Three magic attacks beelined towards Aiken, two of which were balls of devastating fire. If he got caught in that, he would look much like the enflamed houses and shops around him. The third spell was a strange white bullet-like projectile.

Aiken formed a wall of water to protect himself, but physically moved out of the way so the white spell would miss him. He then took that same wall of water and warped it around the heads of his attackers so they wouldn’t be able to breathe.

The third attacker tackled Aiken to the ground before he could do anything with magic. The masked man dropped his knee on Aiken’s damaged forearm, then pummelled him with punches. His fist became bloody as he overpowered Aiken, but a large mass of ice suddenly formed around the man and bound him in place.

Aiken retreated and made extra ice for his soon-to-be-swollen face. Didn’t think I could do that in the heat of the moment. Ice magic huh? He looked to the burning houses and shops, then used water to out the fires. There were more attackers throughout the city, but it seemed like the city guards had their hands full dealing with them.

A carriage suddenly zoomed past him. The driver was trying to get away from a couple masked men who pursued it, but he got cut-off from even more of them.

Damn. Aiken jogged forward to catch up with them. They prepared fire magic, but didn’t get the chance to finish casting because Aiken encased the attackers in more ice. He created an opening for the carriage, but the driver didn’t take that route. In front of him, there were even more men.

You gotta be kidding me… Aiken closed the passage in front of them with a blockade of ice too tall to climb.

Suddenly, two huge balls of fire broke the corner and changed coursed, heading right for the carriage. They were probably around the size of a fully grown grizzly bear. Aiken inhaled and formed three thick domes of ice around the entire carriage and himself. The fire spells shattered two of the domes and managed to damage the last dome as well.

Aiken was feeling his stamina being sapped as he continued to put up more defensive ice domes. Or perhaps it was the blood loss from his forearm that made him feel a bit light-headed. However, he steeled through and continued using ice to bind the enemies. Ice magic excelled in subjugation compared to water or wind magic

The carriage door opened and the driver quickly told him to get in. He obliged. Staying out there was a risk he would rather not take. They turned the carriage around and took a detour.

When Aiken took note of who was in the carriage, he noticed a beautiful brunette woman, a fat, sweating man, and Lana. “Well, this is a pleasant surprise,” Aiken smiled at Lana, his bully.

“You,” Lana said contemptuously. “Why are people attacking us?!”

“Heck if I know,” Aiken said. “Anyone got a knife or something?”

The blond man pulled out a small dagger, and thanked Aiken profusely for saving their lives.

“Eh, all in a day’s work. Don’t mention it.” Aiken cut the sleeve off his robe and tied it tightly around the deep wound, with the kind man’s help of course.

They finally got to a part of the city where the guards had the attackers handled. They all spoke about the situation and how alarming it was. Something like that was definitely not normal in the city they were in, and anyone could discern that by how badly prepared the city guards were.

Somewhere along their discussion, the man said he hoped the grieving families would have justice. Aiken’s mind came to a crashing halt. He stopped thinking about the mysterious group, and instead worried about his family. “Sorry, gotta go. You should be safe now.”

He dashed back in the fires of battle to get to his house, helping out where he could along the way. When he finally got back, he found his house scorched to nothing but rubble. There were two corpses charred beyond recognition.

Aiken stood there in stupor. It shouldn’t have meant anything to him. He only knew them for a couple days, yet it felt like he knew them for a lifetime. His heart wrung and twisted until tears brazenly fell. Aiken was falling into despair. He kept telling himself it was okay. You didn’t know them Aiken. It’s okay. It’s okay. He exhaled, trying to calm himself, but the shaking wouldn’t stop.

Aiken overheard some chatter, and when he looked through remains of the burnt house, he saw a couple of the masked men. He lost it at that point and went on a rampage. Anyone with the mask were promptly killed. Aiken ran himself ragged throughout the city until he could no longer find anyone belonging to the murderous group.

Sometime later, Aiken awoke in a hospital bed. The attendant in the room gasped when she saw him looking at her and announced that he was awake. Right after she asked him a few questions, Bryan waltzed inside, “You reckless little shit!”

During Aiken’s rampage, he accrued even more injuries and eventually passed out from exhaustion. He chuckled, “Ah, it hurts to laugh. Nice to see you too, man.”

Within the week of bedrest, a few people visited him. Headmaster Natalie Fendora came by. Lana and her father also visited. The mischievous girl didn’t know what kind of face to in front of the boy she bullied for years.

And last but not least, someone called Duchess Graham visited. “Oh,” Aiken finally remembered her when she walked in and sat next to his bed, “you’re that pretty lady from the carriage.”

She chortled, “Flattery will get you nowhere, mister. I’ve come to thank you for saving my life that morning. And to give you a warning.”

“Hmm?” Aiken tilted his head. “What warning?”

She leaned in a little, “Aiken Forrester, you displayed exceptional magic abilities when Wizziel was attacked. I am sorry for your loss, but your family were victims of such a horrible crime. As such, there will be many families of nobility that will try to absorb you into their family so they can consolidate power. Beware them.”

“Yeah?” I sat up, placed my feet on the ground to properly face her. “And what about you? Should I be wary of you? Or should I trust those words? If I’m powerful and people want to use me, why aren’t you trying to do the same?”

“Inquisitive, aren’t we?”

“Yes, well, you arrived here with an army of guards, but other highborn weren’t allowed to enter the hospital with so much security. You’ll excuse me if I feel a bit intimidated, Duchess Graham.”

She smiled, stood up, and wished him well before leaving.

The people who would scorn him were the same people who now came to him with hopes of recruiting him into their family. As Duchess Graham said, they wanted to gather power. How could he trust people who would disregard their feelings so quickly for vainglorious prestige? At that point, the only person Aiken trusted was Bryan.

When his week of hospitalisation passed, Aiken was publicly honoured by Duchess Graham for his efforts and bravery against the criminal group, along with others who made a sizeable dent in the efforts to thwart the attack. He received a large amount of money as a reward. But he felt like she was just using him for good public rating.

Aiken returned to school, and was promptly pulled into Headmaster Fendora’s office. “Bryan? Natalie?”

“Aiken,” Bryan walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder, “as your new legal guardian, I am going to make you slave away cleaning my house everyday!” Bryan laughed hysterically. Everyone could see a pair of horns on his head.

“Oh, this actually works. I didn’t think about that,” Aiken admitted. “By the way, you found your house? That’s great.”

“Yeah,” Bryan chuckled nervously. “Claire showed me after she scolded me to go home. I told her I’d buy her lunch if she escorted me home.”

“Okay, slightly concerned about why a teenager knows where you’re living.”

“Yeah, so was I,” Bryan agreed. “Apparently I’m a friend of her family.”

With his place of rest now secured, Aiken went back to class like normal. After he took his seat, someone came and sat next to him, rather closely. It was Lana. Her hair was done, and he was sure she had on light makeup. Even a bit of her cleavage was showing.

Does she realise how obvious she’s being? Aiken turned his head almost robotically, “You look beautiful today, Lana,” he complimented.

Lana looked like she was melting. At first, she made fun of him because it gave her attention from the other kids, and because he was a lowborn. But after he suddenly started complimenting her, she didn’t know how to react. Ah, he’s so annoying! She kept stealing glances at him, unsure how to even reply.

“Okay, you clearly suck at saying what’s on your mind,” Aiken bluntly said. “Whatever it is you that want, I’ll give it to you on one condition – stop bullying people. You’re better than that. So,” Aiken gestured for her to get a bit closer, “all my notes got burnt up in the fire. Mind sharing?”