The group spent the next few weeks following a simple schedule. Every morning Alfar and Thomas would go for a quick run and then cook a light breakfast while Ciaran went into the woods to gather lumber. Then Beatrice would spend a few hours trying to teach them the sensation of gathering mana and using it to strengthen their bodies. After that Alfar, Thomas and Ciaran would spar against Beatrice and she would singlehandedly crush them. The day would end with Ciaran cooking dinner while the others made repairs to the inn. Then everyone would go to bed or so they’d like the others to believe.  

As the moon looked down from above Alfar walked into the woods. The world was quiet and calming but this did little to calm the voices in his head. An endless stream of doubts and what ifs rushed through his mind as soon as he was alone like water from a breaking dam. The thoughts only stopped when he lifted scaleripper into the air and begun to practice like Advar had taught him. Unlike during the winter no tears streamed down his face but his heart was still just as heavy. He continued to swing the sword until his arms shook and his hands were rubbed raw by the leather handle. Having finished his nightly routine, he walked back towards the inn.  

Meanwhile Ciaran walked down another path through the trees an axe in each hand. He couldn’t keep up with their need for lumber during the morning. He chopped tree after tree as he thought about the future. His most common thought was “Am I doing the right thing?” He found that the repeated motion of chopping wood calmed his mind.  

Thomas lay in his bed comfortably asleep dreaming of a life of adventure and wishes. There was no regret in his mind about leaving his home. There was only excitement in his heart until his dreams turned to darker themes. Thomas found himself walking through the streets of Elderbrook. However, instead of people, decaying corpses walked around him. Mostly they ignored him and a few even seemed to thank him. As he walked through the town the denizens began to change. The corpses began to grab at him and drag him towards the town hall. When they reached the hall, a hand forced him to look up into the eyes of an armored corpse riding on the back of a skeletal dragon. The figure pointed at him and the dragon rushed forward to bite him in half causing him to jolt awake covered in a cold sweat. 

Lachlann frantically flipped through the old journal. “There has to be an explanation,” he thought, “Something. Anything.” After the dragon attack Lachlann had failed to control more than a speck of mana. He had even tried to commune with the moon but there was nothing. His only thought was that maybe his guilt was holding him back. He often remembered back to that fateful day.  

He had decided to follow his fate and raise a fire drake. He found a small lizard egg near the brook and brought it back to his home. That night he once again extended his mind to the sky. Power surged through him before he lost consciousness. When he awoke there was a shattered egg shell and a bright red lizard about 3 feet long sniffing his leg. The creature looked like his vision with cute little nubs for claws and tiny wings unable to support its weight yet. That night Lachlann fell asleep cuddling the drake he had named Little Claw.  The next day either Little Claw or possibly something attracted by his cries killed one of Lachlann’s friends and burned his home.  

Every time Lachlann looked to the past, he felt guilt and terror eating at his insides. He worried about what would happen if his lifelong best friend found out he caused Deirdre’s death. He couldn’t afford for that to happen but he also couldn’t stand to do nothing. There had to be a way for him to make up for his mistake but his only hope was to help his group with magic.  

Lachlann strained his mind as he tried to feel mana around him and move it to make a flame. The little mana he could feel seemed to willfully refuse his demands. The journal he had followed mentioned nothing about suddenly losing ability. Lachlann even failed to keep up with the others when Beatrice was teaching them the basics of using mana to strengthen your body. Lachlann continued to try to make a flame until he eventually passed out.