The next three days were spent walking in the direction that the red moon fell. During this time, Terem sorted out his goals and worked to make sense of his desires.
Scarily so, he knew that he had enjoyed last night's masquerade; try as he might to deny it, Terem found solace in his own madness. He found enjoyment in his own pain and Davarose's sufferings.
'I truly haven't changed at all.' He shivered despite the midday sun that shone down upon the forest floor.
His mind felt awfully quiet in Davarose's absence. The feeling was simply weird. After all, the only time that he wasn't playing host to the ghosts that plagued his mind was during his confinement in the lich's lair.
Silence bore down upon him. But, it wasn't lonely. No, the feeling Terem was experiencing was a jumbled amalgamation of joy; a plethora of small sources that seeped into his body, building some construct of appeasement. Some stemming from insanity and others from relief, but what they all held in common was their end goal.
Terem was happy for the first actual time in his life. He was alone and he had a chance to start over. These things, Terem was sure of. The rest didn't matter. Not to him, not to anyone.
With a smile on his face, he continued through the forest until it was left behind, gradually shrinking along the horizon until it disappeared from his field of view.
And even then, he kept walking and wandering wherever he so felt. A chorus of toads made their presence known with their deep baritone calls and Terem ran over to catch them. An interesting boulder popped out from the flat expansive grassland over in the distance and Terem would be sure to investigate. Even as he climbed it like a playful little child, he held no regrets or qualms.
Terem spent days chasing after flowers, romping around in the now abundant streams, and chasing any animal he found. A past he was never allowed to have had surfaced in front of him and Terem seized the opportunity to finally enjoy it.
He screamed and shouted whenever he found the time to do it, frolicking in the green fields spotted with yellow daffodils, purple lavenders, and violets. He had lost himself in a feeling akin to depravity, but he didn't care. This was better than depravity; this was joy, a form of madness he had never really experienced for himself.
He flopped down next to a stream and closed his eyes, his face beaming as the sun radiantly gleamed back. The soft presence of the sun warmed Terem's exposed front while the cool contrast of the earth balanced the heat in a perfect harmony of heaven and earth. He reposed there like a rock that is bound to the land.
"Why are you naked?" Terem scrunched his eyebrows. His first thought was if a new entity had forcibly entered his mind. He chose to make the question a rhetorical question as well, not wanting to provide an answer. Conducting a thorough scan of his mana circuit, he found no abnormalities, but he refused to let down his guard. Instead, opting to increase the flow to gradually stimulate his mind, another nifty trick he found while exploring the vast plains.
"Hey, I know you can hear me! Hello~!" The aggravating feminine voice spoke once again causing Terem's face to contort further. His feelings were plainly written across his face, and yet the female voice continued to speak.
"Don't act like I'm annoying! I'm a totally cool person who came to help you out!"
"Shut up!" Terem finally caught on to the fact that the voice belonged to a living breathing human being and it was never going to stop. His retort, however, was accompanied by a few sniggers clearly signifying that the woman was not alone.
"What do you want with me?" Terem's irritation carried over in his voice as he finally opened his eyes to view the perpetrators of his ruined nap.
"Oh, sorry. Didn't want to wait for you to wake up though, so instead... I decided to wake you up now."
'Clueless, annoying, and rude. How many red flags can one person possibly raise?' Terem thought as he looked over the woman... girl? In front of him. She was dressed in loose-fitting pants and a baggy woolen shirt. Accompanying this, a layer of chainmail draped over her chest that was allowed to hang freely due to its evident large size, too large in fact. The girl, as Terem decided she'd be, was also shockingly short for someone with such a refined voice.
Terem finally moved his gaze over to her companions who stood back and to the left of the woman, clearly attempting to hide their amusement, or blush in the case of the other girl present, under a professional guise, only to instead appear constipated to anyone who so much as glanced at them. They all were dressed in a similar fashion to the first girl, varying little in both armor and shoes, and all were equipped with some sort of weapon.
In total, the new group amounted to a staggering three people; three uninvited and unwelcome people that Terem would have never expected to run into while on the plains.
"Are you all hunters?" This was the first question Terem decided to ask after looking at the newcomers' equipment. But instead of responding, the group exchanged a meaningful glance before bursting out in joyous laughter.
"No, sorry to burst your bubble, but we're not hunters, at least not yet. All the monsters have left this territory due to the presence of some powerful creature forcing them out of the forest and away from the plains. Essentially, the only way you could die in this territory is if you got lost and starved. But there have been rumors about a powerful archlich living here that has been living here for centuries. I don't know if it's true, but that would be so cool wouldn't it! An amazing immortal being that discovered the secrets to immortality living here!" Before the girl could get any further, a man gently pulled her shoulder back, throwing the monologuing annoyance off-kilter.
She plopped down on her rear end, much to Terem's enjoyment.
"Sorry about Vanessa. She can be a bit overbearing around newcomers but you get used to it eventually." Terem's savior stuck out his hand.
"Name's Ron and the shy one behind us is Lucy. We're copper-rank adventurers who were tasked with collecting herbs in this area. We heard you hollering and saw you skipping around and we just were curious about what you were thinking." Taking Ron's hand, Terem was pulled up off the ground. Ron stepped back with a silly grin plastered on his face.
"So, you need some help? You don't look to have come from around these parts, judging from your hair at least... and your, umm, salient genitals." The man pointed towards Terem's now brown hair before pointedly averting his gaze from his exposed manhood. Fortunately though, Terem now habitually kneaded mud into his hair to prevent the white locks from showing through, and yes, this habit extended to his genitals and pits as well. This wasn't a perfect solution, but he figured it would work until he could acquire some hair dye or a more lasting solution so that people wouldn't discover he is a white hair.
"Ah, I could use some help to get to the nearest town, please."
"Righto!" Tom who, according to his messy stubble, appeared to be in his early twenties looked at the gently setting sun.
"We were just about to head out anyway so why don't you tag along, we'll drop you off at the adventurer's guild so you can get your bearings?" Before receiving an answer, Ron turned and began walking towards his companions. He waved his hand, signaling for everyone to round up and follow him. And then he set out in a seemingly random direction.
Terem, still stupified by the sudden turn of events, remained unmoving. Eventually, Ron turned around to look at the dazed figure.
"So you coming along or not?"
"Oh, right. I'm coming." His confusion lessened slightly and he ran after the leaving group of adventurers.