Like any other day, the morning sun was shining high above the ground. Under this mild sun, two beings were facing each other. But the glances exchanged were not as simple as it seemed, both were arch enemies.

While the young boy was nervous, his opponent was the complete opposite, he seemed completely calm.

He maintained an erect posture as he puffed out his chest majestically. He just stared disdainfully at the young boy, as if to say, 'I'm in charge here’.

The more they stared at each other, the more the boy felt the fear inside him grow. He felt as if the round, marble-like eyes of his enemy were piercing his soul.

The boy's legs were shaking, and his body was completely tense, but he couldn't back down now, he had a goal he needed to complete.

But at this moment, perhaps due to high confidence or simply an act of contempt, his enemy looked away.

Acting as if the boy wasn't there, he opened his stout beak and turned his long neck in the opposite direction. Acting calmly, he used his yellow beak to tuck in his bright red, majestic feathers.

Knowing that this was a good opportunity, the boy decided that in addition to completing his goal, he needed to take revenge for his defeat last time.

"Stop!" A juvenile voice shouted. "Don't do that!"

Recognizing the voice, the boy  looked over to where the scream came from. On the other side of the fence was a black-haired girl who appeared to be 10 years old.

As she approached the fence of the barnyard the boy was in, he noticed the worried look on her face.

"You don't have to do that, if you continue, you'll only get hurt," The girl said.

"But..." Even though he knew she only wanted his good, the boy was reluctant to give up.

"You're still a child, you don't need to be strong now, so why not let it go?" The girl asked.

She was someone he had a lot of affection for, and he knew that she thinks of him with the same appreciation. Because of this, seeing how worried she was, the young boy thought about giving up.

But at this moment, another juvenile voice came up a little distant.

"Fran, don't be so protective, if you keep this up, he'll never grow up."

A girl who appeared to be the same age as Fran had been approaching with two other boys of similar ages.

"I know, Maria, but I don't think he needs to do that now," Fran turned to the girl. "I don't want him to get hurt."

"Of course he needs to do it," one of the boys said. "If he wants to be a strong warrior, he has to be able to at least defeat Franklin."

"I support what Tod said," With a carefree voice, the other boy moved closer to the fence. "If anything happens, we'll help him."

As he received support from his friends, the boy knew he could no longer give up.

"I need to do this!" The boy tried to speak firmly, but all that came out was an unreliable, shaky voice.

Even though he was only 8 years old, he had many dreams to fulfill, he knew that this would be a hard road. But if he were always to give up in front of a difficult obstacle, he would never be able to accomplish them.

"Then let me help you."

Still worried, Fran went to the fence gate.

"No, if you help me, then it won't do any good."

Even against the boy's will, Fran still went into the barnyard fence and stated that she would stay there just in case he needed her. With the care and support of his friends, the young boy felt invigorated and even more motivated towards his goal.

Looking again at his enemy, the boy firmly clutched the piece of stick in his hands. Taking a deep breath, he tried to calm his trembling legs as he prepared for an assault.

Without letting a single movement of his enemy go unnoticed, the opportunity to attack soon arose.

Taking advantage of the fact that his opponent turned his back on him, the young boy immediately rushed against him.

Taking position to launch a side blow with the stick, he exerted as much strength as he could in his thin arms and landed the blow.

But just as he was about to hit, his enemy swerved nimbly by jumping to the side.

With an irritated cackle, he looked at the boy and spread his wings menacingly.

Even if he didn't understand the rooster's actions, the young boy knew that it was angry, and from his previous experience, that wasn’t a good thing.

As he had already failed in his attack, the boy wanted to run, but it was already too late.

Flapping its wings, the rooster jumped high and flew toward the boy ready to hit him with its sharp claws.

Unable to react to the rapid onslaught, all the boy could do was watch the sharp beak approach as he screamed in desperation.

***

Jumping out of bed, Sian stood while looking from side to side with a gasping breath.

'Shit, to think I would dream about the past after all this time. To make matters worse, it was a dream about that damn chicken...'

“Did something happen?" Ophilia asked with a sleepy expression.

Pulling himself together, Sian answered, "I had a bad dream..."

"Do you want to tell me what it was about? It might make you feel better."

"It was nothing, just a little scare..."

'There is no way I am going to tell her that I got beaten by a rooster and needed Fran to save me.'

Sian thought as he went back to bed.

"Le me hug Daddy."

Only after hearing Emily's sleepy voice did Sian realize that she had woken up too.

As she slept between him and Ophilia, she was beside him. With her little eyes partially open, she crawled under the blanket and climbed onto Sian's chest.

As if wanting to comfort Sian, she hugged him and mumbled a few incomprehensible words before returning to sleep on him.

Hugging them both, Ophilia kissed them on the cheek and propped her head on Sian's shoulder.

"She's a pretty smart little girl for her age." Illianna murmured from the adjacent bed.

"Did you wake up too?" Sian asked.

"With you screaming, it was impossible for me not to wake up," she promptly answered.

***

"Hey, what's going on with you today?" Illianna questioned Sian.

Even though the sun had just risen, Sian, Illianna and the three workers had already begun their daily routines on the construction site.

"Are you talking about my new hairstyle?" Looking distracted, Sian ran his hand through his side parted hair. "I asked Ophilia to fix my hair. I thought that since I wanted to change my way of life, I should change my hairstyle too."

"It sure is strange when someone wild like you dresses up looking so polite, but that's not what I'm talking about," Illianna said. "You are acting strange today."

"I'm normal, I guess..." Sian replied with a vacant look.

"No, you're not normal," Illianna knitted her eyebrows. "You are emitting a strange feeling today. It's as if you have your mind elsewhere, it's affecting your work speed."

"Even if you say so, I don't feel like I'm that different from normal."

"You are," Illianna pointed to the floor that Sian was raising in one of the rooms on the top floor of the basement. "Normally, you would have done this by now, but today you are several times slower."

Pondering briefly, Sian stopped what he was doing, "Well-"

"Don't stop, our time is precious," Illianna scolded him. "Speak while you work."

Resuming his work, Sian said in a low voice.

"How can I say it, err, I feel that last night I lost half of the virility I accumulated during my 25 years of life."

Appearing not to understand, Illianna urged Sian to continue.

Not wanting to risk anyone else hearing, Sian muttered as low as he could, but-

"I couldn't understand anything, speak louder," she complained.

"I moaned..." Sian spoke a little louder than before.

"What does your moan have to do with you being working inefficiently?" Illianna looked at him in confusion.

"Well, it turns out that when I was in bed with Ophilia last night, I moaned." Lowering the volume of his voice, he continued, "I moaned a lot and loudly..."

"It was just that?" Illianna frowned. "Are you insecure about your manhood?"

“No!” Sian promptly denied. "... Well... I mean, I guess not... But on second thought, maybe?..."

"I don't see anything major about it," Illianna said in an indifferent tone. "It's normal to moan during sex-"

"Shhh!" Sian put his hand over Illianna's mouth. "Keep your voice down or those guys will hear."

After Illianna did a short therapy session to deal with Sian's insecurities, she immediately got him back to work. Even though he didn't want to, Sian had to admit that talking with Illianna helped him feel better.

***

While they were immersed in their work, time passed quickly, and it was almost time for breakfast.

Taking a break to prepare the food, Sian noticed that Fran and Tina were already there, waiting under the tree where the table was. Unlike their tattered clothes from yesterday, today they were wearing something unpatched.

Although Sian had given them money and told them to buy good quality clothes, what they were both wearing now, had no other word to describe it than simple and without much detail.

Since he knew how stubborn Fran could be, he decided not to say anything about it. After he had compressed them, he just started to prepare breakfast. In the meantime, Ophilia and Emily also arrived.

After a quick meal, Sian began the second part of the magic class he had started the day before.