Draviel and Serenya had barely settled when white fire tore across the ground like lightning. His body reacted before, dragging Serenya aside as the blast devoured stone and left only white ash behind. The world wavered, edges blurring and Draviel knew too late that the ground beneath them was no longer real.
They ran.
The earth ruptured beneath Draviel's feet and something surged upward with brutal force. Pain detonated through his side as ribs cracked and blood filled his mouth as he staggered forward. A voice followed cold and deliberate.
The stranger: "You crossed lines meant for lesser men. Now bear the punishment."
Serenya lunged towards Draviel but her limbs locked mid step. Magic seized her like ice and she fell hard unable to move. From the treeline a woman emerged, her presence swallowing the light around, a dark sigil faintly visible at her neck.
The woman: "You chose poorly. You should have stood with us."
A third voice interrupted them; casual, amused.
"I always enjoy bad timing."
A sudden weight settled beside the woman. She turned and froze. The crown man sat there as if he belonged, his presence crushing the magic in the air. The woman tried to speak. She never finished. One moment she existed; the next she didn't. Serenya's body is unlocked. She grabbed Draviel forcing him to move as more figures closed in, drawn by a sharp whistle that cut through the illusion. Weapons flashed, spells ignited and failed. Everything aimed at Draviel unraveled before reaching him. The crown man stood and looked unimpressed.
The crown man: "You are weak. Too weak."
Draviel forced himself upright, blood dripping from his chin.
Draviel: "not forever."
That earned the gloomy crown man a bright smile.
The crown man: "I could kill you now. But I would rather wait. Run."
Music bled into thin air, low, rhythmic, wrong.
As enemies surged forward, bodies began to fall. The crown man moved through them without urgency, lives ending as if cleaning debris. Draviel caught glimpses as he ran, marked etched into skin, symbols he recognized without thinking. Enough to know who had come for him. A pulse hit his mind.
"Northwest. Now"
A.B.G voice snapped through the chaos. Draviel obeyed.
The illusion collapsed completely, revealing a battlefield already burning. Members of order of 13 clashed with forces that had been hiding in plain sight. The crown man's voice drifted as he left.
"As long as desire exists, people will always choose the easier path."
Serenya looked to Draviel, waiting and watching him choose. Draviel joined the fight alongside Serenya and supported the members of order of 13. When it ended, silence fell too quickly. Only later Serenya realized the truth, what had felt like hours had stolen a year from the world beyond them. Draviel already knew. A.B.G appeared stretching due to the soreness of the fight.
A.B.G: "what a drag. I'm retiring after this."
Draviel: "sure you are."
Moments later, Draviel and Serenya went again for a mission. The forest camp was quiet, too quiet. Draviel stared into the fire, held the book and closed his eyes. His thoughts circled gods, crown and future he did not want to claim. Serenya wrote while he closed his eyes. When she handed him the page, she spoke softly.
Serenya: "read it before the mission starts."
Draviel, sometimes the world feels heavy even for you. But listen to me your strength is not only in the blade or in the book. It's how you kneel to lift the fallen, in how you whisper prayer into the storms that should have broken you. If the faith is tested, then let mine be tested with yours. If the gods are false, then let me walk beside you to prove it. And if you falter, know this I will not see you as fallen, only as a man chosen to rise again. You hide so much from me, I know. But even your silence speaks, and in that silence, I have already chosen. My heart belongs to you. Draviel in life, in loss and even in the songs of eternity.
Draviel felt it, other than parents and members of 13 for the first time, he wasn't alone.