Convergent Realms

I

At the same time as all of this, several other events unfolded, the first of which can be told from an image.

The entrance to the cave was a sight to behold. It was a black hole, an absence of light, at least compared to the bright colors of the nature behind it. A man clothed in metal stood at the entrance of the cave, and his scaly companion fell next to his right.

The man's name was Edwin, which was certainly not a name fit for a warrior, much less a knight. Yet there he was, standing at the mouth of a cave which would certainly cause his unwanted demise. He took several shallow breaths, trying to calm himself, but it worked very little if at all.

With faux iron will, he stepped through the entrance of the cave and into the beyond. The ground was somewhat mushy, made of some material less dense than dirt but wetter than the sands of the beaches. If he wore his normal outfit, he would hate stepping on the material, but since he'd become a knight, he'd gotten much nicer shoes, so he stepped on.

There was very little life to be seen inside the cave, and except for the footsteps of Edwin and the rat-a-tat-tat of claws against the ground from Pearl's claws, they seemed to be all alone. Just them, the fungus, and the dark stone wall which now encapsulated them.

That didn't last for long though. As the pair trudged through the cave, stepping lightly yet efficiently, a small critter lunged out at the knight. Edwin, forgetting he had one of the best weapons a man could have, panicked immediately and tried to smack it away from him.

The defense failed miserably, and whatever had lunged on him was now latched to his left arm, wildly biting across his skin. Edwin still hadn't come to his senses before Pearl unleashed her tongue, guided it towards the animal, and caught it, dragging it back towards her mouth. The only thing Edwin saw when he spun his head wildly, searching for whatever that thing was, was Pearl, currently enjoying a nice snack.

He grinned ear to ear and rewarded Pearl with a pat on the head, which she thoroughly enjoyed. Pearl was special. She wasn't like anything Edwin had ever seen, she looked like a cat if it were a reptile, and acted like one too. Edwin knew she'd been alive since before he was born, which had to be more than 20(ish) years, but he knew of nothing before that.

He switched his concentration back to where the animal had come from and took the time to think and unsheathe his polished sword. It shimmered in the dark, which confused him for a moment, but he didn't have time to ponder over it before the animal's friends came. Edwin soon learned it was an unrelenting pack of large flies.

He was sure that there was a name for them and that he'd probably seen him before, but all he could do now was wave his sword wildly, attempting to hit flies with it. Magically, he did manage to slice a fly or two in half, but that could have just been because there were so many of them. Then each fly chose a part of his body and threw themselves at it, hurting not much more than his balance.

But as he began to fall, he felt the stinging. All over his body red welts appeared, some drawing blood, and he screamed. He couldn't see Pearl but knew that she was fighting off the flies about as well as he was. His head crashed against the mushy floor, and he realized it was all a mushroom-like fungus. He tried his best to crawl away from the flies but they were much faster than him. His body ached, and they lurched at him once more. Just as he was thinking he might die from flies, he was saved.

A hooded figure with a torch scared away most of the swarm, and the stragglers who decided to be brave were turned into small bits of ash with one swing of the torch. Edwin stayed on the ground, now fearing for his life for another reason, but death never came. Instead, he was lifted over the man's shoulders and carried out of the cave, back into the light of the day. Only an hour or two had passed.

Edwin was carried across the flat grasslands of the first Step. The man carrying him had to be relatively strong to not stop at all or breathe heavily, and Ellwin began to wonder where he was being taken, but he was too weak to ask. He was much too weak to do anything, really, so he just sat cradled in the arms of the man, waiting for his final destination.

At some point, he recalled drifting off, but he was awoken in a rather dark place. His eyes needed to adjust, but he thought he could see holes of light coming through a dark sky. It took a minute or two before he realized the man had put him on the ground, but when he tried to stand up, he felt a shock of pain throughout his spine.

"Easy there little fella" the hooded man spoke quietly from behind him. "It's going to take you a while to get back on your feet. For now, take this." The man turned Edwin around and fed him some hot, viscous substance which Edwin quite enjoyed. He didn't bother asking what it was or speaking at all. All he wanted to do was sleep, and sleep he did.

When he awoke once more, he felt oddly rejuvenated. At first, he'd thought the man had left, since it was awfully quiet, but upon lifting his head (ow) and looking around, the man was asleep in the same position where he was when Edwin awoke the first time. His hood was lifted off of his head, and Edwin could see short black hair, messy and disheveled from being out too long. Edwin supposed his hair looked something like that, not black of course, but that blonde that was common among the Elvish.

Edwin looked up, and to his surprise, a canopy of leaves obstructed his vision. He hadn't ever seen that before, but when he realized where he was, he lurched up. He may have been in the most dangerous place in the Steps, but his body didn't much care. He managed to stand up for about a second before his entire body came crashing down in pain. His mind went blank, and he was unconscious once again.