Nathan awoke, with no idea where he was.  He looked about futilely, trying to figure out why he wasn't in his comfortable bed, why he was starving, and why he could hardly swallow.  Then he remembered - he was no longer in Tallows Castle, he was on his way to the Spire - or, most likely, a certain death by dehydration.
    Weakly, he pushed himself up into a sitting position.  Just that made him dizzy.  He tried to concentrate on what he had been doing before he fell asleep.  Looking for something...  The creatures!  Yes, they had to drink somewhere, so he would just follow them....
    Except now he couldn't seem to find them.  Confusedly, he surveyed his surroundings.  The beasts he had been following, far away to begin with, must have wandered out of his field of vision during the night.  So that meant he couldn't follow them to water.  Worst yet, he had no idea how to get back to the Axis road, and without something to tell him what direction it was, he could wander about in circles until he dropped dead.
    He spent a few moments blinking, trying to wet his eyes, which seemed sticky and irritated, as he puzzled out what he should do.  Eventually, he managed to get into a standing position and stay there.  After surveying his surroundings and finding that they contained precious little, he set his back to the sun and headed west, toward where he had left the road behind.  He wasn't thinking about a whole lot... his mind seemed to be losing any coherent thoughts that began to cross it.  That was fine with him, it meant he wouldn't have to imagine his dehydrated body being picked apart by hungry beasts.
    The day was heating up quickly.  He had to have been be further south than he thought, Nathan reasoned.  Well, good.  At least he'd be a little closer to his goal.  He walked on, hunger and dehydration battling for attention in his fever-addled mind.  The only way he knew that he had reached the Axis road was when he stubbed his foot on the edge of it and fell flat on his face.
    It took a long time for him to get up.  When he did, he found that the sun had moved a great deal from where it had been the last time - it was almost directly overhead now.  He must have passed out for a few hours and not even noticed, he thought, alarmed at the fact that he wasn't in the least alarmed by that fact.  He started heading in what he thought was a Southern direction.  His head began to hurt, though he didn't know why.  He was tired already - he hadn't had food or water in nearly two days, and he was reaching the end of his endurance.
    "Nathan!" someone cried.
    Nathan whirled about to face the owner of the voice.  Except there was no owner of the voice.  The bleak wasteland greeted his gaze.
    "Nathan!" A voice cried out, sounding from somewhere above him.  He started, darting to the side.  Nothing was above him, or anywhere else for that matter.
    "I've got to get ahold of myself..." Nathan said, speaking to thin air and hurting his throat in the process.  "I'm hearing things..."
    "Nathan." his brother said, a sinister note in his voice.
    "Nathan!" Whitney cried, ragefully.
    "Nathan..." King Tallows wept, over the death of his youngest son....
    "STOP!" Nathan yelled, ignoring the pain it caused him.  He clamped his arms over his ears to shut the voices out.
    "Nathan, you're insane!"  Craig chided him.
    "Nathan, why do you do this?"  his dead mother called out to him.
    "This is an impossible task, Nathan." the scholars warned him.
    Nathan fell to his knees, choking on sobs.  "Stop!  Stop!  STOP!!!!!"
    The sound of the ocean drowned the voices out.

(Fenrir City)
    The innkeeper glared at Nathan.  "You do have the money, don't you?"
    "Yes, I have your money."  Nathan replied, tired of trying to haggle with this man.
    "All right then.  I'll need half up front, and the rest in the morning."  He stood expectantly, while Nathan rummaged through his pack for the necessary money.  His funds were growing low - had been, in fact, ever since he had left Tallows Kingdom.  But he tried not to think of that - instead he just paid up and walked to his room.
    It had been a painful week.  After he had told Whitney his plans and witnessed her surprising reaction, he had spent some time examining his motives.  Why was he doing this?  Was he doing it to save Whitney from a sham marriage?  No, he had finally decided.  He was doing it for Whitney - that part was true - but he was also doing it for his father, his brother, his friends, and everyone else in the world.  If he didn't stop the blight, then everyone would die.  It was that simple.  Of course, the others would have their own beliefs as to his motives.  Whitney thought it was to save her from having to marry his oaf of a brother.  His oaf of a brother thought he was doing it for the money.  His father believed he sought the crown and the kingdom.  Craig simply thought he was insane.
    Craig, now there was a friend.  Craig had used every method short of beating some sense into him to convince him not to go.  When everything else had failed, Craig had asked to come along.  Of course, Nathan hadn't let him.  This journey was difficult enough just by himself.  And somehow he had the feeling, either from the books or from his own intuition, that this was something that he ought to do alone.
    His father had been his biggest, and possibly only, supporter.  Nathan had, on more than one occasion, wondered if his father had mentioned giving the crown away to entice him into this venture.  It wasn't because his father wanted him killed - it was more than likely the opposite.  Many times over the year, King Tallows had mentioned how he would like to see Nathan rule - usually in situations when Nathan had offered advice that proved helpful.  On many other occasions, Nathan had been present when his father had reprimanded Donovan for his behavior.  No, Nathan thought that his father had sent him out because he believed that he would be successful.  It was a comforting thought.
    Whitney hadn't spoken a word to him since the confrontation.  Not even during the parade that escorted him out of Tallows Keep had she looked at him.  It made him feel horrid, but if he didn't make this journey she would die along with every other living being, and that would make him feel a great deal worse.  The parade had been his father's idea, as had nearly everything that had occurred between the time the king had been informed of the decision to the time that Nathan had left.  For some reason, his father had thought it important that the public know what he was doing.  Going on a quest to save them.  And it had been a good ploy - at every town he had stopped, he had receive free food, lodging, and been hailed as a hero.  Once he had left the kingdom, however, that had changed.  Apparently, news had not reached much further than the borders, and he had been treated as just another commoner.  His father had failed to inform the republics he was now traversing that Nathan was going to visit them, and for good reason.  There were still a fair number of territories that were not on good terms with the Tallows family.  So he had not been sent as a dignitary, merely as another person, on his way to somewhere else.
    Nathan tossed in his bed.  For as much as the innkeeper was charging, he ought to have a more comfortable rest.  There was too much noise coming from the tavern area downstairs for him to sleep anyway.  He turned his thoughts to his destination.
    Not the Spire - yet - but the Scholar's city at the edge of the Habitable Zone.  He was hoping to get some idea as to how exactly he should do that.  The books had said that a journey to the Spire was necessary, but they didn't go into great detail.  Hopefully the scholars would know more - such as how to prepare, what to say in the event he actually got to talk to a creator, and exactly how far away the spire was.  So he had made that his destination, as it was in the direction of the spire anyway and would no doubt prove invaluable....
    His eyes came open - the room was pitch black.  He must have dozed off while thinking.  Vaguely, he wondered what had awakened him.  A thud, followed by a loud crash, resonated from the downstairs.  Nathan was very awake now.  He jumped from his bed and donned some clothing, what light armor he had, and his sword.  Then he waited, keeping his eyes on the doorway.
    A few moments later, his door swung open, and a figure stepped through.  Michael leveled his sword at the intruder, the point resting within a fraction of an inch of his neck.
    "Who are you?"
    The intruder was masked, so it was impossible to tell what expression he was wearing.  His voice, however, said that he was smiling.  "Ah, you do not know me!  But I know you.  You're the prince from Tallows, and your ransom will reward me well!"
    "I don't think that will be happening." Nathan said, in his most grim tone of voice, pushing the sword just the tiniest bit closer to the intruder.
    "Don't you?"  The intruder answered, seeming as smug as ever.  A hint of movement caught his eyes, and Nathan turned his glance to see a small capsule in the man's hand.  Swiftly bringing his sword down, Nathan knocked it out of his attacker's hand.  The intruder leapt forward, his objective being to knock Nathan off balance.  Nathan reacted instinctively, bringing his sword back up and slicing across the man's chest.  The intruder fell short, landing with a muffled thump on the floor.  He did not move.  Nathan did not reflect on the deed he had just committed.  Instead, he grabbed his pack and left the inn.  In the tavern area below, he saw two dead forms - one of which was the  innkeeper - and then he was out the door.

    Lying defenseless on the Axis Road, Nathan twitched in the midst of his dream-vision.  Unseen to him, a figure stood, looking down upon the prince as though contemplating an action.  The figure draws a small weapon - a dagger - and holds it to Nathan's throat, then shakes his head.  This is not the way it will be. he says to nobody.  He must be his own undoing.  With that said, he sits down and waits.