Pan Silenos stood in a private room in one of the rare moments he got to himself. He held a memory stone in one hand as he read a letter penned with beautiful calligraphy. It wasn’t the first time he’d read the letter and he doubted it would be the last.
My dear father,
We’ve just made camp for the first night of the Crimson Valley Treasure Hunt. The others are in their bedrolls. I elected to take first watch. We’ve already completed two trials and will set out to complete the third and no doubt enter the dungeon tomorrow.
The hunt is going better than I could’ve expected. Jie decimates anything that stands in our way and Ithilix’s hive senses are phenomenal at finding treasures. You should’ve seen what she did with one of the trials where we had to gamble with a series of chests.
Thanks to her, we have an incredible amount of loot and we’ve only just begun.
I confess that the others leave me feeling a bit like dead weight. I try my best to lead them, and I hope I’m doing a good job… though in truth it’s not so hard a task as they’re so adept and responsible. Even Jie’s magical beast is unbelievably responsive and intelligent. And I do so love it when he purrs. It’s the most adorable thing.
Tonight, as we dined together… we talked about our families.
Our discussion has left me missing mother… do you still think of her?
I’m sorry… I don’t mean to bring up painful memories.
It’s just that I miss her… Jie said that she’d be proud of me… do you think that’s true? I hope it is…
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Are you proud of me, father?
I’m proud of you… and I’m proud to be your daughter. You have a heavy responsibility and I know you keep many secrets from me… I know that you shoulder great burdens and often… I wish I could be as strong as you so I could help you carry them.
You lead our family well… though I wish that you didn’t have to. That we could just… share a meal together without politics or duty getting in the way.
I’m sorry… it’s late, I’m tired, and the conversations with my friends have left me feeling sentimental. I know how important your work is. Forgive my selfish musings.
Love,
Your little moonbeam
PS: I’ve included a memory stone showing the trial with the chests I mentioned and a few of our battles in the valley so far. I also included an encounter we had with Chen Jingren. It turns out he’s alive.
He was frozen and we elected to thaw him out. He’s always seemed like one of the better members of that family and I couldn’t quite bring myself to leave him like that… but I can’t help thinking that perhaps I made a mistake?
He swallowed hard and smiled though his heart ached.
“Of course I’m proud of you. I always will be,” he muttered, “tell your mother I miss her too. May your next lives be kinder to you both.”
END OF BOOK 2
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Thank you so much for reading. I hope that you’ve enjoyed Path of the Dragon so far and I appreciate all the support, positive reviews, and wonderful comments.
We’ve now caught up with what I’ve written of Path of the Dragon (aside from a bonus short story which is available on my Patreon and in the paid for copy of book 2). In fact, this scene is a bonus scene… we already reached the end of the book in the last post. ;)
It will be a while (I don’t know how long) before I release more PoD content as I’m currently working on and releasing book 2 of my Alchemist series.
Naturally, there are only so many hours in a day so I’ve paused PoD for now.
Once again, thank you for reading, I hope to see you again when PoD continues, and in the meantime, consider checking out the alchemist series as I think book 2 is pretty cool so far.
Stay awesome.
The Alchemist Series:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/path-of-dragon-3-123757833
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/81697/unspeakable-secrets-the-alchemist-series-a-dark
https://www.amazon.com/stores/Daren-Gillingham/author/B07DGBHYVR
