As we walked through the town of Kasesh, I could see people wearing various uniforms belonging to countless different organizations. Each outfit was modest and covered their entire body. Far different from the type of clothes that I would see my family wear.

My face fell flat. "These people look normal… What happened…"

"Well, I didn't exactly use magic all that much, and I was considered the greatest leader in the kingdom's history. The king that followed me didn't use magic either. The mages began to feel like they were being treated unfairly and rebelled. They lost tragically. After that war, magic became a sign of weakness. If you were truly strong you would be better off fighting with your swords, that was the saying anyway."

"How did they win so easily, is magic actually just useless…"

He sighed again, "Let's just say most of the magicians in our country were more inclined toward the theoretical applications of magic. They were more like philosophers than wizards."

"Oh, so it's just that they were useless…"

He laughed embarrassingly. "That isn't to say they had no talent…. Here! I'll show you." He took my hand, guiding it to point over toward massive empty fields traced with giant buildings.

In the blink of an eye, we were there. There was an instructor there standing in front of several students all lined up in true military fashion.

A young man and woman stepped forward.

"Seeing them so young like this gives me such a feeling of nostalgia," Agis said, pointing at the two as they stepped into a ring.

"I always loved seeing them at work. They were rivals, but I was sure they would fall for each other eventually."

"Did they?"

"Well… They did, but neither of them ever got to share their feelings before it was too late. I like to think that they both knew anyway though… After he died, she turned blood-crazed and wiped out hundreds of soldiers single-handedly before the king himself challenged her to a duel. She took off his right arm before he finally stopped her…"

I could see the deep sadness covering his face. "I wish… never mind, we didn't come here to dwell on my regrets… watch this fight closely. These two were real mages."

I looked over at them, the battle had already begun. Neither one was standing still, or even chanting words as I imagined. They were moving their bodies swiftly, dodging spells and sending their own back at the other.

A cage of lightning appeared around the girl, but with her own magic, she made a tiger of lightning. It broke through the bars and charged him. He dodged its claws and countered, shooting the electricity directly from his fingertips, but she pushed back, meeting his spell head-on.

She overpowered him, but he managed to dive to the side, creating several floating spears of the same magic, and throwing them at her. Making a wall, she blocked all of them before it began sliding across the ground at rapid speed.

"He loses..." I said bluntly. I had seen enough of the fight to tell he was at a clear disadvantage… I had been overpowered enough times to be able to see what was happening.

"Not so fast," Agis interjected.

'Does that mean that he wins?'

I looked back at the fight in anticipation. He had been on his heels, even if it was subtle, I could tell he was outmatched. 'If he actually wins this, that would be amazing.'

The man charged the electricity into the ground, somehow allowing him to jump higher than any normal person. He vaulted the wall and made a gesture as if pulling something down from the sky.

A crack of lightning whipped through the air and struck her directly from heaven.

Agis started laughing as her body began to glow, the electricity shocking her and coursing through her.

"It's not over…" I said. It was clear she was still trying to do something, slowly forcing her body into the right position. She redirected it, channeling it through her body and striking him with his own magic.

His clothes burned nearly to a crisp and turned half to ash as he stood still, twitching. Finally, he admitted defeat.

"Told you…"

"Come on, don't be like that. He's the stronger of the two mages you know."

'I guess he's not the only one that's easy to read…' "How is he stronger? He was overpowered time and again."

Agis smirked, completely satisfied that he knew something I didn't. "Let me show you."

Time suddenly moved forward several months until the same situation arose.

It was the same two students, and they were having a similar fight, the only difference was the magic. This time, they both fought with fire.

Seconds into the battle, a fireball so large it put the sun to shame came raining down from the sky and cratered the entire area around her, melting the earth underneath it.

Luckily, the instructor teleported her out of the way just in time. "So it's like that is it."

His smirk never went away, only growing wider. "You figured it out then?"

"Well, it wasn't hard. When there are no limitations, he is stronger, but under specific rules or regulations, she can outmatch him. It's most likely because he just likes fire a lot, but he probably isn't nearly as good with anything else."

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His smirk suddenly turned sour. "Know it all."

I chuckled. "You're saying I was right about all of that?"

"Are you admitting you didn't actually know that for sure?" His eyes narrowed like he was trying to make me admit defeat.

I wasn't exactly sure how admitting I was only guessing and not using precognition was him winning, but I really didn't want to give him that satisfaction either way.

"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't." I Shrugged, leaning back on the roof. "Alright, so how did they beat that guy in a fight?"

"Hm…" He looked off towards the sunset. "He wasn't the most perceptive… And arrows move pretty fast, you know. An archer not unlike your brother shot an arrow from a couple miles out and he got skewered before he knew it was coming…"

'You're saying an archer shot a few miles with his bow without magic… This world makes no sense…' I shook my head with a soft sigh. Realising I had killed the mood, I went ahead and stood up. "Well enough of that, let's go somewhere else. It's my turn to show you something, right?

"You really think you can show me something? I ascended hundreds of years ago. I can observe almost anything that I want within this or any other world."

"Pft, whatever." I pulled him back onto flicker and focused my mind. Before long, We arrived at the cave spring.

'Nothing wrong with a little playful revenge right? It is his fault I had to grow up in this trashy world…'

I placed one foot just slightly in front of him and shoved him from the back, attempting to send him plunging into the water. The next thing I knew I was upside down flying through the air in slow motion. 'What… Hey, wait… Did he throw me?'

For a brief moment as I flew through the air I saw his face as serious as that of a killer. His eyes were like blades, electrified with pure instinct. It all happened so fast I could hardly even process how he managed to do it.

"Siya!" From the corner of my eye, I could see him jump out and catch me, throwing me back so that I landed on the dry ground, while he himself ended up drenched.

Again, his movements were so fast they were incomprehensible. Somehow the sensation of falling was gone, and I was standing on dry ground as if I had only slightly shifted my weight. 'What…'

Cold water flew across the cavern, splashing against my legs and giving me goosebumps as it landed on my arms. "I-I can't swim!" he yelled.

"What! Just kick your arms and legs!" 'He can't be serious, right?' It took a moment for my mind to catch up with everything that had happened. 'How am I here, and he's in the water… But… Wait… Is he actually in trouble? He's… Sinking… It's not even that deep… Well… I guess there are a few deep parts…'

"What kind of demigod or whatever doesn't know how to swim? Can't you just teleport out or something…"

After stalling for a moment to try and see if he was just messing with me, I hesitantly took a step forward. "AGH!!!" I yelled in frustration, taking off my hoodie and throwing it to the side, jumping in after him… To be fair… I couldn't swim either… But I wasn't stupid enough to drown in 4 feet of water…

The cold shock caused me to inhale sharply, my old body wasn't adapted to the cold at all, and it certainly wasn't conditioned to move in those conditions. In just a few moments I was shaking uncontrollably, and starting to go numb. Still, I managed to grip his shirt and yank him back to the ledge. "You're so useless…" I growled, pulling myself out and reaching down to help him. "Come on, you have to get out quickly before you freeze…"

He pulled himself out without taking my hand and smiled wryly again. "That kind of thing doesn't bother me that much.

Standing there shivering, I quickly rubbed my arms, annoyed at how fine he suddenly seemed to be. "What kind of higher being doesn't know how to swim…"

"What kind of herald throws her patron in a lake?"

I groaned as a gust of wind blew through the cave entrance. "What's the deal with this anyway, I'm not even actually here, right? Isn't this all an illusion anyway?"

Flicker moved over close to me offering her fur as a towel, which I gladly accepted.

"Well, yes, but you can still feel things. Otherwise, you wouldn't be able to feel the soft or warm things either. It wouldn't be very comfortable." He seemed completely unfazed by the whole event, his smile never dimming, even as he saw me shaking.

'That smile…' "You! You were faking, weren't you!"

"I guess you could say this makes the score 2 to 0 now," He said, looking rather pleased.

"AGH! You dove in first, that means I won, and the last one was a draw, you looked even more embarrassed than I was, one zero me."

"Oh, how generous of you, I am truly in awe of your thoughtfulness, giving me a draw when you so clearly won,"

I let out a low grumble as I tried to shake some of the water out of the ends of my hair. 'He's so childish… Wait… Doesn't that mean I am too though?' "Agh…"

He waved his hand dismissively. "Whatever, the first one can be a draw. This one was clearly won by me though. I threw you in first, then saved you, so I won, on top of that, I got you to dive in anyway. I was clearly in control the whole time. Who's the winner? It's me."

I clicked my tongue against the roof of my mouth. "A strategy's effectiveness is measured by its outcomes, not by its chance of failure. Had you not dived in and saved me then yes, you would have won, however, you hit the water first, so I won."

"I may have hit the water first, but not only did I counter your opening move, I chivalrously saved you from getting wet, I don't see how I lost here."

"YOU!" I stomped my foot against the ground, tensing my whole body before I stopped to think, holding in my frustration. 'When you put it like that…' "I'm pretty sure you didn't save me from getting wet… After all…" I lifted out my arms, dripping water all over the cavern floor. "And we both know you didn't plan any of that."

"Yes… Well, neither did you." We both paused staring at each other in silence. "So… A draw?"

"Yes, a draw…"

"Let's never speak of this again…" I sighed. And I thought you said you weren't deceitful or whatever."

"I… actually can't swim…."

"There's no way…" I muttered, slowly lowering my arms. "Wow… I actually feel pretty bad about it now… Sorry man."

"So… Zero to zero then?"

"Yeah yeah, zero to zero." 'This was a stupid idea to begin with. I should have just gone back to the mountain and drank my tea…'

His eyes seemed so soft, and his playful nature sharply contrasted with anyone else I had met. Everything about him was a little strange. 'Even if he isn't normal, he lived on the coast. I mean…' "Seriously, how can you say you ascended, and not even be able to swim? I guess that means I never have to learn either right? That's a bit of a relief… Who knows what kinds of freaky monsters live out at sea…"

"I just never learned, alright, it's not like naval battles were a big thing back in my day. No point in fighting sea monsters at sea. You were just asking to become fish food." He pouted, starting to look like a little kid.

"What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing…" 'That just sounds like an excuse, instead of a reason…'

He swirled his finger in the air, instantly drying his clothes. "Well, whatever. I can dry you off with my powers if you want, just a snap of my fingers."

The same powers that dried his clothes swept back his hair. It took me a moment to respond, seeing just how different he looked.

"Uh… Dry." I tugged on my wet shirt. It was thick enough to not be see-through or anything, but the chill of the water, and the way it was clinging to me wasn't something I liked in the slightest. "Why didn't you do that already, I'm freezing!"

"Alright, so 1 - 0 then?" he asked.

I gritted my teeth. "Forget it. I don't need your stupid help."

"You sure? You look pretty cold."

I grabbed my hoody, which was thankfully still dry, and walked behind Flicker. "I'll be fine if I just get out of these wet clothes."

I quickly changed out of my wet top, using the ever-so-calm bear as a draw curtain. While I was at it, I took off my boots and socks too, rubbing my feet to try and warm them up a bit and get rid of the numbness. 'It's hard to believe I'm not really here… That this isn't really happening…'

"You're really stubborn, you know that?" His tone of voice changed slightly from normal, but I couldn't tell what exactly it meant.

I didn't even bother responding. 'Ugh. He's never going to give this a rest, is he? Why is he even trying to compete with me? I mean, if he's an ascended being then how would I even have a chance?'

After wringing out my shirt I hung it from my belt, pushing my hair back in my hood to keep it out of the wind. 'I can't do anything about my pants, but if my shirt's dry and my hair's covered it shouldn't be too bad.'

With an exasperated sigh, I got back onto Flicker. I was still cold, and maybe a little frustrated, but in the end I was still pretty happy.

I groaned, leaning over and wrapping my arms around Flicker's neck. Even if I was happy, I'd rather be happy and dry. "Whatever, let's just go back to the mountain. That's enough adventure for one day." My voice was muffled by the bear's fur as I let my eyes close.

'The only thing more childish than him not using his magic to help me after I saved him, is me telling him not to… This is all just stupid…'

"Uh yeah sure."

He touched Flicker's fur and in an instant we were transported back to the gazebo, and he was calmly sipping his tea.

I followed after him and plopped on the bench next to him this time, sitting at his side and stretching out. "So, what's next? If you had a TV that would be great…"

"Well, you seem to like competing, so I thought we could play a game." He grimaced, looking at my clothes dripping water around me. "You're getting me wet again."

I stared at him for a moment, wanting to say something I knew I shouldn't. "Well, it's your own fault for not drying me off..."

He groaned, scooting away as he conjured up a gameboard. "How does chess sound… And can't you just sit on the other end of the table?"

I scooted closer again in order to reach the game pieces and chose black. "Do my arms look long enough to reach all the way across this table?"

He groaned again, moving farther away.

'Geez, if it bothers him that much why doesn't he just fix the problem… Should I draw it out a bit? Maybe I can get him to do it on his own.'

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