Nile noticed something changed in him.

While he had no fear when it come to gore, blood or the idea of hurting someone. He was cold toward acts of violence. He could blame the society for that part, one's emotion would harden after they had seen their co-workers end their life due to stress once or twice. He stayed away from fighting due to how complicated they could be, but had no problem if he had to use violence. He didn't enjoy them or hate them, not at all.

But something changed. He had no emotion at all when he attacked the horde of goblins. He had no emotion when he fought in real life, but he still had sympathy. But no sympathy was given to them. If this was a game, it was normal to not feel anything since it was all codes and shapes.

This… fight, if he could call it that, was real. Everything, from the blood dripping on his axe, the teeth and shattered bone stuck on his shield, the brain matter scattered on the ground. If it was the normal Nile, he would at least cringe at the sight. But he didn't feel a thing. No remorse, no sympathy, no hatred. It was normal and at the same time, bizarre.

After the bloodshed was done, he looked around. Burned houses, raided farm, broken fences. Charred corpse, mutilated bodies and the lucky few left intact but not survived. Whatever the goblins wanted to do here, they succeeded and made sure there was nothing left. He sighed, or more like a little breeze came out of the joints and open areas of the armor, like steam came out of a heated machine.

Something moved nearby, he could feel it. He turned his gaze toward the reeds.

A little boy, about 10 or 12 years old, hid within the reeds. The only survivor.

Nile holstered his axe and walked toward the child. He was scared, his body tried to shrink down as much as he could, arms and legs tried to cover his head. As he got closer, the child screamed. He screamed for a whole half of a minute, then started to cry. Nile kneeled down. He decided to let the child calm down first. After the child had emptied his reserve of tear, he opened his eyes and looked at the knight.

"Be not afraid, little one."

Nile tried to make his voice as calm as possible and warmed it up. He succeeded somewhat in the calm part, but his voice was still steel cold.

The boy looked at him. His face was paled with fear and dread.

Nile thought it was because of the goblins. But he soon realized the real problem.

The aftermath of the 'fight' was a perfect painting if it was used to convey the mentality of a psychopath. To get this straight, it was a slaughter, and not just a normal slaughter, a slaughter made with every method of killing possible, from slicing to skull bashing. If it was an oil painting, it would be worthed to be display in a warcrime themed gallery. While Nile had no feeling, the child do.

An invisible anvil made of guilt was chained to him. He might or might not gave this child a PTSD, and possibly his second if he had one from the goblin raid, which certainly happened.

Not just that, he was no better than the scenery. His guildmates often say he looked too intimidating to new players. Some said it was becaused of the armor he chose was too realistic and 'gothic', althought it was based on Greenwich's design. He was careless and let a lot of blood and gore splattered on his armor and weapons. As he thought, he looked at the hand he offered to the boy, the back of it still had fresh blood dripped down. Basically, he looked like a monster in the eyes of the boy. Nile silently cursed in his mind and wondered if he should wash himself first then return to the boy. But while his mind was drifting, he felt a small hand in his palm.

The boy grabbed his hand and used it to steady himself. Nile got a better look at the boy.

He had bright green eyes, contrasted well with his red hair. There was a small scar on his left eyebrow. He wore a simple shirt made from tough linen, covered in dirt and mud.

The boy stood up and stared at him.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"How rea ouy?" The boy replied.

To be honest, Nile didn't expect this scenario since he still hoped that this was part of the game. Even when he had the feeling this was another world, he didn't have a sliver of a thought that he would have to face it. One of the worst enemy in the world was in front of him: language barrier.

He slowly stood up, put his hand on the boy's shoulder and patted both of his arms. Then pointed at the boy, then to the ground, tried to stress his action. He was no expert in body language, but conveying simple words into actions didn't require much knowledge to do.

"Stay here."

He slowly walked back, then to the river. He washed his armor and weapons, still kept his eyes on the boy. The boy seemed to understand what he tried to tell him to do and stood stil, either that or he was too scared to move. Nile also pulled his throwing axe out of the skull of the orge, the boys shook a little bit at the sight.

When he was done, he looked at the boy, unsure of what he should do with him. Left him here, he had no chance of surviving alone. But bring the child with him wasn't a good choice, he wasn't good in dealing with kids, nor he actually knew where he would be heading toward. Bring him to the Archive… could be a choice, but that mean he would have to take the responsibility in raising him, which he didn't want to. He secretly wished that Babayaga was alive like Gorthor. If the ox became alive like this, why wouldn't a NPC be?

Leaving him was out of the question, he couldn't do it to a child, even when he knew that he would feel nothing from doing it. Maybe there were more villages out there, he could bring the child to them. But did they have orphanage? What if the child become an outcast? With the PTSD it received from this event, it would be bad if he is raised in negligence.

A thousand thought circled through his mind, hundred of possibility created and calculated within seconds.

The boy's fear started to fade, and the curiousity of a child surfaced. He looked at the creature, tried to finger out what it was.

The creature stood still for a moment. Then it moved. It turned its head and shouted something. Slowly, a cow like creature walked toward it. The cow was lenient, but it also had that strange carapace.

The creature pointed at him, then to the cow. At first, he thought it want to feed him to the cow, but the creature moved and climbed upon the cow, patted on the cow's back. It wanted him to ride it.

Hesitant at first, but he slowly moved toward the enormous cow. The creature offered its hand to him again. He grabbed it but couldn't climb up the cow's back. The creature saw him struggled to get on, it let out a breeze and dismounted to put him on the cow. It put his hand on the saddles, he tighten his grip. The creature jumped on to the cow and sat in front of him. It then put his hand on its hip and said something. He didn't understand what it was, but he understood that it wanted him to hold on to it.

The boy held tight, and the cow started to move. Just some small trots, then it gained speed and started to run. Despite the speed of the cow, and the wind arround him, he felt safe and stable on its back. They traveled beyond the forest, and toward the mountains.

They rode on the cow for an ammount of time. When they stopped, it was already dusk. The creature took out a metal box with drawings on it and opened it. Inside of the box was two arrow heads, each pointed at different direction. The creature 'looked' at the box, and slightly jerked it head back to observe the area. It then closed the box and dismounted. It waved at the boy, beckoned the cow to follow. The boy still on the cow, turned his head toward where they were going.

The compass pointed northwest, but he felt like something was off. They were heading toward a mountain, and the further they went, the worse the road became. Sometime a rock block their way, or they met a cluster of trees too thick for Gorthor. And when it pointed toward a cliff, he had enough. Of course, the musk ox had no problem with that, it could charge through a wall without breaking a sweat. But it was inconvenient, and he didn't want to damage the natural habitat. The forest gained a soft spot in him, mostly due to how they treated Earth's natural forest back home.

He jumped down from Gorthor and went forward to scout the area. Beyond the cliff was a larger path, that was a good thing. He then looked down to see if there were anything under the cliff. The setting sun was nice. With the mountain breeze, he felt relax. Everything was so calm and serene. Something he rarely had the chance to see for a long time. But what caught his eyes were the lights underneath the cliff. Small lights came from torches, and a campfire in the middle of them all.

"A town…"

The town was quite large, it also had a layer of wall protecting it. He could see the town square, and the fields surrounded the area. He could make out what looked like a market, which was empty since night had started to fall down. The town only had some wooden houses, the rest was wattle and daub. A little bit further from the residental area was a cluster of bright light, columns of smoke rose to the sky. Bloomeries, used to turn iron ores in to sponge iron. When he found the boy, he had half expected what the local civilization was like. They were in their middle age.

He looked at the boy, waved at him then tapped on the ground. Either it was too dark for him to see his gesture, or the boy just simply didn't understand it, he didn't leave the ox. Nile walked toward them and picked the boy up. Suddenly, the child retaliated and struggled to escape his grasp. Nile stumbled backward, put both of his hands to the air. The boy freaked out, he was scared. Nile looked at him, defeated. He forgot that the boy had just came out of a live and dead situation. Nile cursed himself, then approached the child with a calmer posture. He leaned down to the boy's eye level, then waved his hand toward himself, then pointed at the ground. He waited for a response.

The boy looked at the creature, fear in his eyes. It wanted him to jump down from the cliff, didn't it? It wanted to use him as a sacrifice to the monster like his mother told him when he did something wrong. He shrunk, tried to hold tight on the cow as the creature came toward him and tried to pick him up. He almost cried. But the creature stopped.

It stepped back, shook its head and sighed, or at least he thought it sighed. Then the creature stared at him again, his time it seemed to be calm and relaxed. It gestured him to get down from the cow. He stared back. Should he get down?

He could stay here, against that thing's will. It could properly pick him up if it wanted to, but it didn't. If he stayed on the cow, could it command the cow to shook him down or jump down the cliff? Could it be angered and decided to attack him? If he get down, there is a chance for him to run away. Could he ride the cow by himself and get out of here? Unlikely.

The boy took a deep breathe and got down from the cow, readied for what ever to come. But nothing came. The creature kneeled on one knee near the edge of the cliff, then pointed at something down there. Did it want him to jump down? Or was it telling him to see something? It signaled him to come over. Reluctant, he slowly moved next to it. Its finger still pointing at something down there.

Curious, he looked toward the dirrection it pointed at. What he saw was a strange and exciting scene to him

It was a city. It must be the Temple City. He remembered his father's stories about the city. About how great it was. And even in the dim light, he could see part of it. He could see the ancient wall made of smooth stone and bright bronze his father told him. He could make out some of the blue rock too. It was the first time he had seen this many houses and people.

"Od uyo wokn hist lapce?"

It said something? Sounded like a question, but about what? The city?

He didn't know what to say, and answered with a shook of his head.

The child shook his head. Nile pondered if that shook was because of he didn't understand him or he didn't know the city.

'Hell, it can even means yes in their culture and I have no means to confirm that.'

He sat down and gazed at the horizon. The compass pointed at the town, or the area near it. He was close, but he couldn't see the Archive's dome anywhere. At least the scenery was nice. He had seen the dawn and dusk in YGGDRASIL numerous time, but this time, it was real. Was it better than what YGGDRASIL had? Debatable. But it had some sentimental value to him.

Night had come. He decided to make a camp there and come into the town the next morning. He could just go to the town right at the moment, but the time weren't appropriate. He wanted to stroll around to find the Archive, but there was also the kid. The area they stood on wasn't too bad, they could stay there.

To him, the night was just breezy, but the kid wasn't the same. He was flesh and blood, and he could feel cold. Nile gathered some wood from the trees next to the cliff and made a campfire. He tried to find his lighter, only to realized that he didn't have one. Nor did he had something to use as a igniter. So he improvised.

"[Searing Smite]!"

He took a piece of wood then casted the spell. The piece of wood in his hand ignited. He hit the logs used for the campfire. A flame bursted out, lit the campfire.

'Neat! So I can still use magic like in YGGDRASIL.'

Nile looked at the still burning piece of wood in his hand, then tost it into the campfire. He looked up, and saw the boy stared at him with awe. He looked at Nile, then looked at a pile of small pieces of wood Nile stacked next to him. He pulled out two pieces, held one in his hand, then shouted something, hit the other piece of wood, but nothing happened. Nile looked at the boy, confused. Soon, he understood the boy's action and laughed.

The boy looked back at him, equally confused and curious. Nile's hollow chuckle died down. He took another piece of wood and threw it into the fire. The boy sat down next to him, kept on stared at him. He hug his legs and warm himself up with the fire.

A small rumbling sound came from the boy. But the boy didn't say anything. He just stared at the fire. Nile thought for a minute, then pulled out a piece of wyvern meat, skewered it with a thin stick and grilled on the fire. It was left inside of his inventory for quite a while, since the last time he encounter a wyvern. Normally, he would just place things like this into the guild's vault, but he forgot it was there and only remember its existence when he check his inventory.

Grilling wasn't hard, but he found it hard to do it right. He had only grilled meat once in his life, and in YGGDRASIL, he couldn't make food without equipment buffs since his race didn't have any job class related to cooking. He wondered if he had the chef jobclass, could he cook something like Nya-Nya-Kyu? One side of the piece of meat was cooked, but the other was still raw. After some struggle, he managed to cook the other side, while the cooked side almost burned. He handed the boy the skewered piece of meat.

The boy looked at the piece of meat for a second, then stared at him. He pointed at the area where his mouth supposed to be, then pointed at the boy's stomach. The boy stared at him for another moment, then started to dig in. Nile realized that he didn't even put any salt into it, and suddenly, he could hear Nya-Nya-Kyu voice echoed in his head. He chuckled when the memories about the rich girl and her passion for cooking came to his mind

At least the boy seemed to like the food. He wondered what it would taste like. He had always wanted to taste fresh food and non-chemical drinks. But back at home, that would be a luxury. And now, when they seemed to be abundant, especially in a world with real forest, he couldn't eat anything. How ironic.

When the boy swallowed the last piece of meat, he poured out a cup of purified water and gave it to him. It was supposed to be used in alchemy, but it should be safe to drink. The boy took the cup and gulped the water down. Nile started at the boy, imagined the water slowly went down from his mouth, to his throat then to his stomach, the refreshing feeling of the cool water flowed in his body.

Did he just developed a kink?

Nile shook his head and shrugged the thought off his mind.

The night covered the boy and the creature. He looked at the black creature, wondered if it was alive. It sat still, as still as the wood statue his grandfather gave him. The only sign of life in it was the shining blue eyes.

For what he felt like hours, they both sat in silence.

"Nile" It pointed at itself and spoke.

The boy looked up. The creature pointed at itself and repeated.

"Nile."

Then it pointed at him. It hand reached to his chest and poked him.

"Ouy?"

The boy looked at the creature, then to the hand as it retreated back. Did the creature asked him for his name?

Another minute passed. The boy's eyes still focused on the creature. With a deep breathe, he pointed at himself.

"Avon."

Then to the creature.

"Nile?"

It nodded.

Then it used one of its finger to draw something on the ground. A tall figure and a shorter one. The two held their hand together.

"Avon." It pointed at the shorter one, then to him.

"Nile." It pointed at the taller one, then to itself.

"Friends." It used its right hand to grab the left, imitate two hand holding each other.

What the word meant, he didn't know. But he could guess. It felt like the first time he met the kids in his village. Each one told him their name, then they started to play with each other. Did this creature want to be a friend to him? Or at least, it wanted to say that it was friendly?

"Fred?" He tried to imitate the word.

"Friend." Nile corrected him. "Avon. Nile. Friend."

Avon tilted his head. "Friend."

Nile tried to learn some words from Avon, or at least he hoped it was his name. But after a few attempts, he realized that the best he could was guessing the words of simple objects like a pepple or a stick. Even then, he wasn't sure if what he guessed that kid said was right. Many rivers were named Avon due to a mistranslation between the Roman and the Celt after all…

If Nile still had his sense of humour he would laugh his heart out when he remembered that random thing. He wondered if the word Avon in this language could mean 'human'. Sahara and Gobi deserts, Michigan and Ontario lakes, heck, Chinese even had the name 'man'.

One of his guildmate's, Z-Rén, name meant 'human' and he was also the only human player of the guild. Thus, he earned the nickname 'Mister Human'. Even in his class, Rén couldn't escape this nickname since it was also his real name. It was kind of weird when you student was also your friend in game.

Nile turned his gaze toward the boy. He slept in the fur of the musk ox. The ox didn't find it annoying, he even came closer to the boy so that he could use his fur as a blanket. He found the scene calming.

It reminded him of the time he camped with his friends at the farm.

The day was two eventful for him. Even after all that happened, he still couldn't believe that all of this was real.

"Open Player Interface."

He waved his hand in the air. Nothing happened. He shook his head.

His gaze turned back to the horizon. He suddenly 'felt' clueless, aimless and stranded.

Either his mind was too pacified, or his changes also affected his psyches, he hadn't thought about his home until then. While it wasn't much, he had something back there. A job, one he could proudly say that he was proud of it, despite of what other might say. His collection, which he spent a lot in. And his family…

The sun slowly rose from the end of the world. Time passed by much faster than he thought.