Five years ago had been the first time in several centuries he had set foot on land again. It had been a long way from there to where he was standing now.

When he had set foot on the beach it had still been dark around him. And because of the intense experience of swimming for his life he had promptly fallen asleep. It had been a weird experience waking up with the rising sun. Its light shone over the ocean and painted it a deep red.

That had been the first sunrise he had seen from the beach, because before he had entered the ocean he had lived on another continent with fast forests and deep valleys. Even when he first came into contact with the ocean it had not been on a beach. It was a memory he wasn't fond of nor liked to remember.

So seeing the rising sun above the ocean was a new and wonderful sight in his long life. It was a promise of better times to come.

Thus he rose from the patch of sand he had been sleeping on and started his journey of finding his princess.

There was a promise needing to be fulfilled, and for that he needed to find her as fast as possible. The upside world was just as dangerous as the sea. Cruel. Without pity for beauty.

She had already been on her own for several months, but all that time she had the prince and his servants to help her. Now no one was left to turn to. At least that was the case as far as he knew. Knowing her reputation as an amiable person who easily made friends, it was certainly a possibility that she had a travel companion by now.

But that was when she was still a princess and capable of speech. Who knew how her situation was now.

So he quickly began his journey across the country, in every village he arrived he would ask if someone had seen a young mute maiden. But no one had. It seemed for a very long time that she had disappeared from the face of the earth.

That was until he figured out he was on the wrong continent.

There was an entire ocean between the last known location of the princess and his current residence. Of course no one had seen a young mute maiden. How could they?

So instead of travelling to yet another remote village, he hitchhiked to the nearest port and boarded a ship.

Though there was a small problem. He had no money, and without any money, it was impossible for him to travel with a ship across the great ocean.

Thus he was stranded in the port of one of the biggest cities on the continent. From that moment on it had been downhill for him. He lived in the slums for more than a year, and when he was finally able to be hired for a job, it was barely enough to cover his current expenses.

The years after that quickly faded together. From one job to another and to another again. At one point in time he had given up on ever earning enough money to travel across the ocean. So instead of taking a low paying job in the city again, he applied to more inconvenient but higher paying jobs. And at last, he was hired to become the lighthouse keeper in Greystone, a remote village at the north side of a bay.

Greystone was a village far away from any big city, there were a few villages in the same neighbourhood. But the closest was more than 50 miles away. So saying it was remote without any contact with the outside world wasn't an exaggeration. Almost none of the inventions that had been made the last few decades had been put to practise there.

In other words it was a perfect place for him to live in. The big city had always been a problematic place for him. There were too many people, and he was unable to safely use his magic to keep him warm when it was cold. Or help people in need.

These things wouldn't be a problem now, he would be saving people everyday as a lighthouse keeper. And with some luck the people in the village weren't too opposed to magic, fae and other magical creatures.

After five years of wandering around looking for the lost princess, he finally left the security of the big city to live in freedom again. He travelled for almost two months before arriving in the area where Greystone was located.

Unfortunately for him, his guide had stayed behind in the last town and had sent him on his way with some vague directions. Which contained: follow the road till it's gone, then keep walking to the north for three days. Then you should have reached a river, follow it up streams for another day. When you have reached a rock formation that splits said river in two you cross it. Then travel east for another week and you should have reached the outskirts of the village.

He had tried to follow the instructions with utmost precision, and till this moment everything had worked out quite fine. But when he had crossed the river something must have gone wrong. He had already been travelling to the east for two weeks and still no village could be seen. Going back to the river to try again, hadn't worked. After one day of walking back the way he came, he had arrived at his starting point once more. So to say he was lost could be a bit of an understatement.

Without any knowledge about the place he was now, it would be a tricky challenge to find his way back to the civilised world.

•••

His magic was the only thing that kept him alive at this point. Four months ago he had started walking away from the river and ended up lost in the wilderness. And now he had honestly lost all hope of ever being able to leave the forest. Especially now that winter was at its peak. All the predators he shared the forest with were starving after many weeks of snow and ice.

He was an easy prey, they knew it and so did he.

The wolves had been following him for a few days already, and every morning when he woke up they would be closer than they were the evening before. If he didn't reach a place of safety within three days he would become meat.

So in a last and probable futile attempt to save his life. He was travelling towards the island situated in the middle of the lake he had been camping on. Some would call it stupid, travelling over ice when a wolf pack was following them. But he knew a little bit more about nature and magic than the average traveller. He knew fae residented in deep forests, the farther away from humans the bigger the chance they would be there. They especially liked islands which were cut off from the rest of the world nine months a year.

And that was exactly the thing he was now mere hours away from. An island cut off from the rest of the world, somewhere you could only arrive on by travelling over the ice formed after many weeks of intense cold.

Magic was also quite helpful, without it he would have been unable to find the fae, and they surely wouldn't show themselves if they didn't feel the presence of another magical creature.

When he finally arrived at the shores of the island and entered the forest, an oppressive silence arose from the trees. The fae wouldn't be happy that someone entered their domain, regardless of his intentions. Hopefully he could persuade them to save him and help him find his way to Greystone.

They weren't going to help him. That was something they had made awfully clear, by ignoring him wandering through their forest and whisper-yelling, that he knew they were here and he was begging for help.

Now evening had fallen once again, and his fire wasn't keeping the wolves at bay anymore. They were circling around the tree he was hiding in, and the fire he had started hours ago was reduced to cold ashes unable to spread the needed heat.

Only a miracle could save him now.

It wasn't that he didn't believe in miracles. It was just that he already received his, when he was saved after the destruction of his village.

And unfortunately it was an universal truth, that every creature would only receive one miracle during their lifetime.

He just needed to accept his fate. Though it was quite ironic that he would die on the earth by a pack of wolves after living in the ocean for several centuries. Without any fear for the local and murderous wildlife. And even when he had wandered the earth he had never needed to fear any predators, like the wolves that would devour him in a few moments.

It was at that moment the clear sound of a horn travelled through the forest, whispering its song to the fallen leaves, to the tree he had climbed in. There were many different species that used horns as music instruments. But the fae had made the simple instrument into a true art form, and every creature that knew about magic could recognize it anyywhere.

The wolves were not an exception to this rule. They lived in forests tainted with the magic of countless creatures, so they naturally recognized this sound as fae-made.

Beings they rightfully feared.

So did he. But what else was he supposed to do when all hope was lost? One of the first lessons he learned from his master was just that. When you can't do anything anymore to improve the situation. Sell your soul to the devil, or in this case a fae. Though usually they at least were satisfied with a few years of your life, or your firstborn child.

Faerie were strange creatures that shouldn't be trusted in any given situation.

He had learned so from the customers of his master, who would leave completely disillusioned after the deal they had made. His master had learned from the fae to do business, and make profitable deals for himself.

The only thing left that he could do, was beg the fae for help.

Luckily begging wasn't needed. Apparently they were a branch of fae that had left eons ago from the capital, one that tried to distance themselves as much as possible from their neighbours in doing the exact opposite in any situation. So the only reason they hadn't appeared sooner was because there was a ceremony at the other side of the wood.

They simply hadn't heard him. And now they were more than willing to help, to show that they were nothing like their southern neighbours.

That was something you apparently could always count on with fae. Their willingness to show anyone that they were better than others, even if it meant that they were technically working against their own interests.