Alistair Steelheart was a profoundly large man, and his armor fit his bulk perfectly. The thicker plates of leather and metal did not seem to restrict the bull of a man, however, as his movements were smooth and unbothered despite the heavy plate surrounding his body.

  The man had a thick black beard and his medium length hair was pushed back. His eyes were piercing blue, reminiscient of the ice that had covered the orphanage’s grounds in the dead of winter. All in all, the man looked more like a northern barbarian than a Leorian native.

  Captain Steelheart was a silver ranker, that was for sure. Any leader of the guard had to be a veteran fighter capable of leading and teaching all of the others, and bronze rankers simply didn’t fit that criteria. Alistair fit the model of a captain perfectly, standing tall and working as a role model for others.

  “Those two troublemakers at the gate need some discipline. Swearing to visitors… By the gods.” Alistair muttered to himself.

  “Excuse me, did you say that your son saved me? I would like to meet him to give my thanks,” Valar asked.

  Alistair snapped out of his mutterings, gazing down at Valar. “Those are kind words, young man. I don’t think I can arrange a meeting though, as the boy is somewhere in the city right now. I’ll pass your thanks to him.”

  “That won’t probably be necessary, guardsman. Valar here is coming with me to the capital, and your son’s party is guarding the caravan. If I remember right, his name was Rodrick, right?” Viktor said.

  “Yes, Rodrick is his name. A good name in my opinion, but I may be biased as the name was my idea,” The guardsman chuckled to himself. “Why are you taking the boy to the capital, if I may ask?”

  “I’m sponsoring him to the academy.”

  Alistair just stared at Viktor, his gaze steady. Eventually, he moved that gaze to Valar, his eyes glowing white for an instant.

  “Life affinity… about thirteen or fourteen years old and an orphan. He should go to the academy, yes, but isn’t that like at least a hundred gold or something?” Captain Steelheart questioned.

  “I have my ways, guardsman. I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t pry,” Viktor smiled, his expression a bit forced.

  “Sorry, sorry. It’s a force of habit. Young Valar is a citizen of Lyndale and I feel responsible for all of our people’s safety. But enough of that, follow me to the front desk!”

  Valar and Viktor followed the man’s lead, Viktor muttering something about snooping guards—they were apparently similar no matter where you went. Valar didn’t hear a lot, but the man’s words were not kind…

  Valar looked around the compound he had just entered. They walked through a main hallway surrounded by open doorways. Behind the doorways, guards were training and sparring in large halls. There were a couple of locked doors too, the signs reading armory and holding cells. Viktor perked up at the sight of the cells.

  “Which rank are the cells, if I may ask. Can this compound hold silver rankers?” he asked.

  “Nah, only bronze rankers here. Only the central guard compound can store prisoners of silver rank power. Gold rankers are for the Rhondell prison,” Alistair explained.

  “There’s a prison for gold rankers in Rosthorn too. That’s on the western border though, so pretty far from here,” Viktor answered. “Only important prisoners there though. We can’t go jailing every single silver and gold ranker while execution is an option. Keeping those people locked up can be… difficult.”

  Valar spaced out for a bit, the two adults discussing prison logistics and guard work in great detail as they walked through the massive compound. His boredom was finally alleviated when they arrived at the desk they were aiming for.

  The office of the compound matched the style of the rest of the building. There were three desks, two of them manned by members of the guard. The plain looking desks were made of dark wood and had loads of papers stacked on top of them. The two guards manning the desks were hard at work, not even looking up at the new arrivals until Alistair started speaking. “Reyna, would you process this young man’s records, as there have been changes.”

  “Certainly sir. What is the name of the child and what is there to change?” Reyna answered matter of factly, keen to get back to work.

  The name of that lady seems a bit familiar though, as does the voice…

  “The name is Valar, and you need to change two things,” Alistair spoke, trying to hide the grin on his face. “First, he was missing. He clearly isn’t missing anymore.”

  Reyna found Valar’s record and changed his status to found. Then she stopped in her tracks.

  “Sir, are you aware that this child is from the orphanage and there’s a warrant for his arrest and return?” Reyna asked.

  “That’s the second change. He’s an adult, so no need to drag him back there,” Alistair was fully grinning now, his eyes dancing with undisguised mirth.

  Reyna’s jaw dropped as she turned her head to Valar. Her eyes glowed white for a moment, her expression turning somehow even more incredulous as she checked for herself.

  “How the fuck?” Reyna muttered, not noticing Alistair cringe with distaste.

  “Language, Reyna!” Alistair’s grunt didn’t even make Reyna flinch, her gaze staying fixed on Valar.

  As Reyna stared at Valar, he tried to figure out where he had heard her voice. She sounds like the woman who was worried about the sewers…. Is she the one who unknowingly gave me a way out?

  “Reyna, were you perhaps patrolling near the orphanage four or five days ago?” Valar asked tentatively.

  Valar’s question snapped Reyna out of her shock, her expression turning thoughtful.

  Guardsman Reyna was a tall and athletic woman with wine red hair and visibly tanned skin. Her eyes were green, their tone similar to the mint green of the city’s buildings. She wasn’t dressed for guard duty, instead wearing a sleek uniform, keeping her hair tied in a bun.

  Valar kept looking, his eyes flashing green. Reyna was iron rank, just as he was. The strength of her aura suggested that she was extremely close to bronze, but hadn’t ascended yet. Probably nineteen or twenty years of age. Not young for her rank, but not too old either…

  Checking people’s rank of advancement seemed instinctual to Valar, nobody having explained how to do it. The orphanage lessons had just taught that he would know how to do it immediately, and that had proven true.

  Gauging different people of the same rank seemed much harder. Seeing a person’s advancement was pretty easy, their aura being more intense or covering a larger area with each rank, but people of the same rank could still be stronger than the other. Luckily, Reyna seemed like an easy comparison to start with because she was so close to advancing.

  Valar also glanced at Viktor, his aura being unreadable to Valar’ senses. People could hide their level of advancement by withdrawing their aura from their surroundings, and Viktor had seemingly done just that. There was nothing to read, so he returned his gaze to the female guard instead.

  Reyna snapped out of her thoughts, her expression shifting to a kind smile.

  “Yeah, I think I was patrolling with the others then, why do you ask?” Reyna asked.

  Valar grinned broadly, trying to gather his thoughts into words.

  “You seemed to have a problem with the sewers, the door being broken and all. Thanks for tipping me off—I took care of the issue while escaping!”.

  Reyna thought over his words for a little while, her face going paler and paler—Alistair’s face turning red at the same time. He ended up speaking first, his tone clipped.

  “Young man, could you explain what you meant with what you just said?”

  “Yeah, I can do that,” Valar nodded in excitement. “She and her patrol went past the orphanage some days ago, talking about a breached door to the sewers. I got the idea for my 4th escape, and ended up using the sewers due to the breach. I went through there, eventually finding an iron rank rat, which I then killed. So… I wanted to thank her for giving me the idea, even if it was unintentional.”

  Reyna was somehow pale and blushing at the same time, embarrassed that her information had been used for an escape and dreading the captain's reaction.

  The room was silent for a good while, the oppressive atmosphere broken by Viktor’s eventual chuckle. The two guards were not amused, Reyna getting stared down by Alistair.

  “It seems we need to thank you, Valar. The sewer was a source of worry for the guard, and someone eventually needed to go and search it,” Alistair said. “Even though the threat has been dealt with, I think I’ll have to send a patrol team to search the sewers just in case… And I think I have just the one in mind.”

  Reyna cringed more and more with each word, her expression acting as an alarm in Valar’s mind. He had not intended to cause Reyna trouble, so he tried to backtrack on his words.

  “It could have been any number of patrol groups! The voice was just similar and I wanted to thank…”

  Reyna was now rubbing her face and groaning in apparent embarrassment.

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  “You can stop defending me Valar. I’m glad that my actions led to a positive outcome for you, but it was still a mistake on my and my team's part. Furthermore, we still need to search the sewer, but we thank you for the help.”

  “Damn kid, killing an iron rank beast before even awakening, that’s some tough stuff,” Alistair grunted. “You know, the Lyndale guard could use a healer…”

  Viktor placed a hand on Alistair’s shoulder, the man whispering something in the guard captain’s ear. The big man paled and chuckled nervously.

  “Never mind, Viktor here seems to have you under his wing already and I wouldn’t dare poach you.”

  Viktor just nodded at the captain, a smile on his face.

  “We seem to have our goal fulfilled and Valar’s name has been cleared. Thank you for the assistance! We have one more stop before we are done with the boring stuff, so we’ll be going now,” Viktor said.

  “I won’t be holding you back. Go do whatever you have to do. The guard thanks you Valar, and you’ll be welcome anytime. Be sure to say hi to my son.”

  Alistair ended up escorting the pair out, closing the gate after them. As the gate was already closing, he asked a final question—clearly meant more for Viktor than Valar.

  “How would you evaluate my son?” His tone was nervous, a father’s pride on the line.

  “He’s a fine leader for his group and a great fighter for his rank,” Viktor said. “He’ll be sure to rise through the ranks if he can just keep his team under control. They’re all competent, but strange to say the least.”

  As the gate crashed closed, Valar heard a joyous cry—something about his son being a true prodigy. Viktor smiled and shook his head, Valar looking on in confusion.

  “What was that about? He seemed really excited after your comment.”

  Viktor took on a thoughtful expression, slowly gathering his thoughts while walking.

  “I’m in a position of authority in the caravan his son guarded. Additionally, he can sense that I’m at least somewhat stronger than him. It’s extremely hard to hide your power completely in front of a veteran like that man. It’s big news for a peak silver ranker to hear that his bronze rank son has potential in the eyes of someone like me.”

  “I think I understand… Kind of a strange reaction still,” Valar shrugged, not wanting to burden his mind with the matter.

  The two men continued their impromptu tour of the city, moving towards the orphanage. This trek wouldn’t be long, as the orphanage was still located in the eastern district, just about bordering the southern one. The southern district was considered the poorest one in the city, and the condition of the houses worsened accordingly as they got closer to the border and orphanage.

  As they walked leisurely through the streets, the day turning to evening, Valar looked around. I ran through these streets just two nights ago, trying to avoid the guard at all costs. Now they want me to join them! The pace of all this change is surreal… I think I’m getting whiplash.

  The streets changed to more familiar ones, Valar having seen them many times already. Every escape attempt had taught him more of the area, Valar knowing that they were close to that place.

  The area surrounding the Lyndale orphanage was bad. The houses themselves were the same as the eastern district, but their condition was significantly more worn down, clear signs of mold and disrepair plain to see.

  Broken windows were seemingly more common than ones in good condition and the streets were littered with trash. Valar spotted a few homeless people, more recognizable by their self-built shelters than their dress. The citizens around the same area looked similar, after all.

  Valar and Viktor didn’t need to walk for long, soon arriving in front of a walled building. A gate built out of dark wood blocked the entrance, the three meter wall blocking entry or escape. The two men stopped in front of the gate, just standing still for a while. Viktor held a gentle smile as Valar steeled himself for the encounter ahead.

  “Remember that you no longer belong in that place,” Viktor said. “Walk in that building with the confidence of an awakened, of someone who slew a bronze rank beast just a day or two ago. That woman’s words are meaningless in the face of your freedom.”

  “What if she hits me? Tries to take me in by force?”

  “She will not touch you, and she will regret trying to do so. The winds of change have blown and she will adapt or will be forced to do so,” Viktor’s tone was firm, his eyes shining silver instead of the usual emerald green.

  They continued standing there, Viktor giving Valar time to process. The wind mage would not be the one knocking on the gate… Valar needed to face his trauma by his own volition.

  Valar breathed slowly and stepped up to the gate. He raised his arm, then lowered it, then raised it again.

  Finally, he grabbed the attached iron door knocker, and slammed it against the gate, a loud knock echoing in the ensuing silence.

  Viktor stepped to Valar’s side, staying silent as they waited for the gate to open. They had to wait for a while, Valar's nerves fraying by the minute, but eventually someone came.

  Valar flinched, as he heard the clicking footsteps of the matron, the hard soles of her shoes producing a familiar sound. The footsteps stopped on the other side of the gate, and Valar heard the sound of a key turning.

  The gate opened slowly, accompanied by an ominous creek. The whole situation reminded Valar of his nightmares, but this time the situation was different. Even in the guards’ records, Valar was an adult that didn’t belong to the orphanage anymore.

  The matron didn't have power over him as long as Valar didn’t give her any of it. I’ll stay strong so that I can leave this place behind forever. One more time…

  The gate was opened fully, the frowning face of Ophelia the head matron on full display. Her face was full of lines, her old age apparent. She was over sixty, but less than seventy years old—quite old for an iron rank human, many dying in their 50s.

  She was dressed very traditionally for Leorian women, everything else but her hands and feet covered by black robes accented with golden embroideries. The old woman’s eyes were sharp like a hawk and she had a hooked nose, reinforcing the look of an old and mean spirited woman.

  Her thin lips moved to a smile that didn’t reach her eyes when she spotted Valar, the matron immediately moving to grab Valar by the ear.

  Viktor’s hand moved to stop the woman but Valar’s came first, blocking the outreached hand.

  “How dare you, child? We here at home have been terribly worried! Now come in or I will punish you even harder than I will already!” The woman’s voice was high pitched, grating on Valar’s ears and nerves alike.

  “I will not be stepping in the orphanage anymore,” Valar’s voice was flat. He was trying his best to not start yelling.

  The woman just scoffed, throwing a suffering glance towards Viktor. She clearly believed that the man was escorting Valar back to the orphanage.

  “I apologize young man, this child has been misbehaving for quite some time. You can trust that I will be disciplining him thoroughly. My thanks for going through the trouble of dragging the brat back home.”

  As Valar listened to the woman speaking, his patience dwindled by the second. His tormentor of ten years had not changed, and spoke openly of disciplining him.

  “I’m afraid that won’t be necessary, as you have misunderstood the situation on a very basic level. I’m not escorting this young man to return to the orphanage, but leave it behind.”

  Ophelia squinted angrily, pointing her gnarled finger at Viktor. She didn’t stutter, completely sure of her words.

  “Now you listen here young man, unless you are adopting this child-”

  “I’m not a child by this country’s law,” Valar interrupted Ophelia.

  The matron was momentarily shocked to silence. Then her anger turned to Valar for interrupting her tirade. She moved to strike Valar, but this time Viktor stopped her hand. His expression was stormy.

  “Release me, you ruffian! I’m trying to teach this child some manners. It’s for his own good!”

  The matron’s last sentence was one that Valar had heard countless times. Those words—it’s for your own good—had been ones to dread, always preceding discipline, be it physical or mental in nature.

  It was simply too much for Valar’s nerves, the trauma too deep. Viktor’s eyes widened as Valar’s lit up, an orange spark entering his gaze.

  Without even realizing what he was doing, Valar had started the process of drawing out his fire. Even the pain that would have normally stopped him only fueled his rage.

  That woman is the reason for this pain. She is the impetus of my suffering, and she must pay. I will make her feel remorse…

  Valar felt himself shocked from the trance he had been in, Viktor’s hand resting on his shoulder. The man was directly in front of him, his gaze fixed on Valar’s.

  “She is not worth it.”

  “I want her to pay!”

  Valar wanted to make her suffer like he had. He wanted her to feel his pain, and he wanted her to burn like he had.

  “Making her pay doesn’t heal your wounds Valar. You would just be bringing more suffering to this world. Do you truly want that?”

  “But she… The scars…”

  “Would not heal. Valar your greatest victory over this woman is that she will perish, time claiming her like the rest as you grow stronger. The only thing she will be remembered by is pain, while you have a chance to be something greater. Don’t let that woman take that away from you too.”

  Viktor had spoken with a full voice, as he wanted the matron to hear his words. When he turned around, standing between Valar and Ophelia, he continued his speech.

  “Head matron Ophelia of the Lyndale orphanage for the unawakened, you are a profoundly bitter woman. The young man behind my back awakened two days ago, his desperation so great that he awakened way too early for his body. He needed to be healed in the infirmary for a whole day after that.”

  Ophelia’s face was stricken, her shock overtaking her lingering anger towards Valar. She tried to interrupt Viktor, but he continued speaking over her, the woman finding herself unable to speak.

  “I participated in his healing and I have seen his scars—both the scars that he gained during his escape and those he received before. Your actions have led to one of your wards almost dying, and you seek to discipline him afterwards. He will not be disciplined, as he is an adult and you hold no power over him. I hope this will make you think, and perhaps better your ways before your death. I will be contacting the authorities, and you will be scrutinised. Spend the rest of your days atoning, and maybe you will live your next life as something better than a rat…. Based on what I’m seeing, I doubt that.”

  Viktor turned back to Valar, showing his back to Ophelia—they were done talking.

  “Do you still want to say something? I’ve told my piece, but you can still speak to her,” Viktor asked, his expression concerned.

  Valar nodded, and Viktor moved out of the way. The boy was now looking at a woman that seemed much older than just a minute ago. She looked him in the eyes, glancing at his scarred arm erratically. He tried to scrounge up some more rage, opening his mouth to shout at her, but the words died in his mouth. Instead, when he opened his mouth, he spoke with the perfect refined language the matron had expected of him for so many years.

  “You have caused me pain, matron. I don’t think I can forgive you, but I understand seeking revenge would be meaningless. I am heading to the royal academy to study life magic, but you have no part in that or in my life in general. Not anymore... I hope sincerely that you understand how much suffering you have caused, but I doubt it. I will leave now and return in three years. Use that time to do better.”

  Valar started walking away, Viktor joining him. When they had already turned away, the matron yelled after them, her tone desperate.

  “I’m sorry…”

  Valar turned his head back without stopping. When he spoke, his tone was soft, barely carrying to the matron.

  “I don’t want your apology, Ophelia. I want you to do better, and to never see a child suffer like I did.”

  Valar and Viktor walked away in silence, leaving behind a woman that had been reduced to a husk of the domineering matron in Valar’s memories. Viktor had been right. Valar could now breathe easily, having said his piece.

  He could walk onwards without a ball and chain dragging him back. Valar was free.