Night came like always, as Evin laid quietly in his bed, hoping to fall into slumber. But for whatever reason, he just couldn’t do so. His mind was a mix of excitement and fear, as he occasionally rolled inside his blanket.

Excitement due to finally becoming a mage, and fear due to the conversation he had with the voice.

But he refused to believe its warnings. His father was not the best father in the world… but he was his father, despite it all. He would understand Evin’s wishes and let him study as a mage in the Academy.

At that point, Evin wouldn’t even have to worry about the voice teaching him its knowledge. Since It could do it, then Evin should be able to do it all the same. He just needed some extra guidance on the subject is all…

To prove this point, Evin practiced his Imagination Casting for an hour or so in the evening. He couldn’t really achieve anything substantial, but he could feel the Fire energy in his body following his commands to the letter, despite their apparent unwillingness… no, their confusion in it all. It was as if they were highly trained soldiers under his command, bound to follow his orders, but alas, Evin was a terrible commander.

He could order the energy to move inside his body, maybe expose itself a little and fly around his body, but other than that, there wasn’t much he could do.

But Evin wasn’t one to give up so easily. Afterwards, he began practicing his Pleading Chants.

He experienced some success in this regard. He couldn’t start a huge fire like the voice did previously, but once again, he could definitely feel the Fire energy responding to his words a bit more. He felt that it was mostly because he was all alone in the house, with no one nearby to hear his embarrassing Chants.

‘The time will come. No need to be impatient,’ he was thinking, when he heard the house lock rattle.

His father must’ve finally come home, and he must’ve also drunk some alcohol, judging by the excessive rattling of the lock. Finally, the door opened with a creak and Evin heard his father walking towards his own room with unhurried steps, away from Evin’s.

‘Seems he didn’t drink as much…’ Evin thought worriedly.

As far as he knew, his father had three modes. Sober, drunk, and completely drunk. Through experience, Evin learned that he needed to avoid making a mistake when his father was simply drunk, as that was when he was the quickest to snap. Sober was a bit scary, but it was just that, scary. Out of these three modes, completely drunk was the safest one. Evin’s father didn’t even acknowledge his son’s existence during this moment, only worrying about pissing, eating, or sleeping.

Just like he feared, the footsteps stopped halfway through the corridor, creating an eerie silence. The sounds suddenly resumed, but the footsteps weren’t going away from Evin’s room, they were coming towards it. Evin looked towards the door with fear, briefly wondering if he should’ve hidden behind something.

A second later, the door opened with a creak as his father’s slightly intoxicated face popped out from behind the door. He held some kind of vine-like bush branch in his hands, which seemed to be wet, judging by the water drops dripping from its tip.

<Here it comes, he-he,> the voice commented, <He even made himself a makeshift whip, a-ha-ha.>

“We need to talk, boy.”

“Yes, sir…” Evin replied as he got out of his bed.

“You will refuse the mage’s offer in ten days,” his father said.

“But…” Evin began, but was quickly silenced by a lash from the branch. Sharp and burning pain came from his side, but Evin managed to keep the shriek inside.

“Listen to me, boy. You will go to her 10 days later… and tell her that you will not become a mage. Do you understand?”

Evin struggled inside. One part of him wished to reveal his heart and thoughts to his father, but another part told him to just do as he said.

<Don’t tell him you’re going to become a mage or something. Just say yes and save yourself a beating,> the voice seemed to shrug, <After that you can wait out the 10 days without conflict and just leave his ass behind.>

“Father, I want to become a mage.”

Evin didn’t know why he said that. Was he being stubborn because of the voice? Or was he finally going to become more honest with his father? Whatever it was, Evin knew he needed to brace for the consequences. As he expected, his father swung the branch once more. This time, he hit Evin’s shin.

“I can’t believe it. I’ve raised and fed you for 10 whole years, hoping to make you a better and responsible person, but to think you’d betray me like this. The first chance you get, you immediately think of leaving me behind and moving on to a more prestigious and powerful person.”

“I don’t have to leave you behind. The country will help us live better. The Academy’s already in this town, I’ll stay with you!” Evin pleaded.

“You really think those high and mighty mages actually care about you? They only want to help you because you’re useful to them! They’ll dress you up nicely, make you someone better than the common people, but they’ll never let you be better than them!”

“I don’t get why you want me to rot beside you so much!” Evin suddenly shouted… but he definitely didn’t intend to say that.

<Surprised? It’s not that you don’t want to say these things, you’re just unused to declaring them,> the voice explained with a laugh. Evin cursed the voice in his head, but he had more concerning problems aside from that.

“What did you say to me?” the man seemed genuinely shocked by his son’s words, “How am I wrong for trying to keep my son close to me?”

“I didn’t mean it like that!” Evin hurriedly said, trying to rectify the voice’s intervention… But immediately afterwards he continued without his intent, “I just want to become someone like king Roland!”

“You hear the stories about the late King Roland and you think that he’s a good man, trying to do good for the common people? Are you really that dumb? He just needed disposable tools, ones that could use magic, you understand?”

<Bullshit. King Roland was a man who stood against the entirety of the nobility, who only cared about extorting and oppressing the weak. He couldn’t even rely on his own family, as even his father, the previous king of the West, was someone who supported and applauded the nobles’ views. If not, how could the nobles have become so strong and influential in the first place?>

“And even if the king was truly a good man, your pathetic dream of becoming the next king Roland is utter garbage, and you know it. Some people are born to royalty, while others are born to blacksmiths. Don’t think you’ll be able to jump that gap just because you’re a mage,” he threatened, as he hit Evin’s other shin.

The pain forced Evin to kneel on the floor and helplessly stare at his father. This seemed to irk the man as he swung at Evin’s figure once more. Evin groaned out in pain, but for whatever reason, he resolved himself to be stubborn deep in his head. Even if he were hit a thousand times, Evin would force his father to understand and respect his decisions.

“Being stubborn, are you? Let’s see what you’ll say after I hit you another dozen times. Since you can’t understand human words, I can only beat it into you like I would do to a dog.”

Evin’s father struck again and again, repeatedly screaming at Evin to refuse the mage’s offer. The boy, on the other hand, was trying his best to make his father understand his determination and willpower. No matter what happened, Evin firmly decided to stay silent.

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