Rio stared with void eyes at the drink placed in front of him on the bar's table, lost in his thoughts. It was uncommon for Rio to trap himself into such a silence. 

"Here is the map." Dyna approached him from the opposite side of the table, folding a large old drawing in front of him. The map showed the four colored territories of the kingdom. 

"Do you know how the system works?" Dyna questioned him

"Huh, Don't the colors say it all?" Rio said in a sarcastic yet desperate voice 

"Admantem is the were the most prosperous people of the kingdom lives. King Artemis and his sister princess Adriana lives there too. Unlike Aurum and Aerman, though; it is a region and one city at the same time," Dyna carries on, explaining the map ignoring his comment 

"Aurum is the second region, three towns in that case. It is the middle class area. Well education, fortunate people, and eased life." Dyna says, pointing at the three cities that formed like a wall around Admentem. She remarks that this lengthy description deflated Rios's interest. 

"Ferro is the military area. It is the cooperate very central location. Colonel Ralf, All the Elite soldiers, indeed most of the soldiers, are either residing there or trained there. " Dyna intentionally jumps to the cooperate discussion she wanted to wake his interest, even though she had not known Rio that long, but she pitied him. That person who was full of life around his friend. Is now so lifeless,  Where did all this cheerfulness has gone?

"Do you really think Helgar is there?" Finally, Rio says something showing a hint of interest.

"Look, my mind can still not believe it. But your friend has blown up this place with .." Dyna pauses for a second " I don't know, maybe magic? Power? Whatever that is... where else would Colonel Ralf take him?"

"I don't know. He is your boss, not mine. " Rio replies mockingly, sipping some of the drink that was on his glass. His eyes are wandering on the map. 

 "And then there is Aerman.. the biggest region in this map." Rio says, revealing his knowledge on the map, "Or what Dyna, arent you excited to explain to me this part of the map?" Rio furrowed his eyes, looking at her and binging what is left from his drink. 

Dyna tilts her head feeling down as if Aerman's problem was something she made. Yes, she was an Elite soldier, but that does not justify Rios misbehavior and his attack to her.

"Aerman, the biggest region on this map. With ten towns below the poverty lines. starving to death, being slaved, and used to the last drop." Rio declares, his emotions are in a complete wreck.

"I am sorry," Dyna mutters, still looking down.

Rio realizes that he has gone so far. He sighs, breathing some air and cooling himself from this odd situation. He then moves his fingers into some empty area in Aerman Territory, pointing into that direction. 

"There was a town called. Aerwald in this empty area." Rio softens his tone. 

"Aerwald, there was a war in there?"

"Yes, it is where Helgar came from," Rio says. The drink seems to have eased his tension.

 "The magic from your friend..." she gasped, the picture getting clearer to her. "So the rumors were true." 

"I don't know which rumors you are talking about. Still, they burnt the whole town with its people," Rio replied to her, glancing at the bottle of drink and pouring himself more in his glass. He sees a reflection of himself and a silhouette of the past fires. Those memories hit him like a heat haze.

"They burnt the whole town with its people," repeating sadly, his voice as empty as the moment. 

Dyna gives silent for a moment, respecting the grief of the story "Rio, you are drinking too much.."

Rio ignores her yet gets another sip from his drink, as if he did not give a damn "Colonel Ralf and his cooperation exterminated this city." 

"There were a sorcery and black magic in this city; the town was evicted under these circumstances," Dyna explains.

"Lies." Rio snapped at her, raising his voice at her again, throwing his glass at the ground. "Utter lies. There was no sorcery in Aerwald; there were only innocent people that got killed."  

  "You want to know about Helgar?" He raises his voice aggressively. "Helgar is a victim of a plan he had no choice in. This cursed power is something that happened to him. He did not do any sorcery, any training or anything to deal with it." 

"Aerwalds massacre was ten years ago... what happened through all those years? Looking at you, I would say you were kids then " Dyna goes too pushy; she knew that Helgar's topic could get very sensitive for Rio. She decided to cope with the aggressive tone, taking the chance of Rio pouring his heart out. 

"We were able to run away to a town called Pyroville. In this town, we were adopted by an older man. Pyroville is one of the poorest places; it was a fight for life. But we were happy. Helgar vowed never to use his power. We focused on studying instead. We had a dream to leave Aerman and live a normal life in Aurum."

"Did that happen?" 

"We forgot about the power. We focused on living normally. We were one of the very few students to get invited for the national exam."   

"You two made it to the national exam?" Dyna looks amazed as she puts both arms on the table, leaning her body forward. She was totally engaged with the story Rio was telling.

"I passed, but Helgars result was postponed. " he stopped talking. His stares are empty again.  

"And...?" Dyna pushes one more time.

"We were too naive...we should not have applied for the exam. People in Pyroville were too simple to notice the difference in Helgars eyes, but the examiner spotted that immediately. and he reported that to the Cooperation." 

"And since that day, the cooperate was chasing?" Dyna is finally satisfied, hearing all the story.

"um-hum," Rios nodes agreeing.

"What about those eyes?" Dyna resumed asking. Her heart was being dazzled for another look into Helgar's eyes. 

"The crimson eyes..." He pauses for a minute before shaking his head. "You are asking too much. What is your plan? Last time you said you could help" He pushes the map away and gets closer to her.

"Right the plan." In face, Dyna had no plan. She was just another soldier. Yes, she was an elite soldier, which means she has more privileges, but the best she could do was to go into Ferro territory. And even then, she would not be able to reach Helgar. 

"I can get you into Ferro territory. Then we need to find out where Helgar is; most likely, he will be into the Fierce Dungeon." She trembled to the idea 

"Would you be willing to take that risk? To risk your life?" 

Rio quirked a brow at her question. "For this?" He said the shock was clear on his face. 

"You don't seem to understand. I bet my whole life to save Helgar." 

"No," She shakes her head, repeating, "Are you ready to risk your life?" 

She insisted on the sentence, as she seemed to know more about Ferro and was worried that Rio's recklessness would not help "Risking your life can be the easy part, you will most likely be captured and tortured to death." 

Rio drew a confident smile upon his lips, pretending to be sober. "Dyna, I am more ready than ever. Helgar needs me, and I won't fail him." He hits the table with his fist. "Just if you can help, then do it." 

"I am coming with you, Rio." She says, placing her hand over Rios's fist.  

 "I won't leave you alone in this." 

  Rio is puzzled by her reply. he has a powerful motivation to save Helgar, but he could not understand why a stranger he just met would follow

 "But why?" He challenges her decision

  "Well..." She looks out the window where the threads of light were coming. "I have my own reasons. Besides, I was trained to fight and not to serve drinks."

"Your own reasons." Rio gives her an incredulous stare.

"Let me keep this for later, Rio. And yes, also one more thing. your relation to Helgar makes me curious." She says with a smirk on her face aiming to tease Rio.

"You...." He clinches his teeth, pulling his fist to hit her, refraining from that on the very last moment."