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Viren woke up early the next morning, still stiff but no longer in pain after more than twelve hours of sleep. Wincing, he sat up and stretched, taking a closer look at his new surroundings.
They were in a small abode with tall walls that seemed to have just one main room, plus a small alcove in one corner by the mirror that led into a darkened second room. Since Aaravos wasn't immediately visible, Viren assumed he must be in the alcove room or outside.
In his corner there was the couch he was sitting on, a small table with a bowl of earthy fresh-picked fruits and vegetables, and what looked like a rudimentary sink and shower. He spied his overcoat hanging on a nearby rack, now cleaned of all blood, and put it back on.
He couldn’t see it at the moment but his face had changed back to its normal appearance-- it had been a week since the last spell he'd cast, after all.
Across the room there was a fireplace with what looked like hanging herb baskets over it, and next to that were massive bookshelves along with a desk and a chair, both ornate and seeming to be very old. The fireplace was down to smouldering coals, but the heat still made the place toasty.
Viren heard a "mmmrowl?" and looked down to see the cat brushing his ankles.
"Oh hello... what's your name again?" Viren murmured absently, and was very startled when the cat meowed but a clear, musical voice in his head said Titania, and then giggled at the shocked look on his face.
"Aaravos was clearly not jesting when he said you were no ordinary cat, Titania. It's nice to meet you. I'm Viren..."
The cat just flicked their tail and trotted away, leaping up onto the seat next to the window-- their favorite spot to be.
Viren sighed and took his time standing up. He wasn't woozy but his body felt much older than it was, and he wanted to get some fresh air.
Not for the first time since he'd been imprisoned, Viren wished he had his staff. Not only did he feel useless without it, but, it was also nice to lean on while walking to prevent his knee from getting tired and hurting.
When he got outside the first thing he noticed was that he could hear the crash of waves, even though he couldn't see water yet due to the low hills surrounding the house. When he took a deep breath, the breeze carried the smell of sea-salt.
So he really had seen this place, in the blood pool.
Viren looked up at tall pines bordering the edge of the meadow, listening to the buzz of all sorts of flies and cricket-like creatures.
It was beautiful. But also terribly lonely, if this was all you had to look at for all eternity.
There was a small garden overflowing with tomatoes and squashes; a few heavy-laden apple trees were nearby, and a raspberry briar. It even looked like Aaravos had set up a spell-casting practice area, complete with handmade targets.
He walked up through the small grove of pine trees to the top of the biggest hill, and gasped as the ocean sprawled out before him so suddenly.
This island wasn't more than a kilometer long! Viren fell to his knees, fighting not to hyperventilate.
He had seen that infinite ocean, stretching for as far as the eye could see in any direction... was there any other land mass on this planet? Doubtful, or Aaravos wouldn't have settled here on this tiny rocky island. So the entire planet was just water, apart from this...
Had he just trapped himself here forever with an elven mage he barely knew? Would he ever see Claudia and Soren again?
Viren shook his head, trying not to get overwhelmed with his decision. What other choice had he had, though?
His life in Katolis had been over the moment he had cast that lightning spell that killed six guards at once. And it had felt exhilarating.
No use trying to change the past now. And perhaps, under Aaravos's tutelage Viren's power could grow strong enough to help get them both out of here.
Walking back towards the small brick house, Viren marveled at it now.
Had Aaravos made this house, or had it been here when he arrived? He legitimately could not tell. It looked so old.
Dying vines twisted around the building, waning in their life as the summer warmth retreated to autumn deadness. Aaravos was much older than him, that had been made clear. He had been here a very long time.
Viren returned inside, looking around the main room. When he still did not see Aaravos he assumed the mage was sleeping in the alcove room, since he had not seen him anywhere outside and the island was tiny.
Reaching into the fruit bowl, he grabbed an apple and rinsed it in the sink. He then poured water into his cupped hand and took a sip-- it wasn't salty.
Where was the fresh water coming from, if this whole planet was oceanic...? Was Aaravos really so powerful that he could do that with magic alone...? Or was there a rainwater reservoir attached to the roof of the house?
The questions were making Viren's mind spin as he sat back down on the couch and began to eat the apple. It tasted just as sweet and ripe as the apples from the Katolis orchards. So if this was some kind of alternate dimension... it felt just the same.
After eating the apple, and still seeing no sign of Aaravos (and not wanting to disturb him if he was still sleeping in the alcove), Viren wandered outside again.
He did see a rainwater reservoir on the back of the roof, and an outhouse on the opposite side of the building-- he took the opportunity to relieve himself and throw away the apple core in the same spot, seeing vegetable scrappings down in the hole along with waste. There were flies, but not an unreasonable amount.
It was pretty primitive, this place, but... better than a prison cell, Viren reminded himself. He should be grateful.
When he returned to wash his hands Aaravos was in the main room, looking for all the world like he'd been there forever. Sitting at his desk reading a book, he glanced up when Viren came in and smiled.
"Ah, so you have recovered from your journey. I am glad to see you up and about."
"Yes... I'm feeling much better now, thanks."
Viren washed his hands in the sink, smelling that the soap was not only handmade, but had herbs strewn throughout for a fresh scent.
All at once the questions overwhelmed him and he just blurted out "So did this place exist when you got here? Or... did you make all this?"
"Nothing existed on this planet when I first arrived except the oceans and the life within," Aaravos said, sounding very old.
"But I will tell you about all that another time. I am sure you have many questions about other things that would be more timely to answer."
Viren had put a hand on the table to steady himself... a table that Aaravos had either carved, or magicked into being somehow. Along with everything else here that wasn't the ocean. It was a bit much to take in.
"...Is there anything you can't do?" he asked, hating how shocked his voice sounded.
It betrayed his own weakness.
Aaravos laughed softly.
"Get out of this dimension by myself," was his answer.
The Startouch elf beckoned Viren over while pointing to the page of the book he was reading.
"But here is where you come in, Lord Viren. Do you see this spell? It is a two-mage spell, to travel together through the dimensional barrier. It would be easier if we had people on the other side, summoning us as I summoned you, but... I believe that this spell will work, with time to train of course. We have all the time in the world, now."
"Mm. Is that generous line of thinking why you 'forgot' to mention that I could have attempted to summon you before?" Viren asked, unable to keep the sour note out of his voice.
"That would have been nice to know."
Aaravos shrugged.
"I did not trust you or your abilities yet, to try and chance a thing like that. It could have killed me if you had done it improperly. You still risked serious injury in being summoned, and I have succeeded in performing this spell before."
Viren sighed, nodding his head.
"All right, that's fair. Also I don't have my staff. Or any of my supplies. Or my books..."
Aaravos laughed again.
"Look around, Viren. Do you think my library would be so different from yours?"
His voice went lower as he added "And who do you think made that staff of yours, hm?"
The elf mage smirked, looking amused like Viren had never seen before.
The High Mage sputtered in his shock.
"You...? But-- but that staff is a thousand years old! It's b-been in my family for generations!" he cried, stumbling backward into the bookshelf behind Aaravos's desk.
"And I made it for Elarion's father Tyrian," Aaravos purred, looking pleased with himself when Viren was further surprised to hear those ancient names.
"Your ancestors begged me to make them a powerful staff, so that they could channel Dark Magic more easily and be on equal footing with the elves. I agreed, because I do not see Dark Magic as loathsome the way the Xadians do. However, me teaching magic to your ancestors and granting them a powerful weapon was the reason I was imprisoned here in the first place," he continued with a sigh.
"Looking back, it was foolish of me to arm the humans. Clearly you all have not had any luck improving relations with Xadia in the past few centuries."
"Oh, so it's our fault that Xadian elves killed King Harrow? Is it our fault that King Thunder murdered the Queens of Duren, and Queen Sarai, all because we were trying to save our people?!"
"You are only telling half the story and you know it," Aaravos said, feigning disinterest as he examined his nails.
"While you were pouting in that cell for all those days, I heard much guard gossip that you are the reason King Avizandum is dead, and the Dragon Prince egg was stolen and is now missing from the castle-- that is why you were desperate to find the young princes. You just had to push that border and keep those secrets, didn't you. Did you even need to kill that Magma Titan?"
"Yes, we did! We needed the Titan heart in order to bring prosperity where there had been famine! Are you saying the kingdom of Duren deserved to die of starvation?"
Aaravos cocked his head to one side, looking up at Viren.
"The conclusions your mind jumps to are simply fascinating to watch," he said, which made Viren furious.
"Why did you even offer to bring me here at all, if you're just going to call me a terrible person?!" he shouted, and Aaravos stood up, his eyes flashing purple the way they had just before the guards attacked... that seemed like an eternity ago.
"Do not mistake me for your friend, Lord Viren," Aaravos growled, drawing himself up to his full height-- which was a whole head above Viren not including the horns, which raised the elf taller still.
"The Dark Magic I taught your ancestors is not the same magical logic you espouse today. What you have learned is an abomination of the true form, and it has made you greedy and impractical. Rather than ask and accept offerings from the Universe around you, you take what you deem worthy with zero regard for the consequence. You are barbaric, Viren, and that is why you were about to be put to death by more reasonable humans."
"How dare you!"
Viren saw red; in a fit of rage, he grabbed the book Aaravos had been reading and with some effort, he grunted and threw it into the window, which shattered from the impact (it was a very hefty book).
Titania dodged the book and flying glass shards, yowling in terror and running to the opposite end of the room.
Viren didn't even notice-- his outburst of anger already had only propelled him further into hysteria.
"You wish to fight me, then? To kill an abomination of righteous magic?! Then do it!" he screamed, and Aaravos merely stared at him.
"Do it! Kill me! It would be so easy for you!"
"...No." Aaravos's gaze was unwavering.
He was angry as well, but outwardly the elf's face was a mask of calm.
"If you would like to walk into the ocean to atone for your sins, I will not stop you. But I did not bring you here to murder you, Viren. I suggest you take a walk and clear your head before you speak to me so disrespectfully again, or our living situation together here will not be as comfortable as you might like."
The final words were whispered but they were still daggers pricking into the necromancer; Viren snarled as he turned on his heel and stormed out of the house. Titania hissed at him as he went by.
The High Mage stalked back to the rocky beach, chest heaving from the exertion.
He should just walk into the ocean, it would be better than helping that smug bastard Aaravos! How dare he talk to Viren like that, like he was superior...
But then the voice in his head piped up, but he is superior, isn't he? He's the one who made your staff, a thousand years ago. Your power will never compare to his, and he's truly desperate in his banishment to think a peon like you could help him.
Viren sat on a large boulder, squinting into the light of the three suns as the tide rolled in. Soon he had to pick up his ankles to avoid the spray, sitting cross-legged on the rock.
He sat out there for hours trying to meditate and calm down. The tide swirled around the rock he was on and then eventually receded back once more... but he was still so angry with Aaravos for what the elf had said to him.
He'd only been trying to protect Katolis. How dare Aaravos call that an abomination, and him barbaric!
Finally though his anger dissipated as his stomach began to growl. His head hurt from being out in the sun too long, and his knee was sore from sitting cross-legged and from all the walking around unaided.
Sighing, he stretched out-- his legs had fallen asleep-- and stumbled back to the house. On his way back in he grabbed a tomato from the garden, biting into it and being surprised when it was so juicy that it exploded all over his hand. He did his best to clean himself up after eating it, walking back inside.
Aaravos was still at the desk reading, having retrieved the book from where Viren had thrown it.
"Welcome back," he said, although his tone did not seem very welcoming.
"Are you calmed down enough to repair the window you broke?"
Viren swallowed the last bit of tomato he'd been digging out of his teeth, fighting for composure.
"Only after you apologize for the things you said about me. I am not a barbarian."
Aaravos sighed, rolling his golden eyes.
"Honestly, Viren, you are insufferable. I can see now that you being here will be a daily test to my patience."
"You are the one saying nasty things to me, when you supposedly brought me here to help you!"
"Some help you are so far, breaking my window and scaring the cat," Aaravos muttered, and Viren slammed his hands down on the table.
If the High Mage had been hoping for Aaravos to jolt in surprise or fear, he'd hoped for nothing.
"I am an infant compared to you," Viren sneered, "Yet you treat me as if I am supposed to be your equal here! How is that fair? You should be teaching me to be better, not talking to me with such condescension!"
"I could say the same right back at you," Aaravos replied smoothly, one eyebrow raising.
"You truly are acting like an ungrateful child when within my mind lies access to power you have never dreamed of. And all of it could be yours... if you are willing to recognize that you have been taught wrongly your entire life, and start over from the basics. And give me the respect I deserve as your teacher."
"Wh... I..." Viren sputtered, but couldn't summon his rage again.
He was at Aaravos's mercy here, on this tiny island in who knew what dimension with no way to get home. Fighting like this was only going to make things harder. Besides that he was still exhausted from the traveling, and now also from the adrenaline of arguing.
Viren heaved a great sigh and went over to the window to stand in front of the glass shards on the floor.
All the spells he knew were now useless, because he had nothing from his stores to sacrifice. And he had a feeling that if he were to go grab insects and birds from outside, that would not please Aaravos considering the conversation they'd just had.
The High Mage's voice was gruff when he finally spoke.
"...So. I can't fix this my usual way, but I feel like you can teach me how to fix this rather than make me do it by hand. Can we do that?"
Aaravos rose from the desk with a small smile playing about his starry face.
"Yes. Are you ready to learn without becoming defensive that this will deviate from your prior knowledge of magic? Are you ready to admit that your way is not the best way every time?"
"...Yes," Viren agreed through gritted teeth, but after an agonizing moment of pride-swallowing he added in a quieter voice, "I'm... sorry. This has been a lot to take in, today. I have not... acted very grateful for you rescuing me from certain death."
"No, you have not. But I forgive you. You are an infant compared to me, after all," Aaravos added, grinning when Viren twitched, indignant.
"Ah, your words not mine Viren. Now, apologize to Titania for scaring them and we can proceed with the window."
Viren turned around to see Titania behind him, swishing their tail in irritation. They hissed at him once more, and Viren crouched, hesitantly extending his hand.
"I am sorry for scaring you, Titania. It was wrong of me to throw the book and break the window and cause a scene like that. I promise I won't do it again."
That's not a promise you can keep and we both know it, came the clear voice in his mind, along with derisive musical laughter.
Viren felt the frustration rising, but he took a deep breath and shoved it down.
"Okay, fine. I promise I will try not to do it again. Is that better?"
Aaravos chuckled at the exchange and also stooped low, holding out his starry fingers to Titania.
"You will have to get used to his coarseness, dear one, for it will never change," he murmured to the cat as they brushed their head against his hand and he scratched it gently.
"That is part of his fire, after all. True passion cannot be bridled."
Viren didn't know what to make of Aaravos. At times, it seemed like the elf mage despised him for being an irrational, hot-headed human.
But now...?
He didn't know what Aaravos thought of him, at all. He had never had this much trouble reading someone before. Then again he'd never been around someone more than a thousand years old before, except to try and kill them in battle.
"Uh... thanks," he said, clearing his throat awkwardly as he stood up.
"So about this broken window..."
"Yes..." Aaravos stood, giving Viren a small smile before walking over to the window.
"Today will be your first lesson - and from this moment on your titles of High Mage and Lord will be dropped. Your past life has no bearing, influence, or importance on who you are here. You are simply Viren, my pupil, and I Aaravos, your teacher. Do you agree? If so, let us shake on it," he concluded, reaching out a starry four-fingered hand.
Viren looked at that hand.
He had already come all this way... why did this feel like the harder decision? Because was a blow to his ego to renounce his titles? Or because he was afraid of putting this much trust and authority in someone he barely knew anything about still...?
But Viren was already here, and he knew this was the way the cards were drawn.
He could not deny Aaravos any more than he could deny the dawn, not here in the place this elf had literally created from nothing.
And so his hand came up from his side to grasp Aaravos's. He half expected it to be a hologram his hand would pass through, so dazzling was the elf mage's skin in its resemblance to the night sky -- but it was warm and firm as they shook hands.
"Good... I'm so glad we have reached an agreement," Aaravos said, and Viren nodded.
"Now... watch me."
Aaravos turned back towards the broken window, putting his hands together and bowing his head as if praying, eyes closed.
He took a deep breath in and out, and in again. And on the second exhale his eyes opened-- they were glowing purple.
The elf mage extended his fingertips out and began to lift them upwards. As he did so the glass shards began to levitate, twinkling in the afternoon sun as they swirled through the air. The pieces glided back to exactly where they had been before, assembling themselves like a self-completing puzzle.
The whole process took less than a minute, but when they settled into place there were still cracks where the glass had broken.
Now Aaravos stepped close to the glass and took another breath, then took one finger and tapped on the glass. But instead of re-shattering it, the action caused some sort of magical spell to activate: blue sparks radiated outwards from his finger that began to seal each tiny crack one by one.
Viren had watched the entire process silently, rapt with fascination watching the window becoming whole again through a sparkling blue wave of magic.
How could Aaravos do that, without so much as an incantation? Without sacrifices, without blood, without a spell?
Viren was bursting to ask, to say something, but Aaravos hadn't moved yet and he felt like he had to wait.
So he waited.
Finally Aaravos sighed and turned back to Viren, his eyes back to their normal navy-gold.
"There. It is finished."
Seeing that Viren was struggling to contain his questions, he laughed.
"Do you wish to know how I did that?"
"Yes, of course I do! How could I not? You didn't even use an incantation!" Viren blurted out-- but now his indignation was from true awe, not defensive anger.
"How? How did you do it, Aaravos?" he asked, and now when he said the elf mage's name it was almost reverent.
This power that Aaravos had... it was intoxicating just to watch. Imagine if he could wield that kind of power: Viren would be unstoppable. They would be unstoppable.
"All in time, Viren," Aaravos replied, smiling at the human mage.
"It will all make sense to you in time. But come, we must meditate and give thanks for the energy fields," he said, taking Viren's hand and leading him out of the hut.
They went the opposite direction that Viren had gone both times he'd walked outside today, going instead to a wooded thicket behind the house.
When Aaravos stopped in the thicket's clearing, Viren stopped too.
"Close your eyes," Aaravos said, his voice almost inaudible over the wind.
As Viren did so, he had a fleeting thought that he missed it when Aaravos's voice rumbled inside his head. But their hands were still clasped, and Viren was aware of waves of power emanating off the elf.
"Imagine that rather than just air around us, that there is always magic," Aaravos continued, his own eyes also closed.
"That is the reality that your more modern ancestors have forgotten. Magic is in every breath we take, in our bones, in the air and the water and the earth and fire. And when we use magic we are offsetting the delicate balance of the natural world. So we must give energy back, for all that we take, and we must be humble in gratitude and awe of the Universe. Do you understand?"
"Yes, but no," Viren said truthfully.
"I understand the theory, but... without sacrifice, how is the balance restored?"
"Mmm, a different kind of sacrifice is required. One of time," Aaravos replied, and he let go of Viren's hand.
Viren felt an acute loss of connection, embarrassed that the sensation was so strong he had almost whimpered from it.
"Did you feel that, when I let go?" Aaravos asked, sitting down in the grass and patting the ground expecting Viren to join him.
"That feeling of... loss?"
Had Aaravos felt it too, then?
Viren nodded and sat down next to Aaravos.
"Why did that happen? You only held my hand a few minutes."
"Yes, but magical energy builds up quickly, and you are an excellent conduit for it," Aaravos said, smiling at Viren.
"The point of this is to drive home that magical energy fields exist between all beings, living and non. The rocks, the ocean, everything has its own energy field that comprises the tapestry of the world as we understand it. You can just feel it easier with me because we are both mages, but once you become in tune with the energy fields you will feel that connection with everything around you, a connection you can strengthen or sever with your actions and thoughts. So when you use magic you must give back to the energy fields by giving them your own energy and gratitude afterwards."
He touched his fingers to the ground now, threading them through the grass to reach the earth below.
"You throwing the book through the window was using your own power, physically and kinetically, to destroy. Then I harnessed the nearby energies, to lift the shards of glass and fit them back together. That was to repair. Now I am sending my own energy back into the surrounding field, to restore the balance, and thanking the energy for assisting me. I am grateful for the energy being present when I required its service and for performing in the way that I asked it to.
I would not have been able to make my home or do any of this magic here without being able to connect to a sense of gratitude each and every time I use my power. I am grateful to be here, in this exact place, at this exact time, for if I wasn't I would not be the same me. I am blurring the line further between my personal energy field and the one circulating this entire planet. The more connected you are to your surrounding fields, and the more humility you have about expressing your gratitude for it all, the more powerful your spells there will be. And vice versa."
"But... how? How is it that easy?" Viren asked, struggling to wrap his head around all this.
Aaravos's head tilted to one side again and the elf looked amused.
"You think this is easy? You don't even know how to feel your own energy yet, let alone how to channel it. This will be months, possibly years of work for you Viren."
"Just for this?"
Viren felt despair creeping into his voice and he couldn't stop it.
"Then how long will it take for me to learn that spell that can maybe free us...?"
Would he be trapped here until his children were all grown up, with families of their own that he had never met, who didn't know him...? That would be almost too much to bear.
"Viren... I can sense your impatience," Aaravos said, and he laid back on the grass with a sigh.
"And I understand it. But you must let it go. You must learn to live at my pace, here. Take things as they are. Do not frustrate yourself for not being able to tackle all this new magic immediately. These are ancient processes you will be learning, and you must respect the time it takes to master them. As I said before, we have nothing but time on our side now."
"I just..."
Viren looked down at Aaravos, wringing his hands together in his lap.
"My children. Claudia and Soren. I didn't-- get to see them, before I came here, and now... now I am afraid I will never see them again."
"I know," Aaravos said in a quiet voice, reaching up to take Viren's hand again.
This time, instead of being surprised at the touch Viren was comforted by it. He gave the elf's hand a squeeze, feeling like he might cry.
Viren looked away from Aaravos, blinking rapidly to prevent tears from forming. Even if he wanted to take back this decision he'd made, he couldn't.
"Your children will live and thrive without you, if we cannot escape," Aaravos continued, squeezing Viren's hand back.
"And I have been wanting to try and see if I can send correspondence through the dimensional barrier. We could try that, once you know what you wish to say to them."
"That... that's very kind of you," Viren choked out, feeling his throat closing up.
"E-excuse me, I... I just need a moment to myself, please."
"Very well."
Aaravos let go of Viren's hand again, standing up, and both men felt the loss but said nothing about it this time.
"Do not be afraid to grieve your old life, Viren. It is healthy to cry, and it is natural to take time to adjust to a severe life change like this. Take all the time you need... I will be inside."
He left Viren alone, walking back towards the house.
And after a few minutes of stubbornness, where Viren didn't want to cry just because Aaravos said it was all right... he did end up thinking of Harrow, wondering who would take care of the bird body in his absence.
He thought of Soren, of Claudia, of all the people he'd left behind, all the things in Katolis he'd never done, all the places in Xadia and the four kingdoms that he'd never seen... it was too much for his heart to bear and finally Viren wept. Quietly at first, but soon his grief overtook him like a tidal wave and he was sobbing, screaming at the sky, cursing his fate, cursing his ancestors.
Cursing himself most of all, for thinking he knew everything when he'd just found out he knew nothing.
--
Aaravos stood at the window, idly scratching Titania's head with one hand as Viren's cries echoed on the breeze. And the other hand, the one that had shook Viren's, and held it... Aaravos held that hand to his chest over his heart, closing his eyes.
The Startouch elf was loathe to admit it but even just that brief touch had ignited a longing in him that was so visceral it nearly hurt him like a physical wound would.
After centuries of no contact with human or elf, Viren was so... much. He was so alive, in a way that Aaravos had almost forgotten.
Of course he dealt with living beings here: Titania, the bugs, the birds, the small animals, the fish and all the creatures of the sea. But he couldn't really talk to them like an equal companion, not even Titania who was also old and wise; they still had never been human or elven in a past life and thus were not concerned with human or elven matters overmuch, which was understandable.
For all Aaravos was trying to remain impartial and aloof, he could not deny that he was very much invested in Viren's health and happiness.
Now that he had someone here, even someone who had clearly been raised by godless heathens... that was infinitely better than being alone.
And Aaravos was grateful.
He desperately wanted to see his homelands as well, to return to what was left of his family... but those wounds were old, older than several of Viren's lifetimes.
This human felt so ferociously for one who had barely lived! Aaravos marveled at it.
Elven decorum and mannerisms were in a large part based on their naturally near-immortal lives. Not for the first time Aaravos pondered just how much humans could have taught the elves, had they not rejected human knowledge based on the false assumption that living longer means one is smarter.
It was true that Viren was rash, impulsive, and prone to excessive anger... but he had convictions stronger than many elves Aaravos had known prior to his banishment. He had dreams, and loyalties, and love... Aaravos wished to learn what those things meant again, because to elves they were only known through frivolities or battle, no in between. Aaravos had been alone too long to have that ancient elven pride of being "above" baser emotions and urges.
And just because Viren had learned Dark Magic in a twisted way did not make his soul twisted. He could un-learn the toxic teachings and flourish-- and Aaravos would flourish alongside him.
I am glad you are here with me Viren, he thought to himself. I am very glad.