Erik sat on the edge of his bed, the crumpled letter in hand. His mother’s familiar handwriting flowed across the page. Each word he saw felt like being read by her soft voice. A faint smile curled on his lips. It was nice reading her comforting words like this.

  "Greetings, my dear boy. I hope you’re doing well. We are sad you couldn’t be with us to celebrate your 13th birthday, but we sent you our thoughts so you don’t feel alone."

  It seemed like everyone back at home had sent him a personal message, though before he could read the next one, his gaze caught on a hastily scribbled note in the corner.

  "P.S.: If you ever feel like coming home, you are more than welcome, my boy."

  The smile grew into a chuckle. She wanted him home. The thought was tempting as being alone at the academy during summer wasn’t exactly thrilling. The empty halls and quiet rooms were a bit terrifying, if he was being honest. He had learned to avoid them as much as he could so his mind wouldn’t go back to that place.

  Still, he couldn’t bring himself to leave just yet. He had made incredible progress, but this was just the beginning.

  Setting the letter aside, he reached for the next one. It bore the neat, precise handwriting of Duke Phillip.

  "How are you, Erik? I hope you and Eleanor have made peace with each other. P.S.: I left a little something in your gift box."

  Erik’s eyes flicked to the large wooden crate resting near his desk. The box, bound with ribbons, had arrived alongside the letters that morning. For now, it sat unopened, its contents a mystery he would only unveil after reading each letter.

  “Well, I got some good news for you, Phillips,” Erik chuckled before putting that letter aside. Eleanor’s vendetta against him seemed resolved. Though he couldn’t say they were friends, it was at least better than before.

  Erik unfolded the next note, the handwriting immediately recognizable as his younger brother Ben’s—large, uneven letters crammed into every corner of the page.

  "Erik! I miss you SO much! It’s super boring without you here. I learned a new spell—kind of—I think! Look at this!"

  Below the enthusiastic words, Ben had drawn what seemed like a lopsided star with some squiggles around it. Was that supposed to be the spell? Erik honestly didn’t understand what it was, but the effort and enthusiasm made him grin.

  The next note was from Anna. Unlike Ben’s chaotic enthusiasm, her handwriting was neater and more precise, but her words carried her usual confidence and brashness

  "Hi, Erik. How are you doing? After mom told me what happened, I couldn’t. I hope you’ve been training! When I go to the academy, I can’t have your weak ass dragging my reputation down," Erik laughed for a few moments, feeling the emotions behind her letter before picking all of them and storing them in a drawer.

  He was glad that Anna still cared about him, the last time they met, it seemed like he was only an annoyance to her. ‘Well, it must be a phase,’ Erik mused before going to the package.

  He picked it up, placing it on the bed, before carefully pulling the ribbons. The box propped itself open as he removed them.

  As his eyes peered at it, they revealed layers of folded clothes. Trousers, shirts, and a sturdy jacket greeted him. Erik ran a hand over the garments, a smile crept up on his face as they seemed of good quality. Did his mom sew it for him? Erik couldn’t be sure since it felt different than the usual clothes she’d give him, but she had access to other materials—either way, it made him happy.

  He held up the jacket. It was fluffy, seemingly made of rich, dark fabric.

  Even though it was nice, drops of sweat trickled down Erik’s temple as he imagined wearing it right now.

  The heat in Auryndale was something he’d never felt before. Even the summers back at home were but a little warmer than the winter here, so the sun’s powerful heat made him sweat all over the place. Even now, his room was but a small oven.

  “I’ll save it for when I go back home,” he muttered to himself. He could already picture the crisp air of the north, the familiar chill that bit at his cheeks.

  As Erik walked through the academy yard, he couldn’t help but remember his earlier years. He was thirteen now. Time was flying past.

  Back in the day, he used to lay outside in the grass, play with his siblings, and help his mom with chores and cooking. He was happy.

  After receiving the news his father died, things took a turn, but Erik still remembered the fond moments. The laughs, the promises he made, the beliefs that a better future would one day come.

  Was this the promised better future? Well, Erik Blake had lots of unresolved problems right now—but it was a path that would unfold into something better.

  Those thoughts drew a big smile from him as he prompted himself in the training grounds. This would be one more day of unleashing his might on the targets to increase his mana output and mana reserves.

  Erik stretched out his arm. “[Firebol–]”

  “Hey!” a voice called out, making him lose concentration.

  The emerging fire spell went out of control, pulsing and spiraling in front of Erik.

  Shit— He hurled the energetic attack in the air, exploding it where it's safe.

  Erik narrowed his eyes, furrowing his forehead. Who dared bother him in a moment like this?

  His anger, however, subsided as he turned around and saw a familiar face approaching—Eleanor. Her crimson hair flowed in the breeze, her hand scratched it as she chuckled.

  “I didn’t realize you were busy. Bad moment to call you, right?”

  Erik sighed, slumping his shoulders.

  “It's… alright… yeah, don’t worry,” he said in a strained tone before trailing off a laugh. He didn’t want to mess up their bonding, so he did his best not to say anything bad.

  "Actually," she began, glancing around as if searching for the right words, "I need your help with something."

  Erik raised an eyebrow, genuinely surprised. “With what?”

  Eleanor hesitated for just a moment before speaking again. “Well, it’s kind of... personal.”

  Erik tilted his head, more curious now than before. "What, you need me to beat someone?”

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  She laughed hysterically at Erik’s words. “God, no…” she held, holding her chest as the laughs still trailed off. “I need to buy a gift for someone. But I’m terrible at this sort of thing, and I thought maybe you could help.”

  Erik stared at her for a moment, wondering if she was joking. Why was he the person she was asking that? He obviously wouldn’t know much about gifts—unless that person weirdly resembled him or something.

  “Alright,” Erik said, shrugging. “I’ll help. Who's the gift for?”

  Eleanor’s eyes darted away for a second, almost like she was trying to come up with an excuse. "It's for... someone close to me. Just... help me find something they might like."

  That was a vague answer, but Erik didn’t press it. Instead, he nodded, gesturing for her to lead the way.

  The two made their way to one of the corners of the academy, where a small shop offered a variety of goods for students—everything from magical trinkets to mundane items. All you could buy had a tag saying the points cost.

  “Okay, so, what kind of gift are we talking about?” Erik asked, stepping inside and immediately wrinkling his nose at the smell of incense. “Something practical? Or?”

  Eleanor seemed to consider this for a moment. “Something meaningful,” she said. “But not too personal. Just... something that shows I care, but not too much. You know?”

  Erik gave her a puzzled look but decided not to press her further. "Alright... I guess we’re looking for something with a little bit of value, and would make sense for them, but not too much..."

  Eleanor nodded eagerly, and then she began her barrage of questions. “Do you think they’d like something magical? Maybe a charm or amulet?”

  Erik raised an eyebrow before taking a look at the things in the store. “Well, I don’t know who they are Does this person wear jewelry?”

  Eleanor’s gaze sharpened for a moment before sighing. “No, not really.” She paused, her expression turning contemplative as she looked around.

  Her eyes seemed to set on something as she stopped wandering and approached a shelf. “What about a cross? I know that one of their family members is… pious,” she asked, picking it up.

  Erik got closer and crossed his arms. “I mean, you don’t know if they’re religious themselves?”

  “Nope.”

  She’s a lost cause, huh? A vein almost popped off Erik’s forehead as her lack of knowledge was slowly getting to him.

  “Well, I’ll use myself as an example. My mom always prays to the god of humanity and the god of magic before she eats, but I only do it around her,” he said with a grin as if that was some sort of achievement.

  She brushed off hair around her ear, listening to every word silently. “I see… well, its better to choose something else then,” she said before placing it down.

  Erik hummed, his arms still crossed. “What do you know about them, by the way? Maybe we can get something concerning that.”

  “Well…” she trailed off.

  Drops of sweat seemed to start forming on her skin as her forehead glimmered slightly. “I know they like to fight!” she blurted out suddenly, her finger stabbing the air in Erik's direction.

  Erik recoiled, a shocked look on his face. “Shhh!” he hissed, glancing nervously at the shopkeeper, who was now eyeing them over the counter.

  He then turned back to Eleanor. He expected her to have a sorry look, but instead, she chuckled.

  What a brat.

  “Well… you know they like fighting. What about something related to that? It will be expensive, but—”

  “I think that’s a great idea!” she said, her eyes glimmering.

  Without saying another word, she took off to the magic items section. Erik followed her, however, he froze in place.

  “No way…” he said, looking at the tags.

  Nothing was below 10,000 points. Erik had probably earned way more than that during his time at the academy, but the snacks were too good to resist spending most of what he had on them.

  Eleanor seemed to remain oblivious to his shock as he searched through each shelf, her humming bringing life to the quiet store. After a bit, she stopped. Her eyes widened as they landed on a particular item—a silver ring set with a red gem that seemed to pulse faintly, as though alive with magic.

  “This one,” she said, holding it up with a victorious grin. “It’s perfect.”

  Erik stepped closer, examining the ring with mild curiosity. “What does it do?”

  She looked at the description on the shelf. “It… can store a single third-tier spell to be instantly used once per day, or up to three-second tier spells,” Eleanor said.

  Erik whistled, surprised. That seemed to be extremely useful. Not only because it meant you could supposedly use spells without having to cast them, but because it gave you the chance to control the tempo of a battle.

  He nodded slowly. “Yeah, that’s... pretty incredible, actually.” his gaze shifted to the price tag dangling from the ring, and his entire expression changed. His mouth fell open, and he took a step back.

  “Fifty thousand points?!”

  Eleanor tilted her head, giving him a quizzical look. “What? It’s worth it for something this useful.”

  “Are you out of your mind?” Erik said, glancing around to make sure no one overheard. “Fifty thousand points could feed me for like… a long time!” he said, giving up on doing the math. “How are you planning to buy that?”

  For the first time, Eleanor avoided his gaze, and a faint blush crept across her cheeks. “Well... when you get the best grades in your house, you earn a lot of points,” she said, pouting. “You would, too, if you weren’t so lazy.”

  Erik strained his gaze for a moment before giving up, sighing. It was his fault for not studying theory as much as he could, anyway.

  Eleanor smirked, clearly enjoying his indignation. “Good. Now see what being a good student gets you.”

  Erik groaned but did nothing otherwise. “I’ll see what I can do.”

  Instead of answering, she chuckled and brought the ring to the shopkeeper.

  The courtyard was bathed in golden hues as the sun started to set. Erik sat on a stone bench, a book resting on his lap. He was trying to get some reading done, he would make sure to show Eleanor he could get good grades too.

  However, the sound of approaching footsteps pulled him from his world. He looked up to see Eleanor walking toward him. In her hands was a small, neatly wrapped package tied with a simple ribbon.

  “Eleanor?” Erik blinked, caught off guard by her presence. “I thought I already got bothered enough by you. What’s up?”

  His words seemed to have an effect as her nonchalant look tensed briefly, her finger strained against the box before her expression softened again.

  Without a word, she extended the package toward him.

  “Here,” she said simply. “Happy birthday.”

  Erik stared at the package, then back. He couldn’t understand this, this wasn’t the Eleanor of Frosthollow he knew. “You... got this for me?”

  Her cheeks puffed slightly before a faint pink hue slowly spread. “Don’t… make a big deal out of it, okay? I don’t like you at all, but you’ve been through a lot. You deserve something, even if it’s small.”

  Still unsure how to respond, Erik slowly took the package from her hands. He hesitated for a moment before pulling the ribbon loose and peeling back the paper. Inside was a familiar silver ring, its red gem glinting as sunlight peered through it.

  His mouth opened slightly in surprise. “Wait... this is the ring we saw earlier. You... you bought this for me?”

  Eleanor shrugged. “Well, yeah. You helped me pick it out, so it seemed fitting. Besides, it’s practical. You can store a spell in it, It’s the kind of thing a genius like you would like, right?”

  Erik widened his eyes. A genius…

  That was probably the first time Eleanor complimented him. In fact, it was probably the first time she said something good about him.

  Erik laughed softly, shaking his head. “Wow, I don’t know what to say.”

  “Don’t say anything,” she replied, waving a hand dismissively. “Just don’t let it go to waste.”

  Without saying another word, he slipped the ring onto one of his fingers—

  “Idiot!” she scolded, yanking his hand just before he did it. Her tone carried her embarrassment as her cheeks flushed. “That’s the finger you use when you’re getting married. Don’t make this weird. We’re practically siblings.”

  Erik blinked at her, then burst into laughter. “I had no idea. I guess I’ll keep that in mind,” with a grin, he slid the ring onto his left middle finger, holding his hand up to examine it. “How’s this?”

  “Better,” Eleanor muttered, crossing her arms again. Her lips curled into a small smile, but as if sensing that, she turned her head.

  Erik looked at her, his expression softening. “Well, thank you. Really. This means a lot.”

  “Y-Yeah…” she said in a quivering tone, completely different from her usual. “Don’t get all sappy right now, okay? This is just a way of me showing that I’m serious about letting go of my hate…” she slowly turned fully around.

  Erik chuckled, understanding how weird it must be for her to change concerning him so suddenly.

  Maybe this meant they could truly be friends from now on.