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Nergora didn't know how much beer he drank that night. All he remembered was that he was being persuaded by a man for a beer drinking contest and he didn't remember anything after three mugs or so. He may had forgotten about it and with his short-term memory he would have forgotten how much mugs he drank last night.

He woke up with nausea. The beer made his stomach very twisted and he felt the strong heat he got from the beer. He didn't know that the beer had a property to warm things up and he felt his body started to melt with the internal heat, and that was so uncomfortable.

When he tried to move, he lost balance and his back leg hit the side of the table, tripping him. When he fell he saw a hand tried to pull him up. The hand was furry and the claws were more or less very black. Not only that. There was a weird sense when he stood, as if this one was a hellhound, just like him, yet it wasn't his friend. Just as he woke up, he saw the face of a wolf in front of him. From the expression, the woman was surprised to see him, especially when he fell.

"Are you okay?" she said, trying to pull him up. "You drank 15 mugs last night."

"D...does that feel like a burn?"

"That was a strong malt beer for a start. Here, let me help you stand..."

"It's fine...I don't need help," said Nergora while trying to stand by using the table. "I want some fresh air..."

"For me you're not very well," said the female wolf. "I'll help you outside. It's nice and warm this morning."

"At least don't touch my head. I don't like it when someone touches it..."

"Okay...you're a Lycan with mane problem. It's fine for me, really."

Nergora and the female Lycan walked outside. The sun, as she said, was warm for the morning and made a great comfort for Nergora. He breathed in the fresh air of the town when people had started to walk and taking the baskets for them to the nearest market. There were almost no carriages except for those taking some supplies from the road leading to the next town and possibly to the next carriage station. The houses, as the hellhound saw it, were made from bricks, and the road wasn't dirt, but instead they were bricks, like the big cities. The town was different from the rest in his journey, where it was made from wood and dirt was the street.

"I forgot the name of the town."

"It's Yenhal, the brick town," she said. "This is one of many places in Adaline with brick houses and gas lightings, as the townsfolk always said. And...no wooden houses."

"Your accent seems off..."

"My accent? Oh, sorry...I'm not an Adaline native. I came from Naina. It's further south."

"Oh...then I should study more about the continent...ah (fuck)."

"Are you alright?"

"Y...yeah, I'm okay. It's just a headache."

The female wolf then took him to a bench near a hotel to sit for a while, after helping Nergora on sitting right, she said, "It's so rare to find a white wolf around here. Did you come from Dusdolf? Your accent seems off too."

"I studied German before English, so don't be bothered by it."

"Oh, I won't be bothered by it. This place is a hybrid town. We called it by an Adaline name, they built it like a Dusdolf town, and many inhabitants are from around the continent."

"Oh...that's great.... I mean, it's not..."

"You can stop being a jerk around me. I know you have a good heart under that wild look of yours. Most drunkards are, yes, but you're different. Maybe it's because we are a lupine race we can understand each other?"

Nergora didn't find anything, unsure on what to reply her. He wasn't sure if what the female Lycan said was true for him. Everything he knew about the mortal kind's view on hellhounds was that of demons, not Lycans. Werewolves in stories were considered such, before they became what they were, in Nergora's view. He quickly remembered on that heat sensation and the weird smell he thought would be familiar.

Without trying to find any topics, Nergora sat there silently while the female Lycan was watching the flowers. The ice hellhound wasn't sure on his next destination. True, he wanted to find Ifrit, but that newfound feelings he got for the past year made him understand love and care, and now that feeling was stuck with him when he met the beautiful Lycan. The Lycan was a silver one. Her furs were like the silver moon in a clear sky, and most of her features, like her claws and her eyes, were mesmerizing for Nergora himself. The silver eyes matched her fur.

"So," said the female werewolf while standing up. "Guess you owe me a company later."

"When?"

"As soon as you find a time on yourself. Hey, I didn't get your name."

Inside the hellhound, he really wanted to stay longer in the small town, but he knew he had another matter at hand. Seeing Ifrit's safety was more than trying to find a reason to be with her, to know her more, and to at least make a new life out of his hellish life to the past months. He didn't want that. He wanted peace with life, but how?

Yet, he didn't have a choice, as she had released him. He said, "Nergora...Schelkz."

"I'm Seolfor. Seolfor Cannington."

"Seolfor...what a nice name."

"My mother said it means 'silver moon', because I have this silver-colored fur and she said my eyes reminded her of a full moon, the symbol of the wolf."

"And your mother wasn't lying."

Nergora then parted way with heavy heart. He knew his travel would be a lot longer before he could meet the silver Lycan again. She could have moved on and he wouldn't be as lucky as that day anymore, yet he knew his family was first, and he knew he was a stranger and an enemy to the humans. He also needed to be quick. He didn't want to see the beautiful town to be ripped to pieces by the hellhounds just because he was the target.

When he returned to the inn, he saw Sovarn was in front of it trying to talk to a carriage driver about the fare. When he finished, he noticed Nergora, still with yesterday's clothes, walking around while his face was down. Nergora could sense Sovarn was coming to him, and he was going to turn his head to another side when the hellhound said, "(Neri, what's wrong? You look like a heartbroken man)."

"(I don't feel very good...)"

"(Let's talk along the way, but this time), no Hordo."

During the trip Nergora couldn't lose Seolfor out of his mind. He kept watching the floor, trying to forget her, but he couldn't. Nergora was stuck with it, and so did his ice power.

Sovarn noticed this, and said, "Nergora, calm down. Don't freeze the hell out of this carriage. You're betting on my money since I know you don't take your pouch when you walk out of the hotel..."

"I took it with me."

Nergora produced the pouch from under coat he was wearing. Sovarn could see that Nergora was tying it up to his body, since he himself was forgetful. The hellhound just made a small laugh and said, "Damn, Neri, I thought you never got a knack in finding females attractive."

"Why would that be a problem?"

"It's just weird. You're always the cold type...I mean literally. But your heart is...is melting, and I know of that."

"As if. This distracts me."

"No. Ifrit distracts you from your supposed life. He's with his own life now. He won't be trying to get you if he's too busy with his own life. Do you think brothers will always be one? When you have other responsibilities, sometimes you'll have to lose the one you know the most."

"Sovi, you can't be serious about it? I mean, Ifrit's just got out from the hellish world and he needs my attention. I'm his brother."

"He's a brother, but you gotta believe in him. He's not a kid, he's a grown (hellhound). This is not like ten years ago. You two are grown-ups now."

"Yeah, and you say grown-up is an 18 years old (hellhound)? Maybe you got this wrong."

"I got wrong for not leaving you with that fair Lycan..."

"Excuse me, sirs? But it's getting dark. Do you want to stop at the next station?"

This caused Nergora say, "Yes, please" before getting down. It was right. The surroundings was getting dark and it wouldn't be wise for the carriage to continue as there wasn't any farm or place to sleep (they didn't have any camp equipments). Putting down the pouches, Sovarn paid the driver and while Nergora pulled out everything from the carriage, a Lycan approached him and said, "Excuse me, are you Mr. Schelkz?"

"Yes, what is it?"

"Your friend left a letter here. I was instructed to hold on to this until I found a white Lycan coming here. You're Nergora Schelkz, aren't you?"

"Do you find any Lycans with that name around here?"

The Lycan didn't reply, yet he produced a brown-covered letter sealed hastily, quite possibly a hunter or some sort. The Lycan returned to his post in the mail room when the driver from before talked with him. Nergora then pulled his bags to the room they rented while Sovarn asked the caretaker if there were any carriages coming from the other town.

After a while or so, Sovarn joined Nergora into the room they had rented, and pulled out his tail after they closed the door. When he noticed Nergora's letter and the movement of his prehensile tail, he knew the hellhound was seeing something with a kind of eagerness Sovarn didn't know. Just when Sovarn wanted to open his coat did Nergora said, "Hey, do you have a minute?"

"What is it?"

"It's a letter...from Ifrit."

Sovarn snatched it out from him, and he read them. It was a hastily written English letter, but he realized very well that this was Ifrit's writing, given how bad his writing was for a hellhound. He read them carefully.

The letter said, "Nergora, it's me. Maybe you don't remember me, but I do. You surely have known that we are the stranger to this world, but I doubt you haven't adapted well with this world. By the time you read this, I am going closer to Stelikan with Vlantus and Eshdar. This letter is being sent to you by one of Vlantus' soldiers. I'm so glad to know that you're alive from Eshdar and I am thrilled when I know you're here, in this region the humans called Adaline. I should tell you that I'm okay, and I'm happy to tell you that for the first time I've been living in this world I've met a beautiful Lycan named Lilac, and a great friend named Albreich. We've been travelling around for almost a year now and I can't wait to see you. In the meantime, we're travelling around Adaline, selling stuffs, delivering them, and sometimes fight some weird hellhounds calling me a prince, and guess what, I'm a prince. Maybe you too, Nergora, but I think it's better if you know. Life isn't easy, but it won't be hard if you have someone with you the whole time, like my friends. Maybe soon, we'll meet each other. I can't blame you for separating with me many years ago, Nergora, but you must know that with that, you give me life.

"I hope our meeting won't be long."

The letter was signed Ifrit, in a very bad writing. Sovarn managed to read all of it, and he saw that Nergora was even more depressed than before. Knowing that Ifrit was fine was happy, but he realized that he hadn't get what Ifrit defined as 'happy life' on the surface. Sovarn just comforted him and said, "See? He's way ahead of you in proclaiming love."

"B...but then why can't I? My feelings aren't all that used to be. Seolfor is just too beautiful I can't even talk much to her. I was too distracted to Ifrit's well-being that I forgot that I have my own well-being to find. But I'm still all that thrilled to see my brother."

"Your brother is weeks from our position. I'm sure Vlantus and the others are giving him the right way to meet us, if his friends aren't deceiving him we are okay. Hey, don't be that sad. Ifrit is happy, and now you deserve to be."

"Where...can I start?"

"We go back to the town and I'll give you time around Seolfor. I'll try a way to contact Vlantus or at least Eshdar. They must find this town. We need more friends these times."

The night wind tipped off Nergora. The chill wasn't all that much, knowing very well he was just trying to make an excuse about him with the female Lycan. He was desperate to find a life, but of course it wasn't as easy as he knew. Ifrit himself needed at least months to be a nice hellhound to a mortal Lycan. How about him? Could he do what his brother did? He didn't get the answer, and resolved to go to sleep.