Morgan’s world shook. He was not sure how the mountains of his home could shake like this but he supposed that it was the way it was supposed to be. In the next moment someone dumped cold water on his head and he woke up with a start.

“By the Boneweaver! You sleep like the dead Morgan!” Standing over a wet Morgan was an unamused looking Ross.

“Wha-what?” Morgan said sleepily and groaning he pushed himself up to a half seated position.

“Sis asked me to wake you up for dinner so that Mary-Ann wouldn’t have to…” He paused and gave Morgan a once over. “Since when do you have such a ‘close’ relationship with Mary-Ann?” The way said it made the implication clear.

“W-we don’t have any strange relationship!” He said flustered. “Our future Master just told her to…” He looked down turning red from shame. “To look after me…” He cringed saying it like that. There was a rather long pause as Ross sorted out the rather out of the blue information.

“That Archmage will be taking her as an apprentice as well then?” Was what he settled for asking in the end.

“Yes, apparently she is an even better fit than I am.” Morgan said in a small voice as he shrunk in on himself.

Ross wanted to groan, he had apparently stepped on a sore spot without realizing it. Rubbing his head he sighed.

“Well if he asked her to look out for you he must have rather high expectations for you too, right?” He said with more enthusiasm than he felt.

“Well… yes, I suppose so.” Morgan paused for a moment then nodding he looked up at Ross. “Sorry. And thanks. I just feel so useless sometimes.” Morgan tried to keep his bright voice but failed miserably.

Morgan could not help remembering the indifferent eyes of his brothers and his sister’s scorn as he once more realized that he was not special.

“By the Boneweaver’s saggy sack, get a grip on yourself!” Ross said exasperated. “You are one of two apprentices of the Archmage.” He took a breath and shouted. “EVER! That is the opportunity of a lifetime! Why not make the most off it instead of worrying if Mary is going to be a better apprentice? It’s not like he said that he wouldn’t take you on anymore or anything right?” He grunted, catching his breath. Morgan just looked up at the heavily breathing Ross and shook his head with his mouth ajar in astonishment.

“I-I’m…” Morgan stuttered.

“It’s fine.” Ross said interrupting Morgan and rubbing the back of his head furiously he added. “Everyone has bad days. Just don’t make a habit out of it.” He let out a breath and calmed himself. “Now food.” He said and pulled Morgan to his unsteady feet. “Oh I almost forgot. Mary said something about an envelope?”

At this Morgan nodded gravely and recovered the envelope from his bed where it had ended up in his exhaustion. Ross nodded and the two made their way to the cafeteria. As they got closer Morgan felt worried. He remembered Aspartos’s smile and had a very bad feeling that whatever herbal concoction he was about to drink.

So it was with great trepidation he handed over the envelope and soon a shockingly large man that waddled over. The man had appeared out of the kitchen after the serving lady Morgan had shown the envelope had gone into the back of the kitchen. She could not have gone far but even the short walk had left the huge man short of breath. So it was with his massive chest heaving and while dabbed the sweat from his forehead with a cloth that he looked down at Morgan. The man snorted and with surprising dexterity he snatched the envelope out of Morgan’s hand and quickly scanned through its contents.

“Spose tat meens…” The man heaved a laboured breath. “I’ll geth tu uss sum ov ma stock.” He spoke like his tongue was too large for his mouth and Morgan only understood half of what the man had said.

When Morgan in a fluster was about to ask what the man had said he pressed an oversized coin into Morgan’s hand the man turned around and waddled off wheezing. Morgan stood there rooted in place for a moment trying to wrap his head around what had just happened. Looking down on the coin he saw that it had an intricate carved pattern on one side that was most likely an enchantment of some kind. On the other it had a sigil that depicted a crown made of flowers. It was rather beautiful but looked far too intricate to be useful as a sigil.

“I have never seen such a larger man…” Ross said clearly as dumbfounded as Morgan felt.

“Me neither…” Morgan said having completely forgotten about Ross still being with him.

As the two got their food served and Morgan held up his token to the nice and plump serving lady who gave Morgan a pitying look. This made Morgan shiver and soon a rather tall wooden mug was placed on his tray and he was ushered along. Morgan had been expecting a bright green drink that smelt as bitterly as medicine and was pleasantly surprised that the smell was not as overpowering as he had feared. What made him less positive was that colour, it was a sickly greenish brown that looked far more like something that would come out of a person than something that should be consumed.

“Took you long enough.” Rina said challengingly as the two took their seat by the others.

“Not my fault.” Ross said a bit testily. “Morgan simply refused to wake up. I had to pour his pitcher of water over his head to wake him up in the end.” Ross said snorting.

“Sorry.” Morgan said with a bob of his head.

“As I said, don't worry bout it.” Ross said with a casual wave and started eating.

Morgan could feel the others watch him as he looked at the less than appetizing drink. He was trying to figure out if he should eat first or after when Mary-Ann gave her advice.

“I personally prefer getting the bad stuff over with as soon as possible.” She sounded somewhat sympathetic as she frowned at the mug with its unappetizing drink.

Morgan took one last look at the drink and closing his eyes he poured the liquid into his mouth. It was thicker than he would have like and the small bits and pieces made the texture like that of vomit. The taste was not as bad as he had imagined, as he had at time drunk for worse medicine but he still gagged and shuddered putting down the mug after consuming half of the drink.

“Here, drink some water.” Mary-Ann offered him a glass of water trying her best to avoid looking at him.

Swishing the water about in his mouth before swallowing he shuddered once more, only now tasting the intense bitter aftertaste. Looking up he saw Marith offering him a cloth and gesturing at his chin and the others pointedly avoided looking at him. Due to his shuddering he had managed to get the drink on his chin and checks and wiping it off he decided that the only proper name for this ‘drink’ was forest vomit. Glaring at his new arch nemesis he grabbed the mug and downed the last of the forest vomit. Slamming down the mug his body shook and emptying his water glass he shook his head and grimaced trying to clear the taste from his mind.

“Eh, um… well. Good job.” Mary-Ann said, patting Morgan on the shoulder as the others voiced somewhat encouraging murmurs.

“How did they manage to make it so awful?” Morgan said bitterly. “I have had worse tasting medicine when I was younger. I have even had worse looking and with worse texture.” He let out a miserable groan as he thought about having to drink another glass of forest vomit tomorrow and complained unhappily. “But never have I had something that has everything bad in one mixture! It’s like whoever made it did their best to make it terrible!” He gave the now empty mug a spiteful look. The others all wore slightly amused expressions at Morgan’s somewhat childish tantrum.

“But you still drank it.” Rina said laughing.

“Well yes it will apparently help me survive…” He said reluctantly and the atmosphere shifted.

“What do you mean ‘help you survive’?” Marith asked with narrowed eyes.

“My treatment is more likely to succeed if my body becomes stronger.” Morgan noticed the dampened mood and looked up.

“Do you mean to say that there is a risk that the treatment won’t succeed?” Rina said angrily. “Didn’t the Archmage say that he would treat you?” Morgan was stunned by the angry in her voice.

“Yes, but…”

“Then what is this talk about not it not being successful?” She fixed Morgan with her eyes.

“Um, there are risks with…” Morgan was interrupted by Rina.

“What risks?” Rina growled.

“Rina!” Ross shouted startling Rina. “It is not like Morgan can help it. Stop making it sound like Morgan has done something wrong.” He took a breath and his sharp tone softened. “Don’t you think the one that is the most worried is Morgan himself?” Rina turned on her brother and was about to snap closed he mouth with an audible snap.

“Sorry Morgan.” Rina said after taking a deep breath.

“No, it is fine.” He smiled. “Thanks for worrying about me.” His smile was almost dazzling and Rina looked away blushing slightly and mumbled an inaudible response.

Mary-Ann leaned in and whispered something in the ear of Rina that made her blush even harder and glare at her friend. The usual chilling effect of her glare was however rendered almost comical due to her deep blush and the dinner past amicably with some teasing and laughter mostly cut short by Rina’s sharp retorts.

Morgan thought about how fast and how much his life had changed one morning when he was doing some running with an unusually quiet Marith. The answer behind his friend’s mood was simple.

“IT’S BLOODY COLD!” He shouted as he sat down by a table next to the massive fireplace in the cafeteria. “What is wrong with his damn place?!” He hugged himself and shuddered exaggeratedly.

Morgan just ate his porridge thinking that as they were only in late September it would get much colder than this. Morgan did however choose not to say this as it would dampen Marith’s already sinking mood.

Marith as Morgan had unwillingly learned was the kind of boy that got up at dawn to train or run every damned day. This had significantly cut down on Morgan’s sleeping time despite him going to fewer classes than ever before, as Marith dragged Morgan with him when he went running more times than not. Morgan had been wondering for a time how Marith had been able to keep up his daily training even during winter. But he had recently learnt that even though he understood that winters were less harsh further south the truth was rather far from what he had imagined.

Marith’s home Vilious was located far south west of the Imperial border and by Morgan’s definition as an Imperial highlander they apparently had no winter at all. From Marith’s claims that even at midwinter the temperature in his homeland was never as cold as it was here and now. This utterly flummoxed Morgan as it was still not even cold enough for snow. This meant as the days went by Marith became more and more miserable. To make matters worse the winter clothing would still take another week or two. The week passed with Morgan spending most of his time either training, reading or sleeping. At some point he contemplated telling Marith that by now his hometown would be covered in snow and most people would simply stay home until early March but he was unsure if it would cheer him up or depress him further.

A particular Saturday a couple of weeks after signing the contract with Aspartos Morgan was given a pale purple crystal the size of two fists by his sinisterly smiling Master. The crystal had tiny runes carved into it and Aspartos described it as a suspension crystal. Stored within this crystal was a variant of the spell that Aspartos cast on Morgan once a week to strengthen the effect regenerative spell Morgan was unconsciously maintaining.

Morgan was told to simply remove the crystal from its case and hold it tightly before he went to bed every night. Aspartos had commissioned a ‘friend’ to make the crystal for him so that he could leave for an extended expedition to acquire some things that were needed for the ritual. Before Aspartos left for this expedition he and Mary-Ann signed the apprenticeship contract, making Aspartos both Mary-Ann’s and Morgan’s official Master. This much to Morgan’s disappointment did not make Mary-Ann stop looking after him.

Morgan felt as he had gotten a meddlesome older sister suddenly and was in all honesty unsure of how to feel about it. He had also managed with great determination to get somewhat used to both the forest vomit and what he called his surprise sleeping crystal. The effect of the crystal still made him pass out but now that he knew it would happen he made an effort to be as comfortable and ready as possible before grabbing it.

He had also managed to avoid Gias and his friends much due to Morgan’s strange schedule of sleep, training and the occasional visits to the library. He had heard that after the incident with Elionora, Gias had become even more disruptive to his surroundings and many of the students now openly avoided him.

In all honesty this all felt distant to Morgan in his daily cycles of training resting and reading. He felt that maybe for the first time in his life he was moving forward, moving towards a path where his father would not have to worry about him which made him smile happily. He had almost stopped paying attention to thing that did not involve his training, books or friends and he felt content. Even most of the assignments that he had gotten for missing classes had stopped arriving as the Academy staff was informed of his apprenticeship. “Most at least…” Morgan thought looking at the new and complex etiquette assignment he had received. “I guess some things don’t change that easily.”

Early October something pushed itself into Morgan’s bubble, the clothing they had ordered arrived and much to Morgan’s surprise there was even a set for him. Harold the store owner had taken his measurements but Morgan had been thinking that simply so that he would not feel left out. He did not think that the contract had included a set of clothing for him but he was happy nonetheless.

There was a jacket made from supple but tough leather, pants of the same material but with extra tougher leather on the knees and behind. Along with these he had also gotten a pair of thin but warm gloves. All the items were lined with Highvale wool and would be warm enough for winter even back home. Best of all was that they were thin enough that they would not hinder movement. The clothing had a light grey colour that would be very useful in the snowy mountains as it would make them be very hard to spot, both for man and beast.

As this was a matching set and tailored specifically for him it was easily the fancier clothing Morgan owned he wanted badly to see how it looked even if they looked a little big. Putting he clothes on Morgan walked over to the small mirror in his room and what he saw in the mirror was someone that he almost did not recognize. It was about a month and a half after his meeting with Aspartos and the person he now saw in the mirror completely rooted him in place.

When Morgan was little he had stopped paying attention to his reflection as the almost imperceptible change just depressed him. Even his little sister who was two years younger had quickly outgrown him.

Yet now, looking back at him from the mirror was a boy that unlike his memories was noticeably taller and well on his way to adulthood. Dressed as he was in his brand new winter clothing that was slightly too large probably to allow for some growth he still looked more filled out than he used to. He was still thin but nowhere near as thin as he had been.

Morgan was still by no means tall or muscular, even many girls were taller than him and many boys like Marith still dwarfed him in both height and mass. But he was no longer tiny for his age. Smiling Morgan felt a surge of excitement and exited his room before Marith even arrived. When he was about to share his discovery with Marith he felt his enthusiasm drop immediately as he took in the sight of the dark-skinned boy.

In a month Marith had grown both taller and broader in the shoulders and Morgan felt that his own growth looked rather paltry in comparison. But remembering how he had barely grown in almost four years he still felt a sense of satisfaction.

Marith was also wearing his winter clothing and it looked rather good on him, still Morgan thought that a thick fur coat like the one his father had might have looked even better on Marith. Marith for his part seemed far more pleased with the warmth of the clothing than anything else and he wore a beaming smile that was completely unlike the near constant scowl he had worn since the temperature started dropping.

“Ohh!” Marith exclaimed. “Dressed like that you almost look your age!” He said with a jovial but still painful punch to Morgan’s shoulder.

“Yes, it almost makes you look civilized too.” Morgan said rubbing his sore shoulder which made Marith laugh.

“Well now that we have a way to defeat the obnoxious cold shall we go for a run?” Marith said with apparent excitement.

“Sure.” Morgan said nodding. “By the way, do you have a hat Marith?”

Marith was about to answer but closed his mouth and got a rather sour expression. Morgan suppressed a chuckle, thinking that Marith had started showing almost as much growth at the Academy as he did.

“No.” Marith shook his head. “I only have hats for blocking the sun and for formal occasions.” He added bitterly.

Morgan slapped Marith on the back for this making him frown in confusion at Morgan. Marith had mostly due to necessity been forced to think over the things he was told and answers he should give. The root cause of this was the many fool’s errands he was sent on by Rina on a nearly daily basis. Still the more Marith thought about it the more cleverly Rina went about tricking him. Morgan could not help but feel proud of his friend’s progress. At the same time he could not help but feel a sense of admiration for Rina’s clever and somewhat devious mind. Morgan had to shake himself to get back on track and reassured Marith.

“Don’t worry it is rather simple to find a good warm hat.” He patted Marith on the shoulder. “We can go to town on Sunday and find one for you.”

“Um, thanks…” Marith looked away. “I can’t on Sunday however...” He looked embarrassed, happy and a bit forlorn making it easy for Morgan to read him.

“Ah, okay. Make sure not to be late this time.” Morgan said with a smile and Marith gave him an annoyed look.

“Like you would have to remind me.” He said flatly. “Besides I have only been late for a date once.”

His eyes shifted away, ruining the validity of his previous statement. “Well, if you don’t consider missing dates as being late that could be true.” Morgan thought and laughed. Marith just glared at him before starting to run as soon as he stepped outside. The pace Marith set was brutal and by the time they finished Morgan was drenched in sweat as the winter clothing was indeed warm.

On their way back to get a change of clothing and take a bath they ran into no other than a smiling Gias.

“Look who we have here!” Gias said excitedly his new larger entourage spreading out around Morgan and Marith. “I have been thinking about you.” Gias took a step forward.

“Really? I had completely forgotten about you.” Morgan said, surprising even himself.

The air around the group froze and the eyes of Gias and his henchmen turned cold. Marith however found this incredible assuming.

“HAHA!” He roared with laughter. “You make him sound like a discarded lover!” He laughed turning Gias bright red with fury.

His furious glare changed from Morgan to Marith and one of his henchmen jumped Marith from behind. The fist that flew towards the back of his head was however unbelievably avoided with the slightest motion from Marith. In the same motion with Marith still laughing he snapped his left arm back and up planting his knuckles in the boy’s nose.

With a disturbing cracking sound the boy crumpled to the ground and the room grew still and except from Marith’s laughing none spoke or moved.

“Your ex is a rather rude fellow isn’t he?” Marith said as he glanced down at the boy and then grinning over to Gias. “You really should not bring others into your lover's quarrel.” Marith’s eyes glowed with a fierce light and he smiled savagely.

“You alien shitstain!” Gias roared furry bubbling over.

Gias’s eyes were bloodshot and spittle sprayed as he shouted. This served as a signal and the five remaining henchmen rushed Marith and Morgan together.

Morgan saw two fists flying at his face and tired as he was he was sure he would be unable avoid it in time. His body however moved instinctively and it looked like he simply gilded out of the reach of the two surprised boys. The more quick-witted of the boys stepped closer and attempted to lunch another punch at Morgan’s gut. Yet, once more he avoided the strike. This time he had slipped to the side and suddenly found himself standing next to the boy who had just taken a swing at him. The two exchange a surprised look.

“Don’t just stand there!” Marith shouted as he ducked a blow from the large boy that was always with Gias. “Hit him!” He shouted and as if to underline his statement he delivered a vicious uppercut that staggered the other boy.

Before Morgan could respond or act the other boy threw himself at him and they three found themselves in a strange dance. The two boys would attack furiously and Morgan would dodge them, sometimes simply by stepping out of the reach and at other times he had to franticly duck or jump sideways. He was tired from the run and the two boys’ attacks were fuelled with indignant anger which only grew as Morgan at least from their perspective, toyed with them. Soon his legs were screaming out in protest, yet just like every morning his feet moved in the same way he had trained every day. He glided out of the reach of the attacks like water, well almost. He often forced to weave his upper body out of the way of an elbow or fist.

Morgan had no idea how long this lasted, but both he and the two boys were panting and Gias had also gone from spewing angry comments to cursing both Marith and his henchmen for their incompetence when an alarmed and angry shouted.

“What is going on here?!” The middle aged man in the clothing of an Academy adept shouted.

“These mongrels insulted my honour and attacked my friends!” Gias shouted angrily turning to the adept with bloodshot eyes and a terrifying smile. “I insist that you have them restrained and punished!” He added pointing at Marith.

The adept paled but did not argue as he recognized Gias.

“You two! You’re coming with…” The adept’s words and expression froze as he spotted Morgan and Marith.

“What are you waiting for?” Gias growled angrily. “Can you not see what they did to my noble friends?!” He growled gestured at the three unconscious forms on the ground.

The adept mopped his suddenly sweaty brow with a handkerchief and looked between Gias and Morgan as if he was weighing his options. This infuriated Gias.

“Why are you standing around for?! Do you know who I am?!” He spat and rounded on the adept stabbing a finger into the adept’s chest. The adept paled and nodded.

“You two are coming with me to the disciplinary office.”

“The disciplinary office?!” Gias shouted. “Take them to the dungeon!” He ordered. “They attacked nobles of the empire and even insulted my honour! Their crimes are indisputable!” Gias was almost frothing at his mouth in his anger. The adept was chewing his lip as he tried to figure out what to do. He must have come to a solution as he turned to Morgan and Marith.

“You two are coming with me, don’t do anything stupid or I will have to summon an enforcer.” His voice was firm but his eyes looked almost pleading.

Gias smiled in triumph and the two followed the adept without saying a word. After walking for a bit the adept turned back and after making sure that only Morgan and Marith was following him he let out a deep exhausted breath.

“Thanks.” Morgan said, causing Marith’s grave expression to turn into one of surprise. The adept grunted and gave a noncommittal wave of the hand.

“Don’t thank me.” He clicked his tongue. “I will still have to take you to the disciplinary office.” He sighed sounding utterly exhausted.

“But you could have taken us to the dungeon, so for that you have my thanks.” Morgan said bowing his head slightly as the adept looked back.

“As if.” The adept laughed humourlessly. “Asking me to take the Archmage's apprentice to the dungeon, talk about a joke in poor taste.” He shook he head and groaned. “Besides…” He looked back at Morgan. “You already look like I should be taking you to the infirmary not anywhere else.” He grunted and rubbed his face. “If only social station truly did not matter at the Academy.” He lamented. “Then that little brat would be much easier to deal with.” He added in a low grumble.

Morgan had not been paying much attention recently but from what little what he had heard from his friends Gias was starting to become a real headache for the Academy.