Cale sat leaning and curled up in a thick blanket against one of the trees to which the tarp was attached, letting his mana glide through the woods as he lost himself in thought.

The last few days had been a little off course and had also cost him some nerves, but with today they had picked up the right path again. The Magistrat had gotten in contact with him and he began teaching the four of them as planned. Ben and Liam would learn quite a bit more regarding mana and combat, while he planned special lessons for Aletta in mana control, which was extremely important for healers. She needed to use her mana much more efficiently and also become much faster with her healing skills. In doing so, it was even more essential that she develop a sense of mana itself and not be confined by the lessons she was taught in Frignez. Only Philippa fell a little short. She had little mana by nature, but she was a skilled hunter. She had quick reflexes, could see well, and could aim very accurately. She was an excellent scout, for her it would probably be useful to learn some unknown situations, for which he would abuse Ben and Liam. And maybe he would suggest a secondary weapon for her as well, but he wouldn't get to that until they were in Exarion.

The only problem was how Cale needed them to do his bidding. They couldn't be lulled into a false sense of security; the next wave of attacks would hit the city shortly after the meeting, just when the state speakers had left Altona.

The rustling made Cale's attention wander to Liam, who sat up and looked at him wearily. The mage had realized that he couldn't sleep, but he had to wait for Liam to approach him and not the other way around. He wanted to avoid seeming pushy, to remain inconspicuous. One of the things that probably bothered him most of the time.

"Can't sleep?"

Cale's quiet question was answered with a nod. Liam stood up carefully, blanket and all, and crept toward Cale. Quietly, he positioned his legs so that they were slightly stretched out and wouldn't fall asleep in the long run, while Liam took a seat next to the mage and yawned briefly.

"Aren't you tired? How can you go so long without sleeping?", he finally sayed. Even if he didn't want to admit it, he felt safe in Cale's presence, so he was grateful that he was taking over the night watch. But the mage hadn't slept in days, so the whole thing was beginning to seem strange to Liam.

"This is... a little more complicated than you think. I'm a High-Magician, not a normal human anymore. My sleep pattern does not depend on my body, but on the mana I consume. In short, if I consume a lot, I have to go to sleep. If not, like currently, then I don't need to sleep. To me, it's more like regenerating mana than actually sleeping."

"Sounds pretty fucked up to me."

Cale chuckled softly, but held his hand over his mouth to keep from being too loud. Liam's high-pitched expression usually only changed when he was pissed or tired.

"So you only sleep when your mana household tells you to?", the sleepy man asked.

"No, not necessarily. Staying awake for several days, let alone several weeks at a stretch, is pretty hard on the psyche in the long run. Therefore, we High-Magicians sleep primarily only to be able to give our minds a break. It remains a refreshing feeling to take a break after a long days work."

Liam didn't even try to hide the fact that he was tired. With his eyes closed and his head on his legs, he sat next to Cale and listened to his voice.

"I've always wondered how Altona managed to climb to the top within a few decades. But when I hear it like this..."

"Yes... the Eldest has accomplished a real feat, even I sometimes wonder how he got it all together."

"So even you don't know who the elder is?"

Cale did not reply, which made Liam understand that he did not have an answer. Even for him, there was the question whether there was anyone who knew the eldest that well. For a moment, Cale suspected that Aaron and the Elder probably had the closest relationship, but even with the rather dismissive 3rd seat, Cale wasn't sure if he actually knew. The elder remains one of the risk factors, which Cale couldn't possibly factor into his plan.

"Come lie down here."

Demonstratively, Cale tapped his lap with his hand, and after a month of hesitation, Liam lay down on the pillow he had prepared. He dimly remembered the first time he had fallen asleep next to Cale that night. But he had not forgotten the feeling of his hand on his head. And Cale's soothing words until he had finally fallen asleep. It was like the feeling his mother had given him as a child, before she had passed away.

"How old are you, anyway, Cale? Or should I call you Caleb instead? Or High-Magician Leuen?"

Cale dropped his hand to Liam's face to signal him not to talk nonsense, which made Liam chuckle softly. It felt like he was sleeping in clouds when he lay on Cale's lap, which was probably because of the soft, thick blanket. But he liked that feeling. Cale had become an important anchor in his life that Liam didn't want to lose, which was why he gave Cale more freedom than anyone else.

"Cut the crap, I don't call you your Majesty Prince William of Sylve either."

Liam paused in surprise, he just had Cale's pale hand in his hands to remove it from his face when the mage replied. Liam turned to face the softly smiling man so that he was now lying on his back, looking directly at Cale's face from below.

"You know who I am?"

"I know, yes", Cale confessed. Liam was taken aback. Not necessarily because Cale knew, more so because of his own reaction. At first, he was always afraid someone would find out his true identity, but why did he feel a hint of relief? "I'm sorry I pretended not to know."

"It's okay, I'm not mad at you."

"Is that so?", gave Cale softly, causing Liam to merely nod. The mage was relieved, too. Relieved that he had chosen a good moment to bring up the subject, after all, he wasn't going to ignore the secret for months again. "I'm 22."

"What seriously? You're only a year older?"

"In my head, I'm probably 300 years older than you", Cale replied gruffly. Liam had to laugh at the statement, so he narrowed his eyes. His grip on Cale's left hand loosened and he felt the mage rest his cold hand on his forehead.

"Yes, admittedly, I had that feeling about you from the beginning."

"What, that I'm older?"

"More like you're more mature. You've had a grown-up way about you from the beginning that's really alienating at times, but by now I can see why."

At that moment, Cale wondered if William would have brought the statement to light if he had been properly awake. It actually sounded more like an opinion that would be kept to himself than said to someones face.

"Did you become an Anuxer because of the attack on Groka back then?"

Liam seemed to have completely forgotten what they were talking about, because he rapidly changed the subject while speaking with his eyes closed.

"The attack on Groka was the catalyst for me going to the Magistrat, and the Magistrat was the catalyst for me becoming an Anuxer. So you're not completely wrong about that. What about you, why did you become an Anuxer?"

Cale asked a question he already knew the answer to as he watched Liam almost drift off to sleep.

"I'm not so sure myself, my brother Marion had given me the idea and somehow one thing led to another. I felt that as long as I stayed at the palace I wouldn't make any progress", Liam explained in a calm voice, so Cale merely nodded. He knew that part, but he knew a few more than what Liam just revealed to him. It was the fact of why he is so fixated on getting stronger.

It's because of his father.

"Have you been alone this whole time?", Liam brought up unexpectedly.

"Alone?"

"Since the attack. Your family died that day, didn't they?"

For a moment, he had to think. There were definitely times when he had felt lonely, but he always knew that he was not necessarily alone. That was because he could always count on meeting William, Ben, Philippa and Aletta. And that had been the case when Groka was attacked. He cared little that his family and the people of this village had died, but what he did care about was that his friends were alive. That was all Cale needed to be happy.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you", Liam gave voice, which was why Cale didn't notice his long silence until he did.

"It's okay, I'm not particularly sad about it, after all, I was a kid. I wasn't alone though, for a long time I had people by my side who had become like family to me."

"What happened to you?" gave Liam voice, which is why he could see the sad expression on Cale's face.

"The Igrikum", Cale muttered, putting his hand over Liam's eyes as he struggled not to burst into tears. The memory of the times he held his dying friend in his arms flashed through his mind and he couldn't look at the very face he missed so much. "A friend had tried to stand up to a dragon and at that time my whole group was present. When he had realized that we were all in mortal danger because of him, he had tried to block the attacks, without success."

Liam felt Cale's hand shake and took it in his hand before closing his eyes.

"My Igrikum is a shield that I received when I tried to block the dragons attack, but it was too late for my friends at that point."

Silently, Liam lay on the mages lap, keeping his hand firmly on his chest. He was aware that Cale had never lied to him before, so he believed his every word, even though it sounded so strange. A group of kids going up against a dragon and Cale was the only one who survived it? Leaving aside how unlikely it was to even encounter a dragon - what were the chances of survival of such an encounter? Cale had not only survived Groka, but a dragon as well?

"Enough questions for today", Cale quickly spoke up. He had everything he wanted and thus no reason to continue bringing up unpleasant memories. Liam didn't protest, he could guess how Cale was feeling right now and left it at that.

It wouldn't take the swordsman five minutes before he was asleep. His hands loosely clasped Cale's hand and his breathing became steady.

Cale himself knew how implausible his story sounded. A group of anuxers challenged a dragon and died, all but himself - that just smelled like tall tales. But it was the truth, even if it wasn't the truth of this time. Cale had never claimed to have survived the attack. No. It was the opposite.

That day he had died for the first time, at the age of 25.