It was now Friday. The orphans would be going to school in three days, and Teerom would be starting work.
Paley woke up on the grass by the river as usual. He trained, then ate with the other orphans as usual. He went upstairs to look for something but immediately forgot what he was looking for when he got there.
Everyone else was downstairs, biding their weekend before school started. Madella, Teerom, and Jurie were trying to comfort Rauba, who was extremely nervous yet still excited to go to school.
Paley sat down by himself beside the stairs and played with a ball of fire, twiddling it around his fingers. Fire magic is one of the most dangerous magic because the heat of the fire could damage the user. Although the user has some level of protection from the leftover mana flowing in their hands, the fire got exponentially more dangerous the more powerful it was.
Twiddling a ball of flame around his fingers helped him practice keeping a layer of protective mana up while he used fire magic. It was weak for now, but eventually, it should get strong enough to protect him from a dangerously hot spell.
Rauba took notice of his training method and thought about approaching him, but Adimia beat her to it.
"How are you not getting burnt?" He asked.
"A layer of Protection magic." Paley stopped twirling the ball and let it sit on his hand. He focused more of his mana on Protection magic, making a yellowish barrier on his skin fade into view. The ball of fire rested on it, gradually losing its blaze.
"Woah! You mean you're using two magics at the same time!?" Teerom rushed over.
"Y-Yeah, why's it surprising? Did Aneros struggle to do it?" Paley joked, but he unknowingly hit the bull's eye.
"Hm, can you also read minds?" Teerom jokingly raised an eyebrow, "But, yeah, even Aneros struggled to do that." He turned to Jurie, "Jurie, spoilers."
After Jurie covered her ears, he continued, "In his final moments, during The Battle of Black and White, he used five magics at once! His body couldn't take the burden of using so much magic at once, so he withered away in agony..." One of the things that Teerom loved about Aneros' tale was his death.
To him, Aneros was a man among men. Living his life smiling at the greatest of challenges, he was loved by all. He even died with a big grin on his face, his last words being: "I'm grateful for this life. I've had one hell of an adventure! Thank you, world!" as he withered into nothingness.
Teerom turned back to Jurie and signalled that the spoilers were over.
Suddenly, someone knocked on the front door quickly and irregularly. The orphans paused before Adimia stood up and walked to the door.
"I'll get it," He said and opened it. Aleisar and the other dwarves burst into the room with grins on their faces. They all held trays of strange sweets. The sweets were scrambles of fiber held together haphazardly by thick threads.
"Good morning, lads- and lasses!" Battdur exclaimed.
"What're you guys doing here?" Teerom asked, embarrassed.
"We're here to celebrate," Aleisar said as Amasha took one of the sweets off his tray and ate it.
"Hmmm!" Amasha felt the sweet's flavors melt on his taste buds, "So good!"
"Haha, these are dwarven sweets, after all. We only make the best of the best." Candul was a bit more reserved than the other dwarves.
"What're you celebrating?" Teerom asked.
"The Lord approved our company!" Aleisar said pridefully, not mentioning that the Lord warned them that they would have to pay certain assets if they were to go bankrupt.
"That's great!" Teerom cheered with the dwarves.
As the other orphans helped themselves to the sweets, Madella approached the dwarves. "You must be the dwarves," She greeted.
"And you must be Teerom's mother," Aleisar replied, "He talks about you a lot,"
"I hope he says good things," Madella smiled. Her smile was so pure that Aleisar thought he could've fallen in love, but that time had already passed for him.
"Not a single bad thing. You must be one great mother." He offered the tray up to her. She took one of the sweets.
"I try to be. Though, it's kinda hard handling all these kids. Especially those three," She laughed, motioning to Adimia, Reben, and Amasha, "My name's Madella. Just Madella." She shook Aleisar's hand.
"I'm Aleisar, and these are my brothers." Aleisar introduced the other dwarves. They weren't blood brothers, but their strong friendship was pretty much a brotherly bond.
The dwarves sat down with the orphans to wait for Paley and Madella to cook food. Madella told many stories - mostly embarrassing ones - about Teerom, and they all listened, laughing at Teerom's childhood antics.
After Teerom escaped Rukae, he found himself in a grassy field. If it were not for Madella, he would've been killed by monsters or starvation.
As much as he loves her now, at first, he didn't like her. He thought she was trying too hard to befriend him, so he kept his distance. However, it was the last thing he held dear - Aneros - that bought them together.
Madella was a big fan of Aneros and the previous Quimnias when she was a child. But she had heard the fake story about the hero working for an ancient empire to bring about world peace. Teerom, being the Aneros geek he is, had to show her the real story.
She immediately came to like it, and they grew close quickly. A few months later, Jurie would be abandoned by her parents and left at the orphanage. She was a distant relative of Madella, which is why her parents, after hearing that Madella had run away from her family and had become the mother of an orphanage, entrusted Jurie to her.
Everyone laughed at the childhood stories of Teerom pretending to be Aneros and saving Jurie and Madella. Even Paley chuckled.
"Teerom and Jurie used to bathe together when they were younger," Madella began, laughing before she got to the funny part, "One day, Jurie tried to pull his privates off!" She laughed her ass off with the dwarves.
"Mom!" Teerom shouted and blushed. Jurie was so embarrassed that she turned a deep red and hid her face.
Lunch was now ready. Paley and Madella made a slow-cooked lamb and pork buffet. They had to discard a bit of it, because Paley lost control of his Fire Magic while listening to the stories, burning some of the meat.
"So much meat!" Battdur exclaimed as eight plates full of food hovered onto the table. Cutlery and empty plates slowly descended in front of everyone.
"For such a young boy, your air magic is on par with a Lord Mage," Aleisar commented as he and the dwarves dug into the food like hungry wolves. He didn't take notice that Paley used Fire magic, Air magic, and Water magic to cook with Madella.
"It's not just air magic. He can use all of-" Amasha began, but Rauba and Bacha quickly shut him up.
"A Lord Mage?" Paley asked.
"As in the rank," Aleisar didn't elaborate, speaking between handfuls of meat.
"How powerful is a Lord Mage? And what is the rank system?" Paley's curiosity spiked.
"Woah there, kiddo. Slow down. Eat first," Battdur said.
"It's fine. He's lost his memory, remember?" Aleisar quickly reminded and turned back to Paley, "At the bottom is the Local Mage: Blacksmiths, Tailors, that whole lot.
Then, there are Foot mages. They're kind of like soldiers in battle but provide support from far away.
After them, there are the Knight Mages. Then, the Lord Mages. Lord Mages are capable of destroying..." Aleisar took a moment to think, "Let's say a really small village with all of their mana. But there's more.
King mages are mages who work under the direct control of a king. Rumors say they're able to kill hundreds with just a snap of their finger.
Then, there are the Emperor Mages. The strongest of the strongest. Capable of beating ten King Mages at once." Aleisar paused dramatically.
"But there is someone who can beat even them. Someone you see only once a thousand years. The Quimnia.
They stand at the top of the hierarchy. Someone capable of wielding all magics with no restraint. Someone so powerful that the world itself bends under their fingertips. There have only been four Quimnias so far, and every time, they have saved us from great calamity and changed the world for the better." He chugged some water and burped joyfully.
Teerom looked at Paley, trying to hold in the urge to tell the dwarves he's a Quimnia. But he respected Paley's wishes for that to be kept private. But Paley was excited too. After learning that the Quimnia stood at the very top, he wanted to reach that level to change the world for the better. Like Aneros did. Like every other Quimnia did.
However, he failed to notice that those changes are always temporary.
"Is Teerom going to be okay working with you?" Madella asked. It was common knowledge that dwarves were fearless, almost irrational, bold people.
"It'll be a bit hard for him, but he should get used to it soon enough," Aleisar explained.
"Are you going to be building from high places?" Jurie asked, taking into account Teerom's mortal fear of heights.
"Very high! At least three storeys on average." At those words, Teerom turned nearly as pale as Paley.
"That high?" He asked nervously.
"With only a rope to hold you. You scared?" Aleisar teased.
"I-I have no reason to be scared. High altitudes don't scare me at all." Teerom tried to keep a straight face. The orphans sighed in synchrony.
The dwarves left at around five in the afternoon, thanking Madella and Paley for the food. As soon as they left, Teerom approached Paley, panicked. He waited until everyone was doing their own thing before he shouted in whispers.
"Paley! You have to help me! I get the jitters when I look down from the top of the stairs for too long. I won't be able to handle hanging off a building with only a rope!" He shook Paley.
"You jumped out of the library's third floor. Your fear can't be that bad." Paley tried to brush it off, but Teerom continued pestering him.
"That time doesn't count..." He looked at Jurie, who was reading Aneros' tale, awkwardly.
"Why?"
"Because I cheated. I closed my eyes and thought about Jurie to calm myself down." He admitted.
"Just do that when you're in a high place." Paley tried to walk away again, but Teerom pulled him back.
"I gotta keep my eyes closed to get a clear image of her. Besides, you promised me you'd help me, didn't you? Back at the camp?"
Paley took a moment to think back and recalled that he did promise Teerom that he would help him overcome his fear.
"Alright, fine. Come with me." Paley sighed loudly on purpose and took Teerom to the river. Jurie saw them leave and followed them out of curiosity, watching them from the orphanage.
Paley created an extremely tall pillar of rock, but Teerom complained, and he reduced it down to about twice the size of the orphanage.
Jurie watched Paley fling Teerom into the air after he nodded readily. She nearly dropped the book to put her hands over her mouth from the shock. Teerom screamed like a little girl as he slowed down in the air.
Before Paley could put him on top of the pillar, he fainted.
He woke up a few minutes later back on the ground. Paley was there, waiting with Jurie, who'd been checking on him.
"Wanna try again-" Paley asked, but Teerom interrupted him. "Jurie?" He tried to compose himself, hoping that she didn't see or hear him scream like that.
"Yep, it's me." She smiled awkwardly, trying not to hurt his brittle pride. Paley's eyes narrowed as he got an idea. He could use Teerom's need to look cool in front of others, and his feelings for Jurie, to help him.
He whispered something long into Jurie's ear, and she nodded about five times before he finished.
"What're you whispering for?" Teerom asked.
"I believe in you," Jurie said, then looked back at Paley, who nodded, "You can do this!" She looked back at him again, and he nodded again. But it was a disappointed nod.
'I'd be surprised if he bought that horrible performance,' Paley thought.
"Paley! One more time!" Teerom exclaimed, overflowing with determination.
And so Teerom spent the rest of the day trying to overcome his fear of heights. The other orphans, and even Madella, had gathered around to cheer him on. It was seven in the afternoon now, and he decided that this was the last time he would need to do it.
"Paley, again!" Teerom demanded to Paley, whose eyes were sunken with exhaustion. Paley blasted him up into the air and put him on top of the pillar.
"I'm gonna pass out." Paley lost his balance comically and faceplanted onto the ground. Madella rushed to tend to him.
"He must've used too much mana," She said and looked up to see Teerom preparing to jump into the river. But it was Paley who slowed down his fall at the last moment to help him land safely. If he were to jump, now that Paley passed out, he would either be badly injured. Or die.
"Teerom! Don't jump this time!" Madella shouted, but Teerom had closed his eyes and focused on looking as cool as possible when he jumped. Every previous try, he passed out just from looking down for more than two seconds. This time, he was still conscious and had been looking at the ground for a minute or so.
He jumped off. It was an elegant forward flip. But that lasted about two seconds before he began screaming and begging for Paley to save him.
"PALEYY!" He noticed that Paley was lying in Madella's arms too late. 'Wow. This is probably the lamest way to go out... Why me?' He thought as he began to make contact with the water. It didn't feel as hard as he thought. Normally, if you were to jump from that height, it would feel like a giant fist punched you.
Yet the water was soft and flowed strangely, letting him into the river gently. But that strange embrace would last for a few more moments as he hit the bottom of the river. He opened his eyes and saw that the water was pulled away from him, forming mesmerizing walls around him.
The water suddenly rushed back into place, burying him underneath. He swam out and gasped for air. The orphans stared at him, surprised that he survived.
"Paley?" He approached Paley who still had his hand stretched out toward him to cast a Water Spell. When Teerom was falling, he'd erected a giant column of water and bought it down, matching Teerom's speed to carry him to the ground.
Jurie slapped Teerom in the back of the head. "How did you not notice that he was tired?" She asked, frustrated.
"I-I'm sorry. I got carried away." Teerom checked on Paley. He suddenly woke up, spooking him.
"You should've gotten over your fear now, right?" He asked grumpily.
"Yes. Thanks to you, bud. But if it's okay, can I go one more time?"
They all fell silent.