The walk back from Gallows-Hill felt shorter than the journey there, mostly because Ethan's mind was spinning. The sky was already turning a deep purple, and the first few stars were coming out. The orphanage, with its glowing silver tree, looked like a small, safe island in a very big and complicated ocean.
"Come on," Elara said, nudging him with her shoulder. "We need to give the money and the reports to Havi before he thinks we spent it all on honey cakes."
They went straight to Havi's office. It was a simple room that smelled like old paper and woodsmoke. Havi was sitting behind a heavy desk, the light from a single candle making his tall shadow stretch across the wall.
Ethan seeing the papers, candle and long shadow thought "damn,this scene totally feels like a plot from a movie" chuckling internally.
Elara stepped forward and put the heavy pouch of gold and the black envelope from Lord Hugo on the desk. "We're back, Mr. havi. oh! and Mr. Memoir says hello, and Lord Hugo said to give you this.
Havi's single blue eye looked at the black envelope for a second, but he didn't open it. He put it in a drawer and then looked at Ethan. "And you, boy? How was your first trip outside these walls?"
Ethan took a deep breath. " well It was… exciting, . But I realized how much I don't know about the outside world. Everything is so much bigger than I thought."
Havi leaned back in his chair. "That's the first step to getting smart realizing you don't know anything yet. so...Is there something on your mind?"
"Yes," Ethan said. "I want to know how this world works. I want to know about the Emperor, the Great Houses, and the other continents. Do you have any books on the history of Oros?"
Havi let out a low, rumbly laugh. "History? That is not what I thought you'd ask, But alright. I have a few books that aren't too dusty. I'll give them to you tomorrow."
"Thank you, sir," Ethan said, bowing his head.
As they left the room, Elara rubbed his hair. "A history student at seven years old? You're a strange kid, Ethan."
By the time Ethan reached his room, the orphanage was totally quiet. He sat down on his straw bed, the moonlight shining through the window in a bright square on the floor.
He closed his eyes and began to meditate. For the last month, he had done this every night. He reached for that buzzing feeling under his skin,his magic and tried to move it around. He didn't want the magic to just sit there; he wanted it to listen to him. He practiced moving it in tiny circles through his fingers, trying to make it faster and smoother.
As he sat there, he thought about the man at the Raven's Eye Guild. He remembered the black fog and how the man just appeared. Teleportation, his 22-year-old brain had told him, because that's what happened in the stories he used to read. But something was bothering him. A little feeling in his head told him that he was wrong.
He couldn't sleep with that feeling stuck in his brain.
Ethan got up and quietly snuck out the back door. The air was cool and smelled like pine trees. He walked toward the back of the orphanage grounds, near the woods, just to clear his head.
That's when he saw her.
Elara was in a small clearing, holding a silver dagger. She was practicing, but it looked different. She would stand still, then suddenly vanish in a blur and reappear five meters away on the other side of a tree.
Ethan watched from the shadows. Suddenly, it all made sense.
It's a trick.
It wasn't teleportation he had seen in town. It was an illusion. The man hadn't moved through space; he had just hidden himself while moving really fast. Ethan closed his eyes and tried as hard as he could to "feel" the magic in the clearing. He pushed his senses outward, looking for the weight of her presence.
And then, he found her.
In his mind, he could "see" Elara perfectly. He could feel the way she was wrapping magic around herself like a blanket to hide from sight. He could feel the energy pulsing in her legs, giving her the speed to disappear.
She wasn't a ghost; she was just very fast and very quiet. Ethan smiled to himself. He had figured it out. He felt much better now, so he turned around and went back to his room to finally sleep.
Next morning Ethan found Havi sitting on the porch. The old man was staring out into the distance, his single blue eye reflecting the fading light. He looked less like a caretaker and more like a relic of a different age.
"Elara told me I should ask you about history," Ethan said, sitting on the wooden steps near Havi's feet. "I realized today that I'm living in a world I don't know anything about. I saw the guards and the Governor, but I don't understand how it all fits together."
Havi didn't look at him at first. He let out a long breath that sounded like a weary sigh. "History is just a collection of winners' stories, Ethan. But I suppose a boy in your position needs to know the shape of the cage he lives in."
He had three heavy, old books with him tossing his way . "here are the books you asked for but let me give you a rundown on continent before start reading " Ethan just nodded taking the books
He tapped his staff on the wood. "Listen well. This world, as you've seen, is split. We sit on the continent of Oros. For nearly a thousand years, it was a land of constant war—hundreds of small kingdoms cutting each other's throats for a handful of dirt. That changed when the Aurelian House rose to power."
"The Emperor's family?" Ethan asked. it would make sense it since its current royal family.
"The first Emperor, Valerius I, wasn't just a leader; he was a monster of a mage," Havi said, his voice dropping an octave. "He realized that humans would never survive the external threats if they didn't stop killing each other. He conquered Oros in less than a decade. But he didn't just kill the kings who stood against him. He was smarter than that."
Havi turned his gaze to Ethan. "He broke the fourteen most powerful kings on this continent and forced them to kneel. Instead of erasing their lines, he turned them into his "Fourteen Great Houses". These are the 'Vessels' you hear people talking about. They were once kings with their own crowns, but now they are servants to the Aurelian throne. They were rewarded with vast lands and the right to keep their magical bloodlines pure, as long as they never forgot who their master was."
Ethan thought back to red-eyed twins and asked " what about Mr Memoir and Mr Hugo'
"No," Havi chuckled. "The Memoir family are minor aristocrats compared to the Great Houses. People like the House of de Claire,they were kings of the western valleys once. Now, they hold power that can make a Governor look like a street beggar. They control the flow of magic tomes , the military, and the Great Academies in their territories . They are loyal because they fear the Emperor, but they still remember the crowns they used to wear."
Ethan leaned forward, his curiosity piqued since in his previous life every RPG gamer had a elf wifu fatish . "And what about the Elves? Elara said we aren't on good terms."
Havi's expression soured. "Hostile is a kind word for it. To the west lies Sylvaris. The Elves have lived there since before humans could speak. They view us as short-lived pests who destroy everything we touch. Three hundred years ago, there was a war that nearly turned the sea red. We wanted their forests for lumber and some greedy nobles wanted them for their amusement and they wanted us erased from the map. It ended in a stalemate, but the hatred hasn't cooled. If a human crosses into Sylvaris, they don't come back."
"And the Dwarves?"
"Kraz-Modan," Havi said, pointing south toward the jagged mountain ranges Ethan could barely see on the horizon. "The Dwarves are different. They don't care about politics or land. They care about the forge and the deep earth. They stay neutral because everyone needs their enchanted weapons . Even the Emperor wouldn't dare attack the mountains; the Dwarves would just seal the tunnels and wait for us to starve."
Ethan sat in silence, trying to process the scale of it. It was a world of three powers, held together by a very thin thread of peace.
"So the Emperor is Level 8," Ethan said, remembering their earlier talk. "Is that how he keeps those fourteen families in check?"
"Level 8 is a tier of power that defies logic," Havi explained. "At that level, a person is a living deterrent. The Emperor, the Elven Queen, and the Dwarven King... they are the pillars. The Fourteen Great Houses stay loyal because they know the Emperor can wipe out a bloodline in a single night. But they also use the Emperor as a shield against the other continents."
Ethan looked at his small, calloused hands. "It feels like commoners don't even exist in this history. We're just… there."
"Normal people are what keep the world running, Ethan," Havi said, looking him in the eye. "But history can be changed by anyone. You saw the town. You saw the money. Do you want to be a part of something bigger?"
Ethan thought about his old, boring life. He thought about the red-eyed twins and the magic he had seen.
"I don't want to be fuel," Ethan said, his voice quiet but strong. "I want to be the one who decides where the world goes." surprising himself with the words came of his mouth."damn that's just came out so corny, its sounded so cool in my head''
Havi let out a loud, real laugh. "That's a big dream for a boy who can barely carry water buckets! But dreams are free."
Havi stood up, his tall shadow blocking the moon. "The world's history is long, but yours is just starting. Tomorrow, we go back to training.". waling away leaving him with his thought.
Ethan sat alone in the dark. He felt like the fog was finally gone. He knew what he wanted.
"Level 8', Ethan thought." I'm going to become the person everyone is afraid to lose."