Three days later.
Days after the confrontation between Aito and Calithia Greymont, the group departed at dawn.
The first few days were calm. Wooded paths, small villages where they bought supplies. Aito never stopped asking questions: about local magic, about legendary beasts, about ancient ruins. Everything interested him, he wanted to know everything.
One afternoon, while they were camping by a river of crystalline waters, Aito was practicing his wind magic along with swordsmanship. He traced perfect arcs that left shining threads in the air, making the leaves on the ground fly in a circle around him.
Lilia's eyes opened wide with emotion.
"Incredible...!" she exclaimed. "Aito, you're really impressive."
Zekin watched from afar, meditating under the shade of a tree. He was proud of his disciple, but also alert. Always alert.
(This kid) he murmured to himself. (His power grows too fast.)
But the peace didn't last long.
After a while, everything became silent.
No. Too silent.
Even the wind changed. The very air transformed, and all three felt it. That drastic change in the environment.
The birds, which before never stopped singing — annoying sometimes, truth be told — had fallen completely silent.
(Strange) Aito thought. (Very strange.)
Then, a roar shook the forest.
The remaining birds flew away in panic, abandoning the trees. Small animals hid in their burrows.
And something emerged from among the trees.
Red eyes fixed on the group. A [Giant Gray Wolf]. A fierce magical beast, the kind that even other monsters avoid.
---
Zekin drew his sword in a fluid motion.
"Aito, Lilia, stay back," he ordered, in a grave voice. "I'll handle this."
(I know you're going to handle it, master) Aito thought. (But I didn't leave on this trip as a tourist, just to observe. So don't say that.)
He stepped forward.
Firm steps that made the leaves move out of his way, silently. He drew his sword, and his wind magic began to swirl around him.
His attire was different from what he wore at the palace. He wore a sort of mix between a coat and a robe, a cape that fell lightly over his shoulders, long enough to almost brush the ground behind him. The sleeves were wide, loose, enough to hide his hands if he wanted... or for the wind to inflate them and give him a larger silhouette than he really had.
A metallic brooch held the collar at chest height. It wasn't just an ornament. Nothing in his clothes was.
Beneath it, a jacket fitted to his torso, with curved lines engraved in the fabric, almost like seals. It adapted to his body without hindering his movements. He wasn't a brute force warrior. He was speed.
The pants ended just below the knees, tight on the lower part so as not to interfere when he ran or jumped. His boots, reinforced and high, held each step firmly. Every footstep was stable. Precise.
He didn't dress to look powerful.
He dressed to be ready.
"Master," he said, and his voice was too calm for the situation. "Let me try."
The beast roared.
A roar that clearly said: I'm ready.
Aito adjusted his grip on his sword.
And so, the first real danger of the journey finally appeared.
---
My master had already told us before: "Kids, don't let your guard down."
To tell the truth, right now, despite all that confidence I showed — that I showed the master — I'm not going to deny it: I actually feel a chill running through my entire body. Really, I'm scared.
And there's something senseless about that. I call it "senseless" because I don't know what name to give it, since this is the first time something like this has happened to me.
Even though at this very moment I'm scared, at the same time I also feel very excited.
This is the first time in my life that I've experienced something like this: both the feeling and the situation itself.
And this magical beast that's in front of me right now, hungry, with a penetrating gaze, seeing me more as a pile of meat than as a possible threat...
This makes me angry.
I don't normally get angry. I've never felt upset about being defeated. On the contrary, I see it as learning, I use it to grow. Every time I failed at something, every time I challenged the knights, every time they defeated me, I had never gotten angry. I was always happy to have learned something new.
But now... now I don't feel that way. I don't feel that learning after failure.
Because no one had ever looked at me with those eyes. No one had ever seen me that way, the way I already imagine what it means: "Why are you getting in my way? Why don't you go to sleep? You're no match for me. Why are you in the middle?"
It's the first time I've been angry with someone. Well, it's not a human being, but whatever, it's the first time I've been upset with a living being.
But I'm not angry enough to lose my head and go crazy, especially now when I have a predator in front of me waiting to devour me. My master has always told me to stay calm, and especially when your life is at stake. One movement, one hasty step, and you're done for.
My master called this beast [Giant Gray Wolf]. And even though I'm angry with it, I don't know how to explain it...
At that very moment, a new sensation, a new feeling was blossoming inside me. One that I hadn't felt even when I fought my master for the first time. Not even when I faced my sister days ago.
And that feeling was... happiness.
Let me explain: it's not like I've never been happy. But my happiness was always because of something that happened to me: a delicious meal, a new dessert, something mother told me, when they bought me something.
But I had never felt like this in a fight.
The sensation stirring in the depths of my chest didn't want to calm down. That new thing, that sensation I had never felt before. And there was only one thing I was desiring with all my being.
To fight that magical beast. And to finish it.
---
"Hey, kids, step aside," my master said as he drew his sword. "I'm going to take care of that ferocious beast."
The very instant I heard those words, another feeling I had never felt surged inside me.
Anger.
I was angry with my master. Not because he had done anything wrong to me. But because he said he was going to take care of the monster.
"Don't worry, master," I said, with a voice that surprised me with how firm it sounded. "I'll face that beast."
At that very moment I thought: I never imagined he would accept so easily.
"What...?" he murmured, staring at me. "Are you crazy?"
"I know, master," I replied. "But that's not crazy. At least for me, this is learning."
"A brat like you thinks he can challenge that monster?" he said, and I felt it. He was testing me, to see if I'd cower.
But master, I'm sorry. That's not going to happen.
"Do you really think I'm going to allow something like that?" he said, getting serious to intimidate me.
(Of course you will, master. You'll see. Even though you already know, but you don't want to make it easy for me.)
Of course I understand how dangerous it is. But even so, I have no intention of backing down. Maybe — just maybe — it's because I'm still a seven-year-old child and I don't understand the level of danger.
But even so, I had to fight.
"Master," I said, without taking my eyes off the [Giant Gray Wolf], "I know it's dangerous. Really. Just looking at it gives me goosebumps."
"But for that very reason, I want to fight," I continued. "If I wasn't going to fight, then there was no reason to leave the palace in the first place. I could have spent every day enjoying my life as a prince."
If he doesn't let me face the monster after that, I might as well return to the palace.
"Hey, brat," he said, and his tone changed. "Are you interrogating me? No... it feels more like you're giving me a lesson."
"Kekeke," I laughed. "Don't say that, master. How would I dare do something like that?"
"Fine, I'll let you..." he didn't finish the sentence.
"Aito, move!" he shouted.
I instinctively turned my head while evading the [Giant Gray Wolf] using wind magic. Its fangs passed grazing a second too late and I would have been done for.
But it was all thanks to my master kicking me.
(He really had to kick me... but thanks, master.)
"That was close," my master said. "Looks like that beast ran out of patience."
"Grandpa," it was Lilia's voice. "I want to fight too."