Beginning of Volume 2: Escape
Dorin jumped up and down on his wooden bed, feeling a certain joy of having his arms and legs back. The physical and emotional pain of his last life was still with him, and he had steeled himself to live life solely for himself from now on. He might be able to do things over again, but he was already down two lives and dying often sucked.
"Dorin?" Rae's voice came from behind the front door of his shed.
'Shit.' Dorin quickly put on his clothes, and ran out the back door.
Dorin didn't stop until he reached the lake. Only then did he look back, and there was no sign of Rae or anyone from their group. Dorin knew that the only way out was to swim to the other side. Anywhere else and he would be spotted.
Taking his clothes off, Dorin tied them around his head. They would get wet, but hopefully they wouldn't be completely soaked. From a distance it would look like he was just some debris.
On the other side of the lake was pure wilderness, Dorin had only swam across once, but he didn't dare step into the unknown. Now it was his only chance to escape.
Dorin stepped in the lukewarm water, and started to swim. By the time Dorin reached the other side he was completely exhausted. It took a few minutes to recover in the shallows before he felt good enough to step out into the cold wind.
Dorin had reached what the slum called the Fanged Forest. The trees were all curved to a point and it had always given Dorin a bad feeling, but he had seen sparks come and go freely so he felt like he had a chance to survive.
'So far so good.' Dorin walked passed a few trees before hanging his clothes up on a branch.
The forest was crowded, and the wind didn't seem to be able to penetrate through it very well. It was the middle of spring, so there was a lot of plant-life. He couldn't see very far through it all, even the lake was nowhere to be found.
The sun began to set as he waited for his clothes to dry, and eventually he heard the forest come alive. Birdsong, small animals rustling in the brush, and the occasional mortal beast.
Once he felt safe, Dorin put his somewhat dry clothes. Suddenly he heard a loud rustling near him, and he glimpsed the shadow of a large beast running away through the trees.
"Get out of here." Dorin heard a voice and immediately rushed behind a tree. He peeked to the side and saw an elderly man holding a wooden staff, he wore a tattered robe made completely from ember bear fur. "That beast nearly ran you over. How old are you?"
"Thirteen." Dorin hesitated before answering. He was actually fifteen, but that was the age one was supposed to claim their duty to Tur.
The old man didn't get any closer to Dorin. "What are you doing all the way over here?"
"I'm sick of living in the slum. I want to be strong so I can become a spark."
"This is no place for a kid. You wouldn't be able to imagine the worst of these beasts in your nightmares."
"I can take them." Dorin was trying his best to seem like an overeager child, adding emotions to his words that he didn't truly feel.
"Even so, I doubt you will be unscathed by such an encounter." The old man walked away from Dorin. "Follow me if you want to survive the night."
Dorin didn't trust him, or anyone else for that matter. It took him a moment to realize that the more he learned from each life the better chance he had in the next, and so he followed him.
It didn't take long before they reached a wooden house not too different from Dorin's shed. There were furs hanging all around, most were small, but some were from larger beasts, which made Dorin believe that the old man was much stronger than he seemed.
"The spring has been good to me this year, more than enough to feed another mouth for a while if it comes to it. My name is Muata, and you are welcome to stay with me until you decide to go back home."