The fire burned quietly between them.
Caius continued staring into the flames, his father's final moments still fresh in his mind. The memory of Cullum standing alone against the orc warlord refused to disappear. No matter how many times Caius tried to push it away, he could still see the axe descending and hear his own scream.
Sereth waited patiently. "What are your plans, Caius?"
Caius finally lifted his eyes. "Revenge."
The word came quietly, but there was no hesitation behind it.
"I want to kill the warlord."
Sereth studied him.
"Someday, when I am strong enough, I will find him and kill him."
The dark elf remained silent for a moment before asking another question. "And after that?"
Caius's expression hardened. "I will find the kingdom's army."
Sereth's eyes narrowed slightly.
"I want answers." Caius looked back toward the fire. "My father asked them for reinforcements. They refused him. They said the army was needed elsewhere, but they were there when the castle fell."
His hand slowly tightened into a fist.
"They watched." Caius's voice became heavier. "If they had come, my father might still be alive. The people who defended the castle might still be alive. The men who fought beside him would not have died there."
He looked toward the darkness beyond the cave.
"They had an army. They could have helped us. Instead, they stood on that ridge and watched the castle fall."
Sereth remained still.
Then he felt something change.
The mana around Caius shifted. A faint darkness began gathering within the boy's body.
Sereth's eyes narrowed.
The black energy rose from somewhere deep inside Caius, surrounding his core for only a moment before disappearing completely.
Caius seemed unaware that anything had happened.
Sereth said nothing. He simply watched him.
Caius stared into the fire. "I need to become stronger."
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His voice was quieter now, but the determination behind it was stronger than before.
"I need to become stronger than the warlord. Stronger than the soldiers who stood there and watched my father die." He looked at his hands. "When I stand before them, I don't want to be a boy asking why."
His eyes hardened. "I want to be strong enough that they cannot ignore me. Strong enough that they have to answer me."
Sereth understood.
This was no longer simply about revenge. Caius wanted power: not for glory, nor for wealth. He wanted the strength to force the truth from those who had abandoned his family.
Sereth leaned back against the stone wall. "Then we will go north."
Caius looked at him. "You said the human kingdom was west."
"It is. But we are not going there yet. We are going north, to the frozen wasteland."
Caius studied him. "Why?"
"Because I gave your father an oath."
Caius remained silent.
"I promised him that I would keep you alive until you reach sixteen." Sereth looked directly at him. "I will fulfill that oath. But keeping you alive is not enough."
Caius listened carefully.
"I will teach you how to survive." Sereth's voice became firm. "I will teach you how to move through hostile lands, how to hunt, how to track, how to disappear, and how to recognize danger before it reaches you."
He paused.
"And I will teach you the art of killing."
Caius looked at him. "You mean how to fight?"
"No." Sereth shook his head. "Fighting is something everyone learns. Killing is different."
The dark elf's expression remained calm. "I will teach you where to strike, when to strike, and when not to fight at all. You will learn how to kill when necessary and how to survive when killing is not the answer."
Caius thought about his father's teachings: the Eye of the Loom, Far Sight, Inner Sight, and the Macrae bloodline. Everything Cullum had begun teaching him had been meant to prepare him for a world he had never understood.
Now Sereth was offering to continue that training.
Caius looked toward the dark elf. "Where will we go?"
Sereth's eyes turned toward the northern darkness. "Far north."
Caius frowned. "North?"
"Beyond the mountains." Sereth's voice became quieter. "To the frozen wasteland."
Caius stared at him.
"The land of my people." The words carried a weight that made Caius realize Sereth was speaking about a place he had never intended to take him.
"Your people?"
Sereth nodded. "You will train there."
Caius looked toward the darkness outside the cave. "What will I find there?"
"My people." Sereth paused. "And perhaps answers."
Caius turned toward him. "Answers about my father?"
Sereth nodded. "Your father had a past before Castle Precipice."
Caius's expression changed. "What do you mean?"
Sereth looked into the fire. "There are things about Cullum Macrae that you do not know."
Caius remained silent.
Sereth continued. "If you want to understand your father, you will eventually need to understand where he came from, the people he fought beside, and the things he did before he became the lord of Castle Precipice."
Caius's eyes hardened with renewed determination. "Then we go north."
Sereth nodded. "Not yet. We are both injured. We need to recover and find food before we begin a long journey. It will take nearly two months to reach the frozen wasteland, even if we travel without delay."
Caius looked toward the dark passage beyond the cave.
Two months.
It was a long journey, especially through a land neither of them fully knew. But compared to what awaited him in the west, the journey north seemed like the path he needed to take.
"Then we prepare."
Sereth gave a faint smile. "That is the first sensible thing you have said tonight."
Caius almost smiled.
The fire continued burning between them. Far above, the mountains were silent. Far behind them, Castle Precipice had fallen.
And somewhere beyond the northern mountains lay the frozen homeland of Sereth's people, where Caius would begin the journey that would shape the warrior he would eventually become.