Role

Chapter 3

I suppose it would be accurate to say that I was never meant to be an anonymous
Elf within the guild. It is not who I was born to be, nor who I would ever wish
to be. I had a home once, a family, loyal subjects to whom I owed my service and
protection. I failed them all in that duty, but that failure could not be the
end of me and would not make me something that I am not.

Given those undeniable facts, I suppose it is reasonable to anticipate that I
would seek out something greater than myself. Far greater than this guild, which
has sharpened the skills and abilities I developed during my princely recreation
endeavors, and more recently, during that eye-opening trek through the
mountains. Greater even, in some ways, than Verolyn itself.

It was with a sense of serene purpose that I first approached the silvery gates
of the Fortress of Light. In a previous life, isolated in the Palace of Verolyn,
we spoke of this Fortress as a place of myth and legend. Of course there were
several adventurous Elves, righteous priests mostly, that departed Verolyn to
find their way here. But none could ever be sure that this great Fortress truly
existed.

Even I was not entirely certain what would be found until I stood before that
mystical Tara'bal directly. Once there, I could sense the power, the surety and
the unquestionably pure purpose emanating from the divine being. Without further
pause, I knelt for the first time to anyone other than my own father, and
pledged a solemn oath of loyalty.

It was a strange reversal of fortune, as I looked upon another with my knee
bent. Strange, but I knew this was the way. I was a Prince without a Kingdom. An
Elf without a family, without land, without wealth. In many ways, I was no
different than anyone else who might approach this Fortress. Anonymous to those
within, but pure of purpose and intent.

Ultimately, I suppose it no longer matters who I once was. I am no longer known
as Ilthuryn Ar'dan Verylonathas, Crown Prince of Verolyn. I am lesser now, in
the eyes of many, but greater in ways that few understand. I am now known simply
Ilthuryn the Ranger, Squire to the Holy Brigade of the Phoenix.