I entered into the princess’ room, the darkness and stillness of the twilight morning making a surreal contrast to the animated Gabrielle in all her gorgeousness. She wanted to speak with me about something but was quite discreet about it. I followed her into the room, looking on at the back of her and waiting for the silhouetted princess to explain what this was about. With a forlorn smile, she turned around, and embraced me tightly with a hug.

“Whoa, whoa! Don’t tell me you fell for my charms already? I know I’m irresistible, but please, your decorum is impor–”

“Oh, shut it. Who’d fall for you?”

Your mom, I thought, but chose to omit that due to its rather contemptuously aural tone.

“Besides, you’re much too young,” she commented, raising a rug off the ground to reveal a cellar door.

“Pfft, what’s a ten-year difference?”

“I’m only fi… You’re only five years younger, you invalid!” she insulted, choosing a less embarrassing statement.

“Alright, alright. Hmm, you’re twenty?” I asked, feigning disbelief, “Maybe you should ask around for herbalists that know any anti-aging remedies because man, your, um, ‘experience’ is really showing, you know?”

She looked back at me, totally appalled. Her inclination to get flustered by every word I said felt so rewarding that I just couldn’t help but tease her every time I saw her.

When I saw the square basement door, I thought it was just that, a basement door, but nope. She stretched her arms down and pulled out something wrapped in a black cloth. The dust once laden in it was beaten off and immediately swerved into the air, accentuated by the dim rays of light coming through the windows when she whipped the cloth.

“You gotta be jokin’! Why do you have that? No, I mean, for real though, why do you have it? Did she say anything when she gave it to you? I got four already, this would be the fifth one that I have no idea what to do with or what they even mean!” I complained about the white codex she had in her hand.

“Who said I was giving it to you?” she tilted her head.

“Oh…” I jumped the gun.

“Well, I am, though. That was her instruction before she died. She said, should I encounter a mage I truly love, to give it to that mage.”

“Did you just, confess your undying love to me?”

“No, you imbecile,” she handed over the blank tome to me. “While our time together has been far too short for me to say ‘I love you’ in any aspect, but I do love what you’ve done for mom. She was happy when she was alive, yeah, but nowhere close to how happy she is now. And let’s not forget you actually brought her back to life! That, is why you’re worthy of the book.”

“Well, you have the witch to thank, really. She’s the one who gave me the ability.”

“But,” she hugged me once more, perhaps to conceal the sight of her tears, “she didn’t approve of mom’s search for immortality. She had the power to grant her that, but never did. She had the power to bring her back to life, but never did. But you, you did. You brought her back. Thank you, Eric.” Her tears fell to my neck and crept downwards.

I wrapped an arm around her, the other hand holding onto the book. “Anytime, Gabrielle. Anytime.”

She let go, after an absurdly long time and just stared at me, wordless. “I’m afraid to ask what’s going through your mind right now. But I do have something to ask when you’re done ‘miring this amazing wizard.”

She giggled, “So full of yourself. What is it you want to know?”

“Did she say anything when she gave this to you? Like, what the hell it means or what it’s for?”

Her finger went to her chin, “I can’t tell you exactly what it is, but I know it’s a spell tome. It holds a big secret in it in terms of magic. When she made these revelations, she never wanted to ever forget them. But then something happened and she somehow knew she was going to die, so she found it better to give one to various important people in her life.”

My ears twitched at the sound of “spell tome”, my eyes twinkled, my blood rushed, my brain surged. If magic was a woman then I guess you can extrapolate what would happen next to my body.

We returned and had our last breakfast–where I once again passed out–before Donna, Sek’hana and I would go to Aquan. The Ingen chieftain lived in the palace as well but could only Voidwalk if she had to go outside.

The things at the forefront of my mind were figuring out the codices and learning light magic, and boy was I excited. The partnership between Ingen and the Order seemed like just something to get over with, so it was definitely time to leave. Donna summoned Tarit, asking him to return to the spirit world and bring Gale with him since I couldn’t summon the great white owl myself. Like that, we said our goodbyes and left.

We walked with some food, because I wanted it to be a one-flight trip. Donna crept back into my mind and Sek’hana sat next to me on Gale. We made it back to the city of mages by night. Sek’hana needed no introduction to my parents so she was welcomed to stay. The orc helped me a lot, carrying my floppy body around after I finished my meals.

Finally, morning came. I was up early. And by early, I mean a couple hours before noon. I’d eaten, fallen asleep, awoken and was on my way to the Order of Mages. Walking, no Levitate, just walking. I’d forgotten how much of a drag it was. Just before we entered the Order, I had Sek’hana come out of the void. This, after all, was official business, and should some mage skilled enough to detect her in Voidwalk raise an alarm, it would look rather suspicious and bring about the type of attention we weren’t looking for.

I was already, thankfully famous enough around Aquan and especially in the Order, so the guards manning the entrance who saw us walking side by side thought twice about questioning us, but they had to lest their higherups throw a hissy fit. After mentioning she was an invited guest–although the councilmen knew nothing of the sort–the guards simply gave her a visitor’s pass and let us be on our way.

I made sure we passed in the most crowded of places to get our mages as used to seeing an orc from the earliest possible opportunity, and that certainly worked. The teleporters were busy as more and more people left from wherever they were and teleported to the main grounds of the Order to see Sek’hana, but they kept their distance.

But that didn’t apply to Pyro, because the moment he saw us, he ran toward us. “Bro, dude, bro…”

I couldn’t help but laugh at his lack of words, “Pyro, this is Sek’hana, a friend of mine. Can’t give any details as of yet but if things go well, you’ll know more. Sek’hana, this is, uh,” I searched my memory futilely for his real name.

“Peter, my name’s Peter.” They shook hands and right then, Dawn and Volt came, probably in half-assed pursuit of Pyro. The moment I saw the girl, I walked straight to her, held her chin and kissed her, long enough to make up for the month or more of not seeing her. I bumped fists with Volt afterward and introduced him and Dawn to Sek’hana. But I had to stick to business before I got distracted, so I left them for now, despite my qualms about it.

Dad, after returning, had given the Councilmen a simple letter from the king, Farron. It stated simply that for the next few days, until Eric Archibald had convened a meeting, they were to remain in Aquan. This type of news was maddening in its lack of details to the Order, and I knew damn well with all the noise, rumours and news generating from Sek’hana’s appearance in the Order, the Councilmen themselves would be ready before the day let out.

But I didn’t expect them all to be seated and waiting in their favourite meeting room. The king gave me a letter as well, with all the juicy details that the Order had been dying to hear. After all, at the forefront of all mages’ learning was nothing more than curiosity, so that aspect never faded with time.

“Hey guys,” I greeted them, Sek’hana and I taking a seat at the circular table.

“I never thought we’d see a non-Councilman member of the Order in this room so many times,” Meagan commented, taking on a much friendlier tone with me than the rest of the rank fives, excluding her brother of course.

“I have a knack for gettin’ caught up in stuff.” Not wanting to waste time on this, I took the letter out, and handed it over to her. “Farron should’ve written you guys a few days back about this meeting. This is why.”

To be honest, I didn’t read the letter myself. But hell, it’s not like it was a spell tome so what’s the point? It wasn’t addressed to me anyway. So, like the other members, this was my first time hearing his message.

Meagan spoke of the entire incident with the royal seal, which I’m sure the Garrans already reported. And that was it, really. However, the way he phrased it certainly made Sek’hana out to be someone who helped way more than she actually did. Using avoidance of the humans’ indistinguishable wrath toward the Ingen as the motive behind her actions, the king pointed out that both Sek’hana and I were good friends and were both of the mind to introduce a partnership between the Ingen and the Order, where both parties could freely travel and learn from each other.

“So,” one of the older councilmen – actually a woman – held her forehead as if still ingesting the information, “let me summarise. I don’t believe we have an actual handle on the situation just yet.”

Meagan handed over the letter for her to see herself. “The ex-minister of defence, Anton Du Bois, plotted to steal the royal seal. He offered to pay the party you were in to do it. Some individuals in the party then decided that it wasn’t right but took the quest up in order to find out who your employer was, then setup an ambush to prove that the employer, Anton, did indeed hatch such a plan. The Ingen tribe had a spy following the group of,” she paused a bit, trying to remember the other tribe, then simply looked at the letter, “Virai orcs that was recently at the Ashfur celebration. This is how they came to know of the plan and decided then, to become involved. And so, the king appreciated this and decided to support the union of the Ingen tribe and the Order of Mages. Is that it?”

“Yep.”

The leader of them, one possibly the oldest had a bout of laughter. In my little years in life, I’d notice the true leaders of big corporations and establishments were always very friendly and understanding. Not at all what people would think them to be, at least that was true for the ones I’ve encountered thus far, and my grandparents as well. He stood up, strolled over to me and rested his palm on my shoulder. “My boy, would you like to be a councilman?”

Their eyes bulged.

“Elder!” one called out, “You can’t be serious about this!”

“He’s only a child!” another exclaimed.

“We can’t do this, Elder!” Elder seemed to be his nickname. “Not even Flynn Archibald is a councilman!”

“I concur. Having such power at a young age is a sure precedent of arrogance. The things that can go wrong are many, and astronomical in scale.”

“Even a rank up to rank four Officer is a huge step. Hell, his ascension to rank three is the quickest the Order has ever seen by far!”

“Yet you talk about rank five for a teenage mage? Elder, with all due respect, you cannot do that.”

The old man sighed, but still had a pleasant little smile on his face. He looked at the Garrans, the only ones who clearly didn’t oppose his proposition to me. He gently placed a finger on their heads, just a light tap, then did the same to Sek’hana and I. A strange magic went into me, but I could feel it wasn’t at all anything to be worried about.

Suddenly, without any sort of warning, a burst of magic drowned the room. The magic inside me flared up at that moment, somewhat protecting me from whatever it was the Elder did, but I could feel the stifling presence of fear in the room. “You ignorant saplings!” He spoke, a calm anger about him. Despite not yelling, the sound of his voice sounded pronounced and loud, no doubt a product of whatever spell or spells or incorporated. “You’ve all utterly and disappointingly lost sense of what made you mages in the first place! I see how you go about your lives every day. It’s all laughably methodical. Do this, then that, then this, in that order. You’re all pitiful examples of mages despite your titles. You’ve grown complacent, lazy and much too relaxed in your pursuit – if I can even call it that anymore – of magic. Councilmen of the Order of Mages, as it stands now, Eric Archibald is a better, stronger, and more sensible mage than any of you! Does that not bother you? Do you not wish to outshine him? Do you not wish to put him in his place? If you don’t get those feelings, then you may as well remove your mantle of ‘mage’ from your shoulder, for it is too heavy a weight on your pathetic resolves.

“Also, might I remind you who holds the power in this council? Don’t sit there, thinking you have say in the decisions I make. The only person who has any say in the boy’s promotion is the boy himself! And one more thing, should he continue doing the things he does, and should you fools continue in your blindness, he will be the next rank six!”

And like that, the magic cleared the room. The little preventative magic he placed in us was all but gone. Besides the Garrans, the rest of the council was quivering in their seats, unable to do or say anything. He gave them quite a thrashing. “M-maybe you went too hard on them,” I commented. They honestly looked like their lives flashed before their eyes.

“Nah,” he passed his hand in front his face a couple times, “they had it coming. The very purpose of the Order of Mages is for those who love magic, to come and exchange knowledge with others and grow magic freely and openly. The union between us and the Ingen is speaking to the very existence of the Order. We hide no magic. Well,” he laughed, “we hide the ones that are self-destructive or just plain dangerous.”

Even if I’d like to know what those spells were, I could understand his inclination to keep overly dangerous spells out of reach. “So,” he looked at Sek’hana and shook hands, “the Ingen are more than welcomed here. I will give every mage of the Order a memo about the Ingen. We look forward to working with you, chieftain Sek’hana.”

“As do the Ingen, Elder…”

“Remi,” he said his name. “Somehow, ‘Elder’ just stuck with me. I hope I don’t look that old,” he jested. “Eric, my boy, you’ll be the face of the Order for matters concerning the partnership. You’ll also be the person the Ingen may go to for certain things as you’re well trusted by chieftain Sek’hana. You’ll also be the person who’ll have to make important decisions should the people I put in charge of the everyday matters of the partnership find the decision too difficult to make. You will be relieved of your responsibility to teach summoning, as your three apprentices have been teaching the class in your stead. Despite this, I do hope you continue to share your knowledge with those three.”

Whoa, really?

“Knowing these things,” the Elder continued, “would you be interested in becoming rank five?”

“Sure, as long as there’s some strong-ass spells available, I’m down. And I’m talking real spell tomes, not theoretical books on opinions like the library has. If the Order can really give me some nice stuff, stuff that’s addicting like drugs. Then I can even tell you about how to achieve Division. But!” I said, holding him back from his vivid excitement, “This doesn’t mean you’ll be able to do it. Its mana requirement is quite overwhelming.”

“Is that so? That’s rather interesting,” Elder commented. After a little small talk, we were able to leave.

“So, will you return to Ingenaar now or will you stay and enjoy Aquan for a while?” I asked as Sek’hana and I walked back out into the Order’s courtyard.

“I’m afraid I must be on my way,” she faced me, and touched her forehead onto mine. It must’ve been an orc thing. “Goodbye for now, Eric. And thank you for all you’ve done,” she said, expanding the glider from her back.”

“H-hold on. You’re flying back like that? Ingenaar is pretty far from here. Won’t you take Gale?”

She chuckled, “No thanks. It doesn’t feel right for me to use a spirit lord as mere transport. Besides, as long as I’m not in a rush, I can keep it up for hours at a time.”

With that, she used quite a strong Convergence to lift her upward then a lesser one to get her gliding.

I went into the class I used to teach and beheld Pyro assisting a few people in summoning elementals. Well, so were Volt and Dawn, but it was much more surprising that he’d do it. “Hard at work, I see,” I commented and got his attention.

Like a referee after a match, he took my hand and held it up, “The master has returned!” he shouted to the class of around sixty people. It seemed like the numbers fluctuated as I was sure there were more people before.

Dawn, Volt, and everyone else looked our way. “Well, how’s about you summon a spirit lord for them? A lot of them don’t believe you can,” Volt pointed out, shouting across the room for his voice to reach me.

“Actually, they’re right. I can’t summon or cast any spells right now.”

“Huh?” Dawn got interested, or rather, the Mary in her started showing, “What did you do, Sir Reckless?” she interrogated from afar. I looked away with a crooked smile which only made her angrier. “Eric…” she said my name in that really emphasized way that always made the person on the receiving end of the stick think they’re in trouble.

“Alright, alright! I might’ve, maybe, kind of used a forbidden spell. Three-ish times.”

“You buffoon!” she shouted across the room. The entire class laughed, but she was not at all happy.

She stormed over, angrily. “What were you doing to use a forbidden spell?!”

I scratched my face nervously, “Well, fighting a spirit lord.”

Oh yeah Donna, you can summon Tarit right? Would you be so kind, milady?

“A’ight.”

Within a few seconds, the tiger suddenly appeared. He hadn’t any reason to use another form other than his real one, so the class was stunned. He was a smidgen bigger than your regular tiger, but his unusual black coat of fur with white stripes was a jarring appearance. “This is Tarit, the spirit lord of the lightning faction in the spirit world. He is why I can’t cast spells.”

“Have you brought me here to ridicule me, mage?” the tiger asked and everyone kind of lost their presence of mind for a minute, ingesting the notion that an ‘animal’ just spoke.

“Nah, not at all. Actually, it’s to show you off. Oh and, I forgot to mention, but, if you get summoned, you should probably use a human form, with clothes of course. Another reason I summoned you was for you to tell a worried girlfriend why I used a forbidden spell.”

“Forbidden spell? Hmm? Ah,” he suddenly remembered, “that’s how you managed to keep up with me. Well, that spell certainly saved your life. Can we not speak of this anymore? I’m not particularly proud of my actions, mage.”

“It’s fine. You can go back now, thanks for clearing that up.” And with that, Tarit vanished.

Donna suddenly came out, “Don’t forgive him just like that, Dawn. He could’ve had my help any time he wanted, but he wanted to do it on his own. Now he can’t cast anything. Oh, and a fun side note. He gets unnaturally hungry very quickly. But whenever he eats, he faints. All because he used Timedial and wrecked his mana. You should definitely punish him.”

I shot the conniving betrayer daggers with my eyes. “Whose side are you on, bitch?”