From the moment he could remember, Tian Qi had always been a little tag-a-long clinging to his elder brother's heels.
He was the most ordinary of souls—no grand ambitions, no lofty dreams. The only thing he ever wanted was to follow his brother and walk the same path.
So he joined his brother at Inkbound Order, and when his brother left, he followed without hesitation.
Tian Qi was delighted when his brother took him back to their childhood secret cave to live in seclusion.
No matter what, he was the only one who had always stayed by his brother's side.
That cave, known to no one else, still held traces of their youth:
The crooked scribbles of their first attempts at writing, the bamboo sticks they once used for sword practice, a long-lost game piece they could never find...
Delighted, he showed each relic to his brother. But his brother only gave faint smiles, his attention buried in the books he had brought from Inkbound Order.
Ever since coming to the cave, his brother did nothing but read.
Those books held the purpose his brother sought, but Tian Qi never understood it.
It didn't matter if he couldn't understand—he just needed to follow his brother, Tian Qi comforted himself.
Until one day, his brother finished reading those books, decided to leave again, and destroyed all traces of their past.
What kind of great cause could be worth erasing all signs of their existence?
He had never understood his brother.
He finally realized that all these years, he had never truly walked the same path as his brother. He had always stared at the other's back, but had lost him in a distant moment.
Mediocre, insignificant, cowardly—he had foolishly believed the bond of their youth would last a lifetime.
He never knew that some who start together in hardship are fated to part ways along the road.
This time, Tian Qi did not follow.
