How strange to finally see clearly ahead, now that I've been blinded! I'm a suspicious type by nature, I suppose, but never did I suspect how deeply I've been tricked, and for how long...

It was immediate that I suspected the priest's lack of information. But I had no idea what kid of troubles this would lead me to... That I had been lead into a group that had managed to anger gods and men alike.

To hunt a dragon is one thing. To be hunted by bands of greedy thieves for silly pieces of dragon gold, to be prominent enough that I should be sought out by evil-working rivals, to be trapped in the politics of groups I had scarcely ever heard of... it is all entirely beyond what I had expected. It smells of the contrivances of dragons and men.

And now, because I was naïve enough to believe that the situation was a straightforward dragon-slaying, I sit in the dark. My sight is gone. Curse the blade of that halber.... my eyes still burn and throb. Hot tears come unbid from my eyes, but the water does nothing to help. I know. The magic won't stop its work until it is undone. I would kill that bastard... I would have, if he wouldn't have teleported himself. I would have killed him if he hadn't killed me. But he wasn't interested in clean death... only the same sick kind of crippling and curses his kind stoop to. May my poison take him. I hope it rots his veins, as he tried to do to Auhron; as he tried to do to Bellum's soul; as even now it does my eyes.

But what can I do now? I am no shape to deliver justice. And my companions -- how strange it is, but after all this time, there isn't one I have any connections to -- have other goals, and are no help.

My pig friend and Kas are right; I don't belong here. This much I should have trusted my instincts on from the beginning. I don't know what my brother sees in cities and humans, but they're not for me. It's time to go back to the forest, where things make sense, where I can think clearly. Perhaps I can find a way to heal my eyes. Or perhaps I can train, find a way to track that cursed sight-stealer. But whatever I am looking for, I know I won't find it with these people, on their journey to nowheres unknown.

At least my lack of ties makes it easy to depart my own way. Greogh and Kss... I am grateful to have their company, their brotherhood. Their rhythms remind me of what I have almost forgotten: nature. I must find a way to repay them... some service or goods to reward their kindness. Maybe I can make use of Kissenth's hide, for some kind of armor or clothes; or maybe I can awaken Greogh, and give him the power to shape his own destiny and help his pack. Especially I am grateful now, when they are my only guides in a cold, barren dark that doesn't end...

The night's weather is crisp and breezy... if only I could see the stars. But it is perfect for a new beginning. Sleep well, strange travellers, and may you find whatever it is that spurs you to the end of the world; may you find freedom from your compulsions, as I finally will tonight.