Ciaran could feel his heart with every pulse that sent blood to his head. it was an odd feeling, and his veins bulged, but he didn’t care. The boy stared at his bedside table, wondering, wondering how nothing was upside down. There were plenty of other ideas rattling around in Ciaran’s brain, but this was the one that he decided to explore.

Ciaran tilted his head side to side before finally jumping up. Now in the correct orientation blood drained from his head leaving him with an oddly fresh feeling. Ciaran then got ready for school, but as he did so, he lamented. There were more and more strange kids hanging around from the church.

Ciaran didn’t see any real need to inquire the church. the teachers already gave him everything he wanted to know… but the new kids were still… off?

Ok maybe he did want to investigate the church, it was where they kept coming from after all.

Nevertheless, he had the academy to attend. Just six more years and he would be a real mage. Was it six more years? How old was he again? Ciaran forgot how old he was, but surely, he would remember such important information… right?

Ciaran scurried off to the academy, the embarrassment only slightly torturing him. he was in a bit of a pickle though as his brain demanded answers, and he didn’t have them.

Mr Luper didn’t notice much when it came to Ciaran’s dazed demeanour and the dilemma that he was in. to be more accurate, he didn’t care. The boy was always seeking the answer to something. Mr Luper could finally breath a little knowing he didn’t have to spend so much time on Ciaran today compared to the rest of the class.

The boy’s smiles lit up the sky and his curiosity was quite infectious, but Mr Luper did like getting paid. If the other children received sub-par education now that they were growing old enough to work… not great to think about it.

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When it came time for lunch Ciaran’s fight to remember was replaced with something else to worry about. Ciaran walked around the field, just looking around. He was quite tall compared to the others that were out playing. His classmates were inside, and the seniors were stuck inside dreading their existence as the first exams of the year drew closer.

Looking over the throngs of heads wasn’t what truly diverted Ciaran’s attention though. It was the purple and blue marks on Damien’s collar that grabbed his eyes.

The boy walked over to Ciaran and started the conversation with a telling few words.

“I fucked up.”

Ciaran’s eyebrows creased and he breathed in a sigh before opening his mouth.

“How?”

Damien’s hair shifted as his head lowered the slightest bit. His lips moved up and down, but it took a few seconds for them to final open and words to flow out. His head turned to the side and he admitted once more.

“I fucked up…”

Ciaran opened his mouth to ask again, but Damien continued.

“I saw them beating up another kid and I thought I could take them on.”

“Who?”

“You know, the bullies.”

“No, I don’t know.”

“The guys that were beating on me when we first met.”

Ciaran’s head shot up to the sky as he reminisced.

“Ahh, those guys. Yeah, I still don’t remember.”

Damien furrowed his brows for a second before pointing to the other side of the field.

Ciaran followed Damien’s finger to find the gaggle of three pudgy idiots. Ciaran didn’t see much remarkable about them and so he asked for confirmation.

“Are you pointing at the three over there? One with a grey shirt, the other with a green one and curly hair in the middle?”

“Yes… I think? Could you get better descriptors please, there aren’t that many colours of shirt around here.”

Ciaran put his leg forwards and got ready to walk off before looking behind him to Damien.

“Oh, yeah, get them to come to a secluded place after school.”

“Why? Where are you going?”

“Why? Revenge of course. Where am I going? I saw Solas, I am going to go watch him. that seems way more fun than beating someone up.”

Damien was left with his mouth agape as Ciaran walked off into the crowd. For a moment he wondered how on earth Ciaran was so damn strong, then he remembered what happened last time he asked such a question.

“Study and exercise, study and exercise.”

Damien’s muttering was drowned out by almost everything, but at least he could remember things.