Logiticus was devouring a piece of rabbit they had caught earlier in the day. The man seemed to have been starving. They had come down from the mountains and took the rest of the day to rest from their adventure. Yordan was passed out since they came out of the mine but he was in a stable state. They had given Logiticus a pair of pants that they had saved. While rushing out of the mine, they had lost a lot of their belongings. A fact that Kyllian kept bringing up.

  " Cynrik I take back what I said earlier, you are the most useless fucker I have ever met! "

  " Blondie please I'm tired .. "

  " Me too, how nice would it have been to have a change of clothes or a bedroll but some selfish fucker decided to bring only his damn chest. "

  " I needed the chest aight? It is the most valuable thing you may have ever laid your eyes on. We can make some money in the next town and see what we can do from here. "

  " Hmm. "

  " Now to the interesting topic, Logiticus, how are you feeling ? "

  The man swallowed his piece of meat before answering. He brushed his unkempt beard with his hand and looked far in the distance.

  " Well, I have not been able to taste well cooked meat in two hundred years so it's pretty good, I thank you all once again for saving me. "

  Mika, who was sitting next to Kyllian handed the journal to him.

  " Technically you saved yourself thanks to this. "

  " Oh I almost forgot that journal. "

  " I read through it, towards the end you kept mentioning a Maria, was she your wife or partner? "

  Logiticus spat on the ground as soon as he heard that name.

  " That whore! I hope she is rotting in the underworld but with my luck she is probably charming Lo?van himself. "

  " Lo?van? "

  " One of the princes of hell, do you people not know anything? "

  " Well, two hundred years ago it was more common to speak about those opposed to the Creator, now we speak of him and only him. "

  " I see, well Maria, the name she used back then, pretended being a simple alchemist trying to help me. She said that she wanted an end to the anti magic reign of the kings of Fardug and gave me this recipe to turn into a beast but the reality was much much darker. She revealed herself to be a mischievous witch named Morgan, mistress of curses and dark arts. She cursed me to forever roam this mine and to devour anyone invading it. I was unable to die even though I tried, after the first ten years I started losing hope and after the first fifty years I began losing my sanity. The beast in me was becoming more powerful than the man. But the worst was this : she was working for the king. "

  Mika almost choked on her own spit at this revelation.

  " What?! It makes no sense, the king hates sorceresses. "

  " He offered something that even she could not refuse, freedom, and a promise that her people would be safe from his reach. She was promised safe passage over to the dragon queen's continent. But I'm pretty sure it never happened and she knew the king would never honor his words. So, out of spite, she cursed me to be an obstacle to his progress. He had asked her to find a way to enslave me while I asked her for a way to protect my creations and crafts. She used us all, the lesson here young ones is that you cannot trust a witch, they will always try to play you for their own selfish desires. "

  Logiticus kept on eating and the group watched the fire burning, Mika still had some questions for him.

  " Logiticus, do you have an idea as to why when we stabbed you the first time it didn't work but you transformed the second time? "

  " Hmm, I don't really know, did you do anything different the second time? "

  Kyllian massaged his shoulder and exposed the bandaged wound.

  " Uhh yeah, you stabbed me! So I stabbed you back. "

  " Hmm, well I did manage to find the latest ingredient. "

  " Which was? "

  " I required a mage's blood. "

  Cynrik looked at Kyllian with a raised eyebrow, he then turned to Logiticus.

  " What kind of crap are you saying now, grey beard? You saying our lil blondie there is magic? "

  " That is the only explanation, but a human male able to do magic is not only rare but almost completely impossible. "

  Mika looked at Kyllian and she could see the anxiousness in his eyes. She took his hand and squeezed it to give him some courage. He took a deep breath and lit his hand on fire under the amazed eyes of Logiticus and Cynrik. He then put out his flames and waited for a reaction, Logiticus kept eating in silence while Cynrik laid back.

  " So I have a question, can you only light your hands on fire? "

  " No, I can set fire to my whole body but for obvious reasons I don't do it, my body cannot handle my flames. "

  " So you could literally have a flaming cock ahah! "

  " Shut up oh my god ... "

  " I'm fucking with you blondie, don't worry, your secret is safe with us. "

  " Thank you. "

  " Where did you first learn that you could do this? "

  " I was five years old, I got angry, lost control and caught fire, for some reason, my mom seemed to have always known I could do these things but she made me promise to never use it. "

  " Well, use it more often please, it could be useful. "

  " Hmm. "

  " Anyway, I did save your one arm friend maps too, you are welcome by the way! So we can still head towards Halvi. If beardie is ready to walk tomorrow we can head towards the coast or inland depending on our needs for money. I know a good city where some people owe me a few favors and we could have a roof over our heads. "

  " And what is this place? "

  " It's a little city built at the center of a lagoon. I often had stops there with my ship and traded with them. "

  " Hmmm. We'll see that tomorrow, I'm tired and since I don't have a damn bedroll I'll just sleep in a tree. "

  " Oh come on blondie you can't be mad at me forever. "

  Kyllian got up and flipped Cynrik off.

  " Yes I can, fuck you. "

  Cynrik laughed and looked at Mika.

  " I think he is warming up to me. "

  Despite him being annoying, she had to admit he was charming and funny sometimes. She smiled back and placed her chin on her knees while looking at the fire. Behind them, Kyllian climbed into a small tree and laid on a large branch. Ever since he was little he was used to sleeping in unusual places and trees were his favorite, he was feeling like he was flying, letting the slight breeze flow through his hair, he closed his eyes and his mind started to wander about how his life was years ago.

  For as long as he could remember, even when she was still alive, his mother barely paid any attention to him. She would tell him to get his own food, get his own clothes while she was out all day, only coming for a few minutes late in the night to go away with another man. He didn't hate her for this because somehow he knew that she had suffered a lot before. Some days she would come home, reeking of alcohol and she would hug him and caress his hair. Unable to know how to react to her unusual displays of affections, he would simply stand there and look straight in front of him. He remembers clearly that the only times she would spend time with him was when she needed help to take care of her hair. He had inherited her good hair genes and he would hate the times she would make him take care of his hair like it was the most precious thing ever. He could come back home injured from a fight and she would not care but if he came back with dirt in his hair or if he had the audacity to cut it she would lock him in his room to punish him. Back then, his hair was often held up and rolled in a braid. When he was young, most people would confuse him for a young girl because of his small frame and lack of masculine trait in his face. This confusion was one of the main reason he would get into fights with boys his age who were constantly teasing him about it. His mom would always say " You are perfect the way you are my child, girls would kill to have your hair. ". One day he told her he wished he could cut it and have short hair like the other boys. He forever regretted having ever uttered these words. When he turned to look at his mom, her expression was the most frightening face he had ever seen. That day she beat him till he was only a shaking and crying mess on the ground. After that day, he never spoke against her ever again, convinced he deserved the punishment. She brought him to this world, he owed her everything so he couldn't contradict her. He would always listen to what she would tell him to do. If he needed to sit in the corner and watch, he would, if she told him to roll with the punches, he would, if he needed to punch or kill someone who disrespected her, he would. Since that moment, he let go of all his emotions, he locked away all of his anger and sorrow. Years later, she was the reason he took a life for the first time.

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  One evening, he came back after a fight and saw a man he didn't know sitting at the table. His mother was in the other room. The man was rude, loud, dirty and stank but he had money. He was powerful, he stayed with them for a couple of weeks. Kyllian had to sit in his room at night awakened by the sounds of this man and his mom spending the night together. In the morning the man would leave and Kyllian had to go into his mother's room to clean her bruises and help her dress. He didn't know if it was normal but he had stopped questioning her. One night, the man was eating at the table. Kyllian and his mom always had to wait for him to finish before they could eat, the air felt tense for some reason, his mother sat down and started talking to the man.

  " You said you would get us a horse. I see no horse and I gave you my broach to trade, so where is it? "

  " Sold it. "

  " What? But we needed that horse so we could go away from here. "

  " I'm the one telling you where you go and what you do. Without me, the whole town would have gone through this house and your holes and probably your runt's holes too ahah. You should be grateful, I needed some more booze so I sold your junk. "

  " You .. you .. you are such a useless man, a peasant, a nobody a good for nothing son of a bi- "

  He slapped her across the face before she could finish her sentence. She felled on the wooden floor and touched her face, realizing her lip was now open and bleeding. She began to beg for forgiveness.

  " I'm sorry dear, I spoke out of term, I was just - "

  This time he kicked her in the ribs, causing her to cough uncontrollably. Kyllian was watching the scene, emotionless, the man began to beat his mother, he pushed her against the wall and began to choke her.

  " You are just a dumb and useless whore! I have no use for you anymore, while you are still hot I can rent you to the boys and don't worry about your kid, my boys like them young too. "

  She was struggling against him, to Kyllian, this scene was going on far away from him, as if he was not there, it was not his life, he didn't have to live through this. He made eye contact with his mom and she told him what to do, no, she ordered him what to do.

  " Kill him. "

  Without thinking, despite being less than thirteen winters old, he grabbed the knife on the table and ran up to the man. He began to stab him mercilessly. He could not see himself at this moment but he was screaming like never before, letting all his years of pent up rage explode. This man was the manifestation of everything he hated in this world. Filthy people taking advantage of others, lying, murdering, stealing. Eventually, his arm felt heavy. When he regained control of himself, he noticed he broke the knife in anger, he had been beating the man's skull with his barefists. He looked around and saw his mother curled up in the ball in the corner of the room. He took a decision at this moment. That he would stop locking away who he was, that he would no longer be a slave to his mother's orders. He stood up, grabbed another knife and looked at his mother.

  " Mother, I love you but I am not your puppet, I am my own person but I refuse to be a filthy human like him, I am myself. "

  He then placed the knife behind his head and cut his braid. After that day, he would always speak up against his mother's bad decisions. He would cut his hair himself despite her disappointed looks. When he reached his seventeenth birthday, his mom fell ill. She fought the illness for months. One night she called him into her room.

  " Listen my child, I need you to promise me that you will take back what is rightfully yours. "

  " Mother I .. "

  " Promise me, I know I haven't been the best mother but I always loved you, you have to do this for me. Find a way to go to Triskall and accomplish your destiny. "

  " I will, mother. "

  " Good, now let me rest. "

  That night, he went to bed already grieving. He knew that the next morning, she would not be here anymore. He had developed his senses enough already that he could sense her around him. As the night was shifting into the day, he started to sense her less and less in the other room. As a tear rolled up on his cheek, he felt his mother's presence in the living world for the last time.

  Kyllian woke up suddenly. Startled by his own memories, he started to slip off the tree branch. Thanks to his reflexes, he managed to balance himself and stayed on it. He looked around himself and remembered where he was. He was drenched in sweat and wiped what he could from his forehead." It felt so real, I felt like I was back there. ". As he was wiping the sweat he brushed some of his hair. " Hmm. ". He climbed down from the tree and looked at the camp, everyone was still asleep. He decided to go for a walk in the forest and stumbled on a river. He crouched and drank some of its water. While cleaning his face, he caught his own reflection in the water and remembered Mika's comment about the lengths of his hair. "She was right, it is getting longer, I haven't had it this long since .. ". Assaulted by memories he wished he could forget, he shook his head and looked away from the reflection. He felt an anger that he could not control, an anger that was extremely painful and old, he sat there, near the river and let his mind wander for a bit. Until finally he made a decision. He grabbed the knife at his waist and applied the blade to his temple.

  Mika woke up and yawned, she stretched a bit and noticed Kyllian was gone " where did he go ?. " Logiticus and Cynrik were already up and having a discussion while Maggie and Yordan were slowly waking up. She stood up and walked around a bit, massaging her stiff muscles. She went and sat at the campfire where Cynrik welcomed her with a smile.

  " Hey miss Tsirek, how are you doing this morning? "

  " Like someone who slept without a bedroll among the bugs and in the dirt. "

  " Don't worry, tonight we will sleep under a roof. I was just telling Logiticus that if we start moving soon and we walk fast, by tonight we should be able to reach a small town called Poloakr. It's not really in the direction of the coast but it's the closest civilisation that we can get to. "

  " That's great news, have you seen Kyllian? "

  " No, he wasn't there when we woke up. "

  " I'm getting worried . "

  She heard footsteps behind her followed by a familiar voice.

  " Worried about what ? "

  She turned around and was stunned by what she was seeing.

  " Kyllian you .. you cut your hair ? "

  He had shaved and cut his hair off the side and back of his head, barely anything was left on his head.

  " Yeah. "

  Mika stood up to touch his new haircut.

  " That's too bad, I liked your long hair."

  He smacked her hand away before she could touch him.

  " I don't care what you like, we need to get moving, pack your shit, we are leaving now. "

  Without a second look, he started to walk away from the camp and headed back into the forest. Mika looked at him as he was going away " What happened to him ? ". Cynrik had the same interrogation.

  " I will never understand this guy. "

  Logiticus, who was silent until now let out a heavy sigh.

  " Is he always like this ? "

  " Well, he is an enigma. "

  " Hmm, anyway, he is right, we better get going, I'll go wake up the other two. "

  He stood up and walked towards Maggie and Yordan, leaving Mika and Cynrik alone. Cynrik turned to Mika who was looking sadder since Kyllian had come back.

  " Miss Tsirek, listen, I know I may not be the one you want to hear this from but .. I'm gonna say it anyway. You should not let him treat you this way. "

  " Cynrik I don't need your conscern.. "

  " I know you might think that you owe him a lot and he seems important to you, I'm being serious so sit down young lady. "

  She sat across from him and listened to what he had to say.

  " You need to stand up for yourself, you did it with me, you can do it with anyone. When I see you two talk you always seem to be the one yearning for his attention and he brushes you off like you are nothing. How does that make you feel? "

  " Cynrik I don't really want to talk about it.. "

  " But you NEED to talk about it. So, I'll ask again. How does it make you feel? "

  " Worthless, insignificant, weak .. "

  " Why? "

  " Because I try so hard to understand him, to show him I'm there for him no matter what. I kept his secret, I show him how much I love him and he just pushes me away because he is afraid to lose me.. "

  " If I'm being honest he is already losing you. "

  Mika stared at the embers of the fire, she remained silent while Cynrik kept talking.

  " YOU are a strong willed person. If I understood correctly you were given a mission by your lord to escort them until they got on a boat, you didn't need to follow them into another country and yet here you are. "

  " It's because my mission is not done yet. "

  " It's bullshit and you know it, you stay for him but he doesn't want you there. "

  " ..."

  " You have a strong sense of duty, honor and discipline. Something that I never possessed, I envy you in a way, I wish I was a better person, someone good enough to have the trust of others not because I have money or what they want but because I inspire them. You seem like that kind of person, I don't think he deserves a tenth of what you have to offer. "

  While he was speaking to her, Cynrik moved closer to her, realizing she was shivering due to the cold air of the morning, he removed his vest and wrapped it around her, she smiled at him as he sat next to her.

  " I think that he will realise what he is missing if you stop giving him all this attention, make HIM want YOU. You are not worthless, you have more value than any woman I have ever met and trust me I have met many ahah. "

  She chuckled as he smiled at her.

  " Maybe you are right Cynrik, it can be enjoyable to talk to you when you decide to stop being a prick. "

  " Hey, hey hey! It's true but still! It's apart of my charm aight? "

  " Ahah, what charm? "

  " This charm that's causing you to smile right there. "

  Repressing a smile, she looked away in the distance.

  " I don't see what you are talking about. "

  He laughed and got even closer to her, to the point that he slightly pushed her with his shoulder.

  " Oh really? What's that on your face hmm? Looks like a smile to me. "

  " Nah it's just the face I make when something close to me smell. "

  " What?! Aight then give me back my jacket. "

  " Fine, I'm sure it is what is smelling this way anyway. "

  " You are such a cruel person miss Tsirek! "

  " Ahah I know." She was about to give him his vest back but she just opened one side. " Wanna share ? "

  He smiled and used the other part of the jacket to cover himself, she rested her head on his shoulder and sighed.

  " You might be right, I think I need to stop chasing him. "

  " Only time will tell if it works. "

  " Yeah, thank you Cynrik. "

  " Don't thank me yet aight. "

  The two of them laughed, cuddled in his vest, unaware that Kyllian was looking at them from the tree line, his eyes full of anger.