(Gavin)

My body only feels slightly-achy after today's around-breakfast training with Zack and the team, so I go for a walk. Zack told us to prepare for a trip into the mines, rather than ordering us to clear out the money slimes.

We can go after the money slimes if we want, but he wants us to make sure our equipment is current and decent. Since I just bought new armor and a new sword, I think I'm good for that, so I just go for a walk to think about things.

Thinking about Zack. I can see why he feels like there's the weight of everything on him, especially now that I know he's doing his best to be the person in a prophecy who signals the changing of the tides of war.

Though if what he scratched out on the memorial is true, then it was actually a vision and not a prophecy. I'm not entirely sure of the difference, though. Something about prophecies being absolute and visions only being possibilities?

I'm not sure.

Whatever it is, I still think Zack could use an attitude adjustment. Not on the stuff when he's training us, I can see why he'd want to do it the way he does. But I still don't like the way he treats everyone.

There's a difference between being a jerk and being firm, and I've seen him arguing with Jesse and other clerks enough to know he's just a brat.

I freeze. As soon as I stepped on a bridge, I found myself in a Crystal Chamber, but not Lord Light of Air's. This Crystal is brown in color, with a light shining from its core without a trace of darkness. I can sense that this is Lord Light of Earth, even without being told.

Standing in front of the steps up to his altar is a boy around twelve years old, with ruffled brown hair and eyes the dark brown of rich soil. He's wearing a pair of brown pants and a brown leather vest, a pair of leather bracelets on each wrist.

"Hello, Gavin," he smiles, and I can tell by his voice, by the power within it, that this is the avatar of Lord Light of Earth.

"Lord Light of Earth," I drop to one knee, bowing.

"Stand, Gavin!" He laughs. "We aren't as… interested in that as you might think. Especially not if we pull you into our Sacred Chambers."

He looks up at his Crystal, then back to me and chuckles.

"As rare as it is to allow someone to gaze upon us," he says.

"I am honored by this," I tell him, not rising. "But… may I inquire as to why you have brought me here?"

"If you stop treating me like that," he says. "And treat me more casually, like you would a teammate."

I'm not sure I want to do that, but Lord Light of Earth's word is absolute on the matter, so I rise. This doesn't make me any less nervous or any less in awe of him, though.

"That's a little better," he smiles as he sits on the steps, then pats the spot to his left. "Come, join me."

"S-sir?" I ask.

"For a casual conversation," he says. "A casual seating should be done as well, yes?"

"Y-yes," I'm not entirely sure what he was asking, but move to sit beside him, keeping a respectful distance between us. "Sir?"

"You are angry with Zack," he waves a hand, and in front of us, the darkness outside of his temple changes. "But you do not fully understand him… or his motives. Or that of others around him."

The scene that's displayed in front of us is a view of Zack and Jesse in the Trading Post. It's as if we're watching it while there, only… we aren't there. The Crystals truly are amazing.

Zack looks younger in this vision. He's shorter, but just as muscled as he is now. His sword is a plain metal one, not anything like the fancy weapon he has now. Same with his armor.

Lord Light of Earth gestures again, and the scene begins to move, as if it were happening right now. This is incredible.

Zack speaks with Jesse using that irritating tone of his, calling him "Pervert" instead of "Jesse" even then. This must be when he was new, though. He's insisting that Jesse gives him food, and Jesse is refusing. Good!

But then Zack starts to leave without a word after continually being rejected, and Jesse calls him back… to give him food.

"I don't understand that, sir," I frown. "Why would Jesse suddenly change like that? Especially with how Zack treats him?"

Lord Light of Earth gestures with his hand, and Zack enters the shop, looking serious. This is sometime later, he's wearing red and black armor, and has a red and black sword.

"Jesse, can you deal with that thief's thieving sister for me?" Zack asks.

He called Jesse by his name? Since when does he do that?

"What did she do?" Jesse asks, his voice nothing like what I've heard it before. It's deep and serious, and his own expression has turned away from that playful, mischief-filled one to a serious one. "You seem especially annoyed."

"I am," Zack nodded. "She tried stealing from me, only because I keep everything in my special Inventory, she failed. I wanted to cut off her hand, like I did her brother, but felt that wasn't enough of a punishment. So I came to you, since you're a badass assassin."

Jesse's a what?

Lord Light of Earth laughs as the scene freezes.

"Jesse is one of the strongest Adventurers in the Boundary," Lord Light of Earth tells me. "He's a member of Nik's team, and has trained many of the most powerful rogues in the Boundary. He came out there after Altar Valley began to fall to help deal with problems. That act he puts on is to fool people into lowering their guards and misjudging him."

"I don't understand," I gesture to the scene. "I've never heard Zack call Jesse by his name before. Or seen Jesse act like that."

"As I said," he gestures to the scene. "Jesse puts on an act. Zack saw through it from the start, and calls Jesse 'Pervert' as part of the banter between them. Their interactions you see are purely banter between them, Gavin. They do it in good fun. Whenever something serious is going on, however, Zack uses Jesse's name, and that tells Jesse that he's there for something serious, and so Jesse drops the act."

"They're just… bantering?" I ask. "But Zack is a brat to him!"

"Zack is a brat to everyone," Lord Light of Earth shrugs. "It's simply a part of his personality. But he's also serious and calm when it's required. Chaos and I clashed the most, you know. Back… before everything bad happened. Before the Shadow of Life. We still clash, but differently now. That's probably why our two orders are opposite each other. I am the patron of Paladins, and he is the patron of Dark Knights.

"However," he gestures, and the scene changes to show Nik and Travis, looking younger than they do now, fighting a Goblin Chieftain. "The two orders, when united, can become far more devastating than you would think."

The two of them work together, Travis buffing Nik as the two of them fight the monster, killing it in only a minute.

"Alone, they may have taken two or three minutes each," Lord Light of Earth changes the scene to show the Fallen Hunters fighting a Fallen Adventurer. "And yet together, they become a team that can face even greater foes than alone.

"You might dislike Zack," Lord Light of Earth tells me. "But that is because of your nature as someone aligned to me."

"Wouldn't those aligned to Light of Water have a bigger problem?" I ask, and he laughs.

"No," he answers. "Earth is calm, patient, and steadfast. It is steady and enduring, disciplined. Fire is wild and untamed, blazing through obstacles with an intense ferocity and lack of discipline.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"Those who are experienced in the Boundary," he tells me, changing the scene to show several instances of Zack haggling with shopkeepers. "Know that those within the Dark Order are like this. They know it is a path few of them can take, but that all who do are devoted to the cause, to the war. So rather than trying to change those who make a difference, they go with it.

"Could Zack use an attitude adjustment?" He asks. "Yes. But so could you, Gavin. And if you really want to know just how bad Zack can be, let me tell you this: how he is now is nothing like how he was when he first arrived in the Boundary. He has changed and matured since then, and anyone who matters has taken note of this."

"I-I guess," I say.

"You know how you retain your personality, even if you don't retain your memories?" He asks, and I nod.

He gestures again, and this time, I'm seeing… is that out of the Boundary? There are… what are those? And I'm seeing Zack. He's younger than he is now, dressed in strange clothes and wearing a strange object on his wrist.

In that scene, he's beating up another kid his age, just wailing on him with his fists. In another scene, he sucker-punches another boy in the eye. He slaps a girl so hard her head snaps to the side. He punches someone else the in the gut.

He gets yelled at by the man I guess is his father, gets ignored by his mother. He's punished for his actions. He's treated badly even when he's not misbehaving.

Zack is just an asshole, but even more of one before he came to the Boundary.

Then the scene changes, and Zack is curled up on his bed, crying, a pair of dogs to either side of him, one with black fur, and one with golden fur. It changes again, and he looks depressed as he pets his dogs. Then he's in some woods, fishing with a strange rod, a pitch-black wolf sitting beside him, watching.

He actually looks somewhat happy in that one, but I can still see the depression in his eyes.

The depressing scenes continue, and sometimes, Zack is talking. He had wanted to kill himself. Is that how he got into the Boundary? By suicide?

Then the scene changes. Zack is walking down a street with those strange metal things that people seem to ride inside of passing by. As he walks, he's muttering under his breath about how everyone's stupid and stuff.

Then, his head suddenly snaps to the side, and I see his eyes widen. In a burst of speed that I didn't think was possible without the System, which only exists in the Boundary according to Zack, he's charging towards the street, shoving a kid I had seen him punch in an earlier scene.

A moment later, one of the metal things slams into Zack, sending him flying.

And then he's still.

"Zack was even worse in reality than he ever was in the Boundary," Lord Light of Earth tells me. "When he came to the Boundary, he decided to be a different person. To be nicer to people. While he has his rough spots, he truly has changed from who he used to be."

"He decided to be a different person?" I frown. "But how could he-"

I feel my entire body freeze as I realize something. Zack was always certain there was no System outside the Boundary, that our stats weren't reset when we died, or that their starting in the Boundary wasn't determined by what they were before we died.

He always seemed sure of things when they dealt with reality, even though he claimed he couldn't see into it with his power of sight. And everyone has said that from the moment Luca came here, Zack was absolutely protective of him.

"Zack remembers reality," I say.

And he knew Luca in it.

"You didn't know?" Lord Light of Earth gives me a shocked look.

"I don't think anyone does," I frown. "Well, maybe Nik, but-"

"Your entire team does," Lord Light of Earth tells me. "We assumed you did, too. Max figured it out the same day they met, and Luca figured it out shortly after that. Braden realized it during the training in Talorn. We just assumed you figured it out and didn't give a sign you did."

"How did the others give signs?" I ask, then shake my head. "If you don't mind my asking. Sorry, that question came out without my meaning to ask it."

"It's fine!" He laughs. "As friends, remember? Max prayed to Chaos saying he hoped Zack wasn't too traumatized by his death. We could tell when Luca realized it because of the way he reacted and started giggling. Braden asked Zack after realizing that he probably remembered."

"Zack's probably going to call me slow," I mutter.

"Zack does as Zack does," Lord Light of Earth tells me. "But at the end of the day, he cares about you. He cares about you strongly. He's chosen to change how he was from reality when he died, he saw the Boundary as a second chance at life. While much of what he was is the same, much is also different. He might harass you and poke at you, but you're a member of his team. He won't let go of you, and his rage will peak when you or any other member of it is hurt."

He gestures again, and the scene changes to show Luca and an identical boy training, and Zack training in what are probably the mines, fighting against the kobolds. They're ugly. I can see Luca and the other boy's Status, even though it's a vision. Even if they weren't identical, I'd know that was his brother, Braden, because of that.

Luca gets hit by his brother, and immediately, Zack freezes up. A moment passes, then he flies into a rage, slaughtering everything around him crudely and brutally. Nik tries to calm him down, and it takes a long time to.

That's the incident Zack was telling us about, from when Luca got hurt by his brother and he knew because of Bloodpact.

"Gavin," Lord Light of Earth says as the scene freezes, Zack's face twisted in rage as he runs a sword through a kobold's chest. "I know you might not like Zack because of his attitude, but remember: he's a Dark Knight at the core. He has attitude, and he has spirit. The memorial made you realize that he feels like he's responsible for everything, and I hope this makes you realize that he's truly changed, and has been worse. And that not all of his interactions you see are as malicious or rude as you might think."

He changes the scene back to one of Zack and Jesse interacting.

"He does what he knows he can get away with," Lord Light of Earth tells me. "With some extra attitude or mood added in at times. When it comes to dealing with trainers and clerks and Jesse, Zack is even just bantering with them more often than not, and they are just bantering back."

"I-I'll try not to look at his attitude too much," I say. "But it annoys me, sir. I can't stand it."

"I can understand that," he smiles. "Just be grateful he hasn't been playing pranks on you."

"Pranks?" I ask.

"You haven't seen them," his smile widens into a grin. "But Zack loves playing pranks on others. Ask Aurum sometime. Or Gold. Or Jesse. Or any Dark Knight. Or Paladin or Priest. Mama Bear. Point is, Zack loves playing pranks on people. They're generally harmless, and while they might be annoying when it happens, after it's over, everyone has a good laugh about it.

"He knows," Lord Light of Earth stands and points at me. "That you would not take them well, so he doesn't play them on you. Braden mostly ignores them, so Zack gave up fast on playing them on Braden, and he'd not do that to Luca.

"That said," he chuckles. "Max tries playing pranks back, so Zack has no issue playing them on Max. You can even ask him about them. We're still waiting for Max to realize that's not a special shampoo for his tail, just a different recipe for normal shampoo."

That's not tail shampoo?

"He'll figure it out soon," Lord Light of Earth says. "And Gavin? Please work on how you react to attitude. I agree with Zack's decision that you should go Mystic Knight first, because you don't have the calm and discipline a Paladin should."

That stings. Bad. But after seeing all the visions he showed me, and talking with me about how I've acted, I can see why he would say that. I understood that Zack felt the weight of the Boundary on his shoulders, that he felt responsible for a lot of stuff he wasn't, but didn't try to understand the rest of his interactions.

I just saw him as a bratty kid. I guess I never paid attention to how everyone else reacted to him and the way he treated them when it wasn't a negative response. There's been a lot more positive responses or neutral responses, though, now that I think about it.

"I will do my best, sir," I tell him. "Thank you, for helping me."

"Good luck," he tells me. "I'm sending you back now, and I'll keep an eye on you."

I find myself back in Maelnor, right where I had been, and I decide to I return home to see the others, who were planning on playing games until lunch, I think. When I arrive, I see Max and Braden playing chess while Luca plays with cards.

"Did Zack leave?" I ask.

"Boss go play with Boss-Boss!" Max nods.

"Talk," Braden quietly corrects.

"Boss go talk with Boss-Boss!"

"Boss-Boss is Nik, right?" I ask.

"Duh!" Max answers, and his tail suddenly wags before he moves a pawn. "Hah! Check!"

Braden moves a rook.

"Check."

"Nooo!"

"Do you guys ever wonder if Zack remembers his life from reality?" I ask, trying to see if Lord Light of Earth was correct.

It's not that I want to doubt him, but I also don't like being the last to realize and can't figure out how they did.

"Boss definitely do," Max nods.

"Zack does," Luca nods.

"He does," Braden nods. "I asked him after I thought he did, and he admitted it."

"Boss-Boss team and the Crystals know!" Max tells me. "And us! And Aurum and Gold! Aurum say 'hi', by the way, but he be shy right now."

"Shy?" I ask.

"He be accidentally hurt self," Max nods. "Big black eye. So he be shy and not come say 'hi'. Though he not say 'hi' in way you understand, so me be telling you anyway even if he do."

I rub my temples. Max can be difficult to talk with because of the way the speaks. Zack's mentioned it's because of how beastborn naturally speak, and Max has gotten better than he was since I arrived here, but that doesn't make it any less difficult to talk with him. He's just barely clear enough to understand what he's saying most of the time, and that's what makes it difficult.

It just makes my head hurt.

"Did you have fun talking with Big W?" Zack asks, and I jump, startled.

"Big W?" I frown.

"The Big Weirdo," Zack nods. "Big Flame always calls him 'weird', so I felt it fit."

"How did you know I was-"

"I popped into his temple to talk with him and saw you two talking about me, so I left."

"You did what?" I ask.

"Anyone with a strong enough connection to their inner Sacred Crystal," he taps his chest. "Can draw on that connection to enter the temples of a Sacred Crystal they have a deep connection to."

"But you're aligned Dark of Fire?"

"As my strongest," he nods. "But I have a strong merging of all four elements into both light and darkness, so I can do it to any."

"Oh," I say. "What did you go in there for?"

"To ask him a question," he answers. "I was asking all of them a question. So! I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm heading out for the rest of the day. We'll be heading to the mines in two days just for a day of training, but you should all still make sure you're prepared for that."