Glavas' second visit to the funeral parlor of lower Elkif went much smoother and contained 100% fewer demons.

"Come in!" Sizzy shouted at him through an open window the moment she heard him call out her name and knock on the door. The hunter did not waste a second waiting. He went inside and upon being called further into the necromancer's workplace, stepped into the room that last night hosted his brief encounter with Ruun. Needless to say, during the bright day, the laboratory looked at least somewhat less intimidating. The organs floating in jars still reminded the young hunter of a den of a serial killer, but at the very least it no longer felt like something would be watching him from the shadows.

"Hey Siz. I... What the fuck is that?!" Glavas spurted out when he saw the bones of a truly massive clawed arm lying on Sizzy's workbench.

"Heya! Don't worry and come in! He won't hurt you. At least not anymore."

"But... what even is that?"

"Heh, and you call yourself a hunter? Come on! Use your brain!" She moved away from the table to let Glavas examine the bones closely.

"That's... huh. Could be a Ritulia, but the claws are long and not hook-shaped. Might pass as a solid fake Tapola, but the bones are a few shades too white and the texturing is all wrong."

"So...?"

"So, I can't believe I'm gonna say this, but this is most definitely a dragon. Quadruped, male, aged about... two hundred and seventy-ish. How did you even get access to something like this? Dragons burn their dead."

"Hah! Believe it or not, but I've been a pen pal with a certain wizard from Pinestake hive."

"Pinestake? That's pretty far away. How did you even get a contact like that?"

"One of the younglings once had a nasty crash near Elkif. We patched him up and sent a bird with a message to his parents to let them know he was okay and that someone will escort him home. The poor fella couldn't fly for a while, so we had to find someone to make the trip to the hive with him."

"Ah, and let me guess, the one who wrote the letter was you, and his parent is now on the table to repay the offer?"

"Glavie! Of course not! You don't repay such favors with your corpse! No, they wanted to know who saved their boy, so I wrote something about myself. It fascinated them and they asked me if I could bring the spirit of their recently-deceased grandfather back for one final goodbye. I agreed, they brought the body over, we did the whole thing outside the town, it was all super emotional, and voila! Dragon corpse!"

The hunter's face was now visibly scrunched up. "You see people say their final goodbyes on a daily basis. How can you be so... optimistic?"

"It helps them! I don't know the dead folk, so I don't have to feel sad, and the ritual helps the family and friends heal faster. Now, can you hold this for me?" She approached him and handed him a big metal box with a strange, sinuous, fleshy substance.

"What the hell is that?"

"Muscle fibers."

Glavas twitched. "Oh, I'm gonna vomit."

"Come on! You've seen so many guts in your life but suddenly you're squeamish?" She reached into the box, pulling the contents out and letting them down onto the table with a wet splash. Glavas quickly turned around and held a fist against his mouth to keep himself from throwing up. "Fuck me, one badass hunter you are."

"I... I didn't expect this."

"Well, life is full of surprises. I didn't expect you to lure a demon into my house either. So, did you come here for a reason?" she asked and with her magic, she began attaching the tendons and muscles onto the arm.

"Not really. I just thought that we should spend a bit more time together."

"Us? Shouldn't you be spending it with your dad? You don't have much time you know? Enjoy it while it lasts. Besides, won't you stay here after the Extinguishing?"

"No, I won't. It's dangerous, so I and my... ally have both agreed that I should take the kids somewhere east, where the demon won't be able to reach them."

"Your ally? You mean the eccentric human living at your place?"

"Yeah, that's Clive alright."

"Huh. You sure bring a lot of strange people here. But, fine, you are going to leave, but you can still come back and then we can talk. The same can't be said about old Glint though."

"I know!" Glavas sighed and sat on one of the counters. "But honestly, I am not even sure how to start such a conversation. Like... Hey dad, sorry I was always such a shitty son. Happy death day!"

"Of course not like that! But... you know, try something like: Dad, I feel like we have had some problems between us in the past, so I want to make things right. And tada! Conversation started!"

"Easy for you to say."

"You're just overthinking. Your dad will be super happy to see you trying to make things better. Trust me, nothing bad will happen if you just be honest."

"Right, right. I guess you have a point. Honesty does seem to get me quite far these days."

"With the right people, yeah. But be careful, some folks out there are definitely worth lying to."

"Heh, couldn't agree more."

The two kept on talking for at least three hours. Sometimes, the infamous awkward silence would try to slither its way between the two friends, but Sizzy tried her best to quickly chase it away with new conversation topics. And with years of stories and experiences to share, the two never stayed quiet for too long.

After their goodbyes, Glavas finally headed back home to confront his fears. Tomorrow was the day of the Extinguishing. It was now or never. He had to tell his father how sorry he was for all the trouble he caused with his sudden disappearance and the infrequent returns. He planned an entire model of the conversation, including branching responses for many different reactions he might get from Glint. However, when he finally reached the training hall, the whole plan that the hunter was carrying in his mind suddenly disappeared when he saw Surdi lying on the ground with Glint kneeling beside him, holding his hand.

"What the fuck did you do?!" Glavas shouted at his father, rushing to Surdi's side.

"Calm down, Glavie, it's just training! He is the one who wanted to do it. I just..."

"Surdi! Surdi, come on! Snap out of it! What's wrong with you?!" he cried out, shaking the young dragon, who was lying limp on the sand.

In the meantime, while Glavas was going through an episode of intense shock, a completely different scenario was playing through Surdi's mind.

"Oh! It's Glavas! Oh... Oh no... He's shouting, isn't he? Shiiiiiit. He's gonna be so pissed..."

Until the remaining twenty seconds have passed and the boy could move again, the hunter experienced a phenomenon certain wizards would call "relativity of time", because even the minuscule timespan felt like ages to him, and no amount of Glint's reassurances seemed to improve the situation. It took the dojo duo a solid ten minutes to explain what they'd been doing and for Glavas to stop calling them idiots.

[Are you still mad?] Surdi asked the hunter on the way back home.

[Slightly], he replied.

[I just wanted to get stronger. I wanted to be able to defend myself.]

[You can already do that. Against Peldo's group of misfits, you held your ground just fine. Dragons are already stronger than most of the other species, so why do you feel the need to potentially hurt yourself for even more power?]

[Because it's not enough! Evil wizards, crazy people, and demons. All these want to harm us.]

[Surdi, there will always be a stronger threat. If anyone from the Valimar Circle would get their hands on Alma, it would be the end of our adventures. Does that mean just to protect her, you'd want to become stronger than a Circle member?]

[If it would mean that she'd be safe, then yes,] the boy frowned at Glavas. Glint had no idea what they were talking about, but the spark in the dragon's eyes reminded him of that almost terrifying determination he showed earlier.

[That will only end up hurting you. Some people aren't meant for such strength. You can do a million other things. Why push yourself to learn complex magic?]

[Because magic rules this world.]

[That's not true.]

[Is it not?! If a wizard is powerful enough, they can get away with anything! Besides, how do you know I wasn't meant to be a spellcaster?!]

[Because those kinds of people are oddities. Freaks of nature. Those who have a bit more in their brains than is healthy.]

[I'm a freak. We are all freaks in our little group. So why don't you let me at least try it?]

[I will let you try it. But you will not train by drinking poison and hoping it won't hurt you. That is my final decision!]

Despite Surdi's numerous attempts to start the conversation again, Glavas didn't say nor sign a word. He would most likely keep quiet throughout the entire trip back home if it wasn't for the loud, hollow, metal sound of an alarm horn filling the streets.

Sina had just cut through the final Rockbark log when the noise hit her ears. Immediately, she dropped her axe and began climbing up the tallest of the nearby buildings.

"Sina? What is that? What's going on?" Alma shouted, covering her ears from that horrible sound.

"It's an alarm. Usually used for large fires and such. Hang on, I'll have a look at what's going on!" she yelled back and kept on climbing until she reached the roof of the final building on the pile. About four floors above the ground, she had a nice view over most of the city. Her eyes darted around the place and eventually landed on the tower toward the east. There, on the very top, stood the massive metal horn, used for emergencies. An elderly elf was standing in front of it, blowing it as vigorously as he could. That proved one thing - it wasn't a joke. Something bad was actually happening in the city. Sina quickly looked around her, trying to find signs of smoke rising to the sky, or any other indication of what was even happening. An answer came from nature just south of the city. There, on top of a small hill overlooking part of the district, she saw trees shake and bend. Her hands; however, didn't begin shaking until she saw a massive, hairy hoof push the tree down and stomp on it, snapping it in half like a twig. From beyond the leaves approached a truly massive creature. Its single brown eye was staring at the city from the pine cone-shaped, furry body. If it wasn't for that single organ, which was now piercing the horrified citizens with its gaze, nobody would be able to tell where the front of the creature would be. A moment of silence followed as the horn quieted down and the people stared up at the colossus in mute terror. The spikes running around the creature's body quivered a little with excitement. It was so fed up with eating the usual rocks from the nearby mountain range. Here, it was so full of delicious new stone, which it had never tasted before. With an excited squeal, its five legs began moving, slowly but steadily carrying the creature toward the city. With each step, a loud rumble followed and the earth quaked.

"Holy shit..." Glavas gasped and rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't simply seeing things.

"A Granitar? Here? How the fuck is that possible?" Glint couldn't believe the situation either. "I thought they lived more to the east. I've never seen one here before."

The hunter pulled out his gun and cracked it open, slotting a fresh red crystal inside. "Guess it smelled that fancy artificial rock you invented and wanted to have a nibble."

"A nibble? On Elkif?!"

"Yeah, wouldn't put it past that. Not sure how the hell it managed to wander so far from its territory, but now that it's here, it will surely try to eat a building or a few."

[So what do we do?]

"We escort it back to its natural habitat. Surdi, go get Alma. She's the only one who will manage to keep something this big inside the sealing scroll for long enough."

[On it!] the boy replied and broke into a sprint, heading right toward Sina's workplace.

"And what about us?" Glint asked his son.

"You get everyone capable of using magic. Get its attention. Make sure to piss it off nice and proper. But keep the people safe too."

"And you?"

Glavas smiled. "I'll get close enough to deal with it." He flicked the firearm backward, causing it to close with a satisfying click. With a quick snap of his fingers, a few dark tendrils appeared on his back, forming into the shape of hands. However, before the spell could even begin to properly function, a chill ran down his spine. The hunter fell to his knees and it suddenly felt as if not a single muscle in his body was willing to move. "No... No! No! NO!" he screamed. His breathing was slowly getting faster and was slipping more and more out of his control. "Come on, it's been so long! Not now! Not fucking now!" he shouted at himself as the still-recent memories sank their teeth deep into his heart.