After explaining how things went down inside the orphanage, and the part where Orion met his parents to Amelia, time continued to flow, as the years passed.

Orion began to train his newly acquired magic, while Amelia trained in combat, magic, and control over the 'Marked' ability.

She learned in a really short time how to be a hunter, and showed great aptitude with sharp weapons. The hobby she enjoyed became her greatest ally, as her proficiency with a knife turned out to be unparalleled.

In less than a year, she successfully learned to use twin daggers. She also improved her control over two of her elements.

From her five elements, the most difficult to bring out were the lightning and earth elements, while the easiest were the wind and water elements.

On the other hand, Amelia remained unable to use a single flame. The trauma caused by her loss of control over her magic hindered her progress with the fire element.

During their training together, Orion thought of an idea. Although, with Amelia's control not perfected, he pushed it in the corner of his mind.

~

The same year, Orion began to show the first hints of magic. His two forgotten elements, the light and dark elements, were difficult to manipulate.

They possessed peculiar characteristics.

While the light element was able to greatly improve the speed of objects or individuals it enveloped, the dark element inflicted ailments on everything it came into contact with. Those were added with the physical properties of the arrows.

Forming an arrow made of these elements was exhausting, as the amount of magic energy required to form just one of them forced him to rest for a few hours before trying again.

The end of the first year approached, with both learning to control what they had gained so far.

~

During the first half of the second year, Amelia and Orion trained in close combat.

Since Orion was more of a long-range attacker, he got defeated a few times, but used these training sessions to find counters for situations where he couldn't stay in the back.

Frustration on both side helped them improve day after day.

Until Orion broke his bottleneck, and managed to surprise Amelia.

Around the latter half of the year, for the first time since gaining the ability to use both elements, his appearance changed. His bangs split vertically in silver and gold hues, replacing his black hair.

Ending up as a sudden and short release of magic, it didn't last more than a few seconds. However, this pushed Orion to continue practicing his magic more earnestly than ever.

While he was improving by leaps and bounds, Amelia perfected her control over water and wind elements.

As important as it was for her to get every element under her control, she focused on what she could use, leaving the three other elements unused.

Her proficiency with the wind and water elements improved tremendously, making their use instantaneous and effortless. Ideas began to flood her mind, as she developed new techniques for them.

They shared ideas between each other, leading to an explosion of experiments for Orion.

Since he was lacking in control and power output, he continued to accumulate these ideas in a part of his mind.

Yet, despite their improvements, they lacked two things: the quality of the magic, and the amount of time it could remain without dissipating.

The second year ended, with Amelia showing more improvements than Orion.

~

A few months after the third year began, Orion's first success came to see the light of dawn.

Two brand-new weapons made of condensed magic were created.

Since they were made of magic, they had no need for maintenance, while also relieving him of the weigh.

Two distinct crossbows made from light magic and dark magic.

When the dark crossbow fired, dark crippling arrows inflicted his targets with ailments, while the light crossbow shot arrows with an absurd velocity, and with incredible piercing capabilities.

Afterward, he named the weapons: Alcyone (Light) and Taygeta (Dark).

On the other side, Amelia learned to use her magic creatively.

Creating wind layers around her boots using her wind magic, she became able to move much faster.

With water magic, she discovered a way to dodge more effectively. Using water to shield herself from attacks, or slide out of an attack, it paired well with the wind element.

Controlling exactly when to switch them in battle, Orion began to struggle against her.

The 'Marked' ability seemed to boost the speed at which she grew, leading her to become an unrivaled opponent.

It was when Orion asked Amelia to train the 'Shackles' that everything became interesting.

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The burning feeling returned in his leg the instant Amelia activated the ability. But this time, Orion was prepared and under normal conditions.

The 'First Gear' required a lot of energy. After activating it once, Amelia ended up unable to move for three days. Even after recovering, she remained unable to use magic for another day.

This became their daily training for months, until they were able to both use it efficiently.

With the 'First Gear' in his arsenal, it allowed Orion to follow and fight Amelia, creating an illusion of fairness.

Unless Amelia controlled the output of the 'Marked' ability in conjecture with her magic, nothing would improve.

In the end, she managed to do that in record time, needing less and less time to recover between uses.

The other problem came from Orion. His leg could only endure the ability for five minutes, as the burning became unbearable at that point, making him unable to walk properly for days.

He had no idea how to improve its duration, but he knew that it wasn't Amelia's fault.

It was an issue coming from him.

With his magic under control, there was nothing else for him to improve on at this point.

And with all of that, the third year drew close to an end.

~

"Amelia. Come here, I want to try something."

Orion opened the door to the wooden cabin.

"Can't you see I'm preparing lunch? It can wait, right?"

"Oh, my bad. I was so focused that I didn't realize it was that time already."

Amelia prepared a few sandwiches, while Orion returned to his thoughts.

"I mean, you can still tell me what it is. Does it have something to do with your leg?"

Orion remained deep in thought for a few seconds. His gaze shifted to Amelia, and he began to explain his idea.

"No, there's still no improvements concerning that. I was thinking about the crossbows."

"I want to try firing different arrows. Now that your control over the wind and water elements is almost perfect, I would like to try something."

"Again with that. You want another power boost?"

She packed the sandwiches in a box, and glanced at him.

"Tell me, who's the one that defeats me constantly? My confidence keeps dropping because of you. I would have never thought you were a better close-range fighter than me."

"Thanks for the compliment. Still, with how impossible it is to counter Taygeta's dark arrows, it leaves me with no choice but to go all out. This sluggish feeling is horrible."

"I've tried not to hurt you while fighting, so those arrows are the best since they're not physical. I tried a few different effects, and so far, I've found these:"

Orion began to count on his fingers.

"Slow, Mute, Blind, Sickness, and Confuse. I can use these five effects from firing Taygeta."

Amelia turned around and leaned on the counter.

"You only used slow against me? Why didn't you use everything?"

"Slow is to help me counter you, a close combat fighter. Mute would just erase your weapon, since it stops your magic from being created. It's best used against other magic users."

"Blind could have been dangerous. If you rushed full speed into a tree because of that, it would be terrible. For Sickness, this one is stupid. I don't think I'll use it, since it just makes you want to throw."

"Confuse is dangerous too. It manipulates the opponent into fighting itself."

Orion explained carefully.

"I see. In the end, you're just as sweet to me as ever."

Amelia blushed from happiness. Orion turned his face away, embarrassed.

"So, are the sandwiches done? You need some help?"

"Well, I don't need help, I'm just about done. I know you don't enjoy cooking, so don't bother."

"It's not because I don't like it that I refuse to do it. I just... can't cook."

"Too bad, you're stuck eating my cooking, then."

"When did I say it was bad? You've improved so much, it's almost impossible to enjoy anything else anymore."

"You like my cooking that much? Want to get married? I'm always free, you know?"

"Not yet. You know what I have to do before I can hope to have a normal life."

Orion walked to the bed, and sat down.

"Avenge your parents. Even though I know it, I still have a hard time accepting it. The only descendant of two forgotten factions, and me, chosen to support you with my abilities."

Since the orphanage accident, Orion became more than her savior, she started to love him. While he had to shoulder the fate of the world, she couldn't help but to try to reduce his burden.

After hearing everything from him, she saw herself as the only help and only support he could have in this world. So, she strived to be strong to stand by his side.

All her efforts paid off, but Orion remained emotionally distant around her. While he still displayed his affection occasionally, she couldn't help but feel anxious.

"Amelia, we're leaving Auro in ten days."

Suddenly, Orion's expression turned serious, as he dropped news that made her froze on the spot.

"Eh?"

Silence fell in the room, only for Orion to break it after a few seconds.

"I'm not repeating myself. I know you understood. We have to say our goodbye to everyone later."

"I never expected you to be so blunt about it. But alright, I was prepared for this to happen anyway."

"We'll buy what we need for camping. Also, a good stock of food might be a good idea, stuff that-"

"Let the food to me, I said it before, don't bother with it."

Amelia giggled after cutting Orion, who looked away in defeat.

She walked to the table, and placed a box full of sandwiches on it.

"Time to eat, hungry boy."

"I'm only one year younger than you. I don't consider twenty-two as being a boy's age."

"I'm sorry, mister grumpy, you're a grown man now. Come eat before I get grumpy too."

"This is ridiculous. What happened to your shy attitude?"

Orion left the bed, and sat next to Amelia.

"Lost in time."

...

With their meal done, they moved into the forest to try the ideas Orion developed.

"Could you create either a water or wind arrow, and make it extend its duration to five minutes?"

"Five minutes? I think I can do that."

Amelia focused. In a fraction of a second, a wind arrow appeared in her right hand.

"Here, it should be stable enough."

She gave the arrow to Orion.

"I can either try an ailment with Taygeta, or a swift shot with Alcyone..."

"It's a wind arrow, why not see what it does first before adding any effects?"

"You're right, I'll shoot it with Alcyone then, without the swift effect. Thanks, Amelia."

"You're welcome."

She liked being thanked.

Orion pulled the string, and placed the arrow in the groove.

"Can you step back a little? I don't know what it could do, and I want to be on the safe side."

"Don't worry, I'm behind you."

She peeked over his shoulder.

"Three... two... one..."

*Click*

The arrow left the crossbow, and flew straight to the tree Orion aimed at.

What happened shocked them both. A cross made of air started to appear at the tip, slicing the tree in the process. The arrow pierce through the tree, crashed through two more trees, and stopped into the third one.

They looked at each other in shock. Amelia immediately made a water arrow, and gave it to him.

He slotted the arrow in the groove again, and reproduced the whole process of warning Amelia.

*Click*

This time, the arrow did not do much in the air, but once it got stuck into the tree, water flowed into the trunk of the tree. The trunk bulged, before exploding in less than thirty seconds.

Orion's crossbow cracked, before crumbling into magical particles in his hands.

"Amelia... can you create spheres of your elements?"

"No, I can't. I don't even want to know what you intend to do with those."

"Those arrows are incredible, and there's no swift effect applied to them at that. Now that I think about it, swift is better for wind arrows, and ailments would do well with water shots."

"You say some crazy stuff every so often. Where do you get those ideas anyway?"

"Who knows? I don't think it's that impressive."

They both cleaned the area, and moved back into the cabin to prepare for the coming departure.

During the next ten days, they shared goodbyes with the villagers, thanked Keith for everything he had done for them, and bought the necessary things to sleep in the wilderness.

The day to depart arrived.

The sun showed its shiny face, as Orion and Amelia walked away from Auro.

They walked in the north, toward the place that will provide them with information about their enemies, where everything began.

The now merged island of Eogis.