The coliseum was booming with excitement after witnessing Malcolm’s battle. Their excited chatter seemed to cause the structure to shudder in anticipation.

Malcolm’s mother, who was fraught with worry for her son just moments ago, rose to her feet, cheering louder than anyone else. Lord Claude sat smiling beside her. He was just as happy for the victory, but chose not to make a scene. He knew that Evie’s excitement would be enough for the both of them.

They had been enraged by what had happened to Hazel during her last match, but the representatives from the school said that any injuries from the tourney were the student’s fault, and that they wouldn’t do anything about it. Lord Claude grinned, thinking of what their faces must look like, having seen this match.

Sure enough, in a special area of the coliseum, a small group of faculty were wide-eyed and gaping. They had dug themselves into a pit of their own words and had a lot of damage control to do. Hazel was not the only one brutalized by Isaac’s cheating. They had told the families of the victims exactly what they had told Lord Claude.

Under that special seating area of the coliseum, a man sat in a dark room overlooking the arena. This fight was more than he could have ever asked for.

“I can’t wait to meet that kid!” He cried out into the empty room. Peering out through the small opening that showed him the fight, he grinned from ear to ear. “You’re everything Faria said, and more.”

Stepping through a short door on the far end of the empty room, Miss Calli spoke. “Lord Kane, you are needed down in the lab.”

“I lost that match, remember. You don’t have to call me lord. Just call me Aaron.” The man turned and started toward the door. Stopping beside Miss Calli, Aaron turned and asked her. “Why did you tell them that they had to win to meet me?”

“It’s an opportunity to learn.” She replied simply.

“…I can see that.” Aaron nodded his head before leaving the room.

Miss Calli followed close behind, staring at the man’s back as he walked confidently through the maze of dark corridors hidden inside the coliseum.

Aaron had always been a spectacle. Though most Travelers were. His skin was black as coal. She’d seen Travelers with dark skin before, but he was by far the darkest. The man was a trove of knowledge that he freely gave to their team. He was the source of the ‘indoor plumbing’ that was speedily becoming popular among their people. Faria had brought him in and helped him bring out these ideas.

The next project that Aaron had brought to their attention was some kind of carriage. It used a specialized version of the ‘steam engine’ that he had developed. This new boat would help people and cargo cross the continent with great ease, though they would have to lay down a road for it to travel down before it could be used.

Travelers always brought some kind of change with them, but Aaron was quickly building a wave that many believed would crash down on the war, granting Kiech a certain victory.

╚╩╩╩╝ Malcolm Kiech ╚╩╩╩╝

The blast from my palm came like a mountain falling from the sky, my body creaking as the energy rushed out.

In the blink of an eye, Isaac’s aura shattered like glass and a red light flashed from his clothes, trying to protect him, but the attack broke through that as well.

For the brief moment that the boy remained in my sight, I watched him curl around the attack as his chest caved in. Then he was gone, and a hole had been blast through the wall in the direction of the blast.

The arm that I had used to attack fell limp at my side as I collapsed to the ground, my aura blinking away.

I still had plenty of mana left, but my body was not up to the task.

A heavy gust of wind blew away the fog that kept me obscured and, after a heavy pause, the crowd started cheering.

A large group of emergency staff rushed out to find where Isaac had gone, while only a couple had come to me. By all means, I was fine, just exhausted. I never expected that the second form of Mage Hand would drain me of all my energy like that.

Everything hurt, but it was a numbing pain, one that didn’t stop me from laughing to myself. The emergency staff that were carefully examining my body turned to look at my face with concerned eyes.

“What in heavens did you do?” Amara asked, stepping onto the platform.

“I gave him… what he deserved.” I chuckled before jerking my hand in one direction. “On the ground there. There should be a ring there somewhere. It’s an artefact.”

Furrowing her brows, Amara leapt from the arena and swept her gaze over the ground. Then her eyes focused on something and she bent down to pick it up. In her hand was a ring, the one that I’d torn from Isaac’s hand and thrown.

Staring down at the ring, Amara asked. “And how did you know it was there?” She turned to look at me.

“I… took it off of Isaac’s finger. He was… using it to… mess with my aura.” I sucked in a breath between every few words. The pain was slowly coming in, making it hard to breathe.

Amara slowly looked more and more angry as the seconds passed before she balled up her fist and stuffed it and the ring into her pocket. Without another word, she turned and stormed off.

After they finished checking on me, the emergency staff lifted me onto some kind of rolling table and wheeled me out of the coliseum.

The emergency staff brought me to the infirmary and kept me in some kind of waiting room while they prepared a room for me. After finishing, I was glad to see that the room that they had brought me to was Hazel’s. Though, she wasn’t too happy to see me there.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“What happened?” She asked, staring wide-eyed at me.

“Don’t worry. He just overexerted himself. He’ll be fine with some rest.” One of them answered.

Dropping her head onto her pillow, Hazel sighed in relief and waited for the two emergency staff to leave.

“Did you win?” Hazel asked, turning on her side to face me.

“I think I may have done more than win.” I said, staring at the ceiling.

“What does that mean?” Hazel asked.

With some effort, I managed to turn onto my side. “I… may have… almost killed him. I don’t know, though.”

“What did you do?” She asked, failing to hold back a smile.

“I hit him much harder than I thought I would. He went through the coliseum walls.” I explained. Hazel stared blankly at me, waiting for me to continue. “I can’t tell you here, but it was something from my grandpa’s notes.”

Nodding her head, Hazel turned her attention to the door as a crowd of noise started getting closer to their room. This crowd passed by their window and kept going, thankfully. I could guess who it was they were following.

Just as I was about to speak, our door opened and two men stepped inside the door, followed by Madam Luce. I knew her, but not the other two.

“Malcolm Claude?” One of the men asked.

“That’s me.” I replied.

“We’re sorry to say, but due to the… excessive nature of the damage done to your opponent, you have been disqualified from the tourney.” Hazel grimaced. I grimaced. Madam Luce grimaced. The man who had said this must have felt the change in the room as he quickly cleared his throat and continued. “This rule has been newly implemented to prevent damage done to students in the future.”

The other man then chimed in, saying. “Under normal circumstances, the level of damage you’d done to young Isaac would be grounds for immediate expulsion. However, due to the discovery of his using an artefact in his matches, he was also under penalty of expulsion. After careful consideration, we have decided to waive both of your punishments.”

At this point, I didn’t really care about winning the tourney. I was wholly focused on giving the scum who hurt Hazel what he deserved, and that’s what I did.

The two continued to give excuses filled with flowery words, but they just wasted time explaining something that didn’t need explaining.

Just as they were about to leave, one of them stopped, raising a hand and asking. “I wanted to know. What did you do in the arena? Some very important people were present and are curious.”

Staring them down for some time, I finally answered. “I don’t remember.”

They knew it was a lie. I knew it was a lie. They were more than presumptuous expecting me to tell them after what they’d just done.

“Are you sure?” He asked again. “We may be able to allow you back into the tourney if you tell us.”

“Yup. I don’t remember.” I said, turning my eyes to the door.

The two frowned before leaving, slamming the door behind them.

Watching them go, Madam Luce frowned, then said. “I’m sorry, but I couldn’t stop them. Those two represent the king here. Arguing with them could get my whole family executed.”

“It’s fine. You don’t have to worry.” I brushed off her comment. I knew who these men were the moment I saw them.

Thankfully, they didn’t recognize me, though the last time they saw me I was several years younger. They were the king’s hands. My father didn’t like to leave the capital, so he had two close advisers that would stand in his place across the kingdom. They were always unpleasant, irritating criminals who would use the king’s name to get whatever they wanted. My father knew about this, of course, but chose to not do anything about it.

“I wanted to let you know that your class duties have been finished as of this week.” She said after a pause. “Just make sure to behave.”

I was a little conflicted by this. On one hand, I was getting my freedom back. On the other, I wouldn’t be able to attend the more fun classes. In the end, though, that freedom was worth more to me. There were things I needed to be able to do, and I couldn’t do them if I was being pulled to every class.

“I will, thank you.” I nodded my head.

Madam Luce quickly left.

Finally alone, I turned to Hazel and asked. “How far did you get with those papers?”

Reaching under her covers, Hazel drew out a stack of papers. “I’m almost halfway through all of them.” She held out a small stack, and I carefully reached out an arm to grab them.

It took a while, but I eventually read through all the papers that Hazel had transcribed for me. There was a lot of rambling, but quite a lot of interesting notes from my grandfather’s past dotted the pages. I wonder what Faria would think of it all.

Suddenly, Hazel spoke up. “Mal, I wanted to know. What do you plan on doing once you find Faria?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean… if we find her, then what?” She asked, keeping her eyes toward the wall.

“I… I don’t know. I’m sure she has something planned. We just have to listen to her.”

“I… I…” She held her head in her hands. “I don’t think we should follow your sister.” She said into her hands.

Still processing her words, I could only sit frozen. “Why?” I finally managed to ask.

“In your grandfather’s notes, he said several things about Faria.” She dropped her hands to her lap. “She’s smart, cool and always seems like she knows what she’s doing. But… she doesn’t.”

“I don’t…” I paused.

“She killed her own mother to stop you from being born, yet here you are.” Hazel turned, her eyes reddening. “She’s not a god. She doesn’t know everything. At what point… at what point is she going to decide that killing you is the best decision?”

“…” I sat stunned. I didn’t want to believe it, but she was probably right. We were just desperately following her trail like loyal dogs. “What are you thinking? If we leave, what next?” I asked, looking down at the pages on my lap.

“We need to stop your father. So we help Farrol. Your grandfather has several notes there about special artefacts that he left behind in Farrol. We gather those and fight.” She explained.

“Are you sure they’ll take us in?” I asked.

“They’re your cousins. They’ve witnessed the horrors that your family can bring. Explain your situation to them, and I’m sure they’ll welcome us in with open arms.”

Before I could say anything else, a warm feeling washed over my chest. It was like my entire being was accepting this plan.

“I’ll do it.” I accepted Hazel’s plan. “We’ve both lost the tourney, so we don’t really have a chance to meet Aaron. I’ll follow you all the way.”

Then, the door opened slowly. Miss Calli stepped through the door, a sheepish grin on her face.

“So, I would like to apologize.” She forced her grin to be cheerier, but wasn’t doing too good of a job. “That test I gave you two was just me playing. Aaron does want to meet you. I’ll bring you both to him on Saturday, so make sure to rest up.”

She then hurried out of the room, her face reddening as she finished speaking.

Hazel and I turned and looked at each other before looking at the door and sharing a laugh.

“I guess meeting him won’t hurt.” Hazel joked.

╚╩╩╩╝ Emora ╚╩╩╩╝

Lying dormant in both Hazel and Malcolm’s minds, I stared deep into the paths of fate. They were talking with each other, though I was more concerned with finding the correct path than with what they were saying.

I had little more than two days left before my spirit would be ripped from this world and sent to another.

Then, as I searched through each connection, a wave raged through every connection in my view. Every strand of fate that I had spent hours searching through was suddenly severed from the base, being washed away as thousands more replaced them. These strands were thicker and stretched far out into the distance. Each destination was far brighter than the ones they had replaced, though their strands were thin and branching off of shorter paths.

At the end of each of these strands, they all connected. Standing in this central destination was a woman. Resting atop her head was a crown made from ribbons of brilliant light.

Like the brightest star among an endless darkness, she turned and met my gaze. A warm smile spread across her face as that strand of fate was obscured from my vision.

Suddenly a voice echoed through my mind. “One who focuses on the strings of fate often becomes frayed and broken. Teach them to live, and they will live.”

The visions of fate were ripped from my gaze, and I was lost.