"It really is a great city."

After walking out of the portal and going threw the crowd, Orion expressed his amazement to Kamala.

Karteira and Amelia had left them together, looking for the supplies they needed.

"Thank you for the praise."

She smiled, knowing that he was praising her.

"I'll be honest, I never expected to see someone accept other factions instead of oppressing them."

He continued while watching the beastmen happily moving around doing various tasks from his place.

They were standing against a wall, with the sea glistening beautifully in front of them.

The piers were full of working people, going in and out of boats, delivering supplies and crates to them.

"At first, I thought that this continent had to be purged from the human faction. Well, maybe not the whole faction, but whoever was causing the rift between the factions."

"When I saw the state of Hocride when we arrived, I almost couldn't believe it."

He closed his eyes.

"The sight of humans helping beastmen to escape, without a hint of pushing them away, was the moment I realized that not all humans want our end."

"And fighting Ivan made me realize that even between humans, atrocities and oppression can happen."

He reopened his eyes, and turned to her.

"If I was seeing this world in black and white before coming here, now, I can see a little color in there thanks to you."

"I cannot understood how hard it was, and how bad your past affected you, but what you did for this city, for this continent and the people living in it, is something you can be proud of."

"And that is why I will be on your side, because the ones that strive to make this world better are worth every effort to support."

This was the first time for her, hearing his honest thoughts about her, and the city she worked so hard to maintain in this state.

"I've built this city from its former self not because I felt like I had to, but because I had to atone for what happened at that time."

"But you did not repeat what she did. In itself, it is greater than doing nothing."

"Of course I couldn't repeat her actions!"

Orion stayed silent. He felt that she wasn't done speaking.

"How could I? She was my biological mother, yes. I can accept that. But she was too lost in her desire to gain more power. She lost herself, and died because of that."

"I have accepted that fact. I killed her, because it was necessary, because her ways were disgusting. And even without me, there would have been a wave coming her way."

"Even if I hadn't act, the town's people would have sacrificed their life for me. That's what Timothy said."

"She had it coming for a long time. So why would I imitate such a thing, knowing that the only result was going to be death?"

"I wanted to live, to undo what she did, give a meaning to my own life, and leave my mark on this world."

She placed both hands on her chest and looked straight in his eyes.

"Was that selfish of me to do that? Am I a coward for wanting to live? Am I stupid for wanting to protect what I've built?"

The words kept flowing out of her mouth. This conversation was the continuation of their previous conversation, stopped by Amelia at that time.

Now that they were alone, she could finally give her own feelings about the situation, which Orion could only assume until now.

"Everything is not as straightforward as that. Like you said, selfishness, cowardice, stupidity, and everything else. How can you create something without those feelings?"

"Maybe you are selfish, a coward, and stupid. But where did it led you? Tell me, do you regret that?"

His eyes were pressing her to answer.

"I don't regret it."

She shook her head.

"Then it's the most important. To be clear, I don't care what other's deepest desires are. I have mine, you have yours. This is what makes us walk forward."

"You selfishness made other people's life better, your cowardice made you see what was more important between misplaced pride and the value of your own life, and that said stupidity led you to protect what was truly important to you, and at the same time, to others."

His words were brutally honest.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

Kamala stood there, accepting his words that were true, and led her once again to accept her own feelings.

'This is what it means to have him as a friend... he will never let you regret your decisions and will support you all the way.'

"Now that I remember, I said something about 'worth' yes- today."

"About me being worth saving? What about it?"

He scratched his cheek, slightly embarrassed.

"Well, now that I think about it, it was pretty rude to say that. I'm sorry."

She blinked a few times, before laughing.

"I don't care. I know that you don't me or anyone as objects, it's your way to value our usefulness in the future, right?"

Orion looked at her with surprise.

'How can she understand me so well already?'

"You are right, that's how I saw you."

"Why past tense?"

She caught his words, and questioned him about it.

"Because the moment we've formed a bond, I've stopped seeing your usefulness. I don't see my friends as pawn to be used at my own convenience."

"I see. That would be weird if you considered your friends like that."

"Right? That's why I made it clear right now. Your life was 'worth' saving. I suffered a little for it, but that's all. Compared to losing a friend, this was one small price to pay."

She smiled at him brightly when she remembered him walking in front of her to stop the lightning spear.

'He used my earth magic to find a way to stop the spear without hesitation.'

"And I am grateful for that. From now on, my life is in your hands. If you desire my help, you will have it anytime, even against Elliot if needs be."

Orion nodded, with a small smile on his face.

"Thank you. I'll be sure not to misuse your life. I have more responsibilities now."

He turned around when he heard two voices he knew approach.

"We're back. Were we too long?"

Orion shook his head to answer Amelia.

"Here you go."

A portal opened to Horizon. Amelia and Karteira walked through it, before instantly coming out.

"It always amazes me that such a power exists. This truly is a great power."

Kamala thought that this was a good place to avoid the tough everyday life.

Time was moving faster inside Horizon, which made it perfect to relax multiple days without caring about Triazils.

You could stay a month away from the world, and it would only be morning if you entered at night.

"It is. Once again thanks to you. If that book wasn't in display, I would have never find a way to create it."

Kamala remembered her first encounter with Orion. Karteira didn't miss that moment to speak about it.

"Who in the world walks up to someone else's bookcase and ask to read a book in the middle of an important conversation? And to make the matter worse, you've almost destroyed her house."

"I'm sorry alright? I can't stop myself when I see a book from N. And you say that, but you're happy to have a house far from prying eyes isn't it?"

He was referring to her tail.

"And I've rearranged everything after. I'm not so rude as to let someone else clean up my mess."

"That's true. But you could have waited before doing that."

"My curiosity took the better of me. Give me a break. It's like you and your food reviews."

Karteira was astonished, he managed to defend himself perfectly. She wanted to banter a bit with him.

"Damn, I lost the argument."

Kamala, Amelia, and even Orion looked at her, before bursting in laughter.

She smiled and laugh together with them.

'This kind of mood is nice. It's different from what I've experienced in the orphanage.'

Orion thought about the children of the orphanage. He was never in bad terms with them. On the contrary, they were closer to friends then not.

It was Orion that always stayed distant, because of his obsession over hunting. He kept himself busy with training, and avoided wasting time.

He read a lot, he trained a lot, and only spent time with Amelia.

'I wonder if they're doing alright?'

Now that they were adults, they've built their own families, and some orphans even ended up together.

'Since we're going to Lahro, and possibly Albriar, I think it would be nice to go back to Auro at some point. After that, we should go to Bandir, all the way east.'

His desire to return home was getting stronger after three months of being away. He wanted to see his mentor, Director Keith, his old friends, and the villagers that helped him.

'I need to write that letter for Dylan too. Maybe we'll go through his village if we have to go south.'

Then, something that was constantly on his mind popper up.

'Wait, isn't there one of the three lights that separated from the pillar in the south?'

It came to his realization that he had to go south at some point.

'The last two are both west. This is going to take a while before finding anything.'

He turned and stared at Amelia.

"What? Do I have something on my face?"

She pointed at herself, not understanding why he was looking at her so intently.

"I have our future route around the continent."

"A route around the continent? To our next stops?"

He nodded.

"First, we'll go to Lahro, then Albriar. After that, we'll return home, to Auro."

When he said that, Amelia opened her mouth wide.

'I thought he would never return to Auro before fighting Elliot? Did he change his mind?'

"Bandir's ruins are further east, and Auro is on the way there, so I thought, why not?"

He left a blank there, in case Amelia or Karteira had a question.

"And after Bandir? Were do we go?"

He looked at Karteira, who asked the question.

"South. We're going in the Frigoria Plains."

"!"

"Turric is also in the south, you might want to see Eric then."

Kamala said, remembering that Eric was doing well in cold environment.

"Right. We'll go there too. After that, we'll have to go west."

"Wait! Why are we going into the Frigoria Plains? You know that these are dangerous plains, full of corrupted!"

He stayed silent for a second, before speaking his mind.

"There might be my mother's ring somewhere in there. I can't let it rot there if it is. Don't worry, I'll go there myself if I have to."

"That's not what I'm saying! I'm not scared of the plains, I'm scared of what's inside that area! They sealed the whole continent from these plains with a giant wall for a reason!"

Amelia was losing it, for legitimate reason. The Frigoria Plains were one of the most deadlier places on the continent, not only because of it's harsh environment, but also because of the treacherous corrupted being there.

"I know, but what else can I do? If there's something lost in there related to my parents, I have to get it."

*sigh*

"I know. We'll have to be careful then."

Amelia gave up, because she knew that he wouldn't give up on it, ever.

"That's everything for now. All of that should take us around a month, if I use 'Spatial Shift' to move around various places."

Kamala only listened, knowing that she wouldn't be a part of it. At least, she was happy to know where they would be going.

'The last one to see Orion will be Olivia. I hope she is doing alright.'

"Anyway, was that all the shopping we had to do?"

He changed topic, since he was done speaking about it.

"No, there's still a few materials we need for the guest house."

"Alright then, let's move. We still have to see the new citizens, right?"

Kamala nodded. This was something that had to be done, they were her responsibilities.

They all moved around town, buying whatever was necessary, and transporting it to Horizon.

They ended the day with seeing the Kaios survivors, now a part of Hocride.

Kamala gave them opportunities to change their lives, which they had to ponder for a few days, before deciding what to do.

After that, they returned to Kamala's house. The group returned to Horizon to spend the night there, before realizing that even if they slept through the night, they would come out of the place when Triazils would still be in the darkness.

They had a choice, stay for another month inside Horizon, or leave at night.