I continued walking on the stone path, which was at least a little brighter than walking in the forest, due to the almost-full moon. After some minutes I looked around me to see if I was alone and able to use my teleportation artifact.

Again, I thought I saw the figure that was exiting the university, now on the same path as me and noticeably closer. I accelerated my pace but did not want to appear suspicious. For all I knew, this could just be a traveler or a merchant.

But then again, merchants did not go out on foot without wares and travelers did not generally wander at night. I felt a hint of fear but suppressed it. I was probably overthinking it. Still, I did not slow my pace down.

Some minutes later, I turned my head back to see if the figure was still following me and to my relief, whoever it was, wasn’t there anymore. With my head turned back, I suddenly stopped walking, but not of my own volition. I was forced to, as my body hit something stiff, but not hard enough to be a tree or a large rock. I fell backward and raised my head to see what had suddenly stopped my progress.

“Are you in a hurry, boy?” came the low raspy voice of the man who was now towering over me.

How did he suddenly appear in front of me?

He was a very tall but thin man, wearing full-body, studded leather armor in the same brown color as his eyes and hair. He looked like he was well into his fourth decade and clean-shaven.

Name : Dane Folcer

Race : Light Elf

Class : Mage

Level : 19

I didn’t like this at all, but I was not completely sure of his intentions, so I decided to play it safe.

“I’m sorry, sir,” I replied, in the most innocent tone I could muster, “I didn’t see you.”

“You certainly didn’t,” the big man said, in a tone that didn’t sound irritated at all. “Now what would a young man like you be doing outside of university grounds at this late hour?”

“I’m not studying at the university, sir. People often confuse me for a student, but I’m actually a merch-”

“My, my, Adel. Lying is not your forte now, is it?” the now menacing man interrupted, with a smile.

If he knew who I was, there was probably only one way left out of this.

I immediately took a fighting pose, crossed my hands in the oversized sleeves of my robe and drew my dual longswords that were hidden underneath.

“You’re quick to react!” the man said, without even a hint of worry in his voice. “But why would you even bring a sword to a spell fight?”

I expected him to launch a magical attack at me, but instead he just rubbed his face with his left hand and it changed. It transformed into one that I knew very well.

Name : Haad Leonil

Race : Human

Class : Divine Adjudicator

Level : 55

“Haad!” I exclaimed, happy to see him but confused all the same.

“Hello, little one.” Suddenly a long staff with a large diamond on its top appeared in his right hand.

The weapon had a light blue glow which meant it was probably enchanted to +10 or +11, something I had not seen so far, not even from our parents.

“I was looking for you,” I started saying, though I did not yet feel safe to sheathe my swords, since his weapon was drawn.

This was my brother in front of me, and yet it was certainly not the brother I remembered. The Haad I was seeking was kind and always smiling. The man who stood before me now had a sinister look in his face.

His eyes were narrowed, his eyebrows seemed frozen in a perpetual angry position and his cheekbones were prominent and sharp.

I haven’t seen him for years, but has he really changed that much?

His dark brown hair was now cut short and a giant Carta Magica was strapped on his back, partially hidden by his extremely wide shoulders.

“Were you now?” he asked, in a mocking tone. “We were searching for you too.”

As soon as he finished his sentence, he began casting. I didn’t recognize the spell, but the fact that he was pointing his staff toward me triggered my reflexes. I only hoped that his incantation would be a 16-word one or longer. That was the amount of time I would need to reach him.

To my surprise, his spell was only a 4-word one. It turned out that his pointing the staff toward me was just a decoy, since he simply teleported some sixty feet away from me. This spell did not need any somatic components, but he had now put enough distance between us to cast his spells without worrying about me interrupting him. This was bad, really bad.

Haad was very experienced, and I was definitely not fit to go against a battlemage. Much less one of the three paragons, and especially my brother. Haad had all the right qualities to climb the ranks of the Holy Order quickly.

His parents were archpriests, he had received an extreme amount of mana during his liturgy, he was diligent and ambitious. He’d ascended to archpriesthood when he was twenty-five and now, ten years later, he had fought enough battles and met enough people to become the paragon of Archon Gideon. Haad was the right-hand of one of the three heads of the Holy Order.

Not knowing what to do, I rushed toward him once more as he chanted a spell that I actually recognized. It was a 32-word incantation that would bind me in magical shackles.

I tried to move out of the way the moment he released it upon me, but it made no difference. The spell was spreading itself far too wide for me to avoid. I covered my face with my arms while I was enveloped by his mana, but I did not stop running.

His spell was nullified. My swords had absorbed it.

“Those are some nice knives you have there, boy,” my brother shouted as I reached him again.

His next spell was as short as his first, and also unknown to me, though having a renewed confidence, I didn’t falter but instead strode even faster, my swords held high.

This spell though was not aimed at me but rather beneath me. Without noticing it, the ground became so uneven that, not only did I trip myself up, but I also sprained my ankle.

I tried to pick myself up but to no avail. The pain was so strong that I could not put the slightest of pressure on my leg. Seeing that, the tall man who once was my brother started walking toward me.

“There, there,” he said, in a disgustingly condescending tone. “Now you won’t run around.”