Episode 2: Friends are Found and Rivals are Made I woke up the next morning to find myself lying down by a campfire and wearing Shin’s cloak. We were camped on a plateau with lots of other Guardians, whom Shin said were with him while he was Jaren Ward’s protégé. “Hey, Malph!” one of them called. “You’re friend’s up!” “Where am I?” I asked. “Who are all of you?” “We were part of Jaren Ward’s posse” the man replied. “But Yor killed him, so now we don’t have a leader. Shin Malphur, the person who brought you here, will most likely be our next leader, but he isn’t exactly for it. I’m Eguor, by the way. What’s your name?” “My name’s Pari.” I replied. “Nice to meet you, Pari.” A big man walked over to the fire and sat down to roast some meet. “I don’t know why Malphur brought a kid to our camp,” he said gruffly in a deep voice. “It seems stupid if you ask me. We’re frontiersmen, not baby sitters.” “That may be true, Alac,” Shin intruded. “But she had nothing to go to. Dredgen Yor killed her family. She was hiding from the Hive, so what else was I supposed to do? Would you have rather me left her out there to be turned into someone like Yor?” “Yes.” Alac replied. “It’d give us something to do.” “We have plenty to do!” Shin snapped back. “The people living out here need someone to protect them! Until this ‘City’ they’re talking about making is built, someone’s gotta keep them safe from the Darkness!” “Yeah, but, these people need to learn to protect themselves! We can’t keep saving their hides every time someone’s in danger!” “You’d better watch what you say, Alec!” Shin growled. “We’ve been gifted with The Traveler’s light, and we should use it to help the people. If you want to use it for yourself, then why don’t you just become one of those warlords that are out there? I’m sure you’d make a fine one!” “Alright, then I will!” Alec yelled. He grabbed his belongings and marched out. Shin tried to tell him that he wasn’t being serious, and that it was sarcasm, but Alec refused to listen. He continued to walk off into the Frontier, and none of us saw him in a long time. “You know he’s not going to survive a day, right Shin?” Eguor asked. “Of course I know it,” Shin replied. “But he’s not coming back. You all saw me try to make him stop, but he wouldn’t listen. Hear me now, friends. If any of you see Alec the Deserter again…Kill him.” I saw all of this unfold right before my own eyes. I had kept myself hidden in Shin’s cloak so that no one would take notice of me, but, by the time the decree had been given, Shin looked down at where I was sitting. “Do you want your cloak back?” I asked. “No,” he replied with a smile. “Keep it. You’re going to need it someday, and we’ve got plenty more.” I didn’t really understand what he meant by “someday.” Was he saying that I was going to be like him? Was I meant to be…a Guardian?