Excerpt from the Diary of Jonathan, found 45 years after his death

  Not only did Meriel surpass my expectations, but he surpassed the expectations of everyone. His spells were oftentimes what made the difference between all of us living and all of us dying in some of the scenarios I couldn't even imagine finding myself in several years ago.

  I've heard of mages knowing several dozens of spells, but he was definitely not ordinary. Not only were his spells far stronger than even the legends I've heard of, but he also had such a wide repertoire of them that it almost felt like he had a spell ready for any and every situation we found ourselves in. I liked that part; it made all of our lives easier. But there were problems…

  The biggest of all was, of course, that it wasn't just my party any longer. I didn't like admitting jealousy to myself, but it was just as simple as that. I was jealous of him. I was still fairly confident that I would be able to beat him in a duel, but the others didn't seem to think so, and they started looking for opinions in him almost as much as in me. Eventually, I had to admit that they were probably right.

  I saw how the Delver guilds and the Delvers inside looked at me and Meriel almost as if we were equal.

  I saw how the King mostly seemed to admire him and not me, the party leader.

  I saw how Elsa looked at him.

  Everyone seemed to love and respect him, and hells—even though I was envious—I couldn't help but find at least some liking for the guy. He was awfully nice. Almost as if he were born with a smile plastered onto his face. Not the kind of cheery smile that Beryl often has on his stupid mouth, but the calm smile that seemed to ground everyone in any situation, a smile that told all of us that everything would be alright.

  But the respect didn't change one thing about how I viewed Meriel. Meeting him, traveling several years with him at my side, I realized something: Magic was simply too powerful.

  How could anyone regulate it? Was there even anyone to stop Meriel from walking inside the royal palace, and simply claiming rule over the whole kingdom? Maybe if all of the mages inside the city decided to band together, they’d be able to stop him.

  I've learned just how much more powerful he was compared to the other mages the more I traveled with him, and although I was still jealous, and I was still a friend, there was something more there now.

  I feared him.

  Meriel sat in the way-too-pristine classroom and watched as the instructor in front of them expanded on the history that he lived through. Finally they managed to get into parts of history that he didn't actually know about, and he did his utmost best to pay attention. Thankfully, his attention span was pretty good after spending several decades locked in darkness, so he found learning easier than he remembered.

  What shocked him the most when he entered the classroom, however, was the fact that he recognized his teacher, and this time it wasn't someone he met on the entrance day, but someone completely different. It was Viera, the lady he had met several days ago when he first entered the city. She didn't seem to notice him or Mary yet, and Meriel did his best to not bring her attention upon himself.

  Her voice carried through the classroom, leaving no room for even a whisper from the students. Everyone seemed to be scared of Viera, which surprised Meriel to some degree. He had not expected her to be such an authority in the Academy, but apparently she had shown the nice side of herself to Meriel and Mary when they visited.

  "The tribes in the north of Lavarza united exactly sixty years ago. The several tribes united into larger cities, and have fittingly chosen the name of Hundred Baronies Republic for their country. Now the ruling entity is a council of 100 seats, and strangely enough compared to Lavarza, it isn't a patriarchy, but actually there are equal gender rights. Interesting, isn't it?” She looked through the classroom, scanning the students below Meriel. “Now what this means for us Lavarzans, however, is a bit strange. There are positives and negatives to these tribes uniting. But one of the biggest ones is that it's a strong deterrent for the Battauri Empire. Anyone here wants to try what the negative could possibly be? It isn't hard, I promise."

  Meriel turned his head to the side, pretending not to be there, and still tried to hide his face with his palm. He was sitting higher than she was standing, so it wasn't that hard of a task.

  It was proven not to be enough, however, because Mary's hand shot up. The teacher chuckled and pointed to Mary. Apparently, she was becoming one of the favorite students of several teachers, though she annoyed some others as far as Meriel heard. That's at least how Ziggy interpreted her interest in school.

  "Mrs. Teacher, is it because now we cannot attack the tribes to steal from them? Raid, I mean?" she asked, and Viera chuckled.

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  "Attack them! No, no, no, dear Mary! That never happened in history. We did have an occasional scuffle, but it was always defensive. Lavarza isn't a kingdom that attacks its neighbors. We usually prefer to exchange pleasantries. No. Anyone else?"

  It was clear as day why the tribes uniting was a bad thing, but Meriel held his tongue. One hundred years ago, he would have predicted the Battauri Empire conquering the northern peninsula more plausible than the tribes on the north connecting. Of course, Battauri did unite after all, so he would be at least somewhat accurate. The whole of the northern continent ruled by one giant empire? That was frightening to say the least.

  "So the Hundred Baronies Republic existing is bad for Lavarza because..." Viera continued, catching the attention of all of the students. "We have a new threat at our door. Of course, Our Majesty the King has already decided to build a defensive wall on the northern border, finally closing all of our borders to the opposing nations, but it would not be enough had they decided to bring their might upon us. We will have to rely on our spell-swords, as we have in the past."

  She finished writing what she explained onto the blackboard, and for a moment, the only sound audible was the focused movements of quills upon parchments.

  She let them write for a moment before continuing. "Anyone here want to tell me what we learned in our last class? Who are the other two threats right at our doorstep?"

  Several hands raised into the air this time around, more of the students ready to answer. Meriel looked around once more and took in their faces. Tried his best to commit them to memory. It was quite likely that they wouldn't be important in his life, but he still did his best.

  There was one older man in the crowd, though he didn't seem quite as interested in the subject as the younger students were. The young man he had seen at the entrance ceremony was still nowhere to be seen though. Mary and Ziggy said that they hadn't seen him at all, and Meriel didn't know if he'd meet him later. He wasn’t even sure why he was drawn to that man, but he simply was.

  "Yes, you there with black curly hair," Viera said, pointing at one of the 15 or 16 year old students sitting in the front.

  "The Vurgi Steppe? The Vahie Kingdom and the Al Theo Theocracy?" The student said something quite unconfident, but he held his head high.

  "Half correct!" Viera smiled and began scribbling upon the blackboard with the chalk again. Her hand moved with practiced, direct movements, and she drew the map of Lavarza almost perfectly to all of the maps Meriel had seen in his life.

  Of course, the shape of Lavarza was a bit different than he remembered. While before it was almost circular in shape, it seemed to lose some of its territory in the century past. A small space there in Vurgi Steppe and a larger chunk at the very southern edge of Lavarza, not that far from Mura, maybe two days' walk. All of this mysterious history and he missed it completely.

  "As you can see, the Vurgi Steppe, Hundred Baronies Republic, and Al Theo Theocracy are indeed threats to our very nice Kingdom. But do remember that the Vahie Kingdom isn't a threat, but an ally. They serve as a neutral country for all of the southern peninsula, and you best remember that, especially if your house counts on you taking over the duties in several decades." She said and quit scribing onto the blackboard almost as fast as Meriel could read.

  "Now today, we will also not only be focusing on the Hundred Baronies republic, but we will be focusing on something that began changing the state of Lavarza a century ago. Who here knows the legend of Jonathan and his Delver party of legends?" Almost all of the hands in the class shot up into the air, all of the students whispering excitedly amongst themselves. Meriel didn't realize just how popular he was, though he did suppose it was fitting.

  "Very good! Seems like most of you know one of my ancestors. Very well then. Jonathan's party became a legend in the century, so it's not that surprising if all of you know about him. But do you all know how this party began or who its members were?" Mary began raising her arm again, but Meriel quickly dragged it down. He seriously didn't want to draw attention to himself at this very moment. He had asked about himself and his siblings before, and he definitely didn't want to seem suspicious to this woman even more than he did that day.

  One of the other students was selected to answer. "Because they had slain the dragon of Mura." He said and pointed in the direction that Azbokeus' dungeon was located, right next to the city. "Apparently the sword master had slain him?"

  "That is correct. All the accounts say that Jonathan was the one to deal the final blow. But do you all know who made up Jonathan's party? And what was the biggest change that stemmed from this victory?"

  Again, several dozen hands shot up in the air like needles. Meriel had to fight with himself not to blush at the attention and, admittedly, admiration that all of the students had shown for his party, for his friends.

  A female student was selected to answer this time.

  "Well, there was Jonathan the warrior, Beryl the archer, Vivien the healer, and, of course, the mage, Meriel. He came from this city, didn't he? Since you are from here as well?"

  "That is correct," Viera nodded and wrote the four names upon the blackboard.

  Where is Elsa's name? Meriel wondered. She wasn't a party member that fought with them, yes, but she was always there, and everyone seemed to treat her as a party member wherever they went. She was their ‘mom’ that took care of the team’s problems when they were of the sort that didn’t try to kill them. She was the one who held the party together more than anyone.

  Did something happen for that to change?

  "Now then, does anyone here know what exactly changed when the four had slain the dragon?"

  The students this time didn't immediately raise their hands, but instead some of them looked at each other with confused expressions, like children who got lost in the market.

  "Nobody? Well, I suppose that's fine. It's not that easy of a question. Let me rephrase that. What happened after they had slain the dragon?"

  A few hands showed up. "Yes?”

  “The mage Meriel died right after they had slain the dragon?"

  "Yes, that's the correct answer. Now, this changed our country in more ways than you think. Well, let me explain that for a little bit. It all began with the party’s dissolution…."