"I said, who are you?" The man asked again, slightly losing his composure this time.
Ruen was at a loss for words. "I- I am Ruen", He stuttered. His eyes quickly panned around the room.
They were in a dusty attic that was filled to the brim with tiny magic crystals, piles of steel scrap, and all sorts of tools. The man seemed to live in this small room. Next to the windows stood a small bed, Ruen could vaguely make out what appeared to be a small kitchen behind him.
In the corner of the small room stood a workbench that appeared to have some half-assembled contraption on it. He stared at it, wondering what it could be.
Ruen was quickly and rudely awakened from this small moment of thought. The man walked up to him and grabbed him by his shoulders.
"Ruen who!?", He shouted, a hint of urgency clearly protruding through his voice.
"J-Just R-Rue…n Sir. I..I don't h-have a last name", Ruen stuttered. His entire body was trembling with fear. His eyes teared up as the man was directly looking into them with his cold, soul-piercing gaze.
"How could you not have a last name, you're the son of a Duke, aren't you? Don't you lie to me, boy!". The man shouted all pretense of composure he had quickly fading away. He shook his head and planted the palms of his hands on his face.'.
"N-no sir, I'm from the slums, like you.", Ruen gulped. The fear in his eyes slowly expanded with each passing second.
Something snapped in the man when he heard Ruen say that. "Listen hear young man, I am not from the slums. It was circumstance that brought me here, not birth!" The man shouted, his face turning red as a beet. He stomped on the floor, the shocks of which permeated throughout the entire attic.
Ruen cowered away even more, crying loudly. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!", He bawled, tears streaming down his cheeks like tiny river deltas.
The man looked at the crying child in front of him with a mixture of remorse and contempt on his face. Though he truly did feel offended by what the boy said, he didn't mean to scare him into crying his eyes out. 'He claims not to be nobility, did I just abduct him for no reason?' The man sighed as he thought this. The man's expression warmed up a bit. He patted Ruen on his shoulder. 'Well, I guess I treated him a bit too harshly.'
"I'm sorry I shouldn't have lost my composure. My name is Timur Cahun. I used to be a baron, but those times are long gone." Timur extended his hand to Ruen as he said this.
Ruen cautiously shook his hand, half expecting it to be a sick joke. "W-why did you abduct me?", He asked anxiously.
Timur grabbed a chair from the corner of the attic and sat down in front of Ruen. He stretched for a bit before finally answering Ruen's question. "Well you see, I'm not technically allowed to perform magic. When I sensed your Mana I was afraid that you might've been the son of a high-ranking Noble."
Upon hearing all of these things a myriad of thoughts and questions raced through Ruen's mind. His young mind was barely capable of keeping up with everything that was happening. Even though he should be scared and shaken beyond comprehension by the events that had just occurred, Ruen could only think about one thing;
'This man knows about magic!'. This thought sparked an intense debate within his head. The side that thought 'Should I ask him to tell me more about magic?' and the side that thought 'This man is dangerous, I need to get out of here' continuously clashed with each other.
After a long and fierce battle in Ruen's mind, his emotions got the upper hand and completely destroyed any hopes he had of rational thinking. He wanted to know more about magic, and he wanted to know about it now.
"You're a mage right, sir Timur?", Ruen carefully asked. The fear in his eyes was still present, but now a hint of determination was beginning to pierce the veil of scaredness.
Timur sighed. "Yes, I am. And drop the Sir. I'm not a Baron anymore.". He laughed inwardly. Mere moments ago he had shouted at the kid for insinuating he was from the slums, and now he told him to address him as if they were equals? A situation like this could only make one laugh.
Ruen's fear was quickly replaced with excitement. 'This man really is a mage, He might be able to teach me more about magic!'. Ruen's excitement grew rapidly, making his heart race like never before.
A million questions shot through Ruen's mind. He wanted to ask Timur everything;
"What is Mana?", "How does magic work?", "Can I do all the things you just did?
Ruen asked all of these questions and more. He asked so fast that Timur couldn't keep up with them.
Timur stood up and motioned for Ruen to follow him.
He walked to the window which they entered the attic through, opened it up, and stepped out onto the roof. Ruen hesitantly followed him, carefully stepping out of the window onto the sheet metal roof.
From here, they could see a large part of the slums. Since Timur's home was situated on the edge of the city, you could see the entirety of the city extend behind the slums, into the sky. Like a giant mountain, it pierced the clouds and disappeared into the endless night sky.
Ruen gasped at the sight before him, he had never seen a city like this before. Viewing his neighborhood against the backdrop of the huge city made his entire life and all of his problems feel very insignificant.
His amazement was short-lived, however. Ruen quickly shook his head.
"Tell me more about magic."