Morning shone through a part in the curtains, gently pulling Ariel from his slumber. Softly, he sighed into the quiet. For a moment, he was confused. This wasn’t his bed. Then he remembered; he was in Jasper’s room.

It had been a few days since his first mission, and the previous night, Jasper had summoned him to his quarters to keep him company for the night. This wasn’t an unusual occurrence, and had started when Jasper was fourteen. When the order was first given to him, Ariel had expected the worse. But all his fear turned out to be for nothing, as his master only wanted someone to hold him at night. Ariel’s naturally higher body heat was also a plus side to his temperature sensitive master.

It was honestly kind of endearing.

Jasper’s bed was by far the nicest bed Ariel had ever slept in. Everything about it was soft and pleasant to the touch, and it made him painfully aware of just how exhausted he really was. All he wanted to do was bury himself further under the comforter and fall back into his dreams.

If I fall asleep now, I’ll miss my cue to wake Jasper…

With that thought riding anxiously on his conscious, Ariel forced himself to keep his eyes open, and instead let his thoughts dance among the morning light.

Something about the warmth of lying next to someone made him think of the home that he had shared with his mother. A faint smile crossed his lips as he remembered the simplicity of his days as a rogue mage living right under the humans’ noses.

He and his mother had lived in the capital, posing as humans. For Ariel, it had been easy. He hadn’t been bound to a ring or tattooed at the time, so he was able to pose as a human child. He even attended a human school up until his mother’s death.

Hiding had been much more difficult for his mother. She would constantly wear a scarf to cover her tattoo from curious eyes, and of course, finding a job was very difficult for her. So she worked at night while Ariel slept, curled up in their bed.

A throb of heartache struck him as he remembered his mother’s smiling face, and the gentle way she would reprimand his occasional carelessness.

“Ariel, you’re different, and some people don’t like things that are different. You can’t tell any of your friends about your magic.”

His reminiscent smile faded into a frown. He could still recall the day the police came to his door, carrying with them grim news.

He was only ten at the time, and his mother still wasn’t home from working, but Ariel wasn’t worried. Sometimes his mother would take longer to get back to him, and when she took longer, she usually had treats. He entertained himself by sitting on the floor, playing with a wooden horse. The side of horse was blackened from a magical accident when he was younger, but he hadn’t had a repeat of that incident in awhile.

His game was interrupted by a rap at the door. He froze where he sat, mind racing. His mother had a key, she would never knock, unless she lost it. He waited until he heard the sound repeat itself before rising to his feet. He tiptoed over to the door and cracked it open, peering through it suspiciously. Two men in uniform stood at the door, clearly marking them as police officers.

At school, they always said police officers were there to help people, and that they could be trusted and should be respected, but Ariel’s mother had always told him the opposite. One of the officers smiled at him warmly, reminding Ariel of his teacher.

“Can we come in? We need to speak to you.”

Ariel shook his head. “My mom said I shouldn’t talk to strangers. And she’s not home right now.”

“We know,” the other officer spoke. “We’re here to talk to you about your mother.”

“Oh…” Ice filled his veins. “Okay…” He opened the door, allowing the two men into his home. They walked in and one knelt down in front of Ariel, his smile fading into a concerned guise.

“Listen, buddy, I’m really sorry I have to be the one to tell you this, but your mother…” He paused. “Won’t be coming home.”

“What? Why?” Ariel cried out, his words confused and frightened. “Did she get in trouble?”

While the knelt officer struggled to put words to his dark message, the other one spoke with blunt cruelty.

“Your mother’s dead. She was murdered.”

The world seemed to crumble around him. His world of safety in secrets was being unraveled before his very eyes. At first he stood there in mute horror, and then the next he was sobbing, tears rolling down his face. His mother who fed him, who wiped his tears and held him close after nightmares, who would tell him stories of his people’s history and traditions would never again smile at him. Never again would he be able to hear her laugh, or sing, or scold him.

It was almost unreal.

The officers gave him a few moments of mourning, before the nicer one placed a hand on Ariel’s shoulder.

“It’s going to be okay. We have a safe place for you to go. You just need to come with us.”

Once those words were said, Ariel’s survival instincts kicked in. There was no way he was going to go anywhere with two humans! He could almost hear his mother warning him from the other side.

“No…” he whimpered.

The nicer one frowned. “A kid like you shouldn’t be left alone. Let us help you.”

“No!” Ariel repeated firmly, backing away from the officers.

The other one sighed. “I told you we should have called a Mage Hunter.”

Those words made everything click into place. With a sudden burst of adrenaline and courage, Ariel bolted past the officers and down the street as fast as his legs could carry him.

“Get back here, witch!” The voice of the nicer one shouted from the doorway.

Ariel shuddered at the memories. After narrowly escaping enslavement, he managed to find a small gang of boys who also lacked roofs above their heads. Despite him being a mage, the other boys invited him to join their ranks among the thieves, and with nowhere else to go, Ariel became one of them.

The few years he spent with them were a struggle for each meal, but at least he was free and surrounded by friends.

Until they turned him in to the authorities for reward money.