“I swear to the Maker; do you people always come up behind me? Are you trying to scare me on purpose?”

It was End standing above him. Eli realized he probably should be scared of this man who could likely kill him with barely a thought, not be calming down as the initial shock wore off, but he was beginning to grow used to the mysterious warlock. He also noticed he was becoming quite tired very quickly. How late is it? I shouldn’t be this tired yet.

“You were using your power up ridiculously quickly there. Did no one teach you what happens if your Pool runs out?”

“Using it up? My Pool What are you talking about? My parents decided to keep me in the dark about magic until I had my power. Evidently, I never learned anything.”

“Well, damn. That will have to change, maybe we can find a teacher who is still loyal to the old bloodline. And those weren’t your parents, boy. They owed old Gareth a debt, that’s the only reason you ever even met them. I guess I have a lot to explain to you and not nearly enough time. I’ll just say this. As you were running, you likely felt some sort of energy source. What it felt like would depend on your Mana type-”

“My what type?” Eli cut in.

“Wow, you really know nothing. Mana is the proper word for what you probably call ‘magical power.’ Anyway, because you have primarily fire mana, you-“ he began.

“He’s a fire magician? Aren’t they like, sort of rare and crazy?” Cass cut him off.

“Yes, they are somewhat rare, though not too much. The problem with fire is that very few people make it to the next stage. In other words, while it is no rarer than say, wind, it is very hard to become more powerful. Also, no they aren’t crazy. And can the two of you please stop cutting me off?”

“Sorry.” Casiel and Eli said at the same time.

“As I was saying… because you have primarily fire mana, you would likely have felt some sort of heat source deep within you, like a flame. We call this source your 'Pool.’ It is incredibly important that you don’t run this power down to empty. It’s tied directly to your physical body. This means that the more you use, the less energy your body has to work with. It also means that training either your mana or your body will also help the other, though not as much as it gains from direct training of each.”

This seemed like a lot of explanation for magic, though it was more information than he has ever heard before.

“I didn’t know any of that either,” muttered Casiel, “no one in this stupid town knows anything about magic, and the only academy anywhere nearby is in a faraway city and doesn’t accept anyone older than 18. What if I had died?”

“The 18-year rule exists to weed out people who act before they think. It’s not the way it used to be done and I hate it, people who always measure twice and cut once are boring and take three times the amount of time to do anything.”

“I’m still wondering, why did it take me so long to get my magic? I don’t understand. I thought no one had ever gotten it after they turned 15.” Eli asked.

“I’m sure you know the most fundamental rule of magic, correct? The law of birth? It’s a general rule that ties the age that a person acquires their mana to their power. It isn’t perfect, but if it’s true that you really didn’t get your power until earlier today, which I don’t believe for a second, you are correct. It is quite rare. How old are you? 15, right?”

“I’m sixteen, turned it just ten days ago. “ Eli responded.

“Woah. We’ll just have to see if you are telling the truth. As for if anyone has ever gotten it that late, I’m not sure. Legend has it that Lady Gris obtained her magic when she was around your age, though that is just speculation.”

“Who is Lady Gris?” Eli asked.

End blanched. “Who is Lady Gris? My lord, do the towns this far out really know so little? You probably know her as ‘the Maker.’ It’s a stupid name, she was mostly just a spoiled brat. Rarely trained. But she was naturally quite powerful. Very powerful indeed. When she rose to power there was no kingdom to speak of, just warring tribes. She brought several together under her and slowly expanded farther and farther, taking control of most of the kingdom we have today.”

Eli had just one more question. “Uh. How close was I to running out of mana earlier, when I was running really fast?”

“Oh, I have no clue.” Replied End. “I imagine rather low, you were moving very quickly and without any training whatsoever, but there’s no way to sense other people’s remaining mana. If there was, it would be incredible useful in duels.”

“Duels?”

“Oh, come on, I can’t explain everything about the world right now. Let’s go to the town center.” As soon as he finished talking, End started moving his arms in weird whirly motions.

“What are you-“ Eli started. Before he could finish he was right in the town center. Then, he threw up. “Can someone explain what just happened.” He was able to say between fits of coughing. Casiel was laying on the floor next to him, body shaking with coughs as well.

“Oops. Sorry, forgot to warn you. That was a teleportation, it’s normally an advanced fire spell, but the much rarer group teleport, what I just did, is master level.” End stated like it was nothing more than ordering dinner at the inn.

“You- you are a master? And a fire wizard. Oh Maker, I called fire wizards crazy.” Casiel said.

“Yes, you did, but that’s quite alright. We are prone to some… eccentricities.” End replied and flashed a sort of twisted smile. Casiel visibly shivered. “I’m kidding, of course, but fire warlocks do tend to have quite a quick temper.”

“No, we don’t!” Eli responded quickly. End just raised an eyebrow in his direction. Eli shrunk back and said, “Whatever.”

“Anyway, I do believe it is time for me to explain why I called all these good men and women out here.”

For the first time since ‘teleporting,’ as End had called it, Eli looked around. Almost everyone living in Stathen had gathered in the town square. Did all these people show up from that voice in my head? I forgot to ask End how he did it.

Eli heard a voice shout out that he recognized. “Elinor? How did you just appear with this man?”

The second he recognized the speaker, Eli groaned. “Of course. Why did I even hope that somehow Jona would decide not to show up?”

At that moment, End finally spoke out to everyone gathered in the area. “I’m sure you are all wondering why I called you here.”

“You didn’t do nothin’. We all got brought here by a threat to our homes shouted in our minds. Seems more like a demon than a person.”

The man’s sentiment was echoed by several others in the crowd.

“Are you” sure about that? “It should seem pretty" clear that I'm the one doing this, right? “Everyone believe me now?” End alternated between using his weird telepathy and his normal speech before reverting permanently back to the latter. “Good. Now, I have some explaining to do. My name is End, I’m a warlock who used to work for the King, until earlier today actually. The King plans to burn this village down in their search for a specific person.” He glanced briefly at Eli as gasps emanated from the crowd before continuing. “I’m sorry, but there is nothing I can do. He will likely come back to this place within approximately two weeks. If he finds that I have not burned it down, I imagine he will go on quite a rampage. For this reason, I recommend you all gather your belongings and leave this place as soon as possible. I have set a magical explosive that will go off in ten days and light this town on fire. I apologize for the inconvenience. That is all.”

The crowd stood in stunned silence for just a second before it erupted in a wall of sound. Eli just stared at the man who had turned his world on its head yet again.

Joan asked the question bouncing around everyone’s minds. “We all saw you just appear earlier. Can’t you just make us all disappear or something far away?”

End started to laugh. “Wow, I must look really badass if you think I’m nearly powerful enough to send all of you and your belongings with a teleport. Or maybe you all just know that little about the arcane. Whatever the case, it is outside of my power to help you. Thank you, goodbye.” He began to walk away to the shouts of the entire village but suddenly turned on his heel and said “And by the way, I’m taking Eligor with me.” Then he grabbed Eli’s arm and the three were standing in a clearing somewhere in the woods.

Eli and Cass fell to the floor. This time, they both threw up as Eli felt the worst case of nausea he had ever dealt with. Even End seemed to be wavering a bit on his feet.

But he quickly perked up and said “Phew. That was quite a teleport. They get harder with distance, you know? In this one we traveled almost a mile. I probably should have spoken that one out loud, would have lessened the…” End’s voice faded away as he began mumbling to himself. Was he doing some type of math?

“Where the hell are we?” Casiel spit out in between groans.

“Now that, dear Casiel, is a great question. The truth is, I have no clue where we are. I just teleported as far as I could without too much effort. We are somewhere West of Stathen, as I said, about a mile away, though to give you anything more specific we would need to explore a bit.” End was just as snarky as ever.

“But if we are trying to run from the king, wouldn’t we want to head North? Didn’t he go off to the South after he murder murdered my parents?” She said that last sentence with venom enough to come from a snake.

“Well, going North would be the expected move as it would be anyone’s first instinct. But we have to be unpredictable, thus we head West. Additionally, I have some friends in the Raetian Province that might just be able to help us out. Also, once again, I apologize for what happened to your parents. If I had anywhere near the power necessary to try and stop the King in that moment, I would have. And I know that’s just an excuse, but I truly am sorry.”

He seems to switch between a serious personality and his normal snarky one a bit too often, but at least he sounds somewhat sincere. Eli thought to himself.

“In any case, we should get moving. Even if the town will be ashes by the time the King returns, I’m not sure what he will do when he cannot find me. Do either of you happen to know how to fly?” End asked with one eyebrow sitting halfway up his forehead as if he already knew the answer and just wanted to humiliate the two young "arcanists.”

“No admission into an Academy until we hit eighteen, remember?” Casiel pointed out.

“Yes, yes, I remember. Oh, and if you come with me to Raetia, the academies there don’t care how old you are if you are magically-inclined. Casiel, you can finally learn real Arcanery, isn’t that what you want?”

“Yeah, that would be awesome. You ready to join an academy, Eli?”

“Yeah that would be a-”

End cut him off immediately, saying “Nope. Sorry, Eli, but you won’t be joining the Academy. The King will definitely have spies looking for you in that place, it’s ninety percent nobles after all.”

Eli laughed. “Why would the King have spies looking for me of all people. I’m just an orphan who just got his mana.” He trailed off as he recalled the Wind King’s words. “Wait, are you saying the King of Althesia was looking for me?!”

“Yes, that is exactly what I am saying.” End replied dryly.

“B-but why would he care about me of all people?”

“That was the next topic I was going to talk about. For once, I am going to give up any form of sarcasm and joking. Eli, you might actually want to sit down for this one. Do you know anything about the old king, Naberus, also known as the Raven?”

“Yes...” Eli replayed shakily. There’s no way for him to spin my world on its head yet another time, right? He thought.

“Well, he was your father. Which makes Lily, the Queen of Water, your mother. So, uh, you would have been the prince if Zuriel hadn't taken over.” He said with an exaggerated smile.