Chapter 2 - The Professor
The Person’s POV
I had been sent through the monster swarm with a group, but I was the only one to make it through alive. I need to find out where they are coming from. It is strangely peaceful out here. I don’t understand why they are all rushing our fort with all this space, but they are monsters, how could we expect to understand their thought process. I wander at a brisk pace in the direction we believed the swarm originates in. I step out into a small clearing near a lake when I see movement in the corner of my eye. A young boy, who couldn’t be more than 12 or 13, steps out from behind a tree. I jump backwards and exclaim in surprise. He is just staring at me.
He starts to say something, but cuts himself off. “Hello? Why are you out here?” I say to him slowly. “I don’t know.” He says, in a croaky voice. “How do you not know how you got here?” I ask. “I don’t know.” He says again. I look at him, and try to understand. “How long have you been out here?” I ask him. “I don’t know. I was 8 but I don’t know.” He says. Maybe he can’t speak very well. Does that mean he has been living out here since he was just 8 years old? “You don’t know how old you are?” I ask him. He shakes his head. “Do you know your name?” He nods. “Ari.” He says. I smile at him, and try to make him feel comfortable. He’s just a kid after all. “I’m Riyan Aradall, a professor at a Mage Academy. Do you know what that is?” He looks at me with an expressionless face. “Riyan?” He says, slowly. I nod. “That's my name.” I think over what I should do. Should I fight my way back through the horde, with a kid, and without completing the objective? I have to, right? This poor kid should get to leave this place as soon as possible.
As I think it over, a large creature runs into the clearing. I turn immediately and motion for the kid to get behind me, as I pull my knives and get ready to fight. The kid just looks at the monster and conjures a fireball in his palm, flicking it at it, and pulling his own knives from his waist. I stare at him in shock. This kid has supposedly been here since he was eight, but he can do that? I quickly shake my head to bring my focus back. The monster. The kid is fighting it by himself. I jump into the action, stabbing a knife into its eye, and pushing my magic at it. A slither of green magic jumps from my palm and into the bleeding wound. After a few moments, it starts to lose some mobility and I go to stab it again, but the kid jumps in and sets it on fire, then stabs it with both his knives. The creature stops moving a few seconds later. The kid just grabs the knives and turns back towards me, his expression still unreadable. “Are you okay?” I ask him. He just nods back.
My mind returns back to my thoughts before the monster attacked. I should take him back. This is not the place for a child to grow up. I meet his eyes. “Ari, I can help you to leave this forest. Do you want that?” I ask. His eyes grow wide for just a second, before he returns to his usual deadpan expression. “Yes.” He says. “Alright, is there anything you need to do before we go?” I ask. He shakes his head.
As we set off, I start to wonder what I should do with him once we get back to the fort. My mind drifts to Taika Academy, where I teach. This kid is a pretty talented mage to be able to teach himself. And obviously a good fighter as well to survive out here for this long. Maybe he could go there. I could keep an eye on him also. After walking in silence for a bit longer, I propose the idea to him. “Ari, how would you feel about joining the Academy I work at after we get you out of here? You would get to be like a normal kid your age and it would play well to your strengths.”
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Ari’s POV
“Ari, how would you feel about joining the Academy I work at after we get you out of here? You would get to be like a normal kid your age and it would play well to your strengths.”
I stare straight ahead, still shocked from being told I can get out of here, but now he is offering to send me to the school he teaches at. Can I even trust this person? What if he is trying to take me somewhere to kill me? All these thoughts run through my head, but one is louder than the rest. ‘Be like a normal kid.’ The one thing I have never been able to do, he is offering to me right now. I slowly turn to him and nod. “Yes.” I say. I’m still not sure of many words. I mostly understand what he is saying, but using the words myself is a struggle. He looks almost relieved.
After walking for a while, I start to hear loud sounds all around me. So many creatures. I spin around and look towards the person. Riyan. He looks back. “It’s okay, we have many people fighting them. All we have to do is run through and they will let us over to the other side.” I nod, but pull my knives and ready myself to defend. He does the same, and then calls out “GO!” and begins to run straight towards a large line of people. I follow, sending fireballs and lightning towards any creatures that come too close. It takes a long time, but we finally break through and into the line of people. Riyan waves me over to him. “Come on,” He says, “let's go and find somewhere to relax.”
I follow him into a large building. There are people just wandering about. So many people. I resist the urge to hide in a dark corner and quickly follow him into a small room. He shuts the door and I quickly take in my surroundings. There is a weird soft looking thing and a rug on the floor. I point at the thing and ask “What?” He looks at me weirdly. “The sofa?” He says. “You sit on it, it’s supposed to be comfortable.” I look at it. Isn’t that what the rug on the floor is for? I shrug. I’ve been in the forest for so long, maybe things have changed. Or maybe this guy is just rich. I definitely wasn’t. He walks over and sits on it, motioning for me to join him. I do, but it feels weird, and I end up sitting on the floor.
He looks at me strangely but then starts to speak. “Ari, at the Academy, the schoolwork should be pretty simple for you, but the point is that you can relax and be a normal kid for a while, so try and make some friends okay?” I nod, so he continues. “Good. The school year starts in a few days, so we will need to go to the capital for some supplies first, and then we will head to the school a little early.” I nod again. He lists some of the things we will buy, before telling me to get some rest in here before we leave. I lie down on the rug, but I can’t fall asleep knowing that all these people are just outside the door.
When Riyan comes back a little while later, I jump up, ready to go. “Alright, let's go. I assumed you wouldn’t know how to ride a horse, so I managed to get us a carriage.” He says. I don’t know what that is, but he was right about the horse. That’s what the rich people rode whenever they came near us. The carriage is weird, and it feels too rich for me to be in. It is a small wooden box with an open top and is pulled along by a horse. Riyan sits next to me and controls the horse.
After hours of travel, we finally reach the city. ‘Kaupun.’ Riyan says it is called. It is massive. I stare up at the wall in front of me. Lines and lines of people streaming in and out of the gate. I shrink back, trying to hide myself in the shadows. Riyan looks over and notices that something is wrong. “Ari, are you okay?” He asks me. I give a little shake of my head and point at the line. “Too many people.” I say quietly. He seems to understand almost instantly, but there’s nothing he can do. We finally make it to the front of the line, and Riyan shows the guard something which lets us through the gate, and into the city. He guides us through some small streets which gets us away from the main crowd of people. I manage to relax slightly. He takes me into a bunch of buildings which he calls shops, and buys things for me that each cost more money than I had ever even seen in my entire life.