Two towers of ceramics and a girl between them. Thess was spending her morning cleaning dishes while the rest of her family tidied up the rooms.

"What in the world were they eating to make such stains?" Thess huffed in frustration as she scrubbed.

As much as it was a tedious task, her mind was somewhere else completely as she waited for Aleyn to come back. She had sent another letter today and was eagerly waiting for his response.

She placed the final plate on the tower of dishes and carried them to the cupboard and while she did she heard the front door open.

"Oh she's early..."

Thess put down the plates quickly and went to meet Aleyn. She was hoping none of her family members heard her come inn as if someone were to be there as she receive the letter it would raise too many questions.

She entered the room and was about to greet Aleyn and offer her something to drink but her train of thought was interrupted right as she saw Aleyn.

Ripped clothes, hunched back and a slight limp to her walk.

"Aleyn?! Wha.. are you alright?" Thess yelped as she rushed to her.

Before she could get too close to her though Aleyn stopped her by raising her hand in front of her. She looked at her straight in the eye with an angry look.

"Yeah.. just freaking dandy." She said with a sarcastic tone.

She then started walking towards her room. Meanwhile Thess was slightly taken back in shock as it was the first time Aleyn had shown any animosity towards her.

"Do you..Do you need something? Bandages maybe?

Aleyn turned her head and gave an annoyed stare at her for a second then disappeared in to the corridor.

Thess very surprised could do nothing but return back to her dishes while thinking what had happened to Aleyn.

"Did she get mugged? It sure looks like it. But why wouldn't she want to talk about it if she did?Why was she so angry towards me? I'm confused..."

She placed some dishes in the cupboard and kept thinking it through.

"She went for a run and brought my letter to Stev then returned back for a quick bath. Thats what she always does doesn't she?"

At that point she realized something she had returned early and not given her any letter. Was Stev at fault? No, she could have just forgotten.

"She needs some rest... But I need that letter..."

Deciding to ditch her work for a minute she took off towards Aleyns room but before she got too far Aleyn was already walking towards her. She had changed her clothes but still had a slight limp.

"What are you doing?" Thess asked.

"What does it look like? Going to work." She said.

"But you're injured! You need to rest."

"Im going to work." She emphasized every word in annoyance.

Thess was taken back again. Why was she being so mean to her? Aleyn strode past Thess as she headed for the door.

"Wait! Could you at least give me Stevs letter?" Thess asked.

"He didn't give me one." Aleyn said bluntly

She then left the inn and went to work. Meanwhile Thess stood in the corridor in confusion. Why wouldn't he send a reply? What's going on? With many questions on her mind she returned back to the cupboard and continued placing the plates back in while a dark feeling started to creep in to her mind. Something was very wrong.

Even though the few months in Dvalfgar had been quite eventful, it was the last month of the year in real life and Nic as well as other students still had their hands full. It was the final rush for students to finish their courses so most if not everyone's tension was at their peak.

Today was one of those days where stress was so thick you could practically grasp it as the virtual reality studies students sat quietly and worked on their exam for link programming. As it was their first year the subject wasn't so advanced that it was impossible, but since it was the main subject of their studies it was very crucial that they got the best grades they could on the subject.

Without much hassle people tapped away on their computers and completed the task and since it was the end of the year there were very few actual lessons in which case most people just went home after the exam.

"That condition could be sought in a while loop... which would actually make that line useless and I can remove that item not to mention that whole thing.. Sigh."

Nic was at the end of his exam as he noticed that some of the parts he had already written he could do in a less round about way. He had actually already finished the task but since now he had noticed the flaws Nic was very reluctant to turn the exam in until he fixed the parts.

There wasn't that much to fix but he had already spent most of the given exam time so he had to get to work quickly. He spent the next 15 minutes rewriting some of the code but he only had time for one test run.

When he observed the output he could only be relieved.

"Zero errors."

A more relaxed sigh escaped his lips as the clock struck 13:00.

"That's time. Submit the exam boys and girls." The teacher interrupted everyone.

Quickly uploading his program Nic spent a minute or two closing his computer then took off. Surprisingly enough there was a person waiting for him outside of the room even though the said person had left the room almost thirty minutes in to the exam.

"Whats wrong with you Nic!? How freaking long do you have to take with that crap, that test was easy?"

A furious Asian man known as Ken.

"Well sorry mister perfect. Some of us like to do things at our own pace."

Ken didn't seem amused as he huffed at Nic.

"No one told you to wait for me anyway. Why are you here?"

Ken perked up a bit as he remembered.

"Oh right yeah. Elle had some movie tickets and thought we could go and watch something so she told me to wait here for you."

"Ever heard of texting? Could have saved you an hour of waiting." Nic said sarcastically.

"Yeah yeah... You in or out? Were going in an hour."

"Sure, why not." Nic agreed after a moment of thinking.

Later in the evening in the city the two were wasting time at a computer store, checking whats the newest new while Elle took her time to meet them.

"Holy... Look at this one. More than twice the processing power than my setup put together." Ken gasped.

"You have more than one computer?" Nic asked.

"But of course. One for business one for pleasure as well as two screens for both of them."

"Couldn't you just have one computer? And what good are four screens?"

Ken looked at Nic with disgust.

"If you knew the joys of dual screens you wouldn't be saying that."

"Well I only have a laptop so I wouldn't know."

Slightly shocked, Ken was about to say something but was interrupted by his phone going off.

"Oh Elle is already at the cinema. We better get moving."

Standing alone in the middle of a crowd Elle waved at Nic and Ken who just entered the cinemas hallway.

"Hey guys! I'm glad you decided to come."

"I'm not missing out on a free movie." Ken spouted.

"So...What are we going to watch then Elle?" Nic asked.

"Anything! I have three tickets for any show until the end of the week."

"I'll leave that to you two then. I haven't got the faintest idea." Nic sighed.

The two left to have a look at what was airing while Nic was stranded amongst the crowds of people. With not much else to do his eyes started to wander around the billboards. There were quite a few movies being advertised.

""My loved one. Story of two people very different people in the middle of a battle field.""

""Izawrick. The lone wizard of Keitwell.""

"Keitwell? So they're bringing ideas from LoI to the real world. I see." Nic thought.

His eyes swept across the walls some more but a certain billboard caught his curiosity. Cover adorned with a blond elf man wielding a sword and shield covered from neck to toe in armor, he instantly recognized Andres character.

""The Tomb of Izawrick. Journey to the unknown.""

Nic gave an odd look as he stared at the billboard, not very sure what to make of it. Ken came to fetch Nic as their movie was about to start, only to find the man staring at a billboard of Andre like it was some kind of a crop circle.

"Oh... They're making a movie out of that now? Oh lord, the fan club will be buzzing like a beehive

next year." Ken said.

"What is this exactly? Is it related to that other movie over there." Nic said and pointed towards the billboard of Izawrick.

"Oh, I suppose you haven't heard about it at all since you live in a cave." Ken said sarcastically.

Nic wasn't very impressed at the comment.

"...."

"See.. An underground maze,building,catacomb whatever was uncovered while mining in the Keitwell region. The miners tried to have a look inside but were slaughtered by some sort of animated constructs.Some officials made a raiding party with Wymer leading and cleared up the place and discovered quite a lot of books and research left after by a mage called Izawrick."

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"I don't know much about the guy but I do know he is praised as a legend in LoI." Ken concluded.

"So they're making a movie about it? They really seem to love Andre" Nic asked.

"Well rumors say the raid was quite exciting. I guess some movie producers thought after hearing the details that it would be a money maker and then decided to tell Izawricks story and bring context to Wymer raiding Izawricks summer cabin." Ken shrugged.

"You know what though? The market has never been the same since that raid. I've made a killing with crystals." Ken rubbed his hands together.

Nic rolled his eyes.

"The hell guys are you coming or not?!? The movie is about to start!." Elle yelled from amidst the crowd in distress.

The crew hurried to their seats in the theater. Sadly their seats were not in the center of the rows but at the very left. The room was packed so the movie must be new Nic thought.

"What movie are we watching exactly?"

Ken hussed him and ignored his question.

"It's starting...."

The curtains opened and the whole room went pitch black. Guess he just had to see.

Opening the door to his flat Nic was famished after the movie. No offense to Elle and Ken but the movie had been really forgettable for Nic, he had not really felt much for it though he did like some of the parts. It's quite amazing what they can do with special effects these days. Nic strolled to his kitchen and prepared a bit of pasta as he looked at the clock.

"5pm huh.. Should be about time soon."

He brought his late lunch to the living room and started munching while checking his email. With his stomach sated he put his plate aside and reached for the Link.

Meanwhile in Kharis's inn a lone elf girl was thinking things through in the corner of the dining area. The events in the morning had gotten her imagination running at high speed.

What had happened to Aleyn to make her so pissed?

Why was she so reluctant for help from her?

But most importantly.

"Why didn't he write me back?"

Their exchange had been going on for months without any interruptions. He had never skipped on a reply. Was it something she said? It was a possibility, she had been a bit reluctant to share too much after her talk with Aleyn. Though was he that perceptive?

Aleyn entered the inn and took a look around the room and as she spotted Thess who in turn spotted her. She tried to hurry to her room but was stopped by Thess who latched on her hand.

"Aleyn please!"

Aleyn sighed and frowned as she looked at the girl hanging from her arm who was about to cry.

"Fine... Just get off me."

They moved to the dining area and took a seat away from others. Thess placed a basket of bread on the dining table and sat across Aleyn. Aleyn having had very little to eat couldn't really resist so she took a lump of bread and started munching.

Thess stared at her for a moment before asking.

"So?"

Still reluctant to answer Aleyn took a big bite out of her bread lump.

"Aleyn..." Thess sighed.

"I'm done with delivering your letters." She said bluntly after swallowing the bread.

Thess jumped from her seat like a rabbit and yelped.

"Wha?"

"I'm done with being your mailman."

Thess now noticing some people having a look at their direction sat down and tried calming down.

"But but.. Aleyn... Why?"

"I'm not going anywhere near that guy. You can deliver your own freaking messages to that monste.."

"Don't say that!" Thess interrupted loudly drawing some more attention.

"Don't call him a monster." She said in a calm manner.

Aleyn looked at her with some disgust.

"What ever."

Their talk came to an awkward halt right then. She kept munching on her plate of bread until Thess gathered her courage to ask her.

"Did.. did he do something?"

"Oh did he? You think I got these bruises from a squirrel?"

Aleyn lifted her head to show her neck, around it you could see some pinkish bruises that circled around the whole neck.

Thess's eyes shot open.

"After I gave him your letter and he read it he started accusing me. Saying it wasn't yours, he then attacked me and choked me while searching my clothes. I had to sacrifice some of my shirt to escape his strangle hold." Aleyn explained.

Thess started biting her index finger she crew concerned.

"Are.. Are you alright?"

"Yeh.. I'm a sturdy girl.. My back still hurts though."

Thess sighed with relief but it was short lived.

"It has to have been a mistake though. Maybe something I wrote? I need to explain it to him, let me just write to him and.."

"No.."

"Explain... But how else am can I tell him that you wouldn't do that."

"I don't know. But I'm done with this. Either you go to him yourself or get someone else to be your mailman."

Aleyn pushed the plate away she then stood up and started walking towards her room.

"Wah? Wait!" Thess yelped and scampered after her.

Though her chase was slowed down by her tripping on some chairs. She only caught up to Aleyn when she was about to open the door to her room.

"Wait!" Thess yelled.

"There's nothing more to discuss." Aleyn said bluntly.

"Please Aleyn, you have to help me!"

"I don't have to do anything." She said without much emotion.

"Please... I'll do anything." Thess wept.

"..Anything?"

The air around Aleyn changed. From her slightly annoyed demeanor seeped a more menacing feeling.

"What If I said I wanted you naked and tied on my bed. Would you do that?"

"What are you.." Thess whimpered.

"I'm saying. If I asked you to do that, would you?"

The dwarf girl usually so much smaller than her started to grow in her eyes. It was scary feeling and reminded her of that night. Why was she doing this to her?

"Why are you doing this Aleyn?" Thess dropped on her knees and started crying.

"Maybe I've always thought I'd like to have a go with you or maybe I've been faking my nice attitude to get in your pants." She smirked.

Thess stared in to her eyes, it didn't feel like a joke to her. Thess stared at the floor for a moment as tears flowed from her eyes, if she wanted her to be her relationships lifeline she would have to offer her something.

"No... This can't be you."

"What's that?" She said angrily.

"You're always helping around the inn, you work tirelessly, you're a nice to everyone. You just can't be like this...Please Aleyn. I don't want to make a choice like that." Thess covered her face as she wept.

A moment of silence fell in the corridor as Thess cried on her knees. Aleyn didn't say a word for a while either as she watched Thess's small figure on the floor.

Suddenly while crying she felt a hand on her chin and was compelled by it to look up from the floor. It was of course Aleyns hand, there was no one else in the corridor, but surprisingly she didn't feel menacing as she did just a few minutes ago.

"You have no idea how sad I would have been if you agreed."

Thess's crying eyes shot open.

"Huh?"

Aleyn gave a light smile to her.

"I'm sorry. I needed to see if you would go so far that you would be willing to lose your dignity ."

Thess cried in relief. A bit of weight was lifted off her shoulders as she realized what Aleyn meant. Strengthless she wept on her knees while covering her face until Aleyn took her by the arm and lifted her up. It was strange, such a small girl yet she had so much strength in her.

"Come on Thess. Lets go inside, I have some paper and ink so you can write to Stev."

Thess still crying nodded and moved through to the inside of Aleyns room.

"Though I don't think you'll get much writing done." Aleyn said bluntly.

"Eh?" Thess sobbed.

The door slammed close behind her and Aleyn was nowhere in sight. Thess a bit dazed in confusion yelled through the door.

"Aleyn what's going on?

A quieter voice came from right behind the door.

"You've been running for far too long Thess."

Still not understanding she tried asking.

"What do you..."

"Thess?"

Her heart skipped a beat as a familiar voice she had not heard for many many weeks came from behind her.