“You’ve chosen the wrong trade! It would be more suitable for you to become an orchestra conductor the way you’re waving all over the place because, honestly, this is the worst water-manipulation I’ve ever seen.”

The effect of these words was instantaneous. The four-legged pear-dog exploded and soaked Karil from head to toe. The boy lost his balance, gave out a short cry, and… Splash! Found himself sitting in the creek. He coughed and started to look for the cocky commenter, all while angrily spitting out water and sand.

At the roots of an old tree lay a very peculiar person. The man was tall and well-built. At first glance, one could mistake him for one of the traveling merchants from Skaliya or Labus, but the knee-long boots, the ink-blue cloak the stranger was using instead of a pillow, and, above all else, the long package leaning on the tree that looked very much like labusian long sword didn’t speak but rather screamed against such assumptions. The thin, slightly tan, and still youthful face, adorned with a short, carefully trimmed black goatee, was in stark contrast with the pepper-gray hair that flew in all directions very much like Karil’s own unruly mess (which was, admittedly, an achievement). Under the hanging quaff, one could see a broad forehead that went down to a mid-sized, slightly hooked nose. But the most fascinating thing in the stranger were his eyes. One couldn’t determine their color. They were at times steel-gray, sometimes blue, and sometimes green. And at this moment these hypnotizing eyes were staring in a pair of fearful brown ones.

“You!” Karil finally managed to let a sound from his sand-filled throat. He shivered. The stranger continued to look at him with slight amusement. “What do you want?”

“What do I want?” repeated the man. “I want many things, starting at world peace all the way to a couple of hours of sleep in a quiet place where no one would disturb me. And you should know that my last wish was about to get fulfilled before you showed up.”

“What do you want from me?” Karil wasn't giving up. His teeth started clattering. “You are the man from last night, right? Why are you following me?”

“Ah, you’ve got it all wrong!” exclaimed the Shadow. “I am not following anybody. This is just a coincidence. Honestly, I don’t have the habit of getting involved with snotty brats like you, not even ones who have tried to cripple me the night before. And from you, I want to get out of the water, because I can hear your teeth even from here.”

Karil slowly stood up and climbed back on his rock, all the while not letting the man out of sight. He had no idea what to do. Should he start screaming? The stranger, however, showed no intention of getting involved any further.

“What would you say to go home and leave me alone with my final wish? Because of you, I had a rough night,” the Shadow spat angrily.

“I have to train for the exam,” came the involuntary reply.

“With such water-manipulation, you’ll fail, one hundred percent.”

“Who’re you to say!” erupted the boy despite thinking the same thing only a moment ago. But to hear it from the stranger who was becoming more and more unsympathetic by the minute… it was unacceptable! “How could someone like you know anything about water-manipulation anyway?”

“We-ell, a very good friend of mine was a water-master. I have seen him train. You, kid, are torturing the Element! Like a carpenter trying to test his new chisel on a piece of wood. Correction, a blind carpenter’s apprentice who takes up a chisel for the first time. Or…”

“Alright, I got it!”

“For what you are trying to do, one needs imagination and concentration,” said the man sternly. “You first need to see the object of manipulation with your mind’s eye, to imprint every detail in your consciousness. After that, you need to imagine the water flowing around the contours and slowly filling the shape. Now, that’s what they need to teach the students at the Academy, not the stupid carpenter tricks. The quality of education sure has dropped. My friend would have been sad if he could see you.”

“Or, really?” said Karil with a bit less confidence. “And actually, why are you speaking of your friend in the past tense?”

“Because he was killed.”

What followed was an uncomfortable silence. The man slowly stood up.

The weak sound of the whistle saved Karil. He darted away without looking back.