All in all, our ride turned out to be less exciting than I’d anticipated. Always chasing the sun, we headed straight east for most of our journey. Well, unless it didn’t actually rise east in this world, in which case - who knows.

“Alright. So, we went along with your plan. Do you seriously consider bringing a dragon to the capital?” Urs had bickered with his father for the whole trip. Given the fact they had given each other the silent treatment for years on end, I’d say they had much to catch up on.

“Well. On our journey to Rhodentum the reactions were... mixed. Nothing we cannot handle.” Vrintas said.

“Mixed.” Urs laughed. “And Rheka? Yes, I know. I know you’ve been teaching her. And by Enk’s grace I regret not putting an end to it yet.

“I will get her a tutor. And then it will be official.” Vrintas replied without hesitation.

“Of course. You always have all the answers.”

“Couldn’t we’ve just holed up at home? I mean, the village center was quite a distance away, no?” I injected myself into their debate. I’ll be real here. I was just trying to pass time by talking.

“We couldn’t have. When the king’s troops eventually come to isolate and shut the village off, we would’ve been stuck there. It is good that we departed when we did.”

Vrintas had spent the better part of a month aiding the village folk against a sudden disease outbreak, but to no avail. Actually, two disease outbreaks. From what I’d gotten from their conversations, something called Sandskin and Nightnail, the latter of which we’d already heard of. And if you’re thinking the same thing I’m thinking about right now - well... great minds think alike! It was most likely partly our fault. Or perhaps not. Nightnail was an obscure disease. And incredibly hard to keep at bay, apparently. Meaning the whole village of Bayonnte, our home included, was doomed for good.

Like, burning-down-the-whole-region doomed.

I wasn’t exactly attached to that place. Home, as one might know it, wasn’t really a concept to me. But I hated moving, especially suddenly. And Urs made a good point. How would people in the capital react to my sudden appearance?

Back then on our trip to Rhodentum I’d thought; A whole city in just one tower? Madness! But nope. As it turned out, most cities in Juskarria were actually built in a similar fashion. Some smaller, some taller, these Dracospires could be found all over the Juskarri countryside. The density of which increased as you went further from the capital. Meaning, the borderlands must’ve been littered with them. Don’t get me wrong, most were still a sight to behold, but the magic would sort of wear off after you’d passed directly under a dozen or so. Though, I’d still prefer to avoid them whenever I could. If you catch my drift. Villages and towns situated on the ground seemed much... friendlier.

But I digress. For now, we had left our former home behind us. And despite this seeming like a permanent change, we didn’t actually take anything with us. Especially the old man. I wasn’t quite sure if he was planning on heading back to the house at any point in time, but I suppose he must’ve been. He left practically everything in his beloved basement behind. I couldn’t even take my dearest Chronika Solida with me. May she rest in peace. Nor any other of the old man’s books. Urs had left behind all his gear, and Rheka and Vis all they owned, really.

Everyone looked rather glum for most of the trip, especially Zilra. And here I thought she would be euphoric to finally go home. In the end she’d stayed with us much longer than planned. Let’s see if returning home can improve her mood. Personally? I couldn’t wait to get one of these brats off my hands. One I could deal with easily, but this trio was way beyond my pay grade! Ha.

Though, it was great to see that the three of them had gotten along so well recently. I guess that whole frosty forest debacle the other day did have its purpose after all.

Evidently, Rheka needed someone to keep her company at all times. Someone who didn’t have scales.

Four days later and we still hadn’t arrived. I’d stopped asking where we were whenever we’d halt for food or rest. Not like I knew much about the geography of this country anyway.

Living on horseback was quite cozy, but it made you smell like horseshit over time. Duh. Of course, everything was better than walking. Nonetheless I was hoping for our trip to end sooner rather than later lest some members of our little horse caravan started going at each other’s throats again.

“Rheka. Argius. Ride with me for a moment.”

It was Urs who’d called for us, breaking me away from my thoughts. Rheka was dosing off, so she didn’t notice right away. Understandably so, as riding through the countryside had become so boring I had started questioning my own life choices. After I’d gotten her into a somewhat responsive state, we reached him. Tavrin let out a sigh. He had trouble speeding up our horse, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t impressed that the lad could ride at all.

Urs was staring into the distance.

“As soon as we’re there, I want you all to be in an upmost alert state, alright? Watch each other’s backs. That city… I despise it. It’s rotten to the core. Be wary of everyone and everything. At the end of the day, you only have each other.”

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Huh. This was... odd? I wasn’t quite sure what he was trying to communicate here. From what the old man had told me about the capital in the past I couldn’t quite understand where Urs was coming from. Bad experiences perhaps?

Rheka nodded with her arms crossed. She looked as serious as could be. So much for being sleepy.

“Sure, but we can all... help each other out, no?” I asked.

“I’m afraid not. When my injury is healed, I’ll be put back on duty. There’s more than enough work to be done. And Vis has... errands to run as well. It’s not every day that we’re spending time in the capital.”

That checked out. In all honesty, I was surprised the King had kindly granted his humble servant this much time to recover. I’d expected Urs to be heading for the capital much sooner.

“And the old man?”

“Ha. If you’re thinking that he’ll make time to give us any help you’re dead wrong. My... father has a habit of disappearing when things become unpleasant.”

“Alright, I suppose...” I paused before continuing.

“But you’ve left us for long periods of time too, no?”

“That’s different. I’m serving the kingdom. I’m protecting my family. All he’s ever done was run his little experiments. Chasing a dead dream.”

“If you say so, Urs.” How does one protect his family when he’s not even there? And chasing a dead dream? What dream? Collecting the world’s most useless trinkets?

“I’ll protect Argius like you protect us!” Rheka shouted, almost drawing the attention of everyone else.

Urs smiled. “I’m sure you will. I love you, Rheka.”

At the end of the day, I wasn’t certain about who to side with in this never-ending cold war of a family conflict. Well, I didn’t know too many of the details, so I guess it would be wrong for me to pick sides anyway. You would think that I shouldn’t care. Things seemed to be fine the way they were after all. Both parties enjoyed the status quo - so what gives? Even if I wanted to, there was no way I could force them to make amends anyway! Yet I could not stop thinking about it. The old man always had this melancholic expression on his face when he talked about his son. Or even just to him. Like he was constantly holding back something. Communication is key, you damn geezer. Speak your bloody mind for once!

After I’d finally managed to relax a bit, I was once more ripped away from my trail of thought. And by none other than the old man himself. He showed me the universal sign for “Get over here”.

I signaled to Tavrin to slow down a bit so we could fall behind. He just sighed in response. “Yes, yes, yes.”

And of course, the sun was setting. Sunrises and sunsets were the old man’s favorite talking moments of the day.

“Feeling philosophical?” I broke the silence.

Vrintas let out a soft chuckle. “It would seem so.”

“Alright then. What’s on your mind, old man?”

“Ha. Old man.” He scoffed. “I am old, am I not.”

“Yup. Sometimes I fear that you’ll just fall apart. With a cloud of dust looming over your crumbled pile of bones.”

“That’s mean Argi!” Rheka and Tavrin both chuckled.

“Yeah, but you are laughing."

“Any moment now, son. Any moment.” He said with a pleasant smile on his face.

As silence overtook the conversation, I couldn’t help but notice how everyone was simply ignoring Tavrin’s presence. Not like he had much to say to either Urs or Vrintas anyway. I guess I should’ve felt bad for the kid but honestly, I just didn't.

The old man was once again feeling melancholic. He had a habit of letting everything out during sunsets and rises especially. Would this be the right moment to find out more about his relationship with Urs? Maybe I could steer our little chat here towards that.

“There might come a day when I’ll have to leave this family behind, once again. And I’m afraid that day is coming much sooner than I’d expected.”

What.

“H-huh? You’re leaving? When? Soon?” I stuttered like a flustered child. But to my defense, I was in a bit of shock. This came too out of nowhere.

“No, no. Not now!” Vrintas laughed.

“But with things developing as they are right now, sooner or later my support will be needed elsewhere. As much as it pains me to say, I’m afraid my past is slowly catching up to me.”

“I don’t get it. Can’t you just be straight with me? I can help you; you know? Let’s figure it out together.”

He paused.

“I’m afraid you cannot. Not yet. But do not worry. I will tell you all about it when the time is right. For now, the only one who can help me with this is myself.”

I didn’t respond. I didn’t want to. It was simply unfair. I had a total of 40-something years under my belt, yet here I was pouting like a damn child. I cared more about this old geezer than I admittedly should have.

I guess Urs had a point after all.

“I’ve made arrangements for a tutor to look after the two of you whenever I cannot. I’m certain you will make great strides under his supervision.”

“Sure we will.”

“Good. Everything thereafter is up to you two.”

“Tell me one thing, Vrintas.”

For the first time in this conversation, he looked at me.

“How am I supposed to protect Rheka when I can’t even conjure up a simple flame?”

He paused for a moment. “It’d be foolish to think that you could do it by yourself. Gather allies and stick together. Whatever you might lack could be complimented by someone else. That also goes for your arcane problems. Who knows what a stranger might teach you? And be patient.”

“Of course. Of course. Be patient.” I mimicked his tone of voice.

“Yes. Have patience. Because you do not.”

I sighed.

“For now, you should find out why you would even want to occupy yourself with the arcane. And find a good reason while you’re at it. One besides just simply protecting someone. You might still be too young to be thinking about things like these, but in my humble opinion it is never early enough to get a good head start on life.”

Duly noted. I had nothing more to add. He did make a good point after all. Why was I even trying to figure out magic in the first place? I suppose back then it must’ve been a combination of boredom and curiosity, but was it worth all this time and effort? And my nerves on top of that? Sigh.

As I contemplated my life choices, a colossal structure slowly appeared on the far away horizon. It looked almost familiar, yet I’d never been there before, of course. Spanning from one mountain range to the other.

Its massive wall-like build towered over the vast farmlands in front of it.