Daniel watched as the countryside passed them by at high speeds as the sound of the rumbling from the train filled his ears. His bright red hair, tied into a high ponytail, and yellow eyes reflected on the glass. His clothing, more fit for a hunter than an urbanite, a wool shirt, with leather armor covering his chest and shoulders.

Today is his birthday, usually his boss would give him a bonus to do whatever with, but today was different, he called him to visit some people and said that he’ll like them, he never said who they’ll be meeting, a “birthday surprise”, he said. Of course, Daniel questioned him, his boss refused to answer though, “it’ll ruin the surprise” he said. Daniel sighed, he would have prefered staying at home.

He hears footsteps approaching his seat slowly, Daniel kept looking out the window however, he already knows who is approaching. A red hand reflected out the window as reaches out before placing down a canned beverage on the table in front of Daniel’s seat, which prompted him to finally look back at the person who gave it.

What he saw was a red-skinned man, a tiefling, looking back at him with gentle yellow eyes, large keratin horns protruding out of his forehead as it spiraled and pointed forward, and his medium length hair flowing the back of his head. He wore a white and long-sleeved buttoned up shirt with blue flower designs wrapping on the wrist of it, he then wore a black waistcoat on top of it. 

Daniel watched as he sat on the seat beside him, and opened a canned beverage and began drinking, before looking back at the beverage he was given. It was a canned tea, the brand that the man beside him drank right now, also the brand Daniel liked too, it's the diet version however. He opened the can and began drinking the cold sweet tea. As he gulped down the beverage, an “ahh” came out from the man beside him before he continued to speak.

“You know, I thought it would take you longer to convince you to come to this visit.” The tiefling said. Daniel put down his drink, looking back at the man, his boss, El Arcaster.

“What made you think that?” Daniel replied.

“Well it is your birthday, I thought you might feel bummed out from me bothering you on your birthday.” El said.

“I’d probably bummed out if you also took away my usual bonus during birthdays.” Daniel replied. He did get his bonus nonetheless, so he’s not mad at El because he didn’t coerce him into this visit.

“Even less of a reason for you to come with me.” El said. Daniel had to agree slightly, there wasn’t much reason for him to go on this visit, no money on the line, no special item he’s gonna be given, nothing. Daniel took a moment before answering El.

“You can only do so much at home before it gets boring,” Daniel shrugged, “besides, you going on ‘just a visit’ or the like, never ends up to be anything less than special.” 

“I mean, it's just Joka, nothing you’ve never seen before in Theol.” El added. 

Joka, third most populated city in the country, behind Sunland and Theol. This wouldn’t be Daniel’s first visit there, infact, he was born and raised there before moving out, and as his hometown, he had to agree nothing much there that isn’t already in Theol.

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“One of the world's best diviners, going somewhere unassuming not expecting something extraordinary to happen?” Daniel said. El chuckled at this reply.

“Well, you got me there.”

Daniel looked at El as we went silent and looked up to the screen at the end of the cabin, seeing how we have minutes left before we reach our destination. El pulled out a phone, Daniel could make out just enough to deduce that he’s ordering a cab. Daniel sighed as he looked back out the window to see what was the countryside becoming the city escapes of Joka. 

The train halted and they walked out of the station, Daniel took a good look at the city around, Joka was just like any other city in Vespucca, a calm atmosphere for a city, barely any cars to pollute the area with noise and gas, and barely any buildings that climb above five stories tall. 

The pair finally found their cab and went to their location, sometimes doing some small talk with the driver to cut the silence. The ride was smooth, good public transit means most people are choosing not to conjest the roads with cars, leading to very light traffic. 

The two finally reach their destination, thanking the driver, the tiefling began walking through the neighborhood as the redhead followed. Coming in this visit, Daniel thought whoever they were visiting was someone super important, a fellow great dungeoneer the likes of Daniel and El, but now that he looks around the friendly looking neighborhood, families biking around, he feels like they’re someone El knows more personally. 

“This is it.” El said, looking at the home that is their destination. 

Daniel looked up to the home, a neat two story single family home with a cozy vibe to it. They walked up to the porch of the building and El knocked on the door.

“Coming!” Replied someone in the house, a younger man’s voice. 

A few footsteps could be heard moving closer to the door, followed by a click, before the door finally opened to reveal a young man, around a head shorter than Daniel, with bright red hair tied into a ponytail, black eyes, and wearing round glasses. The young man wore a shirt and some lounge pants tied, a comfortable fit. Daniel thought he looked familiar. 

“Hello.” The person said.

“Hello, are you William Williams?” El said to the other red head.

“Yep, what can I do for you?” At that point, Daniel’s eyes widened as he finally realized why he looked familiar.

“Well, my name is El Arcaster, leader of the Paragon Pathfinders, maybe you’ve heard of us.”

“Yeah, I have, in the top ten of dungeoneering agencies last time I checked, what’s someone like you got to do with a humble dungeoneer like me?”

“Well, It's less about what I want, you see, my friend here, it's his birthday and I thought it would be nice to let him visit one of his favorite people in the word.” El answered, making way to let William see Daniel more clearly.

“Oh really, I really doubt I’m famous enough to have fans.” William chuckled as El moved to the side, finally seeing the taller man looking at him with wide eyes, it took William a moment to realize who it was. “Oh.” 

“Hey,” Daniel replied awkwardly, “it's been a while.”

Before Daniel knew it, William already had his arms wrapped around him, pulling him into a tight embrace. “Yes, yes it has.” He said, muffled into the man’s chest, sounding like he’s on the verge of tears.

Daniel replied to the hug by embracing his little brother closer, closing his eyes as he felt him in his arms again for nine years. He dreamed of this day countless times, to see his brother, to hold him, and today, those dreams are a reality. The brothers hugged it out for minutes, both of them laughing and crying, savoring this moment.

They finally pulled away, wiping their eyes of the tears, looking back at each other, the happiest smiles on their faces.

“Come in, I’ll prepare some tea for us.” William said as he walked inside.

Daniel nodded in reply, before looking at El who was sitting on a chair on the porch, looking up to him. “Thanks.”

El smiled. “You’re welcome, now get in there.” He gestured Daniel to go inside, as he stood up to walk in as well.