Alise’s hand grew heavier after the light left her eyes and it eventually slipped past Gale’s grip and fell on his lap along with something inside his stomach. It's an alien feeling that was not at all pleasant. A horrible feeling that he wanted out of him, and he began clawing his own stomach to pull it out, but all it did was leave some scratch marks on his skin as his nails dug through his shirt.

  And it’s not helping that the wind was especially rowdy, carrying with it a storm of words and sentences that went in one ear and out the other, serving only to irritate him. The noise was really bugging him that it lit a heat from the depth of his stomach, rising all the way to his face, causing the skin on his neck to itch.

  “Hey, kid. Answer me,” a voice said, causing something within him to finally snap, and he turned his face around to face the voices in the wind, and found a pair of legs.

  A man really, but his line of sight only provided him with a view halfway up the man’s thighs. Gale had to tilt his head back before he could properly look at the man and register him.

  His features didn't really stand out in the dark of night, but what quickly caught Gale’s sight was the sword he had in his hand, leaning on his shoulder, and the wind fairy the man had in his other hand.

  “What’re you looking dumb for? I’m asking you if this is yours, kid,” the man said as he thrusted the wind fairy in his hand towards the boy before him.

  Gale could understand the words coming out of the man’s mouth, but it only hit him as an irritating noise that he didn’t particularly want to hear at the moment. Though unfortunately, the man talking to him wasn’t quite the understanding sort.

  “So? Is this yours or not? I haven’t got all night here,” he asked again with growing impatience.

  Then, before Gale could even attempt to offer a response, the wind beneath the man’s feet began to pick up. It swirled around him, kicking up dust and loose blades of grass. And though he’s unfamiliar with what's happening, it didn’t take him too long to figure it out.

  The wind fairy in his hand was attempting something. So, in response, the man brought the sword leaning on his shoulder down and pointed its tip towards the boy before him.

  “Don’t try anything funny now,” he said to the fairy in his hand and the wind stopped swirling beneath his feet. “Oooh. So that old coot wasn’t lying afterall. You know, we used to have this old man working for us, all grey and stuff he was. He told me that a fairy would do anything to protect their ‘friend’, basically their master. So, when fighting a fairy arts user, I need to separate the fairy and their master, then hold their master hostage. Sounded like crap, but it seems like it wasn’t, huh?”

  The man went on a passionate ramble about his old acquaintance from whom he seemed to have learned about fairies from, but Gale, the person he’s talking to, seemed to have lost interest somewhere along the line as his attention was no longer on the man, but on the woman lying on the ground in front of him.

  Without taking offense, the man then crouched down behind the boy while keeping his sword in a position that threatened him. “That your mother? Look, I know you’re sad and all. But it's not the end of the world, yeah? Tell you what, why don’t you come with us? I’ll take care of you, kid. I’m sure we got something for someone like you to do.”

  The man just wouldn’t stop talking and it was really irritating to the young boy. He just wanted to be left alone in peace, but what he got was a constant grating in his ears that felt like it was fueling the heat burning within. Especially so ever since the man started talking about his mother.

  “Cap! What’re you thinking? We don’t need no kid with us,” someone suddenly said from behind them.

  The voice was hoarse and it was as if the speaker was a little out of breath, but despite the slight difference, Gale could still immediately put a face to the voice. It's the first man he saw when his mother opened the door earlier.

  Slowly, the boy rose to his feet and turned around to look out the door and over the crouched man’s shoulder. There, he found a man who needed help just to stay on his feet. Being sent through the house across the street must have impeded his ability to walk.

  “Oh? Feeling up for it?” the man crouched before him asked before standing up. “That’s right. Your mother wouldn’t want you to mope here forever either. You should do whatever you want! I’m sure that's what she wants for you too!”

  Except that it wasn’t. It was just moments ago that Alise told Gale what she wanted for him. Run, and leave everything, even her behind. For him to live a proper life. That’s what she said before the light in her eyes faded.

  But for the first time ever, Gale felt reluctant of the thought of doing exactly what she asked of him. Something within him told him that it wasn’t quite right to do so, and that he shouldn’t do so. Or rather, he simply didn’t want to do so. And maybe, just maybe, the man is right. Gale should do what he wanted to do. Just for a little, maybe it was fine.

  And just like the couple of times he acted beyond explicit instructions, his body knew exactly what it needed to do. The feeling that rose from deep within him was guiding every muscle in his body, just like when he stood before those apes in the forest and before those orcs on the plain.

  Though unlike the couple of times before, instead of a warm feeling that enveloped him like an embrace, a painful burn—a raging heat was instead fueling him, and he let it raged. It caused the embers lit from irritation to grow into anger seeping out of every pores of his body, setting his pupils ablaze and the air around him alight.

  The sudden sparks of flame appearing around the boy startled the man before him for the briefest moment and he instinctively took a step back. His gut screamed that he should run, but he suppressed the feeling. Then, with his eyes still wide from surprise, he quickly got into stance with his sword, and the boy did the same.

  He didn’t want to let the boy have the incentive, so the man immediately brought his hand forward for a quick thrust, just as flames began to gather around the boy’s hand. But before the tip of his sword could find flesh, the boy brought his hand up, and the flame burst into a large explosion, sending the man flying backwards.

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  “Captain Julius!” The men gathered around started to swarm towards the man sent flying.

  Julius, the leader of the Snowed Foxes was the best with the sword among them, and it did more than surprise his whole group that he was sent literally flying backwards. Though unlike the first men that met Gale, he could quickly regain his balance, and land on his feet.

  “Get back!” Julius shouted after landing and getting into a stance.

  His shout brought even more worry to his men and they immediately froze in place. Julius had to do something. The opponent before him now likely isn’t one that he can take on while having to take care of his men. And with an area of effect attack like that, he didn’t think that overwhelming with numbers was a solid option.

  “Tch! Damned arts user!” he shouted in frustration before kicking the ground beneath him and burst into a sprint away. “Everyone scram! Get out of here! We’re up against an arts user!”

  His order finally pulled his men back to reality and they began to scramble away from where Gale is, but they were a beat too late. The wind had once again begun to pick up strength. And though some of them were fast enough to escape, and a few were strong enough to successfully fight against the wind, the unfortunate couple of men too slow to react got pulled into the swirling wind, and after they were lifted off the ground, got thrown into the air to who knows where.

  Julius was running towards the house across the street to gain some distance where he tackled the injured man from earlier and continued on running with a new luggage on his shoulder.

  “Buh! Cap’n?!”

  “Don’t bite your tongue! You run too!” Julius barked after pointing to the man that was just helping to support the injured man.

  The three of them made their way inside the house across Gale’s through the brand new hole and hunkered down to wait for the wind to settle. Julius kept his eyes on the house across the road as he let down his subordinate from his shoulder, wary of what the boy might do next and his men could sense the worry from the look on his face.

  “Captain, what happened?”

  “The boy used mana arts. I actually couldn’t believe it.”

  “Mana arts?! I thought you need to study at the capital to do that crap?”

  “Thought so too. Even that old coot we used to work with learned his arts at the capital. That’s why I’m so surprised.”

  Over the course of their brief conversation, the wind seemed to have calmed down. The wind fairy might have gone a little overboard with their attack, but now that the bandits had scattered, their little friend was now closer to them than anyone else, and would have been caught in the wind had they continued.

  “You get out of here.”

  “Right… I don't think I can do anything here. Sorry, cap.”

  “Make sure everyone stays as far away as they can. Round up as many people as you can and bring out any valuables you can find as soon as you can.”

  “Got it. I’ll tell the rest,” the other man said. “Hey, come on, I’ll help you walk.”

  “Right, thanks. Good luck, cap.”

  “Yeah.”

  Julius took a deep breath and renewed his grip on the sword. Once he felt that his nerves had calmed, and that his breath was returning to its steady rhythm, he took a step out of the house he’d hunkered down in and walked out onto the road.

  The house in front of him was now up in flames with black smoke blocking the entrance, from which Gale stepped out. He must be no more than five years old seeing how his height didn’t even reach much higher than half of Julius’s, and he was baffled that he had to get serious against such a brat.

  “Well, mana arts is nothing new, and fairy arts is something I’d have to deal with sooner or later anyway,” he said to no one in particular.

  Not even Gale on the other side could pick up what Julius just said. Instead, he had his attention solely on the fairy that just flew to his side. “Do you know where that man went?” he asked them.

  The wind then blew gently on Gale’s ears and he picked up on the words it conveyed. “Forward,” the wind fairy said through the wind, and it seemed like it’s ready to guide their friend towards the one he’s looking for.

  Following the wind, Gale began making his way forward, but Julius stepped forward to block his path. It looks like he wasn’t about to get what he wanted so easily. He fell into stance and pointed his sword at the child before him.

  “Come on, kid. Let’s see what you got!” the man barked and immediately kicked the ground beneath his feet to rush the boy.

  Once in range, he quickly brought his sword down for a slash and the boy took a step to the side. Julius could move his sword faster than Gale could move his entire body, but before his sword could reach, the boy raised his flame-covered hand up and an explosion blew, pushing Julius’s sword to the side. It left the man vulnerable for a moment, but his sword came back much faster than Gale could hope to leverage the opening.

  The wind blew between them and pushed Gale back. With its help, he was able to dodge the tip of the blade and got away with only a cut on his shirt, but the cold steel was relentlessly raining down on him. Even with the wind’s help, Gale was barely avoiding the blade and it still left small cuts here and there.

  With every step the boy took back, even with the wind helping his retreat, the man took a step forward just enough to cover the gap. His opponent’s control of range was just too good for him to make a clean break.

  Eventually, a thrust came and Gale finally had no way of dodging the hit. He had to take the blade with his hand and push it away from his torso to avoid a fatal wound. It went clean through his small hand, but like Robert said, a cut on one’s hand is much preferable compared to dying.

  Unfortunately, Julius expected this, and once the boy caught his blade, he stepped in further and threw his leg forward to kick the young boy square in his stomach and sent him flying back inside his burning house.

  Soon after, the flame began to swallow the house and part of it was starting to collapse. Inside, Gale was engulfed in black smoke while lying on the wooden floor, coughing his stomach out. It's a much familiar feeling that he once went through almost daily back when his father was still around.

  Above his head, the thatched roof was starting to catch fire and could collapse on him at any moment, so the wind fairy prompted him to quickly get up to his feet. Once he did, his eyes fell onto the collapsed entrance, where, underneath it, a hand could be seen poking out of the rubble.

  His eyes stayed on the hand for the briefest moment before he heard a drop of water beneath his feet, where he found the water fairy. They seemed to be steaming, likely because of the heat and would likely evaporate into nothing if left inside the house much longer.

  As the water fairy, one would think that they could’ve doused the fire out, but they pulled themself together out of but a mug full of water and there’s no way such a small amount of water could put out a house up in flames.

  So Gale ignored them and made his way towards the back of the house, the part that had yet to catch fire. Inside his bedroom, he climbed onto the top of his bed and opened the window facing the forest, from which he climbed out of and fell onto the ground.

  While pulling himself up, his eyes caught something slowly trudging along the ground towards him. A small person with some crusts on their skin.

  The earth fairy had made their way from the forest to come and help their friend.

  After a while, they finally reached Gale’s feet and began to slowly climb it. While they were doing so, Gale made his way around the house where he once again came face to face with Julius.

  When they saw each other, Julius pointed his sword towards the boy. “What’s that on your leg?” he asked.

  Gale, of course, didn’t offer any response. Instead, he brought both his hands towards the ground, which confused Julius a little. But without letting it show, the man just quietly got into his stance and the two got into a standoff.