A boy and a girl were walking down a corridor. The boy, evidently known as Edward, was currently slouched while holding his back. His sister, known as Alice, looked at him with a gaze of sympathy. Edward muttered a bunch of ‘ow’s as he walked, massaging his spine. Taking notice of his condition, Alice tapped lightly on his shoulders and pointed towards a bench by the veranda of the ‘magic garden’ as her brother had called it.

Edward accepted her invitation and headed towards the marble bench and sat down as soon as he reached it, taking no notice of the scenery. Beside him, Alice had already seated herself and, from his observation, was totally fine. “How are you able to withstand that?” he asked, still rubbing his back as it was still sore from the ‘etiquette’ class. The target of the question shrugged her shoulders.

The wind brushed past their juvenile faces and the scent of greens and shrubbery wafted about. The soft aroma of nature drifted towards their noses and they stayed silent, admiring the smell. Oh, what alluring fragrance this place emits. Edward closed his eyes, determined to fully appreciate the scent.

Minutes ticked by and the two were still silent. One had his eyes closed, fully mesmerized, while the other showed a tinge of impatience. The former was unaware of his partner’s impatience as he was too absorbed by the smells.

Finally, he took a deep breath and slowly opened his eyes, forming a satisfied smile. He looked beside him and saw a pair of azure eyes glaring at him. His smile became a bit strained and shifted his eyes away from the other’s. “Umm… so how were you in your lessons?” he asked. The girl turned her head away from him, openly presenting her irritation. The boy was shocked. Nevertheless, he continued, “… cause, you know, we haven’t exactly seen each other since the beginning of our lessons...” The girl, Alice, still faced away though the side of her face showed some indecision. Edward’s gears churned inside his head to think of words to lighten up the mood. “So… want to walk around the city if we’re going to…” Talk. He couldn’t bring himself to say the word so he stopped midsentence. Alice, being too young to understand what was happening, vigorously nodded her head to the unfinished sentence.

Feeling relieved, Edward brightly smiled towards his sister and told her to dress up if they were going to walk around the city. The small girl, as she heard that, dashed towards one of the corridors, leaving Edward behind. Edward raised his brow at the spectacle and quietly chuckled. Kids…

Kids, from his views, were the closest beings that could be considered pure while having intellect. For Edward, the only reason for the twisting of the human hearts was knowledge. The more knowledge a person acquires, the more likely to be that he or she will have views that, to him, are considered impure. As for what the things he considered impure were, they ranged from having thoughts of stealing and etcetera to acting upon them. That’s why kids, with their tiny reservoir of ‘knowledge’, were the purest.

Pure. His mana, the source of his magic, was pure. The mana inside of him were as clear as day, according to Treyan, his magic tutor. The clearer and purer mana was, the stronger the effects of it were. Edward could not help but surmise why his mana was so.

It could not have been the state of mind, he deduced. If it was, there would be no way for his acquiring of a pure mana pool as his mind was well past his definition of purity. Also, if it was based of the purity of the mind, powerful mages, as they grew older, wiser and more knowledgeable, they would eventually lose their power as their innocence crumbled to dust.

Though the most commonly believed theory was that the gods blessed the people, Edward was not a religious person and he doubted the existence of the so called ‘gods’.

His most probable guest was that it was all done in random, some would get it while some would not. Yet he did not want to accept it. He always believed that to every action, there was an underlying cause. Even his reincarnation and his fragmented memories were all caused by something, he thought. He couldn’t pinpoint why though.

Light footsteps pressed upon the marble floor and Edward turned back to look. Alice was skipping happily towards him. Her clothes consisted of a white casual dress, black shoes that’s height reached only about below her ankle, and a wide-brim straw hat. Simple, he thought. Then he realized that he forgot to change. Scratching his cheek, Edward decided to ignore it and said, “Let’s go.”

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*** *** ***

A ghastly yet embellished ‘throne’ stood erect at the middle of a dark room bereft of any furniture. A man was sitting on the throne, face downcast. His blond hair that covered his eyes showed signs of greying. His stature seemed to belong to a person who had been submerged in difficulties, ragged and slouched.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

The man shifted his head towards the lone door that was in front of him, revealing his cold sky-blue eyes. “Enter,” he growled. His deep voice was heard by the one outside the room. The door opened and from there entered a thin male servant. The servant bowed towards the seated man. After doing so, the servant straightened himself and opened his mouth. “Milord, the youn—”

“Let them,” the seated man interrupted. The servant didn’t argue and so he bowed once more and turned to leave the room. The master knew everything, it seemed. The servant left the room and the ‘master’ sat at the ‘throne’, alone.

*** *** ***

The brother and sister pair walked side-by-side on a randomly picked street of the city. The duo loitered around, taking in the sights to behold. Though there was not really anything there except for buildings—both commercial and residential—, the female looked around with sparkling eyes, admiring the scenery. The boy on the other hand just kept a light smile on his face, not really minding the things around him.

As they walked about, they encountered a fork on the road that split in two ways. The left, as the sign pointed out, lead towards the country side while the right led towards the ‘entertainment’ district. The girl, Alice, grabbed the hem of his sleeve and tilted her head. The boy, Edward, was shaken out of his absentmindedness and looked at the signs. The moment he saw sign for the right path he immediately started walking towards the left way. “You see, Alice, right now I have this beckoning towards the left.”

Alice looked at her brother with a still tilted head. Wasn’t the right for entertainment? A bit confused, Alice followed her brother, deciding that the reason for the ‘beckoning’ was just another quirk of her brother.

From the shadows, a hidden figure was present. The figure wiped his sweaty forehead and silently thanked the ones who had fulfilled his wishes. His palms were a bit sweaty and his hands were shaking a bit. He calmed down his previously agitated breathing and thought, Thank the lord for the young master’s decision. The figure once more followed the pair.

The two he was following strolled around, treading upon the given path. They took their time and basked under the gentle rays of the sun. Soon, the road that the siblings were on stopped being surrounded by stone buildings but instead, it had become the border separating two massive crop fields.

On the way, when the scenery had changed, an elderly farmer carrying an urn walked by them. “Halloa!” greeted the farmer, passing them by. A hello from Edward was the reply.

They continued their journey and soon their foreheads showed perspiration and their breathing became laboured. Alice, being too tired to go on, tugged on her brother’s shirt and pointed towards the ground. Edward followed his twin’s wish and sat down on the dry ground with Alice being all the more quicker.

“Ha~ah,” sighed Edward. “Want to go back?”

Alice raised her hands up and waved it sideways. “How about after this rest?” asked Edward. Alice sluggishly nodded her head.

The pair rested on the ground for several minutes and soon, the brother felt the sun’s rays too painful to bear. He looked beside him and saw his sister sitting somewhat comfortably on the ground. She did not feel the rays as badly as he because she wore her hat, he surmised. He was about to ask if she could perhaps use the wide brim to shade both of them when a thump shocked them both.

“Hallo!” A greeting was heard after the thump. The pair looked up at the speaker and he was revealed to be a brown-haired child near their age. Edward, in courtesy, replied, “Hello.”

The initiator’s tanned and freckled face beamed a jovial smile. He brought up his hands towards his chest. “I’m Heidst,” said the initiator, smiling childishly. “Who’re you?”

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Author's Note: Delays, delays, delays. What reason may be there for there to be delays? Exams... :(