You gave me hope

"Leave! And don't ever show your face around here again!"

Those words echoed through the man's mind, over and over again, like his own personal hell. Never could he see the face of who said it to him, no, he wasn't even allowed to look at her face. His role was simply to bow and accept whatever happened to him, no more, no less, no matter what form of injustice it may be.

No matter their command his sole job was to follow.
He could be told to serve them, he'd become their butler.
He could be told to fight for them, he'd become their knight.

He could be told to die for them, and he'd immediately do just that.

His eyes shot open, wide as if he had never been asleep, and the first thing he saw was an unfamiliar ceiling. It was covered in a yellow and brown pattern that was beginning to peel off in batches, a pattern he had never seen before.

Where was he? Last he remembered he was in the alleyway, out with the town's trash, but now he was laying in someone's bed. A cutesy pink blanket, somewhat old and worn out but still too good for someone like him, was draped over him. The bed was soft, a bit uncomfortable in some spots but still too soft for someone like him.
And standing next to this bed that was far too soft was a girl that was far too kind.

"You're safe. Thank the heavens." Angelica's words were barely even audible from just how much she sobbed them out. "You didn't respond to anything I tried, and I'm not too great at healing magic and your body was just so cold and-"

The man got up and silently approached the door.

"Wait!" Angelica put herself between him and the way out. "Are you sure you're okay!? You were out in the rain for so long last night!"

"Don't worry about me," the man said.

"How can I not worry about you!? You still look like you can barely stand!"

The man's legs were still shaking, still covered in bruises that were just barely bandaged up. He had to lean his arm against the wall in order to keep himself standing. His breathing was clearly strained, he sounded like he was breathing through a straw. Despite how long he rested he still sounded as if he was on the verge of death.

"I'm perfectly fine."

"YOU'RE CLEARLY NOT!"

Angelica held his arm and did her best to hold him back, but the dude was much stronger than he looked and was barely impeded.

"Again, I'm perfectly fine."

"Do you not see your injuries!?"

"My injuries?" The man looked at his arm, which looked less like an arm and more like a beat-up sausage. "These are minor cuts, I'll be fine."

"NO MINOR CUT LOOKS LIKE THAT!! Do you need to be somewhere so urgently you can't just sit and rest!?"

"Well I..." The man stopped. He seemed to think about things for a while. "For once I don't."

"So why don't you just take a bit longer to rest? Heal your body a bit. Get yourself in a better state before you leave. At least for my sake, please?"

The man was silent, seemingly deliberating on his options, only to turn around and walk back into the bed laid out for him.

"As you wish," the man said. "Do whatever you please."

Angelica smiled so wide her face looked like it was sparkling.
"Then leave it to me!"

It only took a few minutes for Angelica to heat up a rather simple potato soup for the man to enjoy, and as he ate she wiped and cleaned his battered body. The number of wounds astounded her. Even after they travelled through the toughest of dungeons her party had never had this many wounds before. Just what sort of situation was he in to beat him up this badly?

She wiped his hair a bit and noticed the color begin to return. With all of the dirt and grime that covered it she thought his hair was a reddish brown, but now that it was getting clean she could see the black hair below it.
Black hair was pretty rare. Only a few high-class families had black hair, it was said to represent skill in magic and arcane arts. And now that she looked at his eyes they were really pretty. It was a soft golden color that seemed to shimmer in the light, as if they had some sort of magic behind them.

The man merely stared back, his face largely unexpressive. "Do you need anything?"

"N-No!" Angelica blushed as she turned her head away. "Though I should ask, do you have any family or friends I should contact? To let them know you're here?"

"I don't."

"Like no one at all? Is there no one who'd be concerned with where you are?"

"No one."

"I see. Sounds horrible."

"Don't extend your concern towards people like me. Instead, go extend that care to the people close to you."

"Sure..." Such advice hurt to hear considering the circumstances, but Angelica did her best not to show it. "I'll keep it in mind mister... now that I think about it, I don't think we've introduced ourselves. I'm Angelica Lux, but some of my party members call me Angel. What's your name?"

The man nearly bit his tongue, unsure if he should continue.
"I'm Alexander. You can also call me Alex if that is too long."

"And your last name? Or do you not have one?"

"My last name..." There was a bit of silence. "Rex. My full name is Alexander Rex."

"Alexander Rex... Rex..." Angelica was sure she had heard that name somewhere before, but where?

Black hair, golden eyes, Rex family, the moment it all came together in her head Angelica nearly collapsed.

"Y-Y-You are-you are... b-buh b-buh-buh... are you truly- buh-b-buh-"

"Steady your breaths." Alexander put his hand to Angelica's chest. "Breathe in. Breathe out."

"Breathe in." Angelica held her breath. "Breathe out." Angelica blew it all out.

"There. You should feel much calmer now."

"No I don't. YOU'RE FROM THE LEGENDARY REX FAMILY!?"

It was believed that magical talent was in some way hereditary, that if you were born into the right family you'd be blessed with unparalleled magic skill. If you followed that belief to its natural conclusion there were three families that stood above the rest: the Auburn family, the Pyros family, and the Rex family. Any children born into one of these families was destined to become a celebrity in the magical sphere.
But even among these families the Rex family was head and shoulders above the others. There was a list of 30 people who were crowned Arcane Visionaries, a title granted by a world council to those who contribute great feats of progress or discovery to the research and development of all things magical. To be crowned with such an award is to show the entire world how skilled you are in these arts.

And of the 30 Arcane Visionaries, 10 of them came from the Rex family.

Three were from the Auburn family, two from Pyros, and the rest were from their own individual families. It made the inner workings of such a family a source of intrigue to the general public, yet their methods were still a mystery. Despite being a rather large family most of them refused to interact with the public at all, and the few that did rarely spoke about their family life, so the reasons behind their skill were largely a mystery.

So seeing one of them right in front of her, in her room even, made Angelica feel like she caught a shooting star.

"But your hair... the eyes... how did I not see it sooner!?" Angelica held Alexander's face in her hands, giggling at the sight. "Someone from that family in the flesh! I'm in heaven! I'm in heaven!"

"Hhmph!" He could barely speak with how tight his cheeks were squeezed together.

"And if you're as skilled at magic as they say..."
Angelica froze at the thought. The dangers she had to face were unimaginable, everyone she knew cowered when they heard about her struggles, but if it was someone like him then maybe...

Angelica clasped her hands together and bowed down.
"PLEASE TRAIN ME! TEACH ME HOW TO BECOME STRONG!"

Angelica was nearly on her knees, shaking and praying for a favorable response.

"I can't," was all Alexander said in response.

"But it's super important! You see I-"

"That won't change a thing." Alexander's voice was stone cold as he spoke, as if he were saying something as obvious as the sky being blue.

For a bit it was like Angelica's brain refused to comprehend such words. Someone who was part of the world's most talented and respected magic family was right in front of her, in the perfect position to help her with all her magical problems, yet she couldn't ask him for help. It felt unfair, no more, no less, just unfair. It was like holding a bottle of water out in front of a man dying of thirst and forbidding them from drinking from it.

But it wasn't right to complain. She had already accepted her death the night before, she just needed to accept it again, no matter how hard it felt.

"May I ask why?" Angelica's voice wavered a bit as she spoke. "Why aren't you allowed to teach me?"

"Rex family policy," he responded calmly. "All knowledge of our magical training and knowledge isn't allowed to be shared with outsiders without the Matriarch's permission."

"The Matriarch?"

"Head of the household, the oldest living woman in my family. In layman's terms you could refer to her as my grandmother."

"My grandma would be pretty amused if I called her the Matriarch at all times."
Angelica tried to brush it all off with a joke, but the sad reality of her situation was still weighing on her.

Alexander wanted to leave the conversation at just that, he wanted to move on and not risk anything more, but the atmosphere was just a bit too heavy. And was it really right to leave the girl in front of him this sad?

"Can I ask you something?" The Matriarch would certainly be upset if he got himself more involved, but for some reason Alexander couldn't bring himself to just leave her alone. "Why are you so desperate to learn magic from me?"

"Oh..." Angelica held her breath for a moment before lowering the collar of her shirt, exposing the faint glow that laid upon it. "It might be hard to believe but this is a-"

"A scheduled full-body forced teleportation spell? I was told those went out of fashion decades ago."
Alexander's face was inches away from the spell, staring at it like the world's most interesting diamond.

"W-WATCH WHERE YOU'RE STARING!" Angelica tumbled back and pushed him away. He may have been looking at the spell but if he turned his eyes just a bit lower things would get really embarrassing. "Also, isn't it ancient magic? How can you decode it so easily?"

"I'm not allowed to say."
He could tell just by looking at it. Most magic imprinted directly on the body was lost to time due to the incredible number of risks involved, but the sigils and imprints they left revealed their effects. A bluish glow like the one on Angelica indicated it transported or teleported the target in some way. If it were yellow it'd exert control over her body, if it were red it'd transform her in some way, oftentimes deadly.

"I see. But did you say this is a teleportation spell? Like a wormhole?"

"Not a wormhole. Pure physical teleportation." The Matriarch would probably not mind if he shared this much, right? "Wormhole spells warp space itself to create a shorter path to walk through. Teleportation physically rips the target through space to another location. The reason it's lost to time is because such a spell needs to be customized for whatever target you imprint it on. If the caster didn't take your measurements in mind, or was even slightly off in one category, the spell could teleport your head without your body or something similar."

"Huh!?" Angelica felt her skin crawl. "I have a spell that dangerous on me!?"

"It's not dangerous. I can tell whoever casted this spell took great care in fitting it to your proportions. There's even some care to make sure the clothes you wear get teleported with you, and that's incredibly easy to miss! As long as you don't wear anything thicker than a winter coat all of your clothes should teleport with you unharmed."

"You must really love magic huh?"

"I do?"

"I mean, you're smiling so much talking about this spell!"

Alexander grabbing his cheeks, immediately realizing it was true. His mouth really had extended into a pretty wide smile without him realizing.
"I'm sorry." He quickly forced himself back into a neutral expression.

"There's no need to apologize! Your smile was cute."

"It wasn't supposed to be."

"I don't understand you." Angelica sighed in frustration. Was everyone in the Rex family this stubborn in their refusal to get help or show emotions, or was Alexander here the oddball in his family? Maybe she shouldn't judge, he might have had his reasons.
"If you're refusing to smile because of what I told you, don't worry. Knowing I won't die right away is comforting enough for me."

"I see." Something still felt kind of off to Alexander however. "Who casted this spell?"

"Well..." Angelica seemed shy. "You might not believe it, but there was this talking monster that looked like a lich and-"

"An arch ghoul? This does look like the level of mastery that'd be expected of one, but those were thought to be extinct. Maybe if you entered an unexplored level of some deep dungeon that would explain things. I could see a monster like that popping up in the Helstrom Dungeon, or maybe even a similar place like the AliBlue or Sprakstone Dungeons."

Angelica froze. Was there any point in explaining anything anymore?

"I understand the situation. An arch ghoul implanted that spell on you to transport you to it 29 days from now. Did it say why?"

"It said it wanted a challenge and wanted me to train for an eventual fight against it."

"Why are you in here taking care of me then? You should be getting as much training as possible."

"You were in danger! Besides, I never really had a chance against the thing anyways."

"I don't trust that one bit! You're an adventurer, aren't you? A dungeon crawler even? You couldn't have met an arch lich if you weren't strong. Do you use a sword? Bow and arrow? Or is it magic? Show me!"
He looked so genuinely interested and excited that Angelica started to feel a bit bad for him.

"If you're that interested..." Angelica twiddled her thumbs. "Maybe I can show you a bit of my skills."

***One hour later***

Angelica could barely look at how disappointed Alexander seemed to be. His eyes were sparkling just a moment ago, and now they had faded to an incredible darkness.

After cleaning him up a bit more Angelica brought Alexander out to show off her skills. Down the road from her house, behind the guild building, was an open field many adventurers used as a training ground. The field stretched out for a few kilometers, before getting blocked off by thick forest brush. There she was determined to show off her skills and at least look somewhat good in front of a guy like this.

For a training exercise this simple she wore rather light armor. Light pink chest plating over her shirt, silvery pink elbow pads and kneepads, and shiny silver boots were all she needed for now. The really important piece was her sword. This golden blade was passed down the Lux family for generations, said to grant immeasurable strength in times of need. Its color had faded over the years from age, but it was still largely effective.

Alexander used magic to create targets for Angelica to strike. With just a snap of his fingers his eyes began to glow, and giant roots emerged from the ground. They curled up into vaguely humanoid shapes, with what seemed to be a head and a torso made of plants curling into each other.

"Targets ready!"

"Here I go!"
Angelica kicked off the ground and launched herself, speeding straight towards one of the targets in front of her. It was like there was a line connecting the edge of her blade to the 'neck' of her target, a line she simply had to follow in order to perform the most perfect slash.

Her sword bounced right off the target, like she was using safety scissors to cut through steel.

"Sorry, I made them too tough." With yet another snap of his fingers Alexander weakened the roots' strength to a more manageable level. Roots that strong needed monstrous strength to break through, he had to remind himself the strength of his family wasn't at all average. "Try it now."

"Got it!"
Angelica put her feet flat on the ground, leaned back, and swung her sword with all her strength. Surely with this one strike she'd have enough power to 'behead' her target.

Once again, she didn't even scratch it.

"I'll weaken it even more."

Not even a scratch.

"I'll weaken it some more."

Not a mark made.

"Some more..."

Finally, after attempt after attempt, one of Angelica's swings manages to puncture the target. The strike isn't deep, barely a centimeter, but it is at least it was visible.

"So that's the level you're at."

"Yeah..." Angelica wanted to crawl into a hole at this point. Alexander's usual default boring look came off as even more harsh here.

"You're a newer adventurer, aren't you?" With that amount of strength she could probably fight off lower-level creatures like goblins, but not much more.

"That would be the assumption, but no." Angelica looked down. "I've been adventuring for two years now, yet I haven't been able to get any stronger than this. I'm a klutz when it comes to magic, so swordsmanship like this is all I can rely on.
Now that I think about it, it was only thanks to my party that I was able to fight anything stronger than a goblin. Perry and Erin were great at weakening foes from afar. Vice's strengthening magic always made me so much stronger. And Brian would be there to draw attacks away from me, while Elise fought alongside me. I couldn't do anything without them, and now their lives are on the line and depending on me of all people when I can barely cut a tree by myself."
Before she knew it, tears were streaming down Angelica's face.

"Angel..." Alexander wanted to say something, but just what could he say? Knowing the situation she was going through what could he say?

"AAAAAAAAAAHHH!"
A scream wailed out from the nearby forest, a cry of terror that could shatter eardrums. Crows started flying out in droves, cawing and crowing like a bad omen had arrived.

"That voice..." Angelica put her finger to her chin, only to feel a sense of dread fall over her. "That was Cyan's voice!"

Before Alexander could object Angelica had leapt into the forest, dashing towards the source of the crazed scream. She and Cyan weren't on the best of terms recently, and it probably wasn't right to call them friends, but she couldn't just leave him like that!

The thick brush of the trees made the place hard to navigate, but soon enough Angelica found the source of the screams. It was indeed Cyan, his expensive clothes and sheets and adornments slashed up and partially ripped, revealing cuts underneath.

And the cause of this was towering right over them.
Red scales, mighty claws, black horns, wide spanning wings, there was no mistaking this four-legged beast from any other kind of monster. This was a dragon, a dragon so large Angelica standing tall could barely reach its nose.

"Help me..." Cyan's voice wavered as he reached out to the person behind him, only for his face to freeze as he saw just who it was. "You... why...?"

"Don't worry!" Angelica held her sword up high. "I'm here to save you!"

"DON'T EVEN TRY! Run away and get someone else!"

"And what about you?"

"Do I look like I could run!?" Despite his disrespect he was correct, his legs clearly bent and swollen, likely unable to support his weight anymore. "The faster you move out the better chance you have at surviving!"

"I can't just leave you to die here!"

"Are you crazy!? That's not just any dragon, it's a red dragon!"

Dragons came in many different types and varieties, most categorized by color. Blue dragons were limbless and emerged from the sea, black dragons had no wings but poisonous breath, and many more colors with many more abilities.
But of the many types of dragon the red dragon was the most feared. Its scales were incredibly resistant to most forms of attack, its wings were capable of taking it across a country in mere minutes, and it was capable of breathing flames that could destroy entire towns.

Fortunately for most adventurers these dragons lived up in tall mountaintops, places where only the strongest of parties even dared to explore.

Yet somehow one of them had landed in the middle of a forest, where there was no mountain in sight.

"Why is this thing even here?" Angelica questioned Cyan. "Did you draw it here somehow?"

"I don't even know how!?" His face suddenly froze in shock. "LOOK OUT!"

Angelica barely managed to move out of the way as the dragon's claw smashed down into the ground, kicking up dirt and dust like an explosion. While the attack itself didn't hit the shockwave blew both Angelica and Cyan back, the former only stopping her momentum by planting her sword into the ground.

"CYAN!"

"I'm alright!" With a mostly silent chant he raised a mound of dirt behind him to halt him in place. "And pay attention to the dragon idiot!"

When Angelica looked up the dragon swept it tail towards her, blasting through trees in the process. Cyan quickly chanted, raising a barrier of dirt and stone to block the attack, but the battering ram of a tail smashed clean through it like paper.

Angelica was sent flying, caught by Cyan sprouting up another mound of dirt. The rock shield and dirt mound combined had reduced the damage by a significant amount, but even then she felt like her entire skeleton was made to vibrate from the hit.

"Thanks," she said weakly.

"That's not going to mean anything if you don't make it out of here alive!"

"And you already know I'm not leaving without you, so you might as well help me! You know any strengthening spells?"

Cyan gritted his teeth. "Fine! Don't die!"

"Not planning to!"

Cyan clasped his hands and chanted, making a bunch of multicolored lights swirl around Angelica's body. Immediately she could feel her body lighten, each limb welling up with power.

"This is probably not enough to get past the scales though."

"I know, but I have a plan! Defend me!"

"Be more specific!"

But Angelica ran in, holding her sword high as she rushed towards the dragon as fast as she could. The dragon flew back, a stream of fire erupting from its mouth and showering the forest in flames, but a translucent yellow barrier was put in front of the warrior before it could hit her. It cracked and strained from the force, but the attack stopped before it could fully shatter.

That shattering would come when the beast descended upon the ground, slashing at the barrier with its claws and tearing it apart. But Angelica was far more alert now, flipping over the attack and running up its foreleg towards its mouth. The dragon tried to crush her mid run, like a human trying to swat away a mosquito, but none managed to make a mark as she approached its head.

"Eat this!" Angelica leapt into the air, aiming straight for the eye, but the dragon slightly raised its head just a bit too high. Fortunately, its mouth was just open enough for the sword to peak through, stabbing the beast right in the tongue.
But before anyone could celebrate, Angelica noticed a flash of red at the back of the beast's throat.

"Look out!" Cyan barely managed to procure a barrier around Angelica, but it didn't do much to help. At point-blank range she was drenched in an inferno sprouting from the dragon's mouth, powerful enough to send Angelica flying into some trees behind her.

Angelica could feel a warm liquid rushing up her throat as she coughed, and could barely feel the rest of her body. Fire raged all around her, threatening to swallow and consume both her and everything around her. The dragon flew above her, ready to bite down and finish the job.
And the only thing Angelica had to show for it was some blood dripping on the dragon's tongue.

So, this was just how weak she was.

Angelica closed her eyes, expecting it to all be over in a flash, but surprisingly nothing happened. The fire no longer felt as if it were suffocating her, instead it felt like a warm cradle.
When she opened her eyes she found herself protected by a golden glowing barrier, not a single flame managing to make its way inside, and in front of her was a sole familiar face.

"Alex!? But you're still injured, you shouldn't-"

"Stand still. I'll apply a healing spell."
Alexander slowly glanced over Angelica's body. There were a number of internal injuries that'd probably be better healed with a dedicated healing spell, but considering his lack of time it was probably best to leave a continuous spell planted on her skin. He'd have to restrict it only to healing surface injuries just to be safe. As for the time limit, five minutes was probably enough.

Alex bent down and put a finger on Angelica's arm, making a circular red sigil appear on top of it.

"Keep still. I'll deal with it."

Before Angelica could even protest Alex had disappeared. He didn't teleport, nor did he go invisible. He simply moved so fast he momentarily disappeared, and reappeared right in front of the dragon's mouth.

One bite was all it took for the dragon's mouth to completely encase Alex's body. But not even a second passed before it was clear Alex had yet to be swallowed. Sparks and lights started to escape from the dragon's mouth and nose, the beast shaking its head in clear attempt to get him to halt and clearly failing.

Eventually Alex was spat out, but he floated in the air before he could hit the ground. With a finger pointed towards the dragon and one eye closed he chanted, chanted so fast it sounded less like speech and more like television static. Eight glowing spears formed around him before launching themselves at the beast, easily piercing the hard scale armor like paper.

Angelica could only watch in awe as Alex launched spell after spell, each differently colored blast or beam or ball easily punching through the dragon. Was this the same dragon that she could barely make bleed just before? When treated like this such a magnificent beast looked like no more than a plush toy.

"I shouldn't let this drag on for too long." With a snap of his fingers Alex's body glowed, an aura of rainbow flowing from him as he applied every enhancement and buff to himself he knew. He barely even looked like the same man, now more like a god among me.

With what looked like an attempt at a small hop he rocketed through the air, floating above the red dragon's head. He raised his leg as high up as he possibly could, then kicked down so fast it sounded like a bullet was shot. The dragon's head burst, most of it hit so hard it got evaporated on the spot, while the headless body was pulled down by the inertia, crashing into the ground.

Alexander wiped his hands clean, and all of the buffs and enchantments and their accompanying glows disappeared as he did. He floated back down to the ground, removing the barrier around Angelica with a soft smile.
"Are you alright?"

Angelica's heart skipped a beat. This whole day he has been a bit of a weirdo and kind of a dork, but he was pretty cool when he used magic. That said...
"I think there's someone else you should worry about."

"Help me up please! Don't tell me you forgot about me!"
Cyan screamed for help, surrounded by small flames.

**Two Hours Later**

Cyan and Angelica were brought to the village's dedicated healers, who used their magic to fix up and mend their injured bodies. Angelica had less injuries, partially thanks to Alexander's work, which meant she got to leave early.

"And for some reason they don't believe me!" The moment they left Angelica vented her complaints to Alexander. "They were the ones who asked where these injuries came from, why are they laughing when I say there was a red dragon in the woods!?"

"It is pretty unusual," Alexander noted. "You met both an arch lich and a red dragon recently, both rare and powerful monsters that shouldn't be around here. What are the chances of a connection?"

"I don't think the reason they were laughing was because there was a red dragon in the woods. I think they laughed because the idea of me coming out alive against one is that unbelievable."
Angelica sighed. "I know they're right though. That red dragon was probably half the strength of the arch lich, and I didn't stand much of a chance even with Cyan helping me."

"Angel..." Alexander really wanted to say something, but just what was it? What was it that was just on the tip of his tongue, desperate to become spoken word?

He thought back to when he was in the woods looking for Angelica, only to see her fighting off the red dragon by herself. She was so clearly unmatched, helping a guy who looked like he had nothing but rude things to say to her. It was reckless and dumb.

Yet he also found it beautiful.

He could remember so many times he accompanied siblings and cousins to dungeons, supported them through all of their fights, only for them to completely ignore any adventurer that was in danger. No matter how easy or hard such a battle would be, no matter how simple of a task it was, if it didn't benefit them they didn't care.
And Alexander was forced to follow along with them for his whole life.

But now he was able to see the opposite. There existed kindness so genuine that it cared not how strong the opponent was it simply rushed in to try to save the day. Such kindness was inspiring, it was heartwarming.
He didn't want to see such kindness die out in less than thirty days.

"Angelica..." Alexander finally knew what he wanted to say. "I've decided. I'll teach you magic."

"Huh!?" It took some time for the words to sink in. "But didn't you say Rex family policy or something didn't allow it?"

"Just keep it a secret. They don't have to know." Just a week ago Alexander couldn't even imagine keeping a secret from his family. Was this what a rebellious phase was supposed to be like?

"My main weapon's a sword though! And I suck at magic."

"Every fighting style benefits from a bit of arcane knowledge."

"But I only have 29 more days until my fight! That's not enough time!"

"I only need twenty of those days! I'll just have to use some Rex family secrets."
Alexander extended his arm, an unconscious but genuine smile forming on his face.
"So what do you say?"

Angelica pinched her cheeks then laughed. This wasn't a dream, but if it was she didn't want to wake up anyways.
"Sure thing Teach!"

And so, hand in hand, a beautiful student-teacher relationship began.