Lapsa's hands were covered in dirt as he helped Cronix bury the bodies. They were both silent.

While they both dug, Cayden and the crow kept watch. Personally, Cayden wanted to leave as soon as possible, but he didn't argue with Cronix when he suggested they bury the bodies.

Cronix grabbed three large sticks, and stabbed them into the dirt in front of the graves, "Okay, let's get out of here, who knows when their families are going to arrive."

"Do we have to go now? I mean, aren't you tired." Lapsa asked, although he didn't participate in the fight, his body wanted to collapse, but this was physical, it was purely psychological

Reluctantly, Cronix shook his head, but before he could say anything else, another voice entered the conversation, "We can rest, their families aren't even going to notice anything's wrong until we're long gone."

Cronix disagreed with Cayden, "When I killed Tornic, the Ayuna's came for me right away, I don't think..."

Cayden cut him off, "The Ayuna's had power and money, these guy's families are broke, that's why they let us ride with them in the first place, besides did you see any nameplates inside their magic bags?"

Cronix shook his head.

"Exactly, if they did then we can be scared, and get out of here as fast as we can, but now, let's just rest."

Cayden's words weren't met with any more disagreement. Lapsa climbed back into the carriage, and using the cloak as a blanket, closed his eyes. The crow sat on top of the carriage, and carefully watched their surroundings.

The other two boys didn't enter the carriage, instead they stayed outside, leaning against it. Cronix stared at where the three bodies were buried, he could feel them emitting the dark element.

He knew if he began absorbing the magical energy here, it would help refine his stars faster, but this brought him no joy, instead, for the first time in his life, he felt disgust towards this element.

Leaning his head against the carriage, and his body against its wheel, Cayden asked, "Do you want to start a fire?"

"Do you know how?" Cronix replied without looking at him.

"Yeah."

"Then can you get the sticks, my body doesn't have the energy to stand." Cronix listlessly mumbled.

Standing up, Cayden went to search for sticks, it took him awhile, but he eventually grabbed enough, and headed back.

The sun was quickly setting when he managed to create the fire. After this was done, only silence accompanied the area, not even the sound of crickets were present.

Just as Cayden was about to enter the land of dreams, a voice broke the silence, "Why did you force me to kill them? Why didn't you do it yourself?"

Cayden was honestly surprised Cronix was still awake, with the amount of mental energy he expended, he should've been too exhausted to even open his eyes.

"Because, if you can't do it while they're bleeding out in front of you, how can I expect you to do it when it matters." His quiet voice answered.

"Then why make Lapsa do it, his strength isn't enough to help us right now, he doesn't have to experience killing someone yet."

Cayden sighed, he turned his head to Cronix, who was still staring at where the bodies were buried, "I'm preparing him for the real world, it's best for him to experience it now then when it's too late."

After that brief discussion silence was all that was left once again, but this didn't last as Cronix's soft voice filled the silence again, "You know Cayden, I should've asked you this earlier, but are you okay?"

Cayden again looked surprised, he hadn't really thought much about how he felt, even during the two days they were walking he didn't think about it, "I'm fine."

Cronix didn't look convinced, he finally turned away from the graves, and faced Cayden, "You're fine? Really? I don't know if you noticed, but you've been acting differently, I know Riley's death affected you, but I want to know how much."

Staring at the stars now visible in the sky, Cayden didn't answer Cronix, but there was sorrow in his eyes.

It took a few minutes for Cayden to finally say something, which Cronix was willing to wait, he knew Cayden would need the time to actually say how he felt.

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"I guess it's just been awhile since I lost someone. When I was young, my sett was attacked and my family was taken from me, my father, my mother... My brother." Cayden's voice choked when mentioning his brother.

Out of everyone in his life, there was no one he respected, or loved, more than his brother, but he continued, "Thankfully, I didn't have to jump from place to place like Lapsa, the first place I was taken to when I was caught was the Ayuna's."

A bitter smile formed on his face, as he remembered that time, "I was scared, and I didn't know what to do, but then I met Riley, and young master Ash, and later Lapsa, they became my new family. But now Ash is with the Holy Knights, and Riley's dead."

With the fire illuminating his face, Cronix could see Cayden's tears, but he didn't interrupt, he knew this would be a horrible time to interrupt.

Cayden continued with a calm tone, which progressively became stern,"That leaves Lapsa, and now, you as well, I guess. But all of this feels like a give and take kind of deal, and I'm tired of it."

After Cayden had his piece, he couldn't help but ask, "What about you Cronix, is there anything you want to get out of your chest? Like why did you tell Lapsa we shouldn't reveal ourselves? I mean this whole thing could've been avoided otherwise."

Cronix narrowed his eyes, "Are you blaming me for this." His tone was no longer soft, but cold.

Cayden shook his head with a faint smile, "If I didn't agree with what you said, I would've simply taken off the cloak, but I want to know your reason."

With a sigh, Cronix looked away from Cayden, and to the moon. After a few seconds of gathering his thoughts he began to speak.

"I first woke up in a clearing, in the middle of a forest, outside that forest was a town called Varence.

"At the time I didn't know I was different, I didn't know the dark element was considered evil, so when I came out of the forest, and entered Varence, I didn't think much about it. At most I just tried not doing anything they considered rude, so I didn't even use my wings to fly into town."

Cayden could hear the bitterness in Cronix's voice, like he was ridiculing himself.

"So when I got inside, I asked someone for help. I don't remember if they were a passby or a vendor. I know they were doing something with fruits, but I went to ask them for help, and you should've seen their disgusted look when they saw me."

A chuckle actually came out of Cronix when he said this, "Then I was attacked from all sides, and if it wasn't for my wings, and the crow, I would've died that day. I'm not taking any more chances when it comes to truly revealing myself."

Cayden nodded, he understood, and after a few seconds of silence, Cayden said with a bitter voice while gesturing with his head, "You know, we are just like those two strands of grass."

Cronix looked at where he was gesturing too, only to find out, it was a field.

A faint smile rose on his face, "Find me a better strand, because I think I have a better situation compared to others. I mean, my family may still be alive, and even if they aren't, I don't have the memories to feel sad about it."

This caused a small laugh to escape Cayden's lips.

"Oh, by the way, I didn't want to ask this while you were talking, but what's a sett?" Cronix asked with a twinkle in his eyes.

Cayden knew Cronix was trying to lighten the mood, and he wasn't against it, "A sett is what we badgers' call home, it's underground."

"I see, oh and what was in Riley's bag, was it only magic crystals?"

A frown appeared on Cayden's face, "I didn't really check all of it."

Reaching to his waist, Cayden took out the magic bag Riley gave to him.

"How much space does it have?" Cronix asked, also taking out the magic bag they got from the three companions, he didn't really check it thoroughly earlier, only for a name plate like the Ayuna's had.

Cayden infused magic into the bag, and dumped out the contents. The first thing they saw were 25 advanced magic crystals, which stunned both of them.

But there were four thin books underneath the pile of crystals, beside those books were a small loose piece of paper, a map of the kingdom, and a pair of reading glasses.

When the two saw the books, their eyes widened, "This could really improve our chances of surviving." Cronix said, his voice containing a hint of joy.

The four thin books were called: Building a foundation in the earth elements, Initiating into the water element, developing the wind element, and blood sacrifice art.

Cayden didn't need to know their names to know these were techniques suited to their elements.

He then grabbed the small piece of paper and looked it over, it was a note, but he couldn't read it, he still didn't know how, so he handed the paper to Cronix, "Can you read this?"

Cronix grabbed the note from his hand, and looked over it. He took a deep breath and began reading, it said:

"Hey Cayden, how've you been? I hope you're good. I'm probably dead, I'm going to use the blood sacrifice art to end this, and join my mother. If you see my brother, tell him, I don't want to see him anytime soon, the same goes for you.

"Anyways, I left you three some gifts, and you some reading glasses, now have someone teach you how to read so you can actually know what this note saids. And I'm leaving you the blood sacrifice art as a last resort, I hope my gifts serve you well.

"Sincerely, your young master, Riley.

"P.S I know you can make your own crystals, but I bet you can't create advanced crystals, so I'm pretty sure I'm doing you a favor with all this."

After hearing this, Cayden's face showed no reaction, not because he didn't feel anything, but because there were too many emotions inside him right now for any single one to take precedent over the others.

Cronix didn't talk to Cayden, he knew he needed his time to process the note. While he waited, he infused his mental energy inside the other two bags, and dumped out the contents.

There wasn't much inside the bag, and it was obvious the young woman and the young man both shared magic bags, while Marcus just didn’t carry much.

But while it was little, there were some stuff that were useful. The bags contained a few lower grade crystals, the advanced crystals they paid with, and two books.

Only one of these books interested Cronix, it read, The Secret Mist Technique. This was the technique the young woman used, and since he almost died to this, Cronix understood its power.

Sadly there wasn't the fish spell she used here, he would've really liked to have that spell, it also seemed to compliment the mist technique.

The other book was just some book about lightning, and since none of them could use the lightning element, this was practically useless.

"Cronix?" Cayden finally spoke.

Cronix turned to look at him.

"Can you teach me how to read?"