Keldin

The next day I repeat what I did the previous, except that I wake up earlier. Apart from that, I apologize to Emily for the day before. She glares at me but I can tell she's forgiven me, for a moment she looks like she wanted to ask me about something but decides against it. I ask her what it is but she refuses to answer and in the end, I leave her alone.

Later on, as I am about to leave the house I hear the doorbell ring. Immediately I hear it I get the feeling that I know who it is. I open the door and see that my suspicions are correct. It's Drew.

"Hey," I say as I see him standing outside.

He nods at me as I close the door behind me. "You're ready?"

I nod and we begin to go to the Metorium.

He begins to talk. "I spoke to Hugo yesterday, you know, about your mom and all that and he decided to give you a job at the bookshop."

"Really?" I ask in surprise.

He nods. "I don't really know the details, but you'll talk to him when we get to the bookshop."

"Wow. Thanks."

"No problemo."

We get to the bookshop quickly and I see Lathia and Emma, the twins aren't here yet. I greet them and follow Drew to meet Hugo. Hugo basically confirms what Drew told me only adding that I would be getting a salary and that I should report to the bookshop by six every day. By the time I finish talking to him, the twins have arrived.

Like before, they make a point of ignoring me. At this point I couldn't care less, I haven't done anything wrong to them and if they have taken it upon themselves to dislike me, then that is their problem.

In the back room, where the portal to the In-between is, I change into my Apprentice robes before following Drew into the portal. Soon we get to the Metorium and separate, them to their Masters and me to the ATC.

In the ATC I am on my way to the classroom when I hear a voice behind me.

"Hey gramps, how you doing?"

Keldin, I recognize his voice from the unfavorable impression he had left on me yesterday and rightfully decide to ignore him.

I only take a few steps when I feel something wet hit my head. Giggles sound behind me as I check to see what hit my head. A spitball. Anger rises within me.

I turn around and spot him surrounded by his usual adoring crowd. "Where the hell do you think you are? Kindergarten? For god's sake at least try to behave like you have a semblance of sense."

My words annoy him but at this point, I don't give a damn. I flick my finger and his spitball shoots out and hits him in the middle of his forehead. I turn around and walk away.

"Nice shot." I hear someone say as I am about to enter the classroom. I turn to see a group of three kids. Two boys and a girl. The boy that is speaking is far taller than the other two on either side of him and his limbs seem a bit longer than his body. He looks fitter than kids his age normally would be, in fact, they all do. "Keldin likes to believe because he's rich and good at the magic that he can do whatever he wants. I'm Tobi," he says before going on to introduce the other two. The girl is Bella while the other boy is Han.

I tell him my name and he nods.

"Which branch did you come from?" he asks.

"Branch?" I ask confused.

He nods. "Yeah, branch. Didn't you transfer here from some other Metorium?"

I shake my head. "I didn't transfer from anywhere. I only became a Laen a few months ago."

"That's why you're so old!" Bella exclaims as if just realizing something. A second later her eyes widen and she blushes. "Sorry, I didn't-"

"Don't worry about it," I say as I spot Keldin behind us, his face dark.

He snickers. "Aww, the losers are bonding."

The increasingly familiar feeling of anger threatens to rise but I suppress it and walk into the class, totally ignoring him. Tobi and his crew follow behind me, anger darkening their expressions.

I take a seat near the front of the class and they seat near me. After calming down a bit, they look at me and tell me to just ignore Keldin.

"His family's been training him to use magic since he was ten so he's better than most of the class," Han explains, "because of that he thinks he's some kind of big shot. If we all had the same training he did we would be as good as him too."

They talk more about Keldin, throwing more than a few insults his way before the Teacher comes. It's obvious there is a lot of bad blood between them. I don't say anything, only listen to them talk.

Our classes follow the same format as yesterday, with Master Speller coming first with his Tryer Circulation Techniques. I had tried to practice it yesterday but soon found out that there were some things I didn't really understand. Instead of just blindly pushing on and suffering some unintended consequences, I decided to wait until I meet Master Speller again. In class, I waste no time asking him questions.

By the end of the class, my knowledge is complete and I can't wait to try out the techniques when I get home.

After Master Speller we go to the Dojo to meet Master Shawn. We don't do our martial arts training as he focuses on exercises like yesterday but I don't mind. The exercises are easier than the ones I did when I was training with him. I suspect it is because of the presence of the other kids.

After that, we have Master Ava. It's her class I have been anticipating the most. Almost as soon as the class begins I begin to pepper her with questions about noers, the Alphabets, Sentences, and everything else I could think of. At first, she answers my questions but as my question begin to get more and more complicated she tells me to stop and meet her after the class if I wanted to get my questions answered.

By that time the other students are looking at me like I am some sort of monster. I leave once the class is over, wanting to get something to eat.

I head to the restaurant Lathia had shown me before. There are a lot of people in the restaurant, it had been the same before but I did not notice it until now. The place is filled with different groups of Laen talking to each other. I find an empty seat close to the back of the restaurant and seat down.

Not too long after the waiter comes to take my order. He is far older than most of the kids here and I can only guess at his power. I could check him out with second sight but that might appear rude.

As I am placing my order, someone comes and seats opposite me, I recognize her immediately. Lathia.

"Hey." she greets.

"Hey."

She wastes no time also ordering some food.

"Do you come here every day?" I ask her. I doubt it is a coincidence that both of us came to the same restaurant, at basically the same time on two different days.

She nods. "I usually get hungry after training."

We soon get our food and begin to eat. As we eat she starts a conversation and we begin talking. As we talk I slowly learn more and more about the Laen. For instance, the Laen do not take anyone seriously until they become Wranths, except for a few exceptionally talented Protectors. The only reason they send Protectors on missions is to prepare them for becoming Wranths and to keep them busy. Apparently, by the time someone becomes a Protector the person would have learned all he possibly could with the amount of power they have. Until they open their third eye and become a Wranth they are not allowed to learn anything else. Also, it is apparently not easy to become a Wranth, with the most troublesome requirement being opening the third eye.

I ask her what the third eye is. Her description is nothing but confusing, involving invisible openings in the body, unsealing, and other confusing things. The only thing I manage to understand is that everyone is born with something called the third eye which is sealed. To open it means to unseal it and once open it can be used at any time, although it is possible to only partially open it on the first try and further open it as time goes by. Using the third eye gives an incredible boost to one's power, enabling them to use magic that would probably kill them easily, last longer in battle, and just become stupidly strong. Also, it allows someone to learn what she calls Trumps to the fullest. Trumps are extremely powerful types of magic that a person would normally not be able to use.

As she talks I begin to get an idea of why Drew seemed so desperate to open his third eye, without it, he is nothing more than a slightly powerful kid to the Laen.