"Are you sure this is alright, lord Irwyn?" Elizabeth asked, although there was no real doubt in her voice. It had been about 2 years since that fateful meeting, so both her and Irwyn were 8 now.

"No need to worry. I want to see who would dare punish me even if we are caught," Irwyn only laughed back. They were currently sneaking out of the Blackburg mansion; or rather they already managed to sneak out and had now gone all the way to the relatively nearby settlement dubbed Blackburg city.

"Why are we doing it this way in the first place?" she questioned out of curiosity. They definitely could have just gone officially with a Blackburg carriage and entourage. Instead they were sneaking around away from the road.

"People just react differently when they know who I am, so it's much more interesting this way. Besides it should be your birthday soon, right?" Irwyn turned to her and smiled. To avoid being found out they were both wearing relatively simple clothes that made them appear to be just like any ordinary children among the crowds.

"I don't know when my birthday is," Elizabeth shook her head, but took no offence, however, this caused her voice to slightly change.

"But it should be around this time of the year, right? I missed it last year since we were both consumed by your magic lessons, so I want to make up for it. I will let you choose something you like," Irwyn gave her a mesmerising smile.

"I-I see, thank you," the girl was obviously caught off guard. Despite all Irwyn's attempts, Elizabeth still lacked self confidence and self worth, thus she always assumed she would be forgotten and abandoned. Something Irwyn hoped to remedy today, at least partially.

"There is something you should keep in mind. What you are going to see today is very different from the city you saw so many times in the past two years."

"What does that mean?" Elizabeth wondered out loud.

"When we travel officially as house Blackburg people will desperately attempt to sweep everything incriminating under the rug before our eyes can see it, the worst of the worst avoid us like the plague and even the most petty of criminals flee from the terror of our sight. Today we look just like any other two children in the city."

"How large can the difference be?" Elizabeth was naively curious.

"Many times bigger than you can imagine," Irwyn just laughed back again. She would see for herself "but enough of the grim stuff. There is a large festival starting today. The celebrations of Dragoncull."

"Dragoncull? Why that name of all things?" that immediately seemed to peak Elizabeth's curiosity.

"It has to do with most ancient history of the North. You already know the North is dubbed the land of mages because of how incredibly dense mana here is, but that was not always the case. In the first century after the beginning of time there was turmoil in every corner of the world. Here in the North, second of the 7 arch dragons, Wrath, rampaged for over a decade. In that time most of civilization was ravaged beyond recognition as people of all kind desperately fled underground from that relentless fury. Eventually Wrath grew tired of having no prey and beckoned his power to scour the entire continent off the face of our planet. As a direct consequence of those plans he became a scourge which could not be left alone any longer. Wrath's father, the primordial king Tiamat himself, descended from his separate plane and mercilessly culled his unruly son. The arch dragon's corpse then had its concentrated hatred ripped out before the rest was allowed to rot here. Eventually Wrath nurtured the land which he brought near obliteration. The festival of Dragoncull perpetually reminds us of those events in 10 year periods, just as long as Wrath's rampage was," Irwyn gave a shortened explanation, but Elizabeth intently listened to every word of it.

"It is a festival of all things magical and supernatural, so we should fit right in. Either way, we have arrived at the secret entrance," Irwyn said as they finally snuck up to a certain corner of the city walls.

They couldn't go through the main entrance without being questioned, so Irwyn got Lucas to forge the guard schedule so that this part of the wall would be unguarded when they arrived. Some poor guard captain would have a headache when he found out, but that was not really important in Irwyn's eyes. What mattered was that they successfully entered the city through that secret entrance.

They arrived in the back alleys of a residential district, although the place wasn't glamorous it weren't slums. The Blackburg city was in fact one of the only three cities in the entire North where there were no slums. Mostly thanks to capable management and very merciless policies.

They traversed the alleys which Irwyn knew by heart. The path that they took was not the shortest one, but of course only Irwyn was aware of that. He was looking for something after all, and the encounter he was awaiting did not take long to arrive.

"What is a kid like you doing here?" a particularly horrible attempt at sounding amiable sounded from up ahead, interrupting their advance. It was a haggard excuse of a man; his messy hair and foul stench clearly let everyone know he was also often drunk. He was not speaking towards Irwyn and Elizabeth, but to a different young boy, not older than 12, his back turned towards the observing pair. His red and white robes looked out of place in a back alley like this, but accommodated his holier-than-thou smirk perfectly.

"Walking, obviously," the boy smiled at the man as another figure snuck up from behind. The considerably narrow and dimly lit street was the perfect place for a makeshift ambush, however, not that Ideal for observation so Irwyn and Elizabeth didn't quite manage to catch the other man's features.

"Don't try to be smart, brat," the first man quickly lost his temper "hand over all you've got and I might let you leave."

"Do you have no shame, exhorting people on broad daylight," that boy said with obvious outrage. Thinking that it would change anything was naive.

"Heh, shame is one thing, but money or another. Now hand it over before I get rough."

"Not happening!" the boy took a half step back and entered some sort of battle stance, ready to defend himself. At the same time he placed a hand on his throat and began a chant.

"Embers asunder beckoned,

Foes that I have re…"

That was an extremely futile act as the other assailant gave him a solid punch to the temple from behind, immediately disrupting whatever he was attempting. It was now obvious that the boy would be beaten bloody and robbed in the next few moments.

"So, what are you going to do?" Irwyn smiled at Elizabeth whose previously jolly expression was now sunken. She went through something not entirely different from what the boy was experiencing many times, before Irwyn took her in two years ago. Things like that don't drift away from memories quickly, if ever.

"Could you help him?" she asked hopefully.

"I will not. If you wish to bring someone salvation do it yourself. You hold more than enough power," she still lacked self confidence. There was only so much that could be done during regular training. What she needed was to witness how her power affected the real world and people within. And to witness it grinding all things to dust.

Elizabeth hesitated for a moment, but when she saw that the boy was already on the ground her mind was made up and a whispered a chant sounded from the shadows.

"Embers assunder beckoned,

Foes that I have reckoned,

Turn to ash and cinder,

Burning, blazing bringer."

"Fireblast"

She ironically used the same chant as the boy. It was the most widely spread chant for the spell and also coincidentally the most efficient one. Such low level spell chants were considered not worth keeping secret, but higher level systematic spells usually only had few discovered casting rituals and even those few were kept like treasures by various factions or individuals.

Although Elizabeth used the same chant as others Irwyn had taught her a bit differently: he made her pump more mana into the structure and as a direct consequence made the spell more volatile. She was forced to learn far more delicate control than other mages on similar level. That had many implications, but what mattered in the current situation was that the explosion caused by it was significantly more potent. It exploded about one metre above the 3 people, but the shock wave still sent both the standing man flying while also simultaneously scorching patches of their exposed flesh. To them magic was an unknown danger. When faced with such a thing it is a natural reaction to flee in terror and that is exactly what the aggressors did. They ran like cowards.

When the two left the area Irwyn and Elizabeth finally approached. The girl was slightly shaken by how easily she forced the two to get cold feet, but was at that point ready to refocus on the boy. He was obviously unconscious, probably from the first hit. The duo of man didn't manage to cause anything serious, so Elizabeth decided to shake the boy awake.

"Ugh," the boy grunted as he sat up. Before he even say up his eyes slightly widened panic as he rapidly patted his numerous pockets. Only when he confirmed that nothing was missing he grinned and snorted "I knew they wouldn't dare actually steal from me. Still, if I ever see them again there will be a hell to pay."

"Are you alright?" Elizabeth chimed from the side. Only now did the youth finally notice them. He seemed to measure them up for a bit before he scoffed with tangible disgust: "What do you want, peasants? I am not in the mood for small talk."

"That is not how you should address the people who saved you," Irwyn immediately spoke back while Elizabeth was slightly stunned. The encounter was not just an act, but Irwyn did have a hand in the two parties meeting like this and also predicted the possible results. Things were currently going just as planned.

"You saved me? As if," anger was mixed with his arrogant disgust as the youth stood up. He gave the pair one more look and then angrily swaggered away "go lie to someone your own age before I teach you a lesson."

"Why did he do that?" Elizabeth asked, baffled, as soon as the youth left their line of sight. This was likely the first time she experienced such a behaviour.

"That was the reason why I consider kindness a fool's errand. No matter how hard you try there is always a good chance your good intentions will be repaid with scorn. They will think you could've done more, that you could've tried harder, or that you hide woeful plots behind the mask of mercy, or perhaps even completely deny what you did for them. That is the futility of kindness," Irwyn made a not only slightly manipulative explanation. A kind soul like Elizabeth's would be tormented without end where they were headed. Selfless kindness is an affliction, ends justify the means. Or so he wanted to believe.

"Let's forget what happened and head towards the festivities," Irwyn said as that mantra resonated through his very soul, but there was no change to his smiling expression "today will be interesting.”