Draco stood on far end of the boat looking ahead to see if he could see Aeon Toris from afar. It was very early and the sun was still set, but Draco was always an early riser. He was a very young man, six years old, with short raven black hair that ran straight. He and his father were on a boat taking them from Saeyune to Aeon Toris and he was too young to remember his first visit there, so now as they were getting closer, he was excited to see his first look at the most irregular continent in this world. He had heard it was shaped like an octagon and was the most naturally beautiful of all the lands.

His dad soon came up to him, giving away his approach with a big yawn. He stood beside Draco and put a hand on his shoulder. “Your just like your mom, you know that? She was also an early riser and never let me sleep in for long.”

Draco smiled and asked, “So dad why are we going to Aeon Toris anyways? Do you have work there?”

His dad only looked at him for a long moment, as if deciding something very important. Finally he said, “You know I was hoping to wait to share this with you but you’re so very mature for your age. And, I’m not fully sure I will make it back from this trip. But I cannot tell you here, follow me.”

His dad led Draco down deep into the boiler room in a secluded corner. Only after his dad checked every nook and cranny around to make sure they were alone did he speak again. “It’s time I told you the truth about our trip here and about your mother’s death.”

Draco’s dad spoke quietly which made it even harder to hear him over all the sounds in the boiler room. Whatever it was he was going to tell him he wanted to make sure not a soul besides Draco would ever have a chance at hearing it.

“We are going to Aeon Toris because I want to secretly spy on Ragnarock. I will be infiltrating them as a reporter doing a cover on the anniversary their guild was founded.”

“But I don’t understand dad what does Ragnarock have to do with Mom’s death? I thought you said it was an accident, that her boat was attacked by a wild Elemental and sunk.”

His dad’s face grew angry just thinking about it, but he continued on. “That is what they all wanted us to believe son. The truth is your mother used to be a proud member of Ragnarock. In essence, they rule the world already, the supreme guild that everybody loves.

“But your mother was onto something of theirs, something dangerous. She sent me a message the night before getting on the boat, but couldn’t dare explain what this was in detail without talking in person. Now it is true that her boat was attacked by an Elemental and sank but I don’t believe it was a wild one.

“The elemental that attacked was a Leviathan, a highly uncommon elemental to be found, in fact almost rare. Now the boat that crosses the sea always takes the same route because it is safest and never once has met such a monstrous Elemental. Even now this boat takes the same path and there has never since been another Leviathan attack.

“This is all too coincidental that such a rare Elemental would happen to attack the boat on the safest route the very night your mother left Ragnarock and rushed to try and meet me. More than that, your mother was a renowned Elemental tamer and magician, even if it was a single leviathan that attacked she would have no trouble defeating it and could have just summoned one of her Elementals to carry her the rest of the way if the boat sank.

“She had captured four legendary Elementals before, there is no way a single Leviathan would stopped her from coming home. No, I think what happened is several members of Ragnarock discovered she was on to their secret plans and rushed out to stop her from leaving the island, but they were too late and she was already on the boat back to Saeyune.

“So in order to silence her and cover their tracks they grouped together attacked and killed everyone aboard that ship and put up the cover story of a wild Elemental attack. I knew since the very beginning that this was no accident, and had been waiting ever since for a chance to infiltrate them and find out what she did.”

“But dad if mom was so powerful and still was found out and killed, how do you think you can do what she couldn’t?”

His dad sighed and said, “I don’t know son, as I said I am not fully sure I will make it back to you, but I have to try. I know it is hard to understand son but I barley sleep at night, and I cannot stop thinking about all of this. I know you deserve better; I wish I could be better for your sake, but I’m not that kind of man. I’m sorry.”

His dad was right he did not understand much of any of that at all. They spoke very little after that until the ship landing at the docks of Aeon Toris.

Draco expected the docks to be moderate or small because on average only one boat traveled between Saeyune and Aeon Toris a week. But to his surprise, the docks were massive and he saw that there were dozens more boats on standby almost all larger than the one he was on. Some of the boats looked large enough to easily hold around a thousand passengers.

Just the docks alone was a beautiful sight to see, bustling with life and the way the sun glimmered on the water was pretty, but Draco could only think about what his dad told him before in the broiler room. After getting off the ship, his dad secured them a ride to the capitol in a wagon. Draco spent most of the trip staring down at the clean white stone that made up the entire main road to the capitol of Elysian.

From time to time, his dad said something but Draco wasn’t listening and said nothing back. The capitol was a weeklong trip away by cart and Draco slept close to his father trying to keep a careful eye on him, afraid if he didn’t he would disappear from his life. His dad took note of how Draco was acting and tried to cheer him up; it worked, a little. But as they got closer and closer to the capitol, Draco’s sense of dread and that something bad really would happen only worsened.

When they finally arrived at the capitol, Draco’s dad tried distracting him by telling him how beautiful the capitol was. Draco hardly noticed he only clung to his dad tighter.

They stopped a nice restaurant to eat good food before settling into one of the most luxurious Inns, courtesy of Ragnarock, since his dad was there on official business for them as a reporter. He got a room with two beds and a terrace looking out over the city and directly facing the headquarters of Ragnarock. The guild home was the center of the city, a massive white stoned structure reaching high into the sky. There were also fragments of large crystals embedded into the building near the top which reflected sunlight down into the city all around during the winter to help keep it all warm. And then during summer, they absorbed some of the sun to help keep things cool.

Draco stayed in the hotel while his dad went to Ragnarock to start his report. Draco was bored most of the time as his dad was gone until nightfall. Then he returned to the hotel and took his son out to eat again. That night they both settled into their beds and slept until Draco heard some noise that woke him up. It was still late at night but he found his dad getting suited up in dark clothes to sneak into Ragnarock headquarters.

He quickly got out of bed and ran over to his father begging him not to go. His dead knelt down and hugged Draco tightly, whispering in his ear, “I love you son, I will be back soon I promise.”

Then he left closing the door in perfect silence behind him. Draco rushed to the door to open it and try to stop him, but when he did the hallway was completely empty. Draco went back inside his room and waited all night for his father to return, not sleeping once.

Even after the sun had arisen, Draco waited for his father. Finally at high noon, he found the courage to leave his room and search for him. To his surprise though, downstairs in the lobby was a Ragnarock member. This was obvious because of his white robes and the symbol of the guild embroidered onto the robes, the symbol being a golden sun with a light blue crescent moon overlapping it.

The guild member was a young woman with a pretty face. She kneeled down to Draco and said, “It’s with my deepest regrets to inform you Draco that your father’s body was found just outside the capitol, killed by a wild Elemental.”

Draco said nothing but felt his heart stop, until the woman moved and placed a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to be sympathetic. Draco threw it off, turned around and ran back to his room, locking himself inside. For three days he stayed in that room, never eating and never sleeping, just waiting for his father to return.

When someone did finally come by, it was his aunt who said she had come to take him home with her. It was then that he fully realized his father really was dead, but he knew it was not an accident or a wild Elemental. It was Ragnarock, just like with his mom they had killed his father too. He reluctantly followed his aunt to the carriage where he finally managed to fall asleep as they took off.

He woke up the next day and despite having starved himself before, he ate very little. He said not one single word and made little noise on the entire trip, not only to the docks but all the way to Luran City where his aunt lived.

They arrived at her house and Draco said nothing for the first few days. After a while, his aunt remarked, “Your father’s death was such a tragic accident.” To which, Draco shouted, “My father’s death was no accident, he was murdered by Ragnarock!”

Draco then shut himself inside his room for the rest of that day. For almost a month, Draco said nothing more than when he lashed out at her. Finally, his aunt realized that she could not take it anymore. So, she sent him away to the Veleron capitol’s pristine magic school for young magicians.