Ruun and Alistair left the professor's room, and they went out to a little walk.
Ruun looked at the passersby, all elves from noble birth or who had some special talent that blossomed in a way that the king, Therion, would like to use for the good of Osysa.
Alistair looked at Ruun, smiled, and asked.
"Still faking that hatred for elves, are you?"
Ruun glanced at Alistair, smirked, and with a snort, he replied.
"People never respect a loving ruler, Alistair. You, of everyone else, know this."
"Were you able to let them know?"
"No, not yet, and I don't think I'll ever be." Ruun shrugged. "The heroes are nothing but a bunch of corrupt rats, except for two of them, who might have some salvation. But the rest, might as well die."
"Ruun..." Alistair stopped him, holding his shoulder. "Do you really have to go to this extent? Will they ever know your secret? Do you really have to wait until you die, for the people of Aluria to know the kind of person you 'really' are?"
Ruun sighed.
"I didn't come here for a lecture, 'professor'." And with a smile, he went on and kept walking. "I need half of the Crimson Hands here, and half in Aluria, with me. And I'm sorry, Alistair, but I'm not asking."
"As if you ever had to ask for something from me, Ruler of Mortals..." Alistair smiled, contently. "Is there anything else I can do for you?"
"Actually, yes. There is..."
Ruun grinned, and Alistair felt a chill run down his spine.
"What... What is it?"
"I need to use the Stargazer." He tucked his hand in his pocket, and took a vial full of red liquid from it, handing it to Alistair. "Here's what you need to calibrate 'that' function."
Alistair's eyes twitched a little.
He had built the Stargazer with one single goal, and just him and Ruun knew about the machine's 'second function', but why Ruun was asking it from him?
However, Alistair knew better than to cross that line with him.
"I'll get it ready."
"Okay, I'll go to the observatory once it's ready."
Alistair couldn't remember when was the last time he did it, but he bowed to Ruun, before he could turn around and leave.
And as he walked towards the observatory, he couldn't stop thinking about what Ruun said.
'He really did get out alive from the Abyss...'
***
As Ruun walked, he could feel it in his bones, in his soul.
The bond that tied Ana, Gart, and Asana to him, had been broken.
It wasn't long since Ruun and Kora left Aluria, so they couldn't have found a mage powerful enough to break it.
Which meant that they were, very much likely, dead.
"Hum... So they weren't heroes after all... Let's take a peek and see what happened."
He sat on a bench under an enormous tree, and closed his eyes.
Ruun focused, and in no time, his conscience drifted away from Osysa, back to Aluria.
Just to see his home land being devastated by strange creatures, killing everyone in their way.
Ruun clenched his fist at such sight.
He let the heroes do their job, because they only had one.
And yet, it all came to this...
Gorkas, however, was doing fine with the power Ruun had given him.
'He's a true hero... At least he knows the right thing to do.'
Ruun wandered through the town, and found bits and pieces of the dead heroes, rolling his eyes towards them.
'That's what you get for not doing what you were supposed to...'
But when Ruun saw Revan, he understood that he didn't have to worry too much about Aluria.
The leader of the heroes had a dark stain on his pants under his armor, probably having pissed himself out of fear.
But he was looking up, and as Ruun looked up too, he saw Fjär's queen, Faerah.
"Seriously, everything goes to shit when Ruun is out... I'll definitely make sure he knows that he owes me one, after that..."
Ruun smiled, and retracted his conscience back.
"Seems like I don't have to worry at all... But she'll keep pestering me about it forever..." He sighed, getting up, and going towards the observatory.
***
"Wait..." Kora looked at Therion as they walked. "So that's why... She tossed me there?"
"Yes, child." Therion held Kora's shoulder, still walking, but his voice didn't sound worried. "Now it is up to you, to fight until the very last moment, and when the time comes, refuse the descent, so that you can be capable of protecting your master."
"That's impossible!" Kora stomped one foot on the ground. "My master is more powerful than anyone can imagine, so how could I ever 'have to' protect him? I mean, he saved even you, right?"
Therion stopped walking, and exhaled a tired sigh.
They sat on a bench, and he told her.
"Child, you might think that because time runs differently in the Abyss, everything that you have seen from the Ruler of Mortals is final, and he is the most powerful being there has ever been. But he is not. Even he knows this truth, or do you really think that he is doing what he is doing now, just because he wants to have fun?"
Kora looked at Therion, she was surprised by what he had just told her.
'But... It can't be, right?'
How could it be, that something might be as strong as to make her master feel so concerned?
"So... What he's looking for, is something that powerful...?"
"No, child... It's something more powerful than the world itself, and your master is now with the only person capable of helping him find out 'what' it is."
Kora couldn't help but start shaking.
If it was something more powerful than Ruun, if something like this could ever be possible, than she had to be with him.
"If you're telling me that it is what it is, then I'll do it." Kora looked at Therion, determined. "I'll suppress her when the time comes, so that he can't worry about me, and I can be able to help him."