**Chapter 3: Bonds Forged in Childhood**
As the sun dipped toward the horizon, casting long shadows across the village, Elias wiped the sweat from his brow and finished his training. His muscles ached, but it was a familiar and welcome pain. He leaned back against one of the trees in the clearing, gazing out at the forest’s edge. The air had cooled, and for a moment, everything felt still.
A rustling sound caught his attention, and Elias turned to see a familiar figure approaching—**Aaron**, his best friend. The two had been inseparable since childhood, bound by a shared understanding and respect, though their paths had been different.
“Training hard again, I see,” Aaron said with a grin as he stepped into the clearing. His green eyes glinted in the fading light, and Elias could almost feel the faint pulse of magic in the air around him. Aaron’s **Plant** magic had bloomed beautifully, and he had become one of the more gifted young magic users in Barnes.
"Yeah, well, it's the only thing I can do," Elias replied with a half-smile, standing up to greet him.
Aaron laughed lightly, but there was no mockery in his tone—just genuine warmth. The two had been through too much for there to be any awkwardness between them. In fact, their friendship had started in a moment of danger when they were only children.
---
### **Flashback: The Incident**
It was a hot summer day when Elias and Aaron were no more than eight years old. The two boys had ventured too far into the outskirts of the forest, beyond the safe boundaries their parents had warned them about. At the time, Aaron hadn’t yet awakened his magic, and the forest was still a mystery to them both.
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As they ran through the undergrowth, chasing after a rabbit they had spotted, the ground gave way beneath Aaron’s feet. He tumbled down a small, hidden ravine, his body crashing through thick brambles and landing hard at the bottom. His leg was twisted, pain etched across his face as he tried to stand, but his foot was caught in the roots of a tree.
Panic flooded Aaron’s chest. The roots seemed to tighten around his ankle, and the more he struggled, the worse it got. Fear settled in—he was trapped, alone, and Elias was the only person who could help him.
"Elias!" Aaron cried, his voice shaky with fear.
Without hesitation, Elias scrambled down the slope. Even as a child, he had a natural bravery in him. When he saw Aaron’s foot trapped by the roots, he didn’t think twice. He grabbed a large branch and began hacking away at the tangled roots. The sweat dripped down his face as he worked, his arms trembling, but he didn’t stop.
After what felt like hours but was only a few minutes, the roots finally gave way. Aaron’s leg was freed, though bruised and swollen. Elias helped him stand, and together they limped their way back to the village.
From that day on, Aaron had been by Elias’s side, their bond cemented not by magic, but by the simple act of one friend saving another.
---
“I still remember that day, you know,” Aaron said as he leaned against a tree, breaking the silence of the evening. “You could have just run for help, but you didn’t. You stayed, even though we were just kids. I owe you for that.”
Elias shrugged, though he couldn’t help but smile at the memory. “You’d have done the same for me.”
“Maybe,” Aaron mused, “but I doubt I’d have been half as brave.” His voice was softer now, serious. "That’s why I never really cared that you don’t have magic. You’ve always had something else. Something people with magic often don’t have."
Elias chuckled. "A lack of common sense?"
Aaron laughed and shook his head. “Courage, Elias. You’ve always had courage. That’s why I still believe that one day, you’ll find your magic. You won’t give up.”
The two sat in comfortable silence for a moment, the sounds of the village settling into the quiet of the night. For Elias, Aaron had always been the one who believed in him, even when he struggled to believe in himself. And that belief kept Elias going, even when the path seemed uncertain.
“Well,” Elias said after a while, “I hope you’re right.”
“I know I am,” Aaron replied confidently. “And when you do awaken your magic, we’ll go to the Great Academies together. Just like we talked about when we were kids.”
“Yeah,” Elias said, though deep down, he wondered if that day would ever come.