An awkward silence loomed between Krone and I.

Imitating Krone, I slumped down on the wooden chair opposite him. It was rather well crafted, as it fit me pretty well. With my neck on the back of the padded chair, I knocked my head back and stared off into the clouds. I sighed at my predicament and pondered to myself.

“If what this guy says is true then all is well with the family.”

I imagined my parents retired in the beach house as they enjoyed the warm sand. I envisioned my siblings helping them grill food as they laughed and teased each other. Turning to look at the guy, I responded.

“I’ll have to take your word for it. But if I ever find out that you lied…” I was trying to think of a threat but nothing came to mind. Maybe I’d beat up the guy, but he was way beefier than I’d ever hope to achieve. I’d probably wind up the one battered.

“Don’t worry. Vows to the Sole Creator have deep consequences. I should tell you about that now. Never make a vow on your mana to the Sole Creator. It will be binding. You will be terribly cursed if you break it. Got it?”

“…Yea…” his comment made me more trusting of his words, but now I was wary of vows. I still knew nothing about him or this world though, so I tried to find out more.

“So your name is Krone. Do you have a last name?”

“I did. Until I was banished that is. Krone is fine. But to you it’s Master Krone, got it?”

“You keep saying that. And you mentioned apprentice before. Shouldn't you tell me what’s going on now?”

I was curious as to why he took such a peaceful approach. I thought we would have forced whatever he wanted, and I would have to obey. I waited to see if I could find the answer.

Krone went quiet and he tilted his head and looked up to the corner of his eye in thought.

“…where to begin…you already know I was exiled and forced with the family’s covenant.” Krone fell into thought again before continuing.

“Let’s start with my family. To keep their reputation as one of the 10 great families of magic, my family, the Cygnus family of the space element, gave me the covenant as a parting resource when I was exiled.

It used to be well sought after and an honor in ancient times due to it being an agreement with the divines. But now it is worth much less with no one desiring it, because the divines made a rule to stop interfering with the minor worlds.

What the divines could do was limited, but everything they did was still miraculous nonetheless. But to the great families it was a worthless trinket that was given to mock me. I banished to the frontier lands with nothing but the covenant. Many would have perished. Understand so far?”

I nodded my head slowly. Their world here seemed complicated, especially with Krone’s situation and his family.

“Why were you exiled?”

“None of your business!” The muscles of his body constricted and his veins protruded in anger. His light olive skin flushed with a tint of red, and he became rather fearsome.

I didn’t expect to trigger something like that. He didn’t have to put it that way though. I had no bad intentions and was kind of mad. I looked at the Krone and saw his face was reluctant, and I relaxed my anger. After a pause he shared a small piece.

“I don’t like talking about it, but because I know enough about you, I’ll tell you this much. It’s because of these horns, ok? Leave it at that.”

There was a stern and serious change in Krone’s tone. I felt a sense of pain and sorrow hidden in his tone.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up anything uncomfortable.”

Krone peered through my eyes to see if I was sincere before letting up. Even in a bad mood, he had a way of naturally drawing attention. Beautiful people were an entirely different species. I was kind of jealous.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“See. You’re different from the others. It would be seen as a weakness to many, but I appreciate your awareness and sensitivity to others. You were the right choice.”

“Me? Sensitive?!” I was a bit offended and made a face. I didn’t hear anything else he said.

“I said it’s a good thing. Who cares what others think?”

I relaxed a bit, but it left a mark on my ego. I ignored the comment as I tried to convince myself it wasn’t a bad thing.

Something kept bothering me though. It didn’t make sense and left me confused.

“I don’t understand. You’re broke, and you didn’t want an apprentice. Why use the covenant?”

There was silence. And Krone got worked up while attempting to change the subject.

“It still is a resource! I wasn’t going to throw it away! Anyway, you're going to be learning spells and alchemy from me.”

“I feel like you got something more out of it. You’re still hiding something from me. There’s a catch isn’t there? Will my wishes go away after some time or something?”

“No! I mean... Ugh… “ I could see the reluctance Krone wanted to avoid.

“So then my family isn’t living how I thought they were.”

“No! Your wish has been granted! There’s no changing the actions of the divine! They are doing well, I vowed to that.”

“Then what is it? What are you hiding? What’s the catch?”

“There’s no catch.”

“Spill it. Something’s off. I know it. Make another vow if there isn’t anything else.”

“You dare!!! I’ll forgive you because you don’t know! Don’t force vows on people! Vows are sacred. You might not get away with your life if you said that to the wrong person.”

I remained quiet from his response. I mentally noted not to that I could be killed, but my face was suspicious of Krone. I didn’t know if he had bad intentions. Not to be judgemental but his horns gave him demon vibes. Maybe he really did want my soul.

“Stop that look. I’ve seen enough of your past to know when your thinking up something stupid. I’ll just tell you everything. In addition to your wishes, I added one of my wishes to yours. This place… There. Got it?! That’s it! There’s nothing else!”

I looked around. I thought the area looked more vibrant than usual.

“So this place isn’t your world?”

“This is my personal miniature world isolated from the world outside where I came from. All my life I dreamed of a safe place away from everyone. A place where a monster could live openly and freely. A place where I would not have to fear.”

I didn’t know what to say. I was curious about him calling himself a monster, but I didn’t want to step any further on that touchy subject today. I could start to understand what was going on, but I still had further questions that needed answers.

“So you hid that you added your wish to mine, why?“

Krone really didn’t want to answer, but he sighed and told his story.

“The covenant was initially created as a debt to the divine to repay the sacrifices of my ancestors during the last Great War. Every hundred years for 1,000 years, the divine would grant the wishes of those in possession of the covenant. The covenant is handed down by the divine, always in the form of orb. Once broken, the bloodline of Cygnus could make a wish, but at a price determined by the divine.

My wish for this miniature world was determined to be too high due to their new rule of less interference. But one of the divines pitied me and was willing to make a compromise. I could ease the burden of my wish by sharing it with another.

As long as both party’s wishes were deemed acceptable and the prices paid, then the wishes were granted.

Not to belittle your hopes and dreams, but your wishes allowed for me to add on enough of mine. You paid your price, and I did mine. But since you shared part of my wish, you therefore are entitled to part of this miniature world. That is part of my price.”

“Part?”

“Besides having you as an apprentice, that’s all you need to know.” Krone drew the line for my curiosity and I left it at that.

It made sense now why he approached me rather with a peaceful tactic.

“I see… so this place is mine too huh?”

“Partially! Just a small bit! But don’t get your hopes up yet! Only after you complete your training will you get your share of the deal.”

“So why hide it from me? Were you going to kill me to take it all for yourself?”

There was that look again in Krone’s eyes. Sharp and piercing. “I considered it. But it wouldn’t do me or you any good. The divine I made the deal with would probably curse me. She favored you for some reason.”

I let out a breath of relief.

“Besides, I keep to my word unlike some others. I plan to finish paying all of my price, which is to make you into a mage. I’ll be working to become a higher level mage. When I grow my mana star, then I’ll split this dimension. My wish can still be achieved. We can go our own ways after that.”