Kialen was still under the weight of the waterfall, his small body shaking violently under the merciless strikes of water, and the coldness was piercing his bones until he almost froze. Meanwhile, Farouk was standing far away watching the forest that was wrapped in darkness, while the moonlight started pouring over the trees giving them a magical silver glow.
Farouk stood up, dusted off his white robe with dignity, then took off his brown cloak, wiped it with his hand and threw it over his shoulder again, then called with his loud voice:
"Your training is complete for today, boy!"
As soon as he heard the words, Kialen rushed out escaping from under the waterfall shouting: "Cold! Just cold!". He ran toward his clothes lying on the ground to wear them, but they were soaked with water, which increased the chattering of his teeth that started knocking against each other from the harshness of the weather. Farouk looked at him with a look full of rare sympathy, then extended his hand with the brown cloak saying:
"Wear this, it will warm you and ease the frost until we reach the house."
Kialen took it with gratitude while his body wouldn't stop shaking, while Farouk said in a tone of pride:
"You did well.. you endured the waterfall water as men endure."
Farouk moved away then turned and called:
"Move, boy, the weather is getting colder!"
Kialen followed him, but Farouk started muttering to himself with annoyance: "He says the weather is cold?"
Kialen shouted at him: "And what about me who sat under the waterfall from morning until midnight?!"
They walked in silence in the middle of the desolate forest, until Farouk broke this stillness with a sudden question:
"Boy.. what is your ambition in this world?"
Kialen wondered at the question and replied with confusion:
"I didn't understand.. what do you mean?"
Farouk clarified seriously:
"I mean, do you have a goal you seek to achieve? Is there a purpose that justifies your existence here?"
Kialen was shocked by the weight of the question and answered with hesitation:
"In fact.. I don't have a specific goal or ambition."
Farouk stopped in amazement and said:
"Impossible! Every human must have a goal in this life. I, for example, my goal is to discover the hidden secrets of this world. Think well, Kialen, there must be a motive inside you."
Kialen stopped walking, so Farouk turned toward him. Kialen started muttering: "My goal is.." then went silent and said with despair: "I don't know.. truly I don't have a goal."
Farouk walked toward Kialen with slow and confident steps, then stood directly in front of him and said in a deep voice:
"Listen to me well, boy.. a human who lives without a goal is like a lost ship in the middle of the sea without a compass; it might move a lot and cross miles, but it will never reach anywhere. You now don't know where to go, all your concern is passing this cursed test and reaching the third level."
Farouk continued sharply:
"Do you think the academy cares about your interest? Do they even care if you are alive or dead? Their only concern is for you to become strong to be shoved into guilds and the army, to fight for the sake of this cursed kingdom!"
Farouk shouted with anger:
"Damn it! My friends and I escaped from this slavery searching for the truth. Do you know that King 'Farnese Alincourt' is mentally paralyzed to the point that he cannot speak? The King has aged and the people don't know, and now no one rules the country except thieves, cowards, and cursed people! Even his sons don't have the ability to speak or rule!"
Kialen was shocked and said with amazement:
"But.. my sister told me that the King is the one who rules the country and manages its affairs!"
Farouk bent down until his face was close to Kialen's face, and his brown eyes were reflecting the boy's terrified features under the moonlight, and he said in a scary tone:
"I told you the people don't know the truth! If it were in my hand to help them, I would have moved and killed that corrupt authority. Listen, Kialen.. the history you study is completely forged. Do you know anything about the Great War?"
Kialen replied with fear:
"Yes.. I heard about it."
Farouk asked him:
"And what is the legend they tell among the people of Arcanum Peaks?"
Kialen answered:
"They say the demons were evil, and that King Farnese killed the demon kings and saved us from them."
Farouk struck his hand in the air and said:
"This is a lying history! The truth is that humans were the real evil in that war."
Kialen was shocked and asked:
"How is that?"
Farouk said with bitterness:
"That war which humans call 'The Great', but demons call 'The War of the Sacred Lie'. I participated in it, and I was killing the demons who wanted to summon the legendary monster. I was with the King and my friend 'Soren', and we opened a way to stop the summoning, but I faced a human in a demonic form.. half human and half demon. I fought with him, and before I cut his head he told me something that shook my being: 'Humans are the ones with the idea of summoning the legendary monster, not the demons!'."
Farouk continued while recalling memories of pain:
"I ran toward the summoning place, jumped from the window and killed the sorcerers at the time of sunset to fail the human plot that the demons were executing. The King was hit then by a poisoned bullet in his shoulder, and my friend Soren told me: 'Go, Farouk, I will stay with the King until Lumira comes to heal him'."
"I was moving between the walls, and in corridors of black stone the demons attacked me. I took out my magic scroll and turned it into a spear of cardboard, and started killing them on my way to the stairs.."
Kialen interrupted him with wonder:
"Wait! How do you turn a paper scroll into a spear? Are you lying to me?"
Farouk got annoyed and took out his scroll from his white robe then said: "Level Three of the Spirit," and suddenly the scroll turned before Kialen's amazed eyes into a real spear. Farouk hit him with the spear a light hit and said:
"You have to reach the third level to know! Don't interrupt me.. anyway, I reached the main hall of the demon kings, and I found them all lifeless corpses. There was no one alive except three humans! I shouted at them: 'What are you doing here?'."
Farouk completed the story while trembling:
"One of them turned and said to the other: 'The plan failed, President, the summoning failed'. Their president was scary; his hair was red and his eyes were red, wearing white noble clothes with a black cloak. Then he turned to me and said coldly: 'You did well in ruining our plot'. I wanted to attack, but he threatened me to blow up the whole place then one of them said that he managed to paralyze the King with poison. He told me before he disappeared: 'This world you live in is nothing but the remains of an old natural disaster'.. then their president looked at him and they vanished."
Kialen asked eagerly:
"And what happened after that?"
Farouk replied quietly:
"Nothing.. we returned to the kingdom and spread the fake legend that the King was the one who killed the demons, to maintain the stability of the people."
Kialen trembled and said:
"This means the whole legend is a lie.. and the truth is what you told me now?"
Farouk nodded:
"Yes. And now we must return, I've started feeling the cold."
Kialen shouted at him:
"And what should I say, the one who froze under the waterfall?!"
Farouk laughed as he continued his walk. While they were walking in the silence of midnight, Kialen suddenly said with a confident voice:
"My goal is to become a hero, and to protect everyone dear to my heart."
Farouk didn't comment with a word, but he smiled to himself while looking forward, and said in his mind:
"You have grown up, boy."