I started recounting the event. "On my way from Nara, about four days ago, I was attacked by this man. This avoral. I had no idea what he was, but he was a capable fighter."

"Why did he attack you?" Kard asked.

"He said he was a servant of The Divine," I explained, and then quickly retracted it. "A servant of Kai. He was apparently scouting for me. Nobody even knew I would be on this continent, so he must be one of many looking."

"Okay, so you fought and killed him," Kard said nonchalantly. "Nobody enjoys killing, but it was like your fight with the giant."

"It was nothing like my fight with the giant," I retorted, and tried to calm myself. "Spellcasters killed his family and many of his people. They live exiled beyond the mountains because of us."

"Well, we didn't know anything about that," Kard protested. "We knew nothing of any atrocities the Order has carried out."

"Does it matter?" I said, recognizing that he was thinking the same way I had initially. "Our ignorance isn't enough to justify our prosperous living in Elysia. It was perhaps unknowing, but we were leading that lifestyle at the expense of other races. The avoral, the people we call savages north of Elysia, and who knows how many more…"

He didn't say anything. I imagine he was probably picturing what he would have done if he was in the avoral's position.

"I had him pinned down, and I offered to let him leave with his life," I continued. "Perhaps we could have worked something out."

"Oh, Adel," Kard sighed. "And you killed him because he betrayed your trust?"

"No," I said, and took my eyes away from him in shame. "His name was Avendereil. He was a proud and honest warrior. He told me if I let him go, he would do everything he could to bring me to Kai and kill my loved ones. Through me, he hated the whole of Elysia, the people who killed his wife and children."

"You had no choice," Kard whispered.

"Telling myself I'm murderer because I had no choice doesn't make it better," I said, not really waiting for a comeback. "I was looking into his eyes as I took his head."

"You're right," he replied after a full minute of silence between us. "It will never be better. But there's nothing we can do about it either. At least not now."

"So this is what we are now?" I asked. "Murderers?"

"This is who we need to be, Adel," he continued, "so that Seika's child will not have to be one."

The thought of Seika's child growing up in a world like this stunned me. I had nothing to say in return.

"We can, and will try to, make this world a better place," he said, "for all races. But not right now. Right now, we have to first make sure it isn't destroyed completely. And the only way to do that is to protect you."

As soon as Kard finished, the soft tapping of bare feet on wooden floor came from the foyer.

"He's right, you know," Krysha said, who had apparently been hiding just outside of the room, not wanting to interrupt the moment we were having. "There are strict requirements for taking up a task as big as making the world a better place. First, the world needs to exist, and second, we need to be alive."

"Krysha," Kard said, with a renewed smile on his face, "you always know just what to say, don't you?"

"If this Avendereil had escaped," she continued, not paying any attention to him, "Kai would have found you. He would have killed you and become an even more powerful and vengeful god. Then he would kill me, Kard, Man, Seika, their child, everyone in the tower, and probably a lot of the avoral as well if they didn't die anyway in one of his battles."

I paused for a moment to consider this. I could understand why someone in the position of the avoral would believe Kai could be their savior, but knowing how he'd manipulated people, I had no doubt that he was never planning on honoring his promise to Avendereil's people.

"But if we prevail," she continued, "we can make sure things will change in the future, including the relationships between humans and other races. If you die, we all die. Not just humans or avoral. You did what you had to do."

I couldn't accept it yet, but deep down I knew she was right. Perhaps I couldn't yet accept the fact that a good person had to be killed, even to secure a better outcome for everyone. Regardless, as much as I wanted to have my mind linger on this just to torture myself a bit more, the appearance of my sister and Man brought me back to reality and I quickly averted my gaze from Krysha and stuffed another piece of bread in my mouth.

Both Krysha and Kard picked up on that, and started eating their breakfast as well, the conversation over for now.

"Never was breakfast prepared for me in the palace in a more lavish way," Man teased as he approached us, and he squeezed my shoulders once in a caring manner.

"But why are you still sitting in the dark?" Seika asked. "It's day out. We're safe with light in here now too."

"Because you never taught me the command word," I began to protest, but stopped to hear her say it.

As soon as the command left her lips, the ceiling began shining so brightly that the whole house looked as if we were outdoors on a cloudless day.

Seeing everyone in daylight really made me appreciate them all the more. I felt at home with these people. Especially now that I could see Seika's belly finally beginning to show. It wasn't too noticeable if you did not know she was expecting, but it was clear as day if you knew her well.

"Let's have breakfast and head out," she said, as she took her seat. "The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can leave the city."

Seika's proclamation took me by surprise, especially since she was born and raised in Elysia. I guessed that now she felt much more at home in the safety of Leka An, be it in the palace or in the tower. And so, we had a quick breakfast in relative silence, donned our equipment, and headed out of the mansion.

The sun was quite some way up in the sky. My friends had overslept but this was no time to chastise them, not even jokingly. The deserved every last minute of rest they got.

"This way," Seika said and led us forward, her general direction aligned with the gigantic twin horns in the horizon.