Comrade?

The thick wall that stretched endlessly to the horizons, lived up to its name. The Great Wall that didn't only look sturdy with the stone bricks, but also proudly presented the red banners of the empire as it stood firm and tall before the apprentice and master.

"You may pass" The guard said, handing back the pass that Tony had gotten from the coliseum owner. He then slammed the other end of his pickaxe onto the ground, signaling the other gatekeeper to open the gates.

Holding Rin's hand he passed the walls together with her. The trees rustled as they got further away from the walls. A arid air of water started to cover Tony's vision, wettening his face, he sweeped his own cheek. "Water?" he questioned, inspecting his wet and cold fingers.

Now glancing at the front, a cold breeze pushed him backwards a few centimeters, causing the dirt to build up behind his shoes as he stood firm while holding the flying Rin. He frowned, a sharp sound of a deadly weapon, cutting the air was accelerating towards them with the speed of a thunder as he was busy with the strong wind.

Alerted from the unnatural events, he afterwards sighed out of relief. He wasn't worried about the incoming attack that could slice him in half together with Rin, rather he was happy about how his enemies deliberately let him prepare for the attack. It was as if his enemy was boasting about how he could beat him at any given time.

Accepting the challenge with a grin, he punched the ground as hard as he could, giving him a good imagination of how strong his spell should be. Also leaving a tiny mark of blood on his knuckles. It was necessary after all, he shuddered by the the strong emitting mana from the water crecent that would slice him in half if he underestimated it. Trading pain for his life was a given. Especially if he used fire magic against it's polar opposite and usually also the weakness of fire. Usually...

Tony knew that with strong enough Fire, he could evaporate the water, hence he measured the mana with the weakened Royal eyes from the crescent and casted a appropriate fire barrier that covered his front like a large shield made out of burning hexagons.

In the blink of an eye, the sharp water crescent lost its lower half as it passed the barrier with the wind. A strong explosion from behind sent a tremble onto the ground. Turning his head towards the source while also balancing his body, his eyebrows rose as he stared upon the crumbling wall split in half. The gate was gone, together with the innocent guards.

He clicked his tongue, created another fire barrier as another water crescent traveled towards him. Though, this time, a set of two that also lost their lower half after passing the barrier, sliced the wall even further beyond a few months of repairs. It was as if claws had sliced the wall in four, leaving two pillars left standing.

The wall crumbled, a cloud of sand engulfed the pair, covering their field of vision as the dust made their nose dry. Rin coughed as she tried to cover her mouth and eyes.

A malicious squeaky laugh could be heard from the front, the steps got louder by each step a silhouette of a man could be seen in the cloud of sand.

"Kekekekeke, so the information from the soldiers were correct, being able to cast spells without a medium and a strong mastery over fire. I made a good choice of waiting here..." The man boasted, used water magic and blew away the clouds, revealing the man's ribs through the soaked black cloak as he stood before them.

He slammed his staff with a blue orb onto the wet dirt road. Draining away the mana from his cloak, a ball of water was created above him. He grinned with his craggy face. "Join the Royal Mages of the Afauthein and make use of your abilities or die by my hands..."

Tony turned around, picked up Rin and held her like a princess. He turned back towards the Royal mage of the Empire that had a smile as if he was about to be promoted.

Tony sighed and replied, "No"

"Comon... Or are you already serving a country already?"

"No, I serve no one, I walk my own path"

The man brightened, hearing that the magician before him served no country, couldn't have made it more easier for him. "Then you have no actual reason to not accept this! We will reward you greatly, just serve under the banner of the Empire and we'll leave you alone."

"No..."

"Why?"

"Because I have something more important to spend my time on, than joining a country at war?"

The man shrugged, "You think that you could win with that luggage?" He said, pointing towards the girl.

Tony glanced at Rin with her closed eyelids and grinned, "I believe so."

He scowled, "So be it, if you're not gonna join, I'll kill you before you join another kingdom or until you beg for forgiveness. And after I do, I'll play with your girl." He smiled towards the girl, hoping that she would react, yet she didn’t.

She knew that her master would protect her like promised, hence she calmly rested on his arms, leaving a grim expression on the man as if he was being mocked.

He grinded his teeth, swung the staff in a arc and fired the water ball like a canon towards Tony.

Retaliating with a strong leg sweep covered in burning red flames, a diagonal crescent of flames was launched towards the water spell. Eating the air, it grew larger and evaporated the ball of water into steam, it continued towards the man who ducked, barely getting out of the situation alive as a smoke rose from his burnt hair and hoodie.

He clicked his tongue, but shuddered when the road behind him was blazing in flames. Angered by how the magician before him, gave him another chance before finished him off, he casted yet another spell as sweat covered his forehead. He smiled out of relief, he firmly believed that it was a crucial mistake of the fire magician before him and took this chance to surprise his enemy. Another ball of water was casted, penetrating the sound barrier as it exploded midair, creating thousands of water pellets fired towards Tony.

He stomped the ground, creating yet another flame barrier that evaporated the water spells as it covered his field of vision. If it didn’t, he might miss one pellet that could deal a deadly wound. Releasing the spell, Tony frowned out of his tiny mistake but it was because he had a weird tingling feeling of something missing. The Royal mage before him was preparing a strong lightning spell after the distraction, a chain lightning to be exact, filled with immense mana as if it was his last stand.

“Die…” He said, grinning out of victory.

Yet, Tony calmly covered his leg in flames and swept his leg once again, blowing the wind away and launched a crescent of flames. It accelerated towards the man, but didn’t grow larger this time, instead it concentrated itself and turned azure blue, the mightiest flame of all.

The man released his own, a lighting roared through the skies as it clashed against the azure blue blaze. He lost, the flame ate the lightning and covered him in a conflagration of flames after impact. Yet he didn’t scream. Rather a steam rose to the air, leaving only burn marks on the dirt road.

“Water clone…” He said, realising that the reason of his suspicion was how he couldn’t sense that the staff was being used at all. Not only that, the water crescents were stronger than the recent attacks.

A clap could be heard from behind the trees nearby, the man appeared once again without a staff, walking slowly towards the pair of master and apprentice onto the open field of dirt. “Nice comrade… I was just testing you, though… I don’t understand why you are hiding the pair of eyes of yours, the sign of our pact. I could barely notice that you were one of us..” He snickered.

“What are you talking about?” Tony asked, confused of the comrade part.

“About the calling from the gods of course!” He said with ecstasy, raising his hands to the air as if he was praising the lords.

A headache coursed through Tony’s head, he nearly dropped Rin to the ground as he balanced his body with the help of his knees on the ground. Memories poured into his mind, he recalled the past, when he found his master’s lifeless body on the floor.

It was a few years ago, when he was still around his teens. It was the day that he decided to seriously train to become a magician like his master. The strength needed to seek a way home in a world filled with mana and magic.

It was as if he was in autopilot the whole time, he never realised that he was in a trance until his master laid before him dyed in blood. Taking a look around him, the once happy town filled with citizens and the blue sky above, was now deserted, filled with broken and crumbled windows and buildings. He stood on top of the broken down Tower, whereas half of the tall tower that reached the skies was gone, no it had fallen onto the southern part of the town.

Tony stood there as the wind blew strongly by him, rain started to drizzle as the sky was darkened to the same gray as the wet slate of the broken roofs. The cold air started to cover his wet skin, drops of water rolled down from his hair, he gazed upon his master once again.

Tears dropped from his eyes, he muttered, “Master... Please, wake up… “

He fell on his knees onto the puddle of blood mixed with rain on top of the tower, rolled his master face up to the gray sky and shook the lifeless body. “Master… Weren’t you suppose to teach me everything you knew?”

“...”

He shook the body again, “Weren’t you gonna give me an apron like yours? Why… why aren’t you waking up?!”

“...”

“I’ll let you turn me into a frog for once!... And the chicken you cook is delicious, I want more!”

“...”

“I know! It must be because you don’t have the apron… Wait here!” Tony stood up, ran down the stairs and brought his pink apron before him. Yet… He had vanished… Only the pool of blood was left as the drizzle of water, which poured the red dye away.

“Master… I… I don’t want to be alone again… Please… I won’t complain about the potions everyday...“

Thunder soared through the black skies, pouring more rain than ever onto the black eyes that stared upon the clouds covering the stars. He who sat on the broken tower, watching down eventually onto the town with no sign of life. He waited until someone like Frederica would call for his name as he waited.

“HELLO!” He called out, echoing throughout the ghost town.

Though all that did show a sign of life, was the pouring rain from the skies that rustled the nearby hills of grass, together with another thunder. Just like all the other shouts he had done the past hours in the rain.

“Am I alone?” He muttered.

Having enough of the waiting he dragged the drenched apron to his master’s room. Hoping that he could find an answer to the disappearance of the townsfolk and his master. He searched around the room filled with nothing but an old drawer and a torn bed.

“Master… I don’t remember your room this empty…” He said, opened the drawer that revealed a red cloak.

Taking it out, a book dropped onto the floor. Tony crouched down and picked the book that had hidden in the decorated cloak. Sat on the soft bed that started to get soaked because of the drenched clothings and hair, he flipped the cover to the first page, the page darkened by wet tears. He brushed them off from his eyes and started to read before more dripped onto the book.

It was blank, hence he flipped to the next page that had a title called, “My Diary”.

He flipped the page once again, it was blank. He changed the page another time, but yet again it was blank. It continued until he was near the last few pages, barely having any will to continue at all.

He noticed a golden glittering aura scattering to the air from the book, the letters was vanishing one by one by the second. Eyes wide, time was of the essence and he started to read through the remaining text.

...a grave mistake… I finally got proof of it today, that my apprentice started to act strange… Was it caused by the gift I gave him months ago? It cannot be, I should be a living proof of it having no drawback…

Unless?

Did I forget? I’ve been having a lot of amnesia lately… Without this book I wouldn’t even remember who I was nor who the boy I picked up from the Labyrinth was.

Tomorrow is the day… I will question my apprentice who seems to not be my apprentice…

Closing the book as the last letter disappeared with the air like glitter. Tony could feel that the letters was made out of mana, and the source sustaining it was gone. A self defense mechanism if the real owner gets out of reach? He thought, also wondering about what he actually meant with a grave mistake.

Labyrinth… Is it what they call the place I first meet my master? And… Apprentice who seems to not be my apprentice. What did he mean? I don’t get it… Is he trying to tell me that I was the cause of the destruction of the town?

“Growl…”

He heavily sighed, leaving the room lost in thoughts and hungry together with the pink apron and cloak. He went down to the kitchen, leaving the cloak and apron on the wooden table and soon after opened the fridge powered by mana. He smiled, even if his master was gone, he still somehow made him chuckle. A charcoal burnt chicken on a plate was waiting before him. He picked it up and threw it into the trashbin. No way he could eat a coal burnt chicken even if he was confused or sad from the recent events.

Sitting down on the chair, he rested his chin on his arms on the table. Hoping that his master would return, covering him in a blanket from the cold and telling him it was just a prank. He leaned backwards, thinking about the future as the rain outside drizzled at the window.

I thought I could live a new life here… With him, Frederica and everyone else… What do I do now? He stared at the red cloak decorated beautifully as if it was for the royalties. At first glance it was just a normal cloak, but after a while of gazing upon the cloak, he noticed a familiar aura and mana. Master? Wait, why can I see the mana in the first place… Ah, that’s right… He gave me those eyes.

Trying to recall what happened after he had gotten the Royal Eyes, all he could remember was the time when he was temporarily blind. Afterwards he woke up before his master, memories all fuzzy as if he had been in a cold slumber for a long time.

Either way, his master was surely dead, no mana could be sensed inside of his body, the source of life, but at the same time. It didn’t explain how his master could vanish into thin air after he was gone for a second. Not unless he was alive.

All the clues he had gotten was, that he had something to do with the incident. Every clues pointed towards him, and only him.

Tony heavily sighed , picked up the apron to hang it near the door, hoping that one day that his master would return even if the chances were tiny by a margin. Taking a last glance at the lonely apron, he tried to find something to eat. Walking around, a soft paper could be felt below his wet feets.

“What’s this?”

Picking it up, he inspected it. “Merlin’s Truth” was written on the back of the slightly crumpled envelope.

“Merlin’s Truth” He read once again, eyes wide of a new clue, he carefully ripped it open and took out a thin white paper.

Dear, Tony… My apprentice, my sole reason for continuing my life instead of living in an illusion… If you have found this magical envelope in my pink apron, I wrote this in case you would stumble into trouble without me. Sadly, it must mean that I have passed away.

To tell you the shocking truth, the only living being in this islands far north from the main continents, is you and me… And the animals like the chickens... Everything else is a illusion casted by the red cloak in my drawer. Frederica my beloved, the bar owner, everyone… I will always remember them even though they were false...

Anyways, It seemed real right? I thought so too, until I found the red cloak down in the basement of the tower, hidden away with the old furnitures. With the Royal Eyes, I could immediately tell that the mana emitting from the red cloak was fierce and unnatural as if it was a clone of myself.

No… If I think about it more carefully, I myself believe that I am the clone and the cloak is my real self, though I do not remember anything at all. It might be the cause of amnesia, but at the same time not. I only remember one thing before I realised that I stood before this grand tower in the middle of a lively town though only an illusion, as if I had been a walking dead until something hit my head, awakening me from my slumber.

I need to train an apprentice, train someone until they became so powerful. An apprentice like you, but for what? I do not remember anything, but sure glad I was when I found you in that Labyrinth 4 years ago for whatever reason unknown.

Meaning if you want to find a way back, which I know after all these years living together like a father and son even if we aren’t bound by blood.

Is that you need to get stronger, train to become a powerful mage, not because of my wish and what I lived for. But because the Labyrinths is no jokes, what you seek must be in there. And to find it, you need strength. Strength to rival a country itself.

My apprentice, I wish you good luck as your master. And remember, if there is no path before you, create your own and never falter if you do. There is limitless possibilities in life. There is no right or wrong in life, what you choose is what you should firmly believe is right even if you have to face your close friends.

Patience and Imagination is the strongest weapon of a magician. Keep that in mind.

Ps, your master. The strongest fire magician.

Ds. If you want to get out of this island, remember how we went to the west continent to get supplies… Yeah, use magic… Lazy apprentice...

Tony chuckled, to think he was forced to train even if he didn’t want to. So be it, he thought, clenching his burning fist with a new goal at front of him. Train and become the strongest magician for his master and find a way back, together with the reason why he needed a apprentice as a bonus.

He covered himself in the warm red cloak and said, “Master… If you really are the cloak, watch over me, I’ll succeed. You’ll see...”