"Hot."

That was all my mind could perceive before the throbbing pain in my head forced me fully alert. I opened my eyes only to snap them shut again against a blazing desert sun, slowly forcing them back open I found myself surrounded by the dead on a blood stained battlefield. Confused and disoriented I carefully rose up to a sitting position and checked myself for any injuries, my head was killing me but otherwise everything seemed ok. Assessing that the damage to myself was minimal I began taking inventory of my surroundings, it was clear a fierce battle had taken place here and neither side seemed to have survived the encounter. Half the bodies were clad in black armor made of some kind of leather and chainmail. The remaining bodies were of some kind of lizard creatures covered only in simple cloth, their armored reptilian hides more than capable of handling most attacks. A cracked helmet and crude metal club lay next to me with one of the lizard creatures impaled on a spear in front of me, no doubt the culprit of the pounding headache I was currently suffering. As I surveyed the battlefield my memory began to return, those in black armor were my comrades the mercenary group known as the black serpents. The others were one of the bands of lizard men who had been terrorizing merchant groups traveling to the Phoenix Empire from our own Gazar Kingdom. We had been enlisted by a coalition of  these merchants to discover their base of operations and wipe them out.

Still something about this wasn't right, the pain in my head intensified as more memories flooded my mind. The academy, that's were I should be right now not in this godforsaken desert. I should be deep in research or teaching the chosen few my superior magic and alchemy techniques. No, that's not right either, I clearly remember Clint pulling me off the streets and training me. My talents for erasing my presence and pickpocketing had caught his eye and he was sure I would make a perfect scout if raised correctly. They may have been far from perfect and honestly down right abusive but the black serpents were the closest thing to family I had.

"Augh."

A low moan escaped my mouth as the pain returned even worse than before. Family, bah! Since when have I ever needed those pathetic rats. All they ever did was try to use my talents in magic for their own personal gain, being treated as a mere pawn to bring them closer to the elite class. Every achievement or accomplishment a simple step for them to climb on, but in the end it was I who stood above them all with the royalty on one side and the elites on the other. I carved a place for myself that they could never reach and made sure to leave them in ruin, a mere shell that had every last shred of pride ripped away as I watch from my perch on high.

What was happening to me? It felt as if two people were fighting for dominance in my head and neither cared about breaking me so long as they won. Then the faint sound of a horn reached my ears, most likely reinforcements for the lizard men on their way here after the initial raid party hadn't returned. I didn't have time for this internal struggle, if I didn't get away from this spot soon then death surely awaited me. Pushing down the internal turmoil and willing myself to stand I quickly surveyed the surroundings and located what supplies I could, I knew there wasn't much time but without anything I wouldn't survive in this desert for long. Still there just wasn't time to sort through the carnage and grab what I needed, then the simple answer came to me. If I couldn't sort through it then just take it all. I raised my hand and using a power unknown to me the battlefield was left barren, only bloody sand remained to tell what had happened here. The sound of the horn drew closer, not knowing if I could re-summon any of what had disappeared I decided it didn't matter. Promptly choosing a direction opposite of the sound I stated running with all my might.

I became consumed with the need to escape. "Faster, faster, have to get away!" Hours had passed since I had started running, the sun had began to set and the heat of the desert had subsided. Still I didn't feel safe and couldn't stop, my every instinct told me to keep running. Not just from the enemy but from myself, if I stopped they would start again and that would mean a different kind of death.

    "He's going to kill himself at this rate."

    "You mean he's going to kill us, don't forget if he dies so do we."

    "WHAT! When did that happen!?"

    "WE are part of him, did you honestly not realize that? At any rate we need to do something, I can bolster his endurance with magic but that will only last so long."

    "Right, I don't know where we are exactly but since we were near the boarder if we head north it should bring us close to the first town on the trade route the merchants were using. I'll force him in that direction and boost my detection skill to the max, can you increase his speed as well?"

    "Yes, but using multiple spells will drain his mana faster and it was already at half capacity when he awoke."

    "How long do we have?"

    "Three days at most."

   "Then it's our best course of action, he'll die of exhaustion by then if we don't find somewhere he can feel safe to rest."

My only purpose became to run, at least a few hours should have passed by now but for some strange reason my body felt lighter and any fatigue I had started to feel faded away. My speed seemed also seemed to increase by a factor of three and I could suddenly sense everything around me, animals hiding in their burrows, the position of the sun, and the direction of the wind. Something began to pull me north and with no better alternatives I followed this instinct. The passage of time seemed to fade from my mind as it became more and more consumed by the need to run. At some point I changed course, there was now a destination that I could just vaguely sense to my endless flight. A place I had to reach above all else, I doubled down and pushed forward certain that salvation lay in wait.

    "Its been almost two day's now, are you certain this is the correct path"

    "Yes, it was just barely but I sensed a caravan on the edge of my detection range. After focusing in that direction and closing everything else off I was able to feel a large mass of people."

   "Of people or something that seemed like people? We could be heading into a death trap for all we know!"

    "Do we have any other options? After all you expended quite a bit of mana to get us through that sand storm didn't you?"

    "*Sigh* your right but in this state can we even make it to the settlement? Wouldn't it be better to try and reach the caravan instead?"

    "The caravan isn't that much closer and I'd rather take my chances with a place that has at least some rule of law, its naïve to think any random stranger would help you instead of stab you in the back. Besides in the state he's in he'll need immediate medical treatment before anything else and even then.."

Finally I could see it in the distance, the hazy appearance of some structure. I pushed myself forward by sheer will even as the darkness began to engulf me, certain that even getting an inch closer was vital to my survival. I collapsed, my body unwilling to go any further, I could almost touch its wall it was so close but I would never reach it now. My mind faded and my vision waned, the last thing my body could sense was a light pitter-patter and the gasp of someone's breath.

______

I awoke from the darkness for the second time, a old man was sitting next to me with a concerned look on his face.

    "I thought we had lost you for a moment there youngster."

"W-Where..?"

    "Easy now you need rest. Clair help me prop up this young man and bring me water and a spoon."

A young lady in her teens came from somewhere and helped the old man prop me up with some pillows. He had me sip water from a spoon at first but after seeing I was ok swallowing he used a cup. I was too weak to even lift my arms and although embarrassing I was grateful to the old man for helping me. After he deemed that I drunk enough for the time being he began to explain where I was."

    "Your in the town of Dryfall, just outside the Withered Forest and on the edge of the Phoenix Empire."

"Withered Forest?"
    "Aye, I believe your people call it the Dragon Wastes. Legend says it was once a lush forest and home of the great earth dragon Viellias but now its little more than a barren desert."

"Who are you?"

    "The name is Philo, I'm the closest thing to a doctor this town has but my actual profession is a herbalist. Silvia found you on the outskirts of town near her family farm and her father Cedrick brought you to me."

"I see."

    "That's the most talking you've ever done."

"Ahh."

My head began to throb again at the sound of the voices began again.

    "Careful now he's still not stable, whatever he is."

    "I don't need you to tell me what I already know!"

Philo began to look worried again "you alright there lad?"

"My head!"

    "Now look what you've done I told you he wasn't ready yet!"

    "And I told you I didn't wake him up, it woke itself up but there should be enough mana for me to put it back to sleep."

Before I could even tell what was going on the darkness began to swallow me again.

Philo "Lad are you still with me? Lad..?"

______