In the forty days since they fled Eynond and the clutches of Commander Dastov, Renkyk and Galdrehln had stayed in some thirty different beds, by Renkyk's count. The dizzying pace of their moving about, first to the southwest, then east, and then north back almost to where they had started before they made the mistake of entering Eynond, left Renkyk so disoriented that he'd lost track of all of the small towns and villages they stayed in.

That morning, in the cozy cabin tucked into the southern reaches of the sprawling and dense Ancehlt Forest, he lay awake in the uncomfortably soft bed while Galdrehln rested on top of his left arm. He wanted to move it, but Galdrehln needed the rest. Since the encounter with Captain Erdinov, sleep had come rarely to his dear friend. Even when it did, the nightmares marred it. Galdrehln mumbled incessantly in his sleep, recounting the final words of the captain before his body unraveled into a heap of withered flesh and crumbled bone.

It's not your fault, Gald. We didn't have a choice, he thought as stared out the small, uneven glass window that faced the forest. It was well past dawn, but darkness loomed over the cabin with the snows falling all morning long. Renkyk himself would've dozed off again if not for the nagging promise he'd made to Galdrehln: The promise of a plan.

He'd been assuring Galdrehln that he was just finishing up his final details and didn't want to commit to anything before he had. That was, of course, an odious lie, but Galdrehln at least did him the courtesy of pretending to believe it. At least Renkyk interpreted it as a courtesy.

"I'll... you're both spent," Galdrehln mumbled in a quiet and slurred voice. "Both spent."

With his right hand, Renkyk patted Galdrehln on his messy mop of blue green hair. It's not your fault. And I promise you that I will come up with a plan.

With Galdrehln sleeping tucked up alongside him, he cleared his mind to focus on the central facts. The first thing that the events at Eynond had wholly convinced him of was that they needed to stay clear of ever again being involved in either side of the Empire's civil war. Rohmhelt, Duronaht, and all of their allies had no appreciation whatsoever for the Auras and what they could do. That the warring brothers wasted the lives of hundreds of mages in a single battle proved that well enough.

Trying to avoid the path of the war had to be his highest priority. When Galdrehln and Renkyk fled Mount Ceuna after Forynda banished Nethron, they went to Eynond, which proved to be a catastrophic choice. Anywhere but Eynond would have been better. Somewhere neutral was necessary. Somewhere like the tribal lands across the northwestern quadrant of the continent. Most hadn't chosen a side in the war, at least not yet.

But apart from going somewhere safe from the war's path, there was an overriding central question: What exactly was he trying to do now? He sighed as he thought of that issue. When he'd set off on his journey with Galdrehln to meet Nethron, his only ambition was learning about the Auras from their master. What happened after that was never planned out. He realized how much he gave himself over to the excitement of the moment. Collaborating with an angel of Ceuna, in fact the very one who had just unleashed the Auras, was more than someone of his birth could've ever hoped.

Never again, Renkyk vowed. We need to be much more serious.

Neither Forynda and her allies nor Omonrel and his were worthy of his, or anyone else's, allegiance. That much was clear. Just as clear was that the mortals weren't entirely helpless in the face of the angels' might. A sufficient number of mortals, properly trained and motivated, could stand against one as violent as Gorondos. More sensible angels, such as Simel and Tathyk, would never even consider retaliation. It wasn’t a hopeless fight.

Mad as the notion was, Renkyk saw the path forward. All of those who never wished to be part of this most futile and bloody of wars needed a cause to rally behind and Renkyk believed he could provide it. Obviously, he and Galdrehln were just two men in a world of over one hundred million, but the number who must have similarly soured on the warring brothers and their angelic allies surely numbered well into the millions. It was an untapped resource.

That would be their mission. To rally the peoples who wanted no part of the war and wanted to harness all of the Auras to their utmost to improve their lives, especially the Silver Aura to, as Nethron had promised, conquer death itself.

When Galdrehln awoke and lazily prepared breakfast in the small black iron pot over the fire, Renkyk explained his plan. Galdrehln listened silently as he cooked what few pieces of sausage they had left.

"I don't know, Ren," Galdrehln sighed, staring at the hissing and popping grease. "That's... a lot."

"Look, I've thought about this for weeks," Renkyk insisted. "What would be the point of us learning everything we've learned just to fold right back into the woodwork and someday die without having done anything with all of it?"

"Maybe there isn't a point," Galdrehln mumbled, shivering. "Maybe we've just misread all of this."

"I don't think you believe that!" Renkyk shouted. Seeing that his dear friend slumped at that lambasting, he moved closer and put his hand on Galdrehln's shoulder. "Gald, I know that what happened with Erdinov bothered you. It bothered me, but he would have killed us."

Galdrehln sprinkled a little more salt on the sausage cooking in the pan and grimaced.

"You realize that Dastov is never going to stop hunting us down, right?" Galdrehln looked straight into Renkyk's eyes, his own quivering. "I had a nightmare about it this morning. He was standing behind me and stabbed me right through the heart. I didn't see anything for a while after that and then... and then you were there, standing over me with that silver glow all around you. Telling me that it was all fine."

Renkyk's skin prickled with a cold electric sensation. He immediately shook it off and waved his hand.

"Dreams are strange, especially when we're under stress," he scoffed. "You don't actually think that's prophetic, do you?"

"I don't know," Galdrehln groaned. "I had some dreams that came to pass in that battle, the one back there at Eynond. I... I just don't know, Ren."

Sighing and rubbing his eyes, Renkyk tried to order his mind.

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"Look," he began, "why should we think that this was going to be easy? Neither of us was born to anything. We're not Rohmhelt or Duronaht or any of the nobles or anything like that. Everything we've done has required a lot of work. It could've all fallen apart at any time, but it hasn't. There's a progression of events that favors us. We could've been killed by Erdinov, we could've died in battle back there at Eynond, Dastov could've killed us, Forynda could've killed us, or any number of other things."

"Could just be luck," Galdrehln smiled and laughed while he put the sausages and the vegetables cooking alongside them onto the two woeful tin plates they had.

Renkyk shook his head.

"I don't believe that, and I know you don't. It's utterly improbable that mere random flits and wobbles of luck would grace us like that," he laughed. "Now, after breakfast, we need to train. We need to explore everything so that we can do this."

Galdrehln blushed as he handed Renkyk his plate.

"We're a little short on food, so we might wanna do something about that, too," he said and smiled.

Renkyk laughed and looked at the relatively meager offerings, thinking how much better things had been a week before.

"Yeah, I see your point," he chuckled and began eating. "We'll take care of that first."

Two days later, after several marginally successful hunts that yielded about a dozen small animals and replenished their food stores, they decided to continue their studies of the Auras in the southern reaches of the Ancehlt Forest near a frozen pond. Renkyk vowed to become at least passingly more proficient with the Water Aura under Galdrehln's instruction.

Standing on a tree stump amidst the dull light of that cloudy day, Galdrehln performed a variety of manipulations of the snows around him, forming shimmering icy statues of animals and even, at one point, one of Renkyk. It was flattering in how it made Renkyk look gallant, holding a small amulet out before him as he had when he faced down Gorondos.

"You know, your showing off here might not end up helping me that much, but I appreciate it all the same," he lightly chuckled to Galdrehln. "Gald, we need to..."

"I know you know how to do some of this, Ren. The whole idea is to immerse yourself so that you feel that bond, same as you did with the Silver Aura and being near all those dying people. It's the same thing, sort of," Galdrehln awkwardly laughed. "Why's the Water Aura my main affinity? It's because I spent so much of my life with it when I grew up along the Keldras River, swimming in it, fishing, and always just sitting by it. Even before all this started, when I closed my eyes, I'd see water. I'd hear it. The more I show you, the more you'll get it. You can't just read and get this, you know?"

Renkyk sighed and placed his hands on his hips, discovering a small tear in his padded winter garments on the right as he did.

"Yes, I know."

Galdrehln smirked and reached into his reagent pouch. He withdrew a couple strands of a dried weeds Renkyk had seen him use to conjure fire before along with a small patch of dirt. Galdrehln tilted his head at it and nodded.

"Here's some motivation for you. Something I just played around with and... well, let me show you," he said to Renkyk.

"Alright. Let's see it," Renkyk laughed.

His staff in his right hand pointed toward the reagents in his left, levitating the sandy dirt in a solid vertical disc in front of him. Galdrehln then closed his eyes and muttered indistinctly, causing the weeds to ignite into a nearly white flame. It melted the sandy soil, forming a glowing orange disc of molten liquid. He then brought several strands of snow up from the ground and directed them with his left hand. They melted into water as they neared the molten disc.

"This is the one hard part," Galdrehln laughed and bit his lip, his chubby cheeks forming dimples and he braced. He then crashed the water into the disc. A hissing cloud of steam shot every direction. Renkyk covered his eyes with his hand as the warm mist swept over him.

"Ah ha! Did it!" Galdrehln squealed in joy. Renkyk lowered his arm and saw a piece of what appeared to be abnormal curved glass floating between him and Galdrehln, magnifying his friend's face such that he could even see the edges of each melting snowflake on his cheeks. "What do you think?"

"Well, that's a neat trick!" Renkyk gasped. "Nice for looking at things far away."

"Oh yes!" Galdrehln excitedly shouted. "Watch this bit. You can warp it to make things closer or farther." He scrunched the glassy disc both curving further inward and then flatter. He then moved it from one location to another, focusing on random portions of the forest. "You can just move around like this and see whatever it is that you... AHHH!"

Galdrehln screamed and dropped from the tree stump, but the lens he created remained floating for a moment. Renkyk saw, up close, a blue-faced woman's face, her yellow eyes gazing at him through an opening in the forest's undergrowth. The lens fell to the ground, collapsing into nothingness in the snow.

"Show yourself!" Renkyk shouted toward her as he moved toward Galdrehln to help him up. "Gald, are you alright?"

"Fine. Just... she scared the shit out of me!" Galdrehln wheezed as he stood back up, his clothes covered in snow. He then pointed toward the woman. "You! Get out here! What're you doing there?!"

Her hands held high, she stepped out from the undergrowth and into the small clearing they had been using for their training. She wore simple ragged white cloth garments, no clear patterns or designs on any of them. Renkyk knew she was definitely a Caylanch, the blue-skinned folk from the southeastern parts of the Methrangian Empire. Beyond her skin, she had the customary bright yellow eyes and sandy hair. She was fine-featured, with high cheekbones, a narrow chin, and thin lips.

"I was just curious what you were doing," she said, her voice high and lilting. She crept closer, one step at a time. "I've been in these woods for months just scraping it out here and you're the most interesting people to come by. I normally just ignore them. But you're different. Both of you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Galdrehln protested.

"You're clearly not soldiers and I mean that in a good way," she laughed and smiled. "My name's Ceturie, but you can call me Cetie. That's what my parents always called me, anyway."

Sighing and shifting his jaw around, Renkyk took a more relaxed posture.

"Renkyk," he said and then pointed to Galdrehln. "That's Galdrehln."

"Ren, I can introduce myself," Galdrehln chuckled. "Anyway, why were you just sitting there? Why didn't you announce yourself? You know how dangerous it is to peep on people these days?"

She took a few more steps toward them, standing on the opposite side of the stump.

"Like you, I'm very interested in the Auras. In fact, I came out this way from my home looking for Nethron, but by the time I got here..." her voice trailed off.

"We were there when that happened, by the way," Galdrehln interjected.

Renkyk shot a furious glance at Galdrehln. He felt his eyes bulge out of their sockets. Gald, you can't just tell people shit like that! he fumed to himself. Well, it's done now.

Cetie gasped at that revelation.

"So, you were with him? With Nethron?"

"Mmm. Yes, but I'd rather not get into all that right now," Renkyk mumbled through gritted teeth. "It's a long story and before I dive deep into that, I want to ask what your intentions are."

Politely bowing, Cetie offered open hands, both of which were calloused and scraped.

"I'd like to help both of you. Surely you could use a helper with whatever it is that you're doing?" she asked with an open-mouthed smile.

"A helper? What can you help with?" Renkyk queried.

She smirked and flipped her hands downward at the tree stump below. Pulling at it in the air, she caused it to start shaking. The wood cracked and splintered. In an instant, some two or three dozen large wooden shards floated in front of Renkyk and Galdrehln, both of whom leapt back from it. She then flicked here hand and sent the shards flying rapidly toward a tree some distance away, savagely ripping the trunk of that tree to pieces. Creaking, it fell over into the snow with a dull thud.

"I've spent a lot of time on all of this," she said. "And I think I've got some things I can contribute. If nothing else, I can at least help you two stay alive a bit longer. I've watched you by that cabin. You're not doing too well."

Renkyk and Galdrehln exchanged shocked glances. Renkyk more rapidly composed himself and smiled at Cetie.

"Cetie, I think you can be a great help," he started. "First, let me explain what it is that we're trying to do."