Nathan had to hurry. A cold breeze announced the nearing midnight, and he still needed to find a tavern, to get some rest. He wandered through the back alleys of Verago, trying to get back on the main street. But somehow, the buildings he passed looked more and more neglected, which was not what he expected to see if he went the right way. After a while, the alleys became livelier. The people Nathan met in the narrow paths, were mostly rough-looking, dirty characters, reminding him of the robbers, which were so rampant the past few years. Whenever someone looked in his direction, he tensed up, expecting to be beaten and robbed. However, most of them just ignored him after a few glances or made fun of him for looking even more sleazy than them. He had just gotten used to it when a group of four men walked straight towards him and blocked his way. Nathan's steps slowed down. One of the four, the only one with relatively clean clothes, smiled at him.

“Hey, kid. You look like you could need some coins.”

Nathan couldn't find a proper answer and kept quiet. Considering the state of this neighborhood, he found it highly unlikely, that someone would selflessly give away money to random strangers.

“C'mon, don't be shy. I just need someone to do me a little favor. I'll pay you a silver if you do.”

“What kind of favor?” Nathan knew, that it would be a bad idea to accept his offer, but without understanding the situation he was in, he also couldn't outright refuse him.

“Nothing hard or dangerous, I just need you to deliver a little package to a friend of mine.”

“Why would you entrust a stranger with that?”

The man smirked. “I wanted to do it myself, but something came up so I can't go, and you look like a trustworthy lad to me.”

“I don't know anything about the city, though. I just arrived.”

“Yeah. I thought so. But don't worry, we'll show you the way.” His expression became threatening. The other three men surrounded Nathan, giving him no illusion about the situation he was in. After glancing at them, he realized, that he only could resign to his fate.

“I guess I don't have a choice, don't I?”

One of the other three men started to laugh. “Damn right, kid, you're a bright one, aren't you?”

He pushed Nathan forward. The leader of the four led them through the alleys while explaining to Nathan what he had to do.

“I'll give you the delivery as soon as we arrive at our hid... my place. The delivery is for the guard's captain of the southern harbor. You can only hand it to him personally, do you understand?”

Nathan only nodded.

“One of my men will be watching over you, to make sure that you arrive safely.” He turned his head and examined Nathan's expression.

“Easy enough, right?”

Nathan didn't even try to hide his emotions. He was sure, that everyone could see how anxious he was. It seemed like his mother didn't exaggerate at all.

After they arrived at a building, that looked no different from all the others he saw up to this point, the leader disappeared through the door for a few minutes. When he came back, he carried a small, metallic box in his right hand.

“Don't let it drop, don't shake it, don't do anything that could damage its contents, do you understand?”

Without waiting for Nathan's reply, he pressed the box into his hands. Then he turned to one of his followers.

“Escort him to the harbor and make sure, he knocks on the correct door. Don't leave him out of your sight!”

“Sure boss.” The thug looked at Nathan and took out his knife.

“You go in front of me, I'll tell you the direction.”

Once again Nathan was pushed forwards. While walking where he was directed, he pondered about his situation. A series of possible reasons for his task came to his mind. It could be bribery, a threat, or even just a message. That they used him to deliver it, meant they either didn't want the guard's captain to know who sent it, or they expected him to kill the messenger. Nathan desperately hoped it was the first case, as the second one would most likely end in his death. What a crappy end for an aspiring mage, killed in the slums of a port city. He shivered. After walking for about twenty minutes, the man behind Nathan halted.

“We arrived.”

The southern harbor was a relatively large, free space, with roughly a dozen docks, framed by rows of warehouses and cranes. In the middle of the harbor, a fortified, three-story-tall building was erected, placed in a way that you could supervise nearly the whole harbor area.

“Do you see the building over there? That's the guard station. I promise nothing will happen to you if you deliver the box. If you try to run, however...” He made a gesture with his knife, that couldn't be misunderstood.

Nathan straightened his back and walked deliberately slow towards the station. He tried to think of a way to escape his predicament. Running didn't seem to be a good solution. He would probably be dead by daylight, when one of the thugs or their friends, found him. Telling the guards captain about this? What if it really is bribery, and he's working with them? Likely also a death sentence. The Station itself was a large building, that stood in the middle of the harbor area with no other buildings in its close surroundings, so he couldn't hide either. Nathan decided, that the best course of action would be immediately running away after he delivered the box. If he was lucky, they wouldn't care much about him and he could get a boat to Gilsbeck in the morning. Slightly trembling he arrived at the door. After hesitating for a few seconds, he knocked three times on the hard wood.

A loud rumble was heard. Then, a slit in the door opened and two eyes could be seen.

“Yes?”

“A delivery for the guard's captain.” Nathan showed the box to the person behind the door.

“Ok, I'll take it from here.” A lanky young man, slightly larger than Nathan, opened the door.

“I'm sorry Sir, but I was told to hand it to the captain personally.”

The guard seemed to be in thought, then he answered.

“Ok, you need to wait for a while.”

Nathan, once again, stood in front of a closed door. He was afraid. His heart felt as if it wanted to burst out of his chest. When he looked around, still trying to find a way out, he saw a man watching him closely from the gap between two warehouses.

“Probably not the only one.” Nathan talked to himself.

“I just wanted to go to Gilsbeck and learn some magic. Why is everything so screwed up the past two days? ”He felt like crying again. Before he became completely caught up in his desperation, the door to the guard station opened again. This time, a tall, middle-aged, man opened the door.

“I'm the guard's captain. You have a delivery for me?”

Nathan pulled himself together.

“Yes Sir, here.” He wanted to give the box to the guard's captain, but instead of the box, the captain grabbed his arm.

“Who instructed you to deliver this to me?”

Nathan panicked.

“Sorry Sir, I don't know, he said he was a friend of you.”

The captain looked at him suspiciously.

“Sir, I really don't know anything else. I only arrived in Verago today.”

“Ok.” After nodding, he shouted into the guard station. “Joe, come here.”

The lanky youth from before rushed to the door.

“Yes, captain?”

“Watch this kid while I take a look at the box. Depending on the content he will have to tell us more about whoever sent this.”

“Will do, captain.” Joe walked behind Nathan and grabbing him at the left shoulder. Nathan cursed mentally. Everything seemed to work against him.

Joe whispered. “Don't be so anxious, the captain is a righteous person. You did nothing wrong if all you did was delivering this. He won't punish you for it.”

The guard's captain shortly examined the box, before opening its lid.

“What's this, it's empty?”

Nathan, however, saw something completely different. When the lid opened, he could see a high density of mana in one of the corners. A split second later it started to spread out at the bottom of the box, hidden by a fake, second bottom.

With eyes wide open, Nathan traced the mana as it formed the patterns of a circuit.

“Oh shit!” Nathan recognized the patterns. They were very similar to the patterns on the oven or fire cone, just smaller, and a lot more of them. They were surrounded by more patterns, unknown to Nathan. He understood by now, that the pattern somehow caused certain magic effects. With so many fire-related ones together, he could guess what would happen, if the circuit was completed.

“Throw it away! Immediately!”

The guard's captain looked at Nathan curiously.

“Why?”

Nathan tried to grab it and throw it away, but Joe held him back, stopping Nathan's hand a few centimeters away from the box.

Nathan's thoughts raced. The circuit was nearly complete, only a few seconds were left. With no other choice, he focused all his thoughts on the mana in the box. He tried to distort its shape, to channel it away from the pattern. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead. With every passing moment, the circuit was closer to finishing. Nathan could not delay or stop it. Then, with a sudden flash of inspiration, he stopped trying to manipulate the mana, that was already in the pattern. His whole being concentrated on the source instead, instantly extracting all the mana, to form the rough shape of the illumination circuit he saw earlier this day.

A dim, flickering light escaped between some cracks in the box. The guard's captain reflexively threw the box away. When it hit the ground, it started to melt into a puddle of hot metal.

Drenched in sweat, Nathan dropped exhausted to the ground.

Joe and the guard's captain were perplexed. They saw the weak light but didn't understand what just happened. The captain was the fastest to react. He grabbed Nathan and Joe by their arms, pulled them inside and slammed the door shut.

Back in the safety of the guard station, he dragged Nathan on his feet and shouted at him.

“What the hell happened out there?! I want answers!”

“I... the Box...”

“Give him a few seconds captain. I doubt he wanted to hurt us.” Joe tried to calm his superior, giving Nathan the time to take a few deep breaths.

“That box must have had a container with mana essence inside. When you opened the box, I saw that a mana circuit was activated. I don't know much about circuits, but I recognized a part, which is related to fire, so I thought it might cause a big flame or explosion.”

“How did you see any mana or patterns? The box was empty!” The captain didn't believe him.

“That's hard to explain, if you're a mage you can see like everyone else, and you can see mana, but it doesn't obstruct each other, I really don't know how to explain it properly.”

The expression of the guard's captain showed surprise.

“You're a mage?” He looked at Nathan's outfit. “Really?”

“No, not yet, I have come here to get a boat to Gilsbeck. I'm enrolled in a magic school there.”

“I see... back to the box. Why did it not explode?”

“I first tried to control the mana, to stop it from completing the circuit. I couldn't stop it, so I used up all the mana from the source to cast a light spell. That way there was not enough mana to fill the circuit and it wasn't completely activated.”

The captain pondered.

“So your light spell was the flickering we saw?”

“Yes.”

“And the box was either an explosive or an incendiary agent?”

“At least I thought so.”

His voice became louder. “And you were delivering it to me?”

“Sir, they forced me to do it, I didn't want to. And also, I didn't know what it was before you opened it, the box must have had somehow prevented me from seeing the mana.”

The guard's captain looked deep into his eyes.

“I believe you. Now tell me who coerced you.”

His declaration took a load off Nathan's mind. He described everything he experienced, starting from when he left the abandoned house up until he knocked on the door. The guard's captain listened attentively. Joe had taken out a pen and paper and wrote his story down. After Nathan had finished it, the captain extended his hand to him.

“First of all, my name is Remald. I have to thank you. You probably saved my life today.”

Nathan felt awkward. “But it was also me, who delivered the box.”

“That doesn't matter, if it wasn't you, then someone else would have. And someone else might not have been able to do what you did. If there is anything you need, I will help you as long as it is within my power.”

“Really?!” Nathan was excited. “I...” He wanted to tell the captain about what happened in the magic store, that he was no thief, but stopped himself immediately. Even though the captain seemed to be a nice person and didn't know much about magic, it was probably the best to not spread this information.

“Yeah? Out with it.”

“I..., I need some clothes and a place to sleep.”

Remald looked at his bare upper body and dirty trousers.

“Yes, indeed... Joe?”

“Captain?”

“You're a bit taller than him, but he seems to be a bit more built, so your clothes should fit quite well. Bring a set of civilian clothing for him.”

“Immediately, captain.”

“Nathan, we have a few buckets of water in the kitchen. Go wash yourself. You can sleep in one of the empty rooms. We got plenty of them.”

Nathan gladly accepted the offer, and a quarter-hour later, his exhaustion took its toll, and he fell into a deep sleep.