{ THE DAY AFTER... }

  The m light gently filtered through the castle windows, while the ess of the new day seemed to whip the air with a serene calm.

  After a delightful breakfast rant bread, sweet strawberry jam, and fresh milk, Mirac made his way to the .

  His step was determined, but his mind was far from peaceful.

  The silence of the corridors only amplified the turmoil he felt within himself.

  Almost involuntarily, he kept thinking back to the previous day, especially to that mysterious "Instant ting" which, although inexplicable, seemed to have bee iricably tied to him, like a shadow that he couldn’t shake off.

  Yet, Mirac had never asked for or desired any of this. her the mysterious power he now found himself possessing, nor being haunted by Math.

  "Why won’t you leave me alone?" Miradered, his fists ched in anger, as his footsteps echoed nervously along the corridors.

  Anger rose within him, mixed with a sense of helplesshat he couldn’t dispel.

  Thinking about his “Instant ting” ability—which, while walking through the halls, was tinuously providing him with information on the number of objects around him—why did it have to be him, of all people, to receive it?!

  "Why me, Math?" he thought bitterly, feeling the unbearable weight of that question. "Couldn’t you have just chosen someone else?"

  Despite his turmoil, Mirac couldn’t allow himself to face the day with that inner frenzy tearing him apart. When he reached the sed floor of the castle, he forced himself to calm down.

  It wouldn’t be wise t that bad mood into the .

  He stopped for a moment, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath, letting the air caress his fad calm his restless thoughts.

  Then, step by step, as he approached his , he felt the weight of frustration gradually lighten, as if the mere thought of diving into books helped him regain a bit of peace.

  Moreover, he was really looking forward to his first two lessons of the day: History and Geography!

  A thrill of anticipation ran through his body, and the excitement c through his veins made him igh the lingering tiredness and the disturbaill swirling inside him.

  ‘Finally! I ’t wait!’ he thought, as a smile spread across his fad he tightly clutched the notebooks he had brought for the lessons.

  Up to that moment, Miraly knew his kingdom—the Kingdom of Ardorya—and a few superficial facts about the other kingdoms that made up the ti of Harmony.

  But his knowledge stopped there.

  Beyond these superficial facts, he had no idea how the kingdoms were ected, what their histories were, or the ins and characteristics of each kingdom.

  The mental maps he had structed were full of gaps: he didn’t know the distahe exact locations, or even the appearance of pces he had only heard about.

  The steltions, which Mirac could reize iarry skies, along with the four annual seasons, seemed to match those of the southern hemisphere, leading him to assume that at least the Kingdom of Ardorya was located there.

  But after seven years, the young Prince would finally obtain the answers he had long been seeking.

  His questions would find answers, and the world that had so intrigued him would soon be revealed to him. Map after map.

  Chapter after chapter.

  * * *

  Standing before the intricately carved door of the , Mirac felt his heart pounding with a mix of excitement and curiosity.

  ‘Calm down, Mirac! For now, at least, try to clear your mind!’ he told himself, trying to push away the thoughts of Math that still tormented him.

  Right now, it definitely wasn’t the right time to think about it.

  Taking a deep breath, he raised his eyes toward the door.

  ‘Let’s go in!’ he thought, turning the handle decisively.

  Onside, he immediately noticed Vi behind the desk, busy arranging some papers and clumsily managing a stack of books that was on the verge of toppling over.

  Watg the se, the numbers of the papers and books flooded Mirac's mind, but this time, he didn’t seem to grow anxious. Not only to avoid appearing uled—as had happehe day before with Carmen, when he had let himself be overwhelmed by u also because, deep down, he felt he was already getting used to his skill "Instant ting.”

  ‘He’s not te today, huh? Well, thank goodness!’ thought Mirac, distrag himself with a touch of irony.

  Despite his obvious clumsiness, Vi wore an expression of seriousness and tration.

  When he looked up and saw Mirac, a light but determined smile appeared on his face.

  “Oh! Good m, young Prince!” he excimed, trying to give his voi eie but managing only to vey a mixture of enthusiasm and awkwardness.

  Then, with a wink—although he barely mao coordinate his eyelids—he added in a joking tone:

  "I hope you have done your homework."

  Miraotionless for a sed in the doorway, staring at him with a bored expression.

  ‘If I ever saw someone wink at me like that, I’d probably call the authorities...’ he thought, obviously without voig his thoughts aloud.

  Then, with a sigh, Mirac lifted the notebook he was holding, drawing Vi's attention to it, and replied in an almost indifferent tone:

  "Yes, Professor. I did the homework."

  As the student took his seat at the only desk in the room, Vi let out a brief, embarrassed chuckle.

  “W-Well, excellent work then!” he stammered, almost as if apologizing for his overly enthusiastic remark.

  Then he rummaged insistently through his bag, pulling out a rge book with a thick light blue cover adorned with intricate golden patterns that shimmered in the room’s light. The book looked heavy, both physically and ceptually, and Vi pced it on the desk with a solemn movement.

  “Ahem! Anyway...” he began after clearing his throat. “Today, young Prince, we’ll start with an hour of History.”

  “Alright!” replied Mirac.

  * * *

  For most of the lesson, Vi focused on providing a lengthy introdu to the subject, as ropriate for a seven-year-old.

  His expnations were simple but essential for ying the foundation of cepts fual to uanding time and history.

  In the first few minutes, he quickly expined what a "millennium," a "tury," and a "decade" were, to prevent future fusion with temporal and ological pts.

  Mirac, sitting with a stiff posture and a bored expression, couldn’t hide his impatience.

  His eyelids would occasionally close in nervous spasms, clearly revealing his growing frustration.

  'Hurry up ao the point!' he thought, his mind already elsewhere, eager to move on to something more useful and iing.

  In addition to expining the terms, Vi read some excerpts from historians who spoke about the importance of history and why studying it was crucial.

  For example, he quoted a text that emphasized how history helps uand the past and build a better future, and ahat highlighted the role of historical memory in preserving culture.

  With his typical clumsy demeanor, Viried to be as clear as possible.

  Wherodu finally came to an end, and unfortunately only a few minutes were left of the History lesson, Vi approached the bckboard with a white chalk in his hands.

  With a decisive gesture, he wrote a fit number sequence.

  “Young Prince, you know what year it is, don’t you?” Vi asked, as the white chalk dusted his fingers.

  “Yes, Professor. If I’m not mistaken, it’s 1414.”

  Miraew this well, sinot yet knowing how to t in the previous years, he had decided to keep track of time by asking Carmen every year what the current year was.

  “Correct!” Vi excimed with enthusiasm, leaving the chalk on the edge of the bckboard and turning to Mirac with a smile of approval.

  The number "1414" domihe bckboard, written rge in the ter.

  “You must know, young Prihat our p is the Supreme Creation of the Seveies,” Vi expined solemnly.

  “Supreme Creation? Seveies?” Mirac raised an eyebrow, visibly intrigued.

  Finally, the lesson seemed to be getting more iing.

  “Exactly! But we’ll talk about them in more detail tomorrow, during the religion lesson.”

  “Alright,” Mirafirmed, shrugging in a gesture of uanding.

  Vi tinued, not wasting any more time.

  “As I was saying, our beloved p was created thanks to the power of the Seveies. In ological order, they created the Day, the Night, the Seas, the Winds, the Earth, Nature, and finally, Fire. Together, they created a world where we still live peacefully today.”

  Mirac, fasated by those words, let out an excmation of astonishment:

  “I-Incredible!”

  “Exactly!” Vi firmed, his smile lighting up his face. “The Deities represent the pure essenagic. But we’ll talk more about that tomorrow in the ‘Introdu to Magic’ lesson.”

  After slowly flipping through the book in his hands, Vi moved closer to the desk and tinued:

  “The creation of the world happened 1500 years ago. But then, why does our dar mark the current year as 1414?”

  Mirac, as if some deep instinct had warned him, sehat this question was the prelude to an important piece of information.

  His i grew, and the silen the room seemed to amplify every word Vi was about to say.

  “Well, the answer is quite simple, young Prince,” Vi resumed, maintaining the mysterious tohat characterized his expnation. “The number 1414 marks the years that have passed sihe defeat of absolute evil, the entity that threatehe very existence of everything we know today: the ‘Sinner’!”

  That excmation immediately stiffened Mirac’s spine, a shiver of curiosity and unease running through him.

  “The Sinner? And who is that?” he asked, his voicertain but full of i, as his gaze fixed on Vi, seeking an expnation.

  Vi scratched his head, taking a brief pause as if the thought of what to say was causing him difficulty.

  “Before we talk about her, we o finish discussing the creation of our p, young Prince,” Vi finally replied, his face suddenly serious and almost cautious, as if merely speaking about it could summon something evil.

  Mirac sighed, rolling his eyes toward the ceiling.

  Vi resumed expining, instantly renewing the smile on his face:

  “As I was saying... When the Divine Work—the creation of our p—was pleted, the Deities moved on to creating Life, each using a differehod. And from this, humans were born!”

  Vi paused, as if to allow his words to take shape in Mirac’s mind.

  “From the very beginning, all of them worshipped the Gods. As it was only right, of course, since humans immediately reized in the Seveies the source of all things good: love, life, peace...”

  But again, Vi’s smile faded, repced by a more serious expression, almost thoughtful.

  “But you know, young Prince... Where there is love, there is also hate... Where there is life, there is also death... Where there is peace, there is also chaos... And it is precisely from this that we reect to the Sinner!"

  Vi’s words seemed to tremble in the room.

  But this time, it was not the typical awkwardness of his character making his voice hesitant.

  No! It was something different.

  There alpable uhat slithered through his words.

  “The Sinner...” Vi tinued, his voice betraying a certain apprehension. “Her ins are pletely unknown. But without a shadow of a doubt, she was an incredibly powerful woman, with mysterious powers that no one knows anymore. Before itting her sin, she was known as the ‘Blue-Haired Witch.’”

  “Blue-haired?!” Mirac repeated, surprised.

  "Exactly. This is how the 'Seven Sacred Gospels' describe her. And iexts, her branded sin is also witnessed: an act of pure madhat no living being would even dare to think about doing!"

  Vi seemed almost intimidated by the weight of his own words.

  Miraow pletely absorbed iory, anxiously asked:

  “And what was her sin?”

  Vi nervously swallowed his saliva.

  “Her Sin...” his voice trembling as he responded, “...was daring to challenge and attempt to kill the Gods!”

  Mirac was left momentarily speechless.

  Said like that, the statement gave him goosebumps, and the room suddenly seemed to grow colder.

  "T-To kill the Gods? Really?!"

  Mirac didn't even think such a thing ossible.

  Not that the fact that someohe Sinner—had attempted it was actually definitive proof that it was truly possible.

  But the very idea still seemed unthinkable to him.

  "But... why?!"

  The ao Mirac's question, as could be expected, was actually quite predictable.

  “It’s obvious, young Prio dominate and rule this world!” Vi replied. “The Seveies were nothing but an obstacle toal. So, the Sinner decided to challehem, attempting to kill a rid of them. But fortunately, the Gods joined forces and were able to stop a her, thus rest peace. Sihely 1414 years have passed.”

  Miraodded slowly, trying to absorb all of this new information.

  “Oh... I see...” he murmured, still deep in thought.

  Smiling, Vi seemed pleased to have sparked so muterest, and as he gnced up at the clock, he realized they had gone over the allotted time.

  “Oh, it’s already 9:07! We’ve gone a little past the scheduled time. But it doesn’t matter,” he said with a smile. “I’d say we move on to Geography now. What do you think, young Prince?”

  Miraodded, still lost in his thoughts.

  “Alright...” he replied simply.