Respen Bareris

As the lands of Port Mount revealed itself over the horizon, Respen Bareris thought about two things.

He thought about his upbringing. Who would have thought that Respen, the one who could barely stand leaving home unless absolutely necessary in his formative years, would be sailing at sea now? Surely none of his childhood friends, nor his parents. Yet, as he matured and found solace in his career as an artist, Respen grew more confident in his existence in the world around him. Right now, with the salty sea air and bright sun providing an experience more beautiful than he could ever interpret in any of his paintings, this moment carried a sense of normalcy despite this being Respen’s first time traveling by sea. Perhaps he was ready for this to be his new normal.

He also thought about why he was here, on this boat. A twist in his gut formed as he thought of his fiancée, bed-ridden at home with a seemingly incurable disease. Yes, this moment on the sea was a beautiful one, but Respen couldn’t allow himself to take in the pleasures nature provided with a task such as this at hand. After all, nature is the reason his fiancée’s disease is incurable, leaving Respen one last option.

As the boat was coming into port, Respen hoped for two things.

He hoped that his search wasn’t in vain, that the legendary artifact he was searching for, a book that could bring anything drawn in it to life with no game of chance, was more reality than legend. He committed drawings of the extinct flower to memory from every book he could find of it, that one flower that held the cure to his fiancée’s illness. Every alchemist, apothecary, cleric, wizard, you name it… They all confirmed finding this flower, or somehow replicating it, would keep his fiancée away from death’s door.

Respen also hoped he could find it in time.