Morgan found out that even he was farm hungrier then he would have guessed and he started telling his friends what had happened as he ate. He soon left the task to Marith however as he kept getting interrupted when he missed or intentionally skipped any part that Marith considered important.

“You’re joking right?” Ross was the first to speak. “I know that the headmistress can expel anyone but to expel a Gias without warning is…” He was struggling to find the right words.

“Not unprecedented.” Mary-Ann said patting a surprised Morgan on the head. “The empire has a precedent of favouring the greats, at times even over the Imperial family.” She ruffled Morgan’s hair and got a very conflicted look from him that made her laugh heartily. “Besides, from what I have learned from grandfather the Archmage is very special to the empire.” This caused the group to look at her with interest.

“When did you find time to talk to your grandfather about the Archmage?” Ross asked, surprised.

“I wrote him a letter when I was asked to become his apprentice.” She chuckled. “What I got back was practically a book the size of one of the Holy Scriptures.” She shook her head in amusement. “Did you know that there are clear records of the Archmage proposing the founding of the Academy?” This stunned the group.

“But the Academy is almost four hundred years old!” Ross shouted incredulously as the first to recover.

“It was founded three hundred and fifty seven years ago.” Mary-Ann said with a nod.

“Are you sure that was not a different Archmage?” Rina said sceptically.

“Yes, very. His name is even listed in Imperial records dating back to the first empress.” She said and laughed at her gaping friends. “It is not that unbelievable is it? It is not uncommon for the Greats to live well past a hundred years. Even Grandmaster Ian Kavoth is almost one hundred and fifty.”

“There is a rather large difference between one hundred and fifty and over four hundred years.” Rina said flatly.

“Hihi” Marry-Ann giggled. “I suppose that’s true, but you should probably stop comparing the Archmage to any other humans.

The friends ate and kept discussing the rather shocking development. Once they had finished eating they started noticing that other students around them were gossiping about Gias leaving the Academy. The rumours had already reached the other students and even though many of the rumours differed greatly from reality it really showed how big of a deal Gias expulsion was.

In the coming weeks as there was no official statement from the Academy but Gias inevitably became the hottest topic of conversation anyway. Surprisingly Marith and Morgan were basically never mentioned at all and were thus able to return to their normal activities and as the weather grew colder and it would not be long until the first snow fell over the Academy.

“Sooo cccoooold!...” Marith’s teeth clattered. “Why would did they found the Academy here?!” He grunted as he brushed the snow of his coat and hat with a sour expression.

“They wanted the Academy to be as free of political influences as possible so they founded it here. With this being the borderland between the northern, western and the central regions of the empire the theory was that no duke or even the emperor would have a greater influence than the others.” Morgan laughed good naturedly at the miserable looking Marith and stretched.

“Why not put in the south then? Why the north!” Marith whined.

“Because there are no safe labyrinths in the south of the empire.” Morgan said simply.

“And there are here in the north?” Marith said blinking in surprise.

“More or less.” Morgan said with a shrug. “There are two labyrinths up in the broken spine to the north of the Academy and both are considered relatively safe for beginners.” At this Marith suddenly looked rather excited.

“Is that where we are going for our midwinter survival exercise?” Marith’s eyes sparkled.

Morgan hesitated for a moment, not sure what he should tell Marith. He did not want to kill his excitement as Morgan was sure he would need it to deal with the midwinter cold.

“We won’t be entering this year, but I’m sure we will get to at least see the Rusted Anvil, the smaller of the two and the one we will be entering next year.”

“I see, well mother said that you can’t be too prepared when entering a labyrinth so I suppose that makes sense.” Marith nodded seriously.

“Is your mother a delver?” Morgan was surprised, like himself Marith rarely spoke of his mother.

“Eh, um…” Flustered Marith fumbled for words. “Well, uh… something, something like that…” He trailed off looking away and Morgan did not push any further.

The rather awkward mood lasted until the two entered the cafeteria and found Rina and Ross looking even more miserable than Marith had.

“Are you two alright?” Morgan said gently shaking Rina’s shoulder as she was slumped over the table.

“mhmm.” Rina grunted. “… Shoulder rub.” She mumbled.

“Um, what?” Morgan looked up at Ross who much to his surprise was sleeping sitting up.

“Give me a shoulder rub.” Her voice was louder this time and Rina tilted her head just enough to glare at Morgan.

Having lost the support of Ross, Morgan looked around and was both relieved and disappointed by the small number of students that had come to the cafeteria for breakfast this early. He was disappointed because he could not use that as an excuse and relieved as there would be fewer witnesses.

Resolving himself he reached out and began massaging Rina’s surprisingly slim and stiff shoulders. Morgan felt himself blush furiously at Rina’s contented sighs and looked around half panicked to make sure that people were not staring at them. Fortunately the only one that was paying them any attention was a jealous looking Marith.

After what felt like an hour but was probably only a few minutes Morgan pulled back his hands and Rina let out a disappointed sound.

“Thanks.” Rina said simply sitting up and brushing away her unruly hair with a subtle blush.

“Y-your w-welcome.” Morgan stuttered at the straightforward thanks.

“Get a room…” Marith said, rolling his eyes.

There was a momentary pause after his words and the temperature seemed to drop rather significantly.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t quite hear you there.” Rina said turning to Marith with a rather lovely smile. “Could you repeat that?” Her eyes were not smiling however and Marith stuttered sweat beading on his forehead.

“N-nothing… It was nothing.” Marith said swallowing.

“No, no.” Rina said leaning forward. “No I am sure you had something important to say.” Normally this was the point where Rina would let it go, but apparently not this time. “So, what was it?” Marith must have hit a nerve as Rina kept pressuring him.

“Why not leave it at that sis…” Ross yawned. “Besides, you are at least partially at fault here.” He stretched and rubbed his eyes glancing at Morgan who was pointedly focusing on his food blush still not fully faded.

Rina just snorted and catching the shift in Ross’s eyes she forced down a blush with sheer willpower. The group ate their meal in silence when a young page came up to the table.

“Morgan Kiath?” The page said. “I have a letter for you.” He handed the letter to Morgan when he nodded.

Looking at the seal Morgan smiled. It was a wolf’s head with two crossed swords in the background, his father’s seal. Food and surroundings forgotten he opened the letter excitedly.

“Who’s it from?” Marith asked.

“Father.” Morgan said with a smile.

His smile widened as he read his father’s greetings and fatherly worry but it did not take long for his smile to fade. A single line written in between lines of praise, concern and fatherly pride was enough to make Morgan feel almost sick. ‘Your sister has been invited to the Academy she will start next summer, please take good care of her.’

“Morgan!” Rina suddenly shouted, shaking him.

“Uwha!” Morgan was startled, dropping the letter.

“Are you all right?” She asked worriedly. “Did something bad happen?”

“Eh, um. Well…” He hesitated for a moment. “M-my sister was invited to the Academy.” Morgan looked away not sure how to explain.

“That’s it?” Marith asked surprised

“Thought someone had died from how pale you got. Not to mention how you didn’t respond until Rina shouted in your ear.” Ross raised an eyebrow as he spoke.

“Sorry, it is just complicated.” Morgan looked away uncomfortably.

As Morgan obviously did not want to get into it the group eventually resumed their meal in silence and once they finished they headed to Alina’s classroom in the old building.

Morgan was even more silent and distant as the group made their way through the snow with Marith grumbling all along. As they reached the classroom they found the door already open and Alina having abandoned her usual perch for an old stool on which she sat cross-legged.

“You’re all early.” Alina looked up from her book, eyebrow raised.

During winter martial classes were moved to the mornings after breakfast because of the cold and the dark. However the four did indeed arrive early as they had finished their breakfast rather early.

“Well we are missing Mary-Ann but let’s get started shall we?” Alina shut her book and waited for the students to take their place.

“What about Sandra?” Rina asked.

“She swapped yesterday.” Alina shrugged.

There was a moment of silence as the group collected their logs and got ready. The class had never been large to begin with but as the weeks went by they were now down to the five friends. This was not terribly strange as they still had not learnt anything but the most basic movement of the Rising Moon style. Pairing this with the training that was well beyond repetitive as well as hard to notice improvement in, all of the students had at one point or another wondered if the training was pointless.

Today Morgan was feeling quite distracted as he did his best to balance on the log and keeping the stick from hitting the ground. He was thinking of his home and his family and one particular memory stood out.

“Daddy!” Lilith had shouted as she ran into the arms of her surprised but pleased father.

She was wearing a cute dress with embroidered flowers and her hair the colour of dark gold flowed behind her as she ran. The very definition of an adorable six year old, Lilith Kiath was close to bursting into tears as she jumped into her father’s arms and held up one of her precious dolls. Eretar Kiath happily lifted his daughter.

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“Morgan broke my doll!” She said sniffling, holding her doll whose head was twisted half of.

“What?” Eretar said flummoxed.

“I-I did not!” Morgan, who had been waiting to welcome his father home shouted as surprised as his father.

Lilith had buried her head in Eretar’s chest and almost whimpered her response.

“I wanted to play with Morgan but he just kept reading and when I didn’t leave he broke my doll…” She sniffed hold the doll out as proof.

Eretar looked surprised at Morgan who vehemently shook his head. He patted his daughter on the head and she calmed down and offered Morgan a glare.

“Lilith, I don’t think Morgan would break your doll. Are you sure that is what happened.” Eretar’s voice was gentle but still somewhat firm.

Shocked, Lilith had looked up at her father, her large brown eyes even bigger than usual. Morgan had not thought about it at the time but her surprise was quite understandable as this might have been the first time anyone had doubted her words.

“He did too!” She had whined.

She had then squirmed out of her father’s arms and with a quick glare at Morgan she had ran off on her short legs leaving the two behind.

“Father, I was reading and said that I was waiting for you to come back so we couldn’t play, but I didn’t break her doll!” Morgan had half-shouted at his perplexed looking father.

Eretar had walked up to his son and raised his hand causing Morgan to flinch and close his eyes. His father was not a violent man, in fact he had never hit Morgan even once. Yet his brother’s had on occasion met his fists when they had broken one of the Kiath family rules and thus Morgan braced himself. His father however had only gently placed his hand on Morgan’s head and ruffled his hair.

“I both know and raised you better than that Morgan.” He had smiled down at the Morgan. “You are a kind boy and you don’t even have a rebellious streak like your brothers… or sister.” The last part he had said in a low and somewhat troubled voice as he looked towards the hallway Lilith had run off to. “I don’t know what came over her…” He had sighed sadly. “I suppose that I should go talk to her.”

Eretar had trodden off after his daughter and Morgan had stood there for a good while trying to figure out if he should fix his now messy hair or to leave it be. He had all but forgotten about his sister’s outburst when he ran into his oldest brother on his way to his room.

“I heard you broke Lilith’s doll.” Arthur had said and as Morgan had looked up surprised his fist had landed on his head.

“Ouch” Morgan shouted and crouched grabbing his head.

“A brother should always protect his sister!” Arthur had almost roared. “Not break her beloved toys!” He had crouched down to be on eyelevel with Morgan. “I’m leaving for the Imperial Academy in two years and Liam the year after.” He narrowed his eyes at Morgan. “You better stop doing stupid stuff like this by then.” He had stood and as he walked past Morgan he had pushed him over and snorted.

Morgan had been eight at the time beyond the dull pain he had felt for as long as he remembered his life had been good, yet after this day his life grew steadily worse. For two years Lilith had claimed that Morgan had done all manner of bad things and Arthur had often beaten him and Liam had scolded him. He had kept doing so even as Eretar had scolded them and at times even struck them. They had accepted their punishment without even giving Eretar a reason for why they had acted in such a way. This was because Lilith had convinced them that Eretar would never punish Morgan irrelevant of what Morgan had done. They had even been convinced that their father was covering for Morgan and by the time Arthur left for the Academy the atmosphere in the Kiath household was far colder than it ever had been. When Laura, Morgan’s mother and Eretar’s wife had left with Arthur having as she stated it ‘finished her obligation’ Eretar grew visibly less happy. This Saddened Morgan but a selfish part of him was happy that Arthur would no longer be there to beat him.

“You never stop surprising do you Morgan?” The amused and incredulous voice of Alina pulled Morgan from his deep thoughts.

“Uhaw!” He fell backwards and just barely managed to avoid falling on his ass. “Safe…” He sighed, sweating.

“No you’re clearly out.” Rina said, looking jealous.

Letting out a dumb sound Morgan looked around and found six pairs of eyes staring at him with mixed emotions.

“To think that Morgan would be the first to not only to clear the first step but even the second…” Alina shook her head in amusement. “How very unexpected.”

Only then did Morgan drop the stick that he had been unconsciously balancing in his right palm. As it fell his eyes widened and he looked at his arm that was shaking with exhaustion.

“How come we do all that shit every morning and somehow Morgan still manages to do this better than us?” Rina said, sounding a bit bitter as she half glared at Morgan.

“I am so glad that Mistress Cromora did not hear you say that sis…” Ross shuddered before sighing tiredly. “Not that I don’t agree with you.” Even he half glared at Morgan.

“Now, now. Don’t be like that.” Alina smiled. “Morgan isn’t actually any better or more talented than the rest of you. He is simply more adept at disconnecting his mind from his body.” She chuckled. “You see the reason you are all having so much trouble with this task still is because you are thinking too much. I can assure you that your body has already grown accustomed to the task, you are all just overcomplicating it in your head.” She clapped her hands. “So now let’s start the real lessons. Morgan, stand over there. The rest of you line up your logs in a half circle closer to the wall so that you can all clearly see Morgan.”

Morgan stood where he was directed as the group moved their logs. His arm was still trembling slightly from the exertion.

“Here.” Alina handed Morgan a rather light and thin wooden practice sword. “Now the rest of you get back on your logs and make sure you pay attention to what I am about to show you.” She turned to the group as she spoke before turning back to Morgan and took a rather sloppy looking stance. “As I am sure you have understood the Rising Moon style is not like the other sword styles taught at the Academy. It is not an offensive or a group style. It is a controlled style made specifically for fighting other trained fighters.” Saying this she moved ever so slightly and Morgan was startled to suddenly find her sword at his throat before he even knew what happened.

Morgan’s eyes widened and the others gasped apparently equally shocked. Alina took an exaggerated step back lowering her sword and spoke.

“Unlike other styles that feign with the movement of their eyes, feet and weapon, the Rising Moon Style is built on movements that make it all but impossible to judge what is a feign and what is not.” She moved again, this time Morgan brought up his weapon in a guard and took a step back sweating profusely from the pressure he felt. “Better.” Alina laughed and Morgan saw that she had not moved from the spot. “But do be careful about retreating so far.” She was suddenly right by him, her sword tapping lightly on his wrist.

“W-what?” Morgan stared at the blade in disbelief.

“Haha.” Alina Laughed and stepped back. “Don’t worry Morgan, this demonstration is actually not for your benefit.” She turned to the others that were transfixed by her fluid movement. “Now with the better angle that you had, what did you see?” She asked, smiling.

“You sort of just stepped forward.” Rina sounded confused. “It did not look that difficult to follow…” Frowning she looked over at Morgan.

“That’s right, from you angel it would look like that.” Alina nodded pleased. “How about the two of you swap?” She said with a slight grin.

So Morgan and Rina swapped. This time when Alina moved Morgan could clearly see her step forward and his eye bulged. After a few attempts Rina swapped with Ross and the demonstration for what else could it be called, continued. This swapping continued and by the time the bell rang all the students had been given an opportunity to face off against Alina twice. Standing transfixed on their logs the students barely noticed that they no longer had any trouble balancing on the log even with the sticks any more.

“Next lesson I will start training you one at the time like today with the others watching.” She smiled at her student. “So remember to keep up the basics and prepare yourselves for the lessons you have all been wishing for.” She smiled rather threateningly as she waved them off.

As they left the classroom Aspartos’s office opened and the Archmage poked his head out.

“Morgan and Mary-Ann, I have a task for you.” He waved at the two smiling.

The two looked at one another and after waving goodbye to their friends they made to follow Aspartos but found themselves freezing at the door.

The room was even worse than before. The piles of books had seemingly all grown and even spilled over into the few parts of the room that had been at least relatively clear. It was now impossible to move inside the office without being absurdly careful or willing to step on books and parchment.

Aspartos turned to the two halfway to his desk as he noticed that the two had stopped.

“Well I guess you can see the problem.” Aspartos glanced around with an unamused expression. “It appears my office has gotten even worse during the last couple of weeks I have been away.” He sighed and made his way over to the desk mostly avoiding stepping on the many books.

“It appears?” Mary-Ann said what they both thought in an exasperated tone.

“Well yes?” Aspartos said tiling his head oblivious to the tone of Mary-Ann’s voice. “Would you not agree that it appears worse?” He said, confused.

“Yes I agree. But why are you making it sound like you had nothing to do with it Master?” Mary-Ann said and Morgan nodded.

“Because I had nothing to do with it.” Aspartos said blinking. “Dear child, I have not been back for weeks.” He pouted like a child. “How could I possibly have anything to do with it?” The two gaped at him.

“How is that possible?” Morgan looked over the room.

“No idea” Aspartos laughed and his broad smile threatened to split his face. “All I can say for sure is that it has something to do with the space expansion magic that I cast on my office a while back.” He cackled merrily. “Arian’s shrine probably interacted with the spell created some rather interesting side effects.” He cackled and after tossing a handful of books to the ground he raised the now familiar teapot. “Tea?”

The two looked at one another and slowly weaved their way to the two chairs that were once more cluttered with books. By the time they had made their way over and cleared the chairs Aspartos was already on his second cup and leaned back in his chair contentedly.

“You said you had a task for us?” Morgan asked as Mary-Ann busied herself with sipping on her tea that Aspartos had poured her before refiling his own.

“Yes, right. Clean my office.”

His words hung in the air for a moment and the only sound came from Aspartos sipping his tea and sighing contentedly. Morgan's jaw dropped and his eyes slowly scanned the room in utter disbelief. Mary-Ann for her part was frozen mid sip, her tea threatening to spill out of her mouth.

“I’m sorry, what did you say Master?” Mary-Ann said as she gently put down her cup with slightly trembling hands.

“Clean my office.” Aspartos said cheerily only to notice the looks his apprentices were giving him. “What?” He said, confused. “I heard that it is normal for apprentices to act like servants for their masters.” He tilted his hand and eyed the two with narrowed eyes.

“Well, um… yeah but…” Morgan was attempting to find a way to explain to his Master.

“Then what is the problem?” Aspartos said genuinely puzzled. “I know that you are still students of the Academy but you are also my apprentices, Morgan has even agreed to do a lot of work for me even if the apprenticeship should fall through. And as the three of us will be spending a good part of the next decade together I thought that it’d be a good idea for the two of you to do it together.” He scratched his chin. “But I suppose that Morgan could do it alone if you are unwilling Mary-Ann.”

At the prospect of being left alone with this rather insurmountable task Morgan turned to Mary-Ann with pleading eyes. Seeing her hesitate he grabbed her hands and begged.

“Please don’t make me do this alone.” Mary-Ann leaned back and scanned the room with a sour look.

“Only when I have some extra time.” She said reluctantly as she could not help but think that Rina’s words had been quite accurate.

“He really is like a little puppy.” She sighed as a greatly relieved Morgan thanked her over and over. She had been considering just saying that she would help and then not showing up more than once or twice but decided against it.

“But you will owe me big time.” She said in a serious tone to which Morgan smiled with relief and nodded.

Morgan was very relieved that he would not have to clean it all alone but the more he looked around the more depressed he started to feel.

“Well, now that that is decided.” Aspartos pulled out three small glasslike beads with what looked like grey smoke within them. “Morgan, take one of these.” He handed Morgan one of the beads.

“W-what is this?” Morgan said concerned as he picked up the oddly cold bead.

“Strom tears.” Aspartos said proudly. “Or more accurately those are Blizzard tears.” The two just looked at him. “You don’t know what Storm tears are? What do they even teach you?” He frowned. “You can think of it as a mana catalyst.” He tapped the table with his fingers looking annoyed when this apparently did not ring any bells. “It will once activate, help you collect and use mana…” He sighed tiredly. “I guess I will have to teach you from scratch.”

“Um, what do I do with it?” Morgan said looking at the bead.

“Swallow it.” Aspartos said standing up and walking over to Morgan. “After you have swallowed it I will ensure that there is nothing wrong with your body.

“Would there be?!” Morgan almost shouts and eyed the bead suspiciously.

“Not with the tear! With your disease you half wit!” Aspartos grunted and gestured for Morgan to swallow the tear.

Morgan blushed and hesitantly swallowed the bead. It tasted like nothing and he was startled by the fact that he could clearly feel the bead as it glided down to his stomach where the cold melted into his body. He felt a slight tingling sensation on his skin and looked up to ask Aspartos if it was normal. He was not fast enough however as Aspartos grabbed his head and immediately after the now familiar sharp pain that dyed the world white washed over him. This time however Morgan passed out completely as the spell washed over him.

“Morgan!” Mary-Ann leapt out of her chair to grab Morgan, who fell to the floor. “Morgan! Are you alright?”

“He is just unconscious.” The grave tone of Aspartos voice made Mary-Ann snap her head to him alarmed.

“Master?” She said paling at Aspartos’s serious frown.

“It appears that Sylthian disease is aggravated by mana. Maybe it is even a magical disease in nature.” He hummed curiously before shaking his head. “So much for careful preparation.” Aspartos sighed exaggeratedly before shrugging. “Well, not much I can do about that.” He turned to Mary-Ann. “Be a dear and bring…” He plucked a parchment from his desk and gestured with his free hand at it. “Scribe. Bring this to Grandmaster Hypocra.” He folded the parchment that was suddenly filled with text to Mary-Ann.

“Will Morgan be alright?” Mary-Ann anxiously looked between Morgan and Aspartos.

“At this rate, no. He will be dead before midwinter.” He gave unamused snort at Mary-Ann’s gasp. “Don’t make that face.” He said patting her on the head. “Morgan is stronger than he looks so he will be fine.” He crouched down and scoped Morgan up in one arm as if he weighed nothing at all before giving Mary-Ann a final pet on the head. “We will just need to do the ritual sooner than I had planned.” While effortlessly carrying Morgan in one arm he pulled Mary-Ann to her feet. “Once you have delivered that to Hypocra come to building number eight in the western part of the Academy. Now run along.”

Aspartos smiled and gestured for Mary-Ann to hurry and she almost tripped over the many books as she left. This made him chuckle but his face soon turned annoyed.

“You are almost more trouble than my wife.” He cackled to himself and walked off. “You better survive boy, or I’ll be rather upset with you.”