"An elven rune?" spoke Ceres, currently hidden behind a disguise. Intrigue gripped her heart, facing knowledge she had not seen before. The reason why she travels the whole world, even this place, months away from her home, was all for that. Learning more. She had to know more. Beneath her mask, if the boy could see, a sense of sadness and longing would be the face that she currently wore.

She soon got up from her seat and approached the kneeling boy.

"Why did you come here boy? That book you ask for, there are only three of them in the world. For that rune, I will spare your life, but what you desire, I do not have."

As Ceres neared, Sylas stood up slowly. He took a deep breath and looked at the ceiling.

At this point, Ceres stood right in front of Sylas.

"Teach me wind wall and I'll be on my way."

"That's it?" Ceres said, tilting her head. Placing a hand on top of Sylas' head, energy gathered followed by a ring.

[You have learned wind wall.]

[Wind wall: Momentarily release a wall of wind in front of you. (cooldown - 10s)]

Only a high level mage could teach low-level spells directly and wind wall was a rare, but overall weak spell, not commonly taught.

"With this, we're equal." Said Ceres, gently passing by Sylas, reaching for the door behind. Before opening it to let her guest out, she asked her last question:

"If you want more, tell me. Where did you fi!-"

Suddenly, Ceres' eyes opened wide.

"You dare!"

She shouted, one hand rising as Sylas ran towards her desk. Within the blink of an eye, a complex pattern appeared before her outstretched limb.

As Sylas ran, he put down his hood, glancing back only once, his golden eyes glimmering with conviction within his shadowed face.

As he saw Ceres conjuring up a familiar shape, a smile bloomed despite his nervousness. Without thinking, one of his arms swept over the desk while the other shot out and aimed beneath the window. Surges of wild energy caused waves to form in Ceres' fabric, reflecting her anger, blowing away papers and decorations placed in the luxurious room.

A ball of flame roared out of Sylas' hand and just moments later, the deafening sound of load thunder rippled through the room. Sylas held his breath as he reacted by diving towards the window and dancing blaze beneath it, slightly before the figure clad in white had released a natural disaster before him. Light enveloped Sylas' view, slipping through the arms that now protected his temples and skull, in an almost similar position to that of a boxer.

"Impossible..." Muttered Ceres with widened eyes, the sound of breaking glass entering her ears.

"He jumped exactly where the spell's weak spot lied?"

A backdraft sucked into the room, explosively feeding the flames. Translucent energy formed protecting Ceres, while she quickly flooded the room with water. When the flames died, she rapidly strode to the window with heavy steps, but all that met her gaze were scattering crowds avoiding the commotion... The boy that had recklessly jumped through, blending within the crowds.

"Gaurds..." Ceres called, this time not disguised, with the sound of a beauty contrary to one used when speaking to Sylas. On a tall throne she sat, far away from the luxurious room in the lawless zone, golden locks flowing down her shoulders, her blue eyes narrowing to small windows. "If you ever meet someone with these looks, bring them to me..." She muttered to someone near her. "He stole one of my research papers..."

The scenes from before played in her head. Questions popped up one after another. How did he find me? Where did a poor commoner learn to read? The spell's weak point and that rune...

***

I jumped from a deadly distance down a perilous drop. Behind me, flames fed on oxygen rapidly filled Ceres' room. Shards of glass flew in all directions as I stupidly crashed through glass.

With a racing heart, the ground neared ever so closer, winds swirled around me with my hair dancing and clothes fluttering. The only way to survive... It has to be timed perfectly.

Crowds below were in an uproar at hearing the sound of explosions. As I fell, a deep breath calmed me. While hugging stolen goods, I cast the wind wall spell, as done multiple times before in third person. But this time, there was no screen to comfort.

Closing my eyes shut, winds blew in front of me. With a speeding heart, the next feeling startled me. The touch of hard cold stones.

Everything, all emotion, slowly faded. Safety. My eyes widened, the wind had cushioned my landing perfectly. A truly reckless act nobody in this world would dare. Rapidly standing up and moving, I became part of the crowd. I had disappeared, hyperventilating from elation, laughs simultaneously escaped beneath my breath.

Stealing Ceres' research was an option that could raise one of your random stats and give you a skill or stat depending on its contents. Since things hadn't gone as planned, taking action, despite its repercussions, was for the best. Ceres' clones varied in power, the less important she deemed an area, the weaker a replica she stationed, which worked in my favor here.

Bridges had been burned now, visiting her in the future was out of the question.

***

Having finished business with the elf, I had moved towards a street very near to the ominous city walls. One of my rings had been traded for rations and food. Traveling outside on your own was normally out of the question, a weak mage couldn't amount to much in this area, but it should be doable for me who knows the terrain. There is an official city gate, but going through parts of broken black walls was a better option, since I wanted to avoid prying eyes. Looking around, there were warriors and mages who seemed to have a similar idea to mine. Having walked all day, I decided to stand in a quiet spot at the side of a building, below an offshoot that cast a cooling shade.

There were many kinds of passersby walking the streets. In beautiful robes, those of mages and warriors with sharp blades resting on their backs or sides. Both male and female. While looking, someone entered my view, turning my eyes round at the sight. There's no way.

It was a youth with short, slicked back, ocean-colored cyan hair and matching set of sharp eyes. He wore expertly crafted light armor and a sheathed sword decorated his side. Yet, despite carrying the equipment of a warrior, he looked skinny. The only thing he seemed to have going for him was his tallness and strong frame, a vessel with potential, currently empty. His looks clearly revealed that he'd grown up and eaten well until now, missing the skinny-look and hopeless luster the children from the poor district had.

Out of place; not from around, and everyone could sense it. The boy turned his head everywhere, scanning his filthy environment. Sometimes slivers of disgust mixed with bewilderment could be seen. Eyes were drawn to him as much as his were to the surroundings, but only I seemed to recognize his true identity. The son of a high-ranking human noble family; one of mages. Learning the sword went against all that they stood for, so nobody would believe that one of their sons carried a sword in the middle of nowhere.

It was an antagonist. He had ran away from his family, in the early stages of the story, not wanting to turn into a mage as his family so wished. His family, including a doting sister who later joins the main character, should be currently looking for him. Theories floated around on where he'd fled, a high-ranking noble family had their talons all over, so there were few, but still enough options. But who knew he came here? He must've recently arrived judging by his expression.

I wasn't the only one who's gaze landed on the noble, and trouble brewed ever so slowly. On the other side of the street, my eyes briefly locked with a bunch of mean looking armed thugs', their intentions clear. Should I leave it be? Getting tangled up with a noble wouldn't do me any good. But before I could make up my mind, the boy in question appeared right before me to break my momentary daze.

"Hey." he said with his blue eyes meeting mine "You seem to know your way around, would you mind bringing me to the noble district?" He questioned while secretly showing me a small pouch.

The noble district? Does this guy not know? A smile, one of helplessness bloomed on my lips as I shook my head.

"First, tell me your name."

"Ion" the boy answered.

"Sylas" I replied back, continuing with a serious look "Do you want to seek refuge among vampires and demons?"

The boy's expression seemed to shatter at my question, even though he tried hard to keep it together. With slightly shaking hands, he showed me a ring. A spatial ring? It could store items without physically having to carry them. An extremely rare item for most my level.

"You mages do business this way right? Give and take. Bring me to safety." He said with a pain tinged voice, exclaiming the word "mage".

My golden eyes momentarily followed his hands, only to land back at the boy's face, now growing in nervousness. I took off my cloak and threw it to the boy. He seemed to understand as he stiffly nodded and donned it.

"Good, you feel fear; now you know where to go." I said, in an effort to calm him, as my pace slowly hastened into a run. But Ion seemed to be stunned.

Because I, a mage you hate, had repeated the words the sword saint had told you.

"Move!" I said once more, which woke Ion into movement, as we both ran into the alleys.