5 The Forge of a Friendship (1)

The day following their meeting, Aldryn wrote a message to Ildurin. He told him of having met someone special, and that he cannot wait to introduce them. But there were issues that he first had to resolve prior to their meeting.

The message was short and the oracle avoided inserting any form of explanation, fearing that the letter might be intercepted by someone else. In the end, he left it as it was and simply reassured at the end that there will be no more deaths found from that unexplainable reason.

While King Ildurin always had pride in his wits, once the message reached him, he was severely confused. He even showed the letter to his beloved Lunahera, who read it and could not see more than the King himself has seen. They stood awake a full night reading and rereading the message, trying to find a hidden message, only for their efforts to be in vain.

In the end, they both only managed to tie the mysterious deaths to that special someone that Aldryn has managed to find, but not much else. Seeing as Aldryn has not mentioned persecuting that person, or explain the reason behind all those deaths, they both realized that there was something the oracle decided to omit on purpose in his letter.

While both the King and Queen wished answers, they understood that if it truly was sensible information, it was dangerous to write about it. In the end, Ildurin decided to fully trust his old friend, who never once failed him, and wait for him to appear in the Silver City.

The latter, he expressed in his own letter, saying that he cannot wait to meet with whoever it was that Aldryn found and he could also not wait to see his friend once again. As per usual, the King also briefly wrote about the happening around his lands. It was a habit that he long ago developed. When he was first crowned, still being too young for the position, Ildurin would always seek out Aldryn and ask for his advice, completely ignoring his father's advisers. Despite time having passed and Ildurin gaining more knowledge and courage with his station, he would still tell the oracle everything that was happening around him. Aldryn, in his turn, would no longer offer him advice in each letter, except when he felt that it was truly needed, but would always comment certain events and even try to bring some humour to them.

"Have patience my dear" Lunahera would kindly say to him, while gently squeezing his arm, "You know what I always say..."

"A reward is only good when it requires patience" Ildurin continued for her, returning the smile.

After their first encounter, both Aldryn and Klyran have decided that it would be best for the two of them to travel together. While the apostle did not wish to lose sight of his new friend, said friend decided that it would be best for him to stick with this blonde person. Seeing as so far, he was the only creature that he found in this world capable of understanding him. All the while, both of them were highly interested in each other's existence. Aldryn wished to understand what sort of creature the young man was, while Klyran, in turn, was curious about the transformation that he witnessed during their battle.

During the first week following their meeting, the two would speak of random things, both not wishing to say long sentences that might confuse the other. The young man explained to Aldryn about how the four men he saw him slay were thieves, whose camp he tracked down. Thinking back, the oracle did admit that the they indeed looked nothing like common villagers. Klyran also told him about his small quest of finding said bandits, who apparently were robbing people on the same path that he took. It made the oracle respect his new friend, only to be curious as to how he was able to understand the situation. In his turn, the serpent laughed and called it a lucky guess. He told the priest of how he arrived in a village and saw a young woman running with tears streaming down her face, covered in bruises and smelling of pure terror. She stopped when other villagers came to help and would cry and scream, what Klyran did not understand, but she would always point to the path she came from.

After that incident, Klyran said that some men from the village took their weapons and went into the woods, walking the path that the woman ran out from. Unfortunately, out of the three brave men, only one returned. The survivor was beaten and wounded, barely able to stand. That was what drew his attention, Klyran said. It became obvious to him that there was something in the forest that endangered the poor humans. And so, at the next sunrise, the young man ventured out into the forest, following the same path that every villager was now scared of. That same day, four thieves ambushed Klyran, but he was no weak commoner and was able to defend himself. He also left one of them alive, to hunt for their camp. While human habits were new to Klyran, he understood their base instincts quite well. Once defeated, he didn't doubt that the sole survivor would have run to their camp to seek help. That is how the serpent was able to track the bandit camp. As luck would have it, it was in the exact moment when the opponents were slain, and the village safe once again, did Aldryn found him.

It was a fascinating story to the priest. He was glad to have found Klyran, who, despite not knowing much about this world, has made it slightly better. He still had many questions to ask him, but many of them could wait. The oracle was more interested in what his new friend has already seen and done ever since he arrived through the waterfall of light. It was such simple topics that would occupy their days.

They were also cautious and made sure that there was no other living soul near them whenever Klyran would speak. This, in turn, rather irritated the young man. He felt somewhat crippled, not being allowed to speak whenever he wished, but at the same time, he knew first hand why it had to be done. This irritation though, caused the young man to be more cautious of the way the blonde spoke. Then, into the second week after their meeting, he tried for the first time to speak the old language, rather than his own. To his surprise, this small experiment of his turned out to be a success. He understood from their first week together that the roots of the words were pretty much the same in both of their languages. After that, it was only a matter of understanding the word formation and their place in the sentence, which he quickly noticed was similar to his own language.

Into their third week, Klyran could speak fluently the language of the Old Religion. It caused him to swell with pride, seeing as he could easily remember and understand another language. But whenever Aldryn tried to speak the other tongue, even with Klyran facing him and repeating only one word, the oracle would feel tongue-tied and could not pronounce even the simplest of words.

At first, it caused the young man to feel superior in intellect compared to his new friend, but then he quickly understood that there was something else to it. While Aldryn could manage the first part of the word without a problem, it being usually the same as in the Old Religion, when it came to the part that was unique to his language, the oracle could say no more. After realizing this, Klyran thought back to the people that have accidentally heard him speak. He realized that it was not him, but the language. Whenever he spoke in the old tongue that he learned from Aldryn, the humans near them would be fine. Unlike the first few persons whom he encountered after entering this world.

Those events caused Aldryn to think back to the sword attached to Ildurin's hip and the language written on its blade, as well as the story behind it. This caused him to grow a suspicion that the language in which Klyran spoke was the mother of tongues. It did made sense to him and even the fox agreed.

According to the legend, the Ryan kin was the first one to develop a language and the apostles of that time have listened to it and could not help but admire it. It is said that the Old Religion has created their language based on the first tongue that was ever made. That also became the language in which the humans would speak at first. But then, as time went by, the language slowly was modified and simplified, until it became the language that humans speak now. But if the theory that Aldryn was thinking was true, then it could only mean that Klyran was a Ryan.

"I think that a Dragon is more possible than a Ryan" the fox commented, "Between those two legends, the Dragon is the less powerful one. No way that a Ryan descended here and we didn't feel it"

"Maybe he's on a secret mission?" the blonde then decided and clapped his hands.

"Are you an idiot?" the Thrae only yelled and mentally hit the blonde, causing him to wince.

"We can either ask him", he head a voice in his mind, "Or take him to Ildurin first and see if he can understand the letters on the sword."

"Do you disagree with me?" Aldryn asked the fox, looking at Klyran, who was busy petting the horse of a villager whom the two agreed to escort home.

"No. What you are thinking does makes sense" it grumbled disappointed, since the legend never mentioned Dragons having their own language, or one that could kill a human.

"But how could we go about to ask him?" the oracle then wondered, thinking about how he could bring up this topic.

"Easy" the fox said and then took over.

Noticing the change, Klyran looked at his new friend, wondering if there was something that the fox wished to speak with him directly.

'This pressure' the serpent could not help but think, 'I hope it will go away the more time we spend together' he sighed, too fatigued to even watch the transformation.

"Are you a follower of the Ryan?", the Thrae then suddenly asked jokingly, causing Klyran to stumble and look surprised.

"Now whose the idiot?" Aldryn yelled at it in his mind, "How could you just ask him that. You always say that I'm a moron, yet look who does useless things" the blonde scolded it.

"You know about my kin?" Klyran then asked, recovering from the sudden question, causing the two of them to stop bickering and look at him with a blank face.

It made both the Thrae and Aldryn to fall quiet and look at their friend. They could not believe what he just said. It seemed that all the time they spend planning ways to find out the nature of their friend would have been saved if they only made the blunt question.

"Could you say that again?" the fox asked, only for Aldryn to return as the body's main user suddenly.

"So you are a follower of the Ryan?" Aldryn suddenly asked, taking over his own body again.

"Follower?" the raven-haired man asked, "No. I am a Ryan" he declared with a frown.

"Wait.... Is that what your kin is called?" the priest asked, only to receive a nod in return.

"How do you know about our kin, when I never heard of yours."

"Old stories" was all that he said back, but Kylran could not help but feel that there was more to it than that.

"I see..." he said and couldn't help that slight suspicion that rose in his hear. For all his kindness, there was no reason for Aldryn to go that far just to help him.

'He must be doing it so that I don't accidentally kill more people' he thought disappointed, 'It's not like I did it intentionally' he then frowned and walked ahead.

The sudden mood change startled the blonde who remained silente. He didn't know what to say.

"What could have caused it?" he wondered, trying to think of anything that he did or said wrong.

"Must be the new environemt" the fox mocked him, "I mean he is only what... In a whole different world with no way back home?" it then yawned.

"Can't you be nicer to me...like at least once?" Aldryn then asked it annoyed.

"What's the fun in that?" was the reply that he got.

"Should I switch to another topic?" the blonde asked the fox in his mind.

"Go ahead" it agreed, "Know a topic that the two of you can speak of?" it then mocked.

It made the apostle realize that despite having travelled for nearly two months now, they never spoke about each other.

That same evening, after taking the old man they encountered back home safely, they departed from the village. The man's daughter wished to offer them something as gratitude, but their family did not have much. Then, Aldryn suddenly asked if they had apples, which surprised the young lady. He then explained that his friend was from a faraway land, where they did not have apples. After hearing those words, the young girl scurried off and carried back five apples. Klyran's eyes sparkled in curiosity at the fruits, which caused the priest to smile. He took two of the offered apples and expressed his gratitude before throwing one to Klyran and beginning to walk out of the village.

At first, Klyran watched the fruit in fascination, never before seeing something like it. He turned it around in his hand and looked at it from every corner.

"You never saw an apple before right?" Aldryn suddenly asked, surprising him.

For the past week, the oracle has been slowly teaching Klyran the common language, but seeing the confusion on his face. The oracle repeated the question in the old language.

"This" the young man began, looking at the fruit, "Apple?" he asked and looked toward his friend, who only nodded.

"We only have meat and some" he hesitated then, "flowers?" he asked, "no..... plants" Klyran said and nodded his head, satisfied with his words.

"Try it then", Aldryn urged him, "If you will like it, we will get you some more."

And then, Klyran took a bite out of the fruit and flinched, not expecting the crunching noise. He then carefully chewed it and moaned.

"I like it" he exclaimed after swallowing the apple.

"Looks to me like you love it" Aldryn laughed throwing his own fruit at him and then, seeing the confusion on his friend's face, he tried to explain the difference between the two words.

"Well", he begun, but was unsure how to continue.

"Love is a much stronger feeling than Like", the Thrae supplied, noticing the hardship of its host. Thankful for the help, the blonde let the fox take over his body, to answer any other questions that might arise on this topic.

The sudden change caused Klyran to glance at the blonde, the fascination never truly wearing off. While for a human eye, the change seemed to happen in the span of a blink, it appeared that Klyran's eyes caught more details than that. He saw how the colour of the hair changed, like water falling down in a waterfall. He saw the marking appearing on the human skin, reminding him of someone being cut. He saw the red emerging from the pupil and swallow the blue eyes that he has already gotten used to seeing.

It made him think of his own transformation. How despite the human skin, he could still see the scales underneath. How his own eyes changed to become similar to that of humans. It caused him to become more aware of the Thrae that lurked just beneath Aldryn.

"When you like something, it means that it makes you happy. But loving something is a much deeper emotional attachment", the fox tried to explain.

He was then snapped out from his thoughts and made him think of the explanation that was just given to him. But even after a minute, he was still unsure of the difference. Seeing the confusion lingering in Klyran's eyes, the Thrae tried again.

"Let's take you for example. You have a sword and that dagger that Aldryn gave you a few weeks ago", it said pointing to the two items. Only after their young raven-haired friend looked at the two and nodded, did the fox continue.

"Let's say you broke both of them", this caused Klyran's eyes to snap back at him, to look at the now white haired apostle, "You like the dagger so you will feel sad about it, but it can be replaced. But you love your sword and you will be deeply hurt and think that nothing can ever replace it"

It was only after Klyran tried to imagine such situation, where both his weapons broke did he understood the meaning of the two words. True, if the dagger would ever break, he would be sad, but he would simply find another one. Then, he looked at his beloved sword and gripped its handle. He could never imagine the blade being broken.

"Sorry", Aldryn suddenly said, being back in control.

"It's all right", Klyran replied, "it's interesting", he said, but the way the Ryan gripped the sword said otherwise. It was obvious, he would be devastated if something were to happen to that sword.

After a few minutes of silence, the oracle was unsure what to say, while his companion carefully ate the apple.