At the age of eleven, Kirim had barely reached the size of a human of the same age. The aging gap was closing, but soon it would be impossible for her to be equivalent in age to humans. She would stop aging entirely from the age of twenty to the age of one thousand. Blood elves grew slowly for their first five years, then quickly until the age of twenty for the prompt halt. It was common knowledge and feared through the dark lands. Often, other tribes would try to abduct a dark elf while they were still young and out training. Or travelers and nomads from other tribes would deem a dark elf worthy of learning from them if they were touted as a prodigy. Kirim was the most recent dark elf prodigy. Like her parents, she was a prodigy.
Had she been born to any other family, she might have been abducted. As it stood, she was the most impressive person of her age in the whole region. There were no dark elves within even ten years of her age. Her pugilist training allowed her to toughen her body, make her skin as tough as her own bones temporarily and resist slashing and piercing attacks. She was still young and her body reflected it. In the eyes of her tribe, she would be young until she passed a hundred years of age, even though visually she might not have any different features from the age of twenty. The age of one hundred was important for the sake of magic affinity purposes, as affinity would become obvious at one hundred. It wouldn't be obvious any sooner unless the child was a prodigy in magic.
Kirim was just packing her belongings on the sides of the saddle she had fitted to her personally tamed black behemoth dragon. She was finally allowed to go on her journey. Her last condition was met. She was currently as prepared as someone her age could be for braving the wilds of the dark lands. She could face any wild threat and easily put it down, though she might have difficulty against a traveling expert. Which was why she would travel on her dragon companion's back.
"Your equipment is still light, young master. At this rate we could travel the whole of the dark lands in less than a week."
Kirim giggled and scratched at the skin under his neck scales which made him purr.
"We aren't sticking solely to the dark lands, Rithi. We'll be crossing the mountains into the light lands as well. I wouldn't press too far just yet, but we'll go peacefully. My intentions are just to see what their people live like."
Rithi nodded slowly.
"Right, you had been speaking of your intents to visit and see the light lands. I don't understand this fascination of seeing how mortals live. One as long lived as yourself would be unable to gain much from those peaceful sops."
Kirim shrugged and rubbed Rithi's scales down to protect the skin underneath once again.
"There's always something to be learned, be they mortal or immortal, peaceful or bent on war. I would like to learn anything able to be learned. Whether it be how to grow vegetables in the most infertile land or how to cultivate peace with words. I hear constantly that outside of this settlement, the peoples of the dark land jump at fighting immediately in order to make themselves stronger and names for themselves. It's not like I wouldn't appreciate battle cultivated strength, but I'm still young and making sure I grow to adulthood is also important. In fact the most important part for me. I need to reach twenty years old at least so my body fully develops and I can physically stand a chance against other adults. I will rely on your strength when troublesome adults attack us."
Rithi puffed out an annoyed breath from his nostrils and closed his eyes.
"Wake me when you are ready to fly."
Kirim pet his cheek and returned to her home. She was grabbing the last of her equipment. A hollowed stone with a polished even top and bottom and an opening she could easily seal. It was a primitive stove. She wouldn't need to worry about producing light with fire and getting attention of flying passersby and would be able to eat in relative peace, as well it could keep her warm after she put out the fire.
She fixed the stove to the saddle on a part which wouldn't make direct contact with the thin scales on Rithi's belly, fastened the belts which held it in place, and finally climbed on his back.
"Let's fly, Rithi."
With those words, he slowly rose up to a standing position, unfurled his wings from hugging his torso and flapped his wings strongly, sending them swiftly and powerfully into the sky. Once incredibly far above the ground, he glided for a short bit to make the the nearest edge of the dark land border mountains visible.
"Shall we visit the light lands right away, young master?"
"Not yet. I want to visit a settlement not far from the border. There's a giant wall that way separating the dark and light lands, I want to go to the orc village not far from there."
Rithi was confused but changed his direction toward the orc village. It was tiny enough to take a while to come into vision. Entangled in the dead tree surroundings of the area, he snorted.
"Why do the orcs always build underground...? They should build grander structures like the other proud warriors of the dark lands."
He mocked the orcs and continued closer. He snorted once more and when he breathed in after the snort, he pulled up from the descent and circled above the village.
"There are no orcs below. Is this the right village?"
Kirim looked down and honed her vision with her enhancement magic. Indeed, there weren't any visible orcs. Only goblins and hobgoblins. She found it strange.
"It's the right village. Can you smell orc here?"
Rithi snarled.
"Only the disgusting stench of death, blood and waste. And of course those filthy and unworthy goblins. I assume this was an organized attack on the unaffiliated orcs. They do not ally themselves and work directly with the god of this land, so these goblins must have wanted to earn his favour by eliminating them. Goblin tribes are the ones I despise most in these lands."
Kirim nodded in agreement.
"Will you rain attacks from above? Or a more personal punishment? You intended to visit this settlement for a reason I presume."
Kirim sighed.
"I'll have to punish them directly. I needed information from these orcs. They were trying to get along with those living in the village on the other side of the border mountain and had information which would be useful to me. I was going to find out their common hair colour and eye colour to blend in."
Rithi roared and descended toward the orc village with a speed which would frighten any below to the point of soiling themselves. Kirim hopped off of his back shortly before they landed and she rolled a little to soften her landing. She glared at the nearest hobgoblin to where she stopped.
"A dark elf child! Capture her!"
Kirim shot a glare fixed with illusion magic. She bound the one she glared at in chains of magisteel, the strongest metal in the dark lands. At least as far as the illusion was concerned.
"You may try, but you runts will suffer the wrath of one who has the direct favour of Emperor Vector. Line up and submit yourselves to the emperor's will, or die in agony."
The goblins screeched and quickly lined up, grovelling at Kirim's feet. They were gullible, but it wasn't untrue. Vector had become like a second father to her, giving her a gift every year since her fifth. He said if she ever needed to use his name, to do so freely.
"W-why would emperor favour a mere child...?"
The hobgoblin in her illusion chains grunted and struggled to get those words out.
"He and my parents are like family. I am as a daughter to him. All I need is to give this medallion a drop of blood and he will be here in an instant and you could try desperately to explain your insufferable actions. This village was gathering information on humans on the other side of the wall. To mount an attack in the coming years."
The goblins screeched and ground their foreheads into the tough dirt beneath them as they grovelled.
"I am going to need to punish you all...who is the leader?"
The collective response was for all of them to look to the bound hobgoblin. They all pointed their fingers.
"Huuuh~? That makes this very simple."
She removed the illusion, grabbed him by the fur of his chest and tossed him toward Rithi.
"Control yourself Rithi. I want to duel this one."
He snorted.
"As you wish."
He looked on in interest even though his response didn't give much. He was always impressed by the elegant and entrancing movements of Kirim in combat. He didn't think the hobgoblin was worth the word 'duel', but he was eager to see more of Kirim's dance.
The hobgoblin pulled his machete from his hip belt and charged recklessly at her, she lazily stepped to the side. She had no interest in going all out against a mere hobgoblin. He was significantly larger than her, but he was infinitely weaker and dumber than her. She knew on first contact the severe ineptitude of her opponents compared to her upbringing.
"You aren't even worth one of the Emperor's blades gifted to me. I'll just end you with my claws..."
She stretched out her left arm and flexed her fingers, the ends and nails changing into claws. She clamped them together into a single point and faced him again. He charged at her again, a little more careful. He swiped to barely stay out of her reach, but he failed to calculate that she could easily duck down, and she stabbed her honed claws into his stomach, flexing her hand while inside and opening the wound all the way which went to the other side of him. Even the weight of him was unimpressive to her. She shrugged his lifeless corpse off of herself and looked down on the rest of the goblins and hobgoblins lined up in front of her.
"Now, will any of you try to avenge him? Regardless, none of you will leave here alive. I may even give you a minute to try and escape..."
She was merciless. Goblins deserved no empathy. She intended to burn the rest to ashes. The moment they would turn to run away, she would sweep the hottest fire she could conjure over them and burn them to nothing but ashes. Gathering them away from the flammable homes of the orcs was her intention of calling them out. She could go inside after and hope for some written information if the goblins didn't trash everything about the orcs who lived there.
The goblins grovelled even more fearful for their lives. They were a little more intelligent than she gave them credit for. If only for their instincts to realize running would only kill them all immediately.
"Hmm...you, hob with the clean cleaver. You're the new leader of this pack. Take this pack in that direction. Set up a village of your own. If you fail to survive there, attacking here was your own fault. I'm setting traps in this settlement as soon as you leave, so even dare to return here and you will experience the most painfully explosive death imaginable."
She knew that the land she was pointing them to was uninhabitable. She had a menacing grin on her face. She just wanted to fill them with dread before she would continue her intentions with the orc village. The hob she pointed out nodded and screeched to the others of the pack to follow, running away in a mess of orderly fashion.
With a sigh, Kirim turned her attention on the largest building of the settlement.
"That was boring. I hoped your use of the word 'duel' would make it interesting, but goblins could never make such a word interesting. Such a waste of time...it would be better to reduce those useless husks to ash."
She nodded.
"If they ran immediately after their previous leader died, I would have reduced them to ashes. I was impressed by their instinct to stop themselves though, so forcing them to retreat to uninhabitable lands and suffer is more entertaining to me."
Rithi snickered.
"You certainly have a wicked mind, young master."
She nodded and headed into the building she had her attention on and began looking for any signs of written information. With not even the most primitive form of writing seen anywhere no matter how she scoured for thirty minutes, she gave up and returned to Rithi.
"I'll have to venture there hidden. Take me to the top of the wall. I don't have enough energy to keep us hidden for long, so we need to make this quick."
Rithi nodded and knelt down to make it easy for her to get back on the saddle, and when she gave the signal he took off at full strength. He was always baffled when he could see through his arms. He knew they were there, but not being able to see them was so disorienting to him. It made things a little awkward for landing at times. He managed to land cleanly on the top of the wall however and Kirim honed her vision for a moment, seeing a beautiful human village on the other side. There was a massive tree, farmland as far as the eye could see, a thin forest which made a large clearing for the over sized tree, one significant building and a few more than a dozen large huts. Well, she mentally called them huts but they were closer in structure to the houses her settlement lived in, but they were made of wood and straw, with very little clay. The final thing she closely observed, was that the people of the village had a small variety of hair colours, from medium brown to light blond. She thought for a moment their eye colour was similar to her own golden eyes, so she shrugged and tapped Rithi's neck.
"Let me down on the other side of the wall, and we'll find a place for you to hide in the mountain...unless you want me to make you small again."
Rithi shrugged, which scrunched a small part of her saddle.
"I would rather understand your fascination with these mortals firsthand if you could take me along. I've grown used to becoming small for your amusement..."
It was an annoyed voice, but she knew he was excited. He was good at concealing his excitement when it was just the two of them, but she had grown to know him well.
He flew them down to the ground at the foot of the giant wall separating the dark and light lands, and the instant change of the sky above them from blood red to bright blue made her feel disoriented enough to need to cover her eyes, force them to adjust. The light lands were simply too bright.
"Are your eyes alright, young master?"
"They just need a moment, thanks for your concern."
She hopped off of his back, and heaved a significant breath as she pulled the saddle off of his back. She barely had them hidden anymore with her illusion magic, so she needed to make it quick. Just as she thought she made it in time to make Rithi small, she heard a voice shouting in her direction.
"A dark knight!"
The young girl who shouted at her turned and began to run away, but in that moment Kirim felt an incredible surge of strength in her first true moment of adrenaline. She turned her saddle into a travel bag, made Rithi small and stood in front of the slightly younger human girl with golden blond hair and eyes as bright blue as the sky above. She wore blue and white clothes. Everything about her was blindingly pure and bright.
"You are mistaken..."
Kirim had managed to make her hair dark brown instead of black and her eyes a little faded from the glistening gold they usually were. The girl blinked her eyes in confusion, looking back to where they had landed. There was a bit of dirt in the air from the road, but otherwise no sign of the landing. Only a small Rithi perched on Kirim's right shoulder.
"Wh-what...happened to the giant dragon?"
Kirim shrugged and tilted her head in a cute sign of confusion.
"What do you mean? I think you might have been seeing things. Maybe an optical illusion of my little friend here?"
She gave Rithi a step off point onto her hand and she held him out to the girl.
"Huh...but wasn't this one...bigger? But that doesn't make sense..."
Kirim nodded, thankful that size changing magic wasn't common in the light lands. Rithi yawned and curled up on Kirim's hand, folding his wings around his torso to give his body more balance when she moved him to her breast pocket.
"He did get pretty close, so if you saw me behind him you might have seen me as a dragon knight. I'm just a traveling kid like you."
The girl picked up the cute gesture of confusion, tilting her head in confusion as well.
"Traveling? But I haven't heard of a sacred task like traveling...unless you're with the merchants?"
Kirim was thankful and concerned at the same time. The kid she encountered was smart. She hoped that mortals of the light lands would be a little ignorant, but it was possible they were commonly intelligent.
"Not quite. Have you heard of mercenaries? Or hunters? I travel as an apprentice hunter. This guy has been with me for the last year and helping me learn how to sneak up on animals better."
She was great at keeping the lies flowing.
"Mercenaries are another task I haven't heard of, but hunters, yes. You're so young to perform your sacred task alone..."
Kirim pouted.
"And what are you doing out here? What's your sacred task?"
The girl smiled in response.
"I'm a sacred arts practitioner of the local Axiom church. Well, apprentice for now. Right now though I'm heading into the mountain to get something. If you're strong, would you be able to escort me in getting it?"
Kirim nodded in excitement.
"That's part of my job. I escort people who need someone used to all kinds of harshness in nature."
A cracking sound began resounding through the area which caught Kirim's attention. For a moment, she thought a pugilist might be striking the giant wall from the other side. No matter how strong the pugilist, it would take them an immense amount of time to make a dent in the durability of the wall. Plus it didn't sound like metal on metal like when pugilists would strike something of the same metallic substance of the wall. It sounded like metal cutting into something duller. She wasn't familiar with the material the metal was colliding with. The cracking sound was so loud she thought it would damage her eardrums, so she pulled some plugs she made of fruml cotton and plugged her ears to dull the sound. She noticed at a glance that the human girl's ears weren't pointed. Her hair typically covered her ears, but she needed to be careful her ears didn't poke out and show their pointed tips. She altered the shape of her ears and sighed. The human girl led her to a cave which led down into the mountain. It took seconds to fly over on dragon, but she imagined it taking hours on foot for such a young mortal child.
"Let me know if your legs get tired, I could carry you until we reach your destination."
The girl shook her head, turned and looked back at Kirim.
"I'm fine, but I might ask you to bring back the thing I'm collecting. It can be pretty heavy and if you're strong enough to handle it, we could get enough to save for a while."
Kirim felt as if she were being tested. She could just plop down her belongings and make the cave tremble under its weight, but she didn't want to show off. It had been a while since she last thought someone so young could taunt her. Indeed human children of the light side were very interesting.
"I can handle anything you could imagine. Even if there's dark lands beasts inhabiting this cave I could hunt them with ease."
The girl giggled.
"I'm still surprised a girl like me could become someone who leaves their village for their sacred task. You must have been blessed by Goddess Stacia with great strength and understanding of the world to have such a path forward into life."
Kirim thought of one last thing which might tip the girl off. If by the off chance sacred arts equated to magic, then she would need to alter her status information. She made a quick hand motion and continued to pay attention to the girl's footsteps as she adjusted her personal information to say she was human and erase suspicious information.
"Goddess Stacia must indeed be benevolent to gift me such strength and wisdom. How far do you usually travel in here before you reach what you're collecting?"
Kirim's question earned a laugh.
"Are you having a difficult time with all that equipment and merchandise on your back? It's okay, we're only a few more minutes away. By the way, you've been addressing me a little rudely so far...please, call me Alice."
Kirim nodded and understood they were on first name basis, not using family names like her tribe.
"I am Kirim. It's a pleasure to meet you Alice. And what is on my back I could travel for weeks without needing to so much as sit down with. A short walk through this cave is nothing in comparison."
Her ego made her almost instantly regret her words but Alice returned her words with an 'oh my!' expression.
"Well, you certainly do have the Goddess's strength then. I've never heard of a girl being so strong, let alone grown men. You must be very lucky. Maybe you're lying to me about being a hunter and are in fact an integrity knight?"
Kirim had heard about integrity knights and had to flee from one on Rithi's back once before. They were the light land's equivalent of dragon knights, but they had weapons which attacked the very laws of nature and magic around them. Her abilities were useless against the integrity knight who attacked her, so she could only flee.
"You over estimate me, though I might be able to in the future. Perhaps Rithi here will grow into my dragon mount."
Alice looked back and smiled.
"We've made it. Can you tell what I'm getting from here?"
Alice stopped them in a frigid location. The floor and walls were slick with moisture, and they were bright with a slightly more bearable light blue colour. Stalagmite and stalactite littered the room and the bones of a white dragon and long dead integrity knight kneeling on their sword were protected in an extremely thick layer of ice. Kirim closed her eyes and knelt on a knee in respect of the dead integrity knight. No matter their current state, in life they were likely strong enough to defeat the current her and that instantly gained her respect.
"We're collecting from the deceased here?"
Alice pouted.
"No! We're collecting some of the ice here. It's cold and it lasts for a while. I've been using bits of it to keep meals fresh for my friends back in the village and family, but this place is considered dangerous since the cave connects to the dark lands. I can't be in here long so I've been bringing back small bits."
Her exclamation roused something deeper in the cave, from the dark lands side. The scurrying of feet which were too familiar and unsettling for Kirim. Goblins. Kirim enchanted herself with a perception blocker so the goblins wouldn't recognize her species or face and she stepped toward the opening cautiously, peeking at the source. She had to act cautious even though she could easily conjure up fire and burn them to ash in a blink.
"Dark lands monsters, stand back. Even if you have a weapon, don't interfere."
Alice gave Kirim a worried expression, but nodded while shaking.
"Be careful."
Kirim drew her bow from her back and mouthed a spell to cast doubt from herself that she was using a sacred art for convincing Alice she was the same. The magic arrow of light loosed with a clean motion and split into a quickly rebounding and swiftly gaining speed array of light before vanishing. The goblins who were there, had been skewered into pieces by the magical arrow.
"That was amazing! But...that was terrifying. Your bow is like a sacred weapon...are you really not an integrity knight? Sometimes they're kids."
"Who knows? Let's get your ice and get out. I'll let someone know to burn the monsters the rest of the way later because leaving them like that is dangerous and you wouldn't be able to safely get your ice here anymore."
Alice pouted again.
"You keep treating me like I'm really little, but we must be around the same age. Unless you're an integrity knight...they're summoned to the world by Goddess Stacia to protect the people."
Kirim was interested in learning more about the integrity knights, about the goddess Alice revered. The ice was also fascinating. Kirim hadn't touched something so cold before. She pulled a cloth from one of her pouches and wrapped it around a cleanly cut significant block of the ice and she pulled it over her left shoulder.
"Let's go. This should be enough ice for your purposes right?"
Alice smiled wide and nodded in response. Thankfully she let that go. Insisting Kirim was an integrity knight made her nervous. Though she would be stuck at the appearance of a twenty year old far longer than the girl would live, part of her screamed to clarify that she was a blood elf, not a revered and respectable knight of the light lands. But declaring herself a blood elf would out herself as a person from the dark lands.
"But really, are you my age?"
Alice pressed it. She hadn't let go of it.
"I'm eleven."
Alice smiled wide.
"You finally answered me! I didn't think you would be older than me..."
"Alice!"
An unfamiliar voice called out, trying to find her. It didn't feel like it was aimed into the cave, but the voice traveled inside of the cave loud enough to catch her attention.
"Ah, that's aunty! Come on, she could help us bring it into town."
Kirim was a little nervous about speaking with an adult. She prepared herself mentally to talk with a significantly lowered vocabulary, but then that would get Alice confused because of her adept ability with language. Kirim realized she had been reckless with how she communicated and worried she would unintentionally out herself already. She went to so much effort to hide her identity, but it might not be worth it in the end.
Kirim and Alice made it out of the cave with the so called aunty treading into the cave a little on hearing Alice mention her to Kirim.
When Kirim saw the person at the entrance of the cave, she thought she needed to adjust her vision because she saw someone with black hair and golden eyes like she had.
"Who's this, Alice? And why are you way out here? It's incredibly dangerous to come out this far..."
The aunty seemed she might be in her forties, but a surprising status check from Kirim revealed that the woman was over four hundred years old. Her name was Kirito, and she wore plain clothes that might belong to a stable hand.
"This is Kirim, she's a...was it merchant, or hunter...? I think she's a hunter. She escorted me to get something out of the cave."
Kirito knelt down and pet Alice gently before fixing her gaze on Kirim. There was a sense of familiarity that was downright chilling when Kirim looked into Kirito's eyes.
"Kirim...you're cute, you resemble my son quite closely. If you had black hair and golden eyes, you could be mistaken for twins. His sacred task is as a wood cutter, so a hunter or merchant lifestyle isn't quite as similar, but I bet he could do the same tasks with some effort. Thank you for escorting the village chief's daughter. She's a bit reckless, but she means well. I hope she didn't give you any trouble?"
Kirim shook her head and pulled herself into the sun light outside of the cave.
"Alice wasn't any trouble at all. I like helping other kids my age."
Kirim was curious about Kirito's features and her curiosity tumbled out of her mouth like vocally tripping.
"Are people with golden eyes and black hair common around here?"
Kirito shook her head and a nostalgic expression filled her facial features.
"No, black hair is a dark lands feature and so are golden eyes. Typically those who live in the light lands with these features have no memories of their lives previous to living here. They're called by the Axiom church, 'Lost Children of Vector'. Typically Lost Children of Vector don't live long lives here because they can't digest the foods of this land and it becomes as poison to them. I and my child are rare cases thankfully, able to consume the food here without issue."
Kirim felt she had someone to confide in immediately, but she grew worried as Kirito finished speaking that she might out herself as a typical dark lands resident if she ate with the people of the light lands. Poison...she might be able to deal with the poison using her magic, but she wasn't certain.
"Is there anything wrong?"
Kirim wanted to take a risk. She wanted to be able to at least trust Kirito and Alice fully, no matter what they knew of her. She wouldn't pose as a lost child of Vector, she would simply undo her concealing magics. She could pose as something new, potentially.
As Kirim undid her concealing magics, Kirito pulled Alice away from her and watched her with a concerned expression. As the concealing magics aside from that which shrunk Rithi finished dispelling, Kirim showed very similar features to Kirito.
"I must confess to lies that I told to you, Alice. I am not one who has a sacred task from Goddess Stacia. I am as an adopted daughter of Vector, him being a close friend to my parents. I am not a merchant, though my skills do line up with hunting work. I have been taught from as young as being able to walk how to do several things. I am what's called in the dark lands, a blood elf. I don't want to hide anything from the two of you because miss Kirito is what I am and I don't wish to hide my identity from one of my own. I am not a dragon knight sent to attack the light lands, but a mere exploring child who wanted to gather information on the light lands. I have boundless curiosity about our world, and only wish to know what I don't already."
Kirito sighed and scratched the back of her head.
"This...makes things terribly awkward...at least you're a child..."
Kirito groaned and leaned against the wall of the cave looking out to the edge of the forest near the entrance. She covered her eyes before looking back toward Kirim.
"I must look rather disappointing to a knowledgeable child of my own kind. Only four hundred and some years, and I look like I'm in my eleven hundreds. That's what long term exposure to the light lands does to us though. Halves our life span. It's fine though. I'm growing weak with my old age. I came out to this village to take care of my child and leave something of me behind here. It's been about...two hundred years since I last met one of my own kind, and he was riding on dragon back attacking Centoria. I wanted to ask him questions because it was the first time I had seen someone with hair as black as mine and eyes as gold. But when he realized he couldn't win our fight, he put an end to his life. Saying it was "for Vector". I'm glad to know there's reasonable ones like yourself on that side instead of a bunch of blood thirsty savages."
Kirim nodded.
"I wanted to come to this side to get away from all the fighting. While I'm used to fighting and training day in and day out, I want to know what kinds of things exist outside of fighting. Different ways to live."
Alice was utterly confused by the conversation but tried to feel included.
"So you're both from the dark lands? Am I going to be alright? Is this not like stepping into the dark lands for me...?"
Kirito shook her head.
"No, the Axiom church's surveillance doesn't track conversing with dark landers, only setting foot on the land. I really wish...never mind."
Kirim set down her belongings and the ice and sat beside Kirito.
"Are you okay?"
Kirito nodded.
"Just...incredibly tired. I might not even have a year left in me because of this side to be honest. I might not make it another year, because I've spent so much energy while living here and did things which attacked my very foundation. I've killed my own. I know it's asking a lot, but if I don't make it past this year, could you take care of my child? I think he deserves to grow up as someone of his kind and have the chance to live how he was supposed to. Don't push it of course, but...also don't let him become one of the blood sucking savages."
Kirim shook her head and rest her head on Kirito's shoulder.
"You should come with me and visit my settlement. Let him be raised by my parents. He might have the kind of future you want for him if he's raised like me. I'm too young to raise someone else."
Kirito chuckled.
"As I said, asking a lot. I have a feeling you're one of the incredibly few from the dark lands with a reasonable head on their shoulders. Maybe it's because you're young...I will not go back there. And I would like to avoid sending my boy over there."
Kirim nodded.
"What do you want me to teach him then? I could start today, if you want. Just trade me information about the light lands and I'll teach him everything I know. He might not be compatible with some of the things I was taught, but I'll teach what I can."
Kirito smiled weakly.
"Thank you, Kirim. I'm...so thankful. I thought I'd never know where my name came from, or why I stopped growing after reaching twenty years old. I thought I'd never understand my aptitude for fighting, the desire. I'm just...glad to meet someone peaceful from the dark lands..."
Kirito's eyes closed and all energy from her seemed to fade away. It felt to Kirim like she had been holding on simply by the desire to find someone she could trust to properly take care of her child. Someone who was the same, who would know what would bring out the greatest potential from him.
"Aunty Kirito?"
Alice's voice was afraid. She got close to check for breathing, and no breath came. She checked for pulse and none came. She checked Kirito's status and life condition was at zero. Alice's expression changed from fear, to panic, to depressed. She cried silently until she couldn't hold it in anymore. She stared at the lifeless body left behind of the person who had taught her more about the world and everything than anyone else.
"I guess...her promise will be kept by those who were close to her."