*TAP* *TAP* *TAP* *TAP* *TAP*

Carly and a few other people arrive here.

“Dan?” Carly seems like she is about to cry.

“Go tell Jake about the boy’s arrival.” Mayor Green says.

“Yo! It’s been...Almost a day...” Little Dan says as he looks away.

Carly holds Dan by his collar, “YOU IDIOT! WHERE DID YOU RUN OFF TO?!” Carly screams at Dan.

“I...Visited the witch’s house and came-“

Mayor Green runs towards Little Dan and holds him, “Where is the witch’s house boy?!” Mayor Green asks as Jake returns to his house.

“If I tell you, you are just going to burn her to the stake. I am not repeating the same mistake again.” Dan says.

THE PRESENT DAY,

“What did you mean by the same mistake, Sir Handsome?” Elena asks me.

I sigh, “Before I came to Fracia, I used to live in an orphan with my brother. Unfortunately, the orphan was burned down and a few of my friends, as well as the sister who ran the orphan, were killed...” I say with a sad face as I walk with Elena.

“That’s...Sad...” Elena did not know what to say.

“But that’s not the part that I hate about it...What I hate about it is that I was the reason that sister was burned to death and my friends were dead. I was the one who gave away the address to the orphan.” I say as I look at the sky.

Again, Elena doesn’t know what to say.

“Anyways, let’s get back to where we left off.” I say with a smile.

Elena nods with a sad face.

11 YEARS AGO,

“Kid, you do realize that’s a witch you are protecting, right?!” An old man says from the back.

“Yes, I do realize that it’s a witch but I didn’t see a single quality that would make her a witch. I mean she talked with me, took me to her house, cooked food for me. She didn’t even harm me. What I think is you people are the real witches here harming her every day!” Little Dan says as he looked quite angry.

“YOU LITTLE BRAT!” The old man was advancing towards Little Dan to hit him that’s when Jake stood in front of the old man.

“I prefer that you kept your voice down and also refrain from assaulting on my kids, Umba.” Jake said boldly and he gave the old man an angry staredown.

“Jake you-“

“I do believe that kid, to be honest, I haven’t seen that witch do anything to this town yet and you want to say that she is bad just like that.” Jake says as he holds Little Dan.

“Dan, go with Carly inside your room. Let the adults do the talking.” Jake says as he lets Dan loose.

Little Dan nods and runs to Carly.

Carly and Dan both move inside the house.

“I have been thinking of this since yesterday, why are we even trying to kill the witch? Has she done anything wrong with our town or our people? Has she tried to threaten us? I don’t believe so and yet we are treating her like trash. I believe what the kid said holds weight than any of us adults here.” Jake says.

“The witch’s were considered to be a world-level threat by the Kingdom-“

“Does it look like she is a world-level threat?” Jake asks as he interrupts Mayor Green who bows down his head in disappointment.

“Seriously?! Why are we even discussing this? That is a kid, he can easily be manipulated!” Umba says pointing towards the direction little Dan went.

“I think you have got it all wrong. That kid cannot be easily manipulated because he has seen things that even you haven’t.” Jake stares right into Umba’s eyes, “Death, destruction, losing your loved ones, that kid and his brother both have been through that and I don’t think that he can easily be manipulated even by a witch after seeing all his friends die in the 9th street massacre.” Jake continues as he backs off.

Everyone’s eyes widen, “That kid...He’s a survivor of the 9th street massacre?!” Mayor Green asks.

“He was the reason, the 9th street massacre ever happened.” Jake says to everyone.

“He was the one who ratted out his own people because he was manipulated by the Nobles.” Jake says as he moves inside the house.

“You decide what you think about the kid after that.” Jake says as he moves inside his house.

INSIDE CARLY’S ROOM,

“Your room is quite a mess, Carly.” Little Dan says as he looks around Carly’s room.

“Yeah, mom used to clean when she-“

Dan begins to clean up, “Hey, what are you doing?!” Carly asks Dan as he caught her by surprise.

“I am cleaning up. I mean, this room looks like a mess.” Dan says to Carly.

“Don’t you have like school or something?” Dan asks Carly.

“Nah, I don’t go to school.” Carly replies.

“Why is that?” Dan asks as he continues to clean the room and Carly lies on the bed.

“That’s because when I was born, my family was quite poor. They couldn’t even afford proper food back then.” Carly says as she rolls around.

“Is that so?” Dan asks.

Carly says with a sad smile, “My brother though he is a completely different case.” Carly says.

“Hmm? You have a brother?” Dan asks.

Carly nods, “Yeah a little one he stays with mother.”

“After a year of my brother’s birth, the guards at the castle were recruiting at a good salary. So mother decided to enroll as a guard but she ended up being the King’s lieutenant. That’s when mother said that she is going to train my little brother as well as teach him there.” Carly says with a sad smile.

“Don’t you wanna learn too?” Dan asks.

“I do but...I don’t think I can learn anything.” Carly says with a sad smile.

“I think you can learn a lot of things. I mean, if an orphan like me can learn many things. Then I am sure, even you can learn a lot of things too.” Dan says with a big smile as the room seems to be pretty clean.

Carly looks around, “HUH?! WHEN DID YOU CLEAN THE WHOLE ROOM?!” Carly screams.

Dan smiles, “I just did it with the flow.” Dan says.

Carly looks away as she chuckles, “What’s so funny?” Dan asks.

“Dan...You are quite an inspiring person. Do you plan to be a teacher in the future?” Carly asks.

“Nah, I don’t think so.” Dan looks away as he thought, “Teaching other people is a burden.”

NEXT MORNING,

Dan and Jake continued to train, Dan’s tiring session continued but as soon as Dan finished his training. He was off to the witch’s house.

“MAMA SERENA!” Dan screams.

“What the actual fuck?! Why did yer come here today?!” Serena asks Dan.

“To eat your homemade cooking.” Dan answers with a smile.

Serena sighs, “Come on in.” Dan looks to be excited.

INSIDE THE WITCH’S HOUSE,

Dan eats the food Serena has cooked for him, “What about ya mum and dad? How can they allow you to eat food with a witch like me?” Serena asks as she seems to be lost in thoughts.

Dan stops to eat and gives a sad smile, “Hmm?” Serena looks at Dan all confused.

“I have a brother but he’s not in the town. As for my family, they were all killed about a year ago.” Dan says. Dan clenches onto the spoon and fork in his hands, “If only...I was stronger back than...” Dan says with an angry face.

“I see...Ya seek power, but why?” Serena asks.

“To protect the people I love...That means even you, Mama Serena.” Dan says with a smile.

Serena patted Dan’s head as she thought, “Why? Why am I so eager to help this kid? It’s like...He has a positive vibe about him. It’s like...I want to lend him a hand...Even though I have just met him yesterday...He has had a huge effect on me. Is this...What it’s meant to be loved by someone?”

“Dan, do you know what’s magic?” Serena asks.

“Hmm? I do, it’s what the nobles use.” Dan says.

“No, it’s our life force. The Eastern Kingdoms call it Ki or even Chi. We call it mana, using mana we create magic, meaning using our life force we create magic.” Serena explains.

“Interesting.”

That’s how...Dan begins learning magic with Mama Serena while training his physical body with old man Jake.

He even bought Carly to Mama Serena’s place and even had her taste Mama Serena’s cooking. Dan and Carly even found themselves a little pet beast tiger injured in the forest when they were planting flowers. They rescued him and named him Groloph.

Dan and Serena’s mother-son relation was as strong as steel now and It seemed everything was going fine but...

“Today, we shall burn that witch to death even if it means killing those kids!”

Umba had different plans.