His joints felt stiff, as though they had rusted. Renato opened his eyes and slowly pushed himself up in the wheat field.
Dazzling sunlight shone straight into his eyes, blurring his vision. Renato had to raise a hand to shade his brow and squint, letting his eyes gradually adjust to the drastic change in light.
Flattened wheat stalks surrounded him. A layer of golden straw lay beneath his body, dry and warm, giving off a fresh scent tinged with earth.
The Silent Lady was still in his right hand. The chill of its hilt quickly roused Renato from his daze, bringing his mind back into focus.
Damn it, where was he?
Pressing his left hand to his temple, Renato struggled to recall what had happened, trying to piece together the scattered, jumbled fragments in his mind.
He had just been in the white mist, trying to pass through it into the demiplane. But as he advanced through the gray-white haze, the mist had grown steadily thicker, and a bitter chill had followed.
The physical cold was nothing; his constitution could withstand it. Yet that inexplicable chill had slowed Renato's thoughts more and more, making them heavy as lead. Just as he abruptly realized something was wrong and prepared to sound a warning, the ground vanished beneath his feet...
Ah, no! Klauthsura! He had to find the Mind Flayer first, then locate the spatial node, then teleport to...
Wait.
Renato jerked his head up, forced himself to his feet in the wheat field, and stumbled forward a few steps.
The sight before him froze him in place. He stared into the distance in disbelief.
Golden wheat swayed in the sunlight. A stream less than three meters wide wound down through verdant woods, and several thatch-roofed longhouses stood nearby, wisps of cooking