Jasper took his first steps as an adult outside of the city of Lumen. He rested one hand on the hilt of his sword as he turned around to gaze upon the lights behind him. Lumen was beautiful and certainly lived up to its reputation as the City of Light. Jasper had never seen it from this vantage point, and it was breathtakingly beautiful.

“See you guys soon,” Jasper whispered. With a deep breath, he faced the road again and reached for the clip in his hair. Jasper dug around in one of the pouches for Ryker’s coin and felt like he was wrapped in a family embrace before he set off away from his home.

With Lumen far behind him, Jasper let the cool night air guide him. The darker it got, the more Jasper came alive. A rabbit darted out across the road far in front of him. Gentle sounds of crickets and owls among the trees and hills surrounding his path filled the otherwise quiet air. Jasper found that the sounds soothed him and provided a pleasant soundtrack to his nighttime journey.

After a while, Jasper realized that his pace had begun to slow. He looked up at the stars then back down at the map in his hands. “No wonder I’m so hungry,” Jasper said to himself. The positions of the stars told him he had been traveling for many hours. Although he had trained extensively for this quest, nothing could quite prepare Jasper for how famished he felt.

Rather than stop to eat and recuperate, Jasper pressed on and dug the sack of treats his father had made for him out of his bag. The scones smelled just as sweet as they had when they were given to Jasper back at home. When he took a bite of the first one, he heard his father’s voice reminding him not to eat them all at once.

But his fathers weren’t there to stop him, and there was no way Jasper would be able to contain himself. It was almost as if each bite reminded him of his goal. His family was his reason why he set out to slay a dragon for the Dragonguard in the first place.

Jasper continued on the path, taking his fifth scone out of the bag. He blinked a few times as he noticed his vision had gone slightly blurry. The bite of the scone was more difficult to swallow than the previous ones. As Jasper forced himself to swallow, he figured out the cause of the sudden change in his body.

He had begun to cry.

Before he could stop himself, a few tears streamed down his cheeks. It hit him in the moment between his fifth and sixth scone that he was miles away from home, on a path he had never seen before, and he was completely alone. 

“Maybe I can’t do this,” Jasper whispered, a sob ripping through his chest. He looked around for a place to stop and found a conveniently carved alcove in the side of the hill to his right. As quickly as he could, with tears in his eyes, Jasper made his way off of the main road and dropped all of his belongings onto the ground. 

Jasper sat on the ground with his back against the wall of the alcove and pulled his knees up to his chest. 

“What am I even doing?” Jasper rested his cheek on his knees and tried to take deep breaths. He knew what he was doing. He knew he could do it. The loneliness would pass eventually, but he couldn’t help but miss his family already. 

“You’re so much better at controlling your emotions than this,” Jasper chastised himself as he released his legs. He rested his head against the wall and took as deep of a breath as he could; his chest stuttered as he inhaled. “No, it’s fine. I’m just homesick and missing my family. That’s normal.” 

To any onlookers, Jasper was aware that he would seem delirious as he cried and talked to himself. But there were no onlookers. He was very much alone.

He touched the clip in his hair and felt a small sense of comfort begin to wash over him. Keirian’s magic was with him, reminding him once again that he was out in the wilderness to ultimately create a safer city for his loved ones. 

As he slowed his breathing down and wiped his eyes clean on his sleeves, he realized how exhausted he truly was. Jasper thrived at night – which was why he chose to travel under the blanket of stars – but his eyes burned from the tears, making it difficult to hold them open now that he was in a seated position.

Jasper pulled another scone from the bag and glanced inside the sack itself. It was the final scone, and he had not, in fact, portioned them out as he was instructed. Jasper sighed as a few more tears sprung from his eyes. He ate the last scone a little slower, savoring the magical flavors his dad had created. With the last swallow, Jasper reached for Ryker’s coin and slowly laid himself onto the ground. 

Jasper rested one hand under his head and used the other to hold the coin in front of his face. It was almost impossible to keep his eyes open, but Jasper tried as best he could to remain awake. He had a few more hours of night left, then he could make a real camp and rest when the sun came up.

But his goals were outweighed by sleep. 

Maybe I’ll rest for a short time. Then I’ll get moving, Jasper thought as he pulled the coin to his chest and allowed the exhaustion to take over.