"Ah-choo!"

"Eww, don't sneeze on- ah-choo!"

The two groaned and cuddled even tighter together. Their entire wardrobe was thrown atop them, three thick blankets on top of the two of them themselves; however, they refused to show weakness and face retribution for the damage they caused. They were still in the midst of repairing it by carefully polishing it, so they pushed their small beds together to form a larger one.

It served two purposes. One of which was the attempt to cover the damage. The other allowed them, even begrudgingly, to combat the cold they faced by warming up.

"Isn't this where healing magic comes into play," groaned Andrew.

She bitterly laughed, "you know I'm not that far yet."

"Do we have anything that's flammable... and easy to miss?" Murmured Andrew.

"Rock base, ice on the sides as a humidifier, and then a goblet thing to prevent the ash. Damn, that means I have to use wind magic to get rid of the smoke!"

"Bah, no big - ah-choo!"

Andrew stopped and began shivering underneath the blankets. Leya was right there next to him and soon the room got deathly quiet.

"Awe, they're finally bonding... after seven years of tormenting one another," laughed Rae as she glanced towards the two.

"Mutual destruction," chuckled Keryzn as he glanced towards the floor. "At least it was already sold 'as it'."

The two laughed and quickly vacated the room.

After many days of being effectively confined to the room, the two finally felt a slow recovery undertake them. They unilaterally decided to practice fire manipulation to remove the chill. However, the ice did sneak its way into one another as they shivered.

Nevertheless, after an extended week of recovering, the two were up and running. Hostilities were set aside after several degradations of their fever due to subtle attacks.

Viciously orchestrated with ice magic.

Now, however, they were currently on the road.

Andrew was staring wide-eyed at Leya who wore a gloating smirk. "Floating? How the hell can you do that?!"

"Wind magic! You just happened to pick some of the shoddier types," laughed Leya as a harsh glint appeared in her eyes.

"Damn! I want to float... or fly. What's the point of magic if you can't even fly!"

"Exactly. You're unfortunately stuck on the ground."

Andrew expression paled, but he redoubled his efforts with the revolving stone underneath him. Although they were resting part ways on their journey, the two did not run out into the woods. Firstly, there was no end to marauders, bandits, and beasts that could likely kill them. However, even if they wanted to, to see the other advance whereas the other stagnated was not something they were willing to allow. At least not without an appropriate gain on their end - which, of course, meant getting a leg up, even indirectly, on the other.

After an hour he finally figured out how to remotely control larger rocks to support his weight and use his magic to lift himself off the ground. His brows were still furrowed because it was quite a bit harder, from appearance alone than wind magic. However, with a little modification, heat soared underneath him and he truly began to take flight.

"One-meter - what have you got," smirked Andrew as he looked towards Leya.

"Two?"

'No! Impossible... unless..."

Andrew quickly tried to meld three different types of magic together. His brows were glistening with sweat as he managed to drop her down a meter. Instantly, the frigid winds, a loose derivative of water magic, he unleashed was sent back towards him and the two both lost their balance.

Andrew still had two different forms of lift so he was no as shaken as Leya, but the drop did rattle him.

Since he was still somewhat afloat, Leya scowled at him and sent another harsh rush of air underneath him and caused the pile of rocks to collapse.

Crying lightly as he fell the half meter, Andrew glared at Leya before he let out a small sigh.

"It really isn't worth it to compare flight. You have an overwhelming advantage there, but if I can just solidify the shadows..."

Leya rolled her eyes and laughed. "You are the one so hell-bent on sabotaging me. Why don't-"

Andrew closed his eyes and looked away. "Really? I swear it's been a fifty/fifty split. You were the first to use the ice to freeze my side of the bed."

Leya smirked and was about to go on when the two shivered. Not from the cold, rather their growing sense of danger.

"We were just playing in the woods," murmured Andrew as he sprinted towards the nearest cluster of trees.

"Nothing more," nodded Leya as she followed suit.

They ran for ten minutes before they were greeted with a familiar face behind them in the dust.

"Ah, uhm, Father," spoke Andrew quietly as he bit his lip.

"Where have you been off to, Dad?"

Keryzn quirked his eyebrow at the two who were covered in sand and sediment and sighed. "Little monsters you are. Before you get any ideas, did you read to the end of the training book?"

Andrew tilted his head and Leya blinked blankly.

His lips curved into a small smile and chuckled. "You can only possess four elements. That is why, by now, it'd be next to impossible to train others to any major extent. You can specialize, delve deeper into their mysteries, and everything else; however, four is the key."

Andrew paled, "my... my... blood-magic! No! No, that can't be true! It can't!"

Leya patted him consolingly but was stifling back a snicker.

Keryzn shook his head, "you really want to learn a forbidden magic? Well, there is one more you each can learn in addition, but they are near impossible to obtain for us - and especially you two. That is simply due to your affiliation with light and dark already."

Andrew scowled, "you mean I have to pray to some imaginary God?"

"Imaginary? There is no doubt a creator to this all!"

Hearing Leya's rebuttal Andrew shrugged indifferently. "Maybe I can talk to the parent of... wait, Father? Are there demons here?"

Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

Keryzn was confused at the boy's sudden interest. "Yes? You've ought to have read about it. They are not evil, per say, but their traditions do border on strange. Those two were actually the types of divine magic one can learn. Basically, you offer up your loyalty to one of their respective gods and are offered a unique form of magic in this world. There... well, there are side-effects."

Andrew smile blossomed, "I can grow horns? That'd be so cool! I want to be a demon lord when I grow up, Father!"

"No!" Shrieked Leya. She pushed Andrew's glowing face back and then turned to Keryzn. "If that's the case, I want to be an Archangel! I will vanquish this evil spirit!"

Unknowingly to them, black mist and bright light leaked out of them as they spoke. However, Keryzn was used to such an unconscious reaction. Therefore, he quickly pried the two butting heads off one another and stood in-between.

"No making decisions like that this early. You'll have to offer eternal servitude to them so it isn't a decision to make rashly. And, archangel I can see, but demon lord? Where the hell did you get that idea from?"

Andrew turned his head awkwardly, "books? Uhm, yeah, definitely books."

Keryzn softly glared at his son before turning to leave. Considering he didn't even know if there were, in fact, demons here, Keryzn was very suspicious. He beckoned over his shoulder, "we're leaving in a bit. Leya, come with me for a moment, your mother wanted to talk to you about something, okay?"

Leya tilted her head and shrugged lightly. As she turned to leave Andrew's eyes glistened at the thought of becoming a demon lord.

'I'll have money, women, power - all that was taken away from me prematurely! I wasn't even able to grasp anything more than a wine glass and a few silk sheets - well, I guess there were maids... ah, 'maids'... too - before she came around! I will have it again!"

As his thoughts wandered, Andrew sat motionless thinking of all the possibilities.

However, as a slight breeze came in, his eyes focused into the distance. He remembered it only because of the similarities when he was shot in the throne room suddenly by Leya's past life.

He cursed inwardly and jumped back. His stubby, unbalanced body betrayed him slightly as he wobbled to the forest floor before catching his balance.

By sheer chance, he avoided two whistling arrows that sped towards his new site. A third clipped his shoulder and sliced through his thin cloak.

Rolling over twice, he looked forward and saw three men. Each was bigger and more fearsome than the last. However, Andrew had a glint in his eyes as he noticed the notched arrows.

Three rock pellets were sharpened and shot towards their own shoulders as the arrows were loosed.

One of them sank into his

good shoulder, but the two others sailed past him. He saw the looks of surprise and anguish on their faces and chuckled through the pain. He sent two more to the opposite shoulder as they pulled out blades with their off-hand.

Two sank deep into their flesh, but a third was dodged at the last second.

"Fine, be that way," scowled Andrew.

A black mist blinded one, but Andrew was able to see the rest of his body. This time the shot hit.

Gritting his teeth, Andrew pulled out the arrow and seared the wound. Using water magic, he was allowed a slow recovery. However, he still walked sluggishly towards the three men.

"Mage!"

"How is that possible?! He's too young!"

"W-what do you want?"

"Ah, it's no big deal," smiled Andrew bashfully. "I just need a little help, okay? Sorry, but I can close those wounds afterward too if you agree."

They were still five meters apart, but Andrew noticed one was murmuring an incantation. Using what looked like a breath of fire, due to the flashy nature of the spell, he forced the man to stop.

"I just want to talk to your leader. He is within half an hour, right?"

The smallest of the three, a short, but incredibly stout man nodded fearfully and Andrew's smile grew.

"Come, come, then!"

Of the three, one stood in front, being the stout man, and guided him along the way. He entered into a small clearing filled with wooden palisades. Of the people present, only five or so were in any real condition to fight. He nodded absentmindedly to the confused men and saw a tall, tattooed man walk out of a tent.

He was accompanied by two road-hardened women at his side. Each gave the leader a passionate gaze before it was shuffled disdainfully towards Andrew.

"Hey, leader guy," smiled Andrew. "I was just wondering here. I noticed those three that attacked me were already in rough shape... but I was wondering if you'd be willing to do a little trade. Just payment for services rendered, that's all."

The tattooed man scowled as he set his sight on the three wounded men. However, the others in his camp were by no means ready to fight. Even so, the blood-lust and killing intent was radiating off the men as they glared at Andrew from afar.

"What?" Spoke the tattooed leader irritably.

"I can heal them. Others would be happy to subjugate you, but I think we can make a short-term bargain. Twenty silver for each minor wound healed. I can't do anything major, healing wise, but flesh wounds shouldn't be an issue."

"You're, like, eight and you can grasp magic that much of an extent?"

"Seven," spoke Andrew bashfully as he lowered his head. "Although I'm much more proficient in things like this..."

Soon a black mist blinded the leader. It slower faded to form two slits for the man to see.

The tattooed leader gasped as he saw a large fireball grew in the boy's hand.

Before he could utter an incantation, the mist vanished.

"Just pretty basic magic, I know. However, is there an opportunity to work? I need to practice some basic healing - for a fair payment, of course."

The tattooed man grasped the handle of his sword and drew it out. After giving a feral smile, he charged alongside the two women.

Andrew scowled and blinded all three of them. Using three rock pellets to disrupt their stance, Andrew sent a cold wind to surround them. As the two women cried out in pain, the man howled in rage.

Yet, three more rock pellets punched small holes in his exposed wrist and legs.

Andrew turned towards the stout man behind him and smiled innocently. "Hey, how would you three like to run a bandit camp? You seem capable enough. However, you do have to promise be thirty silver for each injury now."

The short, stout man immediately became the informal representative of the three. However, before he could answer, five more cries of alarm were heard. Of the five, three were wounded.

"Don't cast magic so slowly," scoffed Andrew as he turned back to the other two. "Just some mist. Isn't deadly or anything."

The stout man gritted his teeth and looked towards the tattooed man. "What of him?"

Andrew frowned at the tattooed man before he let out an irritated grumble. "I won't heal him. Do what you want withafterwardwards. He's an ass... having two women at his side... I'm jealous!"

Before they had a chance to resist, a small heat appeared on each shoulder of the three. After the wound was closed, a layer of water slowly healed all six injuries at once. There was a dozen or so more injuries to contend with, but he simply sat at the front gate and people began lining up.

"Thirty silver please, sir," spoke Andrew innocently, "then it'll be good to go by the day after tomorrow. Saves you two weeks of closing with the risk of infection. Not an unreasonable price."

Truthfully, it was a fair price; however, they were still forced into paying it. Even as the two women approached carrying the tattooed man in tow, Andrew snorted and moved to the next one.

It took a little over half an hour to regrow the raw, pink flesh. However, they were removed from the dangers of infection. Only the tattooed man lay howling some distance away from him. Yet, as the money rolled in, Andrew's smile grew more and more unsightly.

'On the road to becoming a true Demon Lord - no! Demon King! Emperor! I will rule them all,' his thoughts grew wild and he looked at the bursting purse. 'Almost five gold. Not a bad income. Could have gotten more, but these people will be a new investment.'

Suddenly a strange feeling came to him and he retracted all the water. His smile was gone and nervousness covered his face. However, he looked at the three representatives before giving a firm nod.

"I may be back in the area. Anyways, don't die and do not aim for my sister... well, just because you'll all die. It isn't worth it. She's vicious, evil, cruel, unforgiving... and she's coming right now - bye!"

He picked up his feet and ran towards the feeling. It was a strange sensation. It was not completely unlike the sense of danger but it only applied to Leya. However, it was similar enough to make him panic.

'I will not lose that investment due to her self-righteous behavior! I will be the only to capitalize on it later. Oh, fat man, please guide this bandit group to ravange the land far and wide! Then give me a cut of the profits!'

It took only ten minutes before he hastily ran into Leya. She let out a yelp as the two fell towards the ground. Andrew tried to hid the dried blood on his shoulders, but failed under her appraising eye.

"Where did you get that? Bandits... the hell? Why do you suddenly have a purse?!"

Andrew looked into the distance, in the opposite direction of the camp, as he patted the dust off. "True, three attacked me. However, why not rob them? What is point of aspiring to be a great Demon King when I can't even do that much?"

His smile was twitching as he thought, 'truth and lies. It has to be that way lest I want to get caught. Come on, dear naive sister.'

"Bull," growled Leya. "What really happened?"

Andrew bit his lip before smiling broadly. "Oh, mother dearest, how nice it is to see you! I was viciously attacked and Leya here refuses to help me seal my wounds," his voice was choked and he used water magic to form a small, single teardrop as he gazed at his mother. "Please, mother, be the voice of reason!"

Rae looked at the long since healed wounds and sighed. "Something is going on here... anyways we've ought to go. We can still push into a town by nightfall."

Andrew smiled and nodded rapidly. He quickly pulled the unwilling Leya to her feet and dragged her towards his mother. After several small conversations, they were regaled with the epic story of how he single handedly fought back three assassins. While many of the events were clearly dramatised for theatratical effect, Andrew smiled broadly the entire time.