3 Chapter 3

Leyland White:

I look around but my surrounding is still a blur and, the movement made the dizziness worse. I immediately still myself, in hopes to make things better. The next thing I need is me puking while Levia's teleporting us.

"Leyland.. friend of Leyland.." Levia says as I feel her hand on my shoulder. "We have arrived."

"I have a name, you know." Archos complains and just as I open my eyes, I see him pouting at an amused-looking Levia.

I have a look around us and I see there are actually no people around us, contrary to what I was expecting. Maybe they're inside the gigantic gate that's standing right in front of me now.

I gulp as I take in what the gate is made of. Even Demis doesn't have the power to take it down with all their heavy war equipment. Every circular post must be made up of a whole tree trunk that grew at least three meters in diameter.

I do notice a few splintered parts on the wood though. From the look of it, it must be recent. An attack, maybe? I do a mental note to ask Levia about it as I focus back on the conversation at hand.

"I know." Levia chuckles at Archos' previous complaint. "But we haven't been formally introduced yet and I thought you wouldn't like someone such as me to call you by your name."

"Those kind of things don't really matter to me." Archos grins rather cheerfully. "As long as you won't try to kill me or Leyland, we're good."

"You're accepting this rather easily." I comment. "Just moments ago you were ready to attack Levia."

"I was only going to attack her if she attacked you." He defends with a roll of his eyes. "If you weren't there, I would have run for my life."

I shake my head while Levia chuckles at our little argument. "Spoken like a true friend. Well..." Levia speaks up as she offers her hand to my blue-haired friend. "I am Leviathan Citrion... Levia if you want it shorter. As you already know, I am Leyland's sister and known as the Saint Wizard by the people of Demis Kingdom. It is very nice to meet you."

Archos grins and despite just meeting Levia today, doesn't show any hesitance in taking her hand and eagerly shaking it. "Archos Mago... I don't really have a title but I take pride in being your brother's best friend."

"I am glad that you are, Archos." Levia says as they end their handshake. Levia then turns to smile at me before proceeding to facing the gigantic wooden gate.

Her eyes wander on the splintered wood before touching the gates. Almost immediately, the wood reacts to her touch. It moves and regenerates until no sign of the damages are visible. Amazing.

Levia proceeds by placing one hand on a post and a magic circle appears there. The wooden gate then opens on their own, making a deep creaking sound as it does.

"Amazing!" Archos speaks up. "You use magic to open the gate! Does that mean only you can open it?"

"Of course not." Levia replies as she gestures us to follow her inside. We do so immediately. Archos and I have no idea what to expect from this heavily gated place. Levia's comrades might not accept us as easily as she did.

"There are a select few who have exceptional control of their magic in our village." Levia explains and then snaps her fingers which results in the closing of the partially opened gates. "They can open the gates too."

"Welcome back, Levia." A gruff-looking grey-haired man along with two younger men walk up to my sister and give her a respectful bow.

The two younger men each tend to Archos and me, asking us for our cloaks and even offered to take our weapons for us. Archos is fast to hand them his staff but I am not comfortable enough to hand them my sword.

"It's alright... Rodney... Erick..." Levia calls both men's attention. "Leave him with his sword."

"As you wish, Mistress." Both men say in unison and immediately leave with the belongings they gathered.

I turn my gaze to Levia and realize the gruff man had also taken her cloak and lightweight armor which left her with her gray tunic, black trousers, and black high boots that have grey linings.

I take note of how petite Levia actually is compared to my buffed up body and came to wonder how she managed to block my previous attack with just an armored arm. Perhaps being the Saint Wizard gave her tremendous strength.

"Woooooww!!" Archos suddenly exclaims as he grabs me and looks at me closely and then to Levia, doing double takes to make sure he's seeing right. "You look alike!"

I roll my eyes. "Of course we do." I mutter as I push him away from me. "We're siblings, remember?"

"Leyland... Archos..." Levia calls out to us and we immediately go near her, forgetting about our argument. "This is Trevor Citrion - my uncle and current guardian." She says as she gestures to the gruff man. "Uncle, this is Leyland... and Archos Mago." She then proceeds to gesturing at me and then to Archos.

"Leyland..." Trevor says with a nod. "You have grown quite a lot. It has been quite a long time after all... quite long that you must've forgotten about me and everyone else here."

I gulp, feeling guilty about forgetting him. Based on what Levia said, he's my uncle too. "S-sorry."

"There is no need to apologize." Trevor says, patting me on the head. It's kind of weird how he's accepting me this fast even when I was one of Demis' warriors just moments ago. "You were just a small boy when you went missing."

"M-missing." I turn to Levia. "Is that how we were separated, Levia?"

"I see you have no memory of that day." Levia mutters but I cannot miss the sadness in her tone. "Perhaps we can talk about it tomorrow." She promptly turns to Trevor. "Uncle... please lead Archos and Leyland to my abode. I already prepared one room for Leyland but that room is large enough for two persons." She pauses to give Archos a look. "Are you fine with sharing a room with my brother, Archos?"

"Just the two of us?!" Archos' excitement was showing and Levia looked confused why my bestfriend sounded so happy with sharing a room with me.

"Back in Demis, there are at least ten soldiers assigned to one room." I explain.

"I see." Levia nods before giving Archos a small smile. "Yes, Archos. Just you and Leyland."

"Awesome!!" Archos exclaims as he bounces up and down in his excitement, rambling on and on about how glad he is for coming with me. I can only give Trevor and Levia an apologetic look.

"It is quite refreshing to have someone whose spirit isn't dampened by all this chaos." Levia utters as she looks to Archos and then to me. "Well… I should go, Leyland. Stay close to Uncle Trevor. He'll make sure nobody attacks you until you reach my home."

"You can count on me, Levia." Trevor says, also giving her a bow.

"W-where will y-you be going?" I speak up too fast, making me internally smack my head. Now they're gonna think I'm scared of this place. Which is not wrong, actually. Levia's one thing but an entire village? After everything Demis' has done, they probably bear a grudge against us. Being away from Levia for too long might be a bad idea.

"I know you are wary of this place." Levia grabs my shoulder and squeezes as if to comfort me. "And I can't say you are completely safe, either. But I will come home once I am done." She snaps her fingers and a necklace with a cross pendant materializes around my neck. "Here… As long as you have that with you, I will know if you need me."

I blink, surprised by the cold metal suddenly around my neck. When I realize that she just gave me a magic-made object, my eyes immediately widen. "Y-you can't be giving m-me such an item." I tell her. "Do you have any idea how rare and expensive a magic-made object is?"

"I do know." She replies with a smug smirk. "But when it comes to you, it doesn't matter. As long as you are safe, I am willing to give you whatever is necessary."

For some reason, her words comforted me and I came to realize just how much I already trust her despite spending a short time together. Our previous positions no longer mattered to me and it seemed weird for it to happen so fast. I expected more resistance from myself.

"T-thank you." I immediately say once I realize I hadn't said anything in reply.

Levia nods. "Relax, Leyland." She advises with an amused smile. "Just be yourself." And just like that, she teleports away from us.

"Well then... shall we go?" Trevor says, to which Archos agrees rather eagerly and for me to nod.

***

"So, what are your thoughts of us joining you, Trevor?" Archos questions and I immediately perk up to listen to Trevor's answer.

"Levia has protected this village all her life and hasn't faltered once. So, if she deems you trustworthy, then I shall do the same." He states. "But I must warn you both. Not everyone in this village shares my opinion."

I nod. "That's to be expected." I muse. "We were warriors of Demis just yesterday."

Trevor turns serious. "As a representative of the villagers, I must ask that you never leave Levia's abode without me or Levia with you. This is for your own safety."

"What's this, all of a sudden?" Archos questions.

"I know just how much Levia is willing to risk for the both of you." Trevor states. "Should she decide to abandon this village for your safety, then we will lose our only hope of protecting our home. Now... I cannot control the actions of all the villagers nor can I force them to change their views but I can at least protect you from them. In time, they will learn to trust you and until that time comes, I will make sure they do not hurt you."

I gulp. I expected this reaction from the villagers. But I didn't think it would be this complicated. Levia is willing to give up a lot for me, huh? That made me happy but at the same time, I didn't want people to suffer because of me. I'm going to talk to Levia about this when she comes back.

"Oh! We have arrived." Trevor says as he gestures towards a simple wooden house. "This is where Levia lives."

"Ohhhh!" Archos suddenly dashes towards the said house and looks around excitedly.

"Your friend seems to adapt quickly to all this." Trevor chuckles, looking quite amused at Archos. "He looks genuinely excited."

I scratch my head and give him an apologetic look. "He's always been like that." I tell him. "I apologize if it seems rude."

"Not at all." Trevor waves his hand dismissively. "It's a welcoming change."

"L-look at all these high-level enchantments!!" Archos exclaims excitedly, making both Trevor and I turn to him. He taps on a column and multiple magic circles appear there. "Levia sure knows her stuff!"

I shake my head, completely used to Archos getting excited when seeing new spells. I focus back on Trevor. That's when I notice how he looked confused.

"That's odd…" Trevor muses. "The only enchantment Levia placed on her home is placed on the floor." His eyes suddenly widen. "Archos, get away from there!!"

Before Archos could move, however, a large explosion occurs from the magic circle he was tapping. Trevor is fast to cast a barrier and shield both of us from the splintered wood and rubble. Dust covered the whole area.

"Archos!" I call out to my bestfriend when I suddenly sense a strong presence to my left. "Tch!" I grit my teeth and glare at a direction where I sense a powerful presence, hand instinctively gripping the hilt of my sword. "Seems the villager's attack has already begun. That didn't take long."

"Oops, my bad." The owner of the powerful presence speaks up just as the dust clears to reveal his appearance to me and Trevor. "Did your friend fall for the trap I set up? How stupid."

I narrow my eyes at him. Blonde hair that's tied neatly into a high ponytail. Ebony eyes that seemed unnervingly lifeless. A smirk plays on his lips as he stares at the aftermath of his skill with a maniacal look.

Judging upon his appearance, he could be five or six years younger than me. His presence is not something someone as young as him should possess, though. It's almost as strong as Levia's. In other words, one wrong move might cost me my life in this battle.

I prepare myself to fight. Let's hope we don't have to end up killing one another.