The trip went much faster than William had expected. They were then a good week on the sea and William was the first time the Holy Island as close as ever. He was constantly on the lookout to see if any dragons could be seen, but the sky had been cloudy most of the time - to his pawn and yet at the same time to his relief. Ben, on the other hand, hadn't hit the deck for the first two days until Aaron told him that seeing the waves and getting some fresh air would make him feel much better. In fact, that helped, because by the third day Ben was finally able to keep something inside him and wasn't as pale as before.

After finally reaching dry land again, they transferred to another ship that followed the river inland. Their next stopover.

Winstest was completely different from Sylve or Altona. Everywhere William looked were trees, meter high trees, and to his surprise, after a certain point the villages were only to be found in the trees themselves. Adventurously they stretched across the treetops, which is why William asked Philippa if she had also grown up in such a village, which she denied. Her people lived normally on the ground, but she had been once or twice in a village that similarly stretched above the treetops.

As they traveled by ship to the capital for the next few days, the archer told them much about life in Winstest and also some about their society and culture. Even the High-Magician, who rarely spoke to them, listened to the stories unobtrusively - which had become a habit for the three of them by now. Aaron had contacted Cale only once so far, merely to tell him that they had reached Winstest. He had also briefly checked with Cale to see what the situation was in Altona, though Cale could only give him bad news. He had turned the whole library upside down, and similar things had happened in Frignez, but they had never learned anything. As Aaron distanced himself from the group during the conversation, William listened intently. William knew for a fact that he was going to inquire about Grischa and was curious how he was doing.

He was clearly in a worse state. His lack of mana had caused him to sleep nearly 12 hours a day, and that worried even the elder. The elder and Cale had therefore decided to send Odin and Rangar to the creature plains to see if they could find the Kormandent. Cale had not yet revealed more, but all the while he sounded very worried.

The group had finally reached the capital and a day later they had left for the north, led by Philippa. On foot. After several hours, they had finally reached the Death Region and set up camp for the night.

Ben and Philippa slept close to the fire, while Aaron sat beside them, gazing into the fire, lost in thought. William had traveled a little while outside of the camp to catch a glimpse of the mountains.

As Cale had described it to them, he could see quite clearly in the distance the top of the mountain. He could not accurately estimate how long it would take them to reach the area, but in the next few days they would cover a distance similar to that from the mountains to Exarion.

Skeptically, William held his coat, which fluttered slightly in the wind, and turned away. Philippa had told him that there were creatures in the Death Region, but not nearly as many as they had seen during the 2nd wave. However, this did not prevent William from feeling queasy at the thought and inwardly glad that a High-Magician would be accompanying them.

As he approached the camp again, he was silently watched by Aaron. Actually, William had hoped that he would have lain down as well by the time he returned, but his hope vanished into the sand.

"You are not asleep? Haven't you been..." he raised his voice in confusion as he remembered what Cale had told him a few weeks ago. He shook his head and dropped to the other side of the fire, talking quietly to himself. "Why do I even ask?"

"You know we High-Magicians don't need to sleep?", Aaron stated clearly.

"Yes, Cale had explained it to me once some time ago. You are, after you have gone through the test of the future, no longer normal people... if I remember correctly."

"Correct", Aaron confirmed quietly. "Our need for sleep is dependent on our mana budget, and our immune system is also quite a bit stronger than that of a normal human. I'm surprised he told you guys about it. Usually the kid doesn't like to talk about himself or his magic."

"That's true, he really doesn't like to do that, but he's always been very open with me."

"Strange kid", the High-Magician gave in reply. Unlike the trip with Cale, Aaron seemed to be on constant alert. William was always good at sensing when the High-Magician was using his mana, and oddly enough, William was good at guessing how much it was. Perhaps a passive skill he had learned through Cale. A habit that would definitely come in handy for him.

"You've known Cale for quite a long time, haven't you?", he finally inquired, trying to keep the conversation alive. He wasn't exhausted enough to sleep right now, and Aaron's constant silence would drive him crazy. So he figured he might as well use the time to get to know Aaron a little, even if he was unlikely to say anything. Sometimes William felt like he was talking to his old reflection.

"Knowing him, yes. But not on the level of how he acts towards you", Aaron merely commented. This was also something William had noticed over the past few days and weeks. Not only was the High-Magician rather dismissive, but he was also relatively emotionally neutral. If William didn't know that Aaron was a High-Magician from Altona, he would probably be significantly more afraid for his life. Only his relationship with Cale made him remember that he needed to open up himself if he wanted to make a difference in the situation.

"Really? I was under the impression that you enjoyed his contract."

"Trust and friendship are two different things. I'm aware that he trusts me, I do trust him up to a certain point too, but sometimes the kid is... just suspicious to me."

"May I ask why?"

Aaron was silent for a moment before he brought his hands out of his jacket and began to unzip it. He must have been getting too warm.

"Do you know about his ability that changes his appearance?", he inquired a moment later.

"Ah, yes. I've seen that a few times, and I also know that he permanently turned his eyes black."

"Then you know more than we did back then", Aaron began hesitantly. "Do you also know how old he is?"

"Twenty-two?", replied William quickly. Aaron merely nodded at the irritated answer, as if acknowledging William's knowledge.

"Most of the students who start studing are between 10 and 15 years old and attend the school for several years. It was different with Caleb back then."

"Different? How so?"

"He had enrolled in the Magistrat under a false identity", Aaron explained, which made William immediately realize one thing. Cale must have used his shape-shifting, which was why the High-Magician had asked him that question. "You know... I don't usually take much interest in new students. However, one day, High-Magician Vonstetten came to me and the other council members and asked us about a student who was beeing taught. It wasn't as if we knew exactly who he was talking about, but High-Magician Vonstetten said that the student disguised his appearance almost perfectly. A day later we had been watching this class from the window and Sir Vonstetten had to point out Caleb to us, so we even knew who he was talking about. An ordinary boy with blond hair and blue eyes stood on the sidelines listening to his teacher's explanations while Sir Vonstetten tried to make us believe that he was changing his appearance. It wasn't the first time I'd seen a shape-shifter, but for the life of me I couldn't make out what he meant."

"You couldn't see it? Was Cale's shapeshifting that good?"

"I've never met anyone in my life who had taken shapeshifting to such an extreme", Aaron answered honestly. "Originally, I always thought that a shape-shifter could only change his eye color and hair color, but this boy had literally changed his entire appearance."

Demonstratively, Aaron had raised his hands at the explanation, realizing for himself that it was strange. Therefore, he cleared his throat briefly and buried himself under his coat before continuing.

"After a few minutes, he had also noticed us and looked us straight in the eye before smiling at us. As if to tell us, 'It took you guys quite a while to notice'. That same day, when we called him over and asked him to drop his sharade, we had all been talking to an adult mage... but there was suddenly a child standing in front of us."

"A child? How old was Cale then?"

"He was 10, which made us realize right away that he joined the Magistrat when he was 5 years old. By the time we discovered him, he was already in his last year at the Magistrat."

"At 5? Then that must have been right after Groka, right?"

"Groka? Ah, yes. That may be, that should fit in nicely", Aaron chimed in.

"I can understand why he seems suspicious to you. I didn't know he went to Altona literally right after his entire village was destroyed."

William and Aaron were silent for a moment.

"I beg your pardon?", the High-Magician admitted in surprise. William merely returned his gaze, not understanding what just irritated his counterpart so much. "Caleb is from Groka?"

"You didn't know?", threw William back in surprise, before adding in a mumble. "Was that a secret?"

"No, he never told us where he was actually from, just that his parents had passed away. I assumed all along that he was from Altona. How did you know that?"

"That was pretty much the first thing Cale had told us about himself. That he had been an Anuxer for quite a few years, lived in Exarion, and was originally from the village of Groka. I must confess, I assumed everyone knew that", William explained, and could sense the bewilderment despite his counterpart's motionless face.

"He just told you... that? Without a second thought?", interjected Aaron after a few seconds of silence.

"Yeah? Had you guys done anything to him that Cale was trying to keep from you?"

"Not that I'm aware of, but we never really asked him about his background either... ah."

The High-Magician seemed to remember something that made William curious.

"What is it? What are you thinking about right now?"

"Admitted, I'm not entirely sure myself, but maybe it's just me who didn't know about it. It may well be that he didn't trust me so easily after all, I had spoken out against him becoming a High-Magician."

"You spoke out against it? You need to be elected? What did you have against Cale?"

Dozens of questions at once flashed through William's mind, but he forced himself not to riddle the High-Magician with all of them. After all, this was the first, serious conversation he was having with him.

"The reason he seemed strange to me wasn't his background. It was his age and his abilities, which were way beyond our expectations, which is why I always worried he would abuse it."

"And that was the reason you guys didn't want to appoint him? Just that one assumption?"

"No, there were more situations, Caleb ended up being like..."

Aaron noticed William's look and paused. He was telling the whole story to someone who obviously cared a lot about Cale. But how much did the young Anuxer actually know about his apparent friend?