Evan took a deep breath and exhaled heavily to calm his nerves.

‘Alright, I have one shot at this. I need to buy as much time as possible.’

‘Let’s do this.’

…

‘Relax. You have the range advantage with your spells and more energy than he does.’

‘He may be fast but it shouldn’t be anything I can’t handle.’

Zed smirked as he pictured the thoughts going through Evan’s head.

He did seem to have a lot more energy than Zed did, but that didn’t matter to an augmenter like himself.

‘I’ll attack him while he’s still deep in thought.’ Zed grinned to himself as he channeled mana towards his legs and shot forward.

“Hey Evan, pay attention.”

Evan seemed to snap out of his thoughts and panicked when he saw that Zed was about to deliver a side kick right across his chest.

‘Wait, why isn’t he defending himself.’

He tried to pull back out of the kick, but his momentum was too strong.

‘It’s going to hit him. I can’t stop.’

Zed’s augmented leg made contact with Evan’s ribs, knocking the air right out of the boy’s body. He watched in horror as Evan’s body sailed high into the sky before landing back against a tree a distance away from Zed.

“EVAN!!” Wyra exclaimed, rushing over to his side.

Evan was bent over, coughing his lungs out and clutching his chest in pain.

‘Oh no.’

“That was too far, Zed!” She whipped around and shouted angrily at Zed.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to.” Zed cried out.

”Are you alright, Evan?” He asked as he too ran to his brother’s side.

“What do you think, genius?” Wyra spat out as she chanted out a healing spell.

“Illyum Marus”

…

“What’s wrong? What happened here?”

Fel asked as she stumbled in on the others.

Wyra was kneeling beside a fallen Evan while Zed was standing by his side with a guilty look on his face.

“This idiot kicked Evan right in the chest!”

“It was an accident!” Zed defended himself.

“Accident? You know how athletic Evan is. He can‘t walk up the stairs without breaking a sweat!” Wyra argued.

Zed hung his head in shame, defeated.

Wyra sighed, “Be careful next time, alright?”

“Alright. Sorry Evan.”

“...”

“Evan?” Zed called out.

“Why isn’t he saying anything?”

“Hey Evan? Evan?! What’s wrong?”

“I’m fine,” he finally responded, but his voice came from the completely wrong direction.

Everyone turned to see Evan walking towards them with a yellow flag in his hand.

Zed’s yellow flag.

“WHAT?!” All of them exclaimed.

“There are two Evan’s?!”

“No, just one me.“ The one holding the yellow flag spoke, waving his hand in the air while twiling his finger in a circular motion.

The other Evan disappeared into particles of light with a grin.

“A hologram?”

“Yeah, and now, all I need to do is tag you and I win.”

…

Zed laughed out loud and got into a stance.

“You say that like you can tag me.”

“I can,” Evan replied confidently. He looked worse for wear though. His shirt was soaked with sweat and he was panting heavily. Still, he got into a stance of his own

“We’ll see.” Zed smirked.

Then, he shot forward, mustering all the speed he could gather.

‘He’s even faster than before!’ Evan panicked. ‘He was holding back!’

Zed’s figure blurred as he crossed the distance between them in seconds, ready to tag Evan.

‘I can’t keep up.’

Desperate, Evan casted his invisibility spell once more, hoping to buy some time.

“It’s no use! I know where you are!” Zed cried out.

He grabbed the air where he last saw Evan.

But the boy was not there.

He had disappeared.

‘Where did he go?’

…

‘That was close.’

Evan sighed as he laid down on the ground, completely exhausted.

This was the most exercise he had gotten in his entire life, minus the Polton House Massacre of course.

He had only dodged Zed’s grab because his knees buckled in exhaustion while invisible.

And soon, his mana would run out leaving him defenseless to Zed's attacks.

‘Damn, I was so close to winning too.’

‘Should I just give up?’ Evan thought, disappointed.

It was hopeless. His muscles refused to budge, crying out in agony from fatigue. Every ragged breath he took was fire to his lungs. He could feel a stabbing pain come from his stomach.

Evan hated getting dirt all over his clothes and hair, but the ground simply felt like heaven right now.

'I'm going to-'

“Evan, where are you?”

'Haha.'

'Wait.'

‘Does he really not know where I am?’

"Evan? I know you're here somewhere."

Something began to rise in his chest.

Hope.

He could feel a burst of energy rising up in him.

‘Maybe, maybe I can still win this.’

‘Think, how can I beat Zed?’

‘He’s fast, too fast for me.'

'I can’t go physical with him or shoot him down with spells because he'll just dodge them.’

‘Fool’s Errand won’t do anything to him because he doesn’t use spells.’

‘He's already seen the Doppleganger. Using it again would only put him on edge.’

'Besides, it costs too much mana.'

‘I guess my only option is to ambush him.’ he concluded.

Evan tried to get up from the ground, but his muscles refused to budge.

‘Come on, just a bit more,’ he thought, gritting his teeth.

Slowly, Evan strained his muscles to their limits as he lifted himself off of the ground.

His arms were shaking violently now, and his shoulder were shaking.

But he was getting off the ground.

‘A-almost… th-there…’

Suddenly, he was hit by a wave of nausea that made him drop back to the ground with a thud.

‘Crap, mana depletion.’

“Found you.” Zed cried out triumphantly as Evan dismissed his invisibility spell, revealing him to the others.

Evan smiled bitterly, “Is it too late to give up now?”

…

Cara was washing the dishes in the kitchen when she heard the children barge in from the front door after coming back from the park.

"We're home mom!"

“Are you guys done with playing?” She called out.

“Yeah, we are mom. We taught Fel and Evan how to play ‘Capture the Flag’!” Wyra yelled back.

"Great, wash your hands and come eat lunch!"

Wyra chuckled, reminiscing the times she had played the same game as a child. Simpler times.

“How was it, Fel? Was it fun?”

“It was! Zed won at the end.” Fel replied excitedly.

“That’s great, dear. Good job Zed.”

“Thank you, mom.”

“Where’s Evan?” She asked as she dried her hands on a nearby towel.

“Here, mom.” Evan answered weakly.

“Goodness, what happened to you?” Cara gasped when she saw the four children.

Evan looked pale and his clothes were completely drenched in sweat. He was panting heavily, being carried by Zed.

“I’m fine. I'm just tired, Mom.”

“Alright, eat lunch and go straight to bed, young man.”

“But mom-”

“No buts!” Cara silenced him with a glare, making Evan shiver in cold sweat.

“Can I at least have a bath first?”

“Sure, but no reading. Do you hear me?”

“Yes, mom.”

“Good,” Cara said with a smile. “Now, who wants smoked fowl?”

The children cheered at the news, however, Evan’s heart sank when he heard the menu item for lunch.

‘Smoked fowl… Dad’s too busy to cook.’

‘There must be trouble at the trading company again.’

‘We just spent all that money on those dresses for Fel too.’

Grephin's was an well renowned tailor shop in the Vylian Empire, serving a vast clientele both in the empire and its surrounding nations. They offered a wide variety of clothes from all ages, races, and genders, even taking custom fittings from some clients.

However, their prices could be quite steep, ranging from several tin coins to purses of gold coins.

It wasn’t like the Galien’s were poor. They had enough money saved up to keep all them afloat at least until Zed and Wyra grew up. However, both Zed and Wyra had the talent to be Attuned. They didn’t want to hinder their children’s dreams, but the education fees at the academies were expensive.

The application fee itself was enough to buy a house in Wistre.

A house like their own.

‘Hopefully the mercenary guild is a success. I really don’t want my parents to sell the house.’ Evan thought to himself, clenching his fists.

Attachment.

He had grown attached to this house, his home.

His family.

He knew it was stupid. Attachment only created weakness.

But, it was for the story, right?

Having attachment made his story interesting.

All for the game…

All to… win…

'Do I really feel attached to these people? Or have I just been manipulating their feelings this whole time?'

'Am I really being... me?'

'Is this who I am?' Evan wondered.

"Hey Evan, if you're just going to keep staring at that fowl, can I have it?" Zed asked innocently.

"What does Old Man Trafford always yell at you when you're looking for a ball that flew into his garden?" Evan replied, his face deadpan.

"Uhh, fuck off?"

"Exactly."

"Zed! Language! You're grounded for a week. No playing outside until you finish your chores." Cara yelled.

"Wha- Evan!!"

"I always win." Evan said with a smirk.

'No use thinking about it I suppose. I'll just keep living however I want to.' He thought to himself.

Smoked fowl was was particularly tasty today.