Ryland walked beside his sister through the stone hallway of the old abandoned tower that they sometimes used as a base for their games. Their surroundings were lit up by the daylight that passed through the windows that were placed every so often in the wall.

He still couldn't believe that there might be a real wizard here. He'd heard so many stories of knights fighting monsters but he had always found the stories with wizards in them so much cooler. And now he'd gotten to see real magic.

Lyri was right. He was curious. That book about magic that mom had had...he'd looked in it for just a few minutes but he still had dreams about it.

"Think this is the right way?" his sister asked as she looked down a corridor to the left. They'd already gone up two floors with nothing but empty or blocked rooms in them. When they had been here before they'd always been stuck on the lower floors because the stairway on one of the first floors was blocked, so this was all new to them.

"I don't know." he said. The corridor was pretty short, ending in a wooden door that was in a pretty decent state compared to everything else in this tower. "But it looks better than the rest."

They walked down the corridor and stopped in front of the door.

"Can you hear that?" Lyri asked, leaning closer to it.

"Hear what?"

"That," she pressed his head against the wood, and he righted himself to listen more closely.

She was right. He could hear something. It was like a soft clinking sound, mixed in with some kind of mumbling.

"Someone's in there." she said.

"I think they're working on something."

Lyri looked into his eyes. "Wanna go in?" she asked.

He met her gaze. "We might bother them."

"We're just investigating who's been living in this discarded old tower." she smiled. "What's so wrong with that?"

He couldn't stop himself from smiling with her.

They both took a step back before pushing the door open.

On the other end was a cramped rectangular room. Chests, crates, and tools lay strewn about along the walls. At one end of the room, there was a large wooden scaffolding that held up what looked to be a thick stone arm. At another end, there were several circles with more of those strange symbols on them painted onto the floor.

And the wall opposite that was completely covered with writing. It wasn't the same kind of weird symbols as on those circles, but it was still beyond him. It looked like it was another language. He did notice that many of the same characters seemed to repeat themselves, though. But it looked int—

His sister pinched his arm to catch his attention, and he looked away from the wall over to where she was pointing. At the farthest end of the room from the entrance stood two worktables that were absolutely clattered with stuff. In front of one of those tables stood a person. All he could see was their back — or rather the dark green cape that covered most of it — as the person leaned over the table. They were mumbling to themselves sometimes.

Lyri jabbed her arm into his side and leaned towards him. "Is he wearing armor?" she whispered.

Ryland looked closely. They were wearing armor. He'd thought the back of their head looked odd, but it was just the back of their helmet. He could also see signs of metal beneath the cape at their feet.

"Maybe they're a knight." he whispered back.

They showed no signs of having noticed them.

Lyri shook her head. "What would a knight do here? He has to be the wizard!"

Ryland glanced around the room, his eyes stopping on the scribbled-covered wall for a moment longer, before looking back at the person in the armor. It was true that this place didn't look like the kind of place he'd expect to find a knight in. It looked much more...wizardry? And that person looked at home enough to be the wizard.

"Do wizards wear armor?" he leaned closer to his sister. He was starting to feel uncomfortable with just standing here. Should they say something?

"Obviously this one does." she said — a bit too loud if you asked him. Then something seemed to catch her attention, as she walked over to a small crate close to the door. There was a pile of light-blue transparent crystals in it. She picked one of them up and held it in front of her face. "Isn't this one of those things mom uses in her night-lamp?" she said and looked back into the crate. "And there's so many of them!

Ryland looked at the pile of crystals. There were over ten of them. He didn't know what they were called but he knew that they were magic crystals. As Lyri said, their mom used one to power her lamp that she used for reading in the dark. She'd told him that she had spent a long time saving up for the lamp and crystal, so he knew it had to be expensive.

"Put that down." he said.

"What? I was just looking at it."

"We don't know what all of this," he gestured around the room, "does. It could be dangerous."

She sighed and put the crystal back into the pile. "Do you think I'm stupid? I picked that one up because I knew what it was."

"Well, still. Be careful."

She grinned at him, her red hair dancing behind her. "I always am."

"You're never careful."

She ignored his words and turned back to the person in armor. "By the way," she said, pointing her chin at them. "Do you think he'll ever notice us?"

Ryland looked back at the person. They were still bent over the worktable; focused intently on whatever it was they were doing. He could still hear them mumble something incoherent now and then.

"...I don't think so." he said.

"Maybe we should tell him."

"And say what?"

Lyri raised an eyebrow at him, smirking. "You don't have questions you want to ask?"

He opened his mouth for a moment, but quickly closed it. He had so many things that he wanted to ask. He'd just never expected to ever get the chance to speak with someone who might be a real wizard.

"So?" Lyri elbowed his back. "You going to talk to him or not?"

"Why am I the one who has to talk with them first?" he turned back to her. "Besides," he said. "How do you know it's a he?"

"First," she held up a finger. "Because you look like you did that time when grandma Ril found a dog and you wanted to pet it." she snickered and held up another finger. "And just listen to him. Don't you think he sounds like a guy?"

Ryland focused on listening to their mumbling. They did sound like a guy. A bit like the old man that owned the pub opposite their mom's store.

He took half a step forward, then stopped.

Lyri rolled her eyes and smiled. "Fine. I'll do it."

She walked towards the worktables. "Hello. Excuse me?" she said in a completely different tone from just now.

But the person in the armor showed no reaction. He just kept working on whatever it was they were working on.

Lyri looked back at Ryland and put her hands in the air. She shook her head and walked over so that she stood almost right behind the person.

"Excuse me. Can you hear me?"

The person suddenly froze. He straightened up and slowly turned around, looking down at Lyri. His entire body was covered in the armor so one couldn't really see his face, but it felt like he was staring right through her.

He stood like that for a few seconds, completely silent. Then he shook his head and turned back to the table. "Hallucinations? Already? I'm certain I ate something recently."

"What? We're not hallucinations!" Lyri yelled.

The armored person paused and turned around to look at her again. "Hmm..." he mumbled, stroking his helmet's chin. He then bent down and held his gauntleted right hand up in front of her. "How many fingers am I holding up?" he asked, holding his digits up.

Lyri stared at him for a moment before answering. "Two."

The man nodded his head then held up his other hand instead. "And now?"

"Two." she said again.

The man kept nodding. "And if you put them together?"

"...You get four."

"By the ******," Ryland didn't recognize that word, "You are real!" the man exclaimed and stood up. At this time he seemed to notice Ryland. "And there are two you?"

"Yes, there is. We've been trying to get your attention for a while now." Lyri pointed out. Ryland used the brief lull in talking to take the chance to move next to his sister.

"Aha, I see. I do apologize. I easily get too absorbed in my work." the man simply shook his head. "It's a habit I promised to dispense with, but you know what they say about dogs and their old age."

...What did dogs have to do with it?

"I do have to ask though," the man took both of them in with his gaze. "how did you get in here?"

Ryland swallowed. "W-We walked in, sir."

"Walked in?" The man sounded doubtful.

"Y-Yes."

"Your door was unlocked." Lyri said.

"Mmm, yes. That lock was broken, was it not? I found it much too bothersome to fix. That is why I built the ward."

"The ward?"

"Yes. Did you not see it on your way inside here?"

"What, you mean that weird cross?" Lyri asked.

"...Is that all you saw?"

"W-We also some weird signs on the tower door, sir."

The man looked at Ryland. "Nothing more? No scary images? Perhaps a spooky voice or two?"

Ryland shook his head. "No, sir."

The man scratched the top of his helmet. "Could the charge have expired?" he mumbled. "But I'm certain it had enough to last for one week..."

Lyri stared at him with her arms at her hips. "What, were we supposed to see any of that?"

He waved his hand at her and turned to the worktable. "Well, who knows. Perhaps it is merely that today's youth is more daring than they were in my days." he started scrambling around with the items that lay on the table, still mumbling to himself.

Lyri looked back at Ryland with a dumbfounded look. He couldn't judge her for being confused. He hadn't been expecting the wizard to be like...this, either.

'"Aha!" the 'wizard' exclaimed, holding up something in his hand. It was a gem of some kind that glowed with a faint purplish color. It looked valuable.

"Hmm..." he hummed to himself, observing it closely. "There goes that hypothesis. Yes, this is certainly bad news..."

"What is?" Lyri asked.

He looked down at her. "Child, you would not happen to know which day it is, would you?"

She frowned. "I'm not a child."

"Are you not? Could it be that you're a *****?" another unfamiliar word.

He bent over and looked at her face from different angles. "You are the right height. However, I cannot say that I have ever seen one without a beard before."

"Beard?!" Lyri took a step back. "W-Why would I have a beard? I'm a girl!"

The man shook his head. "I see you have never met a *****"

He stood up again and turned to Ryland. "How about you, then? Are you also not a child?"

"I'm eleven, sir."

"A 'no', then." the man waved his hand in the air again. "Anyhow. What day is it?"

"It's the fourth day of the moon, sir."

"Fourth?" the man looked back at the gem in his hand. "Are you certain? It has clearly been more than one day."

The man went silent for a moment, then he turned back to Ryland. "What week is it?"

"The week of furrow, sir."

"...Well. It seems I may have lost track of time a bit too heavily this time."

The man put the gem back on the table. Ryland's gaze stayed on it for a while.

"Hoh, this one might be a tad difficult to explain." the man seemed to get lost in his thoughts.

"Hey!" Lyri jabbed Ryland in his side. He tore his eyes from the gem and onto his sister.

"What?"

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" she asked.

Ryland looked into her eyes. She had that look in them. He'd seen it before every time she got a crazy idea.

"I really doubt it."

She grinned at him. "Trust me. You'll love it."

"I really don't think I will."

She turned back to the armored man.

"Hey, Mr. Wizard man." she said.

The man was pulled out of his thoughts and looked back at them. "Oh, of course. You were still here. Forgive me." he waved towards the room's entrance. "You may leave. Be careful not to touch anything hazardous or the like on your way out."

Lyri shook her head. "We don't want to leave."

"Hmm?"

She gave what Ryland knew to be her most 'sweetest' smile. "Why don't you teach us magic?"

Ryland stared at her in shock. That's what she was planning?!

The man was also staring at her. This wasn't good. He didn't seem like a bad person, but what if she offended him. He might—

"A disciple!" the man snapped his fingers. "Brilliant! That would make for a great excuse! It can even serve as an explanation for future occurrences!"

...He was fine with it? He was actually considering teaching them magic? that would mean...

"So that's a yes?" Lyri tilted her head.

"Hmm?" the man paused in his cheering and looked down at her once more. "Oh, no-no-no. I don't have time for such things. I am a busy man, you know."

"But you said—"

"That was unrelated to you. You simply gave me a good idea for a solution to my current predicament."

Lyri glared at him. Then her eyes widened and her face changed into a smile. "So you're saying that we helped you?"

He nodded his head. "I will admit that, yes."

"Then don't you owe us a favor?"

"One could say that, perhaps," he said. "but a favor does not entail that you get whatever you want."

"What would it take for you to teach us?" Lyri asked.

"There are several factors. Magic is not something one simply 'teaches'." he gestured around the room. "Everything in here is but a portion of it, yet it could take decades to learn how to use it."

He shook his head. "The path of magic is not a teaching. It is a way of life, and it requires great passion, discipline, patience, and intelligence to truly grasp even a fraction of it."

Lyri straightened her back a little. "We've got all of that."

"Oh, is that so?" Even though the man's face was covered, Ryland could tell that the man was amused by her words.

"Yes, it is. And we're smart. Right, Ryl?" she looked at Ryland briefly.

Ryland didn't like bragging...but it was true that they knew more than all the other kids in the village. And most adults too. "W-We can read too, sir." he added.

Lyri nodded her head and looked at the man. "We can promise that you won't regret it."

"You are certainly ambitious, I will give you that. But I will still have to reject your apprenticeship."

"What? Why?!"

"Is there maybe something we can do...?"

The man shook his head. "Words by themselves do not hold much weight. And as I mentioned, I am a busy man."

Lyri stared at him. "Then give us a test."

"A test?"

"Yes, a test. Give us a test, and if we pass it you have to teach us magic."

"...Very well. I will give you a test. But if you fail you will have to leave immediately."

"Do we have your word?"

"Of course."

Lyri looked at Ryland and smiled. "Right. We've got this."

Ryland glanced at the man. He'd turned around back to the table and was reaching for an arc of paper and a pencil.

"What test will it be, sir?" Ryland asked.

The man wrote something on the paper and turned around. "Considering your youth, I decided to make it something easy. Simply solve this." he held the paper out to them.

Lyri grabbed it and held it in front of them.

"What's this supposed to be?!"

It was just a bunch of weird characters again. Ryland had no idea what any of them meant.

Although...

"How are we supposed to solve this? What does that even mean?" Lyri glared at the man, who only shook his head.

"If I were to tell you that, it would not be much of a test, would it? Now, hurry up. I will give you half an hour for it." he said. Then he went back to ignoring them and focusing his attention around his worktable.

Lyri clenched her teeth. "That old—"

Ryland tapped her shoulder. She turned to him with a questioning gaze. He pointed at the piece of paper, then at another part of the room.

She looked confused at first, but then she seemed to understand what he meant. "Right, that might be worth a try." she said and smiled.