Glavas stared down at his feet, standing right at the edge of the burning bridge. A few sparks flew out here and there as if they wanted to tell him to hurry up already. The minerals embedded into his sandals were faintly vibrating. The magic inside them was working, however, whether or not they would offer Glavas their protection and therefore a safe passage across completely depended on his own thoughts. He quickly went over his goal. Was it something he truly wanted? What if it wasn't his true wish? He looked to the side at the young elven girl, who was now sitting on a bench nearby, getting her burns treated by one of the priests. If Glavas was wrong, then he would end up just like her. It wasn't the pain that scared him though. He'd been through worse. What terrified him were the implications. If the bridge would not let him across, then it would mean that his Path of the Flame was not what he truly desired and therefore, his time with the children would be wasted. What he truly feared was finding out the truth.

"Move it already!" he heard Glint yell at him. Before he could turn around, Glavas felt the palm of his father's hand pushing him forward, forcing him to step onto the bridge.

"Dad!" he yelled over his shoulder. A massive weight dropped from his heart when he found himself safely standing on the bridge, feeling nothing but the pleasant warmth of the fire beneath him.

"You'll thank me later. Now go!" Glint winked at him and waved.

Glavas did not waste a single second. He turned to face the small platform ahead of him and with a smile on his face, he walked forth. Something warm and pleasant burned inside his chest. He was right. His Path, his wish, was his true desire. Something he wanted to do for the rest of his life. But there was still one more hurdle to overcome. One more bridge to cross. And this one could hurt him far more than the flames.

The hunter eventually reached the island in the middle of the massive pit. From there, due to its elevation, he could see the crowd gathered at the gate as if they were tiny ants. Their heads were now all raised, eyes staring at Glavas without blinking. A Moonscourge would take up the Path of the Flame. Such a thing was unheard of. Even the priests standing guard left their posts and went closer to see what would happen next.

Glavas took a deep breath. The air inside the cave was cold and damp. Now only saying the words remained. This time, there was nobody to push him forward to take the first step. He had to do it himself.

"You all over there, watching me, I will speak out of the heart. I don't give a fuck about you." As soon as he finished the sentence, gasps of shock filled the crowd, along with numerous voices whispering about blasphemy and disrespect. "I don't care about your audience, nor do I care if the goddess can see or hear me. I want only two pairs of ears. Heh, funnily enough, one of them can't even hear me. Alma! Be so kind and tell Surdi what you hear, okay? You two are the only ones who have to listen to this." The eyes of the elves turned to the two children. Alma signed what she heard and Surdi watched each movement of her hands with great attention.

"We've been traveling together for quite a while now. We've seen ourselves at our best and worst. I've always been thinking that this... companionship would be short-lived. That one day, I would find a place for you to stay. A new place to call home. A family that would take care of you. But... I will admit, I am a selfish, selfish bastard. I don't really want that. I don't want to leave you with someone else. I don't trust that they would be able to care for you and protect you. That is something I only trust myself with. So, I no longer want to be searching. I want to finally give you that promised home." He took a moment to think. The silence of the crowd was terrifying, but he still spoke, focusing only on the two small figures in the distance. "You two aren't officially registered as orphans. And... well, after our adventures, you can probably understand why I would never trust an orphanage even again, even to just do some paperwork. So, I want to use this!" He spread his arms far and wide. "This is probably the noblest event an elf can participate in. So, during such an important celebration, I want to ask you a simple question. Would you two allow me to adopt you?"

Suddenly, the crowd once again broke into noise. "Elf adopting other species? Ridiculous! Get him down from there! Stop this madness! This is no Path of the Flame!" Their voices, however, were quickly silenced when a large, sharp, bone projectile jammed itself into one of the supporting pillars of the entrance.

"Any of you keep talking and you're gonna lose those tongues!" Sizzy snapped at the crowd, who suddenly fell silent again.

"I know this is a weird question," Glavas continued, "but I care about you. And after everything that happened in the past couple of weeks... I can surely tell you care about me too. I can offer you safety. You won't have to fear the demon or anyone else ever again. I will protect you from whatever might come. I will make sure you can live happy and peaceful lives! We'd get to travel and see the world. And if you ever feel like you wish to settle down, then Elkif will always be here for you. With grandparents to spend time with, and friends that would make it feel like home. So? What do you say?"

"I say we've had about enough!" one of the priests shouted. "Moonscourges have always trampled over our traditions, but you used a prestigious event of our culture for a selfish announcement! This is no Path of the Flame! You mock our tradition! We will not tolerate that any longer!" More elves in white robes lined with gold approached the temple. "Unodes that brought the Moonscourge to this sacred place are hereby arrested! According to law, should a Moonscourge be deemed dangerous to Elkif and its people, they shall be executed on sight. Kill that man!"

Glavas slumped and sighed as he watched the priests circle around his family and friends. "Think it over, priests!" he shouted at them. "I am not some villain from a history book. No politician who plotted to overthrow the government. I am Glavas, son of Glintwood and Sina, a hunter of monsters. I kill for a living! And I've just promised these children safety and peace. So tell me, what do you think will happen to those who'd stand in the way of that? You are not the first. There have been so SO many. And tell me, what do you think happened to them?"

The priests' determination visibly wavered, but they still circled around the entrance, their hair glowing with flowing mana.

"Fine then, have it your way," Glavas said and with a quick movement of his hand and a splash of blood, he conjured up his sword.

"Silence, please," a voice came from beyond the crowd. As it spoke, a set of white runes traveled along the floor and walls of the temple and then quickly disappeared again. Shivers ran down the spines of all the priests as if doomsday had just arrived. They stepped aside and kneeled, making a clear path for the incoming visitor. Glavas's eyes nearly fell out of their sockets the moment he saw her. She was young. Mentally, she couldn't have been much older than Alma, even though in elven years, she had lived for at least three decades. Light reflected against her golden robes. It was almost as if she was glowing, which was partially true. Her long, white hair, purer than fresh winter's snow, was shining bright, making it almost impossible to see her facial features past the light.

"Holy fucking shit..." escaped Sina's mouth without thinking, for which she received a strong elbow jab to her ribs from one of the priests.

"You will behave yourself, Unode! You are in the presence of an arch-priestess!"

Glavas' eyes widened. She was right there. The newest arch-priestess. The only thing more stunning than seeing her would be meeting the goddess herself. The head of the entire religion of Elkif was paying a visit in all her shining glory.

"Glavas, the Moonscourge, I wish to speak with you. Please, make your way back here. This is a matter that must be discussed," she spoke, sounding almost too mature for her age. Alma looked at her, wondering if someone of her status ever knew the meaning of childhood in the first place.

The hunter knew the situation was serious. An arch-priestess hardly ever went from her palace at the top of the mountain, let alone to demand a conversation with a Moonscourge. What was happening right now was history. An event that surely wouldn't repeat for at least several centuries.

"You wished to speak?" Glavas asked once he stood in front of her. He reached back and undid the tie on his ponytail, letting his hair fall down loose. Their ebony-black color was a powerful contrast against the glowing white of the arch-priestess. It was as if day and night had a meeting to discuss their rule over the skies.

"Indeed, I wished to speak. You have to agree that this is very unusual."

"The talk? Absolutely."

"No, I mean what you did. To use Path of the Flame for such a purpose... Why? Why would you do that?"

"That's a long story."

"Then simplify it."

"Well, Sizzy over there told me she accepted a Path only symbolically. For her own sake. To restart her life, so to speak."

"Yes, I remember hearing of her attendance."

"And then, my father told me he thought about the kids as his grandchildren, so that gave me another half of the idea. I thought that it would be a more official way of asking them about the adoption, plus a way for me to solidify the changes happening in my life."

The priestess went silent for a moment. "I see. What a curious purpose. Very well then. I respect your choice."

"What?! But arch-priestess, that man..." One of the priests tried to interrupt her.

"Why are you so angry, Oltin?"

"I... well, it's blasphemy! It's tainting our tradition! He can't just use it for his personal benefit?"

"Really? And is that not the reason for its creation?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"The Path of the Flame exists to give purpose to the long elven lives, does it not?"

"Well... yes."

"Then if adopting the children gives his life a new purpose, why should we not accept it?"

"It doesn't have a clear goal, your highness."

"Clear goal? Tell me, does my life have a clear goal?"

"I... Umm..."

"You know what awaits me. The power this hair of mine holds has a price. My life is short. Very short. That young human over there might outlive me. I have no clear goal. I serve the goddess until the day my magic claims me. My life has a purpose, yet I do not have a clear goal. Am I, therefore, breaking the rules of our religion?"

"N-No. Of course not! Your life is short but precious!"

"Thank you. So please, do not doubt my decisions. All I desire is peace and quiet in our little city." She turned back to Glavas and then quickly over to Alma and Surdi. "Actually, there is another thing I desire. Your answer. I wish to know how your story continues."

The children looked at each other with confusion in their eyes, and yet, without saying a word, they both knew what they wanted to do.

Last night, when Glint and Sina's house was full of guests and food, nobody expected that the celebration would continue the next evening as well. This time, the locals even rolled in barrels of wine, mead, and almost any other alcohol they could find. Cheers were sung as the city celebrated the new members of their community. The folk songs and loud stomping as the guests danced could be heard loud and clear even through the closed door to the bedroom, where Glint and Glavas went to finally toss away the ceremonial robes.

"Well, congratulations, you're a father now," Glint teased his son.

"And you're a grandpa. How does that make you feel?"

"Old."

"Haha, yeah, I bet."

"But speaking of age... have you had that talk with the kids yet?"

"That talk?! Nobody ever spoke with me about that! I don't even know how to bring that up!"

"NO! Not that, you idiot! The aging difference!"

"Oh... right..." Suddenly, it was as if a gloomy veil fell over Glavas' head. He sat down on the bed and let out a faint sigh. "They won't really grow up together, will they?"

"No, they won't. By the time Alma will be an adult, Surdi will still be considered a pre-adolescent. When she's old and gray, he will be a young man. And eventually..."

"She will die..."

"Yes. And then about two centuries later..."

"Surdi."

"Yeah."

"Fuck." Glavas scratched his head.

"I'm sorry I had to spoil the mood like that. But you need to understand that for this exact reason, different species don't really start families. We just aren't compatible. You'll lose them both one day. I am sorry, but that is something you have to know. And they should too."

Glavas smirked. "So what?"

"Huh? You are... happy?"

"Well, what else can I do? Still, it hasn't even been a year yet and my life has been so wild. In a single year! Imagine what will happen in the decades we'll get to spend together! I will see them choose their future, fall in love, and start their own families. And then, I can stick around to protect those! Heck, Alma will probably have tons of descendants before I kick the bucket."

Glint smiled. "You'll be like the guardian spirit of their families."

"Heh, not a spirit. A guardian elf."