Cyrn walks out of his SoulCurrent theory class, and Elyon is standing right at the exit of the room, a bright smile on his face.
He strides up to Cyrn, slaps a hand on his shoulder, and says, "Tonight, we are getting so drunk we forget all our woes, my friend. No more of this brooding shit because of Virelya, it's time to perk you up, and maybe even learn about some 'extracurricular' activities."
Cyrn stared at Elyon, contemplating what he could mean by "extracurricular" activities.
Cyrn was about to reject before Elyon cut him off, "Stop, you're not rejecting this one. We go out, drink, spill our guts (Literally and metaphorically), and learn about this secret underground fight club."
Before Cyrn could say anything, he was already being dragged out of the academy by the wrist.
Faraam Academy was located in Aureth Veil, a bustling city for most people, with a vibrant nightlife due to its young population.
The tavern Elyon dragged him to: The Broken Halo. Cyrn walked into the establishment and was hit with a wave of humidity and underlying funk. The floor was sticky like Velcro, and the bathroom looked like a crime scene, yet the place had the most indiscernible charm that made Cyrn want to stay.
Elyon smiled, and they grabbed a high table. "Let me get us some drinks. What's your poison?"
Cyrn was confident. He'd been older than Elyon before transmigrating, and his body constitution would likely resist the poisonous ethanol in alcohol.
Cyrn smiled, "Whatever's strongest."
"Ohh,h a bold man I see. Let's see how that courage holds up through the night."
Elyon reappeared a few minutes late,r carrying several shots of some sugarbrown liquid.
"This, my friend, is Dragon's Breath bourbon. It's alcohol content, unknown, and specially enchanted to give even the sturdiest Soulwrights a buzz."
Cyrn looked down at the ten shots Elyon had slammed on the table and gave it a whiff.
The fumes hit him instantly, but he refused to flinch.
Cyrn smiled and looked up at Elyon, "Hope you're ready, pretty boy, cause this is about to get ugly."
"Cheers," They said, and the first drink went down smooth as butter.
"So tell me, why were you so compelled to talk to Virelya after I told you her story?"
Cyrn heard him and paused. He felt the alcohol settle in his stomach and warm coziness spreading out from his belly.
He smiled, "It's just…I can't help but want to be involved, to help. She's strong, that's for sure, but one can't be strong all the time. You need people to be there when you stumble and scrape your knee, and I just really wanted to be there."
Elyon smiled wide now "Ahhh, Wuv, Twu wuv." he said mockingly, saying true love with a lisp.
They both slammed down another before Cyrn retorted, "Hey, now this isn't love, just common human decency. I'm just reaching out because no one else can, not because I like her."
Elyon's face grew a tad more red, "Ahh that's what you say now my friend, but you strike me as the kind of guy to fall in love with a woman who has no interest in being in love at all."
Just as Cyrn was about to respond, the alcohol hit him all at once.
Oh fuck I'm really drunk. It's only been two shots, though. I can usually drink a bit more. Wait…has this body drunk before?
Elyon noticed his reaction, and decided it was time to taunt, "Oh what, quitting so early, pretty boy? What happened to making me regret this?"
The bourbon clawed up his spine and set Cyrn's chest on fire. He grinned. "The night is much too young for you to be taunting me. Bottoms up!"
Another two shots went down the hatch, and both of them were most definitely very drunk.
Elyon's eyes were glazed over, and he soon started talking, "You know, man, I'm so jealous of you."
Cyrn looked at him, incredibly confused. "What are you talking about? You're strong, good-looking, and rich. What problems could you possibly have?"
Elyon laughed, "BAHAHA! Yeah, it does look like that, doesn't it? But this great life, it isn't mine. It hasn't been for a very long time."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, I never get to make my own decisions. I've been doing whatever my family wants for years now. Even when I finally started to rebel, I couldn't escape their whims. I'm trapped in a cycle of ultimatums I can never escape. I'm strong, yet never strong enough to just burn it all to the ground."
Elyon paused, and Cyrn was stunned. He'd known how Elyon had felt about his life for a long time now, but he'd never heard him directly express his own dissatisfaction with it. I thought I knew him. But I didn't. Not really. He's so much more alone than he lets on.
"That's why I envy you, Cyrn; you don't have any chains binding you. No familial duties, no terrible ultimatums. Just pure freedom to do what you want, when you want. That's my ultimate desire, for someone to finally ask me what I want."
Cyrn looked up at him, "What do you want El?"
Elyon starts to cry, "I want…a garden. The largest garden you've ever seen. It won't be organized, just beautiful chaos, flowers and bushes and trees taking up more space than the air itself."
Cyrn looked down at his glass, swirled the last drop. He blinked slowly. Eyes dry, throat burning.
"That's beautiful, El," he whispered, barely above the tavern noise.
"And I want to live in a shack. Something I built with my own hands. With a small pond I can fish every day, and skate over in the winter season. And I want to see a swarm of fireflies in the summer nights. So many that there are more than stars, flying above my home and across my flowers."
"And when I finally go to sleep, I can watch the sunset over my garden in the night, and watch it rise over the pond when I wake up. That's what I want, Cyrn. Not my money, not my power, just a garden and a home."
Cyrn stared at Elyon for a long while after that; silence befell their table, the bustle of the tavern fading in their hearing.
Cyrn spoke up after that, "No one's life is free from chains, El. The people who are the freest aren't the ones without chains. No, the freest are the ones who get to choose their chains. I'm in the same boat as you, El, except I don't even know what my chains are in this strange world."
"My existence is rejected by the world itself. SoulCurrent doesn't function around me. It's as if I was never meant to be here in the first place, and I'm inclined to believe it."
Elyon heard the way Cyrn talked about the world, like it was a separate entity, like he wasn't from here, but he said nothing, letting the words fall.
"Now I'm here, in a foreign land with no purpose, no direction, no goal. Just a floating existence waiting for something to happen to me."
Elyon listened, then chimed in, "Hey, at least you have a friend…" He said, punching Cyrn's shoulder.
"Yeah, a friend who's equally as freakish as I am…and a girl who hates me to her core."
"Hehehe, I warned you. Don't worry Virelya will warm up to you, me and her were the same when we were younger. Just give her some time, I think you have a real shot at this tiger."
Cyrn chuckled, "I don't need to have a shot. I'm not trying to go out with her."
"No you're not, you want her to fall in love with you."
"Shut up."
"Ah-ha, you didn't deny it!"
"I don't love her, I barely know her. She is so beautiful, though."
"Ohhhhh? How beautiful do you think she is?"
Cyrn took a long pause, thinking about Virelya's face. His face was red from either the alcohol or the thought, his eyes glazed over. "She's the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. But that doesn't mean I love her."
"Hehehe, sure, pal sure. Anyways, MORE DRINKS! We are still standing, and that's a failure on our parts."
Hours later, long past the time they usually fall asleep, Cyrn and Elyon were walking, arms around each other's shoulders, crying hysterically.
Cyrn went on, "I love you, man, you're such a good guy! I'm so glad I stumbled into that village to take a mission."
Elyon, equally hysterical, responded, "I love you too, bro. I'm so glad I ran away to that random village and got to meet you."
They kept walking when something caught Cyrn's eye.
He turned his head and saw her. Black hair swaying back and forth as she walked off into the distance. Virelya was far away, but Cyrn saw her. She disappeared around a corner, black hair vanishing into the night. Cyrn looked up. The stars blinked once, then the world tilted, and he hit the ground. Blackout.