《Spatial Aardum》


 Jacob

    A carriage was passing through a small village. Inside were two women, one that look to be 16 with long dark hair tied in a ponytail and green eyes and one that looks to be in her mid 30''s with short cut, light brown hair and the same eyes.


    "Mother, tell me why we are going so far west? This trip has been long and boring! I just want to go home to brother and learn more about Terra!" Said the young girl with a sour expression.


    "We are going west exactly because you want to learn to use Terra, my dear. Your Father''s Teacher lives not far from where we are now, which should be... The village of Nova Grandum! He will teach you to use Terra." Replied her Mother.


    "Waaahh? I''m going to learn from Grandpa Keith? Why didn''t you tell me before? I would have been practicing while we were on the road!" She said with an excited smile on her face before her face turned sour again and continued, "Why is this small, little village called Nova Grandum anyway? Such a bold and arrogant name for such a small village!"


    "Bold? Yes. Arrogant? No, my child. The greatest Novum in history was born here, hence its renaming to Nova Grandum. All aspiring Novum at the Royal Novum Academy make a pilgrimage here to refresh their outlook and see what he saw all those years ago." replied her Mother once more.


    Outside on the dirt path running next to the road, there jogged a boy of about 12 with pitch black hair and brown eyes.


    "So that''s why all those strangers keep coming to our village! Who would have thought that our tiny, little village had such a great heritage?" He said to himself with a proud look on his face.


    He was an orphan living alone on the edge of the village, in a small hut just big enough for him walk a few steps before running out of space. As he was returning to his hut, after eavesdropping on the carriage, he heard a commotion coming from the village spuare. After rushing over to see what was happening, he was shocked to see the whole village down on one knee, with their arms crossed making an ''X'', with closed fists and heads bowed. He looked to the centre of the crowd and saw a bald middle aged man wearing brown robes with a strange insignia on the left breast. Even as an orphan in a small village, he knew what this insignia meant. A Terrum Master of the highest Rank! He immediately dropped onto one knee and copied the others.


    As he bowed his head, the middle aged man in the front spoke, "I sensed the awakening of an Elemental in this village and as such, would like to inspect all of the children between the ages of 10 and 14. Make a line!"


    Dread appeared on his face as he heard this. He hadn''t eaten his midday meal yet and was starting to feel hungry. The last thing he wanted to do was wait while those middle aged men inspected all 20 children in the village. He just wanted to go to the tavern and have the soup made by the cook. But unfortuneately, he would have to wait.


    All the parents eagerly stood up and pushed their children forward to be inspected, ignoring the fact that the middle aged man specifically asked for ages 10 to 14. As such, the amount of children that waited in line counted more than double of what it should have been. As the middle aged man started to inspect the children, his brows furrowed as he could tell the first child was well over 16, but he just sighed as he knew these folk would do anything to escape the life of poverty that they were living. As he tested the children one by one, sighs could be heard escaping his lips as each one was a failure. As the line dwindled, the middle aged man started to doubt that he had sensed anything, but as he reached the last child, who looked to about 12, he grabbed the boy''s wrist and smile instantly broke out across his face. He had found him! He had found the one that awakened!


    If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it."What is your name boy?" asked the middle aged man.


    "Jacob!"


    "Where are your parents, child?" The middle aged man asked.


    "I have none." Jacob replied simply.


    "Then this is simple, come with me boy." The middle aged man said as he turned around and started walking out of the square.


    The other villagers all looked at Jacob with delight. Even if it wasn''t their child that awakened, at least someone from the village had. Jacob quickly ran after the man and as he left the square, the man turned around and looked at Jacob.


    Jacob''s vision started to blacken as he felt dizzy. "I dont feel so..." he said right before he collapsed into the arms of the man. Before he lost consciousness, he heard the man whisper, "Be at ease Aardum, all will be well when you awake."


    With that, Jacob lost consciosness.


    Jacob woke up wondering what he was lying on, as he had never felt anything as comfortable in his life and when he awoke, the middle aged man was standing next to the bed. "Where am I? questioned Jacob as he sat up.


    "My home. Follow me." The man replied simply.


    Jacob followed the man out of the room before even getting a proper look at the room. He entered a room simply adorned with a small wooden table and 4 chairs, a plain mat off in the corner and light stone hanging from the roof.


    "Take a seat." said the middle aged man, pointing to the table.


    "First off, my name is Keith. You must have many questions and I will do my best to answer all of them." continued the man." continued the man.


    "What did you do to me back at the village? Why did you being me back to your home? Why were you so excited to find me, even though im just another newly awakened Aardum? How did you know I was an Aardum when even I didn''t?" Jacobs asked all in one breath.


    "For your first question, you will naturally come to know what I did. I brought you here because I want to teach you the basics of being an aardum and the reason i was so excited... I just had a feeling you were special! As for knowing you were an Aardum, I simply sent some of my Elementa into your body and sensed the Aard Elementa in you." replied Keith.


    "Now, do you want to be my disciple, if only for short time?" asked Keith.


    "Yes!" replied Jacob instantly. He had always dreamed of being an elemental, so how could he say no to such an opportunity?


    "Good! Tell me what you know of Elementals."


    "Elementals are broken into 4 big catagories: Aardum, who use Aard(air). Novum, who use Nova(fire). Terrum, who use Terra(earth). Ner¨®m, who use Ner¨®(water). That is all I know Keith."


    "It''s Master Keith now... But yes your basic understanding is good. Let me expand on that for you. They each have their own specialities: Aard Elementa is swift and sharp.Nova Elementa is fierce and explosive. Terra Elementa is extremely sturdy and crushing. Ner¨® Elementa is flowing and generally has some healing properties. Each Elementa can also have deviants. For example, Aard Elementa can have some spacial properties, allowing the Aaardum to store items in a small pocket dimension..."


    As Keith finished speaking, voices could be heard outside, then came a knock at the door. Keith sighed as he moved towards the door. When he opened it, two women were standing there, one looking to be about 16 and the other much older.


    "Grandpa! Why did you move without telling us? We went to where you used to live and found literally nothing... Oh and um... Hello!" shouted the young girl.


    "Please come in!" He replied while he gave a small chuckle.


    The two women entered the house and noticed Jacob. "Grandpa, who is this boy? Why is he here?" asked the young girl, looking slighty shocked to see anyone else here.


    "That is Jacob. He is my new disciple!"


    "But... But... He''s just a peasant boy!"

 Affinity

    Chapter 2


    "Ahh! It''s that girl from the carriage!" Jacob muttered under his breath


    after hearing her speak normally.


    "That girl from the carriage? Little boy, were you spying on us?" asked the


    mother with a bemused expression.


    "Umm... errr... you heard that? I swear I wasn''t spying, I was just next to


    you when you on the road outside the village and I heard you talking."


    Jacob replied meekly.


    "He is an Aardum, Keith?" asked the mother.


    Keith nodded with a smile, "He just found out today!"


    "I even put up a sound barrier, around the carriage, to dampen the sound


    but he still heard us? That is some sensitive hearing. He has potential. Do


    you want me to teach him the basics? I don''t mind." The mother said.


    "Don''t worry, I''ll teach him the basics for now, I''ll send him to you when


    im satisfied." replied Keith


    "Let me test his affinity quickly. I''m interested to see what his starting


    affinity is." She said as a clear stone appeared in her hand.


    When Jacob saw this, he was shocked. Where did this stone come?


    "I pulled it out of my pocket dimension, no need to look so shocked little


    one. My name is Tabitha by the way. My daughter''s name is Tanya, sorry for


    her rudeness earlier." She said as she glanced at her daughter. "Anyway,


    would you mind placing your hand on this Stone for me? It is a stone to


    test the affinity with Aard.It''s completely safe."


    Looking to Keith, Jacob sees him nod and proceeds to place his hand on the


    stone. The stone immediately changes colours to black and then starts to


    slowly change colour. Tabitha''s one eyebrow raises as it changes from black


    to brown.


    Orange... The colour stabalized at red! Jacob looks up to see the shocked


    looks on everyone''s face. "Why does everybody look so shocked? Is it that


    ba..." A loud cracking sound suddenly came from the stone. Looking down at


    the stone, there are cracks visible inside the stone, not on the surface


    but inside the stone. As Jacob opened his mouth, "DEVIANT!" shouted Tanya


    with shock evident in her voice. Jacob wanted to look at her but his gaze


    was stuck on the stone as the cracks slowly started to twist and turn as


    they spread throughout the stone. When the cracks neared the edge, they


    stopped. They then quickly withdrew back towards the centre and as the last


    crack reached the centre, the stone flickered and changed colour to white.


    "Extreme Space deviant!" Tabitha shouts out in shock. She slowly looks


    Jacob up and down before saying, "Jacob, your affinity is exactly average


    but... you are an extreme deviant! That is extremely rare young man!" she


    This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.says with appreciation evident on her face."I will leave my daughter in


    your hands Father-in-law. I need to leave now, before i steal him from you!"


    With that, she pockets the stone before anyone could notice the completely


    clear section on one of the edges, turned and walked right out of the door.


    Tanya was still in shock and didn''t hear what her mother had just said. She


    just stood there, staring at Jacob with shock written all over her face.


    The room was completely silent as 3 people stared at each other.After a


    minute, Jacob was the first to speak."Ummm... what now?"


    Snapping out of her daze, Tanya looks around and can''t her mother."Where''s


    mother?"


    "She left you with me and left already. And to answer your question Jacob"


    Said keith as a mischievous smile spread his face, "BASICS!"


    The next day,Keith was wearing a shabby and old set of clothes instead of


    his Terrum Master outfit, which was quite the contrast. Keith then started


    to teach Jacob how to access the Elementa flowing through his body. It took


    6 hours for Jacob to access the Elementa in his body."Six hours boy. once


    again, perfectly average!" Jested Keith as he looked at his disciple. He


    then looked over at Tanya to see her practicing augmenting her skin with


    her Terra. "Look at Tanya jacob, she is also deviant. She is a Metal


    deviant! she can augment her skin with her Terra to make her skin harder.


    She also has a rare metal affinity. Any metal weighs up to 100 times less


    to her than others. She can swing a 300 Kilo sword with ease." He said with


    a smug look on his face. "Enough training for today! Here is some coin, go


    into the village and buy some clothes, since neither of you have a change


    of clothes... Blame your mother for that one Tanya. Be back by sundown!"


    On the way to the village, Jacob tried many times to talk to Tanya but he


    failed to say anything everytime he tried because when he looked at her,


    she had a sour expression and he just didn''t know what to say. Eventually


    he just gave up. After they bought some clothes from the village, Tanya


    looked even more sour and kept mouthing something as they hiked back.


    "Good! You''re both back. Dinner is served!" he said dramatically as he and


    gestured towards the table. "By the way, this is the last time I will


    prepare food for you two... Also, you guys will be sleeping in the woods


    behind my house! I don''t want you too close to the house. I expect you two


    outside my house and ready for training at dawn! Now Eat up and shoo!" With


    that he walked into his room and closed the door.


    Jacob and Tanya just stood in the doorway with their mouths agape for a


    while and then looked at each other in utter disbelief.