When Nathan finally did regain consciousness, the face of another person was the first thing he saw.  He believed himself to be hallucinating at first, and so did nothing.  Then the other man spoke.
    "Drink." he said simply, holding a small flask to Nathan's mouth.  Nathan did so, and nearly choked on the cool water being poured down his throat.  Water!  Nathan tried to grab ahold of the flask and drink more, but the man restrained him.
    "No- be patient.  Too much and you'll just end up spewing it onto the dirt here." he chastised.  "Now hold on, and you can have a bit more.  And when you're feeling stronger, I've got some food for you."
    Nathan looked up uncomprehendingly.  Who was this man?  Why was he helping him?
    As though reading his thoughts, the man spoke again.  "My name is Sean, and I come from the Celon Alliance to the north." he gestured vaguely.  "And I," he added, smiling ironically, "am on a quest for the spire.  As, I'm guessing, you are."  He didn't phrase it as a question - after all, questing for the spire was the only reason a sane man would venture out of the habitable zone.
    Nathan nodded anyway, and after a moment or two of waiting, he was allowed to take another drink.  "I'm Nathan..." he croaked out.  "From Tallows kingdom."
    Sean nodded, though it was obvious that he had never heard of Tallows kingdom.  Nathan had never heard of Celon Alliance, so he supposed it didn't really matter.  They had the same goal:  The Spire.
    "It's good to meet you Nathan!  Good to know that there's some life out here other than those creatures!" Sean paused.  "They've been after me from the moment I stepped out of the Habitable Zone."
    Nathan looked confused - the creatures had caused him no harm at all - which was certainly odd, considering this man's testimony.  His confusion must have seemed comical to Sean, because the other laughed.  "You seem confused!  Could it be the monsters are leaving you alone?"
    Nathan nodded.  "Hmm, that is odd!  They're all over me, though I haven't seen a one of them today.  Maybe it's just that they like you."  Sean was considering this.  "It seems that I've found some good company to travel with!"
    As soon as he finished his sentence, his expression changed from joviality to dead anger.  "Or perhaps not."
    Nathan felt his insides clench, and for a moment thought that the other's anger was directed at him.  Then, as Sean got up and unsheathed a shortsword, Nathan glanced behind him.  The creatures were there, and they were heading in this direction.
    Nathan shakily got to his feet next to Sean.  He didn't know what to say, so it was probably a good thing that Sean didn't seem to expect anything from him.  Instead, the warrior glanced in his direction and said,  "Come on, draw your weapon, we have to face these things!"
    "I-  I don't have a weapon..." Nathan managed to say.  His throat was still quite dry, though he was feeling much better because of the water.
    Sean regarded him incredulously.  "No weapon!  I'm amazed you're still alive!  No wonder you were starving and thirst-ridden when I found you!"  he turned back to face the creatures, still a large distance away but closing quickly, with an expression of disgust.  "Well then stay out of the way!  I've fought these things before, and if you cross them without a weapon, you're history."
    The first of the creatures arrived within striking distance suddenly, and with a quick motion, Sean freed its head from its body.  Three more of the beasts arrived, but kept their distance, waiting for the rest of their group to arrive.  That probably wouldn't take long.
    For the first time, Nathan got a good look at the monsters - indeed, like the cub he had awakened, they appeared to be large bears.  Except unlike the cub, they were twice as high as either him or Sean, and had a long tail protruding from their back.  Their heads were elongated and stopped suddenly at a piggish snout.  One roared lowly at Sean, revealing jagged rows of teeth.  One of the three present had horns on either side of its head.  The paced slowly in a circle around the swordsman, ignoring Nathan completely.  Sean didn't seem to want to wait for their reinforcements to arrive, and darted forward to slash at one.  That one fell, but the other two attacked at once and bore him to the ground.  Nathan could no longer see what was happening - he heard only the grunts of Sean fighting mixed in with the feral noises of the beasts.  One of the beasts fell from some wound Nathan did not see inflicted, and Sean was once more on his feet, and finishing off the last one.  Just as this happened, three of the beasts came within striking distance.  Before Nathan could shout, however, Sean had felled two of them.  Two more appeared in their place.
    Standing on the bodies of dead creatures, Sean lept onto one of his attacker's back and severed its spine.  He leapt off in time to avoid a goring from another, which instead accidentally finished off the one Sean had just been occupying.  With a flurry of swordcuts, jumps, and dodges, Sean finished off the remaining creatures in little time at all.  Nathan almost felt sorry for them - they hadn't stood a chance.  Panting, the warrior returned back to Nathan's side, sheathed his sword, and put his arm around his newfound comrade.  Gesturing expansively at the heap of dead monster courses, he shouted loudly "My friend, tonight we feast!"

    And so they feasted.  The meat of the monsters, which Nathan declined to watch being removed from their bodies, had a sweet taste to it and was very filling.  That night they were attempting to smoke some of it over a fire with some success after having tented it in with some equipment that Sean had brought with him.  "You've got to preserve the meat." he advised.  "Because these creatures look plentiful now, but I've been informed that the closer you get to the spire, the less of them there are."
    Nathan nodded to this.  He hadn't been told anything like that, but it was likely that this man's education had been somewhat different than his own.  So perhaps, between the two of them, they could figure out a way to survive all the way to the spire.
    "It's about time to bed down for the evening."  Sean declared, scanning the horizon.  "I'll take first watch."
    It seemed a bit strange, at least to Nathan, to have a watch posted when he hadn't even felt threatened.  Even when the creatures had attacked, they had gone straight toward Sean.  They hadn't bothered with Nathan at all.  The creatures had plenty of opportunities to kill him, but had taken none of them... Vaguely, Nathan started to wonder what was so different about his companion that the creatures would attempt to eliminate him.  Shortly he gave up his thoughts and simply went to bed, having enjoyed food and water for the first time in what seemed like an eternity.

(New Janoris)
    "Which direction?"  Nathan shouted, trying to be heard over the cacaphony of the thunderstorm he found himself inundated by.
    "There!  Just beyond that corner!"  the man shouted back, gesturing to a squat building in the near center of the town.
    "Thank you!"  Nathan shouted back, and ran off through the rain toward the building.
    A moment later, Nathan was in the relatively dry indoors of the inn he had been directed to.  It appeared crowded, and he felt a little trepidation as he approached the innkeeper.  He hoped this would work.
    "Excuse me!"  he shouted again, this time to be heard over the crowd.  "Sir!"
    The inkeeper turned from his conversation to face Nathan.  "There's no room.  Too many travelers nowadays.  You can go join them if you like."  he gestured toward a group of equally soggy travelers huddled around the fireplace.  Seeing no other choice, he joined them.
    They were all travellers, it turned out, and they all had quests.  None of them were going to the Spire, but they all were in search of answers to the Blight.  Nathan introduced himself as David Trafalgar from Tallows, and said that he was going to the Scholar's city to the south.  He did not mention the Spire.  There were two others, James and Eli, who were also going to Scholar's city.  They introduced themselves, and then said so.
    "The scholars have to know something about this."  James declared, as though through his will alone he could make it so.  "That's why I'm headed there.  I'm from Acosia highlands to the north, and farming was my village's lifeblood.  Of course, nothing will grow because of the blight!"
    "I can sympathize."  Eli spoke up.  "My town was a small one, but we were very good farmers.  We always had a great deal of food, and we sold the excess to the larger kingdoms - Lorelai, Nyillin, Tallows - the ones that were stockpiling.  That was all well and good, until we started running out of food!"
    Someone else spoke up.  "I'm from Lorelai." he said, somewhat apologetically.  "And yes, our kingdom stockpiled.  But I, as a mere armsworker, am apparently not important enough to feed.  No, only the nobles are eating in Lorelai.  The commoners starve."
    This revelation was greeted with nods from most of the travelers.  Another, who had been eyeing Nathan strangely throughout the conversation, spoke up.  "I am Gerald, from Tallows.  And our king has been very kind to us.  He shares the stockpiles.  However, recently he united his kingdom with that of Tyrwood.  There will not be enough food to go around!" he declared.
    Nathan felt a hollowness in the pit of his stomach.  Not because of Gerald's argument, but because of his news - The kingdoms had been united.  Which meant that the marriage had gone through.  Whitney could never be his now....
    The conversation continued, and nobody save perhaps Gerald, noticed Nathan's reaction.  Someone else spoke up from the outer fringes of the conversation.  "But wasn't Tallows the one that sent their prince to the Spire to reverse the blight?"
    Gerald laughed.  "The Spire!  That's funny.  Yes, he was sent to the Spire.  His majesty made such commotion of it too."  the disgust was evident on his face.  "To sacrifice someone like that just to make people happy before they die - to give them false hope....  In my opinion, Tallows is worse than Lorelai!"
    "What are you saying?"  James spoke up.
    "I'm saying that the Spire is a myth!  If you go out into the Near Zone, you're going to die, and for nothing!"
    "I happen to think it's a great idea."  James countered.  "Of course the creators are real.  And if someone made the pilgrimage, the creators would certainly honor their request.
    "The creators are frauds!"  Gerald yelled.  A few of the travellers backed away from him, perhaps to avoid being accidentally hit by the lightning bolt that was sure to come any moment now to do away with Gerald.  "To send someone out to certain death is dispicable!"
    "The creators are not frauds."  James replied.  "They -

(Axis Road, North)
    There was a moment of disorientation for Nathan as he awoke.  His dream still clung to his mind, and for a moment he thought it was James or Eli who had come to wake him.  Then it passed, and he saw that Sean was standing across from him, shaking him awake.
    "What the...?"  Nathan said, realizing that he was standing up.  Looking to the north, he could see the blaze of the campfire from their site.  "What's happened?"
    Satisfied that Nathan was awake, Sean motioned for him to follow as he started toward the camp.  "You've got Saint Llynmir's disease, my friend!  It happens."
    "What is Saint Llynmir's disease?"  Nathan inquired, running to catch up to Sean.  Apparently, he had covered a great deal of land in his sleep.
    Sean sighed.  "Saint Llynmir started the Spirists, who are a religion that worship the Spire.  Llynmir discovered how to use the Spire's power for one's own magic.  She also discovered the result of doing so.  After a time, one becomes attuned to the Spire's power, and the Spire itself begins to attract you.  She eventually had to have her disciples lock her in her room at night, to prevent her from sleepwalking right out of the Habitable Zone."
    "So it's sleepwalking?  I could tell that much."
    Sean glared at Nathan, who shut up.  "No, there's more to Saint Llynmir's disease.  It doesn't affect you in the day at all, but when you're asleep, the Spire pulls at your mind, and you sleepwalk.  But - and this is the important part - you sleepwalk only toward the Spire."
    Nathan nodded his understanding.  "But how often does this happen?  I'm not a Spirist, I don't even know any magic!"
    Sean shrugged.  "I don't know.  I was lead to believe that it only happed to Spirists, and to them fairly often.  Maybe you have a bit of the magic and don't know it."
    They had arrived at the camp, and Sean found a spot on the ground.  "I'm going to sleep, it's your shift.  Make sure to keep the fire going, there's some fuel in my supplies."
    With that, Sean was asleep, and Nathan was alone, contemplating what had just happened to him.