Big Gathering

After three days, Lulu would wake up Bard early in the morning to meet with Iris by the oak tree and it wasn't until the dead of night they would come back and rest up at the inn. 

As much as Bard was coming to terms with having powers, he hated this routine. In the middle of a pushup, he rolls over on his back and huffs for air. 

"Iris, I get that you're training me and all...but must it be this intense?! I'll end up dead soon!!"

Iris stands up from her pushup position and wipes her sweat off with a rag. 

"I'm sorry for pushing it, but you haven't been very successful at performing any spells. So, training your stamina is a good way to kill time. Trust me, it'll help in due time."

Looking at his worn-out figure, she sits next to him.

"But taking breaks is important too, you're holding up better than I thought."

Her praising words shocked him a bit as he sat up.

"Thanks...Hey um, you said that you could help me trace my origins. I've been dying to know more about my parents."

"Oh yeah, I did say that huh...Well, to trace someone's roots, a very powerful form of Aura Meris needs to be performed. It's called Amialia Arbur. However, I cannot perform that myself, it's not in my range of abilities."

Bard's face dropped and his blood boiled as he threw a fit.

"So you lied to me?!"

As he kept on yelling insulting words, Iris held up her hand in annoyance. 

"Ugh, you need to stop hanging out with Lulu. More respect for your teacher, please. I may not be able to perform that kind of magic, but I know someone who can. After reading that bookworm's letter I called for backup."

"Back up? What are you talking about."

"I was hoping to wait a bit longer to tell you, but I contacted the other grand wizards to assist. It seems like there is a witch up ahead in Snowbell."

"Seriously?"

"We need all the help we can get and one of them can perform Amilia Arbur. They should be here later tonight."

So a witch must've killed Kurt then...

"Alright, break time is over! Let's get back into training!!" 

Iris fisted the air in hurrah as Bard looked at her with a grunt, but trotted behind nonetheless to follow the next training exercise. 

The blue sky was now a deep shade of black-like ink with a splatter of white paint for stars. Bard lies down looking up at the sky near the fireplace and Fern is next to him chewing down some grass.

"How was it growing up for you Iris?"

His question brought a river of memories as Iris looked into the fire.  

"After the burning of the academy, many lived in fear, but my ancestors made an oath to regain people's trust one day. Those who believed in that also joined the cause to train and investigate the witches in secret. However, living among the people without mentioning who you are is hard. I couldn't interact with other kids because of training and it was much more intense for me since I inherited Taru's journal. It made me hate myself so much that I ran away from where we were stationed. I came across a river where a family was having a picnic. Their daughter was chasing a butterfly, but she tripped and fell over the edge. She almost drowned to death, but before hitting the water, I summoned Aliphus a huge water bird. Aliphus brought her up to safety and splattered apart into a rainbow as I stood seeing the family holding their daughter. As I was about to run away, the mother called out to me and gifted me some of their food. She was so sweet and gentle and the only thank you I've ever received from the common people. It was due to her warm thanks that refueled my spirits into fighting against the witches and restoring peace with the people."

Bard is in admiration of her story and just as he is about to ask her questions, a thunderous gallop is heard coming towards them. He stands up to see cloaked men on horses, but Iris remains in her seated spot. 

"You're late."

The group halted near the fire shining light onto their faces, a brunette with an adorned black cloak spoke up, "Apologies for not arriving sooner Iris. It's good to see you're doing well though."

"Yeah well, better late than never I suppose Cedric."

The redhead who also had an adorned cloak laughed and commented, "Light as ever Iris. I see you made a friend, please introduce us!"

Iris crossed her arms ticked off by his outburst, "He's not my friend. His name is Bard and I'm teaching him how to be a wizard."

Cedric hops off his horse and begins to swiftly write on a notepad, rips the paper off, and hands it to Iris. 

"As the leader of the disciplinary committee, I am fining you for teaching outsiders without  proper licensing."

"Huh?! Cedric, I swear!"

Iris began to argue as Cedric also started to rip additional fines on her the other man laughed and commanded the troops to take a rest. As the others retreated for some space, he hopped off his horse and shook hands with Bard. 

"Ha! This is pretty common, sorry about the two. My name is Ryner, it's great to have a new wizard in training!"

Ryner laughed more, putting his arm around Bard as Iris and Cedric seemed to calm down. Iris decided to take out some cookware from Fern and ingredients to cook something as they all sat down at the fire pit.

Cedric took out another journal and he began to read out what seemed to be some kind of report. "So, Everard thinks that the witches have now found a way to summon Saru and they're at Snowbell?... What's so special about the cold?"

Iris handed over her journal to Bard and nudged him to explain his side of the story.

"Um...Well, Snowbell was a new town and was known to have been founded by Charles Shay and Kurt Snowbell, but Kurt's home caught on fire and Charles was found dead. Everyone left including myself, but for some reason, a witch wrote in Iris' journal claiming that I was the murderer."

Ryner took the journal from Bard as he examined the writing. "Why would they go to such lengths?"

Iris stirred the pot as she added to the conversation, "I questioned that a lot too since Bard didn't know about his powers until Lulu performed Aura Meris on him." She began to serve everyone a bowl of creamy vegetable soup. 

Cedric kept on writing and commented on an interesting take, "Those shadow witches have a grand range when it comes to mischief spells. Also taking into account the number of catastrophic events that have occurred in recent years, all leads to them. If I have to guess, it's their dark magic of failed attempts to summon Saru that is contaminating the very world. While going undercover to review death records, there were a lot of identified bodies that went missing either from clinics or dug-up graveyards. As everyone kept on yelling the absurd idea about zombies, my theory is that the witches have been collecting the dead."

Everyone looked at Cedric in complete dumbstruck at his analytical theory. Ryner subtly coughs raising the question about a witch targeting Bard who didn't even know he was a wizard.

"Come on Cedric, you managed to solve half of the mystery. Use your brain to think as to what a witch wants with Bard."

"Easier said than done Iris. I'm not a witch myself so I don't know. If they've been taking the dead, perhaps they realized that what they needed was from someone alive, but if that's the case couldn't have they just taken anyone? If not, then what makes a beginner wizard special?"

Bard felt a bit irked at Cedric's dry explanation. 

Was that supposed to be an insult?

As they kept discussing their questions over their meal, they all agreed that whatever the witches were planning, was no good and they would travel out to Snowbell first thing in the morning. Iris bid farewell to Cedric and Reyner as they decided to camp outside, but Bard had one last question.

"Which of the two can perform Amialia Arbur?"

Ryner pointed out Cedric with his thumb.

"Oh, that would be yours truly."

"Why do you ask?"

"I was adopted by a family, so I never met my real parents. I was hoping to know more about my past if possible..."

Cedric sat down at the trunk of the tree and motioned Bard to sit right in front of him. He grabbed his hand and began to chant a spell as their bodies began to glow along with the tree. It revealed a singular circle at the top, like a picture frame, but it had no portrait. Seeing this, Cedric stopped the spell and the glow disappeared. 

"What was that...?"

"Amialia Arbur is a strong spell that requires a lot of concentration as it is a brief moment when nature interconnects with the user to collect possible information on a person's lineage. I wasn't able to trace anything, but I haven't used this spell in a long time. I seem to be out of touch."

Iris patted Bard's back, apologizing about the situation, but Cedric's words seemed to bring some sort of hope, "Don't let your past define you. Make your own path..."

Bard nodded in understanding and thanked Cedric for his time. Iris and Bard started to walk back to the inn, agreeing to meet at the oak tree to head out to Snowbell.

Cedric and Ryner began to cushion up the ground, but Ryner broke the silence. 

"You're such a liar..."

Cedric kept on unpacking paying no mind to Ryner at first, but he persisted as he asked the same question again. His seriousness made him stop and look up at the sky.

"Amialia Arbur is the only time when I'm in sync with the whole world, but if there are no traces of him here on earth...I find it hard to believe that he's someone beyond our universe...it's easier for me to understand that perhaps I didn't perform Amialia Arbur correctly due to lack of practice."

"You performed it correctly, didn't you..." 

Ryner saw as Cedric covered himself over with his blankets to sleep, but simply responded, "Perhaps...I did make a mistake."