Meanwhile, in the room, Lior was busy lying on the bed in thought.
'Since I'm in this world, I think the best thing to do is to try and get stronger, since it seems they practice magic here. And then, I should also get very rich, since it seems like the Ravenhart estate is declining. Heck, I can even become a Duke, or a Baron, or whatever titles I've read about these ancient periods having. Who knew I'd suddenly find myself in a historical period after dying from my redhead girlfriend, and also turn out to get red hair as I've always wanted?'
He giggled as he pondered his current situation, so deep in thought that he didn't notice when Elowen got on the bed with him. It was a tap from her that brought him back, and he got startled, suddenly backing towards the wall.
As his heart calmed down, he looked at Elowen and said, "You scared me. Were you trying to kill me?"
Elowen's blue eyes twinkled as her silver hair spread out on the bed, and Lior just couldn't take his eyes off it. If he had said that his girlfriend was pretty in his previous life, Lior just couldn't find the right words to describe his current life's sister.
Elowen just shrugged off his words as she lay on the bed properly. Staring at the ceiling while she played with her hair, she uttered, "So, Lior, what do you think about resuming school?"
Lior also lay beside her, listening to her words.
"I know that you don't really like it, as you get bullied a lot there. But it'll get better as we managed to talk to them this time. Also, it's just a few weeks until you graduate and move to your art college. I promise you won't get bullied there, as it's just people of your type who'll be there. There won't be lords of different roots to bully you, you'll be with those who just want to be scholars and artists like you."
Lior's brain seemed to freeze as he listened to her words. Then, after calming down and sorting through the memories he got from the previous soul, he understood what she was saying, and that only managed to elicit a frown on his face.
Lior said, "Elowen, would you believe me if I said I can sense magic in my body?"
"What?" Elowen mumbled as she suddenly sat up to look at her brother.
"What do you mean? Lior, are you trying to prank me again just because you don't want to go back to school? How then do you even intend to impress Lady Liliane?" Elowen said all at once, leaving Lior no space to cut in.
As he saw that she had said all she had to say, Lior calmed down and said, "I'm not sure if you'll believe this, I also didn't know about it until Sid told me. I think I didn't just fall to the ground and get trampled. I was pushed. But well, that's that. So now, I went to the place I had been to, which led to the accident. And trust me when I say this, the accident almost happened again. And then I felt as though I couldn't save myself, even if it did happen. I felt something burning inside me. I felt as though I had firecraft, and that my root was alive."
"Lior…" Elowen uttered.
"Yes?" Lior responded.
"I hate to break this to you, but it just isn't possible for you to feel all that you said. It's just because you just woke up, that's why. You do not have a root, it has been veiled since you were born. That's why you've always been sick and soft and all."
"Okay. I've heard you, but I would love to have a test, just to be sure that this body isn't actually damned," Lior said, and Elowen looked at him as though he had said the most foolish thing ever.
"What?" He raised his brows, looking back at her, confused.
"Do you know how many times you've gotten tested since you became eligible to check if you've awakened a craft?" Elowen asked. "When kids are born, they are either born with a root, or not, or a veiled one. And when they reach a certain age, they get to awaken a craft, which they'll build through their mage college. You're about to graduate from basic school and move to mage college, and you could have unlocked a craft when you took the awakening test. You've done it more than 30 times, because it's done every month, and it's done when a kid turns 13. Like, you're seventeen years old. You don't have any craft. You've been checking for about three years and only stopped last month. Don't tell me that you want to continue again? Aren't you tired of being mocked at the awakening grounds by the other nobles' kids? Didn't you say that's how you got bullied and hence stopped hoping?"
"I see. So, Sid lied when he said I've done it more than 50 times. Anyways, Elowen, I understand you quite well. And I believe that there's nothing wrong in checking just to be sure if I actually now have a root and can awaken my craft. Or would you like it if I delayed the opportunity?" Lior explained.
"No, I don't like it, but…" Elowen uttered, her voice trailing off until she sighed, then added, "I'll talk to Seraphina and Isolde and see what they say. Then, we can try to talk to the Baron in charge of the test and try to squeeze you in again for this month."
Lior's lips curved into a smile as he heard her words, and he couldn't help but jump and hug her. Somehow, the instincts of the body's former owner still remained in James, as he couldn't help doing some things he normally would.
"That's okay, Lior," Elowen said as she hugged Lior back tightly, though now she struggled to be free.
A few days passed with James in his new life and body named Lior. And in the world not so different from his own, though set in the past. Lior could be seen lying on his bed, looking at the ceiling as he counted his fingers. As he reached the thumb again, back from the pinky, Sid suddenly came into the room, holding a knife.
"Lior, are you really going to do this?" he asked as he came forward to Lior's side.
Lior didn't say a single word. He just rose from the bed, collected the knife from the troubled Sid, and walked to the mirror. There, he dragged a stool to his side and sat on it while looking at the mirror.
Sid quickly came closer to him. "You really should think this over. You can't cut your hair. It's something that you've been keeping for a while now."
Lior spared Sid a glance and sighed. Then, he looked back at the mirror and brought his hand to his hair. The knife was in his right hand and his left hand was holding his long hair to a preferable bob length.
"There should be a barber or something here, but since you couldn't find me one, I'll do this myself," Lior said, and straight away, the knife cut through the hair, leaving the length in his hand and the bob now gracing his face on the right side.
"You truly did it…" Sid said, his voice trailing off as he watched the hair in Lior's hand.
"Yes," Lior affirmed as he cut the other side and was done. He trimmed a bit of the front, as much as the knife could manage, and he was done. Now, before him in the mirror, was a messy, masculine Lior—and that was the aim.