《Levis Magus》


 [REWRITTEN] Chapter 1: The Beginning

    Chapter 1: The Beginning


    Just outside of Riplin, the capital of East Hrior, was an orphanage. While full of furniture, food, and drinks the people there were empty. Their hearts had neither ambition nor hope. The children of the orphanage had no dreams to become rich or powerful, in fact, they simply had no dreams at all. The owner of the orphanage, whom was referred to as The Witch, had a bad reputation. She was a grumpy old lady, and yet she was unwilling to give up on life. In order to afford the high level potions that could extend one¡¯s life she put the children to work. Whether it was cutting logs, gathering mushrooms in the nearby forest, or anything at all that would result in a slight profit, the children never had a second of rest. To The Witch children were nothing more than little slaves to do her bidding. She had no remorse when it came to extorting these poor children, and it would be unthinkable to imagine that she had a soft side. But there was one child, by the name of Trip. This child was never beaten or put to work. He was completely ignored by The Witch. This child did not seem to mind however, as he never had a dull look in his eyes. The child spent his days in only two places. He was always either in his room and the library.


    There was of course a reason for the peculiar treatment of the small child. 6 years ago, when little Trip was just a baby he was given to the orphanage by a man who looked not like a man, but rather a terrifying shadow. This shadow handed Trip to The Witch and told her ¡®The child¡¯s name is Trip. If this child is so much as touched throughout his stay here, you will not live very long.¡¯ The Witch was always known as the tyrannical one, but on this occasion someone had threatened something which was so precious to her, she would extort children in order to prolong its existence. This was of course her life. And so Trip was never touched, and he was simply allowed to do as he liked.


    However, that raised the question of what Trip was actually doing all the time. Every day he would read his books in the library. He was simply absorbed in his world of books. He would read from the early morning to the late afternoon. ¡°All he does is read books¡± The children of the orphanage would say distastefully, as they didn¡¯t understand why there was a difference in treatment. However, Trip did not realise the stares and jeers of others. He never looked at anyone or anything but his books. Some described it as an obsession, but in reality it was dedication.


    From a young age Trip always wanted power. Not over people or countries, but power over himself, and the power to protect what he felt was dear to him. Since he never knew his parents he never had anyone to hold him, comfort him, or take care of him. Instead he had to learn to take care of himself, but what he realised was that sometimes he did not have the power to do this.


    One day when Trip was only three years old he found a pig hiding in the forest. He loved this pig. He helped it out in its time of need, and when it finally had the strength to walk they went back to the orphanage. It turned out that the pig belonged to a nearby farmer, so Trip walked with the pig all the way to the nearby farm. When he arrived the farmer thanked Trip, and then grabbed the pig by the ears before chopping off its head. That was when Trip learned that if he had power he would be able to prevent such atrocities from occurring.


    What drove him to reading was a simple phrase ¡°Knowledge is power¡±. This was something that he had overheard someone say, but it really stuck with him. He found no flaws in the statement and began to read everything he could. Whenever he read he was fascinated by all the different things about the world. Because of this fascination Trip would read for ages, before going into his room in the late afternoon.


    Although Trip did take his book to his room, he did not actually read it. He would instead close it and leave it to be read in the morning. He would then proceed to lie down on his bed and close his eyes. However, he did not sleep, but instead he entered a different world. This was a world where he had friends, and a world where he would feel happy. This world was called Hyuru. In order to enter this world he would need to heighten his senses and focus very heavily on his surroundings. When he did this he would see tons of little particles all around him. These particles were blue and white. They were his friends. They made him feel warm and not alone.


    Due to Trip¡¯s reading habits, he had learned that what he was experiencing was called Hyuru. Hyuru was something that all people could do, though most people only are able to control going in and out of Hyuru when they reach the age of 12, compared to Trip who has full control over this state at the age of 6. Hyuru is the basis for all magic in this world. Depending on the type and amount of particles you see determine which elements you can use and your affinity for said element. There are 6 elements: Fire, water, earth, wind, light, dark. In Trip¡¯s case, he sees white and blue particles, and he also sees a lot of them, this means that he has a high affinity for water and light magic.


    These particles do not exist in an alternate universe; in fact when someone is in a state of Hyuru they merely see the world differently. The particles actually always existed in the environment around you, Hyuru just allowed one to see them. The higher ones¡¯ affinity as a mage, the more particles you would be able to see in your environment. When one performs magic, one has to pull the particles out of the environment around oneself. With this people can make water streams come out of thin air, or create light in pure darkness.


    The day was bright, and the sun stood high. Trip had been preparing himself for this day for 2 years already. This was the day that he would attempt to use physical magic. He had read many books about the subject, and he had fully mastered Hyuru, so theoretically the chances of success were 100 %, and even if he did not achieve success today, he could always try again tomorrow, until he would achieve control over physical magic.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Trip concentrated heavily, his goal was to create a small water stream come out of his right hand. He focused all his power on his hand and¡­ success! A tiny spurt of water jumped out of his hand, he was too excited to control it properly, but he had achieved the realm of physical magic at the ripe age of 6. If anyone could see Trip at this very moment, they would be very shocked, for a bright childlike grin appeared across his cute little face.


    The library at the orphanage had very limited books on magic, but there was one book about elementary stage water spells. Trip extensively studied this book, and worked hard to understand the concepts explained in the book. Trip did not attempt the same with light spells, as light was a rather unknown topic in the world of magic, and there was not a single light mage in all of Hrior. Therefore Trip decided to only practice water magic at this stage of his life.


    To other people, it would seem that Trip was exactly the same as before; he still held the same schedule. He was in the library from early in the morning to late in the afternoon, and then the rest of the day he would be practicing in his room. However, now Trip would practice magic when the moment he entered his room. Leaving him exhausted every morning; after all, becoming a mage is no easy task.


    Trip would read the book about elementary stage water spells constantly. Due to his excellent memory and intelligence he was able to remember and understand the concept behind all the spells. In this world the four basic elements were water, wind, earth, and fire. Light and dark magic were not considered a part of the four basic elements as they were much more profound and mysterious compared to the other elements.


    Water was an element of elegance. It would rarely be used for offensive uses, but instead be used for healing. Wind magic was strong for movement techniques, and would be the magic that scouts would use in the army. Earth magic was best for defence, whereas fire magic would be used primarily for offensive uses.


    Since Trip only had a book on elementary water magic, this caused him to learn water in a very unorthodox manner. One who received careful guidance on the arts of water magic would learn it slowly and learn how to control water in an elegant fashion, due to the elementary water magic book not containing any specifics on how to learn the techniques Trip had to analyse them and teach to himself. This caused his interpretation of water magic to be very different from other people. In Trip¡¯s hands water magic was explosive and powerful compared to elegant and calm water magic which would be taught by schools. Water Bullet was the first technique which Trip learned, the technique worked by summoning a small stream of water and shooting the water at a high velocity towards a target. Trip would train in these techniques every day. He never rested; he was almost obsessive over his training.


    Even though the country of East Hrior was rather poor, there was still obligatory magic education. Every child from the age of 8 would have to go to an elementary magic school until they were 12, afterwards they could stop school entirely, go to an intermediate magic school, or go to a warrior school. Unfortunately, one would have to pay tuition at higher levels of education, causing only a very limited part of the country¡¯s children to go on to higher education. One could of course receive a scholarship, but it was nearly impossible for just anyone to receive a scholarship, one would have to be a genius to receive one.


    Two years had passed since Trip had started with elementary magic, and he had now fully mastered elementary water magic, he even created some of his own magic techniques. Trip was now 8 years old, which meant he would have to go to an elementary magic school. He expected to go to the same school as all the other children in the orphanage, but that morning he had surprisingly received a letter saying that his application to the Wearhearst Elementary School of Magic had been accepted. This was a boarding school which was primarily only for rich children. Trip did not remember ever admitting to the school, but he certainly would not say no to better education.


    Trip was very intelligent, and he realised that if he showed that he had already reached such a terrifying level of magic at such a young age he would undoubtedly be named a genius, but Trip did not want to be famous. Over the years Trip had started to look at society and the people around him as an outsider, and he did not want a life like other people. At this point in Trip¡¯s life, his only desire was to find his parents, and to find out who he was and where he came from. Trip decided that he would become powerful, and then investigate his past.


    When Trip arrived at the boarding school he realised that this school was mainly for noble or rich children, and even though Trip looked refined and very cute, he still wore peasant like clothes and walked like a peasant. This caused people to look at him funny and mockingly. Trip did not mind attention, but he found it rather tedious. He realised that if he kept up this appearance he would undoubtedly be bullied, which was not something that Trip looked forward to. Trip thought back to an old quote he read in one of his books ¡®When in Tyer, do as the Tyerians do¡­¡¯ This of course was a reference to the ancient city of Tyer, which was a city famous for murdering any foreigners who entered the city. Trip was not in the mood to be discriminated against, so he analysed how other rich people walked, and he copied them. Trip was an amazingly quick learner, and after just 5 minutes of observing he already walked with the air of an aristocrat, unfortunately he could not change his clothes so quickly, so he hoped to deter any bullies with just his walk.


    Luckily Trip was not confronted by anyone on the walk to the school, and he managed to find a good seat at the entrance ceremony.


    A man with a scarred face walked up to the podium. He looked terrifying, but he carried an air of warmth and strength. He appeared to be a sort of father figure to the students.


    ¡®Dear Students!¡± He spoke with a thunderous voice ¡°I am your headmaster, Ponter Livis. I hail from the wondrous lands of Mistrai.¡±


    All the students looked at the headmaster in awe. Mistrai was the richest and largest country in the continent. Even a peasant in Mistrai would hold the same status as a noble in East Hrior.


    ¡°I will keep my words sparse and will only say one final thing.¡± He smiled at the students ¡°Welcome to the Wearhearst Elementary School of Magic!¡±

 [REWRITTEN] Chapter 2: Wearhearst Elementary School of Magic

    Chapter 2: Wearhearst Elementary School of Magic


    The entrance ceremony continued, and the boredom Trip felt increased. The entire ceremony was just uninteresting teachers droning on and on. It was a school for rich children, and so the teachers had to make the students feel happy in order to ensure that their parents would not complain. However, the teachers¡¯ way of making students happy actually made everyone more and more bored. They constantly tried to make little jokes, and kept trying to get the crowd riled up and excited for the school year. This failed miserably. Most rich children already looked down on teachers from the beginning, and now the teachers had simply pushed themselves even further down the food chain.


    After several hours the entrance ceremony finished. Trip and the children in his year were guided outside by the teachers. Outside several upperclassmen were waiting for them. They led the students off to their respective dorms. Trip saw that the majority of students were heading into a different direction. The upperclassman guiding Trip saw the confusion and explained.


    ¡°While this school is free,¡± The upperclassman said ¡°all the really rich students tend to pay for nicer dorms.¡±


    Trip nodded in understanding.


    However, rather than being disappointed that he doesn¡¯t get the best service, he was actually quite happy. By him going to a worse dorm he would not be surrounded by a lot of the really rich kids. From what he experienced during the entrance ceremony there was a clear indication that the really rich kids were the snobbiest, and the people Trip didn¡¯t want to be around.


    The upperclassmen guided Trip and the students with him until they reached a fairly large building. It was five floors high and had around fifty rooms on every floor. However, a lot of the rooms were empty. Whilst Trip did see the occasional spider web he found the whole place to be quite nice.


    He got his key and room number from an old man at the lobby. Trip felt himself getting a little excited as he headed up to the third floor. He wondered what his room would be like.


    Eventually he reached it. Dorm number 112. He put the key in the keyhole and opened the door. Before he even looked inside he took a deep breath. This was where he was going to be living for the next 4 years, and he wanted to get acquainted with it quickly. Unfortunately, it was not fresh air which he inhaled, but rather a large cloud of dust. He immediately began to cough, which slightly unromanticised the whole situation.


    When he recovered he went to actually look inside his room. He took a good look at the room in front of him, and was rather surprised by its staleness. In the orphanage his room was very simple, but at least it had a homely feel and smelled like wood. His new room was very different; the look of it was dreadful. It was dark, without a window, and it had no ventilation whatsoever, it was stuffy and it was very hard to breathe. Whilst not much bothered Trip, him not being able to breathe properly could affect him when he was practicing, and that made him rather annoyed.


    In a fit of rage he began to clean his room. He brushed away the dust as if it were a mortal enemy. An hour of intense cleaning passed quickly and the room was sparkling with cleanliness. However the problem of ventilation was still there. He was at a loss for what he could do; in the end he gave up. His only option was to break through the door or wall in order to forcefully add ventilation, but this would mean that the school would charge him due to him destroying part of the building. This would also reveal that he knew some magic already, which he didn¡¯t want people finding out.


    Trip sighed in disappointment and left the room to explore the campus. He had a look at the map of the campus, which the upperclassmen were kind enough to give to him. He saw that the campus was divided into 3 sections: The dorms, the school (where the classrooms where), and the forest. The forest was considered off limits for 1<sup>st</sup> year students. Trip looked at it and decided that he would train in the forest, it made sense, barely anyone would go there and he would get the fresh air he so badly needed.


    Trip decided to scout out an area where he could practice. When he arrived at the forest he was shocked at the vastness of it. From just a small hill he could see thousands upon thousands of trees; it seemed to go on endlessly. It was only natural that he would be shocked by this wondrous sight, when he was at the orphanage he rarely even glanced outside. To suddenly be confronted with such beauty would of course lead to shock.


    After recovering from his daze he ran into the forest. Luckily he had a very good memory, so he was not afraid of becoming lost. After a couple of minutes of running Trip realised that he was completely out of breath, and that his short legs were already beginning to hurt. He was shocked by his pathetic stamina, and realised that it would benefit him if he were to train his body more. He made a mental not to add it to his schedule.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    Eventually he found a nice little opening in the forest, with a nice pond by the side. It presented an image of tranquillity. Feeling the peace in his heart he recognised that this would be a great place to train.


    Trip started his usual routine. He would do ten sets of every technique he knew. These techniques included Water Bullet, Water Whip, Water Healing, Water Field, and Water Vortex. (Additional information at the bottom)


    After Trip finished his routine he was exhausted, so he made his way back to his dorm. A big smile was on his face as he was walking back. There was something about the change in atmosphere which made him very happy.


    When he arrived at his room he decided that he would go running early in the morning. Unfortunately, school was from 9:00 to 15:00, which meant that if he wanted to wash, eat, and run he would have to wake up at around 6:00. For the first time he missed the freedom he had in the orphanage.


    Trip also wanted to look at the school library. So he decided that after school he would go there. Trip realised that if he trained all his techniques daily as well then he really would have very little time to himself at all. This made him happy. To have a full schedule meant that you were working hard. And working hard was never a bad thing.


    The next day was Trip¡¯s first day of school. Through blood, sweat, and tears he somehow managed to make it through his morning run. After he washed up he went to see what clothes he should wear. He was pleasantly surprised to see that the school had provided compulsory uniforms. This meant that he should not stand out in any way. Unfortunately, when Trip put on the uniform he was shocked with how refined he looked. Trip was always a very cute child, but his good looks had always been ruined by his clothes and improper hygiene.


    But now that he wore nice clothing and had bather he would be shocked if he didn¡¯t get any attention. It was a sad truth in the world, but looks are truly important. And right now Trip looked fantastic. He just hoped nobody would give him any attention.


    Trip made his way over to the cafeteria, he grabbed the most nutritious food he could find and sat down at an empty table. He pulled out a book he got on water magic at the entrance ceremony and started to read it. He never read a book about water magic before, so he was rather excited by it. The book started to explain the basics of water magic:


    ¡®Water magic is one of the most elegant of the basic four elements. While most water mages are female it is not unheard of for a male to become a water mage. It is theorised that the reason for a female majority in water magic is because is tranquil and elegant, which are traits more commonly found in women. In contrast to this most fire mages are male, as males are more violent and explosive. Water magic spells are not primarily used for fighting, with water mages mainly being healers. This is because water lacks the strength that fire has and since pure water is incredibly healthy for the body it is more useful for a water mage to be a healer rather than being on the front lines attacking. There are of course water moves used in combat, but they are very limited, and only people who are able to control water to an extent where they can turn it into ice can match fire mages in their combat prowess¡­¡¯


    The book continued to drone on about basic information on water magic; Trip was rather disappointed by it and was shocked that he was one of the few males that could use water magic. His thoughts were unfortunately interrupted by someone¡¯s voice.


    ¡°Hello! Can I sit here?¡± A bright looking boy said. He had green eyes and brown hair. He was quite short and not very good looking, but his face was bright and he seemed to almost radiate happiness.


    ¡°Sure.¡± Trip mumbled, barely even lifting his head to look at the child talking to him.


    ¡°Thanks! My name is Alex. What¡¯s your name?¡± The boy seemed undeterred by Trip¡¯s unenthusiastic behaviour.


    ¡°My name is Trip!¡± Trip said proudly, surprising Alex. Trip was very proud of his name. It was the only thing that he had left from his parents.


    ¡°Trip, huh. That¡¯s a strange name.¡± Alex said.


    Trip merely grunted in return and continued to read his book. He was quite annoyed by Alex¡¯s behaviour. Not only had he disturbed Trip¡¯s thoughts, but he even ridiculed Trip¡¯s name. Trip did not get angry easily, but Alex was disrupting his schedule, so he decided to ignore him.


    Alex seemed to notice Trip¡¯s bad mood and did not speak further, but he did follow him when he left to go to class. Trip did not mind this; as long as Alex did not talk he was ok with being followed. And it just so happened that they were to be in the same class together.


    As the day went on it became evident that Alex was intrigued by Trip. Trip was not like other children and did not seem to care what other¡¯s though about him. Therefore Alex decided to make him his friend. Of course this was not the only reason Alex wanted him as a friend. Alex was a rather calculating fellow, and realised that in a couple of years Trip would probably be very popular with the girls. Alex recognised that his looks were not the best and thought that if he became a good friend of Trip¡¯s he might be able to get a couple leftovers.


    The rest of the day was not very interesting. Trip continued to take notes and pay attention during classes, but it was just the introductory day and he didn¡¯t actually learn anything. After the day ended he went to the library. When he arrived he realised that Alex was no longer following him. He was all alone. It was somehow a slightly uncomfortable feeling.


    Additional Information:


    Water Bullet: A small amount of water is summoned and shot at a high velocity towards a target


    Water Whip: A large stream of water is used to hit against target(s), can hit multiple targets. The stream can be bent in several ways


    Water Healing: Due to the purity of the water particles it can be used to heal wounds on oneself or on a target


    Water Field: A simple technique where you create a field of water with air inside (like a bubble) which can hold things in it (this is a self-designed technique)


    Water Vortex: Mixture of Water Whip and Water Bullet. It is a large rotating stream of water shot towards a target at a high velocity

 Chapter 3: Bullies

    Chapter 3: Bullies


    Even though Trip thought it was strange that Alex wasn¡¯t around, he did not pay much attention to it, Alex did have a life after all; he probably went off to play with friends or to study.


    Trip exited the library at 6:50, as he needed a bit of time to make it to the cafeteria. On his way however, he heard a bunch of voices come from one of the dark corners of the school. Wearhearst was a very good school, which had almost no bullying, but there were still some corners where the teachers did not look. These corners were where the bullies would emotionally and physically abuse their victims. Originally Trip would have ignored the sounds, but then he heard a familiar voice.


    ¡°Get away from me!¡± Alex shouted


    Trip leaned his head and peaked into the corner, to see Alex being pushed against the wall by three bullies who seemed to be around the age of 10. There was a pudgy bully who was quite tall, he was clearly the leader.


    ¡°Why should we leave? You need to be punished!¡± The pudgy bully said while laughing


    ¡°Why do I need to be punished?¡± Alex asked with noticeable fear in his voice


    Hearing this, the pudgy bully got annoyed, as if the answer was painfully obvious.


    ¡°Because of your father, you idiot. Do you have any idea how many people that bastard screwed over!? My parents are living in poverty because of him!¡± pudgy bully shouted with clear emotion behind his voice


    ¡°I hate my father as well! PLEASE! Please let me go!¡± Alex pleaded, with a tear in his eye.


    ¡°Are you stupid!? Your father got the easy way out. He just got to die and now he has no worries or troubles in life anymore, but what about the people he extorted? How are they living now? My parents are living in poverty; they had to sacrifice so much for me. How could I feel at ease while your family is still rich and living well? You must be punished for your father¡¯s crimes!¡± The pudgy bully said, raising his fist and signalling the other bullies to get ready to beat up Alex.


    At this point Trip seemed conflicted. He would clearly bring trouble to himself if he went to help Alex, but Alex wasn¡¯t at fault here. Trip thought about how Alex had actually helped him understand some of the things that the teacher said which was rather confusing. Trip realised that he owed Alex, and that leaving him here for the bullies would be a horrible act of injustice.


    ¡°STOP!¡± Trip said. It did not seem very convincing, as Trip¡¯s childlike voice made it seem rather like a panicked shriek instead of a strong confident command.


    The bullies turned their heads in the direction of Trip and started to laugh. The bullies were clearly at least 2 years older than the two of them and seeing a little kid try to act strong in front of them was hilarious.


    ¡°Piss off, kid. Or do you want to get hurt as well?¡± One of the sidekick bullies said


    ¡°No I shall not piss off.¡± Trip said, crossing his arms and standing boldly in front of the bullies ¡°Either you let him go now and I¡¯ll leave you alone or you can try to keep him and get beat up!¡±


    The bullies were shocked for a moment and then the pudgy bully turned to Trip ¡°What? Do you actually think you can beat us? Are you stupid? I¡¯m in a bad mood already, and it doesn¡¯t look like you¡¯re going to leave, so¡­¡± He looked Trip in the eyes with the intensity of a murderer and continued ¡°It looks like you will have to be taught a lesson as well.¡±


    The bullies all looked directly at Trip as they inched forward towards him. While Trips face looked calm and undeterred his mind was in disarray. There was no way that he could take on the bullies physically, it would be easy if he used water magic, but if he used water magic then they would know that he could use water magic, which would ruin his secret. Trip didn¡¯t mind if Alex saw, as he could probably keep Alex quiet about it, but the bullies seeing it was a definite no.


    Alex seemed to notice Trip was in a bad place and realised he had to do something. He thought about what he could do and realised that the best thing he could do would be to distract the bullies so that Trip could run away. Setting his plan into motion, Alex hit the bully leader on the head. It wasn¡¯t hard enough to do anything to him, but for a bit all the bullies turned towards him. Alex looked at Trip pleadingly, and he quickly reacted by sending 3 water bullets to hit the bullies, causing Alex to gasp at him in amazement and admiration.


    The bullies fell to the ground almost instantly. After further inspection it seemed they were all knocked out. Trip looked at the name tag the pudgy bully was wearing ¡®Damian Tofea¡¯ and memorised it, just in case he were to meet him again. Trip quickly grabbed Alex and dragged him to the forest.


    ¡°We need to talk.¡± Trip said


    ¡°Th-Thank you so much for¡­ saving me¡± Alex said panting like a wild dog. It was clear he wasn¡¯t used to any sort of physical exercise.


    Trip waited until Alex recovered from the short sprint to the forest


    ¡°So¡­ you can use water magic at the age of 8¡­¡± Alex said in disbelief


    ¡°Yeah.¡± he said realising that there was no need to hide anything anymore, as he continued to explain ¡°Ever since I was 4 I was already teaching myself to gain control over Hyuru. At 6 I had mastered Hyuru and started to teach myself elementary level water magic. And at age 8 I had mastered that. At this point I actually need books to teach myself intermediate level magic, but I can¡¯t find them anywhere, so I am just trying to learn all the things I see here and to improve my stamina.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡± Alex was speechless for a few seconds and then said ¡°Why aren¡¯t you a world renowned genius and in an intermediate magic school?¡±


    ¡°That is what I wanted to talk to you about.¡± Trip said calmly ¡°I don¡¯t want fame, I just want strength. I just want to keep this a secret and improve by myself until I can find my parents.¡±


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    ¡°So, I imagine you don¡¯t want me to tell anyone.¡± Alex said, realising the situation at hand


    ¡°Of course I can¡¯t force you, but I do know a technique even more powerful than Water Bullet¡± Trip said with a hint of threat in his voice


    Alex shuddered at the thought of it and kept silent for a while. Until his eyes brightened up


    ¡°I have a proposal!¡± Alex said


    ¡°A proposal?¡± Trip asked


    ¡°It¡¯s like this. I really want a friend, and maybe a bodyguard. You fill both those needs.¡± Alex said


    ¡°Well, what¡¯s in it for me then?¡± Trip asked


    ¡°Even though my father is dead, my family is still very rich and will have no problem giving me some intermediate level magic books during one of the vacations.¡± Alex said with a proud smile on his face


    The moment Trip heard the words intermediate level magic books his eyes started to sparkle.


    ¡°Agreed! On one condition. Can you include books on light magic in the deal? Preferably elementary level ones.¡± Trip said with much excitement


    Alex was shocked for a while. ¡®Does he want light magic books, because he is interested? Or because he can use light magic?¡¯ Alex did not know much about light magic, but he heard from his grandfather that it was terrifyingly powerful, and could only be subdued by the power of darkness. Luckily no one had ever had an affinity higher than the intermediate level for light magic. Alex could only shudder at the thought of a light mage with a high level affinity.


    After pondering for a few seconds he said ¡°I don¡¯t know how many light magic books there are, but I can guarantee that I will get them all for you!¡± Alex said confidently.


    ¡°Really? This is great!¡± Trip exclaimed with clear excitement on his face.


    Trip had probably never been this excited. He saw Alex as a decent guy as well, so he had no problem being his friend. In actuality it was almost like a cheat for him. He basically got free books to develop his strength. Whereas for Alex it was also almost a cheat, he got a bodyguard and a friend for just a couple of books. In every sense it was the perfect deal for either party


    The boys headed back to the dorms. Trip was slightly disappointed that he did not get any training done today, but that disappointment quickly dissipated when he thought of all the books he would gain from the deal he had struck today.


    One thing bothered Trip though. What exactly did Alex¡¯s father do? He decided to question Alex about it directly.


    ¡°Hey Alex. I was wondering, but what did your father do?¡±


    Alex turned pale for a second, but then he sighed and said ¡°I guess I can¡¯t hide this from you, the whole country knows after all. My full name is Alex Oyak and my father was called Richard Oyak. One year ago files were released to the public which contained evidence that my father extorted hundreds of families. I never really knew my father, as I was raised by the maids and my grandfather, but I met him several times and he really scared me. He had a look in his eye that pretty much showed how he would do anything to get what he wants. I hate my father. Because of him my family is the most hated family in Riplin, even though it was only my father that worthy of such hatred.¡± Alex had tears in his eyes towards the end ¡°They, publicly executed my mother, and they would have executed me too if it wasn¡¯t for my grandfather having a good relationship with the king.¡±


    Trip looked shocked for a while. Trip did not understand many emotions very well, but after hearing Alex talk he felt a deep pain in his heart. Trip thought back to his own parents. ¡®Could they be dead as well?¡¯ He thought.


    Nothing more was spoken between them until they reached the dorm, where they exchanged their goodbyes and left to their respective rooms.


    Trip looked at the moon; it was only 10:30. He walked into his room and started reading a book about ice. It was one of the highest level books in the library, so naturally Trip was intrigued by it.


    ¡®When one tries to create ice, one must condense water. The particles that make up water are fairly loose and move around slightly, this makes it the optimum state to control as a beginner mage. When one is an intermediate level water mage then one of the main problems one might have is that water magic is not meant for offensive purposes. This statement is true until a mage can learn how to control ice. Ice is sharp and very deadly, and can be considered the method for a water mage to become powerful and match the other mages in offensive prowess.


    One can learn to make ice by condensing the particles that make up normal water. One has to push the particles together until they can almost no longer move. Once the water has been condensed like this it will turn into ice. Unfortunately, using ice is very tiring, as it is harder to control and it requires many more water particles for the same volume.¡¯


    Trip read this passage and was shocked. He always hated that water had such limited offensive prowess, but with ice this could be changed completely. If one could freely control ice then one would have nearly limitless attacking power.


    From this day Trip had learned many important things. One being that he not only has to improve his stamina, but also his body.


    He would not have been able to fight those bullies if he did not use water. He understood he had to get stronger. Trip also realised that ice was the way forward offensively and defensively. At least that is what he would point his attention towards, until the intermediate level books came.

 Chapter 4: Strength from loss

    Chapter 4: Strength from loss


    Two days after the bully incident Trip started to find shadows watching him. At first he was confused, but eventually he realised the bullies were stalking him. It seemed they were still confused by how Trip had managed to knock them out almost instantly. Trip realised that he could not rely on water magic to protect himself, unless if he was willing to have everyone know he was a magical genius. Thus he spent a lot of time in his room doing physical training. He would do push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, weight training, anything which could allow him to get stronger quick. He would also run every day.


    Trip was not afraid of pushing his body to the limits. The training which he made himself endure was torturous, as an 8 year old child who was still developing it was incredibly difficult to lift weights, but his work was paying off. After only a couple of days of torturous training he was clearly developing muscle mass and he became mentally stronger as well. He was always very mentally strong, but he never really experienced much pain. Trip had always locked himself away from the rest of the world; there were never any opportunities to get hurt, and through training he had developed a higher pain threshold and he became more confident walking around, knowing that he now had a way to defend himself, which didn¡¯t involve revealing any secrets he didn¡¯t want revealed.


    This was how Trip felt, but he didn¡¯t realise that he was being quite na?ve. He was inexperienced with fighting, so even if he had the strength, if he did not know how to use it he would clearly lose. Unfortunately he would learn this the hard way.


    Around 2 weeks after he began his strength training he was walking outside in a fairly unpopulated school area. The bullies saw


    Trip being alone with no one else around, they had not seen how he was special in any way over the last 2 weeks, so they saw the previous incident as a fluke, and that it was now safe to start their revenge.


    8 older children appeared in front of Trip, they all seemed around the age of 10 to 12. Trip immediately recognised that these were bullies searching for revenge. At first he was at a loss, after all seeing 8 older children wanting to beat you up was rather terrifying, but he was confident in his abilities. There were no words exchanged, just fists. He realised that in order to gain the advantage he would have to hit first. He quickly hit one of bullies and immediately knocked him out. While Trip¡¯s strength did shock the bullies, it was nothing crazy, and they were not all inexperienced fighters like the one who had been knocked out. One of the older ones immediately attacked him with a punch to the solar plexus. Trip was shocked and was completely winded. His shock was naturally taken advantage of, as the 7 remaining bullies simultaneously attacked him. Trip was kicked down to the ground and beaten for hours. Only after he was covered in injuries did they leave. Leaving him lying there in pain.


    Trip pathetically dragged himself back to his dorm room. The entire time he was thinking ¡®Why? How? I trained so hard, I should be stronger than them! So why?¡¯. Only after healing himself with Water Healing and critically thinking about what happened did he realise his mistake.


    ¡®Strength does not display skill.¡¯ Trip thought ¡®Any idiot can lift a couple of weights and endure some pain, but skill¡­ skill is much more profound. To know where to hit, how to dodge, how to take a hit¡­ That is skill, and with skill can one gain a much more profound strength than one can gain by merely gaining muscle.¡¯


    He was excited again. He realised his mistake and found a solution. The next day after school he went to the library and asked the librarian if they had any book about fighting.


    The librarian looked at Trip for a second and said ¡°Um kid, we¡¯re a magic school. Not a warrior school.¡±


    Trip seemed confused for a while, and then asked ¡°What¡¯s a warrior school?¡±


    The librarian shook his head in disappointment and replied ¡°If a child has undergone Hyuru and has been found to have no talent for magic then they can go to a warrior school, where they learn to become either soldiers or mercenaries.¡±


    Trip was rather disappointed; he only wanted a book to learn how to fight, when suddenly an idea popped into his head ¡°Sir! If you have no fighting books, then do you have any books on human biology?¡±


    The librarian merely pointed to the direction of the books on human biology and went back to reading his book.


    Trip spent days learning about the human body. He decided to delay his studies into ice, and since none of the books he wanted arrived yet, he could put his full attention towards this. Trip¡¯s extensive studying mixed with his natural intellect meant that he was able to memorise entire books on human biology in only a couple of days.


    Trip¡¯s aim with reading human biology books was in order to understand where the human body is strong and where it is weak. This is so that he would learn where to hit the target. While Trip could develop a seemingly perfect method this way theoretically he still realised that he needed actual fighting experience in order to be able to develop any fighting styles and techniques. He pondered for a while and realised that he really did not want to be caught in a painful fight like he was last time, so instead he thought of another idea. Trip could of course train with Alex.


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    During this time Alex was quite annoyed. Trip was supposed to be his friend, but Alex only saw him during class, so of course Alex was excited when Trip asked him to help him practice. What Alex didn¡¯t know was that it meant that he would be used as a human punching bag for several days. Technically Trip would fight Alex, so Alex would be allowed to hit back, but in actuality Alex only got one good punch in during the entire experience, and that was just because Trip felt bad for him. Despite how painful the process was for Alex, he did actually learn how to handle himself in a fight. This was of course planned by Trip. If Alex learned how to fight he wouldn¡¯t be bullied, so he acted almost as a tutor for Alex in both magic and in fighting.


    Several days passed and the boys had both grown significantly. Trip felt happier knowing that Alex would be able to handle himself in a fight now, so if Alex was ever bullied he could prove that he was no pushover. Trip did not feel a need for revenge, but he did feel safer knowing that if the bullies ever tried to bully him again he would be able to fight back and win quite easily.


    During this time Trip and Alex became quite famous at the Wearhearst Elementary School of Magic. To other children Trip and Alex were quite strange. They were always so close, yet they were always so serious. The other children had never seen Trip or Alex play together and they rarely even smiled. People were almost afraid to go talk to them, as they seemed so intense all the time. There were rumours at school that they were constantly training, and that they were really strong.


    Trip and Alex did not notice this of course, they did not pay attention to anyone other than themselves. The rumours were noticed by the bullies however. For them to be told that these little kids were really strong was a joke, after all Trip was beat up by the bullies and Alex would have been too if it wasn¡¯t for Trip helping. The bullies were furious and due to their pride there was no way they would just sit and accept the fact that they were weaker than Alex and Trip.


    The bullies decided to have a public fight with them. While Wearhearst was a school which did not permit fighting, it was alright as long as it was stated as a duel. To be fair the match would have to be a 2 vs 2 match. Alex and Trip did not even know of the fight until an hour before it happened. Trip knew he would be ridiculed if he rejected the fight. It was only a 2 vs 2 match anyway it should only take a couple seconds for him to win. Therefore Trip and Alex accepted the fight.


    When Trip and Alex arrived at the fighting location they were shocked. There were hundreds of children there to watch. Since it was a duel there had to be a teacher referee in order to ensure no one got hurt. The victors were decided after either one team surrendered or if one team was incapable to continue.


    The moment Trip and Alex arrived the teacher started the match countdown.


    ¡°3, 2, 1! Start!¡±


    Hearing this all the children went crazy. Hearing the screams of everyone Trip smiled, he felt rather at ease knowing that he would beat up the opposition easily, and was of course very confident with his chances. Alex however was a different story; his knees were shaking and he was clearly very nervous.


    The bullies were overeager. Trip realised this, so he let them attack first. The bullies launched towards Trip and Alex. Trip signalled to Alex that he would take the right one down. This calmed down Alex, as he realised that Trip would be there to help him. Trip took a deep breath and managed to dodge the right bullies strike. Trip then twisted his body and threw a punch towards the right bullies¡¯ temple. Trip did not use full power as he realised he could seriously hurt the person in front of him. Trip hit the right bully just enough to knock him out, making the crowd go crazy.


    Meanwhile Alex had his hands full with the left bully. The left bully was more experienced than the right bully and Alex was not as strong as Trip, thus the disparity in strength was not as large. Alex thrust his fist towards the head of the left bully, but due to his arm being rather short he was unable to reach the bully. Realising that he completely made a fool of himself Alex became very anxious. The left bully smiled as he realised that his prey was ripe for the picking. Trip quickly looked over and saw the situation. He dashed over and blocked the attack that was meant for Alex. At this point Alex woke up from his trance and punched the left bully straight in the middle of his chest. This caused the left bully to be unable to breathe for a while as he lay on the floor wheezing.


    ¡°Trip and Alex win the match!¡± The teacher said, clearly shocked by the result


    All the children went wild. It was insane, to have two first year students defeat the strongest bullies in the school was really something that would happen only in their dreams, but it actually happened. Unfortunately for Trip, this made both him and Alex legendary figures at the school. Meaning they were constantly followed around. This annoyed them, as now they could not go into the forest without being seen or followed.

 Chapter 5: The test

    Chapter 5: The test


    Trip sat in his cold stale room with his eyes closed. He was pondering the concept of ice. He was pretty much stuck in his room at this point. Every time he would go outside people would recognise him and try to talk to him or follow him, this meant that he had no option to train outside. Everything he did was being closely monitored by the school and the students. Trip also could not start learning intermediate level magic, as Alex informed him he would only be able to get the books until after the summer holiday.


    Trip only had one thing which he could actually do at this point, and that was to start to understand the concept of ice. He thought back to what he had read about ice magic ¡®one must condense water in order to create ice¡¯. Trip thought out his plan to create ice, he would summon water in his hand and forcefully make the particles stop moving and push them together. Trip performed this plan, but realised that his forcefulness had not condensed the water, but instead caused it to shoot out into every direction.


    Trip was not the sort of person to give up after just one try though, as he thought out several other methods to condense the water, but every time he would fail. It seemed that the water was much harder to control as it became denser. It was also much more difficult to keep the water in a state of higher density.


    Only after several hours of non-stop practice did Trip realise that he was taken the wrong approach. His control over higher density water was not high enough, so naturally the water would explode in every direction if he could not control it. Trip was disappointed as he realised that the course of action that he would need to take would include very slightly increasing the density of the water and then practicing that level of density to perfection. Only then would he gain full control over ice.


    Even though Trip was disappointed with the time it might take him to gain control over ice, he was at the same time incredibly excited. This was because he had a clear course of action that he would need to take, and that even though it would take him a while to learn, he would still undoubtedly be one of the youngest people that would be able to use ice magic.


    Trip had a regular schedule, but he was becoming rather annoyed by it. He had already read most of the books in the library which could be useful for his learning. This meant that during school hours (from 9:00 in the morning to 3:00 in the afternoon) Trip would feel incredibly bored. He had never felt bored before, so boredom hit him much harder than it would hit most people his age. Because of this Trip decided to sleep during class instead of sleeping during the night. In theory it was a genius plan. He would be able to get more physical and ice magic training in, and he would still have good sleeping hours.


    Unfortunately teachers started to notice Trip¡¯s sleeping antics, and they were very annoyed by it. For a teacher to watch one of your best students start slacking off and sleeping during class is enough to make ones blood boil. After classes ended for the day one of Trip¡¯s teachers decided to confront Trip about his sleeping problem.


    ¡°Say Trip. May I ask why you have been sleeping in my class? Is magic theory no longer interesting to you?¡± The teacher asked, clearly hoping to catch Trip off guard in order to be able to teach him a lesson


    ¡°I apologise for my antics during class, and I assure you that it is not because you are a bad teacher or because your class is boring, but it is that I have already completely studied everything that we would learn in any of the classes.¡± Trip nonchalantly said


    The teacher was speechless for a second.  How much of a genius could this child be? To be able to comprehend magic theory was no easy task, and for an 8 year old to say that he had completely studied the topic was unfathomable. After a couple seconds of pondering the teacher naturally came to the conclusion that Trip was simply saying this as an excuse for sleeping in class, and that he would definitely not have already studied the entire topic. To solve the problem the teacher came up with a solution. The teacher would design a test for Trip, if Trip managed to get satisfactory marks then naturally the teacher would never bother him again, but if he did not get a satisfactory mark then he would be forced to pay attention in class.


    The teacher proposed the idea to Trip. He was visibly annoyed by it, but realised that he could not escape this situation so he reluctantly agreed.


    After classes the next day Trip showed up to the teacher¡¯s office to take the test. He had not even reviewed for the test, many would consider this action as cockiness or confidence, but for Trip this was merely a fact. He believed he would easily get a 100% mark on the test, and then the teacher would then leave him alone.


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    When Trip walked into the teacher¡¯s office the teacher was slightly surprised. He expected Trip to not show up; this caused him to have a good impression of Trip, as he did not run away from his problems.


    The teacher placed an intimidating stack of papers on a desk placed in the centre of the room and said ¡°Good afternoon. I¡¯m surprised you showed up. I¡¯m giving you 4 hours to finish as many questions as you can. If you can get 70% and above on the test I will never bother you again if you sleep in my class. In fact, I am willing to make a bet with you.¡±


    Hearing the teacher¡¯s words Trip¡¯s eyes lit up. Seeing this the teacher laughed and continued ¡°If you can get 90% on the test, not only will you not have to show up to my class ever again, but I will even upgrade your dorm to a higher level. I have heard you and Alex talk about how much you hated the ventilation in your room. However¡­ if you agree to this, but you don¡¯t get 90% on the test then you will have to give a public apology about slacking off in class.¡±


    The teacher knew that children around the age of Trip were very proud, especially if they were smart and strong like Trip, so a public apology where one would have to admit their wrongdoings would be a horrible punishment.


    Unfortunately for the teacher, Trip couldn¡¯t care less if he had to make a public apology. Such trivial matters did not worry him, thus Trip only looked at the benefits. He was already completely confident in getting a score higher than 90%. Only a fool would not take up a deal when the odds are so heavily in your favour.


    ¡°I will gladly accept your offer, teacher.¡± Trip said with full confidence in his voice.


    The teacher was shocked. How could this child not have an ounce of fear in this situation? The teacher had a bad feeling that Trip might actually be able to get over 90% on the test. This made the teacher nervous, he would have to cough up a lot of hard earned gold to get a better dorm room for Trip. The teacher sat down at his desk and intently stared at Trip to ensure that there was no way that he was cheating.


    Trip looked at the test papers and smiled. This really was too easy, just by looking at the questions he already knew the answer. He breezed through the test and finished it in around an hour, he then looked over the test paper and realised he would get 100% on the test like this. Trip knew that he should try to not shock the teacher like this, but he still wanted the new dorm room. He decided that he would get exactly 90% on the test, to ensure that he barely got the dorm room, thus not shocking the teacher too much.


    There were 83 questions on the test, so Trip crossed out the answers he wrote for 8 questions, meaning he would get almost exactly 90%. He waited a bit longer, until the time he had used to take the test reached 2 hours.


    Trip then said ¡°Excuse me teacher.¡±


    The teacher quickly responded ¡°Ah Trip, do you have a question?¡± Naturally the teacher expected Trip had a question or hopefully had given up.


    ¡°I¡¯m done with the test.¡± Trip said calmly


    ¡°What!?¡± The teacher spat out his drink. ¡®Stay calm¡¯ the teacher told himself, but he couldn¡¯t help but be nervous when faced with Trip¡¯s smile.


    ¡°Ahem. I¡¯ll check your answers. It shouldn¡¯t take long.¡± The teacher slightly recovered as he grabbed the test with a shaking hand. If Trip really had gotten 90% or higher the teacher would have to cough up 3 months¡¯ worth of salary, this is something the teacher definitely didn¡¯t want.


    The teachers despair would only grow as he corrected Trip¡¯s paper. Not only had Trip scored 90% on the test, he had the audacity to childishly cross out some of the other answers. One could still clearly see that Trip would have gotten 100% if he did not cross out the other answers. This was simply an insult to the teacher¡¯s pride. The teacher had the sudden urge to run away and never come back, but promises were promises and the teacher had a strict belief where he would never break a promise he had made.


    The teacher informed Trip of the results and told him that he would give him a new key to a nicer dorm room the next day.


    Watching Trip walk away gleefully the teacher could not help but smile. While he might have made a dreadful short term loss, he had also personally experienced the birth of a genius. This was truly something he could tell his children when he was older.

 Chapter 6: Upgrade

    Chapter 6: Upgrade


    ¡°Calm your mind, try to think of nothing, but heighten your senses at the same time¡± Trip told Alex.


    Trip was trying to help Alex achieve control over Hyuru. Overall Alex had managed to enter Hyuru once, but his control was very average, he was unable to go into Hyuru whenever he wanted to.


    Trip wanted his friend to become strong, so he gave Alex personal guidance on how to gain access to Hyuru. Unfortunately, Alex was easily distracted and he was a nightmare to teach. Trip was rather annoyed by this, but today was also the day that he would gain access to his new room. This had been promised to him by the teacher. Trip was of course excited by getting a bigger space to work in, but the main thing he was excited about was that now he would get ventilation! Too long had he been held back by the poor ventilation in his current dorm room, he was truly incomparably excited by the prospect of clean air in his room.


    ¡°Trip!¡± Alex shouted excitedly


    ¡°W-What?¡± Trip asked, waking up from his daydreams


    ¡°I did it, I entered Hyuru. It was crazy I saw all these red particles!¡± Alex said


    ¡°Oh. Good job. That means you should have good affinity for fire magic! How long were you in Hyuru?¡± Trip asked, this was a good sign. For Alex to have seen red particles showed that he was quite talented in magic. This made Trip happy, having strong friends was always a good sign.


    ¡°I was in Hyuru for around 10 seconds, then I felt like I was forced out, because my mind got so tired. How long do you think it will take for me to gain full control over Hyuru?¡± Alex asked, hoping for a good answer


    ¡°Hmm, it seems your mental stamina isn¡¯t very good. With your talent I would imagine it would take you a couple of months to almost a year maximum.¡± Trip said


    Alex was slightly disappointed by this, but if the time Trip mentioned was true, then that would mean he would achieve Hyuru when he was 9 years old. This would mean he would still be considered incomparable genius.


    Meanwhile in a large room the teacher who examined Trip stood in front of a man sitting at a desk. The man had many scars on his face, and seemed very intimidating at first, but he seemed to have a kind and inviting smile. This man was of course the principal of the school called Ponter Livis.


    ¡°I¡¯m telling you sir, this kid is an absolute genius. He got 90% on my exam. That exam contained questions which even the 4th years wouldn¡¯t be able to answer.¡± the teacher said ¡°The scariest thing is that he would have gotten 100%, but he crossed out some of his answers in order to not seem so terrifyingly smart.¡±


    ¡°Hmm, while I appreciate you telling me this. What do you hope to achieve or gain by informing me of this?¡± Ponter clearly could tell there was something the teacher needed, otherwise the teacher would have never informed him.


    ¡°Well, hehe. I happened to make a little bet with him...¡± The teacher said, laughing awkwardly.


    ¡°You made a bet with an 8 year old child, and lost?¡± Ponter questioned, finding it hard to contain his laughter. Was this kid really a genius, or was this man just an idiot?


    ¡°I bet that if he got 90% on the test I would upgrade his dorm room. Unfortunately, this would take around 3 months of my salary, and¡­¡± Finding it hard to contain his frustration the teacher stopped mid-sentence.


    ¡°So you want me to pay for the dorm room in exchange for you giving me information?¡± Ponter asked. Could a man actually be this stupid? He already said all the information Ponter would need to investigate the child, any idiot would realise that in order to make a deal one would withhold the information until the deal had been struck. However, Ponter was a compassionate man, and he wouldn¡¯t want to have one of his employees dissatisfied by the treatment they were receiving. Seeing the face of the pleading teacher he couldn¡¯t help but agree to pay for the dorm room.


    This made the teacher very happy, as he quite literally skipped away, leaving behind the name of the student who aced the test.


    Ponter looked down at the paper the teacher gave him ¡°Hmm, Trip huh. That¡¯s an interesting name. No last name either¡­¡±


    Suddenly Ponter¡¯s eyes went wide ¡°Could it be? That student that came here with special conditions?¡±


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    Ponter thought back to several days before the semester started, a shadow had appeared in front of him. This shadow had such strength that Ponter found it difficult to even speak in the shadow¡¯s presence. The shadow did not say anything, but left behind a note: ¡®A child will be attending your school. His name is Trip. If you so much as touch this child you will not live very long.¡¯


    Some time had passed, and Ponter was always too afraid to investigate the child by the name of Trip. He decided that he would leave Trip alone; he didn¡¯t want to accidently piss him off and get murdered by the terrifying shadow.


    Trip met with the teacher after classes, whom gleefully handed Trip the keys for his new dorm room. Seeing Trip¡¯s childlike smile the teacher smiled, he had taken quite a liking to this child. He would only hope that Trip would remember him after he became rich and famous.


    Alex tagged along to see what Trip¡¯s new dorm room would look like. Alex still lived in one of the smaller dorms, this was not due to lack of funds, but by choice, as the rich children would recognise him if he stayed in the higher level dorms. Alex realised that now the entire school knew who he was anyway so there was no longer any reason to stay in the lower level dorms, so he sent a letter to his grandfather to send money to improve his dorm room to the one next to Trip.


    Trip stood at the door. Number 027 it said on the door. Trip learned from his mistakes and decided to take a deep breath outside of the room, just in case it was dusty inside. Trip slowly opened the door, and gasped. ¡®This was a dorm room?¡¯ he thought. It was massive, it had a large space which could be customised into a living room, a private bathroom, and the bedroom was also separate to the main room. Trip was shocked, he took a deep breath and smelled the room. ¡®The air! It¡¯s so clean. Such perfect ventilation. This is perfect for practicing magic! And the smell, how to describe it other than just being homely.¡¯ Whereas Trip was very surprised, Alex was unimpressed. This was a school for rich kids after all, how could the school face its students if it didn¡¯t have an incredibly nice room designed by experts and cleaned by maids.


    Trip couldn¡¯t contain his excitement as he jumped on his king sized bed and sighed in pure childlike happiness. He looked out of the large window in the living room and admired the view. Suddenly an unsightly look appeared on Trip¡¯s face.


    ¡°Hey Alex?¡± Trip asked anxiously


    ¡°Why are you so nervous? What¡¯s wrong?¡± Alex asked, it was rare to see Trip act this way


    ¡°This dorm room has massive windows! How am I supposed to train here if everyone can see me!?¡± Trip exploded in a flurry of rage and panic


    ¡°Pfff HAHAHA!¡± Alex couldn¡¯t contain his laughter ¡°Trip hahaha, sometimes I forget that you are not from a rich family. Honestly, have you never heard of one way windows before?¡±


    ¡°One-way windows?¡± Trip asked confusedly


    ¡°Wow, I¡¯m surprised that you haven¡¯t heard of them. I guess your orphanage wouldn¡¯t have been able to afford them, but one-way windows are windows which you can see through from inside, but from the outside they just look like black walls. Pretty much every rich person has one.¡± Alex explained


    Trip sighed in relief; he was really worried for a second there. After hearing Alex¡¯s words he immediately started to practice his water magic. Increasing his control and stamina was vital before he would be able to practice intermediate level magic.


    Trip realised how comfortable he felt in this room. The pure white walls and simple floors made it very easy for him to concentrate. After practicing some water magic at the standard level of density he started to increase the density. Weeks of training this really had paid off. Trip not only gained a much higher level of control for higher density water, he also increased his base control level for normal density water. This made his overall water magic increase dramatically in strength.


    Unknown to Trip was that he was actually being watched. A shadow watched Trip from far away, a bright white smile appeared across the dark face.


    ¡°They grow up so fast¡± The shadow said as he appeared to fly away at an incredible speed. Leaving behind nothing but a blur of darkness.

 Chapter 7: School Trip

    Chapter 7: School Trip


    A week had passed since Trip had gained access to his new room, and it was clear that his skill had improved a lot. Trip especially improved his control over water magic. He was able to control much more dense water than before, and his improvement has been going much faster than previously. This was mainly due to his new room. With the perfect ventilation, white walls, and simple floors he felt that this new place was perfect for training.


    Due to Trip not having to attend certain classes he also had more time on his hands in general. Today was different however. Alex had told him that he had to show up to the school courtyard, because there was an announcement. Trip wasn¡¯t very interested in this, but he did not want to upset any teachers by skipping mandatory events.


    Trip walked to the school courtyard and was surprised to see many people there. Alex quickly ran over to him and explained how all the first year students had showed up. This meant that there was probably a very large announcement. This meant that all the students were excited and were talking very loudly. Watching all the people talking made Trip feel a bit sick, this was because lately he had been in a very silent environment and he has not experienced such a loud environment since his fight with the bullies.


    Eventually the chatter died down and a teacher came out. ¡°Hello students. We have an announcement for you. In 4 days all the first year students will go on a week-long camping trip in the forest. In the forest you will be in a group with 4 people and you will participate in many team building exercises. You can choose who you want in your group. Before you leave, make sure to register your group and your group¡¯s name.¡±


    There was silence for a second, and then an explosion of excitement and happiness. With the forest being off-limits for first year students and with the school being a boarding school meant that everyone had been isolated to just the school campus since the beginning of the school year. Going into the forest and participating in many fun activities almost sounded too good to be true. Even Alex was excited. Both Alex and Trip had been unable to go to the forest for the since the fight and Alex definitely missed the beautiful scenery. Trip did not care too much, if anything he found it annoying. He never went to the forest for the beauty of it, and this trip would stall his growth in strength.


    There was also another problem with the trip. This was because Trip only knew Alex, and Alex only knew Trip. Most people had more than 1 friend so it was not difficult for them to join a group, but Trip and Alex now realised that they might not have anyone in their group. Trip noted that many people did consider inviting the two of them, but most people were intimidated by him and Alex. They were very distant and did not talk to anyone, but each other.


    Trip watched the hordes of people slowly thin down to just them. Everyone had already left yet they still had no group. He then spotted 2 people in the distance. Trip went over to invite them into his group. When he came closer he saw that there was a rather large boy with a very cute small girl. They looked very similar; they both had hazel eyes and light brown hair. Just from a glance one could tell that they were brother and sister, and that the brother was being quite protective over his little sister, at least it looked that way from the way they were standing.


    ¡°Hey look, there are some people left. Let¡¯s join them.¡± the boy said, to Trips surprise


    ¡°NO. I already said that all these peasants are unworthy of even being close to me!¡± the girl said.


    Trip couldn¡¯t help but laugh. The way he saw them was completely different now, it was clear that the girl didn¡¯t deem anyone worthy of her presence, whereas her brother was more open to meeting new people. Trip couldn¡¯t help but feel slightly sorry for the boy.


    Trip had very good hearing so the girl probably thought he wouldn¡¯t hear her. Alex didn¡¯t hear her, and he was completely stricken by the cute little girl. Alex was quite advanced for his age, and he realised that this girl would be an absolute beauty later in life. If he could court her now then he would certainly be very happy in the future when she had blossomed.


    Looking at his friend Trip wanted to tell Alex that he should not try to approach this girl, but he decided that it would be better for Alex to figure out her true personality by himself.


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    Trip approached the brother and sister and said ¡°Hi. It seems that we¡¯re the only ones left so we have to group up.¡±


    The girl had a wonderful gentle smile, but Trip saw the hatred and annoyance in her eyes. She was especially angry because what Trip said was true. There was no-one else left, they would have to join up, otherwise the teachers would probably force them into a group anyway.


    Seeing the look on his sister¡¯s face, the boy sighed in relief. He knew his sister very well and he understood that this look was the, ¡®I guess I¡¯ve got no choice¡¯ look. Relieved he quickly said ¡°Nice to meet you. My name is Randolph and this is my sister Eleonore.


    We¡¯d be happy to join your group.¡±


    Alex looked ecstatic, knowing that he would spend several days with this pretty, nice little girl. His only concern was that she would fall for Trip. Trip was better looking than him after all. Alex was not too concerned, as Trip would probably not try and get a girlfriend for a long time.


    ¡°It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you. I hope we can get along. My name is Trip and this is my friend Alex.¡± Trip said in reply to Randolph


    ¡°By the way, the teacher said that we need a group name. Any ideas?¡±


    Alex decided that this was a good opportunity to speak up and impress Eleonore ¡°I¡¯ve got an idea! How about the angel and the mortals?¡± It was a horrible team name, but Alex would do anything to compliment Eleonore and get on her good side.


    Trip saw how sickened Eleonore looked by this remark and decided to save Alex from full embarrassment by saying ¡°Haha, while I¡¯m flattered that you would refer to me as an angel it does seem slightly egotistical.¡±


    Randolph found this hilarious and Eleonore even smirked a bit, but Alex completely misinterpreted Trip¡¯s actions. To Alex it was as if his worst nightmare had come true, because at this point it was clear to Alex that Trip was trying to court Eleonore as well. Alex looked at Trip with a stare that would send a shiver down one¡¯s spine. In Alex¡¯s mind a war had started.


    The group eventually decided on ¡®TEAR¡¯. It was just a collection of their names and it made a word so everyone was fairly happy with it. They then went on to register their group before parting their ways.


    Alex followed Trip to his room. Once they sat down Alex said ¡°I didn¡¯t think that we would be fighting over a girl this early on in our friendship. Let¡¯s keep this war friendly; no matter who wins we will still be friends so let¡¯s not worry about hurting each other¡¯s feelings.¡±


    Trip was flabbergasted. He thought that Alex might have misinterpreted his intentions, but for this to happen was simply too much. Trip barely muttered out a response ¡°There will be no war.¡±


    Alex understood this not as a resignation from the war, but instead a cocky statement about how Trip had pretty much already courted he.


    Surprised by his friend¡¯s boldness he replied ¡°Haha, I see that you have become rather cocky. Let me tell you Trip. You may have looks, but I have the natural charm that you will never be able to replicate. I will win this war!¡±


    Alex then proceeded to walk out of the room, leaving Trip in a daze. ¡®What just happened?¡¯ Trip thought to himself. He decided to let the misunderstandings work themselves out as he began to train again.


    Over the next 3 and a half days Trip trained harder than he ever had before, he would be missing a week of training after all. Alex had not gone to see Trip at all during those days, instead Alex was trying his best to enter Hyuru. Since Trip was unwilling to announce his strength, he would put Trip at checkmate if he managed to learn perfect control over Hyuru, then Eleonore would definitely fall for him.


    Trip had already established himself as the leader of the group; he seemed to naturally be a leader. However this really annoyed Eleonore. She hated the fact that the moment Trip arrived her brother seemed to have accepted him as a leader. What Eleonore wanted was to be the leader, but not have any of the responsibilities of one.


    After all the groups had gathered the teacher asked ¡°Ok guys! Are you ready for a fun trip?¡±

 Chapter 8: The camp

    Chapter 8: The camp


    The more Trip thought about going on the trip the more he thought that it would be a good experience. His life was pretty boring at the time; it was just training. Trip believed that if he could improve his mental state then it would naturally positively affect his training. He was especially excited about the fact that they were going to the forest. He was planning to sneak off once in order to gain some magic combat experience. After all, Trip had learned the hard way that strength is useless if you don¡¯t know how to use it.


    Seeing the faces of the three other members however Trip could only sigh. With Trip being the leader it would definitely be tedious keeping this ticking time bomb from exploding. Just looking at the scene in front of was painful; they were sitting in the carriage which was to bring them to a specific opening in the forest, yet before the carriage had even started to move Alex was already trying to serenade Eleonore, and in order to prevent her from exploding Randolph had to sit in between trying to get Alex to stop, which Alex just thought of as another obstacle.


    Eventually Trip picked up Alex by the back of his collar and had him sit next to Trip, as far away from Eleonore as possible. Trip looked him dead in the eye and said ¡°Silence.¡± Looking at Trip Alex sneered, but he did stay quiet for the rest of the journey.


    Trip closed his eyes in order to try and get some rest. He was very tired, because he spent the whole of last night practicing magic. When the group arrived it was only an hour later. Before Trip even opened his eyes he could already hear the arguing of his group. It was mainly Alex screaming about how Randolph was clearly getting in his way whenever he wanted to talk to Eleonore. Trip couldn¡¯t take it anymore and decided to stop being a nice leader. However, just as he was about to stop the carriage stopped and they all stepped out.


    What they saw was a nice large opening with a large field, and a lake. It looked very refreshing and beautiful. For today everyone was to be given free time after they had set up their tents. This was considered a team building exercise. However Trip was already dreading how everything went. The moment he assigned roles there was already conflict. Alex had been assigned to gather and organise the materials, which he did with me, whereas Randolph and Eleonore were responsible for setting up the tents.


    Alex was angry for not being with Eleonore, it was really shocking to Trip just how stubborn Alex was when it came to girls. Because of Alex being angry many of the materials he was meant to gather and organise broke as he threw them all violently on the ground. The other team wasn¡¯t doing to great either. Eleonore was clearly making Randolph do everything, Trip was truly sickened by how selfish this girl was and was surprised that her brother hadn¡¯t properly disciplined her yet.


    Unwilling to see the teamwork continue this way Trip immediately called everyone over to him. He cleared his throat and started to speak ¡°Ok! It seems that we are experiencing some issues in teamwork. Alex, you keep throwing everything on the ground and breaking it, and Eleonore, you aren¡¯t doing anything. Since you two are completely ruining everything, I¡¯m going to give you a bit of incentive to work harder.¡±


    Alex looked at me, clearly interested in what this incentive might be.


    I then continued ¡°There will be a competition between the two of you. Whoever acts the most efficiently and most willing to work in a team will win. This will be judged by Randolph and I.¡±


    Suddenly Eleonore chimed in ¡°What might this prize be?¡±


    An evil smile appeared across Trip¡¯s face ¡°If you win¡± I said facing Eleonore ¡°then you will not have to work at all tomorrow, and Alex will not be allowed to so much as glance at you.¡±


    Eleonore seemed really excited. It really was the perfect prize for her. The entire trip Alex has been bothering her.


    ¡°And what about me?¡± Alex asked


    I smiled at Alex and said ¡°If you win, then you will have the whole of tomorrow where no one will interrupt your conversations with Eleonore. You will not have to do any work of course.¡±


    Alex grinned wildly, looking at Trip thinking that he had already won over Eleonore. Trip couldn¡¯t bear to look at Alex anymore as he said ¡°Ok, you can start now!¡±


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    With the new attitude everyone was happier and everything went fairly quickly. While the competition seemed like a good idea, there was no way the teachers would accept if one person in the group didn¡¯t have to do anything. Therefore Trip thought of a genius plan. Both Randolph and him would say that the competition ended in a draw, and then state that since they both did a good job they should get another chance with the competition. Then every time they had a competition it would always end in a draw, meaning that they would try harder every time, eventually creating a highly efficient group that never experienced arguments again.


    It was a flawless plan, according to Randolph Eleonore would not notice if it was a draw every time, because she was too competitive to care about the judgement of others. Alex would not notice anything either, because he was blinded by the fact that he wanted to have time alone with Eleonore.


    The tents were all set up very quickly, and the plan worked flawlessly. Several minutes later the teachers brought high quality food for all the students so everyone had a nice meal and then they were instructed to go to sleep. Every student got their own tent. Trip looked over the camp from the top of a tree and was entranced by the sight. Hundreds of lights and tents appeared in the open space, creating a large ray of light that was clearly visible from everywhere in the forest. What was even more beautiful was the barrier that the teachers had set up. In order to ensure the utmost safety of the students the teachers that could use wind magic had created a wind barrier. It was like a dome.


    Trip was quite comfortable up in the tree; he didn¡¯t like the noise in the camp. He felt more comfortable just looking at people from a distance. Trip saw as the lights slowly started to disappear, leaving the area in complete darkness. He climbed down the tree and then made his way over to the tent. He peacefully slept the night away in the darkness.


    The next morning was the first real day of the camp. The students all woke up and made their way to eat breakfast. They then went to the teachers, whom handed them a sheet telling them what to do. The moment Trip gained the plan he was surprised by what they had to build. It seemed the teachers wanted to use this spot as a place for future years, thus they sent the current children off to work on buildings and even a wall, in order to ensure that students in the future would have a nicer stay.


    Trip¡¯s group had to build a small section of a wall. This was the most common task that was assigned. Trip was happy with this, he would much rather build a wall than having to build the toilets. Due to the competitive nature of Eleonore and Alex the work that the group had was finished very quickly.


    After the group finished their work Trip went off to the lake. Just by standing in the water Trip felt comfortable. It seemed he really was built for water magic. However something bothered him, there were slight vibrations in the water. Not enough to make a normal person feel it, but Trip was able to feel them. When no one was looking Trip sent a water bullet into the water. Trip wanted to find where the vibration was coming from. He closed his eyes and guided the water bullet to the bottom of the lake. It seemed normal, but after moving the water bullet around a bit he felt that the vibration came from a tunnel. Trip was surprised and thought ¡®Who would have thought that the lake would have a tunnel, I wonder where it leads.¡¯


    Trip payed the tunnel and the vibration no further attention, with all the teachers around here there was no way of anything going wrong. Walking back to his tent he couldn¡¯t help but feel a slight shiver in his spine. Like there was something watching him, something hostile and terrifying. Afraid to turn around Trip ran back to his tent and sat down. Even though the feeling was gone he was still shivering and his face had become pale. ¡®Whatever that feeling was, it came from that lake.¡¯

 Chapter 9: Vibrations

    Chapter 9: Vibrations


    Trip had no idea what he had just experienced. He was trying to calm himself down with breathing techniques, but he couldn¡¯t help but shiver at the thought of that feeling. It was terrifying. It felt like a sharp talon scratching his spine. Trip calmed his mind and tried to think about it logically, he assumed that the vibration and the terrifying feeling had something in common.


    ¡®Could there be a terrifying monster living down there?¡¯ Trip thought. That seemed to make the most sense. Trip was confused, ¡®Why would the monster not attack us then?¡¯ he thought. He knew that it would do him no good to investigate, so he went on with the day as he would have normally.


    Throughout the day and the day after Trip had an itch. A dangerous itch. An itch that was telling him to go investigate the feeling. He didn¡¯t know why, but he felt strangely drawn to the lake again. He certainly didn¡¯t want to feel so vulnerable and afraid again, but he wanted to know, nay he HAD to know what that feeling was. It was almost an obsession, Trip thought of it constantly. He knew how dangerous it would be, but he had to know what was down there in that lake.


    Alex had noticed Trip¡¯s actions. While at the moment everyone might see Alex as a blubbering idiot normally he was very intelligent and calculating. The only reason he started acting that way was because he believed he was to compete with Trip over a girl. However Alex noticed that not only was Trip not even slightly interested in Eleonore he seemed to be troubled over something. Alex loved Trip like a brother and he was incredibly troubled seeing Trip acting like this.


    The night of the third day in the camp Trip decided to take action. After everyone was asleep he snuck off. He had to be incredibly careful, because the teachers were constantly on the lookout for students trying to sneak off during the night. Trip was in great physical condition and he had payed attention to the basic patterns for where the teachers would walk and at what time.


    Unknown to Trip was that he was being followed. The follower was naturally Alex. He was incredibly worried about Trip and even more unsettled seeing Trip in this state. Trip was breathing heavily and his eyes looked terrifying as he snuck through the camp. Eventually Trip arrived at the lake. Alex looked at Trip as he started to create a bubble in the water; Trip then went inside the bubble. This was so he could breathe underwater.


    Just as Trip was about to submerge in the water Alex whispered ¡°Trip.¡±


    Trip turned around and looked at Alex and then said ¡°Alex what are you doing here? Go back to your tent.¡±


    This made Alex angry. He always followed Trip and there was never any problem with it, but now there suddenly is. Alex angrily grabbed Trip¡¯s arm and said ¡°Wherever you go I go!¡±


    Trip calmly explained what happened to him and how dangerous it would be to go down there, hoping that he would scare Alex off.


    Alex certainly got scared, but then he manned up and said ¡°Trip! What did I just say? Just because it is terrifying isn¡¯t going to scare me. We go together, ok?¡±


    Trip was touched by Alex¡¯s words and then smiled and said ¡°Ok!¡±


    The pair went into the bubble, and started to slowly descend to the bottom of the lake. They both couldn¡¯t see anything, but Trip guided the bubble by following where the vibrations were coming from. Eventually they reached the place in front of the tunnel. Even Alex could feel the vibrations here. Trip was clearly terrified as the pair made their way into the tunnel. Trip was surprised that he had not felt the terrifying feeling yet, so he just kept moving forward.


    The tunnel had a terrifyingly steep downwards angle. The pair just kept going deeper and deeper. Trip¡¯s eyes had a strong determination in them; he was going to find the answers to all the questions he had. For several long minutes they continued to descend until they reached what appeared to be the bottom. Surprisingly the water stopped here, it was quite strange, and it was as if the water was being held back by some sort of magic.


    The moment Trip and Alex stepped onto the rock they felt a strange pulse. It was like a heartbeat, but much slower. They moved forward for what seemed for hours. It seemed never ending, but the jagged edges of the walls were actually getting closer together, causing the pair to have to squeeze forward through slight discomfort. Eventually they had reached a point where they could no longer move forward.


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    Trip was very annoyed and screamed ¡°WHY DOES IT END HERE!¡± There was something special here, he knew it, but why was it that he found nothing but a dead end.


    Seemingly responding to Trip¡¯s loud shout a rumbling was heard far ahead, Trip was shocked by how far away the rumbling was. This meant that the cave would keep going on for very long. Trip was suddenly revived as he shot a water vortex against the rocks in front of him, but it didn¡¯t do much. He punched the wall, but he only hurt his hand.


    Angrily he screamed again ¡°WHY IS IT THAT YOU LET ME COME SO FAR, ONLY TO BE STOPPED BY A THIN WALL OF ROCK!¡±


    Alex suddenly had a bad feeling, he wanted to tell Trip to stop screaming, but he was afraid that Trip would attack him if he said anything.


    The rumbling started again, louder than ever, you could hear rocks crashing against each other. The tunnel around Trip and Alex started to break apart as well. The wall cracked and Trip managed to break through. The two ran forward in hope of finding a safe place so they could avoid the heavy downfall of rocks. They kept running, unaware of where they were going, until suddenly the tunnel opened up into a large room, unfortunately the rooms floor was at a lower elevation than the ground of the tunnel, causing the boys to fall heavily on the ground.


    A while later Trip opened his eyes and saw Alex still unconscious. He looked around and was surprised that he could see, before when Trip and Alex where in the tunnel the area was completely dark, but now a massive room was illuminated by strange glowing blue flowers. Trip checked to see if Alex was ok and then he started to investigate the room.


    Trip¡¯s head hurt a lot, but he didn¡¯t mind he was just ecstatic that there was something here. There were a couple of oddities in the room. The pulse was completely gone, and the air in the room felt incredibly heavy. Trip went and touched one of the blue flowers and felt a slight shock when he touched it. It didn¡¯t hurt, but it felt really weird. Trip felt his subconscious telling him not to touch it again, but he merely saw this as a challenge. He grabbed the flower and pulled it out of the ground.


    The shock Trip experienced was a lot stronger than the last time, but it actually cured his headache and he felt some of his bruises and wounds slowly closing. He was shocked and immediately put some in Alex¡¯s hands in an attempt to wake him up quicker.


    It ended up working as Alex slowly woke back up and saw Trip. After chatting and admiring the scenery a bit they started to realise the situation they were in. The tunnel they used to enter was now completely shut off, and it did not seem there were any more exits in the room, other than a massive opening which had a slightly sinister feeling to it.


    Realising they had no other choice, the pair went through the massive opening and were amazed at what they found. They saw light, which looked exactly like sunlight. There was a massive garden which was incredibly beautiful. It looked perfectly tended to and there were many trees and shrubbery which were stunning. Just behind the garden was a massive castle-like-manor. It was made from stone bricks and was just generally massive.


    In the middle of the garden sat a man, if you could describe it as a man. He looked like one, but he had such a strange feeling around him, he seemed more like a beast than a man.


    Trip looked at the man and saw his face clearly. The man seemed to be around middle aged with brown hair and a long beard. He had a big build, but at the same time he seemed rather scholarly. The man didn¡¯t move an inch the entire time Trip inspected him. Alex was just standing there staring at the man, too afraid to come close. Trip felt fear as well, but they had made it so far that they might as well investigate everything to the fullest.


    Trip walked slightly closer to the man until he was only 5 metres away facing the man directly. A chilling feeling suddenly took over Trip¡¯s body and a terrifying fear filled him. This was much worse than before and Trip was physically unable to move as he stood petrified. The man still had his eyes closed as he stood up. He walked directly over to Trip and then the man¡¯s eyes opened, not like a man¡¯s, but like a lizard.


    His pupils looked directly into Trip¡¯s as he licked his lips and said in an icy voice ¡°Hello little man, welcome to my home.¡±

 Chapter 10: Grelin

    Chapter 10: Grelin


    Trip¡¯s face started to turn blue as he was unable to breathe under the pressure the man emitted. The man walked over and grabbed Alex and threw him to where Trip was. Alex seemed to be unable to endure the pressure as well as Trip as he was nearly unable to stay conscious. Seeing this the man released the pressure and sat down looking at the kids. There was a complicated expression on his face.


    After Trip recovered he asked in a raspy voice ¡°Who are you?¡±


    The man looked at Trip and said ¡°I¡¯m the one who lured you in here, now, more importantly. Who are you?¡±


    Trip looked at the man and realised that he could not lie to this man or try to withhold information so he truthfully answered the man¡¯s question ¡°My name is Trip.¡±


    The man looked at Trip for a second and then grinned. His grin revealed a row of triangular teeth, it was like a shark. The man then handed Trip and Alex a leaf and said ¡°Eat this.¡±


    The leaf looked brown, old, and just generally disgusting. The boys didn¡¯t know what this man would do if they didn¡¯t follow his order so they regretfully agreed to eat the leaf. The moment Trip and Alex ate the leaf they felt reenergised and completely healthy again. The strange man then led them around, giving them a tour of the area. At this point Trip and Alex were very confused. They thought that while the man was strange and he gave them a rather rude greeting, he was acting rather politely and as if he was inviting someone into his house. Trip also didn¡¯t understand why the man ¡®lured¡¯ him here.


    Eventually the tour brought them to the dinner table where the man told them to sit down and he would get them some food. Trip and Alex looked at each other and it seemed neither of them had any clue what was going on. They personally experienced the man¡¯s strength so they were completely afraid of even talking and discussing the situation in fear that the man might hear something. Trip decided that he would man up and ask the man what was going on during dinner.


    The dinner the man served looked like a disgusting thick brownish green stew. Trip certainly wasn¡¯t a picky eater, but this was too much. The aroma arising from the food was enough to cause a man to faint and Alex was almost about to puke.


    Trip put aside his plate and asked the man ¡°Excuse me sir, but what may we address you as?¡±


    The man looked at Trip and gave a little smile. He then said ¡°My name is Grelin. No need for any formalities.¡±


    Trip was delighted with Grelin¡¯s open attitude and asked the real thing he wanted to ask ¡°Excuse me sir¡­ Ahem Grelin. I was wondering why you lured us here.¡±


    Grelin looked at Trip and said ¡°Well I only wanted you to come, but it seemed your friend tagged along. Which is fine, but it will make it a bit more difficult.¡±


    Trip looked confused as he asked ¡°Make what a bit more difficult?¡±


    Grelin grinned wildly and said mysteriously ¡°You¡¯ll know soon enough¡­¡±


    Both Trip and Alex shuddered at that smile. Grelin¡¯s eyes were shining and it was clear they were harbouring evil intent.


    Grelin saw that Trip and Alex didn¡¯t eat their food and his smile froze as he coldly said ¡°Eat.¡±


    Trip and Alex immediately obeyed as they apologised. The taste was actually not that bad, well at least compared to the aroma. It tasted like soggy cardboard, which is fairly cold wet and tasteless. After the dinner Grelin brought the pair to their rooms. They were right next to each other, but Trip felt really afraid when he was split from Alex.


    Trip walked into his room and went to lie in bed. Even though he was terrified it seemed that he was still able to fall asleep properly. When Trip woke up it was silent. Too silent. He could hear his blood flowing and his heart beating. Trip got out of bed and walked out of his room to sneak into Alex¡¯s room. Trip saw Alex sitting in his bed shivering.


    Alex turned to Trip and said ¡°Do you feel it. Please tell me you feel it as well.¡±


    His eyes seemed to plead that Trip felt what he felt, but Trip felt no such thing. Trip looked at Alex and asked ¡°What do you feel?¡±


    Alex didn¡¯t respond and just started to scream. His face turned pale and his eyes bloodshot. ¡®Something is wrong. What is happening?¡¯ He turned to Alex and tried to use water healing on him. The moment Trip touched Alex he turned to dust. That was it. Alex just disappeared into a million pieces. There was nothing left, but just dust.


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    Trip was hyperventilating. ¡®What have we gotten ourselves into? Was Alex really dead? Will I die?¡¯ these were all thoughts that went through Trips head. He closed his eyes and the world around him turned to black.


    When Trip opened his eyes again he was back in his bed. He didn¡¯t have the same feeling as before. ¡®Was that just a dream? No. It was way too real; it might have been an illusion.¡¯ Trip remembered that he read a book where it described that certain plants could allow the user to experience terrifying and realistic illusions. Trip decided that it was probably something Grelin gave him.


    Time kept passing. Every day was the same. They would wake up and do something with Grelin. Then they would go back to bed and Trip would experience a weird illusion dream before waking again and restarting the process. Alex seemed to have gotten completely used to it, but Trip still felt something strange. There was something wrong with the world.


    For some reason Grelin kept bringing Trip to the pond. Trip would stare into the water for ages. Every day he felt himself get weaker and weaker, almost as if he was losing his soul. One day he looked into the water and realised something. Why was there no reflection? There was enough light so why? Trip poked the water and suddenly realised something. This was the illusion. The life they were living, the manor, the garden, and especially the pond. It was all fake, but how could he break such an illusion.


    Trip went up to Grelin after he visited the pond and asked ¡°Are you a real person?¡±


    Grelin smiled and tears welled up in his eyes ¡°You realised that it was an illusion! Now all you have to do is execute the plan!¡±


    Trip was surprised and confused. Why would Grelin need Trip to get out of here? If he was so powerful then couldn¡¯t he just get out of here by himself?


    Grelin then said ¡°I was tricked into this world. And by the time I found out it was an illusion I had already lost too much of my soul to fight back. This world has a consciousness; therefore I couldn¡¯t talk to you that much. It is actually draining my soul as I talk to you. I¡¯m afraid my physical body is already gone. The reason you were the one I lured into here was because you were the only one who noticed. I''m just happy you didn¡¯t follow your friend and that you kept your mind sane.¡±


    ¡°Now listen closely¡± Grelin said ¡°You¡¯re going to need to host my soul. I know it sounds confusing, but this is the only way for all of us to stay alive. You need to absorb my soul now, and then grab your friend. I can release enough power to break a tiny part of the illusion for a second, at that moment you have to rush out within a second.¡±


    Trip was shocked. The amount of information entering his brain was almost too much to handle, but he had no time to think about it. The longer that Grelin disobeyed the world the weaker he would get. Trip rushed off and picked up Alex then ran back to Grelin.


    Grelin nodded at Trip and asked ¡°Are you ready?¡±


    To which Trip replied ¡°As ready as I¡¯ll ever be.¡±


    Grelin then started the procedure. Trip felt strange as he felt Grelin¡¯s soul go inside him. It wasn¡¯t painful, but there was a strange tingling feeling. Suddenly Trip heard Grelin¡¯s in his head ¡®Can you hear me?¡¯ Trip replied with a yes and the plan commenced.


    Grelin used the last of his power to shoot a strange bolt at the water in the pool opening up a part of the illusion. Before it even opened Trip rushed forward. He barely made it through, and he could only see darkness for a while, before the world appeared before him. He looked around and saw the room Alex and him were in several days before, with the luminescent flowers.


    Alex woke up groggily and said ¡°W-What happened?¡±


    Trip laughed and shouted ¡°WE¡¯RE ALIVE!¡±

 Chapter 11: The walk back to school

    Chapter 11: The walk back to school


    Trip was laughing and was incredibly happy that he was still alive. Alex was still incredibly confused by what had happened so Trip had to spend a while explaining what had happened to the two of them. Trip then remembered that Grelin should be living within him so he sent a mental message in which he said ¡°Hey Grelin, are you alive in there?¡±


    ¡°Tired¡­ Will sleep for a while¡­¡± a sleepy voice said.


    Trip laughed. ¡®I guess even souls get tired, huh.¡¯ He thought.


    Trip was in a very good mood and Alex was relieved that his soul wasn¡¯t taken. Trip was a bit worried about the camp however.  How long had they been in the illusion? Is there anyone still left? If there were still teachers then it would be easy to just come up with an excuse and then be sent back to the school, but if everyone had gone back to the school already, then they would not only have to find their way back, they would also have to come up with a much better excuse. It would become a pretty big hassle in the end.


    When Trip looked around the room he realised another problem. How was he going to get out of here? He sat on the ground pondering a way to leave. He saw where the wall was weak, but he didn¡¯t know how to get through. The only thing he could think of is ice, but by the time he would be able to control ice Alex and him would have already starved.


    Suddenly Grelin¡¯s voice resonated in his head ¡°Aah that was a nice rest. Wait why are we still in here?¡±


    Trip got slightly annoyed at this and mentally said ¡°Because I am not powerful enough to break through the wall!¡±


    Grelin¡¯s voice sounded again ¡°God, you really are like a child. How old are you even? You have a near perfect magic foundation so even with your elementary water magic you should have been able to break through the wall by now.¡±


    Trip got excited by this, could it be that Grelin knew a way to break the wall properly. Trip quickly responded, saying ¡°Do you know any techniques for us to get out of here? And I¡¯m only 8 so of course I¡¯ll be like a child¡­¡±


    Grelin stayed silent for a while before asking ¡°You¡­ are only eight?¡±


    Trip was impatient and wanted to know the technique and he pretty much mentally screamed ¡°YES! Now tell me this technique!¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s an absolute genius¡­¡± Grelin muttered to himself ¡°Ahem¡­ Anyway what you need to do is focus on your environment and then summon small streams of water and aim for the next four points on the weak wall. Shoot at the point twenty centimetres to the right of the little rock over there. Then shoot¡­¡±


    Grelin named three more points and Trip obeyed. By the time Trip had finished following Grelin¡¯s instructions he already started to see cracks appear on the wall. The cracks kept growing until eventually the wall fell apart.


    ¡°That was incredible! How did you know where the weak points were?¡± Trip asked excitedly


    Grelin replied by saying ¡°Well even though everything I see is through your eyes I still have my own consciousness and I am not exactly human¡­¡±


    Trip was shocked by that. Initially he just thought that Grelin was a strange looking man, but it turned out he was actually not human. He sensed a bit of hurt in Grelin¡¯s voice, so he did not question further.


    Trip and Alex made their way out of the room and eventually out of the tunnel, using a water bubble the pair managed to get out of lake within a couple of hours. When they rose out from the water the two looked around and saw no-one. The place looked very different from when they left. It seemed that a proper camp had been built. Everything looked finished and it actually looked quite decent.


    Trip and Alex were of course disappointed that everyone had already left, but they nothing could kill the good mood the two of them had. They had escaped death, what is a little inconvenience to them now?


    In fact, both Trip and Alex seemed to have matured a lot from the experience. While neither of them would say they wanted to experience something like this again they would both admit that the experience helped them develop as people and reflect on their life.


    Luckily the camp still had several camping materials that they could use when travelling back. They decided that they would spend the night here and that they would then embark on the journey back. Trip calculated that they should be able to make it back within two days. So they would only need to spend one night in the wild. That was not what he was dreading though, it was more the explanation that he would have to give to the school.


    Suddenly Trip heard a sob from behind him. He looked over to see Alex kneeling by a bunch of flowers. Trip walked over and was shocked. There were two small gravestones covered in flowers. The names on the gravestones were theirs. It was a surreal feeling, but for some reason Trip felt an uncontrollable sadness come over him. ¡®Why am I crying?¡¯ Trip thought, but he couldn¡¯t stop. He felt so empty inside, so forgotten. Just a couple of days ago they were so popular as the fighting duo kind of people, but now they were gone, nothing more than some badly written scratches in some stone.


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    Eventually they calmed down. Alex then ripped his gravestone out of the ground in anger.


    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Trip asked, clearly confused


    ¡°Those idiots actually thought we were dead! I¡¯m throwing this garbage away!¡± Alex screamed as he threw his gravestone into the lake


    For some reason Trip spontaneously followed him. It felt so satisfying ripping out the gravestone and throwing it in the water. Hearing the heavy splosh was a majestic sound. The pair then started to laugh, lying on the grass.


    Looking at the sky Alex suddenly said ¡°I want to be strong. I¡¯m going to stop looking for the approval of others and just focus on getting stronger.¡±


    Trip smiled and said ¡°I will not just become strong. I will become the strongest! I want to find the truth about my parents. I want to be strong enough to get everything I will ever need or want!¡±


    The pair laughed before they went off to bed. Grelin was currently seeing things from Trip¡¯s perspective as he smiled and thought ¡°With this kid¡¯s talent. I will enjoy seeing him become the strongest in the world.¡±


    The next morning Trip and Alex woke up early. With a determined look on their faces they set off on their adventure. The forest was really beautiful to walk through. The birds chirping their song, the trees rustling in the wind, even the sound of their footsteps on gravel felt calming and peaceful. For hours not a word was said between the two of them. They had nothing to say, they had not thoughts at this point. They merely walked and enjoyed the peace. A peace they would probably not be able to achieve at school.


    They kept walking until the sky darkened. They then started to set up their tent. Since the tents were rather heavy they had to share, but it was more than big enough for the two of them. When Alex was setting up the tents Trip started to train. Trip had a calmer mind-set than before and was able to devote nearly full concentration on condensing the water in front of him. Trip smiled as he realised that he would be able to control ice much sooner than expected.


    After the sun set the two went to sleep in the tent. They were completely exhausted and were very happy to sleep. Unfortunately midway through the night Trip was woken up by some rustling outside. Trip stepped outside and looked around.


    He heard Grelin¡¯s voice in his head saying ¡°Be careful, I feel something slightly powerful around here.¡±


    A cold sweat appeared on Trip¡¯s forehead as he looked around. He heard a growling in the bushes. He then saw the moonlight glisten in the eye of the creature within the bush so he shot a water vortex towards the creature.


    A low growl was heard as a massive wet bear appeared from the bushes. It had brown fur and its eyes were filled with rage. Its intimidating claws gave Trip a lot of fear and he had no belief he could take this thing on.


    Grelin¡¯s voice spoke again ¡°Haha, this¡¯ll be good practice for you. Make sure to aim for the left shoulder with a thin stream of high density water. He is injured there. Keep hitting him there and he should collapse soon.¡±


    Trip could only mentally scream ¡°Are you blind!? There is a massive bear in front of me that wants to kill me and eat me.¡±


    Grelin didn¡¯t respond. Leaving Trip to only try and follow the advice he had just received. Trip kept shooting at the left shoulder. He kept hitting and hitting it, but the bear only reacted by charging towards him. Luckily the moment the bear took a heavy step on its left paw and it toppled over. Trip reacted by encasing the bear in water until the bear had visible fear for its life. Then Trip let the bear go. He was not a killer; death was not the answer here. The bear was agitated from its shoulder which is why it was more aggressive than usual, and when Trip soaked the bear it couldn¡¯t contain its anger.


    Alex walked outside to seeing Trip stand in behind a bear which was limping away. Alex was shocked, ¡®Did Trip just defeat that bear?¡¯ Trip turned around to see Alex staring at him in shock. Trip smiled and said ¡°Grelin helped me.¡±


    Alex merely laughed a little and walked back into the tent. The two then slept until the early morning. Looking at the early morning sun Trip thought ¡®Today we¡¯ll be going back to school.¡¯

 Chapter 12: The Return

    Chapter 12: The Return


    With the sunlight shining on their faces the Trip and Alex thoroughly enjoyed the walk back to school. The morning dew glistened in the sunlight. Everything was shining. Trip was very happy, one of the elements he had a good affinity with was light after all, and of course he would enjoy seeing a lot of it. Alex was also enjoying the walk. The two of them were incomparably excited to get back to school in order to get powerful. Trip also had Grelin to help him achieve his goal as well.


    After an hour the sky started to turn grey. The clouds turned the originally blue sky to a dark and murky colour. Rain started to pour. It wasn¡¯t very heavy, but it felt sad, almost as if something bad had happened. Trip started to get a bad feeling that something might have happened, but this bad feeling dissipated when Alex gave him a big smile. Rain was not always a bad thing after all; Trip liked rain so why should he be worried by this light rainfall?


    Hours passed and it reached midday, the rain had only gotten worse. Even though Trip had tried to reassure himself that everything was ok, he still had a bad feeling which he couldn¡¯t shake off. Nothing eventful happened during the rest of the walk towards the school and they made their way peacefully to the back of the school property, where they snuck in through the forest.


    When they reached the grounds they decided that they would try to just slip their way back into classes. There might be some commotion but Trip had already thought of an excuse. The excuse was quite bad, but it was at least believable. The lie that he came up with was that the two of them fell asleep in a very well hidden spot, and when they woke up everyone was gone. However before they even saw the school building they were seen by Eleonore and Randolph who were sitting together just outside of the forest.


    Trip and Alex walked over to them to say hello. Both Eleonore and Randolph looked at them their faces were filled with such shock. This would be a typical response to two people who had been presumed dead.


    Randolph just barely managed to croak out the words ¡°You two¡­ are alive?¡±


    Alex smiled with pride and said ¡°Yup, we just overslept! When we woke up all of you were gone.¡±


    Eleonore looked at him as rage filled her face ¡°It¡¯s been two months! What the hell have you done? The entire kingdom is in disarray because of you!¡±


    Alex and Trip¡¯s faces sank. ¡®Two months!? How could it have been that long?¡¯ Trip thought. However Alex¡¯s face was full of despair, pain and guilt. He was unable to speak or say anything. He merely fell to his knees with tears in his eyes.


    Trip looked at Alex and thought ¡®It¡¯s been two months. What could have possibly happened during this time to cause the kingdom to be in disarray? And how is this linked with Alex?¡¯ Then suddenly everything clicked. Alex was of the Oyak family, to which he was the only descendant. His status was important, and his grandfather had already lost his son. What could he possibly have done?


    Alex looked up at Eleonore with tears in his eyes and croaked out two words ¡°What¡­ happened?¡±


    Eleonore looked at Alex with pain on her face. Even she was affected by the pain in Alex¡¯s voice ¡°Wh¡­ When you went missing¡­ Your grandfather went crazy, blaming it on the king. He attacked the king and managed to injure him quite badly. The king was very angry and he killed your grandfather, and wiped out the entire Oyak family.¡±


    Alex said nothing for a while. No tears, there was nothing. Then a scream. Alex screamed so loud it could have been heard by everyone in the school. The scream was filled with such pain and agony. He could only scream ¡°GRANDPAAA! WHY!¡±


    Trip felt Alex¡¯s pain more than anyone else present. While Trip did not lose his family, he never had one. He understood the empty loneliness that Alex would never be able to get rid of. Trip then heard a voice in his head. It was Grelin. He said ¡°You should take him and leave, NOW!¡±


    Trip was confused and he was also crying so at first he did not understand Grelin¡¯s words, when he understood he simply asked ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°You idiot. If they find him they¡¯ll kill him!¡± Grelin mentally shouted at Trip.


    Trip was shocked as he knew that it was true. He then turned to Eleonore and Randolph and asked ¡°Do you have a way to get us out of the country?¡±


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    Eleonore understood what Trip was thinking. Eleonore was actually experiencing something strange, when she looked at Alex she almost couldn¡¯t hold in any tears. Her normally emotionless self was causing her to almost be unable to respond to Trip. Eventually she managed to say ¡°I can get you on a carriage to West Hrior. If I tell them not to check what¡¯s in the carriage it¡¯ll be alright. I can get you a carriage in a week.¡±


    Trip was disappointed by this. He immediately rejected the idea of staying in the school for a week, especially with Alex in such a state. Just with Alex¡¯s screams the school would soon investigate. Trip then asked Grelin ¡°Grelin, do you have any ideas?¡±


    Grelin replied quickly ¡°Walk. Travel through the mountains and walk out of the country, there is no risk in that. With your strength you should be able to survive quite easily.¡±


    Trip thought about it. Eventually he decided to go with Grelin¡¯s idea. He picked up Alex and looked into his eyes. Trip then said ¡°Alex if we don¡¯t leave now they will kill you. Leave now and then you can get revenge later.¡±


    Alex looked blankly at Trip and then he dropped down to the floor and curled up into a ball. He said nothing. He just lay on the floor.


    Trip looked at Eleonore and said ¡°Thanks for your help, we¡¯ll be leaving now.¡±


    Eleonore felt strangely about them leaving. It felt as if she was losing something important, but she did not know what. Before Trip left she pulled out a necklace with a wooden puppet on it. She then said ¡°This is a good luck charm. Farewell.¡± She then put the necklace on Alex. Randolph also said his goodbyes; and while he was shocked by what had happened he was more shocked by his sister. Trip and Alex did not matter much to him, but this was the first time he had sister express compassion and act this way.


    Trip picked up Alex and put him on his back. They then left, walking at a slow pace through the forest. Trip couldn¡¯t help but be filled by rage, just as they would return back to their comfortable lives, just when they both had established their goals something like this had to happen. Now they had no one but each other. It was a big scary world, Trip recognised that. He had only experienced so little of it, he was hoping to slowly learn of the large world, but instead he was thrown right into the deep end. He could not help but feel rather cheated by the heavens. It was at this point that Trip rid himself of unnecessary emotions and decided that he would never let something like this happen again. He would protect Alex, himself, and anyone that he might care about in the future for the rest of his life.


    Grelin was within Trip, so he could feel what Trip was feeling. It shocked him to no extent, ¡®How could this child be this calm in this sort of situation?¡¯ Trip was not only not sad or angry anymore, but he was determined at this point. His mentality had always been extraordinary for a child of his age, but this exceeded even the strongest of adults.


    Trip felt himself getting pumped. ¡®Every step backwards would be countered by 2 steps forward, nay, a thousand steps forward!¡¯ Trip thought as his pace kept getting faster and faster. He went as fast as he could, with Alex on his back barely hindering his blistering determination. Only when he was almost unable to move his legs did he stop. He then set up the tent and cooked some of the food that he still had on him.


    Alex hadn¡¯t recovered at all by the night. His eyes were dull and he didn¡¯t recognise the world in front of him. Trip comforted him all night, assuring him that they were going to be alright. He even had to force feed Alex. Trip knew that Alex wouldn¡¯t recover for a while, and he definitely going to try and rush Alex into becoming himself. He feared that Alex might never be the same again. He feared that their lives would never be so carefree and happy again.


    The flurry of emotions that the two of them had experienced today was horrible. From happy to shocked to unbearable pain and sadness. Trip thought back to when they were stuck in the illusion. Back then they managed to survive and they came out of it stronger and more determined than ever. Could they do the same now, or would Alex be unable to recover from the pain he suffered this time?

 Chapter 13: Recovery

    Chapter 13: Recovery


    Alex sat in the tent. Blankly staring outside through the entrance of the tent. While he seemed this way on the outside on the inside his state was even worse. His consciousness was encased by darkness. He could see nothing. He could only feel emptiness. He kept hearing words. Words that were horrible.


    ¡°YOU KILLED YOUR FAMILY! OUR FAMILY¡± He heard his father¡¯s voice say


    ¡°It¡¯s all your fault.¡± He heard his grandfather say


    He was bombarded by the voices of his family telling him that they hate him and that everything that had happened was his fault. Alex did not cry. He didn¡¯t react to any of the abuse. He was very much in a state of shock. He could only hear the voices and take it.


    While Alex¡¯s consciousness was surrounded by darkness he could still see, hear, and feel the real world normally, but the magic that the normal world had was gone. The singing of the birds sounded like screeches of pain and hatred. The initially cooling rain on his face now felt like the tears of his dead family members. Even the beautiful colours that painted the world seemed to have become grey and disgusting. The only thing that was not tainted was not a thing at all, but a person. That person was Trip.


    Even though everything Alex saw was tainted by hatred and pain, Trip displayed none of this. Trip still looked colourful and happy. This was because the bond he had with Trip was as strong, if not stronger than all blood relations he ever had. Trip was the only brother and the best brother he would ever have. His subconscious couldn¡¯t block out Trip.


    If Trip was not there to help Alex through this difficult part of his life then Alex would probably never had recovered. Every day Alex would see Trip working hard. He would feed Alex, he would carry Alex and keep moving forward. There was always a smile on Trip¡¯s face. Even when he trained himself to a state where he couldn¡¯t walk, even in difficult times Trip was always there to comfort and take care of Alex.


    Similar to the guilt that Alex felt for the death of his family, he felt guilt towards Trip for not doing anything and being a burden to Trip. However unlike the guilt that he felt towards his family, the guilt he felt towards Trip was solvable. This guilt took Alex to take small steps.


    One day when Alex had to be fed Trip went to try and forcefully stuff the food down Alex¡¯s throat, but then suddenly Alex swallowed. Trip was shocked, it had been weeks since the incident, and never once had Alex shown any form of recovery. These weeks had been incredibly taxing for Trip. He had to painfully endure, but now this simple action from Alex fired him with hope and strength to carry on. This, albeit a tiny step, was the first step to recovery.


    Trip gave constant encouragement to Alex after that, and his smile was brighter than ever. Even Grelin was touched by this small development. From there on the road to recovery started.


    Alex felt the icy darkness around him start to thaw. The bombardment of screams from his family was being countered by the constant words of support and encouragement form Trip. He could still say nothing, but he started to feel again.


    One bright morning Alex caught himself staring at the bright sun. He started to feel a deep connection to the sun. The sun, a massive ball of fire so far away, yet still so visible and beautiful. Alex touched his face and felt that it was wet. He was crying. The sun was so beautiful he felt himself slowly gain power over himself again. Very slowly he lifted his hands and wiped his tears away. He did not stand after that, but a significant event had just happened for Alex. As long as the sun was there for him he would be able to recover.


    What Alex didn¡¯t know at this stage was that he was actually gaining control over Hyuru this way. Since all of his senses were directed towards the sun he was gaining more insight into the very concept of fire than he would by just focusing on the fire around him. The sun was the strongest form of fire that a fire mage could focus on, but only a select amount of people were able to gain power from trying to understand the sun. Now Alex had joined that select amount of people.


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    Through weeks of support from Trip and the sun Alex felt that much of the darkness around him had already thawed. He would now walk alongside Trip instead of being carried by him. He would also help Trip with some simple tasks. This was a massive development, but it was incomparably small compared to the development he had gained within his soul. Not only had much of the darkness within him thawed he had directly confronted his feelings. This was a painful process, but also a necessary process. Otherwise one would live with pain for the rest of their life.


    Alex had confronted his feelings by trying to look directly at what he was feeling. These feelings were pain, sorrow, and most of all guilt. He felt that he was the one who caused the whole situation. If he had not followed Trip at that point then his family would still be alive and then he would have been living happily ever after. For many days Alex could not see a way to counter this feeling. Even though he did not personally kill his family it was not and arguable fact that he was the reason they died. This was not something that Alex would ever be able to disprove, but he eventually realised that this was not something that he wanted or needed to disprove.


    He had to accept his mistakes, and learn from them. He would become strong. He would become so strong that none of this would ever happen again. He did not want Trip to take care of him forever. Trip could not save his family, that was not his duty. That was Alex¡¯s duty. He could not blame anyone other than himself for this mistake. The only way he could make it up to his family would be to make the Oyak name become the strongest and most powerful name ever. He would make his family strong again.


    This was the only solution in Alex¡¯s mind. This way he would not only be able to repay his family, but he would also become strong enough to walk alongside Trip.


    Naturally Alex would not be fixed immediately, but now that he had confronted his problems his full recovery was only a matter of time. Well, Alex would never be the same he was, but that was because he had grown into a different person than before.


    One day when they were finished walking and had already set up their tent Trip went off to train. When Alex saw this he decided that it would be good to start training himself. He decided to try and enter Hyuru. Surprisingly he entered Hyuru the first time he tried. He tested it out a bit more and was shocked to find that he had gained 90% control over Hyuru. He did not know why this happened, but he certainly wasn¡¯t disappointed by it.


    He continued to train Hyuru and he managed to gain full control over Hyuru within two weeks. This meant that he gained full control before he reached the age of 8. This meant that he could start to practice fire magic. Alex had received education on magic before he entered the school and he had read books about how to use basic magic. Trying to remember all the information he had ever learnt he attempted to create a little flame on his finger.


    When he tried nothing appeared, but the more attempts he made he saw the air above his finger started to smoke a bit. Instead of creating fire it seemed that he had heated up the air slightly. Seeing this Alex was determined to master fire magic, he had to catch up to Trip after all.


    He trained daily and he made very slow progress, with him only being able to make a tiny amount of visible fire after 3 weeks of training. The real progress from this was his mental progress. The training helped him cope with the grief he was constantly feeling, and he began to feel good emotions again. He genuinely felt happy looking at the sun. The birds singing no longer sounded like painful screeches and rain felt relaxing. The light emitted from the sun bathed the land, letting him see the beautiful colours again.


    Trip had been keeping count of the days, and before they went to sleep he would always tell Alex what day it was. One morning Trip found Alex sitting upright smiling and crying at the same time while looking at the early morning sun.


    He turned to Trip and said in a raspy voice ¡°Good morning Trip. It¡¯s my birthday today. Isn¡¯t it beautiful outside?¡±

 Chapter 14: Intermediate water magic

    Chapter 14: Intermediate water magic


    Hearing the words come from Alex¡¯s mouth brought Trip to tears. They had been travelling through forests and mountains for weeks. During that entire time Alex never said anything. These weeks were incomparably tough for Trip, he had spent these weeks having to take care of Alex, he ran until he could no longer walk, he trained until he collapsed from exhaustion, and yet it was all worth it. Trip never had a friend before Alex, but with what the two had gone through together and had done together the two had become more than friends. They were brothers of the strongest bonds. While the blood which flowed through their veins was different they were more like brothers than any other brothers on the planet.


    Because of this Trip had such an emotional reaction to Alex¡¯s words. It hurts to see your friend in pain, especially when you knew the pain that is experiencing, but that made it so much more special to see your friend smile and to hear the emotion behind his voice. Alex and Trip both felt a deep connection to the moment. This would be engrained in their memories forever.


    They cried through the entire day. Only after the sun set did Alex start to speak again.


    ¡°Trip, I don¡¯t know why, but I gained a lot of insight into Hyuru and I have started to learn fire magic.¡± Alex said


    Trip¡¯s eyes widened. He knew that Alex was talented, but this was much earlier than he was expecting. He felt excited and happy as well, he would feel much more at ease if Alex was able to protect himself.


    Trip said ¡°Ok then, show me!¡±


    Alex smiled as he felt the nostalgic feeling of the childish discussions that they used to have. He felt happy that they would be able to be like this again. Even though Alex had experienced terrible pain and guilt did not mean that he never wanted to feel happiness again.


    Alex cockily smiled as he led Trip outside of the tent. He stood on a tree stump and closed his eyes. Focusing as hard as he could he conjured a tiny flame in front of his hand. Trip laughed at this, as he remembered the times when he himself would struggle with such trivial magic. Seeing Trip laughed Alex got slightly angry as he continued to force as much strength out of himself to try and impress Trip.


    Trip saw this and immediately extinguished the fire with some water magic as he scolded Alex ¡°If you try to force more power out than you have then you will get injured. It seems I will need to teach you!¡±


    Alex snorted at Trip and said ¡°Pfff, A water mage teaching a fire mage, inconceivable!¡±


    They both burst out laughing. It was nice for the both of them to partake in some childlike banter. Trip knew that Alex was still hurting inside, so it was good for him to take things slow and slowly let Alex go back to his normal self.


    During the time that Alex was depressed Trip had become much stronger. Under the guidance of Grelin he had understood much more about water magic. Grelin confused Trip, for some reason it seemed that he had good understanding over all the types of magic. He even knew some light magic, but refused to teach Trip in that until Trip became capable of performing high level water magic.


    Trip had started to learn intermediate water magic. There was a fundamental difference between elementary water magic and intermediate water magic. It was a difference of understanding. In elementary water magic you find the water particles in the world around you and from that you create water, but in intermediate water magic you can create water out of seemingly nothing. In reality it was not that you could make water out of nothing, but instead you found water particles out of other places.


    In elementary water magic you rely on your senses to find the water particles in your surroundings, but in intermediate water magic you use the water particles that you found using your senses to find other water particles. You create one large bubble of water, which then attracts the other less visible water particles to itself, like a magnet. It was very complicated, and this was also the reason why intermediate magic takes much longer to perform than elementary water magic, which one could perform almost instantly.


    When learning intermediate water magic one cannot simply start attempting to pull off the techniques that you see in a book, but you have to spend a long time trying to understand how to attract more water particles before you can attempt anything.


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    This was the reason why even though Trip had been practicing for weeks he had still not been able to pull off a single spell so far. Every time he would train he would cross his legs and close his eyes. Entering a state of Hyuru, he would then listen to Grelin¡¯s instructions.


    ¡°Free yourself from the world of the physical. Feel only the water. Bring it together and create a sphere. Unchanging and tranquil. That is what water is. Water exists for thousands of years. The water you use now could have been used to quench the thirst of great beasts and kings. Therefore you must respect the water and never use it for evil.¡±


    When Trip first heard these words he was confused. Water has no consciousness, so why would it care if you disrespected the water. Trip now understood the truth behind those words. It was not that the water had a consciousness, but rather that you have a consciousness. When you use water it becomes a part of you, just like it was a part of kings and great beasts before you. Water follows your consciousness and commands, but also that of what came before you. If you did not respect the water, then you would never be able to control it more than at a basic level. This was something that Trip now understood; meaning that he now understood the meaning behind higher levels of water magic, the execution of this understanding was the second step, which Grelin would then start to explain.


    ¡°If you understand the water, then you must trust the water to find the other water hidden away. Think of that water as shy, afraid of you. Therefore you cannot force that water to come towards you, but instead let it come towards you as you show that you mean no harm. Water attracts other water, so simply holding a sphere in the air and demonstrating your understanding would allow you to attract the hidden water.¡±


    While this step sounded simpler than the previous step, it certainly wasn¡¯t. It required so much patience and frustrating practice in order to pull this off. This was one of the reasons that many very talented people were unable to use intermediate level magic until they were already an adult. The earliest recorded case for a person that could use intermediate level magic was someone at the age of 14, and that child became an emperor who conquered the entire continent.


    Trip had been training for weeks, and he kept slowly being able to pull off techniques that were slightly more powerful than the last. While Grelin did not mention it, he was utterly shocked by Trip¡¯s ability. Grelin was not a human, and he came from a race which was generally more proficient in magic than humans, but he could not think of a single person from his homeland that could compare to Trip. It made him feel happy; he had no idea if he would forever be stuck within Trip, so he was happy that he was at least inside someone capable, and not just any other annoying child.


    Since Trip had developed quite much recently Grelin decided that the Trip and Alex needed a place where they could stay for a while and just train without having to worry about anything else. This way they would not have to walk very long every day and that would mean that they would get more time to train. Grelin decided that he would inform Trip of this once he saw a good place to settle. At this point Trip and Alex were going through a mountain range. This would be a good place to find a cave and a small body of water. Thus Grelin informed Trip of his plans.


    ¡°Trip. I think it would be best if we were to settle down somewhere for now.¡± Grelin mentally said


    Trip had been expecting this and he too thought it was a good idea. ¡°I agree, should I investigate for a good place to settle?¡±


    Grelin liked how quickly Trip caught on and said ¡°Yes. We¡¯ll be staying until you master intermediate level magic, so find a nice place.¡±


    After Trip informed Alex of the matter the pair started search for a place to live. Eventually they found a cave which rested in front of a rather large body of water. The cave was not too large, but not too small either. There were a lot of trees around and the cave was indented into the side of a mountain. Trip and Alex smiled at the place, it looked really very nice.


    They both thought simultaneously ¡°This is our new home.¡±

 Chapter 15: Impatience

    Chapter 15: Impatience


    Trip woke up. He looked around and saw the rocky walls of the cave. He groaned as he lifted his body from the rock. ¡®9 year olds are not supposed to have back pains yet¡­¡¯ he thought. However even though his sleeping arrangements were not ideal he was certainly in a much better place than the month previous. It had been a month since Alex and Trip had settled in the cave, Trip had already reached 9 years of age. During this time the two of them had been constantly training with the help of Grelin. Even with this training Trip calculated that he would not master intermediate magic until he reached the age of 10, and considering Alex¡¯s speed it might take him even longer.


    Trip had been teaching Alex through the help of Grelin. Unfortunately this meant that Alex¡¯s training speed had become slower. This was because Grelin was not pleased with the way Alex was training for fire. He was not ready for the power of fire. According to Grelin Alex had to become more ¡®Explosive¡¯ so he told Trip to make Alex run around constantly and have him just play around with fire magic. This way he would understand the power behind fire magic. Fire magic was explosive and impulsive, in contrast to the tranquil and calm magic of water.


    Since Alex was constantly playing around with fire magic, his appearance could only be described as unsightly. While Trip had kept the sharp and intelligent as always Alex had charred hair, and he even managed to burn off his eyebrows. Trip always found it hilarious to see how Alex had ruined his clothes and hair, but Alex himself was incredibly annoyed by it. Just when he had the conviction to rise above his previous childish self he had to reduce himself to such a state, but what annoyed him even more was the fact that the method actually worked. Even though his speed of training had decreased, he felt that he understood fire more. The way that it grew uncontrollably and how chaotically powerful it could be where both things that Alex now understood. Therefore he could not complain about it, he could only work hard and become strong.


    Trip¡¯s training at present was completely different from Alex. While Alex was causing explosions and chaos Trip had to stay in a state of pure tranquillity for the entire day. He spent 12 hours a day trying to get the hidden water to ¡®trust¡¯ him. The worst part was that Trip had to make sure he didn¡¯t actually feel dissatisfied or annoyed by his training method, this was because then the hidden water would not trust him and perceive it as him holding evil intentions.


    Grelin started to notice Trip¡¯s dissatisfaction with the training. Even if Trip thought that he wasn¡¯t showing dissatisfaction on the surface it would be stupid to think that he could attract hidden water in that state. This way Grelin knew he had to change Trip¡¯s method of training. Trip had to become patient and understanding of water, thus he had to become water. It might sound ridiculous, but Grelin remembered that some elite water mages used to sit underwater for years in order to achieve a state of almost being the water. If Trip could do this then he would certainly understand water better.


    The next day Grelin told Trip to sit at the bottom of the pond in front of the cave. While he was confused he trusted Grelin and he was unafraid of hard work. The difficult part of the training method was that one could not breathe when one was underwater, if they created an air pocket it would create a wall in between oneself and the water. There had to be complete contact between the person and the water.


    Trip was of course unable to do this, as his natural instincts would tell him to get out of the water once he was out of breath. Grelin understood this, and had come up with a rather risky plan in order to counter this. Unwilling to withhold anything from Trip he told him everything that he wanted him to do.


    ¡°Ok Trip, here¡¯s the plan. You will sit at the bottom of the pond holding your breath. After you run out of breath it will be your natural instinct to return to the surface, but it is vital that you stay underwater. To counteract your natural instincts what you will need to do it, err, make yourself pass out¡± Grelin mentally told Trip


    Trip¡¯s eyes were full of shock and fear ¡°Wait, so you want me to pass out underwater. Won¡¯t I drown?¡±


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    Grelin then continued ¡°Well, according to certain training methods it shouldn¡¯t affect you much. The idea behind it is that you really become a part of the water, that way you will have a greater connection to the water and your training will increase a lot. What I¡¯m trying to say is that theoretically you won¡¯t drown.¡±


    The word theoretically did not make Trip feel any better about the situation, this was a matter of life and death, and he couldn¡¯t take this lightly. Trip questioned himself whether it was really worth it to attempt something insane like this.


    Feeling Trip¡¯s hesitation Grelin said ¡°Look I¡¯m not forcing you to do it, but your current training is at a standstill and I can¡¯t imagine you would make any progress for ages. I really wouldn¡¯t have mentioned this if I didn¡¯t think it was a good idea.¡±


    Those words drove Trip to attempt it. Grelin was someone he trusted a lot, if he believed this was the right way to go then he would go for it.


    ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll do it.¡± Trip said


    In reality Grelin was probably slightly too rash with such a training method, but he had a strong belief that you will not gain anything without suffering. Thus he suggested this method.


    Trip then went into the water until he remained afloat in the centre of the pool. He then attached a heavy weight to his foot, dragging himself down to the bottom. This was to prevent him from drifting off when he was passed out. Trip¡¯s eyes were bloodshot and full of fear. He then closed his eyes and then hit the part of his body that Grelin told him to hit, causing him to fall into a deep sleep underwater.


    When Trip opened his eyes he was surrounded by darkness. ¡®Is this death?¡¯ Trip thought. He then started to see massive blue blobs floating around. ¡®Is that water?¡¯ Trip guessed that it had to be water. It was strange, because Trip felt that he could not breathe here, but that he also did not need to breathe. Trip explored the dark area and saw the water particles. Upon further inspection he found tiny little particles hiding in the shadow of the large particles. ¡®Could these be the hidden water particles?¡¯ Trip thought.


    When Trip went forward to touch them they immediately fled from him. Trip couldn¡¯t help but laugh, it was like they had their own consciousness. Trip felt very much at peace in this place, he did not quite understand where he was or what he was experiencing, but it felt as if that nothing outside of this realm mattered.


    Trip sat down and closed his eyes; he felt at peace here, all the worries and troubles outside of here did no longer matter. Trip just rested for a long time, it was simply too comfortable to experience the tranquility of his surroundings.


    Eventually Trip opened his eyes, not because he wanted to, but because he felt something strange. When he looked in front of him, he felt the small tiny particles sticking to him. The moment he moved they all rushed away, but this reminded Trip of his initial reasoning of being here. He had to gain the trust of the hidden particles. He finally understood his task and what he had to do.


    He closed his eyes again, and patiently waited for the particles to come towards him. He moved slowly, trying not to frighten off the particles. He only moved a little, until he felt the particles rush away again. Trip continued, time and time again. Slowly trying to gain the trust of the little particles. After what Trip assumed to be a long time the water particles were willing to stick to him for several seconds even after he moved slightly. This tiny progress was still a huge step for him.


    Suddenly the world turned fully black, with all the particles leaving him. For a second Trip felt incredibly lonely, but then he saw light overtake the darkness as he opened his eyes to see Alex looking at him and screaming ¡°TRIP! WAKE UP!¡±


    Trip coughed a bit and then said ¡°I¡¯m fine, stop shouting.¡±


    Alex only looked at him for a bit, before saying ¡°How can you be fine? You were underwater for hours, how did you survive?¡±


    Trip only smiled now as he uttered the words ¡°I understand now.¡±

 Chapter 16: Training

    Chapter 16: Training


    Alex was utterly and completely confused. How on earth could someone survive underwater for hours? And what was meant by the cryptic words at the end ¡®I understand now.¡¯ It annoyed Alex that Trip was acting this way. He became frustrated at the fact that he was kept in the dark again. Luckily Alex did not take this anger out on Trip, and as he saw Trip run off somewhere he decided to release his anger by fire magic.


    This was very much what fire magic was, chaotic power driven by emotions. Just by feeling the anger from Trip acting a certain way was enough to increase the fire magic power to twice its normal power. Fire magic was an incredibly good way to release emotions and Alex already felt much better after a little rampage.


    At this point in Alex¡¯s training he was still continuing with the chaotic training. From anyone¡¯s perspective it would seem that when Alex was ¡®training¡¯ he appeared to just be throwing fire around all over the place. He also realised one extra difficulty in his training. There were many trees around and it was difficult to practice without almost destroying an entire ecosystem. Alex already knew that this was planned, but he was having a lot of difficulty with this aspect of his training. The entire time he had been teaching himself how to control chaotic powerful flames, and yet he had to learn to control it to an extent so that it did not set a forest on fire.


    Alex was quite confused by this; after all, the entire point of chaos was that it was uncontrollable. This was the very thing that he did not understand, presumably all the powerful fire mages had the most powerful and chaotic fire, yet they must also have precision, accuracy, and generally good control over the fire.


    So far Alex had been relying on his negative emotions in order to use fire magic effectively. Every time he tried to use fire magic he would think of his deceased family and every little thing that annoyed him and just let it all out, this caused powerful and chaotic flames.


    ¡°How can I use powerful fire magic without it being chaotic!?¡± He screamed while looking at the sky.


    He looked at the sky and saw the sun. ¡®The sun is so beautiful¡¯ Alex thought. What was so beautiful about the sun? Well, the very essence of the sun is that it is a massive ball of fire, and yet it still looks so peaceful and beautiful on the surface. It was as if there was a shell around it, preventing it from exploding everywhere.


    At that point Alex had a mental breakthrough ¡®If I could control the fire in my magic not by making it less chaotic, but instead by entrapping the chaos. To have it be a concentrated and controlled form of chaos.¡¯ He thought. In order to control chaos you must not allow it from spreading, so simply speaking it was controlling the amount of fire you released. The easiest way to do that was of course by making the fuel itself released in smaller quantities. This fuel came from his emotions, so he would need to control his emotions more if he wanted a higher level of control when it came to his fire magic.


    Alex attempted to do this, but it was much more difficult than it at first had appeared. Controlling negative emotions was very difficult. Otherwise everyone who was feeling sad would choose to only be sad an hour of every day and happy for the other 23. People did not have control over emotions that easily. It required incredible amounts of training in order to reach a state where one would have control over their emotions.


    While Alex was thinking of a solution to this issue Trip was running towards the pool of water in front of the cave. Trip was excited, because he finally understood what he had to do and how to do it. He proceeded to sit down in the water until everything but his head was covered, so that he could breathe. There was no reason to enter the other state again, as he now understood how to achieve similar results without having to nearly drown.


    Trip closed his eyes and let his body drift from a sitting position to lying on the top of the water. He peacefully laid on the surface of the water and felt the strange feeling which he felt in the realm he was in earlier. At this point Trip displayed no emotion, no happiness, sadness, or anger. His face was tranquil, almost as if he was asleep. In order to get the hidden water particles to be attracted to him he had to show how he was a part of the water.


    Trip stayed still for hours until he slowly started to control basic water magic, nothing difficult, he only created some waves in the water. This way he could start to learn how to gain control over the hidden particles without threatening them.


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    At first Grelin did not understand what Trip was doing ¡®Has this kid gone mad?¡¯ He thought, but eventually he saw the progress that Trip had gone through and was utterly shocked. ¡®How could a child have gained that much progress in just a couple of hours underwater? I¡¯ll have to ask him about this later.¡¯


    Several hours later Trip got out of the water, and he realised that he generally felt really calm. Strangely it appeared that every time he would train like this his mind calmed down incredibly much, Trip smiled at this, after all, to be more calm could only help for a water mage.


    Trip dried himself off in the cave, and then looked around. ¡®Strange¡¯ He thought ¡®Normally Alex would be back by now¡­¡¯ Trip decided that he would search for Alex; he needed Alex to help cook some dinner.


    Trip started to investigate around the area outside of the cave. After a couple of minutes he could hear several grunts from a couple meters away. Trip decided that he wanted to see what Alex was doing and decided to hide in a bush to see what he was doing without disturbing him. When Trip saw Alex he was shocked. He had never seen Alex this way before. Alex¡¯s eyes were filled with such determination it was almost scary, he seemed to be in a state of full concentration. Trip kept looking at Alex and then saw Alex attempt a fire technique. What shocked Trip was how much Alex¡¯s control over his fire magic had increased. ¡®Has he been hiding this from me?¡¯ Trip thought. The last time Trip saw Alex perform a fire technique was a couple of weeks ago, when he was just starting his special training, and back then it was completely chaotic, it would go everywhere without Alex¡¯s control. Now, however, the fire was still rather chaotic, but it seemed to actually go in the direction that Alex wanted it to go. This was a shocking development, even Grelin was surprised.


    What neither Grelin nor Trip knew was that Alex had achieved this level of control within a day of training. If they heard this then they would certainly be incomparably shocked. Alex had achieved this level of control by learning how to control his emotions better. Not in the sense that Alex had control over how much of an emotion he wanted to expend, but instead he chose to use different emotions to act as fuel for his fire. Instead of thinking of hatred, anger, and sadness which were emotions that were incredibly difficult to control. He instead looked at positive emotions such as happiness, joy, and pride. This way the strength and intensity of his magic had gone down a lot, but his control had become incomparably stronger.


    When Alex appeared to be finished with his training Trip came out of the bush completely startling Alex and saying ¡°Haha, you bastard! Who knew you had become so powerful already?¡±


    Alex looked at Trip and snorted saying ¡°What? Did you underestimate my abilities again?¡±


    They both laughed as they walked back to the camp. Over dinner they talked about everything that they had learned over the last couple days. It appeared that these last few days had been incredibly productive for the two of them. It was quite comfortable for the two of them, they had no worries or responsibilities, and therefore they could just spend their time doing whatever they want.


    Grelin was also satisfied with the two boys. Not only were they both incomparable geniuses they also were focused on training. He considered himself as a sort of teacher figure to the children so to see the two of them excelling was truly a beautiful thing. Grelin was also the only adult role model in Trip¡¯s and Alex¡¯s life at the moment, so in a way he felt a bit as a father figure to them as well.


    He only wished that this time would last. Thinking back to his own family Grelin couldn¡¯t help but feel slight loneliness. He did not know if there were any left of his kind or from his family. In his mind the only people he had in this world were Trip and Alex. He felt pain thinking that at one point he would have to leave them and be lonely once again.


    After a couple of hours of chatter Alex and Trip decided to go to sleep. When they were sleeping they were completely oblivious to several pairs of eyes staring at them from far away, slowly sneaking closer and closer. They were so silent that even Grelin could not notice them. They slowly inched forward and eventually reached the sleeping bodies of Trip and Alex.


    A deep male voice then said ¡°Grab them and take them back to camp.¡±

 Chapter 17: Interrogation

    Chapter 17: Interrogation


    ¡°Grab them and take them back to camp.¡± A deep male voice said


    Quickly listening to the instructions, the other people there grabbed the two children. As they started to walk back one of the kids started to wake up. Panicking someone hit him in the back of the neck, knocking him out.


    The people then carried the children off to the camp. This was a big army camp, belonging to the Urvallay. There were constant noises of people training and chattering, as well as a constant smoke coming from the trees they were burning for charcoal. The


    men in this camp had not fought much, but they had slaughtered several villages, causing there to be a constant smell of blood. For normal people, this would be considered disgusting, but for the soldiers it was motivation. They were told that the more blood they spilled the more money they got.


    The people that found the children were scouts, the reason why they did not kill them immediately was because children could often be used as spies, so they could get some useful information from them. They threw them into the commander¡¯s tent and set Ripper to watch the kids. This was because Ripper did not talk, and he never slept. The only worry was that Ripper didn¡¯t murder them, but luckily the commander had sent him to do this task, and since he was pretty much an obedient dog in front of the commander, there should be no worries.


    These children were of course Alex and Trip.


    Trip felt weak, his eyes heavy. He had a pain in the back of his neck, as if he had been hit there. Before he opened his eyes he could already tell that he was no longer in the cave. He could hear people, metal hitting metal. He could smell blood and smoke. He could feel an uncomfortable pressure coming from right in front of him. Trip opened his eyes, and in front of him he saw a man. Dark green eyes, ginger hair, tall stature and robust build, as well as many scars on his face. The man in front of him was a warrior. Trip looked around and saw that they were in a tent. It was not a tent that he and Alex had stayed in, but a much bigger one. It was an army tent.


    Trip looked to his right as he sighed in relief as he saw that Alex was ok. For some reason he could not seem to talk to Grelin, which did worry him slightly. Trip was actually quite shocked at his own ability to stay calm. Even though he had always been a very calculating and calm child his training had definitely helped him look at things in clearer way. This did not mean that Trip was not confused. He did not understand several things. Why were he and Alex taken from the cave? Why are they in an army tent? Is there a war going on? Who is this man in front of me? Why can he not talk to Grelin? Countless thoughts paraded through Trip¡¯s mind and simply could not make any sense of the situation.


    Luckily for Trip he had a man that had some of the answers in front of him; however it was a question of what this man was here to do. He could be a torturer, a commander, or even just a regular soldier. Trip hated this situation, because at this point the man in front of him had all the power, and Trip could not do a thing about it. Seeing the man¡¯s blank expression Trip couldn¡¯t help but feel annoyed that this man did nothing. Therefore he decided to make the first move.


    Trip spoke respectfully ¡°Dear Sir. May I ask you why our hands are tied and how we ended up here?¡±


    The man merely glanced at him and grunted.


    Trip was waiting for a reply, but saw that the man would give him none, trying to stay calm he repeat himself ¡°Sir. Why are our hands tied? Who are you and what do you want with us?¡±


    This time the man angrily grunted and walked over to Trip and slapped him. He then went back to his chair and sat down with an angry grunt.


    Trip was not rich or posh by any means, and yet he was still infuriated by this man¡¯s barbaric nature. There was simply no way to connect with him, to talk, to figure out the situation. This caused Trip to feel even more vulnerable and fragile. He simply could not fight back or get out of this situation.


    After another hour of silence and angry expressions Alex woke up. Alex was not a water mage; he did not have the calm attitude that someone like Trip had. So the moment he woke up he panicked. Alex started to scream ¡°AAAAH! What is going on? Who are you? Where am I?¡±


    Trip eventually got Alex to calm down. The man saw that both of them were awake and walked out of the tent. Around 5 minutes later another man walked in. The new man looked much more refined than the first; he had a tall, valiant stature. The new man stood proud and tall with his long, flowing blond hair gently resting on his shoulders. This man was the leader. Anyone could see it from a mile away. He virtually glowed in comparison to the previous man. The new man walked forward and looked at Trip and Alex gently with his blue eyes.


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    ¡°Hello children. My name is Pinta! That¡¯s a fun name isn¡¯t it?¡± the man called Pinta smiled reassuringly to Trip and Alex ¡°Now I know you must be very confused right now, so how about this! I ask you a question, and if you answer you can ask me a question! Doesn¡¯t that sound fun?¡±


    Trip almost wanted to puke by this display. Pinta was clearly faking any form of compassion or excitement. In fact, Pinta scared Trip so much more than the previous man. The look in his eyes was terrifying. It was as if it could change at any second and he would slit their throats.


    Trip decided to play the same game with Pinta. He thought of a fake name and smiled, he then said ¡°Wow! Pinta sure is a fun name! My name is Gregory. I¡¯d love to play this little game with you, who asks first?¡±


    Pinta was clearly dissatisfied by Trip¡¯s reaction, which gave Trip a pleasing feeling. Pinta decided to keep up the fa?ade and said ¡°I¡¯ll ask first since I¡¯m the host! Ok, tell me. What were you doing in the middle of a warzone?¡±


    This confirmed Trip¡¯s earlier thoughts. This was a war zone. Trip and Alex had been travelling for weeks before they settled down in the cave, during that time they had no information about anything happening in the country. According to their travelling their cave should have been in the north of East Hrior, bordering the country of Urvallay. He knew this because there was a mountain range separating the two countries. Urvallay was 3 times the size of East Hrior, so if there was a war then East Hrior would be bound to fall.


    After thinking this Trip responded to the question ¡°I didn¡¯t know there was a war going on. Now, can you tell us why we were captured?¡±


    Pinta seemed angry, to him the very fact that someone didn¡¯t know of the war was inconceivable. Normally he would already have determined the prisoners as spies, but these were kids. How could they lie in front of him?


    Because of this, Pinta decided to keep playing the game for now, as he said ¡°You were captured because we suspected you were spies. Nobody lives in the mountains here, and since this is a warzone we immediately took you as prisoners. Now tell me.¡± Pinta¡¯s eyes darkened ¡°Are you from Urvallay or East Hrior?¡±


    Trip panicked at this question. Looking at Pinta he could tell he was not from East Hrior. He did not know whether he was an enemy from Urvallay or if he was an ally of East Hrior and happened to be from another nation. This caused Trip to have no clue what to do.


    At this point Alex had merely been watching from the side-lines. However now he saw that Trip was having trouble with this question. Alex had been trained as a traditional rich kid. He learned mannerisms, attitude, and other such things. One other thing he learned was the trade of a businessman. As a businessman, one must always understand the customer, where they were from and what sort of things they were interested in had to be seen from the way they carried themselves. This was so that they could change and try to appeal to the customer. Since Urvallayan people tended to come to East Hrior for goods a lot, Alex had specifically learned how to tell if someone was from Urvallay and he learned everything about the place.


    Because he knew all of this he could tell in a moment¡¯s glance that the man in front of them was from Urvallay. The way he carried himself, the colour of his hair, all of this fit the traits of an Urvallayan. Knowing all of this Alex said ¡°We are from Urvallay. We come from the town Tinter, but our parents died and we ran off into the mountains several months ago.¡±


    Pinta looked at Alex. Earlier he could have sworn that the children were from East Hrior, and even if they said Urvallay he would not have believed them, but the fact that the other child had mentioned that they were from Tinter, which was a small town in the south of Urvallay, made him question his original beliefs. Although he did not believe them entirely he decided to leave the matter at rest for now. Feeling exhausted he was about to leave, until he heard Trip clear his throat.


    ¡°Excuse me sir, but we have not said our question yet.¡± Trip said


    Feeling annoyed Pinta virtually hissed out the words ¡°Go ahead Gregory, what is your question?¡±


    Trip smiled lightly and asked ¡°Since we answered everything you said, can you let us go now?¡±


    Pinta looked at the pair and said ¡°We¡¯ll release you tomorrow.¡± He then stormed out.


    Trip did not know what to really do at this point. He looked at Alex and thought ¡®To think that just yesterday we were happily training and now we have been reduced to such a state by this despicable man. And now even Grelin is gone.¡¯


    At this point, they could do nothing but wait for tomorrow and see what it had in store for them.

 Chapter 18: Attempted Escape

    Chapter 18: Attempted Escape


    Pinta walked away from the tent in anger. He was completely raging, how could these children have matched him during the interrogation? He was a hardworking man and he was revered by many in Urvallay, and yet now he had been matched by children!? The whole idea of it was inconceivable to a man of his stature. Because of the hatred he felt towards Trip and Alex he had already decided that he would never let them go. Since they were that skilled in speaking and since they were not nervous answering the questions pretty much pointed in the direction that they were spies. He had already decided that he would start torturing them for information.


    Meanwhile, Trip and Alex were talking about their situation. Trip had told Alex that he could not reach Grelin. This made both of them nervous. At this point they really needed someone with a lot of experience to help them get out of the situation. Trip did not know whether or not they would actually be let go. He did not know how wars worked so he had no idea what would be done with suspicious people. He also saw how angry Pinta had gotten so he feared the worst.


    Alex then whispered to Trip ¡°Hey! I can burn the tent; do you think we can get away then?¡±


    Trip thought about it. Currently they were in a massive, well trained military camp. If they were to just run away then they would have no problem catching them. However, if they sent the tent on fire and used it as a distraction as they ran away then they would have a chance to escape. Alex should be fine in the fire, and Trip could use water in order to make sure that the fire didn¡¯t touch him.


    Having come to this conclusion Trip smiled at Alex and said ¡°We strike during the night.¡±


    Alex nodded in agreement, and they spent the rest of the time planning what exactly they would do. The only problem was that they did not know the area surrounding the direct area, since they were unconscious when they were abducted they did not know what was around. They imagined that it was close to the cave, and therefore there should be some trees around. Thus they decided to rush to the trees as fast as possible; this would make it difficult for them to be caught.


    After they had thought of a full plan Trip had some questions for Alex. Trip did not know anything about warriors, but he imagined that most of the people were warriors incapable of using magic. Since he did not know much he decided to ask Alex, whom seemed to have a fairly good understanding of the topic.


    ¡°Say, Alex. We have several hours until night falls, so can you tell me everything you know about warriors?¡± Trip asked


    Alex looked at Trip and asked ¡°How much do you know already?¡±


    ¡°Nothing.¡± Trip said


    Alex sighed, but he was not surprised. He only knew the things he did because he was rich. He could not expect Trip to know about anything, because Trip was poor and always had been so. After a while of collecting his thought Alex started to speak:


    ¡°Warriors are people that have graduated from a warrior school. People become warriors if they don¡¯t have a good enough affinity for magic. This means that warriors cannot rely on talent and instead have to rely on hard work and a good body build. Of course a warrior will never become as strong as a mage, but some of the techniques they learn could match even some intermediate mages. While mages tend to be much stronger to warriors most warriors attempt to make up the strength disparity between mages and warriors by using weapons, the stronger the weapon the stronger the warrior. Most armies use warriors only and use mages as more of a backup force, so all the people here should be warriors. Overall warriors are just normal people who have trained their body to the extreme, so you should actually be able to take most of the people here one-on-one.¡±


    Trip pondered all this information for a while, and then asked ¡°Do you know any warrior techniques?¡±


    Alex looked at Trip blankly. While it was true that he learned several warrior techniques when he was younger, but he barely remembered any of it, and why would Trip need to know any of them? Unwilling to have Trip continue pressing the matter Alex told him that he had no techniques.


    The reason why Trip wanted a warrior technique was merely because he was interested in it. He was interested in the fact that someone could push themselves to reach the full limits of the human body. Trip was not afraid of hard work and he was intrigued by the concept of mixing techniques from mages and warriors.


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    Time passed, and the sky turned black. Trip and Alex had waited patiently, and now that darkness had overtaken the tent their plan was ready to be put in place. Luckily to them there was no way that any of the soldiers outside could possibly know what was about to happen. Alex looked at Trip, and Trip nodded, signalling Alex to start the operation.


    Alex focused and let out all the pent up frustration and emotion he had experienced over the past few weeks releasing a ball of fire. The flame expanded, consuming the entire tent. It looked like a massive bonfire in the middle of the camp. The soldiers could only look in shock at the destructive fire. The soldiers quickly regained their composure and they started to shout for water.


    Pinta heard the commotion outside and went to see what was happening. When he saw the tent on fire his rage exploded. He had only just gotten over the rage that he felt from the interrogation, and now that he saw the tent on fire he simply couldn¡¯t take it.


    The instant he saw the tent on fire he knew that the two children had done it, there was no doubt in his mind that those little bastards had done it. He ran towards the tent as quickly as he could. He ran into the tent with no fear of getting burnt. He was an experienced and powerful warrior and mere fire could not burn him. However when he looked inside Trip and Alex were already gone.


    Pinta screamed at the scouts in rage ¡°FIND THOSE BASTARD CHILDREN!¡±


    With pure fear in their eyes the scouts immediately ran into the forest as quick as they could.


    At this point Trip and Alex were already very far into the forest. Trip had been able to protect himself from the fire using some water to get rid of the fire in his way. Neither of them had been noticed when they ran away into the forest, this was because even though the tent had been in the middle of the camp all the soldiers had been too distracted to see two small children running around.


    At this point Trip was running as fast as they could. Alex was exhausted due to his fire spell so Trip had to carry him. Trip only hoped that nobody had noticed that they had left yet, but he was prepared for combat. He had never fought anyone head on with magic, but Trip had been training water magic for years so if he wasn¡¯t ready now he would never be ready.


    As expected several scouts had managed to catch up to the pair. It was clear that their little legs could not outrun the strides of a trained warrior. The scouts sprinted in front of them and blocked them off. Alex was too tired to do anything at this point, meaning that Trip was the only one that could possibly try and fight off the oncoming scouts.


    The scouts stood in front of the pair and said ¡°Come on guys, just come back now. Let¡¯s try and not make this any more difficult.¡±


    Trip did not respond but instead decided to let his magic do the talking. He looked towards the 3 scouts in his way and shot several water bullets towards the scouts. The scouts were unprepared as they would never have expected that Trip could use magic, because of this all of the scouts were hit by the water bullets. Even though they were trained warriors it was difficult to compare to the strength of a mage who had already mastered elementary water magic. The scouts were also the weakest of all the warriors so they were completely unable to handle Trip¡¯s attacks.


    The scouts all passed out with a bloody nose. Trip quickly went to pick up Alex, but it seemed he had disappeared. Trip stayed calm as he looked around. Suddenly he heard a voice from a couple of meters away.


    ¡°Come with me or I¡¯ll slit his throat.¡± A man¡¯s voice said


    Trip looked over and saw that this man was a scout that had been slightly later to arrive than the others, and now he saw an exhausted Alex having a knife held against his throat. Rage filled Trip, but he did not know what to do. Within a couple of seconds even more warriors had arrived, including Pinta.


    Pinta then looked at Trip and said ¡°What are you going to do now, Gregory?¡±

 Chapter 19: Countdown

    Chapter 19: Countdown


    ¡®What are you going to do now?¡¯ The words resonated within Trip¡¯s mind. He did not know what to do, if he attacked then they would hurt Alex, but if he surrendered then the two of them might be executed anyway. There really wasn¡¯t a good solution for him.


    ¡®Why don¡¯t I have the strength!?¡¯ Trip thought. He simply couldn¡¯t do anything at this point, and he hated it. He felt so vulnerable. There were a hundred soldiers in front of him, and there were even more at the camp. How could he survive this situation?


    Trip could do nothing. He had always been very calculative and he realised that unless if he was willing to flee and leave Alex behind, then there would be no option. Everything that he had done up to this point, all the hard work he put in would be for nothing if he was captured by these people. Even if they got lucky and they managed to become slaves, what would come of it? Years would be wasted in a bad environment. Trip felt tears welling up in his eyes. Just before he was about to cry he looked at


    Alex, who gave him a slight nod. Almost as if to say that he should leave.


    This pissed off Trip, how could he ever leave behind Alex? He thought of a plan. ¡®In order for them to let us go then we must give them something in return.¡¯ Trip thought. If he could think of something that might be worth something to the soldiers and Pinta then maybe they could be let go.


    Pinta was currently watching this kid doing nothing but stand there for a few minutes, and he was getting incredibly frustrated by it. It was the middle of the night and he wanted to get this over with.


    Angrily he screamed ¡°GREGORY! I AM GIVING YOU TEN SECONDS! IF YOU DON¡¯T SAY SOMETHING NOW THEN I WILL PERSONALLY SLIT HIS THROAT!¡± He pointed his sword to Alex.


    Trip panicked and thought as quickly as he could. He then said ¡°I have a proposal!¡±


    Pinta was clearly confused, his friend was about to die and he wanted to make a deal with him now? However he was curious to see what the proposal might be so he replied by saying ¡°What might this proposal of yours be?¡±


    Trip was relieved that he reacted this way. He had always seen Pinta as an annoying, but smart person. No smart person would refuse to listen to a potentially profitable proposal when they were completely dominant.


    ¡°You let us go, and I¡¯ll tell you the secret locations of all the spies in the area.¡± Trip said. While it was not great proposal, it might still seem profitable to Pinta. At this point he would do anything if there was even half a chance that it would succeed.


    Pinta looked at him with a dumbfounded look. Trip was hopeful at first, but then Pinta opened his mouth. He said ¡°Are you stupid? We have already found other spies and milked all the information out of them. We received reports that there were 8 spies in the area and we have found 6. You two are the last ones.¡±


    Trips heart sank as his vision started to blur. His entire body was shaking, his lips were dry. He felt dizzy as he realised that this time there was nothing he could do other than give in, but he couldn¡¯t say they words. He could only stand there.


    Pinta looked at him and felt satisfaction come over him. This was the most beautiful thing he had seen in a while. It was a look of a defeated person, knowing there was nothing they could do. He looked at Trip and said ¡°I¡¯m starting the countdown!¡±


    ¡°10¡± he said.


    Trip¡¯s heart pounded. It was not a regular pound, but an incomparably powerful one. It was like a drumbeat. He felt a strange feeling come over his body. It was incomparably comfortable. He felt something slowly expand through his body, starting from his heart.


    ¡°9¡±


    To others Trip seemed stationary with a miserable look on his face, but on the inside Trip had a feeling unlike any feeling he had ever felt before. It felt as if he was bathing in the light of the sun.


    ¡°8¡±


    Trip¡¯s eyes closed. He continued to feel a warm power surge over him. It went into every vein. Indescribably it felt like something that even though he had no memory of ever feeling before, he still knew what it was. It was a hug from his mother.


    ¡°7¡±


    If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.Trip¡¯s eyes opened. There was no pupil though, neither was there an iris. His eyes were white, and they were glowing. All the other people there somehow felt a shiver run down their spine. Pinta immediately stopped with the countdown as even he could tell that something bad was about to happen. The soldiers instinctively moved backwards. Alex could only look at Trip in wonder, simply thinking: ¡¯cool.¡¯


    Trip was not actually in control at the moment. He could see what was happening, but he had no control over his body. He saw himself raise his right hand and point it at the soldiers. A large ray of light hit the ground, bathing anything that it touched with its beauty. The moment the light fell on the soldiers, they collapsed. For a second foam would come out of their mouths, and then they would fall on the floor with tears streaming down their face. This continued for all of the soldiers, but the ray of light actively avoided Alex.


    Eventually the ray of light hit Pinta. He managed to last a bit longer than the others, but he eventually fell. Looking quite pathetic for a man who was normally so high and mighty. Only after all the soldiers had fallen did the ray of light disappear. At this point Trip¡¯s vision turned black.


    When he opened his eyes he realised he was not in the real world. ¡®Did I die?¡¯ Trip thought. He was surrounded by pure, white clouds. In front of him stood a large manor. It was pure white. Well everything except the garden. Which had the clearest water and the greenest trees. It looked so perfect it seemed fake, and yet it felt so real.


    Trip walked into the garden and saw a beautiful woman standing in a summer hat and a white dress. The woman was blonde and had bright blue eyes. For some reason the moment Trip saw her tears welled up in his eyes as he screamed ¡°Mother!¡±


    The woman turned to his direction, with a light smile on her face she said ¡°Hello Trip, you¡¯ve grown so much.¡± She pinched his cheek and said ¡°Aaaw, you¡¯re so cute.¡±


    Trip was crying, he could barely speak. This was his mother. He had never had a family, but now he did. After many lonely years he was reunited with his mother. He felt like he wanted to stay there forever.


    Seeing that the Trip couldn¡¯t even speak anymore the woman said ¡°Ok Trip, we don¡¯t have much time so I¡¯m going to explain a few things to you very quickly. We are from a family called Levis. We are from a faraway continent. 9 years ago there was a war with another family called Tene. We were light mages and they were dark mages. Even though both families fought to a draw we took heavy damages, and one sneak attack from the Tene family killed your father, because of this I decided to send you far away. You were meant to go with your uncle, but you were separated.¡±


    She smiled at Trip and continued ¡°You must live your life how you want. Without the constraints of family. However I believe that if you put your mind to it then you can become the strongest in the world. If you want to become strong and search for answers, you must seek out your uncle, he probably has already found you, but he is not one to approach. You must find him if you want to learn the ways of the Levis family, and if you want answers for any questions you might have.¡±


    Trip wiped away his tears as he looked into his mother¡¯s eyes ¡°I¡¯m so confused. How can I find my uncle?¡±


    ¡°I will give you this.¡± She touched Trip¡¯s head lightly ¡°When you wake up you will know how to learn very basic light magic techniques. With this you should be able to find him.¡±


    ¡°Will I ever see you again?¡± Trip asked


    His mother teared up a bit, but she eventually managed to say ¡°I¡­ I am no longer a part of this world. There was a small amount of my soul left in you, but now¡­ I am gone. However I will always live on within your mind.¡± She pointed to Trip¡¯s head smiling.


    ¡°Goodbye now, son.¡± She said


    Trip reached out to touch his mother, but she was no longer there. She was really gone. Trip couldn¡¯t contain his tears. He had just found out that both his father and his mother were dead. He only hoped that Alex was alright.


    As Trip¡¯s vision turned black again he stopped crying. He now had a new goal, which he was determined to fulfill. He would find his uncle.

 Chapter 20: Safe

    Chapter 20: Safe


    Trip awoke in a place he had never been before. The room was fairly small. It had stone walls and it looked generally very cultured. The bed looked elegant, with a beautiful wooden design. There was an armchair in the corner of the room, which gave the room a very homely feel. Trip¡¯s eyes scanned the rest of the room, and he saw a mirror. For one of the first times of his life Trip looked at himself. He never thought about how he looked, he knew that he was a very cute child, but what did he actually look like? He remembered his mother and saw how significance her appearance was in his mind, just thinking of her calmed his mind and made him feel safer. Thinking of this he could only think of whom his father was, what did he look like? When Trip looked in the mirror he saw a child. He saw that he was fairly tall; he had white hair, pale white skin, and blue eyes. Eyes just like his mother. Just looking into his own eyes he felt himself tearing up. He felt incredibly lonely, and yet he felt comfortable that his parents lived on within him. Because of his white hair he imagined that his father also had white hair. He had seen his mother and from that he could see what she passed onto him, looking at what didn¡¯t look like his mother he could only assume came from his father. This made him feel much closer to his family than he had ever felt before.


    As Trip was smiling and crying at the same time while looking in the mirror Alex walked in, along with two other people. Trip turned around to see them and immediately ran to hug Alex. He had been worried that Alex had not come away from the situation safely, but now that he saw him safe he felt much more comfortable.


    Trip then turned his eyes to the other people. There was a woman and a man. Their faces were covered so he could not see what they looked like, but the man was lean and muscular and the woman was very curvaceous.


    Trip assumed that these two were their saviours so he respectfully bowed towards them and said ¡°Thank you very much for saving Alex and I.¡±


    The two said nothing, but Alex whispered a slight explanation to Trip ¡°They¡¯re the actual last two spies in the area, they found us after you had your crazy awakening thing. I didn¡¯t tell them anything so don¡¯t worry.¡±


    Before Trip could respond or even ask a question the woman spy grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the room. Even though he was quickly being dragged across the hall by the woman he still had time to appreciate the majestic building that they were in. Even though he could only see a small part of it from the inside he saw that it was definitely a very high class place. The floors had luxurious carpet and the walls were all decorated with paintings. The windows were very large and had beautiful red curtains.


    After a couple of seconds of admiring the building Trip was dragged into a dark room. After a minute the woman had managed to light several candles to illuminate the room. The room was very plain. Simple stone floor and white walls. There was a single chair in the middle of the room, which Trip had to sit on.


    Trip looked nervously towards the female spy and waited for her to do something. After a minute the woman took of her mask, revealing a beautiful and seductive face. Her dark red lips and black eyeliner made her look seductive and slightly terrifying at the same time. Luckily Trip was only a child; otherwise he would have been completely entranced by this lady.


    She looked at Trip as she walked forward until she stood right in front of Trip. After another couple seconds her beautiful lips parted as a sweet and seductive voice spoke ¡°Hello Trip. I was wondering if you were willing to tell me what exactly happened last night.¡±


    Even though the words she said weren¡¯t very threatening Trip felt a strange pressure emanating from her gaze. Her dark green eyes looked into Trip¡¯s blue eyes made him feel as if he could break at any seconds. From the pressure that was coming from her Trip immediately knew that she was a mage, and that she was much more powerful than him.


    Realising it would be bad to not answer Trip decided to lie to her instead. He said ¡°I don¡¯t really know what happened, I remember Alex was about to get his throat slit and then I blacked out. The next thing I knew I woke up here.¡±


    The beautiful woman¡¯s nose shrivelled as she was clearly dissatisfied by the answer. Under her breath she muttered ¡°There might


    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.have been a very powerful mage that came close to this area and helped the kids¡­¡±


    Trip sighed in relief as the woman let him out of the room. He realised that as a child most people believed him, this was because not many children would be able to withstand the pressure of a professional questioning them, so they tended to not pry any further.


    Trip was sent into the garden, where he lined up next to Alex, awaiting further instruction from the spies. Trip looked around at the garden and was surprised that there was a place so beautiful in East Hrior. There were a several fountains, a strange maze made out of bushes, and of course many beautiful plants and flowers everywhere one could look.


    Eventually the man walked into the garden. He stood in front of them as he took off his mask. He looked fairly ordinary, with brown hair and brown eyes, however one of his eyes was closed and the eyelid was completely scratched with horrible scars. This made him look rather scary. Trip and Alex were not scared though; appearance did not scare them anymore, what truly scared them at this point was the pressure that powerful beings emanated, but this man had no such pressure so this man was not scary to them.


    After the man sized up the two he began to speak. Trip and Alex winced as the man¡¯s hoarse and low voice broke any peace that there initially was in the garden. The man said thus ¡°Hello Trip and Alex, I hope you have been enjoying your stay here so far, but unfortunately you have not provided with the information that we had hoped you would provide for us, so it seems that we must request of you to leave this manor at once. We have no time for worthless freeloaders.¡±


    There was a strong sense of anger in the man¡¯s voice, which Trip did not really understand, it wasn¡¯t as if they were given some sort of special service here for free, he had only had one night of sleep here and then was immediately questioned. However Trip knew that it would be stupid to speak of such things; they did save them after all.


    The two of them were escorted out of the manor. However just before Trip left the woman had some final words for him.


    ¡°You are very interesting. If you ever have any trouble anywhere just mention just show this card.¡± She said as she handed a purple card to Trip


    Trip respectfully thanked her, but he was confused about a couple things. The card was simply purple with a tiny emblem on the top right corner, which looked like a Y encased by an elegant circle. It was very strange, however what was even stranger was why the woman had given him a supposedly very powerful card. Not only had he not told her anything that could help her, she hadn¡¯t expressed any interest in him before this moment. It was such a cryptic action that Trip didn¡¯t know what to make of it.


    Trip decided to not concern himself with such menial matters. Alex and he walked off into the forest, where they decided to talk about what they were going to do next.


    When they sat down Trip immediately told Alex about everything that had happened. After Alex heard this then it seemed the action that they would take was simple. They would train until Trip had reached mastered the light magic that he was able to learn at the moment, mastered intermediate level water magic, and until Alex had mastered elementary level fire magic. This would probably take a while, but it was better that to be rash and immediately start searching for Trip¡¯s uncle.


    They were both very tired so they decided to go to sleep in the comfort of the forest. Right before Trip fell asleep he heard a voice inside his head. After a second he noticed it was Grelin who was shouting ¡°Trip! Hello!?¡±


    Trip immediately responded ¡°Grelin! Where have you been the past few days?¡±


    Grelin voice was clearly filled with terror as he said ¡°For the last few days I felt that I was deeply supressed by an incredibly powerful magic, it was unlike anything I had ever felt before.¡±


    Trip thought about it for a minute and imagined that the message from his mother must have suppressed Grelin, but then why would Grelin have been supressed for several days, when his mother had only appeared for a couple of minutes.


    After explaining everything that happened to Grelin Trip went to sleep. It was time for a new chapter in his life, he would find his uncle, become powerful and find an answer for all the questions he had.

 Chapter 21: The Beginnings of Light Magic

    Chapter 21: The Beginnings of Light Magic


    After the pair woke up they went to search for a new place to settle. This time they had to find a place where no-one would even know they existed. Trip had memorised a map the area and saw that there was nowhere nearby where they could safely settle. This left only one solution. They would never settle. Trip and Alex discussed this idea, and they decided that they would travel in the direction of West Hrior. At this point it would be safest for them to head towards a country that was not in the middle of a war. Since they still wanted to keep their training at a high level they decided they would follow system where they would travel for a full day and then settle down for three. This system made it so that nobody would really see them. At this point they were in the north east of East Hrior, and Trip estimated that it would take them around a half a year to make it to West Hrior. That was estimating that they would walk 50 km a day during the days when they were actually moving. It would take this long, because West Hrior was approximately 2.3 thousand kilometres away. It certainly was a distance to travel, but it was better safe than sorry.


    To be safe they decided to travel two days towards the direction of West Hrior and then they would start the plan they had. They felt the need to get as far away from this place as possible and as quickly as possible.


    They started to walk; they were walking rather quickly, but not too quickly to be unable to see the fantastic nature around them.


    They tended to stay off of already established paths and instead walked through the wonderful unknown scenery of East Hrior. It must be said that while the country was financially unstable its nature was stellar. Even by just walking through a forest one could still see that there was beauty in the surroundings. There were many types of trees. White trees, brown trees, even black trees. Trip did not know the names, but it did not matter. Occasionally they would see some green hills with blue waterfalls cascading down into large pools of water filled with hundreds of types of fish. The contrast of colours was amazing. Trip had always appreciated nature, and now that he had been gone from civilisation for so long that the wild had become his home.


    After two days of walking they found a nice place to settle. It was not very flashy as it did not have any waterfalls or anything, but instead it was a simple little opening in a forest with a small pond. This was good for training and it was difficult to find, meaning that no other people would be able to abduct them. They set up camp and got some fish from the pond. They started a small fire and had a nice dinner before they went to sleep on a comfortable pile of leaves.


    The next morning Trip woke up and he decided to start to learn and understand light magic. It was very interesting, because it was as if there was a crate in his mind that he could open, and that would give him the knowledge to start to train light magic. Trip opened this crate and found that there was no manual or anything that could teach him the ways of light magic, but instead what he found was a simple phrase. A phrase so annoyingly simple that Trip could not help but be confused by how he could learn anything from it.


    ¡®Move your hands.¡¯


    That was what it said. This was supposed to be the simple light technique? Trip was incredibly disappointed, what was he supposed to do with this? How could he learn light magic from this? He could only sit there for a while and look into the distance. The phrase continued to reverberate within his mind. After a while he realised he had to train water magic as well, so he continued with that.


    The next day continued the same way; he only thought about the phrase and then went to practice water magic. On the last day in the area he decided that he would spend the entire day on light magic. He sat down and closed his eyes. He thought about the phrase again. He then decided to do something very simple. He decided to move his hands. He moved his hands smoothly through the air, as if he were feeling the water in a flowing river. After a while he realised that this was not working so he moved on to randomly and chaotically moving his hands, similarly to fire magic. This did not work either so he went on to move his hands like the wind and the earth. But nothing worked. Everything he did simply didn¡¯t work. He slowly started to realise that he had to further himself away from the basic four types of magic.


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    He looked up at the sun shining through the trees and saw that it was constant. The light only pierced through the leaves and remained that way. That was how light was. During night it wasn¡¯t that the light change, but it was instead the provider of light that changed. Which in this case was the sun. This did not give Trip any insight into light magic. The instructions told him to move his hands, but in reality light did not move. So what could he do at this point?


    Days passed and they had already moved to a different location. Again it was a similar type of camp and nothing had happened to Trip¡¯s understanding of light. He would barely talk to Alex, he only thought of light. He was very annoyed and yet still intrigued by the statement ¡®Move your hands¡¯. He felt so stupid for somehow not understanding it.


    One night he sat down and asked Alex ¡°Hey Alex. What do you think of the phrase ¡®Move your hands¡¯?¡±


    Alex thought a bit and then said ¡°I guess it means that you should just move your hands however you want. Or whatever feels naturally.¡±


    Trip looked at Alex for a second before looking at his hands. He did not say anything, but he instead closed his eyes and thought for a bit. ¡®How am I supposed to move my hands how I want? All I know is water magic. It¡¯s the only way how I know to move my hands!¡¯ Trip thought.


    Trip¡¯s life has always been trying to get strong and working hard to learn water magic. He never thought of anything else, he never played, he never had fun. He only ever used water magic. That was all he knew, but after a while of thinking Trip knew this was not true. There was more to life than water magic. There was the beauty in the nature, there was his friend Alex, those things mattered to him. He realised that his life had always been illuminated by light. The water that he saw was illuminated by the light of the sun. But that was only one type of light. He thought of the unbreakable bond that he had with Alex and he realised that when he imagined that bond it was made of light. It was unbreaking and strong. It was a constant thing which could not be destroyed. This was like light. It could be obstructed, but it would always be there. It was not a particle or anything like that; it was something that everything had internally.


    Trip felt happy that he had developed an understanding of what light was. He understood that instead of other types of magic where you had to take the particles from external sources, but instead that you had to find the particles within yourself. However he still did not understand how moving his hands would help him touch this special type of magic.


    When he opened his eyes he realised something was different. His hands were moving by themselves. It was as if he subconsciously had connected to the concept of light and moving hands. His hands moved as if they were pulling a thread from inside him. He saw a small stream of light coming from his hands as his hands naturally moved. It was such a beautiful stream of light, so original and untouched. It was as if the light from the sun could not compare to it even slightly.


    Alex noticed it from the corner of his eye and said ¡°Woah. That is beautiful. I told you my advice worked.¡±


    Trip did not notice that Alex had said anything. He felt his body tire out; it took so much energy from him just to keep up this movement for a couple of seconds. His vision turned blurry as he passed out. He woke up the next morning and grinned widely. He understood not only the concept of light, but also how he could find his uncle with it.


    What he understood that light was within everyone. There was a light inside Alex, he felt that now. He felt the light inside him. He somehow even felt a slight amount of light from Grelin. He only had to train until he could feel the light from his uncle. According to his interpretation of light magic it would be that his uncle should have a lot more light within him than everyone else on the continent.


    Feeling completely rejuvenated he looked at the morning sun. He then closed his eyes and began to practice again.

 Chapter 22: The Wall

    Chapter 22: The Wall


    Due to Trip and Alex¡¯s extra safe plan they did not have any bad encounters. They managed to travel across the beautiful land at a fairly quick pace while still developing their skills. Everyday their muscles would ache. Every morning they struggled to get up to train another day. And yet they kept going. They always had a smile on their face. The entire experience of being in captivity for even a couple of days was enough to make them grateful just for being alive, and it motivated them to make sure it never happens again. How could they prevent such an occurrence from happening again? By becoming stronger of course.


    Alex had made a large amount of progress with fire magic. He had gotten to a fairly high level of mastery over the elementary level fire magic. His current level of skill allowed him to control fire magic at a much higher level than he could before. He could now shoot anywhere perfectly accurately within a radius of 5 metres. This made him have much more control over his nearby surroundings which was incredibly important for a mage. Mages always tended to have trouble defending at a close range so to have control over the direct area around you could be considered as an invaluable skill. Alex¡¯s understanding of fire had also reached another level. With constant practice he learned that fire particles almost had a personality of their own. He seemed to understand that it was almost as if fire seemed to like him much more now than months prior.


    While Alex had made nearly unimaginable progress for a 9 year old child, Trip was truly incomparably fast when it came to understanding and training. His water magic had taken another step forward. The hidden particles seemed to trust him almost completely now, so all Trip had to work on was actually pulling off the intermediate level water magic. It took a lot more stamina and effort in order to even pull off the simplest of moves, but Trip had felt that his control over ice magic had also increased and even the simplest of elementary level water magic had become much more powerful than it was before.


    What Trip had also come to realise was the true profoundness and strength of light magic. A couple of months ago he had not even scratched the surface of light magic, and even now he could not dare say that he even had any understanding over the true strength of light magic. What he did know was that it was unlike any other type of magic. Light magic came from the soul. In every spiritual and non-physical connection there was light. It was everywhere and it did not follow any of the laws one would expect light magic to follow.


    At this point Trip felt as if he could feel the world around him in a way he had been unable to ever before. When walking through a forest he could not only feel the very life force or soul of the tree, but he could feel how all the trees were connected by a non-physical bond. It was as if it was one collective specimen. It was similar to how a population was one, but it was made up of individuals. This fact caused Trip to understand the way the world worked in a way that he was unable to before. Trip had started to understand how one could fight using light magic, but it terrified him and he was afraid to use it. It was so terrifying because the way that one could fight using light magic would be to directly attack the soul, or sever the relationships between two souls. This terrified Trip, because he thought of what could happen if his relationship with Alex was severed. He could not bear to think of what would happen then. This thought deterred him from severing any other relationships. Trip decided that he would only ever use this method if someone was threatening him or Alex.


    Having attained this new level of strength both Alex and Trip generally felt more confident that they would have no problems surviving if anything ever happened to them. At this point they were very close to the border to get to West Hrior. Trip and Alex did not feel that scared that they would be unable to get into the country, because from what they knew the border was mainly an open border so they could illegally sneak into the country without having anyone notice. Once they passed the border they assumed that there would be no more problems.


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    However Trip and Alex did not believe that they might not make it to the other side of the border, according to them that should be the easiest part of it all. It was really just stepping over an imaginary line anyway. Borders were only man made constructs in order to bring order to something that was chaotic. Trip actually did not really believe in borders. After spending so long in the nature he never felt as if all the beauty he saw was exclusive to the country of East Hrior, but instead he felt that it belonged to no one and everyone. He believed that everyone should have access to anywhere as long as they did not disrupt or hurt the natural environment. Trip¡¯s thought that since water in the ocean surrounding the continent did not contain borders then why should the land?


    Alex did not have this sort of belief about borders. In fire magic it was important to set borders for chaos, this was in order to ensure that there could be control. Alex had always been raised as a rich person, and in that sense he knew better than any one of the importance of borders in a political and economic perspective. He was also sceptical of Trip¡¯s belief that they could easily cross the border. In a war borders tended to be strengthened and more heavily controlled, especially with the country on the winning side.


    Even though Alex was sceptical of how easy it would be to pass the border he was shocked by what measures West Hrior had taken in order to keep out the Eastern Hriorians. When Trip and Alex made it to the border they did not encounter a couple of guards, but instead there was a massive wall. They were unable to see how thick it was, but it was a gargantuan 15 metres tall.


    ¡°How did they get the money to do this?¡± Alex asked himself in disbelief.


    West Hrior was a small country so they must have gotten a bunch of money from Urvallay in order to build this wall. It was crazy, with the mountains in the north and this wall in the west all the East Hrior citizens were trapped in their own country. ¡®There must be something larger going on.¡¯ Alex thought. There was no way that West Hrior and Urvallay would take such actions to keep the East Hriorians trapped in unless if there was a reason for it. This thought terrified Alex. He was very smart when it came to political matters and he realised that there must be something very important going on.


    Trip was in even more disbelief than Alex at this point. He was shocked that people would take such actions to trap the people of a country. He was filled with rage. Trip was about to attack the wall before Alex stopped him.


    ¡°Trip! Don¡¯t attack! There are a lot of guards on there so it would be bad to even attempt to break through with force!¡± Alex said


    ¡°Well then what can we do? We¡¯ve been walking for months and when we arrive to the border we are greeted with this!? How else are we going to get into West Hrior?¡± Trip was completely distraught by what had happened.


    Alex though for a bit until he came up with an idea. Normally in these situations there were camps of people that were already developing a plan to escape the country. If they could find one of these camps then they could hopefully sneak in with them. Alex knew that this plan was slightly farfetched, but he had a bad feeling that something might happen to them if they stayed in the country.


    Alex told Trip of the plan and they decided to scout for a camp. It wouldn¡¯t be difficult because Trip could use his light magic to pretty much feel where people were, so if he found a large collection of people just within the border then it would probably be a camp of people planning to escape.


    They walked along the border for several days. They were getting slightly worried as the border was very long and it would be difficult to find a place where there could be a camp. Suddenly Trip¡¯s eyes flashed.


    ¡°I found a camp.¡± He said

 Chapter 23: Toothless Old Man

    Chapter 23: Toothless Old Man


    Trip and Alex cautiously walked towards the camp. They did not want to accidentally waltz into an enemy camp so they decided to observe the camp from the side before they would approach the people there. They walked towards the camp and hid in the shrubbery surrounding it. They made sure they weren¡¯t seen as they looked to see how the camp looked like.


    What they saw thoroughly surprised them. Alex had expected a semi-professional group of soldiers that would have good organisation; however what they were hundreds of women and children, with all the men seemingly being simple farmers or other working class peasants. Trip and Alex couldn¡¯t help but be disappointed by what they saw. They wanted to get to the other side of the wall, but now they saw that their chances where definitely going to be burdened by these people. However they realised that they could not get past the wall, and seeing the state of these people Trip and Alex kind of wanted to help them. It was dangerous to stay in such an environment, especially for women and children. Trip realised that with power came responsibility, his strength could truly help these people so he could not simply walk away from them, they were people from his country after all.


    Trip and Alex approached the camp and simply walked in without there being any guards or security; it was fully open for anyone to just walk in. After a couple of minutes of wandering around they started to be noticed by other people. Trip and Alex really looked out of place in this environment. Even with their dirty clothes they kept a refined and determined look on their face, which was unlike anyone else there. Trip was naturally an incredibly cute and refined child, and Alex had been raised as a rich child.


    Unfortunately for Trip and Alex this caused many dirty looks as most people hated the rich people of the country. They believed that the reason that they lived this way was because of the rich people, so there would undoubtedly be a lot of hatred when thinking of the people you believe ruined your life. Trip and Alex completely ignored the looks of people, they were confident that they would not be attacked, they were only children after all. They walked forward to the centre of the camp where there appeared to be the largest tent of all. They immediately walked inside where they saw an old man with a beard. He looked repulsive with horrible dental hygiene and he seemed as if he hadn¡¯t had a bath in about ten years.


    Trip ignored the horrible appearance of the man and immediately introduced himself ¡°Hello sir! My name is Trip and this is my friend Alex. We want to help you break through the wall.¡±


    The repulsive old man looked up at the two as he smiled with only one tooth left in his disgusting mouth. ¡°How are you planning of doing that young man?¡± He said. His voice was raspy and even though he didn¡¯t curse everything he said just seemed dirty and disgusting.


    Trip was unsure whether or not he wanted to reveal his magic power so he decided to withhold that specific fact until he could trust the people. Thus he replied ¡°You¡¯re just going to have to trust us.¡±


    The old man looked at the two of them in disbelief. These kids just expected everyone to trust them. The old man was fairly sure that these children came from rich families who had lost everything. This was a fairly common occurrence during wars. However this man had no respect for the rich, especially those that acted so arrogantly with such a sense of entitlement. Trips words had been arrogant, and so he got angry.


    He grabbed Trip and Alex by the scruff of their neck and threw them out of the tent before they could react. Trip remained calm, but Alex got increasingly angry. He jumped and punched the old man, causing the only tooth left in his mouth to fall out.


    The man shrieked as he screamed ¡°NOOOO! That was the only one left!¡± Tears streamed down the hysterical man¡¯s face.


    Everyone in the area immediately surrounded Trip and Alex. Realising that they were in quite a pickle Trip immediately grabbed Alex¡¯s arm and ran off. At first people were chasing after them, but eventually they managed to make it out of the camp. The people there were not that passionate about anything, so they gave up the chase quite quickly.


    After they had made it to a safe distance Alex just screamed into the sky ¡°AAAAAH! WHY ARE THESE PEOPLE SO STUPID!? We were trying to help and that old man offended us, it isn¡¯t my fault that I retaliated!¡±


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    Trip thought about the situation and was shocked by the attitude of the people, but it reminded him of how many people were back at the orphanage. People generally didn¡¯t really listen much and they really only brainlessly followed the leader. It was very clear that all these people were very uneducated. After the entire situation had occurred Trip no longer wanted to do anything with those people anymore.


    They left the area and slept the night in a small cave. When they woke up they were ready to come up with an idea for how to cross the wall. They walked up to the wall and tried to find out some sort of weakness. After investigating for a while they realised that it would be difficult for a country to keep up constant 24 hour patrolling on a massive and long wall. They decided to analyse when they had guards in certain positions.


    After analysing for a week they found out the daily schedule of the guards. At midnight they would scale the wall. They could do this quite simply by digging into the wall with special stone picks that they had built after meticulous planning and a lot of work. They managed to make it to the wall at exactly the right time. With the moon at the perfect angle to ensure that their ascent up the wall would not be seen by the light from the moon. They managed to scale the wall and get over the other side within ten minutes. It was a perfectly executed plan and they were incredibly satisfied by the way things went.


    When they made it to the other side they could not see much so they quickly ran off blindly, afraid of being caught by anyone.


    After several hours of running the sun rose in the east sky. When they looked around they saw that the environment was not much different to East Hrior. Except now they were not in a country which was being invaded from all sides.


    Inhaling the fresh air Trip walked around the forest aimlessly for a while, before hearing Alex call him over.


    ¡°Trip! Trip!¡± Alex shouted, trying to get Trip¡¯s attention


    ¡°What is it?¡± Trip asked


    ¡°Look over there, it¡¯s a camp. Doesn¡¯t it look eerily similar to the one that we saw yesterday?¡± Alex said


    Trip laughed at the idea that those people had made it over to the other side. However when he looked at the camp he saw that it was virtually the same as the one on the other side of the border. Trip was intrigued by the whole situation so he went closer to investigate. Alex followed him.


    When they looked closer they saw faces that they had seen before. Everyone looked the exact same, except they looked slightly happier than before. Trip ran through the camp and jumped into the large tent in the centre. Sure enough there stood the repulsive old man. When he saw Trip run in his mouth opened widely, showing a fully toothless mouth.


    ¡°You¡­ How did you get to this side?¡± The man said


    ¡°I should be asking the same of you.¡± Trip replied


    The man closely inspected Trip until Alex walked in. The man refused to even acknowledge the presence of Alex, he was clearly still angry about the incident a week ago.


    ¡°I will tell you how we did it if he leaves the tent.¡± The man said.


    Trip couldn¡¯t help but giggle a little, before he looked a Trip with a resigned look on his face. Alex sighed as he exited the tent.


    ¡°Ahh, now that little rascal is gone. Anyway, come look here.¡± The man pointed to a carpet in the middle of the tent.


    Trip walked forward and raised the carpet, revealing a massive hole in the floor. He jumped in and saw that it was incredibly long.


    Amazed he asked ¡°How long did this take you to make?¡±


    The man proudly said ¡°We¡¯ve been here for weeks. At first we were stuck, but then I took charge and we started to work on this tunnel.¡±


    Trip was surprised, not just any old man could have organised something like this. It was quite interesting to think that such a thing had happened. Trip suddenly gained a much higher level of respect for the man. He jumped out of the tunnel and he was immediately greeted by the maniacal grin of the man.


    The man then said ¡°So then kid. What¡¯s your story?¡±

 Chapter 24: Gassy Grandpas Demise

    Chapter 24: Gassy Grandpa¡¯s Demise


    Trip decided that he since they had not directly used magic in the process of climbing the wall he could tell the man everything. However he still noticed the man¡¯s expression changing a lot when he described what they had done. After Trip had finished telling the old man that had happened the man looked at him in disbelief. The man called Alex back in and then began to speak.


    ¡°I must apologise for my previous behaviour, I thought that you were rich children, but it seemed that you really had good intentions when you offered to help. I misinterpreted as you being very arrogant.¡± The man said ¡°My name is Willis, but everyone calls me Gassy Grandpa. We are like a family here and we are willing to help anyone who is in need of it.¡±


    Trip and Alex were shocked by the man¡¯s sudden change in attitude and decided that they would forget about their previous interactions and use this as a new start. Alex then respectfully said ¡°Willis, ahem Gassy Grandpa. My name is Alex and this is Trip. Let us forget our past interactions and start anew.¡±


    The man seemed pleased with this answer. Gassy Grandpa then spoke again ¡°You seem very capable. I was wondering if you would be willing to travel along with us. With your intelligence it would make us particularly happy.¡±


    Trip looked at Alex and they both had the same thoughts. If they were to travel with these people it would be a huge burden to them. Their training pace would go down; the speed that they travelled at would go down. There was no reason for them to stay other than making them feel a bit better about themselves by helping the people.


    Thus Trip could only decline Gassy Grandpa¡¯s request, saying ¡°I apologise, but that was not what we had in mind. Sorry.¡±


    Gassy Grandpa¡¯s eyebrow twitched slightly. Not enough for Alex to notice, but Trip felt a strange pressure coming from him. Gassy Grandpa¡¯s then got on his knees and begged ¡°Please! Please! We need your help!¡±


    For some reason, even though he was on his knees Trip felt as if Gassy Grandpa was standing taller than him.


    Suddenly Grelin¡¯s voice appeared within Trip¡¯s head ¡°Trip! Get out of there now, this guy is a mage!¡±


    Trip grabbed Alex and tried to run out of the tent, but by the time they attempted to do so the area around the tent had turned into a thick dirt wall. It made the tent completely dark. Trip realised that Gassy Grandpa was an earth mage, and that he had conjured a dirt dome around the tent.


    Trip immediately asked Grelin ¡°How strong is he?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, but I imagine he should be an intermediate level earth mage.¡± Grelin responded


    Trip decided that they couldn¡¯t just run away from him so he prepared himself to fight. He immediately summoned a water bullet and shot it at Gassy Grandpa. Gassy Grandpa managed to block it with his dirt magic, but the look on his face was full of shock.


    ¡°How can you use water magic at such a young age?¡± He asked


    Before any answer could come Alex shot some fire towards the man.


    ¡°And you can use fire!?¡± Gassy Grandpa was incomparably shocked.


    Trip and Alex continued to pressure him from both sides, they pushed him back into the wall. Until the man angrily shouted as he shot a heave mud brick towards Alex. The brick went to fast to dodge as Alex was immediately knocked out, leaving him with a serious head wound.


    ¡°Haha, you only caught me off guard. Even though you are strong I have much more experience than you!¡± Gassy Grandpa said


    Without Alex¡¯s help Trip kept getting pushed back by Gassy Grandpa. Trip kept getting more and more tired as he was expending a lot of his energy with each attack, whereas Gassy Grandpa only kept getting more and more excited and powerful. Trips was genuinely scared at this point, Alex was probably fine, but if Trip lost the battle now they would both either die or get captured as slaves for this man. After a couple seconds Gassy Grandpa had completely driven Trip into a corner, he then used earth magic to forcefully push Trip¡¯s arms against the wall.


    ¡°HAHA! Looks like I got you! Now then¡­¡± He looked at Trip with a maniacal look in his eyes ¡°time to teach you some manners.¡±


    He grabbed a strange tool. After further inspection Trip saw that it was a massive double ended saw. Gassy Grandpa walked towards Trip and said ¡°Don¡¯t worry, this won¡¯t kill you.¡±


    He then proceeded to on Trip¡¯s forearm. The saw was blunt and rusty, so it took a while to get through Trip¡¯s skin, but it only hurt more than it would have it was sharp. Trip¡¯s eyes flashed with rage, if this man cut off his hand he would never be able to recover from such an injury. He closed his eyes as he tried to calm down, but he couldn¡¯t think with all the pain from the saw. It hadn¡¯t gotten very deep yet, but it still hurt tremendously. At that point Trip couldn¡¯t take it anymore. A strange light flashed in his eyes, and then his hands started to glow. A string of light exited from Trip¡¯s hands and went right into Gassy Grandpa¡¯s heart. After a second of that Gassy Grandpa fell to the floor, with any life having fled from his eyes. Trip could no longer feel Gassy Grandpa¡¯s soul, it was certain that he was dead.


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    Trip suddenly felt really sick. As the dirt dome and restraints on his hands broke apart he covered his hands in front of his mouth. Even though it was the correct action to take in this situation Trip couldn¡¯t help but cry and feel incredibly sick at what he had done. He started to breathe really heavily. He started to feel light headed, but he managed to grab a bit of cloth and wrap it around his wound on his arm.


    Trip sat there for hours just reflecting his actions. He thought of every action he could have taken to avoid this situation. He was a murderer. That was how he felt. To experience such a thing was not pleasant for a nine year old, and he couldn¡¯t take it. He felt strange how he shed tears over a disgusting old man who tried to torture him. Everything that he had done was completely right and he definitely took the right course of action, and yet he still felt like a bad guy.


    When Alex woke up he saw Gassy Grandpa lying on the floor, clearly dead, and Trip shivering in the corner of the tent. It was fairly easily to see what had happened. Alex didn¡¯t know what to tell Trip, he had never killed before so he wouldn¡¯t know how to console someone who has done it for the first time. He grabbed a blanket and threw it over Trip, who wasn¡¯t reacting to anything that Alex did.


    After a couple of hours in the tent Alex had found many things. He had found a diary, which explained a lot of things about what had happened. It turned out that Gassy Grandpa was actually an elite mage who worked for the king, but he was dismissed for doing too many horrible things. After that he settled down for a while until the war broke out. In the diary he decided that he would start his own nation with the people he brought along with them. They would settle somewhere in West Hrior and create their own little place. He considered himself king over these people and would kill anyone who was against his rule. Alex was surprised by how clearly the diary explained the man¡¯s life.


    Trip had calmed down a bit, and Alex had read the diary to him. He reminded Trip that this man truly deserved to die, and that he had done the people here a massive favour.


    Suddenly a man walked into the tent saying ¡°Umm Gassy Grandpa. You missed break¡­¡± He suddenly stopped talking after seeing Gassy Grandpa lying dead on the floor. He looked up at Trip and Alex as his eyes teared up ¡°Murder! MURDERERS!¡± He screamed.


    At this point Alex realised that if Trip heard more of this he would become permanently scarred by this moment. However even as he was dragging Trip out of the camp he realised he was already too late. Hundreds of people screamed at them, shouting


    ¡°MURDERER! MURDER!¡± All of them were crying and were looked incredibly depressed.


    After they had run an appropriate distance from the camp Alex looked at Trip and felt so bad for him. Trip was in a full state of shock. His face was expressionless, but tears were streaming down his face. Alex ran around trying to find a good shelter dragging Trip around. Eventually he found a nice lake which seemed like a nice place to sleep. He laid down Trip and just starting talking to him. He decided that what Trip needed right now was to be told that he did nothing wrong and that those people were stupid and brainwashed, but no matter what Alex said Trip just didn¡¯t respond. His face remained expressionless with tears on his face. Alex remembered how he felt when he heard that his family died, and remembered how Trip had to take care of him for the whole time. He made a decision that he would take care of Trip.


    They then went to sleep. Luckily Trip had more help than just Alex in this case. Grelin had experience with killing someone for the first time and he understood that what happened to Trip was truly very traumatic. Grelin understood how that felt and he also knew how it felt to be insulted and be called a murderer by large collections of people. He was the only person who could understand what Trip was feeling at this point. Throughout the entire night Trip could not sleep, but Grelin stayed awake with him, talking to him about it and explaining things to him. Trip would not recover within a day. He would not recover within two days. He might not even recover in a week. However with the constant mental support from Grelin and Alex he would recover. It would change how he felt about the world and how he saw certain people, but that was a part of growing up. That was what they would have to do now. They would have to grow up because of their surroundings.

 Chapter 25: A New Home

    Chapter 25: A New Home


    Trip had a strong light within him. He still had a childish innocence which was still contained within that light. This caused the murder of Gassy Grandpa to really affect his mental state. He had killed animals before, and he has talked about murder before. He knew that his parents were dead, and that Alex¡¯s entire family was killed, but watching the life slowly drain out of someone was truly something that a nine year old was unable to deal with. Everything had happened so quickly. Initially they were having a nice conversation, and then suddenly they got caught in a life and death fight. It was terrifying. Trip was not a pacifist, and he did not want to become a pacifist, but he didn¡¯t enjoy fighting other people. To think that someone¡¯s life had been taken by him was incredibly surreal. Someone has ceased to exist, they had become nothing. Trip couldn¡¯t imagine what it was like to stop existing. The entire idea of death now terrified Trip. He liked to be alive; he enjoyed the trees, the flowers, the sun, the waterfalls. He generally liked everything about the earth. Everything looked so beautiful and colourful to him and to imagine that in death you would be unable to see these colours scared him. He did not know what happened after death, but he hoped that the soul would continue to exist and that he would be able to continue existing even after death.


    On a more positive note, Trip had managed to understand more things about the soul. This caused his strength in light magic to increase dramatically. When Trip killed Gassy Grandpa he felt that he did not destroy his soul, but instead that the soul had shrunk until it eventually disappeared, almost as if it was being taken out of the body slowly. This meant that light magic did not break or kill a soul, but instead released it into the world making it become a loose soul. Trip had heard of loose souls before. They were similar to ghosts, but they never actually died. Instead it was that they had gotten kicked out of their body. Trip did not know much about them, but he remembered reading that if they didn¡¯t find a new body within a day then they would truly die. Having understood this Trip realised that light magic never actually broke anything, such as he had previously assumed, but it instead had the power to bend and control things. He saw that light was a flexible magic. When he looked at the light bond between trees he felt that instead of breaking it or dissipating it he could bend it, and change the way the bonds worked. It was as if he could control souls and bonds between souls. This left him wondering what the later versions of light magic might entail. Could there be more to light magic than controlling souls?


    During the time of Trip¡¯s recovery from the murder of Gassy Grandpa Alex had developed as well. After he took care of Trip for a couple of days he developed a lot as a person. It was always Trip taking care of him, but now there was a switch. For the entire time that Trip had been vulnerable Alex had to take care of him. This made him feel like a bit of an older brother for a while, that was quite special for Alex, and he felt an extra sense of responsibility. This responsibility he felt made him develop his fire magic as well. He already knew that his emotional state greatly influenced both the strength and control of his magic. At this point he realised that he could assume a sense of responsibility over his fire magic, as if he was assuming an older brother role over the fire magic, and that the fire magic was a chaotic younger brother. This mind-set allowed him to be patient with his magic, while also gaining gentle superiority over the fire magic, as if he was taming it.


    Through Grelin¡¯s constant support Trip recovered in around a week. After this recovery they decided to find a place to settle. There should be no problems with settling in the wild in West Hrior. With the wall they doubted that there would be any patrols happening within the country so anywhere would be safe anywhere outside of any towns and cities. This meant that they would finally be able to train without any external interference.


    They travelled a few days to get away from the walls, just to be safe, until they made it to a large valley. Because of the terrain they estimated that they were in the north east part of the country, which was the least populated part of West Hrior. The valley appeared to be quite strange. Even though it was winter the valley still had a near tropical climate with sunlight, green trees, and sparkling lakes. However the area surrounding the valley was barren and mountainous, with snow covering the peaks of the mountains. It was truly a peculiar yet beautiful place. Trip could feel that the soul of the valley was stronger than the soul of any forest he had ever been in. This intrigued him as he wondered what could cause this strength, and he was excited as he could learn more about light magic this way.


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    Setting up a camp took a while. They wanted to stay for at least half a year, or until they had mastered all the things that they had to wanted to master. The thing that Alex wanted to master was of course elementary fire magic, and Trip wanted to master the basics of light magic and intermediate level water magic. This meant that they needed a nice cosy camp to live in for the next half year. Having considered this, they were ready to start building some sort of base.


    With the tropical climate they did not want to be separated from the outside air, so they ruled out settling in any place like a cave. Instead they decided to build a tree house. There were some really large trees, stretching up to 70 metres in the sky. They climbed to the top of the tallest tree in the area and they looked at the view and felt the fresh air. Just from being on top of the tree caused them to feel like they were completely entranced in nature. They decided that they would be ambitious and build their home on the top of the tree.


    Their design was very simple. They created a ladder that stretched down the tree to make it easy to climb, and on top of the tree they cut a lot of branches and leaves, and then placed wood on the top of the tree in order to make it flat on the top, they also added some railings on the side. It took a week to build, but in the end they were very pleased with their progress. They would sleep in the open air on bedding that they made out of leaves. This was their new home.


    Three months passed and both Trip and Alex had developed a lot. However, even though Trip had gained a lot of strength with water magic, unfortunately there was a problem with light magic. He realised that while training light magic was important, you didn¡¯t learn anything by sitting still and only training, you had to go outside and gain experiences, you had to study the souls of all that is living.


    Therefore Trip decided to investigate the strange and powerful light within the valley. He walked around to find where the source of the light magic was the strongest. The valley was quite large, and Trip¡¯s skill in finding the source of the light magic was not at a high enough level to be able to identify it quickly. Thus he had some ideas of where the source was. He knew it wasn¡¯t within the largest tree, because he lived on it, so if that was the source he would have already known. There were only three other places that could be considered landmarks in the area. There was a massive waterfall in the north part of the valley, there was a large cave filled with stalactites and stalagmites, and then there was a strange hill which was covered in blue grass. It was quite incredible with how many types of strange and beautiful places there were within the valley.


    Trip told Alex that he would be gone for a while, this worried Alex, but he knew that Trip¡¯s strength was at a very high level and that he might be a burden to Trip if he came along. So Trip started to investigate. He started with the waterfall. This was the one he believed was least likely, but there was always a chance that there might be something.


    When he arrived the first thing he did was look behind the waterfall, and surprisingly there was actually a little cave. He looked through the cave, but he could not find anything other than a strange looking red plant. It was definitely not the source of the light magic, but he realised that there was something different about the plant, so he plucked it out of the ground with some soil to keep it alive and took it with him.


    The next place Trip investigated was the cave. The moment he arrived he knew that there was something special about the place, but there was no source of light. However just looking at the stalagmites and stalactites he was amazed. It was beautiful and he was confused by how such things could have been formed. He investigated for a while longer, but he couldn¡¯t find anything special.


    And so he went on to the blue hill. The moment he arrived he felt the air getting thicker; he found it harder to breathe the closer he walked to the top of the hill. When he reached the top of the hill he saw a small light coming through the grass. Trip¡¯s eyes flashed as he realised that this was undoubtedly the place where the source of the light was.

 Chapter 26: The Source of the Light Magic

    Chapter 26: The Source of the Light Magic


    Trip knew that this was the source of the light, but he did not know how to get to the source. Would he have to rip off some grass and dirt in order to get to the source of the light magic? He already felt that it was hard to breathe with the pressure that was being emitted from the source, would it only get worse if he dug further down. Trip did not really know what to do. After a couple minutes of thinking he sat down and closed his eyes, hoping to gain some understanding over why there was such a strong source of light magic here.


    When he closed his eyes he felt that the light magic was spreading in every direction, covering the entire valley. It was almost as if there was a barrier that was placed around the valley. A barrier to fend off all evil. Seeing this Trip understood how light could be bent in an infinite amount of ways. He tried to release light magic in an attempt to create a barrier, but he couldn¡¯t do it. He could only create a small stream of light at the moment, just a small 2 dimensional line. He was unable to cast anything that was three dimensional or four dimensional. Once he saw how light magic could be used Trip became incomparably excited for the future. He started to wonder about all the things that light magic could be used for. Could it affect more than just souls, or the connections between them? Could it ever become something that could physically affect you? He had so many questions. He was amazed by the entire concept that even only the tiniest bit of light magic was so much more powerful than any other types of magic. Could there be other types of magic as well, magic that is even more powerful than light? Trip couldn¡¯t believe how much there was left to discover in the world.


    After having made a breakthrough in understanding the capabilities of light Trip was satisfied with what he had experienced. But just as he was about to leave he felt that the air was no longer heavy. He looked around and found the grass had changed colour. It was glowing and looked golden. ¡°Did it change because I used a bit of light magic just now?¡± Trip thought. He heard a sound behind him. He turned around and saw that some of the grass had sunk to create a hole right on top of the hill. It looked strange, the grass sort of curved inwards to reveal a hole. Trip walked over to look down the hole, but when he looked he saw only darkness. It was not evil darkness; it felt comfortable just looking at it. Trip couldn¡¯t resist himself and he jumped in.


    As Trip fell he felt incomparably comfortable. He felt a strange warmth come from the darkness. After a while Trip felt his feet touch something, he assumed that this was the ground, and this thought was confirmed when he managed to stand up. He couldn¡¯t see anything. He couldn¡¯t even see where he came from. Trip closed his eyes and sat down on the floor. He then tried to find the source of the light magic by sending a string of light around the room. Eventually he felt as if he connected to something. When he opened his eyes he saw that his string of light had connected to some sort of gem.


    The gem did not show any colour, but it when Trip¡¯s light touched it started to shine brightly. Looking around Trip could finally see the area around him. He saw the walls, the floor, and the roof. He could not tell the difference between them. He did not know whether he was standing on a floor or a wall. There were no defining corners in the room, and everything blended in together. He walked to what he assumed was a wall and touched it, and the next thing he knew he was lying down on the floor. It was as if the room had no gravity. The room was a dark purple, and it looked as if it was pulsating. It seemed alive. This was the heart of the valley.


    Trip had so many questions. What was this area? How did it work? Is it natural or was this put here? It was so confusing, but he remembered how the hole opened when he used light magic. Why did it open after he used light magic? It was very mystical. After a while of sitting and doing nothing Trip realised that he was actually stuck in here. He initially didn¡¯t want to physically touch the gem, because there might be some negative effects from it, but now the gem was the only clue he had to get out of the room. He walked up to the gem and looked at it. Very slowly Trip moved his finger towards it. He hesitated slightly when he was about to touch it, but then he decided that the gem was the only chance of getting out of the room so he went for it.


    The moment he touched the gem it exploded into a thousand pieces of light. Every piece of the gem stuck to the purple wall, causing him to be in a room covered in only light. The scenery suddenly changed. Trip found himself standing in an infinitely spanning open field. When he looked in forward he saw a strange capsule looking like a heart. It was not a simple heart representing love either; it was shaped like a real heart, with an aorta and ventricles. It was blue in colour, but it was shining with golden light. The capsule did not look as if it contained anything, but it seemed to be the exact source of the light. The design of the capsule was very strange, it looked physical, but it was made out of light magic. Trip looked at it intently, but he couldn¡¯t tell if it was physical or just an illusion. After having analysed it he realised that he was actually stuck again with no way of getting out of this place. Remembering how something happened when he touched the gem he decided that he would touch this capsule in hope that something would happen. He cautiously approached it before eventually touching it with his index finger. However nothing happened. Dumbfounded Trip did not know what to do. He was feeling adventurous so he ended up just grabbing it. He held it in his hand and it rested there. It weighed nothing and felt like nothing, and yet it still seemed to be a physical thing. There was no temperature coming from it either. Trip kept inspecting it, and eventually he found a little latch with which he could open the capsule.


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    The latch itself was very crude in comparison, with it looking like unpolished copper. Trip felt there was nothing to lose as he slowly opened the latch. Suddenly the heart capsule seemed to act on its own. It forcefully pushed itself through Trip¡¯s clothes and skin, causing there to be blood everywhere. Trip was screaming as the heart capsule found its way to his heart. It then closed over his heart. It tightened until it was a perfect fit. Trip looked down at his chest and saw that the skin which had been ripped was slowly closing. Eventually he passed out from shock and pain.


    When Trip woke up he was in a place he did not recognise. He was no longer in an illusion, but now he was surrounded by a dead place. There was only ash everywhere, with the occasional dead tree. Trip looked down at his chest and saw that a scar was still there. He shivered just by remembering what had happened just a little while ago. After further inspection Trip realised that the area around him was very familiar to him. It was the valley. ¡®Did this happen because I took the heart?¡¯ Trip felt sick at this thought. He had not only caused destruction to an entire valley, but he also destroyed an ecosystem for many animals. He truly felt like a horrible person.


    After a couple of minutes of reflecting on his actions Trip concluded that the fault was not his, he did not know this would happen, so of course this was not his fault. He still felt rather guilty about it, but he repressed those feelings with all that he could. Suddenly Trip¡¯s panicked. ¡®If everything died, then could Alex also be¡­¡¯ Trip was hyperventilating and he almost passed out at this thought. Luckily after a couple of minutes he heard Alex¡¯s voice screaming for him.


    ¡°Trip! Trip! Where are you?¡± Alex shouted


    ¡°Alex! I¡¯m over here!¡± Trip responded


    The boys reunited on the withered hill which Trip stood on.


    ¡°What on earth happened? One second everything was nice and beautiful and the next everything turned to ash.¡± Alex asked


    ¡°I seem to have accidentally taken the heart of the valley.¡± Trip said, his voice laced with guilt


    Alex looked at Trip for a while, before starting to laugh.


    ¡°What!? Honestly you can¡¯t even surprise me anymore. Come on then, tell me the story.¡± Alex said


    Trip laughed as well as he described all the events that had taken place.


    ¡°Wow! Did you gain any abilities from the heart capsule?¡± Alex asked, clearly intrigued by the happenings of Trip¡¯s adventure


    Trip realised that he had not even thought about that ¡°I might have, hold on I¡¯ll test my light magic.¡±


    Trip sat down and closed his eyes. He felt his hands start to move as he commenced the standard procedure. Suddenly he realised something strange. Alex should be the only alive thing that he should be able to identify at the moment, and yet he felt another source of light. It felt as if it was incredibly far away, but it shared a strong connection to Trip. Trip recognised this feeling immediately. It was his uncle!


    It seemed that the heart capsule had increased his strength in light magic dramatically. He could now finally start to find his uncle. Since their home was already destroyed they decided that they would leave now to find Trip¡¯s uncle and develop their skills along the way.


    This was the start of a new adventure.


    END OF PART 1

 Chapter 27: The City of Cuvin

    Chapter 27: The City of Cuvin


    A child was sitting on a rock in the middle of a mountain range. His eyes were closed as sweat poured down his face. There were bags under his eyes, but this did not hide the fact that he was a cute child. The child had white hair, pale white skin, and he was very tall. The child opened his eyes, revealing a pair of blue eyes, those eyes contained wisdom and understanding beyond its years. The child frowned initially, but smiled as another child approached. This child had brown hair and green eyes. This child was short and not very good looking, but there was his smile was as bright as the sun.


    ¡°So, where do we need to go?¡± The brown haired child said


    ¡°I don¡¯t know the specifics.¡± The white haired child replied ¡°I know the general direction, but my skill in light magic is not enough to pinpoint the exact location of him.¡±


    The brown haired child frowned, but then his eyes flashed. He had an idea!


    ¡°You said before that we had to head further west, and it turns out that there is a city called Cuvin along the way. We haven¡¯t gotten good food and clothes for months! We have to go there!¡± The brown haired child said


    The white haired child laughed before saying ¡°Fine then, I¡¯ve been dragging you along the whole time, so I guess it is okay to stop for a while.¡±


    These two children were of course Trip and Alex. They had left the valley two months ago, which meant that they were both ten years old. However the amount of things that they had experienced throughout this decade was more than many would have experienced at 20 years old.


    Over the last two months the pair had been travelling in the direction of Trip¡¯s uncle. However, this was more difficult than first anticipated. Trip did not know the exact location of his uncle; he only knew the general direction. This was because his prowess in light magic had not yet reached a level with which he could completely identify someone¡¯s position. Because of this lack of information they had loosely been travelling west, following the mountain range which divided both West and East Hrior from Urvallay. It had been a frustration two months for the two of them. They had no idea whether they were close to Trip¡¯s uncle or not. It was impossible to tell. Trip had not felt that the signal had gotten any stronger throughout the two months of heading west, so for all he knew his uncle might not even be on the continent at the moment.


    Because of this they decided that they had both agreed to rest for a few days at the city of Cuvin. This city was in the north-middle of West Hrior. It was the only large city within the mountain range so it would probably be their only chance for a place to rest for months. At this point they were only a week of travelling away from the city.


    Alex was really looking forward. It had been 5 months since they had last seen people, and it had been over a year since they had been in a city. The last comfortable bed they slept in that was not made out of leaves was 11 months ago. Alex had been raised as a rich child. The only way how he had been able to endure the last year had been because of his strong willpower, but now he was truly at his limit. He just wanted a couple of days without any back pains from sleeping on rocks. He only wanted a couple of days without seeing the same boring rocks.


    Trip was also looking forward to seeing a city. He wasn¡¯t very good in large groups of people, but he wasn¡¯t so antisocial that he would enjoy a months without any contact other than Alex. But what excited him much more than anything was buying some books. He didn¡¯t know how he would make the money, but he wanted to try and get some books on magic and even some books on warrior techniques. For some reason Trip was very interested in becoming a warrior. It was famously known that mages were stronger than warriors, and Trip was already a very powerful mage, but he wanted to see how you could use warrior techniques to complement magic techniques.


    The only person that wasn¡¯t looking forward to the trip to Cuvin was Grelin. Grelin was really focused on making sure that Trip and Alex became powerful, and this Trip to the city could distract them on this. The main concern that Grelin really had was that something bad might happen to Trip and Alex. They had been safe in the wild, because animals are stupid and easy to fight against, but it was clear that the moment they were faced with a powerful person they couldn¡¯t properly handle it. This was why they almost died when facing Gassy Grandpa. While intermediate level mages weren¡¯t common any decently large city would have at least a couple of them, and Grelin did not want Trip to have to use light magic to kill again.


    Grelin knew that none of his words could deter the boys¡¯ resolve to go to Cuvin so he refrained from saying anything other than telling them to be careful. Luckily they were intelligent enough not to start a fight with anyone.


    A week later Trip and Alex were walking the same boring path in the mountains, before they saw a magnificent stone wall, encircling a massive area. Even though they were several kilometres away they could see that this city was Cuvin. Trip and Alex excitedly ran as quickly as they could towards the city. When they arrived they saw the unimaginably beauty of the walls. Alex remembered learning about Cuvin, and he remembered how his grandfather had described the walls.


    ¡®The walls. They were so beautiful. It stood a strong 20 meters tall, but their size did not diminish any of their beauty. The front gate two monuments of the founders of the city. Their names of the founders of the city are unknown, but the monuments display an incomparably beautiful woman, nearly as beautiful as your grandmother, and a powerful looking man, he wields a massive hammer, just like your grandfather.¡¯


    Alex remembered how he would always fantasize about visiting the walls of Cuvin. Now that he saw them in front of his own eyes he had confirmed that their beauty was even more than he had thought. When he saw the monuments he felt sadness deep within his heart, it reminded him of his deceased grandfather.


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    When Trip saw the wall his reaction wasn¡¯t as strong as Alex¡¯s. He had no knowledge of human handiwork so he only saw it as simple stone with several indentations here and there. It didn¡¯t seem so special to him. Nothing compared to the beautiful colours of nature in his mind. Luckily for him he saw that close to the city was a small forest, this was where the city got its wood from. The trees were dark brown, and had a strong 10 meter tall stature. It was said that these trees were special, and much stronger than normal wood. The wood was known for being extremely difficult to chop down. They were called Spearwood Trees. This was because they were often used to make the shaft of the spear. The trees happened to have peculiar looking leaves, with their shape being similar to the stars in the night sky, and their colour being bright yellow. Nobody knew why the leaves were like this, but it was theorised that they actually had a strong medicinal use. The exact usage of the leaves was unfortunately lost in time.


    After Trip had seen the beautiful trees and after Alex had finished admiring the walls it was time to enter the city. There was a large wooden gate, luckily it was open. There were many people walking in and out of the gate, this was a trading checkpoint for Urvallay and West Hrior so there was bound to be a bunch of merchants, which was also what made the city so rich. The moment they walked into the city they were greeted with a massive street filled with many horses and people. Being children they could barely see anything so they decided to get a vantage point to see things.


    They climbed on top of a building. It was so busy that no one saw them do anything. From the top of the building they saw the city. It was massive. It was split into four sectors: Residential, industrial, commercial, and the central part of the city, which was where all the aristocrats lived. Trip and Alex saw a street which wasn¡¯t incredibly busy so they decided to go there to see what the city had to offer. On the street they realised that it was only for rich people, which was why there were not many people there. They decided that they would think of what to do before they did anything else.


    Trip and Alex had no money at the moment, so they had to earn some money before they could buy anything or even have a place to sleep the night. They didn¡¯t know what to do until Alex came up with a plan. They would set up a small booth, and sell handmade crafts. With Trips power and control over water magic he could easily sculpt something out of stone. The found a couple rocks and Trip sculpted them into different types of animals and plants.


    They managed to find a small open place in a busy plaza, where they started to sell the handmade sculptures. Many people seemed to like the sculptures and they were all sold out within an hour. When Trip and Alex counted their money they saw that they had gained nearly a thousand gold. This was not a small amount. Alex was even impressed by this amount. With this money they could easily afford a place to sleep for a week. Trip had a different reaction. He really liked all the gold coins that they had gained, so he kept sculpting for hours, and then he sold them for hours. He didn¡¯t stop until Alex told him that he had done enough. This was the first time Alex was truly scared of Trip. Seeing how much Trip enjoyed money was something that he had anticipated.


    After Trip¡¯s little money-making spree it was already night time. They went to find an inn where they could stay. After an hour of searching they found themselves in a small building surrounded by 50 sweaty men standing in line. All of them were loud and there was always someone shouting at the receptionist. This was the type of atmosphere that Trip absolutely hated. He could not take waiting in the building any longer so he grabbed Alex and rushed out of there.


    Breathing heavily Trip said ¡°Finally.¡±


    Alex angrily responded to Trip¡¯s behaviour, saying ¡°What the hell are you doing! We were about to get a room!¡±


    Trip looked at Alex and merely shook his head.


    Perplexed by this action Alex sighed before calmly asking ¡°Where are we going to sleep tonight?¡±


    Trip looked at Alex as if he was stupid. ¡°We¡¯ll just sleep on a bench or something.¡± He said


    Alex¡¯s eyes flashed with such anger that they would have petrified even kings. ¡°I WILL SLEEP IN A COMFORTABLE BED TONIGHT!¡±


    Alex¡¯s words sent a shiver down Trip¡¯s spine. He didn¡¯t know what to do anymore. They had spent an hour searching for an inn and now they were back outside starting from nothing once again.


    Trip could say nothing; luckily he was saved by the voice of a girl behind them.


    ¡°Hey! Do you not have a place to stay?¡± A girl said. She looked to be around 11 years old. She had ginger hair with cute little freckles on her face. She had large and intelligent brown eyes. The moment Trip and Alex saw her they were shocked. Not because she was so cute, but because her clothes were merely rags, this was very unfitting to her appearance.


    Seeing that Alex and Trip didn¡¯t reply the girl continued to speak ¡°My name is Alesha. If you don¡¯t have a place to stay I can help you.¡±


    Alex and Trip looked at each other, and then Alex said ¡°Hello. My name is Alex and this is Trip. We currently do not have a place to stay.¡±


    The girl led them to an abandoned house in an abandoned street. There were 20 children all in rags sleeping on the floor. Alesha showed Alex and Trip two spots for them to sleep. Alex was not happy with such arrangements, but he was not so rude that he would reject someone¡¯s hospitality.


    And so ended their first day in the city of Cuvin.

 Chapter 28: Money Problems

    Chapter 28: Money Problems


    Trip woke up in the broken house. He looked around and saw a bunch of children in rags. He felt sorry for them. They had no strength and they had no money. Without money or strength one could never thrive in this harsh world. Trip knew that he had lived a fairly privileged life. He had always had a place to stay, and when he didn¡¯t he always had the strength to live comfortably. Thus he felt incredibly guilty staying in this house while he had money. Before anyone else woke up he woke up Alex and they left. They left behind a hundred coins of gold. It wasn¡¯t much, but it could pay for food for several weeks.


    After they exited the house they sighed in relief that they did not wake anyone up, however their relief was destroyed by Alesha. They saw her walking down the abandoned street the moment they left the building. She was carrying a stick on her shoulders which held two large buckets of water to either side. This strength was extraordinary for a malnourished eleven year old girl. The moment she saw Trip and Alex she frowned, not because they were leaving the house, but because they had an embarrassed look on their faces.


    She put down the water buckets and walked up to them, saying ¡°Mornin¡¯, are you leaving already?¡±


    Trip felt such guilt for having basically pretended to be poor and homeless so he decided to confess. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but we are not actually poor. We left 100 gold coins for you. Sorry for taking advantage of your kindness.¡± He said


    She frowned again, but then she smiled warmly and said ¡°No need to be sorry about it; it isn¡¯t as if you lied or anything. 100 gold coins are actually very helpful, so thank you.¡±


    Trip sighed in relief. He was truly very worried that she would be very angry and that she would wake everyone.


    ¡°How ¡®bout a goodbye hug?¡± Alesha said, extending her arms.


    Both Alex and Trip hugged her and then they went on their way. Everything worked out in the end, and now they could spend the rest of the week in the city without feeling guilty about their actions.


    They decided that the first thing that they should buy was clothes. They walked over to a decent part of town, to ensure that they would be able to get some comfortable clothes. They found a small clothing shop. It wasn¡¯t high quality stuff, but still good enough to be comfortable. They hoped that it was cheap and affordable so they could afford several sets of clothing. They picked out a few clothes which fit, and then they went up to the cashier.


    Trip smiled and asked ¡°How much for this sir?¡±


    The man looked at the clothes for a second before responding ¡°2000 gold.¡± He said casually.


    Trip¡¯s eyes nearly filled up with tears. ¡®2000 GOLD! This is robbery!¡¯ Trip could barely contain his anger. Even Alex was shocked by this total. It was said that there was a lot of inflation in West Hrior, but this was ridiculous. They had spent the whole of yesterday working to get money, and yet now they couldn¡¯t even afford a couple crappy clothes!


    After a couple of seconds of having mental arguments Trip grabbed some clothes and put them back. He left only two shirts and two pants, this was it. Luckily when he asked for the price he was greeted with a bargain of 600 gold coins. Trip reached towards his pocket, ready to pay. He felt around for a bit, but his wallet did not seem to be there.


    He turned to Alex and asked ¡°Alex, do you have the wallet?¡±


    Alex felt his pockets and turned to Trip with a panicked look on his face, before saying ¡°I thought you had it.¡±


    They looked at each other with eyes filled with panic. They both knew what had happened. The only contact they had with anyone today other than each other was Alesha. It was clear that she had taken their money when she hugged them.


    Alex¡¯s eyes filled with rage. Trip smiled on the surface as he apologised to the shopkeeper for not having money, but on the inside he felt incredibly angry. Not only had he been played for a fool, he had even felt guilty and was charitable to those people. Alex looked at Trip, and Trip looked at Alex. They were going to get that money back no matter what.


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    They rushed as quickly as they could towards the abandoned street. They then snuck down the street until they reached the house. Before they entered they listened in. It was strangely quiet, too quiet for a house full of young children.


    After a couple of seconds they heard a voice. It was a voice that was too deep to be a child¡¯s voice. Unfortunately they could not hear anything because of the wall of the house, so they around the back, where there was a large opening. Once they reached it they started to have a clear view of what was happening.


    There was a man sitting on a wooden box. His facial features were fairly average, but his eyes were incredibly intense and almost maniacal. His hand was at his belt, holding a handle of a weapon, but Trip could not tell whether it was a sword or a dagger. He was sitting in front of all the children; they were all kneeling towards him. All but Alesha. She was standing next to him, bowing and handing him a bag of gold. In exchange for this bag of gold the man released his hand from the hilt of his weapon. At that point Alesha took out a small shiv and lunged towards the man, her movements were fast and strange, but when Trip saw this unfold he immediately knew that the man could easily grab his weapon before Alesha would reach him. While Trip was angry that his money had been stolen, he understood why, and he would rather not see any children die. He quickly moved into a good position and shot a quick water bullet at the man, knocking him out immediately.


    Alesha was shocked. She turned around to see a smiling Trip and Alex. She looked at them and seemed to be unable to grasp the situation. A ten year old had just knocked out a full grown man using magic!? This was ridiculous!


    Trip walked towards her and said ¡°We need to talk.¡±


    The three went upstairs to talk while the rest of all the orphaned kids were only sitting there in awe.


    When they were alone they started to talk.


    ¡°First of all we need to address the fact that you robbed us. We understand that you needed that to pay that man, but now that you have the money we would like it back.¡± Alex said


    Alesha could only laugh awkwardly as she handed to money to them.


    Then Trip chimed in ¡°You can use wind magic.¡±


    Alesha looked at him in shock. ¡°How did you know?¡± she asked


    ¡°When you attacked him I saw that your movements were strange, and this morning you were carrying things that you shouldn¡¯t have been able to carry. This is all because of wind magic; however your understanding is very rudimentary.¡±


    Alesha couldn¡¯t even look at Trip. She had always kept the fact that she could use wind magic a secret, but now her secret had been found out within a couple minutes.


    Seeing that she didn¡¯t say anything Trip continued to speak. ¡°With your talent you could easily have left this place and lived a better life. Why stay here?¡±


    She angrily looked at Trip and said ¡°What? Was I just supposed to leave them here!? These children have no one, no leader, no parents, how can they survive if I left!?¡±


    Trip looked at her with a complicated look. Somehow he felt really bad about the fact that she was sacrificing an incredibly promising future by staying with these children. It annoyed him. Suddenly he came up with an idea.


    ¡°If I can get a home for all these children then you should be able to go to school, right?¡± Trip said


    Alex looked at Trip with a confused look. Why did Trip care so much about this girl? After a couple seconds Alex seemed to have reached a conclusion. It was clear that Trip liked this girl! He looked at Trip and gave him a thumbs up.


    Trip did not know what this meant, but he assumed that this meant that Alex agreed to helping the children.


    Alesha then responded to Trip¡¯s enquiry. ¡°If you could do that then I would go to school, but how in hells name are you going to pull that off?¡± She said. While her words were negative she had seen how powerful Trip was and had a hope within her heart that he would be able to actually do something to help her and the children.


    Trip smiled and started to explain his plan.

 Chapter 29: The Plan

    Chapter 29: The Plan


    Trip smiled as he started to explain his plan. The plan was quite simple, all they had to do was make sure that all the children in the abandoned house got a new place to stay, which was either with a new family, or just a safe place to live.


    Trip had looked at the issue in depth. The issue was that a lot of children were homeless because the city had become unaffordable to live in for many people. Some adults would even throw away their children so that they could survive with the money they had. Since this was the only city for many kilometres people had nowhere else to go, so anyone homeless was forced to live on the streets of Cuvin. The city was rich, so solving this would not be a problem, but the city was not ruled by charitable people. They did not even attempt to hide away any of the problems with homeless people, they just left the situation as it was.


    Trip knew that the government could change it, but they didn¡¯t because it was not profitable. Trip liked to dream big. What good would it do if he could help a couple of children? Probably not very much. But to help an entire population of homeless people, that would be written in history books. The only thing that Trip had to do in order to make history was to make fixing the homeless issue profitable.


    This was a difficult part of the plan. However Trip found an answer quite easily. The Spearwood trees were the answer. There was a massive forest of Spearwood trees, but they barely cut anything due to there not being enough workers. The city never made an active effort to get workers to cut down trees, because they were making so much money from trading. Trip knew that this would solve only half of the problem. Only men would be able to cut down trees, women and children would not be able to do anything. However women could help sell Spearwood in shops to blacksmiths and people from other nations. Trip believed that children should not work, but then who would take care of orphan children? This was where everything tied together. All these homeless women and men could stand up to the government; they just did not have a leader or organisation to help them achieve this. If Trip could find someone to pose as a rebellion leader, then they could threaten the government into not only giving men and women jobs, but also rebuilding all the abandoned streets in the city. All the originally homeless people would then be able to live comfortably in this new neighbourhood. They would basically build a new section within the city. This would be the lower class section.


    When Trip explained his bright idea to Alesha and Alex they seemed in disbelief. They could not believe Trip was ready to change the entire city, but what was even more unbelievable was Trip¡¯s naivety. Why would the government say yes to a 10 year olds demands and threats? It simply did not make any sense.


    After several minutes of silence Alex spoke up. ¡°Look, Trip. While I know that you are very talented and ambitious, this is ridiculous. How are you going to convince the government to follow your orders?¡± He said


    Trip smiled and said ¡°You should have listened more carefully. I am not convincing any government, we need other people¡¯s help.¡± Trip pointed to the unconscious man.


    Alesha screamed out in anger ¡°HIM!? HIM!? Of all the people to represent the homeless population you want HIM!?¡± She clearly did not want to see this despicable man become the man to represent the homeless people in Cuvin. It was an insult to her, her friends, and any decent homeless person ever to exist. This man wasn¡¯t even homeless!


    Trip was surprised to see her act this way, but he kept his cool. ¡°He is not going to be the representative of any people other than scumbags, but we need his help.¡± He said


    ¡°For what!?¡± Alesha said


    ¡°Look at him. Do you think that you are the only homeless people he collects money from? He¡¯s got to know a lot of homeless people. This is a good way to spread our initiative.¡± Trip said


    Alesha looked at Trip for a while. He was really crazy, but a good kind of crazy. Somehow she felt that he might actually be able to pull this off. Her heart started to beat rapidly as she thought that she might be able to go to school and live a better life. However maybe this was not the only reason her heart was beating so rapidly.


    Seeing that the other two had no objections to what he said he walked over to the unconscious man. He sprayed water over his face until he woke up.


    ¡°What the hell!?¡± The man screamed while coughing


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    ¡°Good afternoon, sir.¡± Trip said, smiling maniacally


    And thus the interrogation commenced. By threatening the man, who ended up being called Dern, they received information about three different places where homeless people tended to group up. They then started to make posters about the idea of a revolution, and then they hung them up in the three areas. The poster detailed information about the place where they would hold the first meeting for this new group, called Homeless United. Most homeless people were incredibly excited and interested by the prospects of a better life. In the end more than 1000 homeless people showed up to the meeting.


    Trip was to be the host that evening. He wasn¡¯t nervous, but he was incredibly uncomfortable. He disliked being around so many smelly and sweaty people. Trip was not someone who backed down from a challenge, so he decided to just go for it and try to ignore the smell.


    When Trip went up on stage many homeless people were angry, disappointed, and lost hope. If a child had organised this meetup then there was no hope for them. They were angry that they got their hopes up only to be disappointed.


    Trip could only smile at this. In truth this was not that bad. It was better to start low and work your way up with nothing to lose rather than start high and have everything to lose. Most people were about to leave, but then Trip started to speak.


    ¡°Dear citizens of this city. We have all come here with a common goal. To get out of our miserable situation. We are all homeless here, but there was once a point where we were not.¡± Trip then pointed to a man and asked ¡°You, sir. How did you become homeless?¡±


    The man hesitated for a second. He felt as if he was being talked down to by a child, but when he saw the rest of the crowd looking at him he had no choice but to answer. ¡°I was a waste collector, but then my boss said that they did not need me anymore. Since I had no money I had no choice, but to become homeless.¡±


    Trip shook his hand and said ¡°Thank you for sharing.¡± Before going on to other people. Everyone had a similar story. They had a decent job and life, but unexpectedly they were told they were no longer needed so they had to become homeless.


    After a while Trip spoke again. ¡°Do you see a pattern here? I do. What I see is a government that it completely neglecting a large part of its society. We are all in this situation because of the government! No longer shall we stand for this! We must no longer just stand there as we see our lives and others be ruined by this government of ours! They are little and we are many. There is nothing to be afraid of. We have one message for the government! Give us opportunities or¡­¡± Trip used his hand to demonstrate an action of slicing ones throat.


    Somehow everyone there was incredibly moved by this child¡¯s words. They stood up and cheered. They were ready and willing to fight. The kid was right! They were many and the government were only a couple little people sitting in offices. Such little people could not shut down the strength and spirit from these cheers.


    Alesha was looking at Trip as she was cheering as well. Inside she felt that the situation was quite funny, Trip kept repeating that he was part of this homeless crowd, but she knew that he wasn¡¯t homeless. However in a way this made his speech even more incredible. He was able to completely relate to people he had no experience with. He was only ten years old as well!


    Alex looked at Alesha, who was still staring at Trip in awe and smiled. He still believed that Trip liked Alesha, and now that he saw Alesha looking at Trip that way he was sure that they were a match made in heaven. Instead of being a rival, this time he would become the matchmaker.


    The rest of the night was spent addressing the plans for the future of the rebellion. While everyone thought of Trip as a great leader they also agreed that they could not have a 10 year old as the leader for such a big organisation. This made the priority of the organisation to find a good leader. Because most people felt bad for Trip because he couldn¡¯t be leader they decided that they would give him full authority when it came to choosing the leader of the Homeless United.


    Trip was very happy with how things were going. He had to find a leader who listened to his every word, and then all he had to do was watch as the group grew into a force worthy of scaring the government.

 Chapter 30: Finding a Leader

    Chapter 30: Finding a Leader


    ¡°AAAHG! Why are they all so stupid!?¡± Trip shouted


    ¡°What did you expect? These people were never educated properly, how could you expect them to be intelligent? If they were then there would have already been an uprising against the government.¡± Alex responded


    Trip and Alex had just endured a full day of being an interviewer. They had the idea to let anyone apply for the position of leader and then Trip would judge that person. They thought that they would find someone quite quickly. However they had already interviewed over 100 people and all of them had been ignorant, arrogant, and generally rather stupid. Trip was only ten and he understood more about the world than all of these people combined. He didn¡¯t need a candidate that was incredibly intelligent, but he needed someone who could follow instructions and could speak. Half of the people he had interviewed had a vocabulary that did not contain words longer than 5 letters. After having met all these people he almost didn¡¯t feel bad for them anymore. However he knew that no matter how stupid these people were, they did not deserve to be homeless.


    After a couple more people came for interviews Trip decided to call it a day. He walked out into the abandoned street. However it didn¡¯t look very abandoned anymore. There were hundreds of people talking and laughing. The mood was really good. Everyone was talking about their previous jobs and their old lives. Everyone was sharing what little they had. This was when Trip noticed that this organisation, Homeless United, was capable of changing lives. He had connected so many people within a day, and more people would be joining every day. Trip smiled nervously at this sight. So many people¡¯s lives could change for better or for worse in the next couple days. If he failed them he might never be able to recover and he would be hated by thousands. However, if he succeeded he would be seen as a legendary figure in the hearts of these people.


    Trip was nervous, but he was incredibly excited about the entire idea of changing people¡¯s lives. It wasn¡¯t even as if he cared that much for them, but he felt excited by the prospect of helping everyone. Of course he also had the motivation of helping Alesha.


    Alex had walked outside with Trip, and he was also touched by the scene at hand. He had been raised to believe that the poorer class were all idiots that deserved their place in society, but now he knew the truth, and he saw that they were people as well. Alex did not much have much of a role in this revolution, other than having to teach Trip politics he did not have any job to do.


    However this was perfect for him, as he now had the time to play matchmaker. He scanned the crowd to look for Alesha, so he could get them to talk. After a minute or so he found Alesha, and saw that Trip had already walked over to her. Alex wiped a tear from his eye as he thought ¡®He¡¯s grown so much.¡¯


    However Trip and Alesha were not having the conversation that Alex would expect. Trip was asking Alesha about the people at the gathering. He needed to know if there was anyone that was capable of speaking well and didn¡¯t seem too stupid. However he was disappointed by Alesha¡¯s report. There turned out to be no one around that was actually a decent candidate. Trip closed his eyes and thought of what to do. Eventually he gave up for the day and went to find somewhere to sleep.


    When he walked into a house he found the very thing he had been looking for. He saw a young man. He was fairly handsome, tall, and had a good stature, but what was the best part was that he was reading a book. And he wasn¡¯t reading just any book; he was reading an incredibly complex book about the supposed medicinal effects of the leaves of Spearwood trees. This book was written in an old language and it nobody could read it, meaning that there was no way for anyone to use the leaves as medicine. However this man was reading it and taking notes, slowly deciphering the text. His voice was smooth and deep. It sounded trustworthy and intelligent. It sounded like a voice that people would listen to.


    Trip immediately approached the man. ¡°Hello sir. Could I speak to you for a second?¡± he said


    The man completely ignored him. Most people would have gotten offended, but Trip realised that the man had not even noticed that he existed yet. The man was too entranced in the book to pay attention to the outside world. Trip knew this as well. He only hoped that the man would not refuse to help him.


    After an hour passed the man stretched his arms and closed his book.


    ¡°Enough for today.¡± He said with a sigh


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    At this point Trip approached him. ¡°Hello sir. Could I speak to you for a second?¡±


    The man looked at Trip for a second before saying ¡°Sure¡­ What do you need?¡±


    ¡°I just have a few questions.¡± Trip said, smiling


    The man reluctantly agreed and they began discussing things. It turned out that the man¡¯s name was Jacob, and that he was a scholar in training, but he was dismissed from his duties a couple weeks ago, because he was ignoring other tasks in order to study the medicinal effects Spearwood tree leaves. With no money to fall back on he had to become homeless, and he was not accepted to any other colleges, because of him being broke, homeless, and being a failed student from another school. Trip admired that even in his most difficult days Jacob did not fail to spend time studying.


    When Trip talked to Jacob about the idea of becoming the leader of Homeless United, but unfortunately he immediately rejected. Trip expected this to happen, and during the time that he was waiting for Jacob to finish reading his book he had thought of a solution. He would give Jacob test subjects and direct access to Spearwood trees for testing. Trip expected that Jacob probably rarely left the city. If Trip succeeded in convincing the government then he would have thousands upon thousands of leaves for Jacob to study. It also would not be difficult to convince a couple of homeless people to be test subjects.


    After he told Jacob this they quickly reached an agreement. After this agreement was reached they went to have a meeting. This meeting would be only Trip, Jacob, Alex, and Alesha. From this they could all contribute to making a good plan to make sure that their goal would be achieved.


    The meeting was slightly awkward in the beginning for Jacob. He was surrounded by a 3 young children, and he was supposed to have an intelligent conversation with them in order to change an entire city. After a while he realised that these were no ordinary children, everyone there was incredibly intelligent and understanding. Whenever Trip spoke Jacob was truly shocked. Jacob could barely believe that someone like Trip could exist. For a ten year old to be able to hold a full conversation with a scholar (in training) was truly incredible.


    During the meeting they discussed the actions that they would take from here on. They decided that they had to make sure that every homeless person knew of this organisation. So they sent a bunch of people to put posters all over the large homeless areas in the city advertising the group. They also had to make sure that they weren¡¯t discovered while they were still in their early stages, because then the government would be able to deal with them very quickly. They decided that they made it as if the posters looked like nothing to any police or guards, but were recognisable by homeless people. Alesha told them that there were several secret signs that homeless people used for certain activities so they decided that they would use these. And then they went on to discuss Jacobs unveiling as the leader of Homeless United.


    They decided to wait two days until the unveiling, so as many homeless people as possible saw it happening. They also moved to a different location to avoid and guards or police from the city and in order to fit the large number of people.


    They day of the unveiling was a magnificent event. Because of all the advertising over 5,000 homeless people came to the event. There would be more, but there wasn¡¯t enough space. During these two days Trip had asked Grelin to help him teach Alesha how to use basic wind magic. From this Alesha had learned just about enough to push the sound of Jacobs voice over the whole crowd, so that everyone could hear it.


    Everything was planned and prepared. Now it was time for the unveiling and then a motivational speech from Jacob.


    Trip walked up to the podium and spoke loudly ¡°EVERYONE! ARE YOU READY FOR A REVOLUTION!? ARE YOU PREPARED TO FIGHT FOR CHANGE!? I KNOW A MAN WHO IS READY TO CHANGE THIS CITY! EVERYONE MEET THE NEW LEADER OF HOMELESS UNITED, JACOB TILLER!¡±


    Everyone started to cheer incredibly loudly. Sending a message to the people of the Cuvin.


    Immediately as they started to cheer, a handsome Jacob Tiller walked onto the stage. He was made slightly dirtier than normal in order to actually look homeless, otherwise he just looked like a scholar. Everyone cheered when they saw him. This was the man they wanted. Young, smart, handsome, trustworthy, before he even spoke these were everyone¡¯s first thoughts. Jacob smiled as he rested his intelligent and calm eyes on the crowd.


    He then began to speak.

 Chapter 31: The War of Negotiations Part 1

    Chapter 31: The War of Negotiations Part 1


    A calm, comforting voice floated across the land, reaching the ears of thousands of people. Words were spoken, words of truth, words of understanding, but ultimately words that were etched into the hearts of thousands of people. These words were carried out by the former scholar (in training) Jacob Tiller, a man who has experienced both sides of the financial spectrum, rich and poor. When Jacob began to speak Trip was thoroughly impressed by what Jacob expressed.


    When Jacob began to speak he wanted to shock, or even annoy the audience. This would be done by mentioning that he was a scholar, and that he was highly educated. He wanted to make sure that anything which could be considered a weakness of his he would immediately expose and then have people accept it on the spot. Being a scholar would definitely annoy homeless people and it would make everyone feel as if they were inferior to him, and that he was not fit to represent the homeless people.


    After people thought badly of him he would atone for his weaknesses. This would be done by talking about how he had personally experienced how the rich people lived and how they could easily solve the homeless problem, but how they simply did not care. He would then speak of how he was now homeless and that he understood both sides of the story, from the perspective of a rich man and a poor man. From this he could tell with certainty that not only could the rich people change the situation for the people, but also that they could change it by pressuring the government.


    This would immediately bring people to higher spirits. For any homeless person to hear that they would soon have a decent life again was music to their ears.


    The speech went perfectly. Everyone in the audience went through a whirlwind of emotions throughout it, but at the end some were even crying in happiness, because they were so sure that they would be able to live a good life once again. It was a moving scene and in only a few days the entire homeless population stood behind Homeless United. They would march the streets for this cause; they would directly fight the government if they had to. Every homeless man had turned from strangers to brothers within a couple of days. There was a tight community with very strong bonds. Trip could feel that the spiritual bonds in this group of people far outweighed any place he had ever encountered before. These people would be willing to give up their life so that others might have a better life.


    This atmosphere blew away Trip. Most of the people knew him either as the person that started the initiative or as the person who introduced Jacob Tiller to the stage. Either way he was a massive celebrity in the homeless community. However this did come with a problem. No matter how oblivious the government was to the events and interactions of the poor it would be impossible for them not to notice this movement of homeless people. Trip expected that this would cause the government to be slightly more cautious, but he found that the government had actually become terrified of the idea of a rebellion. This was because a lot of their current profits came from trade, and trade would go down if their city was in the middle of a crisis. Thus they decided to do anything within their power to stop anything from happening, and they made sure that none of the public knew anything about this.


    Due to the unexpected government response Trip and Jacob had to be much more careful when it came to exchanging information and discussing plans. For all they knew there could be many government spies within the camp. Also with Trip being a celebrity within the homeless community the government could actually try to assassinate him. Luckily Trip actually realised that he could tell the difference between people that were homeless and those who were not. This was because the spiritual bond between the homeless people was so strong that anyone that was not included within in this bond was easily identifiable. However seeing how scared the government was Trip, Jacob, and Alex came up with a new plan. They found a government spy and they captured him.


    They told this government spy the following message: ¡°To anyone with a high position in the government of Cuvin. We, the leaders of Homeless United, would like to meet with you. Two days from today we will stand in front of the bank in the centre of the city; you can prepare a meeting room for us. Sincerely, Trip Levis and Jacob Tiller.¡±


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    It was a simple message; they felt no obligation to be very respectful to the aristocrats of the city. Trip and Jacob then spent the next few days preparing for this meeting. They had to make sure that they wouldn¡¯t be assassinated by the government on the spot. Jacob knew that Trip could use magic, but he did not exactly feel safe with a ten year old as his bodyguard. That is why Jacob said that they should meet the government officials in front of the most popular building in the city, there they would not be assassinated as everyone there would be terrified.


    Two days later Trip and Jacob arrived at the bank. The arrived at 6 in the morning and then they sat there discussing. At 10 in the morning some people came up to them. It was a group of 4 muscular men and two men who looked like how one would expect government officials to look like. They had an unimpressive physical stature and they stood with their back curved forwards, probably from bending over too much for their boss. They had a shrewd smile on their faces as they approached Trip and Jacob.


    One of them then said ¡°You must be Trip Levis and Jacob Tiller. Come with us.¡±


    They led them to a secret room within the bank. It was very fancy. There was a marble floor and all the furniture was lined with gold. It was so sparkly Trip almost felt sick. They sat on a couch, while the two shrewd men sat on the couch facing theirs.


    The shrewd men then introduced themselves. ¡°My name is Robert.¡± One of them said. ¡°My name is Donald. It is wonderful to meet you. It seems we have a lot to discuss.¡±


    Jacob knew how these men spoke and he copied it perfectly. ¡°Yes, it seems that way. We have many a thing to discuss.¡±


    Trip was normally patient, but he was in no mood to speak cryptically and instead got to the point of the meeting quickly. ¡°Gentlemen. We all know why we are here, I think it is time to stop these games and get to the issue at hand.¡±


    The shrewd men looked at Trip in disappointment. They were thoroughly enjoying their little war of words and found it rude to be interrupted in such a way. However they knew the child was right and they could only follow his pace.


    Seeing that he got the attention of the Robert and Donald he began to speak ¡°Our organisation has a simple goal. Get all homeless people a home and a job. We know that the government could easily support these people and we request that you do so.¡±


    Robert¡¯s eye twitched, but then he returned to his normal shrewd smile. ¡°Sorry kid, but jobs don¡¯t exactly grow on trees. We can¡¯t give such an amount of people a house and a job. That is simply an impossible task.¡±


    At this point Jacob spoke up. ¡°Actually we have a solution. Spearwood trees.¡±


    They began to speak of their plans to build a society where the poor and uneducated could still live comfortably. They talked about how they could use all the homeless people for different aspects of the labour. The shrewd men were initially uninterested, but when they mentioned the estimated profit the government would earn from this their eyes lit up.


    However Trip could tell that they were going to reject the offer. It was inconvenient for them. While they would earn profits it would not be enough to convince them to follow through with this plan.


    When they eventually rejected Trip spoke up. ¡°How many people do you think are willing to fight and die for this cause?¡± he casually asked.


    Robert and Donald were at first shocked by the question, it was a scary question. These men distanced themselves from most everything to do with violence, and the very mention of death caused them to shiver uncontrollably.


    Eventually Donald responded to the question, saying ¡°Umm, maybe 5000 people?¡±


    Donald would not be worried by 5000 people trying to fight against the government. They could handle that with only their police and guards.


    Trip smiled as he looked them directly in the eye and said ¡°20000 people.¡±


    The two shrewd men nearly screamed. This number was frightening. Even if it were a bluff, it was too much risk. 20000 men would be too many for them to deal with using only guards and police, and since Cuvin did not have an army they would have to wait weeks for reinforcements. They both looked at Trip and everyone in the room realised, the battle of negotiations was about to begin.

 Update

    Hi everyone. I don''t know if there is another way to give an update on the story without adding a chapter, but I wanted to say that I''m going to stop with daily uploads. Overall the reason why I started to upload the story was because I wanted to get feedback on my writing and then I could improve, but I don''t think that I have been getting too much feedback. I still enjoy writing the story and I''m still going to post chapters, but I will post maybe twice a week rather than upload daily. I don''t think too many people care about the fact that I will be uploading less, but for anyone that might be wondering why there is no chapter today then here is the reason why.


    Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    Anyway, I''m really grateful that so many are reading the story and a new chapter will be uploaded during the weekend.


    Sincerely,


    WesternMage

 Chapter 32: The War of Negotiations Part 2

    Kind of shitty chapter title as the actual negotiations in this one are minimal, but I called the last one part 1 anticipating I would write more about the negotiations. (Just in case you thought the title didn''t really fit)


    Chapter 32: The War of Negotiations Part 2


    The shrewd men were sweating heavily. Their faces had a dark expression. They were expert negotiators and they had planned everything that they would say or do, but they had completely miscalculated the actual size of the movement. Trip and Jacob had anticipated that they would do this. This was how they would threaten the government into following their plans.


    The shrewd men did not know how to approach the situation. In reality actually doing as Trip and Jacob say was profitable, but to follow orders from homeless people was something completely embarrassing for the government. The shrewd men did not know what to do. The people in front of them were too intelligent to be tricked easily.


    After contemplating for a while they decided that they had to make a deal. If there was even 100 people more than 5000 that were willing to die for the Homeless United cause then they would suffer a massive loss. This meant that they absolutely had to make a deal, and the only thing that they could do is attempt to lower the conditions.


    After discussing for a while they hadn¡¯t reached anywhere, every time the shrewd men even attempted to change any conditions in the deal they wouldn¡¯t even get a reply. All they would get was a cold terrifying stare from a child. This stare sent chills down their spine. They could only smile back bitterly. They definitely weren¡¯t going to get any benefits from this. They just hoped they wouldn¡¯t get fired for doing this.


    ¡°Fine, we agree to all your demands.¡± They said in perfect unison.


    Trip and Jason smiled and Jason said ¡°Pleasure doing business for you.¡± Before walking out of the room.


    After they left Jason fell to his knees.


    ¡°Are you alright?¡± Trip asked


    ¡°I-I¡¯m fine. It¡¯s just that the tension and the atmosphere were almost too much for me¡±


    Trip laughed as he remembered that Jason was by trade a scholar (in training). It was incredible that he was able to speak in front of 5000 people, but speaking in front of the two shrewd men was much more stressful. Every word you said was analysed on the spot. If you make one mistake you are gone, whereas in a speech for many people you can even use your mistakes for your advantage.


    Trip didn¡¯t really feel any tension or pressure. He always managed to stay relatively cool. This had improved as he was both a light and water magician. This meant that he trained his soul in light magic and in water magic the concept of tranquillity was incredibly important. He was only affected by things like other people smelling or the appearance of something, but he was never affected by the amount of people or a person¡¯s strength (mentally or physically).


    This loss of nerves made Trip feel slightly empty sometimes. With him not getting angry easily he always feels that he misses a slight part of being human. He is always almost too rational. Trip thought about his mental state and feared the future. Would he become a person who no longer had emotion? One who was no longer human or driven by emotion? Luckily at this point he was driven by an emotional mission. This mission was to find his uncle. He wanted to meet his uncle not only to get stronger, but because he was the only family member who he could possibly find.


    Thinking of this Trip decided that it was time to leave. He would stay for another couple days to see what happens, but after that he would leave the situation in the hands of the people he trusted and the massive homeless community. Even if the government turned on them they should have a fire burning in their heart ready to fight.


    After returning to the homeless camp the news was announced and celebrations began. There was a massive party after the government announced the news. Everyone was ecstatic with the news. Trip had arranged for several children¡¯s homes to be built as well. Meaning that Alesha could go to school. Trip had achieved his mission. He had enjoyed it, however there was a little annoyance within his heart. Rationally this entire experience did not do much for him other than making a few thousand friends. He only hoped that these people would use the opportunity he had given them well, and that they wouldn¡¯t squander it.


    Alex saw Trip sitting alone and thinking with a frown on his face so he decided to approach him. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± he asked.


    Trip looked at Alex and smiled, before saying ¡°It¡¯s nothing, I was just thinking about the future and the present.¡±


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    Faced with such a cryptic message Alex hit Trip on the head.


    ¡°OW! What was that for?!¡± Trip screamed


    ¡°Don¡¯t give me that crap, what¡¯s on your mind?¡± Alex asked, clearly annoyed by Trip¡¯s behaviour.


    Trip grinned and spoke to Alex about what was on his mind.


    They discussed all the things that had happened over the last couple days. It was quite surreal for them. To gain so many supporters and change an entire city for the reason of helping a girl go to school. The more Trip spoke the more Alex admired him. Trip was younger than him and yet he was so incredibly intelligent and even wise at times. Alex truly believed that there was no other child like Trip. He was simply too incredible to be comparable to all others, he considered himself very lucky for being friends with Trip. Trip also felt that he was lucky to be Alex¡¯s friend; he could only imagine how his life would be without Alex. He would probably still be lonely and antisocial while continuing to study at Wearhearst Academy. Even though there have been many ups and downs in their lives they both knew that they would always be friends.


    Alesha was looking at the two of them from afar and felt empty within her heart. She saw how the two of them got on and she was incredibly jealous. She didn¡¯t have many friends, only the children she had always helped stay alive. Alesha had always told herself that she wished to see good and justice in the world. She never imagined that she would have encountered two such incredible people in her life. Two people that she considered to be the embodiment of good and justice, and now she was feeling not happiness, but jealousy. They had changed her life and now she wanted to be with them, but she was so distant. They were like two stars that were unreachable. There was profoundness about them. She almost felt unworthy to be in their presence.


    In a way many other people felt similarly about them. The children were simply too bright. Jacob had been incredibly impressed by them, mainly Trip. There was no doubt in his mind that these children could reach heights no one had ever reached before. However, similarly to Alesha he felt jealous. ¡®Jealous of children. How pathetic.¡¯ He thought, but there was no helping it. He felt so pathetic and inferior to them. He had been studying leaves for years and they had brought justice to an entire homeless community of thousands of people within a couple of days. This achievement was unlike any in history.


    Trip and Alex felt also felt that they were very distant from anyone else. It was as if they were the only ones on the same wavelength, and that everyone was living in a different world. Trip saw Alesha and Jacob staring at them and he called them over. They had one last night of talking and fun together before they decided to leave. They had seen proof of the plans being put in place and Jacob was even reaching new heights in his investigation of the Spearwood tree leaves.


    When they left Jacob gave Trip a book about different types of flora in the world which he could study and find medicinal and poisonous effects from it. Trip was very thankful for this as he always enjoyed learning many things. Alesha did not say a word while they were saying goodbye to everyone. She only stood there with her head down.


    Alex saw this and approached her. ¡°Hi Alesha. We¡¯re leaving now. Make sure to go to school and have fun in life.¡± He said.


    It was an awkward goodbye, but just the fact that he said it was enough to receive a big hug from Alesha. Trip also said goodbye and got a hug. Alex couldn¡¯t help it as he blushed while looking at her. ¡®She¡¯s actually really cute¡­¡¯ he thought. He sighed at this thought as he still believed that Trip liked her.


    They then departed, leaving behind the grand city and entering the mountain range. The mountains in their way unable to trump their determination to find power. There was a long and tough ahead, but anything, no matter how difficult, could be conquered.


    ¡°Say, why didn¡¯t you say anything more to Alesha when we left?¡± Alex asked


    ¡°Hmm? Why would I? It¡¯s not like I like her or anything.¡± Trip responded, clearly confused as to why Alex asked that


    Alex¡¯s face drained of all blood as he thought to himself ¡®I mistook the entire situation again!¡¯


    Seeing Alex¡¯s face Trip laughed as he understood what Alex had thought. They walked off into the mountains, with Alesha and Jacob staring at their backs wondering if they would ever meet again.

 Chapter 33: Connection

    Chapter 33: A Connection


    A shadow sat in a large building. Light was surrounding it, but the shadow was not touched by the light. It was as if there was an absence of light in the area where the shadow was. The large building looked like a temple; it was made out of marble and had dark red wood accentuating all its corners. It looked peaceful and yet at the same time it seemed intimidating. It emitted a pressure in which most people could not even stand in. It was surrounded by forests and mountains and there was beautiful scenery around the entire area. There was no civilisation for many kilometres.


    In this isolated place the shadow lived. It lived surrounded by light, and yet it did not allow the light to touch it. When the shadow sat it was almost as if the light was trying to force its way into the darkness. After a while the shadow could no longer handle the constant barrage of light and it shattered. The shadow shattered and revealed a man. Tall, muscular, and handsome. The man was incredibly impressive. He had light brown hair and blue eyes. His skin was rough and his face was unshaven, however, this seemed to add to the charm of the man. He appeared calm and angry at the same time, his rough skin and unshaven face clashed with his beautiful blue eyes; it was as if his entire being was clashing with itself.


    The man sat with his legs crossed in the centre of the temple. He breathed in the clean air and then grabbed a large notebook where he began to write something down. ¡¯29 hours, 45 minutes, 10 seconds.¡¯ he wrote. Above this note were hundreds of other times. The further one looked down the list the greater the time became. The man smiled as he was clearly pleased with this time. He threw the notebook in the corner of the room and began to lie down while looking at the ceiling of the temple. He counted all the discrepancies in the quartz. The man¡¯s expression turned sad as he continued to lie and count. There was clearly something on his mind.


    Suddenly a tiny invisible stream of light scanned across the lands surrounding the temple. The man immediately sat up as a shocked expression was on his face. The man felt warmth he had not felt for years. Tears streamed down as his face.


    The man croaked out a single word, nay not a word, but a name. A name which he knew all too well, a name which he had been waiting to call for years. This name was Trip.


    At this point Trip felt the same way. Tears streamed down his face as he finally felt something significant. He felt his uncle. He felt the warmth of a familial bond. Trip was currently sitting on a rock in the mountain range. After they had left Cuvin Trip had spent a lot of time training light magic, or more specifically, his ability to locate his uncle. He trained for a long time in order to try and find the exact location of his uncle. Today was the day when he finally felt it. He felt the location and he felt his uncle. After he had sent the light stream he felt a connection build. There was now a direct connection with his uncle, which meant that even when he was not using light magic he was able to feel where his uncle was.


    Alex saw Trip crying and he immediately knew something significant had happened, either good or bad. ¡°What happened?¡± he asked.


    Trip smiled and started to laugh. ¡°I just found my uncle.¡± He said


    Alex smiled brightly. Trip had found exactly where his uncle was, this meant that not only was their adventure slowly coming to an end, it also meant that soon Trip would have access to a powerful teacher who could help him develop into a truly powerful entity. Alex was slightly nervous, as he did not know whether Trip¡¯s uncle will allow him to stay with Trip during the time that he is there.


    Alex did not mention this worry of his; of course he wouldn¡¯t want his best friend to be worried about him at this point. If Trip heard of Alex¡¯s concern then he might be afraid of going to his uncle. Since Alex did not say anything and they instead celebrated the entire night by eating a massive mountain goat which they found. It tasted quite badly, but it was strong and tough meat, which would make them grow more, this made them enjoy the meal more than they would have if they were only focusing on the taste.


    With Trip having found the exact location of his uncle they realised that they actually should be heading south-east, rather than just going east. This was a good thing for them, as barren mountains were a lot more boring than a large vibrant ecosystem in forests and other less barren terrain. Trip estimated that they were approximately a month away from the location of his uncle.


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    After two days they exited the mountain range and they were greeted by a massive amount of large green trees, crystal clear lakes, and the sounds of countless birds singing. It was a beautiful and wonderful sight. It was much easier to breathe as well. In the mountain range the altitude affected their ability to breather, which in turn affected their movement speed and their ability to think clearly. There were several times when the altitude really affected Alex, with him almost becoming delusional at the top of a really high mountain, causing him to almost fall and hurt himself. Now there were no more worries such as that. They could focus on moving happily in the area around them. Trip was also excited because of the book that he got from Jacob, because there was a lot more plants and flora around, meaning that he could actually test out a lot of the things he learned in the book.


    Two more days passed and their situation seemed to be perfect. They were almost at the end of their journey and they were still learning a lot. However Trip seemed to notice something about the area. A lot of the animals in the area had some sort of injury. It was not a bite mark, nor was it a scratch, but instead it was like a dark purple mark on the skin of the animal. It was like a burn, but it looked even more terrifying. Trip searched through his book and he could not find any plant that emitted or contained this type of poison. From this he immediately knew that it had to be an animal. Luckily the two of them were incredibly powerful compared to the other animals in this forest and Trip was not worried that either of them would get hurt.


    He simply told Alex to be careful and that was that. Neither of them were so stupid to be unable to take care of themselves so this wasn¡¯t a big issue. That night Trip went out to study a plant called Lumnight, which was a type of plant which would look like any other until it turned night, when it would shine brightly. Trip really wanted to see this so he left the little camp they had set up for the night.


    Several hours later he was walking back to the camp when he suddenly heard a scream. A scream none other than his best friend, Alex Oyak. Trip immediately ran over to the source of the scream and saw a terrifying monster. It was 20 metres long and looked like a massive snake. The width of the snake¡¯s body was a meter. Trip looked at the snake and wondered what happened to cause this. He studied that snakes were not often aggressive at night, due to them having cold blood. That was when Trip saw 2 broken eggs on the ground. It was clear that Alex might have accidently of purposely broken those eggs, causing the mother to be incredibly angry. Trip looked at Alex and saw that he had a massive wound in his side, the skin was turning purple and it looked exactly like what he saw on the animals, except this was at a much higher level. Even without any medical training Trip could tell that this snake was much stronger than whatever had fought the animals.


    Trip immediately attacked in order to help Alex. He did not want to kill the snake, but instead he hoped to only scare it off. Unfortunately after having sent 10 water bullets and several water vortexes it was clear that the snake was not backing down. Realising that there was no other way Trip immediately grabbed the snake and sucked the light soul out of it. After a lot of squirming and fighting the snake eventually died. It slumped to the ground. Trip jumped off of the body and ran over to Alex.


    When he reached Alex he saw that what had happened was much worse than he expected. Half of Alex¡¯s body was covered in purple skin. Trip was normally calm, but seeing his friend in this state he did not know what to do. Alex¡¯s body was shaking and there was black blood coming out of his mouth. Alex¡¯s eyes turned white and Trip could feel that he was slowly dying.


    Trip¡¯s only hope was Grelin. ¡°WHAT DO I DO!?¡± He asked


    ¡°Ok, the poison has spread incredibly far throughout his body and we really only have one option.¡± Grelin said


    ¡°WHAT IS IT?!¡± Trip screamed


    ¡°I can give you some of my soul to make you powerful enough to use ice magic. If you can use ice magic then you should be able to freeze him and while he won¡¯t wake up until you unfreeze him it will also stop the poison from spreading.¡±


    ¡°What¡­ What effect would this have on you?¡± Trip asked reluctantly


    ¡°I will have to go into a deep sleep until, but I will recuperate.¡± Grelin said


    Trip sighed and said ¡°I¡¯m sorry. Let¡¯s begin the procedure.¡±

 Chapter 34: Uncle

    Chapter 34: Uncle


    Grelin pushed in a massive amount of his power into Trip. Trip could barely handle the power being put into him. He had to release it. He breathed heavily and concentrated on making ice. Trip had to freeze Alex immediately. If he was too slow then the poison would spread too far. The ice also had to freeze Alex immediately. If it took Trip too long then Alex¡¯s body could shut down, which wasn¡¯t what Trip wanted.


    Trip had his hands on where Alex¡¯s wound was. He felt Alex¡¯s pulse speed up a lot. Trip knew that he had to freeze him immediately. After a millisecond he released all of his power. A thin layer of impenetrably cold ice appeared on Alex¡¯s body. His face was frozen, his blood was frozen, and the poison was frozen. The procedure had been completed, but this did not make Trip any happier. He could not feel Grelin¡¯s existence anymore. However Grelin did say that he was going into a deep sleep so Trip put down the lack of existence down to that. Trip also wasn¡¯t exactly happy with having saved Alex, but rather he just felt relieved. Alex was now frozen and half dead, and Trip did not have a way to solve this. There was only one option at the moment. That was to find his uncle and have him save Alex.


    Trip looked around and saw the two eggs that Alex had accidentally broken. He approached them and he felt angry. If these eggs had never existed then none of this would have happened. He almost broke them in anger, but what stopped him was a sound. The sound was a hiss, even though it was very quiet there seemed to be intelligence behind the hiss. Trip looked around and found that while one of the baby snakes in the eggs had died the other was alive, and looked confused and scared. Trip was amazed by the intelligent emotion displayed by a mere animal.


    Feeling guilty for having killed its mother, Trip picked up the little snake and attempted to reassure it. Saying things like ¡°It¡¯s okay now.¡± And ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll take care of you.¡± Trip considered this the only positive thing that had happened during the day. Having seen how powerful the mother was, this child could become just as strong and could prove to be a useful ally. The little snake could also be used to create an antidote for Alex.


    Upon further inspection Trip saw that the little snake was slightly different from its mother. Of course its size was much smaller, with it only being half a meter long and a couple centimetres in diameter, but there were some other things as well. The mother of the little snake was purple, but this one was green with a large white spot on its head. The mother had green eyes, but the little snake had red eyes. It also looked more intelligent, even though it was still a new-born. Trip also gave the little snake a name, ¡°Emer¡± Which was short for emerald, which was the same colour as the little snake¡¯s skin. Trip was quite pleased with this new nickname.


    Trip looked up at the sky and realised that it was already morning. He knew that it would be best to move as fast as possible. Emer had already gotten quite comfortable with Trip and wrapped itself around Trip¡¯s arm. Trip then grabbed Alex and all the stuff he had and slowly started to walk. It felt rather nostalgic, carrying Alex around and all, but it was actually very depressing. At this point Trip was very alone, with no one to talk to. Grelin was gone for the moment, Alex was frozen, and Emer wasn¡¯t exactly great in a conversation. A lonely empty feeling grew inside Trip¡¯s heart, but he was driven forward by the prospects of finding his uncle. Everything would be fixed by then.


    Two months passed, and Trip finally reached the area where his uncle was. It had taken him much longer than initially planned, but with Alex frozen it was quite difficult to continue at a decent pace. Emer had also grown a lot, with him now being 60 cm long. This made Emer also a heavy thing to carry around.


    The area that Trip had now reached was supposedly where his uncle was. However Trip found it very strange. It was as if there was a massive light barrier around it, and the moment that he broke through he felt an immense amount of pressure which made it very difficult to walk. Trip also found that his light magic could not travel far in the environment. This made it almost impossible for him to find his uncle at all.


    After walking around blindly for several days he finally found something. It looked like a temple. It was made out of marble and had dark red wood accentuating all its corners. It was rather sinister looking, but Trip felt a warm feeling being emitted from it. He approached the temple and set Alex down on the outside. Emer seemed slightly afraid of the building and he decided to stay back with Alex as well.


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    Trip walked to the entrance and shouted ¡°Hello? Uncle, are you there?¡±


    However when Trip shouted he felt that the sound of his voice did not even get past the entrance. Trip became rather afraid of the temple. After a couple seconds of calming down Trip decided to man up and he stepped inside the temple. The second he did he fell to the ground. He was held under by an inconceivable amount of pressure. A voice came from the temple, which said ¡°A real man from the Levis family could easily stand in this pressure.¡±


    Trip heard this and was shocked. He immediately knew it was his uncle. In incomparable joy and motivation he crawled over to where he heard the voice from. After a couple seconds his body started to forcefully adjust to the pressure and he stood up. Trip slowly walked until he reached a large room. In the centre of the room stood a shadow. Trip came closer and closer until he touched the shadow, breaking it apart. Underneath the shadow was a tall handsome man. He had blue eyes, which were filled with tears. There was a large smile on his face as he looked lovingly at Trip.


    Trip couldn¡¯t help but choke a little bit as he said ¡°U¡­ Uncle?¡±


    The man immediately hugged him and said ¡°Trip¡­ It¡¯s been a long time.¡±


    After a couple seconds Trip¡¯s uncle lightened the pressure in the temple and he immediately walked outside. He looked at Alex and touched his frozen forehead. In a flurry of light the ice broke immediately and the poison retracted almost immediately.


    Trip¡¯s Uncle turned to Trip and said ¡°The poison is powerful, but I can repress it for now. Your friend will be fine unless if there is something which breaks the seal on the poison. He¡¯ll wake up tomorrow.¡± He then turned to Emer and his eyes widened ¡°Haha, now that is a pet worthy of the Levis name.¡±


    Trip looked at Emer and asked ¡°What is he?¡±


    Trip¡¯s uncle laughed and said ¡°All I can say is that he is a F?ver snake, but it seems to have experienced some type of mutation. F?ver snakes are naturally already one of the strongest types of snakes, but it is said that those that have experienced mutations could match even powerful light and dark mages.¡±


    Trip looked at Emer in amazement. He seemed to have been quite lucky this time.


    Trip¡¯s uncle then said ¡°Hmmm, you¡¯ve worked hard to get here. You should rest for a while.¡±


    ¡°But I want to talk to you more.¡± Trip pleaded


    ¡°We¡¯ll talk tomorrow.¡± Trip¡¯s uncle said as he put a single finger on Trip¡¯s forehead. Causing him to fall asleep immediately.


    The next morning Trip woke up in a cave. He looked around and found Emer, who was lying in a ray of sun which had made it into the cave, but Alex was nowhere to be seen. Trip grabbed Emer and walked out of the cave. He saw that the cave he was in was inside a mountain right next to the temple.


    When he walked down to the temple he saw his uncle sitting outside drinking some water with Alex. They were talking with each other and they seemed to be smiling.


    Trip ran down to the temple with a big smile on his face and screamed ¡°ALEX! UNCLE!¡±


    Alex immediately ran to Trip and thanked him for saving his life. They then started to discuss what was going to happen next.


    ¡°Trip.¡± Trip¡¯s uncle said ¡°I will train you for the next 4 years.¡±


    Trip expected this and then asked ¡°What about Alex? Will you train him as well?¡±


    ¡°Unfortunately I have no knowledge over fire magic, and he might hinder your progress if he were to stay here.¡± Trip¡¯s uncle said


    Alex then spoke and said ¡°We were speaking about this before, and we agreed that in an attempt to become more powerful I will leave for the next 4 years. I will come back then and then we can be together again.¡±


    Trip¡¯s uncle then said ¡°You have a week to say your goodbyes. After the four years you two will be attending a school far away from here. So then you can be together again. Remember that if you guys will be friends for life a small four years away from each other means nothing.¡±


    Trip had a sneaking suspicion that something like this would happen. It made sense, but he felt uncomfortable knowing that Alex would be alone in the wild. He almost died a couple days ago. How could Trip possible feel comfortable with this situation?


    Trip¡¯s uncle had a dry smile on his face as he knew that Trip wouldn¡¯t be comfortable with this. That is why he gave them a week to make sure that Trip and Alex understood that this was necessary.

 Chapter 35: Fire vs Water Magic

    Chapter 35: Fire vs Water Magic


    Four years was not a long time. But for two children who were only ten years old and had only known each other for two years it was a long time. Trip was terrified of the fact that Alex would be leaving. Alex was still weak compared to Trip, and if it weren¡¯t for Trip always being there then Alex wouldn¡¯t even be alive. Alex also knew this and therefore he decided that he would prove himself to Trip. He wanted to show that he was not the only one that was strong.


    Alex approached Trip and said ¡°I want to duel you. No light magic allowed!¡±


    Trip looked at Alex in shock. It was inconceivable. Even if Trip only used water magic his skill was at a much higher level than Alex. Trip could be considered a strong intermediate level water mage, and yet Alex could only be called an elementary level fire mage. There was simply no comparison.


    However, when Trip saw the determination in Alex¡¯s eyes he couldn¡¯t help but agree. They began the duel immediately.


    Trip and Alex stood 10 meters apart looking directly into each other¡¯s eyes. There was a determined fire within Alex¡¯s eyes and a calm look of indifference within Trip¡¯s eyes. Trip was actually quite surprised by Alex. There was no way for Alex to defeat Trip and yet he still showed such determination and strength to try and win.


    ¡°Ok, we start in 3 seconds.¡± Trip¡¯s uncle said, ¡°3, 2, 1, GO!¡±


    The moment that the word was said Alex rushed towards Trip. He shot a massive bolt of fire. This was the most powerful thing he could do at the moment, and it contained all his emotions, determination, and strength. Unfortunately, fire is not exactly strong against water and a quick swipe of Trip¡¯s hand released enough water to leave the fire completely gone. Alex was incredibly frustrated. His most powerful move was so easily defeated, and it made sense why. Fire was chaotic and water was tranquil and peaceful. Chaos will never survive when faced with tranquillity and peace, there was simple no contest between the two. But Alex still couldn¡¯t understand how everything was destroyed so quickly.


    Trip¡¯s uncle was also massively impressed by Trip¡¯s ability in water magic. He had a pretty good understanding on how strong Trip was in light magic, but he hadn¡¯t seen Trip perform any water magic. However when he saw that Trip actually had such strength to completely disregard a powerful attack (for a kid) he felt incredible respect for his nephew. It was clear that to Trip¡¯s uncle that Trip had been practicing basically since the day he was born. He also felt proud as it was clear that Trip was no ordinary child and that he definitely had many strong abilities at an incredibly young age.


    Alex knew that he had no way of winning the duel any longer and he decided that it would be stupid to continue. He immediately surrendered and ran off. Not to cry, but to try to counter water magic. Alex found a waterfall and started launching attacks at it, but nothing seemed to work. All of the water simply cascaded on his fire and destroyed it completely. After an hour of pointless practice Alex was incredibly tired. He sat down and started to think.


    ¡°Water is tranquil, fire is chaos. Unless there is a massive amount of chaos then tranquillity will always win. There is no way that I will be able to create an attack of fire that is much larger than any of Trip¡¯s water attacks so I need to find a way around that.¡± Alex spoke to himself.


    Suddenly Trip¡¯s uncle appeared and said ¡°You seem to be at a loss of what to do.¡±


    ¡°AAAH¡± Alex was shocked by the sudden appearance, but then he managed to speak, saying ¡°Well, yes, but you don¡¯t know anything about water or fire magic right?¡±


    ¡°That is true, but I think that some things in magic are universal. You know, where I come from there are people that can use light magic and people that can use dark magic. For many years people considered light magic to be unable to cope with dark magic, similarly to fire being unable to cope with water magic, but one day my ancestor found a way to fight dark magic equally. This way cannot be applicable to your magic, but what I¡¯m trying to say that there is always a way. So don¡¯t give up.¡±


    Alex looked at Trip¡¯s uncle in disbelief. While it was an interesting story it served him absolutely no purpose whatsoever. Alex wasn¡¯t planning on giving up either, making this entire speech rather useless to him.


    Alex wanted to scream at him and tell him that what he just said didn¡¯t help him at all, but since it was Trip¡¯s uncle saying stupid things he could only respond by saying ¡°Thanks for the advice¡±


    Trip¡¯s uncle seemed pleased with Alex¡¯s response and was about to leave, before saying ¡°One last piece of advice. Try not to think of water magic as being superior to fire magic. Water magic has weaknesses. All you need to do is find one.¡±


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    Alex shrugged this advice off. Of course fire magic wasn¡¯t inferior to water magic, and of course water magic has weaknesses. That much was clear to Alex, but actually finding a weakness and exploring that was much more difficult.


    However, the more Alex thought of what Trip¡¯s uncle had said the more he understood what sort of weakness he could exploit.


    ¡°Water magic is only superior to fire magic in a head on battle. In a way water can be like a stable government and fire could be like a rebellion. A small rebellion could never win against a massive stable government, but if that rebellion could create a small hole in the walls of the city and sneak into the centre of the government then they could destroy the source and they could attack.¡± Alex mumbled to himself.


    His eyes lit up as he thought of an idea. He went up to the waterfall and thought ¡®Trip would be behind the water, he is the centre, but there is a wall protecting him. I don¡¯t need to break down the whole wall, but instead I can just break a small part and infiltrate that way.¡¯ Alex immediately created a strategy to attack the wall. ¡®I will not stop until the wall behind the waterfall is scorched with my flames!¡¯


    Alex shot some fire through the waterfall, which should theoretically create a hole for a split second, allowing him to infiltrate and attack. However this split second turned out to be so quick that it was virtually impossible to do anything. The waterfall turned back to its natural state immediately, whereas the fire simple disappeared, causing there to be only a small amount of steam.


    Alex knew that in order to give himself more time to attack the wall behind the water he would need to keep up a constant flame in the waterfall that would not be extinguished immediately. However this would mean that his fire would need to be hotter and larger. However this could only be achieved through tons of training. He knew that at this point there was no way for him to defeat Trip, but what he could achieve within a week to prove his strength to Trip would be to defeat the waterfall. If he displays tenacity and the ability to learn quickly then Trip will definitely feel more at ease with the whole situation. Feeling pleased with himself Alex went to sleep.


    The next morning he woke up to Trip poking his face with a stick.


    Alex gave Trip an angry look and said ¡°I cannot beat you.¡±


    Trip smiled and said ¡°Do you understand now?¡±


    Alex was confused, ¡°Understand what?¡± he asked


    ¡°Understand that you cannot beat me, but that it will not always be like this. Make your fire hotter and stronger. At this point you cannot beat me, but in the future your fire might just match up to my water.¡± Trip said ¡°I am fine with you leaving, but at the moment I do not think it is safe with your strength.¡±


    Alex was surprised that Trip had changed his attitude towards the situation, but he realised that Trip had a plan. ¡°I was planning on trying to break through the waterfall with fire as training for the last week, but what do you have in mind?¡±


    Trip released an evil smile, which gave Alex a shiver down his spine. Trip then began to speak ¡°Remember how I almost drowned once?¡±


    Alex gulped nervously as he nodded in response.


    ¡°Well, even though I can¡¯t speak to Grelin at the moment I do remember him saying something about a special training method for fire magic.¡± Alex¡¯s eyes lit up when hearing this, seeing this Trip continued to speak ¡°When I got submerged and almost drowned in the water I became, for a while, a part of that water. This can be done with fire as well.¡±


    ¡°Wait, so you want me to sit in fire, burning myself and hurting myself constantly as a training method? This will kill me!¡± Alex said, clearly unwilling


    Trip giggled seeing Alex like this, before continuing an explanation ¡°Actually in fire magic it is a bit less physically traumatising. Water magic is tranquil so it is hard to use or get to ¡®wake up¡¯, but fire magic is chaotic and can be activated in an easier way. Also in fire magic there are no hidden particles so you don¡¯t need to try and befriend them. In order to get stronger what you need to do is temper your body and soul using fire magic.¡±


    ¡°How can I do that?¡± Alex asked


    Trip¡¯s face turned serious as he said ¡°You need to become chaotic, and learn to control it. In the technique that I will explain soon you will need to quite literally inject fire within your soul and become an embodiment of chaos, from that point on you will need to learn to control it.¡±

 Chapter 36: Controlling Chaos and Goodbyes

    Chapter 36: Controlling Chaos


    Alex thought for a couple minutes before he made up his mind. He wanted to become stronger and he wanted to gain recognition from Trip. He had to learn this method if he wanted to get stronger at a fast pace. Alex was no longer afraid of pain and he was ready to sacrifice anything for strength.


    Seeing that Alex was willing to learn and use the method Trip began explaining everything that Alex would have to do.


    ¡°Alright Alex, this technique is incredibly dangerous and if you fail then you will die.¡± Trip began


    Alex felt a slight shiver run down his spine. Just the idea of death terrified him, but he knew that it was necessary to take risks in order to get stronger.


    Trip continued by saying ¡°Since fire is not technically a physical entity which remains in the world like water or earth you will need to summon fire yourself. First we will need to make a massive campfire.¡±


    ¡°How big does it need to be?¡± Alex asked


    ¡°At least 5 meters by 5 meters.¡±


    The two then went on to build a massive campfire. There were hundreds of sticks and leaves in the pile of flammable materials. Alex imagined it being on fire and while it scared him it also gave him a small amount of sick pleasure and excitement.


    The closer that they came to starting the trial the more nervous Trip became. He looked at Alex and saw pure determination and focus, which scared Trip. The fact that Alex could face such danger and still want to take the risk is incredible. However when Trip thought about it he would do and has done the same. Even when he could have drowned he took the risk because it was the best way to get stronger. Trip chuckled slightly to himself as he thought that he and Alex both had a similar attitude when it came to gaining strength.


    When they finished preparing everything Trip ordered Alex to sit on the top of the campfire and then told him what was going to happen and what he should do.


    ¡°You are going to set the campfire on fire and then you are going to close your eyes and let yourself become encased by the fire. The trick is that you cannot let the fire touch you, or else you might actually become a human torch. You need to bend the fire around you and learn ultimate control over it. This will help you gain control over the chaotic fire.¡± Trip explained


    Alex nodded resolutely. He was ready. ¡°Ok, if that¡¯s all then I will sit down at the top.¡±


    Then Trip remembered something ¡°Oh right! The more chaotic and powerful the fire in the campfire is the better results you will get.¡±


    Alex looked at Trip for a second almost as if to say, ¡®You better not have forgotten to say anything else!¡¯ before he jumped on top of the campfire.


    The moment Alex sat on top of the campfire he shot the most powerful and chaotic fire he could at the rest of the flammable material below him. When Alex saw the fire slowly creeping up the sides of the campfire he started to panic. The chaotic fire he released was simply too scary. The fire appeared to almost be screaming at Alex with murderous intent. Hundreds of thoughts went through his head, ¡®It¡¯s really hot! Will I die?¡±


    Trip saw the panic on Alex¡¯s face and got pissed. The entire time Alex had been determined and ready to face whatever came his way, and yet now he was suddenly chickening out? It¡¯s only some damn fire, why is it so scary?


    Trip couldn¡¯t stand it and he screamed ¡°WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!? CLOSE YOUR DAMN EYES, CONTROL THE FIRE, AND STOP BEING A PUSSY!¡±


    Hearing Trip tell him to not be a pussy Alex suddenly woke up. He glared at Trip for a second and then he closed his eyes. He still felt the heat and it still scared him, but not nearly as much as before. However the heat kept getting closer and it began to hurt slightly. Alex refused to let the fire touch him. He thought to himself ¡®Wait a second. This is my fire. I made this! I AM ITS MASTER!¡±


    ¡°OBEY ME!¡± he internally screamed at the fire.


    However, while Alex was facing and intense battle to Trip it seemed like nothing was happening. Alex was just sitting there and the fire was getting dangerously close. Buckets of sweat had already fallen from Alex¡¯s skin and Trip was afraid that in a few seconds those buckets of sweat would become buckets of blood and burnt skin. However Trip kind of realised something. He used water magic; if the fire started to touch Alex he could just extinguish it. He felt really stupid for not thinking of this before, but he guessed that it was better for Alex to be in the illusion that he will die if he cannot control the fire. Trip sighed when he saw that the fire began to touch Alex¡¯s legs and he shot water at it in order to extinguish it all. It was a shame. Alex could have gained so much control and power over fire magic, but it seemed that he had failed.


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    The water which Trip used was about to hit the fire, but at the last second something happened. Trip watched on in shock as the fire that was about to touch Alex suddenly receded. A fire spear was shot at the water and pierced directly through it. Trip was ecstatic, as this meant that Alex had learned to control fire magic better. However, even though Alex had pierced the water and made a hole in its original formation there was still a lot of water and it crashed upon Alex and his fire.


    Steam erupted from the campfire. When it finally cleared Trip could finally see Alex properly. It was an incredibly funny sight. Alex was completely soaked with a depressed look on his face. His soaked brown hair hung over his eyes. He slowly turned to Trip and said ¡°Are you proud of yourself?¡± Trip could no longer contain his laughter. Seeing Alex in such a sorry state he simply could not laugh anymore.


    To Alex is seemed as if Trip had used his water magic after he had achieved fire magic, so he didn¡¯t know that Trip was trying to help him.


    After this was cleared up they both realised what had really just happened. Alex had gained a high level of control over fire magic, and he displayed by created a powerful spear which was capable of completely penetrating Trip¡¯s water magic. This was something which should not be taken for granted. This display of strength definitely showed that Alex was genuinely a powerful person now.


    This kind of made Trip sad, as he had slightly hoped that Alex would see that he was weak and that he would instead stay and not leave and take the risk. At this point Trip knew that he had no right to try and be protective of Alex and he was ready to let Alex go now.


    The rest of the days passed by quickly and it was time for Alex to depart. Trip was crying. Alex was crying. Even Emer had the sniffles.


    ¡°It¡¯s time¡± Trip¡¯s uncle said


    ¡°See you in four years!¡± Alex said to Trip


    Trip tightly hugged Alex and then said ¡°Yeah, see you!¡±


    Alex walked away. His back turned to Trip. He dared not look back as he might not be able to leave anymore if he saw Trip again. They had depended on each other for so long that the idea of being all alone was terrifying for Alex. However, at the same time Alex began to feel a small amount of freedom and excitement. He was ready to become the strongest fire mage on the continent. He was ready to face the world and he would do anything to become stronger. He wanted to return in four years and show Trip how powerful he was.


    At the same time Trip was watching Alex walk away and he felt similarly. Of course he was incredibly worried about Alex, but he also felt newfound freedom and excitement. He wanted to become incredibly powerful. He could use water magic and light magic. Trip decided that he would become the ultimate dual mage that has ever and will ever exist. He wanted to proudly face Alex in a couple of years.


    Trip thought back to when they first met. He remembered an annoying little boy who was being bullied. That boy existed no longer. And at the same time the Trip of that time also no longer existed. They were different people and yet their bond stayed the same. They were brothers.


    ¡®See you in four years.¡¯ Trip thought before he turned around and walked back to the temple. He was ready to train immediately.

 Chapter 37: The Beginning of Training

    Chapter 37: The Beginning of Training


    Trip walked towards the temple with his uncle. He was ready to begin training. Even though Alex just left Trip was already incredibly excited to learn a bunch of things about light magic. However the moment he reached the temple the first thing that his uncle said was ¡°Do 100 push-ups, then 100 sit-ups.¡±


    Trip was confused by this order. What did doing physical exercise have to do with light magic? It made no sense to him. Of course he questioned his uncle in this; however he was met with a strong slap to the face. Thinking back to the kind hearted man that his uncle was just a couple of hours ago he was shocked by the change, and slightly scared of what might happen if he did not follow the instructions.


    Hours passed and Trip had only been doing physical exercises the whole time. Trip was already much more physically capable than most kids his age, but the things that he had to do where on a different level than what should be done by even adults. He never stopped moving. There was no such thing as a break in Trip¡¯s uncle¡¯s vocabulary. Trip was royally pissed off. Not so much because he was being worked to death, he wasn¡¯t afraid of heavy training, but instead because he did not know what the actual use of this training was. Trip simply could not understand what the connection was between light magic and physical training. Light magic was internal, but physical training only affected the person externally, therefore how could it help him at all? Every time Trip asked his uncle a question he would simply gain another red mark on his face.


    3 days passed and Trip had not had a single bite to eat since just before Alex left. He was starved and yet he was still forced to do these exercises. He only got 1 hour of sleep a day, and that was only if he had properly fulfilled all his tasks, which he didn¡¯t do in the last two days, meaning he has been awake for the last 48 hours while constantly having to do exercises. He could barely walk a hundred meters before collapsing and eventually he simply passed out.


    Looking at the passed out Trip his uncle smiled slightly. He hated having to act like a harsh teacher to his nephew, but he knew that at this point this was the best way to train Trip. Even though Trip was confused and angry now in a couple of months when everything will be revealed to him he will hopefully understand the significance of his uncle¡¯s actions. At this point it was important for Trip to remain completely focused on simply performing the tasks that his uncle set for him, which is why his uncle cannot tell him anything, as that would cause Trip to consciously think about his actions, which would make delay his training.


    When Trip woke up from passing out he saw that he was alone. Looking around himself he saw that he was in a tent with water and food. He quickly ate and drank everything in the tent before passing out again of exhaustion. 2 hours later he was woken up by his uncle shouting at him to continue training. Three days passed and this became the norm. Trip would train until he passed out and then he would wake up and train again. After these three days Trip only knew how to follow orders. He was simply too tired to think about anything, he could only train. Every day the workouts would get harder and harder, and in turn Trip¡¯s body became stronger and stronger.


    After two months he woke up from passing out again. He ate some food and drank all the water that he could find. However when he fell asleep he was not woken up by his uncle, but instead he was allowed to continue sleeping. For two days he slept, and when he woke up he was finally able to have some conscious thought. ¡®Where is uncle?¡¯ he asked himself. Trip stood up, dragging his hurting body out of the tent. What he saw was a table with some wine on it, two chairs by the side with a man sitting upon one. That man was his uncle.


    Trip¡¯s uncle smiled at him and said ¡°Trip! Come and drink some wine!¡±


    Trip had no idea what was happening. Could it be that his physical training had finally ended? Trip was no longer na?ve and he immediately considered this a trick by his uncle. He approached cautiously and he slowly sat down on the other chair. His uncle offered him a glass and poured him some wine. Trip never had wine before and he was shocked by the burning feeling in his throat when he drank it. His uncle laughed as Trip began to cough.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, the training is over.¡± Trip¡¯s uncle said


    Trip looked at his uncle and he immediately knew that he wasn¡¯t lying. There was something about the gentle look on his face that seemed to be completely trustworthy. Of course Trip also had some questions for his uncle.


    ¡°Why was this physical training necessary? Light magic comes from the inside, whereas physical training only affects the outside.¡± Trip said with a look of slight annoyance and anger on his face.


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    ¡°Does physical training really just affect the inside?¡± Trip¡¯s uncle questioned Trip¡¯s statement


    Seeing the confused look on Trip¡¯s face his uncle began to lecture him. ¡°Light magic comes from the soul, and the strongest part of your soul is within your heart. Physical training does not affect just you externally, but it also makes you healthy. Being in your pure physical peak means that your heart is also at its peak, which in turn makes your soul stronger as well. That is why you embarked on this training. At this point your soul should be much stronger than what it was, which means your light magic has a much stronger foundation, which is the most important part of it all!¡±


    Trip was shocked at this newfound information. He had no idea that physical training could affect the heart in any way. When he actually paid attention to it he also saw that his soul was much stronger than before, however he was worried. He had already started to understand light magic so hadn¡¯t he already passed the foundation stage? However his concerns were no longer after his uncle began to speak.


    ¡°Your current strength in light magic cannot be considered having gone further than the foundation. In light magic there are fundamentally different techniques to learn. Instead of having a bunch of individual techniques such as in water, fire, earth, or wind magic in light magic there is one general technique passed down by the family. You are in the Levis family and you have not begun to train in the Levis family technique. However, your light magic might be affected slightly by what you have learned and understood until now.¡±


    Trip¡¯s uncle continued to explain how light magic was different. ¡°Light magic is also not split into three stages like the other types, but instead has 5 stages. These being: Foundation stage, Technique stage, Mastery Stage, Comprehension stage, and Identity stage. I am in the comprehension stage, but there has not been and Identity Stage light mage for hundreds of years.¡±


    Trip was in awe of the reality of light magic. He also felt deep satisfaction in knowing the reason for all the things he was forced to do. However now he knew that it was time to begin training again.


    Trip¡¯s uncle decided that he would give Trip a week break, but Trip actually felt incredibly bored with that so in the end he only got a day long break. During this day Trip found Emer and played with him a bit. Emer had already grown to be quite large and was beginning to look rather menacing. Trip saw that Emer was incredibly intelligent and told him to train by hunting small animals in the surrounding area.


    After the day they began training again. Now it was no longer physical training, but instead Trip was to learn the Levis family light technique.


    ¡°I will give you a mental copy of the information, the moment you receive this you will immediately go to the Technique stage. This might feel slightly strange, but make sure not to panic as then the process might be done badly.¡± Trip¡¯s uncle said


    Trip had no idea what his uncle meant by giving a mental copy, but he was prepared no matter what would happen. His uncle pushed his finger on Trips forehead and signified the beginning of the process. Trip closed his eyes and felt information go into his head at an incredibly pace. However he could only understand a bit of it. What he could understand was simple instructions for a strange series of movements. Before he could look through too much of the information he started to feel weird. There was a tingling feeling all over his body. Trip stayed calm and was ready to go into the Technique stage. Eventually the feeling left and he opened his eyes. When he looked around all he saw was rock and he realised that a massive explosion had taken place.


    Trip¡¯s uncle jumped down and his eyes showed immense shock. However when he saw Trip his reaction immediately changed to a simple calm look as he said ¡°Don¡¯t worry; a little explosion is normal when increasing stages. It happens because off an intense release in soul power when going up in level, which means you should be feeling very tired so why don¡¯t you just¡­¡± He saw that Trip had already fallen asleep and stopped talking.


    He carried Trip back to the temple and put him down. He was shocked. Normally the explosion to go up from the foundation stage to the technique stage was fairly small, but Trip¡¯s was 10 times larger. This indicated that Trip¡¯s base soul power was 10 times more powerful than the average Levis family member. It was truly a terrifying thought, but it gave Trip¡¯s uncle much stronger motivation to train Trip with all his power and make sure that Trip could become strong and rebuild the Levis family.

 Chapter 38: The Beginning of Alexs Adventure

    I''m really enjoying writing the story at the moment, so I''m going to try and go back to daily chapters. I might miss a few days every week, but I''m definitely going to work on the story more than I have been.


    Chapter 38: The Beginning of Alex¡¯s Adventure


    During the month that Trip had been working hard and training Alex had been travelling. It took him a day to leave the area where Trip and his uncle were, and he was really excited to finally do things to become more powerful. However, the moment he left he realised he did not really know what he could do to become more powerful. It would be ideal if he could find a tutor in fire magic, but he was unsure whether he would want to be restrained by a teacher or if he wanted to uncover the secrets of fire magic by himself. Overall he just wanted strength; however he also didn¡¯t want to sacrifice his freedom in order to gain strength.


    Alex looked up at the sun and felt a deep connection to it. The sun gave the world colour and it helped him when he was depressed because of his family. He opened his backpack and grabbed some food, but when he grabbed the food he felt something strange come with it. He looked at the piece of meat in his hand and saw that he had accidentally grabbed a purple card with his meat. At first Alex was confused, as he had no memory of having such a card be in his possession, but later he remembered what the purple card was.


    ¡°This is the purple card that woman gave to Trip!¡± Alex exclaimed.


    Alex remembered that the strange woman gave this card to Trip because he was ¡®Interesting¡¯, but how did this get in his bag? The truth was that it was a complete accident. They used to share this backpack when they were travelling together and the purple card was always in there. Trip apparently didn¡¯t need anything in the bag so Alex just took it as it was. Alex was intrigued as to what this purple card was. The card was simply purple with a tiny emblem on the top right corner, which looked like a Y encased by a circle. He had no idea what that symbol meant, but he knew that there must be some deeper meaning behind it. Maybe it was some sort of family emblem? Alex decided that if he came upon a city then he would ask what it meant, but for now he couldn¡¯t figure out anything about it so he decided to just put it in the back of his head.


    Alex walked for three days, every day consisting of constant training, hard work, and walking. He didn¡¯t even know which way he was walking. All he knew was that he felt a need to keep moving. It was almost something that he had to do, maybe it was a need he had developed when travelling with Trip.


    On the fourth day Alex chanced upon a small village. There was a small inn, as it was close by a large road, and there were several houses and shops. Alex walked into the inn and looked around. The inn was fairly small, around two stories, which meant that there were only a limited amount of rooms. He could only hope that there was one left for him. Upon further inspection he saw that the majority of people sitting around in the inn were large burly men. It was rather funny for them to see a small child walking in with a confident swagger. Alex walked over to the reception of the inn and asked for a room.


    ¡°Sorry kid, we¡¯re out.¡± The receptionist said, with a slight mocking tone in his voice.


    ¡°Haha, if you want a room then you can fight one of us for it.¡± One burly man laughed.


    Alex¡¯s eyes lit up. It was clear that these men were warriors, which meant that as a mage he could easily defeat them. This was a perfect opportunity for to get a room. However, if he did use fire he might draw attention from people around him. He decided that he would defeat the man, but make sure that the fire would only hit him when no one else could see.


    ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll accept your challenge. To the death?¡± Alex finally spoke


    The man was shocked initially, but then he began to laugh and said ¡°Sure then. To the death! Just don¡¯t blame me when you are begging for me not to kill you.¡±


    The rest of the men all turned to see the fight. This was a funny occasion. You didn¡¯t get to see a child get killed every day.


    The fight began, and since it was a battle to the death there were no rules. The reason Alex decided to do a fight to the death was because he probably wouldn¡¯t be able to control his fire magic to a level in which he would be able to keep the other man alive. He also didn¡¯t have the same feelings as Trip when it came to death. He would not hesitate to kill, and in a situation where the other man wanted to kill him as well then he felt his actions were quite justified. The first move was made by the man, who launched a powerful punch towards Alex. However Alex was very agile and he easily dodged such a heavy attack. He used his momentum to launch forward and jumped towards the man¡¯s neck which was completely open. Alex wrapped his hands around the man¡¯s throat and launched some fire which would attack the man internally. After a couple seconds of squirming the man collapsed, dead.


    Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    Alex jumped off the man¡¯s corpse and took the key to his room. As he walked upstairs to his room he saw a thin man in black cloak smiling at him from the corner of his eye. Alex decided to pay no attention to this man and he just kept walking. The moment he reached his room he collapsed and woke up 8 hours later. In the morning he went downstairs and decided to ask the receptionist about the purple card, however he seemed to know nothing about it. Everyone was still slightly intimidated by Alex and backed off the moment he came close and attempted to speak to them. There was only one person that was clearly not afraid of him, that was the man in the black cloak.


    Alex approached the man in black. ¡°Hey, do you know what this card is?¡± he asked while holding out the purple card.


    The man immediately tried to grab it, but Alex quickly moved his hand away before saying ¡°Only look, no feel.¡±


    The man grunted angrily and only looked. While the man was inspecting it Alex inspected him. The man was quite ugly, with a slightly disfigured face and many scars on any skin that could be seen. His eyes were dark brown and were borderline black. What was truly strange about the man was that Alex couldn¡¯t hear his breath. Alex was surprised by how incredibly quiet the man was, and he seemed to understand that this man was truly strong.


    After a couple seconds the man saw the symbol and immediately got down on one knee and bowed down to Alex.


    ¡°Are you sure you don¡¯t know what that symbol is, good sir?¡± the man asked.


    Alex was surprised. How powerful of a symbol could this be to make such a powerful person bow down so easily? ¡°I do not know, a friend gave it to me. What is it?¡±


    ¡°It is a card that represents the large guild of assassins that exists in every city within the entire continent, called Daethia. This card represents a level of class within the guild and if used anywhere then everyone in the area must submit, or be willing to challenge you. However, to challenge a purple card holder could be considered suicide.¡± The man said


    ¡°How come you know this and no one else here does?¡± Alex asked. He felt that if the card was so powerful then the receptionist should at least know the symbol.


    ¡°Well¡­ Nobody has used a card like this for many years, and if they don¡¯t get a good look at the symbol then they would never be able to recognise it.¡± The man said.


    Alex then looked at the man in front of him. He believed him. However, now that the man knew that this card wasn¡¯t his he decided that this man would have to die. Alex quickly ran out and walked the large road towards the city. He assumed that the man would probably stalk him and eventually attack. So Alex made sure to prepare himself as best as he could.


    As expected not even half an hour of walking on the road later the man attacked. The purple card was clearly worth a fortune and if this man would get it then he would be drowning in women, money, and anything he could possibly want. The man was experienced, and he saw that Alex had used fire magic when killing the other man back in the inn. This man wasn¡¯t a mage, but he had killed many, and he definitely felt he had the ability to kill a small talented child.


    Alex of course did not know of this man¡¯s experience and even though he managed to dodge the initial attack by the man the second time he was not so lucky. The man used a dagger and threw it at Alex for his first attack, but when that missed he quickly picked it up and launched at Alex, stabbing him in the leg, which would cause Alex to lose mobility. Alex blindly shot fire towards the man but instead of it hitting him the man threw his cloak over the fire, causing it to dissipate, before jumping on top of Alex. The man stabbed the dagger towards Alex, but Alex managed to catch it right before it hit his face. He shifted his body weight and ended up having the man roll off of him, at that point Alex knew it was his chance to attack. He shot a continuous flame on the man¡¯s face, completely burning him. During the screams Alex did not even flinch. Eventually he stopped with the fire and smashed the man¡¯s face under his shoes. Screams erupted before eventually dying out.


    After the man died Alex sat on the ground panting. He was covered in blood and he was hurt, but he had won. A smile appeared on his face as he realised that it was rather satisfying to kill a man who deserved death. After he cleaned himself and tended to his wound he began to walk towards the nearby city again. He remembered the man¡¯s words: that the assassin¡¯s guild was in every city.


    He smiled while looking in the direction of the city and thought ¡®I¡¯m going to join Daethia!¡¯

 Chapter 39: Joining Daethia

    Kind of bad that after I say that I will try and upload daily I don''t upload for two days but whatever, here''s a chapter.


    Chapter 39: Joining Daethia


    Alex kept walking towards the city. Even though he had killed someone not even a day ago he held a large smile on his face. The truth was that Alex really didn¡¯t feel anything when he killed. There was simply nothing which made him regret his actions. Alex realised that death was a part of reality, and that he could not always live in a reality where death is considered a bad thing. It was simply a process of life, and after he heard of the death of his family he fully realised this. The reason Alex wanted to join Daethia was not because he could kill, but instead simply in order to get stronger. While Daethia was an assassin organisation it still had some of the most powerful people on the continent working there, and if he could get anything from those people, be it advice, skills, or something else, it would significantly help him develop and become stronger.


    When Alex got closer to the city he heard from other people that the city was called Gourn and was in the far east of West Hrior. Alex had heard of Gourn before, and he knew that it was one of the larger cities in West Hrior, and that it was primarily known for trade and fortification, as it bordered the country of Mistrai.


    Gourn was not a beautiful city, but it was an honest one. The governor of Gourn has been said to be a genuinely nice man and the city has very little corruption, causing the people living there to be happy. When Alex looked at the city he recognised that it was not pretty, but it had a homely feel to it. People were always smiling and welcoming to any visitors. This caused Alex to doubt that there actually would be a place for Daethia here, as there would be no one using their services. However this did not make Alex give up as he continued to search for a Daethia hideout of headquarters in the city.


    After several hours it had already turned night and Alex had made no progress. His motivation had reached close to zero. He sat slumped against a building trying to think of something he could do, before an angelic looking woman appeared in front of him. She seemed to be around 30 years old and her skin was virtually flawless. Her eyes were green and full of light and when she looked at Alex he felt his heart start to beat rapidly.


    ¡°Are you lost and have nowhere to stay, little boy?¡± she said


    Alex calmed himself down. He had never been faced with such beauty, but he has had bad experiences whenever he blindly accepted people¡¯s hospitality. Looking at her Alex decided that he would not go with her, but instead he would try to get some information from her.


    ¡°I want to join Daethia. Do you know where I need to go?¡± Alex asked


    It was a good question, because no matter what the woman answered he would not suffer. Either she would walk away in fear or she would lead him in the right direction. However what the woman actually did truly shocked Alex. She took out a knife and stabbed him. Alex saw his world turn black as he felt blood rushing out of his chest.


    ¡®Where am I?¡± Alex asked himself. He opened his eyes and looked around. What he saw was a small room. There was a large window which revealed the city and the morning sun. He saw that he was lying in a bed. When he tried to get up he felt a large pain in his chest, when he looked down he saw that there was a bandage where the woman had stabbed him. As difficult as it was to move Alex still managed to get himself up, however, when he tried to get out of bed he fell directly on his injury. The pain was immense and Alex could not hold in a loud scream of agony.


    After he screamed Alex heard a high pitched voice from next door saying ¡°Oh! It seems he is awake!¡±


    After this was said a small and incredibly cute girl skipped into the room. She looked to be around the same age as Alex. She had golden blonde hair that just barely touched her shoulders and light blue eyes. There was a large smile on her face; however, one of her teeth was missing so it looked rather funny and goofy. If Alex weren¡¯t in so much pain he would probably have fallen in love with her.


    The girl easily picked up Alex and put him on the bed. That was also the moment when the woman that stabbed him walked in. Alex could barely get out the words so he basically wheezed ¡°Y-You stabbed me!¡±


    The woman smiled at him and said ¡°Well I didn¡¯t know how serious you were about joining Daethia so I made you fall asleep for a while so I could bring you to headquarters without you knowing the way.¡±


    ¡°Wait¡­ This is the Daethia headquarters?¡± Alex asked. He had expected there would be, well, a little more. Although he had only seen this room he knew that this was not exactly a large area with a lot of people.


    ¡°Well, yeah. Of the 500 different headquarters this is ranked the lowest, but it is quite cosy with just the two of us here.¡± The little girl said


    ¡°Wait it is only you two!?¡± Alex screamed in surprise.


    ¡°Yes it is. Of course it was larger before, but with the new governor our old base got destroyed along with many of our members killed. Now let me ask you, are you serious about joining Daethia?¡± The woman spoke


    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    Alex looked around and really didn¡¯t know what to do. However, what would happen if he said no? The woman could kill him or stab him again. He decided that his answer would be a yes. However when he nodded the woman grabbed some poison opened his wound up again and poured it in there. Causing Alex to faint again.


    However, when Alex woke up this time he felt no pain, instead he saw that his wound had completely healed. He also saw that the location he was in had changed and he was in a forest. When he stood up he saw both the woman and the little girl smiling at him.


    ¡°Finally awake?¡± the woman asked


    ¡°Look,¡± Alex began with an annoyed look on his face ¡°why didn¡¯t you just bring me here in the first place without causing a major wound. Why was it even necessary to go to the other place.¡±


    ¡°That was just to give you an idea of the size and if you said you didn¡¯t want to join then we could have disposed of you easier.¡± The little girl said while smiling brightly. Something about the little girls look sent a shiver down Alex¡¯s spine.


    ¡°So why are we here then?¡± Alex asked


    ¡°Consider this your entrance exam. If you at least show us that you have potential to be trained into an assassin then we¡¯ll let you in.¡± the woman¡¯s eyes turned cold ¡°but if you do not meet our standards then we will have to throw you back on the street.¡±


    Alex nodded in understanding. ¡°Ok, what do I have to do?¡±


    ¡°Fight her.¡± The woman pointed at the little girl ¡°I¡¯ll watch and determine if you are strong enough. A little hint would be, don¡¯t fight fairly. This is the real world, you will die if you do not realise that.¡±


    Alex looked at the little girl and while he tried to imagine her as strong he just couldn¡¯t do it. She had such a cute and bright smile. She didn¡¯t seem like she could even hurt a fly.


    ¡°BEGIN!¡± The woman said


    Before Alex could even react the girl jumped towards Alex and nearly sliced him with a hidden blade. ¡®She¡¯s actually trying to kill me!¡¯ he thought. However, this did not discourage him as he immediately shot fire towards her. Even though the fire missed it was still enough to convince the woman to add Alex to their little group. To have control over fire magic at such a young age is incredible, so even if Alex could barely fight he would still have the potential to become an incredible assassin.


    After Alex missed with his fire attack the little girl literally flew towards Alex with incredible speed, nearly slicing his throat. Thankfully Alex dodged at the last second, but he was already thoroughly defeated. Since the woman was thinking about other things she almost didn¡¯t see the little girl nearly slice Alex¡¯s throat. The woman knew that the little girl wouldn¡¯t stop until she either ordered her to stop or if Alex died so she immediately said ¡°Ok, stop the fight! Kid, you have potential. Welcome to Daethia!¡±


    Alex sighed in relief. He knew that he wouldn¡¯t have lasted another minute if the fight continued. That thought terrified him. Just the idea that there was such a strong little girl in the world scared him a lot.


    ¡°Ok! Let¡¯s start with introductions. The only thing you need to know about me is that I am the boss and I will be addressed as such.¡± The woman said


    ¡°Yes boss!¡± Alex replied, catching on quickly.


    ¡°And this little girl is called Mabel. I found her in a building when she was 8. She was holding a knife and there were 3 dead bodies around her. So don¡¯t piss her off.¡± Mabel let out a little giggle when she heard the boss say that.


    Alex almost couldn¡¯t believe that someone so terrifying could exist, but he hid his fear and said ¡°Nice to meet you Mabel.¡± Which was met with a cute smile from her.


    Then Alex introduced himself ¡°My name is Alex¡­ I am 10 years old and from East Hrior. I can use fire magic.¡± He didn¡¯t really know what to say, but the boss seemed to be satisfied with his answer.


    ¡°Nice to meet you Alex. In order to get to know each other a little better we¡¯ll start training together for the next couple weeks. Before that do you have any other questions?¡± The boss said


    Alex did have a question. ¡°Why did you approach me before when I was alone in the street? What would have happened if I just pretended to be a normal kid?¡±


    ¡°Well, even though we are assassins we are not inherently bad people. In fact most of the people we kill are people that deserved to die. The reason why I approached you was because kids living on the street here get forced to live in orphanages. Half of these orphanages are real, but half of them are actually pretty much an execution factory, which they have in order to avoid overpopulation. If you hadn¡¯t answered the way you did I would have made sure you were brought to a real orphanage.¡±


    Alex was shocked. ¡®I guess this city isn¡¯t as great as I initially perceived¡¯ he thought. He shook his head and pushed all these thoughts to the back of his head. Now it was time to train and get stronger.

 Stopping For Now... Sorry

    Hi everyone!


    As you may have noticed I haven''t been posting much recently, and I am just going to say that writing the story doesn''t really interest me anymore. I am really grateful for all the people that have read and followed the story, and just having had 100 followers at one point was really mind blowing and exciting. This was my first story and I am very happy to have written it, but I think that if I were to have continued posting chapters then everyone would have noticed a drop in quality.


    I have lots of other types of genres and styles which I want to explore, and writing this story kind of got in the way of that. Anyway, I might return to this at one point, but I wouldn''t count on it.


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    Sincerely,


    WesternMage


    p.s. I also want to thank anyone that left a review or gave some feedback (even if it was negative, though I''d be surprised if you''d be reading this), because it will definitely help me when writing anything in the future and I am grateful that you took some time out of you day to type something devoted to my little story.

 Another Update

    Hello again everyone. I''ve been away from this story for a while, but I''m ready to bring it back.


    Here''s a small list of what I''m going to do:


    1. Rewrite some old chapters (only ones with major problems, contradictions, or plot holes)


    2. I will also begin writing new chapters. There is a time skip after the latest chapter so this will give me an opportunity to really focus on a different type of story.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Also, just want to clarify that I haven''t just been slacking this whole time. I''ve been busy with school and I have attempted writing other stories on different accounts. I am actually writing another story called Stained Red</a> at the moment as well so check that out if you want.


    Anyway, I hope you are as excited as I amwith this anouncement. Unfortunately I don''t have a proper schedule which I will stick to at the moment since I''m quite busy with school but expect a minimum of one chapter per week.


    Sincerely,


    WesternMage


    P.S.


    I just want to say thank you to anyone that showed support when I stopped writing initially. The messages were really nice and I just want to say thanks.

 Chapter 40: A Strange Meeting

    Chapter 40: A Strange Meeting


    A ball of light shone brightly on the top of a mountain in the middle of the night. It moved and zipped across the top of the mountain. In the strangest way the ball of light seemed to be alive. Its movements were almost human-like. Eventually the flickering ball of light seemed to get darker and darker, until there was no light left at all. The darkness of night hid the mountain peak and all that resided upon it.


    The night passed and day arrived. A different type of light began to shine on the mountain; this was the light of the sun. It revealed a boy lying down, sleeping on the mountain top. A snake was wrapped around his arm. The pair slept together so peacefully, but when the sun¡¯s rays hit the boy¡¯s eyes he woke up. This revealed a pair of beautiful blue eyes. The eyes were immensely intelligent; anyone could see that from just a simple glance. But along with that intelligence there seemed to be wisdom. He held an almost ethereal expression, one that had not been tainted by the evil of this world.


    This boy was Trip. He had grown up, in more ways than one. Four long years had passed, all of which were filled with difficult and ceaseless training. This ceaseless training had allowed Trip to reach the peak of the technique stage. Unfortunately, to break into the mastery stage was still too far away for him.


    Trip had grown, but so had Emer. Emer had become two metres long, and had a speed which could nearly match Trip. Emer had often been Trip¡¯s duel partner, and because of this they had become like brothers, even though they were a different species entirely.


    Suddenly Trip stood up.


    ¡°I must go and see uncle!¡± He exclaimed.


    The four year period was over. Trip had decided he would say goodbye to his uncle and go find Alex. He had missed Alex all too much over these last couple years. There was not a night which went by where he did not think about how they used to travel and play together.


    Trip looked at Emer, who recognised what was happening and climbed up on Trip¡¯s arm. Suddenly Trip seemed to transform into a ball of light and he shot away through the air. This was the newest technique he had learned, and it was by far his favourite. His uncle said it was called Light Travel, and that in later stages it could allow you to go so fast that the naked eye would be unable to see you.


    Using the Light Travel technique he swiftly travelled through the sky. It took not even one minute to reach the temple where his uncle resided. He landed on the ground in front of the temple softly and elegantly. A calm smile was on Trip¡¯s face. He walked into the temple and saw his uncle sitting at a table drinking some tea.


    Trip sat down across from his uncle.


    ¡°How did your battle with Emer go?¡± Trip¡¯s uncle asked.


    A cheeky grin appeared on Trip¡¯s face.


    ¡°I won.¡± He said smugly.


    Trip¡¯s uncle smiled. His eyes burned with pride. He was confident that Trip would allow the Levis family to truly grow powerful again. To have reached the peak of the technique stage at the age of fourteen could be considered to be an unchallengeable genius. However, Trip¡¯s uncle had seen too many geniuses fall while they were too young to reach their potential. He feared for Trip¡¯s future, and he feared that Trip¡¯s naivety might at one point become his weakness.


    ¡°Trip. I¡¯m giving you a week to find Alex and bring him back here. When you come back you two will go to the school.¡± He said.


    Trip nodded in understanding. He stood up to leave, but went to ask his uncle a question.


    ¡°What will happen to you when Alex and I have gone to school?¡± He asked


    Trip¡¯s uncle looked at him for a few seconds.


    ¡°I¡¯ll tell you when you get back.¡± He said with a serious look on his face.


    Trip couldn¡¯t help but feel that there was something wrong, but he ignored it for the time being. After all, if it was a problem that his uncle couldn¡¯t solve then he couldn¡¯t solve it either.


    Trip left the temple with Emer following closely behind.


    As he shot away in a ball of light Trip had some bitter thoughts. If Alex had come to find the temple like he said he would then Trip wouldn¡¯t have to fly off and find him. He had a slight worry that Alex might have forgotten about him. He thought back about how Grelin would help him with these types of worries. However, Grelin hadn¡¯t come back since that day. It hurt Trip every night how Grelin had to sacrifice himself. Trip could only hope he would recover.


    After an hour of travelling around Trip hadn¡¯t seen any sign of Alex. He was worried Alex might have gotten lost in the forest around the temple, but that was clearly not the case. Trip then began to execute plan B. Since Trip¡¯s light magic had increased and since he had such a strong bond with Alex he could possibly get a sense of where Alex might be using light magic. Unfortunately, since they were not blood related, it would not be precise, and would probably only show Trip a large estimate of where Alex might be.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    He found a good place to sit and began the procedure. He thought of the bond that he and Alex had. Trip was incredibly determined to find Alex. After focusing his mind he began to see a thin string of light appear before his eyes. He used his determination and focus and followed the loose string of light. This string could be seen as a metaphysical manifestation of the bond between Alex and Trip. Every living creature had light within them, but if one were a friend or family member then that light would form a bond. For individuals who use light magic they can see this bond.


    Trip had to follow the string of light slowly. It took an immense amount of determination just to be able to continue focusing on the string. After travelling for several kilometres he realised that this method wasn¡¯t going to help him much. It could be that Alex was hundreds of kilometres away, if he were to continue at this rate he¡¯d never find him.


    Trip sat down and sighed. Emer went to go and get some food to eat.


    ¡°How can I find him?¡± He asked himself.


    WOOSH


    An arrow shot through the air directly at Trip. Luckily Trip¡¯s reflexes were fast and he managed to put up an ice shield to block it. He immediately turned around to see where the arrow came from, but he couldn¡¯t see anything or anyone. Suddenly another arrow shot towards Trip, however, this time he was on guard so he easily dodged it. He used the Light Sense technique in order to detect any people nearby. Unfortunately the person shooting the arrows was moving too fast amongst the trees for him to get a good idea of how to get to the person. Trip knew that the only thing he could do was use a long range attack. He called upon the water particles and shot them out in every direction. Waves reached up to five meters tall as the water demolished the surrounding trees.


    Trip sensed that the person had stopped for a second in shock at the massive waves of water. This was his opportunity. He shot water directly at the person. The second the water touched the person Trip froze it. Now the person could no longer move.


    With ice cold eyes Trip slowly walked towards the half frozen person. The person was wearing a black outfit, which completely covered his or her body and face. The bottom half of the person was completely frozen. Normally this would make someone cry or scream, but there was not a whimper from the person at all.


    Trip pulled off the mask and was shocked by what he saw. It was a cute girl. She seemed to be around the same age as Trip. She had a blue eyes and long blonde hair. When she saw Trip she grinned a little bit.


    ¡°Hello Trip!¡± She said.


    Trip looked at her suspiciously.


    ¡°How do you know my name?¡± He asked her.


    She laughed in response. Trip couldn¡¯t help but feel there was something off about this girl. She was laughing when in reality he could kill her at any time he wanted.


    ¡°Why did you attack me?¡± Trip asked.


    She giggled a bit.


    ¡°I wanted to test you!¡±


    Trip began to get slightly frustrated. The arrows she shot were accurate and aimed directly at his neck. Those arrows were shot for killing, and not for simple testing.


    Trip wondered what he should do. She wasn¡¯t explaining herself at all. She was really just being annoying.


    He then remembered something he had read once. Back when he went to the elementary school of magic a teacher had accidentally misplaced one of his own books in the library. This book was about torture, primarily, water torture.


    Trip looked at the girl, but decided against it. If she could withstand being within a block of ice she wouldn¡¯t have too many problems with torture. With a smile on his face he simply walked off, leaving her there.


    As he began to walk away the expression of the girl began to worsen.


    ¡°Hey! Don¡¯t go!¡± She pleaded.


    ¡°Are you going to explain all of this then?¡± He asked.


    ¡°YES! Just let me out of this ice. It¡¯s slightly uncomfortable.¡±


    Trip broke the ice and sat down.


    ¡°Speak.¡± He commanded.


    The girl cleared her throat and began to explain everything.


    ¡°My name is Mabel and I work in an organisation called Daethia.¡± She said.


    Trip raised an eyebrow. Daethia was an assassin organisation. One would think that the girl would be too young for that.


    ¡°Anyway, I worked in the city of Gourn with my boss and Alex.¡± She said


    Trip¡¯s eyes widened. Not only did she know Alex, but she even worked with him.


    ¡°So Alex works for Daethia.¡± He said in disbelief.


    ¡°You say that as if it¡¯s a bad thing.¡± Mabel said ¡°Daethia actually helps society a lot.¡±


    Trip was not in a mood to argue.


    ¡°Whatever.¡± He said ¡°Where is Alex now?¡±


    Mabel laughed awkwardly.


    ¡°Let me tell the story first.¡±


    ¡°Fine¡±


    She smiled.


    ¡°When Alex joined Daethia I was much stronger than him. However, he seemed to have this passion for growing stronger and he improved like was no tomorrow. Whenever I asked him about it he told me about you and how strong you were and how he wanted to catch up to you.¡± She paused for a bit. ¡°Alex became stronger and stronger, until he reached a point where I couldn¡¯t even hold a candle to him in a fight. The boss saw that he had gotten much stronger and thought it was safe to leave him in charge for a bit.¡±


    Trip looked at her.


    ¡°What happened?¡± He asked with an intense look in his eyes.


    ¡°Well¡­ Alex was always very passionate about making the world a better place. He used to say that you would want it that way¡­¡± She looked to the ground for a bit ¡°One day when the boss was gone there had been a murder. It was clear that some politician had done it, but nobody dared say anything. Alex approached it like any other mission, but our boss had told us to not do anything until she came back. I advised him against it, but he wouldn¡¯t listen. And then¡­¡±


    ¡°Where is he!? What happened!?¡± Trip asked in hysteria.


    ¡°It turned out that the mission was a trap. There were a hundred well trained soldiers waiting for him there.¡±


    Trip¡¯s heart sunk. He knew Alex wasn¡¯t dead because he could still feel the slight bond, but what if he was sick or hurt!? What would he do then?


    ¡°Alex killed them all.¡± Mabel said with a serious look on her face. ¡°He then killed the politician and all his subordinates as well.¡±


    Trip was shocked. But if this was all that happened then there would be no reason for her to search for Trip and find him.


    Mabel began to speak again.


    ¡°The Daethia organisation called for his capture. They decided it was too much of a risk to keep him acting the way he did and they sent their best agents to capture him.¡±


    ¡°Where is he now?¡± Trip asked.


    ¡°He is currently being held in a high security cell in an underground Daethia base in the capital of West Hrior.¡± She replied.


    Trip looked at her for a second.


    ¡°Well, what are we waiting for?¡± He smiled ¡°Let¡¯s go get him.¡±

 Chapter 41: A Quick Journey

    Chapter 41: A Quick Journey


    The fire flickered in the night. The fire revealed a deep concern and annoyance on Trip¡¯s face. They hadn¡¯t been able to make any progress over the last day. Mabel was simply too slow. For a normal person she could be considered to be incredibly fast, but in comparison to even an intermediate level wind mage she just simply would not be worthy of comparison. Trip knew he had to find a way to fix this. He wished he could carry her and just use Light Travel to move around, but one had to be very strong to endure the speed, and while she was very nimble, Trip doubted her strength in that department.


    ¡°Do you have any ideas on how we can get to the capital within a week?¡± He asked Mabel, wishing that she might have some answer.


    She stayed silent for a while. Trip had already told her about the limited amount of time they had, but she simply couldn¡¯t travel that quickly. It was more than a hundred kilometres to the capital. Mabel gritted her teeth. She knew that she wasn¡¯t slow. It was just that Trip was so unfathomably quick with his Light Travel.


    ¡®How on earth could a normal person travel that distance so quickly?¡¯ She thought.


    When she went off to find Trip she had no idea that he had only a week to find Alex. A sick feeling rose from within her stomach. Her eyes widened as she realised that Trip could literally leave her behind at any time. She looked towards the ground in a helpless state.


    Suddenly Emer emerged from the bushes. He carried a half crushed rabbit in his mouth.


    Mabel raised her head looked over at the seemingly normal scene. However, there was something strange with the rabbit. It wasn¡¯t bleeding, which was strange for a rabbit which should have just been killed, and it seemed to have a strange purple glow through its white fur. It looked as if it had already been dead for a while.


    Mabel suddenly saw the purple glow pulsating. She jumped up immediately.


    ¡°Emer!¡± She screamed ¡°Drop it! There¡¯s something in there!¡±


    But it was too late. Emer had already swallowed the rabbit. Trip looked at Emer anxiously. Suddenly Emer made a strange coughing sound.


    Suddenly a small purple crystal shot out of Emer¡¯s mouth. There was an annoyed expression on Emer¡¯s face. It was clear it didn¡¯t taste very good.


    Trip looked up and saw the strange scene. He saw the crystal on the ground and began to approach it, but was stopped by Mabel.


    ¡°There¡¯s something strange about the crystal.¡± She said as she cautiously approached it.


    Mabel felt there was something peculiar about the purple crystal. It was pulsating and glowing. It appeared very sinister, but something about the crystal made her want to touch it.


    Trip analysed the crystal, but what was causing it? Trip could not recall his uncle teaching him about any glowing purple crystals. However, he did remember how his uncle taught him that some crystals could hold internal power of some sort.


    Mabel reached her finger out to touch the crystal. There was slight fear on her face as she poked the crystal. When she touched it nothing happened. Mabel¡¯s fear subsided. A smile appeared on her face. Nothing had happened when she touched it, so it was safe. She sighed in relief that nothing had happened.


    However, Trip wasn¡¯t completely sure that the crystal was safe. He still found it strange that the crystal was glowing.


    Mabel ignored Trip¡¯s worry. She held it casually, letting her guard down. It was a simple mistake, but the crystal took advantage of it. The crystal suddenly became much heavier in Mabel¡¯s hand. She fell to the floor with her hand pinned to the ground due to the weight. A dark essence built up within the crystal and large black vines exploded from the crystal. They wrapped around her body and pierced her skin. She felt the vines heading deeper and deeper within her.


    ¡°AAAH!¡± She screamed in hysterical pain.


    Suddenly a large flash of light shot out from Trip¡¯s hand. It hit the crystal and dissipated the vines.


    The crystal flew up in the air and fell directly into the fire. A faint layer of light covered the crystal, blocking it from doing anything else.


    Trip¡¯s eyes were cold and indifferent. He looked at Mabel, his eyes crystal and frozen.


    ¡°You idiot.¡± He said ¡°You let down your guard foolishly.¡±


    Mabel clenched her chest. She breathed heavily. Dozens of small, but deep, wounds riddled her originally smooth and beautiful skin.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± She forced out.


    Trip looked at her for a second.


    ¡°Learn from your mistakes.¡± He said ¡°Tell me. What really happened?¡±


    Mabel looked at his frozen eyes. They did not falter. She was quite embarrassed that she made such a simple and stupid mistake. She even remembered The Boss saying that no matter how innocent something looked she must never let her guard down. She bit her lip and sat up. Her body stung all over. She looked up at Trip and began to explain the situation.


    ¡°The second I let my guard down it attacked.¡± She said ¡°It did not seem to be conscious, but rather a natural reaction.¡±


    Trip looked indifferent and uninterested, but on the inside he was carefully remembering every word she said. He knew there was something up with the crystal, and he wanted to get to the bottom of it.


    ¡°Thick black vines flew out of the crystal. It penetrated my skin with almost no resistance. There were hooks on the end of the vines so they were almost impossible to rip out without doing even more damage.¡± She punched the ground in anger ¡°The vines were going deeper and deeper. I felt myself getting weaker the longer I was exposed to the vines. It was as if it was sucking out my soul.¡±


    Trip nodded. He was very pleased with the report she had delivered. It was clear that she was a professional. Even in such a terrifying situation she had remained calm. A thought entered Trip¡¯s head.


    ¡®She would be perfect for Alex.¡¯ He thought.


    The thought gave him a rather uncomfortable feeling, but he could not deny the thought. Mabel was calm and professional, and if Alex hadn¡¯t changed much, then that behaviour could help control his rash and chaotic attitude to life.


    Trip did not have much time to think about this and his thoughts were cut short by a strange feeling. It was something within his chest. It was hot and slightly painful.


    Trip¡¯s face turned blue and he suddenly couldn¡¯t breathe. He retched and something shot out of his mouth.


    It was a spherical light blue haze-like substance. It drifted over through the air towards the crystal. The haze suddenly took a different form. It became like an arrow and it shot towards the crystal. It easily broke the light covering the crystal. The crystal did not hesitate to absorb the blue haze.


    Trip looked on in shock. He grabbed a stick and pushed the crystal out of the fire.


    Mabel approached the crystal as well. They both looked at it in shock. Suddenly the crystal began to change colour. The purple slowly turned into a light blue, the same colour as the haze.


    Trip began to feel warm in his heart. There was a familiar feeling in the atmosphere. Trip felt tears falling down his cheeks.


    It was utterly and truly confusing and terrifying to Trip. He couldn¡¯t remember if he had ever cried in his lifetime. But somehow he felt so emotional, as if an old friend had returned from the dead.


    The crystal shone bright blue and a voice began to speak.


    ¡°It¡¯s been a long time.¡± It said.


    Trip recognised the voice immediately.


    ¡°Grelin!¡± He exclaimed.


    For so long Trip had blamed himself for what had happened to Grelin. Many nights he thought that Grelin was dead, and after four long years he had truly lost nearly all hope.


    ¡°Trip!¡± Grelin said, his voice was raspy but intense ¡°I must rest! But I can tell you this.¡±


    Trip realised there was no time for reunion. He dried his tears and leaned in began listening intently.


    ¡°Emer is close to a breakthrough. Send some light magic directly into his soul, and he will become much stronger.¡± Grelin said.


    The crystal dimmed. Grelin had gone to sleep again. Hopefully it wouldn¡¯t take so long for him to recover this time.


    Trip thought for a couple seconds.


    ¡°Emer!¡± He said ¡°Come here.¡±


    Emer happily obliged.


    Mabel only watched on in shock. She still couldn¡¯t comprehend what happened. Her mind was riddled with thoughts. What was the blue haze? Why could the crystal talk? Why was Trip crying? She simply could not be more confused. She decided to just stay silent for now.


    Trip pushed his finger against Emer¡¯s head. He closed his eyes and focused on trying to find Emer¡¯s soul. In an instant he found it and shot light magic directly to Emer¡¯s soul.


    Emer¡¯s body began to twitch uncontrollably. He hissed and screamed. Trip flinched a bit, but he trusted the words Grelin said and didn¡¯t lose his focus.


    After a couple of seconds Emer¡¯s body stopped moving. Trip opened his eyes and stood up. He sat down next to the confused Mabel. His ice cold eyes stared intensely at Emer¡¯s motionless body. He knew his light magic had directly gone into the big snake¡¯s soul, but he had no idea what was going to happen next.


    Mabel wanted to ask about what was happening, but the atmosphere was simply too heavy for her to even dare to say a word.


    Suddenly Emer¡¯s body began to expand. It grew to be five metres long, and half a meter in diameter. He was simply massive. But that was not all that happened. Out of Emer¡¯s head grew a large black horn. Emer opened his massive red eyes. He looked incredibly sinister. He slowly slithered over to Trip. Mabel was terrified that something might happen. Suddenly Emer licked Trip¡¯s face.


    Trip couldn¡¯t help but laugh at his silly snake. No matter how sinister or evil Emer might look, he would always be Trip¡¯s friend.


    Suddenly Emer¡¯s horn began to shake. The massive snake body lifted into the air. Trip and Mabel looked on in awe.


    ¡°You can fly!¡± Trip exclaimed.


    Emer nodded with a smug look on his face.


    It seemed that in one night all of Trip¡¯s problems got fixed, and he didn¡¯t even really do anything!


    Emer gestured for Trip and Mabel to jump on. Trip grabbed the crystal and threw it in his pocket. He then grabbed Mabel¡¯s hand and jumped on the big snake.


    ¡°HAHA!¡± Trip laughed ¡°Forward my trusty steed!¡±


    Emer tried his best to neigh, and flew off at an incredible speed.


    Mabel pinched herself, rubbed her eyes, and even slapped her own face. But she simply wouldn¡¯t wake up from the strange dream.


    ¡°It must be a dream¡­¡± She mumbled to herself.


    She couldn¡¯t believe she was riding on some crazy snake at the moment. Too much had happened in too little time. As an assassin she liked things to go according to plan, but this time around there was simply no plan. Her head was spinning as they flew off into the night.


    They flew for seven hours. The group landed just outside a small hamlet only a couple of kilometres from the capital. Determination shone upon Trip¡¯s face as the morning sun rose.


    ¡°Alex, we are coming for you.¡± He said.

 Chapter 42: Entering the Capital

    ¡°The light will come soon, my brother.


    And darkness shall be slain.


    It will be a long fight,


    that will take more than a night.


    But fear not!


    For light makes darkness shiver.


    So before you say another word


    I will pull an arrow out of my quiver.


    I will shoot towards the enemy with no remorse or fear,


    For they have abandoned humanity and we shall domineer.¡±


    Trip¡¯s eyes were cold and intense as he recited the poem.


    Mabel watched from a couple metres away. She looked at Trip fearfully. Somehow the second he had begun reciting the poem the entire atmosphere had gotten colder. However, her heart beat uncontrollably at the intensity of the poem.


    In an attempt to break the cold she spoke.


    ¡°Where did you learn that poem?¡± She asked.


    Trip looked at her, his eyes remaining cold and intense.


    ¡°It was the poem the Levis family recited as they wiped out a branch of dark magic users.¡± Trip said ¡°Apparently the dark magic users had captured several members of the Levis family and had been torturing them for information.¡±


    Mabel gulped at how dark the story was.


    ¡°The poem was created by my grandfather.¡± Trip continued ¡°My Uncle told me that his heart flooded with determination whenever he heard the poem.¡±


    Mabel connected the dots.


    ¡°Do you think we¡¯ll have to fight anyone?¡± She asked.


    However, Trip did not need to respond. She knew the answer to that question, she just hoped that Trip was strong enough to rescue Alex.


    Trip turned and faced Emer.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to need you to stay here when we enter the capital.¡± He said.


    Mabel jumped up in protest.


    ¡°Absolutely not! Can¡¯t you see how powerful he is!¡± She shouted ¡°He could help us!¡±


    Trip smiled lightly. However, his eyes showed annoyance.


    ¡°Interesting, a professional assassin with no concept of stealth.¡± He said ¡°Maybe I would like to remind you that while we will not go by unnoticed, it would not help if we had a massive snake with us!¡±


    Trip¡¯s voice was full of anger towards the end of the sentence.


    Mabel looked down on the ground. His cold words had pierced her like ice picks, and worst of all: she could not retaliate.


    ¡®Stay calm! Stay calm!¡¯ She told herself.


    She knew if she annoyed Trip any more now then he would send her on her way. She tried her best to understand his situation, he was probably incredibly stressed about only having a week¡¯s time limit to save his best friend. She knew as well as anyone that if something went wrong everything would fall apart.


    ¡°When do we leave?¡± Mabel asked after calming down.


    ¡°At nightfall.¡± Trip replied.


    Mabel nodded.


    She lied down on the floor and closed her eyes.


    ¡®I have 3 hours of sleep¡­ That should be able to get me to peak condition.¡¯ She thought.


    The time passed quickly, and so did the setting of the sun. The night had already come.


    A warm hand touched Mabel¡¯s shoulder.


    ¡°Alex¡­¡± She mumbled in her sleep.


    Her eyes opened, but rather than Alex she was greeted by the numbing eyes of Trip.


    ¡°Wake up.¡± He said.


    She reluctantly stood up.


    ¡°Were you watching me sleep?¡± She teased Trip.


    He didn¡¯t react.


    ¡°You say that as if you wanted me to.¡± He said as he walked towards the capital.


    Her face got bright red with anger.


    ¡°Idiot.¡± She mumbled under her breath as she ran to catch up to him.


    They ran until they reached the outside wall of the capital.


    ¡°Well, we¡¯re lucky they¡¯re not expecting us.¡± Trip said.


    He looked up at the city wall and saw that the guards were asleep.


    Mabel had told him previously that they documented all people entering and leaving the city. Trip preferred to enter with no difficulties, and he wasn¡¯t in the mood to explain why he didn¡¯t have any documents.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Luckily, the guards did not pose any threat and they quickly entered the city, completely unnoticed.


    So far Trip hadn¡¯t been particularly impressed by the capital. The walls were not high, and the guards obviously amateurs. Getting in had been simple. However, when he entered the city his initial impression changed.


    There was so much light, almost as if it was daytime. There were lanterns everywhere, lighting up the bustling crowd. There were people drinking, laughing, and playing games. Trip smiled at the sight, he was almost tempted to go and join in with the fun.


    However, before any of those thoughts took fruition, he felt a leer come from behind him.


    ¡°You do know that¡¯s the red lights district, right?¡± Mabel asked, unimpressed by Trip¡¯s infatuation.


    Trip looked at her, confused, he asked ¡°What is a red lights district.¡±


    Mabel couldn¡¯t be bothered explaining she grabbed him by the ear and dragged him into an alley.


    ¡°Is this the way to the headquarters?¡± Trip asked.


    ¡°See those signs.¡± Mabel said as she pointed to a sign on the wall.


    Trip looked at the sign intently. It was an M with a Y merged into it.


    ¡°What does it mean?¡± Trip asked, curiously.


    ¡°It is one of the symbols Daethia uses.¡± She said ¡°The Y and M represent what the victim asks before they die.¡±


    ¡°What do they normally say before they die?¡± Trip asked.


    Mabel walked over and pushed her hand against the imprint. A twisted smile appeared on her face.


    ¡°They say: Why me?¡± She said ¡°Isn¡¯t it funny. It¡¯s as if they don¡¯t even recognised their own sins before they die.¡±


    Trip looked at her, somehow she seemed a lot more dangerous than normal when she looked like this. He had figured she must have a strange and horrible past. Why else would such a young child join an assassin organisation?


    Mabel¡¯s twisted smile faded.


    ¡°Trip, can you figure out exactly where Alex is?¡± She asked ¡°I¡¯d prefer to not go through the headquarters.¡±


    She knew they wouldn¡¯t just be able to waltz into the headquarters of Daethia, and she had seen some of his light magic before, so she thought that he might be able to find his exact location.


    Trip smiled.


    ¡°We¡¯re so close.¡± He said ¡°I can already feel his soul.¡±


    Trip guided Mabel a couple hundred meters to an even darker alleway. Then he stopped.


    ¡°Here we are.¡± He said.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Mabel asked.


    She could only see the corners of a dark alleyway.


    ¡°He¡¯s underground.¡± Trip said.


    Mabel nodded in understanding.


    ¡°So, how are we going to get down there?¡± She asked.


    ¡°We can¡¯t.¡± Trip said.


    Mabel started getting a little bit annoyed.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± She asked, trying her best not to reveal any anger.


    ¡°But we can go through here.¡± He said.


    Immediately after he said that he closed his eyes. He took a deep breath. Suddenly, his eyes opened, they seemed even more blue than normal.


    Mabel blushed a bit as he looked at her.


    ¡°Hand me that.¡± He said while pointing at the water satchel she was holding.


    She threw it to him.


    He emptied the water onto a large metal plate stuck to the dark alleyway wall. While the metal plate was still covered with water Trip snapped his fingers. All the water immediately turned into ice.


    Mabel was impressed, but she didn¡¯t show any emotion. She didn¡¯t want to give him the satisfaction.


    Trip suddenly snapped his fingers again. The metal plate covered with ice shattered into hundreds of pieces. Behind the plate there was a small tunnel.


    Trip entered, and signaled for the shocked Mabel to follow him.


    ¡°You just that did that to show off, didn¡¯t you?¡± She asked.


    Trip laughed a bit.


    ¡°Maybe.¡± He said mysteriously.


    Mabel was slightly surprised by the change in behaviour. Just a couple hours ago Trip had been intense and cold, but now he was laughing and even teasing her. She wondered what was going on inside his head.


    In reality Trip was just getting more and more excited. In his mind he would grab Alex, maybe fight a few people, and then he¡¯d be out of there. Then he could finally speak with his friend. It was something he was very excited for. He just hoped it wouldn¡¯t be too much trouble fetching Alex.


    The tunnel got darker and darker, but Trip used a bit of light to illuminate everything.


    The tunnel eventually merged with what appeared to be an even larger tunnel, however, this one at least looked professionally built.


    ¡°This seems like the dungeon.¡± Mabel said.


    ¡°They put Alex in a dungeon!?¡± Trip exclaimed in shock ¡°He¡¯s not that dangerous.¡±


    Mabel smiled.


    ¡°Maybe not compared to you, but to us¡­ he is amongst the strongest in the younger generation.¡± Mabel explained.


    They traversed their way through countless turns and stairs. It was dark, and there were no lanterns or torches on the walls. However, Trip could feel they were getting closer, and his heart began to beat faster and faster. Suddenly, he felt something. He felt as if he was being pulled forward. He looked at his chest and saw a light shining through his clothing. He was perplexed by what was happening, but the light seemed to pull him towards Alex at an even faster pace.


    Mabel struggled to just keep up.


    ¡°Trip!¡± She shouted ¡°Slow down!¡±


    However, it was not necessary. They had reached Alex.


    Trip stood faced in front of a large metal gate. It was at least 5 metres tall and 4 metres wide. Trip looked tiny in comparison to the large gate. However, that did not stop his entry.


    In one movement he used shot light and water at the gate, decimating it completely. He jumped into the room, followed by a sweating and exhausted Mabel.


    The second Trip and Mabel had entered the room they felt heat. It was unbearably hot. A bunch of torches suddenly lit up. It revealed the room in its entirety.


    The room was absolutely massive. In very centre sat a charred teenager. His hair was black and his eyes green. His eyes were dull and unresponsive, but his face still looked incredibly guilty. He wore no clothes other than some undergarments. It was Alex.


    Trip¡¯s heart filled with pain as when he saw his best friend in such a state. However, he knew he could not rush over recklessly. There had to be some sort of trap, otherwise Alex would have already escaped.


    A woman suddenly appeared out of a dark spot in the room. She smiled seductively at Trip.


    ¡°Are you the friend I¡¯ve heard so much about over the last couple days?¡± She asked.


    ¡°Boss!¡± Mabel screamed in shock ¡°Why are you here?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m his prison guard.¡± She said.


    Mabel could only look confused. What reaction could she have? Her boss was the only one who cared about her before Alex came. Why on earth was she his guard


    The Boss smiled at Mabel.


    ¡°Look, Mabel.¡± She said ¡°Alex will be fine, he got out of hand and he¡¯s getting what he deserves.¡±


    Trip looked at the seductive woman standing by Alex.


    ¡°I don¡¯t care what your reasoning is, but I suggest you move out of the way.¡± He said.


    His voice was cold and emotionless. His eyes shone with intent to kill. He would not let her block his way.


    ¡°Ooh, those eyes could kill.¡± She said ¡°Unfortunately, if you want to take Alex then you¡¯re going to have to come and get him.¡±


    A smirk appeared on Trip¡¯s face.


    ¡°Well then.¡± He said as he threw off his top layer of clothing ¡°It looks like someone overestimated their own ability.¡±


    She frowned.


    ¡°Typical child.¡± She said ¡°It seems that you do not understand that you are out of your depth here.¡±


    Trip¡¯s face revealed a twisted smile. His teeth bared as he whole-heartedly laughed.


    ¡°Say that to me again¡­¡± He began ¡°When you are lying on the floor. When all your bones are broken. When your entire soul has been destroyed and decimated. Only then will you understand that you are out of your depth.¡±


    Slight worry appeared on her face.


    ¡°Do not worry brother. For the light has come.¡±

 Chapter 43: Rescue Mission Part 1 - Saving Alex

    Chapter 43: Rescue Mission Part 1 - Saving Alex


    Light shone upon the Capital of West Hrior. The men had just departed from their homes and were ready to work. They had had a long night, and they were slow to get up, but in order to provide for their families they had to work. After all, the look their child gave them whenever they returned from work made it all worth it. All of these men would agree with the statement ¡°It¡¯s the little things that make life worth living¡±. However, there is only one problem with living your life in such a way. Because it only takes one big thing to rip away all the little things that you have experienced throughout your life. The laughter of your child or a kiss from your wife, the entire reality you live can and will one day no longer be the same. Your wife might die, your child might fall sick, or a large disaster might happen. Regardless of what might happen you will have to endure times where it seems that all the little things no longer exist. Of course, you can recover, but you will never forget. Your heart will never rest again.


    The morning light shone upon the Capital of West Hrior. The men had just departed from their homes and were ready to work. However, what these men did not know is that today they would not see the smile of their child, nor would they receive a kiss from their wife. Their little pleasures would be ripped away, and they would forever live in pain.


    __________________________________________________________________________________


    ¡°Do not worry brother. For the light has come.¡±


    Trip stared at The Boss.


    ¡°Before I attack.¡± He said ¡°What is your real name?¡±


    The Boss was a little startled. Why would he want to know her real name?


    ¡°Dala.¡± She said.


    ¡°Well then, Dala, I know that you might not think that you have done anything wrong.¡± Trip said ¡°But, you shall be punished nonetheless.¡±


    Dala took a deep breath. She had experienced many situations where her opponent was cocky, but¡­ This time it was a bit different. This kid in front of her was too confident. A small urge to flee built up within her mind. However, Dala was a professional, and she would not run away and disappoint her employers.


    However, even though there was an urge to flee she was not afraid. Her revealing, skin-tight, leather clothing allowed her optimum movement, and the two blades she carried had an excellent track record. She stretched her body and got in position. She could see by the posture Trip was taking that he was going to attack first, so she took a defensive stance. Assassins tended not to have the greatest defences, as they did not require it, but Dala had spent a large part of her life as a beautiful woman. And in this savage world she had learned to defend before she ever learned how to offend. She wiped any doubts from her mind and smiled lightly, she had forgotten that these dangerous moments were the ones she enjoyed most.


    She retrieved the two blades from her sash. She held her back straight and put her feet in the direction of Trip. She held the blade in her right hand directly before her chest, in anticipation of an attack, the other she kept in her left hand, hidden behind her back.


    Trip noticed the position, and took his own position. He used no physical weapon, but his position represented that of sword. His hands were clasped together in front of his chest. His feet were in position to run.


    ¡®On the count of three.¡¯ He thought.


    ¡®1¡¯


    ¡®2¡¯


    ¡®3¡¯


    ¡®GO!¡¯


    Trip shot forward at a speed unknown to man. His clasped hands began to shake. The distance to Dala was not far, and the speed was great. Trip had never gone this fast before. He felt time slow down as his body shot towards her ready, exposed blade. However, Trip would never allow the metal of the blade touch his skin. As he approached closer and closer he twisted his back. He slid right past the blade and attacked. His clasped hands began to glow and shake uncontrollably. As his hands reached Dala¡¯s motionless head he released his hands. A blinding light was released, and nothing could be seen. The blinding light covered Dala completely.


    Trip sighed. He knew that the pressure from his hands made the light explode at a massive amount of pressure. No normal person could withstand such an attack. Trip looked towards Alex. His heart filled with emotion.


    ¡®Finally!¡¯


    Alex suddenly looked up from the centre of the room. He saw Trip looking at him, but his eyes were not filled with happiness. His eyes were filled with shock and worry. He tried to open his mouth to shout, but no sound came out.


    Trip looked at Alex with worry. Why was he reacting this way? Trip saw that Alex¡¯s eyes were looking behind him. Trip turned around. He saw long blonde hair and blue eyes. However, there was no emotion in the eyes. The eyes contained no empathy.


    Alex held his head low.


    ¡®That¡¯s the thing about Mabel.¡¯ He thought ¡®She is a superficially normal girl, but anything that threatens The Boss or her makes her go completely insane.¡¯


    Suddenly Alex heard a scream. He looked up and saw an arm on the ground. It was frozen and cracked in three places.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Alex looked up and saw Trip standing with a cold expression. Mabel slumped on her knees before him. She held her head with her left arm as she screamed in pain and shock. Alex¡¯s eyes widened. A black, fleshy wound replaced where her arm would normally be.


    Suddenly, another crunching sound was heard. Another arm fell to the floor. This one clearly ripped off. Trip stood in front of Mabel. Both of her arms were gone. She had been professionally incapacitated.


    ¡°I¡¯ll let Alex decide what to do with you.¡± Trip said angrily ¡°Scum.¡±


    Mabel¡¯s body shook. Everything had been fine until The Boss turned up. How on earth could she betray the one person who truly cared for her? When she saw The Boss being hurt she could not do anything but attack Trip. She could only hope her precious boss was still alive.


    At that moment, as if to answer Mabel¡¯s prayers, a blade appeared from the chaos. It shot towards Trip¡¯s heart, soaring like an eagle ready for a kill.


    Trip saw the blade late. He could not catch it or move out of the way. In a last ditch attempt for protection he created an ice shield in front of himself. However, it could not stop the blade, but it could slow it down. The blade pierced through the shield, but still dug an inch into his chest.


    He grunted a bit, and prepared for another attack.


    He felt a whoosh of air behind him. He turned around immediately and saw the dishevelled image of Dala rushing towards him. Her eyes expressed pure anger and hatred towards Trip.


    Trip looked at the approaching force calmly. He knew people full of hatred, while sometimes more powerful, were often more prone to mistakes. He analysed Dala¡¯s attack. In a stroke of luck he saw that her feet were off balance.


    He shifted his body to the right.


    ¡®There he is! I¡¯ve got him!¡¯ Dala thought.


    Suddenly, Trip retracted his movement. He jumped shoulder first into the off balance body of Dala.


    ¡®SHIT! It was a feint!¡¯


    Dala¡¯s entire body was completely off balance. She had no way of striking Trip.


    Trip¡¯s body collided with hers. His shoulder barged into her abdomen. Their bodies crashed into the ground. Dust rose from the ground covering the scene.


    Alex looked towards the dust cloud. He tried to see what had happened.


    Suddenly, he heard a gut-wrenching sound, and another one. The sounds repeated for a while, only stopping after the sound had been repeated ten times.


    The dust settled.


    Trip sat above the Dala¡¯s body. His fist was covered in blood. Blood, teeth, and skin lay on the floor.


    Alex looked at Dala.


    Her face had been completely disfigured. It was obvious that Trip had struck her repeatedly. She was missing teeth and skin. Alex saw that she was still alive, but she was unconscious.


    Trip suddenly stood up. He wiped the blood off his fist and he walked towards Alex.


    Alex was weak, but upon seeing his best friend he felt the strength to stand.


    They stood facing each other.


    ¡°You¡¯ve grown.¡± Trip said.


    ¡°So have you.¡± Alex replied.


    ¡°I heard you became an assassin.¡± Trip said in disapproval


    Alex scoffed.


    ¡°Oh please, look at the bodies over there.¡± He said ¡°You did that.¡±


    A single tear fell down Trip¡¯s face.


    ¡°I¡¯ve missed you.¡± He said.


    They shared a hug that could only be experienced by two brothers. At this point it was irrelevant that they weren¡¯t related by blood. They were brothers, through and through.


    Trip helped Alex walk towards Mabel, who was still in shock.


    ¡°Can you wake her up?¡± Alex pointed towards Dala.


    Trip obliged.


    He headed over to Dala and spurted some water on her face. Trip held her in a restraining position. Though, to be fair, she wouldn¡¯t have been able to move regardless.


    Dala opened her eyes to the image of Alex holding Mabel. Alex used Dala¡¯s blades and pressed them against Mabel¡¯s throat.


    Alex cleared his throat. He was ready to speak.


    ¡°Mabel.¡± He said ¡°I liked you. I really did. But I know something about you. Something that I wish I didn¡¯t know.¡±


    ¡°I know that you are the most insincere person in the world.¡± He said with a tinge of pain in his voice.


    ¡°All those semi-flirtatious acts, all those hugs and smiles¡­¡± He smiled ¡°They were all fake, a mere act.¡±


    Mabel¡¯s eyes were already dead. She probably didn¡¯t even understand what he was saying anymore.


    ¡°The second I became stronger than you I knew.¡± He said ¡°I could feel hatred, because I was being prioritised by the boss.¡±


    ¡°Do you really think I didn¡¯t notice?¡± He paused for a bit ¡°All those times you tried to hurt me and poison me? Wait! I remember the exact number.¡±


    He cleared his throat.


    ¡°You tried to poison my food 26 times; you tried to murder me in my sleep 11 times, and every time you played it off as a prank.¡±


    Alex looked Dala directly in her eyes.


    ¡°And you let all of this happen.¡± He said to her ¡°You are a terrible assassin. You let your emotions control you. You were blinded by your love for her.¡±


    ¡°You know what?¡± Alex smiled twistedly ¡°Maybe it¡¯s my turn to play a little prank.¡±


    He slowly began to push the blade into Mabel¡¯s throat. Mabel didn¡¯t react. Her lips were dry and her face was devoid of colour. Her originally beautiful eyes contained no emotion. And yet, tears continuously streamed down from her eyes.


    Dala saw the blade slowly push deeper into Mabel¡¯s throat. Her face flushed red with hatred.


    ¡°DON¡¯T YOU FUCKING DARE!¡± She screamed ¡°I¡¯LL KILL YOU! DO YOU HEAR ME?¡±


    But Alex ignored her screams. He dug the knife deeper into Mabel¡¯s throat. Her frail body started to spasm uncontrollably. Large quantities of blood started pouring out of her the wound. She made a horrible choking noise.


    ¡°Oh! Looks like she can¡¯t breathe¡­¡± Alex said with fake concern.


    Mabel tried to breathe, but she couldn¡¯t. Her face turned blue. It took only a minute before she collapsed on the ground. She was dead.


    Trip looked at her body. It was a pity, to see such a fine assassin succumb to her own childish emotions. He had heard Alex¡¯s explanation, but he still worried. He worried that Alex might have acted rashly, and that he would regret it in the future. There was a hint of disbelief on Trip¡¯s face. During the entire time they had travelled together she had seemed normal and friendly. They had even joked around a bit. He had never seen her as a bad person; maybe she just cared so much for her boss that she would do anything to gain her favour or try to save her.


    Dala could only look on in shock. She had seen many things as an assassin, but she had raised Mabel from a young age. She knew Mabel hadn¡¯t always been the most stable of people, but to see her dead. She had no words.


    ¡°Did she have to die?¡± Trip felt slightly uncomfortable.


    Alex smiled, but his eyes were moist.


    ¡°There is something I realised in my time as an assassin.¡± He said ¡°Never show mercy to anyone who does not deserve it. She did not deserve it.¡±


    Trip had more questions, but he decided to save it for later.


    ¡°What should we do with her?¡± Trip asked, pointing at Dala.


    Alex pondered for a few seconds.


    ¡°She never purposefully hurt me, and she even helped me get stronger.¡± He said.


    ¡°So, let her live?¡± Trip asked.


    Alex nodded.


    ¡°Can you make people forget things with your light magic?¡± He suddenly asked.


    ¡°No.¡± Trip said bluntly ¡°Why?¡±


    Alex looked a bit disappointed.


    ¡°No reason, just knock her out and let¡¯s just leave her here.¡± Alex said ¡°By the way. I am a little tir-¡°


    Alex suddenly collapsed on the ground.


    Trip took care of Dala and looked towards Alex, who was sleeping soundly. However, the scars and burns on his body worried Trip. What sort of things happened during these four years?


    ¡°I guess I¡¯ll have to carry you¡­¡± He groaned, but there was a smile on his face.