- Urie -

Urie was walking along the hallways towards the academy infirmary with exasperated steps as he thought back to the series of incomprehensible events that had occurred.

“Little boy, would you like to kill a dragon?” The smile plastered on the scruffy old man's face was incredibly eerie.

Urie was confused as to how he was asked a question instead of being reprimanded for his actions.

Dragon? Thinking about a word that he had heard for the first time in his life,

“What's a dragon??” Urie asked.

“What's a—? Aaaghk!!!” The old man scratched his head in frustration.

“—You know that statue in the middle of the fountain as well as the mural on the gate of the Academy? It's that.” The old man started to gesture towards a few places.

A creature with a long tail, large horns, and sharp claws. Having wings on it's back meant that it could fly.

Urie's brows furrowed as he wondered why this old man would ask him such a question. He tried to think with a bit of logic. Would this maybe be part of his graduation exam? If he could get an idea from the old man, he might be able to graduate early and head to the wall.

“Where is it?” He decided to ask a simple question.

If the dragon was found in the central area of Erden's Tower then he might as well forget it. His brothers mentioned that there lived more threatening magic beasts around the middle of the tower's interior.

“In the middle of Arinndra's Forest.” The scruffy old man replied without batting an eye.

Arinndra's Forest, the forest up north past the wall, the dwelling place of magic creatures, and the source of the mana beasts. Like Erden's Tower, the more you approach the center area, the more likely you'll run into danger.

The old man wanted him to go there!? Forget Arrindra's Forest, even his older brothers didn't go anywhere near the tower's central area.

Urie turned around without a word and left the Academy courtyard, leaving the scruffy old man with an incensed expression, and furiously scratching his head. Urie walked along the academy corridors and headed for the infirmary's location.

“Mother had warned me about a senile old man with white hair loitering around within the Academy.” He muttered.

The old man seemed to have a certain amount of authority as both instructor Danny and that woman resembling Elicia followed his instructions. About that woman, Urie remembered Elicia calling her aunt.

“What was Elicia's last name again?” He tried to recall.

“Elicia, Elicia Perid!” Was what she said before leaving the lecture room.

“Perid? From the Perid House?”

He remembered her mother saying she had a friend from the Perid house. The previous head of the Perid House had two children, twins. The older twin became the current head of the Perid House. If he was Elicia's father, then her aunt would be the younger twin.

“Elicia must look up to her a lot, seeing as she imitated her appearance.” Urie chuckled, and addressed another subject,

“Anyways, about the demonstration...” He thought back to the earlier events.” That girl with red hair, I feel like I have a lot of questions to ask but, where should I start? Who is she? How could she use ice magic?” He stopped just before the door to the Academy's infirmary.

”Why was she at the fountain that night?” His stomach churned and his palms started sweating.

He asked himself, “How do I even begin a conversation with her?”

***

- Academy Infirmary -

“Merea! What happened to my granddaughter!?”

A tall old man with a receding hairline was acting hysterical as he pulled on the already scant hair on his head and stood over a bed with an unconscious little girl. Merea was on the other side, an apologetic expression was on her face.

“It's alright Vinney Head, she's just mana fatigued. She used a great deal of mana earlier.” Trying to calm him down, Instructor Danny spoke from the side.

“You—!!” Although, instead of calming down, he became even wilder and stepped in front of the instructor, pulling him by his collar.

“I heard it was one of your students that had caused this!” He snapped. “How could you let this happen!”

Against the old man's overbearing nature, Instructor Danny couldn't raise an argument as he was too timid.

Merea opened her mouth and tried to speak in the instructor's defense but couldn't intervene as Sacha, the old man with a receding hairline, continued to complain.

The commotion he was stirring up was making it hard for the young girl, who was closing her eyes and holding her stomach, to get up from the bed. And even harder for the young boy, hesitating outside the door, to enter the room.

“Sacha, you stinky boy! Simmer down!” A sudden shout coming from the doorway had startled everyone in the room.

The scruffy old man from earlier had come into the room with an annoyed face, pushing Urie in front of him.

“It was this kid that did it. He's not yet able to regulate mana circulation so I'll be putting him in my care.” He declared.

The three people surrounding the bed with the young girl feigning unconsciousness, all expressed a myriad of emotions. The one on Sacha Vinney's face in particular, being the most expressive as his eyes twitched repeatedly.

“Headmaster, have some sense of decency and forget about corrupting that child.” Merea spoke without the slightest bit of respect, furrowing her eyebrows.

“He-Headmaster, wh-what about his attendance in my class?” Instructor Danny spoke with a bit of a stutter as he wasn't good at dealing with the Headmaster.

“He would still attend your classes, only, my lessons would take precedence. Also, I'll take that little girl as well.” He pointed his finger towards the bed.

The girl on the bed opened her eyes as she was curious to who the scruffy old man was referring to but quickly closed them in fright. She put a little more strength to her hands pressing her clothes when she saw the finger pointed at her.

Wind suddenly gathered in the room as a green hue had begun to emit around Sacha's body. Losing all decorum, he dashed towards the scruffy old man with incredible speed.

“You senile old freak! Don't you dare place your eyes on my grandchildren!!!” He yelled.

His face looked ferocious as he stabbed his two fingers towards the old man's yellow eyes, but before they could reach, a pale wrinkled hand suddenly appeared from within the scruffy old man's sleeves and planted itself on Sacha's face.

In the blink of an eye, Sacha was laying down on the ground unconscious. The whites in his eyes showing while his mouth was starting to foam.

“Merea, place this idiot on a bed.” The scruffy old man said.

Merea, who was rooting for Sacha, clicked her tongue but still followed instructions as she and Instructor Danny carried Sacha towards a vacant bed.

Urie had watched all of this happen with his eyes wide open. He once again thought back to the scruffy old man's question,

“Would you like to kill a dragon?”

The scruffy old man turned his head and looked towards Urie as if he knew what Urie was thinking.

“What do you think now little boy?” He smiled with a similar expression as earlier.

“Why do you ask me? If you're so strong, why don't you kill it yourself?”

Urie was truly perplexed, not knowing why this old man would make such a request.

“I would if I could—!!” Clicking his tongue, the scruffy old man held back the words in his mouth and crossed his arms while frowning.

“I need your help little boy. Come on, you'll also be helping that little girl over there.”

Curious at the sudden mention, Celeste opened a single eye to peek at the two people having a conversation. She opened them both in surprise. Her gaze had been caught by theirs.

“Little girl. If I had to take a guess, you're from the 'outside', aren't you?”

The old man's eyebrow was raised and he began rubbing his chin.

“I'll help you get back, just agree to help me.” He added.

Celeste's shoulders jumped at the question, she looked down at the ground in silence. Neither confirming nor disagreeing, the scruffy old man took her actions as a sign of affirmation and spoke towards Urie like a merchant selling a deal.

“Come on little boy, agreeing to help me, you would also be helping this little girl—”

“Stop calling me a little boy!”

“Stop calling me a little girl!”

Both Urie and Celeste abruptly shouted and glared. This time, a startled expression appeared on the old man's face.

“Then I take it that both of you agree?” He resumed his usual eerie smile and directed it towards the children.

The string of well-placed sentences implied that he had ample experience in tricking children. The two in front of the old man looked at one another and came to an agreement.

***

- Celeste -

[...Hurry!]

A gentle voice in my head had suddenly begun speaking to me in a frantic tone when I was being shown around the academy by the woman grandfather called Merea.

[Stop...h...im!...Hurry!]

[...urry!]

As if somebody was pulling me along, I arrived at the academy's courtyard, where I finally saw that ashen-haired boy. I knew I would meet him eventually but not in that kind of situation. He was sitting on the ground, surrounded by quickly growing flames.

Just as they were about to spread towards the people watching at the sides, a familiar rush of warmth had suddenly spread across my body. My hands moved in front of me as I directed the warmth towards the flames.

A wall of ice had formed between the boy and the other people. My hands that were covered in frost felt fine. I didn't appear to be affected by the cold. I turned towards the boy to see how he was doing.

“What's with that smile!? I yelled.

All of this was happening around him and yet he was just sitting there smiling? I struggled to keep my eyes open as a wave of exhaustion had hit me.

“What are you doing!?” I blurted out another question before I could no longer hold myself up. I passed out onto the ground.

When I came to, that grandpa was making a ruckus beside my bed. I decided not to bother and just kept my eyes closed.

“Sacha, you stinky boy! Simmer down!”

A creepy old man suddenly came and it seemed he had brought that boy along. The room shook and at the same time, I heard a loud bang before that grandpa no longer uttered a sound.

Beside the bed, the boy and the creepy old man were left having a conversation. I strained my ears to listen in on them.

“I need your help little boy. Come on, you'll also be helping that little girl over there.”

Little girl? Was he talking about me? I tried opening my right eye to peek. Ah! They saw me. They know I'm awake!

“Little girl. If I had to take a guess, you're from the 'outside', aren't you?” The old man asked.

Outside? What was he talking about?

“I'll help you get back, just agree to help me.”

Did he mean my home? He can take me home? Really?

“Come on little boy, agreeing to help me, you would also be helping this little girl—”

“Stop calling me a little boy!”

“Stop calling me a little girl!” I yelled.

I felt angry at being repeatedly called a little girl.

“Then I take it that both of you agree?”

Wha—What should I do?

[Agree..o his reque...or now...]

Gentle voice?

What did he mean? He asked if I was from the outside?

I'm confused, did he mean the place where I came from? If anything, this whole place would be more suited to be called the outside, no?

[That..isn't of...importance...ight..ow]

What did he think? I looked towards the ashen-haired boy. He nodded his head as our eyes met.

Then I'll trust his decision for now. As long as I can go home.

Mama...

Papa...

I want to see them...