After a long moment of silence alone on the roof, Kihrq joined in and sat beside me. I was too peaceful and calm to give a darn damn about what she was doing beside me, and who did she think she was. So I just dealt with it.

- You know… Forgiveness hides a pleasure that you can't get back from revenge. ... And revenge only seeks to make things worse. Trust me, I know what it feels like to have a traumatizing experience and not trying to let it go. But like one of my mentors said:

Live. Experience. Forgive. And let go.

- I know all of this will be forgotten sooner or later but I want you to focus and free your mind. You’ve been through a lot and…

There was a long moment of silence. It felt like the Empress was out of words. Like if from all the words in the world, she couldn’t describe how worried she was for me. I couldn’t stand it anymore so I started crying. I wasn’t crying because of my traumatizing experiences, in contrast, I was crying cause what she told me was true: anger and hatred were the only two things I knew. And I would always refuse to let go.

As more and more as I realized that ALL she said was true, I leaned over to her and continued crying but with each sob, it got worse. I cried and cried, and while she was trying to comfort me, I was stuck in my messed up universe of trauma and facts that have hurt me before.

[...]

I woke up again. But this time, she definitely wasn’t there. And it was the middle of the night. I must’ve dozed off while painfully sobbing with each tears coming out of my eyes. I’ve never really cried in my entire life. This was the first time...to experience such an emotional scene. It felt nice, also, to talk things through, with someone. (Even though I never really said anything). I felt suddenly relieved for that night, and for the first time ever, in 5 years, I've slept peacefully, with an open mind.

The next morning, I woke up, to find out a scroll, a letter with a Red Stamp* on it, a compass, and a map.

I took each item carefully, and examined delightedly, each and one of them. The map was the whole structure of our world, all kingdoms combined. The compass didn’t seem too old and seemed to work perfectly fine. But when it came to the scroll and the letter, I then decided to start off with the letter. It said:

Dear Fierin, my dear

How are you feeling? I’ve heard from my officials that you’ve been preparing for a long trip to the Northern Lands. Well let me tell you something, I’ve once visited them. Very cold and somehow aggressive people sometimes (just like their weather 😒) but anyways, other than that, there’s nothing to worry about. I sent a letter to them to make you and your team do an intense training session that’ll surely be useful during your battle versus the NightShifters. Also, I’ve sent you one of my best Falcon’s to help you guide yourselves and to keep you company.

And that’s when I knew we were off for a new adventure. Mission: Completing the “special” training course and defeating the NightShifters, even at the risk of losing my own life.

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Red Stamp* = In the world of the Dragon’s Whisper, a Red stamp is considered as one of the most important stamps. It’s mostly used to letters to convey messages, from Big kingdoms to small villages, from Big kingdoms to small tribes and the most crucial stamp is the Golden Stamp*, which is used for letters to convey messages for critical emergencies, alliances, messages, from Big Kingdoms to Big Kingdoms