Optic Mage

Lesson 04 - Forgiveness

Aiken slammed his fist onto the headmaster's desk in irritation. Who wouldn't be seething with anger after someone gave them such a dumb answer? "You, brought us here, and won't even tell us why?! And what do you mean we can't go back home?!"

Headmaster Fendora remained calm, but exhaled dejectedly. "Well, I figured this would happen. Again, I'm sorry, but I can't tell you anything useful right now."

"Yes, you can, Natalie," Bryan crossed his legs. "What about that attack in the city? I'm sure you know something about that."

She clamped her eyes down, unable to tell us anything about that either. "Listen, right now, the most I can say is, you need to start seducing the duchess," she said to Bryan then looked at me, "and you need to become a tier five mage as quickly as possible. Work together and figure it out, otherwise all our asses are on the line."

Bryan and Aiken sat around a table for lunch after. "So that was useful," Bryan said sarcastically.

"I'm sorry, man. When is she due?" Aiken asked.

The usually playful man put his sandwich down and gritted his teeth. Aiken encouraged him to breathe, and gave him time to reply. "Three months," he said. "Just when things start going good in my life, this happens," a weak titter escaped him.

"Well, you're the head librarian and I'm a mage. If we try hard enough, we should learn how to get back home soon. Let's try our best, okay?" Aiken tapped him on the shoulder.

Hmm, so three months, huh? I better get started then, Aiken thought. When he returned to class, Lana questioned him about his whereabouts during the lunch break. He wasn't sure what her family put her up to, so he would've kept her at arm's length. However, if he wanted to help Bryan make it back in time for his son's birth, he would have to use all the connections he had. He smiled, "We never hung out, huh? Wanna get ice-cream after class?"

Lana froze. Her hazel eyes were locked onto Aiken. "How come?" she muttered, then cleared her throat. "Yeah, that sounds great."

Lana didn't know how to feel. She'd always do horrendous things to Aiken, but he suddenly acted like he could see right through her. After belittling him for so many years, he still saved her and her father from death, even whilst his family was dying. And what's worse, he treated her so kindly after all the things she did to him. How could you forgive so easily? She wondered. Her feelings of guilt made her weep, but she would always hide her tears.

Aiken's mind was filled with a plethora of other issues. What was the tiers that Headmaster Fendora mentioned? Why were they important? Who should he try to build relations with? What was the best way he could advice his magic? Was it okay to manipulate a naïve fifteen-year-old girl like that? What would he and Bryan have for dinner? All pressing issues that weighed heavily on him.

But for now, he decided to start with Lana, sole daughter of the Lyons family. Just as he said, they went to get ice-cream and then enjoyed idle chit-chat as they walked around Wizzier City. He bought her a green bracelet she kept eyeing and she hugged the life out of him. Aiken ruffled her hair, "Finally, you're not brooding as much as before. I'm glad to see you smile once in a while."

"W-why?" Lana stopped.

"Hmm?"

"Why are you being so good to me?" She squeezed onto the bracelet. "Shouldn't you hate me?"

Aiken smiled a little, "Sure, I can do that. Maybe I should."

Lana winched, expecting to get berated.

"But, in the end, I think hating you just hurts me more than it hurts anyone else anyway." Aiken shrugged, "We all make mistakes, right? So," he put his hand out to her, "why don't we just leave it at that and move forward?"