"Tell him about Thyra," Magnar said with a mischievous glint in his eye. "Tell him about his 'Hidden Mother.'"

  Vorgnir groaned. "That woman likes to hold a grudge. If she finds out I told stories..."

  "She's not here," Li Yu pressed. "And as her 'son,' I think I have a right to know about my mother's past."

  The table erupted in laughter. Even the stoic Elder Stig cracked a smile.

  "Fine," Vorgnir relented. "Thyra. Grand Marshall Thyra. The White Dragon."

  He shook his head.

  "When I met her, she wasn't a Marshall. She was a young prodigy from a fallen noble house. Talented. Genius, really. But she was... stiff."

  "Stiff?" Li Yu asked.

  "Rigid," Vorgnir clarified. "She treated cultivation like alchemy. Everything had to be perfect. If her sword form was off by a millimeter of where it should be in the technique, she would stop and start over. But her biggest problem? She was a clean freak."

  "A clean freak?"

  "Obsessive," Vorgnir chuckled. "I was hired to escort her unit on a rift hunt back then. She was young then. We got ambushed by Mud Stalkers. Nasty things. They explode when you kill them. If you don’t know that, it could get you."

  Magnar was already giggling into his ale.

  "So," Vorgnir continued, "Thyra kills one. Perfect strike. But it pops. Covers her in green stinking mud from head to toe."

  Vorgnir paused for effect.

  "She didn't keep fighting. She didn't retreat. She just... froze. She stood there in the middle of a battlefield, looking at her pristine white robes and started screaming. Not in fear. In indignation. She tried to clean it off during the battle while Mud Stalkers were trying to eat her."

  Li Yu tried to picture the imposing and mostly serious Grand Marshall Thyra having a meltdown over mud.

  "I had to pick her up," Vorgnir said. He mimicked lifting a sack of potatoes. "Threw her into a snowbank to wash her off. Told her if she didn't start killing things, the mud would be the least of her problems."

  "Did she thank you?" Li Yu asked.

  "She tried to freeze my beard off," Vorgnir said fondly. "But she learned. By the end of that campaign, she was wading through guts without blinking. Still hates dirt though. Have you seen her office? Not a speck of dust."

  "That explains the white dragon-scale like armor," Li Yu mused. "Nothing sticks to it."

  "Exactly," Vorgnir nodded.

  "What about Korg, Lord Vorgnir?" Elder Hrolf asked. "I heard you broke his nose."

  "Which time?" Vorgnir asked seriously.

  Li Yu choked on his drink. "You trained Korg too?"

  "Korg was... different," Vorgnir said. His expression hardened slightly. "Korg was angry. I was told he was born angry. He came from the slums of the old mining cities. He fought like a rabid dog. No technique. Just hate and fury."

  Vorgnir then chuckled.

  "He tried to kill me the first time we met. Thought I was looking down on him. I spent three months just beating him into the ground for fun. Every day. He’d attack, I’d flatten him. He’d get up, attack again. I’d flatten him again."

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  "Why?" Li Yu asked.

  "Because he needed to learn that anger isn't strength," Vorgnir said quietly. "Anger is fuel. But if you just burn it all at once, you explode. You have to compress it. Focus it. Actually channel it towards a purpose."

  Vorgnir clenched his fist.

  "I didn't teach Korg how to fight. He already knew that. He has his own style and teaching him something else would only hinder him. I taught him how to wait. How to hold that fire until the right moment. He still struggles with it. He’s a hothead but he’s a Grand Marshall now. He channels that rage into protecting the Dominion."

  Li Yu looked at the giant sitting next to him with new eyes. He wasn't just a powerful death seeking brute. The respect and stories Li Yu had heard of Vorgnir made more sense now. This was someone who had helped shape the Dominion where it was today.

  Vorgnir was the anvil upon which some of the heroes of the North had been forged. He was the common thread binding the leadership of the Dominion together.

  "You're a teacher… A great one from the sounds of it as well." Li Yu said softly.

  Vorgnir snorted and was uncomfortable with the praise. "I'm a survivor, Li Yu. That's all. I keep living when I should have died. And along the way, I picked up some strays. Some decent ones that should help out these lands."

  He looked at Magnar and then at his elders.

  "They needed to be strong," Vorgnir said in a low voice. "Because I knew I wouldn't be around forever. Someone has to hold the line when the old guards finally fall. And they did. One by one my old friends and family fell. Now it is the new generation holding the walls."

  He took a long drink draining his tankard. Then another one. And then another one after that. All in silence.

  "That's why I'm leaving tomorrow."

  "Leaving?" Magnar’s smile faded. "To the Battered Coast?"

  "No," Vorgnir shook his head. "Not yet. I'm going back out to the fringes. There are rifts opening in the western sectors more frequently I was told. They need help over there. Someone has to keep the pressure off the cities."

  "You could rest," Elder Torsten whispered. "You've done enough. No one would say anything if you just rested and enjoyed your years now."

  "Rest is for the dead," Vorgnir grinned as the old fire returned to his eyes. "And I'm still breathing."

  He turned to Li Yu.

  "But you, Crab. You're heading to the Battered Coast, aren't you?"

  Li Yu thought about it and then nodded. "I need more natural treasures. That means more merit points. While going around, closing rifts provides some. Going after larger things will speed it up."

  Vorgnir’s expression turned serious. He leaned in close and his voice dropped to a rumble.

  "Listen to me, boy. The Battered Coast isn't like what you have been experiencing. The Coast... it's rotten."

  "Rotten?"

  "The demonic Qi there doesn't just spawn monsters," Vorgnir warned. "It warps the land. It warps the mind. Signe, the 4th Grand Marshall. She’s holding it together but she’s been there too long. They all have. The formations are helping to keep things in check there but… things are tricky.”

  “They have stayed there all this time because the risk of demons coming back with them is too high. They knew what the assignment was. They cannot return until it is over and then will need to be closely monitored for a long time after that."

  He tapped his temple.

  "Watch your back. Not just for demons. But for the people fighting them. Constant exposure to that kind of environment changes a man. It makes them... hungry."

  Li Yu absorbed the warning. "I'll keep that in mind."

  "Do that," Vorgnir said. He stood up. "Well. I've eaten my fill. I've embarrassed the Sect Master. My work here is done."

  Magnar stood up too. He didn't look annoyed. He looked respectful.

  "Will we see you again, old man?" Magnar asked.

  Vorgnir paused. He looked at his former student. He looked at the new arm.

  "You're the Thunder King now, Sparky," Vorgnir said softly. "You don't need me anymore. Keep the North safe."

  He turned to Li Yu.

  "And you. Don't die. You’ve been robbing me of my glorious death, it would be unfair if you went and died instead. It would be a waste of a good rumor as well."

  With that, Vorgnir turned and walked out of the alcove as he always did on the battlefield. He moved with a heavy but lumbering pace. The table watched him go in silence.

  "He's a legend," Elder Hrolf whispered.

  "He's a tired old man," Magnar said with his eyes glistening slightly. "Who has been carrying the weight of this war longer than any of us."

  Magnar sat back down and picked up his ale. He looked at Li Yu.

  "To Vorgnir," Magnar said.

  "To the Teacher," Li Yu agreed.

  They clinked cups. The night wore on and was filled with more stories. More laughter and the warmth of shared survival. But as Li Yu drank, his mind drifted to the warnings.

  The Battered Coast. Warped land. Hungry people.