Six Months Later…
Hidden within a seemingly endless expanse of dry and barren earth, a lone settlement sat under the light of the moon.
That, in and of itself, was quite the feat. Only a few years back, the land had been permanently shrouded by a thick layer of darkness, both sun and moon alike not permitted to show their faces. Now, few signs of that ordeal remained.
In sharp contrast to the surrounding environment, a lush forest enveloped nearly half the settlement, its trees sporting thick veins of black that lent their surroundings an eerie glow. Were one to look within, they might have found the ever-expanding villages of tents and the hulking, camouflaged forest shadows that called them home.
On the outskirts of said forest was a much stranger sight, a grand building with four trees growing at its corners. Even with careful observation, it was impossible to say where the trees ended and where the more mundane construction began, wooden planks seeming to melt directly into the trees in question. Though the hour was late, even now the lights were on inside, the sounds of boisterous laughter and drunken revelry spilling outside into the forest air.
Further yet, there was a single building which seemed out of place, unmistakably a house, but a gaudy one. Instead of the standard wood, or even its more locally prevalent dark-veined cousin, the entire thing was composed of glossy, silvery bricks. As if trying to integrate the unsightly blemish, thick vines and creeping ivies snaked across its exterior, diminishing its gaudy gleam.
Deeper still stood the final structure, built atop a set of ancient ruins. After months of painstaking work, a grand forest temple reached for the treetops. Despite its finished state, it felt strangely empty, missing some necessary spark of the divine.
Just outside the forest, a grand lake sat serenely, ringed with thick black grass. As a newer addition, a miniature pier housed a smattering of small boats, a few of them sporting fishing nets and spears.
That same dark grass crept away from the lake, bit by bit expanding outwards in a bid to transform the rest of the settlement. Here and there, a few weeds had leapt ahead, poking out from the once desolate, dusty earth. Combined with the rubble which had finally been cleared and gathered from the rest of the settlement, and the bird’s eye view of the scene was much changed from only months prior.
Had one not known that the area had once been host to a dire battle, they would have no way of guessing. No evidence remained of the many burnt-down homes, and indeed, both the population and the housing stock had rebounded and then some.
Here and there, a few more notable additions could be seen as well, one of them far taller and more visible than the others. And if one were to burrow down, they would find similar expansions amongst the tunnelling, ant-like kexids, provided they could see in the dark.
Even at the late hour, a handful of residents still milled about, some walking back from the bar, others en route to the dungeon for a few late-night fights.
Despite this, not a single person noticed the minor fluctuations in space that heralded an impending teleport. There, on the outskirts of the settlement, space folded in on itself, and where once there was nothing, something appeared.
Or rather, someone.
With wavy auburn hair, unkempt from years of having no one to properly tend to it, a sole figure hefted a large black and purple war hammer before letting it fall to the ground. Leaning on her makeshift cane, she dragged her gaze across the scene that had once been so familiar and had now grown somewhat foreign.
Opening her mouth as if to test her own voice, the figure uttered her first words since her return.
“I’m back.”
No one reacted to her announcement, but then again, she hadn’t expected them to. Striding off to the forest, Tess was finally going to confront whatever problems had piled up in her absence, and with her luck, a few new ones would pop up too.
But that was fine. Her time in the dungeon had done her well.
And so, ready for whatever would come her way, a Protagonist returned home.
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End of Book Five