Carmen didn't sleep a wink that night; she felt greatly disappointed in Rene, but on the other hand, she wasn't even expecting him to master any school of magic.

She had hoped he would realize he can't be a witch in his first year of studies, but she wasn't expecting him to be this headstrong.

Despite the fact he couldn't master any of the more demanding schools of magic, she still knew he had a clear talent.

A fire burning inside him that drove him to continue, but what was it worth?

Transmutation was always simply an add-on of sorts, something to be used in conjunction with other spells.

Something that couldn't stand on its own, like a man on crutches or a horse with a broken leg.

Carmen felt an emotion that wasn't familiar to her; Carmen felt guilt.

A feeling of heaviness she hadn't felt in decades.

Even when she left him in the solar, she could still feel a great sadness emanating from his aura. A trail of emotion she could feel even now when he was asleep.

Pacing around her large personal quarters, she wondered to herself about what course of action she should take.

Should she try to tell him outright that he should switch paths? Should she explain to him that she loves him even if he can't follow in her steps?

There was no option that wouldn't lead to his already fragile heart breaking.

Carmen needed more time to think; her gaze wandered down to her large vanity table.

There was a letter she had neglected to read in the days prior; carefully, she opened the envelope and took a peek at the letter.

It was an invite, like hundreds of invites she had gotten before.

Asking her to come to the usual aristocratic jubilee, despite the fact she wasn't a noble or a political figure.

Although she knew the nobility of the country sure liked having powerful friends.

She thought to herself carefully; even though Rene had just arrived the day prior, it was clear to her he needed some space and time to reintegrate into their everyday life.

Spending the past six years in a foreign country while a war was waging no doubt took a toll on him; that much was clear to her.

But she also felt as if her sudden exit and clear display of disappointment earlier that night affected Rene harshly.

Only the gods could know how he felt about her now, and for the first time in her long life, Carmen feared and worried that someone hated her.

Rising to her feet and walking with an uncanny silence into the hallway that divided their quarters like a border's line, Carmen gently pushed the door to Rene's quarters open.

His clothes were thrown messily on the floor, his boots stood at the side of his bed, and his hair was a sprawled-out mess on the pillow.

She also noticed the fact he wasn't in his nightgown, clearly a sign he was eager to go to sleep as soon as possible.

Carmen stood by the side of his bed, watching him as he tossed and turned in his sleep.

It wasn't the restless movement that caught her attention; instead, it was the clear outline of a scar peeking out from his chest, which was covered by the blanket.

Carefully and slowly pulling the blanket down, she felt her blood run cold as she saw the various scarred-over sigils that had been cut into his flesh, some of them still grotesquely fresh.

She pulled the blanket further down, leaving it just above his hips; she noticed even more scars of the oh-so-familiar sigils.

Tracing her hands over his chest and abdomen, she felt her heart sink deeper and deeper.

Her boy did this to himself, did it to himself to appease the gods so that they might lend him even the smallest part of their power.

Did this to himself to try and make her proud, and there she was just six hours ago accusing him of not trying hard enough.

Quickly yet carefully folding up his clothes and putting them onto his bedside table, Carmen pulled the blanket over him once more as his tossing eased slightly, as if he was calmed by her presence.

Before she could leave the room, she looked outside his large mosaic window; day would soon break, and Rene would wake up.

With silent steps she made her way back to her quarters; a newfound resolve had been awakened in her.

Rene was even more adamant about mastering witchcraft than she had known, dedicated enough to permanently brand himself simply to get closer to his goal.

Carmen was convinced now, despite the disconnect between him and the usual witch, Rene was fiercely dedicated.

Far more dedicated than the common witch, and from what she could tell, he had a good hang on the basics.

If he could master transmutation without her guidance, then he could no doubt master any other school of magic with her help.

But she also knew he needed some time for himself first.

Carmen once more walked over to her vanity table, looking at the invitation and carefully reading it.

The jubilee was happening later today; no specific time was listed, only the words "After sundown.".

From a rough estimate, Carmen could tell it would take the entire afternoon to get from her estate to the one that was hosting.

A perfect chance to unwind and give Rene time to settle back in, but she couldn't have him moping around in the manor by himself the entire day; that would no doubt simply drive him further into the melancholy he felt.

She felt tiredness start to overtake her after such a restless day; she knew she needed to be of a rested mind and body to plan carefully, and so she slowly switched from her customary attire into a flowing dark nightgown.

She blew out the candles that illuminated her quarters as she slowly settled into her large silk-sheeted bed.

It wasn't long before Carmen had also fallen asleep, now rendering the manor fully and eerily silent.

The same dream had been haunting him for weeks now; he would find himself in a long, seemingly endless field, the air being heavy and scented with the foul smell of sulfur.

A cloudless, ashen sky stretched on into infinity as ash fell from above, showering Rene in a layer of sandy filth.

As far as he could tell, he was always the only living soul in those dreams; if it weren't for the thousands of crucifixes that sprouted out from the ground, Rene would be fully alone in that seemingly endless field.

All he could do was walk forward and/or stand completely still; everything else would simply make him loop back to where he started.

Either way, the dream would always end the same: a dark figure would appear a good distance away from Rene.

The air would get even heavier, and a faint drone would appear and begin ringing in his ears, the tone only intensifying as the figure got closer.

And before he could see the details of the figure's face, the dream would end, leaving Rene wide awake and covered in a slick, cold layer of sweat upon his skin.

He jolted up from his bed, clutching the blanket closely to his chest.

Rene steadied his breath and wiped the sweat from his brow as he remembered it was just a dream.

But just wiping his brow wasn't enough to feel clean; he knew he needed to wash the sweat from his body and freshen up.

And so Rene stumbled towards the master bathroom of the manor, the same bathroom he used to check on his scars the day prior.

He closed the door behind him and twisted the key, pulling the handle down to make sure it was locked before he took off his undergarments.

Rene pulled the curtain to the right to reveal the rather large bathtub, and as soon as he saw it, a memory came to him.

As a boy he used to think how the bathtub was so large that it could count as a pool, which at the time it might as well have been.

The bathtub was still large now, perhaps as large as two of him.

He tried to approximate the scale of it as he ran his hand across the smooth white porcelain lining of the bath.

Plugging the sink and turning on the water, Rene turned his attention to the cabinet that stood next to the mirror; he pulled it open and searched for his old toothbrush.

And just as he remembered, there it stood.

He took out the toothbrush and the weathered aluminum toothpaste tube; Rene felt the slick glob of toothpaste make contact with his teeth and gums, mixing with his saliva and dripping onto his tongue.

He was always repulsed by the cinnamon-flavored paste, but it was better to be clean than to be picky, even if it meant having to bear with the taste of it.

Rene spat it out and rinsed his mouth with the cold sink water, making his teeth hurt ever so slightly; he then turned his attention back to the bath, which was now sufficiently filled.

Before he stepped inside the warm water, Rene tied his hair back as to not get it wet.

The bath was brief and purpose driven; he wasn't there to soak; he was simply there to clean himself.

During his time in the academy he learned to be quick and precise when it came to bathing, as he always needed to be fast and be done before anyone else would walk into the showers.

Being nearly the only boy in an academy full of girls would sound like a dream to most his age, but to Rene it was a nightmare.

It was rare enough for a boy to class himself as a witch; it was even rarer to see them reach the level of academia he attended.

Of course, this all made him stand out, stand out way more than he wished to.

Like a charcoal black swan among a flock of pearly white ones, Rene stood out like a sore thumb among his fellow witches.

A lot of the witches in his classes looked at him like a novelty; most others never really paid attention to him.

But there was that one slim group of witches who hated him.

Even now as he reminisced about it, he couldn't truly figure out why.

All Rene knew was that they were hellbent on making his studies and life as hard as possible.

But his thoughts were interrupted by two measured knocks on the door. "Yes?"

Rene said as he jolted slightly, making a splash in the water, "Will you be in there long, dear? I need to ask you something."

Carmen's voice broke through on the other side of the door.

Rene instantly tensed up as he heard her, the memory of yesterday's transgression still all too fresh in his mind.

But her tone didn't sound angry or disappointed; instead, she sounded remorseful, a tone of voice that Rene wasn't familiar hearing.

He quickly unplugged the sink of the tub and let the water drain out, quickly drying himself off.

Stepping out of the bathroom, his eyes instantly fell upon Carmen, who was awaiting him, but as soon as she noticed he was only wrapped in a towel, she turned her gaze elsewhere. "It's alright... I'll be waiting for you in the study."

She said as she slowly descended the stairs, giving him time to get properly dressed, Rene quickly made his way into his room and scanned the floor for his clothes; he noticed that his clothes were no longer on the floor, though, and instead were folded up on his bedside table.

He let down his hair and scratched the back of his head in confusion; he didn't remember folding his clothes before falling asleep.

But Rene didn't have much time to think; he knew he was needed downstairs.

He quickly put on his undergarments, pulling up his socks and securing them with a garter on both his thighs; he knew he was essentially wearing the same pair of clothes he was wearing yesterday, but to him this was just a sign that he needed to buy new clothes.

As soon as he put on his boots, he began his walk towards the study; the only thing he could remember about the room on the first floor was that his mother never allowed him to go inside it, especially not alone.

But from the tiny peeks he got from it before, he figured out it was because it contained an absurd amount of no doubt very expensive and/or dangerous books.

His guess was confirmed as he walked into the seemingly largest room in the entire manor; he was in awe at what could only be described as a library full of ancient tomes and books alike. "I see you're finally properly dressed."

Carmen called out to Rene from a large round table in the middle of the room, inviting him to come near.

Rene, still in awe, walked closer to the table, carefully looking around at the seemingly infinite amount of books that resided on both the massive bookshelves and stacked in piles on the floor.

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Carmen smirked as she noticed his amazement, "Do you now understand why I forbade you entry into the study?"

Rene nodded slowly before opening his mouth to speak, "Yeah... This... This is most astonishing."

he said as he sat down across from her.

"Well... I think you've matured enough to be able to enter. Although I would not recommend touching any of the books without my permission. Some of them are most hazardous..." she spoke as she too looked around at the many books in each direction of the room, "Although I didn't call you down here to admire the books."

She cleared her throat before speaking, turning her attention fully to Rene, "I think an apology is in order. For walking out on you like that last night."

She spoke with a soft and remorseful tone as she addressed him; he, on the other hand, was confused, as the last thing he expected was an apology. "It's alright; I understand why you would be upset."

Before Rene could continue, Carmen raised her open palm, signaling for him to stop. "Enough of that; don't excuse it. The other reason I called you down here, though..."

Rene sheepishly sat in his seat as he waited for her to tell him, "I have an important gathering to attend to today; it would be a great help if you could head into the market later and fetch me the things on this list."

She spoke calmly and slid him a piece of paper across the table. Rene took the paper into his hands and inspected it carefully.

The handwriting was sharp and elegant; the cursive was italicized but perfectly readable, stemming from countless hours of practice, no doubt.

His eyes scanned the paper, and he nodded once he finished, "Yeah, I can manage."

Rene said as he put the paper in his breast pocket, "Although I'm surprised you're letting me go into the town... You never let me do it when I was younger."

Carmen scoffed, and Rene could swear that she rolled her eyes for a split second, "Rene, you're not a child anymore. I trust that you can manage to finish an errand without error; I hope as much."

She chuckled as she turned her gaze once more towards him.

Rene sat up and stretched. "Yeah... I can manage."

He repeated himself as he prepared himself for the day ahead of him, although it was nothing too exciting. He felt a strange sense of joy at the prospect of actually doing something other than studying or moping around the manor aimlessly as he did when he was younger.

She cleared her throat once more as she grabbed his attention, "I assume you are familiar with the cruelty people are capable of..."

Carmen spoke with a sorrowful look on her face, her tone one of both disgust and dejection.

Rene sighed as he nodded his head, "Yeah... I am... I am all too aware."

"Just... Please be careful, Rene. I'll be back at daybreak tomorrow." She was confident that he was capable and well aware of the dangers that awaited in town, especially for witches and even more for people who looked like him.

It wasn't long before Rene found himself at the front of the manor with his boots shined and a small sack full of coins tied to his belt.

The list still in his breast pocket, he melted into the deep foliage and trees; with a slow, leisurely pace, he made his way through the Blind Maiden forest and its familiarly dark and silent paths.

Near the entrance of the woods now, Rene could hear the sound of playful voices and quiet chatter; at first he was confused as to why anyone would even dare to come near the nearly impenetrable woods.

But as soon as he got out of the woods into the fields and felt the sun shine down warmly onto him, he understood it was a surprisingly bright and warm day for the season and no doubt a perfect chance for some to enjoy nature.

He smiled softly as he tried to keep a positive state of mind; anything was better than the misery of his own thoughts, and the joy he felt around him was a nice distraction from them.

He hummed as he walked towards the city, following the weathered brick road leading into it.

From time to time he did notice the ravages of war, which were still heavily apparent in the environment around him.

But Rene knew what the fresh ravages of war looked like and was happy to see that they were slowly fading and letting the community recover.

As long as he didn't need to step over the still-fresh bodies of both soldiers and civilians, he was alright.

The sounds, sights, and aromas coming from the market were slowly making themselves clearer the closer he got; he looked at the list once more, just making sure to not forget anything on it.

The list was mostly various spices and herbs along with simple groceries, nothing too hard to find and nothing too hard to carry back home.

Walking from stall to stall, he slowly knocked off the entries on the list, mentally checking boxes in his mind.

Along the way, Rene also picked up a woven wooden basket for a few francs; it was probably a better idea to put all the things he bought into it rather than carrying them all in hand.

It only took him an hour to find everything he needed, and he was well aware that he didn't have anything to do back at the manor; with Carmen gone, he couldn't go into the study and inspect the books.

Rene wished to explore the city more, but he knew he would draw too much attention to himself, especially at such a busy hour.

The next best thing in his mind was exploring the park; a relaxing stroll would no doubt help him calm his nerves, but before he left and headed towards the park, Rene decided to buy himself a small tin of raspberry-flavored candy; his mother wouldn't mind if he spent a few francs more than he had to.

As he walked through the gates of the park, he put one of the powdered hard candies into his mouth and swirled it under his tongue; it had been a long time since he had candy on such a random occasion.

The academy wasn't exempt from the rationing that went on during the war, and so candy and sweets became a rare delicacy for most of the students.

Rene sat down on a bench that was under the shade of a young tree, embracing the peace around him.

The laughter, the playful chatter, and the yelling were all so foreign to him; he got used to the peace of the manor and the silence of the academy. Usually loud sounds would startle and annoy him, but today it was different.

Today the world seemed so beautiful.

Sadly, the feeling of serenity would be cut short as he heard the all-too-familiar sound of mocking laughter; he braced himself as he opened his eyes and prepared to see the usual sight of being laughed at.

But the laughter wasn't targeted towards him; he turned his head to look towards the sound.

His eyes fell upon the sight of a group of boys standing around a person; upon a better viewing, Rene saw that the person was in a wheelchair.

He stopped to think for a second, "Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe they're laughing at a joke they made?"

He thought to himself, trying to find a just reason for the laughter and not jump to conclusions.

But as he focused his mind and tried to feel how the person felt, he noticed a great sadness and a tinge of seething anger in their aura.

This was confirmation enough for him, and he left the basket on the bench and stood up.

With a slow and careful step, he made his way towards the group of boys; they all looked no older than twenty, all of them somewhere around Rene's age, if not a bit older.

Rene cleared his throat before he spoke, trying to draw their attention away from the girl.

"Oye, fellas, what's going on here?"

He spoke with a guarded tone, keeping his hands crossed and close to his chest.

"Piss off, gal, we do—wait... You ain't no girl." The largest boy in the group spoke, his tone switching from hostility to confusion and disgust.

Rene scoffed as he uncrossed his arms and spoke with a more hostile tone, "Yeah, I'm not."

"Get the hell out, ya freak; leave us alone." The boy now took a few steps towards Rene, trying to intimidate him.

He looked closer towards the person in the wheelchair and noticed she is a girl; her skin was slightly tanned, and her hair was black and curly; she no doubt wasn't from France.

Her amber eyes shone in the sun as she looked sheepishly at Rene, now concerned about his safety.

She tried to signal for him to go; she tried to silently tell him that it isn't worth getting hurt over this.

But Rene couldn't hear her inner thoughts, "Really? Picking on a girl nearly twice as small as you? A girl in a wheelchair nonetheless? You all are pathetic."

he said with a mocking tone of voice, the boy closed the distance between them fully now, "Pathetic? Look at the boy in the skirt calling me pathetic."

Before Rene could respond, he felt a sudden punch to his gut, causing him to stagger. "So entitled, the disrespect! What are you, boy? Some kind of aristocrat?"

The leader of the group spoke again as he kicked Rene in the side, causing him to stagger further.

"What is it, all talk, no bite, aye? The aristocratic pédéraste, always the high and mighty!"

The leader continued to beat on Rene with a newfound anger.

He took hit after hit, unable to find the moment to fight back; eventually, Rene had been left beaten, bruised, and bleeding on the floor.

His white blouse now stained with his own blood, he looked down at his shaking hand, which had a bleeding gash on it as he had fallen on a loose sharp rock.

"Pathetic..." the boy spat at Rene, only nearly missing him.

As the group of boys started to walk away, Rene arose to his feet slowly, faltering slightly.

He wasn't going to go down like this, damn it; he wasn't going to let himself be mocked by such lowly vermin.

If his mother was in his position, the group would've already been dragged to the depths of hell kicking and screaming, but Rene wasn't that strong, not even a glimmer of her power.

With all his strength, Rene pointed out his finger at the leader, holding his raised arm steady with the use of his free hand. Focusing his mind to his best ability, he saw, as a brilliant flame appeared at the tip of his finger, a small spark was all he needed, though.

With the rest of his focus, he flicked the spark at the biggest part of the boy's body; as soon as the flame made contact, the boy's shirt lit on fire.

"What now?" the boy yelled as he noticed his clothes starting to burn up; he struggled to take his shirt off and extinguish the flames on the tips of his hair.

"What the fuck was that? Do you have a death wish?!" he yelled as soon as he realized Rene did that.

Rene felt a strange resolve within himself; maybe he wasn't as powerful as the other witches when it came to offensive magic, but he knew his transmutative abilities were remarkable.

As the boy rushed towards him, Rene looked down at the blood that was spilled on the floor; his mind was now fully focused on violence.

Like out of instinct and as if he had practiced this for hundreds of hours, Rene pulled out a small crude dagger from his own pool of blood.

Before the boy could go in for another kick, Rene jumped out of the way, rising to his feet.

The boy's face shifted from one of anger to fear as he saw the shiny crimson red blade Rene had in his hand; their eyes met, and the boy could see the erratic stare in Rene's eyes. "Hey now... There's no need for t-"

But before the boy could finish what he wanted to say, Rene started shouting, "No need!"? You make fun of me, you beat me, and then you come and try to do it again? There is a need! I'll gut you like a pig!"

Rene was bluffing; he didn't have it in him to actually use the dagger on the boy, but he was well aware that only the threat of such raw brutality would get them to back down.

One of the other boys, frightened by the gruesome sight of a bloodier Rene holding a dagger in hand, tapped the leader on the shoulder and whispered something to him.

Before he could even say anything more to them, the boys ran off.

Rene breathed raggedly, looking down at his still bleeding hand, which was gripping the crude dagger's supposed hilt. Focusing once again, Rene looked on in awe as the dagger melted back into blood, the same blood that was now filling out the gash on his hand.

After a brief moment, his wound fully closed, the rest of the blood being turned into brilliantly red-hued butterflies.

Rene heard the scraping of wheels on the brick path. "Are you alright?"

He looked up to see the girl in the wheelchair who had rolled closer towards him.

"Yeah... Yeah, I'm fine." Rene composed himself and smiled reassuringly as their eyes met.

The girl looked at him closer, noticing the lack of blood that was staining his body and clothes mere minutes ago.

"The blood... How did you..." the girl asked with a puzzled tone as she reached out her hand to Rene's.

He chuckled to himself as he fixed up his clothes, "Magic."

The girl chuckled along with him; she thought he was simply joking, but that still didn't explain the disappearance of the bloodstains or the sudden appearance of the red swarm of butterflies.

"Thank you... Those boys, they're... They're a real nuisance." The girl spoke with concern still evident in her voice.

She shook her head as she let go of Rene's hand. "My name is Marina..."

"Glad to meet you... I'm Rene." He put a hand over his heart and bowed slightly in a perfectly practiced, fluid movement.

Rene sat down next to his basket, checking if everything was still there.

Marina rolled her wheelchair closer towards the bench, a puzzled look on her face. "Why did you do that, though?"

"Do what?" Rene looked to the side, meeting her gaze. "You know... helping me, why did you do it?"

Rene's expression changed to one of mild anger as he heard her speak, "Why wouldn't it?"

"You could've gotten hurt!" Marina yelled back at him, swatting his arm lightly.

"Well, I don't really care. I wouldn't let some rodents pick on someone in my presence."

Rene said as he crossed his arms once more, Marina's face changed to one of mild surprise as she seemed touched by the gesture, though her concern still didn't subside.

"Still they... They would've left me alone eventually—" before she could finish her sentence, Rene interrupted her, "No! I know how it feels to be mocked and picked on; they needed to be taught a lesson."

Marina seemed confused and conflicted; she took a second to recollect before she spoke. "So you... you didn't do this out of pity?"

Her words confused Rene even further, "Pity? Over what exactly?"

The confusion between them only grew as Rene was seemingly unaware of what she meant. Marina looked down at her legs and then at the ground; she was just about to speak, but then she noticed Rene's expression shift from confusion to frustration. "You think I did it out of pity for your condition? Heavens no, I told you already. I simply find people who prey on the weak disgusting."

Marina seemed touched again; she was happy that there was finally someone who didn't look down upon her with pity over her circumstances.

She smiled softly at Rene, as if in silent agreement. Rene smiled too.

He handed her the tin of raspberry candies. "Want some?"

Rene said as he opened the metal tin, which was full of red, ruby-like hard candy, powdered in sugar.

Marina took one of the candies and put it in her mouth, savoring the taste, seemingly content with Rene's company under the shade of the tree.