After departing from the forest, Aldryn could not help but feel guilty. Despite not knowing Klyran for long, and the two of them being of the same age, he could not help but think of the Ryan as his responsibility. Therefore, he could not help but scold himself for leaving him behind, but at the same time, reason with himself that it was necessary.

'It's not like I can just drag him around and make him deal with my problems' the blonde sighed.

Taking Klyran to the Silver City has been a decision he made in hopes that Ildurin would take the Ryan under his wing and train him within the borders of his castle, allowing him to leave with a clear mind, knowing that his new friend was safe. Yet the young King had many other issues that mattered more. The disturbance farther South even bothered the blonde. Since the war with the Nalrits begun, the great lake was a barrier that they were never able to cross, but now, they managed to find a way around it. Despite many thinking that Shyra, the Priestess of Darkness, had a hand in it, the blonde doubted it.

While many things happened in the past decade, the actions of Shyra made him confident that her alliance with the invaders was nothing more than a temporary agreement. She used them as her tools and in exchanges, offered them information. It reminded him of the agreement the Kenman had with her all those years ago. Were it not for this fact, he himself might have continued to think that she had sided with the Nalrits. Yet according to the Kenman, it was the Nalrits who approached him in the first place and offered him a deal, their army assisting him in taking revenge, for his knowledge.

"Those things are getting smarter" the fox grumbled, hearing its host's thoughts.

"They are" Aldryn agreed, "Which is both worrying and annoying."

Next to this, was the problem with Shyra. While many considered that she become insane and was now seeking destruction. The blonde oracle knew for a fact that it was not that easy. There were no doubts in his mind, that even in madness, the woman would still be brilliant. He though long and hard over her actions. He tried to map her movement to figure out a pattern, yet nothing came to mind.

He then thought back to when the two of them encountered in the cave of the Fox Thrae. Despite trying to pretend that Shyra sided with the Nalrits, her voice did not hold the same strength as her words. She obviously sought to awaken an old God, which one Aldryn still could not figure out. For all her words and actions, it appeared that the Oracle of Darkness had a closer alliance with the Shucks than the Nalrits. The fearsome black hounds being known for their intelligence.

"How pleasant it is..." the Thrae's sarcastic voice then filled his mind, "To know that all I was ever good for in her eyes was a test subject."

"Aren't you lucky that I found and adopted you?" the blonde then grinned, and he would have looked crazy in the eyes of others.

"Who adopted who" it blandly said and Aldryn could swear that he felt the Thare's tail puff up in that moment.

Speaking of intelligence, it seemed that sometime during this war, the Nalrits also became more intelligent, at least their superiors, but due to them never showing any signs of it, this fact remained unknown until not long ago.

"That could be dangerous... Many still think they are brainless creatures"

Knowing that not many humans would believe him, this information he shared only with Ildurin, whom he considered his closest human friend. At hearing this information, the King did nothing but nod and promised to issue a command to his men to capture as many Nalrits as they could for interrogation.

Without noticing it, while deep in thoughts, Aldryn has reached the outskirts of the forest. It was only when the setting sun glared him in the eyes did the blonde remembered his body and noticed the ache in his legs.

'How unusual' he gave an ironic smile. Such humans feelings were not something that he felt often anymore.

With a sigh, Aldryn begun to feel fatigue, his body growing heavy. Deciding to rest, he went back inside the forest and leaned against a tree. He randomly chose a position, but it still allowed him to see the outside world from between a few trees. The sun was almost gone and land begun to be covered in a light glow that was only ever present during the night. Some wild animals could be heard in a distance. The sound being soothing to the priest.

“Your mind needs rest. Go to sleep. I will keep watch”, the Thrae suddenly rumbled from within his mind and with a tired nod, Aldryn closed his eyes and fell asleep.

That night, for some reason, Aldryn dreamt of his family. But it was not the usual dream, of them spending time together happily, rather, it was a memory. Strangely, it was the first time in years that the blonde dreamt it.

It was an old memory, from when Aldryn was twelve, a year after his parents died. He remembered living in a small village, trying for the first time in his life to settle down, to make a life for himself that didn’t consist of travelling. That was Aldryn’s first and only attempt to make himself a home.

As a matter of fact, that small village, where the blonde lived for a short time, still stood to this day. He sometimes even wondered if he should go back, just to see if his small hut was still there. If another family lived in it, or if it was destroyed by either time or the villagers. It was a tale that Aldryn never told to anyone.

'Why I am suddenly remembering this?' he looked at his small dirty hands. Then, he glanced down and saw the bruises and scratches that he got from running around barefoot.

It happened on a winter day, when the sun was barely enough to prevent someone from freezing to death. It snowed the previous night, reaching to his knees. Aldryn’s clothes were that similar to any traveller. The only misplaced item being the cloak, which was too big for him. As a matter of fact, it was so big that it was enough to shelter two people of his statue under it.

'Father's cloak' he gave a sad smile and squeezed the old wool, 'I fell down the day before... Slipped on ice' he remember and looked at his swollen knee.

In his dream, he hugged the piece of cloth. Despite so many years passing, he still remembered how it smelled. Even thought it was a dream, Aldryn could swear that he could feel his hands shake.

'How I wish that I still had this' he took a deep breath and didn't know if he wanted to wake up or not. In that moment, he noticed another presence.

There was another person in that dream. Their head was leaning against his shoulder.

'No!' he shouted and with shaking hands patted the black hair resting on his shoulder, 'Why are you here?' he felt his body seize up and it seemed like all the air disappeared.

'WhyWhyWhyWhy' he gasped for air. His hand pulling the black locks.

'This is just a dream' he kept repeating to himself, but he felt his heart crumble in his chest.

The only other survivor from their camp. It was a face that haunted Aldryn ever since that day. It was a fear and regret that dug itself so deep in his soul that there was no face present in his dream. But the blood dripping and the sound that it made when it fell on the snow was the only sound that filled his head, because blood was all that Aldryn could remember. How the warm liquid soaked his clothes and dripped between his fingers as he tried to keep the two of them warm.

The only though that the blonde could use to console himself was that it was all in the past, and all that remained of that person was the ghost. A ghost that loved to haunt his dreams and torture his mind.

Aldryn couldn’t even remember reaching the small village, a part of him even wondered if he ever did. Or if the two of them collapsed somewhere in the snow and were found by the villagers. But that dream, about his arrival, was suddenly cut off. He then dreamed of his life in the small village.

He was welcomed there by the people, his parents having passed it by a few short weeks before, ridding them of bandits and thieves that terrorised the poor people for close to a year. It was a village that was unfortunate enough to stand at the border of two kingdoms. Somewhere where no King would carelessly send his men to rescue, in fear that it might be perceived by his neighbour as a hostile act, a declaration of war. And so, the poor people were left to defend themselves. The presence of Aldryn’s group, led by his parents, rid them of this nightmare. Therefore, when the people saw them, they quickly recognised the two children and sheltered them from the cold. Unfortunately, only Aldryn survived that winter in the end.

His fighting skills could easily allow the young blond to continue travelling, to join the rangers, as he was taught to fight and was trained the art since he was a child. Yet, he didn’t do that, he couldn’t.

'I felt sick at the mere thought of blood' the blonde felt nausea deep in his gut.

At the time, Aldryn used all the knowledge that he gained from his mother and became the local healer. He knew about most of the plants that grew in the wild and could use them to create remedies. A skill that was important to any ranger. And so, Aldryn lived in that small village, defending it from any occasional thieves and caring for the sick.

News about his party’s slaughter has quickly spread at the time, as they were among the top 10 group of nomads that were known to travel the lands. It caused many to come by the small village.

There were the merchants who his family helped in the past and felt indebted to them. They offered Aldryn to take care of him and his companion. Then, there were other rangers who were either curious about someone strong enough to kill his group, or those who knew his parents and wanted to seek revenge on their behalf. Yet to this day, Aldryn never revealed to anyone what happened that night, when they were attacked. It was also thanks to those merchants that the two of them became the centre of attention in the village. The various merchants that started coming by caused the village to become more famous, others seeking to purchase any goods available for sale.

To Aldryn’s knowledge, that small village was now a town that still stood at the border of two kingdoms, only now, both Kings paid attention to it and would often use it as a neutral territory.

It was also after that single failed attempt to build himself a life, did Aldryn swore to seek revenge for his family. But despite the many years that he sought out the truth, nothing came up. Even the rangers that went to investigate against his better judgement turned up empty handed. Not being able to catch the murderers of his party, who were most likely deceased by now, were the greatest regret that the blonde had to this day. It even came to a point where Aldryn tried to contact the Shadow Legion, a group renown for its elite Assassins. Unfortunately, this group was more close to a living legend, as it was impossible to find them if they had no interest in being found.

What was strange was that despite often dreaming about his short life there, something strange happened. Like usually, Aldryn dreamt of travelling at night from his small hut to the river that was located not far from it, knowing that his companion needed fresh water for his wounds and fever. It was a dream that haunted the blonde for years, as it was the night when his companion died, the night when he could do nothing but hold a cold corpse to his body and cry, sob and shout so loud that the whole village awoke. So loud that even the wild animals that could usually be heard at night fell silent for the first time. It was the night when he became the last member of his previously big family.