“Class dismissed”

As the voice echoed through the classroom. Everyone started packing their things and started to head home.

Julius however was in a daze, almost like he wasn’t there to begin with.

“Is something wrong, Julius?”

Claire asked worriedly.

“It’s John, I haven’t seen him since the bestowal ceremony.”

“I’m sure he is fine. You don’t need to worry about him.”

Seeing that her comforting didn’t achieve much, she added.

“He probably is skipping school, you know how he is. We should visit him and scold him, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, let’s do that.”

Without any resistance Julius complied and headed towards the exit.

John’s house on the top of a hill near the village.

In that position, the Feuervogel household seemed to be able to supervise the entire village. That inspired a sense of security, but also a sense of caution.

A warning you may say.

Julius and Claire walked silently.

Without John, there was this feeling in their heart of loss. Something that left a little weird.

They preferred to not vocalize their thoughts. After all, all of those were kinda worrying. Is he okay? Did something happen during the bestowal?

They were worried for their friend.

Claire understood that keeping silence would only leave them alone with their dark thoughts, so she spoke.

“Hey, Julius?”

“Yes?”

“You haven’t said anything about your rune yet, it’s been a week since you have it, right?”

“I wanted to speak with John first.”

“Please tell me.”

Julius looked at her and gave up as soon as he watched her eyes of excitement.

“I only got a Crest.”

“Only a Crest?”

“Yes.”

“Weren’t you the one who said that ‘only a Talent is worthy of myself’?”

“Yes I said that.”

He glared at Claire before speaking again.

“But the spell I got is really cool.”

“Really?”

“Yes, it doesn’t take my mana to use it and it’s more of a utility spell, rather than a combat one.”

“What does it do?”

“It allows me to envelop objects or even myself in a wind that I control.”

“So you have wind magic?”

“Yes. Thanks to that spell I can do things like this.”

Julius took out his bag and placed it on the ground. Then he made a small movement with his hand.

The bag, surprisingly, started to rise in the air, levitating only a meter above the ground.

Julius instructed the wind to bring his bag back to him.

“What do you think?”

"That's incredible, Julius!”

“I know. Even though I don’t have much magical power, I don’t need much to even make myself levitate.”

“So you can fly?”

“I mean. I can raise myself in the air a little and I can also slow down my fall. Oh! And if I use it correctly I can even run a lot faster.”

“How fast?”

“Let’s reach the gate first and then I will show you.”

“If you say so.”

With that conversation, the mood of the two friends brightened.

They walked leisurely towards the village's gates.

The walls that delimited the village’s territory were made out of wood, most specifically, wide logs of innumerous trees formed a not so tall but a wide wall.

The ‘Gates’ as everyone called them were not really gates, because after all, they were never closed. It was just an entrance to the village, a hole in the wall.

The Gates, however, were guarded 24/7 by the guards. Most of them were Holy Knights, sent by the Holy Church from a nearby city called Claritas.

They were not well viewed in the village due to the difference in religious beliefs. The rest of the guards were a composition of locals and members of the military order of the Brotherhood of Celestia, the Celestial Brothers.

Even though they were the ones with the most fame among the guards, they were the less common ones. That was the case of course, because most of the members of that order were present guarding the Church of the brotherhood.

Once Julius and Claire arrived at the gate, a familiar face welcomed them.

“Long time no see, kids.”

““Leonard!!””

Leonard was a member of the Celestial Brothers and was always assigned at the gates, that was until two weeks ago, where he left for a monster hunting expedition.

Leonard was a good friend of the three kids.

“So … Where is John?”

Julius and Claire went silent at the mention of their friend.

“What happened?”

“We don’t know. We haven’t seen him since the Bestowal Ceremony.”

Claire was the one who spoke.

“Have you talked with his parents?”

“We are heading there now.”

Julius explained.

“I’m sure that John is just closing himself in his room trying to understand something that his father taught him, it wouldn’t be the first time.”

Claire shared her opinion.

Julius and Leonard agreed with her. It wouldn’t be the first time that John would close himself to everyone just to learn something that his father tried to teach him.

They also understood that because he received a rune only a week ago, his father was probably teaching him how to use it.

Even so, a week was too much.

“Then be safe on your way, remember to never go deep into the forest and to always follow the road. Ok?”

““Yes!””

The kids left the village and followed the instructions given by Leonard.

“Can you show me now how fast you can go?”

“Sure, let me give you a ride.”

“W-what?!!”

Without a warning Julius forced Claire to accept his piggyback ride.

“Ready?”

“No!”

“Okay then, here I go!”

Activating his rune, Julius coated himself with his wind and controlled it to force his body not only to go faster but to make him levitate half a meter above the ground.

Julius, with Claire on his back, floated at incredible speeds, always following the road.

Due to the low mana consumption of the spell, Julius was able to maintain his speed until he reached the Feuervogel household.

“Wasn’t that fun?”

“NO!! You almost got me killed!”

“Don’t exaggerate.”

“Ugh!!”

After arguing for some time, both of them got closer to the door and knocked.

The one who opened the door was none other than…

““Mr. Feuervogel!””

“Hello kids, what brings you here?”

“Well, we are here to ask about John.”

The face of the man darkened. Weirdly it seemed that his eyes became a brighter red.

“Come inside.”

The kids followed the man inside, full of expectation.

“Maria and Lily went shopping, they needed to get their heads off things.”

The way the man talked was not reassuring. Little by little, Julius and Claire became scared of the truth.

“So what do you want to know?”

The man sat on the sofa and looked at the opposite sofa where the children had seated.

“Where is John?”

Claire was the one who spoke.

“John is with the Brotherhood of Celestia.”

“The brotherhood?”

“Yes. As it seems, a problem occurred during the bestowal.”

“Is everything alright?”

“No. The rune that he received is fine but he isn’t.”

Julius and Claire became worried. Somewhere John wasn’t alright.

“As you know, humans are born with a core to store mana and channels to link the core to the rest of the body.

“During the Bestowal, John had his channels damaged and his core partially destroyed it seems.”

“H-how do you know that?”

“At the end of the ceremony I went to ask what happened and why my son, who was the first one to enter, never left.”

Julius and Claire listened carefully.

“The priest said that John’s body wasn’t capable of withstanding the power of his rune and broke.”

“I-is he gonna be alright?”

Claire was on the verge of tears.

“The priests said that he was stabilized, but the treatment will last for some years.

“At best he will be able to get back to his former self in twenty years.

“That is if there is no problems with the bestowment of his other runes.”

“T-twenty years?”

Julius was shocked that his best friend would be absent of his life for twenty years.