Due to Emily’s advice, I made my visits to the Order a daily thing, albeit short. I kept updated with the Virai’s advancement to our borders. They kept their position for a few months. In that time, August managed about a three percent improvement every month in his quint training, reaching fifteen percent as the fifth month came to a close. I also taught him Dispel and Discharge, and his quint training gave him a natural resistance to magic. Given time, he would be a monster.

I on the other hand completed the second and third codices dubbed simply Shadow and Light respectively. You could guess what they were about. I made good enough progress in light magic that I could heal light to moderate wounds. It didn’t feel like a set spell, but simply a manipulation of light, at least not until I began practising on myself. Self-inflicted pain is not a nice thing. After all those months of practising, the spell Renew emerged. The Shadow codex was insightful, helping me to better understand light magic, but ultimately useless because I was simply incapable of producing shadow magic.

We progressed beautifully, and my friends did as well. However, every time I checked up on them, they were either sleeping or in serious training. It looked like hell. Because they were so busy, I didn’t get time to question them on what they learnt, but it seemed they were doing well. Pyro seemed to develop an interesting way of battling Phoenix. Dawn was now able to utterly disgrace the fastest swimmers of the ocean, at least back in our world. And Volt? Well his hair turned white! Don’t ask me what Tarit did to the poor guy.

But, just a couple days into the sixth month, I was officially summoned by the Order. The Virai had begun advancing into Methelian territory. We all had to return to the Order.

“So,” I began, “can you guys summon them now?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” Volt replied.

“Unfortunately?”

Pyro chuckled a bit, “If you knew what we went through, you’d understand why he said that. I can’t talk for those two, but my training only got more difficult when I summoned the devil.”

“Yup,” Dawn added, “was the same for me. Hydra’s a demon that just looks nice. I had to summon two of ‘em at once. It was hell!”

“Oh, you too?” Pyro asked.

Volt sniggered, “I guess they met up and agreed on some things because Tarit did the same to me.”

I informed them about what was going on after I pulled them from their training.

“Orcs? Does that mean Aquan is in trouble?” Dawn asked, reasonably concerned. I shook my head, explaining that the Virai had a lot of ground to cover before they got close to Aquan, despite us being a city in the far west of Methelia.

“Sorry to pull you away in the middle of your training, but I figured your families would want to see you after being apart for five months. With the looming threat of war as well, even more so.”

They agreed readily. Dawn conjured a dense platform of water and used it travel into the skies. Well, wasn’t expecting that…

Pyro’s feet combusted and sent him into the air as well.

“So, they can fly now. I guess you have something to fly as well?” I inquired at Volt.

“Nah, not exactly. It’s a little silly, but I can’t see where I’m going while I do it.”

“Huh?”

He laughed lightly and thanked me for sending them to the spirit world. Afterward he transformed into lightning and bolted away.

“Well, Tarit sure taught him, huh?”

I guess so. Too bad I can’t say the same for my master. She never taught me how to fly. Could you believe it? I have to float along behind my own students as they soar through the skies!

“Wow, she must be a real bitch. Maybe you should find another master.” Donna sarcastically replied.

Nah, I love her too much. I could feel her eyes roll.

August and I bumped fists and he simply walked home since it wasn’t too far.

After some business at the Order, I returned home with Flynn. “Haven’t seen you in years, kid,” he threw an arm over my shoulder and did a drinking gesture with the other hand, “It’s been a while. My treat.”

Who was I to refuse such a generous offer? We entered a pub, one a little more high-end than our usual go-to. The rhythmic strikes of piano strings harmonised with a beautiful voice. The duet of singer and pianist were soft and gentle enough to lend to a relaxing and comforting atmosphere, yet certain highs of their performance would steal your attention with a single bodacious and uncompromising moment. The woman caught me looking at her a few times and gave me a wink, prompting dad to input his unnecessary opinion. “You scumbag, isn’t Dawn enough? Does your thirst no know bounds?” We were onto our third round by then and my blood’s intoxication level was at a much better state than his.

“Does yours?” I asked after he called for another round. The music paused for a moment with the conclusion of the song, and quietness – despite the faint chitter-chatter from the customers – ensued. I used that moment to question his intentions. Flynn was a rather happy-go-lucky guy, at first glance. Like the witch’s every word and action had meaning behind it, so did his. I think the exception would be when we had our spats; neither of us would be rationally thinking when we got into an argument. There was an unspoken, fear – for lack of better words – that I had for both parents. The origin of fear from Mary was due to her past and how little value life had in her eyes. She was cold-blooded and the fact that I knew nothing of this frightened me greatly, as if I was merely swimming around in my own special little pond, unable to see her for the shark she was. Flynn on the other hand, had my fear due to his cunning. Dare I say he was the most guileful person I’d ever met. Really, if he wanted, he’d probably be able to convince the king of Methelia that he could be national treasurer without fulfilling any sort of prerequisites. Sometimes I wondered if he used his skills of persuasion to win mom over, but I doubt he was stupid enough to try that on the man of the house.

“Well? You gonna tell me why you brought me here or what?” I asked once more.

“What? I can’t have a drink with my son anymore?” he retorted.

The music resumed as I was about to answer. I winced at their timing and spoke a little louder, “Stop playin’, Flynn. We been here over an hour now.”

He looked me straight in the eye, taking a sip, but still glaring. By now I’d have expected him to know I’m the direct and blunt type, so I was thinking all this time that he already had the perfect words lined up for whatever the real purpose of our drinking here was, but it seemed I was wrong. I could see the hodgepodge of words gathering and lining themselves up in his eyes. Should the assortment of words not be to his liking, he’d rinse and repeat, but boy was he taking his time.

“Is it Munroe?” I asked, remembering the underworld tycoon from Gassity whom I left alive per Donna’s command with a lingering threat. The man was a snake, like dad, but by no means did I take him for an idiot. I meant it when I said I’d kill him if he tried to get Flynn involved in anything again, and Donna would have to stand down this time.

“No,” he got a little upset, “why’s it always gotta be negative with you, man? Sheesh!” He sighed. A silence worked through and he said something, but I didn’t hear properly because the music had gotten a little louder at that point.

“What?” I cocked my ears.

“Mary’s pregnant!”

My eyes widened, my mouth gaped, I was dumbstruck for approximately five minutes. This was a lot to ingest! Mom? Dad? They could still do it? “Wait, you two pieces of shit got busy the moment I left, huh?!”

He smiled and shrugged. Geez, right under my nose. “How far is she?”

“Two months.”

I raised my mug and so did he, “Congratulations you horny bastard!” Our mugs clashed!

We drank ‘til he passed out. So much for treating me. In my drunken stupor, I somehow correctly counted enough coin and placed it on the table. Very, very, carefully, I put the guy on my back and glided home at the speed of a snail to make sure I didn’t crash. My swerving here and there reminded me to take it down a notch when I found myself speeding up.

I finally made it home and plopped the man down onto his bed. Mom was preparing dinner. I pulled her away from the cutting board, raised up her blouse to see her belly and rubbed it, whilst doing a questionably strange dance I’d rather not explain. Don’t get me wrong, I could hold my alcohol but tonight’s live performance was still very much in my head and my body just moved. Mary couldn’t help but laugh out.

“I have just one question, horny person number two,” I said, whilst continuing my ritual dance, “is it a boy, girl, or a mage?”

She lost it right there, “What’s that, supposed to, mean?” she asked, fitting the words between the spaces in her laughter.

“We all know,” I pulled some moves out of a ballerina’s book, my eyes somehow looking drowsy, “mages are the third sex. That’s why we all so, sexay!” The beer definitely got to me.

“Dawn doesn’t know what she’s missing right now.”

I’m not sure what happened afterward, I can’t remember anything. But I remember waking up in the morning before mom left for work with a splitting headache. Really, the tissue thing connecting the left and right hemispheres of my brain must’ve torn further with every pulse of pain. I’d no doubt my brain would be split in a minute or two at the rate this headache was going.

Mom conjured up some water for me. Déjà vu? I was pretty sure this exact scene was enacted before. She left a while after and I also left to visit Dawn. It’s been a whilst since I’ve been at her residence. For whatever reason, I wanted to say hello to Mr and Mrs Pendulum. One of the servants led me inside without any questions or words, aside from small talk. I thanked her and entered the room she led me to. Dawn’s parents were inside. The round man sat behind a desk in his study – or small library – and his lean wife perused a shelf to the side. I knocked after slightly opening the door to get their attention.

“Mr Archibald!” the woman was quite startled to see me. I wasn’t exactly announced after all. A family of such prestige certainly seemed to only see to the calls of those who made dates with them, unlike me, who randomly dropped by. At least they weren’t getting busy like my parents, so I figured I’d just continue with my visit, ensuring to make it short and concise.

“Hey, mom. How you been?” I asked the woman. My fast-paced familiarity with her hinting at how close Dawn and I were becoming, or at least that’s what I hoped it spelled for her.

“Q-quite well, Mr Archibald,” she stuttered.

“Please, the formalities aren’t necessary. It pleases me to see you as radiant as ever.”

She made something of a culmination of rolling her eyes and curving inwards from shyness. A double-edged sword of accepting my compliment yet showing her victory over common flattery.

“Pops,” I called out to Dawn’s father, walking towards the seated man. He was silently fuming, fighting the urge to rudely interrupt our conversation by telling me to get out of his house. Surprisingly, he said nothing even after I turned my attention to him. “What about you? Have you been well?” I took a seat in front of his desk.

“What are you doing here, mage?” he asked with clear contempt, but omitted his habitual yelling when addressing mages of the Order.

“I’m here to check on you two.”

“Why?” he inquired. It seemed he was the one being concise and not I.

“I just got a feeling to do it. Well,” I returned to my question, “how you been feeling?”

“Just fine, mage.”

“Anything of concern lately?”

“Nothing I’d need your help with.”

I shrugged, “Alrighty. Well I’ll see myself out,” and began walking out. “Ah, might I ask where Dawn is? I wish to surprise her.”

“Ah, the girls are in their room,” Mrs Pendulum answered.

With that, I left, following the directions she gave me afterward. The door to Dawn’s room was slightly opened. Her sister, May, was helping her try on some new fancy bra. I just assumed it was new based on how clueless Dawn looked trying to get it on. Voidwalk helped me sneak in.

“Alright, off you go,” Dawn took the bra off again. “When are you going to find a man, May?”

“You little slut. You think you’re the shit because you got one? It’s easy to get together when you’re so young. When you get older and you realise there are lots of things to take into consideration, you’ll understand why I ca–”

“Oh shush! You’re just too picky. What about the witch? You guys hit it off, right?”

“One-night stand, honey. Just a bit of harmless fun.”

“Well, what about Peter?” Dawn asked her. She was talking about Pyro, by the way.

“That airhead?”

“Opposites attract, you know.”

“Ugh, stop focusing on my love life. What about Eric?”

Dawn smiled a creepy smile the moment my name was mentioned. “I really do love him, but he can be such a pain sometimes. He’s not romantic at all. I don’t even know what’s going through his head ninety percent of the time. He’s wild, unpredictable, and has a lot of secrets he’s keeping from me.”

“Secrets? Like he’s cheating?”

Cheating? Me? Pshh. What secrets she talkin’ about anyway?

“No, like, I don’t know. He went on a ‘family vacation’ for a few weeks and never talked about it, not once. Isn’t that weird? Next thing I know, he comes back with the leader of an orc tribe, a woman no less. I thought orcs were supposed to be ugly!”

“Uh, I don’t think he’d do that with an orc. You’re just paranoid. You’ve got secrets too, right? Give the guy a break.”

“If I knew she was so distrustful, I’d have stayed with you, May.” I rolled my fist into my eyes like a crying infant, “She doesn’t like me anymore!”

May swallowed her surprise and played along almost instantly. “There, there. It’s okay.” She placed an arm around me as if comforting me. I looked back at Dawn with a grin and she was hiding her breasts with a nearby blouse.

“Oh, please, I–”

Dawn stepped on my feet before I could say anything.

“Oh my!” May said, like a nosey neighbour watching a couple argue, “Oh my!” she said once more, dragging the second word when truly understanding that we crossed the line. “You got busy, Dawn!” She clapped, “I’m proud of you!”

We talked for a bit, and of course she asked me how long I’d been there. Guys, there are times when lying is justified. “Just got here,” I said.

After what could only seem like an eternity, Dawn was finally dressed for a late breakfast. We sat outside the diner. She said the open air was a wonderful feeling after being submerged in water and basically sleeping on the ocean floor for months on end.

“So, can you really summon two leviathans?”

“Geez, it’s such a soothing atmosphere and you can’t talk about anything but magic!” she complained, but a grin soon came over her. “Yeah!” she proudly folded her arms, “I can handle two, but one of them only agreed for training purposes. The contract was temporary. Maybe I could convince her to make it permanent.”

“Oh, training, huh? To be honest I thought it’d take you guys about a year, but I guess training under the spirit lords is something else.”

“So, what did you accomplish? I’m sure it’s something ridiculous!” She claimed, beginning to eat. I chuckled at her for thinking such.

Do they think I learn magic in my sleep or something?

“You certainly didn’t progress as fast as they did, but the witch did grant you transmutation and alchemy knowledge. And she gave Aug enchanting. But good luck actually doing it.” Donna provoked, but also cemented the near impossibility of the pillars. I sighed.

“Well?” Dawn asked, breaking me out of my thoughts.

“Um. A shield spell and a healing spell.”

She kept looking at me, as if expecting me to spill more. “That’s it?”

“Spells wise? Yes. The shield spell I learned within a day. I took about a month to read some books and the rest of the time there was spent on that damn healing spell. It was really damn difficult to learn you know?”

“So, can you heal like how the witch reattached Keagan’s arm?”

“Pfft, I doubt it. But I didn’t exactly try severing my arm to find out.”

Her eyebrows twitched, and her head tilted a little in suspicion of my practices. Oh shit.

“Eriiiic, how exactly did you learn that healing spell?” Her eyes were like the magic Ashfur used to cut Keagan’s arm off. Yet, they had that caring and loving look to them, much like Mary’s. Talk about confusion.

“Uh,” I scratched my cheek and pulled my collar a little, “with hard work?”

“You kept injuring yourself, didn’t you?!”

“Caught red-handed. Sort of.” Donna interjected.

I sighed, “But it worked out, right?”

“Are you an idiot?” she asked.

Just as I was about to give her a snappy and witty reply, an Ingen mage had a rough landing right outside the little picket fence.

His breath was heavy, his mana looked to be in tatters. “Ambassador! There is an emergency! Please, come with me!”

“It can’t wait?”

“No!”

Dawn nodded at me and flew the orc over to the Order. I kept behind them using flight from Avatar of Wind. Resting just after the entrance of the Order where the guardsmen could keep an eye on him, was an exhausted orc with his glider next to him. He didn’t wear the Order’s silver robes so I knew he was not of the wave of mages introduced to the integration programme. A crowd of people surrounded him, some rendering aid, but nothing could renew his spent stamina and mana.

I came close so he wouldn’t need to speak loudly. “Chieftain, attacked, taken, prisoner.”