I stood up from my bed, as if nothing had happened. I am an expert at pretending to be normal, even when I clearly wasn’t.

I took off my briefs and tossed them in the laundry basket at the corner with careless abandon.

My room was small, It only had a single bed, a tiny closet and a desk with my laptop and small collection of books on it.

Truth be told, It lacked personality and was quite insipid, but that's how I liked it. There was nothing that could indicate my connection with the mystical and paranormal. My younger self would really hate this place.

I put on a bathrobe before leaving my room, which was situated on the fourth floor of the college dorm, and walked down the hall to the communal bathroom to get ready.

There, I saw myself in the mirror. I looked wasted. The weariness of my soul was evident and laid for all to see in the bags under my eyes and the pallid tiredness in my face.

When I was ready, I went back to my room to get dressed. For the bottom half I put on another pair of white briefs, blue jeans and sneakers, and for the top, a white shirt with a three-button collar, and my favorite sweatshirt over it; red with white sleeves and hoodie.

The sweatshirt was not magical at all, but it had a very important emblem for magicians, on the area to ​​the right of my chest. I had to display it at all times in a visible area, even if I was not a practitioner, because it identified me as an authorised magician of the International Magic Organization.

The emblem consisted of the Buddhist symbol of the Endless Knot, enclosed in an open vessel with lightning entering from the top; It symbolised the energy of the universe being channeled into the Infinity Knot, giving it power.

By the time I finished getting dressed, it was barely 7A.M. I had time to eat, but I didn't want to have breakfast. I still felt nauseous from my involuntary magic dream from earlier.

So, I decided to make an early start and head to the faculty building before the class began. I went down to the common area and left the building.

At this time, the streets were almost empty and quiet, because most of the businesses opened around at 10 o'clock. The world was calm, the desolation was somewhat relaxing to my troubled mind.

My city was small, with only a few tall buildings, but densely populated. 5 million people called an area less than 200 kilometers home.

On a map, the city resembles a waning moon, with a great mountain range that corner us from the north, south and east against the Caribbean Sea.

Every day, from 3 A.M. until 8 in the morning, the sky is completely cloudy and the streets are filled with fog. This, and its shape, is why the city is called “Bruma Menguante” or Waning Mist in English, but we shorten it to just “Bruma”.

Today was no exception, the morning was grey and the mist clouded the silhouette of the walls that surrounded the dorm’s courtyard. I could barely see where I was going.

Bruma was far from the worst place to live, but it was my prison.

I tried to move out of here several times, to leave everything that reminded me of the past, but my father prevented it each time.

He said this is the only place in the world where he was able to protect me from the consequences of the incident from seven years ago.

For the Organization, the cause of the incident remains unknown, they don't even suspect me, as if I had never been there at all.

It was ironic that even if I wanted to leave, thousands of people came to stay every year.

Shortly after the incident, my father was chosen as Archmage of Bruma. His first action was to open the city to thousands of refugees and guarantee them protection from other Arcanums, probably as an excuse that would prevent any investigation in his territory.

Despite the large number of new magic users in Bruma, there was no need for them to live in hiding. Modern cities are designed to create a veil that disguises any public display of magic as something mundane.

A person closed off to magic would not be able to distinguish graffiti from a magic symbol, for example, or would confuse a potion shop with a greengrocer.

The Veil was not enough to keep me out, but its efforts paid off. Every year I noticed less and less the magic of the world, and the days seemed to me as grey as the mist that covered the streets.

After twenty minutes or so of walking, I arrived at the college campus. I pulled my mind out of the past, out of magic and the invisible world around me.

I must forget that world.

I should be normal.

...

My first class of the day was optional, I didn't need the extra credits, but it helped me to keep my mind busy.

Upon entering the room only one person was there.

The boy was half asleep, resting on his desk. His hair was amber and his fair complexion covered in freckles.

I carefully approached and sat next to him.

"Hey, Taylor. Wake up!!

Taylor slowly woke up. It took him a few seconds to settle down and get out of the embrace of his dream.

"It's you, Di Strago."

Taylor's eyes were a little lighter than his hair. Big and expressive, he reminded me of a deer or a rabbit.

"I told you not to call me by my last name... It makes me feel like my father."

"Sorry… " I couldn't stare at him, his expression was like a sad puppy. “At the boarding school, we were punished if we didn't address others formally.”

"It’s not like I hate being called that or anything. It just makes me feel we are not friends. Tell me, why are you so tired?

"I had night training and my new coach is a tyrant. But I really did improve! I was able to swim my first lap around the pool!!

"Why do you torture yourself like this? Aren't you afraid of water?"

"It's not a fear of water!" Taylor blushed, clearly ashamed of himself, "I’m afraid of the depths! It’s supposed to help me. It’s like… a form of therapy."

Even though he said those words enthusiastically, he lacked confidence to really convey it to me, at least convincingly. But I humoured him all the same.

"I know, I know, I was kidding" I smiled slightly, and started preparing my things as the rest of the class arrived.

Taylor was the only person I knew in the room, he was taking a degree in Geology. He also lived in the faculty residence. So we often saw each other in the common areas.

"Say Strag ... I mean, Lume, are you going to the festival?"

"AHA! You almost said it again!" I smiled.

"Sorry!" He blushed.

"You mean the Blue Moon festival?" I asked with a laugh.

"Yes! That one! Look, here I have a pamphlet." Taylor showed me a blue sheet of paper, with golden letters and ornaments" I heard there will be a parade, a fair and a circus! It is the first time I will go, so I'm quite excited.”

"Right, you've only been here 8 months..."

Taylor was a foreigner, from a country with an unpronounceable name in Europe.

"Do you want to go with me?"

"Like a date?" I said, winking at him.

"Eeeeeh!?" His face turned as red as his hair. "No! Not! Not at all! Don't get me wrong I... I..."

"Oh... So I'm not good enough for you?"

"I didn't mean that, Lume. You are very attractive and kind but I…. !!!"

"Just kidding."

"Ufff... Don't play with me like that, please."

"I'm sorry," I smiled. "It’s just that I enjoy making you blush."

Taylor growled in anger, but I couldn't take him seriously that he was mad, he was simply too adorable.

"I'm glad you're excited about the festival anyway," I said, "but I think you should lower your expectations a bit. After all, it’s basically a town fair.

"I was just hoping for something like that, with some local flavor. How was it last year?"

"I don't know. I haven't been there in years."

"It got that bad?"

"That's not why." I felt bad for him, so I tried to recover some of his enthusiasm. "As a child I used to go with my father and my classmates every year, but when I grew older I thought it was lame, that's all..."

That was a lie, the magical community organised and celebrated the festival. As I didn't want to practice magic, I also didn't want to meet anyone who was part of my past... specifically Sid.

"Too bad, I wanted a private tour from a local."

"That was it?" I pouted. "Did you intend to use me and leave me without considering my feelings?"

"Lume, Stop."

"Okay!" I smiled. "But if you want to go, just go, I don't think you will have a bad time; The problem is me."

Taylor was silent, thoughtful.

The teacher arrived and the class started immediately. Just another boring lesson on formulas of little use to people in their day-to-day life, but by memorizing them, they kept my mind from delirium.

Although this time I barely paid attention. It was too early for anything to matter to me.

…