“What should we do?” Rufus asked.

“I don’t know,” Adion said with a complicated expression.

“I am not certain either. We should ask Benji later. He would know best.” Lomin said.

“That’s good. That’s good.” Rufus nodded.

A dark atmosphere surrounded the three as they ate lunch together at the Silver Circle. The plan had been to head to Gerrinswood today, but Sahra had arrived at the inn the night before with tears in her eyes. It wasn’t clear what the plan was now.

Adion, Lomin, and Rufus had been sitting in the tavern on the bottom floor of the inn, eating dinner together. They had a view over the entrance, so they had all seen Sahra when she had walked in.

Adion had never seen her like that. She was usually happy or annoyed. Shifting between the two moods without rhyme or reason. But he had never seen her sad before. Worse than seeing it, though, was feeling her aura. He had been training with all members of his team in aura sense and aura control. He had gotten pretty familiar with their auras by this point, but still not good enough to tell much about their mood. He was still too untrained to do that most of the time. But Sahra’s aura when she walked in was a lot different than usual.

She was sad. Really sad. Adion had felt his stomach sink when he felt that. It would almost have been better seeing her screaming and crying her eyes out. Having to feel only a little of what she felt was horrible.

Her dad is probably dead. Adion thought and sighed.

Sahra had headed straight to her room, and Adion, Lomin, and Rufus hadn’t seen her or Benji since then.

“Should I buy her some drinks?” Rufus asked, “We can just spend the night here drinking together. That would cheer me up. I won’t even mention girls for the day. And Adion, you better not reveal any new strange abilities.”

“Mm, I’ll try.” Adion nodded.

“I’m not sure that is what Sahra would like just because you would, Rufus,” Lomin said.

“Yeah, I know. I should just wait to hear what Benji has to say,” Rufus said, “I just can’t stop thinking about ways to help. But I would probably make things worse.”

Adion was also thinking about what to do, even knowing that he wouldn’t be able to do much. Even if his parents had died too, he wasn’t an expert in comforting people like him. He didn’t even know what he would have wanted when he was alone in the Endless Forest.

Just time, I suppose. Time and a goal.

Adion felt he was probably the furthest from Sahra out of anyone in the team. Not like he didn’t like her or anything. He just hadn’t had that much time to get to know her yet. He had actually been shocked at how much he cared when he felt how sad she was.

In the end, she’s part of my team. I should take care of my team to the best of my abilities. If someone is sad, I should at least try to make them feel better. The problem is I don’t think I can do anything. Thankfully, she has Benji. That puts me somewhat at ease.

Adion, Lomin, and Rufus continued their gloomy conversation, waiting for Benji and Sahra to come down, but the whole day passed without any word. As night started creeping in, they ordered a couple of beers to end the night on. But just as they thought about heading up to bed for the night, Benji showed up with tired eyes and a sad smile.

“We’re heading to Gerrinswood. Get your things,” Benji told them.

“At this time? What about Sahra?” Rufus asked.

“We can wait for tomorrow, no?” Lomin added.

“Sahra is adamant about leaving tonight,” Benji sighed, “I’ve tried convincing her, but she won’t hear it. We’ve worked some things out through the night, but she will need time. It might also do good to get moving and doing something productive.”

“Alright, then. We’ll get ready,” Lomin said.

“Is there anything we can do?” Rufus asked, “For Sahra, I mean.”

“I’m not sure. I’m at a loss myself here,” Benji said. “She’ll be fine eventually, I think. Just be patient. She really loved her dad.”

Adion could see Rufus's eyes tearing up. “Don’t worry,” Rufus said, “We’re all a team here. Friends. You’re not alone either, Benji.”

Benji smiled at Rufus's surprisingly comforting words. “Thanks,” Benji said and headed upstairs to get ready.

“You still surprise me at times, Rufus,” Lomin said with a smile, “Well said.”

“It was pretty cool,” Adion said.

“Bah! Just get your stuff, and let’s get going,” Rufus said, wiping a few tears from his eyes.

It didn’t take long for the three to get ready. Adion was waiting outside the inn with Lomin and Rufus when they spotted Benji and Sahra. Sahra looked like usual. No signs of tear could be seen anymore.

“Sahra,” Rufus said, “Are you okay?” He asked worriedly.

“I will be,” Sahra said without smiling, “Let’s get going.”

No one objected, and the team made their way out of the city in the early night. The guards looked at the team with strange looks when they left the city, but as they were Outskirters at the explorer rank, no one thought to question their late departure.

“Well, it will take us two days to travel there on foot,” Benji said, breaking the silence for the first time, “We’ll try to get some distance before breaking for the night.”

Adion nodded his head along with the rest of the team.

A few hours later, Benji stopped to look around, “I guess this place will do,” he said and instructed the team to start a fire and set up a camp for the night.

Adion and the rest quickly got to work, and it wasn’t long before the group was sitting around the campfire, eating in silence.

Not even Lomin seems to be in the mood for a story. Adion thought to himself. He couldn’t remember a night with the group so far without Lomin either telling a story or requesting someone else to do so.

The group continued eating in silence, the night entering the coldest part. The silence seemed to drag the mood further down as time went on.

“I guess it’s been three years since Mom and Dad died now,” Adion suddenly said. Everyone’s heads immediately lifted to look at Adion. Even Sahra, whose eyes had seemed to have a dim curtain covering them all night, appeared to gain an interest.

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“I was born in the Valis Kingdom, actually,” Adion continued, “My grandpa started our family clan there. My dad was to be the next patriarch. My mom was from the Saba Desert, but she decided to leave with my dad when they met and fell in love.

“I really miss them. Even if I was born sparkless, my parents never saw me as anything less. They loved me just as much as my other siblings. And they believed me when I said I would form a core and become a mage one day.”

Rufus made some kind of sound, as if to speak, but stopped himself before any real word could be formed.

Adion looked into the campfire and continued his story as he felt everyone's undivided attention.

“About this time three years ago, Grandpa left for Cyalis with my brother and sister. At the time, I was jealous and a little sad, but I’m really glad they decided to leave. Because a month after leaving, our manor was surrounded, dozens of masked men and women appeared from nowhere, three of whom were Diamond. Our clan’s only Diamond is my grandpa, so we stood no chance against them. They killed Mom and Dad in seconds…”

Adion turned quiet for a second as he thought about the memory. He hadn’t thought about that scene for a long time. No one spoke, though. Only waiting for Adion to continue.

After a few moments of silence, Adion spoke once again, “At the bottom of our clan treasury, there was a runic formation. I never knew about it until that day, which wasn’t strange as it was something left behind from the Age of Wonder. Sami was tasked to take me there to hide, but there was something weird happening with the formation. It had been releasing a strange kind of mana for a while.

“As I approached the formation, I noticed that it was the source of the increase in the strange mana I’d felt an affinity to my entire life. As I stepped onto the formation to get a closer look, I realized what the formation was for, because suddenly I was not in the Remori treasury anymore. I was on the other side of the continent. It was a teleportation formation.”

I prefer this kind of silence to the earlier one. Adion thought to himself as he saw the faces of the others: shocked, curious, attentive. And dead silent, waiting for Adion to finish to ask their questions.

“I finally realized what the strange mana was. It was space mana. And on the other side of the teleportation formation where I had appeared, it was more abundant than I had ever felt. I didn’t even think for a second before I started manipulating the mana around me to gather in my chest, at the place where normal people have their sparks.

“It took me a few hours before I finally gathered enough mana to compress into a core. And I succeeded. I even made it straight to the high Stone stage. I had become the first space mage in probably hundreds of thousands of years.

“Unfortunately, my mom and dad will never know. And that will always hurt. But I also think that’s a good thing in a way. It reminds me that I had something worth getting sad about.” Adion finished and looked at Sahra with a comforting and slightly sad smile.

Sahra stood up and walked steadily toward Adion. She looked into his eyes for a second before pulling him into a deep hug.

She didn’t say anything, but Adion could hear her crying on his shoulder. Adion felt his own eyes tear up, finally fully affected by retelling the memories he had hidden for so long.

When was the last time I cried?

Adion couldn’t remember doing that since his thirteenth birthday. But it felt a lot better this time around. Adion hadn’t even realized it himself, but carrying it alone for all these years had taken a toll. It felt good to finally get it off of his chest. So good that his tears of grief slowly turned into tears of relief and joy.

“You poor bastards,” Rufus said as he got up with tears in his eyes and embraced Adion and Sahra in a hug of his own, “You’re not going to be alone as long as I live. That I swear.”

Adion couldn’t help but smile, “Mm, thanks Rufus.”

Sahra eventually stopped crying and let go of Adion.

“So, space?” She asked with a small smile.

“Mm, I have a space core. So I’m sorry for deceiving you, Benji. I’m not actually Gifted.” Adion said, looking at Benji.

Benji smiled widely, “Never mind that, you’re actually something even rarer than a Gifted, it seems. I’m a very lucky man.”

“It was a good story, Adion,” Lomin said with a smile, “To think you had a story like that in you. It was beautiful to listen to. I can feel my soul stirring.”

“Well, the story’s not done yet,” Adion said, adding with a grin, “I was just at the part where I met the Celestial Phoenix after all.”

“The what?” Sahra asked.

“The Celestial Phoenix. Where do you think all that space mana came from? I had appeared next to the birth of a Phoenix, not the Fire Phoenix but another one.” Adion said.

“What are you talking about?” Rufus said.

“Let’s take it one step at a time,” Adion said with a small smile, “Make yourselves comfortable, and I’ll let you know about things you’ve never imagined.”

A chill went through the group at Adion’s words. And everyone immediately sat down and paid rapt attention.

A silence filled to the brim with excitement. My favorite silence so far.

“I’m guessing you have never seen a Phoenix, so let me describe it…” Adion continued sharing his story as the night passed. About his months hunting and figuring out his powers, his time learning aura from Fellion, everything he had done until he met the group. He even told them about the letter he found and the two pills he had taken made from the blood of the Phoenixes.

Even though they were on their way to a Moonlight Oak so they could take an Oath to keep his secrets, that was only something he wanted to do since he couldn’t trust his team members yet, but Adion had decided that they were not only his teammates anymore, but his friends. He didn’t want to be the type of person that didn’t trust his friends.

The only thing he didn’t mention was the other pills he had with him. He made it seem like there were only two pills to be found. He wanted to be able to explain his Authority, after all. But there was no reason to tell exactly everything about himself, even if he trusted them. The pills were something he had decided to be extremely careful with ever since he saw Fellion’s reaction to the Grand Soul Clarity Pill.

Adion finally finished recalling all that had happened when the first rays of the sun were hitting the treetops some distance away. The group stared at him with wide eyes, and Adion could feel they had many questions, only hesitating because they didn’t know where to start.

But just as he could tell Benji was about to say something, he saw Lomin standing up. A smile different from the usual calm one decorated his face.

Is Lomin actually grinning?

“I understand. Hahaha!” Lomin laughed happily, “Thank you, Adion, for opening my eyes to a truth I have been looking for for a long time.”

“What do you mean?” Adion asked.

Lomin was squinting, looking up to the sky as if trying to see something hidden from the rest of them.

“I’ve never told you this, but,” Lomin started, still looking to the sky, “There is a custom among us faelin. When we return from our journey, we all head to a place called ‘Spire of words, Spire of truth, Spire of faelin coming home.’ Of course, we just call it the ‘Spire’ most of the time.

“Every faelin is in search of something on our journey, and that something is Words of Truth. But that is not something so easy to find. Very few succeed. If only a single faelin returns with Words of Truth in a year, it is a good year.

“Every faelin still goes to the Spire and leaves a few well-thought-out words behind. Often insightful, at times interesting, and once in a while, a whole recollection of stories and events they experienced. But rarely does someone return with actual Words of Truth.”

“What are Words of Truth?” Adion asked.

“Just like the fae in the Primordial Story used words to accomplish acts of power, so do we faelin seek to do the same. But we are not fae. We are faelin. Our words do not work the same way theirs did.

“Instead, we travel, we observe, we listen. We listen not only to other sapi but to the world itself. It all gathers in our spark. If we focus, if we try to look beyond the obvious, and if we are lucky, we can find Words of Truth.

“I believe that is what you’ve heard about Benji, the strange magic that powerful faelin can use that is similar to the Gifted.”

“You mean Words of Truth?” Benji asked, “I’m sorry, Lomin, but I don’t understand. How are Words of Truth similar to the Gifted? How are they powerful?”

Lomin shook his head and smiled, “It took me a long time to understand. I thought I was close to the answer a few times. Adion’s story finally made me see.”

See what? Adion thought. He was having a hard time keeping up with the information Lomin was spewing.

“One step, a thousand miles. A thousand steps, one mile.” Lomin said calmly.

The next thing Adion knew, Lomin was nowhere to be seen. Only a gentle breeze brushed against his cheeks.