“Ahem.”

The two boys sat, facing each other, in the room they’d rented from the inn. They’d actually been sitting like this in absolute silence for the last five minutes. Wesley had felt increasingly uncomfortable until he simply couldn’t stand it anymore, and loudly cleared his throat.

“Oh, my bad, little man. Lost track of time.”

“So what did you want to tell me?”

“Well...alright, I might as well start from the beginning.”

“A little over sixteen years ago, I was born under the name of Gust Vann Belson, to the mayor and mayoress of a town very similar to this. However, the town had been far closer to the base of the mountain range.

“A dangerous place to live, but a very lively place, and I guess my parents liked it that way. However, one unfortunate night, when I was but six years old, those damned barbarians from the mountains attacked.”

Gust sighed, his eyes narrowing as he felt moisture gather there against his wishes. Wesley, on the other hand, was completely silent. This story of Gust’s sounded awfully similar to what he had experienced himself… and he could feel Gust’s pain as his own.

“They killed most of the people in the village, including my parents, but a bunch of us, including myself, were captured and brought to their villages. There, we were thrown into pits, and each day, a few of us would be pulled into a closed arena, kind of like the ones we’ve been fighting in, but much shittier, and be made to fight to the death. Children were made to fight against other children or animals and monsters, while the adults were made to do the same with their respective matches.”

Gust paused.

“Of course, it wasn’t just people from our village that were there. As long as you won your fights, you’d be thrown back into the pits, allowed to live until your next fight. Over time, most of those who’d been brought there from my hometime perished, leaving only me and a few adults who were fairly adept warriors.

“It was at this time, however, that I made a friend. A big sister, as it were. When I’d arrived at the pits, she’d already been there for nearly half a year, and looked positively savage.”

Lost in his memories, Gust quietly chuckled.

“I still remember, the first time I saw her, I think I pissed myself in fright. Still though, as time went on, she became the big sister I never had, and as if the gods above had finally shined their loving light upon us, she and I weren’t made to fight each other for a full four years. Unfortunately, one day, we accidentally overheard that the barbarians had decided to have the two of us, the most talented “children” fighters of their beloved death pits, fight to the death to honor their chief’s son’s ceremony for becoming a man or some shit.”

Gust waved his hands in the air, as if to distract himself.

“Anyway, the two of us decided that instead of killing each other for the goddamn barbarians’ enjoyment, we’d try and escape. We tried to get others to help, but they’d all lost hope long ago - it wasn’t as if we were the first to try and escape.”

Gust closed his eyes, and fell back onto his bed, and started speaking towards the ceiling.

“Well, we somehow managed to climb out of the pit we’d been kept in, but when we tried to sneak out of the village, I guess someone spotted us. The village instantly lit up, and the two of us just ran as fast as we could to the outskirts of the village.”

“Along the way, we killed some of the villagers who tried to stop our path with our bare hands, and were able to grab their weapons for ourselves. Me, I’d grabbed a pair of kukris, whereas she...she always favored longer weapons, such as staffs and spears.

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“Well to put it short, we got cornered before we made it to the outskirts… and she sacrificed herself for me.”

Gust couldn’t help but skip over the details - he didn’t want to play that scene out in his head yet another time.

“So, Wesley. I have a request to make of you. I’ve checked the planned routes for travelling groups to take across the Alaki Mountain Range, and the next group is slated to cross through the territory of...that barbarian tribe. So… will you help me exact vengeance?

“...”

Seeing that Wesley was staying silent, Gust quickly tried to make his case.

“Actually, I wouldn’t even need your help, as long as you’re okay with travelling with the rest of the group without me. With the chaos gems, even if I can’t eradicate the entire village, if i catch them off guard, I’ll probably be able to kill at least a few hundred of them on my own, and -”

Gust abruptly paused. Although Wesley still hadn’t said a word, the temperature in the room had dropped significantly.

In fact, he could see some ice forming on the room’s ceiling...

“I’ll help.”

Gust didn’t know, but this promise had been spoken with the weight of two lifetimes.

In the area above Wesley’s mana pool, another section of the seal came to life.

Meanwhile, a scene appeared in Wesley’s mind. He looked down, at his hands. They were far larger than he remembered, and much farther than he remembered.

Where...was he? He looked around, just in time to spot a flurry of spells headed his way.

“Ahh!” Wesley yelled and crossed his arms in front of himself in a futile attempt of self-protection. Luckily, none of the spells hit him.

However, those around him were not so lucky. All around him, his...allies? fell to the ground. While Wesley was still confused, a figure flew in front of him, and quickly cast a mana barrier spell.

“What the hell are you doing, Wesley? Don’t space out on me now, we have to fight back the Desert Kingdom’s advance!”

“Yes, teacher!”

Thomas gave Wesley a curt nod, then flew away again. Wesley gathered himself, then rejoined the battle.

It was a very surreal experience, to cast spells and move without meaning to. Furthermore, Wesley didn’t recognize any of the seals his hands drew, nor did he recognize any of the people who swarmed around him, some assisting him, some trying to kill him.

After a few minutes of fighting, Wesley heard someone behind him shout.

“The Desert Kingdom’s King-class mages are here!”

Looking up, Wesley saw several mages flying through the air, arriving from the Desert Kingdom’s flank.

Craning his neck a little more, Wesley saw several mages ascend into the air from their own side.

‘Thomas…’

The next few minutes were a blur for Wesley, as the fight below the King-class mages devolved into a melee brawl.

Even as a mage, Wesley couldn’t avoid a few injuries. One time, a Desert Kingdom knight had fought through their front line, and had cut Wesley across his right shoulder. Another, an arrow had flown through the air, and pierced his left leg.

Despite this however, Wesley fought on, using his left hand to cast spells, putting his weight on his right leg to trudge forward.

However, panicked shouts from behind him brought him to look high in the air. What had happened?

Unfortunately, all he saw when he looked up was his teacher, Thomas, falling to the ground.

Before Wesley could react, the scene disappeared into blackness.

Wesley opened his eyes. Before him, he could see a blurry figure sprawled across a dirty, unmade bed. His mind flashed back to Thomas’s collapsed corpse on the battlefield.

Wesley thought back to when he’d crawled out of the forest, having just escaped the assassins that’d murdered his family. Gust, despite not knowing him, had brought him to the village, had seen to it that he’d been bandaged and cared for. Then, without a second thought, Gust had accepted Wesley’s “promised” payment, that even Wesley knew Gust hadn’t really truly believed in, and had led him halfway across the continent.

He, Wesley, had a big brother now, and his name was Gust.

“I’ll help.”