The sun rose over the town of Whistlefreid, as a new morning had arrived for Orin and Daron. Orin woke up, put on his clothes that he had neatly folded before going to bed, except for his jacket, which hung on a coatrack by the door. He then started to do his morning exercise routine to properly wake himself.
His routine consisted of pushups, situps, stretches and throwing a pillow in Daron's face to wake him up as well. Daron was hit right on the nose by Orin's pillow and got out of bed.
"Mornin'."
"Good morning, Dara."
"Can ya stop throwin' the damn pillow at me every mornin'? I'd prefer wakin' up comfy, not suffocatin'!"
"If I do not, then you will just sleep until dawn. And every time I have tried to shake you until you wake up, you try to bite my arm."
"Fair 'nough. So, then… Should we go find someone ta teach us howta build that house?"
"I think the first thing to do would be for you to get dressed."
"Yeah, I was 'bout to."
Daron put on his clothes. The two of them sat down; Daron on his bed and Orin on the chair.
"Before we go, We gotta eat somethin'. I'm starvin' over here!"
"You are always hungry, Dara. Sometimes I believe that mouth of yours is cursed."
"Now what makes ya say that, Ora? Ya just jealous of my amazin' chompers?"
"That is rich coming from the one who is jealous of my starry right eye."
"Alright, calm down there, Black Star! Why'd I wanna have that eye o' yers when all it does's make ya tweak out every now'n again?"
Both of them stared intensely at each other for a minute.
"Heh."
"Heh."
They looked at each other with seemingly serious expressions for a solid ten seconds before laughing harder than they had in a long time.
"Now, let us go wake up master and get some breakfast."
As Orin was walking toward the coat rack that hung on the wall, a knock was heard from the door; followed by Cassandra's voice.
"Actually… Both of us have already been up a while. You're the ones who took too long getting up. Now come on, morons! I'm starving!"
Orin looked surprised
"Took too long? How long did it take us to get up?"
Michael's voice was heard from behind them, outside the window. He stood there, holding a pocket watch that showed the time was a quarter past ten in the morning.
"Damn, guess them beds're just too good, huh? Guess it makes sense when we've almost only used those old sleepin' bags for seven years."
"You kids have been using old sleeping bags since you were seven years old? How did you manage to fit in those things?"
"Well, master… To say it in the most simple way I can… We stopped fitting in those when we were nine."
Daron gave Orin a hard pat on the shoulder.
"It was nothin' though! We've managed to get this far by foot while bein' able ta study my old man's old books and learn some bits o' magic all by ourselves!"
"While it's true your feats of survival are impressive, you still shouldn't consider your level of development in magic anything special. I did see some mediocre evocation skills from you, Daron, it was still something that a normal, talentless mage can do after four years of learning at a normal mage academy. Of course, when you train with me, four years' worth can be done in half a year, right, Cass?"
Silence came from Cassandra, as she was still outside the room, behind a locked door. Daron unlocked the door and opened it for her. She walked in and gave all of them an annoyed look.
"Hm!! Yes, I suppose I did accomplish a lot during those four years, master Mike. Took me half a year to complete the physical training, another half to master the basics, and a whole year after that to complete my first spell."
"It only took ya two years to make yer first spell. I couldn't start makin' those spheres 'o mine 'til a year ago. Impressive!"
Cassandra blushed slightly, as she was not used to compliments from people her age, especially not boys. She smiled at Daron and snapped her fingers to point at Michael in the window.
"Master Mike, can we finally get some breakfast!? We spent too long waiting for these slowpokes and I've grown tired of playing solitaire!"
Daron's attention suddenly spiked, intrigued at what Cassandra had said.
"Solitaire!!??"
"Dara, I am warning you. Do not…"
Daron growled lightly at Orin and went to put on his coat.
"C'mon, let's get some food!"
Orin put on his jacket and they all went to the hall in the same inn they slept in. There were many tables and several people sitting there, eating, drinking and gambling. Behind the counter at the inn was the innkeeper, a scrawny and pale young man pouring drinks and a burly, older man seeming to be cooking some food.
Michael pointed at an empty table and gestured for the three of them to sit down as he walked to the counter. They walked over to the table and sat down on a chair each. Michael sat down with them right after. He looked at Orin and Daron and started talking about the month that was to come.
"Alright, you boys need to listen to me, because I'm only going to say this once. In aproximately one month from now, I have some specific expectations for the two of you that you will need to meet for your training to go as planned. The requirements will be unknown until the month is over, but when the house is done, Cass will be teaching you some basics of mana control."
Orin scratched his chin as he pondered on what Michael said for a few seconds.
"You told us the house should be done in a week, and now you are telling us this? There is no way two fourteen-year-olds can build a house in a week but the longer it takes, the less time we have to practice mana before we have to meet this requirement you speak of."
"That's right! So I'd recommend that the two of you get back to work as soon as possible so you can start some more training. And so I don't have to keep dropping cold hard cash on an inn instead of cozing in my ondol-heated lodge."
Suddenly, a pale, young woman came to their table and put down a plate with a sandwich for each of them. The sandwiches were made up of rye bread, pork and lettuce, except Michael's sandwich was made with brioche bread and steak with melted brie cheese, a few slices of bacon and lettuce.
Orin looked Daron in the eyes and gave him a nod. Daron met his nod with a nod of his own and they both stood up and bolted away from the table and out the door, taking their own sandwiches with them. They looked around themselves, trying to see if they could see any workshops, though not one did they find.
Daron ran in a random direction and noticed something strange. He appeared to be running faster than he normally would. He thought nothing of it and kept running, glancing at every building. Eventually, he noticed a hut close to the outskirts with many logs, planks and other materials outside.
He ran back to where he had ran from Orin to tell him. Orin saw him running toward him again and ran toward him. Even though Daron appeared to be faster than before, Orin was still faster than him and seemingly flashed over to Daron's face.
"Why did you suddenly run off, Dara?"
"I found it, Ora! I found out where we can learn somethin' 'bout buildin' that house."
"Then do not keep me waiting. We must finish it as fast as possible. Lead the way, brother."
The two of them ran to the hut together, with Daron leading the way. Eventually, they reached the front door of the hut and Daron knocked on it. hey both stood still for a few seconds as they heard the sound of hammering calming down as the sound of footsteps approached the door.
The door opened and on the other side was a burly man with long, brown hair tied in a knot and a mustache most adults would describe as dandy. He looked down at the two fourteen-year-olds that had knocked on his door.
"Did Bo send you? I knew his standards were low, but not that he'd hire children to do his bidding."
"Who is this Bo you are speaking of? We only wish to learn some of the basics of construction from you."
The burly man was taken aback by Orin's statement, but looked slightly relieved.
"You want me to teach you construction? Why would you want that and why would I teach you?"
"We're tryin' ta build a house, but the wind keeps screwin' it up fer us. We need yer help in teachin' us how ta do it. But you can only teach us, we hafta build the whole thing ourselves."
The man stood in silence for a few seconds and looked around. He took a deep inhale and sighed to himself.
"Fine, but I'm only going to teach you some basics, because I'm in a bit of a hurry."
Orin gave a respecful bow of gratitude to the burly man.
"Thank you so much, good sir. You are most kind to allow us to learn from you."
The man walked back into the house and the two followed after. They walked to an empty workbench and the man gave them a book to read about basic construction.
"Read chapters one through six. That'll teach you what you should know to build a house."
He walked over to a different part of the hut and seemingly started to put together parts of swords to make finished ones. They started reading and ended up finishing the first six chapters, that normally would have taken an average reader two hours to properly understand, in twenty minutes.
After another ten minutes, the burly man went to check on them to see their progress, only to find them drawing sketches, taking notes and planning the foundation of the house. He looked at their sketches and saw that they were nowhere near professional standards, but were too good to have been made by someone who just started reading.
"Alright, what's up with the two of you? There's no way you learned all that just from reading for a few minutes. Talent like that for studies just doesn't happen! I should have known not to trust you when I saw that eye of yours!"
Orin looked the man in the eyes and his star eye seemed to be slightly blackening.
"There is no need to be rude. We do understand your confusion, but let us explain. This eye of mine has been a curse since birth, but it has allowed me to read and understand what I see inhumanly quickly."
"And though I can't really justify why I Learned it so fast, I always feel as if I study better when I'm studying with m'bro."
The man looked ashamed as he started apologizing.
"I am so incredibly sorry. I've just been so incredibly paranoid these last couple of months. I shouldn't have yelled at two children like that."
"Is it 'cause o' that 'Bo' fella ya mentioned earlier?"
"Yes, it is. He's been forcing me to make weapons and sell them to him while he's been keeping my family away from me for months. He gave me a quota of two thousand gold pieces worth of weapons and I'm only at seven hundred and fiftysix. he even told me that if I refused, he would bring my wife and daughters here to execute me in front of them."
He started to sob as he sat down on the floor. He looked at the boys that now looked down at him.
"Worry not. We will gladly take care of the whole Bo situation for you."
"Why would you do such a thing after what I said to you."
Daron patted him on the shoulder.
"We've dealt with that kinda loss before. We watched our families get butchered in front of us when we were seven. I even saw my sister…"
Tears started flowing uncontrollably from both Daron and Orin's eyes as Daron stopped speaking.
"What Daron is trying to say now is that we do not want anyone to experience what we did. Ever since what happened to us, we have been out for revenge. We will free you of your slavery and we will see to it that your family is safe."
"But how will you do that? You're just two kids."
"All I need is a blade to fight with. I had a knife, but it broke yesterday."
The burly man stood up and wiped his tears away.
"If it's a sword you need, then it's a sword you'll get. What kind do you need? I have several."
"I need something light. That is what I am used to and I much prefer fencing rather than fighting with bigger swords."
"Then I think I know what sword to give you. Let me go fetch it for you. And what do you need, a sword of your own?"
"Nah, just gimme some throwin' knive if ya got some."
"Luckily for you, I have a whole box of throwing knives I like to make out of spare metal."
He fetched a box of throwing knives that Daron put into every inner pocket in his jacket. He seemed to be able to fit about twenty knives. He also put one in each of his outer pockets to be able to use immediately.
Before the man could go get a sword for Orin, a loud knock struck the door. Orin looked at the man with a serious expression.
"Is that him?"
"Probably not. He normally just sends some henchmen to do his job. It's probably best if you hide, just in case it's them."
Orin and Daron gave him a nod and both hid behind a workbench and some crates. They were unable to hear most of what they were saying, but they saw a tall man, brawnier than the man they were with punch him in the jaw. The man fell on the floor.
The taller man walked up to the man who lay on the floor, cracking his knuckles.
"That's what happens when you don't meet quota. Got it? Now you're done for. I'll have Bo make the arrangements to have your family sent here by the next week."
Daron suddenly jumped over the bench and threw two knives at the taller man. Both knives hit him in his right shoulder.
"Argh, damn it!"
Daron now stood between the two men, hands raised in a guard and five orbs floating around his right hand. Orin quickly scouted the room and saw a sword hanging above the fireplace where the man forged swords. He ran over to it to grab it and flashed over to Daron.
The sword was a rapier with a triangular blade. The handguard seemed to have carvings of a crow on it with a strange insignia carved next to it.
"Dara…"
"Whassup?"
"This man has pissed me off…"
Daron suddenly grew worried from hearing Orin's sudden change in speach.
"You don't normally speak like that, bro. Don't tell me you're gonna try 'that' again!"
"…"
"Very well, then. I'll keep my distance and I'll try my best to snap ya out of it."
"Thank you"
The tall man tried to punch Orin. The punch was too fast for Orin to see. He flew back several meters from the impact. Suddenly, he felt a weird sensation in his right eye. Everything turned completely white and he felt like he was seeing things.
Orin saw a grassy field with an older man standing there, with a fancy, spectral sword in hand. On a closer glance, he saw that the man in the field's face was similar to Orin's, with both eyes identical to his own right one.
His vision faded back to normal. He charged at the man, sword in hand. The man moved to punch him again, but Orin suddenly felt the passage of time slowing down. This time, he saw the man in the field at the same time as everything else. As the punch flew toward Orin, he could see the man in the field move down and to the right, thrusting his blade up to the left.
Orin did not know what to do, so he attempted to replicate what he saw, and he was able to dodge the punch while thrusting the sword into the same shoulder Daron had injured. The tall man stopped what he was doing and clenched his shoulder from pain.
Daron walked up to him and punched him in the gut with all the force he could muster up. The spheres flew into him and he flew onto the streets of Whistlefreid. The tall man struggled to get up and ran off, and the boys walked back to the man to check on him.
He looked at them and gave a faint smile.
"You really helped me out there. Thank you."
"There is no need to thank us yet. It seems they are planning on executing you now. We will take care of that problem when it occurs, so we will be checking on you again in a few days. But before that, we must start building that house."
"If you're still dead set on building a house alone, I'll help out as much as I can. I'll let you borrow my construction tools. All I do nowadays is just blacksmithing anyway. I'll also let you hold on to that sword and those knives for as long as you like. That sword was a gift from a dear friend of mine, but I think it'll do more good for an aspiring mage like you."
"Thank you so much sir. By the way, you never gave us your name."
"You're right. How could I forget? It's Richard. Richard Hicks, at your service when you need it!"