Celebrations were underway. People cheered and hollered from behind. One group even sang a rather crude song that might insult some particular individual’s ears. The most crude aspect of their singing wasn’t the words they used. It was rather, the way they sang.

Kiran couldn’t help but shake his head and laugh a little due to the ridiculousness of their performance.

“If you find it so amusing, then maybe you should join in with them.” Yorais came to stand by him.

“Maybe I should, although, I can’t imagine my voice joining the rest of theirs would improve anything.”

“Whoever said it needs to? Bad singing in many ways is more entertaining anyway. It got you to laugh, didn’t it? So it’s not entirely useless.” She began to drink out of a wooden cup. Some liquid ran down her face that she quickly removed with the sleeve of her elaborately ornate black robe.

For now, she maintained the same gaze that he had. He had been keeping an eye on the encampment full of their people who were now free. No unnecessary harm had come to them thankfully and shouldn’t so long as they succeeded in their mission.

Their supplies were becoming increasingly limited as expected. They were all rationing to an extreme degree most days with today as an exception with the help of Bridella’s resources.

He caught her glancing at him as he drank a little from his own cup. “You appear a little more at ease as of late.

“What makes you say that?”

“I tend to pay particularly close attention to the moods exuding off of people. Yours has tempered somewhat as of late.”

“That’s probably because I see a clear path ahead for us now.” Things had been quite bad for them for a while, especially since entering the fourth domain. But he felt like the tide was changing, if only ever so slightly in their favor.

“The path does seem clearer, doesn’t it?” She let out a sigh of relief. “Our struggles have been unending lately. Oh, how I miss the simpler days of Liall. Though I dealt with many trivial affairs, they are far better than these ones we’ve become consumed with.”

“Trivial affairs such as?”

“I had a large private library with tomes always gathering dust. As you can imagine, it was a constant battle to keep them dust-free. It sounds trivial, but imagine trying to dust off every book and tome.”

“That’s what a maid is for,” he said.

“Yes, under normal circumstances, that would do the trick. But given the texts involved, I didn’t allow anyone but myself access to those texts.” He could tell that she missed the wealth of knowledge she had collected in that personal library of hers. He supposed it possible that it still existed but if it hadn’t been destroyed along with everything else in Liall by now, it would eventually all turn to dust.

Yorais took another sip before speaking again. “I often try to remind myself that if I or anyone else want to go back to those more peaceful days—even though there were plenty of problems of their own to be dealt with admittedly—we can have that again. Not just for us, but for as many as possible whether it be a human or familiar.”

“Do you think we can ever have that?”

“You mean for humans and familiars as a whole, to be amicable towards each other?” She swirled the liquid in the cup as they kept gazing out towards the encampment next to Bridella’s. “Many have forgotten that both species had peace for many years initially. It wasn’t until a slew of conflicts occurred that this peace ended and all-out war consumed them both. I see no reason why we can’t achieve the same peace our ancestors achieved.”

“If such a peace can ever exist again, let’s just hope it doesn’t go down in flames the same way it did previously.”

She smiled at his comment. “It sure would be a shame if it dissolved yet again. History does have a tendency to repeat itself, but there is nothing in this universe that dictates that it must be so. We at the very least have the chance to learn from our mistakes and avoid making them again.” She looked back behind them as the singing became louder and more painful to the ears. “What do you say we go join the rest of them? We won’t have as much downtime soon so I’d take advantage of the opportunity now before it’s too late.”

Rather than contemplate things or remain relatively on his own, he found himself walking by other members of the coalition, Lucias’s people, and even Bridella’s people. They intermingled with one another rather than remaining independent of each other.

He would not have expected that there would be three entirely different groups with differing goals all working together. A lone powerful unifying goal made such a thing possible. Everyone wanted to end the darkness, except for some who wanted to maintain their loyalty above all else.

Loyalty was important of course. But there were times, in his opinion at least, when it went too far. There was no justification in his mind to remain loyal to someone who happens to be the source of this domain’s woes.

“H-hey Kiran!” A drunken Frederek lifted a tankard into the air trying his hardest to get Kiran to come over to him. “We could really use an additional voice-over here!”

“Uh,” Kiran said scratching the back of his head. “I think I’ll have to pass.”

“Nonsense. Get that butt of yours over here and show us what all you’ve got.”

“Maybe another time!” he said rushing away before he found himself dragged over to them. While Yorais ended up going off in an entirely different direction than him, he ended up spotting Aphelia sitting by herself.

“Enjoying yourself?”

“Sure,” she said.

“You don’t sound so sure about that.” He ended up sitting beside her on the ground as they sat beside a tent. He stretched out his legs and crossed one foot over the other. “I imagine you’re feeling a little strange about siding with us, is that it?”

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“No, that’s not it at all.” He was a little surprised to hear her say that. “I’ve not once doubted my decision to aid you against them. I know in the depths of my heart, that I made the right decision then and now. It’s just that I haven’t done a good job of, well, fitting in with everybody. I still very much feel like an outsider that doesn’t belong here.”

“I apologize.”

“For what?”

“For not doing more to help get you more integrated with us.”

“Kiran, you needn’t apologize. You’ve been so busy. You’ve had much more pressing things to be focused on rather than dealing with me. Honestly, I can’t even imagine being in your position. It must be quite tiring.”

“You don’t know the half of it.”

“But,” she said with a gaze to the ground briefly, “I also have other concerns. I worry about my sister and, even Lady Meredith despite the wrongs she has done. I suppose I should ask. What exactly do you intend to do with them?”

“Well, I certainly want to defeat them. I’d like to do so without having to necessarily kill them, although it will be hard not to if they choose to stand in our way to the very end.”

“I appreciate your willingness to not commit to purely kill them. I can’t imagine many others aren’t. I understand that you might have to though. I won’t hate you for it if you or another decides you must.” She may say that now, but if he were to kill them in any manner, he would struggle to see her truthfully maintaining that feeling.

Perhaps they deserved to die. It wasn’t an entirely crazy idea to have, given what they were perpetuating. At the same time, killing was becoming harder for him to grapple with as time went on. There were severe consequences for it. He knew that full well now.

“Kiran,” she said quietly. “Is it alright if I go with you to the cave? Maybe I’ll be able to convince my sister to change her mind.”

“That sister of yours doesn’t seem capable of that. She’s got a heck of a lot of fire and anger inside of her. Come to think of it, she’s a lot like someone else I know, but perhaps even more intensely than her. But if you think it’s possible to change her mind, I think you deserve the chance.”

“Thank you. I promise I won’t stand in the way of any of you if I can’t.”

If anyone was going to convince her sister differently, then it would have to be her. If she can’t change her mind, there’s no possible way we could.

Rather than sit there together by themselves, Kiran ended up bringing Aphelia with him to another place. They headed over to a location with a bunch of other people chatting and enjoying themselves before they were all to march further to the west.

More and more people from their coalition began to appear. It seemed he had come at the right moment to appear. Frederek returned from his drunken bout of horrendous singing along with Yorais. Silvy, Abigail, Lar, and nearly everyone he could think of found themselves gathered near a large fire.

It appeared Rinas was eager to give one of his famous speeches. People quietened down and remained still. The atmosphere shifted from being jovial to more serious.

“We’ve come quite far,” Rinas said with a raise of a cup in his hand. “But we are not yet done. We must contend with the reality that we’re soon to face more peril. But I can confidently say, that there are none other than yourselves that I could ever dream of sharing these struggles with.”

Many drank to that. “Yes I know, many of you must be achingly tired. My own body struggles to have enough strength to get myself up every dark morning. But we are this close.” He began to use two of his fingers to demonstrate a small distance. “Our efforts are bearing us fruits that will deliver us from this darkness. We need only take a few more steps forward and then every day can be as joyous as this one.”

His short speech lifted their spirits up high. Kiran looked around at everyone. Everyone appeared quite sure of themselves and their purpose.

We are to deliver ourselves from this darkness. There is no alternative. Only one path forward from here on out.

* * *

For days, all three of their forces marched towards the west. Their combined numbers weren’t the most impressive ever, but in this domain, it didn’t require thousands of people to have a sizable force. With the relatively low population that exists on all sides, all it took was a couple hundred people to have a mighty force.

Those who opposed them hadn’t dared confront them directly during their march. They were instead gathering in the areas surrounding Lady Meredith’s specific parcel of land. That was where they expected the fighting would emerge.

For more days they rode. They crossed numerous landmarks that he recognized. Unlike his times from before when traversing these dark barren lands, there was something missing.

He found himself often thinking about that butterfly. They hadn’t appeared to him whatsoever. Even though they were known for appearing more frequently in this area, they hadn’t responded or thought to appear before him.

It made him wonder if it had to do with how many people there were. Perhaps they’d visit him if he was only accompanied by a few other people like in past times.

There was no way of knowing of course. He was completely in the dark in that regard. It left him with the only option to speculate.

Unlike the last time he traveled through here, Kiran didn’t need them to reach his destination since they had taken great notes of various landmarks and routes to backtrack to the cave. But even with the capability to reach it themselves, reaching that cave was not going to be as easy.

Kiran’s brown horse he rode on stopped. He remained watchful of their horizon. A wide stretch of light revealed their enemy’s locations.

These lands don’t deserve to have blood spilled. It deserves instead to be cultivated and built upon.

While a battle would commence here, Kiran would be part of a team of people who focused on riding past the battle and head straight for the cave instead.

Lady Meredith and the other lords or ladies allying with her would try to prevent them from riding past, but there was simply too much land for them to prevent it. And, they likely knew that.

“Our time will soon come,” Lucias said reluctantly. “Another battle. Another instance for more death to occur. I loathe the idea that things may have to come to this.”

“You should’ve chosen your words better when trying to sway the minds of those Lords,” Bridella said. “Maybe then we could’ve avoided all of this entirely.”

“I am a most convincing serpent, but I am only a familiar. A divine familiar, yes, but my abilities are limited, particularly with persuasion. I did try my best. Luckily you’ve wisely chosen to aid us.”

“For a greater purpose. We can get back to being enemies once this is done for.”

Lucias began to eye Kiran as he sat on his own horse. He turned his horse around to face his entire group who were planning on riding past the enemy. “I wish to avoid a battle from ever occurring here. We may not have the luxury, however. If you all can make it to that cave and put an end to all of this soon enough, then we may be able to avoid it. You’ll have to be quick though. I don’t know how long they will idly wait over there before choosing to commence an assault. Perhaps they’ll sit there for days on end, or perhaps not. Only time will tell.”

“It’s a good thing we’re ready,” Kiran said.

“Good. Given that, I see no reason for you to remain here with us. Go and be swift. Reach the cave. Put an end to Lady Meredith’s madness and remove this accursed darkness once and for all.”

Everyone knew what they were supposed to do at this point.

Succeed at all costs. And do so in a manner that would prevent a battle from having to commence out here in any capacity.