Slowly coming to, Jessi kept his eyes closed.

He could hear the cracks of a fire nearby and the soft rain hitting the top of tents.

'Don't open your eyes... this was just a dream...concentrate on waking up 3...2...1...open your eyes' He did only to find himself looking at the top of a tent, he was laying down on a small bunk bed. Sitting up, he saw the huge fire through the flaps and figures were moving outside. Careful not to make any sounds, he stood up and backed up to the rear of the tent. He hoped that he could leave the tent from behind and run away as fast as he could. What he hadn't planned was tripping himself and falling on a chair where Julzie was sitting, sleeping, she had apparently decided to wait for him to wake.

"What! Oh! You're awake...and sitting on me? Must we always meet this way?"Julzie said laughing.

"Who are you people?!" Jessi asked starting to panic again.

"Well my name is Julzie, I'm a sorceress and by 'you people' I'm guessing you're talking about Riley... he's a necromancer. We found you in the den of evil about to be killed by Fallens and we saved you... but you remember that much right?"

"Riley?! Julzie?! This isn't possible! I'm dreaming... I-I must be dreaming tell me this is a dream!" Jessi was almost crying now.

Julzie sighed; this boy had been through much recently and was still shocked. To make him believe what he was seeing she decided to pinch him.

"Ouch! Oh my god I'm not dreaming this is real! But it can't be you guys ...you're just a game, you're not real, just a computer game...NOT REAL!" Jessi knew that everything around him was real but still didn't want to believe it.

"Ok! Believe what you want, but Riley's waiting for us outside... apparently Akara wants to talk to us... to you too" Julzie stepped outside, waiting for him to get his thoughts together .

'Well... this doesn't make ANY sense but apparently everything around me is real so I should probably play along, after all didn't I dream of this? No... Not like this" Gathering his courage, stepped out of the tent, immediately recognizing the rogues' encampment, walking by Julzie, who started following him, he went straight for Akara's tent. He slowed down a few meters before the hut to find Riley waiting for them, he had his back to the fence and tried his best to look annoyed, however, Jessi, who had played him, knew that he was actually relieved to see him alright.

"Took you long enough kid, a bit longer and I would've been able to summon a skeleton from my own body... Hi Julzie!" the last words were said with an annoyance he didn't even try to mask.

At that moment Akara, all dressed in her long purple robes, came out of her hut and looked at all of them, her gaze staying a bit longer on Jessi which made him very uncomfortable.

"My you came from far haven't you? Anyway this can wait until later. You have cleansed the den of evil. You've earned my trust and may yet restore my faith in humanity. Your reward is training in the skill of your choice" and with these words she opened her harms.

Jessi felt a wave of power wash over him, apparently he wasn't the only one has Julzie immediately took out her spell book to study a particular skill he didn't see. Only Riley remained sceptical.

"You honestly believe that you can help me make my skeleton stronger? I'm sorry to be rude but what could an old lady like you possibly know about the True art that is necromancy!"

"Take your spell book and study it... I'm sure you'll be surprised by the results" Akara smiled in a mysterious way.

"Hum..." Jessi shifted unsure how to say it.

"Ha yes! You young one don't have a spell book right?"Everyone froze to these words.

"That's impossible, everyone has a spell book. Their born almost with it! No one knows how it works but everyone has one!"Riley looked at Jessi suspiciously... everyone except demons.

"Well ...I'm not exactly from around here... in fact I'm not exactly from Sanctuary either" Jessi knew that he would have to say it eventually but had no idea how.

"What? Not from Sanctuary... how is that possible?" Julzie asked, her thirst for knowledge acting up.

"Well... I come from earth... and to me, you guys, all of this, everything, it's all just a game. You don't exist you're all just a story out of the imagination of the guys who created you." Jessi waited apprehending what their reaction would be.

"Ha ha! Right kid and how did you come here? On a unicorn? Give me a break... you're either crazy or you hit your head really hard. Anyway you're not my problem" Riley was laughing out loud holding his ribs.

"On the contrary necromancer, you have everything to do with him... didn't you feel the link between the two of you? He is your summon... you and Julzie brought him hear and until she figures out how to break the link, and this will take a long time given the complexity of what binds you together, you are stuck together so where ever you go he goes." Akara was lightly smiling, obviously enjoying taking the smug smile of Riley's face.

"What!" The three of them screamed at the same time.

"Julzie is this true?"Riley was all but condescent now.

"Well... theoretically speaking... I have no idea!"Julzie was truly baffled by what she had just heard.

"So... what? I'm just to sit on my hands for the next ten years waiting for her to figure out how to undo this?"Riley was white... well whiter than usual, having just realized how long he could be stuck in the company of others.

"No, like everyone in Sanctuary he was given a spell book upon arrival. I found this one in my hut this morning, maybe it's yours." Akara handed out a small dark leather book.

Jessi took it and, just as he touched the cover, he felt a five warm waves, similar to the one Akara had just made. The book then started glowing red in his hand. As he opened it, a bright ray of light shot up from the pages and a number of symbols appeared one by one in the book. Three skill trees appeared on the first pages, the icons dark gray meant that these skills hadn't been activated yet and, on the top right, another small symbol glowed, six small white balls rotated around it. Instinctively, Jessi knew what to do and he taped once on the skills he wanted. Four points were spent on one skill and two others on another from a different skill tree, but before the others saw what he was doing he closed the spell book quickly. Akara smiled at him gently.

"It would seem that you now need equipments, go see Charsi and tell her I sent you"

Jessi quickly moved from one side of the camp to the other, he didn't care if it was a dream or not anymore, he had wanted to live this for so long. He quickly reached the blacksmith's tent, Charsi was there hammer in one hand, white hot sword in the other, as she saw them appear in the corner of her eyes she went back to the little forge and put the blade back in it. As she turned around, Jessi saw that she really was naked underneath her work 'clothes'. Turning to meet them she wiped the sweat of her forehead.

"Hi there I'm..."

"Charsi the blacksmith here in town" Jessi finished the sentence for her, leaving the three others bit surprised.

"Yes... What can I do for you?"Charsi said, once she got over the surprise.

"Akara sent us. I know you can equip me, but I don't have any gold"

"Well then you can't see MY stuff, but since Akara sent you I guess I can let you rummage through what we've looted from the monsters that live around town. You'd be surprised at what you can find on those buggers"

She was right; among the pile of stuff he found a studded leather armour, a pair of quilted gloves, some leather boots, a crude skull cap and a nice scimitar.

Just as he was done suiting up, Kashya came towards them running

"My rogue scouts have reported ..."

"...an abomination in the monastery graveyard" Jessi finished for her, and then sighed.

"You really need to tell me how you do that!" Riley said.