“You know Tahku,” Trevor asks almost breathlessly as Tahku walks over. I don’t reply.

Tahku smiles as he comes to a stop in front of me. “It’s been a while Ian, what are you doing here?” He notices Charlotte and Trevor. “I’m guessing these two dragged you here.”

“Hello sir,” “Hi,” They both greet him, acting as though they’d just met their idol. Tahku nods at them, before turning to look at the man the duo had business with. The man nods at him, suddenly looking a bit nervous for some reason.

“You have business to do with them?” Tahku asks him.

The man nods. “I was just about to wrap things up.” He rubs one of his rings, muttering something under his breath as he does so. The next moment a thin bundle appears in his hand. Looking a bit pained, he hands it over to Trevor and then leaves. Smiling, Trevor pockets the bundle.

Tahku asks the duo, “Can you please give the two of us some space?” Without hesitation, they do as he asks. “So how have you been?”

“Why do you care?” I still don’t trust him.

“Now, is that the way to treat your savior?”

“Savior? Your Familiar tried to kill me.”

“I thought that was in the past. But, yes, I am your savior, remember that day I teleported you home when we sensed the Majin’s aura? I saved your life that day, even if you don’t know it. Though, I guess what I did was a bit pointless, considering the fact that you tried to solo the Majin a few weeks ago.”

“How do you know about that?”

“Everyone knows about it. Six Laen kids and a Guardian taking down a Fasuru as powerful as the Majin is big news. As for how I know that you’re one of the kids, well, I was there that day.” His revelation shocks me. The fact that he was on the sidelines, watching as the Majin almost killed me without trying to save me is… Wait, why am I so surprised? He and I have no relation to each other, other than the fact that he seems to be far too interested in me for his own good. Since that is the way things are, there is basically no reason for him to try to save me.

“I would have saved you if it weren’t for the fact that there was no need to. First, your friends came to help you, then the Guardian ended everything.”

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“Okay?”

Seeing my expressionless face, he sighed. Then he pulls a card out of thin air and hands it to me. “Well, next time you want to do something as stupid as fighting a Fasuru like the Majin, call me.”

I don’t take it. “Why should I? You were wrong about the Laen you know when you tried to paint them as evil for suppressing the Fasurus. They were right to do so.”

“Ian, I know you only said that because of the Majin. Even if the Guardian hadn’t ended it that day, I would have. That’s why I was there in the first place. Fasurus like it give all others a bad name. Besides, let me ask you this, what saved your life that day? Wasn’t it also a Fasuru?”

I can’t refuse that. He tucks his card into my pocket. “Also,” he adds, “if any Erhaz gives you trouble in the future, show them that card. Bye, Ian.”

After he leaves, Trevor and Charlotte join me once again. “You knew Tahku all this while?” Charlotte asks.

I turn to look at her. “Sort of. Is he famous among the Erhaz?”

She nods then shakes her head. “He isn’t famous per se. He likes to keep a low profile, though there are some rumors that he’s working for some powerful mystery man. The reason I’m so interested is that I’ve seen him fight before. He’s an Ascendant, and he’s a pretty powerful one.”

“What’s an Ascendant?”

“You know how you Laen have your ranks?” Trevor asks. “We Erhaz also have ours, but there are only three ranks for us. Iolis, like Charlotte and I, we’re pretty weak but there are some strong ones. Pseudos, they’re basically still Iolis but they’ve gotten so good they can go toe to toe with some weaker Ascendants. And finally, Ascendants. They’re the ones who have figured out the Laen’s secret to castless magic and broken the shackles that make us weak.”

“What do you mean castless magic?” Just today I have learned so many new things about the Erhaz, but this is the first time I am hearing about castless magic. Reaching into his pocket, Trevor throws something at me. I raise my hand and with barely a thought stop it with telekinesis. It’s just a small wad of paper.

“That. What you just did now, that’s castless magic. You didn’t do anything. You used no sigils, you didn’t use hand signs, and you didn’t even use the Ancient Aldurian language. You just raised your hand and boom, magic.”

I stare at him as I come to a realization. To use magic, most Laen creates the necessary noers within themselves using their Uua, before activating it. Over time, it basically becomes second nature to us, but since everything happens within us, to Erhaz like Trevor and Charlotte, it looks as though we had just performed magic without doing anything. But how they couldn’t figure out something so easy as creating the noers with their Uua and then activating it like that baffles me. But then, that would mean that those Ascendants are just people who figured out our way of using magic.

Trevor carefully watches my expression. “You’re looking at me like I’m a fool. I’m guessing the secret to becoming an Ascendant is something obvious, isn’t it? Care to share?”

“I don’t know,” I answer unsure. The fact that there were a lot of Erhaz like him and Charlotte must mean that both the Laen, and their so-called Ascendants must be keeping our way of using magic secret. Since that is the case, I’m not exactly sure whether I will be doing a good thing by telling them. I don’t want to get in trouble with the Laen after all. “I could ask for permissi-”

“Don’t worry,” Trevor says, he doesn’t look too disappointed. “They’ll say no. No one wants to share the secret, but I’ll figure it out eventually.”

“Can I ask something, how many Erhaz can you say are Ascendants?”

“I’m not sure, but it should be something below ten percent.”

“Wow,” I say. That means over ninety percent of Erhaz couldn’t use magic like we Laen could. That is… a lot.

Having gotten what they came for, we leave the building and say our goodbyes. Before we separate, Charlotte asks, “Hey, thanks for your help today. Do you think we could meet up tomorrow, we’d like to treat you to something, as thanks.”

I shake my head. “I can’t. I have exams tomorrow.”

For a moment she looks confused. For a moment I can tell what she is thinking: ‘Exams? But school just resumed a few weeks ago.’ But I am not talking about school exams. A moment later she figures it out. “Laen stuff?”

“Yep, Laen stuff.”

“Okay, bye.” She waves and I wave back before leaving.