A sudden knock came from behind Aurelius’ door, forcing the elven prince to turn his attention towards the rooms’ singular point of entry, drawing his mind away from the muddled thoughts that had been lingering in the back of his head for quite some time now.

As he took in a deep breath to clear away the last of his thoughts, the elven prince stood from his bed and waited for whoever it was to introduce themselves from behind the door.

“I was told to deliver a letter to the occupant of this room.” The knocking ceased only for it to be replaced by a firm, yet polite voice from behind the door. “Its sender claims to have hailed from the Duchy of Orul and works directly for the Vesely household.”

“Alright, I’ll be right there.” The elven prince called out as he began to make his way towards the door. With his heavy boots stopping just shy of the door in front of him, his hand soon reached out and gripped tightly around the brass knob, twisting and turning the metallic instrument as he quietly cracked the door open.

Aurelius stared at an empty hallway for a few seconds, his eyes adjusting themselves to the stark difference in lighting when another sudden voice called out to him.

“This is for you, mister.” The voice’s owner proclaimed as the sound of fluttering paper caught Aurelius’ attention.

As he looked down, shifting his gaze towards the maple wood flooring of the inn’s hallway, Aurelius saw that the one who had come to deliver the letter was none other than a small child who couldn’t have been any older than twelve years of age.

The child waved an envelope above his head as he waited for the towering figure before him to take the letter from his grasp. Of which, the envelope was barely able to reach Aurelius’ chest as he did so.

“Alright, thanks.” Aurelius said as he snatched the letter from the boy, leaning against the doorframe as he moved to open the envelope right then and there.

The golden haired prince didn’t get very far before quickly noticing that the child was still there, the empty palm of his hand hanging in the air as he impatiently flexed his fingers.

“What do you want?” Snarled the elven royalty as he stared harshly at the obstinate child.

“You’re supposed to tip me for having delivered the letter.” The child answered in a stuck up, matter-of-fact tone as he stuck out his remaining free hand and opened it up to reveal an empty palm.

Aurelius shook his head as he let out an annoyed sigh, digging into his pockets and handing over whatever contents had been held within. “Here. Now get lost.”

The child gave the elven prince an odd look as he closed his hands together; having never seen what it was that had been given to him. Whatever it was, it had been a lot. More than a handful even. But they didn’t sound like coins to him, nor did they feel like coins for that matter either.

As Aurelius turned to close the door behind him, the young boy opened his hands ever so slightly and peaked at whatever lay hidden inside.

Just as the door clicked closed behind him, there came the sound of an astonished gasp of breath as the boy realized what lay in the palms of his hands.

Dumbfounded by the twinkling of light within his hands, the boy’s arms wavered for only a brief moment before his body had discovered that the last of his strength had left his body.

With his arms dropping to his side, the young boys face was left agape as a mess of diamonds clattered across his feet.

To the mysterious, yet honorable Aurelius,

Despite your initial suspicions over my lack of remembrance towards our initial meeting, I must gladly inform you that although I may have vague recollections of our meeting from so long ago, I do have the decency to have remembered who you are.

I must say though, I never expected to be handed a letter written by you from one of my family’s most trusted messengers. I was quite shocked, to be completely honest.

As for the contents of your letter, albeit vague as it may have been, I do agree that it was a most interesting read. My wife, however, thinks of you as a scammer, but I have assured her that there is some decency to your character from what little interactions we’ve had together.

I believe that a face-to-face meeting is something that our household would be very appreciative in attending with someone such as you. If it leads to fortune and glory for the both of us, all the better, but if not, then all is well and good and I hope that both of your parties can come to a mutual respect between our two sides.

If you so wish it, then please make use of one of the carriages at our manor in Porosk. I’ve already written a letter to my son there instructing for him to prepare one and allow you its use if you so wish it. If not, then I wish you the best of luck and an early welcome on your journey to the city of Gronskva.

“Here’s your meal, handsome.” The waitress said with a sultry tone to her smiling lips as she set the plate of food down in front of the golden haired prince. The woman fluttered her eyes towards the stranger before her as she placed a bowl of soup down next to the main meal.

“Thanks.” Aurelius replied as he removed his arms from the front of his chest and planted them over the table as he began to fix his posture, bringing in his legs in from outside of the table while adjusting the chair that he had been sitting in ever since he first sat down.

The waitress blew him a kiss as he reached for the nearby spoon, twirling it between the gaps of his fingers as she turned and left his side. The waitress waved her fingers in an affectionate manner as a last sign of farewell before turning her attention towards the next group of patrons that called out to her.

The tavern was brimming with energy all around the elven prince as he sat there, staring at his food whilst he continued to spin the spoon between the gaps of his fingers, twirling it from between one pair of fingers to the next before finally tossing it up into the air and catching it with the other hand; repeating the same motions all over again.

A few of the other patrons gave the golden haired figure odd looks, but quickly learned to ignore his odd antics. Most however never cared to pay the slightest bit of attention to him as the conversations passing from between their lips ebbed and flowed as the midnight moon rose ever higher towards its apex.

The food had grown cold while Aurelius continued to sit still, having remained untouched since it had first been placed in front of him while all assortments of talks between strangers had reached the elven prince’s ears.

Despite the grumbling within his belly that begged for him to eat the food in front of him, Aurelius found that the conversations swirling around him were far more appetizing than anything that had been made within the tavern’s kitchen.

“-A lot of money to be made up north.” The rough voice of a man could be heard saying from somewhere close by as Aurelius reached for his drink and brought the mug closer towards his lips, the cold liquid brushed up against the front of his lips as he continued to listen to what the man had to say. “They’re saying that there’s a King’s ransom in even the smallest of finds.”

“Is that really worth your life?” Another nearby individual whispered to his compatriots as his voice grew cautious with each word that quietly escaped from his lips. Fear grew in the back of the man’s mind and Aurelius couldn’t help but smile at the stranger’s truthfulness about the wavering nerves that threatened to take hold of him. “I’ve heard whispers about a village being burnt to the ground by an army of bandits.”

“Bandits? I heard that it weren’t humans that were the ones to burn the village.” Another of their group spoke up as he raised his gaze from the mug in front of him. “Supposedly the villagers did it to themselves after they were attacked by a pack of monsters.”

Some of the men next to him nodded their heads, quietly grumbling words of familiarity with either of the two tales being retold this night. One of the men, a man with greying hair and a great, bushy beard, turned to the others with a menacing glare. “They say that the village was packed with prospectors looking to push up north into that cursed land. Apparently there are rumors that the bandits, or whoever had been the ones to do it, had been waiting to ambush the village for a time well before the prospectors turned it into their base.”

“Let’s not talk about such a place any longer. Lest we find ourselves being hunted by the dark spirits that inhabit that foul place.” The first man amongst the disbelievers said to those around him, to which many of them simply nodded their heads in compliance and turned their attention elsewhere.

Aurelius agreed with these men as he lowered the mug from his lips with a gentle smile growing over his handsome features. He was glad to have heard of such beliefs in these men. During his long journey to avenge the massacre that had struck down his family, the elven prince had grown to covet the dream of living in a world where none would be able to find either him or his wives and children.

To him, such bliss would be the most ideal world.

“Nothing good ever comes from that place.”

A sudden crack and twang of exploding wood shot through the tavern, forcing many to turn their heads towards the hooded elven prince as he brought the ruined tankard back towards his lips.

Aurelius ignored their stares as he tilted his head back, drinking from the shredded mug as his gloved fingers, covered in splinters of crushed wood and cascading liquid, remained defiant in their duty in keeping the mug from disintegrating into oblivion as the last of the blonde haired prince’s drink disappeared into the depths of his shadowed hood.

Most continued to stare towards the hooded figure as he continued to hold the destroyed mug to his shadowed lips, but their desires to know more of the mysterious figure evaporated into dust as Aurelius’ fingers slowly loosened their grip.

The bottom half of the mug dropped to the floor with a loud clack before rolling beneath the table standing before the hooded figure whose only distinguishable features were the twin pair of golden locks of hair that flowed down from his hood and onto his chest.

“What’d that mug ever do to you?” The chuckling voice of Argonok called out towards the elven prince as Aurelius placed the remnants of the tankard down onto the table. “You’re acting as if the thing went and killed your family.”

Argonok’s lips curled into a poisonous smile as his eyes followed the top of the mug roll across the table before eventually falling onto the floor below where it would soon take a similar journey as its other half.

“What good is having a family if they’re surrounded by such self-centered greed?” Aurelius grumbled to his companion as his hands went out and tugged at the hood over his head, fixing the wrinkled folds out of the fabric as his attention moved towards the hideous Fire Guard that now stood at his side.

The elven prince’s eyes shifted their gaze from the Dwarf to the strangers around them as Argonok gave his answer to such an ugly, yet honest question.

However, the Dwarf’s words never reached the prince’s ears as Aurelius’ accusing eyes went from one individual to the next.

‘Greedy devils.’ Proclaimed Aurelius’ inner voice to himself as he watched a group of men huddle amongst themselves to discuss their next plans for heading north into the realm known amongst the locals as the “Dark Lands”.

‘Slovenly ingrates.’ A dark scowl crept over Aurelius’ gorgeous features as his eyes were drawn towards a group of disheveled men whose voices howled mightily around them as they tumbled over one another.

‘Cowardly bellyachers.’ The prince gritted his teeth as he struggled to deal with the crowd of strangers around him, his eyes lingering over all of those within the tavern tonight whilst they kept to themselves. Only to call out to a nearby serving girl or a familiar enough face amongst the crowd of strangers.

‘Destitute defamers.’ Aurelius’ glaring eyes shifted slowly to his hands as their fingers clenched tightly shut. His knuckles became white-hot with rage as his mind began to shift towards the possibility of what would happen if word were to ever reach this far south of Iskra’s continued existence.

As his mind continued to venture further into the depths of darkness that had been festering in the back of his mind ever since his return from the very edges of the world, the elven prince stood from his seat and made his way upstairs.

The desire to linger amongst the crowd of people had been drained in its entirety.

Staying where he had been since first meeting back up with the blonde haired elven prince, Argonok’s gaze followed the elven prince with each step that creaked up the crowded stairway.

Amongst his nightmare inducing features, there was a dark and heinous smile that remained unyielding in the joy that came from having caught sight of the prince’s venomous paranoia.