Tale of Eldramir

Ezekiel wasn’t sure what to do as he finally reached the stands where his friends sat. He just kind of stared at them as they did the same back.

Not only had he shown that he was significantly better at fighting than they were, but he had also shown that he could in fact use magic. Not in the same way as them, of course, but it did mean that he had never once been truthful during their previous sparring.

Something that bothered most of them for different reasons.

Warren, seeing his son staring at his friends and looking nervous, pushed him along.

“Go talk to your friends. I’ll finish dealing with the Guild and get the contract completed with Gerome.” Warren said as he walked off to the representatives. “Don’t think you’re off the hook just yet, either. We’ll be going over what you will and won’t be doing when you leave later. It’s just that you’ve still got something else to do right now.”

Warren then heads over to the representatives, waving to Evelyn to come over as he and the rest move to exit the training room. Evelyn went to join them after a moment of internal conflict as she stared at Ezekiel. She turned to Peni and Stephen and asked them to watch Wendy and Ellen, who had run up to her after Brucey had shrunken down again, as she headed off.

Garrad had also moved to join the rest of the adults as the went to leave the room, only to be waved off by Gerome, who pointed back at Brucey, who was still lying at the bottom of the stands, not far off from where Ezekiel was standing. Nodding in understanding Garrad moved towards his still slightly bleeding Spirit and began channeling his magic to help Brucey to recover.

Standing at the foot of the stands, watching as his parents left the training room, Ezekiel turned and winced slightly as he saw the looks on his friends' faces. He had originally come here to apologize, but it seemed like today just couldn’t be simple for him.

He had gotten so sidetracked with the Guild that he hadn’t had much time to think about how he was going to apologize to Shari, beyond handing over the gift that he’d made. He knew he still had to, of course, but knowing what he had to do didn’t make it any easier.

Deciding that he needed to just get it over with, Ezekiel figured that it would be best to just do it, rather than keep thinking about it.

“Hey guys.” He said from the foot of the stands. “I guess I’ve got some explaining to do, don’t I?”

“Yeah, you do!” Drew called out before anyone else. “Since when did you have the attention of the Guilds?!”

As one track minded as usual, Drew didn’t care one bit about the fact that Ezekiel could apparently do more than he had been showing them.

“That’s not the issue here!” Riley exclaimed. “Ezekiel, since when could you do those things? You moved faster than anything I’ve ever seen before. Faster than some of the guards when we’ve sparred with them before.”

Always the more practical one, Riley didn’t care one bit about the Guilds, and only wanted to know about what Ezekiel could do, and why he could do it.

“Was it something to do with your clothes?” Yennifrey asked. “I noticed that the enchantments were glowing when you were fighting. Did your mother make a breakthrough in her enchanting skills?”

Yennifrey ignored the skills that Ezekiel showed, focusing once again on his enchanted clothing, as per the usual for her.

“Forget about the clothes! Ezekiel, my bestest friend ever! I need you to tell me about the Guild leaders. Do you think you’d be able to get one to talk with me? Maybe a hint or something regarding how I can excel in the trials coming up?” Drew asked, pushing forward and almost shaking Ezekiel by the shoulders.

Ezekiel wasn’t able to get a word in as his friends continued pestering him. He looked over at Shari and noticed that she hadn’t moved from her spot on the stands. She just continued to stare at him with an expressionless look on her face. The concern she felt from seeing Ezekiel get blown backwards earlier was gone now, and Ezekiel didn’t know if that was a good thing or not.

He looked further up the stands to where Peni and Stephen were sitting with Wendy and Ellen. Stephen looked bored and disinterested, as he kept a close eye on Wendy and Ellen, but it almost seemed like he was trying to avoid making eye contact with Ezekiel. He probably didn’t’ want to be drawn into the drama between kids younger than him.

Peni, on the other hand, just gave him a look of pity as she tried to deal with Wendy and Ellen directly, looking over them and slowly healing a small scratch that Wendy had gotten when she had fallen onto the stands when Brucey grew to full size.

Realizing that he wasn’t going to be getting any help, Ezekiel brought his fingers to his lips and let loose a shrill whistle that had everyone in the training room holding their ears.

“Guys, I’ll explain everything in a minute, ok? But, for now, I’d like to talk with Shari for a second.” Ezekiel said as he pushed himself forward and past his friends to make his way up the stands.

He stood there for a second, just looking at Shari as she sat there staring at him.

“Hey...” He finally said. “Can we talk over there for a minute? Away from everyone else.”

“...Fine.” Shari said as she stood up and walked over to the far corner of the room. Ezekiel trailed after her as they left their friends behind on the stands.

At the foot of the stands, Garrad couldn’t help but chuckle as he saw this. He found the drama entertaining, as he could tell that Ezekiel was worried that Shari was still upset with him, but in reality, she was terrified for him, and seeing Ezekiel fighting Theo as he had was something that made her heart race more than anything else before.

“Children. Always making a bigger deal of things than they need to.” Garrad whispered under his breath as he looked up at Peni and Stephen.

“Oy! You two are part of the Academy, right?” Garrad called out. “You a Life Mage? If so, can you give me a hand here?”

Garrad made the safe assumption that Peni was a Life Mage, even if he’d never met her before, as her eyes were a bright and vibrant green. The uniform she wore also indicated that she was a part of the official magic academy of Harkem. So, he knew she was at least Tier two, no matter how young she was compared to most Tier twos.

“Oh, yes. I’ll give you a hand.” Peni said as she went toward Garrad and Brucey. “Wendy, Ellen, why don’t we go say thank you to the nice Spirit that protected us, hmm?”

Wendy and Ellen were surprisingly quiet as they went forward. They had been slightly scared when Brucey had grown to his big size, but they weren’t as scared now that he was small again.

As she got next to Brucey, Peni’s hands started glowing as she began closing the cuts and scrapes caused by the sword shards that had dug into him. Greatly aiding Garrad, whose own Mana was slowly patching up Brucey by feeding him mana from Garrad’s own core.

“And you,” Garrad said as he pointed at Drew, who perked up in surprise, “there’s nothing that your friend can tell you that will help you if you’re taking the Guild trials later. Just do your best, spar some more, and hope that, if you get through to the end, you’ll be able to bond with a Spirit, since only those that do will get to join up with one of the Guilds.”

Drew looked downcast as Garrad told him that there was nothing that could give him an advantage. The only thing he cared about was joining a Guild, and he was willing to take any advantage he could get.

“Don’t look so down, kid. If you think for a second that the overseers wouldn’t be able to tell if someone was cheating, then you’d better think again.” Garrad said, glaring a little as Drew winced when he mentioned cheating. “I don’t know your reasons for wanting to join the Guild so bad, but I’ll tell you this much, give up on joining the Roaring Ruins and Reaching Spires. They only accept recruits from the elites, be they nobles or Academy graduates. Your best bet is to try to join one of the Tier three Guilds. Depending on how well you do, the Wandering Titans might let you join, as a trainee, but you won’t be joining your friend on any expeditions just yet.”

“Expeditions!” Drew, Riley, and Yennifrey all exclaimed as Garrad hinted at what Ezekiel was going to be doing.

“What do you mean expeditions? Why would Ezekiel be going on an expedition?” Drew asked in shock and confusion as he tried to get more information from Garrad.

Even Peni and Stephen were shocked, so much so that Peni’s healing began to falter, and it was only as Brucey let out a low rumbling growl that pulled her attention back to what she was doing.

“You’ll have to find out more from Ezekiel, as it’s his business first and foremost.” Garrad didn’t say anything more regarding Drew’s question, no matter how much he was pestered, as he felt that Ezekiel needed to talk to his friends about this. It wouldn’t do to have Ezekiel continue keeping secrets like this from his friends.

The only things the Wandering Titans held dearer to them than their explorations were their friends and family, after all.

Back over with Ezekiel and Shari, the two stopped moving and stood at the corner of the training hall. Neither one said anything as Ezekiel looked towards the ground, and Shari looked to the side.

“I’m sorry.” Ezekiel finally blurted out. “I should’ve told you about Horace, but I really did want you to make friends of your own.”

Ezekiel didn’t know where he was going with this, but he couldn’t help it as the words started spilling from his mouth as he tried to explain everything.

“I didn’t even know anything was actually wrong with him. I only ever saw him when we were all together for tutoring or sparring, so I didn’t know anything about his behavior with other people and I thought it might be his jealousy. I knew he liked you and didn’t like me, but I wasn’t sure if it was because I’m a Void Mage or because I’m your friend and you tend to go along with things, if I say they are right or wrong, and I wanted you to figure things out on your own, because I might’ve been wrong and-”

Ezekiel’s ranting was cut off before he could start looping his words as Shari put a hand over his mouth.

“Please be quiet. You’re talking too much.” Shari said as she lowered her hand.

They stood there awkwardly for a moment. Shari still wouldn’t look Ezekiel in the eye, and Ezekiel wasn’t sure if he should start talking again.

“I’m sorry too.” Shari said with a quiet voice.

Ezekiel was shocked. He really didn’t get why Shari was apologizing. Wasn’t he the only one that was keeping secrets here?

“I wanted to keep being angry at you, but after I told my mom and dad what we fought about after everyone left, they explained to me why what you did was both a good thing and a bad thing.” Shari said, still not looking at Ezekiel. “They explained to me that it wasn’t your responsibility to tell me everything, especially who I should and shouldn’t be friends with, so it was a good thing I learned that not everyone is as they seem to be, and I should’ve been more curious as to what type of person Horace really was.”

Shari turned to Ezekiel as she continued speaking, her eyes were slightly red as she looked at him.

“But it was a bad thing that you didn’t tell me anything at all!” Shari’s voice rose as she said this. “The fact that you didn’t tell me anything meant that I wasn’t able to make a proper choice!”

Shari stopped for a second to breathe as she nearly shouted that last bit in Ezekiel’s face.

“I was really looking forward to seeing you again today.” Shari’s voice was quiet again as her face fell, and thoughts of what she had seen earlier surfaced in her mind. “I wanted to apologize for getting so angry, since mom and dad talked to me, and told me you were feeling just as bad as me. But then I get home today, and I find out you’ve been keeping even more secrets from me. Just how many do you have? Just... who are you, really, and how much of you is really the Ezekiel that I know?”

Ezekiel’s heart grew cold. He knew that he would never forgive himself if he lied to her right now, but he knew that there were things that he couldn’t tell her. Secrets that he needed to keep. Not just from her, but from everyone he knew.

“Everything you know about me is real. It’s just... there’s more to me I haven’t told you about.” Ezekiel tried to explain. “The only thing that’s really different is how well I can fight, and that I know how to do stuff with Void mana.”

Shari looked at him, wiping her face clean as she did.

“Is that it? You’re just stronger than you’ve shown us before, and you know how to gather Void Mana?” She asked Ezekiel, demanding an answer from him.

“No. That’s not it. But I can’t tell you anything else right now.” Ezekiel tried to explain.

“Why not?” Shari demanded.

“Why can’t you tell me the names of all your family’s business partners? Why can’t you tell me the exact details of your family’s business dealings?” Ezekiel demanded right back.

“Because those aren’t my secrets!” Shari exclaimed.

“And neither are the ones I’m keeping!” Ezekiel stated.

The two fell quiet as they mulled over the words that they had said to each other.

Neither one of them was happy with the situation. Ezekiel, due to the fact that a simple apology had turned into another fight, and Shari, because she didn’t like Ezekiel lying to her.

“I’m not going to lie to you, Shari, but you know that people always have secrets.” Ezekiel said.

“My parents don’t keep secrets from each other. I’ll bet your parents don’t either.” Shari said quietly.

“But I’m sure they keep secrets from you, just like mine keep secrets from me.” Ezekiel said. “Besides, our parents are married. They basically share their lives with each other. We don’t.”

“... Yeah, I guess we don’t.” Shari muttered quietly.

Ezekiel flinched slightly at the hurt he heard in Shari’s voice. He didn’t like to think about what Shari might be feeling, especially for him. He wasn’t blind to other people's emotions. He just tended to ignore them as best he could, as he knew that he would never be just the person that they knew him as. He had the memories of an entire life before this one after all. Even if he had regressed in maturity a bit.

Not even his parents knew the truth about him, and if he could help it, no one ever would.

As it was, even if Shari did have a bit of a crush on him, the best thing for him to do was push her away before he could hurt her even more. It’s not like he’d be staying in Harkem forever after all. If things worked out well, he’d be setting out within the next couple of years. Once he’d proven himself capable.

Sighing in frustration as he reigned in his wandering thoughts, Ezekiel reached into his chest pocket, pulling out the pendant that he’d made Shari the night before.

“Sharing things with you like our parents do with each other would be weird. We’re ten. We’re also doing different things with our lives.” Ezekiel said as he reached forward, grabbing Shari’s hand and putting the pendant in it. “But if you’re willing to accept my apology, and you still want to be my friend, then please accept this token of apology.”

He let go of Shari’s hand, letting her look at the little wooden dog pendant she was now holding.

“It’s not the best present, but it’s something I made myself. So, I hope you can see that I’m willing to work hard to apologize, rather than just pay you back with a halfhearted object and some fancy words to say sorry.” Ezekiel said as he looked away in embarrassment. “I’m sorry if you don’t like it though.”

Shari just looked at the pendant silently before smiling. She held up the pendant as she tied it around her neck using the lanyard Ezekiel had attached it to after he had woken up before heading out earlier in the day.

“You made this?” Shari asked.

“Yeah. I ran into Drew at his family’s shop yesterday when I was looking for a gift to apologize with. He and his mother gave me his notes and a tool kit to work with so I could make you something, rather than buy you something.” Ezekiel explained. “This was the best I could do with just one day.”

Shari held the pendant to her chest before looking at Ezekiel and rushing forward to give him a hug.

“It’s fine.” She said as he hugged him. “I love it, and I accept your apology. But please, if you have any secrets that are yours to tell, can you please tell me?”

Ezekiel was quiet as he stood there with Shari’s arms wrapped around him.

“I’ll try to. When I get the chance.” He spoke. His heart felt like ice as he lied to his best friend.

Shari backed off, looking at Ezekiel with a blank face before giving him a sad smile.

“I guess that’s the best I’ll be getting from you. At least for now. But I’ll keep trying. Until you can trust me with everything, I’ll keep trying.” Shari said before grabbing his hand and pulling him back toward the stands where their friends were.

“So, what were you fighting with Theo and your dad about? It must’ve been important if you were willing to do something as stupid as blowing up a sword at point blank range.” Shari asked. “By the way, how stupid are you? Making a sword blow up like that! What if it had blown up in your hands, huh?”

Ezekiel couldn’t help but rub his face where his father had slapped him.

He knew it was deserved, thinking back on it, he realized that it really was stupid of him to do, but he was running out of options. Perhaps, if he had been more willing to take a risk in the beginning, he’d have been able to land a hit sooner, but given that he had a limited resource, one that he had now run out of, he didn’t have much time for second thoughts, or regrets.

“Yeah. I guess that was a stupid move on my part.” Ezekiel muttered.

“Was it about something to do with the Guilds? I may not be obsessed like Drew is, but I can still recognize the Guild sashes just as well as he can.” Shari said. “I noticed that a couple of those people were from the Roaring Ruins Guild. Is this about the Relic from a month ago?”

“Sort of.” Ezekiel said. “The leader from the Roaring Ruins Guild was certainly looking for compensation, but that wasn’t the main issue we were dealing with.”

“You’re avoiding the question.” Shari stated. “Is this a secret that isn’t yours?”

“No. It’s just one that I’d rather tell everyone at once, rather than over and over again.” Ezekiel explained.

The two fell into an awkward silence as they reached the stands once again.

Ezekiel and Shari stood next to one another, Ezekiel looking towards the group, and Shari looking at Ezekiel. His friends were all looking at him in curiosity and disbelief. Only Peni looked and noticed the wooden dog pendant that Shari was now wearing.

She gave her a small smile and a thumbs up, to which Shari blushed a bit, and pointedly tried to ignore, as everyone else kept their focus on staring at Ezekiel.

“So, I guess you guys have questions for me.” Ezekiel stated. “First things first. If Garrad hasn’t already told you, he and the other Guild representatives came here in the hopes of recruiting me for their next expedition to the recently discovered Ruins that have been the talk of the Guild community for the past couple months.”

Shari, having not heard Garrad’s statement earlier, gaped at Ezekiel in shock. Ezekiel held up his hand before anyone could speak up. His friends all fell silent as they waited for him to continue speaking.

“The other thing is that I know how to gather Void mana and have been slowly trying to build up enough mana inside my body to break through to Tier one.” Ezekiel continued to say. “I... haven’t actually been working as a scribe at the cathedral. Due to a... mix up, last month, I received information from a Void Relic. Thanks to that, I was permitted to work with the Scholars from the Church of Ten to help with figuring out a meditation technique that can successfully permit a Void Mage to accumulate mana.”

His friends all looked shocked as Ezekiel told them what he had really been up to this past month.

“Apparently, this news reached the Guilds, and they decided that I needed to accompany them on their expedition. That’s also what I was fighting for.” Ezekiel explained. “My dad made a deal with me. If I could manage to draw blood from Theo, who would fight at Tier two strength, then I can go on the expedition.”

No one said anything. They all knew that Ezekiel was better at them in a one-on-one fight, but to take on, to their knowledge, a Tier three Spirit, even if it was holding back, was something that they didn’t think anyone who wasn’t even at Tier one could do.

Ezekiel decided to leave out the fact that Theo and Reya were actual Tier four Spirit beasts. He didn’t think it was relevant at this moment and felt that the information might be too much for his friends to handle.

“I’m sorry for not telling you all this. But it was decided that it would be best for me to not tell anyone the full truth, as there are some people that don’t want Void Mages to be able to get magic.” Ezekiel said, hoping that they would understand why he hadn’t told them this.

Shari understood right away. The others kind of understood, but having never met Aldor, they didn’t understand the sheer hatred that some people had for the apparently useless Void Mages.

The only other people who seemed to get it as well as Shari were Drew and Garrad, who, from what Ezekiel could tell, each had their own stories involving Void Mages. Stories that made them pity Void Mages more than anything.

Drew was the first person to speak up, stepping forward and placing his hands on Ezekiel’s shoulders.

“Ezekiel... I don’t care about any of that nonsense!” Drew exclaimed.

The bluntness of the statement caused a forced reboot for everyone who heard it, except for Garrad, who just laughed at their incredulous faces.

“All I care about,” Drew continued as he ignored his friends' looks, “is whether or not you can help with our training for the trials next week. That’s literally the only thing that matters to me at this point an-gak!”

Drew let out a yelp of pain as Riley and Yennifrey both jabbed him in the side.

“That’s what you’re worried about? You dingus! Do you have any idea how dangerous Guild expeditions usually are?” Riley shouted as she started pinching Drew in the side.

“Now Riley, I’m sure that Drew didn’t mean to sound so callous.” Peni tried to calm things down and break up the escalating fight as Drew tried to push back against Riley. “I’m sure he’s just as worried as we are, right Stephen?”

Stephen just stayed quiet as he tried to distract Wendy and Ellen as they climbed over Brucey, to little effect as the twins asked, “What’s and expedition, and why’s Ezekiel going on one?”

Realizing that a new problem had popped up, Peni tried to divert the twins' attention as well, as all the kids began crowding around Wendy and Ellen, trying to give their own explanations about what an expedition was.

Ezekiel couldn’t help but let loose a laugh as he and Shari watched everyone freaking out about his upcoming expedition, and their attempts at distracting the twins until Evelyn and Warren got back and would be able to answer the twins’ questions themselves.

Shari looked uncomfortable as Ezekiel laughed.

“Hey.” Shari whispered to Ezekiel. “Do you really have to go?”

Ezekiel looked at Shari before answering.

“Yeah. I do. Not just for me, but also because this is the fastest way to pay my debt to the Roaring Ruins Guild.” Ezekiel said. “But don’t worry. I’m sure everything will be fine. I’ll have a Tier four bodyguard after all. So, it’s not like I’ll be going unprotected.”

Shari didn’t look pleased with his answer. But after seeing what he was willing to do to get permission to go from his parents, she knew there was nothing she could say that would stop him from going.

“You have to come back.” Shari said as she grabbed Ezekiel’s hand. “You have to promise me you’ll come back.”

“... I promise that I’ll do whatever I need to in order to get back. Not just for me and you, but for everyone else as well.” Ezekiel promised. “Now, let’s go wrangle my sisters. It looks like Drew is being stupid again.”

Ezekiel and Shari went forward, moving to spend time with their friends, and ignoring the nagging feelings in the back of their minds.

Garrad, the only one in the room with experience from Ruin delving, could only look on with melancholy and regret as he heard Ezekiel’s promise, using his tremor sensing to listen to the vibrations in his voice. He truly hoped that he could keep it.

He also hoped that the lie that Ezekiel told Shari about telling her his secrets would become true one day. But that was a problem for another day.