The caravan crept up the narrow pathways of the shrouded mountains.
Suddenly, blinding the boy as the fog nearly instantly vanished, was a bright cloudless sky, with a raging fury of flames.
A vibrant orange sun sat alone in the vast sky.
Chase could immediately tell by the raging light, and the strange sense of awe that radiated from the strange sun, that it was not the same one that covered the continent below the mountains.
No, it was a very different sun; he felt that if he looked even remotely near it, it would rob him of his sight.
"I remember my first time embracing the Pyrothar, when I came here for my brother's graduation," Michael said with a hint of nostalgia in his voice, as he covered his eyes with his hand.
"Don't worry, it gets easier to see, once you get higher up the mountain."
Chase pondered to himself for a second as he shut his eyes and looked at the ground.
"The Pyrothar?"
He asked Michael, with the urge to learn about this strange second sun.
"You don't know?" He paused for a second. "Figures."
Chase would have rolled his eyes if they weren't hidden behind his eyelids.
"What is it? The 'Pyrothar'?"
He asked harshly.
"Before the last phoenix died centuries ago, the mythical beast made a pact with the first paladin, Orion."
Chase waited patiently for the other boy to continue the story—now intrigued by the mention of the phoenix.
"Basically, Orion used the binding with the phoenix to give power to a bunch of minor clans at the time, that grew into royal houses."
He paused for a second before speaking again.
"Once Orion grew mad from his immortality, he ripped out his soul and sealed it above the mighty mountains that separate the two sacred kingdoms."
He told the story as if any random kid on the street would be able to know it word for word.
"The Pyrothar is the last remnants of the first paladin's soul. He created the sun to protect The Phoenix Academy, since his son was the guy who founded it."
"I see..." Chase responded carelessly, sounding as if he did not care for the story.
He felt slightly bad about his tone toward Michael, but the other boy didn't seem to take offense or anything, so he just decided to forget about it.
As he let the interesting tale process in his head for a bit, he returned to his state of thought—leaning against the window of the caravan.
Sure enough, the sun got dimmer and dimmer, until it was just a little bit brighter than the normal sun.
He could not make out what it looked like when he tried to catch glimpses of it through the jagged mountain peaks.
Once it was visible again, Chase could have sworn that there were enormous fiery rays surrounding the ball of flame, like hundreds of swords acting as a shield in the sky.
The caravan soon began to slow down, eventually fully atop the mountain.
In front of the several horse-drawn carriages stood a vast land, that continued on across the next several mountain peaks.
Chase was left with a sense of awe as he witnessed the beautiful castles that stood atop the mountains.
The Pyrothar burned brightly in the sky, its rays like wings spread wide. It wasn't just light; it was power, ancient and untamed.
Below it, each castle was connected via massive wooden bridges that joined the mountain peaks together.
The first three castles towered above the mountain peaks and looked to be made out of an ivory-chiseled marble.
However, the next two were more fortresses than castles. Instead of marble, they were made of some type of black stone, although it was hard to see from the distance.
The last mountain held a beautiful coliseum that looked to be carved from a vibrant orange gemstone.
Chase had stuck his head out of the caravan window, as he was stunned by the sheer size of the academy.
"Come on, the Headmaster wants to meet you as soon as possible."
He quickly stood up and followed the older boy out of the caravan.
As he walked across the vibrant golden pathway that led to the first towering castle, he seemed to be overcome with resolve.
There were things he wanted to ask the Headmaster—countless questions—but from what his father had said about showing the dagger, Chase needed to know if this Headmaster guy knew his father.
'I'm going to find the people who burned my village to the ground.'
His thoughts silenced for a second as he took in everything he had been through...
'First I'm going to find out if you are alive, Dad... Then, not anytime soon, but eventually—I'm going to kill them.'