When my eyes opened, I saw the all familiar world of my dreams. The Dark Traveller stood there, but didn't say anything. 'That's weird. I don't think this ever happened before' I thought. It was the same setting, I stood in front of the Dark Traveller, while it would talk and then kill me. But nothing happened.
I walked closer and thought 'Did he got stuck or something?'. When I walked in front of the Dark Traveller, he finally moved. My first thought, was that I'm going to die again, but no, the Dark Traveller simply placed his hand on my shoulder, then said "Therak Devorak. Fer Sathov Arast Lak". Then, I felt something entering my body. It wasn't strength, but knowledge. Although it didn't last long, I gained some knowledge of the Ancient Language!
I said out loud, in shock"I finally understand what you said". The Dark Traveller said "Peris Ji Fal Gertes. Fhin Lak Rei Lentres Bahr Lakras", and took away his hand from my shoulder. What he said was "This is the beginning. Now you can proceed by yourself". I was a bit flabbergasted by all that, but the Dark Traveller, simply punched me to death.
When I opened my eyes again, I was no longer in a dream. 'What the hell is going on? First of all, the Dark Traveller somehow passed the knowledge, about the Ancient Language to me, then punched me to death. I feel as if all my improvements, are useless in front of him. Then the dream finished… I don't understand it anymore' I thought.
But there was one thing, I was certain of. 'My knowledge of the Ancient Language improved, by a lot' I thought. I didn't learn the whole language, but the basic communication would be possible for me now. 'I want to go back to my dream now. He called me his disciple... I don't know, what to think of it anymore' I thought.
I was eager to find out more, but I had stuff to do as well. The most important matter, was to repair my left arm. I also had to travel back, away from the Vulture Cliffs. 'Who knows, if Avians will stay alive or not. Who knows, if the High One will send more Yagaroths, in search for me. I need to go back and heal my wounds. When I'm ready, I will return' I thought, and woke Frosty up.
"Frosty, it's time to fix my other arm. Are you ready?" I asked. Frosty nodded and rummaged in the bag, for all necessary items. After a while of pain, the agony ended and my arm was fixed. I now had both arms bandaged and straightened out. Walking was weird, with both arms hanging beside my body like that, but at least they were still there.
Frosty packed all the stuff, and tried lifting the bag containing around 300 kilograms of Yellow Dust. The face it made, when it realised how heavy the bag was, made me laugh. "Hahaha, help me put it on. I will carry it". I moved closer to the bag, while Frosty placed the straps around my shoulders. I stood up with it. Although it was quite heavy, it was nothing for me, even though both of my arms were broken. I said "Let's go, we shall head towards the Dead Forest". Frosty nodded and followed after me.
The road back, was quite peaceful. Frosty was not a complete beginner, when it came to fighting. It could take care of Corpse Dogs mobs, that popped up from time to time. The journey back was long. What was weird though, was the fact, that I no longer had dreams with Dark Traveller. Even if I tried training something remotely, whenever my body or skills, nothing ever happened. 'Maybe it's because my arms are damaged. Besides the Natural Path skill, I can train nothing else' I thought.
It was weird but also annoying. 'I finally got something useful and can't even test it out…' I thought. Although I had no dreams, we still traveled towards our destination. 'I can finally see the Dead Forest' I thought, and said to Frosty "We have arrived. Let's go. I hope that I can still meet a friend there".
We entered the Dead Forest. It was quiet, as usual. I looked at the trees, trying to find a certain someone, who might be here. 'It's been a long time, I assume. Maybe he no longer comes here' I thought. But then, I heard a familiar voice. "Don't I know you from somewhere?". I looked in the direction of the voice, and surely, it was the exact creature, I was looking for.
"Crow. It's been a long time". When Crow heard my voice, he instantly remembered "Nex? Is that really you? You look bad, what happened to you?". I sat down and leaned my body on a tree, then said "It's a long story. Would you like to hear it?". Crow walked over and sat next to me. He said "Sure. By the way, what is that creature next to you?". I introduced "This is Frosty, my companion", while Frosty made some noises and introduced itself.
Crow nodded his head, and asked with concern "How did this happen?". I said "It started from…" and told him about my journey to the Vulture Cliffs. I told him about the Corpse Dogs, the Avians, and the Yagaroths. He seemed shocked, especially about the Yellow Dust. After a long story, I sat there staring at the dark sky, that enveloped the whole Northern Region.
After a while, Crow said "What are you going to do now? From what you told me, you are in deep trouble. Are you going to leave the North?". I said "I don't know. It's one of the possibilities I have. But, I don't want to leave defeated". He became quite worked up and said "But you can't win, with the High One of the Yagaroths. You said it yourself, it's body was huge, how could you even damage it...". Before he continued, he realised something, while I smiled. He asked "Are you really going to use that Yellow Dust?". I said "If I have to. Yagaroths want me dead, because of Avians. Avians were the ones who asked me to exterminate Yagaroths, but that bitch managed to persuade the High One, to focus on me. I took the whole blame".
Crow said "It's seems weird, that the whole army of them started chasing you, because you killed like 3 or 4 of those Yagaroths. It doesn't make sense". I replied "It doesn't make sense to me either. It seems to me, that I must've killed a Yagaroth, that was quite important to the High One. What other reason would there be?".
Crow nodded, then hesitated for a while, but still asked "Do you need help". I looked at him a bit surprised, while he tried to explain "I can't be of much help to you, when it comes to dealing with the Avians or Yagaroths, but I can hide you, so that you can stay safe and recover your strength".
'What an interesting offer, but is it an offer made purely due to friendship? Or does he want to rat me out, to the Yagaroths?' I thought. I didn't know which it was but I couldn't trust my life with another creature, maybe besides Frosty. I said "No need, but you could keep an eye for me on their movements. You seem to like this place. I will come back once in a while, then you can tell me what you found out".
Crow nodded and said "I will do whatever I can". I said to Frosty "Give him enough meat, to last him a long while, as a sign of my gratitude". Frosty nodded and started taking out the meat. Crow raised his voice and said "I don't do it for the rewards! You don't have to give me stuff. I want to help you".
I looked at him and said "I know, but I also want you to be able to live properly. With some proper meat, you can go for much longer". Crow hesitated for a while, so I said "Take it, If I didn't treat you as a friend, I would never tell you all that". Crow nodded his head and said "OK. I will try to find out anything regarding Yagaroths and Avians movements". He then took out a black ribbon, and pointed at a tree saying "When this ribbon is attached to the tree, that means I will be here very often. When its not there, it will mean, I'm looking for information, and may not return for a long time".
I nodded my head and said "Great. I'm off then. I came here in hopes of talking with you, now that this is done, it's time for me to go. I will be back after some time". Crow nodded his head and said "Good luck, and hopefully, see you soon".