As the elderly lady slowly disappeared into the forest, Serena and Sylvie both slowly stood. Sylvie looked down and then over at Serena, who stood silent. She had just witnessed something she didn't think anyone would believe!
"Girl, if you have something to say, speak!... Or do you intend to continue silently gawking at me?" Serena was now facing Sylvie with a look of complete focus. Sylvie decided to carefully choose and piece her words together before speaking.
"I just never expected this type of behavior from… well, you. Vanguard Serena, why did we meet them here? Who were they?" Sylvie asked, not expecting an actual response. Who was she to question a Vanguard's actions?
Serena stared at Sylvie for a bit before responding. "Girl, do you know where we are? This place where we stand… is the Forest of Embers. When Warlords pass, if their bodies can be recovered, they are brought here. It is here that I solely lay them down to their final resting place. The very last of their magic essence is then turned into a special amber and passed on to their relatives."
It all started to make sense. The elegant way Serena did things here. The respect and silence she exuded just now. So that meant... "Those were previous Warlords…" Sylvie let out, the reality hitting her. "That was about 14 pieces of Amber... 14 Warlords." Serena just watched as Sylvie's mind worked. "Wait, so what does the Rose Gold Orchid mean?"
Serena looked up into the sky as a couple of birds flew past and she became lost in herself for a few seconds. She closed her eyes, and Sylvie wondered what she was doing. "Those Ambers were the last of the Warlords who died during the Initiation. I've been coming here since then, repeating this process. The orchid, though… was for Meka, the warlord who was sacrificed in the initiation. Her amber was infused into the Orchid so that when planted, it would spawn an additional Orchid. Her grandmother, the last of her family, was the one who received it."
Sylvie was now letting tears fall she couldn't hold back anymore. Serena just watched with no judgment. "Please do not see me as weak," Sylvie whispered, wiping her eyes. Serena grabbed her shoulder and stared at her. "The strength to show your emotions is true strength. Emotions give us life, keep us wanting to survive… They allow our Embers to burn bright." Serena let go and slowly walked off. As Sylvie took one last look, she turned to follow.
A day later, Sylvie was at a well-known tea shop. She would go there to clear her mind and had come there quite often before the initiation. But this was the first time she didn't have to pay. Her newly minted status as a Warlord hadn't been used, and her mind was too clouded to realize. Her cup sat on the table as she stared into the liquid, steam slowly rolling off the top.
As she sat and pondered, she overheard a group of Warlords chatting at a nearby table. She ignored the majority of it until something caught her ear.
"Hey, you guys hear what happened? Rumor has it one of the nearby Kingdoms got rampaged by Ifrits during their Initiation."
"Impossible! Ifrits are mindless beasts! The few that are supposedly intelligent are rare mutations. No way they could plan a coordinated attack."
"Well, that's what my contacts in the Shadowbliss Guild informed me of. You know they specialize in intel gathering and the like, but the scary part… their WarMaster fled during the attack and left their King high and dry. Their royals have fled the capital and are in hiding."
Sylvie couldn't believe what she had heard. Not only was a kingdom overrun, but their Warmaster, the one in charge of all the guilds, fled! It was the most cowardly thing she had ever heard of. All she could do was shake her head and then start to steel her resolve. She had decided what it was that she wanted to do.
"I will rise through the ranks… and once I become strong enough, I will become a Warmaster!"