After a day of traveling with the seekers of light, Flyte could reasonably say that they were just like everyone else.

Their white robes might have seemed cultish, but they weren’t meant for anything religious. They, as light mages, preferred the light cloth cloaks because it made it hard for enemies to see their movements properly in a fight. Being blinded simply would hurt anyone’s perception quite badly.

Parendyne wasn’t the whole organization’s leader, but he was high up enough in their ranks that he was in charge of this detachment.

With so many people under his command, two hundred to be exact, Parendyne wasn’t nearly as serious as Flyte would have expected. Instead, he acted more like Ontin or Kayr, like he desperately wanted or needed something, but his years of searching had left him hurt inside.

Still, the elf was inspiring. Even though he was very obviously sorrowful, he kept his fellows in the best morale possible, telling stories at night and teaching them about whatever they were interested in learning.

Flyte had been very surprised to see that Parendyne was an elf. After all, elves and dwarves had both disappeared around the same time that Ithilles died, and nobody seemed to know where they went. Flyte would ask, but he felt like that would be rude of him.

If the army was travelling in the right direction, then Ahken would be less than one hour away, and Flyte was ready to get there.

He really liked the idea of sleeping on a bed in a cooled room rather than on the sandy ground in the elements.

Flyte grabbed a fist full of sand and enchanted a single grain with his shadows. In less than a second, he pulled his magic out of the infinitesimal grain.

After a while of practicing, he’d found out that he could do that. Telin, as it turned out, hadn’t been the best instructor.

“Ow wow,” a young seeker girl said in awe. “That was really good! How long have you been working on that?”

“About a month,” Flyte said, not accounting for the month-long gap between learning about enchanting and practicing it.

The kid’s eyes widened. “I’ve only seen sir Parendyne pick up something like that so fast.” The young azial girl paused for a moment. “But I’ve heard that lord Niflhemrai can learn new skills in just days.”

“Sounds like someone worth meeting,” Flyte said, perking up at the idea of someone like him.

The girl laughed. “If only he let people meet him. Lord Niflehemrai stays locked away and only has a few chosen visitors.”

“Like who?” Flyte asked.

“Well,” she started. “Parendyne, of course. And Yasleh. She’s really nice. At night, she makes these glowing puppets and tells us stories.” The girl paused for a second. “Oh! And Lebrandt.”

Flyte froze upon hearing the name. ‘Could it be…?’

“He’s a little quiet and has a mask on, but I think he’s kind.”

‘That would be a no then.’

“Claire,” a seeker said behind Flyte. “Why don’t you go and join up with your Group?”

“Okay,” the girl said as she smiled and left.

A tall man walked up next to Flyte. He wore a squarish mask over his face. It held an image of the rune of light on it.

“She wasn’t bothering you, was she?”

“No,” Flyte answered quickly. “Not at all, I was mostly learning about you guys from her.”

“That’s good enough I suppose,” the man said. “My name is Lebrandt. Yours is Flyte, right?”

“Yeah,” Flyte said. “It’s funny, my adoptive father’s name was Lebrandt too.”

“Huh,” Lebrandt reacted. “How was he?”

“I’m not really sure how I feel about him,” Flyte started. “I did share a filial bond with him while I was young, but he got so very strict and argumentative as I grew older. It felt like he suddenly began to hate me at the time, but now I think he might have had my best interests at heart.”

“That’s tough,” Lebrandt said.

“What about you?” Flyte asked. “What was your childhood like?”

“Nothing like that. I had two loving parents and a caring older brother. He was always great at everything. He could lead people naturally, and everyone seemed to gravitate toward him. Whenever I tried someone, he would take an interest in it and was always better at it instantly. I could never compete with him no matter how hard I tried. Eventually he married the woman that I was in love with and disappeared. People forget about the family that they seemed to love and that was that.”

“That sounds awful,” Flyte said.

“You’d think that,” Lebrandt said. “But at the end of the day, I just miss him.”

“Huh.”

“What is it?” Lebrandt asked.

“It’s just that I understand now. Your brother may have been quite a bit of a jerk, albeit accidently, but past all of that he is still your brother, and he didn’t mean you any harm, so you can’t help but continue to have a brotherly love for him.”

“I suppose.”

“Thank you, Lebrandt,” Flyte said. The man nodded and Flyte asked, “Why is it that you wear that mask?”

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Lebrandt's eyes showed a faint smile. “You know, I could talk about all of the possible symbols held by a mask such as mine, but honestly, I just wear it due to a childhood injury.”

“Oh, okay,” Flyte said, mollified. Je than thought of another question. “Who is Niflhemrai?”

Lebrandt laughed at the question this time. “So, Claire spilled the beans then? I guess it doesn’t matter too much, so I suppose I can explain him to you.”

“Do you know what a dreadlord is?” Lebrandt looked up at Flyte. “From that expression, I’d bet that you do. Niflhemrai isn’t a dreadlord, but a dragon lord.”

“A dragon lord?” Flyte questioned. ‘If elves are really still around, could dragons be too?’

“He’s the only dragon that I know of, as he was still in his egg when Nareal fell, but according to our histories, he is still strong enough to be considered the dragon lord of light.”

“That’s insane,” Flyte said.

“Right?” Lebrandt exclaimed giddily. “Anyway, he is essentially partnered with us seekers. Parendyne and Yasleh rule over us for the most part. I only joined a few months ago.”

“And this dragon lets you see him after just a few months?”

“Well,” Lebrandt chuckled lowly. “I suppose I have everything that he needed and am trustworthy enough.”

“What do you mean?” Flyte asked.

“I was Ithilles paladin, so I have the experience to deal with most of the seekers’ problems and I knew where to look for the heir.”

“Why didn’t Ithilles choose your brother if your brother was supposed to be so much more skilled than you?”

Lebrandt chuckled, his voice pained. “Aliran chose my brother. Ithilles is my brother.”

“Oh,” Flyte said, getting a little flushed. “Sorry.”

“Oh, it’s no problem.” Lebrandt looked off to the side for a moment. “Do you want to practice fighting with a paladin?”

“You know I do,” Flyte smiled.

Lebrandt drew his spear and Flyte went all out.   

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

The army was within sight of Ahken and Flyte still hadn’t even gotten close to beating Lebrandt in a spar. The paladin was just too strong.

Lebrandt had held back until Flyte reached the prowess to be comparable, and at that point he held himself back less.

There seemed to be infinite ways through which Lebrandt could restrict himself. Whenever Flyte found out how to deal with Lebrandt’s power, he found himself facing an entirely new obstacle.

Lebrandt’s magic was elegant too. His spirit contracts did exactly as much as he need them to. No more, no less.

But Flyte could feel himself improving throughout the spars. By keeping himself just out of Flyte’s reach, Lebrandt was training the young half-elf excellently.

As the two wrapped their sparring up, Flyte took some time to observe the city of Ahken.

It was a bit smaller than he expected, and its state was not much more appealing than the desolate and barren rift surrounding it.

“You see that,” Lebrandt noted. “It’s like this because the city is frequently ransacked by the scourge. I can’t remember a year without news of Ahken being attacked.”

“Why do they choose to live there?” Flyte asked.

“Money and solitude is part of it,” Lebrandt noted. “The land is cheap and fairly unused. Not only that, but citizens who kill Rift monsters can keep whatever they harvest from them.”

“Just don’t mistake this town’s sorry state for weakness. The people here are anything but weak. Some of the strongest people in Chraith, shades, maybe even the world, live here, and not just the willful type of strong.”

“I guess that makes sense, but I still can’t see much rationality in living here,” Flyte said.

“Think about it this way,” Lebrandt said. “These people put enough value in their freedom to risk their lives for it, and because so many would pay this price alone, as a whole, they don’t have to sacrifice nearly as much.”

“What freedom do they gain here?” Flyte asked.

“Magic,” Lebrandt answered curtly.

“Magic is legal here?” Flyte asked.

“No,” Lebrandt chuckled. “But who’s crazy enough to journey down and arrest them all?”

“Fair enough,” Flyte said. “To be honest, the opportunity to cast magic without being arrested would have been really nice two months ago.”

“Maybe,” Lebrandt said. “But you likely wouldn’t have been able to survive out here two months ago.”

“It’s that bad?”

“Yes. Perhaps I downplayed it, but this is still one of the most dangerous parts of the world at the moment. And even ignoring that, this town generally loses around half of its population once every ten years due to Rift expansion.”

“Holy mother Amiarre, that’s awful!” Flyte exclaimed.

“That’s right.”

“Are there any children there?” Flyte couldn’t imagine a place so lonely, but he also couldn’t imagine any children living in such a horrid place.

“Yes actually!” Lebrandt said. “Some people are strong enough to protect themselves and their families. I have two good friend who are definitely strong enough; however, a few years back, their son disappeared during an expansion.”

“That’s awful,” Flyte said awfully.

“You know that’s right. Now, remember, this place isn’t as safe as it seems. No matter who you are, if you let yourself lose your guard for even a moment, you could lose it all.”

From Lebrandt’s tone, Flyte could tell that he was talking about his brother more than anything. “That’s not necessarily true,” Flyte remarked. “There are times and places to keep your guard up, but its not healthy to always act with caution and guile. If you are always stopping everything from getting to you, how can you help others, and how can they help you?”

“That could be right,” Lebrandt said skeptically. “But how can you tell which moments are which? I’d rather stay in a shell, nothing can hurt you that way.”

“And nothing can heal you either. My adoptive father used to say that as people, we have to give up a part of ourselves for others to use as they see fit, no matter what they choose to do with it, we will gain more than we lose. I believe that our hurts, our joys, our mistakes, and our successes all play a crucial role in our growth.”

“And when can we finally be done growing?”

“Ideally, never,” Flyte said. “No one is perfect, and none of us will ever come close.”

“Including Aliran?” Lebrandt asked with a fire in his eyes.

“I don’t know,” Flyte said. “I’ve never been that religious.”

“The answer is no,” Lebrandt snarled. “I can see him for what he is. He cheats, piggybacking off of better people than him. He split up his ten souls, allowing him to grow from the suffering of others rather than through his own suffering. He grew from the suffering of my brother and continues to grow from his comrades.”

“He could have better reasons than that,” Flyte proposed.

“I doubt it,” Lebrandt said.

“I’m going to sound blasphemous for a moment, but I personally don’t think that Aliran is a god,” Flyte postulated. “I just can’t believe that someone born long after the creation of this universe through completely mortal parents could be that divine, especially given how he himself refuses divinity. There are several beings just like him, if his writings are to be trusted, and honestly, he seems more like one of a set than the nexus of a world.”

“Huh,” Lebrandt said. “That’s an interesting theory, but I have to ask, who do you think that our creator is?”

“I don’t know yet,” Flyte said. “And that’s okay. If I knew everything already, there’d be no room for me to grow, and that would be boring. I like thinking that I’m becoming someone that my creator, whoever that may be, can see and love. The same applies to my parents. I want to grow to be like them, I don’t want to be like them instantly.”

“So much wisdom from someone so young,” Lebrandt said, ruffling Flyte’s hair. “I’ve lived for over half a millennia, but such honest and solitary clarity is still so rare to witness. It’s true, there is no gain from hiding your true self from everyone, it may feel better in the moment, but eventually you will find out that the world has left you behind when you stay inside yourself for too long. It’s just so hard to live believing that I could have done something to help my brother and that I just didn’t.”

A tear slipped out from the bottom of Lebrandt’s mask. “Just promise me that you’ll try to stay on good terms with those people close to you. You don’t know what will happen when they get out of your sight. You don’t want your last words to them to be ones you regret, and you don’t want the opposite either.”

“I promise,” Flyte truly did.

Because in the end, it’s simpler and easier to try and do something that’ll help others than to actively do otherwise.

At least, that’s what Flyte was thinking as he walked through Ahken’s gate.