"Griffin... damn it, how did you become a Lich?!" Gary cried. He had thought nothing could shake him anymore.
"I made some unforgivable mistakes."
"How is that possible?" Gary could hardly believe it. "You couldn't even bear to step on an ant."
"We all grow up. Even you wanted to become a Priest, but you ended up carrying a weapon onto the battlefield."
"I had no talent for being a Priest. I could only become a Warrior..."
Gary looked wistfully at his closest childhood friend. He had thought he had it bad, but Griffin had even lost his life... just like Jorn.
"Jorn died," he said sadly.
"I know. Blackwatch couldn't change that gentle nature of his," Griffin said bluntly.
Gary wanted to argue, but in the end he only shook his head with a bitter smile.
There was no point explaining now.
"How did you end up in Free City?"
"I found my purpose in life here."
Gary understood. Griffin had loved conducting strange experiments as a child. He was always covered in dirt, earning the nickname Little Mudball and no end of bullying. Gary and Jorn had lived in the Princess's Domain with their family for a while, and only then had the bullying stopped.
He put in a good word for his childhood friend. "Lord Annan, I don't know what Griffin did wrong or how he ended up like this, but I can promise you he's a good person."
"A good person?" Annan's tone was strange.
Gary froze. "Isn't he?"
Griffin said nothing, and Annan did not recount his crimes in front of a childhood friend who still believed in him.
If they had still been boys, they would have embraced with delight. If they had been ordinary adults, they could have shared their stories in a