Adam woke up even before the light pierced through his windows. It was moments before dawn, and life was yet to wake, the world outside still held in a cold, grey grip. For the past two weeks, his days had settled into a steady, rhythmic routine that felt like the slow grinding of a millstone. He woke before sunrise. He trained for a while before breakfast, his body becoming a vessel for the quiet energy of the early hours. He had not told his parents or his Master about this morning mana stretch of his. It was not because he wanted to hide it, but rather because he felt there was no reason to mention it. His Master probably knew about it anyway, sensing the subtle ripples in the air, but again, there was no reason to say anything.

  After breakfast, his father would dress in one of his suits that made him look so imposing, appearing as a completely different person compared to the man who dressed modestly while at home with them. He looked like a titan of industry, a man ready to navigate the shark-infested waters of a trade world built on greed and secrets. His mother would spend her days cleaning, cooking, reading, or tending to her garden, her hands constantly moving as if weaving the safety of their home. When she was occupied with her plants, Adam could feel her attention on him accompanied by a warm curve of her lips. Seeing his parents happy and proud brought a sense of happiness to him as well. Above all, it made him focus on his training even more, for there were many goals he desired to achieve. All of them were centered on the stability and safety of himself and those closest to him.

  He pushed those thoughts aside as he sat in a lotus position on his bed, the wood creaking softly beneath him. The activity was becoming less burdensome with each passing day. He was not tiring so easily, and the process was beginning to feel natural, like breathing. He was getting close. He could feel it in the way the air seemed to hum against his skin. He pulled the parts that made him into a singularity again and proceeded to connect his being with the ever-flowing mana around him. The process was smooth, and his goal became clearer with every heartbeat.

  An hour passed like a single breath, and he opened his eyes. The sun was already piercing through his windows, its light sharp and unforgiving. It was time for breakfast. He stood up and grabbed a green tunic from his wardrobe. He walked to the mirror and took a look at himself. The cloth fitted him perfectly, matching the color of his eyes, which sparkled with a hard resolution and focus. His blonde hair took on the color of gold thanks to the sun, making the whole image look even better, a mask of perfection over a mind filled with shadows.

  “Yup, it’s looking good.” he murmured faintly.

  The faint curve of his lips appeared briefly but vanished just as fast. The thing he was still afraid of, which lingered inside both him and his mentor like a rot, were the whispers. They had not disappeared during those days. Their presence and intensity remained the same as they had always been, a constant, alien background noise. The Dream never came back, but he had a feeling that it would at some point, and he was terrified of that possibility. Lastly, even if most of his fear toward the nobility, kings, and dark mages had been replaced by a sheer, cold anger and resolution, the traces of it still lingered. He was afraid to fail. He could see his eyes darken and a frown appear in the mirror. He clapped his cheeks with both hands to banish the doubt and walked out from his room, trying to calm his racing heart.

  As he went down and his footsteps echoed slightly, muffled by the heavy carpets, he could feel that the atmosphere in the kitchen was filled with a thick, cloying heaviness. His father talked with Berto, and they both looked grim, their faces etched with a worry that felt older than the day. His mother was making breakfast in the kitchen, but her movements were jerky and betrayed that something had indeed happened. Both Kriss and his Master turned to him as he entered, their silence speaking louder than any words.

  “Good morning. What exactly happened?” Adam asked, his voice steady despite the tension in the room.

  There was silence for a while as he joined them at the table. Finally, they shared a look of shared burden, and his father spoke.

  “You probably heard about people disappearing in the slums. It is sadly nothing unusual there, a place where life is cheap, but during the past week, it intensified. They sent Tier 1 Mages from the army to investigate. They vanished as if they never existed two days ago. The rumors are already circling through the whole City, and probably even the Kingdom.”

  Adam could feel the anger looming in his father’s words, a low-frequency vibration of rage. A sudden realization hit him. Dark Mages. That was why Master seemed so grim about it. It was not only about lost lives. It was a storm getting closer to them, a tide of blood rising in the dark. Adam did not respond, silently thinking about what they could possibly plan to require such an intensification in sacrifices, even to the point of involving Tier 1 Mages who should have been able to defend themselves.

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  His mother walked up with the food ready, and the warm, pleasant scent filled the house, a fragile shield against the news.

  “Don’t be so grim. You have a beautiful wife, a genius son who is to become a mage, and plenty of food.” she stated to his father. She looked briefly upon Adam and Berto as well. He could see that she was troubled by the situation too, but she wanted to lift their spirits, even if only for a moment. Adam offered a faint response to her kindness.

  The rest of the breakfast continued in a much better atmosphere, though it felt like a banquet on a sinking ship. The heavy weight was lifted from everyone, even if the worry remained tucked away somewhere in the corners of their minds. After everyone was finished, his father said his goodbyes, as he would be busy this day yet again. This time, he put on a suit in a color that matched Adam’s own tunic, which put a small, genuine spark of joy in the boy’s eyes. His mother was already opening a book while sitting comfortably on a crimson sofa of the greatest comfort, seeking refuge in the written word.

  He walked out with his Master and passed the garden, which was a manifestation of Cait’s own will, as they reached their usual spot. They sat under the shade of the tree, which felt like a silent partner in their secrets and their path of magic. He felt a small sense of peace at that thought.

  “Master, what do you think they plan?” he asked, his voice dark and filled with a cold anger. The question was deprived of any specific information, but they both knew exactly what he meant. They were thinking of the same darkness.

  “I honestly have no idea, Adam, but it cannot be anything good.” Berto said after a moment. His voice was heavy, and his knuckles were ghostly white from how hard he clutched his own robes. It was a familiar gesture of his mentor whenever there was a turmoil of emotions within him, a silent scream of powerlessness.

  Berto’s voice shifted as he turned his focus back to their work. “As you are getting closer to merging your will with mana, let us start with how your first spell exactly works.”

  Adam did not expect that, as he thought this lesson would wait until he actually merged. The information regarding the Dark Mages must have made his mentor decide to speed things up, a desperate push toward competence.

  “As you know, fire also brings light, which is not different from the spell I showcased to you days ago.” Berto paused, and Adam nodded. His Master continued. “What we do is no different. You will have to visualize heat, an extreme value condensed into a tiny spark, as it will be easier and less consuming for your body at first. When you visualize this heat, you must follow with a snap of your fingers and proceed with vocalizing your will into a spell. If you do it successfully, mana will channel through you, absorbing your intention and forming it. While going through your body, it will renew and strengthen you before the spell is manifest. That is when you become Tier 1. Also, you must remember the three steps you need to channel any spell. Visualization. Gesture. Vocalization. Without any of them, there is no spell.”

  Berto finished, looking seriously at him. His aura felt even more profound at this moment, as if he were channeling the weight of history. Adam nodded silently, contemplating what he had just learned. Visualization. Gesture. Vocalization. To channel a spell was not only to feel mana and merge his will with it. He also had to guide it, and each of the three steps helped with that process. It was logical, a bridge between the mind and the infinite.

  But it also made him consider a question of his own that he had not yet asked. If mana was the Mother of All and created everything, including the stars, the world, people, and nature, then what exactly was the limit of what you could channel? Knowledge. If he had knowledge about stars, could he make a spell that created one? Maybe Albert was not as mad as people thought, and there was truly a way to reach something far higher through mana. Maybe those whispers, dangerous as they were, did not simply bring destruction, but knowledge of something far greater that could destroy a lesser being. He felt even more fear, but also a tiny hope that could only be born when darkness surrounded you and only a tiny spark of light shined through it all.

  He would have to wait to even start testing if he was right. He would have to be careful as well, making sure not to let himself be drowned as the firstborn of Jonathan were. The rest of the training continued in a silence that was only broken by the sounds of nature, the wind whispering through the leaves. Adam could feel himself being just a tiny step behind his first goal. Tomorrow or the day after that, he would finally reach it. He could feel it deep in his bones, a hum of anticipation.

  The afternoon arrived, and the training for today ended. His father was back, and dinner was nearly ready. They paced back inside the house. The first thing that hit him was the smell of the extremely well-made food, just as his mother always prepared, a scent of safety. The second was the loud, extremely angry, and slightly panicked voice of Caitlyn.

  “What were you even thinking?! What if something happened to you?!”

  The sound of their footsteps was drowned out by how loud the commotion was. Adam shared a look of silent surprise with his Master.

  “I am sorry, dear. Gladly nothing happened, but I had to see it for my own eyes.” said Kriss in a raspy voice that was filled with sadness and resolution at the end.

  Adam wondered what exactly had happened. There was nothing left to do but ask.