Part 1

- RAPHAEL BLUESCALE’S POV -

The setting sun was casting soft and watery shadows painted in red and pink as it’s rays crashed with calm violence over the glass of the window in front of me. The room, now submerged into a completely different world where yellows, blues, and purples fight a neverending war, looked as if it was extracted directly from the canvas of a surrealistic painter. The atmosphere, distorted by the amusing colors, seemed to resemble my own mood. It was a sad day yet also joyous and my heart couldn’t seem to choose which side to pick. Come next morning, the last day me and my brother would spend at the academy would make it’s entrance. It was a day, under the traditions of the academy, solely dedicated to music, feasts and parties for students and students only. It’s a day every fifth-year student eagerly waits for, as I too waited for that day with thrilling anxiousness. Alas, the coming of that day would have also meant that I could never again spend another day as a student between the academy walls. The thought pained me. There was so much more that I wanted to learn. On the other hand, the feeling of wanting to go back home, hug my father and mother, and see how much my precious little sister had grown, that too had it’s fair heavy wait inside my whirl of thoughts.

With my mind jumping from one side to the other I sat back on the wooden chair in front of the spacious desk littered with books, papers and ink stains. I grabbed a clean sheet of rough, dirty ocher paper and tested the weight of the quill in my hand. I always envied the rich guys in my classes, all taking notes with fancy quills made of red, purple and silver-like feathers, with the perfect weight and a nib that never breaks or loses it’s sharpness. I tried to look for a cheap one with those characteristics, since I did a lot of writing, but the lowest price I could find was two and a half gold coins. Not like I didn’t possess such an amount, it was just too outrageous of a price to purchase a single quill. Thus I swallowed my envy and swore to satisfy my greed once I had the means to do so.

With a sigh, I focused back on the clean piece of paper and gently dipped the quill in the inkwell to my right. I hesitated, thinking about how to start the letter. It was never easy for me to do so- talking through letters- since there were way too many things I wanted to say and too few means to express them. Nonetheless, I lightly placed the tip of the quill on the top left-most corner and began writing my letter.

Dear father, mother and sister.

How are you? It has been a long time since you’ve received a letter from us. I’m sure you are full of questions and worries but there is no need, we are fine. It’s just that these past two months have been very busy. With the preparations for the dojo’s exit test and the academy’s final event, our days have been filled to the brim.

Nonetheless, we are fine. We are eating meals three times a day, attend most lessons, bathe almost every day and sleep a suitable amount of hours. Especially the last week has been…

Without care for the passing time, I poured all the information my family missed inside that sheet of paper. It was satisfying to loosen the bridles of my memory for the pleasure and curiosity of my family. By the time the shadows and reflexes in my room began to darken and lose their dreamy colors, I had reached the very last part of the letter.

…

I’m writing this letter two days before our departure from Alamara. Tomorrow is the last day me and Lucas will spend at the academy and it’s tradition to hold feasts with music and dances. Not only that but it’s also used as a means for those who look for suitable work after five years in the academy to speak to those who offer it. On that note, it’s funny to mention that both me and Lucas already received some requests. It seems that during the final even Lucas left such an impression that, after the event, a knight of a visiting noble decided to challenge him! It’s unheard for a knight to challenge a student and it’s even more unheard for that student to beat the knight! But well…Lucas is an adept-tier swordsman so he could already be considered knight level. In light of that duel, the nobleman of that knight was soo impressed that offered Lucas to take him to his region and make him a squire. Father, you should’ve seen the triumph in his face as he heard that nobleman, though he did refuse in the end.

In my case, I received two proposals. One was from the “Rebuilt magic tower”. They said they were impressed by my creative use of magic and wanted to invest in my abilities but it all seemed too much of a hassle since they made it clear, in a roundabout way thought, that I would be used mostly as a pawn. The other was from a shady group, I don’t even recall the name, it had something to do with a gate and the moon maybe but I didn’t bother to learn the name. A hooded man spoke to me about it but he seemed too on edge for it to be a safe or legal work. I refused both of them.

By the time you will receive this letter we’ll already be halfway through the trip to Migur. Lucas wanted to stay a bit longer but I was able to convince him otherwise. Five years are too long of a time not to see our family.

The trip will take a little longer than two weeks, probably there will be a delay of about three to five days since we decided to change a little the route. This is all so that mother can sleep peacefully. I know she’s worried about the war up north so, even though it’s unlikely for troops to come as low as Migur, we’ll take a detour from the main road and make a few stops in nearby villages. The highest danger we’ll face will probably be wolves and bears so there is no need to worry about us.

We hope to see you all soon and in good health.

From Lucas and Raphael Bluescale.

I finished writing it and read it once again to make sure no error was left unchecked. Satisfied with the result I let out a sigh of relief and was about to put down the quill when Lucas abruptly barged into the room. It startled me the fact that he greeted me with such a low tone, very much unlike his usual self, that I turned around to check if it was really my brother the one who entered the room. I recognized him on the spot but I noticed some changes. His hair was all ruffled up and a pulsing, red print of a hand- with all five fingers perfectly clear- spanned across the right side of his face. His usual debonair expression turned into some kind of foul mood. The upset was as readable as a child’s book on his face.

“I guess it didn’t go well, did it?” I said as I stood up from the chair and went into the kitchen to prepare some tea.

“...I don’t understand” Was my brother’s reply with a very confused and sad tone of voice.

“What do you mean you don’t understand!?-” It was soo obvious to me yet that fool was still clueless about it? I was in no position to lecture him but hearing him saying that made my blood boil for an instant “-*sigh* sometimes I truly worry whether you think before you speak or that sword of yours has completely eaten your brain”

“Oh shut up, you stuck-up scholar! Have you already finished the letter?” Asked Lucas raising his neck from the pillow and looking towards the still messy desk.

“What do you think? ‘ Course I finished it! It’s what I’ve been doing for the past five years because of a lazy bum like you”

“Come ooon, you know I’m not good with words”

“Yeah, I can see that…your face really tells about it…So, were you able to at least speak a little?”

“Not even a little. She just slapped me and ran away cursing my name! Really? What have I done wrong to deserve a slap on the face in front of so many people?”

“Plenty, I’m sure. Just tell me how it went” I said with a sigh, knowing full well what I was delving into.

“Listen here. I talked to her and told her that I would be leaving Alamara in two days and that we could never see again. She asked me to stay but I refused so she got mad and started screaming. I tried to calm her down by saying that it wasn’t that big of a deal, she already knew I was going to leave for Migur, but she still slapped me and ran away”

“Did you chase after her?”

“I should have?” The clueless expression on his face really pissed me off.

“*Sigh* Idiot. Do you realize you are in the wrong, right? No, maybe I should just straight up call you a scumbag? Or a perverted bastard? Sex-maniac also sounds good”

“Stop, stop, STOP! What’s the harassment for? I told her from the very start that I wasn’t going to marry her, right? So why get mad like that?” Said my brother after throwing the pillow and almost making me spill the boiling water.

“No, no, no, you said, and I quote ‘ I’m not thinking about marriage right now’. This and that are two completely different things!-” I shouted as I threw the feathered weapon back to it’s sender “- She took your words for ‘It’s too early to think about marriage’. You understand? You’ve been togheter, very intimately I’d add, for more than a year. Did you really think she didn’t have any expectations? While you thought of her as a momentary thing she was looking at you as a potential husband. Now you understand why she got soo mad at you, you humongous idiot!?”

“...-” For a moment Lucas became expressionless, as if immersed in deep thought. My eyes brightened thinking that my words finally got through that thick skull of his. But it was just a momentary pleasure. When he opened his mouth I sank back into the depths the abyss “- Well what’s done is done-” Said him with a vigorous smile “- let’s not think about her and enjoy our last day here. Sora’s not here anymore, you know. Tomorrow there will be many girls looking out for a dance with the most popular man of the academy, the “mage of the storm”, Raphael Bluescale! Hehehe, I bet you could-”

“Stop right there, you tits-filled brain. Sora’s my fiancee whether I like it or not, so there’s no way I’m going to ruin her reputation just because of a party!”

“Ooohhh-” Replied Lucas with a mischievous smile “- you like her, don’t you?”

“... None of your business!”

“PPPFFTT HAHAHA teasing you is always so funny!” Screamed my brother with tears clinging from his lower lashes as he tossed and turned in his bed while holding his pillow between his arms and mimicking a kiss.

“Tch. One of these days I swear I’ll shut your lousy mouth for good!” Was my reply as I grabbed the letter, my wand and left the room right before hearing Lucas shouting to know where I was going.

[Tch! Always has to talk too much…that idiot!]

Part 2

“Uuughhh…my head’s hurting!-” Whined Lucas sitting next to me. He began shaking and hitting his head lightly on the wooden planks of the bottom of the carriage where we were sitting as the two other passengers let out a suffocated laugh “- Uuugghh, everything's still spinning! Raph…I swear I’ll never drink like this again!”

“Pfft, as if I’d believe you. At least you had the good sense of packing your stuff preemptively and woke up in time for the carriage. Now, why don’t you go back to sleep and stop disturbing everyone else?” I said while bringing a flask of water close to his mouth and pouring down his thirsty throat the transparent liquid.

“You know-” Said Lucas after loudly smacking his lips like an elderly would “- I wonder what face our parents will make when they’ll see…how much…we…changed”

I didn’t even get time to answer that he had already fallen back asleep. His stuffy nose and wide-open mouth caused him to emit a low, dull sound with the same rhythm of the carriage.

I didn’t say something outrageous in that half-sleep state, it was a question I too asked myself. Because we did change, especially in the flesh. Lucas grew taller, probably just a little smaller than father. His upper body was a lot more developed than the lower, not in a bad way but it just further proved how much he trained with the sword. His facial features also changed a little. Other than sporting a short and unkempt beard that he shaved once a week, his eyes had gained more depth thanks to the cheekbones retreating a bit further up his face. His hands carried big, white callus where the fingers touch the palm, much bigger and wider than mine. Many at the academy made fun of that, believing it strange for a mage to be so focused on his body rather than honing his magic, but Lucas didn’t even care about magic in the first place so those kinds of comments didn’t touch him. Instead, he felt proud of them, “ the proof of my hard work!” he used to say.

Just like him, I grew taller in the time I spent at the academy, just not enough to reach him or father. With my constant training I gained some muscles. Not big and bulky ones but rather my physique became leaner and, in a way, elegant. I could pass my finger over my skin and feel the muscle strings twist and loosen under the pressure of it. The only stain on that was a big snake-like scar running through my whole body, from side to side, shoulder to shoulder and finally my arm. It was of a pink a couple of tones darker than my skin, probably more of a dull red than pink, and it stood in the same exact position as the burning feeling I felt when facing Gallher at the end of the mid-second-year event. I tried having healers and even the headmaster look at it but they all confirmed that that “mark”, as they called it, was imbued deep within my skin and muscles, impossible to get rid of. Other than that, there were no visible changes. The beard had jet to grow on my cheeks and my eyes looked as ice-cold as the day I left home.

The biggest change I found in myself was within my character. I couldn’t say that I had overcome the feeling of non-belonging but I did open up more in the three peaceful years of school remaining. Because of that change, the mood around our group became a lot more cheerful and shiny. It was as if they noticed my change and welcomed it with open arms as they slowly brought down the walls I had placed between us.

I looked behind me, from the inside of the carriage, through a gap in the cloth and saw the outline of Alamara’s walls. An impending sense of grief clasped my heart as I rapidly re-lived all the events that brought me there.

The troubles I had to go through after duke Gallher’s house caught fire. Not only troubles with the guilt of what I had done but also with the law. With the rumors of the animosity between me and Delvin flowing through Alamara like a raging river, it was a given that guards investigating the fire came looking for me. By the time I started coming up with a way to escape the academy, the situation resolved itself. I didn’t know whether it was because of someone pulling the right strings or it was a stroke of incredible luck but it turned out that spies from the Three Crowns’ Kingdom were stationed at Alamara. The fault was blamed on them. Though I got out of it scot-free, that had an impact on the world around me.

Because of the Kingdom of Belza blaming the spies for the death of one of their dukes and his heir, and the Three Crowns’ Kingdom blaming the Kingdom of Belza to be framing them, a war broke out. It officially began in the summer between my third and fourth year but skirmishes were already taking place long before that. The was taking place up north, in a stretch of land between the two kingdoms that should’ve ended where the Slumber Lake splits and becomes the river Nirita. But the truth is that Belza took advantage of that and took over Gnome Pass to pincher attack their enemy. The fear of a territorial war started spreading once again in the War Lands.

During that period, Alamara became more strict. It was an unspoken rule not to attack academies, especially famous ones, thus their cities. But the fear instilled in the hearts of men was still able to force Alamara to take measures against a possible assault that never came. More guards, more fortification, more weapons around the city, more mercenaries and, of course, more disagreement. Students from the Three Crowns’ Kingdome against students from the Kingdom of Belza, teachers against teachers, guards against guards. It wasn’t a rare occurrence that fights broke out in the middle of day and night.

Though the war did change our daily lives, it didn’t have that powerful of an impact within the academy. To the point that, once we got used to the huge numbers of guards and belligerent shouts, life felt like it always did. With the exception of the lack of someone trying to sever my head from my neck.

That was the biggest change. That and the fact that I gained a title even before I turned fifteen. “Raphael the mage of the storm”. A powerful title, too powerful I thought, that people started calling me with after witnessing the spell I used against Delvin. Even though it wasn’t shown live, some of the adventurers and disqualified participants still hanging around the borders of the forest were able to see it. Then rumors started spreading and soon the younger students at the academy started asking me to teach them spells while the older students asked for duels to measure themselves. It took a whole lot of six months for the situation to die down.

The years went by with duels, lessons, training and outings with friends and everything looked bright in my eyes. I was living the life of a largely normal student. Except for the time when a drunk Lucas decided to tell everyone of my engagement with Sora. That too began the talk of the academy and many male students began looking at me in envy. It wasn’t until the end of my third year that our group began to dissolve. The first one to leave was Legis. He completed his five years of academy and decided to leave for a journey, “to hone my alchemy” he said. Though I knew that what he was really looking for was a way to create a regenerating potion.

Then came the time for my “guardian angel”- After the events with the Gallhers he seemed to try and avoid me as much as he could. I tried to invite him many times into our group but he always found an excuse to refuse. In the end, I didn’t even get to learn his name before he completely disappeared without telling anyone where he went and why.

Sora and Youm were the last to leave. Being in front of me by one year they left for Hadoc Kingdom one week after the end of my fourth year. Sora cried so much that I had to pamper her for an entire day to convince her to leave. In the end, I got her to leave by promising to visit her in Vesta once I finished the academy. I didn’t consider the fact that we were now both of mature age and eligible to marry. When Youm learned of my promise to visit Vesta he rushed to write a letter to his father. I learned later that he snitched on me in order to prepare for the marriage ceremony. I cursed myself for not being able to say “no” to Sora.

The fifth year was marked by a sense of loneliness. It was only me, Lucas and Danthe. We had fun together by training almost every day, especially after Danthe joined our dojo, and making excursions in the woods. When we had some days of vacation we would prepare tents and everything needed to set a camp and explore the mountains up north. The friendship between us became so tight that you couldn’t even call us friends anymore, it was almost as if Danthe was our long-lost brother who we finally met up with. But still, it wasn’t deep enough for him to open up about his family.

The same morning we departed for Migur, he did for GardenBurgh, a trip much, much longer than ours if he didn’t decide to go by boat once he reached Wellenguard. In order to drain his sorrow for leaving the family he found in the War Lands, on the night of the party he drank so much, followed by Lucas in his overly festive mood, that I had to waste a ton of my mana to heal him of the symptoms only to them forget my warning and challenge Lucas to a drinking contest. When the dawning sun shone brightly in the sky, he was half-naked sleeping under a table with a bottle of wine between his arms like a lover. I regretted not being able to take a photo.

With those memories running wild inside my head, small, pearly tears began forming in the corner of my eyes only to disappear once the eyelids crashed into each other. A chapter of my life had ended, and I was satisfied with it. I wanted to live the life of a normal student, a normal boy, before leaving to explore the vast world.

[I just wish it would’ve lasted longer] I thought while watching the white walls of Alamara disappearing completely from my sight.

Part 3

- NAMELESS SOLDIER’S POV -

The wood of the bow in my hands felt tense. Soo tense that I had the feeling it could break with the weakest of strengths. In the distance, from my higher position on the outer wall of Hepos Hold, I watched with curiosity and anxiety the battle that was taking place at the foot of the previously brown hill now turned into orange sand and littered with corpsed left to be feasts for crows and other carcass-eating animals. A knot was tight around my neck and stomach, knowing that my cousin was valiantly fighting inside the chaos. He was a strong man, especially prone to using axes. I saw him splitting an enemy in half with them.

The dust raised by the cavalry and infantry prevented me and the other archers to fire our arrows. If we did, we could’ve injured, or worst, killed one of our allies fighting down there.

“Why did this madness even start?!” Lamented the archer next to me.

Jhonas Nidosson, a man from a village three hours by horse from mine. With a frail build and not enough strength to hold a sword properly, he was drafted into the military to serve in the war and placed in the archers’ squad in Hepos Hold. His situation was similar to mine, we were both there against our wills, but…whining was useless. The war had to be fought and the king wanted more troops than he could train so drafting farmers and villagers was the only way.

“Rejoice-” I replied contemptuously “- at least you are not down there as cannon fodder!”

“Shut your mouth, Rick! I don’t need your pity!-” Shouted the man in his late twenties with shivering hands “- I was forced to come here. I’m not a fighter nor a soldier, I’m just a weaver in learning, so why am I even here!?”

“I know it’s har-” I tried to say in order to lift his spirit at least a little, but my words were cut off by the loud voice of Horus, a man in his forties, with a long red beard and arms as strong as an ox with muscled bulging from behind the leather vest.

“Look over there!-” Shouted the rowdy man as he pointed to an unknown place where the enemy troops stood “- It’s a mage! A MAGE IS TRYING TO DO SOMETHING!”

It was the worst possible piece of news we could receive. A week earlier we received news from a messager that the outpost near Fort Furio had fallen victim to a mage’s attack and everyone had been killed before they could even fight back. That same mage was now getting ready with his long purple robe and wood-like staff, to do the same thing to us.

The soldier on the walls began panicking and soon, once the news began making their way inside the castle, even the soldier inside the walls pushed to join the fight outside. Everything was in turmoil. Commanders shouting orders, soldiers running around aimlessly, archers trambling and quivering. I, too, was affected by that air of fear and death pervading the hold.

[If we don’t do anything we are all going to die! But what?]

I recalled what the high commander of Hepos Hold told us in one of the trainings. He spoke about ways to fight the enemies and what kind of enemies we would have to face. When the mentioned mages, some of my comrades asked how to take down a mage. Since we had no mages in our ranks, given the fact that they were all called to fight the main battle in the plains, our only way was to surprise them with sneak attacks or attacks that they couldn’t see, predict or defend against.

A stroke of luck, a spell of the mage, or even a blessing from the gods made it so that the blanket of dust faded just enough for us archers to get a good look at the battlefield. The mage was directly in front of me. On top of a rock, surrounded by the enemy troops. He was holding the staff with both hands while repeatedly pushing it down on the rock. Two hundred meters. That was the distance between us.

I looked around me but no one was doing their job. The panic had already taken over their rationality.

[Mother, I’ll be coming home soon!] I thought as I tightened the grip on my bow.

I positioned myself as close to the edge of the wall as possible regardless of the possibility of being shot down by an enemy. With one hand I reached for my quiver and pulled out two arrows with the red and black feathering, the colors of the Kingdom of Belza. I placed one arrow between the string and the wood and held it down between my index and middle finger while I kept the other arrow between my annular and pinky. Every sound disappeared until only the constant beating of my heart was the only sound trying to break my eardrums. As per usual, I assed the wind. There was none, the air was still.

[The gods are on my side]

One breath was all I needed. Once my lungs began to enlarge I pulled back the string together with the arrow and closed one eye to take better aim. As soon as my lungs were full, I let go of the hold I had placed on them and my chest started to rapidly shrink. At the same time, my index finger and middle finger lost their grip on the string making the first arrow hiss through the air like an enraged snake. A second arrow rapidly followed the first before all air could leave my chest. Only once I saw both arrows plow through the skies did I realize how heavy of a toll that action took on me. My elbow, shoulder and biceps were burning as if a fire was eating me from inside out.

I followed my two arrows with maniacal attention, clueless about whatever was happening around me. Only twenty meters or so separated the two arrows. My heart began beating increasingly faster the more my arrows closed in on the target.

The mage was beating his staff faster. I had no idea what that meant but I worried that my arrows wouldn’t reach him fast enough to stop him from casting the spell. It was a baseless worry. The first one reached him but was deflected by one of his escorts with a shield as big as himself. My stomach began twisting as I feared that not even the second would hit. But I was wrong.

A gust of air moved the trajectory of the arrow. It moved upward just enough for the man not to be able to stop it but too high to hit the mage in his chest. Yet still, the arrow hit something. More so, it hit twice. It acquired speed right after the gust and ended up hitting a dark brown crystal sphere on top of the mage’s staff. The sphere broke and shards of it were shot all over the place, some even hitting the mage’s escort. The arrow then lost speed but, because it passed through the sphere without almost changing the trajectory. I blessed the gods and my luck a hundred times over as I saw the tip of my arrow penetrating into the mage’s lower throat while shards of his sphere created red sparkles of blood where they hit the mage.

[We are safe….WE ARE SAFE! I SAVED EVERYONE!] I thought as I watched in ecstasy the body of the purple-robed mage falling to the ground.

I was about to turn around and share the news with everyone who I could speak to when a chill began rushing through the deepest parts of my bones. A hollow sound echoed through the hills as the rock where the mage was laying began crumbling on itself. Then the ground. Then the hill. Then another hill.

I watched in terror as the ground where our troops were fighting opened up and swallowed every single soldier, be it ally or enemy, with an earthly rumble.

“What have I done?” I whispered with a feeble voice as my knees hit the hard rock of the other walls of Hepos Hold.