He needed to reorganise himself, focus and establish a clear course of action, only then would he be ready to move on from this small clearing.

Keeping the end goal in mind, he had to become an outstanding individual in every aspect in order to become a true emperor. According to his creators, he also had to learn magic and he guessed that some knowledge on how to fight wouldn't be useless either. Sadly, he couldn't learn all those things by himself.

Maybe by using the book he could somehow learn all the secrets and techniques related to those fields of knowledge but he wasn't confident in his aptitude to grasp every nonsense it would throw at him. On top of that, he would probably still need to practice a lot and without a good example to follow, he feared he would have to start from the very beginning all over again at a later date. Since he didn't feel like doing everything twice, the only thing he could do was find someone to teach him. While he was exploring the world looking for a teacher, he would raise the Great overburdening hammer as much as he could.

As he was thinking about all of those things, he started to take notice of his surroundings. He had been there since his creation but had not paid any attention to it yet. Bellow him, a soft ground covered in tall brown grass was nursing him. Above him, a sky without clouds was appeasing his mind as the tall trees around the clearing were giving him a sense of security.

He wished to stay there for longer, for as long as he could. Sadly, he already felt much better. He had a mission to accomplish and above that, he was very curious of what stood behind those trees. He took a canteen out of the bag to refresh himself before standing back up. He stored both the water and the hammer back into the bag. He felt relieved and extremely lucky that it's tremendous weight didn't affect him when it was inside since he had not thought about this point at all before putting it in.

He looked around him once again, engraving this place in his memories forever. This was the place where his existence had taken shape, where he was, in a way, born. He felt that even if he saw many incredible things in the future, no landscape would ever be as important to him as this ordinary clearing. Once certain that he would never forget it's sight, he chose a direction at random and advanced between the trees, starting his journey.

The low hanging leaves rustled as he moved them out of his way. The ground outside the clearing was covered in moss and small plants. At every steps, his feet deeply buried themselves in them as if the earth wanted to devour him. Still, it was very comfortable and made for a very pleasant exploration. He could hear some birds singing around him, but aside from them, only the leaves could be heard as the gentle wind blew through them.

He walked in the woods for a couple of hours without finding anything useful. On the other hand, he saw some worthwhile scenery. When hunger mercilessly clawed at him from the first time, he made the very wise choice of stopping somewhere to eat.

Passing between two big trees, he found himself standing at the bottom of a gentle slope covered in tall grass. Long straws as thin as a needle where each supporting tens of grass blades standing horizontally like thousands of small flags. Looking up, small fluffy clouds came crowning those herbs and dance with their leaves thanks to the wind. Accompanied by the living music of the infinite scratching of their leaves, the hill was animated by chaotic yet calm waves. It is at the edge of that hill that Emp sat down to eat, absorbed by the beauty of the spectacle in front of him.

After having devoured a handful of berries and some meat jerky, he abandoned the view and resumed his walk. The sun slowly went down on the horizon and in the growing obscurity, he reached a river that was almost ten meters wide.

Its water flowed peacefully but in the twilight, it was impossible to guess it's depth. He chose to follow the current instead, hoping to find something of interest on its bank. Sometimes, big jutting rocks broke the monotony of the riverside. The water eroded those stones slowly but surely and its sound did the same thing to Emperor's consciousness. He felt sleepy. That wasn't a feeling he understood well but he could recognize it since his eyelids felt heavier and heavier the further he walked.

Once the sun had completely disappeared, the orange sky made way to the darkness and the stars. Those were reflected on the waves, making them sparkle in a thousand and one different light. His gaze hypnotized by the beauty of the river and his mind clouded by its unceasing lullaby, he felt sleep approaching gently.

Falling asleep on the riverside was probably a bad idea. He understood that but what else could he do?

It was then that he saw, a little further, after a bend in the river, a light that didn't belong to the stars. A square of warm light was cut from a stone wall just over there. A cottage in the depths of the woods, surrounded by a small garden and a meter high stone wall. Through the wooden shutters of the window, the light from a fireplace was leaking, as if to invite Emperor.

Somewhat woken up by his discovery, he went through the garden without hesitation and knocked tree times on the door. From the inside came a muffled noise and a strong and deep voice.

"Who is it? What do you want?"

"Good evening, my name is Emp. I was following the riverside and let myself get surprised by the night."

"A strange name... So what? What does it have to do with me?"

Surprised, Emp searched for an answer but was only able to come up with a simple conclusion. The man was right, it had nothing to do with him at all.

"I am sorry for disturbing you, I will be on my way now."

Emperor turned around and left the man's garden. His problems were his own, he didn't need to harass unrelated people about them.

But, as soon as he had made his way halfway through the garden, he heard the door open behind him. Curious, he turned around to see a man wearing heavy looking clothes standing straight as a pillar, right in the doorway. He seemed to be a middle aged man with a hand long beard and a harsh gaze accentuated by his frown and crossed arms.

"What are you even doing in those woods in the middle of the night? How did you find this place?"

Emp, thought for a second about how to answer. After all, he couldn't tell him the truth, he would never believe him. He chose to weave a story close to the truth instead, based upon what he had seen that day.

"I have always been in this forest, I just never went this way before. It is only because I chose to follow the river today that I got here."

"You live in those woods? I've been living here for ten years now and I've never seen anyone else before. How old are you kid, were are your parents?"

"Yes, I have been living here since I was born, I am sure of it. As for my age and my parents, I have no clue."

"How can you not know how old you are?"

Well, he wasn't even a day old yet. Emp was pretty sure that wasn't the answer he was looking for. He said something dumb instead.

"It is not as if I tallied the days as they went."

"You really are someone strange."

This was all the man could comment on this.

"What is it that makes me strange?"

"I don't believe even a word of your story. No one can live alone in those woods. It's infested with terrible monsters. What's more, how could a kid alone find enough food to feed himself here?"

"There are monsters here? I never saw them before, that is a good thing to know. You see, just a little further over there, there is a very charming hill. That is where I spent the most time. It was my parents that left me some food before leaving."

"How long have they been gone for? When are they supposed to come back?"

"I do not know, I don't even think they are supposed to return until I've done what they asked me to do. I am not sure, I only talked to them once after all, your questions are really hard to answer.

"Only once? What did they ask you to do?"

It would probably be best to omit the Emperor part, at least for now, so he gave him their parting words.

"They told me to become the strongest and the most intelligent, someone you can depend on. Then, they told me good luck and left."

"Kid, to tell you the truth, I think you're a little scary. You're not some kind of fairy or forest imp are you?"

"I do not even know what those are. Could I be one without knowing?"

"That is also creepy, the way you just spew out nonsense as if it was perfectly natural. Usually, I can see right through the lies of anyone, but yours, I can't. Even if your story is obviously made up and nothing in it makes sense, I still can't feel them, as if you did believe all the things you told me.

"You can not see my lies because there are none, I just hid the strangest parts from you because you would not believe them anyway."

"Are you sent by him? Did he send a simpleton to convince me to come back? That is a strange plan..."

Emperor was getting really tired and this talk was clearly going nowhere, he couldn't even understand the subject anymore.

"I have no idea of what we are talking about now... look, I really did not mean to disturb you, it is just that when I saw your house, I felt it was a much better idea to sleep inside than to sleep on the riverside. I am too tired to try to understand all your questions and it is even harder to find suitable answers for them all. Aside from you, I only know four other persons and none told me anything about the surroundings or those who lived in them. Since you can not help me and I can not answer your questions, I should just leave and quickly find somewhere to lie down."

On this, Emperor didn't wait for an answer and once again started to leave. The man called out to him again.

"Wait kid! It would be stupid to let you wander in the dark in the middle of the woods. I do not believe you but I do not think you are a threat, You can stay the night if you want."

Emp stopped in his track and turned his head around to throw a confused look at the man. He couldn't understand what had changed his mind. The man answered the silent question as he stepped away from the doorstep.

"I do not like to be disturbed but I am not without a heart. Even if it's him who sent you, I won't look at you foolishly braving the darkness without doing anything. Come in and take place near the fire, tomorrow, you will answer my questions."

"I cannot promise they will be more satisfying than those you already got."

"It's fine, just come in already."

Emp nodded and followed the man inside. He locked the door and went back to sit on his bed.

The inside was warm and welcoming but oddly empty. There wasn't much here aside from a massive chest at the foot of the man's bed and strangely shaped set of table and chair. Emp came closer to the fire and after watching it dance for a moment, the drowsiness came back. It was the first time he saw a fire and it was fascinating how it moved angrily on its own but he couldn't fight sleep for longer.

He lied down directly on the wooden floor and instantly fell asleep without paying any mind to the master of the place looking down at him with a raised brow.

"What a strange guy." Thought the man again before he turned back to his own rest.