7 YEARS LATER....
The 17 year old Carter Hubert walked down the college library in search for books he could use for his upcoming project. Apparently, he was the only student without a partner, not like he cared either ways. He picked out a few light books and held them on his arms in satisfaction, he then walked out of the library and into the hallway.
Carter sighed at the few stares he was receiving, his hand moved up to fiddle his tie and then brush his hair back and continued walking elegantly down the hallway. He hoped to find somewhere devoid of people in no time, he hated every one of these students. Unfortunately, as far as his luck could get him, Carter bumped into the one person he hated the most.
"Hey Carter" Yunn Denson, the annoying colleague who wouldn't stop trying to push his buttons every opportunity he gets called out to him.
"Oh hey Yunn" Carter looked up at Yunn with a forced smile.
"Heh" Yunn scoffed at the sight of his smile. "You must be happy to see me" He smirked
"Of course I am" Carter smiled. 'I'm so happy that I could grab a knife and stab you in the stomach dozens of times right now' he thought.
Yunn's eyes peered at him for a second and then shifted to the books in his arms. "What are those?" He asked, "Magic books?" He added and let out a grin.
Carter's face twitched and it took every ounce of his composure to not punch Yunn's face at that moment.
"They're philosophy books, I see you've forgotten all about the project we were asked to submit before twilight" He said with a half assed smile.
"Oh, the one were not a single person wanted to partner with you? How could I forget that?" Yunn laughed slightly.
"Yeah, that one" Carter smiled.
"I see, good luck doing all that work yourself then pretty boy" Yunn grinned. "I'll be off to do some better things now" he said and waved whilst walking away.
Carter's smile faded instantly the moment Yunn walked away. "I swear I'm going to kill that parasite!" He muttered angrily.
He sighed afterwards and turned to keep walking, having that conversation with Yunn only reminded him of an annoying memory from the previous day. Indeed it was true that no one wanted to partner with him, who would even want to get close to the reincarnation of a great witch in a country where magic is abominable. Carter could only scoff at his situation.
With his knowledge, intelligence and family's reputation, he was able to earn a spot into the Aspell Law school for dignified men at the early age of 17. Well, he saw it coming anyways.
Moving to the university had it's benefits and disadvantages. For example, he was finally able to move out of his hellhole of a home and stay far away from his father's reach. Although someone was sent to watch his every move, Carter could only sigh at the thought of that. His eyes turned to looked behind him and he caught sight of Richard who had been promoted to his bodyguard back when he had clocked the age of 11, his back was leaned against the wall and and he wore a plain suit with sunglasses.
'I'm not some son of a huge figure from the underworld' Carter thought and rolled his eyes at the sight of Richard. He then turned forward to continue his journey.
After the day's event, Carter arrived at his three room apartment at a street not too far from the Law school. He dropped his bag on the couch the moment he arrived and took off his blazer, unknotted his tie and began to slowly take off his shirt as he walked to his room, he paused when he noticed someone walking behind him.
"What, do you intend to follow me to my room as well?" Carter raised a brow at Richard.
"Huh? N..no of course not Carter" Richard said raising both arms in defense.
"Good" Carter sighed and looked away from him. The moment he'd loosen off the buttons to his shirt and taken it off, he opened the door to his room and walked inside slamming the door behind him.
Richard stared at the shut door to Carter's room. 'He had better not be doing some dangerous activity in there' he thought.
The moment Carter arrived in his room, he yawned and stretched out his arms lazily. "Geez, today was hectic" he spoke and sighed tiredly.
He walked towards his bed and sat on it. His arms reached towards his pillow and he lifted it up to reveal a combination of notes. He grabbed the one at the far bottom and began to glance through it. He paused at one page in particular.
_The staff of dreams is most likely residing somewhere in the country_ his eyes read through it over and over and he slumped on his bed afterwards with an irritated expression. "I don't even have magical energy, how do I sense this staff, urghh" he groaned in frustration.
He turned his face sideways to take a look at all the notes he'd compiled. They had numbers glued to them ranging from one to five. These notes comprised of all the information he had managed to gather regarding magic over the past seven years.
He had just visited the countryside about two weeks ago and came across new information about the staff of dreams, the staff which belonged to Gressil Helenor.
"Ha" he sighed. Escaping Richard was already difficult enough and going to an information center somewhere in the city was very risky given how popular he was around here, so his only option was to go to little cyber cafes at the country side and get information about magic through illegal sites and unknown people but of course no one else knew all this except him.
"If only I had a smart phone" Carter could only sigh. Despite how popular smart phones were in the city, obtaining one wasn't easy but given how big of a family he came from, it was bound to be no problem. His only setback was, having a father whose trust in him was as fickle as the weight of a feather only made it ten times more difficult for him to obtain one over a man who's average monthly salary was a thousand cash bills and that was low class!.
"Well, forbidden things don't come easy" Carter sighed once again, his eyes staring at the ceiling. "I wonder if they've been able to pinpoint the staff's location" he wondered. Like every other week, he was planning to sneak out of the apartment at night between the hours of 12 to 3am being Richard's nap time and zoom across the city towards the countryside to gain access to more information. He was this close to finding the staff of dreams....
Midnight soon came and the clock's hour hand flicked towards the number 12. Carter looked up with a grin and stood up from his bed abruptly. He walked towards his small wardrobe to dress in more comfortable clothes. His eyes caught sight of a black t-shirt and yellow pants. "My fashion style hasn't always been the best out there" he shrugged and wore the outfit in a hurry. He also wore a black jacket to properly cover himself from being exposed to the cold weather outside.
Carter wore black boots and took a glance at his reflection in his dressing mirror. He had grown out his hair a little for over a year now and the tip was already dangling on his shoulders. His red eyes radiated brightly making it difficult to deny that he was indeed as beautiful as Gressil Helenor. "It sure is nerve wracking being this good looking" he lifted his hand to brush his hair back slightly.
Soon afterwards, Carter slowly opened his room door and began to take light steps outside the apartment. He didn't need to double check if Richard was passed out already, his loud snoring could already be heard from miles away. Carter had successfully sneaked out of the house and grinned in relief.
"Now, let's get a cab" he said to himself and placed his arms on his waist as he walked closer to the road side. The sound of the cars and people became audible to his ears the more he walked and he soon found himself at the busy roadside.
"Cab service" he called out stretching an arm and soon enough a car pulled up infront of him.
"Where to young man?" The black bearded man seated at the driver's seat asked Carter.
"To the outskirts of Hamfields" Carter replied.
The driver nodded and Carter got into the back seat. "Ensure to put on your seat belt sir" the black bearded man said and began driving.
Carter carefully put on the seat belt and the car drove off. His eyes stayed glued to the window, his gaze fixated on the outside till the busy road and huge buildings were replaced by trees and bushes.
"How much longer till we get to the nearest cyber cafe mr driver?" Carter asked softly.
"About 10 minutes sir" The driver replied and Carter nodded in understanding.
10 minutes past in the blink of an eye and Carter stood outside exchanging a few cash notes with the driver.
"Thank you young sir, enjoy your stay here" the driver smiled and slowly turned his car to take off. Carter could only curse the moment he realized he had made a huge mistake.
"Goodness me, I shouldn't have let him leave!" He facepalmed at his own stupidity. "Well, it's too late for that anyways" he sighed.
Carter lifted his wrist to take a look at the time in his analog wristwatch and it read 12:45am. "I've still got some time" he said to himself and quickly hurried to the cyber cafe in front of him.
"So, what can I help you with sir?" A nerdy looking man asked Carter. Judging by his appearance, he seemed to be in his mid to late 20s, his attention was focused on the computer in front of him just moments ago. 'He must be a worker here' Carter thought.
"I'd like to make some research" He spoke.
"Well, help yourself then" the man smiled and stood up from his seat. "I'll be outside if you need any assistance" He said to Carter.
Carter nodded at him and watched as he stepped outside. This was the one thing he loved about workers at the countryside, they were so incompetent. His eyes turned to look around and there was no one else in sight, well there was someone, an old looking man drooling on a keyboard in his sleep.
"How unsightly" Carter groaned and went over to take a seat in front of the computer.
"Okay, let's see.... Ubeinfo.com" he effortlessly pressed on the letter on the keyboard and clicked onto the website. He made sure to change the setup of the computer to prevent any casualties afterwards, he was no computer illiterate.
"Okay, now to reunite with a trustworthy friend" he smiled and the website loaded successfully and his account was clearly visible. He went over to his recent chats and one profile appeared, it was someone with the nickname "Penwitch".
_Hey pen_ he sent a text to the user.
_Hey reincarnate_ the user with the penwitch nickname replied immediately. Yes, Carter had set his nickname as reincarnate.
'Seriously, are they always active by this time of day?' Carter wondered but he couldn't complain as it was all to his benefit.
_Any new information?_ Carter sent another text to the user. This was the one person who had managed to supply him plenty of information regarding magic for a long time now in addition to the number he had managed to find on his own.
_The staff of dreams is very likely to be somewhere is Aspell city_ penwitch replied and Carter gaped.
"Wait, really?" He gasped in shock.
_That's where I school, is this some sort of miracle?!_ He sent to the user.
_Woah, really?. Lucky_ Penwitch replied.
_What will I do without you pen?_ Carter asked.
_Haha, you can repay me by actually finding the staff of dreams_ Penwitch replied.
_Aye aye, your wish is my command_ Carter replied and laughed in front of the computer.
After a successful exchange between the two, Carter deleted the desktop and switched to the previous one with ease. He quickly stood up, shoved away some dust from his clothes and smiled as he walked out of the cyber cafe.
"I don't know how they do it but I'm this close to finding the staff of dreams" He giggled excitedly. Honestly, he occasionally wondered how Penwitch always managed to provide him with such useful information all the time but he choose to not ponder too much on it as they had both made a deal of confidentiality.
Carter continued walking out of the cafe with a bright smile planted on his face afterwards.