The moon brightened the world in its soft white and blues while Rion stared into the glowing, bestial yellow eyes of Varok.

His breath hitched from the revelation of what the dark king had done. He always wanted to know what had caused all tribe members to act together to kill a fellow Dhaevrak when each one was considered equal to a family member.

'No wonder Father and Nena get furious whenever someone mentions him...'

He took a deep breath to calm himself and asked, "These dark phantom gauntlets... are they the ones hanging on the wall of your cave?"

Varok nodded. "They are."

"Why haven't you destroyed them?"

"Destroy them?" Varok scoffed. "Those things can control the purple miasma that devours everything. What makes you think that they can be destroyed?"

Rion's eyes stirred in realisation, and he mumbled under his breath, "Right..."

Just then, a thought struck his mind.

'What if I use them to replicate immortality?' He wondered, and Varok's sharp voice cut through his thoughts. "Don't even think about going near them."

Rion's heart sank from the iciness of his words, and he muttered, "What do you mean?"

Varok's eyes narrowed slightly as he growled, "Do you really think that you can hide your goals from Haden and me?"

Rion pressed his lips into a thin line and looked away.

"We know that you are trying to find a way to control the purple miasma, and the only reason we are allowing you to do so is that you have the God of Throne bloodline — a bloodline that cannot be tainted."

Rion clenched his fists to the point of paling and thought grimly, 'Even though I have an answer right before me I can't make use of it.'

He exhaled softly and remarked inwardly, 'They are only doing it for the good of the tribe...'

The cold breeze touched him, and a sudden thought appeared in his mind. His eyes widened in both realisation and confusion. He turned his head towards Varok and pressed, "Why can't I use it when it can't even taint me?"

Varok let out a gritty chuckle and said, "I knew that you were going to ask that. The reason is simple... You'll be broken before you get to use them."

Rion frowned at his unclear answer, and Varok's expression darkened. "To use the authority of the dark phantom gauntlets, one must sacrifice a part of themselves."

Rion's expression hardened even though he didn't understand the true meaning behind his words.

His lips parted by themselves, and a question escaped him, "What does that mean?"

A bitter expression appeared on Varok's face as he explained, "Every person has multiple parts within themselves. These parts are what make us different from each other."

He jabbed his finger at Rion's heart and continued, "You also have multiple parts, part of a son, lover, group leader, friend and many more that you don't even know of."

He lowered his hand and added in a defeated tone, "To use the authority of the dark phantom gauntlets, you must feed it one of those parts... and once you do that, you'll never get that part back. You'll never be what you were, just like how he was never he after using it."

Rion didn't react and just stared at Varok's solemn expression. He didn't know what to say or how to react; he didn't even know if he should get sad or angry, it was just that overwhelming for him.

Moments turned into minutes as his mind calmed and he asked, "Then why did you ask me to do that?"

Varok's lips arched up slightly as he answered, "You are different from the dark king. You won't lose yourself to your goal like them."

Hearing such a baffling answer, Rion clenched his fist and demanded with gritted teeth,

"What makes you so certain?"

He had expected a detailed explanation or at least something logical, but Varok simply shrugged and muttered, "Just my intuition."

Dumbfounded, his mouth went agape, and he mumbled, "Intuition...?"

He shot to his feet, "What do you mean 'JuSt My InTuItIoN'?! How can you do something like this just because of your intuition?!"

Varok watched with prideful eyes and said while puffing his chest, "What kind of beast doesn't trust its instinct?"

Rion's jaw fell agape once more, and he pointed his trembling finger at him.

"You... You... Agh!" He shouted in irritation and before he rubbed his face with his hands and took a slow, deep breath.

Varok stared at him in amusement and asked, "Are you mad that I have no mystical reason to trust you as others do?"

Rion stared at him with a deadpan expression and screamed inwardly, 'That's not the issue, you dumb beast! How can you just make me do something like this just cause your instincts said so?! You are the Den Lord for fucks sake!!'

However, he didn't dare voice his thoughts as he wasn't in the mood to adapt to an otherworldly level of pain.

He walked over to his spear that was placed by the wall, and Varok questioned, "What are you doing?"

"I am going back," he stated as he picked up his spear and began to leave.

However, just as he was about to leave, his steps halted, and he said, his voice low but sincere, "Thank you for having trust in me, Den Lord."

Varok didn't look back at him and nodded while staring at the northwestern forest.

Rion stared at his monolith back for a few moments before leaving the cliff.

Just as he left, Varok let out a deep sigh as he stood up from the edge and walked over towards an old redwood tree.

He crouched near it and began to scrape the mud clinging to its trunk. A few minutes passed, and he finally stopped.

He bit his lips, and his eyes shimmered with tears as his fingers slowly guided across the forgotten letters engraved on the tree's trunk.

The letters read:

Varok & Hienia

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