Chapter 36: Magic does exist
The next morning, William drags himself out of his room, his body heavy and his mind exhausted from the question that has echoed in his head all night. He is halfway through a wide yawn when a loud voice calls down from upstairs.
"Lad, come to my room," Trojjan says.William freezes.
His room? He's never once allowed me near his room. He's always made it clear I can go anywhere in the house except there.
Swallowing the knot in his throat, William heads for the stairs. Standing before Trojjan's door, he hesitates, one hand resting on the handle. He lets out a slow breath, trying to steady himself.
I don't know if the decision I made is the right one, he thinks, his fingers tightening around the metal knob. But it's the only one I know I won't regret.
With that, he pushes the door open.
The room is far barer than he expected. A single rocking chair creaks softly as Trojjan sits in it, calmly puffing on his pipe.
"Take a seat, lad," Trojjan says.
William nods and spots a worn wooden stool in the corner. He drags it over and sits. Up close, the old man's face looks as tired as his own. Dark circles hang beneath his eyes.
"So, what is your choice?" Trojjan asks.
The moment his eyes meet William's, the sleepy stillness between them disappears, replaced by a silence so heavy it presses against William's chest. William parts his lips, but no words come. He swallows, tries again, and finally forces himself to speak.
"I'm sorry... but I can't," he says quietly. "I'm really, really grateful for your offer, but I can't give up on magic. I know everyone else believes it doesn't exist, but I'm sure it does. I'm sure it's real. So—"
"Lad," Trojjan interrupts, his voice dropping an octave. He looks straight into William's eyes, his expression calm, steady, and completely serious. "Magic does exist."
"Magic... does exi—"
The words wash over him, leaving his mind completely blank. For almost six years, no one has believed him. Not his aunt. Not Uncle Rob. Not a single person. To everyone else, magic is nothing more than a bedtime story told to children.
But now—someone has finally said the words he has spent years longing to hear. Magic is real.
"How do you… know that?" William whispers, his voice soft and cracking with emotion.
A look of deep hesitation flickers across Trojjan's face. He lets out a heavy sigh as he arrives at a difficult decision. "Because I have seen it."
"Where?" William asks, his voice suddenly loud and soaring with excitement."Lad, the things I am about to tell you must never leave this room. Do you understand?" Trojjan replies, his tone dead serious.
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William nods vigorously.
"I was born in a far southern city of the empire as the bastard of a noble," Trojjan says, his gaze drifting upward to stare blankly at the wooden rafters. " And I am a half-dwarf."
"Dwarves? They exist? Like the ones in the stories, living in mountains and forging weapons?" William leans so far forward he nearly tumbles right off his stool, his eyes gleaming with unbridled curiosity. "And what about elves? Do they exist too? And dragons, or other creatures?"
Trojjan offers a rare, faint smile. "I don't know. I've never seen them myself, but I think they should be somewhere in this world," he says, looking down at William, whose eyes glitter like the night sky.
"From what I was told, my mother was a dwarf from the southern mountains, beyond the dwarven territories," Trojjan continues, his voice growing quieter. "My father was a noble on the empire's southern frontier... and a mage. My mother died of an illness when I was four. Even though my father and I lived under the same roof, I only saw him a handful of times."
He falls silent for a moment before letting out a quiet breath. "Even so, being a bastard didn't exempt me from my duties. I was still expected to learn a trade."
"Did you learn magic?" William asks, leaning forward.
"No." Trojjan shakes his head. "But..."
His gaze drifts around the bare room before settling on a small grinding stone lying on the floor. He bends down, picks it up, and closes his thick fingers around it.
Crunch.
The stone bursts apart in his hand, crumbling into dozens of fragments that trickle between his fingers.
"I trained to be a knight."
William stares at the fragments of stone as they fall through Trojjan's fingers. A jolt of excitement shoots through him. I saw it... I finally saw something. Something like magic.
"But I failed at it," Trojjan says, cutting through William's thoughts with a pained smile. "The methods used to train knights were meant for humans, not half-breeds."
William tears his eyes away from the shattered stone. "If that's failure, then what does success look like?"
"That?" Trojjan lets out a quiet chuckle. "Kid, I don't know what true success looks like either. But from what I've heard, the greatest knights can reduce this stone to powder without ever laying a hand on it."
His gaze lingers on the broken fragments scattered across the floor. "After I realized I could never become a knight, I learned the trade of an apothecary. Then I left the region altogether."
A faint smile returns to Trojjan's face. "For more than a decade, I wandered from place to place—sometimes alone, sometimes with merchant caravans. I traveled through tiny villages and bustling cities until I finally arrived here."
He glances at William. "And there I met a kid standing in the street, gawking at my Betty."
William remains completely absorbed in the story, too caught up in Trojjan's past to notice the old man's smile. After a brief, heavy period of silence, William speaks up."Do you think I can become a mage?" he asks. He uses a stark, serious tone that one would never expect to hear from a child.
"Well... I don't know about that, as I've never met any other mage besides my father," Trojjan admits, leaning back. "But you are right at the age where people usually start learning magic."
Before William can celebrate or speak over him, Trojjan holds up a hand and cuts him off, his voice dropping into a stern warning. "However, let me warn you: the world of magic is much more unpredictable and dangerous than you can possibly imagine."
"Dangerous?" William repeats, a flicker of surprise breaking through his otherwise certain demeanor."Yes, dangerous," Trojjan replies. "Politics. Wars. Ambition. Men killing each other for power and Magic beasts."
"Magic beasts? Like a dragon?" William asks, his imagination immediately flaring up.
"No, no. There are as many different types of magic beasts in this world as there are humans," Trojjan explains. "Some are highly intelligent and remarkably kind, while others are incredibly dangerous and cruel. In fact, you already know one of them."
"Who?" William asks, his voice full of sheer disbelief. He looks around the room as if he can't comprehend the idea that he has already crossed paths with a creature of magic.
Trojjan lets out a rare, genuinely amused chuckle, a knowing spark in his eyes.
"Who else but... Betty."