Chapter 1

Cycles

Rayla had been watching her boyfriend for several minutes now. They were supposed to go stargazing together an hour after he had tucked Ezran into bed, as they had done every night for the past two weeks. Tonight was different though, almost half an hour after sunset he was nowhere to be seen. After walking around asking anyone and everyone if they had seen him. Amaya mentioned that she had seen him head up to the top of the Storm Spire well before sunset.

This brought her to him, half expecting a romantic candle lit dinner underneath the stars to be waiting for her. Instead, she found her boyfriend sitting in the dark, staring off into the distance as he nervously played with edges of his shirt sleeve. Tugging at a loose thread of fabric with his fingertips.

"Hey." She said softly, making him jump in surprise.

"Oh, Rayla! Sorry, I was just about to come get you." He stammered, still playing with his sleeve as she walked over and sat down next to him.

"What's wrong?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

"What do you mean what's wrong?" He replied, averting his gaze for half a second.

"You're playing with the loose thread on your sleeve, you had your aunt tuck Ezran in for you and you didn't try to pull me into a bear hug within seconds of seeing me. Something is wrong." She summarized.

Callum sighed and shook his head.

"That obvious huh?"

"Oh yeah."

"I've just been thinking a lot I guess."

"About?"

"Us."

Rayla felt a lump in her throat form.

"What do you mean us?"

"Humans and elves. How we've been fighting for almost a thousand years. It's really sad."

Rayla nodded and gently took her boyfriend's hand, pulling it away from the thread he was nervously yanking on.

"It is sad, but look at it this way, those times are going to be over soon. Me and you, your aunt and Commander Janai. We're proof that things can change."

"How long will that change take though? How many more battles do we have to fight before people like Viren accept that things have changed."

Rayla gently squeezed his hand before releasing it from her grasp.

"Callum…there will always be men like Viren. There were men like him long before we were born and there will be men like him long after we're dead and gone. That doesn't mean we stop fighting them."

"I guess your right." He said with a sigh before falling onto his back, his eyes flicking over to his girlfriend and extending his arm out to her.

"Join me?" He asked as she smiled and laid down next to him, snuggling into his side as he put his arm around her.

"What got you thinking about all this anyway?" She asked after settling in.

"Well, I was wondering if there are other people like me." He replied, making his girlfriend shake her head.

"Callum of course there are more people like you. You can't be the only one who's sick of all the fighting- "

"No no, not like that. I mean like, people who can use primal magic, without a conduit." He replied quickly.

"Oh…" Rayla replied quietly. The thought had never crossed her mind before.

"I don't know."

It was the only response she could muster. Once upon a time she had believed that it was impossible for humans to use primal magic but now, all bets were off.

"If there were other people like me, maybe we could convince them to help us stop the war. I could teach them how to use primal magic. Maybe they do have a connection to one of the primal sources, and maybe it's just buried deep down. Maybe I can help them find it, and then maybe, we could reform The Dragon Guard." Callum continued.

Rayla's eyes went wide.

"If that was true, it could change everything we know about magic." Rayla added. "Plus, if the Dragon Guard was reformed, by humans and elves no less, the hatred between us could start to disappear."

"Could being the magic word." Callum said wistfully. "There's a lot of bad history between elves and humans."

"We can't lose heart; the world will never change as fast as we'd like it to." She reminded him.

"That's true, it's just…somedays it seems impossible." He continued.

"I know, I'm sure there will be some elves who think humans won't be strong enough to resist the temptation to use dark magic. Plus, it will be hard for humans to start trusting elves again, especially after we…"

Rayla's thoughts drifted to their attack on Katolis, a mission of vengeance that unleashed a whole new wave of destruction and misery on the continent. How many had died because of what happened that night? How many more would die?

She shuttered at the thought as Callum pulled her closer to him.

"Hey hey, I know where you are right now. Come back to me." He told her gently.

She nodded and took a shaky breath.

"I'm sorry…"

"It's ok." He assured her.

They watched the stars in silence for several minutes before Rayla spoke up.

"So, what's the plan?"

"Plan?" her boyfriend asked.

"Yeah, the plan. You're the plan guy, right?"

"I've made like two plans…I think" He said, scratching his head.

She shrugged.

"Two more than I've made."

"True, but that doesn't mean I have a plan all the time."

"Riiight." Rayla said as she rolled over, so she was laying his stomach, her chin resting on her hands which were folded on his chest. Callum brushed a strand of white of hair out of her face, making her smile before putting his arms around her waist.

"Ok ok, so I have like a third of a plan."

"There he is." Rayla said proudly.

"My aunt has contacts back in the human kingdoms, if we can get a message out to them, maybe we can get an idea of where we can start looking." He explained.

"Right but uh, what exactly are we looking for?"

"That's where I'm stuck." He huffed.

"Hmmm…well what made you want to learn magic?" Rayla asked.

Callum pursed his lips as he thought back to his early days on the road, back when he had a primal stone.

"I guess, I just felt like I finally found what I was made for. My entire life, up until that point, felt like I was just stumbling forward without a purpose. Then one day I realized that I could do magic, and it felt like I wasn't just stumbling around anymore. At night when I closed my eyes, I could see this future version of myself. The version of myself I feel like I need to be, for Ezran, for Zym…for you."

"Callum, you don't need to be anything else then you for me." She said softly, a hint of sadness in her eyes. "I'm sorry if I ever made you feel otherwise."

"No no no, you haven't." He replied quickly. "Don't worry. Now, how to find other human mages…"

"Alright." Rayla wasn't entirely satisfied with that answer. It was obvious he was trying to the turn the conversation from the topic, but she relented. Trusting him to come to her if something was bothering him.

"Maybe we really just have to look for people like you. People who are clever, eager to learn, people who want to make a difference. Maybe not all of them will be able to use magic but we need allies, we need more humans like you." She told him.

Callum smiled warmly at her before sitting up and planting a quick kiss on her lips.

"You're amazing." He told her as she rolled off his chest and onto her back, snuggling back into his side as he put an arm back around her.

"So are you." She replied before she turned onto her side, looking at her boyfriend quizzically.

"So, this future version of yourself, what did he look like?"

"Well he had a really cool beard- "

"You better not grow beard." She replied flatly.

"Aw what? why not?!"

"I don't want to kiss a cactus."

"It wouldn't be that bad!"

"You're not the one who has to deal with it." She replied.

"I'll trim it!" He offered.

"Won't help."

"How do you know?"

"Womanly intuition."

Callum got a mischievous look in his eye.

"Perhaps we should settle this over a tickle fight?"

Rayla's nostrils flared.

"I will throw you off this spire."

"You wouldn't do that to me. I could get hurt!" Callum said with a gasp, feigning shock and worry.

His girlfriend scoffed.

"You can fly, you'll be fine."

"Is that a chance your willing to take?" He challenged.

"Oh absolutely." Rayla replied, struggling to keep a straight face.

"I don't believe you!" Her boyfriend exclaimed, arms quickly snaking around her waist, fingers racing up and down her sides.

"Callum-No-STOP-I…MEAN IT!" Rayla yelped in between snorts and giggle fits.

"I demand that you let me grow a beautiful beard!" Callum ordered.

"NEVER!" She said defiantly, feebly trying to tickle her boyfriend in return.

"Do it! Or face my continued wrath! Don't make me start giving you raspberries!"

Rayla, still laughing and squirming, shook her head quickly.

"Noooo, ok ok! You win, you can grow a beard!"

"Yes, victory!" Her boyfriend declared, releasing her from his grasp while she playfully scowled at him.

"You're lucky I love you."

Callum laughed as they both sat up.

"Believe me I know."

The young prince stretched out his arms and yawned.

"It's getting pretty late. Maybe we should get some rest. We've got a big day tomorrow."

He offered her his hand, but she just rested her head on his shoulder.

"Can we spend five more minutes together without worrying about the fate of the world?"

Callum smiled before resting his head against hers.

"Actually, that does sound nice."