The fires of tragedy loom in the darkness.

Flames of death burn all in their hate.

The fires of life burn all in one’s wake.

Flames of life bring Hel to one’s likeness.

*Ruffling sounds*

Sin packed a knapsack full of all the supplies that Rai was supposed to be packing and carrying today.

She’d somehow been unable to wake him up.

But... as much as Sin was frustrated, she also didn’t really mind all that much.

After all, the view was just great from where she stood.

It was 6 in the morning, and they had to prepare for their history assignment.

The visit to a clan capital.

Rai was a part of the Life clan, which meant he had to visit Draconis, at the top of Mount Udra. Sin was to join him on that adventure.

Sin, admittedly, only knew a few key things about the clan. She recalled her learnings from childhood lessons where a pompous old man would come in, and sit with her and Kallad, and tell her about all of the clans.

Of course, Sin took in as much information as she could. But the lessons never really consisted of any intricate details about any of the clans. It was all very surface level information that one could probably find in a textbook from a library.

All Sin knew was that the Life clan used to be the most powerful clan in ancient times, as their Aspect was once in charge of life and death, but something happened to that Aspect and the clan had gone downhill ever since.

With Rai’s foray into the Phoenix’s Trials, Sin learned about Vitria. The mother of all dragons, and the first Warden. She was what made the Life clan so powerful, but since she’d gone, the title of Warden had only become ever weaker.

After packing Rai’s bag, Sin decided to go into the kitchen for some tea.

Reiki wasn’t awake yet.

Sin heard sounds from outside though. She took a peek through the window in the front, to see Jin’s silhouette tilling the fields out in the distance.

Just like yesterday, there was a cold misty fog rolling in over the fields.

Sin didn’t quite fully appreciate the amount of discipline and work that Jin put in to maintaining the farm, even in weather like this that would make it difficult to see very well.

As she came back into the kitchen, Sin noticed the leftovers from the massive pot of rice and chicken Reiki made when they arrived there.

She had an idea.

Sin took a leg of chicken, that somehow no one had eaten, and heated it up just enough to be able to smell its succulent scent, using a small magical flame from her finger.

She took the chicken into Rai’s room.

And waited.

...

...

...

*... sniff...*

*Sniff*

*SNIFF SNIFF*

Rai shot up from the bed.

His eyes darted around the room, until they landed on the one thing that he wanted right now.

Chicken.

He zipped over to Sin in Stormflow, and stole the chicken leg right from her grip.

*Nom nom nom*

And just like that, the chicken leg was devoured.

Rai held the leftover bone in his hand.

He looked up at Sin, then back at the bone. Then back at Sin again. Rai was about to say something.

“Don’t.” Sin said, pre-emptively stopping him. “Don’t talk with your mouth full. It’s gross. And you have morning breath combined with the smell of chicken. So please...”

Rai lowered his head like a dog that’d just been scolded.

“But, at least you’re awake now. I sorted out our bags for today, so all you need to do now is wake up properly and get ready. Then we’ll be off.”

“Mmm.” Rai hummed, with a nod.

“I’ll be in the kitchen making tea for myself and your mum, so don’t get all lazy and go back to sleep!”

Rai fell back onto his bed.

“I mean it!”

“MmMMmMm.” Rai hummed, in a mocking tone.

“I want to leave by 7, so please be up and running before then. Thank you and goodbye.”

Sin left his room.

She found Rai to be very... difficult to maintain sometimes.

But he made up for that in many different ways.

Some of which were very... very impressive.

Sin smiled to herself as she recalled their night.

After such a tiring day, she’d gotten even more tired out and exhausted. But it was refreshing for her at the same time.

“You look well happy... Uwwwwaaaaaaah!”

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Reiki walked into the kitchen, still drowsy. She stretched and yawned as she came up on Sin.

“Oh, do I? Well... I had a great day yesterday, which I’m happy about!”

“Mmm. You were smiling to yourself. Y’know, I’d think you were a murderous hobo if you did something like that wearing what you’re wearing.”

What the...

*Pfft*

It was such an absurd description that Sin couldn’t help but laugh.

“Yeah I guess you’re right, hahaha!”

“Nah but jokes aside, you look really cute in that getup. Wish I was so young that I could wear cropped tops again.”

“Aww, thanks. And... I think you should do it anyway. It’s what you want to do, right? It doesn’t matter how old you are if you’re happy with it.”

“That’s... a good way to look at it. I’ll consider it.”

“Good. Now, do you want your morning tea with spice or no?”

“Oh, hmm... I don’t normally have spice with my morning tea, since it’s more of an occasion thing for me.”

“Alright, I won’t add spice to it.”

“I’ll be on the sofa then. Appreciate you making me a cuppa. See you in a few!”

“Okay!”

Sin worked the gas stove as she remembered Reiki doing.

Considering all of Sin’s failures in her own kitchen with a magical stove, this stove was somehow... simpler and easier for her to use.

She just had to turn a knob to a certain point, then hold a button until fire came out here. With the magical stove, there were far too many options and random knobs and buttons that changed too many things.

Sin liked the simplicity of this gas stove a lot more.

Then, Sin prepared all of the other stuff she needed.

After a few minutes, she’d managed to create a wonderful looking pair of cups with tea in them. Actual tea, and not burnt tea. She was chuffed at her ability to make something to drink, and not colossally mess it up.

Sin used her Domain to clean things up, and set the tools back where they came from.

“Oh, I wanted... to...

Woah.”

Reiki walked back into the kitchen to see utensils floating around and reorganising themselves. Somehow, all of the different things floating mid-air, smoothly returned to their original locations while Sin took a spoon of honey and dropped it into her cup.

“... Are you doing all of that?” Reiki asked.

Sin nodded.

“It’s a... well I don’t know if you’re interested in it, but it’s a part of my training that I set up for myself. To be able to split my focus on as many objects as I can without losing focus on any of them. It’s kinda like multitasking, but constantly.”

“Wow... that’s so impressive! I came back to ask, by the way, about the crystalakrum.”

“Oh? What about it? Here’s your tea, before you start on that though.”

“Ah, thank you.”

Reiki took a mini sip to see how it was.

“Mmm. Good. You did well, considering it’s your first time. Could use a little bit of work though.”

“I’ll happily take that, jeez. I’m so bad at cooking, so I’m definitely gonna take that compliment. Rai or Lilly, my sister you met yesterday, normally do the cooking because I’m so awful at it.”

“Oh that makes sense. I made sure that Rai was able to cook before he left. He can only make a few things, but it’s enough to get him by... I hope.”

“That grilled cheese... oh my lord. It was so fu-... flipping good!”

*Pfft*

“You can curse as much as you want, hahaha! I’m amazed you even thought you needed to censor yourself.”

“I only did it because, well, I don’t know the boundaries with you yet. But I’ll be a bit more open now that I know.”

“Please, just think of me like... oh actually that brings up a question I had.”

“Before you ask that, what did you want to ask about the crystalakrum?”

“Ah right. I just wanted to know how much to pay to keep it here?”

Sin stared at Reiki with a blank face.

“...? Nothing? It’s yours now. Keep it.”

“... Huh? Oh... alright then. Who would refuse free stuff, haha!”

This was refreshing. So often would Sin have to deal with people being prideful and trying to refuse gifts, but Reiki was open to taking whatever she could get. Which explained a lot about how Rai acted sometimes.

They’d sat on the sofa in the living room by now.

“What was your other question?” Sin asked.

“So... I’ve been curious. If it’s not too much to ask about, could you tell me about your mother?”

“Hmm... well, she’s dead, that’s for one.”

“Yeah... Rai told me. It was when you were too young to even remember, right?”

“Not... exactly. I have flashes every now and then... like I can sometimes see what she looked like even though I don’t remember ever seeing her. I can’t say I miss her, because I never knew her... but... I feel for my dad.

He’s raised me pretty much alone for my whole life, and he’s taken such good care of me that I want to pay him back somehow. That’s why I want to be strong. So that he doesn’t have to worry about me.”

“Take it from me, Sin.” Reiki placed her free hand on Sin’s leg. She looked her directly in the eyes. “Your father will always worry. No matter how strong you are. That’s a parent’s job.” She said with a sad looking smile.

Sin, only now, seemed to notice something very small.

There was a kind of love in Reiki’s voice whenever she mentioned being a parent, or whenever she mentioned Rai. It was always there, ever present.

Complete, unconditional, love.

A flurry of emotion hit Sin like a wave.

She began to tear up.

“Oh, honey! It doesn’t mean you can’t be strong! It’s just that he’s your dad and-”

“No no no, that’s not it.” Sin wiped away her tears. “It’s just... Rai’s so lucky.”

Reiki tilted her head a touch. She didn’t quite know what Sin meant.

But she wouldn’t have much time to explore it further.

*Pitter patter pitter patter*

“I AM... AWAKE!” Rai declared, as he dramatically ran into the living room without a shirt on.

“Well, that’s a lot earlier than I expected.” Sin said.

“What? Don’t you have faith in me? Like, at all?”

“Nope.”

“Understandable. Makes sense really.”

*Pfft*

Reiki giggled. She was smiling the whole time since Rai came into the room.

“Okay, lemme finish my tea and then I’ll get ready.” Sin said.

“Sure. We’ll have to walk a bit to get to the portal...”

“What portal?” Reiki asked.

“Oh, morning ma! Kallad said that he had a portal set up for us to go to Draconis and back quickly, so we don’t have to travel through Rupes or by horse.”

“Aww... that was sweet of him. Thank him for me, will you Sin?”

“Will do!” Sin replied.

Sin finished her tea quickly and went back into Rai’s room to get ready.

Rai sat down with his mum on the sofa. Reiki waited for Sin to get to Rai’s room before she said anything.

“... She’s so beautiful, Rai!”

“Oh, I know. She’s absolutely gorgeous. Helps that we’re super close from childhood too.”

“You’re blessed to have her, you know? Cherish her with all your heart Rai.”

“I do. I really do. And I will, I promise!” Rai waited a couple seconds before saying the next thing on his mind. “Hey, did I tell you that we killed a leviathan together?!”

“You WHAT?!” Reiki shouted.

The sounds, that were already very faint, from Jin’s farming... all stopped.

“Rai. You did not just tell me that you fought a LEVIATHAN?!”

“It was only a baby one, mum.”

“Wh-... That’s still a BLOODY LEVIATHAN!”

“Ma, it’s fine. We killed it together with the other guys in our society. And Kallad was nearby so we were as safe as we could possibly be.”

Reiki facepalmed.

“That’s... not the point...” She sighed, exasperated.

The front door slammed open.

“What’s wrong?!” Jin asked, hurriedly.

“Mum doesn’t like that we killed a leviathan.”

“I don’t like that you even fought one in the first place!”

“Hmmm... maybe I shouldn’t tell you about the giant killer monkeys then...”

“THE WHAT?!”

“Oh, I have a second name now too! It’s Eld. Since I’m descended from the mother of all dragons!”

“I’m ready!” Sin said as she left Rai’s room. Both her and Rai’s knapsacks were floating beside her. She was also better dressed for the occasion.

Reiki took a deep breath, then nodded. She put her cup down on the table, and promptly fainted onto the sofa..

“... Damn it. Rai, we’ll talk about this properly when you’re back from Draconis.” Jin said.

He went over and sat Reiki back up from where she lay on the sofa.

Jin raised his hand far enough away from everything to avoid breaking anything.

With a snap of his fingers, the house shook.

Rai and Sin were shocked. Jin could produce that much power with... just his fingers.

Reiki jolted awake.

“... Dad?” She said as she looked up at him.

“Good morning, little cub. Rai and Sin are about to leave for Draconis. We’ll talk about all that stuff that Rai mentioned properly when they’re back, alright?”

Reiki nodded.

“Okay...”

“Sorry mum... I got excited about all the stuff we didn’t get to talk about yet. I didn’t mean to overwhelm you!”

“It’s fine Rai... just... next time, give me a few minutes between each bombshell please. I promise I’m not going anywhere, and even if I don’t like it, we can talk about that stuff all you want when you’re back.”

Reiki sighed softly before getting up from the sofa.

“C’mere, my little lightning bolt!”

She held her arms out.

Rai happily hugged his mother.

Once she let go, Rai went and grabbed his knapsack from where it was suspended mid-air, beside Sin.

“We’ll see you later tonight!” Rai said.

“Hang on.” Reiki said. She pointed at Sin, gesturing for her to come in for a hug.

Sin didn’t expect this, but she gladly accepted it.

As Reiki wrapped her arms around her, Sin felt so incredibly comfortable and warm that she hugged Reiki back with a good tight squeeze.

“Be safe, you two.” She said quietly.

“We will.” Sin replied.

As Reiki let go, Sin returned to Rai’s side.

The other knapsack suspended mid-air latched itself onto her shoulder.

“See you tonight!” Sin said as they left.

Off to Draconis they went.