Vwoosh!

Apollo swings his sword deftly, blocking an arrow from me,

“You’re getting better at this,” I comment switching out magic stones,

“We’d been both been practicing for a while, I only just found out how to remove magic stones from the prototype without letting them break first,

“We both are brother,” Apollo teases

Thwock!

I fire a rock-coated arrow at him, he blocks it instinctively

“I’m guessing you don’t like me saying that” Apollo breathes

“No, I was testing your reflexes,

I am one hundred percent sure we are not related,”

“How so?” Apollo throwing a fake punch at me,

“Let’s just say I don’t think I’m from around here.” I dodge his punch almost tripping on my own feet,

“Karina’s right you are secretive,” Apollo huffs

“You and Karina talk?

I’m surprised,”

“What do you mean by that, Kage?”

“Nothing, it’s just that I’ve only ever seen you two speak a few times within the span of time we spent traveling, on our way here,

You and Lyra are pretty close though, I can tell she enjoys your company the most of us,”

“Karina and I, let’s say have an awkward relationship,” Apollo faking a sword swing at me,

“Awkward how?” I press, blocking his swing with by bow,

“We were… kind of together for a while, but it was weird,

I didn’t really like her, I just thought taught she liked me, so I was glad that somebody liked me,

But then it turned out she didn’t like me it was smore like desired me, at that time,”

“…..?”

“Like I said it was weird,

I don’t think it was weird for her though, Karina is such an upfront woman,

She hasn’t changed that much since we ended Murdoc’s reign of peaceful terror,

Actually no, I take that back, she is a lot more mellow now,

Play nice with her Kage,”

“What about Lyra?” I ignore his last statement,

“Lyra and I have always been close, she always complains to me about any and everything, and I always listen to her, that’s our relationship, she’s my oldest friend actually,

We first met after the ‘incident with her brother and my cousin Omari,”

“What incident?”

“Don’t act like you haven’t snooped around Omari’s and probably mine as well, to know Kage,”

“I already told you it doesn’t work like that, I’m not even sure If it is real, I could have been hallucinating,”

“Then your hallucinations just so happen to be accurate,

The incident I’m referring too was when Lyra’s brother froze Omari for being disrespectful,”

“Orr,

I do remember ‘living’ that memory form Omari”

“See, I knew you were snooping,”

“…….”

“Well anyway, because her brother did that, it caused a whole commotion, Omari had the Queen call in his entire family to apologize, long story short Lyra and I met there I think we were both around four or five at the time,

Ahhh, the bad old days,” He sighs

“Bad old days?”

“Yeah, because those days were bad but only got worse from there, for me,”

“Well at least you remember your childhood days,” I mumble,

“What? Speak louder Kage,”

“Nothing, I just think it’s sad your own family despised you,

Don’t worry Apollo,

At least you have me your brother,” I joke

“Ahhh haaa, I see what you did there,

I knew you wanted to joke on it too!” Apollo laughs

……..

****

“Take these, your challenge rings,” Giichi sir hands us the spiral insignia rings,

“Figure out it works for yourselves,” the old man turning to leave, us in the training room of the institute,

“What about the map you said you would show us?” I inquire

“This old man is tired,” he flicks his hand up walking away abruptly

..?

“Is he always like this?” Pinoki examining the ring before putting it on,

“Most of time, yes, boss is a complicated man,” Claude replies,

“There’s isn’t much to figure out with the rings, all you need to do is approach someone with the intent to fight, flow your magic through the ring and well you know the rest,”

“Good to know,” Lyra smiles menacingly at Karina and I, clasping the ring,

(Note to self, do not cross Lyra from now on)

“So, the mayor, you say, imbues his own magic to every single ring?” Karina questions

“Mhm,

He is a ‘crazy so his magic type is different,”

“What do you mean by a crazy?”

“People with evolved magic obviously,”

….

We all give each other the same intrigued look,

…

“Elaborate on that for us?” Pinoki presses

“Having evolved magic is extremely rare, only a small percent of all people have it,” Claude explains,

“And it just so happens that every single person who has is a psycho,

I heard it’s because the process of changing your magic type requires you to be driven into insanity,”

“What if I my magic evolved twice?” Karina asks theoretically,

“Then the order would already, had you locked up in their asylum

The last time we let a ‘crazy’ roam free, they caused havoc throughout the city,”

“I don’t like you calling people with evolved magic crazy,” Lyra states sternly,

“Would you like me to call them what they really are then?” Claude replies sassily

“Monsters.”

“My magic is evolved,” the hot-headed girl blurts,

“Are you going to start calling me crazy?

Calling us monsters!?”

….Claude gasps, taken aback, even his quiet sister, gasps loudly,

“Are all of you?-”

“-I don’t know who teaches you your magic theory, here,” Karina lazily interjects before the boy starts jumping to conclusions,

“-But in Soterra where we are from, magic theory is much more advanced,

You don’t go crazy because your magic has evolved,

Magic changes because of a drastic shift in your overall mental state, it just so happens that most people who experience traumatising things that drive them insane, evolves their magic,

Their magic is only but a result of the change, not the cause”

“Is that true? I never heard of that before,”

“That’s because Soterra isn’t a sharing kingdom, most advancements we’ve made with magic still only exists within the city’s walls,

None of us, for the most part, is insane…

Lyra is a bit unchanged though,” Karina not being able to resist jabbing at the girl,

“Funny coming from you,” Lyra snaps back,

“No, it isn’t, I am perfectly sane my dear Lyra,”

“Speak for yourselves,” Apollo joining the conversation,

“I still have regular lightning magic,”

“Ha! I never thought I would see the the day where Apollo is boasting that his magic is still basic,” Pinoki remarks,

“I vaguely remember when you used to be upset that your magic did not change,”

“Hmm, well, that was before I knew that it just meant I was still sane person,”

“Okay, boast as much as you want, Apollo,

I still suspect that you are just hiding your true attribute” Pinoki grouses

“Not chance, who do you think I am, Kage?”

“Why am I always mentioned in everyone’s arguments?”

“Easy target.” both Apollo and Pinoki respond simultaneously,

……

“If you evolved your magic by not going insane, then how did you do it?” Claude now gone from alarmed to intrigued,

“Let’s just say we had some harrowing….

Yeah, that’s a good word,

Some harrowing experiences we had,” Karina trying to be as vague as possible,

“Well except for Kage,” Lyra adds,

“He has magic I think, but no attribute,”

“No attribute!” Claude exclaims,

Gadump!

A body trips over falling through the open doorway,

“Saito?” Claude identifies the body,

“Were you spying on us?”

“Of course not,

Silly of you to ask Claude,” the burly young man picking himself up,

“I was err, coming down here to the training room to, err, practise some, err battle techniques,”

“Don’t give me that obvious lie Saito, all you do is play music and laze around all day,”

“How would you know?

Are you spying on me Claude?” The heavy-set young man trying to flip the situation,

(This is the person responsible for the music?)

“Soo~ I was on my way in, and I happened to hear that someone didn’t have an attribute?” He quizzes,

“You are referring to me, is that why you were spying on us?” I confront him,

“Pssschh! I already said I was not spying, Kage, drop it,”

“How do you know my name? We never met before.”

……

“Fight me,”

“Huh? That arbitrary,”

“Why does he keep doing this,” I hear Claude groan from behind me,

“You heard me, random stranger whose name I don’t know,

Just a little spar,” Saito says with instigating intent

“I am so confused right now,” I whisper to Lyra

“Then fight him, simple,” the girl whispers back,

...“Come on,” Saito still challenging

“I know you don’t have an attribute, so I won’t hurt you,

Much,”

“You can’t just suddenly challenge a person like that,

“Can you?” I look at Claude for affirmation, he nods his head,

“There is no law against it,”

“Huhh” I sigh,

(What is this guy’s problem)

“Ok random person who has gone from spying on us, to asking me to battle,

I accept your challenge,”