Once upon a time, there was a girl who loved her older brother very much. That girl was useless in almost everything she did, but she was always smiling, always trying her best, because she knew that her brother would always be there for her, even if she would never amount to anything by herself, with her brother at her side she wouldn't need to amount to anything either.

When she would stumble and spill water all over the house, she ran to her brother and cried; when she would train with other kids her age and get pummeled, her brother would tend to her bruises; when she would get reprimanded for being slow to understand during her private lessons, she would go to her brother and they would stay up all night together studying something her brother had long since mastered.

And she was happy staying in his shadow forever, but both of them knew that that couldn't go on forever. He was going to have to take up the role of an Agate to travel around the country and leave her behind. Which is why he tried to distance himself from her in the months preceding the ceremony, no... he'd already been gradually trying to get her to rely on him less and less for years now, she just chose never to acknowledge it. She just... I just wanted to stay in my happy little world forever.

Then the day came.

I held onto Actla's arm with a grip of death, determined to never let him go.

"Please... Get... Off..." There were servants desperately trying to drag me off his arm. All while Actla was nervously laughing at the situation.

"For God's sake you're almost fourteen, let him go already." My mother busted open the door to the room alongside a few other servants who went to inform her of the situation. She grabbed a hold of my ankles and yanked me right off without any trouble.

I immediately began struggling and managed to wiggle my way out of her grip and then tried to grab his arm again. As I reached out to grab his arm, I felt a light smack to my forehead as Actla reached out and stopped me by grabbing me on the head.

"Please stay." I mumbled half-heartedly, even though I knew that it would be impossible.

"I'll always be with you in heart. Even if I won't be here all the time anymore; I'll try to visit as often as I can. That's a promise I'll never break; I swear on it." Actla began to pat my head like he always did to comfort me. As he did I began to cry. It was a rare sight; the last time I had cried was 2 years ago. I stopped when Actla told me that he didn't like seeing me cry unless it was for something truly important. So I held it in every time to the best of my ability.

"Why did you turn out the way that you did." My mother let out a big sigh in the back as she leaned on the wall and watched everything go down.

"You can't rely on your brother forever, someday you're going to have to become your own person." She said.

I ignored her and continued holding on, wishing desperately that this moment would continue on forever.

"You spoiled her Actla; now what is she going to do? She can't live without you anymore." She said.

"Maybe... I could take her with-"

"Out of the question." My mother responded flatly with.

"I thought so."

"I'm fine." I suddenly started speaking. "Mother's right, I need to stop relying on you so much; I'm sorry if I'm making you feel guilty for leaving me." I looked into his eyes and fake smiled. "So don't worry about me alright? I just needed a moment. I stepped back, immediately feeling the hollow sensation of knowing that I wouldn't be able to see him for a couple of months the second he steps out of that door.

"Don't worry, if anything bad happens, I'll come flying back to save you."

"I'm old enough to know that even you can't run that fas, so come on, get going already; I'll be fine... please." Of course I knew that I wasn't going to be fine, but I couldn't let him know that.

"Mmh, I'll see you soon." Actla swung on his purple cloak and hoisted his massive bag, full of food, water and all he needed to survive the long days in alone in the desert sun as well as a couple of other tools to aid him in his journeys.

The cloak he wore was to signify his position as an Agate when he comes in contact with other villages. There he would employ the vast amount of knowledge he had studied over the years on farming, resolving civil conflicts, craftsmanship, and even fighting if the need ever arose. There were always 4 total Agates traveling the land at a time, however, as the last one had retired a couple of months ago there was a hole that needed to be filled, and it was to be filled by my brother. There were few out there as smart and talented in all fields as my brother, and he was considered to be a prodigy in every field. He was simply too bright, but most importantly he was kindhearted, and that was perfect for someone as important as the agate.

I watched solemnly as he stepped out and the door closed behind him. I stared at the closed door for a couple more seconds before turning around and stumbling like a zombie back into my bedroom.

"It's going to be alright." Mother said as I walked out the room.

I didn't respond.

Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months, months turned into years. At least that's what it felt like to me, in reality Actla had only been on his journey for 5 months before his first trip back.

I sat on the rooftop desperately scouting the area, where is he? He should be back by now right? They promised today was the day! I-

I stopped thinking the moment I saw that flash of purple. An unfamiliar sensation crept up on my face moving my cheeks up. Huh, that's strange. It's been a while since I've smiled.

I flung myself off the rooftop, diving headfirst down into the soft sand. His eyes widened the moment he saw my figure falling from the sky. He dug his foot into the sand with an explosion of speed and caught me right before my face smacked into the ground.

"Are you okay?!?... Polly?"

I looked up at his face and smiled. "Welcome back."

His shocked expression quickly turned warm and friendly. "Yea I'm back; There's a lot of stories I want to tell you."

"So what did you do? Did you have to beat up those foreigners from Oliviand? How did you manage to make them go away?" I was listening intently to a story where Actla had to drive out invaders from Oliviand trying to cause a ruckus with the smaller villages.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"They were actually Lysterian soldiers disguised as invaders from Oliviand. Apparently, they were trying to stir us up so that we would join and maybe swing the war in their favor. They did willingly back down once I showed up however, maybe they didn't want a scandal breaking out, but I really didn't need to do anything once I figured out who they actually were."

"Anyways, enough about me, your hair has grown quite long since the last time I saw you. What have you been up to?" He suddenly shifted the conversation over to me.

I couldn't do anything but avert my eyes. "You know... Working, studying, training, all the usual." I instantly knew that this lie wouldn't hold up.

He stared at me expectantly for a couple more seconds.

"Sitting... in my bedroom doing nothing."

"Who was the last person you talked to before I came back."

".......you."

"I knew it." He murmured under his breath, just barely audible enough for me to hear.

"Come with me, let's go see mom and dad."

"I don't want to." I said with a weak voice.

"Oh you don't want to come with me? Sure, but I haven't seen mom and dad in a while, and I want to say hi to them right now." My brother said as he began walking away, leaving no room for argument.

I silently started following him back, my head lowered. After all, what else could I do?

I watched from the corner of the door as Actla greeted mom and dad, I could feel them glancing at me from the corner of my eye, but both of them simply ignored my presence. That's to be expected after all, I ignored their pleas for months before they finally got angry and gave up.

"How have you been? Get in anything dangerous?" Dad asked.

"It's been going pretty well so far, I came into contact and stayed with 4 places total. Had to settle a couple of conflicts, but overall I haven't really needed to do anything major. It's been exactly like how I've been taught." Actla looked at me from the corner of his eye. "Polly." He motioned for me to enter the room.

I took a deep breath, smiled cheerfully and entered. "Greetings mother, father, I'm sorry for the way I've been acting for the past months, I'll try my best from now on." I said with a ring in my voice.

Actla suddenly got up and walked to the door. "Now say that when I'm not in the room."

"Ah." My voice suddenly faltered as he passed me and left, leaving the three of us to sit and stare at each other in an awkward silence.

"So are you ready to talk to us now? We are your parents you know." Father said.

In response I opened my mouth, but no words came to mind. I had no idea what I could say... No, I knew many things I could talk about, I just couldn't get the words out of my mouth.

"Actla spoiled you too much." Mother puts her palm to her face and sighs. "You are forbidden from being with Actla until you interact with another person. It doesn't even need to be us. I just want you to do something on your own for once."

My breathing got heavy and labored at the thought of doing so. Panic begins curling through every inch of my body, telling me to run away and hide with Actla. I instantly took a step back and ran through the door, then out of the house. I could feel their gazes follow me disappointingly, their expectations low from the start.

Where's Actla, where's Actla, where's Actla?! I run around the town frantically, ignoring the surprised glances that popped up.

"Are you lost young girl?" I felt a cold hand descend on my shoulder, instantly stopping me in my tracks. It was like time itself had stopped, leaving behind a frigid silence. Just as quickly however, I felt the sensation pass, as time went back to normal and I could see clearly who was holding me.

"Yo!" Somewhat above average in height, skinny but well toned young adult could be seen, his hair and body were that of the exact same as Actla's however his clothing had changed, and he had one notable feature.

The mask decorated with the face of a demon.

"Actla? Is that you? Why are you wearing that mask?"

"Do I really look like him? Sorry but you have the wrong guy."

I instantly shriveled away upon the realization that I had talked to a complete stranger without any sight of my brother.

"Ah! Don't worry! If you're looking for him I can help you find him, I know him pretty well after all." He said, trying to calm me down.

The thought of running away immediately popped into my head, however mother's words also pop into my head. I have to interact with someone else before I can talk with Actla again, preventing me from making any decisions, and before I knew it my mouth started moving without my permission.

"H-how do you k-know about my b-brother?" I stammered, not even sure what I was trying to accomplish.

"We travelled together for quite a while. I was traveling the desert and got lost, and he found me when I was lying on the sand slowly getting baked to death by the sun. Good guy, probably would have been toast if he hadn’t found me. Literally.” He laughed

Was that a joke? I thought.

“Was that a joke?” I felt a cold sweat cover my body as I realized that I had unintentionally said a pretty rude thought.

“I thought I’d… you know, lighten the mood a little bit, you seem a little bit on edge right now.” The masked man said.

“I’m… I’m okay, don’t worry about it. More importantly I need to find my brother, can you help?”

“Alright then, follow me, I just saw him walking down this street; seemed to be grumbling about something, don’t really know what it was about. What’s your name?” He then asked me.

“P-Polly.”

“Well Polly, try to stop acting so nervous when you meet someone new, adults are a lot nicer than you may think, at least they will be to someone as little as you… Actually scratch that, if you’re not with your brother or a parent please avoid them if someone tries to come up to you and talk.” He said, even though he clearly fell under that category.

He then started to walk down the street motioning for me to follow him. I hesitated but quickly made up my mind and started following him. Something about him was disarming, he didn’t give off that same scary aura that came off of everyone else I’ve met. The only other person who gave me this same feeling was Actla.

However at the same time, I couldn’t forget that feeling of coldness when he first touched me. If I had to describe it, it was like my mind had separated from reality itself.

“Hey mister, what’s that mask of yours for?”

“Ah well, you see I have a pretty big scar on my face that I don’t want people to see. Hope you don’t mind. Plus, it’s kinda become a part of my identity at this point. So don’t feel bad.”

I nod quietly in response. After all what would I say in response to that?

We walked quietly the rest of the way him leading me through the streets until we finally come upon Actla talking with some of his friends whom he was catching up with after leaving for for so long.

“Yo! I found your sister wandering around, think I might let you know.” The man gives Actla the same greeting he gave me.

Actla turns around. Right into my oncoming figure as I crash into his arms. “Whoa! What happened?” He looks up and sees the masked man.

“Dundee? What are you doing here?”

“After we separated I ended up making my way to this town, but I guess this is your home place if your little sister was wandering around lost like that.” The masked man, or rather, Dundee said.

“Polly, did you perhaps… run away from dad and mom?” Actla looked down at me.

“I did! But, but, but I was able to talk with this person over here. So, see? I managed to interact with someone without you around.” I said frantically.

“I guess… But give me a couple more minutes to finish up with my friends alright? Then we can go and do something fun together.”

“Alright!” I looked up and smiled happily at him.

And so, day one of the two weeks Actla was supposed to stay with us passed.

Actually… thinking back on it. That was one of the last positive memories I ever had.