"So, you can create you own magic in the institute big brother?" An excited Cora asked Ames, her face bright and curious.
"Yes! The institute provides you funds for research! You can work on developing your own magic?" Ames said.
After having dinner, Albert asked Ames to spend the night at their house as it was late, and he'd take him to the Glaskow kingdom in the morning.
Knowing that Ames was a wizard, Cora was excited and kept pestering him with questions throughout the dinner. She had recovered her strength and for the first time in years, she could walk around, talk and eat till she got full, she felt reborn.
Ames kept her entertained as he answered every question with a smile on his face.
Though he was an orphan, Ames had eaten the most luxurious foods, stayed in the most expensive rooms in the inns and hotels in his later years. But the food he had today, the hard bed on the floor, and the young girl in front of him, all excited and smiles, felt like a little sister of his, and the house felt like home.
Unbeknownst to him, the wide smile never left his face even for a moment.
"Can I also join the institute and be a wizard like you?"
"Why not! You'll be a far greater wizard than me in the future!" Ames rubbed her head, teasing her as she giggled.
"Alright Cora! That's enough! Let him rest! He had a very tiring day. You need to sleep too, it's quite late." Alberts came near them and asked her to get up and leave Ames alone.
"But I don't feel like sleeping! I want to ask big brother some things."
"You can ask him in the morning, let him rest now."
"Alright! You have to tell me everything before you leave, or else I'll never talk to you big brother!" Cora left those words as she unwillingly left the room, pouting.
Ames chuckled at her innocence.
"I'm sorry benefactor, she annoyed you a lot!"
"Not at all! I quite enjoyed her company!"
"Take some rest now! I'll take you to Glaskow early in the morning!" Albert gave a hard pillow to Ames and left the room, dimming the earthen lamp so as to let Ames sleep well.
With the intensity of light lowered in the room, Ames lied down on the bed, he rested his head on the hard pillow and with a happy and satisfactory mind, closed his eyes, falling into sleep slowly.
****
The evening sky was painted amber with the setting sun, inducing a feeling of melancholy in the onlookers, and in the chaotic market road below the sky, a young woman in her twenties with a small five years old child holding her finger were moving through the gaps in the crowd.
"Maa! Maa!" the child kept calling but the young mother didn't respond, she just kept moving forward.
"MAA! My legs are hurting!" the child thought that his mother didn't hear him because of the hustle bustle and loud noises and shouts of the marketplace so he called out loud.
But he got no response again, she didn't even glance at him once. She kept dragging him through the crowd.
He kept hitting people here and there on the road, his legs screamed to stopped, but he didn't let go of his mother's hand, afraid that he'll get lost and will never be able to see his mother again.
After coming out of the marketplace, they turned towards a narrow road, away from the central town.
"Maa!" the child called again, but his mother kept on moving.
After walking a few meters along the road, they reached a complex with huge boundary walls and iron gates.
The iron gate was slightly opened and an old lady was standing in front of it.
The mother and son reached near the old lady when his eyes fell on the board above the gate 'Smiling home orphanage'.
The building inside the complex was in a U-shape and had two stories. The old lady smiled as she saw them and came forward.
"You have to live here from now on!" the mother removed the boy's hand and pushed him towards the old lady, and without saying a word started walking away from him.
The events happened so fast that the young boy couldn't process what was happening. Just when his mother had moved quite a distance away, he realized and turned around.
"Don't leave me Maa! I'll be a good boy! I won't ask for sweets from now…I'll always listen to you…I'll do all the work in the house…don't leave me Maa! MAA!!!" the boy bawled his eyes out crying and ran to his mother, but the more he ran, the more he went further away from her.
"MAA!! DON'T LEAVE ME! MAA!!!"
Ames abruptly opened his eyes as he woke up from the dream. But before he could recover from the traumatic dream, his eyes opened wide in shock as he saw a man with a long knife in his hands about to stab him in front of him.
He immediately rolled to the side and by a hair's breath, evaded the knife which struck the bed.
Ames stood up and channeled mana into his hands as a runic magic circle appeared on his wrist. The figure stomped on the ground as a huge pressure fell on him, making him unable to move a muscle.
Ames waved his hand and the fire in the earthen lamp glowed bright, revealing the face of the attacker.
"Y-you…but…why?" Ames's was shocked seeing the man who attacked him, it was Albert.
His face was covered in tears and snot as he was bawling his eyes out crying.
"You bastard!! Y-you're no God…you're the Devil himself! Y-you heartless bastard…I-I trusted you, you monster! What did my innocent girl did to you…why did you do this…why…why!!!" he screamed and cursed at Ames, tears flowing continuously, his voice hoarse, eyes red, and saliva flowing out of his mouth, he was shaking in fury, but his eyes filled with pain, loss and sadness.
Ames was confused, he couldn't understand what was happening right now. Why was Albert so furious and reacting such intensely.
"What are you saying? What have I done that you are trying to kill me in my sle…" Ames was moving towards Albert trying to calm him down and ask about the situation, but he stopped midways.
He eyes fell on the side room from the door, he felt like he was still dreaming, he couldn't believe what he was seeing right now, a chill went down his spine, shock was an understatement for what he was feeling right now.
He lost strength in his legs and fell on the floor hard on his knees, his mind went blank, the scene in front of him pierced like a sword in his heart.
Cora was lying lifeless in a pool of blood, her eyes wide open, a large hole in her chest as bones broken and jetted out with some ribs missing, the heart swelled and blasted wide open with a large hole, and black gooey substance sticking on the wounds and skin of her chest as if it had rotted away.
"What have I done!!" tears rolled down Ames's cheeks as he froze on the spot, devastated.