The Importance Of Magic

Luar scratched at the iron door with its claws, desperately trying to crack it open. It had no way of opening it quickly as it's magic had already been exhausted.

All the magical being could hear were the sinister laughter and insults of the assailants. 

Not wanting to admit defeat, Luar continued hacking at the door like a maniac. 

Hearing the sound on the door was annoying him, Lewellyn approached the cabin door, he was fed up. Those scratching sounds were going to be the death of him! Where was it coming from?

Then Lewellyn saw the same black cat from earlier. Instead of it being calm, it was scratching away at the door.

"Hey kitty kitty! Stop scratching it!" Lewellyn exclaimed, rushing over and pulling the cat away from the iron door.

The cat meowed loudly and hissed, swinging its arms around and scratching it's catchers face. 

However, the stubborn Lewellyn refused to let go. He didn't want to get scolded for the damages caused by the cat! Thinking about the cat, where was the boy with it?

"Hey feisty kitty, where's your owner?" Lewellyn asked as if the cat would reply. Well, he hoped it'd at least give him a signal.

Luar used one of it's paws and pointed it to the door.

"Did he sleep and ask you to stay outside?" Lewellyn asked, glad that the cat was cooperating. He had always known he was great with animals.

"No, you stupid child! That boy is in there getting beaten up by those weird men!" The cat snapped, slapping Lewellyn's face and escaping from his arms.

"Wha?" Lewellyn blurted out. Did the cat just talk? Did it just insult him? Was he still sleeping? The only animals that could talk were specific links.. was the cat that boy's link then? Then he felt another smack landed on his face.

"Open the door!" The cat whined. Not caring if it's cover is blown. Saving Kai takes priority!

Lewellyn accepted the situation quickly and grabbed the keys from his pocket and fumbled with it. Trying to find the right one, he shoved the key in the door hole and turned it. 

Quickly, Lewellyn pushed the door open and found the bloodiest sight he had seen in a while. Bodies were laid across the floor writhing in pain. However, the commotion in the middle of the room was more gruesome.

The white haired kid he had seen earlier was now being pinned on the floor and beaten up by a group of men. He was getting kicked, stabbed and punched. Worst of all, he was getting burnt by the cigarettes being placed against his skin. 

"Get off of the kid or I'll tell the captain to kick you out!" Lewellyn threatened, showing his badge as an employee.

Reluctantly, the assaulters backed off and glared at the new audience.  It wasn't the first time a fight had broken out in that cabin. It had happened too many times to even count. 

Luar made its way to Kai. It nudged it's head against the boy's body and it fortunately got a response in return. Just from one nudge, the cat's black fur was stained with blood.

Lewellyn looked around and saw nobody else in critical condition. He then leaned down and offered to carry Kai on his back to the healer.

With no hesitation, Kai refused. "I'll walk by myself. Don't touch me." He said in a scary tone.

Luar backed off and followed behind closely. If only it had enough mana it would've blasted those vermins apart. 

After getting healed by one of the workers, Kai was still injured. The worker didn't have enough mana capacity to fully heal all of Kai's injuries. Most were healed except his leg.

"You made me worry." Luar stated, making itself comfortable on one of the shelves while it kept an eye on Kai.

"How are you feeling..? Are you sure you don't need the anesthetic?" Lewellyn asked after seeing the healer leaving their post for tonight.

Just with a glance, anyone would wince at Kai's condition before he got healed. His whole body was bruised and bleeding, there were scabs and open wounds and burnt marks. He looked as if he was dead.

"Thanks." Kai said. Closing his eyes and breathing in deeply. He felt like he could've died just then. The most he could do in those situations again is to be a punching bag.

Kai felt weak and helpless. He thought escaping the Bellaires was all he had to do in order to live contentedly. He didn't really think that far ahead, did he? 

The only way he could protect someone important to him, like his saviour, was to put them aside and cast them away while he took on all the burden without being able to lift it off.

It was pathetic, even Kai was well aware. He had many plans in mind to execute but how could he, when he could barely save himself from a group of barbarians? 

Lewellyn found the opportunities to have a proper conversation with someone his age, so he took the chance. "Is the cat your link?"

Kai looked at Luar and shook his head. "It's someone else. We're both returning to that someone." He vaguely answered with a smile.

"So, Kayden..where are you traveling to?" 

Kai furrowed his eyebrows for a second and quickly relaxed it. "We're traveling to Gia." He stated.

"Oh..so you're still gonna travel after having reached the next stop. Gia is in the countryside isn't it? It's quite far from the central..it's more to..the east?" Lewellyn said while visualising the map of the continent in his mind.

"Gia is at the east border." The cat said, it couldn't bear watching the blond hair kid shaping the continent with his fingers and trying to point at Gia. It looked horrendously stupid to Luar.

Lewellyn giggled and scratched the back of his head. "So..do you have any plans to attend Minerva Academy?" He asked, his eyes shining with anticipation.

Anybody living in the Iotux continent would know what and where Minerva Academy is. The educational centre mainly based around magic has raised many geniuses and heroes.

Every child, regardless of their status, wishes to attend the academy. For a better future. As magic, is the most crucial factor in this world.

Magic in this world refers to elemental affinity. There were 4 basic elemental affinities, earth, water, fire, wind. From there on out, it can sprout to the secondary magic. And to tertiary magic if one was blessed enough.

Magic in the Iotux continent was important, everything operated with the use of mana. If one were to disregard magic, they would be called a fool. 

That was how important the Minerva Academy was to allow young individuals to master the use of magic. Thus the reason why it was labelled as one of the pillars that supports the Iotux continent. 

Kai was also invited to attend due to his status as nobility but his name had long been removed from the list as Kai Whitlock had been marked as officially deceased.