    That would take years, though.


    His ideal wouldn¡¯t hold that long. He wouldn¡¯t hold that long. That was the thing about ideals. In situations completely arrayed against them, they were the strongest. But if the situation couldn¡¯t be overcome by the host of the ideal, the ideal would try to escape its host.


    Puck estimated he had about a month before his ideal broke free, and he¡¯d be left without it forever.


    Slowly trying to stand up, Puck started to wobble away into the darkness. Feeling Scarlet¡¯s grip around his shoulder, trying to hold him back, Puck turned around for a moment and looked into her eyes.


    Feeling like she understood, he turned away again and slowly started moving.


    Looking around, feeling lost and desperate, Puck could still appreciate the beauty around him. The cavern they housed in was beautiful, there was enough to eat, and he wasn¡¯t alone.


    He wasn¡¯t alone. What an understatement. For the first time in his life, he felt like he truly had someone to depend on. Someone who valued him and someone he could value.


    Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.A year here in these caverns, only hunting, training, and time with Scarlet, why couldn¡¯t he simply live with that?


    In fact, that sounded somewhat like a perfect reality come true.


    A perfect reality but also a hollow reality. Without his freedom, without at least the possibility of trying everything he wanted, it was a hollow reality, a reality without drive.


    Of course, he wouldn¡¯t give up even if they did not find a faster way out. That too was an integral part of what he wanted to be.


    But being caged in for a year right after he unearthed his ideal of freedom, it would change something in him. And not for the better.


    Walking on through the well-known tunnels, Puck felt, on the one hand, like he was walking directionless without any goal, but on the other hand¡­


    Something was pulling him, or perhaps guiding him. There was a purpose to his steps. Though he felt both directionless and still confused, he sensed himself walking towards something.


    Hearing a screech behind him, Puck suddenly saw Brock flying toward him and making fast circles around him. The bird didn¡¯t seem as confused as before, more like he, too, felt it...


    Motioning for Brock to be silent, Puck walked on through the darkness as if drawn by an invisible strand stretching through it.


    Walking upwards through a winding tunnel he had often traversed before, Puck knew where he was going.


    This tunnel would reach into a relatively narrow but high cavern with a raging river at the bottom. What was he doing here?


    Closing in on the cavern, Puck suddenly stopped as Brock landed on his shoulder. There, before him, at the edge of the tunnel, stood the feline beast he had fought before and that had been observing him for weeks in these caverns.


    It had never come close or attacked. More often than not, Puck even suspected it had been there without him knowing, only watching and inspecting him.


    Seemingly sensing him or perhaps knowing he would be coming all along, the beast looked over its shoulder back at him.


    Flinching, Puck couldn¡¯t help but be intimidated by the beast¡¯s yellow eyes and the undulating snakes all around its head.


    Hearing something like a deep rumbling, Puck took an involuntary step back, only to feel the rumbling get even louder as the beast slightly opened its mouth and let a pink tongue lol out.


    Was it laughing at him?


    Taking a step forward again, Puck was unsure what to do, but the beast looked like it knew exactly what it was here to do.


    Turning its head away from Puck again, he couldn¡¯t see its eyes anymore. Trying to figure out what it was doing, Puck saw muscles tighten, and the sting on the back of the feline started to wave from side to side.


    Looking from the end of the tunnel to the feline, Puck had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. Was it going to...?


    Ignoring Puck''s fearful scream, the beast pushed off and jumped. For a moment, it looked like it was flying before it started dropping.


    Running forward to the edge of the tunnel, Puck tried to make out the feline in the raging waters below. Had it decided to die? Had it felt so desperate?


    Making out what he thought was the shadow of the beast in the waters below, Puck thought he saw it trying to swim towards something, and then suddenly it was gone.


    Had it been pulled under completely? Was it dead?


    Or could it be something else? Could it be that it had simply found a way out? A way that it had shared with Puck as a final act of thanks?

 Chapter 50 - Gasping for air

    Over and over, Taron pushed his tail from one side to the other to gain more momentum. Using his paws for swimming support and as buffers against sharp edges, his many snake heads looked out for the right path to swim.


    Feeling the air grow thinner in his lungs and the darkness in the subterranean river deepen, Taron felt not only the outer tunnel walls creep in but also those of his thoughts and feelings.Why swim? Why fight? Why not breathe?He needed to breathe, didn¡¯t he?


    Every instinct in his body screamed for him to open his maw and try to get air, but he needed to resist. Finally, after such a long time of domination, he had been freed. He wouldn¡¯t die here!Pushing his muscles to their limits, following his instincts, and searching for those nearly indistinguishable signs of an opening, Taron continued.


    For another ten seconds, the desperation dragged on until he felt he would black out. Then, finally, he saw it. There!One, two, three pushes. He was so close, and the current was trying to pull him onward, downwards past the opening.


    Unable to resist, his maw finally opened. It was unclear whether it was a search for air or simply a silent roar. Even then, though, he managed it. He broke through.


    AIR!There was AIR!But also water in his lungs, and there was AIR!Breathing, trembling, coughing water, getting pushed onward by the current.Getting pushed onward!


    The ceiling threatened to steal the air again¡ªAIR!Out of the water! He needed to get out of the water.Pushing, swimming, clawing. It was close, oh so close, but he managed it. Finally, after what would later feel like hours of fighting against the glacier¡¯s power, he managed it.


    Crawling out of the water, he had no strength to look around or search the surroundings for threats.Plopping down heavily on the ground, he kept shuddering and coughing up water.It had been close, but he had managed. But would the bipedal manage it too?


    <hr>


    After returning to the camp and telling Scarlet what had transpired, they went back to the current where the feline had vanished and tried to figure out anything that could hint at a possible exit.


    None of the mundane solutions they thought of provided relevant information. The only real pointer was Puck¡¯s feeling and his persistent ideal that told him this was it.


    Puck was relieved when Scarlet didn¡¯t even for a second question his sanity or what had transpired. She simply believed him.Deciding on a course of action, Scarlet made it clear that even though the beast had perhaps done it that way, they wouldn¡¯t simply jump in.


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    Perhaps she would have a chance of surviving such a foolhardy manoeuvre, but Puck would certainly perish unless the stars aligned for him.Instead, they would try to explore the current bit by bit, looking through the underwater world and trying to find the right exit.


    Exploring a rushing current many feet beneath away from air seemed like a terribly stupid idea. But did they have any choice?


    It didn¡¯t seem like they did. Afterall, neither of them would even consider working their way through the ice for years.For the next few days, they simply prepared for their first scouting mission. The idea was simple. They would weave together a rope long and strong enough that Scarlet would be able to hold onto it when she went into the water.


    <hr>


    Feeling the thick rope around her thigh, Scarlet couldn¡¯t help but feel apprehensive as she looked down at the raging current.Throwing one last falsely confident look back, she smiled at Puck and secretly checked the rope¡¯s attachment to the floor one last time.


    Deciding not to put it off any longer, she slowly started to climb down to the water¡¯s surface as Puck slowly gave her more rope from the cliff above.Seemingly wanting to lighten the mood, Puck threw one last comment after her: "If you survive, and we get out of here, I will insist on a date, you know!"


    Caught completely off guard, Scarlet cursed upward, wondering if the shrimp had just invented that sentence or if it had been a longer plan.Either way, it had managed to distract her, for a moment.Then her left foot hit the ice-cold, raging current, and there was no time anymore. With one step, one last deep breath, and two forcefully loosened hands, she was pulled off by the current.


    Swimming downward, Scarlet tried to give all her attention to the task of not hitting the walls of the tunnel.It wasn¡¯t easy; the power of the water was terrifying, and without the strength of her bloodline, she wouldn¡¯t have had a chance. At least her Gremlin eyes had no problem seeing even here.


    Feeling the air in her lungs, Scarlet knew she still had more than enough time. Through her bloodline, she could reduce her oxygen usage considerably, and the rope they had secured would stop her descent long before she reached the point of no return.Even still, it was terrifying.Then finally, the rope suddenly grew taut around her belly, and she hastily grabbed it with both her bloodline empowered arms as to avoid being strangled.


    Pleading in her head, Scarlet had only one thought running through her mind:¡°Please hold!¡±The rope was made as well as she could manage, but the strain it was under was enormous. If it tore¡­


    But it held, for the moment at least.Wanting to get back with all her might, Scarlet had to gulp down the urge to gasp for air as the impulse to breathe intensified.Even then, she took a few good looks around, not wanting the expedition to be in vain.Then she pulled herself back along the rope through the raging current in a display of indomitable strength.Her bloodline burning with blinding intensity, her heart beating like the drum of the godly beast from whom she had inherited her bloodline power.

 Chapter 51 - Inadequacy

    Sitting there in the small abode they had stayed in for so long now, Puck couldn¡¯t bring himself to feel happy about the fact that they would soon attempt their escape.One slow movement after another, he went over the thick rope they had created for the hundredth time. Now and then, he would take out his bone needle and add support to the rope in places he thought were lagging. His craftsmanship had improved by leaps and bounds, but his feeling of inadequacy had only increased over the last month.His worries didn¡¯t stem from not trusting Scarlet enough. He would gladly put his life in her hands and feel safe, like an unknowing baby while doing so.Each and every time Puck had seen Scarlet¡¯s bedraggled, gasping form emerge from the water of the raging river though, something felt like it broke inside him.Why couldn¡¯t he help more? Why did she need to shoulder this burden all alone?But there was simply no way for him to help. His body, though much improved, was far from as strong as hers, and he would only be a hindrance.


    Getting caught up in his thoughts, Puck remembered the one time when the rope had snapped. Having stood atop the cliff and awaited Scarlet¡¯s return like every other time before, Puck¡¯s heart had nearly stopped as the normally taut rope suddenly lost most of its pull.Puck had nearly jumped into the water then and there, but his own fear, and the knowledge of the additional problems his actions would cause Scarlet, had held him back.When Scarlet finally resurfaced, at least two minutes later than usual, Puck had already been crying and shaking. Wanting to help her in any way, he had used the time to climb down the rest of the snapped rope to the surface of the raging water.As Scarlet¡¯s head finally emerged, he gave it his all to hold his emotions together and simply tried to hold her above water as all the muscles in her body went limp, her eyes wild and unrecognizing.Only after twenty terrifying minutes, during which Puck held onto Scarlet for all he was worth, had they managed to climb up together.After that particular incident, Puck realized the truth: Scarlet wasn¡¯t immune to fear or anger. She simply bottled it up so deep inside that it only emerged on the rarest of occasions.That time had been one of those occasions.


    Stabbing himself in the thumb, Puck cursed himself for letting his mind wander like this. What if he made a mistake because of it and the rope snapped again?Looking up from his work as he paused his inspections, Puck tried to be inconspicuous as he turned to check on Scarlet.There was no need for subtlety, though. Behind him, on a bed of moss atop the eternal ice, Scarlet was sleeping fitfully, rolling from one side to the other.Slowly standing and walking over, Puck felt his sense of inadequacy grow again. Why did she have to shoulder this burden all on her own? Why couldn¡¯t he do more?Kneeling beside her, he carefully reached for her forehead. Thankfully, it felt normal to the touch. More than once, he had noticed her temperature rise or fall after she had exerted her mysterious bloodline too much or when the battles within her soul overwhelmed her.


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    Wracking his brain for anything he could do to help her, Puck came back to the one thing he knew might work.When using an ideal, there were many possible applications, and one of the hardest was infusing or using it on another living being.Today, though, he was determined to make it work! He couldn¡¯t bear for it to fail once more.Sitting down beside Scarlet, he placed his hands on either side of her head and slowly tried to calm himself again. It took much longer than usual to reach anything close to a tranquil state of mind, not helped by the fact that Scarlet kept turning in her sleep.Finally managing it, Puck called for his ideal, willing it to fill his body and even his surroundings in a passive state of freedom and readiness.It wasn¡¯t easy, as his ideal was still backed into a corner by the fact that they were still trapped. But when Puck finally managed to direct it, it reacted all the more strongly, as it somehow understood that Puck wanted to use it to help free them.


    Knowing that trying to force the ideal of freedom wasn¡¯t wise, Puck tried to produce a feeling and mental image of what he wanted.Feeling irritation and restlessness in the ethereal energy around him, Puck knew it would soon dissipate into the surroundings. It didn¡¯t fully understand his intent, or at least wasn¡¯t entirely willing to fulfill it.Pleading and pushing his emotions of selflessness and helplessness forward, Puck mostly received indifference in response. The key word here was ¡°mostly.¡±Feeling just a sliver of acceptance and understanding from the ideal, Puck seized it.Trying to speak only to that part of the ideal, Puck willed it to the forefront. This was the part that had been shaped when he decided to help others also gain freedom, and now it was here to help.Trying to appeal to that part of the ideal, Puck nearly lost it again before he understood the problem in his approach.The ideal didn¡¯t care about Scarlet herself. Not truly, at least. It only cared about her freedom, about the freedom of any living being.Focusing ever deeper on this, Puck wrapped his ideas to fit the ideal better in certain points, negotiating bitterly with the ideal for others.


    Then finally, it was done, and the vision expanded in his mind as Puck started infusing energy into Scarlet.Already knowing that the energy he had pulled so far wouldn¡¯t be enough for what he wanted to do, Puck drew more and more from his soul and ideal, running himself dry.Feeling his soul barren and the ideal unwilling to give further, Puck didn¡¯t care; he needed MORE!He pulled and pulled, and with each pull, something came back.Then finally, it was enough, and the effect snapped into place.Looking down at the still-sleeping Scarlet, Puck felt like the first effect of his spell should have been that she looked even more beautiful than before.Then he passed out, falling to the side only centimeters away from Scarlet.

 Chapter 52 - Getting closer

    Slowly waking up and stretching this way and that, Scarlet yawned heavily as her mind gradually emerged from slumber.Something felt different. Not in a bad way, though.Somehow, in some inexplicable way, she felt light and free, in a way she hadn¡¯t in years¡ªand certainly not in the last few weeks.Additionally, Scarlet felt as though all the muscles in her body were relaxed and hadn¡¯t tensed up like usual from the night¡¯s vivid dreams.Taking a few more minutes to simply lie there, not thinking or planning, just enjoying the relaxed state she found herself in this morning, Scarlet smiled lightly to herself.Becoming aware of a weight on her belly, she carefully groped for it and came away with a bundle of something both soft and scratchy.Slowly lifting her head from the ground and wearily blinking at the snoring Gremlin head on her belly, Scarlet didn¡¯t react as she usually would.Any other morning, she would have grabbed the still-sleeping Puck by the hem of his robes and thrown him aside, then tasked him with something truly strenuous. But not today.Gently running her hand over his brown and red hair, Scarlet tried to get to the bottom of her feelings and where they came from.Trying to get her mind to work on the issue, Scarlet finally began connecting the dots. There was no reason for Puck to sleep directly next to her unless he had done something here.And what could he have done but try to help her?Thinking back over the past weeks, Scarlet knew she had been anything but a good mentor to Puck during that time. But she simply hadn¡¯t been able to.The excursions into the depths had stirred emotions and memories, rekindling fear and terror. She had tried to hide these feelings from Puck and thought herself successful. Apparently, she had been anything but.


    Setting Puck¡¯s head down beside her gently, she slowly got up before looking down at her snoring disciple again. After a moment, she bent down and took some more moss to place under Puck¡¯s head to make him more comfortable.Checking his heartbeat and breathing, she found them both steady but strained and slow. He had seriously overtaxed himself. Deciding that making something good to eat would be the best way to repay his efforts in kindness, Scarlet got to work with a happy hum on her lips.


    <hr>


    Eyeing their final construct for the underwater journey warily, Puck felt fear rising. It had been a week since he¡¯d tried to help Scarlet, and now they were ready to go.In the days since his efforts, both he and Scarlet had recovered and simply enjoyed their time together. Not only that, but Puck felt they had grown substantially closer, moving a little further away from the purely professional teacher-student relationship they had started with.Having seen the effect of his spell on Scarlet, Puck was thrilled and still felt a lingering excitement. Sadly, his overuse of his ideal meant he was still unable to use it again; there would be no help from it on their journey.Looking at Scarlet holding the construct he would be fastened to, Puck thought he could see real relaxation in her stance and expression.She had done the dive many times already, and his own help had restored her usual confidence.Puck was also confident in her; one way or another, she would get them to their destination.But could he himself hold his breath long enough? Would he be able to channel Zephyrian¡¯s power as effectively underwater as he could normally?He wasn¡¯t so sure.


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    Stepping toward him, Scarlet skillfully packed them together in their construct of woven materials. Soon, they stood back-to-back, feeling each other¡¯s heads and backs pressed close.Not in the mood for one of his usual jokes, Puck was surprised when Scarlet made one: ¡°Don¡¯t try anything iffy, alright? Even if we¡¯re underwater, I¡¯ll know if your hands go somewhere they don¡¯t belong. You¡¯ll get your date on the other side.¡±Moving his hand backward, Puck slowly reached for Scarlet¡¯s. Feeling her squeeze his hand back, Puck started to prepare in his own way for the journey, allowing Zephyrian¡¯s influence to help him remain calm.Getting some reassuring words from his friend, he sent a warm feeling back¡ªthey would do this!As he felt himself being lifted off the ground, Puck¡¯s temporary confidence wavered, and only Zephyrian¡¯s influence and his own desperate will to stay calm stopped him from moving erratically.Looking down, Puck saw the terrifying rush of water beneath them as Scarlet slowly began their descent, with Puck connected to her back.Stopping directly above the water, Puck felt his breath quicken despite his efforts to slow it down again.He needed to breathe¡ªto prepare himself.He wouldn¡¯t be able to breathe for the next several minutes.He needed air!


    Closing his eyes as he signaled Scarlet to wait, Puck visualized his visions and dreams once more. Nothing but a few minutes of hardship stood between him and them.Looking up again, Puck saw Brock flying down and landing on his hand. Feeling the bird¡¯s eyes bore into his, Puck felt a sense of certainty wash over him. He was a bringer of freedom; he would escape unharmed.With a small puff, Brock burst apart into tiny particles that homed in on Puck and were absorbed into his head.Together, they would do this.Apparently sensing what was happening, Scarlet began to count down from ten. At three, Puck exhaled fully; at two and one, he took in as much air as he could. Then, they sank into the raging waters and were swept away.

 Chapter 53 - The cavern

    Holding his mouth closed and trying to remain calm at all costs, Puck felt Zephyrian¡¯s efforts to send him calming thoughts and impressions intensify.Looking around at the crashing currents that tore at his limbs and clothes, Puck reminded himself of his tasks. He was only to keep his limbs out of Scarlet¡¯s path and hold his breath until they reached their destination.Feeling impacts on his drifting feet, Puck hurriedly pulled them closer to his torso so as not to hinder Scarlet¡¯s swimming movements.Feeling the power with which Scarlet¡¯s body fought against the current, Puck couldn¡¯t help but marvel again. Even when infused with Zephyrian¡¯s power, he was nowhere close to her physical prowess.


    Feeling the first urges for air rise up in his body, Puck pushed them away with everything he had. Closing his eyes and meditating, Puck used every shred of his willpower to fight against the terror and helplessness that threatened to overwhelm him.Starting a mental conversation with Zephyrian, Puck tried to pull himself as far from the physical plane as possible. He asked, ¡°Do you think we¡¯ll make it?¡±Receiving a low chuckle in response, Puck was showered in the sword¡¯s absolute, irrational confidence¡ªor was it just bluster to help him?Bluster or not, it truly helped, and finally, Puck heard the signal from Zephyrian over the mind link, as the sword had been keeping track of the time.Trying to ignore the irrational urge to breathe, Puck focused on the energy that Zephyrian channeled into his lungs and body, attempting to help shape it in the way they needed.He didn¡¯t need strength¡ªstrengthening his muscles in this situation would be nothing short of suicide, as they would require much more oxygen to function.


    Instead, he needed to reduce his dependency on air, either giving his lungs what they needed or simply stopping them from asking for more.It was a tough battle, but for a while, the desire for air actually lessened rather than increased, as a great current of energy flowed from Zephyrian through Puck¡¯s soul and into his body.Finally, though, even that wasn¡¯t enough anymore. Puck felt himself slipping into madness, asking Zephyrian again and again how much longer it would be until they resurfaced, each time feeling as if it were an unreachable distance.When Puck finally felt he couldn¡¯t take it anymore, another influence made itself known. It wasn¡¯t the overwhelming power of Zephyrian¡ªno, it was like a soft rustle, flowing through his body and granting him a tiny fraction of relief.It was the particles that Brock had been reduced to, now giving Puck a helping hand. More important than the physical effect, it gave Puck hope.


    Feeling his last rational thoughts slip away, Puck began to thrash within his pack. Nothing remained of his consciousness but the sheer will not to breathe.And then they were there¡ªfinally.With a lunge and deep, gasping breaths, Scarlet heaved the two of them out of the water together as Puck began to gasp erratically.They had made it.


    Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    <hr>


    Tumbling through the rowdy cavern, Thurrock chanted the skewed songs along with the rest of the crowd as he held his beer high, reveling in the moment.


    ¡°We¡¯re off to the tavern,a place we love to gather.Everyone to the cask,together it¡¯s a blast!¡±


    Feeling himself bump into something solid and unyielding, he looked up to find a rough face glaring down at him. Patting the cheek of the jiggling face, Thurrock chuckled to himself and tried to stagger on.


    ¡°Among the lovely maidens fair,dressed scantily with flair,¡±


    A rough hand with unforgiving claws landed on Thurrock¡¯s shoulder, pulling him back around to face the scowling face once again.Laughing, Thurrock reached forward to steady himself, barely able to keep from collapsing as everything wobbled around him.Some of his drink splashed onto the man, and Thurrock tried to wish it away as best he could. He was nice like that.


    ¡°With song and booze,yeah, we feel right...¡±


    WABOOM.With a sudden heavy impact, Thurrock was thrown back, rolling across the ground while both laughing and cursing.His chest hurt a little, but the heavy bone plating of his race had made the impact easy to withstand.Angry voices shouted at him as he struggled to his feet, and the singing had stopped. With some effort, he managed to get up again, only to be grabbed once more by the gruff man.


    ¡°It¡¯s time for you to leave today. Come back tomorrow if you still have money!¡±


    Allowing himself to be dragged along, Thurrock had the distinct feeling that this exact scene had played out many times in the past.Then he was out of the cavern, and the door shut behind him with a loud bang as everything grew much darker, with only the faint light spilling from the cavern windows.Looking around through blurred vision, Thurrock could barely make out a few other crumbling structures around him. Where was he supposed to go again?


    Pushing himself up from where he had been thrown, Thurrock tried to continue singing on his own.


    ¡°Hey, you folks from the field,have you still some coin to yield?Let¡¯s not end in a fight,we could drink a bit more tonight.¡±


    Staggering down the empty street, Thurrock finally reached a dark tunnel where he couldn¡¯t even see his hand before his face. Looking back one last time, he saw only a few glimmering lights in the darkness of the underground, spilling from the windows of the shady cavern.Tomorrow morning would be horrible when the headache hit, but it was not yet morning, and he didn¡¯t need any company to enjoy the time.Singing to himself, Thurrock leaned against a wall in the darkness and dozed off, finally claimed by sleep.

 Chapter 54 - Orc Kingdom

    Sitting with his back against an uneven wall, Puck felt this dive trip was something he would remember for a long time.


    The helplessness, the struggle against the urge to breathe¡ªjust recalling it made his breath shallow again.


    At least it was over; they had made it.


    Reaching for the ideal housed in his chest, Puck knew it was more than pleased. Once it came out of cooldown from helping Scarlet, he¡¯d be able to take another step forward in controlling it.


    Seeing Scarlet move toward him, Puck was pulled from his thoughts. It was time to move on.


    Their trip through the water had happened about two days ago, and they still needed to find food. The current they¡¯d traveled in had been barren of fish, and there was no edible moss in the region either.


    Pulled up by Scarlet, Puck felt grounded by the touch of her hands. He was hungry, but it was manageable, and the most important thing was that the tunnel area they were in now showed no signs of being cut off anytime soon.


    When choosing their path, they always went with the tunnel that led upwards, following an unspoken agreement.


    Finally, after another day of travel, they found a type of moss Puck had never seen before, which Scarlet recognized as edible.


    As the days turned to weeks, Puck¡¯s mood soared as they resumed their usual training schedule. His muscles were constantly sore, and his head ached from all the new knowledge of unfamiliar flora. But he was learning, and he was enjoying himself. Once, he even managed to land a hit on Scarlet during one of their sparring matches¡ªthough only because she was holding back and landed a lethal blow in return. But still.


    The one disappointment was that the beast who had shown him the way had not reappeared, and Puck feared it hadn¡¯t made it through the water. Over the weeks though, even the fate of the feline creature receded to the back of his mind.


    When something finally disrupted their rhythm of training and traveling, Puck wasn¡¯t sure if he was elated or disappointed that things were about to change.


    Pointing with his finger, Puck alerted Scarlet: ¡°Look, there¡¯s a sign!¡±


    Standing at a crossroads, they could make out signs everywhere, pointing to different tunnels with various symbols adorning them.


    Only familiar with the rudimentary system of Gremlin symbols, Puck had already been taught by Scarlet that there were far more advanced systems, and this seemed to be one of them. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Scarlet wrinkled her face in concentration for a moment, then her eyes lit up.


    ¡°It¡¯s not a very common language, but I¡¯ve seen it before. It¡¯s used by one of the smaller Orc kingdoms on the surface of the eternal ice!¡±


    ¡°Does that mean we¡¯re actually reaching the surface soon?¡±


    As thoughts of his vision of flying through the sky filled his mind, Puck wondered if his dream was finally becoming reality. Hearing a rush around him, he soon felt the wind on his skin.


    ¡°Put your ideal back in your body. Even if your ideal is freedom, it¡¯s still your ideal and shouldn¡¯t act without your intention.¡±


    Receiving the scolding, Puck saw a smile tugging at Scarlet¡¯s lips and knew she at least partly shared his excitement.


    ¡°Don¡¯t get your hopes up too early, though. The Orcs map tunnels far below the surface, and the journey might still be several weeks on foot. We might reach some underground settlements before then, though.¡±


    Hesitating a little, Puck remembered something Scarlet had mentioned before.


    ¡°Don¡¯t the Orcs hate most other races and even hunt us Gremlins?¡±


    Growing more serious, Scarlet nodded solemnly.


    ¡°In general, Orc kingdoms are some of the unfriendliest places for other races, but in this case, we might be lucky. Or at least as lucky as one can get with an orc kingdom. This kingdom, Kartorok, is led by an indomitable warlord who shares the name with his kingdom. Thankfully for us, in his expansion efforts, he is willing to incorporate other races and kingdoms if they submit to him. Some Gremlin tribes should already have yielded to him.¡±


    Shuddering a little, Puck felt as if he was stepping into a whole new world. Kingdoms, empires¡ªneither the Gremlin caves nor the tunnels of eternal ice they¡¯d traversed before had anything like that.


    Continuing, Scarlet grew even more serious.


    ¡°Even then, officially, all races that yield are accepted, but we can expect harsh or even deadly treatment from most Orcs if they think they can get away with it.¡±


    Feeling a foreboding sensation creep up, Puck focused back on the present.


    ¡°Can you read those signs?¡±


    ¡°Partly, but what I can read isn¡¯t of much use. We¡¯ll just have to keep going upward until we find the first settlements.¡±


    After a brief rest and some physical training, Scarlet called for them to continue. Just because they might reach a hostile kingdom soon didn¡¯t mean they could stop training.


    <hr>


    Sniffing the air, the leader of the group suddenly signaled the others to halt.


    They were an exploration team, searching for new resources in the eternal ice in the name of Kartorok.


    Saying something in their guttural language, the leader began to smile terrifyingly, his prominent canine teeth bared.


    Soon, the entire group was laughing low and whispering amongst themselves. But not wanting to alert their newfound prey, they kept their voices low.


    Gremlins had very good hearing, after all. But, as luck would have it, not as good as Orc noses.


    <hr>


    Having followed the two small creatures who had facilitated his escape for over two months now, Taron was increasingly certain he would reveal himself to them again soon. Over the past two months, he hadn¡¯t shown himself once, simply observing, but now he was satisfied.


    Every time they hunted, they offered tribute to the Great All-Mother and never wasted anything. These two were good creatures and could be trusted to some degree. And he dearly needed company.


    Having noticed the group of surface-dwellers who had been trailing the pair for a while now, Taron felt that the moment to reveal himself in a helpful situation would soon arrive.

 Chapter 55 - Taron

    Stopping at a relatively open spot in the tunnels, Puck and Scarlet could see the dancing light of torches nearby through the tunnel from which they¡¯d come.When they had first heard the muffled footsteps of the unknown group behind them, they were unsure whether to flee, but in the end, they decided against it.If it were Orcs who had found them, running could have dire consequences if it was later discovered they¡¯d avoided contact for unknown reasons.That didn¡¯t mean the meeting bore no risks; Scarlet was more than certain that the group behind them would have ill intentions. Likely, she would have to demonstrate superior strength to fend them off.


    <hr>


    From the first light appearing around the tunnel¡¯s corners to the first sight of the Orc group took surprisingly long, but finally, Puck could make out clear figures.The first thing he noticed was that they were huge! Scarlet had mentioned it briefly before, but seeing it in person was another matter entirely. By Puck¡¯s estimation, every single one of the figures in the group of seven was at least twice as tall and three times as wide as him.Partially covered in external bone plating, their bodies seemed built for war in a way no Gremlin could match. Wiry muscles and bulky necks connected to completely hairless faces.Instead of hair, their bald scalps were covered in runic tattoos, and two large tusks protruded from the corners of their wide mouths.Puck had to admit, had he been alone, he would have been more than intimidated. Looking over at Scarlet, though, most of his worries dissolved. Against her, neither size nor numbers would matter.


    <hr>


    Looking the Orcs over, Scarlet had to admit she was intimidated. Not all races were equal, and an average Gremlin stood no chance against even the weakest Orcs.These Orcs weren¡¯t average either; they seemed like a battle-hardened group, and from at least one of them, she sensed a competing bloodline, making an ideal possible as well.So, she was intimidated, but not without confidence. Orcs valued strength above all, and if she proved hers adequately, they would leave them alone, at least for a while.Standing their ground, Scarlet tensed slightly as the Orcs formed a loose circle around them. Inspecting the tattoos on their scalps more closely, Scarlet confirmed that they were indeed from Kartorok.


    Taking a single step forward, Scarlet signaled that she was their leader. In response, the Orc directly in front of them stepped forward as well.Digging deeply into her limited knowledge of the Kartorok language, Scarlet struck her left hand against her heart and said a short sentence in the Orcs'' guttural tongue.Watching closely for the Orcs¡¯ reactions, Scarlet saw a hint of surprise on a few faces before they started looking at each other and laughing.Scarlet hadn¡¯t just greeted them¡ªshe had greeted them as an equal, something with heavy implications for the Orcs.Gesturing to an Orc standing to his right, the leader crossed his arms over his barrel-like chest. Stepping forward, the selected Orc came to a halt only a few feet in front of Scarlet, making her look nearly straight up to see his face. He wielded a spear that must have weighed at least as much as Scarlet herself.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    Feeling Puck at her back, Scarlet told him to give her more space and was relieved when he complied without complaint. The Orc before her seemed irritated that she was speaking in a language he didn¡¯t understand, sneering before tossing his weapon back to his comrades.Taking off her own backpack, Scarlet handed her axes to Puck as well. Orcs were violent creatures, but not every dispute was settled with weapons; simple brawls were common. To avoid getting cut up for fun or having their belongings taken, Scarlet would have to prove that she could at least fight the Orc on equal footing with just her body.


    As they prepared to start, both moved into position, slowly circling each other. But before the fight could begin, something unexpected happened. Looking over to another tunnel, Scarlet heard the clicking sounds of claws on ice.The sound was instantly loud enough for the Orcs to hear as well, making it likely that it was intentional. Walking gracefully into the clearing, Scarlet saw the beast Puck had told her about so many times. Apparently, it hadn¡¯t drowned after all.


    <hr>


    Watching Scarlet and the Orc circle each other, Puck nervously gnawed on his lip. But when he heard the clicking and noticed that Scarlet and her opponent had also paused, his focus shifted entirely.It was him, the creature from the heart of darkness.Feeling its gaze upon him, Puck felt the creature¡¯s eyes bore into his own. There was no mental connection forming, but Puck felt as if he understood everything anyway. It was here to help, and it was here to stay with them.Waiting for the feline to come closer, Puck barely noticed the Orcs maintaining a stance that was somewhere between battle readiness and admiration.


    Carefully stepping forward, Puck reached for the beast¡¯s forehead. It was beautiful. Slowly, he began scratching it behind its scaly ears, and soon a low rumbling could be heard from its chest as its snake heads swayed gently from side to side.Pulled out of the moment by Scarlet clearing her throat behind him, Puck glanced at the Orcs. It seemed that a fight was no longer necessary. If there was one thing Orcs respected above all else, it was powerful beasts.Turning to their new companion, Puck spoke aloud what he knew to be true.¡°Welcome, Taron!¡±

 Chapter 56 - A normal day of traveling

    The more Puck interacted with Taron, the more he felt like the beast was head and shoulders above him in the department of intellect. Whether it was to do the right thing in any typical life situation or whether it was the understanding of new speeches.Even though Taron himself couldn¡¯t or wouldn¡¯t speak directly in words, he seemed to understand everything perfectly and was able to make others understand what he wanted near flawlessly.Whenever Puck locked into the eyes of the graceful predator, he felt like he was made to know exactly what Taron wanted from him.


    Having tried to start a real conversation with Taron more than once, Puck had been rebuffed every time. For now, it seemed, Taron didn¡¯t want to talk about himself or others. He simply traveled with them and enjoyed the company.Scarlet had guessed that, more likely than not, Taron had been enslaved by the Heart for a very long time, though likely not nearly as long as Zephyrian.


    Walking along through the tunnels, Puck was happy that the Orc squad had decided it needed to keep doing whatever it had been doing before it had decided to confront the two Gremlins.Now, they simply walked along the tunnel in their small group. Feeling like it was the right thing to do, Puck had started to carry Zephyrian bodily on his back instead of having him tucked away in his soul. The sword was still very heavy for a small Gremlin like him, but by now he was able to manage it even along with his heavy backpack.


    Looking left, Puck made out the graceful form of Taron gliding along. With each step, his snake heads would slightly sway from one side to the other, and the great stinger on the end of his tail would move up and down slightly. The interlocking scales Taron had instead of fur or bare skin seamlessly moved together and away from each other, never scraping or hindering their owner.Noticing through a few of the many snake heads that he was being scrutinized, Taron turned his main head over and purposefully yawned, making Puck back away from the terrifying maw.Feeling like he was being laughed at by their new companion, Puck hastily looked away again, unwillingly feeling his gaze drawn over to Scarlet.


    Moving along through the tunnel, she had barely any baggage left to carry herself as nearly everything had been added to Puck¡¯s luggage for training purposes. Walking alongside them, Scarlet had started to train with her axes again while walking.It seemed like the last few months, with more than one seriously dangerous moment, had brought Scarlet¡¯s own urge to improve and advance back again. More often than not, it wasn¡¯t only Puck and Zephyrian training anymore. Scarlet too would do this or that to improve herself.


    Having started to open up a little bit about the darker parts of her own past to Puck, he knew that Scarlet still used most of her time fighting against the shadows that had sprouted from that time, claiming a big part of her ideal and her control over it.That fight wasn¡¯t only for her ideal, though. As Scarlet¡¯s fight for the liberation of her own soul and memories progressed, Puck felt like she was getting younger with each day. Gone were the ever-present distant calmness that pervaded every interaction. Whether it was a simple joke or the urge to do something silly, bit by bit, an altogether other Scarlet was coming to the surface.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    Soon, Puck promised himself. Soon, he would seriously ask her out as he had claimed so boldly before their first underwater adventure.It just... it just wasn¡¯t the right time yet.


    Walking for another hour, Puck felt like his legs had become jelly. Having to carry so much, each additional step felt like a workout in itself. Then, finally, Scarlet called for a stop again.After only a quarter hour of rest, it was time. Taking up their new training sticks, Scarlet stretched one out for Puck to take.Letting himself fall into a well-known stance by now, Puck raised his sword in a loose guard. Then it was on: a small step forward, a feint, parrying Scarlet¡¯s first strike, the second, taking a step back...


    For over half a minute, Puck endured before he finally concentrated too much on his attack against Scarlet¡¯s head, as a heavy kick hit him in his side.Being too late to compensate for the hit, Puck soon after felt Scarlet¡¯s training sword on his throat.¡°You¡¯re getting better, but with that, you also grow too confident. If you face a much stronger opponent, there is no shame in staying on the defense. First try to survive, then try to strike back.¡±


    Getting up with a heavy sigh, Puck was determined.¡°Again!¡±


    Before the fight started, though, the two of them were interrupted. Having simply taken up a spot in a corner before, Taron had decided to stand up and take up a spot next to Puck. Expectantly looking at Scarlet, he too sent out his challenge.


    Holding her head at an angle, Scarlet thought for a moment before a small smile started to spread across her lips.¡°Puck, do you remember the protection for Zephyrian you¡¯ve prepared? It¡¯s time to use it!¡±


    Understanding what she meant, Puck scurried over to where his companion stood against a wall. Taking him up, he fastened a construction of dense wood against his edges.Coming back to the center of the cave a few minutes later, Scarlet had also taken up her two axes, each of which had a much more professional protection added to their edges.


    ¡°Fighting with our real weapons brings with it an understanding and feeling for battle like nothing else. Each swing, though, has the potential to hurt or even kill a close friend. Even with the protections! Thankfully for you, though, there¡¯s no possibility of you landing a debilitating hit on me, and as such, you don¡¯t need to worry. But you need to look out so as to not hit your own ally!¡±


    Only nodding slightly, Puck couldn¡¯t help but fear what it would feel like to get hit by real weapons. Looking over at Taron, though, Puck knew this had the chance to become great.


    Getting ready, Scarlet added: ¡°This fight should be as real as possible. Use your ideal, use Zephyrian, try everything in your book.¡±


    He, Zephyrian, and Taron... they had to at least have a little chance in this fight, right? And if not, Scarlet surely would hold back to give them a chance... right?Something in Scarlet¡¯s gaze told him differently though. The mischievous gleam, together with real battle intent...


    This would potentially hurt. Very much.

 Chapter 57 - Feedback

    Getting beaten to a pulp together seemed to indeed be the absolute best way to grow closer. No matter what they tried, they could not land more than a scratch on Scarlet¡¯s clothes.The biggest contributor to the fight by far had been Taron, showing that he was far more deadly now than when he had been controlled by the crazed Heart of Darkness. Every move he made in a fight was calculated and careful, together with his natural arsenal that him a true terror.


    Puck, together with Zephyrian and his ideal, hadn¡¯t been useless either. Whether helping from afar by pushing against Scarlet with the ideal of the wind or fighting at Taron¡¯s side with Zephyrian in hand and his power coursing through his veins, he had given it his all.At the start, Scarlet had truly been pushed back¡ªbut only because she hampered herself. From the moment onward she decided it was time to marshal her bloodline, only a beatdown remained.


    After the sparring match, Scarlet gave Puck her feedback. Hesitant at first, Puck was surprised when she admitted that she thought she wouldn¡¯t be able to match Taron without superior power.Sitting against a wall only a few feet to Pucks left Taron licked a wounded paw while Puck got his second lecture from the sword on his lap.¡°The moment you decided to head into the melee together with Taron was crucial for this fight. If this had been a real death battle, it would have been a grave mistake. Having to look out for each other and lacking sufficient understanding of each other¡¯s movements, you hampered each other more than you helped. For training purposes, though, it was just right. That is exactly what you and the others need to train. And by ¡®others,¡¯ I also mean Scarlet.¡±


    Looking over at Scarlet as she prepared a meal over a small fire with the last of their wood, Puck gave his opinion: ¡°Scarlet never seems to make any mistakes in combat. What would she need to train?¡±Laughing dryly through their connection, Puck even felt Zephyrian vibrate slightly on his lap. By now, little remained of the old rusty sword that had barely been recognizable as sentient.¡°You¡¯re not completely wrong, Scarlet is talented in combat like few I¡¯ve ever seen in my long life. But she¡¯s still young, inexperienced and flawed in her abilities. Since I¡¯ve started reclaiming more and more of my old memories, abilities and knowledge have also come back. By now, I¡¯m far beyond her again.¡±


    Looking doubtfully at Zephyrian, Puck wasn¡¯t sure if he should believe him.¡°Bring me over to Scarlet. I¡¯ve decided to help her too from now on anyway.¡±Doing as he was told, Puck pushed himself up with a suppressed groan and lumbered toward Scarlet, getting a questioning gaze from her in return. Asking Zephyrian what to do exactly, Puck turned the sword around and held its pommel toward Scarlet.


    Understanding what Puck wanted, Scarlet reached for the pommel. This was not the first time she had needed to talk to Zephyrian directly, and the simplest way was direct contact.Wanting to listen in on their conversation, Puck was disappointed. The instant Scarlet touched Zephyrian, the sword cut the connection to Puck.For a moment, Puck simply stood there. Waiting, expecting. As nothing happened though, Scarlet remaining frozen in place, her gaze fixed on something only she could see. It became awkward, and Puck decided to simply let the two do their thing.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    <hr>


    Looking over at Scarlet while they walked, Puck had to admit he was growing more and more jealous. It had only been a week since Zephyrian started teaching Scarlet, but since then, the two had been nearly inseparable, leaving Puck alone with Taron.Only now did Puck realize how normal it had become to have Zephyrian with him all the time, talking to him or simply sharing feelings. It was disconcerting.


    Deciding not to dwell on it further, Puck threw a look over at Taron, whose playful gaze reminded him that at least he was still with him. Swinging his head to the side, Taron somehow managed to convey a message with it.Nodding, Puck gave Scarlet a short explanation of what they were about to do before heading off.Taron had managed to sniff out the first Orc village ahead, and together they decided it would be more fun to scout the first few houses without the others.


    The danger at least seemed negligible. Since their first meeting with the Orc squad, they¡¯d encountered two more groups, one of them earlier that very day. Every time, Taron¡¯s presence validated them and even earned signs of respect from some Orcs.


    Rushing forward, Puck momentarily eyed the spot on Taron¡¯s back, but a grave look warned him not to even think about it. Running through the winding tunnels, Puck couldn¡¯t keep up with Taron, especially not with his baggage. Thankfully, the feline had no intention of leaving him behind.


    Having underestimated the distance to the village, Puck was shown just how far Taron¡¯s sense of smell could reach. If Puck could make out the village by sound five minutes before arriving, Taron had sensed it from thirty minutes away.


    Finally reaching the end of the tunnel that opened into the cavern with the village, Puck felt both excited and a little fearful. Was it really a good idea to do this without Scarlet? Then, though, his curiosity took over as he inspected the scene before him.


    The village wasn¡¯t shrouded in complete darkness like Gremlin settlements sometimes were. Instead, a great light source illuminated the cavern from above. The homes and small abodes of the Orcs were not only many times larger than those of the Gremlins but also much more refined, belying the vision of dumb brutes Puck had started to form of the Orcs.


    The cavern was likely about a mile across, but only a few lonely houses dotted an otherwise empty area. It seemed like a nearly deserted outpost, and Puck could see little activity.Not far from them, however, leaning against a rough wall, a dirty and stinking orc sat, looking at them groggily. He appeared to have been woken by their arrival.

 Chapter 58 - Thurrock the mad

    Getting pulled out from his slumber by an irritating presence nearby, Thurrock cursed his old battle instincts, that refused to let him ignore any presences nearby even after all those years.


    Reaching for the half empty bottle of booze next to him, Thurrock felt his vision swimming and with a little too much force and to little finesse, the bottle shattered, and the life saving content got lost over the ground together with an explosion of glass.


    Thinking whether he should try to save some of the valuable liquid, Thurrock conceded that even he was too prideful for that. Turning his attention back to the intruders, he instead tried to focus and make out the forms as an all too familiar furry started to rise.


    He needed more booze, or he would squash these intruding orcs as he had squashed innumerable of them on the battlefield before. He would ¡­


    Wait, orcs? There were no orcs, looking at him from a tunnel opening next to him a laughable small green toddling creature together with a fine bestial creature were trying to decide what to do with the situation.


    Feeling the rage give way to curiosity at least temporarily, Thurrock decided to find out what these two had to do here. Trying to push himself up, Thurrock felt a headache starting to introduce itself. These two better have another bottle of booze for him!


    Coming awake more and more, Thurrock managed to stand up with only little problems. Feeling the great scar over his right hip light up with spiking pain, Thurrock smashed his fist into the wall with an angry grunt.


    Looking over at the newcomers, Thurrock was surprised when even the Gremlin didn¡¯t move away even after his eruption. They had courage! Since his retirement from the battlement people had forgotten more and more who he was, but that didn¡¯t mean he didn¡¯t cut an imposing picture anymore.


    Even his low and unimpressive gate nowadays couldn¡¯t hide his above average size and weight even among his brethren while his scars usually managed to scare away any smaller races on sight.


    Pushing himself off from the wall, Thurrock slowly started to walk towards the two. Feeling the air firmly from a low growl from the beast, he instinctually gave back a growl of his own that symbolized his greeting. Seeing the beast leaning its head to the side in surprise, Thurrock nearly laughed as his vision drifted back to the Gremlin. The diminutive thing was actually getting into a position to fight now and by the look of it wouldn¡¯t be its first one.


    Being more than willing to look at what the little shit had to give, Thurrock got disappointed as the beast held its partner back and communicated something. Well, not matter. The beast was much more interesting anyway.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Looking up at the looming face of the orc above them, Puck had to gulp. Even though seemingly drunken the orc before them seemed like an enemy far above their caliber. Being decorated by both small and big gaping scars all over, Puck was especially impressed by the big crack leading through the middle of the orc¡¯s inborn bone plate on his breast.


    Having gotten the signal from Taron that the orc seemed rough and unfriendly, but not violent to him, Puck decided to trust his judgment. With a small jump Taron suddenly jumped forward towards the orc and Puck was ready to join him in a fight in moment¡¯s notice as his friend stood up on his hind legs, his maw ripped wide open and his snake heads spreading out in an imposing corona.


    What was he doing!? The orc would¡­ But the orc did nothing to initiate a fight, instead a rumble that Puck could make out as a laugh emerged from his chest. Then in a slow and deliberate motion where he swayed only very little the orc went down to a knee as his great body went down to pet Taron on his many snake heads.


    Puck could only gape. The other orcs till now had seen Taron as someone to be respected or at least someone they wouldn¡¯t move against, but this one seemed different. The respect was there, but it didn¡¯t seem to be based on fear or anything else, it was pure and unadorned. Valuing Taron simply for what he was.


    Slowly taking a step forward himself, Puck got shocked as the orc moved with a speed that seemed impossible with an as great and heavy body as his. In an instant the orc loomed above Puck, shocking both him and Taron to the bones.


    Screeching out in surprise, it seemed as if Taron wanted to go to battle instantly, but the orc simply took a few careful steps back again. Raising his arms, he seemed out of phase his head just now catching up to his own actions. That look on his face though, ¡­ now Puck felt the fear creep in that should have been there rightfully already much earlier.


    For but a moment the face of the orc had resembled a mask of hate and anger unlike anything Puck had seen before. Only one thing had been close before, the heart of darkness itself¡­


    <hr>


    Looking upon the rising sun, shining on his empire below, Kartorok gnashed his teeth in both frustration and elation. The preparations were going to slow, but the war would soon be there no matter what. He couldn¡¯t wait!


    Turning around and away from the imposing image of the thousands upon thousands of war forges that worked day and night, Kartorok instead turned to his advisors waiting behind him.


    Stepping towards Bartock, he felt the great orc chieftain shiver under his attention. Enjoying the situation, Kartorok took his time as he threatened his fifth advisor to make him get along with the preparations faster. Just to make his point real he also ordered him to execute his own grandson for his lacking performance till now. The great chieftain didn¡¯t even think about standing up against his emperor, what a waste¡­


    Turning away from his second advisor, Kartorok instead turned to his first and foremost. Eldur, the one and only orc, he had ever truly trusted to do things as they should be done.


    ¡°There is no option anymore, we need him back! Send out scouts and scour every corner of the Empire for him. For the coming war we will need the legendary berserker; we need Thurrock the mad!¡±

 Chapter 59- War is coming

    Sitting together at a table in the bar, Scarlet couldn¡¯t help but slightly shudder as her gaze for the umpteenth time fell on the orc sitting across from her. He was stinking after liquor from ten meters across the wind and his gate seemed slow unsteady but all that was nothing but a fa?ade.


    Looking at the battle scars of the orc called Thurrock as he had called himself, Scarlet felt as if she could visibly see the killing intent wafting of from them.


    The greatest of warriors had a presence about them, an air or an aura of absolute dominance. The aura of the one in front of her was well hidden to a degree that Puck likely hadn¡¯t even been able to sense it, but she herself was just powerful enough to feel it.


    Monster. The aura contained in his body and the lingering intent of his enemies in his battle scars told a story of carnage and madness unlike anything she had ever seen before.


    This was no random orc worrier that could be found in any second village, neither was it a normal soldier of the imperial army, no, this was a true warlord, somebody capable of domineering vast regains if willing to do so.


    As if listening to the thoughts cursing through her head the orc briefly smiled at her, showing his tusks. For any bystander it would seem like a normal smile, if one was given by an orc with a fearful visage.


    Scarlet though could see more than that. For but the briefest of moments she felt as if she was shown something in those eyes of his, a boundless ocean of blood, rolling and crashing, ready to devour all and everything in it¡¯s path.


    Scarlet shuddered again. Finally noticing the tense silence coming from Puck, she could imagine that even if subconsciously, perhaps he could make out more than she gave him credit for.


    Trying to smile reassuringly, she felt grateful as Taron took over the job of distracting Puck as he purred from below the desk.


    Shit, she had forgotten how it was to feel like a small fish in a big pond. Yes, she had her own worries to fight with over the years in the Gremlin village, but those had been bottled up and been well hidden. Of the Gremlins, everyone felt like a toddle compared to what she was capable of.


    Here it was different.


    First the heart of darkness had awoken many of her old memories and fears and then Zephyrian had started to show her the true depths of his power. She had been shocked when he finally showed her visions and memories of his past, mixed up with his ever-greater regained knowledge, she felt that his origins maybe even surpassed that of the orc in front of her.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    Of Zephyrian though, Scarlet at least felt she could be sure that he was on their side, and he was only a shadow of his past anyway. There was no such guarantee for the orc before them.


    Sitting there across from her and taking up a complete side of the desk himself, she herself felt oh so small. Having to stand on her own chair to even be able to see him over the edge of the table, the physical difference couldn¡¯t be greater between them.


    Why had he invited them oh so graciously to his desk? Was he really so interested in Taron? No, that shouldn¡¯t be it. Thurrock seemed like somebody just like she had been, being consumed by bad memories. He just had found a different solution, drowning everything in alcohol.


    Wincing from a sudden guttural sound, Scarlet took a moment to notice that it was Thurrock who was talking. Trying to listen as closely as possible she still only managed to get a few words at first as he spoke fast and harshly.


    ¡°¡­ coming ¡­ receiving ¡­ I ¡­¡±


    Signaling her understanding, Scarlet tried to bring herself under control again and regain her self-confidence. It wouldn¡¯t help if she got consumed in her own world again.


    Instead of slowing down, the orc started to speak in a new language, and then another one and another one until Scarlet finally understood one. It was one of the most common languages on the surface and even though Scarlet hadn¡¯t heard it for a long time she could speak and understand it far better than the local speech of the orcs.


    Starting again after Scarlet answered him in the new language, the orc seemed a little rusty with the language that wasn¡¯t even invented by his own race.


    ¡°War is coming. Kartorok will soon be calling to arms, and I won¡¯t be able to deny his call. You will all be coming with me.¡±


    Taking a moment to understand and interpret what had been said, Scarlets eyes went wide as saucers, as she demanded an explanation without even thinking about the harshness in her own voice.


    Folding his massive arms above his chest, Thurrock smiled mockingly but showed himself ready to explain his motives.


    ¡°I like the beast, and I like the boy, that¡¯s why you¡¯re not already dead.¡±


    Punctuating his statement with a wave of killing intent, everyone in the whole tavern froze up. Suddenly it seemed like all the booze had been pushed out of Thurrocks in a single moment.


    ¡°When Kartorok calls to arm I will be required to follow orders, and if I need one thing apart from more booze for the war to come it is a new weapon. Your little friend is holding that weapon right there in his hands.¡±


    Swiveling her head over, Scarlet realized that Puck indeed had drawn Zephyrian. She had been so drawn in she hadn¡¯t even noticed. Looking on as he lowered the sword at Thurrock, Scarlet wanted to jump up or shout a warning. But it was already too late. In an instant the orc had gripped Zephyrian by the edge. Being unwilling to let go, Puck had been lifted in the air right along with his weapon.


    Holding the two before his eyes, the orc examined them for a moment as Puck finally also froze up. Then, out of nowhere the orc threw his head back as he began to laugh deeply out of a rough throat in an otherwise completely silence tavern.

 Chapter 60 - Going out

    Trying to shake off the last vestiges of the feeling of certain doom that had come over him when Thurrock had taken him, Puck couldn¡¯t imagine what kind of bloodshed that orc had seen in his life.


    Thankfully though Puck had become pretty tolerant in the department of danger and terrifying interactions by now and with Zephyrian back by his side he had calmed down faster than most would probably expect him too.


    More than Zephyrians presence though it was finally time, Scarlet had begrudgingly though agreed to go out to eat together. She had been unwilling to call it a Date, but Puck knew when he should take something as it was.


    Strolling through the open streets of the little orc village together they hadn¡¯t even needed to take Taron with them, word of the events in the cavern had spread faster than lightning and none would dare to attack them in any way, manner or form.


    Having already seen the beautiful structures the orcs build as their homes from afar before, Puck now took the time to inspect them from a closer viewpoint together with Scarlet.


    Seeing an especially beautiful carving, Puck drew Scarlet¡¯s attention to it and felt elated when a small smile graced her lips. Since the meeting with Thurrock three days ago she had been very closed up for some time, even moping in Puck¡¯s opinion.


    Not anymore though, bit by bit she was leaving the feeling of doom behind though and Puck was more than willing to help her with that.


    Every new building, every new Stature and Lettering become points of discussion and inspection as they didn¡¯t care for their surroundings.


    Taron had decided to go off on his own for a while again, but he had communicated that he would meet up with them in two days when Thurrock had decided they would leave.


    For a moment Puck had also thought whether he should have left Zephyrian in their temporary abode, but this truly wasn¡¯t an all to official date and the sord gave them both some comfort.


    Deciding to find a place for their dinner, Puck and Scarlet felt unwilling to go into the exact one they had visited with Thurrock before. There weren¡¯t many options though and as such the principle of negative selection led them to a pretty come down establishment at the edge of the village.


    Not letting the come down appearance impress them they decided to simply head in as the door was open and a few orcs already drank there.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    Stepping in they first got a few antagonist gazes, but only until the orcs who hadn¡¯t already heard of Thurrock and his companions got hit with the elbows of their neighbors.


    Searching for a free place they found a quite corner where they shouldn¡¯t be disturbed all too often.


    The bartender was the first orc this evening that wasn¡¯t impressed with Thurrocks companions at all and his angry gazes and rude gestures at them when the translation didn¡¯t work out properly were pretty annoying.


    When they finally had their first drinks, though bought by some gold reserves Scarlet had rummaged out of her bag, they could at least confirm that one drink for each of them was more than enough as the glasses were nearly as big as their whole torsos.


    Trying to come into a conversation, Puck had a hard time at first. Soon though after some big gulps from their barrel sized drinks, Scarlet seemed to lighten up too and started to talk all from herself.


    For the very first time, Puck personally heard of Scarlet and what her own youth had been like. How her parents had been. What she had done all the time. Why she had fled¡­


    Reaching the point where Scarlet had left her family, Puck felt like this was a good moment to show his sympathy, laying an arm around her shoulder he truly didn¡¯t get rejected.


    For some time, they simply sat there like that. Hidden deeply on the much too large bench they got lost nearly completely in the furs adorning it.


    After some time, Scarlet talked on, she started to tell Puck of her own adventures and the time she had found her old friends. She talked about loneliness and the search for answers, for true friends. And she told Puck about the time when her friends sacrificed themselves to give her a chance at life.


    At one moment it seemed as if she was unwilling to talk anymore, but simply sitting there and offering her his full attention and interest in her past, Puck managed to show her that he truly wanted to know.


    At some point tears started to stream down Scarlet¡¯s cheeks and Puck felt like he wanted to brush them away, but he knew in this moment, that would be going too far.


    Sitting there next to him, fully sunken down on the much too large furniture, Puck felt like he saw Scarlet for the first time. Till know she had always been someone untouchable, somebody that always knew what to do. Now though she became more approachable, more like him. A person with a heavy past and many more experiences than nearly anyone else in her age.


    Deciding that this was the right moment, Puck also started to talk. He didn¡¯t tell Scarlet about anything special. About anything great really. He simply told her about his life as the Gremlin everyone looked down upon.


    He told her about the many times he had simply stood there in the middle of a gathering of Gremlins, and nobody acted as if somebody threw shit at him.


    He told her about the time on the fields, the loneliness and the feeling of being without any goal, without any ambition.


    Feeling like the mood got too heavy though in the end, Puck decided that it was time to switch to a happier theme.


    Leaning there against the furs and looking out into the rowdy cavern, Puck told Scarlet about his dreams. About his wish to one day fly up to the stars and beyond.