The last days flew by and Cale was already counting the hours when he would say goodbye to William and Ben. With Fengari accompanying them, he was not too worried about letting his friends go alone, but he still didn't want to part with them.

Together with his group, he stood in Sir Tersch's store on the last day of the year and did the shopping for tonight. Aletta took the lead, as usual, while Philippa answered her questions. Ben, William and Cale, on the other hand, were the merchandise holders as they silently watched the girls shop. Cale was not particularly bothered by this, rather his mind was occupied with the events of the last few days.

As agreed, they had the meeting with the dragons again last night and besides Cale, the whole council took part in it. They reported about their investigations and Cale told the masses that his mother was a Thormod. But the topic of the evening was far from his family. It was Winstest and Tsuke.

Dragons had been flying over the lands more and more the past few weeks and were horrified to discover that the Thormods had built a city on the surface to the northwest of Tsuke. With the help of Velence's abilities, everyone was able to get a glimpse of this city and were horrified to discover that it was nowhere near as small as they had thought. Hundreds of thousands of flat red rock houses stretched across the surface towards the mountains. The mountain wall itself also seemed to be a large house, for numerous openings and some balconies could be seen there. But the most striking thing about their city were the high walls that protected their green fields from the outside world. A large river that rained down from the mountains as a waterfall into their city blessed the place with life. Miraculously, the creatures kept away from the walls, which none of the people present could explain.

The dragons reported that the Thormods had instantly fled underground upon their arrival, which was an indication that they too were afraid of the dragons. Some dragons had also discovered Thormods on the surface in the other parts of the continent, which prompted them to check the death region of Winstest as well. Thormods had accumulated among the crevices as well, although not as many as in Tsuke itself. According to the dragons' estimate, the number of Thormods in the north was probably approaching a good 30 million, which had shocked everyone present. Palais and his group had done something similar, but in Sylve there were only a good 50,000 of them, so no comparison to Tsuke. However, this small number was quite enough to successfully carry out the attack on Altona.

Skira's words echoed through Cale's head for hours. Because of all the experiences in his other lives, he had completely disregarded one fact so far.

The Thormods were people.

They also had a society. They also had family and they also wanted to protect their loved ones and survive. The only question was, at what cost? Were the Thormods in the creature planes even the same as the Thormods in Tsuke? If they wanted to win this war, did they have to kill all the Thormods, even the weak ones?

Momentarily, Cale shook his head. The Thormods had made no exceptions in their attacks either, so why even think about it?

"Cale?", William's voice, suddenly snapped him out of his head. Surprised, he turned to the prince, who looked at him expectantly. The group had already started for the cash register, only Cale had stopped as if rooted to the spot.

"I'm coming", he quickly announced in a friendly voice and followed his friends.

The Holy Mana, the creatures, the Thormods, Tsuke, and the third wave of attack.

It all felt so far away, yet so close. And though Cale knew how real the danger was, it felt so unreal to him. Why were the Thormods attacking the humans in the first place? Were they out for retribution because of the past, or had Cale overlooked something important? Something that could explain the whole situation?

"Come see us again soon", the family's daughter chimed in after Cale had paid for her purchases and stepped out of the store. Unobtrusively, he made the bags disappear with the help of his magic and walked silently beside Ben and William.

"I'm really going to miss the city", Ben admitted nostalgically after a few minutes as the group made their way through the crowds. "Being here feels like you're actually part of society."

"Part of society?", the High-Magician repeated irritably, looking over at the broad swordsman, who was watching the young women before him with a satisfied smile.

"Yes. In Sylve, I always felt I didn't belong there. By belonging to a high noble family, I was not allowed to just walk through Bellator alone. My father has always been very careful that nothing happens to my mother and me, especially since he is in direct contact with the king. There happend... a lot of things when I was younger."

"I think he was trying to avoid having to choose between his family and the royal family."

"Yes, that was probably one of the main reasons. Sylve and your hierarchy is a bit taxing at times, especially when you have to deal with a lot of the other dukes and nobles. Father has always been mindful of the kind of people I come in contact with", Ben explained, rubbing the back of his head thoughtfully. The Freigoud's family held the rank of a Duke, and thus Ben also held one of the most powerful noble titles in all of Sylve, right after the royal house of Sylve itself. Because Duke Loys of Freigoud worked for the king and was his right-hand man, his family was also the one with the most influence of all the dukes in Sylve. No wonder, that Duke Loys of Freigoud wanted to avoid his family being used as a bargaining chip.

"This begs the question: how then did you get permission from your father to travel alone with Will?"

"His mindfulness eventually wore off over time. The older I got and the better I could defend myself, the sooner he had given me my freedom. I often worked alongside the Royal Guard and I guess at some point he accepted that I could manage on my own", Ben interjected with amusement, raising his hand and patting William on the back a few times. "Wasn't any different with you, was it, Will?"

The young prince gave his friend a brief, reproachful look before his eyes settled on the mage and he sighed.

"It wasn't that easy with me, and you know it, Ben. Father hardly noticed me, but at the same time forbade me everything. Don't you remember how long I had to ask him for sword lessons?"

"Right, right", Ben quickly interjected, as if remembering unpleasant things.

"Father rarely gave me a choice, even when I was older. When Duke Freigoud was not present, Edward, Marion, and I always went with three royal soldiers each, even inside the palace. I was literally locked up, and I hated that as a child."

"You kind of brought that on yourself after your escape act as a kid."

"Oh, please, let's not talk about that. I was 5 and having a bad day", Will interjected with a wink, before Ben responded with a laugh. Cale, on the other hand, watched the two of them for a moment in irritation, wondering what they were talking about. This had to be one of those new stories that had happened in this life but he had never heard. Just like the fact of how Ben knew about zero magic.

"I remember when my father had been allowed to look for you all day and, after the whole story, had stripped the soldiers of their rank for not looking out for you. He had admonished me more than once then that I should never do anything like that."

"I never wanted anyone to lose their job because of me", Will brought up regretfully. "Only that day, the stress of studying had been too much for me. I was young."

"I would have loved to have witnessed that", Cale interjected into the conversation with a smile, indicating with a quick shake of his head that Ben should finally let the subject rest. You could clearly see that William wanted to avoid the story. He still seemed to blame himself after all these years for making these men suffer because of him.

"What about you, Cale? What stories do you have from your childhood?", Ben finally changed the subject. Thoughtfully, the mage raised his hand to his chin and looked up at the sky.

"Let's see. I don't remember much about my time in Groka, to be perfectly honest. But when I started learning here in the Magistrat, I definitely did a reprehensible thing or two", he explained after a few moments, dropping his gaze to the large building in the distance. "Yusuf kept getting me involved in his problems."

"What did you do?"

"The usual thing kids do at that age. Not listening to instructions and doing stupid actions. Yusuf had met with other students one night after curfew to duel. We were freshmen at the time. You can imagine how that turned out. They created a huge fire behind the compartment where we slept and couldn't put it out. It was so bright that all of us students woke up. I jumped out of the window and immediately extinguished the flames with water. It was unfortunate that Sefra noticed this and came to us. When Yusuf noticed her presence, we all ran away, but we couldn't get back into the building because she was coming at us from that very direction. Half the night we played hide and seek with her...she got us all eventually."

Ben and also William laughed abruptly at the last statement, which is why Aletta and Philippa turned to the back at the same time.

"Do you know what kind of trouble I got into because of Yusuf? We got to clean the kitchen and all the bathrooms in the entire Magistrat every night for a whole month."

"What are you talking about?", Aletta spoke up, as Ben had come to a halt, unable to breathe for laughter. The prince, on the other hand, was standing next to him, covering his face with one hand while trying not to raise his voice.

"Childhood traumas", Cale only commented, shrugging his shoulders. "That month, by the way, I got to know so many hidden corners in the Magistrat as never before. If anyone knows his way around that huge place, it's probably me."

"You shouldn't be proud of that", William interjected, managing to stop laughing for a moment, but when he saw Cale's serious face, he started again.

"You've known Yusuf quite a long time, haven't you?", Ben brought out afterwards.

"Yes, since my first day here. I always wonder how he can be a teacher. To me, he's still this little troublemaker who just causes me problems, even though he may be a good mage."

"You must really like him", the little healer spoke up, a gentle yet provocative smile on her face. For a few moments, he just stared at Aletta before sighing and nodding.

"Who did you actually learn to use your magic like that from?", Philippa added.

"There wasn't that one teacher for me. I learned from a wide variety of people and combined my knowledge. I've always been a quick learner."

"That's what Aaron said, too. No doubt a genius, were his words."

"By the Eldest's beard, that's embarrassing to hear", Cale quickly replied to the prince's statement, indicating with a few hand motions for the group to move on. They had been standing in the middle of the road for several minutes, blocking the way. "Magic is something that just made sense to me, but I also had to learn it first. I used to be nowhere near as good. It's like using weapons or healing. There are things you're just made for."

"True, I guess, my father and supreme healer Juna also said to me that I'm comparatively good with my healing skills despite my tender age", Aletta commented euphorically, leading the group, followed by Cale, Philippa, Ben and William.

"Maybe it's fate that everything turned out the way it did. Our physical abilities have helped us become who we are today and the eagerness to learn throughout life will hold many more surprises", Philippa quietly admitted, while the little blonde gave her a strange look.

"That sounds really poetic", she interjected afterwards, while Cale rested his hand on her head and wiped through her hair. Immediately, the girl complained, but Cale ignored her completely.

His thoughts were stuck on Philippa's statement.