text: [Themes: grimdark fantasy, villain protagonist, grimdark, war, historical]
  
  You're back where you were, the artifact in your hand...except you are still underwater. It takes you some time to accustom to being back in the present, and in that time you start drowning. Thankfully you are a skilled swimmer and get out of the water fast enough.
  
  Actually...not only are you a fast swimmer, you feel like an excellent one now. You feel like you could jump over the tallest tree, climb the tallest mountain, outrun the fastest beast. You know it is all from the artifact you are holding, and so you put it inside your shirt, so that it is close to you and you do not lose it.
  
  You've never felt this good in your life, and you grab the largest branch you could find. It is incredibly light to wield, and you snap it in half like a mere twig after swinging it around for a bit. This is amazing. The stories about the Vinchan culture are all true and more.
  
  You think about the vision you saw. The creature within it. If you are now the most powerful man in the world, you are still nothing compared to the might of that thing. You're confident that you could summon it, and use it for defense against the Byzantine onslaught. But...do you even need to? You feel that if you unlock even more of the artifacts' power, you will be way more powerful than any man. You also have Shamans and traps on your side. You do not need some ancient protector to steal all the glory, you can have all the glory for yourself, defending your village on your own. You'd be crowned the Village Elder immediately, and knock down that arrogant Rom a peg.
  
  > You're not confident, you'll try to summon the creature.
  While you certainly feel incredibly strong right now, who's to say it'll be enough? Sure, you may be able to take out the initial force that headed to your village, but around 18000 of them remain, and they'll surely come investigate what happened to their compatriots. You don't think you could handle them in THAT amount, not to mention that they probably still have some more sitting back home. No, it is far safer to let the defender you saw in the vision take care of them.
  
  That will require you to get to the Deliblato sands, and they're not terribly close. It'll be a long trek you must prepare for, and so you head back to the village.
  
  You think you should say something to your family before you leave. You also wonder whether you should perhaps talk to somebody who may know a bit more about magic, and Vincha. Zlatko, the leader of the village Shamans, comes to mind. You always felt kind of uneasy around him. What if he sees the power you wield, and decides to take it for himself? If you tell what happened to him, who knows what will happen? Who can you even trust about this?
  
  > Set out on the road.
  With everything you wanted to do in the village finished, you leave the village behind you, heading to the Deliblato sands. You don't expect the trip to take too long, but you are anxious about what will happen once you get there, and the dangers that may beset you along the way.
  
  You are much more powerful than you usually are, thanks to the artifact you wield, but you're still not invincible. If you came across a dragon or a giant, you think you'd be in a tough spot.
  
  Having prepared some supplies, you start your journey, trying to think positive thoughts. None immediately spring to mind. And so you set out on the road.
  
  > The road
  And so you went on your merry way, following the road leading outside the village. But quite soon, you know that the road will take a turn to the west, and that's not where you need to go. The Deliblato sands are to the north east. You've only been there a few times, and only in passing. There is no need for anyone to remain there for too long, seeing as it's an uninhabitable desert. You've always found it an odd spot in a land that is otherwise lush and green, though perhaps a bit too hilly. It just seems so out of place. You know that such regions are not uncommon to the far south, across the seas, way beyond even the reaches of the Byzantine empire. Either way, you need to get there, and need to decide what path you will take to do so.
  
  You could always follow the Morava river, it's quite long, flowing through most of the land of Rashka, and following it northwards will leave you very close to your destination. You will however be quite exposed as you go, and if the Byzantines have forward scouts, you may come into a scuffle with them...or with whatever creature you happen to run into.
  
  There's also the option of sticking to the woods, being mostly hidden within the trees. It may take a while longer and you run the risk of getting lost, but it's an option.
  
  You should decide.
  
  > stick to the river.
  You've decided to stick to the Morava river. You've always liked playing near it as a kid, you can catch fish for food, and it's overall just a nice scenery. It's very wide and deep, and its strong current even dies down for a bit in the area next to your village. But the river is, of course, a very attractive spot to not just you, but to basically anybody. Food AND water, what more do you need?
  
  You follow the river as it goes, with spotting the occasional animal here or there, but nothing really important happening for the most part. You see people from another tribe occasionally, and you know their village must also be near, because of course people would like living near water. But you know that not only the Slavic people have the big brain required to understand how advantageous access to water is, and as the sun starts setting, you soon confirm your fears:
  
  You spot a small temporary camp of people just a bit off to the side of the river, all wearing Byzantine arms and armor. These must be the forward scouts of the Byzantine empire, here to scope out the area, and tell the incoming force where to attack. The camp is not very well fortified, seeing as they must be breaking it up every day, and moving to a different location. It's less a camp and more just a collection of sleeping bags and a tent. There are also only a few men there, you think you count six or maybe seven. Makes sense, shouldn't have too many people scouting, that kind of defeats the purpose.
  
  Now you're left wondering what to do. Surely they will not just let you pass, will they? You could try awaiting nightfall and attacking them, you're somewhat confident that empowered by the artifact, you could defeat them all. Or you could not risk it, and just take a detour, avoiding them altogether.
  
  > just walk on through, if you don't touch them they won't touch you either.
  They're just scouts, they probably don't have any intentions of engaging in combat, that would be bad for their scouting business, no? Following that train of "thought" you just continue on your way, acting as if you have not seen them at all. You feel completely exposed and await the screams and shouts...but nothing happens. You continue walking, happy that you have made an extremely wise decision.
  
  That's when your enhanced senses hear movement and sounds of bows being drawn. Well clearly your idea was not the best, going past your enemy, letting them see you, and then continuing onwards, turning your back to them. You quickly turn around to see them all releasing their arrows toward you. They caught you unprepared, and despite your superhuman speed, you are unable to dodge all of the arrows. The one that ended up hitting you was actually one that was mistakenly shot way off, but in your rush to avoid the properly aimed ones, you move directly in its path. It hits you square in the leg, and you trip and fall from the pain, hitting your head on some rocks next to the river.
  
  As you're seeing stars, the Byzantine scouts waste no time with their second round of arrows. You blindly start crawling towards the water, hoping to let the current increase your swimming speed and let you get away, or at the very least let you hide underwater. Just as you think you've made it, and try to dive down, their arrows release and strike true this time. You are turned into a human pincushion, and the current drags your dead body away. Your only satisfaction is that they could not investigate your body, and find the artifact.
  
  Their satisfaction is in laughing at the moron who just strolled past them without a care in the world, expecting to not get shot from behind.