Chapter Text
In an Evernight cathedral, a couple just finished reciting their bows to each other, a man with a black hair and a receding hairline was smiling with a sweet smile while looking at the woman he promised his eternal love under the blessing of the goddess.
The bride, wearing an elaborate black dress, smiled back at her husband, who in contrast, was wearing a simple black tuxedo. After the end of the ceremony many people approached the couple to congratulate them for their marriage. After what seemed to be an eternity, the man excused himself an took a seat near one of the corners of the church.
The man couldn't help but lampoon at the situation, 'Who would have thought that attending my own wedding would be more exhausting than working every day in an office full of curly hair baboons'. Despite his thoughts, it was truly the happiest day of his whole life.
“What are you doing here Benson? You should be with your wife greeting the guests”
The man looked at his side, where his sister was standing, she was wearing a simple and conservative white dress, her black hair was tied up in a plain fashion. Considering that his little sister was one of the main planers of the wedding, even using her savings and asking her sponsor to help them, he chose to stand up and keep greeting the human wave that surrounded his wife. But before he could approach Lucy, a man with surprisingly unremarkable face approached him.
“Allow me to congratulate you on your wedding Mr. Benson”
“Thank you. I’m sorry, have we meet before?”
The man, that was wearing a black robe and a classic hat answered “No sir. I’m just a wanderer who found this ceremony while strolling through the city. I couldn’t help myself and I decided to join to such a wonderful celebration”. The stranger made an exaggerated bow taking off his hat.
After thanking the man once again, Benson was about to leave when Merlin stopped him again.
“As it was such an unexpected occasion, I wasn’t able to prepare any gift for you two, so perhaps I can offer you some magic instead?”
“Magic?” asked Benson confused.
“I’m a wandering magician, who specializes in fulfilling people wishes. If you want, I can grant you three wishes to celebrate this special day.” The magician said with a smile.
His sister interrupted upon hearing this “And what kind of wishes can you fulfill? What price does he have to pay for them?”
“I will grant you anything that is in my power to accomplish, if it’s something beyond what I’m capable, I will tell you and you can change your wish. As for the price, the wish itself it’s the price, you don’t have to worry to much, as I said, they are just a gift”
Melissa seemed annoyed, he was probably a low sequence beyonder, a swindler of the marauder pathway perhaps, trying to scam his brother and his wife, taking advantage of one of the happiest days of their lives.
“In that case, I wish for the Backlund technical university to be restored to it’s state before the war” she said without hiding the hostility in her voice. ‘Sure, let’s see if you can do this, scammer’, she thought for herself.
The magician looked at Benson “Should I take it as your first wish?”
“Sure, why not?” answered him amused.
How could something as convenient as someone who grants wishes be true? Benson was sure that the magician would try to change the wish and ask Melissa if she wouldn’t prefer some flowers that he has conveniently under his sleeve.
But to his surprise, he snaped his fingers and said calmly “Your wish has been granted”
Melissa looked confused at first, and a few seconds later she looked angry. To which all he said was “Feel free to confirm it by yourself, if I remember correctly, the university shouldn’t be that far away.”
Melissa left the church with a furious glare that implied that if she saw the man when she came back, he will be a dead man.
“Sir, I would not recommend playing such pranks on her. She can be quite scary when you get on her bad side.” The awkwardness of the situation was evident, ‘could he be too ashamed to confess that he wasn’t able to do that and was waiting for a chance to run away?’
“There is no need to worry about it, feel free to go with your wife in the meantime, I will wait here until your sister comes back.” said the magician without showing any hint of embarrassment or anxiety.
The man took a seat, waiting for Melisa to return. Benson left the man and continued greeting all the weeding’s guests who were offering their congratulations. After more than an hour and almost forgetting that the man was still sitting somewhere waiting, Benson saw Melisa enter the church.
Benson was ready to try to calm her sister, but unlike what he expected, she didn’t seem angry, instead she seemed quite pale and afraid. She ignored all the other guests and went directly towards the magician. Almost in a whisper she asked, “How did you do it?”
He smiled and answered, “As I said miss, I’m a magician who specializes in granting people’s wishes”.
Benson, seeing that her sister went straight to the wandering magician, approached the two. When he was near, Melisa raised her arm to stop him, standing in front of him, facing the wandering magician. The girl said in a low but decided tone “I don’t know what is a ‘You’ doing here, but you should leave now, the church will arrive at any moment”.
Benson became concerned and asked her sister: “Wait, what happened? Did something happen in your way there?” This was the only thing he could think of, after all, his sister was not the kind of person who returned pale and scared after a charlatan made her lose her time.
“I merely granted her wish. The university is back at how it was 1 year ago. As for the students and all the personal that used to work there, I hope you understand that even some things are beyond my abilities”
“You must be joking, right?” Benson looked at Melisa waiting for her to confirm it was all a joke, but to his surprise and confusion Melisa remained quiet, even more pale than when she arrived. Benson couldn’t help but to shout “Wait, the university is really back?”.
“Leave now” was all Melisa said, her lips were trembling, she felt powerless against the man in front of her, but still she refused to step down.
“Please don’t worry to much” The magician looked as calm as before, he was still smiling as if they were old friends “I just want to show you my gratitude for allowing me to be part of this day.”
Seeing Melisa's and the man's silence, Benson coughed to get their attention and asked “Excuse me sir, may I have your name?"
Once again the man took of his hat and present himself "Of course, my name is Merlin Hermes, the wandering magician."
Benson, who was trying to remain calm simply said "Mr. Hermes, if you can grant any wish, could you perhaps heal someone who not even the best doctors of Backlund could cure?”
“BENSON!!!!” Melisa shouted, but apparently no one in the church heard the scream, all acting like there was no one there.
“It’s alright Melisa, I will trust this gentleman will keep his word.”
After considering for a few seconds, Merlin replied to Benson “It’s hard for me to tell without seeing the person, could you take me to them?”
“Sure, but it will take a while to reach there. The hospitals near here were destroyed in the war, and the ones that remain aren’t equipped to treat their condition, so we took them to the hospital in Golden Borough”
“There is no problem with that, we can go there right now.” Merlin looked at Melisa, extended his hand and asked, “Would you like to go with us young lady?”
Melisa, unable to leave his brother alone with the unknown angel, took the man’s hand.