Partings and beginnings

5 hours later:

Rumius sat on the edge of his bed, his legs swinging off its edge. He fell back onto the soft bedding. 

When he came back from the church, his room had been transformed. By the work of the amazing maids that he had, he was sure. His little crib, which he'd lain in for the last two years was gone, replaced by a king-sized bed, beautifully designed with brightly coloured wooden frames and completed with a purple silk sheet. 

' Probably to tell me that I've grown already…huh.' 

Rumius still didn't really understand why children of this world had to go through such a terrifying experience at a young age. But remembering how he had turned away from the golden portal that was readily available, he couldn't blame the system when he had tried to go find glitches. 

Rumius signed and sat up again. 

' God, this sucks." 

In truth, he didn't even know why he was upset. Scratch that, he did know. It was because of Diana. But why?

Everything went off without a hitch, didn't it? He had made it up to the bell tower with Diana, carried out their plan, and in under five minutes, five shadowy, cloaked figures had joined them. Diana seemed to welcome everyone of them, especially an older one who looked like a wolf. 

Rumius vividly remembered her teary expression as she hugged the older Demihuman and cried her eyes out. In the end, she calmed down and got through to a bear looking character who looked as if he wanted to gut Rumius like a fish. 

Then they had said their goodbyes and parted ways. It was perfect.

Diana was free, homeward bound. He had had the most amazing adventure and had managed to help someone out along the way. Wasn't asking for more selfish? 

Rumius was mad. He wasn't even sure at who. That made him even madder. 

Did he wish to spend more time with that Demihuman girl? Why? From the moment he reached out to her, he already knew that this would happen! He made it happen!

Rumius knew that he shouldn't be feeling this way. But he couldn't help it, and somehow he knew the reason, but that didn't do much to help the pain. 

He had made, and just as quickly, lost his first ever friend. And the feeling sucked. ' Maybe it was heavier for me than others. Considering that death had parted me from his dear ones once already, maybe the experience made it harder for me than others?' Rumius thought. But in the end he didn't know, and it was just all excuses.

Maybe he just wasn't very good with partings.

Rumius dug into his pockets, stopping when his fingers found the cold touch of metal. Rumius closed his hand around it and brought it out into the open, unveiling a simple steel medallion, no larger than a coin, that was engraved with the likeness of the head of a howling fox with elongated fangs and a coat of exquisitely long fur. Rumius ran his hands over the work, feeling the crease of every nick made in the steel to resemble the fur of the fox. 

A knock suddenly sounded at the door, and Rumius hurriedly stuffed the medallion back into his pocket. 

" Come in." He said. 

The door swung open and his Maman walked in. 

" Hey baby, how are doing?" 

" Good." 

His Maman took a seat next to him. She had a worried expression on her face.

" Are you sure?"

He faced her. " Yeah, why?" 

" It's nothing. It's just that I felt you were a little more quiet when we returned is all."

" No? I'm fine Maman." He turned away to look elsewhere. " No need to worry."

" Is that so? Alright then." She smiled gently.

" I-I guess i'd better go see to the maids making dinner." She clapped her hands in excitement. " Let's see. My baby's just come of age, he's received a unique magic, and his affinity is the same as mine! Oh, my day just couldn't get any better!" She squealed. Her energy was contagious enough to bring a smile to Rumius's face. 

That's right. He had received his first unique magic. Learning magic wouldn't be a matter of sneaking around and being secretive anymore. Why was he focusing on such gloomy things when there were so many other things that he had wanted to waiting for him? 

Rumius watched as his mother floated to the doorway. 

" Maman." He called out to her.

She stopped and looked back at him.

Rumius twisted the question uncertainly in his mind, but eventually decided to put it out there. " Are you good at partings? Like...when someone leaves you." 

" Oh? Quite a strange question from someone who says he's ' completely fine', hmm?" She teased. But then she took on a more serious tone as she contemplated the question.

" No one's really good at parting from someone they truly care about, baby." She said softly. " But you must have faith that you'll eventually meet again. That's how life is like." She shrugged.

" Then…what would you usually say..like..at a parting with a friend?" 

His Maman folded her arms and looked up to the ceiling. 

" Not much actually, maybe some hugs and simple goodbyes." She looked at him with a faint smile. " Because if you part tearfully and sadly, it would be weird to have that moment as part of your friendship, wouldn't it?"

"...." 

" Yeah...yeah it would." 

" Thanks Maman, sorry for asking such a weird question." 

She smiled and blew him a kiss. 

" Anytime baby, you can come to Maman for anything." 

She walked to the door, paused, rushed back to give him and hug, and then left. The clack of the door left Rumius all alone again. 

He looked out of his window where he could partially see the sun if he tried hard enough to find the right angles. The sky turning a purplish orange by now, ushering in the night. 

Rumius snorted and took a deep breath, closing his eyes. 

" See you again, sometime." That was what he had said, and she had responded with the same before pressing the medallion that he had in his pocket into his hands. 

' It would suck if that was my last memory of her. And I'm sure she'll be moving forward as well, once she gets home. I can't possibly just stay stagnant, can I?' He reasoned with himself. " I can't stay here moping around. Think of how she braved so many things herself here. Do any of your feats even come close to those? "

Rumius made himself laugh, the sound coming forced at first but then eventually becoming convincing. As the laughter took him, his heart started pumping in earnest again, his lungs and sides ached sure, but most importantly, the hole in his chest disappeared with the sound. It made Rumius feel whole again, more motivated and less gloomy. 

' Till we meet again then.' He patted his pocket where the medallion lay.  Then he smiled. 

Was the library still open at this time? He wondered. 

The season passed quickly. Rumius had heard that it was a lot chiller here in the south in winter than in the other corners of the empire. It had been especially bad in the last days before spring bloomed, but eventually; it did. The warmth was a welcome feeling after all those months of freezing cold. 

Rumius found himself walking with his mother on a massive grass plain at the back of their mansion. He found himself marveling at the sheer size of it all. Had he not already seen the walls fencing the giant field in, he would have been convinced that this was a forest spawned of nature. 

Not only that, it was basically a mini-ecosystem in here! With lakes running through it and animals within a natural food chain. It was beyond impressive. 

It was still a few months to his third birthday, but for all intents and purposes, Rumius was three. It made him feel a bit more confident, a bit taller, too. 

" Baby, we're here." 

Rumius's eyes fell upon a little dilapidated shack. They were deep into the artificial forest and in the middle of nowhere, there was somehow someone living here. The shack looked as if its owner couldn't decide between whether to keep it maintained or just let it fall to ruin. In any case, it wasn't in good shape. 

 Rumius balked. " My instructor…lives in our backyard? You never told me about this? " 

His mother had a mysterious smile on her face. 

" Maybe? How about you open that door and see for yourself?" 

Rumius wasn't sure how much he liked that arrangement. But his mother had been singing this teacher's praises for almost nearly everyday for the last two weeks. He couldn't admit that his curiosity wasn't peaked.

He had made great progress during the winter, but there was only so far he could go by himself.  

' A world class mage huh…. For the sake of my magic I gue-' 

Just as Rumius reached out to knock, the shack's windows exploded.