ZEPH’S P.O.V

As I headed back into the carriage to command the hoodles, I pondered over my talk with my nephew. He was an odd boy, seeming smarter than he let on. The way he carried himself and used his head was...unnatural for a person of his age. Someone without my skill set, though, would probably just brush it off, thinking he was just some genius, but I felt it was more than that, much more. When I met the boy in the woods Vael told me she could sense another presence in him. A familiar.

‘From what I gathered while you were talking with the boy, his companion is the same rank as me, or higher. I couldn't figure out what species though.’ Vael’s voice rang in my mind.

Although I wanted to help my nephew with his spells, I also wanted Vael to see what kind of beast my nephew was bonded with, and how strong the beast was. ‘Stronger or as strong as you? So his familiar is a mythical beast?’

‘Yes, most likely.’

‘You think it could be a dragon or phoenix?’ I asked, trying to get more information out of my familiar.

‘I don't think it's a dragon, because I sensed more than one element coming from the beast. But a phoenix might be right, I'm not 100% sure, though.’ Vael let out a tired sigh, which always meant she was going back to sleep.

‘Well, thank you anyways, Vael, sweet dreams.’

She let out a light chuckle, ‘My dreams are always of my treasure.’

I soon felt my familiar’s consciousness smooth out in my mind, which meant she was already asleep.

I passed the area where my sister and niece were doing some sleeping of their own. I tried to make minimal noise as I walked to the front where Melvin was.

I opened the curtain and Melvin was watching the road eye fully, not even turning back to see who was there. “So, what do you think? And did he like his gift?”

“Yeah, he did.” I responded, answering Melvin's second question. “What do I think? Well, he seems a little...advanced for his age.”

Melvin let out a laugh, “If you think he’s advanced now, just wait until you start training him.” His gaze on the road turned thoughtful, “Although I restricted my strength when I was training him, he zoomed through the ranks of my earth golems in a mere month, and I could tell he wasn’t giving his all.”

I believed every word Melvin spoke, having already sparred with the little monster myself.

“Oh, I believe you.” I responded simply. But I felt something was weighing on my brother-in-law’s mind, so I asked, “Melvin, are you sure you’re okay with this?”

Melvin finally turned his eyes away from the road and towards me, “Of what? Of you training my son?,”—he didn’t give me a chance to answer, his eyes turning undoubtful—“Yes, I’m sure. Other than me, you're the only person fit for the job.”

“I see. And does Faliya feel the same?”

“Of course.” He said, genuinely.

I gave a slight smile, thankful for his and my sisters' trust in me to train their son. “I’ll train him well.” I said, giving Melvin a light nudge to the arm, “And after my training, he might be able to take you down.”

He accepted my words, saying, “I wouldn't be surprised.”

Like this, the ride went on. Melvin and I continued talking and catching up, making some pit stops to give the hoodles a rest.

The road trip days flew by and my nephew was making intriguing progress. In only six days he was already able to form the base of the Dark Negate spell.

My niece, on the other hand, had reached the mid-red stage. But unlike regular mages who got better at utilizing mana when they broke through, Myla seemed to be at a bottleneck. Her spells would now fling off course and her blade enhancement was unstable.

It wasn't until I bought her a wand to help control her magic at one of the small outposts we passed by, that we all noticed. My sister seemed to think since she herself was a martial mage both her children would be too. Although this was the case for Falyn, it was not for Myla. Like Melvin, Myla was a caster.

Myla seemed to be practicing her regular water ball spell right now. She had her wand up, aiming towards the makeshift target she had carved into one of the trees.

A water ball condensed at the tip of her wand and she fired, but the water ball curved, making her miss the target marked tree completely.

She let out a frustrated huff, “Dang-it! Why can’t I do it? It used to be so easy.” She turned to Falyn--who was doing some training of his own--and her frustration only grew more evident seeing him almost master a spell he got not too long ago.

I was leaning against the carriage, enjoying some salted fish when I heard another frustrated huff coming from my niece.

‘Go help the child, Zeph.’ Vael said, a hint of empathy in her voice.

‘It's better if she grasps it on her own.’ I said, ‘And I'm no caster, I'll only make her second guess herself.’

She let out a scoff, ‘Did you forget I can hear your thoughts and feel your emotions? The only reason you won't go help the girl right now is because you're too worried about your fish getting cold.’

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‘You’re so needy.’

She let out a chuckle, ‘No. I think the word you're looking for is ‘right’.’

I let out a sigh and threw the rest of my fish at the hoodles, and made my way over to my niece.

Another water ball whizzed by missing the tree completely.

“Your frustration will only hinder you, Myla.” I said.

She must have not expected me to say something, because she turned to me, slightly startled. “What do you mean, Uncle?”

“You're frustrated, aren't you?”

“Yes, but it’s hard not to be.” She said, turning her glance to the target and back to me.

“Well up ‘till now you’ve been training like a martial mage in close combat, something most casters don’t do at your age. So what do you think will happen if you put aside your frustration and keep practicing?”

It took her a second, but her face seemed to light up at the realization, “I’ll have an edge over the kids at the entrance exams!”

I ruffled her hair, “Exactly. The exam is in the fall so you have a couple of months to practice. I’m sure you can get it by then.”

She looked at the target once more, with a determination and confidence I hadn’t seen on her face before. A spitting image of my sister.

I let her continue training on her own, unable to do anything else for her.

‘See, that wasn’t so hard, now was it?’ Vael said, teasing.

‘Oh, just shut up.’ I shot back.

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FALYN ELWAY’S P.O.V

I was in the back of the carriage channeling mana into my palm. A small back swirl appeared, stabilizing for a minute before dissipating.

‘You almost got it!’ Rye said excitedly.

‘Yeah, but only on my palm. Zeph somehow conjured it anywhere on his body.’

His excitement seemed to settle down at my words, ‘It’s still progress, though.’

‘True.’ I said as I tried conjuring it again. It stayed stabilized for a couple of seconds longer before disappearing.

I let out a sigh, feeling slightly tired and decided to take a small break. Even though my mana capacity and output had grown over the weeklong trip, allowing me to practice much longer. Continuously conjuring a spell that's only supposed to be used for a couple of seconds in battle was taxing.

I leaned back using my grimoire as a pillow. As I watched the clouds I let the light wind breeze provide comfort.

My parents had told me we should reach Ara city in a couple of hours. Although I was excited about visiting my first major city. My mind kept wandering back to my magic.

‘I’m sure you’ll get it in no time.’ Said Rye.

‘Thank you for your optimism, Rye, but don’t you have other problems to worry about?’ I asked.

When I asked Rye how Zeph knew about him, he didn’t seem to know either. Rye just shrugged it off like no big deal, saying, ‘People were bound to find out sooner or later.’

I, on the other hand, wasn't so nonchalant. If anyone as strong as Zeph could just sense him, then it would be hard for me to keep him safe from people stronger than me. I knew Zeph wouldn’t try anything, of course, but other people…

Rye must have felt my worry and said, ‘Don’t worry, if anyone tries anything we can just beat them up. Just hurry up and master those new spells.’

I let out a light laugh, ‘Yeah, yeah. And if they do try to take you, I’ll just let them have you, or maybe they might give me a nice price.’

‘Y-You wouldn’t.’ He said, almost scared.

‘No need to be scared, I was only playing.’ I said, feeling somewhat guilty.

Rye feelings of scaredness settled at my words. Even though I was just playing around, his unreasonable trust in me was almost laughable.

What if I wasn’t the person he thought I was? What would he do?

My questions seemed to go unanswered as I watched the clouds. At some point, I must have fallen asleep because I woke up to Rye ringing my name in my brain like an alarm clock. ‘Fal! Look! We're Here!’

I shot up at his screams, startled, ‘I’m up. I’m up. Just, please, stop screaming.’

Finally, my eyes adjusted and I could see the city.

I stared at the sight in awe.

Many people lined the sidewalk, along with antique shops, elixir shops, armory stores, hot food stands, and many other similar places. The people’s voices were loud and hard to make out individual conversations like they were all fighting for supremacy.

Our carriage continued on the brick road along with many others. There were regular carriages and fancy ones—like ours—with guards trailing by their sides for protection.

It wasn’t hard to make out the adventures in the crowd. They all brandished their weapons on their hip or backs like a shiny trophy.

I could even make out some gnomes, elves, and dwarves in the crowd. Although I didn’t know all the details of the other four races, I could sort of tell which was which.

The elves were like humans aside from the pointy ears, dwarves were short and brawny, gnomes were short like dwarves but petite, and demies were fit with beastly features.

I didn’t see many demies in the crowd. I had read that they were somewhat detached from society, liking to separate themselves.

Our ride continued on the somewhat smooth brick road and I began to grow tired of all the noise outside and decided to go in the carriage.

‘I wasn’t done looking, you know.” Rye pouted.

‘Sorry bud, we’ll see more later.’

I went and sat down by Myla who was looking out the window. I didn’t see my parents and assumed they were upfront.

“A lot of people, huh, Fal?” Myla’s asked, not looking away from the window.

“Yeah, I'm not sure I’m going to be able to get used to it.”

“I’m sure you will in no time.” She turned her gaze from the window and towards me, “For some reason, I don’t seem fazed by all of it. I feel excited.”

“I can tell,” I smiled.

“Are you not?!” She asked.

“Well, I am, sort of.”

“You're always so nonchalant it’s annoying.” She put a finger on her head like she was picking her brain, “Are you scared of Uncle's training?”

I let out a laugh, “Scared? Never.”

“I thought so,” she chuckled. “We should be at the teleport station soon. After we depart from mother and father we’ll be in the capital, I heard it only takes a minute to get there while using the warp gate. If being in the capital doesn’t light up your mood, then I don’t know what will.”

I shrugged, “Yeah, yeah.”