Ker-thunk. The sound of a round wooden wheel slamming into the ground matched a jolt across Ressen’s body which rejuvenated his consciousness.

He awoke to find a cloth canopy above his head. Still groggy, he realized that he was probably inside one of the wagons in the village square, lying on something soft and warm.

“Oh! – er… You’re finally awake!”

A soft voice sounded from just above his line of sight. Directly behind him – no, directly under him sat the lap of a girl with shining silver hair and eyes – wait. Wasn’t she the girl that nearly killed him earlier?

He sprung on to his feet, spinning around to face her reflexively moving to grab his blade in its sheath. He found nothing there.

“Where’s Reverend?”

Puzzled, the girl stared up at him.

“Re-ver-end?” The thought struck her immediately. “Do you mean your blade?” She motioned towards the ground to her left, where the broken blade laid.

As Ressen reached down to grab the Reverend while watching her for any movements, the girl’s small hand wrapped around his wrist.

She smiled at him. “My name’s Psia, sorry if I have to stop you – but it’s for my own safety you know?” She paused – frowning for a second – before looking back upwards. “After all, you did almost kill Brutus.”

So Brutus was the name of that hulking monster on his temper tantrum. He had only stopped him from destroying his home…

“You really shouldn’t think badly about Brutus, he might seem rude at times – but underneath everything, he really is just a big softy it just takes time.”

Softy. Right. He wouldn’t believe any length of time would enable him to see that monster as soft. How long had it been anyways? Judging by the sun rising through the opening in the back of the wagon, it looked like it was morning. However, multiple days could have passed already, and who knows what they could have done in that time- wait. He stopped himself again. Were they moving?

Psia watched him panic for a few seconds before understanding his intentions. “Please don’t panic, and let me explain.” She took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, but you’ve been unconscious for almost two weeks now.”

Ressen stared at her with hostile eyes. Two weeks? What had they done with his home?

“We left as soon as we could – after we confirmed that there indeed were no monsters in the area.” She tilted her head while standing up, dusting her dress off. “You don’t talk much do you?”

“Why am I here?”

“I’m sorry, but we didn’t have time, and you were injured. We couldn’t just leave you out there.”

“Let me go.”

“Apologies again, but we need to make a report about you, so we’ll be taking you with us. We need to make sure you’re okay as well.”

Ressen pushed his arm forwards, attempting to break the grip of the girl restraining him.

“You’re not a prisoner, so how about this; if you answer some of my questions, I’ll return your blade to you.”

The girl’s grip was strong, and for some reason, Ressen was already far too weakened to fight against her. He relaxed and sat back down on the wooden floor. “… Okay.”

“Hmm… can you smile?”

The random request shocked Ressen. “What?”

“Ressen should smile a bit – he looks really mean you know?”

Was this girl serious? Her tone had switched instantly from a woman doing business to that of a younger sister. “Look, gir- Psia, right? Ask me your ques-“

“Does Ressen want Re-ver-end back or not?” the girl sung in a sing-song voice. “Just turn that frown up-“

“Fine.” He took a break to sigh, forcing the largest grin he could, he muttered through his lips; “Now?”

Psia pouted. “Ressen is so grumpy~. What is he doing here anyways?”

“You brought me here…”

“Nooo! What is someone like Ressen doing in the middle of the wildwoods?”

“Wild-woods?” Puzzled at the appearance of this word Ressen could only stammer them.

“Those ruins – c’mon! Don’t tell me Ressen’s been there his entire life, what is he, almost 17 years old?”

“That is my home.”

“And it’s in the middle of nowhere~. The only other place more densely populated with demons would be the outer ring.” Psia paused and placed the tip of her finger on her lips. “Ah! You’re so brave – alone for so long~”.

Ressen continued to stare at her with his fake smile paired with a glare of contempt, refusing to respond to the compliment. “What were you doing there?”

Caught off guard by a rebuttal question Psia could only stammer out a quick response. “W-wha? Just traveling through for business as a short cu-“ her eyes grew larger, and she stood up, returning to her business tone and scolding him. “Hey! I’m asking the questions here!”

Ressen looked up at her and frowned. She was dangerous.

“Waah – Resseeen~… you make things so hard.” Psia sat back on the ground, calming down. “Ressen probably doesn’t know much about the outside world if he doesn’t even know about where his ‘home’ is.” She stared him in the eyes. “Now what about that…” She shuddered. “Dragon.”

“Dragon?” What was she talking about – Oh. The creature that had saved him… wait. “Did you hurt Pii?” For some reason, the name Pii sounded natural.

“So Pii is its name? We left as soon as possible, Ressen’s ‘home’ is safe, and the… dragon refused to part with him.”

“Wait – that creature, er – Pii, is here?”

Her voice lowered. “It’s sleeping right now on top of the canopy – I’m the only one it lets inside for some reason.” She pointed up above them, where a small dark silhouette imprinted across the fabric. “Now… can you explain why you are in the possession of a mythical creature?”

The cart bumped against a rock in the dirt path. “Eh?”

♦

“A mythical creature?”

“Your… dragon Pii shouldn’t exist in anything except for storybooks from over two thousand years ago.”

“I don’t own Pii, she just was there to save me.”

Psia suddenly stood up and shouted at him, eyes wide. “’Just there to save you?’ What kind of idiot do you take me for? For a demonic creature like that to just be so casual with you – and even protect you… what magic did you use? Do you have any idea how much that is worth-“ She caught herself on her tangent. “My~ Ressen really does make things hard.” She took a breath but continued standing, head down in the palm of her hand.

“M-magic? There’s no way I can do something like that…” He knew this was a fact, but he internally cringed for some reason as if by reflex.

Psia peeked her eyes from around her fingers. “Res- Ressen can’t use magic? Has he ever been tested?”

“Tested?”

“Of course! It decides what orbs you use the best after all.” She paused and thought for a second. “Could it be Ressen doesn’t know what an orb is either?”

“No?”

“Pfft! Brutus was probably right then when he called Ressen a savage, you’re just like an empty!”

A savage… “Um, he mentioned something about me being an empty? What does that mean?”

“Well, an empty is basically someone without affinity with any magic, and can’t use orbs. He probably suspected that when he noticed Ressen didn’t have an orb on him, like this one.” Psia reached down and pulled a necklace out from under her shirt. A small clear crystal gem filled with a glowing white matter acted as the pendant of the necklace. “This crystal is a measuring crystal, which shows what magic the user is most adept with. This means I have a strong affinity with aer and also acts as my identification!”

“I… I see.” Magic? Humans can use magic?

“I’m sure Ressen is going to have some strong affinity with magic! After all, he’s survived for so long alone, so that must mean he’s really powerful!” Psia was starting to sound even more like a little kid. “I really hope you’re aer, so we can be together, big brother!”

“Yea- wait huh?” Does this girl have some brother syndrome?

Psia’s eyes shot open as she realized her mistake and her cheeks blushed red, quickly changing the subject. “So when we get home, we’ll test you first. We need to anyways to get you into the city.”

At this point, Ressen realized that he had no clue where they were actually going. “Wh-”

“Oh, that’s right! Ressen has no idea where we’re going! He’ll be happy to hear we’re going to Fortress Aer.” Psia puffed out her chest and looked proud.

“Fortress… Aer?”

“It’s really hard to get into any of the Fortresses… so um, coming with us is something people would pay anything for so, er.” Psia looked dejected at Ressen’s response.

“Ah, I see – thank you then.”

At Ressen’s response, Psia instantly perked up. However, at this exact moment, an explosion echoed in the distance, causing the cart to jolt to a standstill. Psia peeked outside of the cart quickly, looked at Ressen, and smiled. “Looks like we’re going to have some fun.”

♦

In the middle of a valley, the convoy of seven wagons were surrounded by two steep cliffs of rock about the height of a few tall trees. Small shapes could be seen tossing barrels down the valley, causing even larger explosions that preceded the first, each landing closer to the convoy than the last.

As Psia jumped out the rear of the wagon – her eyes burning with excitement – Ressen was pulled along to witness a grand spectacle. “Tsk – Not even affinity users. How primitive.” She looked slightly sullen.

The guards that were previously traveling alongside the wagons were in complete disarray, with both their commander and employer absent.

“You lot!” Psia’s voice acted as a beacon of hope for the confused men. “What do I pay you for? Start setting up a defensive ring so that the casters can us-” She paused, and looked at Ressen. “Actually – just use basic wind orbs to defend the cargo. I’ll take care of them.”

However, barrels had already landed directly between the wagons, scattering the footmen around each of their explosions.

The attackers, having seemingly found their mark, therefore sent a volley of barrels from above, sending the men guarding the wagons into a panic. The three unarmed casters were desperately grabbing red and white orbs from their pouches, crushing them, and casting fireballs to desperately pick off each of the barrels one by one, however they were nowhere near enough to even dent the torrent of barrels that were soaring towards the ground.

Psia took this all in calmly and once again changed her tone of voice, suddenly perking up from her foul mood. “Ressen will be glad to know that I’m using my special magic today!” She winked at him and pulled a clear orb the size of a pea from a pouch hidden under the folds of her skirt, holding it between the fingers of her right hand.

The orb that she held between her fingers was glowing a vibrant white, making it difficult to look at. In comparison to the orbs being used by the casters – which looked like dull rocks – you could describe its brilliance as a refined diamond despite its small size, with its colors pulsing inside the crystal of the orb.

Nonchalantly Psia raised her left hand into the air and looked up towards the barrels falling through the sky.

As if the attackers could predict the future, shouts of surprise rang throughout the valley as the dots began retreating behind the cover of the cliffs.

She smiled at the reactions of the retreating enemies and looked down at Ressen. “Enjoy the show!” and she completely crushed the small orb into dust, causing her already white eyes to glow.

The instant she crushed the orb, a visible gust of wind blasted into existence just above her palm, sending a blanket of air that spanned the entire valley upwards. The hail of barrels, some of which would have landed on Psia if she were half a second slower, stopped midair and suddenly reversed their direction as if she had just reversed gravity.

The barrels, sent on opposite trajectories began landing above the cliffs, sending dozens of the attackers flying from above, black miasma flowing from their bodies. Less than fifteen seconds had passed during the entire encounter before silence returned to the valley.

“You-you’re joking me.” Ressen was dazed.

The remaining guards were in complete shock from the spectacle they had just witnessed. Murmuring and whispers began running amongst them. “-part of the Aer family?”, “I thought… legend”.

“Ey? Madam! You had no need to use such magic, that is our job! I must apologize for such imprudence on my men’s incompetence!” a booming voice from the wagon in front of Ressen’s turned everyones heads. The figure of a hulking man, Brutus, stepped from the shadows of the wagon. His arm, face, and back, all heavily bandaged – any other human would be in no shape to walk, nonetheless, move.

Psia sighed, “You all seriously can’t do anything right – why do I hire you for these jobs anyways?”

“But Madam-!” Before Brutus could continue however, his eyes opened in shock as he witnessed movement behind Psia. One of the attackers, a masked survivor of the explosions and the fall began rushing towards her back with a blade in his arm – desperate to gain revenge on the one that ruined their plan. There was no one Brutus knew of that was in range to stop him before his blade cleanly penetrated her body – and he could only stop midway in his sentence in panic.

Ressen, dazed by the entire spectacle, had previously picked up a dull white orb in his right hand from the ground before noticing movement on the ground behind Psia. Seeing a glint of a weapon, he had realized the danger that a person that he needed more information from was about to be in – and subconsciously cracked the orb, and ran forwards – without a blade.

Of course Psia was shocked by Brutus’s sudden lack of words – someone she had always known for being frank and careful with his words had suddenly lost them. She followed his gaze behind her, to see the distorted face of a man about to stab her seconds away from impact. Her vision began blurring – dismayed that Ressen would have to see her die like this.

Everyone in the valley was frozen in silence. A single boy was running towards Psia, however it was clear that he was never going to make it in time. However, to everyone in the valley – the space between the boy and the gap between Psia and the attacker blurred and suddenly the boy appeared, parrying the attacker’s blade upwards, sending it flying into the sky.

Ressen had only thought that he needed to get there faster – and reached his arm towards where he knew Reverend would be and clenched his fist. At that moment, he was propelled forwards by an enormous gust of wind as Reverend was sent flying into his hands. Before he knew it, he was standing crouched before the attacker, holding Reverend just underneath the attacker’s blade that was about to pierce him instead. Of course, he did the only thing his reflex would allow him to do, and pushed diagonally up.

♦

“Madam!” Brutus cleared himself from his shock as he ran towards the figure of Psia which fell to her knees in front of Ressen. “Oi, you lot – clear the area and make sure this mess doesn’t happen again!” He charged in front of Psia and grabbed Ressen by the neck, threatening him with the sharp blade of an axehead.

“Wh-what are you doi-” Ressen was choking to the sudden pressure to his neck, dropping the sword and the orb he was clutching in his hand.

“Brutus, what does someone like you think he is doing?” Psia looked down – giving off a dark atmosphere.

“M-madam! We’re guaranteeing your safety!” He nervously answered, giving Ressen a glare.

“Brutus, did you ever stop and consider – that Ressen saved my life… and therefore is my life benefactor?” Psia slipped a hand into her pouch, revealing a shining white orb without looking up.

Brutus flinched and dropped Ressen, immediately dropping to his knee in front of Psia. “Madam, I must apologize for my rudeness – however allow me to express my opinion; an Empty like him should not be around someone like you.”

“Empty?” She looked up staring at him with disgusted eyes. “Did you see my Ressen activate that Orb by cracking it…” She picked up the orb that had rolled between Brutus’s legs towards her. “And perform a high-level cast using so little Aer?”

Brutus flinched again. “Madam, I must apologize once more for failing to protect you.”

“Hah? Can you all stop ignoring me already – what just happened?” Ressen stood up, butting into the conversation.

“Thats what we want to know – ant.” Brutus turned his head and glared at him.

“At least I’m not the one uncivilized enough to attack the savior of his boss.”

“Uncivilized? I believe you were the one to attack me first at the village, you savage.”

“Both of you, calm down.” Psia gave a sigh and leaned backwards. “Brutus, I won’t deduct pay from your funds as it was my own decision to discuss things with Ressen alone without guards.”

“Madam! I am not performing this role for the pay-”

Psia looked at Ressen. “Like Psia hoped, Ressen is a powerful Aer user! Now all we need to do is get Ressen registered!” She smiled. “Maybe Ressen is even more powerful than me!”

She walked around Brutus, giving him a glare, before pushing Ressen forcibly towards the wagon, ignoring his pleas to move on his own.

After they left his sight, Brutus sighed and addressed the staring guards. “Oi, you lot – get moving and collect any survivors. We’re still running late, and now we’ve got another damn report to handle.”

♦

By the time the two of them had entered the wagon, the convoy had already begun moving again as signaled by repetitive bumping of the wagon’s wheels. However as Psia began to move next to Ressen instead of across from him, and opened her mouth to speak – a voice pierced the canopy of the wagon.

“Madam! We require your immediate assistance on the interrogation and report. We’ve discovered something that must come to your immediate attention!”

Psia sighed inwardly, “How boring… at least we’re almost home.” her voice perked up and stood straight while stretching. “I’ll see Ressen in a bit~” she winked at him and jumped out of the wagon in a tomboyish manner and disappeared around to the front of the wagon. “What is it now Brutus?”

Ressen’s eyes followed Psia out of the wagon, and until he confirmed she was out of sight, he let out the breath he had been holding in. She was making him incredibly uncomfortable. Finally at peace, he stared up towards the canopy of the wagon, at the spot where a dark shadow laid sleeping – or at least should have been there sleeping. There was no bulge or shadow… “Where did you?”

“Pii!” the shrill cry of the dragon appeared directly before him, manifesting in the form of a dark shape that dived onto the floor of the wagon into a sitting position like a cat. Laced with elegant jet black scales on its lizard-like body, and folded wings that if expanded would clearly cover the width of the wagon, the creature sat with its red eyes staring into his. It almost seemed like a predator eying its prey. However, for some reason, Ressen only felt warmth from its gaze.

Of course he was still on guard, so he swallowed, and interrogated it. “So… who – no what, exactly are you?”

“Pii!”

“Of course… and why did you save me? I can’t imagine you just happened across me.”

The dragon perked up, its back straight and let out a resounding, “Piiii!” before leaping into Ressen’s lap, snuggling warmly within it.

“I suppose I’m not going to get any answers either?” he stroked the dragon – no, Pii’s head. It felt like the right thing to do in this situation. He paused and remembered the rabbit that he found when he first awoke. “I’m going to guess that that rabbit was you?”

Pii looked up, and replied with a happy, “Pii!”

With Pii in his lap, Ressen laid his back against the wooden wall of the wagon. At least he wasn’t alone.