As Flyte crawled out of his bed, he heard Ander, Eris, Henry, and Ferris conversing.

"So, you want us to go to the rift?" Henry asked composedly. "Our army is more geared toward killing men than abominations."

Ferris spoke up. "Henry has a point, none of us have trained against any rift-folk. Even the desert surrounding the rift might prove fatal to our soldiers."

"Exactly," Henry said. "If just might be fun."

"Can your friends' skills make the trip easier?" Eris asked.

"I think so," Ander said. "Flyte has gotten especially proficient in light magic, which is a boon as you get closer to the Scar."

"I suppose," Ferris started. "If you absolutely need to go, I'd be willing to wield a blade again."

"Are you sure?" Eris asked. "You've spent years recovering from your past."

"Well, it's not like I'll be fighting against people," Ferris pointed out. "With no human blood to shed, I should be fine on the way to Atula's Scar."

"That's one," Ander said. "Anything that might convince you, Eris?"

"What about me?" Henry demanded.

"At the moment I doubt that you're rational enough to weigh in," Ander said. "You're a little blinded now, but I trust that you'll see light again."

Eris began to speak. "Why do you need me to agree to the plan? You lead this army."

"I've decided to become absolutely certain of important decisions before making them," Ander said.

"Then tell me, would Flyte do this for you if he were in your place? Is he as devoted to this quickly formed friendship as you, or could he be another Jakob?"

Ander's voice mellowed. "Flyte would do this a hundred times over if he could prevent the deaths. I don't think he would ever willingly betray anyone."

"Ever?" Henry asked skeptically.

"I'm pretty sure," Ander said. "He has no worldly desires or guile. He wants something though, and I can't quite tell what it is. Other than that though, he is completely safe."

"Well," Henry sighed dramatically. "I' convinced."

"I'm not quite sure yet," Eris said. "But we all know I'm just too wary of betrayal. What do you think, Yuri?"

'Yuri was there the whole time?'

"I don't think I'm fit to opine," Yuri casually said.

"Why not?" Ander asked.

"I trained directly under Honorious," Yuri started. "He might have corrupted me or something."

"This council isn't some one-man conversation," Ander stated, sounding unsettled and disturbed. "Any opinion is welcome. Also, Honorious wasn't inherently evil, despite how many think so. He was fooled by promises of safety, but he was still one of us. You don't need to protect us from yourself."

"In that case," Yuri said. "I trust Flyte. From what I saw in his eyes, I think I understand him. He wants to know about something so personal and discreet that no enemy could entice him with it."

Eris spoke up once again. "If you and Yuri trust Flyte, I think it's a safe bet."

"Three for three," Ander said. "I'll tell everyone when they wake up, although if my gut is correct, Flyte is already up."

"You got me," Flyte said, walking through his open door.

"Morning," Henry smiled.

"So, how much did you hear?" Yuri asked.

"Pretty much everything, I think," Flyte answered. "Thanks for believing in me. I'm sure I can prove your suppositions correct."

"How would you do that?" Eris asked.

"Ander once told me that you can tell someone's character based on the emotions displayed in their eyes," Flyte began. "Look into them for a brief moment."

They did, and Flyte swore that he would never betray them.

"Okay," Eris said. "You are kind of an open book, but how do we know that you are able to help us?"

Flyte had to think for a moment. "Here, I can tell you something about my brief time in the Dark Guild," Flyte suggested. "In order for me to leave Telin's lair, I had to fight alongside a team; however, the monsters I fought were in a man-made canyon. If I am correct, these monsters were rift-folk."

"Well," Ander said. "Describe them."

"There were soldiers made of ash, human-like insects, a headless; tentacled; walking corpse, an orb controlling metals, a hairy giant with a mouth on its stomach, and a heart made of shadows. Most of these instantly died to my light spells even before I trained under the honorsoul Ontin."

"Well," Ander said. "I only recognize half of those, but if you can defeat those easily, consider your point proven."

"Wait," Eris said. "How do we know that you can really defeat these fiends? According to what I heard about your fighting last night, your fighting wasn't overwhelming."

Flyte blinked at that statement. "Send in everyone that sparred me last night, at the same time if that's what you need. I'll show you the gap between my sword and my magic."

"Well," Henry said. "I like his spunk. You must've made him angry."

"I don't think he's angry," Ferris said. "But he might be feeling competitive."

"This sounds good," Eris said, holding out her hand. "We'll start in an hour."

"I don't like this idea," Ander bristled.

"I'll show up to the arena in an hour," Flyte took Eris's hand and shook it.

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Two days were left before Ontin's friend came by, and Flyte was standing opposite of five allies in their arena.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Henry held a wooden sparring sword and a buckler, ready for his rematch.

Yuri kept a dud long spear, ready to keep Flyte as far away as he could manage.

Than carried his huge shield, likely capable of blacking anything Flyte used except for his lightspear.

Garrick, the horse-archer, carried his compact bow with fake arrows, but any hit from him would end the whole fight. Flyte would have to watch out for him.

Eris stood with them, and although she wasn't there last night, Flyte wouldn't deny her. She held a wicked looking hooked spear, one likely to force caution upon Flyte while he used his speed spells.

They were all ready, but so was Flyte.

"Go," Ander said.

Everyone burst into motion, especially Flyte. "Sari," he shouted loudly and quickly. "Elgro," he said to strengthen his body.

"Sari."

"Sari."

Flyte blurred by one of Garrick's arrows. Pulling out his sparring sword, he prepared to take the archer out of the fight, but Yuri somehow managed to predict the move just barely quick enough to block his strike with his slow movements.

Swiftly, Flyte backed up and recouped his senses. 'These guys are on another level.'

"Nelar," Flyte said brightly, blinding his opponents. He felt like speaking to his spirit friends, although he didn't want to overuse their help.

"Hey guys," Flyte said to Star, Rowlo, and Glow. "Wanna talk while I spar?"

"Sure," Glow whistled, just like the arrow that Flyte barely dodged that very same moment.

Flyte ran up to Henry, trying to bring down a member of the team's vanguard while they were still vulnerable under his light's effect. "How are things in the 3rd Plane?"

"Good," Star hummed. "Who are these guys?"

"Some of Ander's friends," Flyte said as Yuri once again rebuffed him.

"Wishlor," Flyte said icily, attempting to weaken Yuri, who could see right through him.

Eris spun around, trying to catch Flyte with her hook, but he was able to avoid the blow. Than charged at Flyte, seeking to abuse the mage's dodge.

Flyte jumped into the air; gravity seemed to work in slow-motion as Flyte carefully watched his surroundings. He batted an arrow off its path and formed a tiny light dart right next to Yuri's spear, slicing it in half as the ice shattered.

Yuri raised his arms in surrender as he couldn't continue fighting. "Wow," Rowlo mumbled. "Do you want any help?"

"I'm good," Flyte calmly said. "Any of you have fun stories to tell me?"

Flyte spun around another arrow. "No, silly," Glow whistled. "You're supposed to tell us stories. Nothing happens in the 3rd Plane. Why do you think so many spirits loved Ithilles?"

"Similar origins?" Flyte guessed as Eris nearly got him.

"No," Star hummed. "We don't care who's from where, we care about the time how they treat us. Ithilles was like a brother to all of us, always telling us his stories, be it peaceful or exciting. He bore his heart to us, and we fought to keep it beating."

"Ithilles held no spirit in contempt either," Rowlo mumbled.

Eris took Yuri's place as she blocked Flyte's path to Garrick. 'If I can't get to their archer, I'll get everyone else.'

Flyte kicked Than's front-most shield as hard as he could, deeply denting the metal as he launched the shorter man into Henry.

Flyte picked Henry off, but when he tried to strike Than, Eris once again blocked him.

Rowlo stopped an arrow from hitting Flyte as he unleashed attack after attack to try to knock Than out of the match, but no matter how he attacked, Eris predicted each of his strikes.

"What if I told you guys about a battle that I had with Eternium, a warden in a place next to yours?" Flyte asked, barely dodging an arrow as he swapped tactics.

"That sounds fun!" Star hummed!

"Awesome," Flyte said. "Oh wait, one moment. Forslo!"

Garrick's bow began to burn as Flyte's spirit contract came to life.

"Anyways," Flyte said. "In order to deal with all those-"

Flyte felt the distinct impact of a thrown shield swatting him out of the sky before he could descend on to attack Eris.

"Ouch," Rowlo mumbled. "That must've hurt."

Flyte let his speed spells o as he got up. "I'll tell you guys the story tonight, but I probably have to pay attention to whatever conversation is coming."

"That's fine," Glow hummed. "Have fun!" She quickly numbed Flyte's pain then vanished alongside the others.

"Well consider me convinced," Eris said. "That was one great fight." She promptly pointed a thumbs up towards Ander, who was grinning. "I'm going to guess that you didn't use magic last night, right?"

"Right," Flyte admitted. "But you and Yuri blocking my attacks while I was sped up was much more impressive than anything I did. How'd you do it?"

"You're not the first mage we've fought," Than said. "Although you just might have been the best. After Ander's trainings, we've never lost a member in a team fight at all, so don't sell yourself short."

"Oh," Flyte said. "I didn't know about that when I suggested this match. That could've gone poorly."

"Honestly," Eris said. "I was planning to judge your efforts based on how long you lasted."

"Dang it Flyte," Henry started. "I wish you could've gone all out light that last night instead of crushing me in my specialty. Ander chewed me out for skipping out on practice."

"Maybe you shouldn't skip practice," Flyte suggested.

"You too?" Henry mocked shock. "Ah man."

"What were those strange noises you were making during the fight?" Yuri asked.

"Oh," Flyte exclaimed, feeling somewhat embarrassed. "I was talking to some of my spirit friends."

"Ah," Yuri said. "Standard and spirit magic. Cool. It sounded quite terrifying, to be honest." Yuri's expression didn't betray that emotion at all.

Ferris walked over to the group. "Flyte, are you okay? That was a rough hit you took back there."

"Yeah," Flyte answered. "I'm a little bruised, but by spirit friend numbed me."

"Well," Ferris said. "There's not a whole lot that I can do for bruises, although I guess that plantain leaves might help a little. I think you'll be fine without it though."

It was then that Ander used his stone manipulation to create a path to the center of the arena for himself. After clearing up his mess, he began to shout out a message. "In two days, I am planning to go to the rift to kill Will, that foe which I spoke about last night. Anyone who is willing and battle-ready may join me, and while I ask that you do join me, you don't have to. You all have today and tomorrow to decide."

"The reason I waited this long to tell you all," Ander continued. "Is because I wanted to make sure that the division leaders were all also wholly convinced of this excursion's success, and now they are. Flyte, of course, will be there, and he specializes in fighting beings such as those in the Rift. You would be safe in his hands."

"In any case," Ander began to close. "I need to pack up and decide on our schedule, so I'm going to head to my quarters. If anyone has a question, that's where I'll be. If you decide to join me, we'll start heading over toward the Thalken River at noon in two days."

Ander walked out of the arena and Flyte could immediately tell that they were weighing the pros and cons of leaving. Some seemed confident that leaving was the choice for them; others had worries.

Flyte left the arena to pack, concerned that he might not have enough allies in the battle ahead.

----------------------------------------

Flyte walked into the entrance hall of Lion's Watch, this time absolutely sure that he was completely packed.

What Flyte expected was a small cluster of people to be gathered to help in the fight against Will; he hadn't even dared to dream that there would be as many soldiers as there had been in the hall.

The entrance hall was completely filled, to the extent that despite the cool, stone walls and the light, chilled breeze, the air was made hot by the combined body temperatures.

Flyte walked through the crowd and eventually found Elliot, which was made easier by the sheer number of weapons he carried on himself. "How many people do you think are here?" he asked.

"I think this is the entirety of Ander's army," Elliot answered. "As it turns out, they've also got a past of running and hiding from an oppressive power."

"Still," Flyte said. "This is a lot more people than I could have expected."

"Definitely," Elliot agreed.

After waiting around, letting the temperature rise to nigh unbearable levels, Ander finally had the gates opened.

"If this is everyone that'll go," he started. "Then let us be on our way."

The cool breeze immediately soothed the company as all of its members left the room. Although it was noon, fall's zephyr was nearly perfect for the journey ahead.

There was a barely worn trail down to the small landing where the army would meet Ontin's associate. trees heralded the way as undergrowth was slowly trampled to death.

Soon, the shore came into sight as the call of sea birds abounded. This sight, one which was generations in the making, was very welcome to Flyte. While it was one step closer to what he knew would be a hard-fought battle, it was also one step closer to freeing his and his friends' futures.

Just a few steps before the party could reach the sand, a beast, seemingly one part whale and one part crab, emerged from the water, drenching anyone within a few hundred feet. It climbed onto the shore, ignoring the army traveling there. Chains connected this seeming amalgamate farther into the sea, where a large boat could be seen sailing toward the group.

Flyte was a little concerned, but he was sure that they wouldn't have to worry about trouble from this ship. The company allowed the boat to dock and watched as a man with antiquated sailing clothes walked down to the sand from his plank.

He looked around for a second, drank what Flyte assumed was liquor, and then prepared himself to ask a question.

"Are you the ones Ontin sent me to ferry?"