A Sword For Gold

Chapter 17 - Dreams

The sun had already begun to set into the western horizon.

The traveling six had already gone about halfway through the journey south towards Dazolece, and had already reached the grasslands, and little by little, they were close to reaching the southern border of Levyria, that which was separated by a huge cliff with a great waterfall at its middle. However, since dusk had already entered the fray, it would have been wiser to take a break and set up camp throughout the night instead of continuing to waste their stamina all throughout the evening and risk the attack of yet another monster in the darkness.

And there was one perfect place Vaelia had in mind, as she led her sister and the rest of her companions to that particular place.

"It's just like how I had last seen it," Vaelia observed, pointing at her former home, that which was destructed to oblivion by the untimely Doroza that came her way and destroyed everything she held dear. Only wooden planks and debris and a few broken glass panes remained of it, and one would be hard-pressed to call that pile of materials a place she used to live in. "A total wreckage. I never bothered to come back here to have it rebuilt."

"Our home," Velenya figured, "No wonder these lands you were leading me through looked awfully familiar. It's been a long time."

"This was your home, Vaelia?" asked Cora curiously.

"Indeed it was," she affirmed, "If you can still call it a home. Let's settle here for the night. How are we doing on food?"

"We still have a lot of rations," said Maraxus, rifling through his pouch, "But I'd rather not use them up now. Kaleb and I will go hunt for some food. There should be a pig or a cow or a goat we could catch. We could use some of the wood there for a campfire."

"Agreed," said Vaelia in approval as Maraxus and Kaleb nodded to each other, setting out to hunt for their dinner, whilst Cora and Baros began to gather up materials for their campfire together.

Meanwhile, Vaelia and Velenya, as sisters, decided to pace around the wreckage, reminiscing and sharing their favorite memories of what they had called their home, as well as their memories of their parents.

"The reason why I ran away from home is because of our mother," Velenya spoke, as they walked and rifled through the wreckage, picking up pieces and debris and items that seemed like mementos of their late parents, "Ever since I had turned ten, every day, I was always in a heated argument with her."

"Really?" replied Vaelia, shocked by what her sister had said, "Mother was always awfully kind to me for as long as I could remember."

"Perhaps she changed her ways after I had left the day I turned eleven," assumed Velenya, "You were only two at the time. There's no way you could remember our arguments and quarrels."

"Perhaps..." echoed Vaelia in agreement.

"Listen, Vaelia," said Velenya, "Again, I'm really sorry for leaving. Perhaps since I had never established a presence in your life, there's no way I could ever act as an older sister to you... nor would I have the right..."

"It's alright, now..." assured Vaelia, wiping a tear or two away from her eyes, "You're here now, with me. We're going to make up for lost time, right?"

Velenya smiled brightly at her younger sister despite the dim moonlight that shone through the dark clouds that covered the dominantly waxing moon. "Right..." she affirmed with relief.

"Where have you been all this time, though?" asked Vaelia curiously.

"All over the world as far as our map goes," answered Velenya, "Learning and gaining power, and finding a purpose to live out my life. I found my purpose when I stumbled upon the ancient caverns underneath Tep Desert."