The sound of metal hitting metal cut through the silence as Yone and Yasuo sparred with each other under the watchful eye of Narlou and the curious stares of Jolune.

Yone's wound had healed completely, so Narlou had allowed him to fight again, which they did, though on a much weaker level than they normally would. Not that the obnoxiously curious man noticed any of this.

The "fight" eventually ended with both pretending to be so exhausted that they could not fight anymore, and Jolune clapped loudly with a happy expression on his face.

"I must say, you looked very impressive just now!"

"Thank you, sir." Yone huffed out in between his heavy breathing, keeping up the illusion of being at his limit.

"Seeing you fight certainly makes me curious about your master's abilities!"

"Maybe another time." Narlou evaded the unasked question.

There was no way in hell that he would show some random guy his powers.

"So, what are your plans for today? You guys are not going to leave already, are you?"

Yone and Yasuo turned to Narlou with puppy eyes, making him smile at the adorableness of it.

"We'll not leave just yet. It's too beautiful and peaceful here."

They shot him a thankful look, successfully causing Narlou's smile to widen.

"Perfect! My master had been wanting to talk to you, but we weren't sure about how long you would be staying."

"Your master wants to talk to me?"

"Er, only if you are interested of course!"

Narlou raised an eyebrow, though he didn't find himself disliking the idea of talking to the old magician who probably had lots of experience.

"I'd love to. We'll be at the tavern this evening, so I could meet him there." He provided, secretly hoping that Jolune would not come as well.

There was still this weird feeling about him, and the fact that he was so insistent on seeing their power just made him more suspicious.

"Wonderful! I will excuse myself then. See you later!"

The man walked away, and the three watched as he left, waiting until he was out of sight.

"Jeez, that was so boring. I couldn't even fight you for real." Yasuo broke the silence as he sat down on a patch of grass, placing his sword next to him.

"Well, he's gone now, so how about you guys have a real battle? I can keep watch in case anyone comes here." Narlou said with a shrug of his shoulders.

To their surprise, Yasuo shook his head with a smile as he made himself comfortable on the grass.

"Nah, you guys can fight."

Narlou quirked an eyebrow, but Yasuo was quick to follow with an explanation, turning his head to address his older brother with a knowing smirk.

"We all know that you've been wanting to fight big bro Narlou ever since we started sparring, so who am I to stop you."

Yone blushed, quickly glancing at Narlou like a kid who has been caught stealing candy.

"Oh? I've also been wondering about how strong you are." Narlou said with a challenging expression, enjoying the way his eyes lit up with excitement.

Wanting to start immediately, Yone unsheathed his sword in one smooth motion, raising it to point at him.

"Count us down Yasuo!"

"Three, two, one, FIGHT!"

Yone immediately jumped into action, swinging his sword vertically down at Narlou's shoulder without any hesitation.

The blade just barely missed him as Narlou dodged to the side, the blade cutting through the wind to create a sharp sound that Narlou thought was oddly satisfying.

The second strike followed soon after as Yone used the momentum of his first strike to slash at his side with practiced movements, his brows furrowing in concentration and his veins bulging as his hands gripped the sword tightly.

Narlou jumped back again, only to come face to boot with a high kick from the young swordsman.

"You are fast!" Narlou shouted as he dodged under the kick, grabbing the exposed leg with both hands and throwing the unprepared teenager away from himself.

"But not fast enough." He stuck out his tongue playfully.

"Come on Yone, you got this!" Yasuo cheered from the sidelines, and Narlou shot him a look of betrayal.

"Oi, I'm here too!"

"Yeah, but you are ridiculously overpowered!"

While the two continued to bicker, Yone slowly raised himself from the ground, dusting off his cloths and turning to Narlou again.

'His stance is different.' Narlou noticed with interest as he turned back to his opponent.

The boy stood more relaxed, his sword held loosely, and his legs slightly bent.

"Thanks for the warmup."

Narlou had been fighting Yasuo enough to know when he was about to use his wind techniques, and that was exactly what Yone looked like right now.

He smiled, almost flashing his teeth.

"Come on boy. Show me what you got."

And Yone showed.

A slash from his sword caused a wave of wind to come flying at him, which Narlou jumped over. The moment his feet lifted off the ground though, he found Yone standing right in front of him, his sword about to strike his neck.

"Not bad!"

Narlou bent his body to an unnatural degree as he dodged the blade mid-air, kicking Yone back and landing in a handstand, flipping onto his feet again as Yone sailed through the air.

The kid was quickly sliding to a stop one his feet hit the ground though, and Narlou watched with interest as he immediately rushed at him again, his sword lowering to cut him into two pieces from below.

The brown-haired man easily dodged the attack but did not anticipate the whirlwind that the motion created, raising Narlou off the ground a bit.

"Got you!"

Instead of rushing at Narlou again, Yone closed his eyes and sliced through the air, his slashes becoming faster and faster until his arms were a blur. He was seemingly hitting nothing, but Narlou could feel a shit ton of small invisible wind blades approaching, almost making him curse.

With his body in the air, he had little choice but to raise his arms, defending his upper body from the slashes. Shallow cuts immediately appeared all over them and kept increasing in number until he finally hit the ground again as the mini tornado dissipated.

'If he was stronger, I would've been ripped to shreds just now. I was careless.' He acknowledged as he lowered his body, getting into position to run at the kid whose eyes were still closed.

'Welp, time to end this.'

"EEP!"

Yone's soul almost left his body as he finally opened his eyes only to see a viciously smiling Narlou running at him much faster than he could react.

He was on his back a second later, his own sword pointing at his neck.

"Impressive. Both you and Yasuo are gonna be some very dangerous people in the future."

Yone smiled at the praise, grabbing Narlou's outstretched arm to lift himself up, but it quickly vanished as he saw the many small wounds on it.

"D-did I hurt you? Are you alright?"

Narlou smiled as he lifted the boy to his feet, ruffling through his hair.

"Don't worry, they will be gone by tomorrow. Instead, you should be proud that you could even cause that much damage. That attack combo was really well executed!"

Narlou could've of course just used his Enhancement magic to strengthen his arms, but that would have been complete overkill.

A sigh of relieve left Yone's mouth, and Narlou smiled at his concern. It was really sweet.

"Damn, that was good!" Yasuo exclaimed as he came running over to them, smiling from ear to ear.

"Good, yes. But I need to be much better if I ever want to beat Narlou."

"True." Yasuo said, both turning to stare at Narlou, who innocently raised his hands.

"Come to think of it, why are you that strong? You've never told us what you did before we met you." Yasuo finally asked, causing Narlou to cringe slightly.

He had been trying to avoid that topic, but the kids deserved to know.

'Better now than never, I guess.'

"I've been fighting in the war directly under general Darius."

He expected them to become angry, to maybe even hate him for it, but Yasuo just smiled.

"That's impressive. I've heard much about Darius' strength. No wonder you are that strong."

"You aren't angry?"

Yone was the one to answer this time.

"Don't worry. We may have not known you for a long time, but we can tell that you are no bloodthirsty maniac who kills for fun. You have shown us kindness and helped us when we needed it the most. We trust you, Narlou."

A wave of warmth spread through his chest as he tried and failed to keep a few tears from escaping his eyes, quickly scooping both boys up in a big hug.

"You have no idea how much that mean to me."

They stayed like that for a few calming minutes until Narlou eventually let go of them, straightening his body and smiling as if nothing had happened, though the kids could see a certain warmth in his gaze that hadn't been there before.

"So, what do you wanna do now? We still have some hours until evening."

Yone and Yasuo looked at each other.

"River!"

"Hill!"

Narlou sighed, though the smile never left his face.

It was evening and the group of three were sitting at a table in the tavern, waiting for the old man and Jolune to arrive while people were talking and singing, creating a comfortable atmosphere that Narlou quite enjoyed.

"Why do you think he wants to talk to you anyways?" Yasuo asked as he played around with a random strand of hair that had escaped his ponytail.

He was slumped in his chair, his posture relaxed and his eyes looking around the big room lazily.

Narlou shrugged, watching the kid's hand move with surprising smoothness as he curled the hair around his finger.

"No idea. Maybe he knows that I'm a magician as well and wants to talk to a likeminded person?"

The two heads snapped around to stare at him.

"Wait a minute. You are a magician, not a fighter?"

"I haven't told you?" Narlou scratched his head in embarrassment, noting with slight disappointment that Yasuo had stopped playing with his hair.

He had tried to use magic as little as possible after the incident, but to think that he had pushed it out of his mind to such an extent that he even forgot to tell the brothers.

"We always thought that you were an enhancement fighter, so if you are a magician, then how are you so good at fighting?" Yone asked curiously.

"I can use both enhancement magic and normal magic, but I'm not proficient enough in either of those to combine them."

The brothers' eyes lit up in understanding.

"Then what magic do you use?" Yasuo asked excitedly, leaning forward slightly.

"Well, it's nothing special. You wanna take a guess?" Narlou challenged, and Yasuo immediately narrowed his eyes in thought.

"Fire magic?" Yone eventually asked, making Narlou shake his head in amusement.

"Nope."

"Pure magic?"

"Yep."

"Really?! Can you show us?" Yasuo asked as he leaned forward even more, his eyes full of curiosity, which was mirrored by Yone, though slightly less energetic.

"Sure, but not now."

"What, wh-"

"Hello everyone!" Jolune exclaimed with his usual upbeat voice as he and the old man came to a stop in front of their table.

"Good evening, Jolune, Martel." Narlou said politely, gesturing for them to sit down at the free two chairs that he had prepared.

"Hey old man!"

"Yasuo!" Yone hissed at his little brother, but the old man just smiled, wrinkles appearing around his eyes.

"Hello you too, little Yasuo and Yone."

The two sat down, and while Yone was busy glaring at his little brother for his impoliteness, Martel turned to Narlou.

"So, how are you liking our humble place so far?"

"It's nice and calm, not to mention the villagers who've been very welcoming." Narlou answered, effectively cutting Yasuo of from going on a rant about how nice this place was.

"Indeed, people have been very delighted by your stay. It tends to become quite boring in this village, so every little distraction is very welcome."

Narlou smiled cheerfully.

"So, Jolune here told me that you wanted to talk to me about something?"

"Ah, he made is sound more serious than it really is. I just happened to feel mana from you, so I thought you might be interested in talking to this old veteran. I would of course be happy to help you with any questions you have."

'Looks like it really was magic that he wants to talk about. I've suppressed my mana quite well, so this guy must really know his way around magic if he can still feel it, though from the sound of his words, he's probably assuming that I'm quite weak.'

Deciding to play along, Narlou answered with enthusiasm.

"Oh! That's very kind of you! I'm quite new to magic, so I'm not that strong. I hope you don't mind."

"Absolutely not! Everyone has to start somewhere. Who knows, Jolune and the kids might even learn something if they listen along."

The old magician threw a playful smile at Jolune, who looked down with a blush.

"Err, I've been meaning to learn magic for quite some time now, but I just can't seem to unlock it."

Even if he didn't like him, Narlou felt a spark of sympathy towards the man. He had unlocked his mana in such a short time, yet here was this man who tried his best and still couldn't do it.

"Don't worry about it, unlocking it took me half a year as well. It will eventually happen; you just have to try your best!" He tried to encourage the man, but that seemed to backfire as the old man send him a surprised look.

"You must be very talented if you only took 6 months to unlock your mana. I needed 7 months, and even I was called quite talented back at the academy."

"I had some very good teachers." Narlou underplayed his achievements, trying his hardest not to sweatdrop.

'The system is seriously overpowered.'

"How did you unlock your magic, old man?" Yasuo successfully changed the subject before it got even more awkward.

The man frowned slightly, and his hand went to rub his chin, doing something which Narlou guessed was a sign that old people starting to think about something.

"Remembering that makes me all nostalgic. It happened back at the academy…"

The rest of the evening went in a similar manner, with them talking about magic and the old man telling stories about his time as a magician, which were nothing to what Narlou had lived through during his short time in the war but were exceedingly interesting for the other listeners.

The only interesting thing that happened besides that was when he asked about spirit magic. He had not really expected a good answer, but much to his surprise, the man knew quite a lot about it.

"Ho, you want to know about spirit magic. You are quite lucky, because I have spent the majority of my time after my services in Ionia studying just that."

He had Narlou's whole attention after that sentence. He had not been a magician for long, but he knew that such information was very rare at best.

"Hmm, where do I start. Spirit magic is the art of summoning a spirit to use its powers, or in rare cases let the spirit fight for you directly."

"How strong are spirits?" Yasuo interjected, him and Yone also listening closely to the old man's explanation.

"Believe me my boy, the average spirit is strong enough to fight even the top magicians and fighters of a nation. Higher grade spirits could even take on champions."

"How many spirits are there, and couldn't they just take over the world if they are that strong?" Yone asked, his eyes wide as he waited for the answer.

The man stroked his beard as he thought about the questions.

"Regarding your first question, to be honest, I have no idea. There could be only a few dozen, or there could be millions of spirits. Now the second question is easy to answer. They won't because they can't."

The man paused for a second, taking a sip from his drink before continuing.

"The world of the spirits and the world of the living is separated by something beyond our understanding. Only extremely few can cross the border. You might have heard of master Shen, who is the head of the Kinkou order."

Narlou shook his head, though the kids' eyes lit up with recognition.

"He's a champion and a famous assassin in Ionia." Yone quickly provided.

"Yes, that Shen. He is one of the only people in Runeterra who can actively cross the border between the two worlds, though he had never been very forthcoming with information on the other side." The old man followed, clearly displeased by that.

"Anyways, spirits can only enter our realm by being summoned. Though the stronger the spirit, the more difficult it becomes."

This time, Narlou opened his mouth to ask something.

"How do you summon one?"

"That is something that I do not know the answer to. I have never managed to summon a spirit in my lifetime, and I only know so much because I've been studying other people's works, though they all have said the same thing; it's just like unlocking your mana, everyone has their own method of summoning one. That method is what I've been searching for the last few years."

The magician's eyes became unfocused as he seemed to fantasize about something, though Narlou would rather not find out what that was about if the man's creepy expression was anything to go by.

He cleared his throat, successfully regaining the old man's attention.

"Isn't it dangerous to summon one? What if they are stronger than you?"

"From what I've read, spirits are usually obedient towards the summoners, though there were also some cases in which a spirit stronger than the summoner has taken over the person's body. It might sound dangerous, but that is a risk I'm willing to take. Spirits usually don't survive for long in our world without a link towards their summoner anyways, so even if I were to die, the spirit would die soon after too."

Narlou frowned, that didn't sound reassuring at all.

"But don't worry, not all spirits have been observed to behave violently."

Narlou nodded, and a quick glance at the brothers showed them to still be listening closely.

"But what exactly is a spirit?"

Everyone turned to Yone who had asked the question. It seemed like an obvious answer, but now that Yone had directly asked it, Narlou found himself at a loss.

"That is unclear even to me. They could be manifestations of desires and emotions, they could be the souls of the fallen, or they could just be a race from another dimension just like we humans are a race of Runeterra."

They had eventually parted ways, and Narlou had taken the excitedly chatting kids to their room.

The talk had been very interesting, and he had gotten much more information out of it that he expected, not that he was complaining, but there was one thing that had been on his mind ever since the old man had said it.

"It might sound dangerous, but that is a risk I'm willing to take."

There had been something in the man's eyes as he had said this. Something that made Narlou feel very uncomfortable.

'Maybe we should leave a bit earlier than planned.'

A quick glance at the two bright faces of the brothers immediately cleansed that thought. He was worrying too much. The man had said that he had still not found out a way to do a summoning even after years, so there was no way that he would find it just when they were visiting the village.

'Yeah, let's stay here for a few more days. No need to stress anything.'

Nodding in satisfaction, Narlou and the kids entered their room, immediately falling onto their beds with a happy sigh.

He closed his eyes and listened to them silently talk about something as his mind drifted away, and he only opened them ever so slightly as Yasuo's voice echoed through the small room.

"Hey Narlou, did you ever use your enhancement magic against us?"

"No."

Silence fell over them, until Yasuo spoke up again, his voice noticeably more serious.

"We will make you go all out against us one day."

Narlou smiled, falling asleep not long after that.

'I'll be waiting for that day.'

Narlou stood in front of two panting brothers, both with their swords pointing at him.

"Already tired? I expected more of you."

They charged at him not even a second later, their swords slicing through the air at neck breaking speeds as they approached him.

"Hup."

A jump into the air was all Narlou needed to dodge the brothers' slashes, doing a flip and gracefully landing on the ground behind them.

He could hear the incoming sword way before it even reached him, but he still waited until the last second before he inclined his head to the side.

Now normally, he would've gone for the arm that held the sword, but he had to jump forward instead to dodge the slash of the second sword that aimed for his back.

"Good teamwork!"

Narlou turned back to face the two, who once again stood side by side with their swords ready, though the slight shaking of their legs and the beads of sweat rolling down their forehead was all he needed to know.

"I think that's enough for today. You've done well."

Both teenagers immediately collapsed on the ground, gulping down air as if their life was on the line.

They had been doing this for the past few hours, and Narlou could proudly say that they were getting better and better. Their teamwork, which was already fantastic, was becoming even greater, not to mention their sense of fighting. They became much more skilled at predicting his movements, using the environment to their advantage and reacting faster to his attacks.

"How about you guys go wash yourself and relax a bit. In case you need me, I'm going to wander around the nearby forest a bit."

The teens didn't answer, though Narlou knew that they had heard him, leaving them to relax.

He only needed a minute of slow walking to reach the forest that surrounded the village, entering it without a second thought.

Though he liked being around people again, the forest made him feel at ease. It was the perfect place to just calm down if he ever needed some time for himself.

A sigh escaped his lips as he sat down on a stump, watching a pair of birds fly through the trees, playing with each other and chirping happily. The setting sun lit the forest with calming colors, and the gentle wind was cooling his skin down after the fight with the brothers.

He liked it here.

Everything was welcoming, everything was relaxing, and everything was happy.

He had originally planned on leaving after a day or two, but now he didn't feel like leaving at all.

At least that was what he wished he would be feeling.

In reality, his mind was everything but calm. His body was screaming at him to do something, anything. He wanted to fight.

They had been here for a few days now, but each day felt more boring than the last. He wanted to move again, to explore the world more and to fight some strong enemies.

He wanted to become stronger.

'My whole existence is like a contradiction.' he realized with a small self-deprecating laugh.

He hated his powers after they had almost consumed him, he hated the strength he had gotten as a reward for invading a country and killing innocent people, and he didn't plan on using his powers again for fear of hurting those around him.

He would kill himself before he would even lay a hand on his little brothers.

But why was his mind telling him something different? Why was his body begging for a good fight and why couldn't he just relax?

A beautiful bird landed on his shoulder, observing him through tiny black eyes.

Narlou smiled and reached out a hand. The bird jumped on it, stretching its tiny wings and cleaning through its feathers with its small beak.

Narlou watched with interest as the bird pecked at his finger once, before inclining its head slightly.

It suddenly made a sound that echoed throughout the forest before jumping off his hand, flying above the trees and out of his sight.

He watched as the bird flew away with mesmerizing ease, and he found himself wishing to be that bird for just a moment.

So free of thoughts, of problems and just flying wherever he wanted to.

Narlou shook his head, his locks falling over his eyes, blocking his vision.

'I should cut them.'

He slowly stood up, engraving the beautiful scenery into his mind one last time before walking back to the village, thinking about the bird the whole time.

Something was wrong.

It was not the lack of villagers, the sudden downpour of rain or even the mist that had covered the village while he was gone.

Something just felt wrong, as if something really bad was about to happen.

A cold shiver suddenly ran down his spine.

'Where are the kids?'

He sprinted towards the tavern immediately, reaching it in less than a few seconds and running up the stairs towards their shared room without a pause.

"Yasuo?! Yone?!"

There was no answer, so Narlou tried to open the door to their room.

The door was locked.

It wasn't anymore one kick later.

There was no one inside, the room was dark and empty, and Narlou could detect neither movement nor sound in it.

He ignored the shouts of the bartender as the man came up to see what the noise had been about.

He needed to find the brothers.

Narlou jumped out of the window and sprinted towards the center of the village, closing his eyes and focused only on his senses, but there was nothing.

The kids were not at the river, and the kids were not at the hill either. There was no part of this village that Narlou's senses could not reach, but he didn't feel the presence of even one of them.

A cold fear gripped his heart. If he couldn't feel their presence, that could mean one of three things.

They were either not in the range of his senses, someone or something was blocking it, or they were dead.

He didn't even hesitate for a single moment as he flooded his body with enhancement magic.

One second, Narlou stood in the middle of the village, and the next, he was gone.

With the combined power of 120 points in agility and his rank 20 enhancement magic, there were very few people who could match his speed.

But that didn't matter right now.

No, he needed to find Yasuo and Yone.