The Step

Shin, Shin

Upon hearing the sweet and kind voice calling him, Shin slowly opened his eyes, and then a murmur came from his lips "What a strange dream ..."

Yumi watched his son's face, patted his head gently and in a tone of curiosity, asked him "What did you dream about?"

Feeling his mother's soft hand in his hair, Shin sighed and calmed his thoughts, lifting his face, he told Yumi what he had seen.

"There was a massive city, but it was different from a metropolis like Beijing, it was even more advanced, and not only that, the city was half destroyed by the people who were fighting in the skies, lightning, flames and ice were thrown from among the skyscrapers -heavens moreover, it wasn't exactly like a dream ... it was realistic, I could feel that overwhelming power from afar .."

Her son's words reminded Yumi of some legends that were told in her Sakurai family, about the powerful magicians who reigned supreme on earth. Still, that thought was soon gone, remembering that Shin was a boy who loved watching movies with this theme, with a crooked smile she pulled the boy's cheeks slightly and scolded him. "This is what you get for playing late and watching those weird movies."

Surprised by his mother's tone, Shin quickly admitted his mistakes. "Okay mom, I'm going to stop playing games."

Satisfied with her son's words, Yumi smiled sweetly. "Soon the plane will land, what do you want to eat today?"

With a serious expression on his face, Shin pondered for a few moments before he answered her.

"Mom, as long as you make it, any dish will be delicious, won't you ~ agree, dad?"

Samuel smiled at the conversation. "Yes Yumi, anything you do will be the best."

For the words of her son and husband, Yumi could only smile sweetly; I have the best family; it was the thoughts that ran through her mind.

...….

While lying on his bed in his room, Shin held in his hands the necklace Edward had given him, as he carefully watched the carvings on the surface of the pendant, the memories of his dreams ran through his thoughts, unlike what his mother had said, the sensations that he had felt were real. "It certainly wasn't a dream ..."

"It is good to see that you are an intelligent person."

Surprised by the unexpected voice, Shin quickly got out of bed and looked around the room, finding nothing out of the ordinary he tried to answer that voice. "Who are you?"

"Boy, did you forget about me so quickly?"

As he recalled his dream, he quickly remembered the person he talked. "Are you the one who said you would make me a magician or something ... did you come to fulfil your words?"

"Exactly, since you remember so much, then will you accept the agreement?"

Recalling every word the figure in front of him had said to him, Shin concluded in his mind. "I have two conditions".

| Shin's words attracted the figure's attention, many wanted power, and in the face of such an attractive proposal, few would think about conditions. "Oh, and what would they be?"

While smiling Shin raises his right hand with two fingers raised. "First, if such traitors are too strong, I will have to renounce the agreement, what good is it to have such power if I cannot even protect my family, second, if the condition above is met, I hope you will give me something that can help me strengthen quickly, after all, there are no guarantees that these guys will not discover me before I have the strength to face them."

The figure smiled happily.

"Don't worry, the traitors were also betrayed, left in this world, they shouldn't even be above the 4th circle, and as for the second, you don't have to worry, in the necklace you have, enough mana for you to reach the peak of 2nd circle, this will be enough to defend yourself, you will also have all my knowledge and memories related to magic, all you need to do is work hard."

At the end of his words, the figure watched Shin waiting for his answer.

"If so, I accept it, anyway I couldn't fight something in my mind .."

Smiling, the figure extended his right hand towards Shin. "Relax boy; you will thank me for this" Soon Shin felt warm energy run through his body, it was a strange and indescribable sensation, using the vessels as a medium, the energy formed a constant flow through Shin's body and slowly a circle just like the one engraved on the pendant molded in his heart, besides countless memories arose in his head increasing the knowledge about what was happening in his body."

"Congratulations boy from now on you are officially my apprentice, Xiao Yan's apprentice, take each step carefully and slowly walk to the top, achieve what I couldn't achieve,"

Xiao Yan finished his words, looked affectionately at Shin and then his image slowly faded, like the dust carried by the wind.