Arc 1

Chapter 1
A New Roommate

Holding the strap of his backpack with one hand, Lorwen enthusiastically galloped off to the Academy's West Wing where his room was going to be. Just as the door slid open he shouted "Hi!" to the dark-haired elf boy that he noticed as he walked in. He was seemingly unpacking his stuff but immediately turned around as he heard the other boy enter the room. His big blue eyes lit up instantly.

"Ah, hey! You're gonna be my roommate, right? I was waiting for you to show up." Like all elves, he had a slender build and milk-white skin that is smooth and soft to the touch.

"Yeah, I think so," Lorwen said as he threw his backpack in a corner. Then he stopped to look at the other elven child, "This room is just for the two of us?" he asked after a moment of silence slightly tilting his head.

"Mhm. All academy dorms are for pairs of kids," the other elf answered as he picked up Lorwen's backpack and casually dragged it closer to a drawer, "And I assure you, we'll have tons of fun here."

"That sounds cool," Lorwen said.

"You look pretty cute," his new roommate remarked, "Messy nut-brown hair and such a youthful face. You sure you're 32?"

"Of course," Lorwen laughed, "You really think they wouldn't check new first-decade students for the age limit?"

With elven kids 32 marks the beginning of their second phase of childhood. At this point they resemble 10 year old humans in appearance, but stop growing and look the same for approximately the next hundred years before getting any bigger.

"Well I really like the boyish look," the dark-haired elf smiled, "Anyway, what's your name?"

"Ah, yeah, my name is Lorwen. I'm Aokawa Lorwen. Pleasure to meet you," the nut-brown elf introduced himself with a slight bow.

"Likewise. I'm Kurokaze Aenwey," the other elf returned the gesture.

"Really nice room," Lorwen remarked as he made a few more steps forward.

It was a lightly furnished room with the entire western wall made of glass, allowing the afternoon sun to paint it in an orange shade through the hanging branches of the 壮大木 (Sōdaiki, Majestic Tree) the Academy was built around. It had a wooden floor with a few containers for clothes, some glass tables with puffs and a small kitchen separated by a folding screen depicting a monochromatic tropical meadow. There was also a corner next to the glass wall with a tatami floor and a huge soft 布団 (futon, mattress used on the floor without a bed). The room was pretty high up with no other building next to it, providing a spectacular view of the many vertical levels of the Elven Capital.

"So, you got here first. Are you from the Capital?" Lorwen asked.

"Oh yeah, I was only a few years old when I first saw the Academy. I was helping mom with some shopping. I told her immediately that I'd go study there one day."

"Aw, that's cute! You must have been really adorable back then!" Lorwen laughed as he threw himself on the soft futon and made himself comfortable.

"I like to think I still am," Aenwey replied with a smile, "And you? Are you from outside the Capital?" he asked as he lay down next to the other slim elven child.

"Yeah, I'm a country boy. I did the Trials of Magic with the Academy's vanguard examiners. I was lucky they visited a nearby town. I travelled here only afterwards."

"It's a good thing the Academy is working to get more kids in," Aenwey said dreamily.

"I know," Lorwen chuckled, "I wouldn't be here otherwise."

They both lay silently on the soft futon for a few seconds, before Aenwey asked, "So, now that you're here, what are your plans?"

Lorwen turned his head to look at him.

"Graduating, of course."

"And a bit closer in the future?" Aenwey asked casually, "What should we do on our first night together?"

"I dunno," Lorwen shrugged, "This whole situation is pretty new to me, but I'm open to ideas. What about you? You wanna go somewhere?"

"Nah, I'm feeling pretty comfortable here. This stuff is so soft." Aenwey turned to his side, "Maybe we can just enjoy this afternoon right here?"

Lorwen laughed hearing that, and a beautiful grin appeared on his face, "Is that supposed to be an invitation for a ride?"

"Well how much more of an invitation do you need?" Aenwey chuckled, "Oh come on, are all country boys this shy?" he asked jokingly.

"What? You never left this city in your lifetime, have you?" Lorwen said before he leaned over to Aenwey and kissed him on the lips for several seconds, "You'd find plenty of surprises in the countryside, city boy," Lorwen teased as he pushed the shirt of the other elven kid up to his neck revealing his beautiful smooth belly and giving it a soft kiss.

"I guess. Maybe I should travel a bit more," Aenwey said.

Once his pants also got removed, leaving him only in his undies, Aenwey decided to take the initiative and quickly got Lorwen out of his travel clothes as well until only his tight, rather revealing white-orange underwear was left on.

"That's a gorgeous bubble butt you've got here" he said as his hands were grasping and exploring the firm bubbly cheeks, which Lorwen lustfully pushed up, legs spread wide apart.

"I was always proud of it" he answered cheekily.

Aenwey's explorations gradually resulted in his fingers slipping under the fabric, while with his other hand he gave the hanging firm bulge a gentle squeeze and massage.

"Did you bring many pieces of underwear?" he asked Lorwen.

"What? No, only a few like this."

"Aw, we should really get you a bunch of new panties then. There are so many ways in which a gorgeous butt like yours could be adorned."

Lorwen started getting really tight in his undies with his hard cock. He liked being complimented.

"And I suppose you already know the best place to get sexy stuff for boys, right?"

"Hey, I grew up in this city," Aenwey laughed, "But it's the same place where I get my clothes, so nothing special. But they have lots of stuff that would look absolutely hot on you."

"I guess we'll have to check it out then" Lorwen smiled.

After a bit of massage and a few light smacks on both cheeks, the skimpy underwear finally came off and Lorwen's bottom and hanging boy parts were visible in their full naked glory. Aenwey wasted no time exploring the newly accessible areas, licking his balls then taking the tip of his cock into his mouth, all the while keeping a finger with just a bit of pressure on Lorwen's butthole. Lorwen noticeably loved the attention, swaying his hips side to side, with the occasional soft moan. It was when Aenwey started taking more and more of his cock into his mouth that he had an idea.

"Hey, I actually have some beads in my backpack! We could have some fun with those. Should I get them?"

"Sure" said Aenwey, stopping only for a moment before continuing to suck on the blueish, dissipating afterimage that was lightly flowing towards the other corner of the room.

Aenwey sat up and looked at Lorwen fiddling with his backpack in the opposite part of the room for a moment.

"You know, it's not really polite to port away when you're being sucked off," he said softly.

"Ah, yeah, you're right," Lorwen immediately turned around, standing naked with the row of beads in hand, "I didn't think of that, sorry. I'll be right back."

Aenwey immediately raised his hand just slightly.

"Come back here on foot," he grinned, to which Lorwen chuckled as well.

Once back together on the soft mattress, hands exploring each other's delicate curves, Aenwey softly whispered:

"You know, porting is pretty high level magic. I don't think any first decade student came here with that kind of power."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Lorwen said after a quick kiss on his friend's neck.

"Is it somehow related to that cute tattoo on your face? That's also not very common among little boys."

"Oh, this one?" Lorwen touched his left cheek, "Nah, this is totally fake, it's not even a tattoo, it'll come off in time. I had it done after the mark on my right hand appeared. That one won't come off, and I could only port since it was there."

"That sounds like an interesting story" Aenwey raised an eyebrow.

"More interesting than this?" Lorwen held up the row of beads and let it hang right in front of the other elven boy's face.

"I suppose story time can wait," Aenwey grinned.

Lorwen earned another soft smack on his cute bubble butt before he got in position, lying on his belly, hips pushed up high, legs spread apart. Aenwey got behind him, and with both hands on Lorwen's waist he started licking the rim of his butthole, and then getting ever closer to the center, right until his face was fully between Lorwen's cheeks, licking his boy hole passionately, even penetrating it with his tongue.

Lorwen stuck his butt out even more, moaning from the intense experience, his small cock harder than ever, as his butt crack and hole were well and truly licked. Aenwey took his time with the gorgeous bubble butt, tasting every part of it, going in again and again, until Lorwen's butt was as wet as a river.

This was when the time of the beads had come, as Aenwey gently placed the row right between the cheeks along its length, not pushing anything in yet, and just slowly pulled them along the crack, to give the other elven boy a pleasant sensation. A few more of these and Lorwen really needed a hand squeezing his little cock to help with all the excitement.

And then the moment came when Aenwey placed the first bead right on the anus, and gently pushed it in. Lorwen moaned softly and reacted with a light sway of his hips, causing movement in his cock as well as the row of beads. His friend understood the signal, and he had Lorwen's boy parts right in his hand as he placed the next bead on the anus, and pushed it inside. His left hand constantly playing with Lorwen's cock as he placed four more beads on the anus and pushed them in one by one.

Now that well over half of the row was inside, Aenwey grabbed the remaining length in his fist and gently pulled them sideways, then began making small circles with it, much to the moaning and pleasure of the nut-brown-haired elven boy. While doing so, he let go of Lorwen's cock and focused on stroking his inner thighs instead.

Eventually Lorwen's breathing quickened, he got out of position, turned around and hugged Aenwey, kissing him while the beads were still hanging from his butt. He quickly got the dark-haired boy under him, and while kneeling above him and kissing him, chests touching, Aenwey slowly pulled all the beads out, one after the other, while stroking the curves of the butt.

"I want a ride now," Lorwen whispered, and there was no opposing him.

Aenwey's underwear quickly got thrown aside as Lorwen assumed a dominant riding position, guiding his friend's small hard cock up his ass. Hands on Aenwey's chest, and his hands on Lorwen's waist, they quickly picked up a rhythm, and so began the ride, with it's hot waving motions of lust and desire, as the two prepubescent elven boys united their bodies in a single act of love and pleasure. After several minutes of intense riding, they peaked simultaneously, and fell panting next to each other on the soft futon.

"That was… that was fantastic" Lorwen said, "We should definitely do this again."

"I wanted to say the same thing." Aenwey smiled, "Also, country boys are definitely not shy. Or at least you aren't."

Lorwen chuckled.

"Boys are horny no matter where they come from," he said eventually.

"That's true," Aenwey agreed, "But not all of them have beads in their backpacks."

"Oh that? My mom told me to pack them. She said I'll have lots of fun at the Academy."

A hint of surprise crossed Aenwey's face.

"She really seems to understand this part of elven childhood well," he chuckled.

Lorwen sighed dreamily.

"Mhm. She always gives good advice."

After a few seconds, Aenwey turned a little.

"So, what about the markings, and your ability to port?"

"That?" Lorwen laughed suddenly, "There's no way you'll believe it."

"Try me," Aenwey replied, "Your ability to port at this age would already give any story a lot of credit."

"First of all, I'm not even sure it's porting. I can't go through objects with it, so I'm pretty sure movement only happens in space. It's not disappearing and reappearing."

"Either way, it's pretty impressive. I wanna hear the story." Aenwey was now lying on his belly, resting his head on the backs of his hands.

"Well okay. You asked for it," Lorwen shrugged

"It happened in my teens. Regular night, I fell asleep, nothing special. But then I was in a dream, and for some reason I knew fully that I was in a dream. It was… like a strange kind of forest, where I was, but it didn't look real for some reason. There was also a big wooden gate, guarded by a golem. Somehow I knew the gate led to awakening. I asked the golem to let me through but it wouldn't."

"Sounds more like a nightmare" Aenwey whispered.

"Yeah, I guess," Lorwen nodded, " So I tried to wake up in other ways, pinching myself, meditating, using the power of my mind, all that kinda stuff, but it didn't work. But I still knew it was a dream. So eventually I just started in a random direction and kept walking that way. And after some time, like by the time the sun was already setting in the forest, I came across the same gate, with the same golem. And I did that for several days. Walk in a direction, end up at the same place I started. I didn't get tired or anything, but it was maddening that I knew I was in a dream but couldn't get out."

Aenwey's eyes showed a growing interest towards the strange story.

"I even tried to walk past the golem but it hit me and sent me flying backwards. I didn't get injured though. I was just … still in the dream."

"So the golem couldn't hurt you?" Aenwey asked.

"Yeah. That was something that got me thinking too. I spent the next few days trying to sneak around it, but I was only getting myself smacked. There was no way around it."

"Fuck. So what did you do?"

"Well, the memories aren't really that clear. I just remember the more specific parts, like the golem, and how going in one direction ended me in the same place I started. But eventually I think in the strange forest there was a small waterfall and a lake, and somehow I built like a little house next to it. I don't remember how, it was a really stupid dream, but the shack had tatami flooring and stuff."

"That really sounds weird. Or maybe there's an architect lost in you."

"Yeah right," Lorwen scoffed softly, "Anyway, in the dream, I spent months living in that house."

"Wait what? You had a dream that lasted for several months?" Aenwey was in disbelief.

"Well, inside the dream, yeah. And it was a pretty tranquil place, actually. Eventually, I stopped feeling trapped. Next to the lake there were plants, and after a while I started making tea from them. At some point in the dream I even had glazed tea jars and bamboo scoops and whisks. And then one day, the 仏様 (Botoke-Sama, Lord Buddha) came to visit me."

"Whaaaaa…?" Aenwey was shocked, "You saw the Botoke-Sama? They say only the Senators can see him, when they seek his advice."

"This was a dream, remember?" Lorwen said, "Or at least I think it was. Either way, the Botoke-Sama came to my house, complimented it, and I prepared tea for him. We then discussed how I was stuck in a dream. I remember telling him that dreams and reality are not that different in the end, and that I am at peace. He smiled, and then gave me a black katana that he called the 呪い剣 (Noroiken, Spellblade, literally: Cursed Sword), in case I wanted to return to reality."

"And then you faced the golem, right?"

"Actually, in the dream, I remember that we drank our tea, said goodbye, and I hanged the sword on the wall."

"So, did you fight the golem then?" Aenwey started getting a bit confused.

"I… well, I actually left the sword on the wall for several years," the look in Lorwen's face clearly showed he did not expect the other elf to believe him.

"I know how it sounds" Lorwen exclaimed, "Years inside a dream, world that loops in on itself, preparing tea for the Botoke-Sama. I know full well how ridiculous it is."

"I can certainly see now why you wanted to finish sex first" Aenwey laughed, then smiled at Lorwen, "But you're here now. How did you wake up in the end."

Lorwen looked to the side.

"Nothing special. I thought of my family, and that mom's probably worried about me. So it was time to go back. I took the Noroiken, defeated the golem, went through the gate and woke up."

"Well that was one hell of a dream," Aenwey let out a big sigh.

"Was it?" Lorwen asked sheepishly. He sat up and showed his right hand, with the black mark close to the wrist, roughly resembling a blade of some sort.

"Ah yeah. It appeared when you woke up from the dream, right?"

"That, and … " Lorwen looked at the mark, which started glowing a blueish color, then burst from his skin, whirling for a few moments before forming a black katana, placing itself firmly in Lorwen's grasp, "The Noroiken. I carried this blade from a dream to reality."

Aenwey no longer seemed surprise, he just looked at the black katana for a few very long moments.

"Your dream was real, Lorwen," he said eventually, "There is no doubt about it."

"You think?" Lorwen looked at him, a smile in his big blue eyes.

"I'm sure," Aenwey put a hand on Lorwen's shoulder, "But you're in the right place. You'll definitely be able to show this to one of the professors here."

"Yeah. The funny thing is though, if I'm not holding it in my hand, it disappears."

"Really? Like how?" Aenwey was curious.

Lorwen opened his grip, allowing the blade to land softly on the futon. After a short moment the sword faded away, and with a quick glow the mark reappeared on Lorwen's wrist.

"I hope it's not a bad sign." Lorwen looked at the mark on his hand.

"It was gifted to you by the Botoke-Sama himself. There is no way it could be harmful to you."

"Thanks" Lorwen said, regaining his cheerful personality.

"Well then, how about we get dressed, and head down for dinner?" Aenwey suggested, "I hear the Academy has gourmet chefs and the most amazing dining hall in the Capital."

"Why would we get that kind of treatment?" Lorwen laughed.

"We are the future of magic!" Aenwey replied in fake-serious tone, "But for real, I heard the meals are truly part of the experience here. Come on."

The two elven boys quickly got themselves clothed once more, and got ready to venture out into the warm evening of the Elven Capital, whose midnight lights are said to paint the sky itself in a spectrum of colors.

Chapter 2
Opening Lecture

"Hey, Lorwen. You awake?"

Lorwen turned on his other side on the soft futon.

"Yeah, yeah. I am."

Aenwey waited a second and tilted his head.

"Maybe you should get dressed then? The Opening Speech in the 大講堂 (Daikōdō, Grand Auditorium) is about to start soon."

Lorwen looked up at him, smiled and pushed the blanket off of himself.

"Oh, I thought you liked me like this," he said as he showed off his body, covered only by his skimpy underwear. He even spread his thighs a little.

"You know it," Aenwey chuckled, "And that's why today we're getting you a whole range of new sexy underwear. After the Opening Speech."

Lorwen smiled and got up, then started getting his clothes on, though still making sure that the pants were last. The expected attire for the opening lecture was a school uniform consisting of a gray sweater, black cargo pants and a knee length black trench coat made of a synthetic fabric, along with black boots. The uniform closely resembled the attire of Field Mages, a branch of practical mages who had brought the Academy great fame through their exploits during the great war the Elves, Dwarves and Humans fought against the Dark Lord many millennia ago, and in the following time of Internal Conflicts on the Isles which ended with the unification of the elven factions and the Isles closing its ports to all outsiders.

Grabbing their tablets, the two young elven boys left their room and quickly began making their way to the Daikōdō through the many beautiful corridors and halls of the Academy.

"Wow, I'm still getting used to the architecture over here," Lorwen said looking up, as they were walking across a bridge like segment above a large hall, with a glass roof arc above them supporting some of the leafy branches of the Sōdaiki, with shafts of the morning light playing between the leaves and casting beautiful shadows on a wooden wall opposite the hall.

"Yeah, no wonder this place attracts both tourists and students," Aenwey replied, "But to visitors it's only open during the holidays. Wouldn't want to disturb the students now would we."

"I like being the priority," Lorwen laughed.

After a few minutes they arrived by the Daikōdō, probably the most majestic auditorium ever built. The primary material here was a gorgeous dark wood, used for the desks, benches and floors while the walls and roof were primarily of glass with some steel and wooden parts, providing an incredible view of the Elven Capital from above most of its roofs. The glass itself was of a special make, which eliminated most shadows and evened out the light in the auditorium for the comfort of all curious elven eyes even in the sharp light of the early hours.

"It's slightly smaller than I expected," Lorwen whispered.

"I guess otherwise it might feel a bit too disconnected from the lecturer," Aenwey whispered back, as they made their way into one of the rows and got themselves two empty seats.

"Well they've got that screen there for a reason," Lorwen pointed at the giant display.

"You could just watch the whole thing from bed then," Aenwey shrugged.

"Yeah, why can't we?" Lorwen seemed to like the idea.

"You wouldn't pay attention," Aenwey laughed, "If you even watched it."

Within seconds an elven professor took to the stage and greeted all the new fresh young elven students of the Academy. He identified himself as the Rector of the Academy, who, along with management and other duties, still took classes in Mana Theory for some of the higher decade students. Lorwen primarily expected a formal speech and technical information, but it seemed the Rector wanted to inspire the curiosity of the present children, taking them on a small adventure on what to expect in the coming decades.

"… when I tell you that Mana is everywhere, you're probably thinking about it along the same lines as Air is everywhere. It's a substance that's present in all locations on our planet. But you see, that's incorrect. Because if you have the equipment, you can actually pump all the air out of a room or container, creating a vacuum. We actually do that sometimes here in the Academy."

His voice was much deeper than that of a child, but he seemed just as enthusiastic as one.

"But Mana is actually different. It is everywhere in the sense that you can't separate it from a location. Think about it in the same way as Time being everywhere. You can't create a room with all the time sucked out of it. The same thing goes for Mana, it is a fundamental quality of our world, and not a substance that you can gather. This distinction will be much more important later on, as you progress with your studies."

"Wow…" Lorwen whispered silently.

Aenwey caught a glimpse of his friend's amazed face and smiled.

"Having said that, there are of course ways to contract or dilate the Mana Field. There are many natural events that do so, especially on an astronomical scale. I'm sure some of you have already heard of at least one such event, which caused spellcasting to became practically nonfunctional for several centuries during the time of the Internal Conflicts."

"Yeah, it's often referred to as The Mana Eclipse," Lorwen whispered over to Aenwey, who motioned him to stay quiet with a finger over his mouth.

"Now the Mana Field is closely entangled with all other qualities of our reality, including space, time, electrical fields, gravitational fields, even the gluon field and possibly other fields that are as of yet undiscovered. As such, all forms of magic eventually come down to using the Mana Field to alter the other qualities of reality through it."

The professor made a quick hand gesture towards the board, which made an illustration appear on it depicting several circles along branches.

"While this is a very important principle to understand, for many practical reasons we still categorize spells in distinct Branches of Magic, which you will encounter in your studies. To give you an example of some of the Branches, perhaps the easiest is the Thermal Branch of Magic, which deals with all kinds of temperature manipulation and will be one of your first subjects. I think most of you right now are wondering if fireballs belong here, and yes, they mostly do.

Other important Branches include the Electromagnetic Branch, which is basically responsible for all forms of telekinesis among other effects. The Atmospheric Branch is a composite Branch that deals with the manipulation of the atmosphere, creating winds, moving clouds or summoning rain. The Optical Branch is where invisibility belongs. The Neural Branch deals with influencing the mind. With the Gravitational Branch you can alter gravity, and with the Material Branch you can condense energy into matter, essentially creating objects. The cost of such spells vary greatly but one of the reasons we use Branches is because spells in the same Branch typically have similar costs, so keep that in mind."

After a few more minutes the Rector eventually brought the speech to its conclusion.

"I'm glad that so many of you are here. Today, it's common to hear of elves who never learn spellcasting, or claim to have no talent for it. But we have to remember that Elves are the only species that rely on magic while developing before birth. This is why our children are more advanced at birth than those of other species are after years of living. While we sleep, we naturally become attuned to the Mana Field, allowing us to interact with it. Nobody else has this ability, and without magic we cannot survive. It is in our nature to use it, and I firmly believe that there's no such thing as an elf without the talent to cast spells. As such, my colleagues and I will do our best to teach you the Ways of Mana, and I ask all of you that you do your best to improve your skills in spellcasting. Thank you."

All the students performed the customary short bow thanking him for the lecture. The young elves were then let go to do as they wish until afternoon seminars.

Chapter 3
Went Shopping

The sky train was traveling roughly in the mid-height levels of the city, in the Central region where buildings were slightly more dense than usual.

"I honestly didn't expect the Opening Speech to be that interesting," Lorwen said as he was looking out a window.

"You kept whispering to me the whole time about the history and stuff," Aenwey laughed, "I could barely pay attention."

"Just history, not other stuff," Lorwen said.

"You seemed to know a lot about it, though. Is that your thing?"

"Kinda, yeah, you could say that. I like reading about the elven past."

"I think we're here," Aenwey said looking around as the train slowed down.

The two elven boys got off the train and made their way onto the platform. In Central the landscape had a lot more concrete and less glass, while the streets and platforms were narrower with the shops and houses more densely packed.

"Come on, it's not far from here," Aenwey said.

"It's kinda hard getting used to the verticality in this city," Lorwen said as they crossed a bridge between two segments.

"The countryside is more flat?"

"Yeah. A second layer maybe, at some of the bigger places."

Soon they found the place they were looking for. It was a relatively large clothing store next to a plaza with plenty of trees, some benches and food stalls.

"Okay, we have to make it back to the afternoon seminars, but that should still leave us with plenty of time" Aenwey said enthusiastically.

"Are you excited?" Lorwen laughed.

"Of course!" Aenwey grinned, "I'll get to see you in all kinds of sexy stuff. Come on, let's find the boys' section."

After going past a few cute shirts and hoodies they eventually found the section for underwear. Since elven culture highly encouraged sex among children, and since elven kids generally have attractions towards their own gender until much later, around age 128, this section had plenty of teases to offer. Aside from the regular black and white briefs, which still left a bit of the lower butt exposed, there were also far more revealing and extravagant pieces on the shelves. Just looking through all of it was enough to get Lorwen a little hard.

"Nice!" Aenwey exclaimed, "We should find something that does justice to your beautiful bubble butt!"

"Should I get undressed?" Lorwen asked, hands already holding the bottom of his shirt.

"Sure! I think you can put your clothes … yeah, on that bench over there."

Seconds later Lorwen was naked except for his boots and a simple but cute black thong he chose that left his cheeks pretty much completely exposed, only delicately covering some of the top parts while holding up a very cute, tight little package in the front. He was leaning against the wall, sticking his butt out.

"How's this?" said Lorwen while giving his hips a little sway.

"It's a pretty good start," said Aenwey as he walked up, placed a hand on the small of Lorwen's back and gave both cheeks a squeeze and some stroking, "How does it feel?"

"It's comfortably tight," the nut-brown-haired elf answered, "Wanna feel the front?" he asked as he spread his legs a bit wider apart.

Aenwey chuckled and reached in between the thighs, feeling out the nice little bulge firmly held by the underwear. It was already tenting a bit, but the touch definitely increased the effect. Lorwen let his hips drop a bit to place his boy parts as much in the palm of his friend as possible.

"It's lovely" Aenwey remarked, "We should definitely get a few of these."

"Yeah, they're awesome." Lorwen sighed as the other elf withdrew his hand, "We should look for something a bit more kinky now."

Next up was a pair of skimpy pink panties, leaving about half of Lorwen's bottom exposed, and showing a pretty clear outline of his hard boy parts in the front. Lorwen pushed his hips forward with his back against the wall, right pointer finger touching the tip of his tongue and left thumb hooked into the waistband of his panties. He cast his chin down while looking up at his friend's face, enjoying his reaction.

"The black boots from the uniform go really well with this pink one," Aenwey said as he kept eyeing the other elf.

"You know what we could add to this?" Lorwen's eyes lit up, "A scarf!"

"Yeah, that would be pretty sexy!" Aenwey was also enthusiastic, "Just boots, panties and a scarf!"

Lorwen soon had a soft and very thin scarf round his neck, which he flipped over his shoulder so that it didn't cover his chest or belly. It was white with orange stripes at the edges.

"That is gorgeous," Aenwey exclaimed, "Can you turn around?"

Lorwen didn't need to be asked twice, he was eager to show off his partly covered bottom, while the scarf hid a good chunk of his back. With his legs spread and his hands on the wall, he looked back over his shoulder.

"This set would be totally worth a photo-shoot. Like in a professional studio," Aenwey said.

"Doesn't make much sense if you can't sell the pictures though," Lorwen sighed.

In elven culture, while sex between kids was highly encouraged and at the Academy gently helped along with things like two-person rooms and a single futon, it was also considered sacred by tradition in ways that prohibited certain aspects of it. A core idea of elven sexual tradition is that a child's sex life should stay private between him and his partners, and as such images displaying children in an erotic nature were not allowed to be spread publicly, especially not to adults. It also meant kids were not allowed to take part in sexual performances, such as pole dancing.

"Yeah I know," Aenwey said.

Next up was a tight orange thong, which instead of a single waistband, had it split into two thinner waistbands. Lorwen especially liked this one, and got Aenwey to grope him in it for quite a while, showing it off in many different poses.

After this came a bunch of strings that left very little to the imagination, with barely any fabric to cover up the boy parts. With Lorwen being as hard as he was, one could see plenty from the sides as the tiny fabric was tented up by his cock. At one point with a black set of strings the fabric accidentally slipped to one side, leaving Lorwen's boy stuff completely uncovered and sticking out. Aenwey was currently sitting on his knees observing the different looks, but after quickly looking around and confirming that the coast was clear he slipped closer and locked eyes with Lorwen for just a split second to confirm he's of the same mind, then took the tip of the cock into his mouth.

Teasing and licking the head with the tip of his tongue he slowly took more and more in, as he gave the boy's outer thighs and waist a good groping and massage. Lorwen sighed as he spread his legs and arched his back, enjoying all the attention. He looked down and really enjoyed the idea of being sucked off while wearing such kinky black strings, pushed to the side. He absolutely loved being this sexy little boy, this irresistible object of desire that had seduced another boy into sucking him off just with his looks, without even needing words.

Aenwey now had the full thing in his mouth, occasionally taking it out to lick it like a lollipop. Lorwen's cock was generally small, but it was big enough to play around with and have plenty of fun. They both knew that they didn't have much time, so Aenwey put a lot of pressure on it with his tongue, and Lorwen did little to resist the coming orgasm, which eventually broke out of him, along with a cute, muffled boyish moan.

"Good thing we're still dry, or there would be a huge mess here now," Aenwey giggled as he wiped off Lorwen's cock with his original underwear. Lorwen just sighed with pleasure.

"It's still a bit wet from the sucking," Aenwey continued, "I think it's the perfect time to stop trying on new ones and get what we liked."

"Yeah" Lorwen agreed, as he carefully took the strings off and put it in their bag.

With the original underwear now safely back on, the boys finished by looking at some shorts, and picked out two denim short shorts and a pair of short gym shorts, all of which looked really cute on Lorwen. The little elf boy also grabbed a bunch of fingerless gloves last minute as they caught his eye.

"That was totally worth it," said Lorwen with a bag of sexy underwear in his hand as they walked back to the sky train platform.

"Yeah!" Aenwey laughed, "Now you have a ton of cute stuff to wear."

"You must have quite the collection yourself!"

"I guess so. I have plenty of things that look good on a boy," Aenwey smiled mischievously.

They arrived just in time for the sky train, and made their way back, looking forward to a delicious lunch in the Academy's exquisite dining hall and the first afternoon seminars of magic.

Chapter 4
The Black Metal of Vorthos

The seminars were held on the Training Grounds, a giant rooftop on one of the wings of the Academy. It was equipped with many different sets and usually more than one class was practicing at a time.

Lorwen was holding a small wooden stick in his palm, looking at it in deep concentration. Breathing in and breathing out. Feeling the attunement to the Mana Field, sensing its vibrations, and redirecting them. He could feel the warmth growing in his palm. The flow was in place. Now just to channel it. After a few long seconds, the stick started smoldering and eventually tiny flames burst out, consuming the wood.

Lorwen placed the burning stick on a glass plate next to 4 other burnt sticks. He sighed and looked over to the other small plate in front of him, with 11 more little wooden sticks. After a short staring contest with the stack of sticks he let out a frustrated groan.

"This is so boring!"

Aenwey next to him was looking at a wooden stick with furrowed brows, seemingly searching for life's greatest secrets in it. After a few long moments he exhaled and flipped the stick onto the table next to him.

"Yeah," he exclaimed.

At this point the stick burst into flames and quickly burnt to ash.

"Fuck," Aenwey said as he began sweeping the ash into his own glass container, which already had the remains of no more than 5 small branches.

The young adult instructor, about 150 years old who led the class walked up to the elven boys.

"You see, this is why you shouldn't give up halfway through. Keep at it, and within weeks you'll be able to burn through a dozen sticks in no time (in Elven language a dozen means 16, the base of their numerical system)."

"Sensei?" Lorwen looked up at the instructor with his big blue eyes.

"Yes?"

"Can't we practice fireballs instead?"

"No, of course not," the instructor chuckled, "This is just the first seminar, be patient. For now, we focus only on the Thermal Branch of Magic."

"The Rector said fireballs belong in the Thermal Branch," Aenwey joined in.

"No. He said mostly. The fireball is a composite spell."

"Of what?" Lorwen asked tilting his head.

"Well, what do you need for fire? Oxygen, heat, and flammable material. As you can see the Material Branch is clearly involved. You boys, however, are in luck."

"Really?" Aenwey raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, because this right here…" the instructor picked up one of the wooden sticks, "Is flammable material."

"Aahhhh" Lorwen burst out, "Come on!"

The instructor gave Lorwen a gentle pat on the head and ruffled his hair.

"Be patient, okay? Everyone starts out with simple tasks like this."

After the teacher left, and a few more burnt sticks later, a second-decade brunette elf boy walked up to them. He was wearing the Academy's stylish white training jacket along with a few other pieces of protective gear for combat practice, which made him appear a bit more robust but couldn't fully hide his natural slim frame and gentle curves. He had no helmet on, leaving his messy mid-length locks exposed.

"Aenwey!" came the greeting with a big happy smile, followed by a hug and a not so discrete kiss on the lips, causing the boy receiving it to blush. Despite a decade of difference in age, being elves the two children were of roughly equal height.

"Hi Nalanté!" Aenwey said after breaking the kiss. Then turning to Lorwen, "Ah, this is Nalanté, he's my friend. He's also from the Capital. We've known each other for a long time. He's a decade older than us."

"So, you made it to the Academy, huh?" the brunette elf gave Aenwey a rub on his shoulder, "Well, of course you did. It's really nice to see you. How's it going?"

"We're stuck burning twigs, but it's cool," Aenwey replied sarcastically.

"Yeah, I know it sucks. But believe me, it helps. It's actually very good practice."

"Can you do it?" Lorwen put his hand on his hips.

Aenwey gently grabbed Lorwen by the waist and pulled him in front of himself.

"This cutie here is my roommate. He's called Lorwen," he exclaimed proudly.

"Enviable…" whispered Nalanté with an appreciative nod. This made Lorwen laugh out loud.

"So what's up with you?" Aenwey asked.

"Me and some other boys are gonna fight some 影物 (Kagemono – Shadow Beings), wanna come watch?

"That's super cool!" Aenwey exclaimed. Then he looked at his remaining 7 wooden sticks and lost his enthusiasm, "We still gotta finish this."

Lorwen already had his glass plate with the remaining sticks in his hands held out in front of him towards Nalanté. He basically shoved it in his face. Aenwey looked at Nalanté, then at Lorwen and then back at his friend. Nalanté raised a questioning eyebrow. Lorwen looked at him with a "What are you waiting for" expression. Aenwey sighed and grabbed his remaining twigs, reluctantly throwing them onto Lorwen's plate. Nalanté took a quick breath and raised his hand for a second. The stack of twigs almost exploded, causing Lorwen to flinch, and burnt furiously with a bright blue flame for only a moment before it all turned to ash.

"The fuck…" Lorwen gasped.

"You'll get there with experience," Nalanté laughed, "Keep practicing."

"Right…" Lorwen said quietly while staring at the ash, "I'll do some more practice in the evening or something…"

"He's impressionable," Aenwey laughed, "Easy to inspire. It's pretty cute"

"He's absolutely adorable," Nalanté added, "I wanna cuddle him."

"Nuh-uh, he's MY roommate," Aenwey retorted jokingly, "But maybe I'll let you borrow him sometime."

"I'll cuddle whoever defeats a Kagemono first!" Lorwen interrupted the other boys with much enthusiasm, "Let's go already!"

"Hey that's not fair! I'm just first-decade!" said Aenwey, but Nalanté seemed to like the idea, since along with Lorwen he started to make his way towards the practice arenas, with Aenwey catching up to them in a moment.

Kagemono, or Shadow Beings are creatures born of magic. The Kage (Shadow) part is a bit of a misnomer, as the material the creatures are made of is a relatively textureless black substance, a result of much research into the cheapest way of producing magical entities that can carry out tasks, or more importantly, fight.

Kagemono were widely used during the war against the Dark Lord, with hundreds of them being created while battlemages were not engaged in active combat. Most implementations had very limited intelligence to keep the Mana Attunement cost low, and as such could not differentiate between friends and foes. The regular use case scenario was to drop them behind enemy lines to wreak havoc, or set traps in narrow pathways which when triggered, would unleash the Shadow Beings.

While these days Kagemono in the Capital could only be seen in Dōjōs in the role of interactive practice dummies, the countryside still actually had a serious problem with Shadow Beings left behind after the great war and the following Internal Conflicts, despite the Unification and the beginning of the New Era thousands of years ago, which also resulted in the lockdown of all ports. While most places were safe, especially the areas around roads and settlements, some parts of the Elven Isles were still closed off due to the danger.

"Yeah, that's the way!" Lorwen shouted enthusiastically when Nalanté and his team unleashed a combined torrent of fire on a group of ghoul type kagemono in the practice arena, which consisted of four energy barriers forming a box, through which elves could exit but not their enemies.

"Nice one!" Aenwey was pretty excited himself, although he remained seated, unlike his friend, who also had both hands clutched into fists.

"We're not done yet!" Nalanté shouted to his teammates, "Come on, I want runes on the left flank and support at the center-back!"

The remaining ghouls were quickly disposed of by the team's attackers, and a moment of silence followed.

"Watch out, here comes…" Nalanté kept his voice loud and steady.

The ground soon shook, and the final challenge arose from the ground, a werewolf type kagemono with huge claws and a ferocious roar. It was immensely fast and immediately lunged at the two boys closest to it, who by no accident were the team's vanguard. Magic barriers were quickly raised but each shattered by a single slash of the werewolf as the team kept backing away.

The vanguard kept raising shields and occasionally used small kinetic shockwaves to keep the werewolf at bay, but they were quickly running out of stamina. Luckily, Nalanté and the two attackers were almost done channeling a large electromagnetic burst which would send the beast flying straight into the left flank while dealing significant damage.

"You got this?" Nalanté asked his friends as the spell charged up.

"He's all yours!" the vanguard boys shouted back, as they released the last of their energy in a Neural Branch spell which made the werewolf nauseous for barely over a second, while they made a run for it to the back of the arena.

The electromagnetic burst was glorious in its blue flare as it hit the werewolf with a loud deep warping sound and an intense light, sending the beast crashing into the left corner of the arena pretty much in an instant while raising one hell of a cloud of dust and smoke.

"The Runes! Now!" Nalanté shouted excitedly.

"Ready!" came the reply from the two attackers, as each made the hand gesture required to detonate the runes they'd previously placed.

As the seals broke on the two runes, powerful spells from the Gravitational Branch activated, one on each side of the werewolf which was just getting up, black smoke emanating from the places where it was burned by electricity. The Gravitational spells quickly set themselves up and began acting as powerful black holes, though limited in range but large enough that both had the beast within their event horizon.

The werewolf was instantly locked between the two spells but made a ferocious attempt to free itself. The team was all out of stamina, catching their breath bending forward with hands on their knees, as they watched the beast struggle for several seconds, after which it was unceremoniously torn apart by the singularities and its black synthetic material splashed all over the arena, partly absorbed by the magical black holes.

"That's how it's done!" Nalanté shouted as all team members shared hugs and high-fives.

Lorwen had already run down to the border of the arena, jumping from excitement.

"That was super cool!" he exclaimed with eyes wide open, "You guys have synergy! That was awesome!"

"Thanks" Nalanté answered, panting.

"It's not the hardest we've done," one of the attackers walked over to the excited young nut-brown elf, "Maybe the tougher end of the medium range."

"Yeah, but we do this regularly. We need the practice," Nalanté added.

"Are you guys preparing for some kinda tournament?" asked Aenwey, who had by now also made it to the border of the arena.

"Yeah, it's the Academy's Combat Tournament, and we're definitely going!" said the attacker.

"Wow!" Lorwen was blown away, "I'll be sure to watch all your runs!"

"Thanks! I'd be honored" Nalanté smiled.

"Is this a group thing only?" Aenwey asked.

"No, there are solo runs as well," the attacker replied, then he seemingly had an idea, "Hey, Nalanté should still have some mana, let him demonstrate one."

"What? No way!" the brunette elf protested, but the other boy had already motioned for everyone else to leave the arena and they all played along.

"Put on the Houndmaster for him!" the attacker said.

One of the other team members quickly got a black little ball from a container next to the arena and threw it on the field, at which point the protective barriers came up instantly to lock down the fighting space. As the ball shattered black smoke emerged from the ground, and four kagemono formed from it. Three resembled hounds, while one looked like a swordsman wielding a katana.

"Yeah, fuck that. This is not funny," Nalanté said, who was still a few steps within the arena, but immediately walked out of it.

Lorwen, however, could not contain his excitement any longer and rushed into field before Nalanté crossed the barrier, leaving the battle system on.

"Hey, what are you doing!?" Nalanté and the other team members shouted at him but none was fast enough to grab his arm or hold him back.

"If you don't want it then it's my turn!" Lorwen shouted back.

Aenwey looked in shock as the small mark on Lorwen's right wrist began glowing blue and erupted into streaks of light that whirled around his hand and eventually materialized as the Noroiken, the black katana he had previously shown him last night. Only this time, Lorwen summoned it in such a graceful and fancy motion that it made the blade's previous appearance, its shy, sheepish summoning feel almost like a lie to Aenwey.

Lorwen made a circular flip with the sword exactly as the light turned into matter, demonstrating that he had practiced this trick thousands of times, and had it in muscle memory down to the millisecond when he could begin exerting force on the katana. He even made a quick swiping motion with two fingers on the blade of the sword from hilt to tip, after which the blade itself began glowing with a bluish tint.

And just like last night, Lorwen teleported, or did something very similar to it, closing the gap in an instant to one of the kagemono hounds, leaving a bluish trailing afterimage between his starting and ending position. Just as he appeared he slashed the dog literally in two halves, with a discharge of blue light bouncing off the metal, and then he ported again, and again, each time slicing a hound dead until there were none left.

"What the fuck… is that?" Nalanté muttered.

"I have no idea" Aenwey replied quietly, in shock. While he did see the Noroiken before, he felt it a bit unfair how Lorwen 'forgot' to mention to him the power it held.

After quickly slicing up the hounds Lorwen used his magic to close the gap to the kagemono swordsman and attacked it head on with a powerful slash. His move, however, got countered hard, the inertia of his blade redirected to the side and he got a massive hit in the face with the hilt of the enemy weapon that sent him flying backwards.

"Get him out of there!" Aenwey screamed.

"No he can do this!" Nalanté said, much to the other boy's surprise, "Lorwen, the Houndmaster is a skilled swordsman, you can't attack him from the front like that!" he shouted into the arena, "You must defeat him with technique if you can't overpower him!"

Lorwen got back on his feet and wiped his face as he looked back at the boy giving him advice. The emotions of humiliation and defeat he previously felt had lightened as at least one person seemed to still believe in him, despite being knocked down so hard after putting on an overconfident show with the hounds. He gripped the Noroiken firmly with both hands and raised it in a defensive position as he slowly approached the Houndmaster again.

This time the Houndmaster rushed him with a powerful attack, but he managed to focus and block it. Several follow-up attacks came next, and Lorwen eventually by instinct began to redirect the blows as opposed to absorbing them with the sword. A few more attacks later he put a lot of strength into a parry to push his enemy's blade aside and launched a counterattack of his own, but the kagemono easily dodged it.

Lorwen went on the offensive more often and the more the blades clashed, the more instincts he felt surface in himself, instincts regarding footwork, parrying, where to look, what to look for, what angle to attack from, what stances to use and how to mask his intentions from his opponent's observations. Eventually he was dictating the rhythm of the fight, and the Houndmaster seemingly began losing its temper, attacking more aggressively and leaving more openings.

After a particularly lousy attack from the Houndmaster Lorwen was able to perform a counterslash, inflicting a shallow but considerable slice in the shadow's waist. This completely enraged the kagemono, which then put all its strength into a slow and highly predictable attack, and Lorwen's instincts made him see a possibility in that.

He firmly planted his feet and parried the blow, driving the tip of the Houndmaster's sword straight into the ground, temporarily locking it in the dirt. Immediately after with all his might he stomped on the flat of the blade as close to the hilt as possible, tearing the weapon from the shadow's hands, which stirred up a cloud of dust as it hit the ground. While doing so he kept the Noroiken in a ready position, and as such he was able to instantly follow up by thrusting it hilt-deep into the Houndmaster's throat, then pulling it out as quickly as it went in.

For a few moments the kagemono kept standing as Lorwen took a few steps back, then fell first on its knee then face forward into the dust. The arena's barriers began flashing and soon came down. Lorwen was still panting, and could barely believe his victory, while at the same time the feeling of defeating a foe felt eerily familiar. He was only aware of his thoughts, and the strange feelings and emotions that kept whirling in his head. Then, after a few seconds, as if he had had earplugs pulled out he suddenly started hearing the cheering and shouting as the team ran up to him.

"Wow, that was amazing!" Nalanté gave him a rub on his shoulder, "No first-decade student has ever done anything close to that! And what the hell is up with that blade, it came out of your wrist?"

Lorwen looked down at the Noroiken in his hand, black liquid from the kagemono still dripping from it in tiny drops.

"That's a very long story," he said eventually.

"I'll listen to it," Nalanté seemed enthusiastic, "How about dinner? We're done with practice anyway."

"Ahm… I already told it to Aenwey," Lorwen tried to find an excuse. He felt confused and at the moment he really didn't feel like sharing his weird dream with the Botoke-Sama with even more people.

"I think you forgot to mention a few details though," said Aenwey, hands on his hips, "Like that you can actually fight with it in real life. That you studied 剣術 (Kenjutsu – Sword Technique)."

"What does he mean with in real life?" Nalanté asked.

"I don't want to talk about it right now," Lorwen said quietly, "I need to think, and after that I probably owe an apology and some explanation to Aenwey. But in private."

"Wow, this has gotten complicated," Nalanté exclaimed.

"It is," Lorwen replied.

"Okay, I don't know about the sword, but you clearly had some Kenjutsu lessons, and then later you learned that weird teleport spell. That doesn't sound so complicated," Nalanté said.

"What?" Lorwen raised his head in surprise, "Why do you think I learned the spell later? Besides, I've never studied Kenjutsu. I never actually used this blade against anything that also had a sword."

"Okay, that's ridiculous," Nalanté said, raising an eyebrow, "You were a little rusty at first but then you clearly remembered how to parry properly and had relatively decent footwork throughout. As for the spell, you never used it after your initial flow was broken. You clearly fell back on techniques you are more familiar with, and as such this porting stuff must be a relatively new addition."

"But I … no. Ah, look, can I explain later? I really don't want to right now," Lorwen was desperate.

"Leave him be," Aenwey took his side, "He's right, we can talk about it later and he's tired."

In the commotion nobody noticed that another elven boy had walked up to the crowd, who hadn't previously talked or interacted with any one of them.

"Show me the katana," he said, his voice quiet but commanding.

Suddenly everybody was looking at him.

"He looks weird," one of the team members spoke out after a moment of silence, "Who is he?"

The boy had deep red eyes with sharp vertical pupils and ashen white skin, unlike any elf the kids had previously seen. He also had midnight black hair, darker than anyone else at the Academy, and one lock of his hair was decorated with an iron band holding it together. He wore a black shirt and an orange scarf around his neck, with one end hanging in the front and the other at the back. He also wore a necklace with a small wooden insignia.

"I said show me the katana," he repeated, quiet but demanding.

"Hey what's your problem, Demon Boy?" Aenwey lashed out at him, "Show's over for today so try tomorrow…"

"Nah, it's okay," Lorwen interrupted. Looking at the strange boy, he experienced another wave of confusing intuitions and emotions, but he somehow felt that it was fine to show him the Noroiken. He wouldn't ask unpleasant questions.

"Here, take a look," he held out the blade horizontally, but still holding it by it's grip, not on his open palms.

"Yeah, as I thought," the strange boy said almost immediately, "Nōrium, the dark metal of Vorthos," he looked up and scoffed softly, "Your power is borrowed, kid."

"What? For real?" Lorwen asked, surprised.

The red-eyed elf, however, turned around and left without saying another word.

"What's his problem?" Aenwey grumbled.

"I don't know, but he did give us info about the sword. We should look up what Nōrium is," Nalanté said.

"A special metal with magical properties from the so called Planet of Dawn," Lorwen already had the answer, "During the Internal Conflicts, a few blades forged of Nōrium were gifted to us by the elves of Vorthos. But all use of the material here ceased after the Dwarven Mining Conflict."

"The what, … and when?" the team members were not so familiar with history.

"Either way that makes it a magical artifact. A historical one, in fact," Aenwey pointed out.

"Well, you're in luck, because I'm a second-decade student and I already know the teachers at the Academy," Nalanté said, proudly pointing his thumb at himself, "For example, if you want to learn more about this sword, you should show it to Professor Watanabe. His field is Magical Artifacts and History, we had a class with him a few years ago. If anyone does, he'll know."

"Okay, I probably will." Lorwen raised the blade in front of him, it started glowing blue, then turned to streaks of light which whirled back to his wrist to form the mark, which eventually stopped glowing and turned black, "But enough about the sword for today. I'm starving."

"Yeah, me too," Nalanté nodded, "Let's get some dinner. You're coming with us, right Aenwey? "

"Course," Aenwey replied with a smile, "I wanted to spend some more time with you now anyway, since we couldn't talk that much while you were enrolled and I wasn't."

"Alright, it's decided then."

With that the boys headed to the dressing rooms to get themselves cleaned up and ready for the grand dining hall of the Academy.

Chapter 5
Late Night Memories

At dinner the team shared a table with the two first-decade boys and flooded them with vivid descriptions of what was to come in their studies of magic. All the talk about powerful spells and epic battles in practice tournaments had Lorwen so excited and enthusiastic that on the way back to their room he made a quick detour to get a few twigs from the botanical garden to make up for the skipped practice.

What really surprised Aenwey is that when they got back to their room and settled down, Lorwen did actually begin working through the small pile of dry branches. Based on the short time they'd known each other, Aenwey would have guessed he'd be too childish to actually give it the effort, but there he was, peacefully sitting by the glass table in their room, having placed the twigs in plates and slowly channeling heat through the Mana Field.

"You know, I really never did learn Kenjutsu. Back home there weren't any lessons and I wouldn't have had anything to practice on anyway. But I did play around a ton with summoning the Noroiken, and sheathing it into the mark," Lorwen began quietly, while holding a branch in his hand.

"In the arena I experienced the most weird thing," he continued, "I was suddenly feeling instincts on how to use the blade. Like as if I was taught by someone while fighting. The longer it went on the more techniques filled my mind. I don't know from where."

"I've actually thought about this," Aenwey said as he sat down next to his friend with a cup of hot chocolate in hand, "I think the skill, like the blade, is from the Botoke-Sama. It's like, he didn't just give you the sword, but also an instruction manual. Just not printed, but in the back of your head."

"Huh. Could be," Lorwen chuckled, "And I just never bothered to read it until I actually needed it."

For a few moments they sat in silence, Lorwen focusing on the branch and Aenwey taking a sip from his cup.

"I never actually asked you," Aenwey said eventually, "What region are you from? You know about me that I'm from the Capital, but I only know you're from somewhere in the country."

"I'm from the 神聖湖 (Shinseimizūmi) region," Lorwen answered.

"Ah, the Sacred Lake. I've heard about it."

"Every year, they take the kids who turned one decade old in that year to the Sacred Lake," Lorwen said, smiling as he began talking of his home while looking down at the smoldering branch in his hand, "To receive the blessing and protection of the Lake, they all enter the water and swim naked at sunset."

"Sounds beautiful."

"And very sexy," Lorwen laughed, "I think pretty much all kids in our region lost their virginity by that lake. In the protection of the Sacred Waters, there can be no harm and no pain, and everyone is free to experiment."

"It actually sounds like a great way to do it," Aenwey said, "Did you have your first time there too?"

"Mhm," Lorwen nodded. The branch in his hand burst into flames moments after, "Whoah," he exclaimed as he quickly put it in the plate for burnt twigs.

"Hm. You've improved," Aenwey said softly, "That was definitely faster than back at the seminar."

Lorwen shot a quick smile at his friend then took another branch in his hand.

"What about you? What was your first time?"

"Ah, me?" Aenwey adjusted himself as he was sitting, "Well I didn't have a beautiful ritual handy for a guaranteed safe and magical first experience. But it was pretty nice nonetheless."

"It was Nalanté, wasn't it?" Lorwen looked up.

"That obvious?" Aenwey laughed, "Yeah it was him. Back when I was like 12, his family made a visit to my family, and we were left alone to play in my room. He said how pretty and cute I was, and I leave the rest for you to figure out."

"He's a beautiful boy. And really fun to be around," Lorwen said quietly.

"I know," Aenwey sighed softly, "Back then he looked so much older than me, you wouldn't believe. Now that we're both in that age range when we don't grow for a while we look the same, like regular elven kids. But when I was 12 he was still visibly taller than me."

"It also sounds like a nice first time. While we had the protection of the Lake, you had an experienced partner to guide you."

"Yeah, I guess," Aenwey smiled, "I had a fantastic time. He made certain of that. Not sure I'd trade that for the Lake."

"The Lake's pretty good too," Lorwen chuckled in response.

After a few moments Aenwey leaned in and gave the other boy a soft kiss on his lips along with a gentle stroke on his shoulder, sliding down to his back and waist.

"It's time to sleep. We've had a long day."

"Help me finish this." Lorwen gestured towards the final branch in his hand.

Aenwey smiled, and as Lorwen opened his palm he placed his on top of it. Within a few seconds warm flames came forth from the wood and it crackled quietly, before it turned to ash. Lorwen then kissed Aenwey back, and nice and slow they got under the sheets of the soft, big futon in the corner.

Chapter 6
Through The Grace Of The Botoke-Sama

The boys did schedule a consultation with Professor Watanabe, an expert in the field of Magical Artifacts and History to learn more about the Noroiken, but he was busy up until a week later. In the meantime they continued to watch the practice runs of Nalanté and his team, but Lorwen tried really hard to finish his own practice first, though with varying success.

He also regularly looked for the strange red-eyed boy among the spectators, who had identified the Noroiken as a blade made of Nōrium, but there was no sign of him. He seemed to have either stopped coming, or never was a regular visitor in the first place. Lorwen really wanted to meet him again, but not just to ask him about Nōrium and blades made out of it, but also because he felt a strange desire to see him again. Was it just curiosity, or perhaps he found the otherworldly boy attractive? He wasn't quite sure himself.

When the day finally came to see Professor Watanabe, the boys went to one of the beautiful malls of the Capital for lunch before the afternoon appointment. Looking through the mall's front wall made entirely of glass, overlooking a gorgeous park with lush vegetation and palm trees, the boys went through what they already knew.

"So, you're the history geek," Aenwey said. "What was it about Nōrium and some Dwarven mining problem? If it's related, the Professor might mention it and I don't wanna look too stupid."

"Ah yeah," Lorwen remembered that he had mentioned it in passing, "It was after the war against the Dark Lord, the Botoke-Sama saw how the elves were grieving over all who had died, the loss of many of their friends and loved ones. Legend has it, that to ease the suffering of the people, he opened a magical portal to a different planet called Vorthos, which is inhabited by elves just like us, so that we could meet them and make new friends."

"That's pretty badass. How did he even know the planet existed?" Aenwey chuckled in disbelief.

"How should I know, I'm not the Botoke-Sama," Lorwen shrugged, "But I have no doubt he could do something like that."

"If so, he could've just won the war for us instead."

"I dunno, I think he's not supposed to solve our problems for us. But sometimes he helps out a bit," Lorwen answered, "My mother always said that the fact such power exists and yet our world is not destroyed shows that the Botoke-Sama truly has reached enlightenment."

"Hm. Maybe. I guess some elves would abuse his power. I haven't thought about it that much. Anyway, how does the story continue?"

"Yeah, so only a few elves could cross the portal a day, so things went pretty slow at first. But eventually a really good relationship formed between the elves of Vorthos and Nalma Tyr, our planet. This was still during the Mana Eclipse, when spellcasting was nearly impossible. And Vorthos had an abundance of this black metal called Nōrium, which naturally resonates with the Mana Field. Blades forged from it can cast spells on their own, even if the user is not attuned. I guess this explains the magic in the Noroiken. It's not mine, the power is from the blade itself."

"Swords like yours must have been incredibly valuable at the time then," Aenwey remarked.

"They were not for sale. Only about 20 pieces were gifted throughout history by the Dawn Elves, all of them became family heirlooms or valued treasures of the region's 大名 (Daimyō – Feudal Lord) or other Nobles."

"Dawn Elves?" Aenwey raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, they're called that because Vorthos is the Planet of Dawn. It has many suns and light reflecting bodies around it, in an arrangement that results in the vast majority of the planet being in constant dawn, with sharp lights and long shadows. The elves living there were nicknamed the Dawn Elves as a consequence."

"I vaguely recall reading about this in a travel guide at the Aerospace Tourism Center. But that was a long time ago and the price of tickets was sky high as well."

"The price depends on the orbits. When the planets are closer, ticket prices drop. Anyway, to finish off the story, during the Mana Eclipse, technology rapidly started developing, and about two thousand years after the Botoke-Sama first opened the portal we were able to travel there without magic, through the use of spaceships."

"And not just us, I guess. This is when it becomes a Dwarven mining thing."

"Exactly. They couldn't resist the power of Nōrium. Although the Mana Eclipse was gradually fading away and was practically over at that time, Dwarves do not inherently possess the ability to access the Mana Field, so for them Nōrium was invaluable in their power struggles with the elves of Nalma Tyr during the Internal Conflicts."

"But the Dawn Elves also wanted to keep all the Nōrium, or at least control it's flow, right?"

"Not exactly. Rather, they were incredibly protective of their planet, and when they discovered the massive Dwarven mining operations, which were kept hidden for quite a while, they absolutely lost their minds. Immediate war broke out, and of course we allied with the Dawn Elves. They were expecting our help anyway."

"How did it end?"

"Badly. The Dwarves on Vorthos got killed, while the ones on the Elven Isles on Nalma Tyr were mostly deported or killed. In response the Dwarves fired several nuclear warheads made using their nuclear power plants in the depths of their mountains."

"Yeah, everyone knows about the nukes," Aenwey interrupted, "I just didn't realize the reason was something so specific, rather than general tension during the Internal Conflicts. But they all hit uninhabited areas."

"Well, history books say the Botoke-Sama stepped in again and warned the Senators well in advance, who then gathered the Field Mages and they redirected the missiles. They were even able to magically capture and store one, which they then used to collapse an important underground tunnel system in the Dwarven mountains. And that was the end of that. Nobody has made a move since then, and things have started to calm down a bit."

"I don't suppose any more blades of Nōrium were gifted after this. Or any other items."

"No, it became a sore topic for the Dawn Elves. All the blades were voluntary gifts to begin with, and we never asked for Nōrium, neither before, and especially not after the Mining Conflict."

"That makes your blade incredibly rare and special."

"I guess it does," Lorwen sighed, "Oh, I wanted to ask you, have you seen Demon Boy since then?"

"Who?" Aenwey seemed confused.

"The weird looking elf with the red eyes and vertical pupils, who initially said my blade was made of Nōrium. He never introduced himself and you called him Demon Boy, so…"

"Ah, him. No I haven't seen him. Why do you ask?"

"I dunno. Maybe it would be worth talking to him about this too. But for now we should get started, or we'll be late for our meeting with the Professor."

"Yeah, let's get going."

Arriving back at the Academy, the elven boys quickly made their way to Professor Watanabe's office, who was expecting them. He was relatively young, in his late 300s, but wore the slightly more traditional style Academy Robes as opposed to the more modern looking everyday clothes most teachers used.

"So, I've heard one of you has a very interesting item to show me. Come on in," the Professor greeted them.

His office had dozens of bookshelves against the wall, lots of closets and chests presumably for storing artifacts and relics, as well as many tables, most already packed full with items common to the room like books, notes, magical gear and gems, as well as other small artifacts. Only a single desk next to a window had some clean space on it, but only in the middle.

"Now then, what is the magical object in question?" he asked.

"This one" Lorwen held out his right arm with the black mark on it, which started glowing blue as amid whirling streaks of light the Noroiken emerged.

"Very interesting…" the Professor seemed genuinely intrigued, "Put it down on the table here," he said as he cleared some more space.

"I can't," Lorwen said unexpectedly, "If I let go of it, it'll disappear. After a brief moment."

"Really now?" the Professor raised an eyebrow, "So then, how did you come to possess it?"

"It was given to me in a dream by the Botoke-Sama. When I woke up, I had the mark on my wrist," Lorwen replied promptly.

"That's weird. The Botoke-Sama only brings chocolate in my dreams, and only once a year."

"I'm serious!" Lorwen fired back, "How else could a first-decade student summon a sword like this?"

"A first-decade student could have had any number of elves place a rune on his wrist to conjure up a cheap illusion," the Professor retorted.

Lorwen took a deep sigh and looked at him.

"Which table should I cut in half then?" he asked with a slow, sarcastic tone.

"The blade is real!" Aenwey interrupted, "I even saw him slice up…" then he quickly got an elbow in the side of his arm, "… ah, melons. A bunch of melons. We did that for fun yesterday, and the sword definitely works."

"Is that so?" the Professor said.

"Yeah," Aenwey nodded enthusiastically, "And there was some strange boy there who came up to us and said it was made of Nōrium."

"Nōrium? Alright, let me see it," the Professor finally gave in and went closer to examine the blade, which Lorwen still held in his hand, "I have to say the texture definitely fits the description."

The Professor held out his hand and a spot in the air started glowing and pulsating in front of him. Moments later a black pillar formed out of nowhere, and as it solidified the pulsating slowly stopped.

"Cut this in half," he said.

Lorwen looked at his friend in surprise, but Aenwey smiled and nodded at him while taking a few steps back to give him some space. Lorwen nodded back and grasped the Noroiken firmly, then as the blade began glowing blue he unleashed a powerful slash against the pillar along with a loud boyish shout. As the blade made contact with the pillar the blueish glow transferred, and instead of being cut in half, the pillar shattered into thousands of pieces.

The Professor was visibly caught off-guard as he had to rapidly cast a shield to prevent the explosion of sharp debris from damaging his books or himself. The pieces kept floating in the air, frozen in motion as he held the spell, and then fell straight on the floor as he sighed and released the magic.

"Well, well…" he said, "This is unexpected. The blade seems genuine."

"Told you so," Lorwen scoffed.

"Right," The Professor said as he made the black material turn into smoke and disappear. Then he took a seat next to one of the overpacked tables, "I guess I'll have listen to your story about your dream with the Botoke-Sama now."

"Damn right you do!" Aenwey exclaimed.

"Do mind your manners please, as I'm still your superior here at the Academy," then he turned to Lorwen, "So, let's hear it."

Lorwen was a bit more shy about the dream, but was determined to learn more about the mysterious blade he had lived with and carried on his body for over a decade now. He sheathed the Noroiken back into its mark and took a seat. Then, in a bit less detail than with Aenwey, he went through the main events of his dream. The Professor listened carefully, but didn't say anything until the boy was finished. Even after, he remained silent for almost half a minute. Then suddenly he snapped his fingers.

"I think it's best if we ask the Botoke-Sama himself about this," he said as he stood up and went to one of the bookshelves.

"What??" came the question from both boys at the same time.

"You saw his face in your dream, right?" The Professor asked as he returned, slamming a photo on the table depicting two men talking in a seemingly official or ceremonial background, "The man on the left in the warm colored robes is the Botoke-Sama, on an official consultation with one of the Senators."

"And this helps us, how exactly?" Lorwen looked up, confused.

"Anyone who's seen the Botoke-Sama previously can open a magical channel of communication with him through a photo," the Professor explained.

"No way. This sounds so fake," Lorwen said shaking his head.

"Well how many photos of the Botoke-Sama have you seen so far? Have you even seen one?" the Professor retorted, and both boys remained silent, "That's what I thought. It's very hard to come by these, and for good reason. It is not the job of the Botoke-Sama to solve the everyday problems of the masses, but I think our case is worth his attention."

"Okay, so how does it work?" said Lorwen after a bit of silence.

"Simple. You look at the Botoke-Sama on the photo so hard your eyes start watering. Meanwhile you imagine his face as you saw him previously, and you focus on it with your mind's eye until that starts watering too. And then channel a magical connection between the two."

"I've never heard of this bullshit ritual before," Lorwen grumbled.

"Yeah, me neither," Aenwey joined in.

"Of course you haven't. The last thing we want is whiny prepubescent boys bothering the Botoke-Sama."

"You sure this works?" Lorwen asked.

"You want answers or not?" the Professor shot back.

Lorwen sighed and pulled the photo closer to him. He then began staring a hole into the paper, right where the Botoke-Sama's face was, as he imagined their encounter by the bamboo shack near the lake in his dream. He tried to align the facial features and make a connection between them, even though his memory of the dream was more than a decade old. He tried to channel energy through Mana Field into the photo, but he wasn't sure how or what to do. He was trying for over a minute but the smiling elderly elf in the photo just didn't seem to respond. The more he looked at him the more he felt something was not right.

"I can't," he said eventually, looking up and tossing the photo to the side.

"Why?" the Professor's answer was incredibly quick as he immediately leaned closer to watch Lorwen's reaction, "Which part was the problem?"

"They, … don't match up," Lorwen admitted.

"So this not how the Botoke-Sama looked like in your dream. Right?" the Professor replied immediately.

"No," Lorwen said, frustrated, "He had longer hair and his face looked different."

"Exactly!" the Professor exclaimed, "The Botoke-Sama you met in your dream was not the current incarnation!"

"What?" the boys were totally confused.

"Well, you just confirmed it right now. The current incarnation and the one in your dream are not the same person. That's why we did the whole test," he was already looking for a book on one of the nearby shelves.

"Wait, test?" Lorwen asked back angrily, "So you can't to talk to the Botoke-Sama through a photo after all?"

"Don't be ridiculous," the Professor answered from over his shoulder, "Of course you can't, that would be crazy. Don't believe something just because someone says so."

"Oooh, okay. I guess I'm gonna go cancel my scholarship now, cause this whole Academy thing is kinda built on that premise. You know, that our teachers are supposed to be trustworthy," Lorwen fired back.

"I guess you have a point there," the Professor answered as he returned to the table with a book, "Now then, this book among other things contains the short memoirs of the Botoke-Sama from around 3000 years ago."

Lorwen immediately forgot all his frustrations, eyes locked on the book.

"Here, in one of his memoirs, the Botoke-Sama writes, 'As I walked across that enchanted forest, I saw a small boy, with nut-brown hair and sky blue eyes, and I saw that he was trapped by the demons of his past. He was kind enough to make me tea, and I felt it would be unfair to just leave him be. I gave him his blade, the weapon he used to slay gods, so that from his past could also come something to even the odds.' And this text is over 3000 years old."

"That's impossible," Aenwey whispered.

"What does this even mean?" Lorwen was shocked, "Like, I wasn't even alive back then."

"The powers of the Botoke-Sama transcend our understanding," the Professor said as he closed the book, "This extends to interactions with him."

"So let me get this straight. My dream actually happened 3000 years ago, but it was also a dream at the same time in my teens," said Lorwen, still in disbelief.

"Yeah, that would be my conclusion," the Professor calmly replied.

"For real?" Aenwey was surprised by how easily the Professor accepted the seemingly impossible, "Couldn't it be a coincidence? That maybe someone else who looked like Lorwen was there?"

"That wouldn't explain how the Lorwen here and now came to possess an Echo," the Professor answered.

"An Echo?" Lorwen asked, "You mean the blade?"

"That's not a blade, that's a memory restored through the grace of the Botoke-Sama," the Professor promptly explained, "It's very rare but it has happened before. Echoes are memories of objects so strong that they merge with our current reality, transcending time itself."

"That would explain why it disappears if I'm not holding it," Lorwen continued the thought.

"Exactly. It lives within you, and it echoes from inside you. It cannot exist without you, as it's a memory, awakened by the voice of the Botoke-Sama."

"So if it's a memory" Aenwey picked up, "What is it a memory of?"

"In his writings the Botoke-Sama describes it as a blade that was used to slay gods," the Professor said, "That doesn't leave a lot of options."

"You have a candidate?"

"Lorwen, do you happen to be from the 十山 (Jūyama, Ten Mountains) region?" the Professor asked.

"No," Lorwen replied.

"Doesn't matter. It would have made the theory more juicy but it's not necessary. Have you boys heard about the Rōnin of Tiilnaryth, a controversial hero from the Jūyama region in the early times of the Internal Conflicts?"

"I have," Lorwen immediately raised his hand.

"And I have not," Aenwey said more to himself than anyone else.

"At the height of his power he was said to have killed some of the local deities of the Isles, including the Sapphire Dragon and the Titan of the Mountains."

"Sounds pretty badass" Aenwey remarked.

"Did he have one of the Nōrium blades?" Lorwen asked.

"I wouldn't have mentioned him otherwise," the Professor replied. "We don't know a lot about him, not even his name, but we do know he was born in the Jūyama region some time after the defeat of the Dark Lord, during the early times of the Internal Conflicts. He spent the first half of his childhood in an orphanage. When the Daimyō of Jūyama died, his young son, Tiilnaryth took his place. He was a horny little brat like all of you kids, and he actually visited orphanages to pick out the most beautiful boy he could find to adopt and sleep with."

Aenwey started to chuckle.

"This has got to be the first believable story here," he said.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure you'd have done the same if you became a Daimyō," Lorwen laughed.

"Typical of his age," the Professor agreed, "It is safe to assume the orphan boy and Tiilnaryth became lovers, and at one point a sword made of Nōrium, a gift to the Daimyō from the Dawn Elves, was given to the orphan as a present by Tiilnaryth to be a symbol of their love and friendship. Tiilnaryth, however, was apparently too young to rule and could not protect himself, as shortly after, he was killed by an uprising of Humans and Dwarves, who then seized control of Jūyama. As such, the orphan boy became a servant without a master, a Rōnin."

"Fuck. I prefer happy endings," said Lorwen.

"Then you should stop reading history books," the Professor pointed out. "Anyway, the Rōnin disappeared from the records for hundreds of years, only to later re-emerge as one of the most powerful warriors, wielding a blade that could cast spells even in the middle of the Mana Eclipse. He killed everyone, who was still alive, who had been involved in the uprising against Tiilnaryth, essentially eliminating the ruling leadership of Jūyama, which resulted in the Elves taking the region back. He then wandered the Elven Isles for hundreds of years as a drifter and mercenary.

Many believe he permanently absorbed the power of defeated foes, and grew stronger with every victory, until not even the gods could stand in his way. Tiilnaryth and his lineage was apparently on good terms with the Botoke-Sama, who visited the young Daimyō on several occasions in his childhood, and it is said that the Rōnin also conversed with him often later in his life. This probably influenced his decision to destroy his weapon when he decided to move on to the next life. By that point it was likely the most powerful weapon to have ever existed in this world."

"And you're implying that I am… " Lorwen said slowly, raising an eyebrow.

"It is a known fact that, unlike Dwarves and Humans, Elves are reincarnating creatures who are usually born with some amount of 業 (Gō, Karma). While the Botoke-Sama carries no Gō, he talks to his future parents and publicly announces his future birthday years before he actually dies. And the child born picks up and continues private conversations with people he never met, in his current life anyway. The vast majority of course cannot recall their past lives innately, as they have not yet reached Enlightenment.

Now if we review the evidence, you match the description in the Botoke-Sama's memoir, you carry an Echo of a blade of Nōrium, and we know of only one weapon that was used to slay gods, as per the memoir's description, and it was also a Nōrium blade, used by the Rōnin of Tiilnaryth in the early periods of the Internal Conflicts. The most likely conclusion is indeed that you are the Rōnin reborn."

A moment of silence followed.

"You've got some legend to live up to," Aenwey said jokingly. He didn't seem to be fully convinced.

"Only if this theory is actually true," Lorwen replied.

"It is the most likely explanation, but of course I can't be certain," the Professor said stroking his chin, "But even then what's in the past is in the past. You have nothing to live up to other than yourself. However, if you actually remember more details of your past life, you could be an invaluable source for historians."

"Really? That's the most exciting part for you?" Aenwey asked.

"What else? A little boy with an Echo so powerful he can't even comprehend? That sounds like a horrible responsibility, which I'm going to leave with the person who gave it to him. However, we could all use a better understanding of our past, so I'll ask the Rector to let me take this kid to Jūyama for a little field trip. Visit the castle of Tiilnaryth, and they also say there's a unique shrine to the Botoke-Sama somewhere in the region. Maybe it'll trigger some memories. We can't afford to miss an opportunity like this."

"Provided that I agree, of course." Lorwen crossed his arms.

"Do I need to buy you a lollipop in exchange?" the Professor asked sarcastically.

"Maybe. Or maybe something a lot more expensive."

"Look kid, it's already free tourism, and you'd have the chance to learn more about yourself, even beyond your current life. That's an opportunity I'd never pass up."

"I don't need free tourism, and I can visit the Jūyama region perfectly fine on my own. In fact, if I actually accept this crazy idea that somehow I'm the reincarnation of a historical hero, and I'm going to be experiencing deeply personal memories from a past life, I probably wouldn't want you there pushing me to remember more about the lore and politics."

"Fine," the Professor crossed his arms, "I can't help you if you don't let me. Without your cooperation I can't assist you any further, which then concludes this consultation."

"Look, if I do … follow up on this lead, and find some historical facts along the way, I'll be sure to let you know," Lorwen said.

"How very generous. I'll of course have to verify and cross-reference anything you come up with," the Professor replied. "Well boys, it's been a nice chat, but I'm afraid our time is up. You should return to your duties, as must I."

With that the meeting was over and the boys headed back to their room, with much to think about.

Chapter 7
Chillout

The protective barriers of the arena started flashing and came down, as the last of the Kagemono were vanquished by Nalanté's team. The fight was particularly hard, and took everything the boys had, leaving them dirty, panting, and with many small wounds and bruises while at the same time jumping and screaming from joy. It was the first Advanced difficulty challenge the team faced, and not only was it a success, it was also ahead of their training schedule.

After a quick team hug Nalanté rushed to the sideline where Aenwey had been waiting for him, hands clutched in excitement.

"That was totally amazing!" he cheered as his friend ran to him.

What happened next though came as a surprise. Once Nalanté caught up to him he brushed Aenwey's hair away and gave him a deep kiss on the lips, putting one arm around his waist and another on his shoulder, engulfing him in a warm, joyful hug. Aenwey immediately blushed and his heart skipped a beat as the hand around him began exploring his smooth skin under his shirt, with all the team members and the spectators still around, but quickly relaxed into it, sharing the happiness of his friend. Lorwen was only a few steps away himself and was fascinated by the sight of this loving embrace.

"Awww, that's so cute…" he whispered.

Later, once the training event was fully over, Nalanté joined the other two boys in their dorm room for chilling out a bit after the tough practice rounds, as per Aenwey's invite who wanted the three of them to spend more time together. They made themselves comfortable on the large futon, big enough to give all of them room to lie down.

"That was one hell of a kiss," Lorwen remarked with a smile.

"Aenwey is just the cutest," Nalanté replied, laughing. "He should be kissed like that every day. Several times, preferably. I hope you're doing your part," he said the last bit with a fake serious tone.

"No need to put any pressure on Lorwen," Aenwey joined in, "Besides, he actually has some serious stuff to deal with too."

"Is this related to your consultation with Professor Watanabe?" Nalanté was intrigued.

"He told me that I'm the reincarnation of a historical figure from the time of the Internal Conflicts," Lorwen gave the dry summary.

"That actually sounds a lot like the Professor." Nalanté was less surprised than Lorwen expected him to be. "He always comes up with grandiose theories about anything that isn't proven."

"Really?" Aenwey asked, "So we shouldn't take his word for granted then, despite his academic status?"

"I wouldn't," Nalanté shrugged.

"The evidence matches up though," Lorwen said as he reached for a book from a nearby glass table.

"What's that?" Aenwey asked

"I bought a copy of the Botoke-Sama's memoirs from 3000 years ago, the one he showed us that day. Just to make sure the segment was really there about me, and not another trick."

"Wow, you must be really sore about the photo thing," Aenwey chuckled.

"I had to make sure!" Lorwen retorted with a very cute sullen expression.

"That must have been a very eventful discussion you guys had with him," Nalanté remarked. "I seem to have missed a lot."

The other boys quickly brought him up to speed with the current theory on the origin of the Noroiken and Lorwen's potential past life, also including the original dream with the Botoke-Sama.

"It would explain the surfacing instincts during combat that you describe," Nalanté said after carefully listening to all the new information.

"Memories from a past life?" Lorwen seemed to be getting tired of the idea.

"It would make sense," Nalanté shrugged. "What do you think, Aenwey?"

"I suppose it's possible," the dark-haired elven boy answered.

"Possible is all well and good but it doesn't help me reach a conclusion," Lorwen pointed out.

"Well there's one thing we know for sure. Your fighting instincts surface during combat," Nalanté said. "Recently I found out there's actually a Kenjutsu club at the Academy, where you could study real sword fighting techniques. That could awaken a whole lot more instincts and get you much closer to discovering the secret of this Nōrium blade of yours."

"Sounds like a good start. What do you say, Lorwen?" Aenwey asked.

"I guess I might check it out," Lorwen sighed, "But how would I practice with the Noroiken? The thing's deadly."

"You wouldn't," Nalanté promptly responded, "But it's still worth a shot."

"If so, it could also be a waste of time," Lorwen replied.

"I think not. You didn't feel anything while slicing up those shadow hounds did you?" Nalanté asked.

"No. What's your point?"

"That these instincts only came when you were actually forced into a real duel. So the key seems to be Kenjutsu, rather than just waving the Noroiken around."

"I wasn't waving it around, I cut those hounds down to size like a pro!" Lorwen exclaimed proudly.

"Hey, you did a great job, I'll give you that," Nalanté replied with a warm smile. "All I'm saying is the connection seems to be there, and you should probably join the Kenjutsu class even if you don't believe a single word of what Professor Watanabe says. Which would be, as I've said, understandable."

"Okay, fine. I'll probably join. But that's really enough about me," Lorwen said decisively. "Now I want to see you two doing something interesting."

The other two elven boys looked at him curiously.

"Like what?" Nalanté asked.

"Well, I really liked how you kissed Aenwey back at the arena, and…" Lorwen blushed a little, "I want to see you two do a bit more. Aenwey told me you were his first time, I wanna see seasoned love in action."

Nalanté burst out laughing, while Aenwey shot a shy smile at the brunette elf, then a questioning look at Lorwen. A few moments later when Nalanté regained his composure he gave Aenwey a friendly smile.

"Is this something you'd like, buddy?" he asked softly.

"It's a bit weird, but fine, I guess." Aenwey let out a chuckle, "Lorwen's no stranger."

"Alright then," Nalanté said in a warm, comforting tone, as he grabbed a pillow from the top end of the futon. He lay down next to Aenwey and ran his hand over his body, up until arriving at his face when he shifted and gently raised his head to place the cushion under it, following up the whole thing with a soft kiss on the cheek.

Aenwey closed his eyes and moaned softly, seemingly familiar with this kind of tender treatment. Nalanté leaned in and gave him a kiss on the forehead as well, followed by one on his lips. Lorwen's eyes were locked in amazement as his hand wandered down in between his thighs, lightly squeezing himself through his tight underwear.

"You just relax now, hm?" Nalanté whispered in Aenwey's ear, who smiled in response, eyes still closed as he raised his hips a little while spreading his legs a bit.

After a few gentle strokes on his belly and waist, Nalanté took the bottom of Aenwey's shirt and slowly pushed it all the way up to his neck, revealing his beautiful, silky smooth tummy and chest. He leaned in and covered his body in soft kisses all the way from his bellybutton to his small nipples, while continuing to massage his sexy curves around his waist and chest.

While doing so he also positioned himself above Aenwey, his thighs between Nalanté's knees, as he leaned further forward, kissing Aenwey on his neck while beginning to grind his crotch against his friend's growing bulge through their thin, comfy loose pants. The position evolved into a warm hug as Aenwey eventually put his arms around Nalanté's waist as they were grinding against each other ever faster.

Lorwen's pants had long since been pushed down to his thighs as he played with his small but rock hard shaft, the front of his underwear tugged to one side, but still holding his balls firmly. His other hand was stroking his inner thighs, occasionally brushing against the tight little package. Meanwhile Nalanté moved down, and after giving a few kisses to Aenwey's bulge through the fabric, he gently grabbed the waistband and slowly pulled it down, revealing the tight underwear very much tented by a smooth, young little boy's cock.

Nalanté wasted no time giving it plenty of light squeezes, pushing it side to side and giving it kisses while his hands occasionally wandered down to Aenwey's inner thighs and balls. Eventually, as Aenwey's moans began getting louder, Nalanté hooked his fingers into the thin band of the panties and raised it over the boy's small, hard cock, pulling the panties down all the way to his thighs, letting his shaft stand straight up in all its glory.

Gently touching the dark-haired elf's thighs, signalling him to spread his legs a bit more, Nalanté got closer and kissed Aenwey's smooth boy part, this time without any fabric in the way. After playing with it for a while, causing a bunch of cute boyish moans to emerge from the younger elf as he raised his hips higher, anticipating the finale, Nalanté took the smooth cock into his mouth while cupping Aenwey's balls, knowing from experience that this was something the young elven kid liked a lot.

He pulled the skin down and licked it upwards several times before starting sucking on it, giving it a tight squeeze with his tongue and plenty of teasing licks around the head. He gave him a good and thorough blowjob exactly the way he knew would cause the most pleasurable sensations, until his moans got louder and louder before finally peaking. He thrust his hips forward in a glorious boy orgasm into his friend's mouth.

Nalanté immediately slid upwards on the futon next to Aenwey and put his arms around his neck, giving him a gentle kiss through his hair on the side of his head, keeping Aenwey in a warm embrace until he finished experiencing all the waves of pleasure from his dry cumming. After a few long moments of panting Aenwey grinned and looked to the side to Lorwen.

"So, did you like the show?"

The slender nut-brown elf had clearly brought himself over the edge on the side while watching the other two, having a hazy expression on his face as his finger played around with his by now soft little boy cock, pants and undies pushed all the way down to his knees.

"That was… beautiful," he whispered.

"Yeah, I know exactly how to make this cutie moan," Nalanté laughed, "I could write up a list of things that turn him on the most."

"You didn't even have an orgasm yourself," Lorwen's voice was still dreamy.

"That's okay," Nalanté replied. He then locked eyes with Aenwey and smiled, "Making this little boy squirm with pleasure is all the satisfaction I need."

"Next time you're definitely cumming though," Aenwey declared.

"You've got yourself a deal," Nalanté smiled.

The sun was sinking low, painting the room orange as the time for dinner approached for all students of the Elven Academy. The boys slowly got themselves together, ready to meet the rest of Nalanté's team in front of the Dining Hall for another one of the Academy's hallmark gourmet evening feasts.

Chapter 8
Demon Boy

Lorwen arrived in the changing room in the North Wing panting, late for his first class of Kenjutsu. The course was scheduled to begin shortly after training seminars ended, but Lorwen always liked to stay and watch Nalanté's team practice, and he had forgot about this new responsibility in the heat of a particularly exciting round.

The changing room was large, beautiful and clean, with huge diagonal glass segments in the wall serving as windows, shiny wooden benches and lockers made of brushed metal and a glass front. Only a pair of boys were left in the place finishing up getting into their training attire, and they were gone by the time Lorwen chose the closest unused locker. He quickly undressed and threw all his regular clothing into the container before changing into a loose shirt and a 袴 (Hakama – traditional wide cloth trousers) with no footwear.

When he finally made it to the 道場 (Dōjō, training hall) the rest of the students were already sitting in a half circle around the Sensei. The teacher turned to greet him but Lorwen's eyes locked on the boy at the far end of the semi circle. There he was, Demon Boy himself, sitting in 正座 (Seiza, formal sitting) in black training gear. His deep red eyes looked straight back at him with a measured gaze but an otherwise expressionless face.

Lorwen's heart started racing but he still couldn't understand why. For weeks he had been looking for him around the grandstand of the practice arena, hoping to meet him once more. He asked all his friends if they had seen the mysterious boy, who knew about Nōrium, a metal most adults have never heard of, but none had seen him. Out of some strange desire, he had desperately wanted to meet him again ever since that day, but couldn't even get a glimpse of him. And now he was just there, sitting gracefully, with a cold but noble expression. Did he remember when they first met? Lorwen was sure the otherworldly child had not forgot their short encounter, but he was snapped out of his thoughts as the Sensei greeted him a second time.

"Thanks for having me," he bowed in response, first to the Sensei, then towards the rest of the students.

"Welcome to our group," the Sensei responded with a slight bow. "Now, since you're a new student, it is traditional that you demonstrate your current level of skill."

"Ahh… current level of skill?" Lorwen suddenly felt a bit unsure.

"Don't worry, this is not an exam. The purpose is merely to assess your current abilities, so that we can train you accordingly," the Sensei reassured him.

"Okay," Lorwen said, "What should I do?"

"You shall engage in a practice duel of three rounds with a student of your choice. That is all."

"I get to pick?" Lorwen asked.

"That is correct," the Sensei replied.

Lorwen's gaze passed around the half circle of students sitting on the floor, but more for show than anything else. He only had a single boy in mind, and the thought that he was to be given the opportunity to have the red-eyed child's full attention, even for a short time, filled him with a strange sense of excitement mixed with trepidation.

His eyes stopped at Demon Boy, who looked straight back at him. With determined steps and a straight back he walked up to him, the red pair of eyes following each and every step he made. He stood and faced the ashen child then bowed deeply in front of him.

"Would you honor me?" he asked, his tone soft, almost trembling, but resolute.

"Of course" the voice from all those days ago was heard again, short and plain, but respectful and decisive.

The midnight-black-haired elf gracefully stood up and walked to the center of the student's semi circle. Lorwen quickly followed him, facing his opponent. Just locking eyes with him again was exhilarating. The red irises with the vertical slits were determined and fierce, but calm and collected. Lorwen began to realize he just might have picked the hardest challenge he possible could have in the room. The fact that a deathly silence engulfed them did not help alleviate this feeling.

"木剣 (Bokken)" said Demon Boy after a moment of silence, and two other students quickly jumped at his word to grab the wooden training swords from the nearby rack.

The ashen boy swiftly took the wooden blade offered to him by one of the students who ran up to him, and slashed it through the air. Meanwhile Lorwen was a bit surprised by how the practice sword was held up to him by a kneeling boy, but he took the weapon and grasped it firmly as the two trainees retreated back to the half circle.

The feeling of wood was strange in his hand. He was used to the grip of the Noroiken, the exquisite balance it offered, and the resonating magical energies circulating between him and the weapon. The bokken was dull and lifeless in comparison, leaving him completely to his own devices. Demon Boy was visibly comfortable with the tool, ready to begin.

"始めて (Hajimete)" the Sensei instructed them to begin.

The attack came much faster than Lorwen expected. He tried to intercept it with his sword but his parry failed miserably and after a single clash he felt a wooden edge pressed against his neck. He basically lost in about a second. After a nod from the Sensei Demon Boy swiftly withdrew his weapon. Lorwen sighed and took a firm hold of his bokken again. The red eyes betrayed no emotion in the young ashen boy.

"又 (Mata)" the Sensei called for them to engage again.

This time Lorwen made sure to attack first, reacting as quickly to the Sensei's word as his reflexes allowed. His strike was strong and decisive but was parried flawlessly, knocking his weapon to the side. Demon Boy's counterslash was swift and ruthless and Lorwen barely manged to block it, absorbing the full blow with his weapon instead of redirecting it. This resulted in a moment of stagger, but that was all the red-eyed boy needed to point the tip of his wooden sword right under Lorwen's chin. Another nod from the Sensei and Demon Boy withdrew the weapon, getting back into position.

Lorwen sighed and took a few deep breaths. Trying not to pay any attention to all the eyes looking at him, he focused on the strange emerging feeling inside him. He shook his arms a bit and adjusted his stance. In his mind the previous two rounds played out over and over, as if they were sped up, and each time he thought of more ways he could have reacted. For a moment he closed his eyes, and immersed himself in the flow of instincts.

He loosened his grasp on the bokken, holding it slightly less firmly, feeling its balance, feeling the way it shifted as he moved it around. He focused on the memories of the clashes, viewing them in his head in their entirety, including where he had his feet, where he had his weight, from what angle he applied force and how the fibers of the wooden sword tensed in the collision. Immersed in thought, he began to understand how he could have been more effective.

"良いか (Yoika?)" a soft voice asked if he was ready. Lorwen was shocked that it was actually his opponent. His eyes still hid any emotions he might have had.

"はい (Hai)" he quickly answered. He wouldn't have wanted to keep him waiting. They looked at the Sensei for instructions.

"最後に (Saigoni)" the Sensei declared the final round.

Lorwen attacked again, fast and precise, but his strike was parried just like last time. But now he shifted his balance and with swift footwork got into a position to attack again. The second strike was parried with a bit less finesse, making the counterslash weaker. Lorwen intercepted the blow and allowed it to slide off his sword as he made a step forward ready to strike again. But his parry was imperfect, allowing Demon Boy to regain his blade's momentum with a flip, which he did in less than a blink of an eye. In fact, he needed just as much time to attack again as Lorwen did after his step forward. And in the next moment there they were, both holding their sword against the neck of the other. For the first time the pair of red eyes showed a hint of surprise. The Dōjō was engulfed in silence.

"引き分け (Hikiwake)" the Sensei eventually declared a draw.

Hearing the word spoken Demon Boy immediately withdrew his weapon and took a few steps back. Flipping the sword downwards and holding the grip with both hands he bowed, then quickly straightened up again. Lorwen needed slightly more time to realize he did not lose this time, but once aware, he swiftly followed his opponent's example.

"Very promising, Lorwen," the Sensei nodded, "Even though you lost two rounds, a tie against our best student is something most in our group could not accomplish."

"Thank you most sincerely, Sensei," Lorwen bowed towards the teacher, who now turned to Demon Boy.

"Perhaps you could find it in you to help our new student catch up with the foundations of our ways and techniques? You are much ahead of your peers and already understand very well what we're going to discuss in the next few weeks, and I'm sure Lorwen will be a fast learner."

"もちろんです (Of course.) " the red-eyed boy replied.

Once they had their own little space in the Dōjō and the regular lesson began, Demon Boy turned to Lorwen.

"If I'm going to teach you, I have to know," he said promptly.

"Know what?" Lorwen asked, confused. On top of that, the feeling of actually being in a conversation with him was still a bit overwhelming.

"Your performance is very inconsistent. In the first round you are like a toddler with a stick, but moments later in the third round you show advanced footwork and parried somewhat decently. This is not normal progression."

"Well, I uhhh… " Lorwen scratched the back of his neck, "I've learned Kenjutsu a really long time ago. I guess."

"You guess?"

"Yeah, I think so." Lorwen felt like an absolute idiot immediately after saying that, and his mind began racing to find a way to explain himself.

"Fine," Demon Boy nodded, "We'll begin with the basics, and skip if your memories come back."

Lorwen was shocked. Any normal kid would have kept pressing the question. Then he remembered the weird feeling when they first met, why he had the courage to show him the Noroiken in the first place. He somehow knew he wouldn't pry. But he had no idea how.

The red-eyed boy turned out to be quite a good teacher, and Nalanté was also proven correct. During practice tons of instincts emerged in Lorwen, more than any other time before, and the thing he got better at the most was quickly incorporating these surfacing techniques and habits into his fighting style. Little hints of surprise regularly emerged in the deep red eyes of the ashen boy, but he never asked again about Lorwen's unnatural learning curve.

He remained calm and collected, but treated Lorwen with care and kindness. Whenever he fell, he made sure he was alright and helped him up. He went slow if Lorwen asked him to, and explained everything clearly and carefully. If he accidentally hit Lorwen full force during practice, he quickly used healing spells to ease the pain and mend the wound. On the other hand, Lorwen never managed to deliver an actual blow to the other boy's body. Despite that, by the end of the class Lorwen had dramatically improved in all key areas of Kenjutsu, and his practice rounds with Demon Boy could last up to a dozen clashes, but he never could reproduce the tie he achieved earlier.

At the end of the lesson Lorwen bowed deeply before Demon Boy, feeling true gratitude and warmth in his heart. The other boy returned a much smaller bow, but he added something he never did before – a smile. When the Sensei walked up to the two children to ask about Lorwen's progress, the red-eyed boy assured him the new student would have no trouble catching up with the rest of the class.

Back in the changing room Lorwen quickly emptied his locker and hastily carried all his stuff over to Demon Boy, placing it on a bench so that he could get dressed while talking to him. He suddenly felt nervous as he realized Demon Boy was no longer under any obligation to pay attention to him, but gave it a shot nonetheless.

"I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself earlier," he began, "My name is Aokawa Lorwen," then he quickly continued, staring at the floor, "And I'm also terribly sorry that my friend called you Demon Boy back at the practice arena. It will never happen again. I will always call you by your proper name, if you decide to share it with me."

"Well, nice to meet you Lorwen." Demon Boy smiled at the sight of the blushing little elven kid, "I'm Ren Eiyl-Wynn. And don't worry. I was told to expect being gawked at when I chose to become an exchange student. You kids over here have never seen a Dawn Elf before."

Lorwen's mind froze for a moment as he stared at him with a blank expression.

"Dawn Elf? But… I've read all of our history books and not a single one mentioned that Dawn Elves looked different than us. I don't understand."

"I wasn't told much either," Ren shrugged, "My school's explanation was that when the portal was opened your people wanted to focus on friendship rather than the differences, since you were already in the middle of some conflict. So it was decided to forbid any mention of the different looks in any of your official documents, including history books. To avoid 内外 (Uchi-soto, ingroup-outgroup mentality) between elves. That's all I know."

"Ah… well, yeah, I'll… definitely look into that. I'm … I'm interested in history you know. Anyway, it's really nice to meet you, Eiyl-Wynn."

"My given name's Ren," the other boy answered over his shoulder as he was putting on his pants, "Dawn Elves have their names the other way around."

"I'm terribly sorry," Lorwen apologized, "I'm glad to meet you, Ren."

The young Dawn Elf was just about to put on his black shirt, and Lorwen noticed how beautiful his body was, his ashen white skin so smooth and his curves so slender and gorgeous. Even his red eyes with the vertical pupils now felt exotic and mesmerizing, along with the midnight black hair and the little metal band around one particular lock. Lorwen had never seen anyone wear a small band around a lock of hair before, but it looked really cute.

"Anyway, sorry again for my friend calling you Demon Boy. I think the different look is a fantastic thing, and I also think you're very pretty," Lorwen said with a shy smile, "Would you perhaps want to meet up outside of class too? We could have lunch in the mall, or study together in the library or anything."

"You can stop apologizing. Really," Ren replied with a smile. But then his expression turned more neutral, "However, while I appreciate the offer, I currently don't need any more friends."

Lorwen was completely taken aback by the refusal, so much so that he even forgot to change his facial expression to something shocked or disappointed. Not only had it never happened to him before, it was also not a cultural norm among elves to flat out refuse an offer in such a manner. By the time he fully processed what had happened Ren already had his orange scarf on top of his shirt and was fully dressed, ready to leave.

"See you next time, Lorwen," he said before promptly walking away.

Lorwen couldn't answer, just followed him with his eyes as Ren left the changing room. Only then did he realize he had barely touched his own clothing, and was practically still in his full training gear.

Later, back in their dorm room, Aenwey found his friend on the futon, firmly tucked in under his blanket, reading a book. He sensed something was wrong so he sat down next to him, stroked his head and asked what was wrong. Lorwen told him what happened in the first Kenjutsu class, and how his offer of friendship was refused by Demon Boy at the end, who turned out to be a Dawn Elf called Ren.

"Really?" Aenwey asked, "So all our history books are basically censored? You sure?"

"I am," Lorwen answered quietly.

"How so?"

"I barged in to a lecture held by Professor Watanabe and interrupted the class to verify that this detail had really been left out of our history books on purpose," he sheepishly admitted.

Aenwey burst out laughing.

"And you believe him?" he asked eventually.

"Well, I verified the Botoke-Sama's memoirs. He also admitted the photo thing was not true right after. I guess he is overall trustworthy. I mean, he is a Professor and a teacher after all."

"Well, this is an interesting turn of events," Aenwey sighed.

"It is," Lorwen said quietly.

A few moments had passed in silence.

"So, what are you reading?" Aenwey asked.

"A book about the legend of the Rōnin of Tiilnaryth. Nalanté was right, I had a lot of new combat instincts surface during practice, so I'm trying to learn more about this possible explanation," Lorwen replied.

"That's good," Aenwey said with a warm smile, "Hey, listen. If this Ren doesn't want to go out with you for lunch or study, I can ask Nalanté and his friends to keep an eye out for him. Learn his habits. You know, maybe he does go to the library alone sometime, and you could just happen to be there too. What do you say?"

Lorwen looked up and gave his friend a beautiful smile with his bright sky blue eyes.

"Thanks. That would be really good."

"Alright then." Aenwey gave Lorwen a kiss on the forehead, "It's late now. Time to sleep, hmm?"

"Okay," Lorwen said softly as he put the book down and opened up the blanket for Aenwey to slip under it and snuggle up to him. Then they slowly fell asleep, embraced in a hug.

Descending from the mountains, his robes are dirty and he's tired and hungry. His messy black locks hang in front of his sharp blue eyes. His travel bag almost empty, its weight barely more than that of the katana at his side.

Arriving at the village gates he sees a commotion. Getting closer, it turns out that several Elven families have returned to their village of birth, now that the war and its bloodshed seem to have subsided, only to find it occupied by Dwarves and Humans who are refusing them entrance. They are a band of soldiers and mercenaries, along with their retinue. He makes to the gates where a Dwarf clad in heavy steel is shouting at the Elven peasants.

"This has been a Dwarven military camp for over a hundred years now!" he bellows, "And I've said it before, we only share it with Humans!"

"You're on Elven soil, and a hundred years for us is no more than a season. We were all born in this village, it is ours by birthright!" the Elven peasants shout back.

"Well I don't give a flying fuck about your birthright!" the Dwarf hollers, then spits on the ground, "This place belongs to the Dwarves now. We're not giving up our property!"

He moves forward from the crowd to face the Dwarven leader wearing heavy armor. His voice is deep and powerful.

"You said this village is your property?" he asks. He is three times the height of the Dwarf, looking down at him with contempt.

"That's fucking right. You got a problem with that?" the Dwarf raises his axe and rests the shaft on his shoulder.

"How dare you claim ownership of the land of Tiilnaryth?!" he roars at him in response, his voice echoes menacingly in the nearby mountains.

"Who? Oh, Til… whatever, the dead cocksucker kid…" his blade flashes with a blue glow, drawn like lightning, shattering steel into splinters and sending the Dwarf's head farther from the rest of his body then he could ever throw it himself.

What ensues is a massacre. Over two hundred Dwarven and Human warriors attempt to kill him. They all end up with their guts in the mud. Anyone who didn't fight him flees to the mountains. Only the Elves remain, shocked by what they have just seen. When all attackers lie dead, he raises his blade high and slashes downwards, to clean the sword of blood and filth, spilling it on the ground.

The Elven families work tirelessly to dispose of the corpses, but the graves have to be dug very deep. A woman with a young child but no husband volunteers to give him shelter and food. She also offers to clean his clothes. He is grateful.

"I wonder if it was right," she says by the dinner table, "To shed so much blood."

"We merely took back what's ours," he answers, "The land that we own, and the honor of our Daimyō. It was their error to lay claim to these things."

The woman's young son quietly listens by the table, eyes locked on him. He returns his gaze. His soft black hair and innocent eyes look somewhat like the boy. The boy he loved and lost. He looks away, the memory is still too painful. The woman eventually asks.

"まだ、名前を教えなかったのだ。"

"名前がない。浪人だけだ。"

Lorwen woke up covered in sweat, panting, and sat up immediately, rousing Aenwey in the process.

"Hey, what's wrong buddy?" he asked immediately.

"Ah, nothing. Just… a nightmare. It was a nightmare."

"Wait, were you stuck again?" Aenwey was genuinely concerned.

"No, no no, nothing like that. It was just a normal nightmare," Lorwen replied, slowly calming down.

"You sure you're okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine."

"What was the nightmare about?" Aenwey asked.

"Ah, the book I read before going to sleep," Lorwen quickly reached for it next to the futon, "It's about the legend of the Rōnin. I had a weird dream."

Aenwey paused for a moment, with a furrowed brow.

"In your dream… were you the Rōnin?" he asked slowly.

Lorwen turned to face him, an expression of surprise mixed with confusion in his eyes.

"Yeah. You think…?"

"Was the scene that played out in the nightmare one of the scenes you read about before going to sleep?" Aenwey followed up with another question.

"No, I'm only on the introduction. He's still a kid there."

They sat in silence for a while.

"Did he… did you do something bad in this nightmare?" Aenwey asked cautiously.

"Look, this book isn't the first time I've heard of this historical figure. I'm a geek, remember? It was just a nightmare," Lorwen said, having forcibly calmed himself.

"Yeah… just a nightmare," Aenwey muttered to himself. The he spoke up, "Probably also because Professor Watanabe brought him up. He put him into your head."

"Yeah, exactly," Lorwen responded, "At least until there's evidence to the contrary."

"Right," Aenwey agreed.

A few days later Aenwey had good news to tell. One of Nalanté's friends had to tend to a plant early in the morning in the Academy's 枯山水 (Karesansui, a type of traditional garden) and found Ren meditating by the East edge. The next day Lorwen decided to get up early and visit the garden at dawn to try to meet him. Ren was there at the Eastern edge, sitting, facing the sunrise. Lorwen carefully walked up to him and sat down next to him. They were silent for several minutes. Their shadows had already shortened a bit when Ren calmly said "Ask."

Lorwen hesitated for a while, but eventually gathered the courage to speak.

"You remember when you came up to me back at the practice arena and told me that my blade was made of Nōrium and my power is borrowed?"

"I do," he responded, "And if you've really read the history books I'm sure you understand what it means."

"Yeah I do. What I wanted to say, is that the sword was gifted to me when I was very young. By someone important. Someone whom I can't talk to anymore. And I don't understand the purpose of the gift. Why I was given the Nōrium blade," he paused for a moment, then chuckled nervously, "Actually, part of the reason I'm learning Kenjutsu is that I'm hoping it'll help me answer that question. And I also wanted to ask you, since you know about Nōrium weapons, and the power you can borrow from them. So I thought, maybe you could help too."

Ren listened to him carefully, than smiled and looked down in front of him.

"Nōrium blades are pretty common on Vorthos. I actually have one of my own here, in my room, which I brought with me when I volunteered to become an exchange student. They're powerful, but they're still just objects. The purpose of the gift must be found in the person who gave it you. I don't think there's a way around that, but I'm sure, given their rarity here on Nalma Tyr, that whoever gifted it to you must have meant something with such a special gift."

"I don't know. It may be a gift with a burden of responsibility. So that I can protect someone. Someone who would be harmed if I didn't watch over them, as I should have," Lorwen said quietly, immersed in thought.

"It may also be a gift meant to keep you safe," Ren responded after a moment of silence, "A beloved person has a great responsibility to keep himself safe as well, since harm to them also results in pain to those who love them. I believe that friendship is such a responsibility. When you befriend someone, you tie them to your fate. If something happens to you, they'll have to pick up the pieces. While friendship certainly involves giving back, it's also a form of taking, as you subject your friends to the risk of something bad happening to you. The blade could be meant to safeguard you, and protect those who love you from losing you."

"I guess it could be." Lorwen realized he had never considered this possibility, "Though I have to admit that this philosophy is very alien to our culture. We befriend as many as we can, from within our own kind, without much care or concern."

"To me, that is recklessness. I only engage in as many friendships as I truly need. I still practice self-defense just in case. But I protect others from worrying about me by not befriending them needlessly. This is a way of not taking more than what you really have to from the community."

"While I personally wouldn't follow thats path, I think I can understand the logic behind it. Is it common among Dawn Elves?"

"Not particularly. At least not these days. In earlier times though it was common whent Dawn Elves did not return home from a journey. Vorthos actually harbored many dangers of many different kinds."

"Thank you for telling me this. I can now better understand why you refused my offer earlier." Lorwen remained silent for a while, thinking if he should continue with the thought, "But still, I would like to be your friend and I'm ready to bear the risks that come with it. Let me worry about myself."

"Why do you want to be my friend so badly?" Ren asked. He seemed genuinely intrigued, slightly tilting his head.

"I… I have to admit I have no clear answer to that. I just feel like I want to. I like you, I think we'd get along really well. Isn't that reason enough?"

"Well, I don't feel lonely at all, so I wouldn't say so," Ren replied quietly, "Also, I'm just an exchange student, and I'll return home at the end of the decade. We would have to suffer the pain of goodbye inevitably. That's a guarantee on top of everything else. If I have the chance to prevent something like that, I always choose to do so. Besides, as I've said, I'm fine now. Which means sorry, but no."

Lorwen again felt a sharp sadness hearing that, and his eyes grew slightly wet with tears.

"You'll continue to train me though, right?" he asked, voice shaking a bit.

"Of course. You posses a blade of Nōrium, made of the flesh of Vorthos. It would be highly unbefitting if you didn't have the proper skills to wield it," then he added with a smile, "I'll teach you to the best of my abilities. Even if the Sensei no longer asks me to. You were given a Nōrium blade for a reason after all."

"Thank you," Lorwen responded, feeling better, "Then at least we'll have some fun time together."

"It's gonna be hard training, not playing games," Ren reminded him, "But I do truly hope that you find the meaning behind your gift. Actually, legend has it on Vorthos that Nōrium guided many elves on their spiritual journeys. I believe your sword will lead you to the answer you seek eventually."

"Thank you. This is really good to know." After another short pause Lorwen continued, "Are you here to see the Dawn, like it is on Vorthos?"

"The Dawn here is nothing like on Vorthos, but yes, I am."

"How do you like Nalma Tyr?"

"It's a very pretty place. Your buildings are beautiful and your approach to Mana is interesting and very different from ours. That was the primary reason I wanted to become an exchange student. But this constant cycle of the sun is just a huge pain. It's really hard to get used to."

The two boys shared a laugh. Lorwen eventually spoke.

"Would you like to be alone?"

Ren looked at him and smiled.

"Yes, please."

Lorwen nodded and got up. In a strange way, he felt good about leaving and letting Ren enjoy the sunrise alone. Sure, he would have liked to talk to him more, but he was doing something that Ren asked him to, and this way he could experience the sunrise the way he liked it, which should make him happy. And that sent a strange feeling of joy through Lorwen's heart. Maybe not becoming his friend isn't all that bad. If he's happier that way, than that is what's best, he thought, as he walked back towards his room. What he did not know is that Ren looked at him walk away from over his shoulder for quite a while, before turning his attention back to the rising sun.

.o.

Later that day, after classes and seminars, Lorwen brought up the topic with Aenwey back in their room.

"Ren mentioned a legend on Vorthos that Nōrium guides elves on their spiritual journeys," he finished his short summary of the encounter.

"And you believe it?" Aenwey asked.

"I think I'm starting to. The blade gave me an interest in magic in the first place. Now here at the Academy I've experienced real combat against a Kagemono in which fighting instincts began to surface in me when wielding the Noroiken. Then I learned about Nōrium itself, and soon after about the legend of the Rōnin. And at Kenjutsu class I met an actual, real Dawn Elf, who told me to follow the lead."

"And where does that lead tell you to go?" Aenwey asked, half expecting the answer.

"To the Jūyama region," Lorwen answered decisively.

"So you're going after the Rōnin theory then?"

"I guess it is the most promising lead," Lorwen replied, "So at this point it's really worth the trip."

"And do you plan to do this with or without the Professor? We'd have to go to a bunch of remote places in the countryside, the Jūyama shrine to the Botoke-Sama for example, which I've looked up and it's abandoned and in a locked down danger zone due to a Kagemono infestation," Aenwey raised a point.

"I simply can't have that insufferable person there if I'm to experience memories, potentially ones like my …nightmare. I'm going without him. Can I count on you though?"

"Lorwen, I don't think we're prepared to go alone yet." Aenwey shook his head, "I'm of course with you, but we should wait a few years then. The decade has only just started, and we could learn spells, and you could improve your sword technique and stuff like that. We might end up needing them."

"Yeah, but… well I guess you're right." Lorwen sighed, "I've already been way too distracted from my regular studies anyway. Okay. We'll grow stronger, and we'll travel to the Jūyama region together. Deal?"

"That's a deal," Aenwey smiled.

That night the two boys cuddled together again under the sheets on the soft, large futon. This time though there were no nightmares. Just a warm hug, and a promise of an exciting journey that could reveal many secrets.

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