Eonis walked slowly with the weight of a secret pushing down on him every step of the way. He took a seat in front of Gene, took a deep breath, and then locked eyes with the young man.

  “Listen to the story of Marcus and Shauna Winthrop, the Elementalist and the Sword Saint. Listen, and then see the truth. They had been dubbed heroes of the new dawn even long before Silvayn was formed. In their time, they had performed unheard of feats in countless spire raids, driven back a band of Gorgon that sought to conquer Alleyria, and the creature known as the Sleepless Night that had driven the people of Taos mad for weeks on end. Gordona and I were two of those people. I wasn’t an adventurer back then. I hadn’t claimed a class or gained any active experience. I was content to just live in this world and not contribute to it until I met the Winthrops.”

  Eonis closed his eyes and Gene knew what to do. He reached out to his mind, to his memories, and he stepped into Eonis’s world.

  He looked much the same back then, having stopped aging as all elves do when they reach the age of fifty. But fifty was far from young and back in those days, the brashness of youth had been what drove Eonis from tavern to tavern every night. When the Sleepless Night came, he discovered there was no brew in this universe that could overcome its effects.

  In week 4, the madness of insomnia had yet to fully grip him. Elves naturally slept less than others and so, as he walked the streets alone and heard the mad ravings of those exhausted beyond comprehension, his steps carried him over the bodies of those who couldn’t hold on. He was delirious, fighting so hard to stick to his routine of visiting Trinette’s Tavern that he didn’t notice the creature that descended from the night’s sky above him.

  “Get down!” shouted a small voice behind him.

  In moments, a tiny woman appeared in front of him and threw him to the ground to avoid the swipe of a clawed hand from a shadowy creature. Eonis watched bleary-eyed as the woman spun gracefully to evade the creature’s retaliation. Her fiery red hair swung wildly in a looped braid at the top of her head as she delivered a kick that beheaded the shadow and dissipated it.

  She breathed heavily and despite how graceful her moves looked, Eonis could see the strain in her muscles as she fought to stand up.

  “T-thank you,” he said as he staggered to his feet. “I’m Eonis. I was just making my way to Trinette’s. Could I buy you a drink as thanks?”

  “Gordona,” was all the woman could manage before collapsing to a knee.

  The sudden movement snapped Eonis out of his stupor and he rushed to her side. He helped the little woman to her feet and thought to himself, “Gods, she’s only human. How is she still this active and alert?”

  She read his expression and smiled, huffing as she said, “I’m a lot sturdier than I look. Staying up four weeks is nothing. One time I did six when I was training in the mountains.”

  Eonis returned a weak smile and let her boast.

  “Come on, let me get you inside before another one of those things shows up.”

  His words were too late, his actions were too slow. He felt a rippling in the air and horror crept up his spin. He looked up to see creatures descending from the night’s sky like raindrops from the void, and with each splash, came a new horrifying creature.

  Eonis picked up Gordona and ran, ran as fast and as far as his body would take him. He didn’t realize he was heading to the city gates until he skidded to a stop at a frightful sight. The night’s sky blanketed the gate in a shifting red and blue veil, cutting off any escape.

  “This–this isn’t right,” he said as he stumbled back. “How long has it been night time? How long have we been here?”

  Panic set as the illusion of his world dissipated around him and he saw the starry veil for what it truly was. What he thought were stars before had been countless eyes and fanged smiles, staring down at the buffet of broken townspeople. Screams rang out from every street as those who still maintained some sanity saw the shadow creatures moving to attack. He fell back with Gordona crashing into his lap when a creature descended from the sky in front of him. The tiny woman pushed herself to shaky legs and said, “I’ve got this.”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  She stepped forward and lost her balance immediately, leaving an opening that the creature rushed to exploit.

  “Gordona, no!” exclaimed Eonis as shadowy claws ripped through the air towards her only to stop suddenly when a chill began to blanket the air.

  “Boreal winds of the north, bind.”

  A low booming voice cut through the sounds of chaos and Eonis saw rime forming on the creature. It struggled to move in vain as ice formed in thicker and thicker sheets around it, then suddenly, the night’s sky shattered.

  A pained cry, louder than any sound he’d ever heard, screeched as slashes of holy light tore the sky asunder. Rays of sunlight streamed down to touch the town that hadn’t seen light in weeks and Eonis began to cry. He saw two figures floating above the town and one suddenly disappeared.

  It reappeared in front of him, a woman clad in silver armor with a long flowing red cape. He only saw her for a moment as she swiped cleanly through the creature, releasing a column of light with her swing. Her braid of braids swung over her shoulder as she peered back at him and smiled before dashing off and into the town.

  He crawled desperately to see where she went and saw columns of light shot through the air each time her blade cut through a creature. She was a blur of movement and light, clearing the town and rejoining the robbed figure in the sky. She raised her sword and spoke in a voice that filled the town.

  “People of Taos, rejoice, for your Sleepless Night has come to an end!”

  That was the moment that made Eonis want to be an adventurer. They stayed in Taos to help heal the injured and rebuild what resources had been consumed by the Sleepless Night. He sought them out, joining the class system and leveling desperately for their approval. Each day, they turned down his offer to party with them, citing some random, ridiculous excuse each time.

  “No, no, we can’t right now. Mrs. Carson has a bake sale this weekend and I need to help ensure the ripeness of the apples. Sorry, Eonis. Maybe next time,” said the man he came to know as Marcus. He had a low haircut that blended into a beard on his chin and a scar on his right brow that crinkled when he smiled apologetically at Eonis with each excuse. Finally after a week, Eonis was exasperated.

  “The weather’s not great today. You see those clouds up there? Those make too great of a cover for Gryphons to attack.”

  Shauna snorted at this and replied, “Can’t you just move the clouds? You need to stop just blurting out the first thing on your mind.”

  Eonis groaned but it only made them laugh more.

  “What will it take for you to let me help? I’m even willing to be the bag boy!” exclaimed Eonis.

  He expected them to laugh more but they simply turned to each other and mouthed numbers before turning back to him.

  “13,” said Shauna. “Get to level 13 and we’ll take you with us. Marcus and I are already level 18 and most parties can tolerate a 5 level difference. You want to run with the big dogs? You’ll need to grow a little more, pup.”

  With that, Eonis had his goal. He spent the next few weeks clearing encroaching monsters from the outskirts of Taos, teaming with Gordona after they crossed paths again when both of them were begging Marcus and Shauna for attention. Gordona had already been level 12 when he encountered her in the city so Eonis found her pulling most of the weight in their level grinding. He didn’t care. He wanted nothing more than to repay the two heroes for their actions and in time, he thought he would.

  When he finally reached level 13, Gordona had shot up to level 15 and selected her subclass, Bladedancer. They were both ecstatic and they raced to tell Marcus and Shauna only to find them packing their gear up to move quickly. Neither adventurer looked at the two nascent adventurers as they spoke.

  “There’s been reports of a goblin raid on a nearby settlement. A bounty’s gone out and we need to move fast.”

  Shauna’s words and lack of eye contact made Eonis’s heart sink. He wondered if everything he’d done had been for nothing, if the two of them were just playing a game with him. He felt sick until both adventurers stopped and looked at him and Gordona expectantly.

  “Didn’t you hear me? We need to go now. Go pack your things and meet us at the gate. I’m sorry to rush you like this,” said Shauna apologetically as she turned back to packing.

  Marcus groaned and said, “We had a whole dinner planned and everything but duty calls. You’ll get used to it.”

  Eonis felt like heart was going to burst out of his chest. Gordona fled the room at breakneck speeds and he followed after, entering the adventuring life. They formed Silvayn and the weeks that followed were full of laughter, suspense, and untold dangers but they pushed through them all together. They grew to be a family and then that family grew even more with the birth of the twins.

  The first time he saw them, Eonis felt a strange sense of dread. In their basinets, Kyrie cried endlessly for comfort while Kyra only stared at the world around her, trying to understand her surroundings. Seeing them so small and so unprepared for a world at war made him sick. He saw the feeling shared by the other members of Silvayn. In the years that followed, Marcus and Shauna took place in more raids against the Dark Lord and his forces. They were fighting desperately, seeking to end a war that had lasted centuries in the hopes that their kids wouldn’t have to fight in it. This desperation and the foolhardy actions of an upstart adventurer would lead to their demise.