Year 1023 of the new calendar, Month of the Sun, 22nd day

After Derrick left, I put him out of mind and finished up my Calculus homework; it was relatively easy for me and I got it done in around an hour. It was now around two in the morning, and the moonlight readily streamed in from the window. I was still half a day away from Gareth, and from there, it should take me about an hour. I didn’t feel that tired, and after packing up all of my items, I was left alone in an empty room in the middle of the night with nothing to do. A yawn came over me as I looked out of the window, there was nothing new, the old image of the train rushing past mountains came to view. I wasn’t the type to encroach upon others’ time, and besides, it was two in the morning, it was just plain rude.

I was done with most of my work, and what was left wasn’t too hard, so I didn’t feel that pressed to do it. The thought of trying to cast another spell flew through my mind and left it a second later, I’d rather not risk that again, the pain was still fresh in my mind. My mom would also worry too much if I came to her covered in wounds and patches for them, so that was out of my options. All I could do was read, so I lit a candle to set the mood and picked up a horror story. All other light sources were off, and it really accentuated the horror aspect of the novel. It was relatively short, at only one hundred pages, and it was written by a pretty famous horror novelist. I took my time, slowly reading it and savoring the words written, along with having some hefty breaks for some food in between. I didn’t know what had gotten into me, but my appetite has been more than ever for the past few days.

By the time I finished my book, it was seven in the morning, and I no longer needed the candle to act as a light source. I extinguished it and put down the novel, which I thoroughly enjoyed, back into its original place and sat down on the bed, picking up another novel. This one was far shorter than the other one, barely passing twenty pages; it was about Gawain or some history of it at least. I knew some things about the country, mainly the large amounts of civil strife it has had over the years. My mother doesn’t listen to me, no matter how many times I told her to move to a place farther away from the border. Gareth was pretty small, and as far as I knew, it was just a border city with Iabrun. Gawain was relatively small, about a tenth of the size of Iabrun, but it had a pretty large population, and it was multi-ethnic. Some species simply couldn’t co-exist with each other, leading to flared tensions over the years. The recent terrorist attack just a month ago came to mind, it was led by a Volucris minority in Gawain that attacked a Vulcrum population in a small village in Iabrun. I shook my head again to rid myself of some bad thoughts, mainly what would come of my mothers’ village if such a thing were to happen to her. A worker came to me and gave me breakfast, which was the same as I ate yesterday, a plate with eggs, sausages, and a cup of black coffee.

She smiled and left the room, leaving me alone, it was now just about seven hours away from my destination, where I should arrive at three in the afternoon. An involuntary yawn came over me, even the caffeine from the cup of coffee couldn’t stop the drowsiness that started to seep into me. I made sure the door was locked, before closing the curtain on the window, and with that, the entire room was painted in darkness. I made my way onto the bed, making sure my phone was charging and put an alarm to wake me up at two in the afternoon. With that, I yawned again and closed my eyes, slowly drifting off to sleep.

A piercing noise awoke me, and as I slowly made my way out of the bed, I saw that it was now two in the afternoon, precisely. This amount of sleep would likely mess with me for a while because I still felt slightly tired. I opened the curtains surrounding the only window and noticed the train speeding past the grassland leading towards Gareth. The green grass rolled past, and I could almost feel the wind flowing past; a forest in the distance was beautiful, with its lush trees, and I could see a small river flowing past. Two children were playing near the river, I could faintly make out some horns atop their head. Perhaps they come from a village in the forest? It wasn't unheard of, I shook my head and noticed a slightly larger river rushing through the side of the train tracks. It should be the Vereth River, which stretches from Gareth to around a hundred kilometers into Iabrun.

There should be no more mountains for the last hour of this journey, and for the next ten minutes, I sat staring outside. A cup of tea in hand, and with the sunlight shining through, it was a peaceful scene. The sunlight hit the black tea, slightly lightening up the dark brown liquid. A server came by and dropped off some sweets I requested, mainly a few cookies and a muffin. I dunked a small cookie into the tea and ate it slowly while closing my eyes. A satisfying feeling emerged from me, as the hot tea slowly made its way into my stomach. The dark-brown cookies were made with ingredients from Gawain, mainly the cocoa from the eastern regions of the country. I sighed and opened my eyes again, the sun shone on the Vereth, giving it a certain beautiful gleam. I laughed a little thinking of my friends back in the Academy who have to continue to do work, hmm, wonder how Hueser is doing? Mrs. Kehlir also came to mind, I didn't hear much of her after the dilemma was dealt with. I still didn't find it pleasant to think about me killing him, even if it was the right thing to do.

The tea shook off my drowsiness and made me feel more refreshed; I eyed my backpack and slowly took out the last bit of homework I needed to do. It was a science course, which was required, but I didn't want to go too deep into the harder subjects. My chemistry homework was simple, and I finished it off in around ten minutes while sipping the tea. Another twenty minutes until my stop, I slowly contemplated all I needed to do: all my homework was done, and I'll be back in Augustus for the coronation of the new Emperor. All that was left for me to do was check up on Ava, and so, I picked up my phone and called her. I picked her up a phone just before I left, it was an old model and relatively cheap. She picked up after a few seconds but didn't talk first, “How are you?”, I inquired. She said, “I'm fine.”, succinctly in her quiet voice. That was all the confirmation I needed, and so with that, I hung up and put the matter of Ava at the back of my mind.

I stood up and stretched, it was a habit I picked up ever since I was a child, and cleaned up my cup of tea and the plates that had the sweets. I called up a server, who took my dishes with a smile. The rich green grasslands made for a beautiful sight from my window, and I went back to looking outside in order to drive away the boredom. The infrastructure outside started ramping up the closer we got to Gareth, with roads that had cars, and people walking from Gareth. They were likely going to their suburban homes from their jobs, and the grasslands were replaced by sprawling suburbia five minutes later. The train tracks cut through the middle of the suburbs and eventually arrived at Gareth proper. The city was relatively small, and yet, it still was a city with an odd few skyscrapers dotting its skyline. That wasn't important though, all that really mattered was reaching my mother.

The train stopped on the western outskirts of Gareth, which was perfect for me since that was where I wanted to leave the city. I had to backtrack through the suburbia and then go north. While going straight north from the northern side of Gareth would he faster, it didn't have the infrastructure and I would have to cross the river Vereth along with the forests to reach my small town. As I got off the train, I breathed in some fresh air and made my way out of the station. There was a small store near the station, I walked inside and checked out some water and dried meat. “Going camping?”, the cashier asked me, I just nodded my head and left the store quickly. Wasting time here means less time spent with my town, so I walked through the sparsely populated streets towards the main road that led out from the city. There was a highway, but I couldn't drive in Gawain, so I disregarded it and chose to just walk the full hour. The road I picked was the main one connecting Gareth proper to its suburban outskirts, and from the northern side of the far western outskirts of it was the road I needed.

I sighed and started to walk, slowly snacking on the dried meat as I made my way to the first intersection. The roads inside the city were better suited towards walking, but the sidewalk here was nearly non-existent. There was nothing around the road, except grass and the Vereth rushing past in the distance. I kept walking straight forward for another ten minutes before I turned right and then left again. I passed by many houses, along with some stores, and a single school. Most people didn't think too much of me, and I didn't take the initiative to talk with anyone. Finally, after another fifteen minutes of mindlessly walking, I reached the road I needed to. The map I had on my phone showed I was in the north-western outskirts of the suburban area.

I took the first step along the road, and since this was the only one, I just needed to follow it. The road was only big enough for two cars, and it cut through a forest. A small stream flowed in the depths of the trees, there were no other people here, and I stopped for a second. The scene was beautiful, as I could see a small amphibian slowly playing in the water. I resumed my journey after another minute of admiring nature and kept walking until I noticed another person on the road. They were someone I knew, as the only people who would take this road were those from my town. They noticed me as well and waved at me, “Hey Mike, how's it been?”, he asked me. I recognized him, but I blanked out on his name and couldn't think of anything. “Woah, the big boy who went to Augustus can't even remember people from his own town? I'm hurt.”, he said jokingly as we walked down the road.

“I'm sorry.”, I said, and he just smiled, “No worries, I'm Fischer, but you don't have to worry about me.” Only a few hundred people were in my town, and so, we were a fairly tight-knit community that knew another. My departure for Augustus, and my magical talents, were pretty common news for the people there. It wasn't surprising that he remembered me, “What are you doing out here, anyway?”, I asked him. “Just taking my walk.”, he told me and continued, “I see you're going back, well, I suppose I'll catch you later.” He turned around and started to walk away from me, something was wrong, but I didn't wish to pursue it. A walk twenty minutes away from the town was a bit weird, but I shook my head and continued to walk. I didn't see another person until fifteen minutes later, a pair of pretty young twins were playing around in the forest. They noticed me, but didn't say anything and instead resumed their own game near the stream. I could see the buildings in the distance and quickened my pace, arriving in three minutes.

This area of Iabrun wasn't guarded heavily, and the border was fairly friendly. I didn't see a border guard, despite crossing into Iabrun and its territory. A smile came over me as I looked at my town, it looked the same as ever. The houses were the same, old and with charm, and I recognized almost everyone. It didn't take long for someone to notice me, a childhood friend of mine ran up to me and said, “Hey, hey Mike, how's it going? So good to see you.” She had a large smile on her face, and one could see toned muscles from all the work she did every day. “I'm fine, thank you.”, I said and started to walk to my mother's house. “Oh come on, you won't even hug me? It's been a while since you came back here.”, she said, slightly teasingly. I smiled back at her, “Oh fine, come here.”, and the two of us embraced. It felt good to come back here, and as we let each other go, I caught a glimpse of my mother's house.

“Oh well, I'll see you later. Have to get back to work.”, she said and walked off, leaving me alone. I shook my head and looked back at my mother's house, it was old, and yet, beautiful. The wood used for it was made from the surrounding trees, and it was two stories tall; renovating it so it can have electricity and hot running water was expensive, though. I stopped at the entrance and looked at the dark-red wooden door, it blended in with the darker wood used everywhere else. My hand slowly lifted, knocking on the door three times, slowly and firmly. “Come in.”, I heard that voice in person for the first time in a long time. The door was unlocked, and I gently pushed it open, meticulously making sure that I did nothing wrong.

I took off my shoes and put them to the side, walking up to my mother’s room with a smile on my face. My backpack was slightly heavy, so I left it downstairs, and I could see the same corridor I used to run through when I was a child. A rush of nostalgia hit me as the scene unfolded over me, the vision of me rushing through this corridor was in my memory. Shaking my head a bit, I slowly unlocked her door and was met with a room that looked exactly as I last remembered. Not one bit of it changed, not the books on the shelf, not the cupboard, not the desk, not the table, and not her. She didn't look any worse for wear, and instead, her face glowed with happiness as she saw me. “What a surprise, you said you'd come in another day.”, she said gently, her smooth voice bringing me back to the past. I smiled at her, “I thought it'd be a nice surprise.”, and then walked up to her. I fell into an embrace with her that soon fell out a second later, “How are you?”, she asked me.

I smiled and sat down in a chair with my back ramrod straight. “I'm doing good.”, I answered succinctly, and then scrutinized her. She looked to be the same, but I knew that she was physically weaker than the last time I saw her. It wasn't by a huge amount, but I could just sense that she wasn't as strong as she used to be. The silence was broken up by her coughing, I stood up to try to help her, but she just pushed me away. “How long has this been happening?”, I asked her. She frowned and replied, don't worry about it.”, to which, “I will worry about it, I'm your son. I have a right to worry, how long has this been happening?” She didn't hide it this time, “For around three weeks.”, and then looked away. “Have you been to a doctor?”, I asked her, and she nodded, “I have, but nothing works. I even went to one in Gingalain, but there has been nothing.” I kneeled beside her bed, with a worried look on my face, her condition deteriorated, but it still wasn't horrible.

“I can take you to a doctor in Augustus, please.”, I implored her once more, but once more, I got the same answer. “Oh, don't worry about me, I'll get better soon enough. Just focus on your studies.”, she told me. “Go have some fun now that you’re here, don’t worry about me.”, she added after a few seconds. “Besides, I have this little guy with me.”, she said while picking up a Hiddle, it was a fairly common rodent in the grasslands of Iabrun. “Where did you find this?”, I asked her, and she shook her head, “Audrey’s little brother found it, it’s just too adorable, isn’t it?” The rodent had two tusks, and eight legs, but sat obediently in her hands, “Don’t you worry about this little guy, Audrey brought it to a vet in Gingalain, and they said it was just fine.” The Hiddle, with its eight legs, slowly got off the bed and made its way to me, sitting down on the floor. A shiver ran through me as I saw him move around, rodents were never my favorite kind of animal. “You do know it’s venomous, right?”, I asked her as the Hiddle made its way out of the door.

She laughed and shook her head, “Stop worrying, will you? You were always a bit of a worrywart ever since you were young, just go.” The smile on her face faded after another coughing fit came up, “Some of the kids here want to see you perform magic, you know how much it means to them, you can go.”, she spoke with some difficulties. After I didn’t move for another few seconds, her look grew tender, and started to speak more seriously. “I know that you want to care for me, but really, I am fine right now. It must have been a long journey, go rest up.”, I knew she wouldn’t take no for an answer, so with a sigh, I left her room. The Hiddle was patiently waiting outside, its two little tusks looked cute on it; even then, the rodent was still creepy, and something about it walking with its eight legs creeped me out.

I made my way downstairs, and took a sip of water, before making my way to my room. When I entered, the entire room looked to be the same, and yet, it was clean. The cupboard, my bed, and everything else in the room was in the same place as it was when I first left, but it was spotless. My old clothes in my dresser were clean and folded neatly, I tried one on, and they still fit me like a glove. Before I went out, I took a hot shower, it felt weird to not have one for a few days. With the hot water running down my back, I could finally feel a little peace and quiet. Augustus was nice and all, but nothing beat this little town and everything in it. I made my way out and put on some casual clothes, and with that, I walked out of my home and inhaled the fresh forest air.

With a smile on my face, I set out to find Audrey, who was likely working with her father. I made my way through the town, which barely changed, with practiced ease, and found her taking a break outside her house. Her father was a blacksmith, and she followed in his footsteps, though they weren’t as popular as before, collectors for armors still existed. “What commission are you doing now?”, I asked her as I sat on a chair beside her. She lit up at the mention of her work, “Some rich guy in Gingalain wants a sword, and he specifically requested it from us. Apparently, he’s my father’s old friend or something of the sort, but I don’t care. All that matters to me is this sword, and it is a beautiful work of art.”, she said. “Hey, what do you know? Someone still likes swords now.”, I said jokingly.

She laughed and shook her head, “Business is down these past few years, I worry that it won’t last.” She was comfortable talking on these matters with me, “Maybe I’ll go to Gingalain to get a job, it isn’t too far away anyway.” I sighed and asked her, “Do you ever plan on going to a University, or College?” She had been working ever since she was thirteen years old, and barely graduated from high school just a year ago. Audrey looked at me and shook her head, “I’ll leave that to you, Mr. too good to stay here, I’m happy just working.” I saw the Hiddle in the distance, and speaking on that, “I heard your little brother found a Hiddle in the wild?” Audrey laughed and nodded, “Yeah, he found it alright. Not only that, he found a giant lizard too.”, “How big are we talking here?”, I asked her. She thought for a second and said, “About five meters, if I had to say.”

“What? No way, you must be imagining things. Where is it?”, I asked Audrey, and she shook her head, “My little brother is probably out playing with it, just check around, it’s pretty hard to miss.” Just as she finished talking, her father yelled for her to return, she quickly said bye to me and raced back inside to finish her work. I stood up and started to walk around the town, trying to find this lizard, and as she said, it was pretty hard to miss. The five-meter-long lizard was laying down on the ground at the outskirts of the town, with Audrey’s little brother sitting down next to it. “Isn’t it dangerous?”, I asked him, to which he opened his eyes, “No he wouldn’t hurt a fly, let alone a human.”

“Well, where’d you find it?”, I said as the lizard was soundly sleeping, he answered, “Just ten minutes out from here, he was hurt so I took him in. Don’t worry, I even took him to the vet in Gareth, she said it was fine.” I had an inkling that it was a lie, but I didn’t care as long as it didn’t hurt anyone, and by the looks of it, it was fine. The lizard dwarfed both me and him in size, its body having two little nubs on its back. It faintly reminded me of the wyrm I saw in the book, but I shook my head and put it out of my mind, I mean, after all, what were the chances of stumbling upon an extinct species? “Could you show me some magic?”, he stood up and asked me with a glow in his eyes. This town was small, and I suppose there weren’t many things to entertain oneself with. I acquiesced to his demand and sat down, slowly opening my palm and a small amount of water came out, soaking his head with it. “Hey, why’d you do that for?”, he asked indignantly, but I didn’t pay attention to that. The lizard woke up and looked at me with his eyes, eyes that held inside them vast intelligence that could rival humans. They looked at me for a second, and in that second, I could feel it studying me, appraising me in a way that made me feel naked; the eyes then closed again, removing that feeling from me entirely. What was that?