Aaron and William sat facing each other in silence for a moment.

"What?", was William's only statement in the silence.

"To this day I don't know it escalated like that."

"What did you... what happened?"

Aaron sighed loudly for the first time before he began to remove his coat completely, tossing it aside.

"I don't even know where this whole thing started. High-Magician Rangar Castero was only supposed to test Caleb on the basic skills of a mage. So things like the 4 elements, mana control, standard formulas, things like that. While it is a requirement that a High-Magician also possess the Igrikum, this itself was actually irrelevant for the test. Caleb was able to meet all the requirements without any problems, the whole test took less than half an hour, and then Sir Castero asked him if he would duel him."

Aaron just shook his head as if remembering unpleasant things.

"Rangar has always been a little... wild. He likes to go with head first through a wall without giving much thought to his actions. He's always happy to find a new opponent to duel with", the High-Magician explained, and the statement immediately made William think of Ben's father. Duke Loys of Freigoud. Even though his father was the king's right-hand man, he had never neglected his swordsmanship and had literally created a community of swordmasters who met and trained with each other almost daily. Whenever a new face joined this group, Duke of Freigoud had nothing else on his mind.

"I see", William replied casually, with Aaron continuing.

"At that day, only the council members were present. So in addition to the Eldest himself, my colleagues Grischa Vonstetten, Rangar Castero, Sefra Risztus, and myself. We had, of course, immediately called Rangar back and asked him what exactly he was hoping to accomplish, but then Caleb only said that he agreed to the duel. We all froze, Grischa started laughing, and Rangar's reaction... I can't even put it in words."

Again, Aaron paused for a moment.

"I should mention that we were in a large area behind the Magistrat's building, where we usually have students test their skills. The place is definitely not made for two High-Magicians to duel there, but we all completely ignored that fact at the time. The Elder let them do it, even though Sefra and I made it really clear that we didn't think the whole thing was a good idea. Caleb asked Rangar if it would be allowed to use anything, which Rangar was more than in favor of."

William had to laugh at the statement as well.

"Sounds a lot like Cale, yes. I can imagine where that got us."

"Have you guys ever seen Cale fight with full force?"

"Cale had dueled with us many times, but never really used mana. Only against a soldier from Sylve who was a swordmaster he actually show a little bit more of his strength. I doubt that was Cale's true strength, though."

"It was similar with Rangar and him back then. You undoubtedly couldn't underestimate Caleb, his reaction time and counterattacks were frighteningly well-thought-out. That was among the only times I've ever seen Rangar in such trouble, and I've seen Rangar fight many times. During the fight, however, we also noticed something else."

"And what was that?"

"Caleb had maintained a barrier between the Magistrat's walls and himself the entire time. I hadn't been aware of this until Rangar's attacks had hurled boulders in our direction, which had crashed into Caleb's barrier. Grischa had already wanted to intervene and protect the building with his ice, but that had turned out to be an unnecessary effort."

"That's just the way he is. The first thing he had taught us was to keep an eye on the surroundings. He must have known the space was too tight to really use his skills", William explained with a grin on his face, while Aaron nodded in understanding. "So, who won?"

"No one. Rangar had consumed an excessive amount of mana and was completely done for until Caleb eventually finished the whole thing and gave up on his own."

"Didn't High-Magician Castero win then?"

"You can't really consider that a victory. It was pretty obvious that Caleb had given in so as not to expose Rangar", the High-Magician explained. "Rangar got pretty angry after that, too. He had accused Caleb of never seeing him as a serious opponent, and when Cale confirmed it, it only got worse. The Eldest had to intervene to keep Rangar from going after Caleb."

"I didn't expect Cale to deliberately provoke a High-Magician. Normally, he prefers to keep a low profile and avoid arguing with people."

"He usually does, too, except on this one day. Maybe he wanted to prove something to us, maybe Rangar's words had hit a sore spot... I don't know", Aaron replied. "The main reason, however, why I said no one had won was Grischa's subsequent question. He wanted to know from Caleb what he would be able of if he used his Igrikum properly."

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"Would use his Igrikum properly?", William repeated in amazement. "Has he given it to you an answer?"

"Yes. And it is truly frightening. You'd think a mage who specializes in protection wouldn't have too many attacks, but he has two... two very deadly attacks."

Astonished, William looked at the High-Magician. He had no idea what he was talking about.

"Caleb explained that he could change the size of the barriers at will and place them anywhere he wanted. Even in the bodies of others. I didn't know exactly how he meant that at first, until he asked Grischa to give him a block of ice. Leaving aside how he even knew Grischa's Igrikum, he pulverized that thing in a second. He made a barrier appear inside that block of ice and abruptly enlarged it. Caleb can literally burst people with his barriers", Aaron clarified, shuddering for a brief moment at the statement. "I don't know, but all of a sudden I got really scared of Caleb. He more or less told us that he could kill anything and anyone in seconds, yet remained calm. Admitted, it wasn't even his ability per se, but rather how he acted. He was not at all interested in how we reacted. He remained completely unimpressed, and to this day I wonder if he's killed people with that ability."

"And the... second method?", William raised nervously, completely irritated by the statement.

"His second method was in the other direction. He could crush people to death with his barrier if he wanted to."

Silence enveloped the two, the High-Magician looked at the fire and narrowed his eyes as William gazed at the invisible Igrikum in his arm. He couldn't feel it, but he knew the connection was there. But why had Cale never told him that his barriers were applicable of such a thing? Basically, he was invincible with his Igrikum if he did it right. No wonder Exarion had survived the attack. Cale must have helped them a lot more than they had previously realized.

"Are you still afraid of Cale?", William asked after a few moments of silence.

"No, not like I was then, but I still have a lot of respect for him. Rangar would have lost the fight for sure if Caleb had wanted him to, lucky for him Caleb is a very reasonable man and hard to bring to anger. I never saw him actually use these barriers against humans or creatures, but Sefra was alone with him for some time in the creature plains and there he was said to have used them quite often", Aaron explained matter-of-factly. "We had a meeting after the two exams that ended in quite a discussion. A part of us was in favor of including Caleb, while the other part was against it, including me. Personally, I didn't want to take on a 16-year-old who could kill us all at any time, but my own exam ended up being my undoing. Cale's skills and knowledge were ultimately why 3 of us agreed while 2 opposed. I think we would have argued all night if the Eldest had not also spoken in favor. He usually respects our opinions and always listens to both sides, but this was one of the few times he really used his position and simply hired Caleb. A day later, Caleb had officially received the title of '12th High-Magician of Altona'."

"Does Cale know about this vote?"

"He knows, yes. Grischa had described it to him great detail, and of course told him who was for it and who was against it. I was standing in the same room at the time, so can you imagine how awkward that was?"

"Yes. Kind of", William replied with a laugh. "Had Cale said anything?"

"Not at all, no. He merely took it as information and thanked us. Actually, I assumed he would hold a grudge against me, but he never seemed to care much. Or did he claim otherwise to you?"

"No. In general, he didn't talk very much about the Magistrat, I didn't even know he was a High-Magician for quite a while", William stated matter-of-factly.

"I see. Grischa also said that Caleb doesn't like to reveal who he is", Aaron repeated, letting his gaze slide back to the flames. "I just don't understand him. Sometimes he throws the most nonsensical comments in the room and in the end it turns out that his testimony is the best option we have. At some point, Cale has started to weigh in on every issue of the Magistrat and he even had been present at some official meetings, if only as an advisor."

"Isn't that pretty good for you guys?"

"It is..." lifted Aaron, but hesitated for a moment. "Granted, I really can't deny that. Caleb is a great help to Altona, even if you don't feel some decisions until years later. It's the same with Grischa. He was quite a burden when he first came to the Magistrat back then, but has found his own way and since spending time with Caleb, he's really blossomed."

"You must like High-Magician Vonstetten quite a bit", William interjected when he saw the gentle smile on Aaron's face, but it disappeared abruptly at the statement.

"He's an affectionate little pain in the ass", the High-Magician replied, turning back to William. "I have a question in that regard. How do you actually know Caleb? He never really seemed to let strangers get to him besides Grischa Vonstetten and Yusuf Mirai, which is why your appearance had surprised me a bit."

"We first met Cale in Bellator. He traveled with us to Exarion", William explained, followed by an oppressive silence. Aaron looked at the prince as if expecting him to speak further, but William did not.

"Is that all? You're not old friends or anything like that?"

William felt a jolt of coldness run down his spine at the statement as he remembered that night in the desert and Cale's real, old friends.

"No, I've only known him for a few months too", William clarified. "I can't tell you what's so special about us. Cale has always been very nice to us and has simply become friends with us over time. Of course, one or two things happened to us, but Cale was the one who first opened up to us. Isn't that similar with you guys?"

"With me? Not at all. As I said, we're not friends. We merely work together on a basis of trust, and we also argue on a regular basis."

William merely frowned at the statement. It seemed different to him, but maybe it was just Aaron's personality that prevented him from seeing Cale as a friend. Or maybe he was simply still afraid of him, just didn't want to admit it to himself. The whole situation between Aaron and Cale seemed a bit laughable to him, but he kept the comment to himself. After all, he didn't want to offend the two High-Magicians and possibly cause an unpleasant conflict.

"I have one more question", Aaron spoke up some time later. "Did Caleb mention to you when he wrote the Chronicles of Creature Lore?"

Surprised, William looked up at Aaron.

"What, are you talking about Sir Adenia's Chronicles?"

"Exactly those."

"They were made by Cale?", he repeated in amazement. Aaron seemed to want to retort something, but stopped abruptly, which made William wonder all the more. "Did I just understand that correctly? Cale wrote the Chronicles of Creature Lore?"

"I thought you knew that..."

"Are you sure about that? When is he supposed to have written these? I was reading from the Chronicles when I was a child and Cale is only a year older than me. How old would he have been if he wrote them? Seven, eight years?"

When no answer came from his counterpart, William's amazement only grew.

"You are... are really serious, aren't you?"