It was already in the afternoon when Kalle walked his way back to the tavern, He felt the afternoon sunlight in his face. At this time of the day, the streets were almost empty he could only see a few travellers moving and some children noisily playing by the streets.

  His mind wandering with a single question: should he tell Gabriel about the spell?

  He knew it would be easier for him to keep it a secret, it would also prevent Gabriel from worrying much however he knew he couldn't hide it forever. Eventually someone would figure out the he have magic especially now that he would be attending Altair.

  Kalle was so lost in his thoughts that he bumped a man walking walking the opposite direction. Kalle immediately apologized but the man only narrowed his eyes before walking away.

  ‘You should tell Gabriel’ Victor said.

  The statement made Kalle halt his steps.

  “What?” Kalle replied.

  ‘You’re thinking about that aren’t you? You don’t seemed to be in your right self ever since we left the town center’ Victor explained.

  “Yes, that’s what I am thinking about, How did you know?” Kalle said, as he continued to walk again.

  ‘Well as I said you seemed to be distracted ever since we left the town center, in where you used the spell acquisition also, this man Gabriel seemed to be important to you’ Victor pointed out.

  “You’re right, Gabriel took care of me when my parents died”

  Victor was quiet for some time before finally replying.

  ‘He seemed to be a great guy’

  “He wasn’t" kale said with a half smile.

  ‘What?’

  “Atleast originally, he wasn’t what you would call a good guy, Based on the stories I heard when I was a kid, Gabriel was very irresponsible. ”

  “But when my parents… died” Kalle paused as if looking for the right words .

  “He turned to the most respectable person I know” Kalle still have the half smile in his face.

  Victor felt that the smile carried more grief that than it is in joy.

  ‘Is Gabriel a relative of yours?’ Victor asked.

  “He isn’t, he was my father’s closest friends or maybe his only true friend.” Kalle said.

  The statement confused Victor, he remembered Gabriel saying that the reason Kalle would be able to enter the academy with everything free is because of his father’s friend. He wanted to know what Kalle meant yet he didn’t want to intrude on Kalle so he keep himself silent.

  The walk took around ten minutes of akward silence before they have finally returned at the tavern. Kalle pushed the familiar door and felt the aroma of the food being cooked. When Kalle looked around the tavern, he found that it was extremely clean. When he looked at the counter he saw lyra cleaning the shelves. He moved closer and sat on the chair near the counter.

  “Hey, how did it go” lyra asked Kalle.

  “Fine”

  Lyra raised her brow, just like Gabriel, she could also tell if something was wrong with kalle. Ever since Kalle moved in with Gabriel, Lyra already become his friend, they were still small at that time, Lyra was nine and Kalle being ten.

  Lyra left the counter and took a seat near Kalle.

  “What’s the problem?” Lyra asked Kalle softly

  "It's nothing I'm just thinking" Kalle replied.

  Lyra looked at Kalle and sighed.

  "You know there always seemed to be something that is going around your head lately. You know you could talk to us about it or maybe talk to Gabriel atleast"

  Kalle chuckled softly, he thought that was the exact thing Victor told him.

  Suddenly they heard footsteps coming from the kitchen.

  Gabriel came out of the kitchen with a tray filled with Roasted chicken that is seemed to be for their dinner.

  "Talk about what" Gabriel said apparently hearing the conversation.

  Kalle looked at him for a short period of time before finally deciding.

  "I have something to tell you" When Kalle said this words, lyra stood up not wanting to interrupt the conversation of the two.

  "It's fine, you should stay" Kalle said to lyra.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Lyra stopped and decided to return to her chair, Gabriel also took a seat at the opposite side of the counter.

  With them all sitted, Kalle told them everything the necklace, Victor and the spell.

  The two remained silent waiting for Kalle to finish his story. When he was finally done, the face of the two both seemed to be equally surprised. Kalle would notice the widened eye of lyra and Gabriel's serious look.

  "Wait so you could use magic now?" Lyra said sounding happy for Kalle.

  "Those guys could also start searching for you" Gabriel said with a sigh.

  Gabriel then again looked at Kalle. He half expected Gabriel to scold him for intruding with others business but instead Gabriel don't seemed to be mad.

  "Just be careful, also are you sure you could trust that Victor? He was still inside your head, probably listening to our very conversation"

  'He's right, I'm listening, but only because I don't have a choice' Victor spoke.

  "Yeah he is listening but not because he wanted it, ever since I opened the book he seemed to be now stuck in my head" Kalle explained.

  "So there is nothing to be done" Gabriel let another sigh.

  "You would be early tomorrow, we should eat already. By the way what is the name of the two performers?" Gabriel asked.

  "Eli and Anthon winterheart" Kalle answered.

  The answer made Gabriel pause and raise his brow.

  "Why is there a problem?" Kalle asked.

  "No it's nothing, we should eat" Gabriel said as he set's up the table.

  The three of them ate, enjoying the food. Kalle almost have forgotten that he would be leaving for tomorrow, somehow he felt that he should enjoy their meal together.

  When they're finally done. They all cleaned the table and washed the dishes.

  Afterwards Kalle excused himself so he could get some rest.

  Gabriel nodded at him.

  Kalle moved upstairs, entering his room and laying straight to his bed.

  He somewhat felt relieved, he didn't want to keep anymore secrets. Kalle feeling light headed easily sleeps off.

  When Kalle woke up he saw that it was he saw that it was already dawn. He sits on his bed and stretches his arms. For the first time in a while he felt he just have a good night sleep.

  He cleaned him self and prepared everything he would need. When he got down the second floor he was already carrying everything that he would be bringing into his travel.

  When Kalle got down he saw Both Gabriel and Lyra sitting in their chairs with a table filled of breakfast Kalle took a seat in one of the chairs and nodded at Gabriel.

  "How was sleep" Gabriel asked.

  "Better than in a while" Kalle said now taking some of the meals into his plate.

  "You should eat a lot" Gabriel suggested.

  Kalle nodded.

  Kalle enjoyed the meal, he felt full. Kalle then drank a glass of water after his meal he felt the eye's of the two staring at him.

  "I would be fine" Kalle declared.

  "That won't make us worry less" Lyra explained.

  Suddenly Lyra stood up and hugged Kalle from where he was sitting, he could hear Lyra's quiet sobbing while hugging him. When lyra finally let go she looked as if she never sobbed which made Kalle smile.

  As Kalle stood up, Gabriel also got near him and hugged him tapping him in his shoulder. Kalle found it a good thing that Gabriel didn't use much force on hugging him as he would have a hard time breathing.

  After a short while Gabriel let go of Kalle.

  “You should take care” Kalle said.

  “We would” Gabriel said.

  They said their goodbyes and the two watched as Kalle left the tavern. Gabriel noticed that Kalle seemed to have a new found confidence. He isn’t sure if that is a good thing or not.

  Kalle felt refreshed, for the first time in a while he would be leaving the town. He isn’t sure if that is a good thing or not but with his spell acquisition he might be able to be a great magic user. He thought as he left the tavern, he has now walked pass the streets on his way to the town center which was their rendezvous with the siblings.

  When he arrived at the center of the town he saw the siblings; Eli and Anthon. He waved at the two, Kalle saw Anthon smiling widely at him.

  “You’re just on time, The carriage is about to arrive” Anthon said.

  “I still find it hard to believe that you have carriages and decides to perform in a small town like this one” Kalle said.

  Anthon shrugged.

  “It’s more of the passion rather the fortune really”

  The three-or perharps only Anthon and Kalle were having a idle chat while waiting for the carriage and as for Eli, she was just listening to the conversation while also waiting.

  When the carriage finally arrived, Kalle’s eyes widened at the sight. The carriage wasn’t anything he was expecting. It has a very lively Blue color and exterior with seemingly gold designs. Kalle half expected the carriage to be at first a normal carriage for commoners or for someone who is slightly wealthy but this is not what he saw, The carriage seemed to be for nobles and not the normal kind, it seemed to be for the high ranking nobles.

  A man got out of the carriage and bowed to Anthon in which Anthon nodded at. He asked Kalle to enter the Carriage along with Eli. After a short while Anthon joined them inside.

  Almost immediately the carriage starts moving at a faster rate than Kalle expected. Anthon and Eli sat beside each other while having Kalle infront of them.

  “So it was your first time in Altair?” Anthon asked.

  “In a while, I have been there as a kid.” Kalle explained.

  “Oh, that’s good to hear, although if I may suggest you should be careful, There are a lot of thieves there, even one was known as the phantom thief” Anthon explain.

  “Phantom thief?” Kalle asked Curiously.

  “Yes, there were rumours about a thief so good, that he doesn’t even have to wait till night to strike, as if the thief is the surrounded by shadows, same reason why no one was able to see the face of the said thief.”

  Kalle chuckled.

  “Don’t worry that wouldn’t be a problem.” Kalle said.

  Anthon tilted his head slightly at what Kalle said. Suddenly Anthon smiled once again as if having an idea.

  “Hey Kalle, have you ever played Kings tower?” Anthon asked.

  “Yeah, I play it when I was a kid, even now too actually, although I would say im not good at it”

  “How about we play?” Anthon said smiling.

  Kalle wondered how could they play.

  Anthon saw Kalle narrowed his eyes, he smiled once more.

  Suddenly a circle full of runes appeared at the floor of the carriage. Conjuring a table with some sort of pieces that was made out of ice. The pieces were lined up neatly in a eight by eight grid.

  ‘Wait is that… Chess?’ Victor asked sounding confused.

  Kalle didn’t answer, didn’t knew what chess was, he was only glad that the carriage was wide enough for the table.

  Curious, Kalle touched a piece that is also made out of ice yet for some reason it isn’t cold.

  Anthon once again smiled seeing Kalle’s interest.

  “Amazing right?”

  Kalle nodded.

  “Show off” Eli spoke with a snear, It was the first time she spoke ever since they got into the carriage.

  “Sounds like someone is insecure with their skill” Anthon said.

  This made Eli look sharply at Anthon. She stood up and took the seat besides Kalle so she could play against her brother.

  “Move” Eli said while looking fiercely at her brother.

  Eli's competitiveness took Kalle by surprise.

  Anthon hesitated before deciding which piece to move. Sure enough Eli Crushed Both Anthon and Kalle in the game. She seemed to take Anthon’s joke seriously as she wasn’t holding back. After some time she seemed tired of playing against the two. Allowing Kalle to now play against Anthon.

  Unlike playing against Eli where both of them gets equally destroyed, when they play against each other the fight was more long as if they have similar skill level. As the two continues to play Victor watched intently as he realized that the game called kings towers were the exact same of a game from his era called chess.

  That is how they spend their days travelling, stopping once a day to eat and also stopping at inns at night to rest. During the travel They passed various towns and cities Although uneventful, Kalle still enjoyed the company of the siblings he even felt himself improve at the game they are playing.

  The travel took six days, earlier than the expected seven days due to the carriage moving faster than usual.

  Anthon explained that this was because of his father’s urgency to reach home. When they finally arrived they said their farewells and dropped Kalle in a city called Solara, this is also the city where Altair academy is also located.

  When Kalle got out of the carriage he felt the cold breeze of air hit his face along with the morning sunlight. He watched the carriage as it disappears with the crowd.

  Kalle looked around him, He saw huge colorful houses, various stalls of goods and a huge fountain in the center of the town with a sculpture within it. The road was made with huge pieces of flatted rocks that were pleasant to the eye.

  ‘Amazing’ Victor said

  Kalle thought it too, it was not like the town he grew up on. This city looks as if there is a festive everyday. When he look around again he noticed figure of a tall building not too far from where he was. The building has three towers with one standing taller than the other two. Kalle figured out that is the Altair academy.

  Kalle decided to explore the city first since it’s still a little early and he also have plenty of time too.

  Kalle looked at the stalls there were various potions, tools even weapons depending on which stall you would look. Some sells food some services, voices of merchants who want their product to be purchased could be heard everywhere. There were a cluster of people within the streets and even in the road that it wouldn’t last a minute without kalle bumping into one or two fellow travellers, he once bumped a big man with a axe slung on his back, A hooded figure which kalle found strange and even a old man that has long robes and a staff.

  When Kalle finally decided that he did enough exploring he took a seat in a empty bench and spoke to Victor.

  “This place is massive”

  No repl

  y.

  Kalle just now realized that Victor was strangely quiet during his time wandering around.

  “Victor?” Kalle spoke again

  Still no reply.

  When Kalle looked at his arm, He widened his eyes as he saw that the bracelet was no longer there.