3 The White Flame

When Emyr pushed his door open later that night he found a familiar but unexpected sight. His sister, who seemed to spend every waking moment on duty these days, was actually home for dinner.

"Sis! You're alive!" exclaimed Emyr as he walked over to where his younger sister was seated at the kitchen table.

"Here I thought you'd still be doing Gregor's job for him until your hair turned gray," he said, patting his sister's head of long blond hair.

She quickly swatted his hand away and looked up, annoyed. "That's Gregor Firelord to you. It wouldn't hurt you to show him a little respect. He is the lord of Border City and technically your employer."

Emyr sat down across the table and raised his hands in surrender. "Don't get mad. I have nothing against the guy, but I don't need my Eye to tell that you are exhausted, Maddy."

It was true. Madeline was twenty-five and always kept herself in excellent shape. Emyr was five years older but since the day she turned seven he had never been able to beat her in a spar. It was no fluke that with only a mid-tier Vestment she had made a name for herself as The Silver Streak and gained the recognition of the most powerful hero in Border City. She was still clearly fighting fit, but the dark circles under her blue eyes and her pale skin gave the impression that the life had been drained out of her.

Madeline let out a breath of air and seemed to melt into the chair beneath her. "Your not wrong, but it isn't the Firelord's fault. Duty means everything to him, I know how much he craves to go out into the wide world to find adventure, but he stays because he has been tasked with defending Border City. I truly admire him for that... it's not his fault that he doesn't quite have the skill set to manage a city."

"You mean he's got a head full of rocks. Ouch!" cried Emyr.

A small silver ball had smacked into his forehead. Madeline's Vestment could mold and freely control a limited amount of silver. While she wasn't wearing her set of silver armor or carrying any silver weapons at the moment, she always kept a small amount of the metal on hand for emergencies.

"He's a noble man and is loved by the people of this city!"

Gregor Firelord: The White Flame, was indeed incredibly popular, even for a Firelord. The title lord could only be claimed by the current strongest user of a particular Vestment type. In this case, all fire-related Vestments. No one had dared to challenge Gregor for the title in many years. He wasn't just admired for his strength though, in his adventuring days he would never turn down the request of a person in need and would accept no compensation. As the current city lord, he was a constant fixture out on the city streets. Lifting children onto his shoulder, helping strangers with the most minor errands, and letting out great booming laughter. This gave his subordinates and officials constant headaches, but the people loved him for it.

"In fact," continued Madeline. "I wanted to work straight through dinner, but he insisted I take the night off."

Emyr rubbed his forehead and closed his eyes, "Keep your silver to yourself! I get it, The White Flame is great. It's impossible not to like him, my point is that you don't have to be the one to pick up all the slack. I don't know how you stand it when you could easily make more money by going on hunts. I was just telling Asp earlier today that I'd quit in a heartbeat if I was in your shoes."

Emyr opened his eyes again and saw that Madeline was looking down at her lap. "Dad would tell you the same thing, you can't keep working like this."

Madeline suddenly lept to her feet and slammed both hands down on the wooden table.

Emyr gasped, "Maddy!"

She looked straight into his eyes. The dull, tired glaze had disappeared completely, in its place was a burning rage.

"HOW DARE YOU BRING UP DAD! Dad came from NOTHING and put his life on the line every day to make a name for himself. So WE could live comfortable lives, so WE could live in this house in the castle district! You have no right to speak for him, to preach to me about taking it easy! Of course you would quit if you had MY responsibilities. You'd even quit being a guard if you didn't get to nap all day and play your PATHETIC games!"

At this point Emyr was standing as well, "That's enough! I may not be slowly killing myself in some twisted homage to Dad's memory, but I'm not just lying around the house all day, I support myself without any help from you!"

Madeline sneered, "PLEASE... stop lying to yourself, the Gate of Heroes doesn't actually need a fucking guard. The only reason you got that position is because of Dad's influence and the only reason you've been able to keep it for all these years is due to MY influence. You are a JOKE!"

Emyr knew that Madeline wasn't just making things up to be cruel, the Gate of Heroes really didn't need to be guarded. There hadn't been a war with their neighbors, The Kingdom of Nine Rivers, for hundreds of years and even if war were to break out, the city guard that was made up of people who at most had low-tier Vestments, would not fight at all. The guard's real responsibility was to police the common citizens in Border City. If Emyr had been stationed at the main city gate he would never have time to nap, with the constant passage of travelers, merchants, and residents. The Gate of Heroes, on the other hand, was by definition only used by heroes, who were few in number and didn't need protecting.

'I'm no idiot,' thought a shocked Emyr. 'It's obvious that the Gate of Heroes guard position was created so powerful families could give their sons or daughters who didn't have powerful Vestments a safe and easy job. Asp was a perfect example of that. I also know it was Dad who got me that job in the first place, but I had no idea Madeline used her influence to keep it for me. I thought I was just lucky, or that I was old Pual's favorite.'

Emyr remained standing, lost in thought as Madeline came suddenly back to her senses. A look of shame and regret crept onto her face. "I didn't mean that Em, I swear I did not mean that. I'm just really stressed right now and I guess thinking about Dad was the last straw, I'm so sorry."

She walked around the table and went to put her hand on Emyr's back, but Emyr suddenly snapped of his revery and stepped back toward the door. He shook his head, "No you meant it, no need to apologize."

He turned around and opened the door, "I need to get some fresh air, don't wait up Sis."

He left without turning back, leaving Madeline standing in the center of the kitchen, alone. She let out one wet sob and spoke to herself so silently that it was barely a whisper, "don't go Em, your all I have left."

...

A full day had passed since Emyr had left Madeline and he had not seen her since. After leaving the house he had wandered aimlessly for a while before winding up at Asp's place. As a member of one of the most wealthy and influential merchant families in Border City, Asp had his own home in the heart of the castle district. Seeing the state his friend was in, Asp let him stay the night with no questions asked. Emyr didn't get much sleep and ended up leaving before Asp woke up in the morning, only stopping to leave a note that he could still cover the night shift. Having an excuse to not go home was fine by him.

Day, at the Gate of Heroes post, had already turned to night. Not a single hero passed through in all that time. Normally this would have been just fine with Emyr, but today he didn't know what to think. He just lay there on the grass outside his post, looking up at the stars. The ones he could see at any rate, it was a cloudy night.

'I'm not actually mad at Maddy. I should really go find her and apologize for storming off like that. The big brother should be the mature one, dammit! Alright, after my shift ends that's just what I'll do. Good.'

Another minute passed, 'She really let me have it last night. Not that I didn't have it coming. I have no drive, I have no ambition, I just kind of keep on going. It's been this way for a while now too, maybe ever since Dad died.'

Emyr sighed, 'Maddy didn't let that stop her though. If anything it made her even more motivated to excel. Is the reason I didn't do the same because I felt like my wimpy, low-tier, Eye of the Unseen would let me down? Am I that afraid of failure? Of holding my own against the likes of Dad and my sister?

He suddenly burst out laughing, 'Who am I kidding? I can't beat Maddy at her own game, it would be suicide to try. I've always been the lazy one in the family and at 30 it might be too late to completely change my personality. What I can do is make some small changes, maybe starting with my attitude toward this job. Maddy has been pulling strings all these years just so her no good brother could guard this stupid gate.'

Emyr lept to his feet and pointed to the eternally open Gate of Heroes. It was only ever closed when the portcullis needed maintenance. "Get ready to be guarded until you can't take it anymore you sorry excuse for a gate! Tremble at how well protected you are under my care! No one will pass without a thorough inspection and I'm just the man for the job."

With a curt nod, Emyr turned back around and stared out into the silent plains. 'No one expects anything from me so I've always decided not to give anything. I'm starting to realize that isn't the point at all. The only thing that matters is what I expect from myself. I usually just sleep during the night shift... and during the day shift. Why don't I actually use my Eye to keep watch? That could be a good start. With the Vesper Pool nearby I can keep it going all night.'

"Eye of the Unseen"

He didn't actually have to say it out loud to activate, Emyr just always thought it was more satisfying that way.

The dark turned into another world before his ocular Vestment. Emyr had often tried to describe how it looked to see using the Eye to his friends and family, but he was never able to find the right words. The closest he could get was that it was like looking through a telescope at a fireworks show. With his vision expanded to see everything at once, the world was a confusing explosion of color when using the Eye, it was too much to process at once. Only by focusing in on a smaller section could he make sense of the madness, the colors and shapes speaking to him in a language that only he could comprehend.

Of course, the only thing Emyr could comprehend at the moment was an empty plain. It wasn't actually empty, the small animals, insects, and the swirls of wind were all revealed before Emyr's Eye, but that was all. Emyr sat down and began his vigil.

Some time passed, the stars were now completely hidden and the dark had become a seemingly solid mass. Emyr yawned, 'I am so bored. Is this what the actual guards do every day? How can anyone stand this monotony? Well... I can't quit after making it this far.'

Emyr decided on a new point of focus, he had been alternating to random positions once every few minutes. This next space was a clump of bushes to the southwest, about 50 meters away. Emyr immediately stopped feeling bored when he noticed something out of the ordinary. "Is that water? Dew? No... it's ice. Ice spontaneously forming on a late summer night... what are the odds of that?"

Emyr rapidly drew his vision back to the area immediately surrounding him, but by then it was already too late. His feet were trapped in a thick layer of ice. He attempted to break a chunk off with his hands but any small piece he managed to remove was quickly replaced.

"It's no use love, with all this delicious Vesper in the air you're fighting a losing battle, but don't fret, its just to keep you from running off." The voice came from close behind him, it was high spirited and sounded female. The words were spoken in a sing-song tempo that was half pleasant and half disturbing.

Emyr steadied his nerves, 'probably just some bored hero playing a dumb joke. It's not the first time.'

"I have to say I'm impressed you realized something was amiss, some sort of vision-related Vestment? Can't be anything too remarkable or you wouldn't be "guarding" this gate, but impressive nonetheless."

Emyr mustered the courage to speak, "Thanks, I guess... You know heroes can just go through the gate, right? I'm not in any position to stop you."

A pearl of laughter sounded from behind him, "Oh darling, you crack me up! I have no reason to go through the gate. In fact, I'm planning on staying here with you for the time being."

Confusion was starting to overcome fear as Emyr's primary emotion, "Ok... so, what exactly brings you here this evening?"

Emyr suddenly felt a soft hand grasp the back of his neck as a chill breath tickled his ear. The voice dropped down to a whisper.

"The White Flame is passing through this gate before daybreak and you're going to help me kill him."