Zelgadis grunted as he sat up, he felt terrible. His entire body ached. He looked up above, it was nighttime, or at least it appeared to be. It was really hard to tell if the events that occurred in this world worked in normal time, or one of its own design. He heaved a sigh and looked around himself.

Beside him the wolf slept and across from him, by the well was a campfire. The dead serpent's body had changed in no way, an unmoving bloody shadow of what it had once been. Then a thought dawned on him. Who had built the fire? He had no recollection of doing so, had someone found him? He looked at himself. His shirt robes had been removed and his shoulder wound was now dressed. He could feel the affects of the poison were no longer about him.

His pants, which had also been removed, lay with the rest of his clothes on the ground nearby. He blushed, half-embarrassed and half-angry at whoever had seen fit to remove his lower body garments. He shrugged it off, whoever had healed him saved his life and he had no right to be angry with anyone with such good intentions. But who was responsible?

Moments later, after Zelgadis had finally dressed himself, he sat down closer to the fire. The wolf awoke and stretched; yawning it padded over to Zel and sat by his side. Zel was fully aware of the wolf's presents now and wasn't taken by surprise when it sat by him.
" Did you heal me boy?" Zel asked the dog, staring into the fire.

The dog shook its head when Zel looked at it and then lay down, ready to go back to sleep. " You freed me master, and for that I am grateful to you, but I am not the one who healed your wounds. If I recall correctly she left not long ago."

Zel nodded, he understood that it was the wolf he was hearing, he just didn't know why he could hear it. He ruled the unknown answer off as unimportant and returned his attention to the blazing fire. " What is your name wolf?" Muttered the chimera, point a burning log with a stick.

The wolf lifted its head from its front paws and looked up at Zel. " Tae Grif. Call me Tae Grif." It responded, closing its eyes. " You know; I've been waiting a long time to be freed. Unlike many things here I've been here since this accursed place was created."

Zel raised an eyebrow and then glanced at the wolf with hope in his eyes. " Perhaps you could help me then. Like you, I also suffer from a curse, and I too wish to be freed."

" A curse? You call yourself cursed?!" The wolf growled and then stood, making Zel go for his sword. It laid back down sorrowfully, looking a the fire before it. " I'm sorry, I had no right to do that. Of course I'll help you master, after all, I am in debt to you." The wolf looked up at Zel apologetically, as if looking for some direction.

Zel quickly forgot his sword and waved the apology away. " Yes I know I sound a little weak, using words such as 'suffer'. My 'problem' really has a long story but it's not important."

" As you would have it, I would not have you tell me anything that you didn't want me to know. As for finding you a cure, I will help as much as I can." The wolf got to its feet; it was no longer tired. " I will see you in the morning master, I am off to guard the northern passage, do not worry, no one will bother you this night." The wolf trotted of in the direction opposite of which Zel had come from earlier that day.

Zel tossed the stick he had been holding into the fire and laid on his back, his arms now folded behind his head. It was then that he understood that he was not meant to walk this path alone. No matter how hard he tried; the Gods would always sent someone to help him over the larger obstacles. He should have never turned down his friends. Now that he had been alone again, he realized how much he didn't like it. He was glad that he had another person to travel with; even if he was a wolf. Zel didn't know if he could trust Tae Grif yet, but he hoped that he would turn out like the others that tried to help him.

He had begun to think about his friends, when he heard a noise. He leapt to his feet and his sword was quickly in hand. He was about to call ask who was there when a young woman stepped out of the shadows, the fire light shining on her smiling face. She had black hair and was dressed in white clothing. She stood there looking at him with her eyes shimmering and her arms folded across her breasts. She ran to him with her arms outstretched and hugged him. He put his arms around her and held her head against his chest. He pulled her away from him and looked at her tear-streaked face. " You shouldn't have come." He sighed.