You’re special.

Roderika nibbled on one of the too salty pieces of meat she’d been left, staring down at the rooting wood beneath her.

Curse. Ill omen. A mistake.

Back in her homeland, beyond the fog that surrounded this brutal land she found herself stranded in, she was used to hearing such terms used to describe her by those who knew of her ability to see spirits. It was something she was made to keep hidden by her parents, neither wishing for the consequences her strange sense would call upon her, but even they had never been able to hide how uneasy the concept made them.

When word got out, she’d been shipped off to these lands and suddenly thrust into a position of command over a small group. A long standing tradition among their people spoke of one capable of seeing spirits who would either bring ruin to their people or set out and conquer the land beyond the fog.

And, useless as she was, all she managed to do was bring ruin.

Her people, all the ones that had put their trust in her, had been slaughtered and torn apart.

Her stomach twisted and grumbled, her constant nausea returning but the painful pangs of hunger demanding that she eat something in spite of it.

Forcing herself to at least finish half of the piece, she slowly returned it to the wrapping it’d come in.

Special.

How could she be special when she was nothing more than a coward? A craven-

“Grrrr.”

Roderika went stiff, eyes snapping up from the ground.

A wolf, prowling low to the ground, fixed its yellows eyes on her. As it crossed through the doorway, the gray fur rustling in the winds of the region stilled, creaks filled the small space.

She screwed her eyes shut, focusing on the ward around her and Aureila who dipped down, pressing against her cheek.

She’d be fine. She’d survive. She had to-

“Ruff!” Loud aggressive barks overwhelmed the low growl.

The wolves, the ghostly trio that had come from that strange container, had formed around her, the smallest among them still growling in the direction of the already gone living wolf. The other two approached her, lying themselves down around her.

Skrrreeeee.

Did the wood beneath them just creak?

Hesitating for a moment, Roderika lowered her ward and reached out.

Fur. It was cold to the touch and didn’t quite have the exact feel of a fully living wolf but the wolf beside her had a physical body to it. As the others approached, the same rang true for all of them, the trio fully able to interact with the world rather than causing the goosebumps Aurelia’s attempts sometimes caused.

Was there something different about these three? Why would that man entrust something like this to her?

You’re special.

She didn’t believe that.

Not truly.

But he had gifted her these wolves. And her people; they ensured she escaped Stormveil with her life.

Slowly she rose to her feet, the wolves doing the same.

She owed it to them to at least try to be more than the craven she knew herself to be.

XOXO

“Really now, it seems my apprentice is more audacious than I expected.” Sellen said, holding her chin. “And you don’t have any complaints about such an arrangement? It hardly fits with the customs of the Order.”

“Well, Marika forgive me for so saying so, but there isn’t much of an Order anymore.”

Sellen chuckled, setting down the ring she was looking over. “None other than zealots would argue against that.”

Irina, in the middle of getting a feel for her staff, lowered it, revealing her redden face, the lanterns lighting up her shared room with Onyx emphasizing it. “While I did accept it, I’m still not completely certain how I feel about the idea.” She admitted. “I…with my weak eyesight I cannot travel with or support him the way Melina can. There is much I can’t do. So…”

Self-depreciating and even a touch cynical for Irina of all people.

“Worry not, you’ll get no judgment or criticism from me.” Sellen assured her not that she was in a position to be throwing any out. “My apprentice is an oddity that is hard not to get swept along with. I expect the things one would call traditional don’t play a part in his life.”

Irina hummed in agreement though a small frown crossed her face. “I don’t mean to assume but are you-“ She stopped short, the blush on her face deepening.

“As I said, it is hard not to be swept up by him.” Sellen said, smiling slightly to herself. “And given that I have my own business I may soon depart for, it is not an arrangement I take much issue with. Though we are master and student there is no guarantee our destinies remain aligned, and I would much prefer to enjoy that time together before any possible departures.”

She had to track down her actual staff, find masters Azur and Lusat, finish her research, and, if they crossed paths somewhere along the way, deal with any who harbored intentions of hunting her down. That final bit she’d rather keep this small place of peace out of, after all, her apprentice put plenty of sweat and effort into building it.

Between his travels and her own goals, she didn’t expect they’d be seeing much of each other unless they went out of their way to help one another, so it wasn’t like she expected to be at the center of his attention in the first place.

She’d never really been one for rules and tradition anyhow.

XOXO

“This is a fool’s errand, brother. Nothing good will come of it.”

Kale responded with a simple nod of thanks, taking the marked up map one of his people handed over to him and advancing forward, trudging through the wide ankle deep lake that covered most of Luirnia.

Give up and avoid it. It was always the same with them.

They were right of course. He might’ve just given the same advice to any of his people attempting to look into the fates of their people, wandering the edges of what remained the only safe way for them to continue getting by.

But he could not let that go on. Not anymore.

Years of tireless travel in a stagnant land that only seem to worsened every day, the legends of what their people had once been nothing more than that. A legend barely spoken about the few times they did come together to trade information with one another.

He didn’t begrudge his own people for choosing what was safe, but that path was no longer for him.

How could his people, once great merchants said to be respected across this land, be reduced to a mere handful of wanderers long before The Shattering? The question gnawed at him too much to be ignored any longer.

He would have his answers or die trying to find them.

XOXO

(A/N: Just a intermission chapter. There will be a handful of similar chapters but this should be the smallest one. I wanted to jump straight into a timeskip but there are certain things that I'd rather not speed over either so you can think of it as a mini arc to focuses on Onyx handling different things around the island as well as talking with certain characters.

On a side note, I think I learned something about myself as a writer between this story and my Rwby one. I can try and push past it but so far, given that these are the only two stories I've seriously written, once I reach over 100k words after keeping to a schedule for long time, I need a break from it. I don't mean like I hit writer's block or I suddenly hate it, I just find it harder to write because there are other things I want to explore and try. I'm thinking the break I took from this story is why I'm finding it as easy to write for as I did when I first started the story.

I'm planning on publishing at least one more chapter for it this week but I can't really keep pushing through my diverted interest so that might not even happen. I imagine I'm going to end up putting it on a hiatus like I did for this story while I focus on this one and explore other ideas for other series. A shame that its so sudden. I shouldn't have kept pushing and just ended things at Tyrian's reveal like I initially felt like doing. That was the perfect place for a hiatus spot but I figured my reluctance to write just had to do with how busy I was and other irl problems so I pushed past, hoping it would change.

Learning by fire I guess. Nearly two weeks of being gone really gave me time to look at what I was doing and how I felt. Respect to all the authors who can keep yapping for hundreds of chapters for the same story without a break or moving to do something else. They are truly a special breed.)