The sound of chirping birds was the first thing that greeted Abad when he woke up. The smell of soil and pine and petrichor came next. Pain followed. He tried to shift on the hard surface he was laying on, but a sharp jolt of pain through his skull encouraged him to stay still. Opening his eyes, he found himself looking up at a high stone ceiling, a faded fresco painted on its weathered surface. Surrounding the ceiling were thick stone pillars, and beyond those were trees.


    Wherever he was, it was warm. Warmer than his vault, certainly, and far brighter. He realized it likely had been at least a century since he saw the light of the towers. It made his eyes hurt. He tried to sit up, but pain lanced through his chest. He decided it would be prudent to stay still and laid back, resting his head against the warm stone. It would be fine to take some time and wait for his body to recover.


    His mind raced. Where was he? He had absolutely no idea where he ended up. He hadn''t had time to find a specific teleportation seal to travel to due to Nocturne''s meddling. He realized he could be absolutely anywhere in the ten kingdoms. He supposed he could be further still, but the light around him suggested he hadn''t traveled beyond the great wall. At least, that was what he hoped. He had heard rumors that other towers existed outside of the nine, far beyond the great wall. He prayed he wouldn''t have to learn the truth of those rumors this day.


    After some time, he was able to sit up and take stock of his surroundings. He tried to reach out with his senses to see if he could feel anything or anyone else in the area, but he was completely drained after the nearly catastrophically failed teleportation spell. He thanked the old book for giving him so much of its essence. Otherwise, he and Angra would be dead and gone for good this time.


    Wait. Where was Angra?


    He called out her name. No response.


    He sighed deeply. That was a problem. He tried to feel her through their bond, but he was too drained to do so. Drawing some mana from his ring, he focused on their bond... and couldn''t feel anything at all. She was either gone or distant. Either way, he felt her loss, if only a little.


    For a moment, he considered breaking their bond. It would be so simple to do. He could let it fade, and her essence would return to the void, and he''d free up some of his mana. His old self wouldn''t have hesitated to do so. Why did he now? She was insignificant in the grand scheme of things...


    No. He was fooling himself. He was fond of her and felt her loss. He realized, surprising even himself, that a part of him was deeply concerned for her. She could have ended up anywhere in Reial, and with so little magic available to him, it would be incredibly difficult to find her. The best he could do was travel and hope that he could find her through their bond. Otherwise, he might never see her again. He wouldn''t break their bond. She was all he had left.


    Finally gathering the courage, he slowly stood up, creaking and cracking as he did. When he finally pushed himself to his feet, he stood proud. It took a lot to break Abad-Shai. He had survived yet again against all odds. He truly was amazing.


    After taking a moment to admire himself, he realized he was becoming dizzy. Then, the world began to spin. Following that, his stomach churned. He doubled over and emptied the contents of his stomach to the floor. Heaving up everything that could be heaved, he fell to his knees and, desperate to not ruin his favorite traveling outfit, passed out next to his vomit.


    ***


    When he awoke, he realized he had lost several hours. The sky was beginning to dim, and the sounds of birds were replaced with the chirping of crickets. He didn''t feel quite so sore any longer, and his head didn''t hurt as much. Standing up, he felt some of his strength had returned. He figured now would be the time to plan and gather information about his surroundings. There was no telling where he was, so he needed to be prepared for anything.


    Looking around, it was clear that wherever he ended up was not inhabited, at least not in any time in the recent past. The fresco on the ceiling was faded and chipped, and the stonework of the gazebo was pitted and crumbling in many places. From the gazebo, he could make out bits of other stone structures throughout the forest, which were similar in style to the buildings the elves had created before the war with the Dark One, which had been a half century before he had been born. Assuming he had been asleep for a century, the ruins he found himself in were likely one of the elven settlements that were razed in the war.


    That was the best case scenario anyway. Worst case, these were druidic ruins. Druids would be able to see through the disguises he could conjure in his current state. If he had the misfortune of finding himself in ruins created by their people, he might well be dead before sunrise. He prayed that his luck was good today.


    Looking down at the floor, he could make out a magic circle carved into the floor. Its lines were deeply grooved, with only a small amount of essence remaining in them. The seal wasn''t in great condition and had already leaked most of the energy that had been forced into it by his spell. However, with just a bit of restoration, it could be usable once again. That thought brought a grin to his lips. If this indeed was an old settlement, it might have several such old enchantments ready to be restored. With a little bit of work, this place could be the beginning of his new rise to power.


    Deciding that it would be best to search the grounds, he set off to the nearest structure, some ways into the forest. After a bit of a walk, he could make out edges of what used to be a house. Its wooden roof had long since decayed, but hints of its previous beauty remained. Long colored glass windows, some still intact, lined the its outer walls, and there seemed to be a circular metal door built into the front of it. Most of the stones were covered in moss and ivy.


    Scraping the coverings away, he found the stonework to be worn but well-crafted. The stones blended into one another seamlessly, with neither mortar nor even lines indicating where each stone began and ended. Only the colors of the stones themselves gave any indication that the walls weren''t carved from a single primordial rock. Whoever built this structure had put a tremendous amount of time and effort into creating it, which hinted that this settlement may have had some significance before its fall.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    After circling around the house a couple of times inspecting its quality, he continued on to the next. Like the last building, it was designed and crafted with the same dedication as the previous one. Each stone was perfectly placed in seamless unity.


    Climbing onto a nearby stump, he looked through the forest in every direction. He could make out many more buildings throughout the trees. Taking his time in the dwindling afternoon light, he inspected many of them. After some time, he discovered something interesting: he found a familiar motif carved into the stone above the doorway of one of the larger buildings. It was a crescent moon rising above three stars. He grinned.


    These were definitely elven ruins. And judging from the quality of craftsmanship and the symbol, they weren''t just any elves either. They had been moon elves, the most ancient race of elves on the continent of Aria. Their numbers had thinned greatly over the years since the destruction of their homeland in the distant past, and none of the Ten Kingdoms held any sizable population of them. Worse still, they were coveted by the humans as slaves and concubines. The race had almost entirely vanished as a means to preserve itself.


    That all meant the he was likely in the east and somewhere near the Tower of the Moon since that was where the elves'' population had been centered.


    The symbol bothered him though. What did it mean? He thought for a while, trying to remember what that symbol had signified. It wasn''t the mark of an elven tribe, nor was it a symbol representing the settlement itself. Those were usually done with animal imagery and sometimes plants. No, it had meant something once...


    It came to him after several more minutes of pondering. It was a symbol used in their temples to dedicate them to their patron deity.


    He knew what this place was. These ruins were the remnants of an elvish temple. That symbol marked the settlement as a holy place. Pulling the large building''s rusted double doors open, Abad was greeted with a statue of a woman. She was nude save for her long hair that cascaded around her body. One arm was outstretched and held a crescent moon in its fingers toward the doorway. The paint covering her had faded, but the statue was by far the most preserved thing he had found in this place.


    He realized exactly who the statue was symbolizing. She was Yslene, elven goddess of the stars. She was the patron deity of the moon elves and served as the most important figure in their culture. Lucky for him, that meant one thing. He couldn''t have ended up in a more perfect place.


    Glee filled him. In this forest, in many of the buildings that surrounded the temple dedicated to the lingering spirit of a fading deity, would be dozens of magic circles, each ripe for restoration and re-purposing. By touching them up and filling each with his own essence, he might be able to make a variety of enchantments for any number of purposes in far less time than it would take to do so from scratch. Better still, if he managed to find some way to fill the rest of the temple with his essence, he could claim this place for himself.


    Obviously, nobody had bothered rebuilding the Temple of Yslene, clearly content to let it rot as a relic of a world that existed before the humans had arrived. Since it held little value to anyone, he would likely be left to his own devices. Sure, eventually someone might notice what he was doing out here, but by then, he would have created his new demesne in the world above. And, he''d be able to use the seal in the gazebo to travel to other teleportation circles throughout the land. It was perfect.


    He''d just need to grow stronger to do it all.


    However, one issue still remained: Angra. As the sun began to dip lower into the horizon, worry clouded his mind. Where was she? He tried again to reach out through their bond and feel for her presence, but there was nothing. It was like she didn''t exist. He could feel their bond was still intact, so he hoped that meant she was alive somewhere, that they had simply been sent to different places. He had worried about that when the spell went wild. He''d tried to hold her close.


    He grumbled out loud. If she had met her end, it would be quite the pain. He didn''t have the strength yet to summon a new familiar if she had died, and while he didn''t often admit it, he had grown rather fond of the little creature. While she was practically feral when he first summoned her, she had grown. They both had.


    He heard a noise in the distance. Then another. A loud crack echoed through the woods. Then another. Someone, or something, was coming. As quickly as he could, Abad headed back to one of the buildings he had inspected. It was a small stone building that was better preserved than the others, and it had been built with a stone roof rather than wood, allowing it to weather the ages better than its fellows. Carefully, he dragged the old metal door open and ducked inside the dark space. He closed the door behind him and went to a small aperture in the far wall that allowed him to look out of the stone building into the forest beyond. From there, he waited, watching.


    ***


    As twilight descended upon the ruins of the ancient temple, Abad wondered if he had overreacted. The crack may have been a branch breaking free of its tree and falling to the ground. Or perhaps an animal broke a branch during its foraging. Whatever the cause, he could sense nothing around him in this pitch blackness.


    Realizing he wasn''t going anywhere until he was sure, he spent his time meditating, focusing on restoring his essence and restoring the mana he had taken from the ring, but the ambient mana in the area was low, and his body could only generate so much. Especially since he hadn''t had food in... however long. However, he had done his best, topping off the ring and restoring some of his own mana, and felt much more restored than he had before. Then, he dozed for some time as darkness fell. He might''ve fallen asleep entirely if not for the sudden sound of voices carrying out over the night air. They were faint, causing him to strain to pick up their words.


    "...said she''d meet us here..." That was a man''s voice, speaking loudly.


    "...heard you! There''s no need to shout." The second voice was female.


    "Well, you''re quiet as a damn mouse! I don''t know why you always have to whisper, little lady."


    "Oh please! You''re as loud as a drunk orc! You''ll scare away the damn thing before we find it, and then how''ll we get paid?"


    "You take that back! I''m as loud as a giant, and twice as strong!"


    "Yes, yes. I''m sure you are," the woman answered sarcastically.


    The pair came into sight. The man was a dwarf. He was covered in thick armor and held a large axe in his hands. His hair and beard were blonde and speckled with grey. The woman beside him was tall and thin. She walked smoothly, gliding along the leaf strewn forest floor with grace while her companion clunked alongside. Her ears came to a point at their tips, marking her as an elf. Her short black hair hung loose on her head, barely reaching her ears. She held a bow in her hands, an arrow already knocked in its string.


    "I saw it head this way. We just need to find the damn thing, and we''ll get that damn reward. Then we''ll be eating good for a while!" The dwarf shouted.


    The elf nodded in acknowledgement. "Yeah, and I got a quest a little while ago to track out here too. If I complete it, I''ll definitely level up."


    Abad''s mouth slowly stretched into a wicked smile. Had these two come to kill him? His heart sped up as adrenaline rushed through him. Two adventurers. Two pathetic adventurers were the only ones sent to deal with him? How had they known? Who could have tracked him so quickly? One of the Seven? An agent of the Goddess?


    Well, they''d suffer for their attempt. Abad-Shai was free, and he''d burn anyone who stood in his path to power.