Michael and Gabriel walked along a desolate path within the marshlands for what could have been weeks, but had felt somehow like longer.
They made no effort to speak along this journey through the far South of Vallmora, tredging ever so slowly along the continent, and heading directly towards the East.
It was late at night, and the bountiful constellations above were more vivid and dream-like than ever before. Each one glowing with such significance that they had no choice but to stop and stare in awe at the wonderous sight.
The swamp smelled of old socks as well as straight up garbage at times, but just beyond the marshy forest to their right with immense green water built up in the ponds and streams patchworked into it... Lie the vast ocean that surrounded Vallmora on all sides.
The most dangerous place in the world...
"What ever happened with your Catalyst...?" Michael felt the need to ask, looking at his friend with worry.
"My illness?" Gabriel asked, not even bothering to take his gaze off of the stars above.
Michael nodded, returning his own vision to the immaculate sight.
"I'm not really sure myself..." He took a deep breath, placing a hand upon the ragged black tunic that covered his chest.
"When Hextra took over my mind, it felt like my Catalyst had nearly shattered, and to this day it still feels as if there is a crack resting on its surface..." Gabriel looked quite on edge about the state of his mana core.
And with Leo having destroyed his, Michael did not want any more of his allies to injure themselves in such a way again.
"We should rest here for the night." Michael said with a sigh, walking towards a spot of dry land, and placing his old backpack on the ground in order to set up a camp.
As Gabriel began unpacking some of his things he muttered.
"Gotta miss having Chase around..." He said, his dark blue eyes pointing towards the pile of sticks that Michael had began to hunch over and make an attempt at starting a fire.
"Quite a quality of life indeed, huh?" Michael chuckled, gripping two ends of two sticks and rubbing them together with swift speed.
Gabriel pulled out a small bag of rations they had purchased at Sah Jenah's market before venturing off on their own with the sole purpose of returning to somewhere they had not truly wanted to go back to.
In fact, they would have much preferred to remain with Chase and company in order to settle down a little in one of the nicest cities in the world.
However, fate had other plans.
Or at least that is what Gabriel believed, as Michael had lost all sense of connection with the idea of fate.
Leander's last collection of words had broken through to him, causing him to realize just how mistaken he had been for the longest time.
Which meant that he would soon need to visit The Faceless Man no matter where he ended up staying or going, as he had a specific goal now. Something beyond that of any material or personal goal.
It was an ideology that he would need to build for himself.
He watched the cold misty breath escape his lips as sparks began to shine through the night.
Gabriel poked three medium slabs of beef onto a metal rod and waited patiently for the fire to be lit.
Only five minutes later, they found themselves waiting as the beef slowly sizzled over top of a fire.
"A strange way for us nobles to be living..." Michael said jokingly; however, a hidden sadness lied beyond the truth of that statement.
It was indeed a distant and unimaginable life compared to how the two of them had grown up, surrounded by servants and never-ending wealth.
Gabriel did not answer, as his gaze had been so fixated on the fire that Michael doubted any words would break through to his mind.
He sighed, leaning back with his fists balled up on the ground and looking skyward at the constellations once more.
Gabriel finished cooking the meat, but as he inspected the rod, he scratched his head in confusion.
"Uhmmm..." He tilted his head, unsure of what to make of the situation.
"What's up?" Michael asked, wiping the tiredness from his eyes.
"Weren't there three slabs?" Gabriel asked, wiping his own eyes as if to make sure he wasn't hallucinating.
"What the hell?!" Michael asked, feeling a chill run down his spine.
"This is some high quality stuff!" A third voice cut in, full of gluttony and audible awe from the loud chewing coming from the tree behind Gabriel.
The both of them shot into panicked alertness, with Michael standing and summoning his scythe, while Gabriel reached for a trident that... Wasn't there...?
"Who do you think you are?" Michael growled, unaware that this man had not only stolen their rations, but had taken one of their weapons as well.
Then...
He stepped into the light of the fire, his open blue vest lined with ivory trims flowed with the breeze of the night, and his baggy sirwal pants followed suite, bristling and rustling with the strong winds.
However, it was his enchanting gaze that confused the both of them the most.
His eyes... Were almost like azure crystals within the caverns of his perfect face... Not only that, but those bright blue crystals shun in the moonlight underneath the white, texture-cropped hair on his head.
Not only that, but in one of his hands he munched carefreely on the perfectly cooked beef, and his other he held Gabriel's trident with eloquence, his fingers casually spinning and twirling the quite long weapon at his side.
"You're asking who I am, aye?" He chuckled, leaning forward and making a pop sound as he sucked the juices from his finger and smiled with an inhuman amount of joy on his face, especially for someone who had just robbed them in the brink of night, countless miles away from any sort of civilization.
Michael's grip tightened on the scythe, clearly feeling the carelessness of this man... He was strong, and there was no doubt in his mind about that much.
"Yes..." Michael nodded, clenching his teeth as fear began to choke up from the bottom of his chest.
"Ah! Bugger! I really wanted to know who yall fellas were first, else I wouldn't have taken such a fine fruit of labor first and foremost!" The man's laugh filled the air, tensing both Michael and Gabriel in his presence.
"How bout you just hand me my weapon back...?" Gabriel asked, backing away towards Michael and unsheathing a dagger from his boot.
"Nah for real! No hard feelings and all, but come on mates, no need for violence!" The man laughed casually, as if he was having the time of his life just messing with the two of them.
"He's strong..." Michael whispered into Gabriel's ear, both of them loosening their bodies in case of a fight.
The man lowered himself into a crouching position, then he looked up at the stars...? Still refusing to drop or hand the trident over as he used it as a brace to maintain balance.
"Mates, you can call a fella like me Azure! No affiliate house though sadly, might as well call a fella like me a stray, Haha!" Azure continued to laugh, admiring the sight above as he paid no attention to the two warriors before him.
"Michael... Of House Everfrost..." Michael grit his teeth, forcing his body to relax as the man clearly had no interest in fighting them.
Gabriel; however, continued to refuse the modesty of giving their thief a name.
Azure looked at Michael, tilting his head and squinting his eyes.
"You mate? Everfrost? Ehhhh I can kinda see it, aye?" Azure, relaxed his broad shoulders, leaning back further and stretching his arms back.
"Mind if a fella like me stays at your camp for the night?" He asked, yawning in the presence of the people he had just stolen from, with an amount of audacity that was simply unmeasurable.
Michael was taken aback, completely dumbfounded by this...
'This fool...!' He thought, letting his head drop from all of the confusion and exhaustion.
"And what if I slit your throat in your sleep?" Gabriel asked, making Michael want to throw his arms up in betrayal.
"Hehe, go ahead and try mate, many have before, doubt you'd differ any from those savvies!" Azure said with such confidence and casualness that Michael had no choice but to believe him; however, Gabriel only scoffed, his eyes only fixated on the trident that Azure was using as a walking cane, even though he was only crouching down and taking mental pictures of the sky above.
Michael put a hand in front of Gabriel.
"Chill, we don't have a reason to fight." He sighed, heading back over to the fire and sitting down in front of it.
Obviously it didn't appear that Azure had any intent on making battle this late at night, but there was another brutally obvious reason that Gabriel should have been well aware of.
They were simply in no state for a challenging battle...
"This one is quite funny!" Azure cackled, sitting down at the corner of the fire and outstretching his shivering hands in front of the fire with a pleasured grin.
Gabriel grimaced, refusing to sit back down, only fixated on getting his trident back.
"You can call me Ozzy, ain't nobody calling me by my actual name anyways! B-t-dubs, got any more of that beef, some excellent stuff lemme tell ya!" Azure chuckled once more, bringing a strange light to the fireside.
Gabriel loosened his shoulders, pointing at the trident and muttering. "Can I have that back now?"
"Nopesies! Mine now!" Azure clasped his hands in amused gratefulness, then brushed his hair back as a thought seemed to cross his mind.
Gabriel rolled his eyes, trying his hardest not to clench his fists in anger.
"Actually... Now that I think about it, mate... I might be able to get your trident back to ya on one condition hehe!" Azure rubbed his hands together as if he had formed the most sane-less plan that had ever crossed his mind.
"What could that possibly be?" Gabriel asked dejectedly.
"Wanna help a fella get his own trident back?" Azure flashed his pear-encrusted teeth with a grin.
Michael internally sighed, knowing full well that this was certainly going to become a very long detour...