After breakfast, William walked with Daniel toward the courtyard. They were planning to spar, though Daniel would be the one learning the most. William already knew how to combat a wizard. While they walked, William told him the details on what had happened while he was gone. “...Then, we got on the horses and-” *Thump* William looked around for the source of the noise. It came from a nearby doorway. *Thump* The door shook. William realized it was the door that was “forbidden”, though it seemed like there was indeed a good reason.

Daniel looked nervous. “That shouldn’t be happening. We should go get-” *Thwack* part of the door splintered, and it just barely seemed to be standing. “Look, just don’t panic. It shouldn’t hurt you if you don’t provoke it.”

William stood there calmly. It wasn’t because he had been reassured. It also wasn’t because he was confident in his strength, although that was true. Instead, he just couldn’t bring himself to feel worried. Everything felt fine, for some reason. *Crack* *Thud* The door finally was broken, a large chunk of it falling off and hitting the floor. Then, something streaked out the door, directly toward William. It was merely a blur, and William barely had time to fling the practice staff he was carrying to the side and get his hands in front of him as the blue streak approached. Then, it hit William’s hands. Then, there was something like a whirling storm of blue, as it spun around William, pivoting around his hands, arms, and even his torso. After a few moments of this, William caught it and held it above him. “Yesss!!! CHRIS!!!” He couldn’t help but cry out in joy upon seeing the crystalline staff. The blue crystal staff was flashing glows of many different colors in excitement. William couldn’t particularly make any sense out of it, but he also wasn’t thinking particularly clearly.

“Umm…” Daniel stood off to the side, nervously. “Are you alright?” He looked at William, then at the staff, which was still flashing various colors but not moving rapidly any more. “I’m not sure if it’s safe to hold that…”

William nodded. “I certainly couldn’t hold him if he didn’t let me.” Then he turned to look at Chris. He could now tell that the feeling had been leading him here. That was rather strange, because there hadn’t been any such connection in his previous life. It had also existed before they had come in contact again, somehow. “How did you recognize me?” Chris just spun around in circles for a few moments. “Right, we’ll need to go outside.”

At this point, Lorelei came walking around the corner. A look of surprise appeared on her face, but she continued along. “What happened here?” She asked as she looked at the broken door and the staff resting calmly in William’s grip.

Daniel shrugged. “I have no idea. It just started breaking down the door as we walked by… and then it went into his hands.” William also shrugged, offering no comment.

“That’s… unusual.” She looked at William. “You’re a very lucky kid. That’s a very powerful… and very picky staff.” Then she continued on her way. William couldn’t help but start to sweat slightly… but he also noticed that Chris hadn’t bothered to note that she was an enemy this time.

Daniel didn’t seem to know how to react. “So… so um… I think I should tell my father what happened. This isn’t really something that can be kept a secret anyway.” He looked at the crystal staff which was obviously the only one of its kind.

William nodded. “Of course. However, I’d like to go out to the garden, could I meet you there?”

-----

Once there was some dirt for him to write in, William asked Chris how he recognized him.

Chris spun for a few moments. “What do you mean? You’re exactly the same.”

“Currently I’m twelve, and have very different features. How is that exactly the same?”

“You feel the same. I don’t really see people, so even if you look a little different I wouldn’t notice. Now that you mention it… your hands are a bit smaller, aren’t they? And you’re shorter…” Chris started shrinking, ever so slightly. “... I was very sad while you were dead. I missed you.”

“I… didn’t experience anything while I was dead. However, I did miss you after I came back. I’m sorry you had to go through that.” William kept his voice relatively low, since he didn’t really want to be overheard, though there was enough open area around he would be able to see people coming.

“That’s okay. It gave me some time to think about stuff. Besides, I knew you would come back.”

“You knew I would come back? How?”

“You reincarnated before. Why wouldn’t it happen again?”

“Most people lose their memories.”

“The Demon King doesn’t.”

“He’s special, though.”

“You’re pretty special too.”

“That’s… umm… a different kind of special.”

“Is it?” Chris took a moment to wipe a section of ground flat so he could continue writing. “It feels pretty similar to me. Not that anything else about you is the same. He was a huge jerk.”

“You can feel if people will reincarnate with their memories?”

Chris flipped around in his version of a shrug. “I mean, maybe. Nobody else has looked quite that way. It could be coincidence.”

At this point, William saw Daniel and his father approaching. Zachary Cyril spoke as he approached. “Interesting. It really does seem to have taken to you. Tell me, young man, do you know the history of that staff?”

“Well, I recall that it belonged to Archmage William Stevenson.”

“That’s right. Before that… well, it was around, but it never let anybody use it. Thus how it came into his hands- anybody who could use it was allowed to. After… his death, it fell into the hands of our family. It remained in that room, locked up so that nobody would accidentally wander in and bother it.” He smiled. “Then you came along and it decided it wanted out. As far as we know, you are the second person to be chosen by the staff… hopefully, that means great things will be in your future.” William also hoped great things were in his future… but he wasn’t sure if he would end up making the right choices in this life. Still, he would try. Hopefully, someone would succeed, because this might be the last chance to really face off against the Demon King.