Ashes of the Fallen

Now, hah, now all I had to do was turn my head to the side and look at my creation. All of the hard work, the countless hours spent digging, chopping, carrying, to prepare the buildings, all the days out in the forest hunting and exploring, and even the time devoted to scaling the mountain… all of it, led to this moment.

I had accomplished what I set out to do.

Premature celebration, perhaps, but I was on my way.

When you've failed, and find yourself in a hole, it's not about the big successes and the end goal. It's about the small steps and realizing that every little accomplishment adds up. I still had an end goal, but I was going to realize the success that had already happened.

Yeah, it was a good day.

A few hours had gone by as I had fallen asleep in the sun, only to wake to a sleeping Selene on my arm. The sun was setting now and the party was long over as the reddish-purple sky began to shift into its lightshow mode. The aurora was coming next, intermixed with countless stars that seemed too bright to be real, but without the light pollution of a large city, it was nature at its finest.

Beautiful, was one word to describe it.

The cool, late summer breeze hit my bare skin as I stretched out and wrapped Selene up in my arms. She didn't wake up, but that was fine. Moments like these were nice in their own way.

Watching the aurora as it floated about, pulsating and waving, a kaleidoscope of colors enthralling and entertaining. Blues, greens, purples, pinks, yellows, and reds, all the vibrant colors one could think of, all visible and ever-changing.

The reflection of the moon on the river's surface held still and stood out amongst the smaller stars and colorful sky, but it was a calming presence. That singular white circle, large enough to hold in your hands, illuminated the entirety of the village on this cloudless, cool summer night.

Closing my eyes, I went back to sleep.

Life was good.

Chapter 64: The Day After

(Monday, September 20th Game Day / Monday, March 29th Real Day)

Logging back in and finding myself lying alone on the river bank, I looked down the river and noticed that the longship had already departed on its voyage. The trade master, two sailors, and nine warriors made up the crew that would travel to the eastern side, where they would partake in the trading of goods and receive payment for prior products already delivered.

A simple thing, left for them to handle.

It was already mid-day as the sun was directly overhead by the time I made it over to the cabin. Inside, Selene and Katherine were playing with the kittens while Barkley was sitting calmly by the fireplace.

"Have you girls seen Milly?" I asked with a little interest.

She was attached to my hip the entire trip… then once we arrived at the village she was always running around, talking to others. I hadn't actually talked to her since we came back. I thought that was a bit odd, and something about her had bothered me.

"She left this morning, headed south along the river," said Selene nonchalantly.

"Oh, passed right by us then?" I questioned, with a confused expression.

"Not quite, she entered the trees and snuck around us," Selene explained. "She was acting quite oddly, as if she didn't want to be seen."

"Ah, I see."

That was certainly odd behavior.

Something was bothering me.

Opening my friend's list, Milly was no longer on it, either.

Curious, I tried to add her and found that she had blocked me.

Something definitely, was wrong here.

"I'll be back, I want to check something."

Heading outside and north to the mountain wall that closed off the top portion of our village, I scaled the wall with a combination of [Flash Steps] and a few jumps. Standing at the top, a relative hundred feet or so above the village, I cast my [Keen Sight] and began to stare southwards.

Nothing appeared except for a few glimmers of small animals, as I sat down and began to think over the past events. To my knowledge, I hadn't done anything over the past few days to piss her off, unless she saw my relations with Katherine and Selene and found them disgusting. If that were the case, I guess it didn't matter much to me.

Somehow, I didn't think that was it though.

She wanted to come to the North for some reason, supposedly because she wanted to relocate here. If the area wasn't for her, would she need to block me?

That didn't add up.

Her information came from the Alpha and Beta Meeting, which was filled with a lot of overachievers, generally speaking. A lot of hostile players from hostile guilds attended those meetings. Quite a few players that I didn't really agree with and had already butted heads with on occasion.

That was what was bothering me.

When Emily advertised my territory, it put a target on my back.

I was expecting it.

Someone, at some point, would come to challenge me.

Even this far north, out of sight and out of mind, I was harmless to at least ninety-nine percent of the population.

That didn't matter though.