The Beginning

In the early afternoon, with the sun at its apex, the scorching heat causes the ground to ripple in waves. Within the forest near a ramshackle country town, a deer stands elegantly as it dips its head to munch on some crimson-coloured berries off the bush in front of it.

Without warning a hatchet is flung through the air narrowly missing the deer's head. The axe strikes a tree two feet away from it, it stops with a thud.

The deer begins to run with lightning-fast speed, as the deer ran twenty feet from where it stood, a dagger is thrown with pinpoint accuracy and strikes the back of its head. The deer tumbles to the ground and with the momentum of the deer running it strikes a tree and becomes limp.

As the echo of the deer hitting the tree filters out from the surrounding area. A bush begins to rustle, a man stands from the foliage, his onyx hair darker than a moonless night sky, it is tied back in a loose knot, his facial hair is ragged and unkept. His eyes, one a charcoal grey and the other a dark emerald, he steps out of the bush and saunters towards the deer.

He wears dark worn pants and a white shirt stained in various greens and earthy browns, he grabs the knife from the neck and blood spills from the wound. He wipes the blood from the knife on his leg and returns it to the empty holster on his belt.

He grabs the legs of the deer and grabs some rope from the back of his belt and ties them together. He hauls it over his shoulder.

He arrives back at the gate to the country town of Vul as the sun begins to set.

----

As the sun begins to set into the unknown of the horizon the man of onyx coloured hair enters the inner gate of the town, the gate looms over the rest of the town as if it were an old castle gate and constructed the wall to best fit the town, however they acquired the gate it still looks unnatural.

"Take this to the Tipsy Goblin," he says to one of the townspeople, his voice is the ideal blend of rough and clear, "they are expecting this."

He hands the deer over and begins to saunter down the centre of the road. While walking towards his house he notices from the corner of his eye that someone has been following him.

"How long have you been following me sweetheart?" he murmurs to himself as he dips down between two houses and turns a second corner. He pauses for a few moments and as anticipated someone had followed him in.

As his pursuer had stopped in their tracks, he heaves a dagger from his belt and charges towards them. Pinning them against the wall of the alley with the dagger at their throat.

"Who are you and what do you want from me?" he asks harshly, his eyes filling with rage.

"I—I am L—Llorva Skypeak," she responds barely moving as she slowly raises her hands, "I have come f—for you." All she could think about was how she didn't want to die before he barked.

"That does not answer my question." He holds the dagger closer to her throat, drawing blood, "Who do you work for!?"

"I work for no one," she answers as pain causes her voice to tremble, "and all I want from you is to come with me, to Kram." She begins to stare blankly into the distance as silver begins to coat her eyes.

"And what if I were to say no?" he asks lowering the blade from her neck and returning it to the holster he pulled it from.

"I would have to take you there over my shoulder," she answers sarcastically, he releases her from his grip. She lets out a sigh of relief and clutches her neck as she says, "I have told you my name, time to tell me yours."

"My name?" he asks sounding like he had forgotten it, "my name is Raymonde, Raymonde Hawkstride." he finishes with the sound of pride.

He holds out his hand towards Llorva, "It is nice to meet you Llorva Skypeak."

Llorva grabs his hand and shakes it as she says, "Likewise Raymonde Hawkstride," she notices as they shook hands that they are as hard as stone, no, Abyssal Platinum.

Raymonde motions Llorva to follow him as he exits the alley, they were in. Without a glance back to see if she was following him or not, he begins to walk towards his house.

While walking side-by-side he notices a shield in her right hand, "That shield," he gestures to the shield, "why didn't you try and defend yourself when I attacked you?"

"This old thing?" she lifts her right arm and inspects the shield, "Well you had caught me by surprise and had moved like the wind. So, I didn't have much time to defend myself when you had attacked."

He inspects her face as she finished talking and notices a muscle flicker in her jaw when he asked, "What is the symbol for?"

"That symbol is the holy crest of Kram," she counters, "why do you ask?" she notices that his eyes flicker at the question.

"It just looks different from the last time I had laid eyes upon it." There it is, her eyes lit up at that statement, "It's just it was a lion when I was last there, and now it is whatever you call that." He points at the crest, his face showing all kinds of disgust.

"Just so you know I am the Captain of the Guard and Kram's best fighter. If you want to insult the royal church of Kram, you might as well be insulting me directly." She hadn't realised it, but she had drawn her sword and took up a defensive position.

"If you wanted to cross swords with me," he draws his short sword and a dagger from his belt, "you could have just asked." he leaves the long sword at his side and removes the other daggers from his belt and tosses them aside. They clatter along the uneven cobbled street.

"Don't be insulted if you lose."

"I don't intend on losing."

A crowd begins to form around them as Llorva makes the first move. She rushes in with her sword held high and swings down to strike nothing but air, "Where did he…" a tap on her shoulder sends her lunging forward a few feet, in the instant Llorva went to strike Raymonde he had manoeuvred around behind her.

"You are going to have to be better than that if you want to win this," he exclaims. He unclips his belt allowing it to land on the street behind him, "I'll make it easier for you," he drops his weapons, "I won't use a weapon and I will not move my feet; I will only use my hands." a smile lingers on his face. He raises his arm towards her and beckons her along to attack.

Rage fills Llorva's face as she charges him. She gets within five feet of him and swings her sword down.

It stops mid-swing as if an outside force had stopped the blow aimed for his head. Her stare begins to rise towards her sword, her gaze lingers at the sword to see a hand on it, he had stopped her sword with his bare hands. Fear begins to show on her face, her eyes begin to sting with the amount of sweat that now gathered on her face.

He tosses the sword aside, Llorva begins to stand, and she raises her hands to entice a fistfight. He just lets out a low laugh and says, "You want more? Fine, I'll bring the pain." He lunges forward and, in a heartbeat, he was mere inches from her. He lands a strike in the middle of her chest.

Flesh meets sheet metal, the mere impact would've crushed a normal man's hand, the metal shatters under his fist and sends her tumbling across the cobbles. Smoke begins to resonate from Raymonde's hand.

Raymonde walks over to where Llorva is sprawled out on the ground. He turns her over to see she is unconscious, "I think I went too far." He murmurs. He grabs her under the shoulders and hauls her over his shoulder. He grabs their weapons and begins to walk down the street.

----

Llorva woke after five minutes of walking throughout the town, he had a lot of explaining to do when a guard had stopped him and asked what happened to her, he merely answered with, "She can't hold her alcohol." In which the guard began laughing and allowed him to move along.

She still required him to lean on for walking, considering the punch he had landed was known for its killing capabilities, he once bet that if he could punch down the biggest tree in the region that no one was to mess with him while he had stayed here. He shut all the townspeople up after that.

After long minutes of silence, they enter his home. Raymonde sits Llorva down in a chair and discards all the weapons onto his bedroll.

"So, back at the topic on hand," he starts, breaking the heavy silence that filled the room, "why do you need me to go to Kram with you?" he runs his fingers through his shoulder-length hair, "I need someone to fix this mess." He whispers to himself.

"I don't need you there exactly," she winces at the pain in her chest, "someone else needs you back at Kram. I am just a delivery girl."

Raymonde looks on in confusion, as he opens his mouth, he is cut off by a crash that echoes from outside. He lifts his hand to signal silence; he walks to the door with a felines grace. He opens the door as someone comes rushing in.

A woman with middle length blonde hair grabs onto Raymonde as she rushes through the door, "Hey," he says to the panicking woman, his voice is calm and soothing "what is happening out there?"

"They are here," she replies while gulping down air after every word, "and they are looking for you."

"Who is looking for you?" Llorva asks her face showing all sorts of confusion.

"The less you know the better alright." He answers, he grabs his belt off the bed and ties it around his waist. He grabs the swords from the corner of the room, "So it's Kram we are going to, correct?"

"What is happening?" she asks, her voice rising in volume.

"It doesn't make a difference. Are we going to Kram or not?" he answers, his voice piercing the air between them.

"Yes." She answers in a rushed fashion.

"Well then, it is settled." He says as he grabs the woman's hand and leads her to the back door of his house, "Lierin," he says, his voice is warm and kind, "I need you to head to the forest and don't come back until they leave. Do you understand me?"

Lierin nods and begins her exit towards the forest. She disappears over the rolling hills of the meadows.

Raymonde walks over towards Llorva and picks her up from the chair he sat her down in earlier. He hands over her long sword, she takes it from him and sheaths it into her belt. They leave his home out of the back door.

Raymonde leads Llorva along, with her arm over his shoulder, upstream towards the mountain.

Both watch from the precipice of a cliff overlooking the town. They watch as it is being stripped and burnt to the ground. They watch as everything Raymonde has come to know and love, be destroyed in front of his eyes.

----

As the night fades and the grey light of the morning sun begins to break over the horizon, the smouldering remains of Vul lie unmoving.

"I wonder if Lierin made it," Raymonde mumbles to himself, he closes his eyes and forces the thought from his mind. He turns away from the cliff and shakes Llorva, "We should get moving," he groans into space between them.

Llorva sits up half-awake. She grunts.

"We should move before they begin to search the mountains." He grabs his blades from where he had laid them the previous night.

Llorva rises to her feet with her blade in hand. A cry of pain seeps out of her as she does so.

"Are you okay?" Raymonde asks as he hears the cry.

Llorva raises a hand to him and nods, not willing to speak since it is still early morning. She stretches the stiff muscles in her arms and back. She begins to follow Raymonde down the mountains towards Kram, she is quite surprised he knows the way.

After long hours of walking instinctively towards Kram, they stumble across a campsite near the edge of a forest. With close inspection, it is filled with Goblins.

"We should keep moving," Llorva says, she grabs his arm and attempts to pull him along.

"No." he snaps, swatting her hand away from his shoulder, "I have a strange feeling about this place," he sniffs the air.

Death.

He smelt death.

His eyes go wide at the realisation of what that strange feeling was.

"What is it?" Llorva asks after noticing the lack of noise coming out of him, "Why did you smell the air just now?" she kneels beside him.

"Death." He replies. Llorva stumbles, she steadies herself keeping to her feet, "The smell of death lingers in the air, those Goblins are up to something, and I am not certain to what that something is." He turns to face Llorva, "Do you still want to leave this place unattended?"

She lowers her knee into the dirt and says, "Okay, if we are to stay, we need to figure the exact number of Goblins that are in that camp."

Raymonde nods, "Alright, but considering that there are five Goblins in total down there it is safe to assume that I can take them all on by myself."

"What no—" before Llorva could continue her sentence Raymonde had already leapt from the hill they were atop and sprinted for the front gate.

Llorva holds in the noise of annoyance and follows him down the hill. She reaches him in a few seconds, Raymonde looks back seemingly surprised that she got here that quick.

They got fifteen feet within the camp before one of the Goblins shouted, "Khaldagchid!"

(Meaning Intruders in Goblin Tongue)

"I believe that they know we are here." Llorva whispers so only Raymonde could hear.

"I know," Raymonde answers, "I am not deaf."

As Raymonde finished speaking, he charges the biggest of the five, no doubt the leader of this death camp. As he reached the Goblin, he punches it directly into the chest, bone cracks beneath his fist. Possibly collapsing its ribcage.

Its eyes roll into its head as it coughs up a pool of blood. It falls to the ground. Dead.

The other four Goblins and Llorva stand in horror as Raymonde had just laid out the biggest of the Goblins with just one strike. And with his fists no less. The four Goblins rush him, he turns to face them, and his eyes darken.

The Goblins stop dead in their tracks, their eyes meet his, dark stains begin to spread down the front of their pants.

Llorva strolls up behind them, and raises is her sword. The sword begins to glow red hot, steam begins to cloud off the sword as it evaporates the moisture in the air. She swings the sword towards the Goblins, the sword sliced through them like a knife through goat-butter. They all fall to the ground in two pieces.

As the Goblins fall to the ground Raymonde's eyes roll into the back of his head, darkness consumes him. As the darkness around him dissipates, only charred, smoking earth remains.

Raymonde has vanished.

----

Raymonde awakes in a land doused in darkness, pillars of blue flame flank each side of the path he now stands on, the sun only a black fire remains, even in the darkness Raymonde brow becomes slick with sweat.

"Welcome, Raymonde Hawkstride," a voice echoes sounding near guttural, "welcome to the place you mortals call the peak of Mount Weystone."

Raymonde begins walking towards the voice as he says, "If this is truly the peak of Weystone, why is it covered in this murky darkness?" he reaches for a sword that's not there, he must have left it back at that camp, "and why am I here in the first place?" he lets his hands rest at his side.

"Why? Why do you ask? That is because this is a peak your mortal bodies can't handle, and as for this darkness," the voice pauses for a few moments, "this, this is my realm. A place full of fire, and as for you being here—"

"That's enough!" Raymonde yells as red light emanates from his eyes, lighting enough of the path to continue forward, "If you aren't going to reveal yourself then I have no business being here. And if this is truly your realm, why are you hiding from a mere mortal?"

"So, it seems the prophecy is true," the voice says sounding almost hesitant.

A shimmer of light appears before Raymonde, he shields his eyes as the light becomes brighter. When the light dulled Raymonde looks towards it to see a woman of snow-white hair fading into black at the ends, her skin is as pale as death, and her eyes, those golden eyes.

"You—you are Phuheia, the Goddess of Life and Death." He says as he takes a step back and stumbles onto his arse, "Why, why did you bring me here."

"To see for myself, to see if the Order pulled it off this time, and it seems like they have," the Goddess says, she gestures to her eyes then back toward him, "your eyes, they glow red, yes?"

He nods.

"That means you have been successfully modified to fight the gods, that is the prophecy I had mentioned. It stated that one individual known as the God-Slayer would bring demise upon the gods' and whose eyes glow red as they did so." She raises her hands in front of her, another shimmer of light begins to form as a sword appears in front of her, "This," she grabs the sword in her hand. "This is for you, God-Slayer."

She tosses him the sword; he catches it effortlessly and stands as he does so. As he swings the sword, a fire begins to flare from it, he stops his swing then ice crystallises up the sword.

"That sword is known as the Sword of Ice and Fire, Frostburn, if you treat it well, it will help you in your endeavours."

"Why are you so willing to help me conquer the gods? Considering you are one?" Raymonde asks, sounding well and truly confused.

"That is because young boy, your mother, she was my daughter," Raymonde's eyes grow wide and he drops to his knees, "and I will do anything to get back at the gods' for cursing me and every single one of my offspring," her body begins to sway and become transparent, "Well it looks like I am out of time God-Slayer, I wish you well. And another thing, don't use your modified abilities to harm humans, do that and you'll never return to your human body again."

She dissolves into the surrounding area and the realm she created begins to crumble around him.

----

Raymonde hits the ground with a thud, he opens his eyes to see red and gold hair flowing above him.

Raymonde! Raymonde! "Raymonde!" Llorva screams, he sits up and looks up towards her, slivers of silver line the bottom edge of her eyes, and tears begin to slide down her cheeks, "You—you were…"

Her words begin to fade as he feels a weight in his hand, he looks over towards his hand to see the sword the Goddess had given him, the Sword of Ice and Fire, Frostburn.

He taps Llorva on the shoulder and stands, "How long was I gone?" he asks as he sheaths the sword where his short sword once belonged.

"You were gone for mere seconds," she replies, rising to her feet, "I thought you had died when the darkness consumed your entire body and left nothing but charred remains behind."

Darkness. Darkness had consumed him, that would be the case since Phuheia, the Goddess of Life and Death was the one who had summoned him to that realm, she is known for her dark power, however, she is less known for the light power she possesses, she is the one who decides your fate at the end of your life.

"Raymonde?" Llorva says from a fair distance behind him, "where do we go one from now? I checked around and there is no sign of the death you scented from this place."

As Raymonde turns to face Llorva he spots movement from behind her, and he instantly drew Frostburn and charges the tent behind her. He reaches the tent flaps and pulls one open, the smell hit him before he saw it.

He peers in to see a young Tiefling girl, her salmon pink hair flows with the draft of wind that seeps through the tent's flaps, the movement of her hair reveals light, red-toned skin, black markings cover her forehead and the bridge of her nose, her bone-coloured horns poke through the top of her head.

She is covered and surrounded by death. Dead bodies line the floor and dried blood covers most of her clothes, Raymonde walks a step closer, and the girl retreats a few feet.

"Hey," Raymonde says, his voice smoother than spider-silk, "you don't need to worry. I have taken care of the bad people who took you—"

Before he could finish his sentence, the girl begins running towards him and wraps her arms around his waist. He begins to run his fingers through her hair.

"Everything will be alright," Raymonde says as tears of red begin to flow from his eyes, his eyes matching the colour of the tears, "it'll be fine." He picks up the girl and walks out into the field of the camp.

Raymonde continues to walk through the death camp with the girl in his arms, headed straight for the exit. Llorva runs over from where she was kneeling, "Who is that?" she asks while nodding towards the girl in his arms.

"I am not sure," he replies looking down at the girl, "Hey, what's your name?"

The girl looks up at him, "Lildöris," her voice is as sweet as the sun after a day-long storm, "my name is Lildöris, I don't have another name, and your names are Raymonde Hawkstride and Llorva Skypeak."

Raymonde and Llorva both glance at each other than back towards the girl, "How did you know our names?" Llorva asks Lildöris, "How in the six realms did you know our names?"

She raises her arms and points to the markings on her forehead, "I can see them imprinted on your soul, right there in big letters," she points to the middle of Llorva's chest, "it is quite difficult to miss."

Llorva looks upon herself, and crosses her arms to cover her chest,

"Alright, Lildöris," Raymonde begins, "why don't you tell us how you came to be here?" he sets her down on the ground and kneels beside her,

She raises her hands to her mouth, her entire body begins to shake, Raymonde places a hand on her head, he strokes her head a few times before he said, "It is alright, you can tell me anything,"

She nods, "Okay," her voice now softer, "I hail from Eternal Expanse, well more like the Garnet Dynasty, I was taken from my mother by these people who said they were part of the royal guards—" Tears begins to streak down her face, Raymonde uses a finger to wipe them away,

"You don't need to say anymore if you don't want to," he says, pulling her closer and hugging her, "if you don't mind me asking," Raymonde pulls back to look at the girl, "what's your mother's name?"

Lildöris sniffs and wipes her nose on the gore covered shirt she's wearing, "Anthem, Anthem Jay. The infamous warrior of the Garnet Dynasty."

Raymonde looks towards Llorva with wide eyes and just simply nods, Llorva nods back, "Hey, Lildöris, we are headed to Kram, do you know where that is?"

She shakes her head in answer.

"Okay, so, uh—Llorva you're a female, you do something about this." He stands and walks behind Llorva and pushes her towards the girl, "your turn to be parental to the girl."

"You know no bounds, do you?" Llorva says to Raymonde as she kneels beside Lildöris, she looks back at Raymonde and he glares back at her, his eyes glowing blood red, "Raymonde?! What is going on with you?" she yells as he combusts into flames of gold and silver, Llorva's eyes go wide.

Raymonde's screams cause the earth around them to shake, red mist begins trickling out of his eyes.

He collapses.

The flames dissipate as he lies on the ground, unmoving.

----

Llorva rushes over to him as the flames of gold and silver begin to dissipate, "Raymonde." She yells,

She slides towards him, her leg armour digging up dirt as she does so, "Raymonde, are you alright?" she taps the side of his head.

Lildöris walks up behind Llorva and sits at Raymonde's head, she begins to lower her hands beside his temples, golden light begins to glow from her hands.

Golden lines of light shoot from her fingertips into Raymonde head, Raymonde's scream that follows trembles Llorva entire being.

Lildöris only halts when blood begins flowing from his eyes, Raymonde goes limp as the glow around her hands dissipates. His chest slowly rising and falling.

Breathing. He is breathing. Llorva stands and looks around the camp for anything she can use to carry him in.

She looks for the better half of ten minutes before she went to the entrance gate and found a small carriage.

Big enough to carry at least two adults, Llorva walks up to the carriage and grabs the reins at the front of it and attempts to pull it.

After a few heaves, the carriage is dislodged from the mud. One of the wheels drags along the ground causing it to be more difficult to drag along.

After a few minutes of struggling, she drags the carriage up to the unconscious Raymonde still laying on the ground, Lildöris next to him.

What had Lildöris done to him, blood had begun pouring out of his eyes after she had shoved some golden light into his head. His scream was nothing like she had heard before.

She walks over to Raymonde and leans to pick him up, Lildöris grabs hold of her arm. Llorva stops and looks towards the girl, silver lining her eyes, a few tears flow down her face.

"What's going to happen to him?" Lildöris asks wiping at her face. The gore still lingering on her clothes, "Did I do this to him?"

Llorva turns to face Lildöris, she places her hands on her shoulders and says, "None of this is your fault," Llorva begins to run her hand in soothing motions across her arms, "I don't know what is happening to him, this is the first I have seen it myself," she peers at Raymonde a few feet away, "let's just get him up onto this wagon and we'll figure it out from there. Alright?"

Lildöris looks up at her through her hands, her eyes rubbed raw, she nods and wipes her nose.

Llorva stands and grabs Raymonde under the shoulder, he is like a dead weight as she hauls him up into the carriage. After ensuring he was in comfortably Llorva lifts Lildöris in and begins to drag the carriage along.

The wheel drags along the ground, Llorva drops the reins and walks to the wheel, she kicks it and attempts to drag it again.

To her surprise the wheel is mended, she looks back to see Lildöris leaning over the edge with her hands over the wheel, mending it. Her hands glowing a midnight blue.

The wheel that used to be half splintered is now in perfect condition, Lildöris leans back into the carriage and looks towards Llorva. She winks and looks towards her clothes and lets out a long sigh.

She pulls the carriage along towards Kram until the sun had retreated behind the horizon, she drags the carriage into a small grove of trees that flanks the path, sets up camp for the night and rests for the rest of the evening.

----

Raymonde is awoken before sunrise by the distant call of an owl amongst the trees, he draws his knife on instinct, looks around and sees that he is in a carriage of sorts.

There are no horses in sight, so how did they get here, he looks around in the carriage to see a Tiefling girl curled up at his feet, Lildöris.

He runs a hand through her hair, she stirs in her sleep, and he pulls his hand from her head. She seems to still be sleeping. He remains awake until the sun has begun its ascent in the sky.

----

Llorva is awoken by the warm glow of the sun on her face, she sits up from her makeshift bed of tree leaves and shrubbery.

She stands to see Raymonde standing on the ridge of the trees looking at one of the distant mountains, she begins to walk closer to notice he wasn't looking at one of the mountains, he was looking towards the smoking ruins of Vul.

"You're up," he says, not bothering to look back to confirm.

"Yeah," Llorva replies, her voice sounding rasp, "just woke up."

Silence begins to boil between them, Llorva opens her mouth to say something before Raymonde cut in, "How is Lildöris doing?" he turns towards her after voicing the question.

"She is doing fine," Llorva replies, "She is still sound asleep," Llorva looks back at Raymonde, who is now looking towards the carriage.

He points towards it, "How did it get here without a horse?"

"I dragged it over here, it was quite the hassle since I have never done it before in my lifetime."

Raymonde looks at her and gives her a nod of respect, "With both Lil and I?"

Llorva raises a brow, "Lil?"

"That is what I am going to call her from now on unless you have something better to call her other than the name, she gave us?"

"It's not like that, it is just you are being very protective of the girl," Llorva says while walking over to the carriage, Raymonde follows suit, "we barely know her, what happens if she tries anything while we are out here. What are you going to do then?"

Raymonde stops by the carriage, "I've only known you a little longer than the girl here, who is to say you won't do anything?" the colour from her face becomes leached, "That's exactly what I thought, and she is just a child, and we had found her in that death camp. The least I can do for the child is to take care of her."

"I agree but—"

"End of discussion, I don't want to hear anything else about the girl," Raymonde raises a hand towards Llorva.

She opens her mouth to voice something, but Raymonde just walks over to Lildöris and taps her on the arm, "It is time to get up, we have a long day ahead of us. And we want to get to Kram before the storm hits us."

Llorva looks up at the sky, and back down towards Raymonde, "There aren't any clouds in the sky, how can a storm be on its way?"

Raymonde gives a lazy look toward her and then back down at Lildöris, "Sometimes," he begins, "you don't need clouds for it to storm."

He runs a hand through matted hair, "We better get going, I'll pull the carriage along this time, or until we find a person willing to sell their horse to us."

As Raymonde grabs the reins of the carriage the sound of creaking wheels over stone begins to emanate from the main road, "Llorva, you hear that?" he asks as he drops the reins.

Raymonde is the first of the two to emerge from the tree line, his eyes take a second to adjust to the sudden brightness of the light. As his eyes adjusted, he sees a carriage being drawn by a few horses.

"Stop!" Raymonde yells towards the carriage, the reins on the horses tighten as the carriage comes to a stop.

"What do you need?" a man says from the carriage, the man stands on his seat towards Raymonde and Llorva, "I need to get moving I am on a tight schedule."

The man standing on the carriage seems to be in his mid-sixties, he supports death white facial hair, with the amount of hair on his face, his head lacks any.

"Would you be able to sell us one of those horses?" Raymonde asks as he jogs over and comes to a stop, "I'll pay any price."

"Sure," the man responds, "however, selling you one of my horses will make my travel time longer." He runs his hand over his chin and down his beard, "why don't you bring whatever you need towing, and I'll see if I can help."

Raymonde glances towards Llorva, who is still along the tree line and gestures for the carriage to be brought over.

When Llorva emerged from the trees again she is hauling the carriage behind her, Lildöris now walking beside it, "That is what we need to be towed," Raymonde points towards the tree line.

The man looks up and Raymonde could swear he saw the man face pale, at what he wasn't sure, "Uh—sure you can have one of my horses, ten gold is the asking price."

Raymonde reaches into his pockets and pulls out a handful of gold and held it towards the man, the man said, "You know what, you can have it for nothing just keep that thing away from me." He unties one of the horses and tosses the reins at Raymonde, he catches them in his other hand as the man whips the reins and the carriage begun speeding off.

"What was all that about?" Llorva asks while coming to a stop and giving the carriage to Raymonde.

"I do not know; I was about to give him some gold and then he just sped off saying 'keep that thing away from me'?" Raymonde looks over at the horse than towards the carriage, his eyes go wide, "You don't think he was talking about,"

"No that can't be," they both slowly turn towards Lildöris, she looks back at them and smiles, her fangs shining in the sunlight, "do you think that most people don't except Tiefling's as people?"

"I think that might just be the case." Raymonde walks over to Lildöris and grabs her underneath the shoulders and lifts her onto the carriage, "it is time to go to Kram, Lil. I hope you enjoy it there."

"If you are there, I will be able to enjoy it," Lildöris answers, she wraps her arms around Raymonde's neck and hugs him, "I want to stay with you forever, okay."

Raymonde returns the hug and says, "I will protect you; I will care for you, you are now my child." Raymonde sits at the front of the carriage and grabs the reins, "Right, off we go to Kram."

----

As the sun nears its final light, the Kingdom of Kram is mere moments away. They approach the walls of the Kingdom a few guards appear atop the wall, all with various sized bows in hand.

"Who goes there?" one of the guard's shouts.

"I am Llorva Skypeak," Llorva begins to say from behind him, "the daughter of Lord Atlas Skypeak, I have returned from Vul."

Lord Atlas Skypeak, Raymonde has heard that name before, but he can't recall where.

"My apologizes Lady Skypeak, I did not recognize you," the same guard answers.

"That is alright, just don't forget my face again. Or you can forget your existence."

A chill run-down Raymonde's spine. Where did this Llorva come from, who was he kidding, is this the real Llorva Skypeak? The gate begins to creak open; he whips the reins and enters Kram.

"Lady Skypeak," Raymonde lets out a low laugh, "you never told me you were of noble blood." Raymonde glares towards Llorva, she just jumps off the carriage and begins walking.

"I didn't see the advantages of you knowing." Llorva stops and looks back at him, "Stay in town, I'll come and collect the both of you in the morning."

"Where will we go?"

"There is a tavern on the western side of the Kingdom named the Dirty Mind Inn. It is near the market; you can't miss it." Llorva says while pointing westward, she waves her goodbyes and walks towards the palace.

Raymonde waves back and begins heading west.

----

Late in the night, with the flash of lightning illuminating the night sky as if it were day and the sound of thunder echoes across the sky. Raymonde walks into the tavern Llorva had suggested Lildöris and he stays. Raymonde walks over to the bar and orders the special for himself and water for Lildöris.

Raymonde drinks his ale and pays the bill, "Am I able to rent a room for two?" he asks the bartender as he hands over the coins.

"Uh, let me go and check for you," the bartender answers, Raymonde nods his head and waits. After five minutes the bartender returns and says, "there is one available, however, it isn't a very good room."

"Any room will do." Raymonde replies, "How much."

"Two bronze a night," the bartender says, Raymonde reaches into his pocket and pulls out a gold piece and flicks it at the bartender, "Thank you so much, sir,"

"It is the least I can do for you," Raymonde says while shaking the hand of the bartender, "Thank you for allowing me to stay here."

Raymonde and Lildöris stand from their seats, he turns to begin walking to the upper level to the tavern, he spots someone he hasn't seen in ten years, "Lildöris, head up to the room, okay?"

She nods and begins rushing up the stairs and to their room.

"Katrina?" Raymonde asks the figure, "Is that you?" his eyes go wide at the sight of her.

"Raymonde." She replies, her voice trembling while trying to hold her tears at bay, her voice is clear and sweet, "Where have you been?"

Without waiting for an answer, she rushes to him and wraps her arms around him, Raymonde staggers a step before returning the gesture.