“HE WHAT?!” Shouted Sarina at the top of her lungs.

I’ve known this girl since she was fifteen, traveled with her till she was 24, and have been her neighbor since. She had entrusted me, Christopher Olbeck, with taking care of, and determining if her son was fit to be a Diver.

I had just broken the news to her that her son, Ray, after my decision to not let him realise his dream as a Diver, had run away.

“How could you possibly let him get away?! Aren’t you supposed to be the fastest Diver to ever live?!”

“Well, Sarina, that cart of his is awfully impressive, I just couldn't catch up to it.” It’s true, I had been named as such in the past, Christopher of the Lightning Step, they called me when I still was professionally a Diver,  I could move faster than the normal human’s eye could perceive, but that was only for short distances, and that cart could go for days at a speed I could never hope to achieve at that length.

She was right to be angry, I had been partially at fault here as well. They had made a deal with Ray that if he could land a hit on me in a mock battle, they’d let him become a Diver. Ren and I had always wanted Ray to become a Diver, so I may or may not have gone just a little bit easy on him in the battles, and may or may not have taken his stupid little bait in the mock battle, to try and get him out on the field. It was awfully unfair to try and make him take down one of the strongest Divers to ever live in my and Ren’s opinions.

Unfortunately though, that win against me seems to have taken the already overly confident Ray Remory, and made him think he’s some kind of Diver god. It was no mistake that the boy was strong, but there lived far stronger, and he absolutely wasn’t strong enough to render all the gargs a meaningless threat.

Having realised his ever inflating ego, I decided I’d take Ray home, beat him up a few times after scaring him with the wolves, and send him back out to be a Diver, I wasn’t cruel enough to lock a boy with such boundless potential up in some crummy Diver town for the rest of his life.

Rash as always though, Ray seems to have gotten upset and jumped to the conclusion that he’d never be able to become a Diver again, and stormed off in his toddler like tantrum.

As I pondered over all this, Sarina’s rage grew exponentially(Ray really is her son, isn’t he). The air became heavy as her magic leaked out, a cold sweat broke out on my face, and cracks began to spread over the house's walls.

Ren tries to calm his wife and walks up to console her, “Now, now, honey, I’m sure Ray will be fine where he is, we’ll find a way to go get hi-”

Ren was cut off by a fist in the face that sent him flying into the living room wall. He slid down the wall with a dumb, happy look on his face. He’d always been a weird one, a guy always looking to take some sort of abuse. A perfect fit for Sarina, I supposed.

Though she had punched him and cut him off, Ren’s attempt seemed to have calmed Sarina down a bit, the pressure lifted and the house groaned as the torrent of magic subsided.

“What do you think we should do here, Christopher?”

I explained to her my original plan to bring Ray back home and beat some sense into him, before further adding, “I think the Deep might just knock him down a peg on its own, sure he got in a tough spot, but knowing Ray, he would’ve made it out without my help. He likely could’ve knocked out all the wolves before their teeth did much damage to his neck and killed them.”

I had jumped in to help him at the time, but Ray was tough, and he was strong, he most definitely will get himself hurt, but not killed. A wolf bite to the neck may kill your ordinary man, but not Ray.

His mother realised this too, and did her usual face in the palm with a sigh. “So we just let him run wild out there?”

“I think that’d be wise, it’s not like we can catch him on that magic cart anyways, plus the next city he’s heading to is Keero, where Yvone lives, he may run into her there, where she’d likely take him under her wing.” I told her.

“True enough, she’s still working as a solo Diver out there isn’t she, Ray looks too much like his father for a girl as smart as Yvone not to notice.” Sarina seemed to be slowly accepting the idea of just letting Ray go, which was a relief, seeing as if she chased after him, she’d likely destroy every town in her path on the way to him.

“Let’s just hope that the resentment she harbors towards us doesn’t carry over to resentment towards Ray…” I commented quietly

A sullen atmosphere arises around Ren and Sarina, remembering the events that transpired our last mission with Yvone and last mission as Divers, wasn’t one we liked to recall.

Breaking the silence Ren spoke up, “No matter what happens, Ray will find a way, when he comes back let’s welcome him without harboring any grudges about this little runaway incident, yes?”

“Like hell I will!” said Sarina, sending another fist into Ren’s ill-fated nose.