I awoke thinking for a moment that it had all been a nightmare... that I hadn't been captured attempting to steal that box. Unfortunately the moment I thought about the box, everything came back to me at once. "So, you're conscious again... that's good. We'll need to get moving soon." "...Getting moving? Where exactly do you plan on traveling to? If you're right about what happened after the box was opened, there won't be any place left to travel to." "True, and I don't have any idea of what the surrounding area is like... and even if I did, that knowledge would have been rendered useless by the destruction that has been wrought on the land. However, what I DO know is that we'll die if we stay here. There's no food, no water, and no shelter here."
I started getting a bit annoyed with my (for the most part) mysterious companion. "I can take care of myself! I'm a master thief from a long line of master thieves!" "You WERE a master thief... there's no place for a thief in the world now. Your skills will need to be put to other uses if you wish to survive. Besides, you're NOT one of your ancestors, and the world now would be far more friendly to them than it would be to you. You have just as little knowledge of the state of the world now as I do... and even less knowledge of what dangers lie out there now. If you travel by yourself, you will end up dead, murdered... or eaten." "Eaten? What do you mean by that? Was there more than just that destructive energy contained in that box?" "l was about to explain that; you looked like you would have dropped dead of fright if I'd told you before. I mean that quite literally."
My companion explained what he meant... and saying it wasn't pleasant to listen to would be a major understatement. "The first time the hatred and sorrow that was in that box was unleashed upon the world, some of the dark energies it possessed ended up giving birth to horrific monsters. In other cases, it destroyed the minds of many of those who survived in body, making them mindless creatures who sought only to kill others. The hatred and sorrow also awoke the spirits of those long dead, usually the spirits of those who had died tragically and/or violently... or those who died with immense hatred in their hearts." "Great... so you're telling me that the world is now one big horror movie? If this is meant to make me feel better, you're not doing a very good job of it." "I'm trying to tell you WHY you can't travel alone. I can provide some protection against the dangers that you have no defense against. Likewise, your abilities will perhaps be essential to my survival, and almost certainly to the survival of others."
I was about to retort, but my companion's eyes suddenly went wide with shock just as something began to strangle me. "A criminal like YOU survives when a servant of justice like ME perishes! I'll remedy that right now!" I knew that voice... it was the prison warden, and I instinctively tried to escape from the chokehold around my neck by fighting back in any way I could... but it didn't work. After all, the warden was already dead in body, so it was his spirit which was trying to kill me. The hold around my neck increased in strength, and and as I fell to my knees and my sight started to cloud, I thought it was all over. In the end I was right about that, but I was wrong about who it was over for.
"Desist, spirit of hatred! Begone from this world!" A flash of light pierced my clouded vision, and the grip the spirit had on my neck first loosened, then was completely released. I coughed for a few moments before I was able to breathe normally again. "What right do YOU have to stop me? You're a CRIMINAL just like HIM! I was going to let you try to run away and prolong your miserable life for a little while, but now I'll kill you and then I'll deal with Cooper!" I turned to see that the spirit of the warden (which had an face that was so high on the ugly scale that it could have probably stopped Big Ben) was threatening my companion... but he didn't seem the slightest bit scared. "A criminal according to the law... yes. However, the motives behind my actions were motivated by a desire to prevent the contents of the box from ever being released again. You have no such excuse for the motives behind your actions when you were alive, and for what you just tried to do... BEGONE!" A second flash of light sped from the outstretched hand of my companion and enveloped the spirit of the warden. "THIS CAN'T BE!" With that last howl, the spirit was engulfed by the light and then the light vanished, leaving no trace of the spirit behind.
My companion stood there for a few moments, and then turned around. His face showed no emotion, and I suddenly noticed his eyes were different colors: his left eye was purple and his right eye was yellow. His expression quickly changed to one of concern, and he hurried over to me. "Are you OK? No, that's a stupid question... you nearly got strangled to death by a spirit... and one holding immense hatred at that." "How did you figure that out? The fact that it was the spirit of the prison warden, or was it the fact that the face of that spirit could have killed both of us if looks could actually kill?" "Humor... that's a good sign. You're rebounding quickly. In answer to your question, it's the latter. The greater the hatred possessed by a spirit, the more abhorrent it appears."
Several hours later, the two of us found a stream, and my companion caught some fish that I cooked over a campfire. Not exactly what I was used to, but after all that time in prison (eating food that tasted worse than the spirit had looked), it tasted as good as... well, as good as it felt pulling off the heist of the Clockwerk Wings. Under normal circumstances, I would stayed there a few more days (especially because there was a forest nearby that I could use to get my skills back up to par), but given the current circumstances, I suggested that we stay where we were until the next morning, and then get moving again. "Good idea," my companion said. "I would suggest we travel up this stream, as it will certainly lead to a larger stream or river. Once there I'll be able to determine in which direction we should travel." "How are you going to do that?" "All things in good time, Cooper. All things in good time."
As night approached, my companion drew several rings around our campsite and inscribed them with strange symbols. "Runes of warding and protection. An absolute necessity if we want to have a good chance of waking up." "A good chance of waking up tomorrow morning?" "Runes of warding are used to ward off dangerous creatures, and runes of protection is self-explanatory. Good night, Cooper." With that, my companion walked over to his "bed" (which like mine was actually a section of ground that we had covered with grass blades) and went to sleep. I went to sleep a hour later, wondering why my companion had answered my question by explaining what the runes did. It was a good thing I wouldn't figure out until the next morning that my question had been answered, since I wouldn't have been able to go to sleep. Considering I nearly been strangled to death by one of those "dangerous creatures" earlier that day, the reason why that would have been the case should be obvious... as obvious as the fact the runes ended up working perfectly. The next morning, we both headed upstream like my companion had suggested. I still didn't know how he was going to determine the direction we should travel next, but I didn't have any better ideas to suggest. I just hoped my companion knew what he was doing...
