Chapter 7: Refusal

"I'm sorry, but I can't do that."

With the caravan now back on the move, Fen could finally rest a bit from all the stress that he had to assimilate in the past few moments. From accepting the cold embrace of the death, through the chanced meeting with someone kind enough to save him, all the way through coming with such obvious lies, only to actually upset his saviour so much…

'If I will ever get out of this pinch alive, I will surely have a great history to tell my children… If I ever get the chance to have them.'

This thought lingered in Fen's mind only for the shortest of the moments, before the meaning of his saviour's words finally hit home. Stunned by this message, the young man's eyes opened wide with his hand for once stopping its motions.

"What do you mean, you can't? First, you drop such lightning on me, and now you can't even explain what did you mean… sir?"

Despite how the hunger was still consuming his soul, Fen couldn��t force his hand to move. Stuck in a weird position halfway to his mouth with a piece of bread that Mark shared with him, it made him look as if he was actually giving this precious piece of nutrients away!

"Ah, don't get me wrong. I can tell you some stuff, but I just can't go too deep into the details as to not confuse you. Trust me, if I were to start explaining everything to you right now, we would have to stop the entire caravan for a few days before I would get the chance to finish."

Shaking his head in resignation, Mark escaped with his eyes, directing them towards the head of the entire group. After sitting on the carriage's edge beside Fen and watching him swallow as much food as the young man could, he could no longer act as the front guard. Despite how massive this caravan was, in just a few more short moments they would be actually left behind!

"Sir, if I may ask, anything would help. I... " Suddenly stopping, Fen realised that he didn't really know what he should follow this sentence of his with. He… what? He really wanted to know something that anyone would already know in his place? In a situation where saying anything could only bring him trouble, the best Fen could do… was to not say anything at all.

"I see…"

And that was the problem with leaving his sentence open. Without proper question asked or at least explanation of what was bothering him, Fen could only guess what did Mark understood from his pause!

"Let start from the very beginning then, as its the very basic information that most of the people like you lack. Do you know what an arcanist profession entails? Who are the people calling themselves arcanists?"

Suddenly jumping down from the carriage, Mark allowed the question to hang for a moment while he walked towards his horse and properly mounted himself on top of its saddle.

"Sir… I'm sorry but I can only guess…"

In reality, Fen knew about arcanists quite a bit. Even if his former village was the example of backwards and secluded place, it would take someone special to be mute to all the news about this legendary group of people!

But with Mark mentioning how he expected Fen to be clueless in regards to what he asked, trying to flex what he knew would be simply stupid and childish. Rather than that, it was better to just let him talk.

"Not even a thing? Well, that's strange, but let's assume that's the truth."

Even before the young man could blink, Mark already proved that his initial idea wasn't as smart as he thought it was. Maybe this man never visited truly autonomous villages? Or maybe he was simply too prideful to accept the fact that his formation was not as well-known as he expected? Either way, what was done, couldn't be ever undone, forcing Fen's mind to once again fully focus on Mark's words.

Yet, before the lecture would be picked up, a sharp pull on the carriage nearly made Fen collapse right to the mud of the roadway. It seemed that rather than wasting the time on the side of the road, Mark would enjoy his own voice while actually riding.

"Most of the people that I met so far, believe that arcanists are the people who are taught in the way of arcana. But in reality, it's the opposite. Only those who have the innate talent towards using arcana can become arcanists. That's what the entire initiation ritual is about. By infusing one's body with a specially prepared mix of the arcanists blood, we can awaken one's bloodline, one's innate talent."

That by itself was no news for Fen. With how he was executed because of using fire arcana before the initiation, it became obvious that only those who went through their initiation could normally do so. Out of everything that Mark said so far, only the details of the process were missing from the picture Fen already had!

"As you might guess at this point, not everyone has talent. Yet, even those who prove to be born with one can greatly vary in terms of its purity. When I saw your flame back then, I could tell that you should belong to the upper echelon of the arcanists already… But to think that you could achieve that without a proper initiation? It's something unheard of!"

Shaking his head in the rhythm of his horse's step, Mark smiled lightly before directing his eyes at the young man.

"I won't explain what we believe arcana to be, nor what will happen with you in the city. There is no point doing so, as you can already see it in the distance. I will let my teacher take a proper care for you, so that rather than knowing some bits that I could convey, you will get to know everything from the start to finish!"