sadder than mine?” Rein asked, smiling.
“Alright… Since you’ve shared your story with me, I think it’s fair for me to tell you mine. When I was a child, my father died in one of the battles, or at least that’s what I was told. My mother struggled to live alone with a child, especially in Illyrion. She did her best until she fell ill, and we ran out of money even for food. That’s when I decided I had to follow my father’s path, that I had to become an empire warrior, but a better one than he was. In my eyes, it would solve all our problems because the empire always paid generous money to warriors. I still remember the day they executed Emperor Saron; it was a sad day, but everyone quickly accepted it and continued living as if nothing happened. Soon after that, I joined the military academy. Years passed, and I grew stronger and faster. As I matured, the first military campaigns in barbarian lands or beyond the Sea of Seos seemed so easy for me, as if I were born for it. Since childhood, I was passionate about drawing, so my brothers in arms nicknamed me ‘the artist.’ Every time after another massacre for the glory of the empire, they teased me, saying I had painted another beautiful picture. Through friends, I sent letters with money to my mother in the capital, but soon I learned that she had died. That’s when I lost the meaning of what I was doing, but I continued because I knew nothing else and couldn’t do anything better. One day, I was assigned to reconnaissance in the territory of the Last Kingdoms. In a small group, I stumbled upon dozens of squads of local knights. I fought as best as I could, but there were too many of them. Winning was impossible, but I somehow managed to escape the pursuit. On horseback, I reached the nearest village and lost consciousness due to blood loss. But when I woke up, I realized that I was helped by a wonderful young lady who lived there. Despite considering me an enemy on her lands, she saved my life and nursed me back to health. And I was doomed to fall in love with her head over heels. Raidarians, as if deliberately delaying retribution for so long, allowed me to become attached to her and the people of that village as much as possible. When they came, I killed many of my own to save her and everyone I had come to know in that village during the long time I spent there. In the end, I lost her and almost everyone I intended to save. Raidarians burned the village to the ground, as if mocking me for saving my life. My spirit was broken… But I kept going until I stumbled upon a person who showed me the way to the village of Oi in the mountains. The teachers healed my spirit, body, and mind, and tempered them in exchange for my vow never to kill again. And then they released me when I was ready for it. I left the village of Oi with a mission – to help those in need, those who couldn’t help themselves, especially those with broken souls like mine. That’s how I met you, and that’s how I found a mission even more important than my previous one.”
“You’re right, it’s indeed very sad,” said Rein. “I sympathize, friend! Or should I say, teacher now?”
Rein placed his hand on Iziro’s shoulder, slightly surprising him. At the same time, Rein noticed people and cargo being lifted onto a huge floating mountain.
“So that’s how they do it. I thought the pictures from the books I read as a child were lying to me. Isn’t it amazing?” asked Rein.
“But you lived in Illyrion,” Iziro wondered. “Have you ever been to the underground part of the city?”
“You know I was forbidden to leave even the castle until… Until my uncle banished me.”
“Oh, right. I apologize; I assumed maybe you didn’t tell everything back then.”
“Whatever it was, it ascended towards the floating mountain. A special lifting mechanism was used for this purpose. Long and extremely strong Reynian vines were stretched from the mountain to the ground. Tightly pulled vines helped stabilize an extensive platform made of interconnected logs, where the cargo was placed. There were also vines pulling the platform upwards, so the lifting mechanism itself was located on the floating mountain.
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