Vasi

Tesi sat on the edge of the training complex roof, looking over the grounds for the third time.

Everything below was going on as usual. Some participants practiced spells on targets, others sparred in pairs, while several sat by the wall, recovering their mana after training.

But there was one person Tesi still couldn't find.

The same guy who had fought Varel during the selection.

Back then, he had dodged attacks as though he already knew exactly where they would land. At first, Tesi had assumed it was some kind of speed magic, but the more he thought back to that fight, the less certain he became.

Even yesterday, while he was watching Noksi, the guy hadn't been anywhere on the training grounds.

Tesi slowly scanned the participants once more.

No sign of him.

"Looks like I'll have to find him."

His first thought was to ask the guards. He even glanced toward the gate, where the same man he had slipped past not long ago was standing.

Tesi quickly abandoned the idea.

If he went down there now and started asking about one of the participants, the guards would only have more questions. He didn't feel like asking any of the Astras around either. It was unlikely that anyone would casually tell a stranger where one of the selection participants lived or where he had gone today.

That left the participants themselves.

"Guess I'll do it the normal way."

A moment later, the rooftop was empty.

Tesi blended into the crowd of people training below as naturally as if he had been there all morning. After wandering around the grounds for a few minutes, he stopped one of the participants who had just finished training.

"Can I ask you something?"

The young man wiped his forehead with his sleeve and looked at him.

"Depends."

"I'm looking for someone from yesterday's selection."

Tesi paused.

He didn't know the guy's name.

They had never even spoken.

"Tall. Short black hair. Fought Varel."

The man frowned.

"That describes more than one person here."

"He was dodging before Varel even started attacking."

The man's expression changed immediately.

"Oh. Lamaniya."

"That's his name?"

"Last name. Vasi Lamaniya."

Tesi repeated it silently.

Vasi.

At least now he had a name.

"Was he here today?"

"Didn't see him. Not like I keep track of everyone, though."

"Got it."

Tesi was about to leave when the man called after him.

"Why are you looking for him?"

Tesi stopped and thought for a moment.

"I want to offer him something."

"What?"

Tesi didn't answer.

The man watched him walk away.

"Weird guy..."

Tesi pretended not to hear.

A few minutes later, he found another participant who knew the Lamaniya family.

"Vasi? He definitely won't be here today."

"Why?"

"Why would he come here every single day? The Lamaniyas live outside the city."

"Far?"

The girl stared at him for a few seconds, clearly unsure how to answer such a vague question.

"There's a huge lake beyond the northern forest. Their estate is on one of the capes. You can't miss it."

"Thanks."

Tesi took a few steps.

"Wait."

He turned around.

"Are you family?"

"No."

"A servant?"

"No."

"A friend?"

"We've never even met."

The girl looked even more confused.

"Then why are you going to his house?"

Tesi smiled faintly.

Then he walked away, leaving her standing in the middle of the training grounds with even more questions than before.

The last houses of the capital soon disappeared behind him.

Not long after that, the proper road vanished too, giving way to a narrow forest path.

The farther Tesi walked, the quieter everything became.

The noise of the city faded completely, leaving only the wind in the trees and the occasional cry of a bird.

After some time, light appeared between the trunks.

Tesi stepped out of the forest and stopped.

A vast lake stretched out before him.

The water was so still that, for a moment, it looked like an enormous mirror.

No waves.

Barely even a ripple.

Even the wind moving through the trees around it seemed to leave the surface untouched.

Perfect calm.

The forest, the sky, and scattered clouds reflected across the water.

A little to the left, a large cape stretched into the lake, and on top of it stood an estate.

"Beautiful."

The house was even larger than it had looked from a distance.

Several stories.

Pale stone.

Tall windows, most of them facing the lake.

It wasn't quite a palace, but calling it an ordinary house would have been difficult.

Tesi climbed the steps and knocked.

He didn't have to wait long.

The door was opened by a man who looked to be around fifty.

Tall, still strongly built, with short dark hair already streaked with gray.

For several seconds, he simply studied the stranger standing in front of him.

"How may I help you, sir?"

Tesi got straight to the point.

"I'd like to invite your son to join my squad."

The man blinked.

"My son?"

"Yes."

"Vasi?"

Tesi nodded.

The man's gaze sharpened.

"Forgive me, but I don't recall seeing your face among any well-known mages. May I ask your name?"

"Tesi."

The man waited.

Tesi waited too.

"And your family name?"

Tesi fell silent.

Family name.

He genuinely had to think about it.

"Family name..."

The owner of the house stared at him for several more seconds.

Tesi added nothing.

The man slowly exhaled.

"All right. Come in. I'll call my son."

Tesi stepped inside.

The first thing that struck him was the sheer amount of space.

High ceilings.

A wide staircase.

Large windows.

From the sitting room, almost the entire lake was visible.

But what caught Tesi's attention most were the walls.

Paintings hung everywhere.

Landscapes.

Portraits.

Cities.

Forests.

There were even several paintings of the lake during different seasons.

In one, it was covered in snow.

In another, it glowed beneath a red sunset.

Tesi slowly looked around the room.

A collector?

Or maybe someone in the family painted.

He didn't have time to decide.

Footsteps sounded nearby.

The owner of the house appeared on the staircase first.

Behind him came the guy Tesi had been looking for.

Tesi recognized him immediately.

Tall, straight-backed, with short black hair.

His clothes were simple and practical, clearly chosen for movement and combat rather than formal occasions.

There was nothing especially striking about his appearance.

If you didn't know who you were looking for, you could easily miss him in a crowd.

But after seeing his fight with Varel, Tesi wouldn't mistake him for anyone else.

Several more people appeared from a nearby room.

Some looked like family members, others, judging from their clothes, were servants.

Tesi looked over the gathered people, then turned to Vasi.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to speak with him alone."

The father immediately frowned.

"I don't think—"

"It's fine," Vasi said calmly.

His father looked at him.

Vasi only nodded.

"We won't go far."

The man remained silent for a few seconds before finally agreeing.

"All right."

Vasi headed outside.

Tesi followed him.

They walked some distance from the house and stopped near the edge of the cape.

The nearly motionless lake spread before them once again.

Vasi stayed silent for a few seconds before turning toward Tesi.

"Well?"

"What?"

"You came to my house. Told my father you wanted me to join some squad. Couldn't even give him your last name."

He studied Tesi closely.

"Who are you, and what do you want from me?"

"I'm Tesi."

Vasi stared at him for a few seconds.

"I already heard that part."

"And I want you to join my squad."

"The selection isn't even over yet."

Vasi looked him over carefully.

"What squad?"

He paused, then added,

"And I don't remember you among any famous mages alive today, or any of the ones we studied."

Tesi thought for a moment.

"Since you're from a noble family, you studied at an academy, right?"

"Yeah."

"Which one?"

"Tosa Academy. One of the best around here."

"Hm."

Tesi nodded.

"Then you've probably heard about Mariyard."

Vasi didn't answer right away.

"Mariyard?"

"That's the one."

Interest appeared in his eyes almost immediately.

"I heard about it before I even entered the academy. From my father. My grandfather too. Probably every story they could find."

Vasi looked toward the lake.

"But I'm not even sure Mariyard really existed."

"Why?"

"Because no one can separate history from legend anymore. At the academy, some teachers said most of the records were genuine. Others said the stories about Mariyard contradicted each other too much."

He shrugged slightly.

"Some people say it was a real squad. Others say it was only a legend. There are even people who think stories about completely different mages were later combined under one name."

Tesi listened calmly.

"Then I'll put it simply."

Vasi looked at him again.

"Mariyard exists."

Silence.

"And that's where I'm inviting you."

Several seconds passed.

Then Vasi gave a short laugh.

"So you came all the way to my house to tell me the legendary Mariyard exists."

"Yes."

"And you're connected to it."

"Yes."

"And now you're inviting me to join?"

Vasi slowly shook his head.

"Sounds like a dream. Why should I believe you? I don't know who you are. I don't know where you came from. And suddenly you're talking about Mariyard."

Tesi nodded.

"That's about the reaction I expected."

"You've heard it before?"

"The people before you said almost the same thing."

Vasi looked at him more carefully.

"So you've already invited others?"

"Yeah."

"And?"

"They joined."

"All of them?"

"So far."

This time, Vasi actually looked surprised.

"All right. Let's assume you're telling the truth. Why me?"

Tesi didn't answer immediately.

"As strange as it sounds, because of your magic."

"Only because of that?"

"Not exactly."

Tesi looked at the lake.

"People are taught from childhood that magic determines their place in the world. Strong. Weak. Rare. Useful. I don't agree with that way of thinking."

He looked back at Vasi.

"But it's also true that everyone I'm inviting into Mariyard first caught my attention because of their magic."

Vasi smiled faintly.

"Contradictory."

Tesi didn't argue.

"But magic alone isn't enough. There were plenty of strong people at the selection. You stood out among them."

Vasi remembered his fight with Varel.

"Because of the way I dodged?"

"Partly."

They stared at each other for several seconds.

"Fine," Vasi said. "Then another question. How are you going to prove you're actually connected to Mariyard?"

He looked Tesi up and down.

"No uniform."

"No."

"No cloak."

"No."

"Crest?"

"No."

"Badge?"

"No."

Vasi raised an eyebrow.

"The legendary squad doesn't have anything?"

Tesi thought about it.

"That's just how it turned out."

"Convenient."

"We don't need any of that."

"Then how are you going to prove it?"

Tesi stayed silent for a moment.

Then he smiled slightly.

"There's one way."

"I'm listening."

"In stories about Mariyard, they probably said its members were powerful mages."

"They did."

"Then let's fight."

Vasi looked at him more seriously.

"A fight?"

"Five minutes. If you touch me even once during that time, I'll admit defeat and leave."

Vasi narrowed his eyes.

"And if I don't?"

"Then at least consider the possibility that I'm not completely insane. And think about joining Mariyard."

Vasi looked at him.

Then at the lake.

Then back at Tesi.

"I only have to touch you?"

"Just touch me."

"Any way I want?"

"Any way."

A faint smile appeared on Vasi's face.

"Fine."

Tesi turned toward the lake.

"Then we've already got an arena."

"Where?"

Tesi stepped toward the water.

At that moment, a faint shimmer spread across the entire lake.

The surface remained perfectly calm, but now it looked as though a transparent film had been stretched from one shore to the other.

Tesi jumped down onto the water.

His feet didn't sink.

Only a circle of ripples spread beneath his shoe.

He walked several more steps and stopped a few meters from shore.

Vasi watched him.

Then he jumped down after him.

Solid.

As if glass lay beneath the water.

The forest reflected on the lake.

So did the sky.

It created the strange feeling that they were standing between two identical worlds.

Tesi moved a little farther away.

About ten meters remained between them.

"Well, Vasi?"

Vasi lowered his center of gravity slightly.

"Ready?"

Tesi smiled.

"Let's go."

Vasi had only just begun to push off the surface.

He hadn't even completed his first step.

A fist appeared in front of his face.

There had been no visible wind-up.

No gradual movement.

A moment ago, Tesi had been several meters away.

Now his right fist was already flying straight toward Vasi's face.

Vasi's body reacted before his mind could process what was happening.

His head snapped to the side.

The fist passed only a few centimeters from his cheek.

A violent rush of air brushed past him.

A moment later, a crash came from the opposite shore.

Several trees jerked violently.

One snapped near the base.

Then another.

A trail of destruction cut through the forest as though some invisible battering ram had slammed into it.

Vasi froze for a second.

Was that just a punch?

Tesi gave him no time to think.

He didn't even pull his arm back.

Following through with the same motion, he swung a backhand directly toward the place Vasi had just dodged into.

Too fast again.

Vasi managed to step back.

The fist itself missed.

But that wasn't enough.

The air exploded.

A shockwave ripped Vasi off his feet.

He flew several meters and barely managed to stay upright as he slid across the surface of the lake.

Ripples spread beneath him.

He quickly straightened.

Tesi didn't pursue him.

He was already standing calmly again, as though nothing unusual had happened.

Waiting.

Vasi let out a heavy breath.

The condition was simple.

Touch him.

Just once.

Technically, he could stop dodging entirely.

If Tesi's punch landed, then they would make contact.

That would satisfy the condition.

Vasi looked at the broken trees on the opposite shore.

No.

If he deliberately took a hit like that, he probably wouldn't live long enough to celebrate the victory.

But that raised another question.

If Tesi genuinely wanted him to join Mariyard, why was he attacking with that much force?

Was he testing him?

Or was he simply that confident Vasi would dodge?

What exactly was going on inside this man's head?

It didn't matter.

The five minutes had already started.

"At least I should try to touch you," Vasi muttered.

He rushed forward.

A right punch.

Tesi tilted his head.

Left.

One step back.

A kick.

Tesi merely turned his body slightly.

Vasi kept attacking.

One strike after another.

Switching sides.

A feint.

Another blow.

Tesi avoided everything.

And from the outside, it didn't even look like he was moving especially fast.

He simply happened to be wherever the attack wasn't.

Vasi threw a straight right.

Tesi shifted aside and immediately countered.

His left hand came up from below.

An uppercut aimed straight at Vasi's stomach.

Vasi saw it.

He had time.

He sharply leaned his body backward.

The fist missed again.

But the air slammed into his chest hard enough to send him flying backward once more.

He slid several meters over the water before stopping.

Tesi still hadn't moved from his spot.

Vasi frowned.

Something was strange.

No spells.

No magic circles.

He hadn't even noticed any clear change in mana.

If Tesi was using magic, Vasi had absolutely no idea what it was doing.

But one thing was obvious.

His punches were unnaturally strong.

Normal attacks wouldn't work.

Even Vasi's magic wasn't helping yet.

He saw every movement almost instantly.

And still couldn't touch him.

That left one option.

Leap.

Vasi took a deep breath.

Please work.

His body tensed for a fraction of a second.

Then he vanished.

For the first time, Tesi's expression changed.

Only slightly.

But the surprise was real.

Vasi appeared directly in front of him.

Not teleportation.

Tesi understood that much.

He could see the movement itself.

It was simply so fast that the space between the two points almost seemed to disappear.

A speed close to light.

Vasi's fist was already in front of his face.

Tesi dodged at the last possible moment and immediately jumped backward.

One leap.

Now roughly thirty meters separated them.

Vasi remained where he was and took a heavy breath.

His heart was beating too fast.

His legs felt heavier.

Just one Leap, and his body was already feeling the strain.

The technique still consumed far too much stamina.

But Tesi had dodged.

Even that.

Vasi raised his gaze.

At least this time, Tesi had been forced to react.

That meant there was a chance.

He prepared again.

This time, Vasi pulled his fist back in advance.

Tesi noticed the stance while there were still thirty meters between them.

And immediately understood his intention.

He pushed off the lake and jumped upward.

If Vasi could only move along the ground or over the water, that should have been enough.

But Vasi disappeared.

The next moment, he appeared in midair directly in front of Tesi.

Tesi's eyes widened ever so slightly.

Vasi put his entire body into the punch.

His fist closed in on Tesi's face.

Twenty centimeters.

Ten.

Five.

Almost there.

Then the punch stopped.

Not because Tesi caught it.

And not because he dodged.

Vasi's fist collided with something in empty air.

For a moment, the space in front of Tesi became harder than stone.

"What...?"

Vasi didn't have time to understand.

In the next instant, Tesi was already standing below on the surface of the lake.

Vasi landed after him.

His legs were trembling.

His breathing was completely uneven.

Two Leaps.

Until today, he had never used more than that.

He had always stopped there.

But now—

He was so close.

Tesi was watching him.

Vasi clenched his teeth.

One more.

He gathered everything he had left.

Leap.

This time, Vasi didn't even have time to prepare an attack.

He only wanted one thing.

Get close.

Touch him.

That was enough.

But the moment the movement ended, his body stopped obeying him.

Vasi froze.

His strength vanished instantly.

He still had mana left.

But his legs could no longer support him.

His vision blurred.

The last person he saw was Tesi, appearing directly in front of him.

Then someone caught him before his face hit the water.

And the world went dark.

Vasi opened his eyes.

The first thing he saw was the sky.

The blue was already being pushed away by the orange light of sunset, while the clouds slowly took on warmer colors.

High above them, a flock of birds passed by.

For several seconds, Vasi simply stared upward, trying to understand where he was.

Then he felt grass beneath his back.

He was lying on the cape near his own house.

His head felt heavy.

His arms and legs felt as though they had been filled with lead.

A short distance away stood Tesi.

His back was turned to Vasi as he looked out over the lake and the trees on the opposite shore, now swaying in the wind.

Vasi slowly sat up.

"What happened?"

Tesi turned around.

"You overdid it."

Vasi stared at him.

"You pushed your body too far. You still had mana left, but that technique doesn't rely on mana alone. You forced your body through the same strain several times in a row, even though it isn't used to it yet. Eventually, your body simply refused to keep going."

Vasi looked down at his hands.

"So I just passed out?"

"If you want the simple version, yes."

Silence settled between them for several seconds.

Vasi remembered the third Leap.

The weakness that had struck almost instantly.

Tesi standing directly in front of him.

And then nothing.

He quietly exhaled.

"So I lost."

"Technically, no."

Vasi raised his head.

"What?"

"When you blacked out, I caught you."

Tesi shrugged slightly.

"You touched me. Condition fulfilled."

Vasi stared at him for several seconds.

"Are you serious?"

"I was unconscious."

"But you touched me."

"Because you caught me."

"I never said that didn't count."

Vasi covered his face with one hand.

Victory.

A very convincing victory.

Tesi had dodged every one of his attacks.

Reacted even to his Leaps.

Broken several trees on the opposite shore with a single ordinary punch.

And when Vasi had nearly reached him on his second Leap, his fist had simply stopped in midair.

If that counted as winning, Vasi really didn't want to know what truly losing to Tesi would look like.

He remained seated for a while, then placed one hand on the ground and stood.

His legs were still trembling slightly, but he could stand.

"I've thought about it."

Tesi looked at him.

"I'm joining Mariyard."

Tesi said nothing for several seconds.

"You're sure?"

"Yeah."

"But according to our rules, you touched me. You could've gone home and forgotten about me completely."

Tesi studied him more carefully.

"So why join anyway?"

Vasi looked toward the opposite shore.

The broken trees still stood out clearly from the rest.

"Because of your first punch."

"The first one?"

"When I saw what happened to the forest."

He paused.

"Before that, I still thought you might be some kind of fraud. Or a bandit using Mariyard's name as an excuse."

Tesi listened silently.

"But after that first punch, I realized something."

Vasi looked him directly in the eyes.

"If you'd actually come here with bad intentions, you wouldn't have needed any of this."

"The fight."

"The rules."

"The five minutes."

"With that kind of strength, you could've simply done whatever you came here to do."

Tesi raised an eyebrow slightly.

"So I proved I wasn't a bandit because I was strong enough to kill you?"

Vasi paused.

"It sounds worse when you put it like that."

"But that's basically what you said."

"...Basically."

A faint smile appeared on Vasi's face.

"Then I saw how you moved. How you reacted to my Leaps."

He looked out over the lake.

"If you really are part of Mariyard, I started wondering what the others are like."

"And what could be done while standing in the same squad as people like that."

Tesi smiled slightly.

"I see."

"But I have one condition."

"What?"

"You explain a few things to me."

"Fair enough. What do you want to know?"

Vasi thought for a moment.

"First. Why did you attack me like that?"

The answer came almost immediately.

"During the selection, I couldn't figure out what your magic was. At first, I thought speed. Then maybe something related to time or foresight."

Tesi paused for a moment.

"But I noticed that you started reacting earlier than everyone else. So I wanted to test that with an attack an ordinary person wouldn't have been able to avoid."

Vasi frowned.

"And if I hadn't dodged?"

"I would've stopped."

The answer came so calmly that Vasi couldn't tell whether it made him feel better or worse.

"Fine. Second."

He raised his fist.

"Why didn't I hit you the second time?"

Tesi said nothing.

"I was only a few centimeters away. Then my fist hit something in the air."

Tesi looked toward the lake.

"I'm not answering that yet."

"Why?"

"You don't need to know everything at once."

"...Convenient."

"Now it's my turn."

Tesi looked at Vasi again.

"If you've decided to join Mariyard, tell me about your magic."

Vasi stayed silent for a moment.

"You thought I could see the future, didn't you?"

"It was one possibility."

"I can't."

Tesi became more interested.

Vasi pointed at his own eye.

"When an ordinary person sees something, there's always a delay between the event itself and their reaction."

"The eyes receive the image."

"The brain has to process it."

"Then it sends the signal to the body."

"All of that takes time."

Tesi listened silently.

"For an ordinary person, that delay is almost impossible to notice. But it's there."

Vasi looked at his palm.

"When I use my magic, that delay almost disappears."

"Anything that enters my field of vision, I perceive almost instantly."

"And my body begins reacting almost at the same moment I see it."

Tesi narrowed his eyes slightly.

Now the fight against Varel made sense.

From the outside, it had genuinely looked as though Vasi knew where his opponent would attack in advance.

But he wasn't seeing the future.

He was simply perceiving the present faster than an ordinary person.

"So that's why you started dodging almost at the same moment Varel attacked."

"Yeah. From the outside, it looks like I'm moving before the attack. In reality, I'm just reacting as fast as my body physically allows."

"So if your body itself can't keep up..."

"Then the magic alone can't save me."

Tesi nodded.

That explained the first punch too.

Vasi had seen it.

But he'd barely managed to move.

"Interesting."

"Now you get it?"

Vasi looked at him.

"But I still don't understand how you almost hit me."

"What about Leap?"

Vasi sighed.

"That's separate."

He pointed toward a tree on the opposite shore.

"I can choose any point I can see."

"Any point?"

"As long as I can see it, distance barely matters."

Tesi looked at the tree.

"And then?"

"I move there."

"Teleportation?"

Vasi shook his head.

"No. I actually cross the whole distance. Just very fast."

"The speed is close to the speed of light. Maybe a little slower. I can't measure it accurately yet."

Tesi thought for several seconds.

"So that's why I could see you moving."

Vasi immediately looked at him.

"You saw it?"

Tesi stayed silent.

"Wait."

Vasi stepped closer.

"You actually saw me moving?"

Tesi continued looking at the lake.

"Anyway, the problem with Leap is that my body still doesn't handle it well," Vasi continued. "It drains too much stamina. Until today, I'd never used it more than twice in a row."

He looked at his own hands.

"Today I tried a third."

"Now you know why that wasn't a good idea."

"Yeah, thanks."

Vasi stayed silent for a few seconds, then looked up again.

"No, wait. We're not done."

"With what?"

"Leap."

Tesi looked at him.

"What about it?"

"If I'm moving almost at the speed of light, how were you reacting?"

Silence.

Vasi continued.

"The first time, you dodged."

"The second time, you understood where I was going and jumped upward."

"And then somehow you were already back below before I even understood what happened."

Tesi said nothing.

"How?"

Tesi looked at the lake.

"Tesi."

Silence.

"You can hear me."

Tesi looked up at the sky.

The sun was already close to disappearing behind the forest.

"Beautiful sunset today."

Vasi stared at him.

"Are you messing with me?"

Tesi finally turned around.

"Well then."

"Don't change the subject."

"Congratulations."

Vasi fell silent.

Tesi smiled faintly.

"You're officially part of Mariyard now."

Vasi simply stared at him for several seconds.

Tesi was about to leave, but stopped.

"Oh. One more thing."

"What?"

"You can't leave Mariyard."

Vasi frowned slightly.

"What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said. Once you're in, you stay until the end."

Tesi expected at least some surprise.

Vasi only shrugged.

"I wasn't planning to leave."

Tesi looked at him for a little longer than usual.

"Good."

Then he started walking away again.

"Wait. You're deliberately ignoring my question, aren't you?"

Tesi didn't turn around.

"Tesi."

No response.

"I'm going to find out eventually!"

Tesi raised one hand without looking back.

"Then we'll talk when you do."

Vasi quietly exhaled.

Apparently, getting used to this man was going to take some time.

Tesi walked almost to the edge of the cape and stopped.

Chisato.

Noksi.

And now Vasi.

All three.

Not long ago, he had only been watching them in the arena, deciding which participants were worth remembering.

Now each of them had made their own choice.

Tesi looked at the sunset reflected across the lake.

A faint smile appeared on his face.

All three had been gathered.

Only now was their story beginning.