Chapter 11 : Dilemma

2 months had passed, and Ajel's 15th birthday had come and go, which was especially painful for him since he and his sister always celebrated it together, even when the orphanage was too poor to give them gifts of any kind.

He had managed to release enough mana to form a ball comparable to a (tennis) ball.

But Ajel had no idea how to input more magic into it, or how to shape the mana into the bullet.

"Awek." Ajel muttered, how do you make it light up?"

Awek seemed pleased with the progress Ajel was making, as he muttered. "You need to condense the mana to the point where you are free to do anything."

"Huh?" Ajel muttered, before making ball-shaped mana again.

"You need to let a lot of mana into the ball, which is going to be hard at first, but when you become more experienced it will come naturally. Once you do it, you can do it easily. But inputting mana at the starting stage takes a lot out of you, physically and mentally, so be careful."

"And then?" Ajel made sure to remember to heed the warnings of his mentor, who was a lot more experienced them him.

"You need to imagine it. Imagination is what makes magic work, the law of mana is that anything is possible, if enough mana is poured into it. Some could even say it's omnipotent, to an extent. Magic can do anything, be anything depending on how much mana is put into something. I could theoretically end the earth if I had billions of people's mana, but I could also even-" Awek stuttered on his words. "No-, never mind." His face looked dark as he slowly started to regain his composure.

Ajel's eye sharpened. "Could I theoretically bring someone bac-"

"No, dont even finish that sentence." The bloodlust was present in Awek's voice, causing Ajel to shiver.

"Those thoughts are why mages like you and me are persecuted, Ajel. You may believe in your little world that you could bring her back with magic, but it is impossible, no matter how hard you try by yourself. Thoughts like those are what causes millions of death, and why the Mageseekers are so important to the country, as much as I hate to admit it myself."

Ajel looked down. his thoughts were spinning in his head.

Would his sister be proud of him if he was to slaughter people to bring her back?

"Ritual magic," Awek muttered. "Powerful, but cruel and fair. The law of equivalent exchange there is the most present. I learnt that the hard way and I hope that you never do as well."

Ajel was about to open his mouth when he saw a pair of eyeballs on him.

"Awek , do you see them?"

"See what?"

Tapping his gabella, something required for his mage vision, Ajel saw two pairs of mystical eyes behind him, one was green and one was blue.

Awek's expression changed.

The door ringed, causing Awek expression to go fierce before Awek opened the door.

It was a woman, who immediately looked back at Ajel and smiled.

Awek blocked her view, before muttering.

"Selena, how long has it been?"

"25 years, Awek. You don't like a day older than 50."

Ajel managed to observe the woman.

One eye was blue, and one eye was green.

"Is that a compliment?"

"What do I owe a compliment to a senior Illuminator?"

She looked suspiciously young, for a woman that Awek met around 25 years ago.

"Bring that mage boy Ajel-"

Her words were cut off by a dagger at her throat, which caused her to laugh.

"Seem to me like you haven't dulled in this time we haven't seen each over."

Awek only sighed, before shaking his head. "Tell me, quickly."

"They're sending a hunting dog after the boy-"

Awek once more put the dagger to the throat of the woman, which caused her to laugh again.

"You were never that much of a fighter, Grand Alchemist. Where has your mana gone? i don't sense any from you."

"You know that as well as I do, now stop poking fun and continue."

Ajel's expression darkened.

"They need him for the Sylas trail."

SYLAS!

Ajel gritted his teeth and forced himself to calm down as he continued to listen.

"They plan to force him to spout some lies about how Sylas murdered that oh so innocent girl-"

Ajel's eyes darkened as the ball of mana flooded on his palm, as he slowly poured everything into this ball he had.

How....how dare she?

how dare she references his sister?

she must know... she must know...

the mana became more refined, but it was still crude, barely half a magic bullet.

Ajel thrust his hand forward, causing her to slowly push Awek out of the way and crush the magic bullet with her hand.

"I apologize." She muttered, causing Ajel to get fire another one.

But he couldn't muster any more magic from his palm, which caused him to involituarly calm down.

"I put you through a test, right now." She bowed politely, her whole demeanour changed as she became a lot more calm and polite in a flick of a switch.

Awek put his dagger down, before shrugging. "I apologize as well."

"You adapt well, Grand Alchemist."

"I don't have that name anymore," Awek muttered as the woman sat down with Etiquette.

"We know he's a mage, but they do not. That's why they are sending a hunting dog from the dauntless vanguard instead of the mage seekers. They believe you've gone more south than here, but they will eventually find you." The woman looked straight at

Awek rubbed his palms against his face, before looking over to Ajel, who was still on his knees.

"He's talented, but impulsive and harbours a lot of hate for Demacia. We protect mages, not terrorists. We have already done everything to suppress the government to protect him, but his time is running out before they find him. Tell me, what do you want to do, boy?"

Awek opened his mouth, but he closed it mid-sentence.

Ajel got up, before muttering. "How long do you have left?"

"A month at most, 2-3 weeks at the minimum. We have thrown them off to the southern area, but they will reach into the highlands."

"What are my options?"

"You could try to sneak in, and take advantage of their lack of knowledge of your magical abilities, or you could flee here and try to go abroad to Noxus or Freljord and wait for them to not track you."

what should he do?