(KALAN)

The crackling crunch of the now glassed sand beneath my feet was my only company as I perused the remnants of the seventh satanist camp I had found my way towards this past week. The first six had been completely surprised by my appearance, evident from their sloppy response time. Yet, while this one had been on alert, it mattered little, it had prevented nothing.

Liquid fire still coursed through my veins, the countless satanists slaughtered only adding fuel to my scorching fire.

They had dared to target those I cared about, they had snuck into my home and attacked Eve. Tried to kill Eve. Had it taken place outside of public view, what would have happened?

Images of my late wife and daughter's fate flashed before my eyes, turning my vision white with anger. My mana bubbled up in response compressing the smoking remains around me, some bursting into clouds of dust, unable to withstand the force of my mana.

With a shout, a pulse of golden mana erupted from my body. It pulled at the glass laden sand and ripped apart the remnants of stone and clay huts dozens of meters around me.

I took a deep breath and rubbed my temples as the debris fell all around me. I was about to consider leaving for the next camp on my painfully acquired list when I heard something. A noise so small that anyone besides me would have missed it.

Whipping around I instantly located the half standing wall near the edge of the small settlement, where the sound had originated. In a flash of golden light I was upon it, ripping the broken clay and wood apart with my bare hands, I tunneled through the debris.

I can't believe I had missed one. My family never would have forgiven me for that. I never would have forgiven myself. Perhaps I can get some more information from this one, the rest hadn't been very helpful and I nee-

Everything came to a crashing halt when I pulled apart the last section of the wall. Cowering beneath was a little girl, she couldn't have been older than 4 or 5. She was covered in bruises and bloody scrapes.

When she saw who it was she screamed and tried to hide deeper in the cave of rubble around her, revealing a sickly twisted ankle and bloody feet.

I was frozen. The drumming of my heart and the cries of the girl intermingling like some sick chorus.

Again my family's last moments replayed, the murders, the blood and torture, the fear. But this time, it was me doing it.

I fell to my knees as tears streamed down my cheeks, tears I hadn't shed since that day all those years ago.

What am I doing? I had gotten this power to protect those I care about, not to become the monster that took everything from me…

Hours passed that way, the girl falling asleep at some point. If it was because she was too exhausted to stay awake or if she realized I wasn't going to harm her, I couldn't tell.

"I'm sorry," I whispered.

I couldn't make this right but I could remember and move forward the way I had always intended to. Somewhere along the way I had lost that part of myself and I became the monster in my memories, while also abandoning my loved ones.

My thoughts immediately went to Eve. She was just attacked inside the church, yet my first action was to leave.

I stood to take off to the capital but hesitated and looked at the sleeping girl.

I can't make it right, but…

I gently scooped up the frail girl and sent a minor string of mana into her body to keep her sleeping. Taking to the sky, I didn't head to the capital. Instead, I hid my aura and flew towards one of the main satanist camps I was saving for last.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A strong sense of nostalgia inundated my senses, and relief washed over me as I approached the place I called my second home.

It had been almost a month since I had last stepped into the military district of the capital. But in that time alone, I’d had plenty of time to reflect and think things over.

While I definitely still had plenty of questions swirling through my mind, I knew that one of the first things I needed to take care of was apologizing to Ryla and staying by Eve's side.

Ryla had always been by my side for as long as I can remember, and the way I had released my mana in the dungeon was extremely dangerous, even for someone as strong as her.

But as I finally reached the large metal gates leading in, I was just happy to be back. Happy for life to go back to normal, happy to have Ryla at my side again, and happy to be with Eve and Mayla.

As I walked through the halls of the building, I was greeted by many soldiers, all welcoming me back to the church and returning to my role of the first paladin.

However, I noticed I still hadn’t seen Ryla, Eve, or even Mayla. I couldn’t help but find it odd. I couldn't even sense their mana.

Deciding it would be better to just find out for myself, I began the walk to my office as it was closer than the medical bay.

And after a few minutes I had reached an all too familiar door. I once again felt a strong sense of nostalgia rush into me as I twisted the nob.

But as soon as I entered the room, I was met only by the cold and darkness. As if no one had entered this room since the day Ryla had convinced me to take a break.

Walking over to the window, I lifted my hand and began to imbue the light artifacts in the room with my mana.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

I felt the mana flow through my body, flowing through my veins as easily as if it were the blood that pumped through my body.

I watched the light swallow up the darkness in the room as I began walking towards my desk, and realized a mountain of reports were laying on the table.

‘I wonder what these could be.’ Scrolling through the documents, I quickly found my answer.

‘So you were investigating like I told you to, although I shouldn’t expect anything less from you. You’ve always been trustworthy, isn't that right, Ryla?’

After a few more skims through the reports, I realized that Ryla’s spies hadn’t been able to find anything new.

‘Even I, who gathered information from first hand sources, hadn't gotten much information save for locations of lesser communities. Makes sense that her spies had even less luck. ’

I put the reports back on the desk and made my way to the medical bay.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was a slightly longer walk, as the medical bay was on the opposite side of the building, but I enjoyed the journey. Finally taking the time to appreciate everything around me. A brief hesitation surfaced, awkwardness at my sudden departure and the future questions on where I had been and most of all my behavior towards Ryla.

Wondering if I might have ruined or put a divide in between the closest thing I could call a family sent a feeling into my gut I wasn’t accustomed to.

However, as I reached the medical bay, I was met with nothing but an empty room.

In slight panic I sent out a pulse of mana to search for them, but I found nothing..

‘Where could they be?’

As I stood dumbfounded in the hospital room where Eve had once stayed, one of the healers I had assigned to Eve walked into the room.

“Good afternoon, First Paladin!” bowing deeply with the introduction.

“Good afternoon.”

“When did you get back, sir?”

“I’ve actually just arrived. Say, you wouldn’t happen to know where Eve, Mayla, or Ryla are, would you?”

“I’m not quite sure, sir. All three have been gone for a little while now, but none of us are sure where they went. The only person who I can think of that might know where they went is Archbishop Edwards, sir.”

“The Archbishop is here?”

“You weren’t informed, sir? He arrived shortly after you took your leave.”

‘The Archbishop is here and I wasn’t informed? But why would he be here? I should have been the first person to be notified upon his arrival.’

“Is something bothering you sir?”

“No, sorry, just a few things on my mind. Thanks for the information. You’re dismissed.”

“Yes sir, and welcome back! It’s good to have you back, sir.”

“It's good to be back.”

My mind continued to swirl as the healer left the room. I knew if I wanted answers I'd need to go straight to the source: Archbishop Edwards.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As I walked down to the office Edwards was using, I thought about how I wanted to conduct myself when I entered. On one hand I was quite angry about him coming here and doing as he pleased without notifying me in the slightest, but I also knew that if he was the one who knew where they were, I’d need to be nice if I hoped to get any answers.

‘Calm down, Kalan. Your temper is the reason we’re here in the first place.’

Busy with my inner thoughts, I almost ended up walking straight into the door leading to Edwards’s office.

Taking a deep breath, I knocked on the wooden door, waiting for an answer.

“Come in.”

“Good afternoon, Archbishop Edwards.” I said, closing the door behind me and slowly making my way towards the seat directly in front of his desk.

“Oh, welcome back, Kalan. May I ask why I have the privilege of being visited by the first paladin this afternoon?” He said, subtly returning my gaze, that ever present smile never leaving his lips.

“I heard you may be able to tell me where Eve, Mayla, and Ryla have gone, is this true?”

“You have heard correctly, Kalan. They were all three sent on a mission together.”

“They were all sent on a mission together? Why was I not informed? Wasn’t Eve still hurt? Wh—?” Edwards hand worked as a signal, stopping me in my tracks.

“I see you have a lot of questions, though I’m not surprised. You have been gone for almost an entire month. Allow me to save us both the time and headache and explain everything in one go.”

Before I could answer he continued on his own.

“So first things first, we didn’t send Eve out on a mission injured, we gave her proper time to heal, and she, herself, elected to go along on a minor mission that Ryla was asked to take care of in your absence. I believe Ryla said something about not being able to leave the girl alone."

"As for why you weren’t informed, the Cardinal herself passed down this request and you were unfortunately unreachable.”

“That still doesn’t answer why I wasn’t informed of your arrival.”

“The Cardinal said she would send you a letter of notice for my arrival, but as I mentioned, you were unreachable.” a slight hint of mocking in his tone near the end.

I suppressed my anger knowing I still hadn’t received an answer to the main question I came with.

“If they are on a mission, then surely you can tell me where they were sent then. After all, you ordered my soldiers, my students, and assistant without notifying me. So you will tell me that, at least, after all I do technically hold a higher rank than your Cardinal.” allowing a small smirk to escape the edge of my lip.

“It would be my pleasure to give you that information.” A twitch of his eyelid indicated his anger despite the smile he wore. “They were sent to a small village called Arkville about half a week's walk from here.”

“Arkville? I’ve never heard of this town, what could be so important you’d need to send them out there for?”

“It was reported that it’s a hidden satanist base according to our best spies. It may even be the area where the man who hurt your precious apprentice came from.”

I felt my anger boil over at the revelation. “Are you kidding me, Edwards?! You know how badly Eve got hurt at the tournament, and you still sent her on that mission?”

“Calm down, Kalan. You should’ve known this would happen. After all, these are the first two people you’ve taken under your wing in your long reign as the first paladin, we couldn’t allow them to just stay here like antique dolls collecting dust on a shelf. Plus, they have Ryla with them, unless you’re secretly starting to doubt your own assistant.” letting his grin grow wider as he got closer to finishing.

“I have full faith in Ryla, but those two are still young and have lots of training to do. They aren’t ready for a mission like that.”

“The best way to learn is live practice, is it not? Or have those two girls made you grow soft, Kalan?”

I had finally heard enough.

“Listen Edwards.” Letting my anger escape through my tone, as I brought my gaze back up to meet his.

“I’m going to Arkville to bring them back, and when I get back I want to have a nice chat with you and your little Cardinal. And I swear if Eve, Mayla, or Ryla have so much as a scratch, you will learn where my nickname originated."

“W-watch your tone, Kalan. You may outrank me, but you know you can’t order those in a different division of the church around. Plus, I’m just following orders from the ones who actually have authority over me.” Shrinking back slightly under the pressure of my gaze.

“How ironic of you to say. We will finish this once I get back, and if you’re not here I promise I will find you.”

“Oh, don't worry, I’ll be here for a while.” His voice already back to its normal annoying tone.

“Then I look forward to our talk when I return.” I stormed out of the room, not wanting to hear anything else he might have to say. I needed to hurry up and meet up with them.

It was true they may not be in danger. Ryla was with them and after all the training they had done, I know they could handle themselves, or at least escape if necessary.

But, the fear was still there. Taking a deep breath, I allowed my mana to traverse throughout my body, flooding me with the power I had developed throughout all these years.

This time I will protect them from anyone and anything. It's time to keep my promises, to put these powers to their rightful use.

I finished the vow to myself, something that I had promised plenty of times before. After this month though, it felt like I hadn't really understood what it meant, but now I was certain of it.

‘It’s time I reconnect with my family.’ i thought as I hurried out of the gates.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(ARCHBISHOP EDWARDS)

I watched Kalan from the single window of my office, until he eventually disappeared into the clouds. My heart still raced from the strength of his intent, or perhaps it was excitement.

“Guards, you’re dismissed for today. Thank you for your continued service.” Walking back to my desk to take my seat again.

“Yes sir, thank you sir.”

As the guards finally left the room, I let out a sigh.

‘Kalan, you’ve always been a fool, but your strength definitely gets scarier everytime I see you.’

I felt the mana flow through my veins, like I had done many times before until a crow, black as the night sky appeared on my arm.

“It’s good to see you again, old friend. I know I've been overworking you lately, but this will be the last order I need delivered for some time. Tell him that the final part of the plan has been set into motion, Kalan is on his way.”

I watched as my summoned crow took off quickly disappearing into the evening sky.

‘It’s time for this game to finally get interesting. We’ve been preparing and biding our time for a long time now, but the time for waiting is finally over. I know you are more excited than any of us.’

The normal gentle smile I wore cracked into a toothy grin. “Let the fun begin.”