”There. That should do it.”, I said after a painstaking process of somehow setting up the tent, BY MYSELF, might I add. Do you know how hard that is to do when nobody is helping you?

No, then you don't know what I just had to go through to make this thing stand straight and not fall apart.

Yes, I congratulate you. You are awesone and a badass.

It was a pretty small tent, only able to fit two people inside. I desided to suffer the cold night and give the tent to the girls. Besides, this is a good setup. If any wild animals deside to come too close, I could ward them off. The wounds on my shoulders shouldn't hinder me too much. The pain had already passed and now they were only mildly sore. I could shut that out with no problem.

The moment the tent was done, Elie dived in, almost knocking me over in the process. ”Hey, where are the blankets?”, came her voice from the inside.

”I didn't have time to get them out yet.” I said camly. I reached into my chest pocket and pulled out two thick blankets. Elie snatched them and they were immidietly pulled into the tent.

'No ”thank you”? That bitch!'

It's not that bad. I have sometimes been called a saint because of my patience.

'That's bullshit! You just bottle it all inside.'

Changes nothing.

The sun was almost completely beyond the horizon.

Eve was about ot enter the tent, but stopped at the entrance. I saw her gazing at my direction

”Go on. Get some rest.” I said. She waited a moment before nodding and going inside. I sighed. ”God's know you'll need it.”

I went to sit under a nearby tree that was about five feet from the tent. Taking the lotus position I began to meditate and gather my thoughts, while keeping my other senses vigilant.

Okay, this is what I have noticed from my hammespace. When I reach into it, it automatically knows what I am searching for and provides it to me. Very easy to manage. Maybe I should come up with a name to call that space by. Hammerspace sounds kind of stupid and un-original.

What could it be?

…....

I have desided. It shall be called The Void. It's simple, fitting and makes sense. Good enough for me.

Now, I have encountered two fragments of my soul. My evil and my........ femininity. God I feel wrong just saying that. Does that mean that there are other sides to me that I don't know about? If so, then how many of them could be bad? It really was quite confusing.

Hmm, maybe I could ask Dagon about this. I'm sure he'd know.

I start to let my conciousness fade away and let the darkness take over.

…..........

”It is good to see you again, Hollow.”

I open my eyes an find myself standing in the the white world.

”You look like you've been in a fight.”, Dagon said after inspecting me.

”You could say that.” I said and cracked my neck. ”Almost lost and got my friend killed.” I said slowly. ”I got too confident. Let it blind my judgement.”

Dagon nodded. ”That is human nature. Few can see past the shroud called confidence.” He said in his mysterious tone. ”Tell me, who were you fighting.”

”A fragment.” I said. ”My evil.”

”So you faced Xolhowl.”

My heart must have stopped for two seconds. How did he know that thing.

”I sense you are confused. You see, Xolhowl was the shadow you faced here when you first arrived. He must have been powerful.” He said and turned his back to me to look at nothing in particular.

”..... Yeah.” I reluctantly admitted. ”If it wasn't for another piece, I would have died a lot sooner.”

”So, Elie got out and helped you. Just as I instructed her.”, Dagon said.

I should have guessed. ”We still would have died though, if it wasn't for my brother's sudden appearance.”

This seemed to get his attention. ”Your..... brother? How? You were the only one I was able to save before your world was swallowed by darkness.” Was that disbelief in his voice?

”He said something about Sheogorath sending him here.”

”Sheo....”, He stopped. And shook his head. ”So he has joined that infernal game as well. I don't see why they won't realize. That cursed game will not bring anything good.”

”So you object of the other god's choice to participate?”, I asked, curious to hear his answer.

”You could say that. When this all started, I got this bad feeling. I know to trust these feelings of mine. I don't know what will happen, if anything at all. But when it does, it won't be good.”

That sounded very interesting. I was actually wanting to see what would happen. I desided to chance the topic. ”So, My brother beat my evil fragment and it disappeared in a puff of dark smoke.”

Dagon seemed to tense slightly and turned to face me. ”You mean you didn't absorb him?”

I shook my head. ”What does it matter. It's dead.”

”Oh, nonono. You don't understand.” He said and shaked his head. ”Your soul fragments can't die so easily. It will take some time, but Xolhowl will reform himself.” WHAT?! ”The only way to take care of a Soul Fragment permanently is to absorb it and make it a part of you again.”

So I will see that thing again. That is insane.

”It seems your time is running out.”

He was right. I started to wake up.

”Remember this.” He said. ”Protect those close to your heart.”

….........

And with that, I awoke.

I could see it was still dark. Once I gazed at the sky, I saw a moon float in the sky. It was midnight.

I looked at my hand. There was no way I could defeat Xolhowl if we met him again in my current state. I need to become stronger.

I got up and briefly stretched my limbs. I also inhaled the cool night air. It wasn't that dark. The moon and the stars left more than enough light to see.

Well, I was up. Might as well check how the girls were doing. I walked over to the tent, and lifting the canvas that acted as a door and peaked in.

I saw Elie snoozing soundly, wrapped in her blanket. She murmured something intangible in her sleep. When I looked around for Eve, I discovered that she wasn't there. I found that very odd, although I probably know where she is. I grabbed the free blanket and took it with me.

I began walking to the place she would most likely be. It really wasn't that far away. You could really walk there in a few minutes.

As I passed trees, I glanced to the sky. It was much like the night sky in my worlds. Well, when you could see it, anyway. It looked so beautiful. Words cannot describe how stunningly magnificent it was. I imagined that every one of those stars was their own little world. Too bad my world couldn't be there with them.

I arrived to the clearing where we had fought Xolhowl and buried the diamond dog pack it had killed. It was just as I had suspected. Eve sat there, in front of her father's, the diamond dog alpha's grave. Her ears drooped.

I walked towards her slowly and stopped just behind her. ”Cold?”

She tensed slightly, but as soon as she saw it was me, she relaxed. She sat there in silence for a little while. ”Little.”, She finally said.

I had planned for this. I put the spare blanket I had taken from the tent on her shoulders. She gave me a look that I couldn't quite distinguish. ”Thank you.”, She said softly.

I couldn't help but smile a little. Even if no one could see my expressions didn't mean I should ignore them. I sat there, right beside her. I took the lotus position and meditated, making a silent prayer for the dead in the process.

She glanced at me weirdly. ”What you doing?”

”I'm praying for the dead for a safe journey to the afterlife.” I said softly as I made a few gestures with my hand. It was my own personal prayer. First I made a cross shape on my chest, then I circled my hands in opposite directions, finally bringing them together in front of my stomach, the hands forming a cage of sorts. Finally, I finished the prayer with a light bow.

”Why?” She asked. ”They attack you and did bad things.”

I was silent and looked at the makeshift cross I had made. ”That is difficult to explain.” I saw her look at me expectantly. I could at least try. ”All life is connected. Loosely, but still.” I began with a calm voice. ”It is like a big spider's web. Each one of the millions of strands representing a different life. All strands are connected to even more strands. If you remove one strand, the others closest to it feel the effect.”

I looked at her, checking if she was keeping up. She seemed deep in thought and after a few minutes, she nodded.

I continued. ”Just like those strands, each life is connected to other lives. If the correct lives are lost.” I paused for dramatic effect. ”The rest of the lives closest to them will follow. If many such critical threads are lost, the web would become unstable. Take enough away, and it breaks away.”

I paused again. ”Every life, every death. They all have a matter. Be it good or bad. No one knows. Every life effects those around it, untill it binds them together.”

She seemed overwhelmed by what I said. I wasn't done yet, though. ”But death is necessary. If no threads disappear, more threads will gather. More and more, growing in number, untill finally the web cannot handle the weight. It will fall.” I said all that, the calmness in my voice. ”Just as life is important, so is death. It keeps the two in balance, preventing the web from coming completely apart.”

I looked at her again. ”Do you understand what I say?”

It must have been what felt like five minutes, but finally she spoke. ”Me not sure. All so complicated.”

”And rightfully so. I don't expect you to answer immidietly.” I said to her. ”This belief of mine is why I do not enjoy killing, but know that it is necessary to keep the balance.” I looked at all the graves, anger slowly gathering in my heart. ”This,” I pointed at the graves. ”is foolish waste of lives.”

”Why you tell me this?”

And like that, my anger was gone. ”Because I don't see any reason not to tell you. And that I trust you to eventually come to the correct conclusion.”

Her ears twitched slightly. ”You trust me?”

”Of course.” I said sincerely. ”Ever since we talked in that jail cell.” It was no lie. It was then when I saw Eve as what she was. Small, fragile, scared and most of all, kind.

I saw a small smile on her lips, just for a split second. Then her attention turned to her father's grave. ”Back then.” She said. ”That thing attacked. Me felt weak, helpless.” She sounded disappointed of herself. ”Me want stronger.” She said with new fire in her eyes.

I looked at the night sky. ”Then come with me.” She looked mildly suprised at my request. ”I can teach you.”

She smiled, now more visibly. ”Me will be happy to.”

'Okay, first of all, teach her to speak properly.'

All in time, Brain. All in time.

I got up and offered my hand to Eve. She took it and I helped her up. ”We better get to camp. We'll get moving in the morning. The destination will be determined at dawn.” She nodded and followed me.

The two of us got to the camp safely. After we said our goodnights, she went to sleep inside the tent. I went to sit under the same tree as before. I waited there and guarded the camp untill sleep finally got to me. The last thought I had before fading into the dreams, was how nice Eve's smile looked.

-Morning, around 8 a.m-

I had gotten up pretty early. Eve and Elie were still sleeping so I desided to take out a map I had been given in Trottingham. I tried to pinpoint our location in the Everfree, which prooved very frustrating. I finally managed to find where we roughly were. Considering we really couldn't go to Trottingham anymore meant that I needed to learn of this world in greater detail somewhere else. I needed to find a library or an archieve.

According to the map, the closest town from here was a place called Ponyville. Guess, we'll head there and try our luck.

I looked at the map and saw many cities. Stalliongrad? Manehattan? Phillydelphia? Talk about punny names. Shade would love these.

….........

Speaking of that asshole, I wonder what he is doing.

[Third person mode-active]

Unknown to Hollow and his friends, there was some commotion in Trottingham, the city that Hollow and Eve left yesterday.

”Run! The monster will eat us!”, Cried a mare.

So we hear Hollow talking to Dagon and finding out that Xolhowl is not completely gone. We also hear him talk about his beliefs and him talking like a wise sage about life and death.

And Hollow has a point. What IS Shade doing?

Always watching,

Doctor D, The Sage Next Chapter: The Shade Files I Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 19 Minutes