Vaelithorien's POV
I can't believe this! Of all the people I bring in my home, it had to be a mage! I thought they were striped off of their powers, why is this one still existing and has a huge amount of mana at that!
I just stared at unconscious boy in my sofa while thinking of ways to get rid of him!
Apart from elves like me being nothing more than just a part of history in this part, mages are one of them. Since magic is nothing but hoax and illusions where it looks so "magical" in a certain perspective.
Mages once ruled equally on this world with their own mana and strength but because of a certain mage who used to reign the whole world and used it for dark ways, mages were then stripped off of their powers and now roamed around the earth a regular humans.
Without any power or source of protection, they settled down in a certain or rather an island surrounded by what's left of the mages as a barrier in their own little town.
I happen to witness this town flourish from the lower grounds up to what it is now. I was the first resident who lived here when a group of humans happen to come across my home, back before I turned it to a shop. They asked if they could settle for a while in my area and I just let them be. Of course, over time that small group turned big and slowly became a village. Their leader offered me protection in return for helping resolve whatever was troubling my home. I just agreed and turned a huge part of land to an island as I was the only one with mana in there. After I turned to an island I created a barrier to stop the beasts form coming and let the humans do the work like building a wall or something. I didn't ask them for anything just that they don't bother me at my home. They build their houses a bit further away form mine and I lived peacefully form there.
Soon that small village turned to a civilization and soon forgot about the world outside the wall. The wall eventually felt invisible as the town expanded, and the space inside grew increasingly tight. The only ones who knew about the wall apart from myself is the government that runs this place.
Overtime, whenever a new government rose, they are tasked to meet me and know the rules and regulations. Hiring new people to work in the government, like a guard or a soldier, is not easy. In exchange for hiring them, they are no longer able to communicate with their family and friends freely without permission in fear that they might share valuable information and they are given an important task to guard the wall, making sure not a single civilian ever found out about the wall. This lead to many people not choosing or pursuing even further to work in the government. Most of the guards here are either those who are homeless or on the street or even criminals are turned to guards with a little hypnosis spell.
The people here have then lived peacefully, and so have I. But the mere existence of this damn mge is gonna be a problem.
I thought every last one of them was now powerless?! Why is he — AARRGGHHH!!!
I just sighed in frustration and placed both of my hands on my face. I felt a tap on my hand and saw Emily's worried look as she handed me a cup of tea.
"I know you're frustrated right now but we can't just leave him there. We just didn't know he was a mage." She tried to comfort me. I just sighed and stared at the tea in my hand. She's right after all. He just happens to be a mage. An unfortunate turn of events. I took a sip of my tea and stood up.
"You should get some sleep. I'll keep an eye on him incase he does anything. Also you still remember the barrier spell i taught be fore right? You may not have that much mana but it is enough for a basic barrier just for protection." I warned her. She just nodded and went inside the room I prepared for her. When I sensed the barrier being active in her room, I felt a small sense of relief.
I looked at the man in my couch and casted a binding spell making sure he doesn't do anything incase we wakes up. I can't believe this!
I sat back again in the couch and noticed the vines crippling in the shadows, slowly getting closer to me.
"Hey there, Veydris. Looks like we have a rat in our home. But this ones seems more troubling than the ones you use to catch." I comforted, patting its leave and vines wrapped in my arms.
Veydris has been with me since the beginning. I found Veydris years ago, tucked away in the forgotten corners of my enchanted garden. It wasn't a seed I had planted, nor a sprout I had nurtured—it was simply there, thriving where no other plant had taken root. At first, it was nothing more than a sapling, delicate and unassuming. But unlike ordinary trees, it never grew upward. Instead, its vines stretched outward, twisting and unfurling with an uncanny awareness, as if searching for something.
At first, I thought little of it—just another rare bloom drawn to the garden's magic. But Veydris was different. When I approached, its leaves curled slightly, stretching toward my hand as if recognizing me. And the first time I touched it, something stirred—a faint, ancient hum resonating through my fingertips. From that moment, it changed.
Its vines no longer simply grew; they moved. Cautiously at first, trailing after me in quiet curiosity, lingering near the spaces I frequented most. It watched, studied, but never overstepped. In those early days, it remained on the edges of my home, a silent observer. But as time passed, as it settled into my presence, it began to stretch further.
The first time it assisted me, it was subtle—a vine nudging a fallen book closer, another curling around a stray flower stem before I could pick it up. I don't know when exactly it shifted from observation to quiet companionship, but before long, it was helping without hesitation. By the time I built the shop, Veydris had already become a part of my routine, weaving itself into the space as though it had always belonged.
It was only after years of careful study that I came to a conclusion—Veydris wasn't simply growing. It had bonded with me. Not in the way a plant bonds to the land, but something deeper, something woven into magic itself. I came to call it the Everbinding Pact. Veydris didn't just survive; it thrived solely on my mana. It reflected me—when I was at peace, its vines moved languidly, draping over furniture like soft threads. When I was unsettled, they coiled tight, bristling in silent agitation.
More than just a companion, Veydris had become a guardian. Its vines reached out to steady my hands when I was weary, formed barriers in moments of unseen danger. It acted as a conduit, absorbing and redistributing my mana to the other enchanted plants, making the garden feel more alive than ever before.
And in my absence… it remained. Keeping the space alive, as if holding echoes of my presence within its roots.
Veydris was more than a plant. It was my companion, my protector. And perhaps, the one thing in this world that would never wither—so long as I remained standing.
I looked back at the boy in my couch when I heard him groaned and struggled in bed, as if he was having a nightmare. I stood up and prepared myself and felt Veydris slowly wrapping itself on my waist and prepared a small barrier on me, Emily's room and even around the boy.
"No... stop! Stop chasing me! I... I... M-Mom!" The boy shouted then, his eyes opened and strong glow appeared on his eyes and the traces of arcane scorch marks on his hands. I quickly created a magical barrier around him and Veydris quickly raised the barrier he prepared around us.
When it was quiet, I asked Veydris to lower his barrier letting me see the boy. It didn't allow me to get any closer but it gave me enough closure to examine him.
I saw tears running down his face and he was panting and sweating. I don't care who or what he is or what other business he has and I don't plan on knowing it either, but he can't stay here any longer.
He needs to go!
Aurelian's POV
I see myself running endlessly in a dark abyss with no sense of direction. Bolts of searing mana streak toward me, crackling through the void like jagged spears of light. Some twist unpredictably, others rain down in relentless volleys, each impact shaking the darkness around me.
I kept on running and running til I tripped onto something and fell hard on the ground. I looked back to where the attacks come from and I saw the figures of people who came after me.
"Why won't you join us?" One asked grinningly, extending his hand to me. The rest of them laughed and looked at me with mockery. I couldn't say a word out of fear and exhaustion, and I just shook my head and anger the shadowy figures. I braced myself for their attacks when it all suddenly fell quiet.
I looked around and saw that I was alone. I stood up and walked around for a bit when a strong light caught my eye. I looked at its direction squinting from its strong glow then I felt a warm hand cupping my face.
"Aurelian, dear. It's alright. Everything is going to be alright." A warmed voice comforted me. I don't who this voice come from but it gave me a reassuring feeling. A warm feeling as if... I was home.
It glowed even stronger before I could look at it, then I opened my eyes and felt tears running down my cheek.
"Mom?" I whispered.
"No! I am not. Now since you're awake could you please leave!" A stern voice shouted across the room. I sat up and looked around, and saw I was in an unfamiliar place.
A man... or a woman(?) is standing across the room staring at me deeply with cautious eyes and full of what seems to be frustration.
"Calm down, Vael. They guy just woke up and you already tied him up good so I doubt he'd do something." I followed the voice of woman talking, and there I saw a woman standing up from the table to what seems to be like she was having breakfast. She walked closer to me and sat right across me with her knees bent. That's when I realize I was tied to a glowing-thing around me.
"What's this?" I asked as I try to struggle myself free from the binds.
"It's a binding spell. It binds you from any attempts of attacks you have in that head of yours and traps your mana so you can't also use your magic." I stopped struggling and looked at the person saying those words. I didn't notice it at first because my vision was a bit blurry from just waking up—plus the tears, that I didn't notice the long ears the person had.
"Y-you're an elf!" I shouted wanting to ask but instead just stated the obvious.
"Yeah and I patched you up. You're welcome. I didn't do anything else so grab your staff and leave!" They said sternly and pointed out the door. I can't really 'get out' with these binds on me can I?
"Vael, calm down. He's not doing anything." The woman scolded looking back at the person and then back at me. "Sorry about that. We found you unconscious outside our store last night and brought you in." She apologize then opened her hand as if to touch me. I pushed myself back with my legs as if trying to run away.
"It's okay. I'm just gonna get this off you." She re assured me then the binds slowly disappeared when her hands had those glowing circles with symbols and patterns on them. I was able to move around and stood up when a bunch of vines suddenly wrapped my body.
"VEYDRIS!" The woman shouted but she was pulled back by the same vines beside the elf and I was slowly thrown away from that place.
The vines dropped just a few that place and when I tried to walk back the vines suddenly wrapped the outside of what seems to be flower shop and suddenly thorns popped up around the vines.
I took a step back avoiding those thorns when the elf got out of the door and threw me a key. I caught it in my hands and noticed it was my key.
"You left your staff. Now leave and don't come back! Better yet go to the mayor and talk to him." He said sternly and went back inside. How did he know?
"Wait! Y-you know something about me?!" I asked loudly before he fully got back inside. He stopped on his tracks and looked at me with an annoyed look and wonder.
"What do you mean?"
"H-how did you know this was a staff? A-and how are you able to carry it? Most people said it was too heavy despite how small it looks. A-and plus, YOU'RE AN ELF! How is that possible?" I asked quickly, not wanting to waste time cause I can tell he's not one to stay and listen if I ask any further.
"Those marks around your arm tells me who you are and that is obviously a staff from all that mana running around it. It's normal for an ordinary human to find it heavy because to be a mage, you need mana to carry a staff which ordinary people don't have. Much like what you're supposed to be. I'm surprised you even have mana; considering the fact that your kind was striped off of that power." He explained.
"What did you say?" I asked starring at him with cold blank expression. I'm a what now?
"What?"
"What did you say I was?"
Vaelithorien's POV
"What did you say I was?" The boy ask staring it me blankly as if I just said something unbelievable.
"Wait, don't tell me you don't know you're a mage?" I asked back only to realize I was right.
"Then how do you know about your magic and used them?! Wait, please don't tell me you've been using them pointlessly?" I frustratingly asked only to be shot back with a crocked smile telling me he was guilty.
Great! Just great! Not only do I have a mage lurking in my space, but an amateur who doesn't even know he's a mage! Of all the things I have to deal with, now I have an unpredictable spellcaster stumbling around, completely oblivious to the danger he poses—to himself and to me!
You know what? I. DON'T. CARE! He still needs to go!
"Whatever. Just leave! Go to the forest or wherever you want just leave and don't come back! Better yet go to the mayor and ask to leave!" I said frustratingly and turned around to get inside; when he suddenly tugged my sleeve a little, before Veydris pushed him away, keeping a safe distance between him and I.
"W-wait! Can you teach me?" I turned back and he looked at me with delight, determination and plead in his eyes.
"Teach you what?"
"Magic! You're an elf right? So which means you are smart and has magic. Teach me!" He said with determination.
"Do I look like a teacher? In case you didn't notice, I run a flower shop and I am a florist." I firmly said and opened my arms to show him my shop. "Not a teacher or whatever. If you want to learn magic and how to control yourself, go outside the border. You'd be lucky if you find another mage or anyone willing to teach you."
"What border?" He asked confusingly. I looked back at him to see if he's messing with me. If he doesn't know where the border is, then where did he come from?
"Ok, hold on. Where did you come from if you don't even know about the border? Before we found you last night where were you from?"
"Oh, you see, I came from an orphanage, far from here and I escaped from there and wandered around the woods for I don't know how long and then I was change by some, mage was it that you said? So yeah I was by a bunch of mages who had magical powers like me for I don't know what reason and I stumbled upon here. That's my story." He ended with a smile as if telling a happy ending story.
"I'm sorry, h-how old were you when you left?"
"I think I was turning 14 that year."
"And how old are you now?"
"Uhm 20....7! I'm 27." 14 years?! He's been wondering with that power in the wild for that long and no control at that!
"14 years?! And you were chased down by what? MAGES?!" I shouted and he just looked at me and nodded slowly as if not sure if he should confirm what I said or not.
"Uhh yeah. That's basically what I said." He gave me that wide, unnervingly perfect smile—lips pressed together, eyes unblinking, way too smug for my liking. A silent, infuriating confirmation that, yes, he did just say exactly what I thought he said.
As much as I want to leave this child here in the open, traces of his mana still lingers around my shop and if he leaves now, it won't be long for those who was chasing to trace him back here and that would be even more troublesome.
DAMN IT!
"Follow me. While I think of a way to get rid of you, you stay in the shed and behave there! understood!"
"Bu-"
"No buts! Follow me or get blasted in there." I cut him and Veydris pulled him into and to the shed at the back.
When I confirmed he was in the back, I immediately get to work and 'cleaned' around here. Making sure there are no traces of anything that says he was here to be 'seen'. From his mana to the blood around my shop.
When I confirmed we were clear I went back inside and to the shed where Veydris is still binding his entire body and mouth with his vines and I sense that he's using my mana to bind his mana as well.
"That's enough, Veydris. You can put him down." I ordered and put him down. He coughed out the leaves that got in his mouth and patted himself. I walked closer to him and he immediately looked for, I think his staff, before pointing it at me; not even activating it from its compressed form. He really is an ignorant mage.
"What are you gonna do to me with that compressed staff in your hand?"
"I-I don't know. B-but I know this key can turn big and can shoot things at you!" He said with determination while still pointing the 'key' at me.
"I know that. That 'key' is a staff in its compressed form. Making it much easier for mages to carry around instead of having it in its normal form. A mage must have such as yourself, a human, since your bodies can't handle the weight of using magic but your body can still store mana depending on its limit." I explained to him while moving his mini staff away from my face.
"How do I make it big? I did it before but I don't know what I did back then." I sat in front of him with Veydris' vines as my small stool
"What can you remember then? Typically, mages have different ways of compressing and decompressing their staff as a way to make sure if their staff gets stolen or lost, anyone other than the owner can't activate it." I explained while I grabbed the key and studied by eye, seeing if I could find something that might help.
"Well it happened on my 13th birthday. I was tossing it around in the air with my friend at the roof top back at the orphanage. We were just hanging there, chatting, when suddenly, the key glowed and turned to the staff." He said while trying to remember what happened in the past.
" Did you also toss the key around before this?" He just nodded at me. I took a look at it one more time and casted a spell that helps detect any sorts of spell that has been casted on anything and sure enough there was one on this staff. Arcane Reverie.
I opened my palm and let out a bit of magic to the key, narrowing my eyes as I effortlessly cast Arcane Reverie. A soft, silvery glow shimmers over its surface, shifting and twisting like threads of woven starlight, revealing the hidden magic within. Tilting my head slightly, I take in the layers of enchantments imprinted on it.
"Tch. Just as I thought. This thing is swarming with suppression magic." My fingers twitch as the glow intensifies, illuminating faint traces of lingering energy. "It's not just locked in its current form—there's something actively holding it back."
I exhale through my nose, gaze sharpening. There's residual magic here—familiar, but distant. Not new.
"You've used this before… No, not just used. It answered you once." My eyes flicker up to Aurelian.
"Your magic surged at some point, didn't it? Probably when you first awakened it."
The glow shifts, unraveling a tangled web of restraints—like invisible chains wrapped around the staff's core. I hum, unimpressed. "Someone—or something—sealed this thing. Not just the staff, but you too. And judging by these bindings, it wasn't some weak, half-baked spell. This was intentional."
Leaning back slightly, I rub my chin. "If I had to guess… This wasn't just about sealing your power." My voice lowers slightly as I trace the remnants of the spell, letting its lingering intent seep into my awareness. "Whoever did this… they weren't trying to control you. They were trying to protect you."
I pause, fingers grazing the glow that flickers in response. The magic is steady, firm—but beneath it,
I can feel the hesitation, the sorrow woven into every thread.
"The seal isn't perfect—it cracked once before. Which means… it was never meant to last forever."
"So how do we change it?" He asked with a little determination in his voice.
"Try channeling your mana to the key. Think deep and imagine you are pouring something out of your body, to your key. Think of your mana." I explained.
He grabbed the key and clasped it tightly in his hands. With a grunting look on his face, I can see his mana that was already exposed, slowly going through his key. Moments later, the key glowed brightly and turned into a staff. The kid gave out a sweating proud smile before looking at me as if a child proudly showing what he did.
"I, I did it! L-look! I-it's a staff!" He proudly said and run his fingers around it.
"Does this mean you can teach me now?"
"No!"