When Armad saw the old man that helped Tyren, he remembered his sister. It was something she would do if she was still alive.

1835 BD

Armad and his sister...

(A year after Armad had tamed his Djinn)

"Armad, I swear I'll beat you up. Be serious for a change." A young woman snapped at a small boy in front of her.

The boy was a seven year old Armad - one year after he had tamed his Djinn. That year was full of intense training, and the woman in front of him, his teacher, wasn't making it any easier.

The woman looked to be around twenty-five. She was dressed in a simple white robe and a brown coverall embroidered with crystals. Her face had a striking resemblance to Armad, but her hair was crimson. She was two meters tall with a body that had an eerie calm to it. A short sword hung on her left shoulder. Every now and then, ten stars would flash around the sword for a second or two before they disappeared.

Her name was Hidaya Wilberforce. She was Armad's only sibling.

Armad was dressed in a light armless, white robe. His forehead covered by a red headband and his brows curled up as if he was going to cry at anytime. It was obvious he was forced to be there. Left to him he would be elsewhere doing God knows what.

"If you won't be serious then I won't train you again..."

Shit, that won't work on him. She murmured.

"If you won't train well then I'll stop talking to you." She waited and gauged his response. Well, that seems to have some effect. Let's build on it. "Who will protect you if I am not here? You like teasing people but you don't like training, who will stop them from beating you up once I'm gone. Let's go home, we will come back tomorrow and continue. You have to master these spells, whether you like it or not."

She turned around and headed home but Armad stood there, pouting.

"I'll just leave you here for the wolves." She said, looking at him through the corner of her eyes.

"My.. my legs are killing me." Armad said, ready to burst out crying at anytime.

"Hmmm..." Hidáya sighed softly. She knew what he wanted. Their training sessions often ended with him deliberately refusing to walk until she piggybacked him home.

"Remain stagnant with your training and you'll have to find someone else's shoulders." She said through her teeth.

She turned around and, with a defeated sigh, grabbed Armad and put him on her shoulders.

She took five minutes to leave the dark green of the training ground. Hidaya didn't give up. She continued to tell Armad the importance of his training.

"I want to teach you fifty spells.. no," she shook her head, "I want to teach you all my spells, especially those that doesn't involve Djinns because you can't learn them on your own. Time is running out, but you are intentionally delaying yourself. Open your SLPs, lemme see."

Armad reluctantly opened the tabs.

Spells Learning Progress (SLP)

•Lightning Flash

Conjuration: 2%

Physical Gesture: 4%

Manifestation: 0.5%

•Lightning Bolt

Conjuration: 28%

Physical Gesture: 55%

Manifestation: 65%

•Meditation

Conjuration: 10%

Physical Gesture: 11%

Manifestation: 50%

Swords Learning Progress (SLP)

•Yellow Dance

Conjuration: 0%

Physical Gesture: 0%

Manifestation: 0%

•Dance of Uncertainty

Conjuration: 1%

Physical Gesture: 3%

Manifestation: 1%

"Huh?" She gasped. "You're regressing. Tell me, little brother, what do you want? This is getting serious."

"I just want to live a peaceful life. To marry and have three children. Grow old and die, surrounded by you, the children, mom, dad and grandpa. I also want you to cry after I die, and then remember me afterwards." He fell silent as if he remembered something. "You will remember me after I die, right?"

She looked at him deeply. There was a time when she had a similar opinion about life. If her brother was a mind mage, she would have thought he was teasing her.

"I'll remember you."

Armad hugged her tight. "Since sister is immortal I'll be remembered forever."

You're hopeless, bro. She sighed.

"Um.. Let's promise that whoever lives will remember the other forever." Armad said. He offered his little finger.

Hidaya sighed helplessly. Silly little children's game where you had to lock little fingers to show a promise. But she consented just to keep her little brother quiet.

"That's a half-hearted response." Armad declared mischievously. "Gimme a more convincing answer by offering a red mango from that garden." Armad pointed at an exorbitant garden nine hundred feet away from them.

The garden was surrounded by giant, black trees, thousands of feet tall. Their thick bodies shadowed the green garden below. The trees in the garden were arranged in rows, with each row having a particular plant. A potent medicinal aroma arose from the garden. It was fenced with a fifty meter tall wall. Armad could see 'Emperor Hannibal' boldly written on the gates. Emperor Hannibal had the largest country on the Third World. Kanyú (Armad's village) was part of his country, just like this training ground and the garden around it.

Hidaya grimaced. "That belongs to emperor Hanninal. It's not appropriate to trespass people's properties."

"I know, but we are not trespassing, we will just fly over and pick a single mango. Common, big sis, no one will know. You can easily bypass all the wards and the Djinns guarding the place. Please... I won't ask anything again."

"That will add two hours to your training schedule tomorrow."

Armad nodded. "I agree. Let's go."

Blue ethereal wings appeared on her back. She jumped several meters into the sky and then flew forward like a mighty dragon. Armad smiled widely. He had little interest in the mango, he just wanted to spread his arms as his sister flew with him in the vast sky. It was difficult to determine whether Hidaya used a spell or her Djinn to fly, because all her spells and swords no longer required any conjuration or physical gestures.

Armad locked his legs on her neck and he spread his hands in the air, laughing wildly. "Wohoo... I love you, sister." His shouts reached every corner of the forest.

"I know that's just what you want. You know what? I just don't get you. If you like flying so much, why don't you train? I'll give you excellent flying spells."

"It wonsh be as fsun." Armad said with mouth full of air.

"Aaargh.. Whatever. Hold on tight."

She passed through the force fields as if they weren't even there. None of the djinns guarding the place could even see them. She flew over the gates to land at the centre of the garden.

"There are mangoes over there." She pointed to the trees five rows away. "Wait here. And touch nothing."

She teleported to the trees and returned ten seconds later with a mango. A big red mango.

"Here it is... How the hell did you...? It doesn't matter." She pointed at his bleeding thumb. "Who injured you?"

Before Armad answered, Hidaya changed to battle stance. A layer of soft yellow light surrounded the sword hanging on her shoulders. The garden trembled and the trees prostrated themselves in front of her. The Djinns guarding the place fell on their knees. But Hidaya had closed her eyes and ears long ago.

"Who dare injured my brother?"

Black lightning bolts erupted from her body. She was no longer the kind sister Armad knew. She looked like a Lucifer. Armad thought. He trembled and hurriedly took several steps away from her.

"It's... that tree over there." He said. His mouth no longer obeying his command.

"So there's a soul bold enough to injure my brother in my presence. Well then, it matters little if you belong to Hanninal, I have decided to level everything down to the ground even if it belongs to the First Worlders." Hidaya thundered and everything just died. The trees turned to dust and the ground split in two and then flipped over to bury everything in.

Armad remembered the sister he always teased. The sister that laughed and joked all day. He just couldn't compare her with the Lucifer in front of him.

***

He woke up in the morning to see the Hidaya he knew (not the one from yesterday), caressing his hair. He shivered in fear.

"Hey, don't be afraid. It's me. I am sorry about what happened yesterday. I got carried away. Up for training today?"

Armad shook his head. "M.. Maybe tomorrow."

"Um.. Tomorrow then. I'll go out, and... I may be flying there. Do you want to come along?"

"No no, some other time."

Hidaya grimaced. Her brother had never turned down an invitation until today. But that was only the beginning, Armad developed a strange agoraphobia. Always afraid he would be injured and his sister would kill people because of it. His training crawled to a stop.

A year later, his sister and grandpa took a Quest from the system.

Two months later, his geandpa returned. Hidaya was nowhere to be seen but her sword was hanging on his grandpa's back.

"Where's she? Why do you have her sword?" Armad asked, panic raising in his head. His grandpa gave him the sword but said nothing. Armad locked himself indoors and cried for two days.

He still didn't know what happened and his grandpa had refused to talk about it. But that event helped him finally got his bearing and started training again. He perfected his spells and swords.