Invitation

Both boys made it back home, their houses were very close, but Siegfried's place was first. Marta, Siegfried's mother, was working in the garden, and she turned to the boys as her son opened the gate to the front yard.

"Sig, how was your day? Did the two of you pass your tests?" Marta asked them, and both boys laughed.

"Oh mother, you think we would fail? We are both children of some of the most revered Adventurers Bora has ever known!" Siegfried exclaimed as he walked over to hug his mother.

"Well, I am sure that your father will be excited to hear! I have prepared a special supper for you, but the food isn't ready yet. Yren, I asked your father to join us with you, so make sure that you both come. Tell him that Goranth asked for him," Marta told Yren, making his eyes go big.

"Are you sure? Dad and Mr. Belltorn don't really get along very well," Yren said, getting a concerned look on his face.

Yren didn't know the exact reason why he and Siegfreid's father didn't get along, but his father had never talked badly of Mr. Belltorn. Now that Yren had become an Adventurer, he hoped things might change.

The Belltorn's had always treated him like family, even though their fathers didn't get along. Something had driven them apart, but now there might be a chance for them to reconcile.

"Sure! I will make sure that he comes!" Yren called as he turned and headed to the edge of town.

The house was not that far away, and it took no more than five minutes to reach home. The front yard of their home was well taken care of, with flowers in front of the house and well-kept grass covering the small yard.

Yren ran into the yard, closing the gate behind himself, heading around the side of the house to the back. This was where his father would be, working in his shop like always.

Tybrus was a smith that created armor but no weapons. Yren had been told that there was a time when his father was the most renowned smith in all of the Borath mountains.

Something had changed after Yren was born.

"Dad!" Yren called out as he reached the shack behind their house his father used as a smith.

Yren could hear the banging of the hammer, so there was a good chance that his father wouldn't hear him. Regardless, Yren flung open the door to see his father just putting down his hammer as he quenched a chest piece of armor.

"Dad! I did it! I am an Adventurer now!" I cheered, and his father looked up at him with a large smile, and Yren felt a weight lift off him.

"I knew that you would do it! Now we can go out and celebrate! Now that you are old enough, there are some things that I need to talk to you about," Tybrus explained to his son, but Yren shook his head.

"Mrs. Belltorn asked if we would both come over for a special meal," Yren told his father, and Tybrus's expression changed to a complex expression.

"I don't know if that is a good idea, now of all days. Goranth doesn't like me around the place," Tybrus said with a sigh, but Yren shook his head again.

"No, he asked for you to come! I don't know why, but maybe this is a good thing, right? The two of you were best friends before this, right? I should be old enough now to learn this story, right?" Yren asked his father, but Tybrus rolled his eyes, slapping his hand over his face in frustration.

This was not what Yren had expected, but he knew that he shouldn't be surprised. His father had always been so secretive, and Mr. Belltorn would always dodge Yren's questions or push them back on his father.

It was a loop that Yren hoped would be broken. There was so little he knew about his father's life before he was born and who Yren's mother was

"Fine. It is a special day, and I know the two of them have been like a second family to you," Tybrus said with a tired look but then pulled the chest piece he had been cooling, holding it up to his son.

"Is that for me?" Yren asked with excitement, forgetting his worries, and he grinned.

"Well, you're going into the dungeon for the first time, and I wouldn't want you to get hurt cause you don't have the right tools for the job, ya know," Tybrus told his son with a grin.

Yren had been unsure if his father would do something like this, but he was happy that he did.

"Thanks, dad! This looks amazing!" Yren exclaimed as he rushed over to look at the light chest plate.

There was nothing special about it on the surface, but Tybrus had enchanted the armor. This was something he had told himself he would never do, but this was his son, and he would need protection.

There was a secret Tybrus had been hiding from his son, and there was only one other person that knew the truth. Goranth.

"Go get ready and clean yourself up! You can admire my handy work tomorrow when I help you get suited up," Tybrus said, practically pushing his son out of his shop.

"You had better get in soon then as well! I'll see you inside, dad!" Yren said as he jogged over to the house.

Tybrus shut the door after he heard the door to their small house close behind his son. The day had finally come, and Tybrus knew what Goranth wanted.

"My sins have fallen to our boy, Mira. Now I must destroy the perfect world that he has been raised to know. May the Pillar of Light guide his way, for I was too weak," Tybrus mumbled to himself as he looked down at the armor he had created and then at his hands.