In a quiet room, a woman with brilliant red hair sat in a comfortable armchair, slowly flipping through a book. The rhythmic tapping of her foot, the steady count of her breath and the occasional rustle of a page were the only things disturbing the fragile peace.

  With a snap, she shut the book and set it down.

  “How long are you going to pretend to still be asleep?”

  In the bed next to her, the covers shifted.

  “Five more minutes.”

  She let out a long, drawn-out sigh.

  “Honestly, some things never change.”

  For a moment, the room was still, before, with a jump, the covers shifted.

  “Grandma?!”

  “Easy there, Felix, you’re still in no shape to be moving around like that.”

  “What? How? Did you die too?”

  The glare she shot him was enough to turn his blood to ice.

  “So you do know that you nearly died?”

  Felix looked down. Without a shirt, he could take in the damage. Three jagged scars ran across his side where the panther had grazed him. He reached out to touch it only to notice something else. His arm was missing from the shoulder. He stretched out his remaining arm and gently touched the wound.

  “I guess so…”

  “...”

  Grandma let out another sigh, this one filled with sadness.

  “Honestly, Felix, what were you thinking?”

  “...”

  “Did– did I clear the gate?”

  He immediately knew he’d said the wrong thing when the room’s temperature rose. He looked up to see Grandma’s hair starting to look like smouldering logs.

  A knock at the door, thankfully, came at the perfect time to save him from Grandma’s wroth. Not wanting to take any chances, he quickly squeaked out an invitation.

  Grandma’s glare let him know that he definitely wasn’t off the hook. It was so fierce that he almost forgot to see who came in. When he did, his eyes went as wide as saucers.

  “G–Guardian?”

  “Felix, I’m glad to see you’re finally awake.”

  “How long was I out?”

  “Two months,” Grandma replied, her voice like steel.

  Felix’s head snapped to her as he looked at her in shock.

  “Indeed, if you didn’t wake up soon, we’d have had to send you back to your homeworld. I’m glad we got to talk before you leave.”

  Felix shifted uncomfortably in his bed, not wanting to speak up. Grandma looked at him and eventually rolled her eyes.

  “Yes, Felix, you managed to clear the final gate.”

  His eyes lit up. He still had no idea how it happened, but he’d somehow survived. Not only did he survive, but he managed to officially become a Traveller.

  “I don’t know why you look so happy. I’d hardly say forcing your opponent to choke on your severed limb is a winning strategy.” Grandma quickly brought him back to earth.

  Felix didn’t want to argue. If he did, he might spend the next century being grounded on their homeworld. Inwardly, though, he thought that regrowing an arm would be far easier than wasting centuries toiling away to get official recognition.

  While Felix tried to hide his thoughts, in front of two old monsters like the guardian and his grandma, it was pointless.

  “Felix, you should know that we can’t regrow your arm.”

  Felix looked at the guardian in surprise.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Your affinities, healing someone with a life affinity as pure as yours isn’t easy. If it were, it wouldn't have taken two months for you to wake up. To regrow a limb, that’s a whole different level of magic. You’d need a healer with a life affinity close to yours in purity.

  “Finding one is almost impossible, if they had a life affinity that pure, it’d mean they were close to becoming a Starfarer.” Grandma broke the news to him. Her voice was filled with frustration, though he could tell it wasn’t directed at him.

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  Felix looked at his missing arm again. Eventually, he shook his head and sighed.

  “That sucks.”

  He looked up to see Grandma and the guardian staring at him.

  “What?”

  “That’s it? You lose an arm, and your only response is "that sucks?”

  Felix shook his head.

  “What am I supposed to say? Crying about it won’t bring my arm back.” He squeezed his empty shoulder.

  “Don’t get me wrong, I hate it, I feel like a part of me is missing, like I’m incomplete. Even now, I feel spikes of pain in an arm that isn’t even there. It hurts, I hate it.”

  Felix looked up, tears threatening to spill over.

  “But crying about it isn't going to bring my arm back, losing myself in despair only means I’ll waste the chances I earned with this arm.” He lifted his empty shoulder a little before looking away.

  “All I can do is keep moving forward, doing the best with what I have.”

  Grandma and the guardian shared a look before Grandma got up and wrapped Felix up in a hug.

  “You’re still just as stubborn as you were the day you left. I’m glad you’re alive, Felix.”

  Felix grabbed onto her, holding her with all his strength. He’d spent so long fighting alone, pressing forward from one moment of despair to another. Holding his grandma, for the first time in what felt like a lifetime, he wasn’t alone. He could lean on someone else.

  “I’m glad I’m alive too.”

  After giving Felix time to calm down, the guardian decided to get on with business.

  “Felix, you’ve officially passed your final gate within the time limit. The alliance officially recognises you as a Traveller and bestows upon you all the rights and privileges associated with the title. May your journey never end.” It was said with such practised ease that Felix was certain she’d said the same thing countless times.

  “Unfortunately, you missed your graduation due to your condition, or I’d have handed you this in front of all your peers.”

  The guardian handed him a book bound in a single large leaf. It was cool to his touch, and to his senses it felt alive. In the centre of the cover, a large, clear gem was embedded. Looking into it made him feel as if he were using his identity token. He felt as if his awareness would slip into the gem at any moment.

  On top of the book lay a jade green slate that looked similar to his identity token, though this one was far more ornate. The alliance’s official symbol sat in the centre of a gate that looked exactly like the Ways.

  “As much as I’d like to leave you with your new toys, there’s something else we need to discuss.”

  With a monumental force of will, Felix tore his eyes away from his new grimoire to look at the headmaster.

  “After getting your recognition, you are able to choose where to further your studies. There are countless mage towers, monasteries, covens, knights' orders and more that are willing to take in new Travellers and help to mentor them on the start of their journey.”

  Felix’s eyes lit up in excitement as he waited for her to continue.

  “The problem is none of them can take you.”

  Felix’s face deadpanned.

  ‘I don’t know why I expected anything different.’

  Even the guardian looked a little awkward delivering the news.

  “Isn’t there somewhere in the Feywilds I can go? The elves have life affinities at least, Alvara recommended I look for a job there after I fail to graduate.”

  The guardian nodded.

  The elves are indeed more equipped to help you. The problem is that they don’t follow the same system we do. As fey, they are born with their affinities. They don’t have places of learning the way we do. Young elves are taken in by mentors and taught on a far more individual level.

  If you choose to learn under the elves, you’ll have to find your own way. I can arrange for your passage there and maybe make sure you at least have a place to stay once you get there, but I can do little more. You’d be on your own.

  Felix ran his hand through his hair in frustration.

  “There isn’t really another option, is there?”

  The guardian shrugged.

  “It’s really up to you. If you want to try something else, you can. If you want to join a house of healing, I can arrange a position for you. If you want to go to a mage tower focused on the mind affinity, it can be arranged, though with how pure your affinities are, you’d still have to figure out your own way forward.

  “I can give you some time to think about it. There’s no need to rush. You can try to connect to your path. Maybe you’ll receive some guidance”

  Felix shook his head.

  “No, that’s alright, Felix looked off into the distance, I’ll go to the elves. My way forward is there.”

  Felix’s voice was so certain that no one thought to question it. The guardian merely nodded.

  “Very well, you can return to your homeworld for now. It will take a couple of months to arrange passage for you. You’ll be notified of the details when the time comes.”

  Felix nodded.

  “Oh, and Felix, congratulations.”

  The guardian gave him a warm smile before leaving him with his grandmother.

  He spent the next while being interrogated by his grandmother on every detail of his time at the Crossroads.

  Sometimes she’d offer advice, sometimes she’d tease him over the mistakes he made, but mostly she just listened to his stories. About the people he’d met, the challenges he faced, the dreams that died and the new ones that grew from their ashes.

  “I’m proud of you, Felix. You’ve done more than I ever thought possible. You’re still an idiot, but you did well.

  After grandma left to take care of some things, he soon received more visitors. Agrona stopped by with more food than he could eat in a week, insisting that it would help him heal. When he couldn’t finish it, she packed away the leftovers and made him promise that he’d take it with him.

  In the end, she invited him to visit her home if he ever visited the dwarves. At the same time, he found out that now that he was a Traveller, he could save her token to his. Using that, he’d be able to send letters through the explorer’s guild to keep in touch.

  Instructor Grendel and Alvara also stopped by on their own time. While Alvara scolded him for his recklessness, instructor Grendel praised him for his courage. In the end, he got both of their Traveller tags as well. Alvara was kind enough to offer to answer any questions he sent her once he mentioned he’d be going to the Feywilds to learn from the elves.

  With the rest of his group having long left the Crossroads, there was nothing else keeping him there.

  Soon he was on his way home, eager to start the next chapter of his journey.

  “Ah, by the way, Grandma, can we keep the whole arm thing between us? I think if Lara found out, she’d be too worried to focus on her own training.”

  Grandma smirked at him.

  “She’d be worried? Or she’d beat some sense into you.”

  Felix pointedly looked everywhere except at Grandma, which made her burst out laughing. She patted him on his shoulder.

  “I already sent her a letter telling her everything. I sent one to Claire and your mother, too.”

  The colour drained from Felix’s face.

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