The warm drifting air caressed Rion as he stared at the vast northwestern forest with a quiet smile.

All of his new group members had already left and the ones remaining were Dora, Yuura, Tarun and Karhun.

Tarun stepped beside him and watched the forest for a few moments before he asked, "What's got you smiling like that?"

Rion pointed his finger towards the forest and replied, "Unlike anything that I see or feel, nature doesn't force itself to be beautiful or ugly, harsh or soft..."

He turned his head towards Tarun and asked, "Yet, I only see its beauty. Why?"

Tarun turned to him and simply stared into his smiling eyes. He didn't know whether Rion was asking him — or himself.

He didn't even know if it was a question at all.

It could just as easily have been a statement.

Or perhaps… the answer.

A few moments later, he spoke, "I don't know. Maybe being able to ignore the ugly is what makes you so different from us?"

The corners of Rion's lips lifted slightly and he replied, "No. Ignoring the ugly keeps us from appreciating the beautiful. But what is ugly and what is beautiful depends on us… so anything can become beautiful — and everything can become ugly."

Tarun blinked a few times and stammered, "Then for you everything is beautiful?"

Rion shook his head and pointed at a spider crawling on the ground. He said, "Of course not. There are things I consider ugly, but..."

Fwoosh!

Golden aura flames blazed around his finger and lashed towards the spider, killing it on the spot as he added, "I can always make it beautiful, no?"

Tarun fell silent, and the warm air swept through the silence like the world itself was waiting for his answer, but it had to be left disappointed.

Dora stepped beside him and asked with a deep frown etched on her face, "Even if you turn ugly yourself?"

Rion's eyes rippled for a moment as he said, "That depends on what I consider ugly."

He sat down at the cliff's edge and said while the breeze brushed him like a lover's cuddle, "For me, the purple fog forest is ugly, the Remnant is ugly, the chains are ugly... Would I really become like them after getting rid of them?"

Before anyone could even say anything, he continued, "Maybe I will..." He turned his head towards Dora and added, "But I'll have the four of you to stop me from becoming ugly."

All of their lips arched up into beautiful smiles. Karhun stepped over to him and asked, "What is it that you want?"

Yuura, who had been silent till now, also walked over and said, "Can you still not tell us your goal?"

Rion smiled warmly and asked, "Have any of you except Dora thought of the world beyond the mountains?"

"The world beyond the mountains?" All three of them frowned and mumbled at the same time.

Rion nodded and continued, "All of you know that my mother is an outsider and so were people who had waged war against us around sixty years ago... doesn't that mean more people and places exist beyond these harsh mountains?"

"But what does that have to do with us?" Karhun questioned and pulled everyone's attention towards him.

He stared into Rion's gleaming eyes and continued, "Let's say you are right. So what? We are Dhaevrak, and we have a duty to fulfil. Leaving the mountains to see places you don't belong to and people you don't know sounds stupid."

The others nodded in agreement. Why would they move to see what wasn't even theirs when they already had a greater duty to follow? To them, it was like abandoning a fortified wall to wander into a land filled with unknown beasts.

'Just as I thought.' Rion didn't argue; he had already expected them to disagree with his thoughts, but... he was also a Dhaevrak. His own views were reshaped by their tradition and way of life. Even he wouldn't give up his trusted weapon just to pick up one he never held before.

He turned his head towards Karhun and asked, "What if the duty no longer exists?"

Yuura, Karhun and Tarun's eyes widened in disbelief and Karhun muttered, "What do you mean?"

Rion raised his open palm toward the forest and clenched it as he declared with a bright smile, "What if the purple no longer exists? What if instead of fighting it... We take it for ourselves? Won't it turn beautiful instead?"

Their frowns deepened even further and Karhun mumbled in utter bafflement, "What are you saying...?"

Rion stood up and turned around towards them. His arms were wide open and a wide grin stretched across his face as he declared,

"I've decided instead of destroying the purple fog forest, I'll take it for myself. Then we won't have to fear the purple... as I would become the ruler of purple."

The three of them froze in their place, their hearts beating loudly like a war drum. He offered his open palm to them and said, "Won't you all join me?"

Dora placed her hand under his palm with a warm smile and said, "I always wanted to see the outside world."

His smile widened and he looked at the other three, but they didn't move and just continued to stare at them.

Silence stretched as their thoughts churned. Yuura finally placed his hand on Rion's palm and mumbled with a pout, "I already told you not to leave me."

Tarun was the next. He placed his hand atop Yuura's and said with a wide grin, "Before meeting you I've always been trapped under Kiroa. So I want to taste more of this freedom."

Rion patted Tarun's back, and all of them shifted their gaze at Karhun, who had his fists clenched tightly as he stared at Rion with dark eyes.

"Are you willing to use purple for your goals even though it has killed so many of our kin?"

The others frowned and looked at Rion from the corners of their eyes as Rion answered, "Of course I am. It has to protect more than it has already taken away from us, after all."

A baffled chuckle escaped Karhun, and he placed his palm atop Tarun's as he said, "I had promised to be your shield, and I will keep it with my life."

Rion's grin faltered and he mumbled, "I didn't agree with you being my shield."

Karhun shrugged one shoulder.

"I never asked."

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