Having at last won a second hard fought battle, the knight of the wild at last collapsed.

The keened ears had awaited their departure, listening closely for every footfall's step and word distant they made themselves until there was no more resistance to be had. Brannor caught himself upon his hands and coughed, the fierce burn of power leaving his body and residing again only in spirit; it was no pleasant sensation to touch, to taste something that powerful and then have it violently ripped away. There was no taming [i]that[/i] strength within, not now at least. Grasping for what solitude he could, his eyes and jaw remained clenched and tight until, minutes after, all was as it appeared again.

The man rolled only then to his back and leaned against the wall of the small chamber, rattling his bloodied piecemeal armor until it ground to a halt against the stones, its noise absorbed only in slight by the thickness of the battered cloak. There Brannor sat, at last alone again to himself.

No great surprise washed over him as he removed, bit by bit, his vestments; it was no revelation that he survived. No disappointment that he failed to kill the dragon. No shame in having scorned its notions of "honor" either. Had things been ever so slightly different, the predator in him would have killed the beast without mercy. The stakes were as simple, to his vibrant golden eyes even as mere man, that nature's balance was cosmic and all encompassing. Good, evil, everything in between, all mechanisms of the eternal and changing cycle. The only role he had was to pursue what he was born to do.

Now [i]that[/i], that would take true sorting out.

Diving deeper into the soul, calling out to the savage heart within as he had so briefly, was the only way to do so. It made all things clear, even where he could not see them when he looked upon his tired hands. They trembled ever so gently from the lingering rush of primal might and the onset of fatigue.

[i]"So,"[/i] Brannor's dry lips began, closed eyes now leaving him alone in the dark, [i]"That was why I was led here...[/i]

Even in the black he could see himself for what he was in reality, [i]"I understand now."[/i]

He rose slowly to standing, first to a foot and a knee, never taking his mind's eye off and crept to where last he knew the humble bedding to be. It was no rolling green beneath a sea of stars or under a bough, but it was a den made of quiet and darkness that could give him the time to mend his wounds and continue to look inward.

[i]"... thank you."[/i]

[@Hekazu][@Ryonara][@Lucius Cypher][@Gordian Nought][@Norschtalen]