The view was fantastic. The trees stretched as far as the eye could see out to the mountains. Along the tree line, Kenneth could see the outpost or at least that place Nya had pointed to.

  Kenneth did his best trying to see as much as he could, but his best attempts only amounted to some shapes.

  One of the shapes he thought was there was a square or an outer ring which was most likely a wall of some sort to protect the outpost from attacks, and almost every other shape he could make out was mostly square.

  ‘My plan was to use Nya as a way so they wouldn’t kill me on sight, but I do wonder if it will work,’ Kenneth wondered, glancing behind.

  ‘She could betray me at the last second of our journey and run to the village screaming about a monster, and they probably won't listen to me. Another way this could end could be with them seeing me as a monster that should be killed and Nya as a traitor or something similar like that.’

  The thought sent a shiver down Kenneth’s spine, ’I haven't known her for long, and she has threatened me with death more than a few times, but she doesn’t seem like a person deserving of death.’

  ‘Why am I even thinking about this now? I knew from the beginning that this would be risky, and I don’t have that many other options besides this one,’ Kenneth thought, sighing in annoyance.

  He looked down the hill making sure there wasn’t anyone trying to sneak up on them, and once he was sure nothing was there, he went back to the horizon.

  His eyes again landed on the mountain, and the other thing he was sure of was a structure of some sort.

  His eyes tried to follow it up to the top, but whatever it was went above the clouds and was hidden further from view.

  ‘I do wonder if it is anything or if it's just natural to this world. Perhaps I should ask her now that we are taking a break,’ Kenneth thought while looking back at Nya, who was feeding her children.

  “Um, Nya,” Kenneth carefully asked, looking straight ahead.

  “What?” she said, sounding startled as she looked behind her. “Enemies?”

  “No, no, nothing like that,” Kenneth assured her.

  “What is it then?” she said with a growl as she attended to her children again.

  “I was just wondering what that structure-looking thing on the mountains that goes above the clouds was?” Kenneth asked carefully as he tried not to anger her.

  “Oh, that thing,” she said in a casual tone. “It's just the tower of the gods.”

  ‘Tower of the gods?!’ Kenneth exclaimed in his head. ‘Wait, have I entered a world where there was proof that gods existed, and did they live in that tower.’

  Kenneth wasn’t an extreme believer, but he did believe that God existed at least his version, but now he was looking at a tower where this world's gods lived or something.

  He looked back at Nya, who was attending to her children, “Um… So is there more you can tell me about the tower since we have time?”

  “What do you want to know?” She asked, sounding a little confused.

  “Everything. Well, everything you can tell me about it.”

  “What, don’t you know anything about the tower?” She asked, sounding more confused.

  “Well, not really,” Kenneth answered, becoming a bit nervous that he might have opened a pandora's box of problems.

  ‘Okay, okay, relax. All I've told her is that I don’t know anything about the tower; while that might be a red flag for her, it could also be an opportunity for me to learn more about this world and its culture,’ Kenneth thought, calming himself a bit.

  ‘Then again, if humans are anything to go by when religion is concerned, especially in a low-tech world, then this could be a dangerous area to be in.’

  Nya let out a sigh and sounded a little irritated about the question, but she didn’t refuse. “I can’t say I know too much myself about, only the stories that were told when I was young.”

  Kenneth silently let out a sigh of relief and relaxed, now certain he hadn’t just committed some grave mistake.

  “It all started maybe a few centuries ago, long before my time,” Nya started.

  “One day, the tower descended from the sky and rooted itself in the mountain, and then not long thereafter, the three tribes tried to attack it, but they were stopped by the power of the gods,” Nya said, sounding a little bored.

  “And what were those powers?” Kenneth asked cautiously.

  “When they attacked, the gods used a piercing light and deafening sound that could be heard by everyone,” Nya explained.

  “Once the gods had shown their power, no one tried to attack it again, and many ended up worshipping the gods and the tower,” Nya finished as her focus came back on her children.

  ‘Umm, that’s interesting, but it does feel like a watered-down version lacking some details, but honestly, that doesn't matter,’ Kenneth concluded.

  ‘Now I at least know a little about their religion, but the way she was talking about it sounded weird somehow.’

  “Um, Nya, when you told the story, you sounded a little weird,” Kenneth said.

  Nya then went silent for a moment, not saying anything.

  ‘Dammit, did I make her angry again? Maybe I should just stop talking altogether around her,’ Kenneth thought, nervous as hell that he was getting closer and closer to the point where she would get fed up with him and try and leave.

  After what felt like hours but were probably more like a few seconds, Nya spoke again, but unlike Kenneth had expected, she wasn’t angry; she sounded bored.

  ”I know the stories, but nothing has happened for generations since then. Now all that is left of the new gods are the crazed followers at the tower's foot.” Nya sighed.

  “I’ve wanted to ask something of you for some time now,” she said, her tone getting all serious.

  Kenneth met her gaze and answered, “Sure, just ask away.”

  She breathed in and out heavily for a few seconds and asked,” How good of a healer are you?”

  Kenneth blinked twice and processed the question,” Umm, well, if you are asking me if I passed all of my tests or have a lot of experience in ‘healing,’ as you call it, then yeah, sure.”

  “But why do you ask, if you don’t mind my asking?”

  Nya looked down at her children, who all now seemed to be full for now, and began getting dressed.

  ” I ask,” she said in a sorrowful nervous tone. “Because when I was given birth to them, I heard them the second they came out, but the last one didn’t, and then I saw you do something. Then I heard him cry.”

  Kenneth just stared out into empty space for a second, “are you asking me what I did or something else.”

  Nya, now fully dressed and her children in her arms, responded. “My mother once told me that some of one's children could be born dead, and no healer, no matter how great, has ever been able to overcome death.”

  “The second someone's heart stops, I’m unable to do anything for them,” Kenneth sighed. “The only reason why your son is still alive was that his heart was still beating, and the only problem was fluids in his lungs.”

  “I, like the others, cannot overcome permanent death,” Kenneth said, getting up on his feet and offering Nya his hand again.

  She looked at him for a second and got up on her own, and without either of them speaking, they began walking down the hill toward the outpost.

  Surprisingly walking down a hill can be harder than walking up since, as Kenneth quickly learned, there is a higher chance of losing balance and or falling down.

  Although he didn’t fall, he was close a few times.

  Once both of them had reached the bottom of the hill, Nya seemed to have difficulty breathing again as she was using her mouth rather than her nostrils.

  He walked over to her, and as he did, she made a little jump the second she noticed him getting closer.

  “You are not doing that again!” She exclaimed while showing him her teeth.

  “So I wasn’t fast enough?” Kenneth asked, trying to sound all innocent as he took a step back.

  “No… you were faster than I expected, so I’m fine with you carrying me but don’t ever do what you did the first time. Understood,” she said with another of her murderous glares, which at this point was losing its effectiveness as opposed to before.

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  This time Kenneth listened to her request, and instead of sweeping her off her feet, she somewhat reluctantly got in his arms.

  She pointed in a direction, and he began walking toward their destination.

  For some time, there was silence between the two, or perhaps more accurately, the five of them.

  Every now and again, Nya would point in a direction, and he would slightly alter the way he was walking to keep on track.

  That continued for some time until a thought occurred to Kenneth, ‘I know where I’m heading too, but I didn't know how the people there will react, so maybe I should ask before I might offend someone.’

  “Um, Nya, is there anything I should know before we arrive at the outpost?” Kenneth asked.

  “Could you be more specific?” She responded, sounding a little confused.

  Kenneth could feel his heart start to beat faster, but he didn’t know if it was from the walking or the fact he was about to walk into what could be his death.

  Kenneth let out a sigh, more from the breath he was holding rather than anything. “When we first made this deal with me accompanying you to the outpost, you yourself said that you couldn’t make sure I survived.”

  “What, getting cold feet?” she asked.

  “No, as I said, then it’s a risk I will have to take. However, I would like to better my chances with the first impression,” Kenneth corrected.

  “So what I’m asking you is if you can tell me anything that might help with that and also things I might wanna avoid talking about.”

  For a moment, Nya seemed to be deep in thought. “When you reached your hand out to me in the cave, you told me that is how you people greet, right.”

  “Yes,” Kenneth responded.

  “Then you should probably know how we greet one another,” Nya said.

  ”First, you stand with your back straight, then you put your hand on the center of your chest and wait until the other one does the same as you.”

  “And that’s all,” Kenneth asked.

  “Yes,” Nya responded.

  Before much more time had passed, Kenneth asked another question hoping Nya could answer, “So, is there anything you can tell me about those in the outpost we are heading to?”

  “Yes, there should be,” she said, looking out through the tree line and pointing a little to the left, and Kenneth adjusted his course accordingly. “If I’m correct in which outpost we are heading to, then the one in charge should be Ulric.”

  “One thing,” Nya said, then her gaze turned to Kenneth with such an intensity that for once wasn’t one of murder, but something else, something. “Always, and I mean always, tell the truth to him.”

  Kenneth, on reflex, stopped becoming a bit nervous as he asked, “Why?”

  Nya looked down at her sleeping babies, “He, like myself, is a follower of the old religion. Ulric, in particular, is a devout follower of Heka, the God of truth, which means he has sworn never to tell a lie or tolerate any who lie.”

  “It sounds like you know him,” Kenneth commented.

  “Yes, I do,” she sighed, looking back to the forest. “You could call him an old friend.”

  “But he is not the man I once knew,” she whispered, hoping he didn’t hear the last part.

  Then again, there was silence between the two of them as they traveled further toward their destination.

  ‘We should almost be there, but I do wonder if this plan of mine will work or if I’m just going to die before the day is over,’ Kenneth wondered. ‘But as the old saying goes, nothing ventured, nothing gained, and since I’m here, I might as well try.’

  As more time passed, Kenneth began to tire a little; he could still walk much more, but it was going to be a problem eventually, and when his body started to tire, and he wasn’t working, his mind liked to wonder.

  Eventually, he remembered something about Nya and her outpost he wanted to ask her about.

  He then cleared his throat, getting her attention. “Nya, I was just wondering about something that I hoped I could ask you about.”

  She looked at him for a second into the mask and the two pieces of glass that covered his eyes and answered, “sure.”

  “Okay, I was just wondering why your last name and your former outpost have the same name,” Kenneth asked.

  At the mentation of the outpost, she seemed saddened a bit, but she quickly turned her gaze away from sight. “We have the same name because my forefathers built it a few generations ago.”

  “Umm… okay… thanks,” he said as he marched forwards, speeding up and feeling bad about his question once again.

  ‘Dammit, you idiot! Why did I have to bring up the outpost? Any idiot should be able to figure out why it was named that,’ Kenneth berated in his mind.

  As Kenneth continued to walk in silence, nothing really more was said between the two of them, at least for now. But that silence was broken when Nya, out of nowhere, began to sniff the air like a dog.

  He was about to ask her what she was doing when she, out of nowhere, asked to be put down. For a moment, he was a bit confused, but he did let her down anyways.

  Then she sniffed a little more, and again he was about to ask when she pipped up instead. “We are close to the outpost now.”

  “What, really?” he said, a little surprised and excited.

  “That was a shorter walk than I had expected, “ he murmured to himself.

  She looked back at him, her expression extremely serious, “you know Kenneth, this is your last chance to back out and avoid your potential death.”

  He looked at her for a second before he let out a little chuckle, “I hope you do remember what I said earlier about this choice; otherwise, I would have to add memory loss to your list besides smoke inhalation and burns.”

  Her expression softened a bit as she let out what seemed like a sad sigh and looked down at her children. “You said you have children. “

  “I myself have not been a mother for long, but I know that they don’t want me to die, so isn’t it better to return to them.”

  At that moment, Kenneth was happy he was wearing the mask since it was hiding his now angry expression as he clutched the handle of the bag he was carrying. ‘Return yeah as if I could.’

  It took a moment, but he let himself calm down, “you know I’m happy that you seem to care about me, but I made my choices some time ago, and this… is what has to happen, at least for now.”

  “I just thought I would ask, but I had a feeling you wouldn’t run,” Nya said

  Kenneth looked past her toward the direction she was sniffing in, “so, how long is left of this short journey.”

  Nya turned around and pointed further ahead to a denser part of the forest that was so thick you couldn’t see past it. “it’s just past there.”

  He walked up to her side and asked, “so how are we going to this? Do we go together, or do you go first?”

  “I think it is best I go first and try and explain the situation to Ulric or whoever is in charge of this outpost.”

  Kenneth put both hands on his hips and began stretching his back a little, “it sounds like a good idea. I wouldn’t want a repeat of our first meeting.”

  “You are wearing the color of a champion, and you look like nothing I have ever seen before in my life and my knife. Can you really blame me for attacking,” she said while touching the hilt of her holstered knife.

  “To be fair, the last one wasn’t my fault and happened after I kicked you. Ending your attempted murder of me.” Kenneth countered, doing a few more stretches to make some of his joints go pop, satisfying him immensely.

  “Oh, shut up, would you,” she growled.

  “Fine, I won’t say more about it, but you can’t argue with the facts,” Kenneth said, sounding completely calm and not scared of her doing her usual; I want to kill your sounds and facial routines.

  “I’m going now; stay back and only come when I come for you or call you; otherwise, stay out of sight. I don’t want then to think you are an enemy,” Nya warned while looking at him dead in his eyes until he nodded in agreement.

  Without any further ado, Nya went on her merry way deeper into the denser part of the forest until she dispersed from sight and left only Kenneth standing there alone.

  As she left, Kenneth began to feel the first touches of doubt manifest in his gut. It began to grow much bigger the more time that passed as he waited.

  ‘What if she does end up betraying me in the end? ’ Kenneth wondered as he tried to bring his thumb up to his mouth and bite his nails but was stopped by the gloves and mask of the outfit

  ‘Perhaps she won’t even tell them about me and only let me wait until I leave on my own accord or get spotted by a patrol or hunting party or something.’

  “I really hate when I get like this,” Kenneth said out loud. “When I get nervous, I start to only think what could go wrong, not what could go right.

  “But to be fair, unlike most of my former situations, this is a lot more dangerous.’

  ‘I have only known her for a very short time, and in our first encounter, she did try and kill me and only went along with my proposal because I more or less forced her to accept the deal.’ Kenneth thought, letting out a sigh.

  But before he could finish the sigh, he heard the rustling of branches and leaves, and without a second thought, he jumped in surprise behind a tree, remembering what Nya said about not being seen by anyone.

  “Anyone out there!” a loud booming voice yelled that was distinctly male.

  Once it had spoken, nothing, not a sound more, was said or made from either side.

  ‘What the hell should I do now,’ Kenneth thought, his heart beating like a drum solo. ‘Could something have happened to Nya when she told them about him?’

  ‘Could this just be a guard that heard or perhaps smelled him since Nya did the same not long ago? Should I take a look?’ All those thoughts occupied Kenneth’s mind as only moments passed by.

  ‘Did she betray me? No, no, no, if she did that, then the actions of this individual wouldn’t make sense; if she told them that I was an enemy and I was here, then they wouldn't ask if I was here.’

  “So, did you lie to me?” the booming voice asked.

  “As if I ever would,” came the reply from a voice Kenneth knew somewhat well.

  Slowly Kenneth began to slowly peek his head out from behind the tree to see not only Nya but also a somewhat taller fox-person holding a spear with a few other fox-people standing right behind the both of them.

  He quickly pulled his head back around the tree, hiding before they hopefully could see him, but as soon as he did, Nya called out, saying, “Hey, it's fine; you can come out now.”

  ‘Okay, okay, this is it, now or never,” Kenneth thought as he slowly stepped out from behind the tree and got a good look at everyone.

  Most seemed to be staring at him either with surprised interest or a curious look.

  Though the fox that was standing in front of everyone with a spear seemed to be eyeing him with much greater care than many of the others were.

  For a moment, there was silence until Kenneth remembered that first impressions were important, and so he lifted his free hand and did the greeting as Nya had told him.

  The second he had started to move, some seemed to get their weapons ready but stopped as soon as they saw the gesture he was making.

  It took a little bit of time, but eventually, the fox with the spear made the gesture in return, and they both finished officially greeting each other.

  The fox then stepped forward closer to Kenneth, looking him straight in the eye, “I hear from Nya that you are a healer from another land far away.”

  Kenneth was a bit nervous but did manage to respond, “yes, that is correct.”

  “What business do you have in at my outpost then?” he asked with his still booming voice and a glare that managed to send a shiver down his spine.

  “Ahh, yes, I have simply come here to help anyone in need and to share my knowledge of healing, as you call it,” Kenneth explained, trying not to be intimidated but his glare.

  “We already have a healer, so get lost and don’t come anywhere near my outpost again, or I will personally kill you.” The fox, in his loud booming voice, said before turning around and walking away.

  ‘Dammit, dammit, dammit, I have to think of something, or else I will be right back to square one again.’ Kenneth nervously thought, trying his best to think of something, anything.

  ‘He said they already had a healer, but any knowledge they possess should be rudimentary compared to mine.”

  “Um, would you just stop for a moment,” Kenneth called out, making the fox stop but not turn around.

  “I thought I told you to get lost, or are you just determined to die,” The fox said in a tone that made Kenneth sure he wasn’t kidding.

  “I do not mean to offend, but the healer that is here, how good are they when it comes to knowledge of healing and their practice of it?” Kenneth asked.

  The fox let out a sigh of frustration, tightening the grip on his spear, “what is there to know? They place a hand on a wound, and if they can, then they heal it.”

  ‘Wow, is common knowledge of medicine and healing really that basic,’ Kenneth thought in disbelief, taking only a slightly short moment to respond.

  “My people have had their hand in healing for a long time, and I do believe I might be able to advance you people’s knowledge a bit further than you have described.”

  Now the fox seemed to be a bit more interested as he turned around and looked Kenneth dead in the eyes, “If you are lying to me, I will make sure you die in ways you couldn’t even imagine.”

  Kenneth gulped but remained steadfastly, “I promise you, commander of this outpost, I am not knowingly lying to you about what I know and am capable of.”

  The fox seemed to think it over for a moment before opening his mouth. “Fine, we have some wounded; if you did tell me the truth, then show me, and we can talk more after, but if you lied, then I believe you know what will happen.”

  The thinly veiled threat to his life did make Kenneth a bit scared, but he had to do this if he had any hope of actually sharing his knowledge.