Three tales of friendship , woven in the silence of northern nights. Sheltered by a single cold wind—worthy of each of the heroes—for the sake of fated and longed-for events, bound by friendship. Beside the grandeur of darkening forests, the cold and firmness of high, great mountains, the unchanging and unsettling sounds of rivers, lakes, and seas. The Man of Fated Path In the hush of rain, in the frozen silence of a house cloaked in shadow. Remembering his friend once more, a man—a warrior—watches the cold bay, longing to understand the dark and unpredictable end of the only person dearest to him. And, having received the sign of longing and trembling gifted by fate itself, the warrior at last sets out—seeking to know who dared to take his friend away. Longing to uncover the answer, fated for him alone. This is a path through cold. Through a quiet, yet perilous land. And through the bonds of friendship—firmer than steel and stone. Firmer than desire itself. The Two with Shattered Thoughts Living in a quiet coastal town, two friends—together in the shadows—lose, moment by moment, their emotions, their feelings, and the very will to speak to one another. Reconsidering many of the moments they have lived through. Remembering, more and more often in silence, the consequences of choices once made. At last, the two dear friends decide to restore the days that were once worthy of them, wishing to change far too much. Bound by a friendship great and worthy of them alone, regaining their strength—yet only to make a decision. The Value of Certainty On a wind-framed, clouded evening in early summer, a diplomat learns of the calamity that has come to pass. He learns of what had been awaited for many long months. Upon him falls a grave and great task—to restore, once again, the confidence of the free world. Knowing the work must be done, the thoughts of the weary diplomat rest only on his dear and only friend—now at the front. Longing only to hear him again, to see him at last—he hesitates over what he is willing to risk in the decisive moment for the free world. The Only Friend is a collection of three stories about the strongest and most worthy kind of friendship. About the path toward a single, fated destiny—bestowed and woven with golden threads in the shadows at the foot of the Great Ash Tree. Illia Welles writes of silence, of emotions, and of the decisive actions of the heroes within these three tales. Of what has once passed. Of a humble and longed-for present. And of a future—foretold to come soon. Holding within the reader a quiet tension of feeling—drawn to the grandeur, the beauty, and the silence of these stories of friendship.