The next morning, Mor woke up and started the day with his usual morning exercises, but somehow his heart was not in it anymore.

°What´s up? You seem out of it.° The human asked, and Mor interrupted the exercise and sat down on the floor.

°I was thinking...° Mor started

°Allways a dangerous thing.° The human jokingly interrupted.

°What´s even the point with the body training anymore? We can´t get more magic, so why should I even try to get stronger?° Mor complained with a depressive sigh.

°Don´t make me hit you!° The human growled °Remember you did your stupid ritual to get stronger, and you might not wanted to end up with me, but me is who you got. Trust me, for now, we can get stronger by training our body, you don´t need to use Magic for every little thing.°

°I wanted to get stronger in what matters, and that´s Magic! Without magic you are nothing! But by summoning you it isn´t possible, because you didn´t help me with my magic deficits! Because you don´t have any magic, you are useless! I only went with what you said, because you told me I would get more magic!° Mor shouted

°Yeah, Asshat?! Wanna see, how far you can go without my help? Mister "I wAnteD To GeT StrOngEr In WHaT MatTerS"! Have it fucking your way then.° The human shouted back and then went silent.

°I´m frustrated, because everything we did trying to get me more magic, didn´t help!° Mor said and was greeted with silence.

°You want to stay silent, great, and to use some of your fancy human words. Fuck you!° Mor cursed, but still, no answer would come forward.

Mor left his room, smashing his door closed in anger, and stomping to the mess hall for breakfast.

"Mor! Good morning!" An energetic voice greeted him, and he turned around to see Clare running after him, with a bright smile, that turned into a frown, as she recognized the sour look on his face. "What is going on? Are you angry?" She asked concerned.

"No. It´s nothing." Mor answered, and Clare´s frown deepened at his tone.

"How about we get breakfast and you tell me what´s wrong? You can trust me." she gave him another warm smile and grabbed his hand, pulling him along.

Mor followed grumbling, but somehow his mind went to how weak Clare's pull was, he could easily resist if he wanted to, are all Soul-kin that physically weak? After both of them got something to eat, they sat down at a table, and at first, ate in silence. Clare not wanting to pressure Mor and Mor not knowing if and how he wants to describe his grievances. Finally, he let out a deep sigh.

"I want to get more magic, and a friend told me he could help me with that, but he lied to me." Mor started and Clare nodded encouraging him to go on. "I just don´t want to be that weak anymore... after what Ranbor did to me, I want to be able to stand up to him and show him, that he can never shove me around again. At first, I thought I just could win the half-term tournament and show him that way, but then Orth just beat me without giving anything close to his all, while I had to go all out just to scratch him." Mor complained and Clare gripped both of his hands, feeling how cold they were.

"I think you are strong, you got far in that tournament, and nobody who matters thinks, you are a pushover anymore. Yes, you might not have as much energy as those high nobles, but you have something more important. You can inspire people to try new things, and you got new ideas on how to use spells, that no one gave a second glance for hundreds of years. So you are smart, creative, and have a strong body, now it should just be a matter of how to use it. Also, you will get more magic, as you grow and if you find someone who wants to share your future you can share your power." She told him, slightly blushing.

"I think you are right, maybe everything is not as hopeless as I made it out to be. I was just frustrated, because there a so many stronger than me, who can do anything without needing to try half as hard as I." Mor said.

"Yes, life is not always fair, but I think your hard-working self is very charming. Your "friend" probably thought so too and just wanted to support you." Clare said, and Mor nodded after taking a deep breath.

"You know, it is very hard to stay depressed if you smile at me like that and come up with all those reasons," Mor said and Clare's smile grew even wider.

"I take that as a compliment, and am happy to help." She told him.

"Really thank you. I was going to a dark place, but hearing it from someone else was very helpful." Mor said.

"No problem, still we should get going, or we will be late for the lessons," Clare said as she stood up and leaving with Mor to get to their lessons.

°I´m over it, can we go on with our training?° Mor asked his partner and still got no answer. This went on the whole day, no matter how often Mor tried to talk to the human or apologize, the human stayed stubbornly silent.

After the lessons, Mor went on a walk, getting some fresh air, when a feminine voice called out to him. "Hey, Mor!"

He turned around and saw Zaletha waving to him, Mor instantly got cautious about her familiar behavior. "Angelith, what do you want?" He asked her.

"Why so cold? I just wanted to say hello..." she told him pouting. Mor raised an eyebrow at that exclamation, not at all believing her.

"You don´t need to be so guarded, I don´t want to do anything to you. I´m not with Ranbor anymore, he is truly an idiot." Zaletha said to him.

"Good for you, but I need to go," Mor said, turning around.

"Don´t just let me stand here." She shouted after him, and Mor sighed as he turned back around.

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"What?! I´m busy, and don´t have any nerve to deal with you." Mor told her, getting annoyed with her.

Zaletha instantly recognized, his annoyance and channeled all her illusive magic power to get a foothold on his mind, with that feeling, and after trying and trying again, always failing because of some reason and Mor never even seeming to notice her tries. Never until right now, she felt her magic grasping around Mor´s mind, true enough annoyance is not the best entry for illusion magic, but it is something, she just needs to put in more power to get a full grasp on his mind.

Mor´s body froze up, as she sauntered closer to her, his body no longer obeying his commands, his mind fighting against the intrusive magic, and failing. Zaletha gave him the most evil smile, such a beautifull face was capable of.

"Finally, I got you." She purred. "Because of you, I lost my place next to my Lord. Because you somehow resisted any of my attempts to give you nightmares. But now I got you."

Mor tried to speak, but his mouth would not obey him, and Zaletha chuckled at his resistance.

"Too late, I only allow you to keep your senses for now to tell you all of this, but soon you will fall into a never-ending nightmare. And if you think, I would get into trouble with it, because you are Miss Amethynes little pet, don´t bother, she left the school yesterday, to go somewhere far off." Zaletha said, gently caressing his cheeks and raising on her toes, to give him a smooch on his forehead.

"Now my little stupid commoner, have a good time in the terror of your own imagination." She said, sauntering away, leaving him with dwindling senses, as his mind was forced to live through a magically created nightmare.

Mor woke up, gasping a thick forest around him. "Fuck she got me!" He called out, "Why didn´t you help me!" Mor shouted into the darkness, getting no answer, instead hearing something growl at the limit of his hearing. He broke out in cold sweat, turning around, to try to locate the source of the sound. Suddenly a pair of yellow glowing eyes pierced the darkness of the never-ending forest, the growling getting stronger, followed by earth-shaking steps. Mor felt his fear, numbing his mind and a dampness filling his pants, on the edge of his vision he could have made out a bipedal shape, shaking its head in disappointment, if the monstrosity coming closer wouldn´t completely demand Mor´s attention.

Mor turned around stumbling deeper into the forest, his legs somehow weaker as he could remember, he couldn´t run as fast as his body should be able to, constantly stumbling, but always hearing the breath of the monster close behind him, he ran further and further into the forest soon losing every sense of direction, as everything was just an ever repeating darkness and trees, the only thing on his mind was his instinctive fear, of what was hunting him. To face a monstrosity alone always means death, every child knows that. His fear paralyzed his mind, no longer recognized it as an illusion. The bipedal shape, slowly walked along covering the same distance as Mor, while he was running with all the speed his fear gave him, staying silent and watching.

After another big stumble, Mor fell to the ground, getting a face full of something awful smelling, as he scrambled to get up and run away again, something heavy pressed on his back, claws digging into his skin, a deep growl and stinking breath coating his neck. It had him, he thought with complete panic, tears flowing freely in terror.

°I´m sorry, please help me! I was an Idiot.° Mor called out to his friend, still getting the silent treatment. A grave calm flowed through his body, as he heard his bones breaking, the claws drawing blood, he was finished. °Thank, you for sticking with an Idiot like me, all this time. I now get it you only wanted to help me fulfill my dreams, the best way you could.° He said, in an ever-weakening voice.

The bipedal shape appeared right before him, still, he couldn´t make out specifics, it crouched down before him, giving him a flick on his forehead. °Finally, I didn´t want any apology. I´m your friend, but you should be at least a bit thankful for my help. So how about we get out of this illusion, and kick that bitches ass?° The human finally answered.

Mor now breaking out in tears again, this time through tears of relief.

His strength began to return, as the human stood up, grasping the giant nightmare monstrosity on the snout. °You are not welcome her, fuck off.° They said, and with a whimper of the monstrosity, the nightmare was erased. °No, one fucks with my mind.° The human said, as slowly Mor was returned out of this dream world back to reality. He woke up lying on the ground, with soiled pants, breathing hard, his heart almost exploding in his chest, and completely exhausted.

°You almost died, of shock.° The human explained.

°Yes, you could have helped earlier. But I guess I hurt you.° Mor said.

°Yeah, I needed to teach you a lesson, to take me not for granted, I´m not your servant, I´m your friend. I wouldn´t have let you die, but this was your punishment.° The human said in a stern voice.

°I understand, thank you for sticking with me. Sorry for taking you for granted, are we good again?° Mor asked.

°Of course, and now let´s get revenge. How about taking Orth on his offer? Zaletha DID try to kill us.° The human said, and Mor nodded, a new kind of confidence filling his soul, letting him smile.

°Maybe just get new pants, you stink!° The human added in a nasely voice.