“How was I meant to know that?” Adam asked, his cheeks flush with embarrassment. No, if he had thought about it, it would have made sense. Farot, who was Jarot’s youngest son and the one he doted on the most, had married a Devilkin, who apparently he was sweet on since he was young. It made sense that he’d get together with a Gak, since they grew up together.

“You really didn’t know?” Jaygak asked, half thinking it was a joke.

“No,” Adam replied. “Though it does seem really obvious now. I think Jarot mentioned that there was a Gak who had some personal business with the dragon, and now it makes sense.” The story became far sadder knowing that Tangak had gone to avenge her daughter, and her grandson. ‘Right. Raygak mentioned something on my birthday too.’

“What is the matter?” Jurot asked, noting Adam’s face.

“Jurot, I’m such an idiot,” Adam stated.

Jurot pat Adam’s shoulder. “We all have our strengths, Adam.”

“We need someone smart to balance us out, otherwise Lanababy will be as stupid as us,” Adam said.

Jurot nodded his head, understanding that he wasn’t the brightest Iyrman around.

“Jaygak…” Adam said, but his eyes then went to Kitool. “Kitool, we’ll leave our sister’s intelligence to you.”

Kitool bowed her head.

“Why can’t-“ Jaygak began.

“Thank you, Kitool,” Adam said, cutting the Devilkin off.

“Wait, I-“ Jaygak tried to protest.

“If it’s Kitool, we can trust her, right Jurot?” Adam said.

“Yes,” Jurot replied.

“Jay’a, he’s bullying me!” Jaygak cried, causing her dire wolf to poke up her head from the meat, before she came over to the Devilkin.

“You’ve grown so big, Jay’a,” Adam said, reaching up to pet her head gently, brushing her hair. “What did they feed you?” Jay’a had grown almost twice her size since he had last seen her. It wasn’t long ago she had been just a little cub, her mother having been clawed apart by a dragon.

Jay’a panted, dropping down nearby. Adam tossed her some meat, which she tore into.

“Seriously though, what the hell happened? It’s only been, what, two months at most?” Adam asked. “Are they okay?”

“They are fine,” Kitool said. “They will soon be fully grown.”

“That quick?”

“It was a Great Twilight,” Kitool said, as though that explained everything.

“If you say so,” Adam replied, sipping more of his wine. “Oh! Right! Jaygak.”

Jaygak scowled towards Adam.

Adam raised his brows. “Give me Bloodseeker.”

“My Bloodseeker?” Jaygak asked, reaching down to her sword. “Why?”

“I’ll trade you your Bloodseeker for another weapon.”

“But it’s my Bloodseeker,” Jaygak said, hugging her sword.

“That old man, Strom, bet me his magical longsword if I could beat your aunt in a single blow, and so I won the sword. Apparently it’s meant to be as good as my Phantom, but I didn’t actually check.”

“This isn’t a joke, is it?” Jaygak asked, staring at Adam. He was trading a sword as good as Phantom for Bloodseeker? That was a deal too good to be true.

However, it was Adam.

“I’m just telling you what I’ve been told.” Adam shrugged his shoulders.

“Can’t you check?” Jaygak asked, furrowing her brows at him.

Adam remained quiet. ‘Am I actually stupid?’ “Right. I’ll do it tomorrow if I’m not lucky.”

“Bloodseeker has been such a great help,” Jaygak said, rubbing the hilt tenderly.

“Then just put it in the family fault and take Stormdrake,” Adam said.

“Stormdrake?”

“The sword,” Adam said, beginning to get up. “Right, I made a new axe too.” The ring on his finger transformed into an axe. “It’s a basic enchantment, with a little extra damage, and I can use it for my spells too.”

Jurot nodded his head. It was nowhere near as good as Phantom, but Adam had a good reason to make it no doubt. Adam disappeared to get the sword, returning with it in hand.

Jaygak narrowed her eyes at Stormdrake, which looked like it had been made out of a blue dragon, the eternal enemies of all the Devilkin within the Iyr. It looked so much like their Azureblade, which was also made of blue dragon, though seemed more like sapphicule.

Jaygak touched Stormdrake, and twitched, feeling the great power within the blade. “You weren’t joking. This blade is powerful.”

“Yeah,” Adam replied, simply. “It had to be since I had to bet Phantom for it.”

“Did the Iyr take Phantom away from you?” Jurot asked. It was his best guess, and seemed to be the logical course of action from the Iyr.

“It belongs to the Rot family vault,” Adam said.

Out of everything he had heard today, that had surprised him. “I see.” That was something Jurot hadn’t expected, but it seemed that the Iyr truly didn’t want to push Adam away so eagerly. It was a test to see whether they could trust Adam.

“I have three years of being able to use the shrine without donating any weapons to the Iyr as part of the deal,” Adam said.

“A great price to pay,” Jurot said. The weapon was worth so much more, though it was made thanks to the Iyr’s help. “Did you make the deal so that it came into the possession of the Rot family?”

“Of course,” Adam replied. “Don’t forget I’m your brother, Jurot.” The pair shook forearms after their moment. “I heard a Great Twilight means the undead are going to take it easy for a little while.”

“They will rise during the middle of dawnval,” Jurot confirmed. “They are far more dangerous.”

“That sounds terrible,” Adam said.

“Terribly fun,” Jaygak joked. “I’ll test to see if that Stormdrake is any good.”

“I’ll check it out tomorrow in the morning,” Adam assured.

They continued to eat and drink and talk, until night eventually swallowed the entire Iyr.

Jurot chewed onto a leaf, which eventually formed a thick slime across his teeth. The slime fizzled across his teeth for some time, before he spat it out, feeling how clean his teeth had become. Lanarot crawled up to him and babbled, causing him to pick her up.

“You have become so big, Lanarot,” Jurot said. “You have been eating well.”

Lanarot clapped her hands together and squealed, staring up at her brother’s face. It had been some time since they had met, but she was so full of joy to see him again.

Jurot held her up ahead of her. “Did you have fun at home?”

Lanarot babbled in response, kicking up her legs. She waved her arms about excitedly.

“That is good,” Jurot replied, before pulling her down onto his lap. Lanarot sucked her thumb and rested her head against his chest.

Adam yawned, stretching out his back. “It must have been rough for you the last month, so take it easy, alright?”

“Yes,” Jurot replied, glancing over towards Adam. “Have you been working hard?”

Adam smiled. “I’ve been thinking a lot.”

Jurot shook his head. “Thinking too much is bad for you. Sometimes you must do.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Adam replied, smiling. “Lanarot, come.”

Lanarot looked over to Adam, hearing her name. Adam held out his arms for her, and she crawled towards him.

“I’m still your favourite, aren’t I?” Adam said, kissing her cheek, letting her lay beside him.

“For now,” Jurot replied, laying back onto the thick blanket.

“From now until forever,” Adam said.

“We will see.” Jurot smiled.

Omen: 5, 9

“You guys are leaving?” Adam asked, surprised.

“It is time we go,” Elowen replied. “The curse has been lifted, and we must return with good news.”

She and the rest of White’s Grace, Ylra the Half Elf Fighter, Redboulder the Dwarven Priest, and Rojer the Wizard, were surrounded by at least two dozen Iyrmen, each twice Adam’s age. They were at the gate of the Iyr, which loomed over them.

“Damn. If I had known that, I would have hung out with your guys more, and I would have played with little Princess Mina more too.” Adam reached over to tickle her cheek, but she bit his finger gently with her shark like teeth and giggled wildly.

“We were too poor of health to speak with you much this time, but hopefully our next meeting will allow us to speak freely,” Elowen replied. She had wanted to speak with Adam more, though hadn’t found an opportune time.

Adam shook each of their forearms, sighing. ‘I really have been working too hard.’ He reached down to pet the Princess’ head gently. “Princess Mina, don’t be a stranger, okay? You’re always welcome around here.”

Princess Mina cackled at him, reaching up to his beard to grab it, pulling it roughly with her tiny hand. “Shashasha!” came her bright voice. She was so much bigger than the first time he had met her, and far more lively.

“What a silly girl you are.” Adam smiled, tickling her nose. “Grow up well. I’ll try and pay a visit one day, if you’re still willing to see this low born Half Elf.”

The group made their way away, with the nearby children of the Iyr shouting after them, wishing them well on their journey. Adam hoped their journey would be easy going too, though understood that the Iyrmen around them would make sure they would be fine.

“She will be safe,” Jurot assured, patting Adam’s shoulder. Though there were a handful of Steel Rank, most were Silver and Mithril, and the oldest was Gold Rank. “The Whirlwind Terror is with them.”

Adam nodded his head, but watched them as they left. The gates were left open for a short while, but Adam stayed, even as the gates were about to shut, he watched until the last moments.

‘Good luck and stay safe, little Mina.’