The crab and the entress stepped out of the ruined building and into the gloomy daylight of dor. The bleak enviro seemed to dull out the world’s colors and the windy breeze made even a crab feel chills down his spine, despite haviher skin nor bae.

  Ruby, whose vivid scarlet vestments seemed to be the only thing ued by the dreary aura of the nd, stood by the door like a fiery bea in the wastend.

  “Go on, you should talk with your friend now,” she said, gesturing towards the side of the house. “I hope we will meet again soon.”

  Balthazar walked around the front of the dipidated building. Druma and Blue were still hanging out by the road, but not pying as usual, for even they seemed to be affected by the mood of the town.

  Off to the side of the Birdwatchers secret headquarters, near a torn fence, sitting on a half-broken stone bench, was the young archer, leaning forward and stariily into the bde of dried grass he was fidgeting with in his hands.

  As the mert passed Jasper, who was quietly leaning against the house with his arms crossed and one foot pressed against the wall, the man gave him a brief nod aowards the front door, passing oask of watg over the retly awakened adveo the hesitant crab.

  With tentative steps, Balthazar approached Rye, pg himself o his bend looking towards the bleak, gray horizon in front of them.

  “Hey,” said the crab in a quiet tone.

  The young man tiaring at the piece of grass ed around his finger, but his gaze was somewhere else far, far away.

  “How… are you feeling?” Balthazar insisted.

  Rye inhaled shakily and raised his head, now fag forward, but still not looking at the crab.

  “I don’t know yet,” he said in a hoarse voice. “It’s a lot to take in at once.”

  Balthazar’s words vacilted for a moment. He usually had no trouble talking his shell off, but when it came to more sensitive or heartfelt versations, he always felt like a fish out of water.

  “What do you remember?” the crab asked.

  “Not much.” Rye paused, eyes fixed on a brokeower across the street. “Nothing at all, actually. It’s hard to expin.”

  The crab nodded quietly.

  “It’s like…” the young man tinued. “I see the empty spaow. They were always there, but I just couldn’t notice them, but now I see them clearly, yet they’re just… bnk. Just a void where I know things should be, but just aren’t.”

  “I only imagine how it feels,” said Balthazar, “but it must be frustrating.”

  The human’s shoulders slumped. “It is. Do you know that feeling when you know that you know something, it’s oip of your tongue, but you just ’t quite recall it?”

  The crab shook his shell up and down. “Oh yes, I get that a lot with regur ers at the bazaar. I know their names, but just ’t for the life of me remember them. Too many oo many humans that all look the same.”

  “Faces…” Rye murmured. “You know, I ’t uand how I’ve gohis long without even sidering it, but I had parents. Of course I did, but somehow I didn’t even think about that. Now, I almost remember them, as if I could reach them if I just stretch my fingers a little more, but I’m still not quite there. Their faces are just a hazy blur I ’t reach through.”

  The crab and the human sat uhe cloudy sky for a few more moments, silent, as the bitter breeze over dor swept dead leaves and dust around them. Balthazar finally broke the silence again.

  “So what do you io do about it now?”

  Rye let out a deep sigh.

  “I don’t know. Part of me wants to sh out. Rage and fight against something, anything. Just vent my anger over what was ripped out of me, until I get my memories back, fill the void aore my past life.” He paused a his head hang again, staring at the dirt ground below. “But another part of me just wants to go back to how it was before. Blissfully ignorant to it all. When what I didn’t know couldn’t hurt me. And it all just hurts so muow.”

  The young man pced his forehead on his palm and shut his eyes like someoruggling against an agonizing migraine. Balthazar wao say or do something, but nht words came, and pg his massive pincer on the boy’s back didn’t feel like the most f gesture to make at that moment.

  “I’m pretty sure I had a sister,” the archer suddenly said, without lifting his face from his hand. “I ’t remember her name, her face, or even how old she was, but I have this vivid impression in my mind that there was a sibling there before, in my previous life. How could I fet that? I’ve been running around this nd all this time, pletely unaware that there was someo there, probably missing me, m me, while I pranced around pying adventurer. How messed up is that?”

  Balthazar let out a small sigh of his own.

  “Yeah, it must be… tough. I ’t pretend to rete. I never had parents. Or brothers and sisters. Or any family at all, really. It was just me alone in my pond, ever since I could remember. The first time I ever felt I had anything close to a family robably when I got Druma, and Bouldy, and Blue. In a way, Madeleine as well, and… maybe even you, too. Sort of. I ’t imagine losing all memory of you guys.”

  Rye raised his head and finally looked at the crab.

  “Madeleine…” he said, with a heavy sorrow in his voice.

  “Don’t worry,” the crab said. “We will find her. Ruby gave me a lead on the wizard who help us. He tell me how to fix Bouldy, and I bet if someone would know how to track down a dragon, it would be that old lunatic. His pce is pretty far, but if we get on the road now, I’m sure we—”

  “Balthazar,” the archer interrupted quietly. “Please stop.”

  “What?” said the surprised crusta. “Oh. No, you’re right. This was a rough day for you. You’re in no dition to get back to traveling right now. We should take the rest of the day, rest up, and then tomorrow m, as soon as the sun is up, we head off and—”

  “I’m not going with you,” Rye decred.

  Balthazar froze, looking at the adventurer with quiet surprise.

  “You’re… you’re not?” he finally said, after an endless few seds where nothing but the sound of dry leaves blowing in the wind could be heard around the dead gardehe crab and the human sat.

  “No,” the young man said, hanging his head and hands again as he pnted both elbows on his knees.

  “But… we o find the dragon. To find Madeleine.”

  “I know. Trust me, I know. But right now I’m in no shape to be going out there looking for a mythological creature in some unknown part of the ti when my head is barely able to think straight.” He turned his distraught gaze to the crab. “I’m a mess, Balthazar. As much as I want to help, I ’t. Nht now. I need… I ime. To think, to figure things out. To figure my own self out. I’m not even sure who I am anymore.”

  “You’re her hero,” Balthazar said quietly, a sad frown on his expression as he stared at the adventurer. “Nobody else will care about a poor baker from some small town. The only one Madeleine t on to e and save her is you.”

  Rye shook his head.

  “That’s not true. She has you, too. You’re out here, far away from your home, which you had never eve, looking for her, just like me. If someone find Madeleine, I’m sure it’s you.”

  “But I ’t rescue her alone,” said the crab.

  A faint hint of a sad smile appeared on the boy’s face. “You’re never alone, Balthazar. No matter where you go, you always have friends. You ’t help it.”

  Balthazar felt a knot i of his stomach, like a painful void. It made him sad aed like a hunger for pastries typically would, but he khis was different, and somehow even worse.

  “But what about you?” he asked. “What will you do?”

  “I don’t know yet,” Rye said. “I’m not giving up on Madeleine, but I also ’t take on all of this without first getting my head in order. I o be alone for a while, with my own thoughts, out there, in the wild. That’s usually how I find peace to think. Whatever es after that, I don’t know yet.”

  The crab sighed. “I mean… I get it, but at the same time…”

  “This isn’t goodbye,” the archer said, standing up from the broken bench. “I’ll find you again. I promise. Just please give me some time to process all of this.”

  Balthazar’s expression was still dispirited, but he quietly nodded in agreement.

  He didn’t like it, but he uood it.

  After going to Druma and Blue to say his goodbyes, the young archer took off on his own way, alone.

  Soon after, the crab and his two remaining panioed as well, through a different road, ready to leave behind that dreary pce called dor.

  ***

  In a small town somewhere else on the ti of Mantell, an adveepped out of a bcksmith’s shop with a braeel longsword strapped to his back.

  Ren flexed and stretched his arms, still adapting to the tight fit of his new armor, now a bination of boiled leather and steel pauldrons, instead of his previous handmade furs as.

  After having arrived at his first humalement, the newer had spent the first couple of days learning as much as he could about the pce, all while asking as few questions as possible, to not raise suspi about himself.

  Through pure observation skills and lots of eavesdropping on other people’s versations at the local tavern, the champion-css adventurer quickly puzzled together that there were many more like him around the nd. Other adventurers, heroes from some unknown nd that took os and were well regarded by most, and that, as far as Ren uood, nobody really khe true ins of.

  They apparently were much more on iies, and seldom seen at small settlements like the tiny lumbering town he currently found himself at, unless some quest led them there. That served the clever young man just fine, for he did not want to risk being exposed as an outsider himself. At least not until he felt ready enough for it. Ren was always oo keep his cards close to his chest, something that came from his many wins at poker tours.

  While there, the new arrival also quickly figured out the most effit way to earn some quick . Using the alchemy skills he picked up during his first days in the forest, he took to crafting some extremely basicos that, while trivial to brew, revealed immensely popur at the local inn for their hangover g properties. This earned him a nice k of money, which he used to buy some gear upgrades.

  “This should do nicely, for now,” Ren said to himself, while admiring the sharp bde of his neon uhe sun’s light.

  Having taken more than a few sparring lessons during his uy years, the prodigal young ma more than fortable pig a longsword as his on of choitil somethier came along.

  But he khose were all steps on a long climb to real power.

  Power he would need in order to find and front his target: Balthazar.

  Ren still knew very little about this mysterious mert who seemed to be responsible for his arrival in that world, other than whoever he was, he was likely a dangerous figure, which he would o approach carefully.

  Now that he had studied the pough and was feeling ready to move on from the small town, the adventurer decided it was the right time to ask some questions without fear of having to make a quick escape.

  Sitting at the ter of the local tavern, the champion ordered a drink before leaning closer to the tavern keeper and asking, “Say, I’m looking to buy something, and I heard there’s a mert called Balthazar that might have what I’m looking for. You wouldn’t happen to have seen someone by that name pass through here, would you?”

  The bald man behind the ter cocked an eyebrow at the question.

  “’t say that I have, sorry,” he responded, befoing back to rubbing the inside of a tankard with his rag.

  The adventurer o himself. There wasn’t much else to go on with, he would have to just keep asking until something came up.

  If only he at least knew more about the mert…

  Suddenly, Re a tap on his shoulder. Turning around, he found a small young boy staring wide-eyed at him, face full of freckles and a head ht ginger hair.

  “I’m sorry, I couldn’t help but to overhear your question,” said the excited boy. “Are you looking for Balthazar too?!”