"It's me, Adel. Open up, rammy," I replied teasingly to our house familiar.

Even though the familiar was a magical creation unable to feel emotions, I'd always enjoyed fancying up my replies. Its main purpose was not really answering the door, but rather keeping people who were not of our parents' bloodline out of the house.

Should an outsider ever try to climb all three steps without an invitation or without responding to the familiar, they would find themselves catapulted to the ground by the metal horns of the ram that would materialize just inches away from them.

Now, the door opened ever so slightly, inviting me to push it and enter. I put my body into it as I remembered doing the few times I happened to be on this side of the heavy door. The large wooden piece moved much more easily than I remembered. Though of course, back then I was only a child.

The hallway inside was dark and the blinds were sealed so tightly that not even the faintest of magical lights from outside could penetrate into the living room area to my right. I closed the front door behind me, plunging the house into complete darkness, and reached into my bag for a glowing stone. I had barely managed to undo the leather strips of my bag before the hallway was lit up with magical torches on both sides. Between them, bathed in their soft red light, was my sister.

"I'm never letting go of you again, little gargoyle" she said, as she pulled me toward her by my robes and hugged me hard.

"I… I'm sorry I put you through this." The guilt I felt for the ordeal she had to go through came flooding back as her belly pressed against me, and I felt the life she was carrying inside her. "I had to do it."

"I know," she replied, and slightly pushed me away, bringing my face in front of hers. "But you didn't need to do it alone. Please tell me you'll never do it again."

"There's nothing to promise anymore," I said, and finally broke down. "She's dead, Seika. Myriam is dead."

"I know," she said, and hushed me as she pulled me back into her embrace.

"She was a good person," I continued between sobs, my voice muffled by the folds of her soft light-blue robe against my face. "She was good, but she died."

"She was an amazing person, brother," she repeated, trying to comfort me.

"Everyone should know," I said, and looked her dead in the eye. "Everyone. And that little sick monster will pay with his life."

"Then we plan, Giantsbane" Man's strangely serious voice answered.

I nodded up at him in greeting, but was not able to force a smile. He did not press me. Man understood. He always did. That was why I had felt safe leaving them behind and moving forward with Myriam.

I knew he would take care of Seika if anything happened to me and, true enough, here he was. Right by her side. He hugged me tight and I saw the remainder of our little group standing behind him over his shoulder—Kard and Krysha, my childhood friends.

The people who had picked me up when my parents were killed and raised me to lead the victims of the liturgy massacre to a new home. Kard was fidgeting with one of his jeweled daggers and gave me a very casual greeting by nodding his head upward. I was sure he was as happy to see me as the rest of them, but would never show it until it was just the two of us.

Krysha, on the other hand, could barely contain herself as she waited anxiously for her turn to come, once my embrace with Man had ended. When I smiled at her over Man's shoulder, she jumped on his back and gave me a hug that bordered on a martial neck lock. I liked it all the same, but as the hugs and greetings ended, so did the smiles on our faces.

I had completely forgotten about the time dilation in the forest. What was two weeks of struggling to navigate the enchanted forest for me, was just a matter of hours for them. What's more, while I had a good night's sleep in Nara, they had to leave Leka An and cross the Endless Sea to meet me here in time. The temporary facade of relief on their faces had now faded and revealed their tired expressions.

In the main living room of the mansion, Seika lit up the fireplace with the magical command word I never got to learn as I was too young to play with fire. I moved to open one of the blinds, but Seika warned me against it.

"Nobody knows we're here yet," she said, so instead I joined everyone at the long wooden table in front of the fireplace. "Let's keep it that way."

The magical glow of the fire provided enough light to read if you stood close to it, but only dimly illuminated the other end of the space. This made the room seem all the more eccentric, especially since Seika had only removed the white dust sheets from a few pieces of furniture.

The paintings on the walls depicted strange and foreign lands, and for a few moments, looking at them made me feel like the wondering child I once was. But the feeling wore off quickly, as I realized that now I had been to many of the places myself.

"Adel?" My sister interrupted my idle staring at the room's walls. "I know this is hard, but I want you to describe to us what happened in as much detail you can possibly remember."

"Krysha and I will take notes on what you say," Kard added, "and then we'll review them and form a summary to give to the archons tomorrow."

"An edited version, of course," Man assured me.

I stood up again, my eyes transfixed on a painting of a seemingly endless forest portrayed from above. As I moved, the forest moved as well, almost as though I was a bird flying above it.

"I know you're all tired, and we all should rest since we have a difficult day ahead of us tomorrow," I said, moving yet closer to the painting. "But I want to start my story even further back, before we got separated."

"But we were together before that… We don't really—" Krysha started, but Kard put his hand on her forearm to ease her.

As I walked close to the painting, the frame seemed to extend vertically and I could see a large green shape at the far end. As the endless green of the forest raced below me, I began to see the sides of mountains appear from either side of the ornate wooden frame.

"This isn't my story, and it shouldn't be the story of the enchanted forest and the murderous god," I said. I clenched my fist at the thought of Kai. "This won't be the story of how Myriam died, tricked by the person she loved the most."

Now I was close enough that the forest stopped moving and the sides of the mountains intersected to a very high white peak. The lands beyond the mountains were obscured by a thick purple mist, but the green shape I'd previously seen, was now standing before me clearly and I recognized it for what it was. The highest, thickest and grandest tree of them all. A perfect depiction of the Mana Tree and the End of the World.

"This is the story of how Myriam lived," I said.