Henry surfaced at last, snorting and coughing. Water filled his lungs, eyes, and ears, and it burned like fire. He couldn't see anything, the water forced him to shut his eyes.

Henry blindly kept himself on the surface until he had finally blinked away enough of the water to be able to open his eyes. Behind him was the cliff he had jumped off, and in front of him – nothing but open sea. A gust of wind hit him and he noticed the waves were getting bigger. Henry was helplessly floating in the water like a tiny paper boat in a torrential stream.

There was nothing to hold on or climb onto – the cliff he had jumped from was entirely vertical, and there were no rocks in the water. Fear gripped his heart when Henry realized the only choice he had, was to swim in a random direction and hope for the best.

Henry decided to follow the cliff, it was his hope that it would get shallower eventually, or that there was a possibility to climb up somewhere. He praised the universe he had always been a natural at swimming and had always beaten everyone in all sorts of swimming competitions.

Even though Henry knew that, under normal circumstances, he could have easily swum for an hour straight, or even longer, he struggled greatly with the icy water of the waterway. The fact that he was fully dressed, including his coat, boots, sword, and backpack, didn't help either.

Henry swam blindly, following the cliff. At some point his movements became almost automatic, his arms started tiring more and more and he was starting to lose feeling in his limbs, from the cold water.

I need to get out of the water, he thought, but there was nothing where he could have gotten out. What he needed was a fire – warmth – but for that he first needed land. And that seemed unreachable. He didn't even bother worrying about what might be lurking around or underneath him in the unexplored depths of the water.

Henry was so focused on moving his more and more tiring limbs to swim, that he at first overlooked the black spot in the distance, that was visible against the ghastly glow of the water.

In a last resort, he started heading towards it, and when Henry finally saw it was an island, that was maybe half a mile away from the coast and seemed to be completely isolated from the mainland, he could have screamed in joy.

With the last of his powers, Henry made it to the island's nearest beach and crawled out of the water, collapsing immediately. His head was telling him he needed to immediately get out of the wet clothes and light a fire to prevent hypothermia, but his body was way too weak and tired to move.

He might have spent five minutes, lying there, on the beach, only focusing on the ground beneath his body and passively watching his limbs grow number and colder by the second when from the corner of an eye he suddenly saw a movement.

Henry immediately jerked up. His head started spinning and his legs could barely hold him, but the shock had returned some life into his limp body. With the energy from the adrenaline Henry slowly but surely started walking, not leaving the corner from which the movement had come, out of sight. The last thing he needed was, whatever creatures inhabited this land, to catch him off guard.

The island consisted of a single mountain with a sandy beach around it, the very same beach Henry had arrived on. The exiled prince saw a tunnel, that led into the mountain, and followed it until he came to a smaller cave with no other exit and a few stones in the right height and shape to serve as seating accommodations.

With shaking hands, that barely had any feeling in them, Henry managed to pull out the container with fuel, that was thankfully waterproof, and his fire stones.

When the fire was finally burning, he could at last see properly. His fingers were too limp to snap and use echolocation. It was pleasingly warm and Henry had trouble starting to move again, once he sat there, next to the fire. But he knew he needed to rid himself of the wet clothes.

Piece by piece he peeled them off until he was only in his undergarments. Trembling with cold he pulled the only warm clothing item he had – his coat – around his shoulders and sat as close he could to the fire. It was wet and unpleasant at first, but the fire warmed him and soon dried out the leather so that he could wrap himself up in it entirely.

Henry had no idea how long he sat there, an hour at least, until his limbs slowly but surely regained feeling, and the piercing cold that had enveloped his body gave way to warmth again. He knew he was wasting fuel by letting the fire burn so long, but this was exactly the kind of situation the fuel was for – life or death.

When Henry was so warm he stopped shivering for the first time, he decided to move. He carefully stood up and, coat still wrapped tightly around himself, started collecting his randomly lying around clothes. He carefully laid them out next to the fire, as close as possible, without burning them.

Then he continued to do the same with the contents of his backpack. The fuel and the ignifer- as well as recently finished extinguisher-reserves, were in waterproof containers, so they were fine. His water sack was equally well. What had suffered the most was the food. All of it was essentially worthless now, except for the fruit, and Henry tossed what used to be a loaf of bread into a corner.

His own as well as his mother's notebooks, together with his pencils, Teslas had stored in a waterproof leather container for him, for which he now was eternally grateful. They were but a little moist, and half an hour by the fire would fix that surely.

Henry further emptied the little pot, he carried to cook, of the water it had collected, laid out the ball of string and the torch he had brought, next to the fire as well, to dry and use later, as well as all of his cloths. Next to them, he laid out his weapons, Mys and the sword had survived the swim just fine.

Henry sat back down eventually, took a piece of fruit and started eating it. He had no idea how long it had taken, but eventually, he felt dry enough to try and get dressed again.

His linen clothes were still a little damp and once he had put them on, he immediately wrapped the coat around himself again. How eternally grateful he was, he had gotten it. His hair had almost entirely dried as well, just like most of the other things. Henry decided to keep the fire burning for a little longer, mainly to have the cloths dry more – and for light.

Light. Life. Henry watched the flames dance and throw eerie shadows at the wall, and suddenly felt the need to sit in a direction from where he could watch the entrance of the cave.

He must have sat there another half an hour when his brain finally started catching up with everything that happened. Slowly but surely the realization overcame him, that he was here, on an unknown island – half a mile away from the coast. An island that was probably inhabited too, at least if he could trust his own eyes before.

Alone.

A wave of panic inundated him. Henry felt his head start to spin and feared he would collapse here and now. What... had even happened?

He forced himself to think, to remember, through the mists of naked fear that clouded his mind now. They had sat on that cliff, him and Thanatos – Thanatos. Another tide of panic and helplessness hit him like a bucket of cold water.

What had happened to him... The memory seemed so faded already, like something that had only happened in a dream. Maybe this was all just a dream – a terrible nightmare, like the ones he still suffered from, Henry thought. Maybe any moment now he would wake up, back at the cliff, and Thanatos would laugh at him for being scared of a dream. Though deep down Henry knew that he was lying to himself. This was as real as the fear that now gripped his heart.

They had... kidnapped his flier, before his eyes. He had never seen or even heard of Spinners leaving their territory, especially to attack or kidnap. They were business-people, not warriors... were they not?

That expression of naked shock and fear he had seen in Thanatos' eyes, shortly before he had been taken away, had burned itself onto Henry's inner eye. He realized he was biting his lip so hard he tasted blood.

He had had no choice. Thanatos had already been almost out of sight when Henry realized what was happening. He couldn't have done anything, he told himself. If he hadn't jumped into the water like he did, he would have been abducted as well – or worse.

But was escaping and essentially abandoning Thanatos really better than suffering the same fate alongside him? The feeling that had swept over him when he realized Ares wasn't going to save him, the day he fell off the cliff, came to his mind. Was that what Thanatos had felt when he...?

Annoyed, Henry shook his head at himself. This was stupid. Thanatos wasn't his bond. He had no reason to expect the exiled prince to treat their lives as one. And yet he felt guilt gnaw at his heart, scared he might have caused the same feeling in someone else that had made him suffer before.

Another movement, once again spotted from the corner of his eye, made Henry jolt up. He staggered forward, calling into the darkness, wishing whatever that was to just come out.

Or was it all in his head? Did the hypothermia and the fear cause him to see things now? Henry had trouble not starting to hyperventilate and felt the urge to gag all of a sudden.

He reeled back to the wall and pressed his forehead against the cold stone. It would all be okay. He had his sword, and he had the fire. He wouldn't be scared of the dark like a wimpy little kid, hell, he loved the dark... didn't he?

Looking back at the entrance that lied in complete and utter darkness and watching the fire, that had seemingly shrunken now, throw ghastly, dancing shadows at the wall, made him realize – yes he was.

Anything could be out there, watching him, and he wouldn't even know. He was here, in this entirely remote and unknown place – and for the first time ever since Thanatos had saved his life – he was entirely alone.

Suddenly he felt tears fill his eyes. He was alone. If he cried for help now, there would be nobody who would come – or even hear.

Henry sank against the wall and slid down to cower on the floor, as far away from the entrance as possible. He pulled his legs to his chest and wrapped the coat even tighter around his body. Not for a single moment, he left the entrance out of sight. His right hand reached for his sword and pulled it closer, until it was lying at his side, ready to be drawn and used.

Henry was overwhelmingly tired. From the flight, the swim, and everything that had occurred after. But his eyes stayed wide open. He was physically unable to close them, all he could do was sit, curled up, leaning against the wall, gripping his sword as tightly as he could, and stare at the entrance.

Henry had almost forgotten how it felt to fear closing his eyes. His memory reeled back to the time shortly after his parents had died. There had been days when Henry had been so scared, he had locked himself up in his room for days, refusing to leave or even eat and sleep. He remembered sitting in this exact position, curled up in a corner, gripping a weapon and staring at the door, for days.

Only when Luxa had grown old enough to play with him, she had been able to alleviate the fear. Of course, there had been Nerissa and Ares too. He had never been alone.

The fear had never entirely left though, it rather became part of his life. Something he had learned to live with, yet was always pressing at his mind. Even in recent times he had occasionally had paranoia attacks and nightmares. The main reason he had sought an alliance with the rats in the first place, was because he had hoped to ally himself with the source of his fear would make it finally go away.

And then the exile happened – and Thanatos. It was crazy, Henry was perfectly aware of that – but for some reason the flier had this gift, to make him feel safe, like nobody he had ever met before. Henry had felt better in his company than he had ever since the death of his parents.

When they were together, he always felt like he could conquer the world, if he set his mind to it. It was an overwhelming confidence, like nothing could ever phase them. Any challenge that posed itself to them would be met, and ground to dust.

That was the reason, Henry realized, the reason he had been so scared of Thanatos leaving. Because if he left, he would take that feeling with him, and there was nothing Henry feared more than fear itself.

And now – now he was gone. No, he hadn't become frustrated and left on his own accord, instead, someone else had taken him. Henry realized that in his mind, he had viewed Thanatos as nigh untouchable. The mere fact that there was a force in this world that could abduct him so seamlessly scared him almost as much as his own situation right now.

Henry spent hours unable to move, cowered against the wall, in that cave. The fire went out entirely after a while, but the exiled prince remained sitting, motionless. It was like he was frozen in place.

Being in this cave without light was even scarier than before, but it was still better than going out there, where he was out in the open and had no light either.

His eyes soon started burning of exhaustion, but as little as Henry was able to move, he was able to close them. The moment he closed them that shadow he had seen earlier would come out and attack him.

There was nobody keeping watch, so he wouldn't sleep. The knuckles on the hand he kept on his sword, were white from how firmly he gripped it.

All Henry wanted was for there to be light, but of course, that wouldn't happen. Unless he did something about it.

The hell you doing, sitting in the corner, ready to cry like a baby that lost his mommy – I thought you were a fighter, not a wimp!

Henry could almost hear Thanatos' voice in his head, so well did he know the sound of it at this point.

Get your sorry hide out of that cave, Henry, sitting in there will do you no good. You know that as well as I do!

The exiled prince knew that that was his unconscious speaking to him, having taken on the familiar shape of Thanatos, and trying to wake him from this almost vegetative state he'd spent the night in.

And it was right. He needed to get up. Henry could continue sitting there, in the darkness, waiting for the monsters to come and get him, or he could stand up, go out, and face them.

You said you would fight the universe for every single ounce of life in your body, didn't you? Where the hell is that spirit now, Henry? Aren't you ashamed of yourself?

Thanatos' voice continued to mock him. Henry sighed. Apparently, even when the flier was gone, he'd still have to suffer through his lectures.

Come on, Henry, get a hold of yourself, he thought. Yes, this is a remote, unexplored island, and yes, you are alone here, but you can't continue hiding in a cave like this. At least go out and take a look around.

It took the exiled prince another ten minutes to gather up the spirit and courage to move. Stiff with exhaustion and from sitting in the same position for so long, Henry slowly stood up.

He had to use his spare hand to forcefully open his right hand that was rigidly closed around the handle of the sword. When he finally managed to make it open, the blade hit the floor in a loud clanking sound, which made Henry jump in fear. His paranoia, someone might hear and seek him out, grew, and he quickly snapped the fingers of his left hand.

After locating it, he picked up the now dried out torch he brought. It took him a few minutes to fill and light it with his trembling fingers, but the moment the cave was illuminated again, he immediately felt a wave of relief hit him. Though that only extended to the cave itself. Walking through the pitch-black exit and leaving was as scary as ever.

Henry procrastinated for as long as he could – he went around gathering his now dry belongings, organizing them, packing them away again, then he sat down and ate another piece of fruit and drank the rest of his water.

When he had finally run out of tasks, Henry took a deep breath. This will be so much less scary when you're out of this cave, he thought, shouldering his backpack.

The tunnel that led to the cave was short, and after only a single turn he saw the familiar glow of the waterway.

Henry almost ran out of the darkness and onto the beach, taking deep breaths as if inhaling the air out here would cure him of the fear that still gripped his heart.

He had been right, it was better out here than it had been in the cave. And yet his situation remained the same. Only now, his fear wasn't of imaginary monsters that would come and eat him if he closed his eyes for a single moment, it was of the indeed terrifying situation he found himself in –

He was on this unknown island, alone, with nothing to eat and no means to get back to the mainland. And even if he would decide to swim back again, what in the world would he do then? Look for Thanatos?

Henry knew that that was a hopeless venture, for where should he start? The spinners would have surely carried him miles away from the spot they had captured him by now. And if he didn't find Thanatos again, was there even any hope for him left?

Angry at himself, Henry shook his head. Of course there was. He wasn't the helpless kid who had never set a foot outside his comfort zone that he'd been after the fall anymore. He had the means to defend himself and the equipment and skills to get nearly any material or resource he might find himself needing.

He didn't need Thanatos to survive anymore.

The realization hit him and suddenly, a wave of confidence inundated him. Yes, that's right, he didn't need the flier anymore. He would get off this stupid island, and he would survive – all on his own.

Henry continued to tell himself everything would be okay, he was prepared now. This was the exact situation Teslas had strived to kit him out for. He had filled more than half the pages in his own notebook with survival-related notes and sketches and tried all of them with the black nibbler at least once during their lessons.

But dry runs could never compare to reality and the fear that still kept nagging at his heart remained. Henry realized he was back to how it had been before the exile. This was the kind of fear he had grown used to. He hated the fact that he still didn't feel safer on his own then he had before, even though that's what he had worked so hard for, all this time. Why in the world did he need someone else to feel entirely safe?

Henry gritted his teeth. He had suppressed the emotion the last – what was it now, four, five months? But in truth, he had despised every second in which he fully knew he was dependent on someone else. And that's exactly what he had been. Pride be damned – Henry admitted before himself that hadn't Thanatos decided to take him under his wing, he'd be long dead.

Dwelling on those somber thoughts Henry slowly started making his way along the coastline. He decided he wanted to do a circumvention of the island, to determine how big it was and what kind of structures it had.

The exiled prince soon extinguished the torch as the waterway gave off enough light to not be forced to waste any more fuel. It was still rather dark, and his eyes needed a moment to get accustomed to it. It wasn't light enough to read, fight, or do anything along the lines, but it sufficed for not accidentally wandering off track.

And if a monster comes out to attack me now, I won't even have enough time to light my sword, he thought. He hadn't really given Teslas' last words before he left any thought before, but having a quicker way to dispense the ignifer on the sword suddenly appeared incredibly useful.

Henry didn't want to waste any by applying it now and never ending up getting to use it, but at the same time it would be too late if he was indeed attacked now. He sighed and continued to walk in the dim and ghastly light the water gave off.

Henry had made it to the other side of the island already when it happened. He had almost entirely abandoned the fear he might still get attacked at that point, that's why the huge, leaping silhouette of the rat came out of nowhere.

The exiled prince heard the rat scream before he saw it. In the last second, he managed to let himself fall to the ground to escape the bared claws it swung at him.

"Arrrghhh... a human?! Here? And all alone? How very welcomed, I needed a snack anyway!", he heard a growling voice from somewhere on his left.

Panic gripped his heart again – what in the world was a rat doing here? But it left him no time to think. A second strike, this time from behind, catapulted him at least ten feet forward and he landed harshly on his stomach. That couldn't have been the same attacker, he realized, and indeed, when Henry turned around he saw the silhouettes of not one, but two rats zooming in on him.

"Just what I was thinking", the second snarled now. "It is but a pup, it won't put up much of a fight!"

In the last second, he leaped to his feet and dodged their claws, drawing his sword in the same moment. Had I only applied the ignifer earlier, he thought, while slicing in the direction of the attackers at random. Not only could he barely see anything, but he would also have to take them both out on his own this time. Henry had never even fought a single rat without help before, and now it was either kill both or die.

Henry almost ran against the wall of stone that bordered the beach and heard the rats laugh in the distance. "He thinks he can escape, Hassell, can you believe that? Come out, human, come out – and we promise we'll make it quick – maybe!" Their croaky laughter rang in his ears.

Henry knew it was a bad idea to run, that they were much faster than him, but he did it anyway. He kept his hand on the wall as to not lose it and stumbled forward into the darkness.

The laughter in his back swelled. "Aww... he thinks he can run away from us – isn't that cute, Hassell?" – "How very cute indeed – who should get the honor of slicing his little throat, you or me?"

Henry tried to ignore the mocking, all he did was run, as fast as he could. Then all of a sudden the wall gave way and he felt a small crack, barely wide enough to squeeze through. Henry didn't give it much thought, he dove in immediately.

It was harder with the backpack on then it would have been without it, but he managed to disappear in the niche at the last second. Behind him, he could hear the claws of one of the rats hit the stone and make an unnerving screeching sound. Their curses were deafening when they realized the crevice was too tight for them to follow.

"You know you can't stay in there forever, pup!" One of them screamed while working the stone with his claws. "We will get you eventually!"

"Get you! Get you!" Their voices echoed from the walls, making them even louder and more terrifying.

Henry knew they were right, but he still triumphed. This was exactly what he had needed. Quickly he sat down his backpack, as far as the tiny cave permitted away from the claws of the rats, and pulled out the ignifer. Within a minute his sword was ready and he was about to ignite it when he realized he had another problem.

The rats blocked the crack that he had come in through, and quickly discovered was the only possible exit, with their bodies. They were constantly pushing each other out of the way to peek inside and reach for him with bared talons. He would need a distraction to even make it out of here.

Without further ado, Henry decided to test something. He picked up a stone that was fit for his slingshot and covered it in ignifer. Then he lit it up. It burned much worse than the blade, as the substance had been created for smooth surfaces specifically, but it would suffice.

"Hey, you fat fleabags out there!" He called, already having readied the sling with the burning stone, "take this for "he won't put up much of a fight"!"

The rats were startled from surprise this kid dared to insult them for a second, which Henry used. He shot the stone through the crack in the wall, directly in between the two rats. They cried in surprise and anger, and darted backward.

That's when Henry ignited his sword. The rats didn't know what hit them when the exiled prince, having left his backpack in the niche, leaped out into the open, flaming sword raised.

He remembered Thanatos, and sounded a battle cry, much like the flier liked to do. The rats were so startled by the fact that their "easy snack" suddenly swung a burning sword at them, that they didn't know how to react.

Henry slit the throat of the one he believed was called Hassell within moments, not allowing him any time to react or fight back. That's when his companion came to his senses again.

He voiced a terrifying scream and leaped in Henry's direction, but instinctively drew back when the exiled prince swung the burning sword at him. "He wields fire!", Henry thought he made out among the confused cry of the second rat and grinned.

The flames from the sword illuminated Henry's face and made it dance with ghastly shadows. "Yes, I wield fire. I'd ask you to warn your fellow fleabag-friends, but sadly you won't get the chance."

Their fight was shorter than Henry had anticipated. The flaming sword had thrown the rat so off guard Henry managed to thrust it into his neck only moments later. With a high-pitched scream from the fire that ended in a gurgling noise when his own blood caused the rat to choke, he fell over at last – dead.

Henry stood over the two bodies, burning sword still in hand, panting from the fight. Only now he realized he had just taken out two grown rats on his own, and a wave of fresh confidence and pride hit him.

Still – he suddenly asked himself where they had come from. They certainly hadn't lived here, or else there would be dozens more attacking him this very moment – but in that case, where had they come from? What did they want? And most importantly – would more follow?

Henry was so absorbed in his thoughts that at first, he didn't notice the numerous shadows that now assembled around him. When he suddenly had the feeling he was being watched and raised his head at last, they had already surrounded him.

Henry froze in surprise. Around him and the bodies of the rats now cowered, always making sure to keep a safe distance to the flaming sword, more than a dozen crawlers. They were all staring at him, as if too intimidated to approach until a single individual left the crowd and raised its voice – "Save us, the Wielder of Light will, save us."