"Ah—wasn't that just a legend?"
"Oh! The young people from every tribe have to visit the Hall of Ancestral Spirits to see it for themselves, but most of them don't gain any insight."
"Father and Chief Leland went too, of course, when they were young."
Cairne was confused, but still answered honestly.
"Franklin! Do I have to understand a Rune before a soul can return to your space?"
Lei Mo asked Franklin in his mind.
"Usually, anyone in the Saint Realm—or with the potential to reach it—will gain some insight from viewing the Soul Rune. That's why Bill and Rachel understood it so quickly."
"Leland and Thomas are both below the Saint Realm. Before, their souls definitely wouldn't have remained. But now, even the slightest connection with a Rune lets a soul return, whether it's an Initial Rune or a Soul Rune."
Franklin replied in one breath, then added,
"But I'll need to examine them before I can be sure."
Franklin fell silent. Inside the Soul Space, he was slower than Lei Mo; Lei Mo could reach any place there instantly with a mere thought.
"Cairne, the chief and Uncle Thomas might still have a chance to come back to life, but that's for later."
"Now, tell me what happened. Why did the Fang Tribe want to wipe out the Bloodhoof Tribe? And where did they get the strength?"
Lei Mo's barrage of questions left Cairne a little bewildered. The blunt Tauren had only just been lost in grief, so it was no surprise he was slow to respond.
"Do you remember the bandits we ran into on the Ancestral Court Pilgrimage a few years ago?"
Cairne finally sorted out his thoughts and began answering Lei Mo's questions.
"That bandit gang was called Raging Flame Mountain. Its leader was Raging