"Well, Lord Nura gave it to me, himself. I got an explanation about them so you're better off just giving it back to me." Xylus answered. Xylus sat there awkwardly waiting for her to respond.

  It seemed like Gwendolyn and the others were staring at him, sinking in the information, but Gwendolyn, Tyrian and Amara were basically making sure he wasn't lying. Little did Xylus know, the way he worded it made it sound like a truth.

  "It checks out." Tyrian told Gwendolyn. Gwendolyn sighed and moved over to the boy, handing him the dagger. Victor's hand intercepted the exchange.

  "Can I see it for a moment?" Victor asked. Gwendolyn looked at Xylus, waiting for him to say something.

  "I guess." Xylus shrugged. He retracted his hand and watched Gwendolyn hand it off to Victor. Victor studied the dagger for a while, mumbling to himself.

  "You got this as a gift from your god?" Victor asked after a brief moment of silence.

  "Yes, sir." Xylus nodded.

  "Interesting." Victor nodded. He handed the dagger back to Xylus. The boy held it up, taking a closer look at it.

  'I wonder what these will do if I have them on me.' Xylus asked.

  [Dagger of Shadowbane

  Dual-wield Daggers

  Current Bonus(es):

  Dex +1

  Note: Xylus must equip the daggers to gain bonus stats.*]

  'How do I equip them?' Xylus asked. A pop-up came up for Xylus.

  [Xylus has requested the System to equip Daggers of Shadowbane. Would you like to proceed with this?]

  "What happens if I need them?" Xylus asked aloud.

  "What do you mean by that?" Amara asked. Xylus looked up, embarrassed.

  'Equip and make this disappear.' Xylus thought.

  [Daggers of Shadowbane have been equipped. If you would like to summon them, call them by their name. Otherwise, leaving them on your person works as well.]

  The dagger billowed in smoke. The group raised their eyebrows in surprise.

  "Well… nothing. I was just thinking to myself and said it aloud." Xylus awkwardly chuckled.

  "Well, is there anything else we need to discuss?" Victor asked, standing.

  "Father Westhall asked me to give you this letter. He said 'your eyes only.'" Tyrian pulled a parchment paper out and handed it to Victor.

  "Let me check on the food." Victor nodded, taking the letter. He went to check the food, skimming through the contents of the letter. When he came back, he took his seat and nodded.

  "Father Westhall personally requests this?" Victor asked.

  "Yes." Gwendolyn nodded.

  "He would entrust me, an exile, with the Dark Shade?" He raised his eyebrows. He couldn't believe they would actually give him that opportunity.

  "Your reputation is well known in Myst Crevice when it comes to the Academy." Tyrian spoke. "Not everyone knows you're an exile of the Order." Gwendolyn and Amara nodded. It was true, nobody outside of the Order of Palia's Light knew he was exiled. It just looked like he retired from the Order and decided to dedicate his time to teaching the next generation.

  Victor sighed and slowly nodded. "Alright, if Father Westhall is putting this much on the table to have Xylus stay with me, I shall personally take the request."

  "You will?" Amara asked, surprised.

  "What? Shocked I would?" Victor raised his eyebrows. The three Order members nodded. He scoffed and wiped his mouth. "I guess I should've known you would all think of that with my history… But, I must merely take in the boy? Nothing else?"

  "Train him of course." Gwendolyn motioned at Xylus. Xylus looked at Victor, who was already looking at him. He was studying him, again.

  "You have his Rankings? Will he be able to keep up with me?" Victor asked. Tyrian nodded and pulled out Xylus' slate. He handed it over to Victor.

  "Interesting." Victor looked up from the slate. "You're quick on your feet?"

  "Mmm." Xylus nodded. "I guess so." He awkwardly smiled and rubbed the back of his head with his right hand.

  "Can I ask some questions about you, Xylus? We've been discussing the reason why you're coming to the Academy, but I'd like to get to know you. Since you did avoid my trap."

  "S-sure, Sir Victor." Xylus stuttered. Victor smiled.

  "You don't have to call me sir. I prefer mister over sir. I'm not a Templar anymore so no need for fancy titles."

  "Yes, Mr. Victor." Xylus gave a small bow.

  "So, can you tell me a bit about yourself?"

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  "What do you wanna know? I'm just a kid from the slums of Nessia in Wrystfall."

  "You grew up in the slums? What did you do to have quick reflexes? You dodged those logs just barely."

  "Well…" Xylus chuckled. He eyed the others and realized he would have to explain himself again. "My father isn't mentally well." He started. "So I have nobody to provide for me other than Uncle Tim. He's busy as a soldier so he can't watch me all the time. To get by I learned to be sneaky."

  "Sneaky?" Victor raised his eyebrows. Xylus nodded, smiling. The kid looked like he knew exactly what he was talking about, indifferent to if it was 'good' or 'bad.'

  "I started stealing clothes and food to get by. Nobody wanted to help one of the many kids in the slums. Uncle Tim says he didn't want to leave me in an orphanage where I would probably be treated just as harshly as I was with my father. He also didn't want father, his best friend in the whole wide world, to be out in jail because he was mentally unwell.

  "So I learned how to steal when I was old enough to run. I got into loads of trouble. I used to have scars every time I got beat but when I woke up today, all of my scars were gone. I got pretty good at maneuvering hard spaces and scaling buildings.

  "Recently, I stole a couple of days old bread. I wanted to have it with what little soup we had from the other day and was caught in the act. I was chased by merchants, flinging magic at me. Wind users followed me up to the top of a building and cornered me. That's when the Dark magic activated. It was weird how it activated though." Xylus explained.

  "Weird how?" Victor asked. It seemed like everyone in the cottage was attentive to his story. He didn't know it, but he was a great storyteller because of his previous life.

  "Well, I heard a voice." Xylus hesitantly answered. He didn't know if he would sound crazy or not. "He told me my time has come and then the next thing I knew, wind magic didn't cut my arms off! A wall of darkness had blocked the attack!" He made noises to go along with it. "And then after that, I ran home. My father ate the bread I brought for the both of us. Uncle Tim came to get me with a whole bunch of soldiers.

  "He told me Dark magic is forbidden and taboo. At least that's what I remembered learning about it. I'm a bit sad that all those people looked at me like I'm some monster…" Xylus' face began to soften. He felt sad about the whole ordeal, especially retelling the last part he didn't want to say aloud.

  "Uncle Tim didn't do anything for me. They all called me names. They said I was bad because I was a Dark Spawn. That I'm a devil spawn and I should just die…" He wiped away a tear. Even though he had an odd way of being cheery, he was still young. He didn't fully grasp how to deal with his emotions.

  Victor could see the kid was still a kid at heart. He had suffered so much and had to grow up quicker to stay alive. "Well, is that all?" Victor asked. Xylus nodded, wiping tears away. "Why don't we eat the stew I made? It's about done by now. All of you stay for dinner. It's the least I could do for you all."

  Xylus sat next to Victor and Tyrian. They all sat around the small table with a bowl of hot rabbit stew. Xylus licked his lips and was about to dig in when Victor spoke up.

  "Well, please dig in." Victor motioned.

  "Thank the gods for this meal." Tyrian, Gwendolyn and Amara all spoke before digging in. Xylus looked at Victor who put his hands together and gave a silent nod before looking at him.

  "Eat." Victor motioned. Xylus nodded and picked up the spoon and took a scoop of soup and rabbit meat. His eyes lit up and he stared to eat faster, burning his tongue as he tried to continue to eat.

  "Slow down, Xylus." Victor told him. "You don't have to fight for your food anymore. There's plenty for all of us and you if you want seconds." Xylus tried to slow down. He didn't understand how people could eat that slow. Maybe part of it was his 'slum-kid' background, but the food Victor made was divine. He hadn't ever had anything like that.

  "You want more?" Victor asked.

  "Y-yes, please!" Xylus' eyes lit up.

  "Gimme your bowl."

  Xylus lifted his bowl and Victor took in and refilled it.

  "Eat as much as you want. You'll need it to grow more. Tomorrow we start your training." Victor smiled.