Completely exhausted, Gabriel slowly made his way back home. These challenges weren’t easy at all, but he was already on a really good pace, because compared to other students which had challenged and beaten teachers most of them beat only one in a week.

Although he wasn’t on record pace either, as there was a genius student which actually managed to gain the approval of twelve different teachers in a single week and even challenged two more but was defeated by them.

This was some decades ago and some rumors said that those teachers were forced to fail them because otherwise the reputation of their institution would fall, and this was still in the early ages when both the magicians’ manor and the wizards’ academy were rather new so the competition for both students and teachers was tight.

They even had other names but that is not what this story is about. This story is about me and at this point you may believe that all I’ve experienced isn’t that bad and that I shouldn’t have resorted to my terrifying policies, but this was when things were still good, even with the kidnappings and all.

And so, I was walking back home with most of my body strained from the effort for the spell and the effort I had invested in the other days of the week. Nothing too special happened while I was walking home, but when I got there…

Gabriel hadn’t realized how hard Arabelle had been training Piti until he greeted him with a paw up, trying to make a handshake with him. He didn’t really react too much although he commented to Arabelle about the situation.

- I see you’ve made significant progress with Piti. – The dog glanced at him when it heard its name. – I’m proud of you sis.

- Hey brother. – She smiled at him while he sat on the sofa. – I have! I’m glad you noticed as well. I have trained her to look at me when I call her, to handshake, to… – But before Arabelle could say anything else, Gabriel cut her off.

- I know you have a lot you want to tell me, but I’m sure it can wait a day or two. I’m really tired and even though I bet its super cool what you’ve done, I don’t have the mental capacity to follow you. Sorry. – Gabriel gave his explanation and closed his eyes to start resting his brain. What he didn’t expect was that he was going to fall asleep so fast.

As Piti sat on his legs he wasn’t awake anymore and Arabelle realized this too. She sighed empathetically and searched for a blanket, which she ended up taking from his bed, and put it on top of him after removing Piti so that she wouldn’t choke by the lack of air. After she put the blanked, though, Piti jumped right back at his legs and lay there for the rest of the night.

He slept like an angel, even though he was going to have the most important battle today. He woke up with his internal clock almost perfectly at 6 o’clock and realized that Piti had slept on his legs. He was really liking the dog more and more. He smiled at it and patted its head to wake it up so that he could stand up.

The dog yawned for a moment and then stretched its limbs before it got on fours, first on top of Gabriel’s legs and then on the floor after he jumped off of him. Gabriel took the blanket which was on top of him off and walked into the place he called kitchen, although all it had was a fireplace and a big pot for cooking.

Seeing the pot angered him a bit due to the unfair challenge he had been given but he slapped his cheeks to make himself focus on the day he had today. He started taking some of the dried-up beef jerky and leftover bread from yesterday that his sister had dutifully bought.

Gabriel knew that he would be tired today, so he had requested the challenge for the afternoon, when he would be most rested but still not too tired from being awake all day. He could have slept until later, but this would have messed up with his internal clock and he wouldn’t be sure if he would wake up on time.

Before leaving the house, he wrote a note for Arabelle so that she knew that he would come home later today and also promised that next week he would stay home with her to make up for the lost time during this week and weekend, when they should’ve left the city to train Piti outside.

Now eating the bread on the road, he reviewed all the mind controlling spells he knew on his head, and this made him think of both Grum and the still unknown noble that had kidnapped his sister and trapped him as well.

He stopped for a moment, now clearing his head not only from those thoughts but also from anger he felt towards those individuals and after his hand unclenched, he decided to keep going. Sentimentality was not going to be useful, so he had to get it all out before he entered the manor.

With a serious face Gabriel entered the school, no individuals, objects or situations could distract him from his only goal today. Gaining the approval of the mind-controlling teacher, the one he was most confident of at the start but after what he had experienced the challenges of the other teachers, he wasn’t so sure of himself anymore.

But everything would go perfectly today, he was going to get the approval, Gabriel tried convincing himself on his mind, but instinctively he felt that something was going to flop, to go wrong, to go against him.

- Huh, so the little mister is back for more. – Gabriel heard a mocking voice coming from behind and he didn’t react, he just continued walking.

- Hey, stop there! – Another voice called out. He stopped and looked at the individuals that were calling for him and opened his mouth.

- Yes, I am here to take the challenge from the mind-controlling teacher. Now, if you will excuse me, I should go, I don’t want to leave the teacher waiting.

- Wait! I didn’t mean to be annoying… I just wanted to open your eyes to the truth of this school… - The boy in the middle commented and quickly got closer to Gabriel so that he could grab his shirt and pull him up on a wall. – The strong rule the weak and you beating these weak teachers doesn’t prove anything. I can defeat you at any moment so watch your steps…

- Ok! I get it, I wont cause trouble for you. – Gabriel quickly replied, less worried about what these fellows could do to him and more about him starting the challenge late. – Now I really have to go. – Gabriel continued before the one who had grabbed him continued, but seeing as he didn’t let go, Gabriel attacked his arm so that he would drop him, which he did after Gabriel had broken one of his bones with the sheer force of the attack.

- Aughhhh!!! – He screamed in pain, while Gabriel now treaded away to reach the teacher in time and not be disqualified of the approval for such a simple reason.

- You will pay for this! Nobody hurts me and gets away with it! – The boy kept screaming. – Hey! Hey!!! Why are you leaving! I will make you payyyy!!!! – He screamed his lungs out as a cheap villain.

Even though this situation could be called bad from most people, the bad feeling that Gabriel felt hadn’t subsided, in fact it had only increased. He hoped that his body had predicted wrongly, but when almost reached the door where the teacher that would test him was standing, he felt his skin get goosebumps.

He looked at the teacher in detail and when he talked Gabriel realized that his fears had come true and was frozen in place for less than a second, enough for the instructor to notice, but he didn’t comment on it. He was rather mad because he would much rather be doing other things…