Shaden rubbed his hands together in the chill of the morning. The days had gotten very cold the past few months, unlike any other year. He knew why; winter only came once every three years. He had wondered why it never became too cold every year. The areas he lived in had never been too tropical, and yet snow and ice failed to arrive.

His books satisfied his curiosity. Before Saiton the Sage reconfigured the calendar system of the world, a year was equivalent to eighteen months with around sixty days each. It was a system purely based on when winter arrived. Currently, in the year 323, date and time keeping in Exarria had been improved dramatically to resemble the one in Demund’s world.

The more he read about Saiton’s achievements, the more Shaden felt like Saiton was…different. Like himself. His knowledge was too revolutionary. He had caused the world to take giant leaps of development with his influence.

Shaden didn’t complain. It made things comfortable for him, after all.

“May the air receive my power and remove the cold – Warmth.”

The air around Shaden turned warm. He had learned some simple spells from his books and was testing them out when he was bored.

Incantations worked very conveniently. Even if you did not completely understand the spell, your lack of knowledge could be covered up by your chant. While you had to understand a 100% of a spell’s properties to cast it without speaking, chanting magic only required you to know a portion of the spell's properties. According to the book, the knowledge required never went past 50%.

This was why even people without proper education could chant magic in their daily lives. It was how people in the old days could use magic far beyond their understanding.

The great thing about chanting magic was that the more you used a certain spell, the more you understood it. For example, Shaden had continuously chanted the Illuminate spell as the only light magic he could use resulted in a flashbang. By the time he realized it, he understood the magical and physical properties behind Illuminate. Now he could create light without chanting.

It did, however, have its drawbacks. The more complicated the spell was, the longer the incantation would be. For high-level spells, some chants even took up a few minutes to complete. If the spellcaster also stuttered or pronounced a word incorrectly, the spell could be canceled.

Now, there was Spirit Magic. Spirit Magic was superb as you didn’t even need to understand the spell to use it. The spirit(s) you made a contract with would do it for you. But Shaden hadn’t gotten the opportunity to look into that yet. His books had only mentioned them, not told him how to make a contract.

Shaden enjoyed the warmth of his room. When he woke up, it would be his birthday in the real world. It had finally arrived after over two years.

〄 〄 〄

Demund opened his eyes. It was October 3, 2154. His 16th birthday.

Not that it changed anything. He stretched and changed into his school uniform. Reality felt warm compared to the world in his dream, but it still was becoming chillier. Actually, the weather was perfect. Just the right temperature for a full day of exercise.

His mom and dad greeted him as he came down the stairs.

“Happy birthday, son!”

“Happy birthday, Demund! You’re already 16. Come here, I made some breakfast for you.”

Demund sat down on the table. His mom had prepared some warm kelp soup along with French toast. He covered the toast with syrup and spread it across the wet surface. He took a sip of the soup. It was a little bland. His mom rarely put much salt or oil into her foods; she said that it was unhealthy.

It was sensible for her to think that. After all, Mr. and Mrs. Blanner were almost in their sixties. They were an old couple who had to care about their health.

But for Demund, the food came across as tasteless. He bit into the wet toast covered in syrup and swallowed it. At least the sweetness was fulfilling.

“Do you have any plans for today?” asked Mr. Blanner.

“No, not really.”

“Aren’t you going to celebrate with your friends?”

Demund thought back to Enariss, Riley, and Rhyne. He hadn’t gotten the chance to tell them when his birthday was. The sports tournament was in two days and everyone was very busy preparing for it. Even tonight, he would have to run with Enariss. He desperately wanted to make it into the top five.

There was simply no time to celebrate.

“No. It’s a busy week.”

“Would you like to go outside and eat with us for your birthday?” asked Mrs. Blanner. “We haven’t had a meal in a restaurant in a while.”

It did sound nice. But Demund had to refuse.

“I can’t mom. I need to run again today. And study before that. The sports tournament is on Friday and I have some tests tomorrow. Could you just buy me a cake or something?”

“Cake? Okay. We’ll get you some cake.”

Demund quickly finished his breakfast and brushed his teeth. He retrieved his bags and headed outside.

“See you, mom, dad.”

“Have a great time in school.”

Mr. and Mrs. Blanner watched their son disappear behind the door. Demund had gotten so mature ever since Jothan had left him.

Maybe too mature.

〄 〄 〄

The board at the front of the classroom said everything. The teams for the sports tournament.

Rhyne gave Riley a high-five.

“Guess we’re in the same team for this year,” said Riley.

“Yeah! We’re going to dominate! Here Demund, gimme a high-five,” said Rhyne. The projector at the front of the room displayed the names of the students on either side of it—the read team or the blue team. By great luck, Demund, Riley, and Rhyne were all on the blue team. However,

Demund weakly slapped Rhyne’s hand and sighed. Riley knew what was up. From the names displayed, Enariss’s name was on the red side of the screen. Which meant that the Male-Female Two-Legged Race would all be for naught. At least for Demund.

“Are you alright?” asked Riley as he patted Demund on the back. Rhyne too, after Riley’s nudging, comforted Demund on his dissatisfaction. They knew how much Demund had anticipated the results.

“Yeah, I’m okay,” said Demund weakly.

In reality, Demund had mustered up the courage a few days back to ask Enariss whether she would run with him on the Crazy Race. She had agreed, and they had even done some practice runs before that day. Now, everything he had accomplished was for naught. Demund sank down on his legs. His motivation was dying.

Rhyne thought of a brilliant solution.

“Can’t you still run with her on the Relay Race?” he said. “I mean, you won’t be on the same team, but you might be able to run side-by-side.”

“That’s only if she participates in the Relay Race,” replied Demund. “And even if she does, do you really think I can match her speed?”

Riley and Rhyne both shook their heads in disagreement. They all knew the extent of Enariss’s power.

“Seems like you luck ran dry this year,” said Riley. “But hey, you got us.”

“Yeah, Demund. We’ll be unstoppable. We’re the top among the normal freshman!” encouraged Rhyne.

Demund smiled. They were right. It was only for a day, and he basically ran with Enariss every night. He didn’t need to be so sorrowful about it. Still, it hurt. He had wished for it so badly.

“If we’re going to win, let’s obliterate them!” said Demund.

“Yeah!”

“So now what?”

The teams had been announced, but there wasn’t anything they could do. They had already signed up for their events.

“Let’s do our best,” said Riley. “Don’t forget to come to the club today after school Rhyne. We need to train for the MMA event too.”

“Got it.”

“I’ll ask Enariss to go easy on us,” suggested Demund.

“Sounds great,” said Riley and Rhyne at the same time.

They all became silent as Mr. Ruthel started his long lecture on safety, rules, teams, events…

〄 〄 〄

One, two, one, two, one, two…

Demund kept the beat rotating through his mind to ease himself of the pain. They were going faster every day and the streetlights rushed over their heads as they ran. His footsteps hit the cement floor with a constant motion, sending ripples throughout his body. His sweat traveled down his back like rain. He was almost there.

“And…done!” stated Enariss as she stepped lightly in front of her house. “How does it feel?”

“Just…great…huff!” breathed Demund as he gasped for air. His legs felt weak. The shot he had received yesterday certainly helped, but the pace they were going at didn’t make it any better. He placed his arms on his head and walked around to let his blood flow. His vision was dyed red. Gosh, he was amazing.

Demund slowed his breath and waited for his heartbeats to decelerate. He glanced over at Enariss. She was still in top condition, stretching her legs while she jumped lightly. She had let down her crimson hair, making it shine under the moonlight, sweat like pearls falling from it.

At least she was sweating now. He smiled to himself. Just that told him how much he had improved. HE finally breathed normally and started stretching his legs too.

“So! How was I?” asked Demund. “Am I fit enough to be in the top 5?”

Enariss brushed her lush hair to the side and looked at Demund with her ruby eyes. He had improved a lot.

“No,” she stated.

“Darn it.”

“Only if they use their abilities.”

“I really can’t—wait, what?”

“If it’s only judging your physical body without any abilities, you would be second. Or I think so.”

“Really? How about abilities included?”

“You’d be seventh.”

“Eesh.”

Over the past few months, Demund had done nothing but study and run. Study and run, study and run. He had put off all entertainment as there was no need for fakes and had solely focused on improving himself. After meeting Enariss, his stunted growth had exploded exponentially. She had pushed him forward, and he had followed. Even though he had done nothing but run, his whole body looked very fit.

“You’re only second based on your running ability. If you included everything else, like lifting, then you’re way behind.”

And despite all his efforts, he was still physically much behind everyone else.

“I promise I’ll join the MMA club next year,” stated Demund.

“Really? You aren’t going to give up?” asked Enariss.

Wanting to impress her, Demund puffed out his chest and declared with confidence.

“Never. I always keep my word.”

Enariss smiled. She couldn’t wait to see how further she could push Demund.

“So Enariss…I saw that you were on the red team.”

“Yep?”

Demund scratched his head and averted his eyes from Enariss. He couldn’t say that he was disappointed, could he? He had even asked her to do the Crazy Race with him if they were on the same team. Now it felt embarrassing.

“…Good luck I guess,” he finally said. “Hope we have a great tournament.”

He peeked at Enariss. She was smiling like she often did. That smile had been one of the elements that had allowed him to come this far, despite all the suffocation.

“You better give it your best. I didn’t run with you for nothing.”

“Of course!”

Enariss watched Demund as he ran home. She hadn’t expected him to improve this much. Most of the people she interacted with would give up or fall on the ground. Even the high-ranking students in the MMA club had a difficult time when she tried to push them past their limits (except for the captain). Seeing Demund do his best and hurt himself so eagerly brought a smile to her face. The expression of people when they pushed past their limits was really the best.

It made their fall even better.

She headed inside to study. The study group had been suspended for today as the tests before October break would be tomorrow. Not that they were that difficult. She was just bored to do anything else.