The morning soon came and Callum was fixing up his stuff with the help of Ethari.
"Are you really going to give up just like that?" The blacksmith threw his book at him.
Catching it, Callum attached it to his belt.
"Yes. It's obvious Rayla dosen't want me here. It's better if I leave." He said closing his bag.
"You travelled all this way by yourself. You risked everything just so you can try and bring her back. May I know the reason?"
The mage froze. He didn't know the reason actually. His body just told him to go.
"I-I... don't know..." he admitted, head hung low.
The older man sighed.
"Well I suppose that was predictable..." He mumbled.
"Here." Ethari tossed him a covered sword. Callum stumbled to catch it. He raised a brow at the weapon.
"It's a sword. Custom made for you. Use it well during your travel back to your kingdom."
Callum examined it. The cover was brown leather. It looked like a sword but something was off about it.
Noticing his confusion, Ethari explained.
"It is the shape of a samurai sword but has the sharpness and ability of the knives of the assassins. I have observed how you use a sword and I designed this one to fit your style."
Callum stared at it in awe and stuck it to his belt. "Thank you, Ethari."
They gave each other warm smiles before Callum put on his bag.
Giving Ethari one last thankful glance, he walked forward and disappeared into the bushes, starting his journey back to Katolis.
<><><><><><><>
As Ethari entered his house, he couldn't help but feel bad for the young mage.
He knocked on Rayla's door and he received a muffled 'come in'.
He opened the door and saw Rayla sprawled out on the bed looking dishelved.
It's obvious she has not been resting.
"Rayla, are you alright?" He came closer as the door shut behind him.
She replied with a yes but Ethari knew her well enough to know that that was not true.
He sat on the bed and helped her sit up. "That's a lie. So tell me what's wrong."
Gulping back tears, she turned away. She didn't want Ethari to see her so vulnerable. Especially since she was trained to look tough in front of him.
"You don't have to act strong. You can let it out. I will help you." He put a comforting hand on her back.
Unable to hold back her tears, she let it flow. It streamed down her face slowly but the more she let out the more tears came.
"Shh, shh. It's okay. It's okay..." Ethari whispered in an attempt to sooth her.
<><><><><><><>
After what seemed to be hours of endless crying, Rayla finally calmed down.
"Why does my life have to be so complicated?" She mumbled out, her head resting against Ethari's chest as his hand rubbed comfortingly on her arm.
"I don't know. That's how life is I guess. I remember when you first said you wanted to be an assassin." He looked down at her.
"Runaan was not having it. He kept you from every knife you saw." He snorted at the memory which made Rayla laugh too.
"Funny. I can't believe it was my dream job. I can't even kill anyone..." Her voice turned into a hush.
"That's alright. You are still skilled. You've improved a lot Rayla."
She gave a small smile.
"I did. I just hope my parents are proud of me... Especially Runaan... He went through all that trouble to train me and I can't even kill a guard that we stumbled upon that day..."
She was referring to the day they arrived at the human kingdom. She was practically the reason why her team got killed...
And with the mention of their names, Rayla remembered that she still hadn't told Ethari about the cursed coins. That added to the insane amount of guilt she carried.
She contemplated whether or not she should tell him. After a moment of thinking, she decided.
He deserved to know the truth. And she can't keep it from him forever...
"Ethari?" She spoke up, nervous as to what his reaction might be.
He hummed in response and she started talking.
"So you know how everybody died that day?" He slowly nodded, unsure of where this was going.
"Well... not all of them are gone... one still remains alive..."
Ethari cocked up an eyebrow. He was now curious. Who was the person that survived. And how did they survive?
"And who might that be?" He saw Rayla take a nervous gulp before answering with a shaky voice.
"Runaan..." She said in a barely audible voice. Ethari would've missed it if it wasn't for his lip reading skills.
And once he made out the word, his eyes widened as his brain tried to process the information.
"R-Runaan?" He repeated, unsure if he heard it wrong. But a nod from Rayla was all he needed.
She shifted in her position and reached for something inside the pouch on her thigh.
She pulled out 3 shiny objects and handed it to him. They were circle and gold like coins.
But it wasn't money. There were some sort of faces he could make out.
As he looked closer at each of them, he realized that it was his husband and two others that looked familiar.
Upon closer inspection, he made out the people to be Tiadrin and Lain... his old friends and the mother and father of Rayla.
"It's a cursed coin. They aren't dead. Viren trapped them inside and was holding onto them until I managed to get it." She explained.
"How do you get them out?" He turned his attention to her. "I don't know. I was going to ask his daughter."
"We held her prisoner for a few days. I wanted to ask her about it before I left but sadly I couldn't."
"Then Rayla you need to go back. You need to ask her."
Shocked at his order, she tensed up for a moment before replying.
"I can't. I can't go back there. I already left twice and I'm not ready to be shamed on."
Ethari sighed in annoyance.
"You are quite similar to Callum." He commented, purposely trying to rile her up.
"What made you say that?!" She was now glaring at him.
"Your pride is too big to accept things. He came here to try and take you back to the kingdom but he was dealt with his pride and ego."
"He decided to leave things as it is instead of admitting his love for you."
Her eyes widened at that. He still loves her? If anything she thought he hated her.
"He himself dosen't know why he came here. He hasn't realized how much he loves you yet." He smiled at her.
"If you don't mind, I will take him." He took Runaan's coin and held it in his hand as he left.
Rayla was absolutely dumbfounded. Callum loved her? Was she dreaming?
If she was, she didn't want to wake up. If she isn't, she needed to fix things. Fast.
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A/N: Wooo! Chapter 25, finished! I didn't really mean to make this longer than usual but it just happened. So you guys enjoy this cuz I just put all my week's creativity into this. Don't expect that I'll be updating for the next few days. As I said. My creativity has temporarily run out. This might be up until chapter 30. I don't really know. And I am still continuing on that idea of mine where I make separate stories for the other characters before writing the epilogue. Be patient with me pls.👍The story is almost over. Dw. 🙂🙃😀