Tailyn was stunned to see something other than a positive reaction. He’d been expecting to be praised for his initiative, maybe even rewarded, but definitely not reprimanded. Still, he recalled everything that had been said, everything that had been done.
We can’t leave him here! We have to take him with us. Keran’s indifference was gone, and he began speaking to Forian using the healer connection. The fate of the academy is at stake!
You want to take him with us into the Gray Lands? He won’t last a week.
He’s going to die regardless, so he might as will die under our care. Can you even imagine what will happen if Crobar finds out you can get a skill outside the academy?
You and I are the only two who know how to get the first initiation stage. Crobar is far away, and they couldn’t care less about some kid. After he joins the academy, everything will be fine, so don’t get carried away. I don’t want to bring him with us. He has potential, and I’m not about to waste that. The dean is already in the loop. If the god decides we’re unworthy to return, the dean will get the boy himself. But we do need to rein him in a little—that attitude is going to get him in trouble.
Out loud, Forian had a different message.
“You were instructed to spend four thousand gold on attributes and the other four thousand on clothing. But you didn’t listen. Yet again. I don’t know that I’m going to have time to deal with you, and I certainly don’t want to listen to your excuses.” The mage saw the boy about to say something. “Orders are orders! As a punishment, I’m going to take your ring. You’ll get it back if you make it to the academy. Okay, we’re done here. Keep getting into trouble, and the academy will be nothing more than a pipe dream for you.”
Tailyn watched wide-eyed as the ring evaporated in his hand and appeared in Forian’s. The god had recognized the mage’s right to punish him.
Not far away, a luxurious carriage was waiting. And with nothing left for them to do there, the mages settled into it, Keran took up the reins, and the horses started off. Their pace was slow, as they were anxious to avoid trampling anyone. To be fair, that would have been difficult to pull off. Regardless of the fact that the square was packed, the people in front of the carriage cleared a path, filling back in as soon as the mages were gone. Hammers pounded, saws buzzed, and the delicious aroma of freshly baked bread filled the air. The city was getting back to normalcy following the invasion. And nobody had time for a stupid young boy.
Tailyn stood there amid the bustle, unsure of what to do with himself. A couple hours before, he’d been a hero, but everyday life was already beginning to close in. The same everyday life that had kept him busy for each of his ten years. Nobody was about to offer him a job; there was nothing he could do on his own to be useful to the city. Of course, he could have hauled a few boards or helped someone else hold them, but nobody wanted to get him involved. That would have just led to a conversation with Master Isor about why a boy with a mana bar was doing primitive labor. No, no good. The kid was better off minding his own business out of everyone else’s way. The sooner the inveterate idler left everybody alone, the better…
The only thought that crossed Tailyn’s mind was to go see Mistress Valanil. His ring had been taken away from him, but the herbalist presumably knew where he could find something else with magic power.
But his hopes were in vain. As soon as Tailyn got to where her stand had been, he found it had been reduced to ruins the neighbors were picking through. And they weren’t even trying to get to the bottom of what had happened. They were looking for whatever they could use themselves.
“What are you doing?” Tailyn asked indignantly, trying to stop the thieves.
“She won’t be needing any of this,” a man shaking loose a thick beam said. “The lixes got the herbalist—Master Isor’s going to have to find a new one. We can’t not have an herbalist! Hey, could you go let him know? Ah, forget it. You’re useless—we’ll go ourselves. Wait, where are you going? This is my spot! Find your own!”
The last few phrases were yelled at someone else looking for free wood. It was always that way, wasn’t it? One person’s catastrophe was another’s opportunity. Tailyn saw how excited the man’s kids got when he finally worked the beam free, and that gave him an idea.
“Where’s the alchemy table? Did someone already take it?” he asked someone picking through the ruins.
“No, what are we going to do with it?” came the reply. “Check that pile over there, the one we’ve been tossing trash into. If something catches your eye, it’s yours. Everything’s getting thrown out, anyway.”
Tailyn went over and sighed bitterly. The implements were crushed, bent, or otherwise ruined. After checking a few of them, he couldn’t find a single one in working condition. It was all useless.
“Hey, Tailyn, get over here!” called the man who’d grabbed the beam for himself. “You might like this.”
He was pulling a heavy box out of the rubble, and something was clinking inside it. Pulling back the lid, Tailyn saw a mountain of broken glass as well as a dozen flasks that had somehow remained intact. The god told him immediately that they were alchemical retorts.
“Can I have them?” the boy asked, looking over at the man. The latter nodded.
“Go for it! I don’t even know what they are, anyway.”
Tailyn quickly pulled the intact retorts out of the box and hid them in his virtual inventory. Just like the flowers, they only took up one spot. The trick didn’t go unnoticed, however, as the man took a step back.
“Wait a second. Where…? What…? Okay… Tailyn, is it true that you fought off the lixes along with the guards? You got a reward?”
Tailyn noticed in surprise as silence fell over the area—everyone was waiting to hear his answer. Embarrassed, he nodded.
“All I did was stand on the temple stairs and use my magic cards. The guards killed the lixes.”
“Tell us all about it! We’re all dying to know what happened,” said someone in the group. A dozen heads bobbed. They were indeed intrigued.
Sitting down, Tailyn told the story, highlighting the best parts without embellishing or lying about them. There wasn’t any point in that, as the people gathered around wanted the truth. They weren’t there to hear tall tales.
By the time the boy finished, there was a veritable crowd surrounding him. Nobody said a word for a little while as they paid their respects to those who had fallen or been dragged off by the lixes, though regular life slowly returned. A saw got to work. Axes began hacking away. Everyone went back to scavenging for wood among the rubble of the demolished building. Life went on, with no time to grief the lost. As he watched everyone begin working, it suddenly hit Tailyn what he needed to do.