Sitting at the table, Kaim's family is having dinner; four people are reunited around a rectangular table. Kaim moves the food around from side to side, thoughtful. Next to him is his father, an old man on his sixties, wearing an abundant beard that is starting to go white, and bearing a considerable resemblance to his son. At the other end of the table is his mother, An old woman on her fifties, wearing a gentle smile and a few expression wrinkles on her mouth and forehead. And next to her Kaim’s little sister, Kiara, is tying her long hair up in a ponytail.

Kaim's father, Noah, pats his son's shoulder, getting him out of his thoughts.

"Come on, son," he calls cheerfully with a husky voice, "it's strange to see you thinking so much at the table, aren’t you gonna finish your food?."

Kaim puts his fork down on the table and gets up from his seat.

"Sorry, It seems I don’t have much of an appetite after all." With his head down and still thoughtful, he takes his dish back to the kitchen before going back to his room.

Her mother, Maya, observes his back with a worried expression.“He barely touched his food today.”

"It's been a while since the last time he was this lost in though" Kiara comments, somewhat surprised.

“Maybe he's thinking about girls?” Her mother responds, her eyes suddenly sparkling.

“Mom, you always think it's about girls,” She points her fork on her mother direction, getting a glare from her father..

“What have I told you about pointing cutlery at people?” He scowls, but instantly sights and his expression relaxes. “I trust you know what to do with him.”

“Yes yes. As always it’s my turn to cheer him up”

Kiara step up, dragging the chair along the floor with a creaking sound.

“That is what sisters are for after all” Adds Maya, wearing her smile again while observing her daughter.

On his bedroom, Kaim lies on the bed, looking at the ceiling, once more immersed in thoughts

“To find yourself? What is that supposed to mean?” He murmurs to himself.

Kaim raise an eyebrow, then, grabs his pillow and throw it at the door of his room. “I know you are there Kiara, stop hiding”

The door bursts open and she walks in grabbing the pillow with an angry expression.

"How do you always know when I'm behind the door?" She raise her voice, throwing the pillow back at him.

The pillow lands on Kaim’s face, forcing a grunt out of his mouth.

"You're too predictable," he responds, calmly placing the pillow back in its place. “Well, what do you want?”

Kaim turns his head to her as Kiara walks in and sits on the bed, right next to her brother

“I'm just worried about you, It’s not usual to see you so deep in though” Kiara cast her gaze down, her feet dangling off the sides of the bed, causing her skirt to sway around.

"I'm sorry, I… I just have many things on my head" He answers, looking at the ceiling once again.

Kiara turns to him, leaning as to get in front of his vision, her face in front of his brother’s

“Then tell me, what is that thing that’s on your mind today? Did something happen?” She asks with a big smile

Kaim sights loudly, defeated by his nosy sister, knowing full well that she wouldn’t stop pestering him about it until he tells her what’s on his mind. Kaim push her face aside, causing a Woah sound to come out of her mouth. After straightening himself by sitting next to her, he start speaking:

“Remember that recurring dream I used to have? The one I told you about some time ago” his eyes look sideways to the person next to him, his gaze meeting his sister’s.

“The one with the luminous girl?”

Kaim nods, looking away and crossing his arms in front of himself

“What happened, are you having it again?”

“Yes, well no. I mean, I had it again but it wasn't the same” He tries to explain, his face wrinkling, trying to find a good way to explain. ”Let's see, there was that bright girl but she said something different than usual, something like that my adventure would begin soon and that I would find myself. I admit I'm a little weird, but that seemed like a crappy children's adventure movie introduction.”

“So you seriously think that you can be the protagonist of something like that? Maybe you will be the prince of a forgotten kingdom” She responds mockingly, unsuccessfully trying to contain a small laugh.

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“Of course not! But it sounded so convincing I am starting to believe I’m going crazy.”

“Yeah, that is probably it” She answers while laughing, no longer able to contain it.

"There's nothing like trust between brothers."

Both of them laugh for a few seconds at their remarks.

“But do you really think I can believe something like that? An adventure? Come on, the most exciting thing that happens in this town is finding a coin on the way to the super.”

"Eh?, but that is usually what happens when I go to the super"

Kiara expression distorts in disgust.

“I forgot how disgustingly lucky you are for a second”

Kiara jumps out of bed in an unnecessarily gymnastic way, her clothes fluttering in the air as she lands into a perfect I pose.

“Hey do you mind coming with me to Emily’s house, I need to borrow her homework again” She ask while turning to him with her arms on her back, leaning slightly forward. “I will treat you to something on the way, you barely ate anything”

“I saw your panties”

Kiara face turns slightly red as she hold her skirt down, taken aback by the sudden remark. “M...Moron!, that’s not something you should say to your sister”

Kaim stands up and grabs Kiara by her shoulders, pushing her weakly resisting sister out of his room.

“Wait, tell me, are you coming with me or not?” she asks from the other side of the doorway.

“Just let me prepare first, I’ll get out of this uniform. And you should do the same, it’s still chilly outside”

After slamming the door shut and making sure Kiara is not behind again, Kaim breathes a heaving sight, his shoulders dropping like a heavy weight was lifted off them.

“I can’t believe I was so worked up about such a stupid thing. It’s just a dream, for god’s sake” He smiles at himself before taking off his uniform.

Kaim looks at himself in the full body mirror on his room , his body is well built due to the exercise that comes with being part of the team that helps with the local festivities.

“I guess all that sword fighting does pay off, I don’t know why they teach us so seriously though”

While looking at himself, a strange gleam behind him picks up his attention, but upon looking back nothing was really there. Convinced it was a speck of dust, Kaim stretches his arm to clean it.

The instant Kaim’s hand touches the mirror surface the image reflected on it distorts, a prism of color undulate on the surface like a living being. His hand goes through the mirror surface.

“What the...!” He screams in a panic.

But before he can muster another word, an unnatural force pushes him in, his body completely disappearing inside the mirror. And his world turns utterly black.

Kaim start hearing someone talking next to him. With his head still in a fuzz, he is unable to discern what they are saying.

After a few seconds, his mind jolts awake and Kaim stands up, finally aware that he has been lying for an unknown amount of time.

“What the hell was th...” After opening his eyes, his mouth opens wide, unable to comprehend what has happened.

Standing on a rock over a small hill, Kaim is surrounded by a grassy plain. Green extends in every direction, a warm breeze blows, making the blades of grass to dance its tune. Looking around, a very surprised girl stands next to him, with an expression even more surprised than himself.

“I... did not think it would actually work,” she mumbles to herself in disbelief. Suddenly, her face turns pale, and a cold sweat start forming on her forehead.“

W...What I do? I acted on an impulse. If they find out I practiced forbidden magic they'll lock me up, or worse.” She continues her monologue, growing increasingly worried.

"Oh I see, I must be delirious and on my deathbed." Kaim lies down again and closes his eyes. “I guess it will pass if I try to sleep”.

The girl comes back to reality making an audible Ah sound.

"No wait, don't fall asleep, you're not dying." He pulls on him, lifting him up again.” I summoned you here using a spell I found in a book

“Summoned…” he mutters as she enthusiastically nods. “A spell…” Kaim adds, the girl frantically nodding again at his words.

Kaim mouth opens little by little as his expression turns weirder by the second.

“Do not look at me that way, it is the truth” She flails her arms around, her oversized sleeves following back. “I am a white mage, I found a book on summoning and I wanted to try it!”

“How do you expect me to believe that?” Kaim rubs the back of his head, conflicted.

“I did not expect it to work either, but how else would you explain why you are here now?”

Kaim looks away from her “Well... being dead”

“No!” She exclaims hastily, stomping the ground with her feet. “I brought you here, see? In this book it is explained how” She takes a book out of who knows from inside her clothes and opens it on Kaim’s face, the inside showing a plethora of doodles and cryptic messages.

Kaim looks at it for a long moment.

“I have no idea what this is about”

She puff out her cheeks as Kaim looks at her with confusion. Taking a good look at her, she looked young, a couple heads shorter than him, wearing an oversized white tunic that covered her from head to toe, with red highlights on the sleeves and hood, as well as the skirt, Her hood obscured her forehead but let her pink symmetrical bangs peek out from under it. Her hair could not be very long, at the very least, not much longer than Kaim’s, which made him think that maybe it was about time to cut it. Her amber eyes looking intently at him. A bit embarrassed, Kaim looks away from her into the endless green.

“Forget about it, where am I suppose to be anyway”

The girl steps back and opens her arms wide. “This is the kingdom of Arnor, on the westernmost side of Safron’s super-continent!”

The silence grow heavier between the two of them, the girl enthusiasm being squashed by Kaim’s increasingly confused face.

“A...Anyway, we should be going, I can explain you on the way back to the city” She grabs him by the arm, pulling him up from the rock he was sitting at.

As Kaim stands up, the girl points a finger right at his face, the other hand resting on her hip.

“I will be in trouble if you tell someone that I practiced summoning magic on a human, so you better keep it a secret! Now let’s get going”

Kaim looks down at her serious expression and nods, taken aback by her sudden commanding tone.

“I wouldn’t move a muscle if I were you”

A guttural voice calls out to them from their side. Looking where the voice came from, a creature of small stature and greenish skin grins at them. The creature, with a small hump, long and pointy nose and ears, and arms slightly longer than a normal human reaching a bit past his knees, it’s smile as wide as to almost reach its ears, looks intently at them.

“Goblins!?” exclaims the little mage while looking around.

Surrounding them, numerous creatures of similar complexion stands ready. Most of them are armed with bow and arrows, while others have crude swords made of metal or bone. All of them stand ready to jump at both.

To be continue...