Alen had his hands covering his face as he knelt forward, and once again, he couldn't help but laugh, but this time, it wasn't because he found anything funny. It was the kind of laugh that came when everything felt too impossible to grasp, the type of disbelief that numbed him.
"I just don't understand why you're doing this," Alen said, lifting his head. "I still don't know who you really are. And yes, I'm deeply in your debt for protecting my sister. That's something I'll never forget. But asking me to help take down the Grand Magus? That's not just some favour. You're asking me to go against the entire nation of Alterian. I'm supposed to defend it, not betray it!"
"I get it," Raze replied, steady and firm. "It's not easy to accept. But you have to realize something: the Grand Magus might be the very reason your sister disappeared in the first place. And if things had played out just a little differently, it could have been the reason she never came back."
