Information and Fire

Upon meeting back up with Lucius and Akara, Cylas informed them about the bandit camp and what had occurred. Looking around it was easy to see why he had arrived at the camp first; by themselves, Lucius and Akara had easily defended against 30 bandits, a similar number to his own.

By the time he had gotten back Akara had already started purifying the corpses of those who were dead, the bandits who were alive had surrendered, their weapons tossed aside while they sat together on the ground tied up. By their faces it was easy to see they had already begun pitying themselves.

Standing beside Lucius Cylas watched as the merchants struggled with unloading all the goods from one cart to the other three. It had been decided that the chubby merchant would take the bandits back, strangely after the fight with the bandits the merchants faces became stuck with deep smiles. To prevent anything from happening on the way back to the city Vasuki planned to send the summon from the fight earlier back with the merchant. Stretching his arms Cylas noticed that Lucius had turned towards him.

"You took a big risk there leaving us to follow the bandits." Lucius suddenly said.

Looking over at him Cylas could see the frown on his face, his usual smile gone.

"Sorry, I..." Cylas began before Lucius interrupted.

"I don't want you to be sorry." Lucius said before putting his hands on Cylas's shoulders, staring him eye to eye.

"When you left by yourself anything could have happened, this time everything turned out fine, but what would have happened if something showed up that you couldn't handle? If something happened to you that I could have prevented, then... then..."

"I understand, I'll be more careful." Cylas replied, Lucius's outburst had surprised him, he rarely lost control of his emotions... actually this was the first time Cylas had seen him like this.

"If you died the only family I'd have left would be Doran, and I'm not sure if I could handle him by myself." Lucius replied, his usual smile appearing back on his face.

Letting go of Cylas's shoulders Lucius looked around the area, dried-blood and weapons covered the ground where the battle had taken place, the leaves rustled softly as a small breeze trudged through the area. Above the dirt path they stood on the trees on both sides opened to reveal the bright blue sky.

"Do you think the merchants chose this route on purpose?" Cylas asked while watching the four merchants work, it seemed like they had expected this to happen.

"Probably, it was part of the quest so they likely just wanted their money's worth."

After about an hour the merchants finished moving the goods and they once again began moving through the forest, this time all four of them sat in the middle carriage as the other ones had been packed to the brim with goods from the fourth carriage. Sitting beside Lucius, Cylas watched through the back of the carriage as they exited the forest, the trees parting and giving way to the blue sky above, the sun above slowly had begun its descent, and in a few hours the dim night sky would take its place.

****

Sitting on the ground Cylas watched as the flames flickered in front of him. After the sun had set the group had set up camp beside the trail, the carriages and horses rested off to the side, just inside the fires light. The four of them currently sat around the fire eating bread with a stew Cylas had cooked. Behind them the merchants had decided to sleep in the carriage with their goods, they had brought their own food with them as well. Around them the darkness swallowed their surroundings, the only light around them coming from the dancing flames.

Looking up at the sky Cylas could see the moon was no longer visible, the clouds in the sky swallowing it along with any light that tried to escape. Swirling his spoon around Cylas debated on how to tell them about what he knew, he figured he was nervous, but it was hard to tell what he was currently feeling. He had decided to finally tell them about what would happen in the future, but he wasn't sure the best way to go about it.

"This stew taste just like the inn's; Doran really nailed the recipes into you, didn't he?" Lucius stated, devouring the stew.

Instead of responding Cylas sighed, setting the wooden bowl down onto the grass below.

"What I'm about to say might be hard to believe, but I promise its true."

"What are you talking about?" Akara asked.

"In a few years we're all going to die."

Sitting in silence Cylas looked around at the others, he was having a hard time gauging their reactions. After a moment as he was about to continue a laugh broke the silence.

"Haha! That's a bit morbid, are you actually being serious?!?" Lucius asked

"Yes."

"Oh..."

The smile on Lucius's face faded away, again Cylas couldn't tell how was taking it.

"What proof do you have?" Vasuki asked, his legs were tucked in as he leaned forward slightly.

Sighing again Cylas began to explain everything he knew to them, everything about the angel, the vision, and his ancestry. Upon finishing his explanation there was a moment of silence before Lucius spoke up.

"Can I see the ring?" he asked, a curious expression spread across his face.

"Sure?" Cylas responded sliding the ring off his finger and handing it to Lucius, he was surprised that was what Lucius had chosen to focus on. Upon handing him the ring he slid it on his finger and looked at Cylas. Beside him Akara seemed to be taking everything in while Vasuki seemed deep in thought.

"Huh, it's not showing anything?" Lucius asked, seeming puzzled.

"I have a ring on that prevents it from working, try it on Akara and yourself." Cylas responded, gesturing towards her.

"Oh, I see... OH wow a screen popped up." Lucius responded, interested in what the ring was showing him.

"Level 32... what level oh, 34..."

Looking up Lucius gazed at Vasuki, after a second his eye began twitching.

"Huh nothings showing up for him either..."

"Can you stop messing around?" Vasuki asked, annoyance dawned on his face as his eye continued twitching.

"Hmm, alright then." Lucius said, sliding the ring off and handing it back to Cylas.

"What level are you anyways?"

"The last time I checked 25." Cylas replied sliding the ring back onto his finger.

"So, I'm a higher level than you then?!?" Lucius replied, a smile crossing his face.

Looking at him Cylas couldn't understand why he seemed so jovial after hearing about what would happen in the future. Before he could ask Akara interrupted, she seemed to be having trouble processing what Cylas had just said.

"You're a descendant of the Angel, Alicia?" she asked.

"Yes, at least that's what Imazadal said, but it seems to be true." Cylas replied, her reaction was the one Cylas had expected the most, Cylas didn't understand the other twos reactions.

"Then when he took you away at the church, that's what he talked with you about?" Akara asked.

"Yes."

After responding Akara went silent again, it seemed like she was still trying to process what Cylas had told her, but she was focusing on the wrong topic.

"So, after receiving this information your only thought was that you need to get stronger?" Besides her Vasuki finally said something, based off his tone it seemed like he was about to go on a rant.

"...No?" Cylas responded, almost sounding like he was asking a question.

"While your thought process wasn't inherently wrong there's definitely a major issue in your way of going about things." Vasuki responded, he seemed very passionate about what he was saying, his eyes beginning to shine as he continued.

"It's not just individual strength that's important, preparation, money, equipment, defenses, anything can come into play in a fight. If you had a sword that could produce an infinite number of duplicates you could slaughter armies, or if you spent years enchanting the cities defenses with defense magic you could stop a dragon, with enough money you could...."

Suddenly stopping mid-speech Vasuki suddenly got distracted, his head turned back towards the way they came, the shadows he stared into danced as the fire swayed, nothing but the sound of insects filled the air.

"What's wrong?" Cylas asked, he had avoided interrupted Vasuki as he seemed passionate about what he was talking about, but suddenly he had stopped talking mid-sentence. Still facing away from the group Vasuki seemed to in disbelief as he spoke again.

"Something killed my summon."