《Intervention》 Prologue - Fish out of Water These kids are going to be the death of me. No, don¡¯t get me wrong, they¡¯re not mine; they¡¯re all my students. My name is Jacob Hutch, and I¡¯m a professor at SFU. I¡¯m teaching the introductory chemistry course that most of them are failing. I believe that students should be graded based on whether they understand the material or not, so instead of just standardized testing, I give them free reign to demonstrate that they have grasped the current material. For example, one of my students, Thomas, made his own soap from sodium hydroxide (lye) and chicken fat, which was pretty neat. On the other hand, those who are just here for a grade, or just don¡¯t care, can take the written test on the chapter. One particular group of my students, three boys: Shaun, Jake, and Germain, are part of the latter group, and just don¡¯t care. They accomplish the bare minimum to not fail. Not only that, but they antagonize anyone who shows enthusiasm for the class. I know those little snots are bullying Thomas, but I have no evidence, and Thomas won¡¯t talk about it. Today I had to pardon Thomas from the class because I could see that he was visibly shaken, and I caught glimpses of soap and suds in his teeth when he was giving his demonstration. ¡°Well, I can¡¯t do anything about it now, I¡¯ll just finish grading these last few tests and call it a night,¡± I muttered to myself as I clicked on the lamp from my desk. The overall score for the tests weren¡¯t bad, even without a curve, except for three, of course. It looks like they all shared answers; unfortunately, they shared all the wrong answers. Each of them scored a 17%. ¡°Ha!¡± They¡¯re all going to fail my class now. Oh good lord, I hope I don¡¯t have them as students again. ¡°Oh, so you were in here professor.¡± ¡°Yes, I¡¯m just finishing up with grading your exams, Shaun.¡± I said getting up from my seat behind the desk. ¡°Good, then that makes this simple. I need a good grade on that test.¡± ¡°Why the sudden interest in-¡° ¡°You know DAMN well why since you failed me on last chapter!¡± ¡°That¡¯s because you were trying to piggyback off of another student¡¯s demonstration and I had already told you that anyone who chooses that method for assessment has to demonstrate that they understand the material individually even if they are in a group. Not only that, but I also stated that each student is taking a risk when choosing that method as it¡¯s entirely based on my personal judgment on whether you understand the material, or not.¡± ¡°THAT¡¯S A LOAD OF BULLSHIT! If, I don¡¯t pass this class, then I will be expelled for failing a class while on academic probation and my dad will take my car and make me work in plumbing with him.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not my fault, nor is it my problem. You should have tried harder in my class.¡± ¡°Professor Hutch is right, Shaun¡­¡± Thomas¡¯ voice eked out from the doorway. Shaun¡¯s face was priceless. It was pure, unadulterated surprise written out on his face. At first his eyebrows shot up and apart, his eyes opened completely, his pupils dilated, and his mouth slightly agape, but then it changed. As soon as he realized who had said it, his lips pursed together, eyebrows drew in and down making short vertical lines appear on his brow. It was rage. His facial expression was screaming violence. ¡°Haven¡¯t you learned your lesson yet dumbass, or should Germain, Jake, and I teach you again?¡± Shaun said as he turned his head towards Thomas. ¡°With your scores, I don¡¯t think you should be teaching anybody anythi-¡± I wasn¡¯t thinking. I shouldn¡¯t be provoking a student that¡¯s already this mad. Shaun walked up to me slowly, I assumed that he was going to put on a show to try and regain his pride, but I didn¡¯t expect him to hit me. It was a swift right hook to my left side that stole my breath. I heard an audible crack as a few of my ribs gave way. Wasn¡¯t he taking Taekwondo in his free time? Gasping, for air, as my punctured lung filled with blood, I shouted out to Thomas, ¡°Run! Don¡¯t stop until you get a hold of the cops. Go!¡± Shaun tried to turn and run at Thomas, but I hurriedly grabbed his leg and tripped him up. ¡°Let me go old man!¡± ¡°N- Can¡¯t¡­ ¨Curt Th-mas¡­!¡± I was doing all I could to give Thomas a good head start, but I couldn¡¯t over power this kid less than a third of my age. Then I felt a sharp pain in my left again, but this time a warm, wet, feeling crept over the area. I opened my eyes and Shaun kicked away from me. ¡°You made me do it old man¡­ you made me do it!¡± I¡¯d been stabbed, and he was panicking as he continued to drag himself away from me. Shit, how did I even get into this position? Aren¡¯t I supposed to be a teacher? Why did this idiot think it was a good idea to stab me? I couldn¡¯t see very clearly because my glasses had flown across the room, and the blood loss was starting to affect me, but I could tell that I was covered in my own blood. It must have splattered too, because it had gotten on my face and graying hair. As I continued to have my little internal monologue, I saw the gears click into place in Shaun¡¯s head as his eyes snapped to the door. Oh god, he¡¯s remembered that Thomas witnessed the whole thing. I tried to reach for him, but I felt so heavy. Every move I made towards him hastened the blackness encroaching on my vision, but I had to reach Shaun before he got up. Moments before reaching him, he shot up and backed away from me, terrified, but still raging inside. He wasn¡¯t done. ¡°No, -haun. You don¡¯t have to do this.¡± But it was already too late. He turned on his heels and sprinted to the door as my consciousness started to fade. No, this can¡¯t be it. My student is in danger, and I can¡¯t do anything to prevent it. It made me furious at myself. I clung onto that anger, that heat, until everything went black. Suddenly, it got very bright, like a light was being shown in my face with my eyes closed. I tried screaming in anger, but I couldn¡¯t make a sound come out. I couldn¡¯t feel my body, I must be paralyzed from when I was stabbed. I could make out two figures because they were standing in front of the light, and they were murmuring something, but I could barely hear what they were saying. ¡°I need him in order to prevent a calamity¡± Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°That¡¯s perfect, because if he stays like this, he will cause an imbalance, so he can¡¯t stay here.¡± ¡°So, is it okay if I move him over here?¡± ¡°Yes, I''ll send him over, but on the condition that you do not contact him. Until he calms down, he will cause many things to go wrong over on this end.¡± Excuse me. I can hear you assholes. What kind of hospital is this? Take care of your patients! I got more frustrated and tried to scream again, but lost consciousness, and everything went dim. Waking up, yet again, but this time to a much dimmer light, and I was still furious. I have to know if Thomas is okay. ¡°Uwaaaaaaaa!¡± I tried screaming again, but what I heard was not my voice. It was coming from me, I could feel it reverberate in my body, but it was muffled and too high pitched. ¡°UuuuWAAAAAAAAAAA!¡± I try screaming again to confirm, and it¡¯s the same voice. Are my ears messed up, because his voice sounded normal? ¡°He¡¯s breathing! It was a success. Congratulations.¡± Yes, I¡¯m breathing. Thanks for letting me know Doc. Whatever, it¡¯s really cold in this hospital, I feel wet, and I can¡¯t open my eyes. Then I felt something warm cover me and I felt sleep beginning to creep up on me again, so I starting kicking and screaming to try and stave it off, but it was no use. Sleep eventually overtook me. Before I could really settle into my sleep, I was shaken awake. ¡®God, can¡¯t you let a guy get some sleep? I was just stabbed.¡¯ It seems like they¡¯re moving me to another hospital again. This ambulance needs to have its suspension swapped out. Eventually, we came to a complete stop, and being unable to open my eyes, I strain my ears against the blackness. Everything was muffled, but it sounded like I was outside of an IMAX theater showing some sort of Michael Bay film; in other words, lots of muffled explosions and screaming. It got quiet just as soon as it started, and the ambulance shook a bit. I supposed I¡¯m finally being moved again. Just be gentle when you move me¡¯ I thought, as I drifted back off to sleep, but that thought was cut short as the ambulance tipped over, but I wasn¡¯t hurt. ¡°¡­!¡± ¡®Whose voice is that?¡¯ ¡°¡­¡­!¡± Then, I realize that my eyes are open as they adjust to the darkness, and I realize that I¡¯m not in an ambulance. It looks more like the inside of a train cabin, but more rustic. The gilded wooden roof had been torn off to reveal the night sky, and my eyes went wide in surprise¡­ ¡®Two moons¡­?¡¯ Reflected in my eyes was a sky very unfamiliar to me. I couldn¡¯t see Orion¡¯s Belt, the Big Dipper, the North Star, Beetlejeuce, or any of the regular constellations for that matter, but the most noticeable difference, was the two enormous celestial bodies resting over me. One just slightly larger than the other, and both a beautiful pale blue. Then I noticed the woman just in front of me. Her face was illuminated by the pale light from the moons, and she was beautiful, but something seemed off. Her lustrous brown hair, parted to the side, fell on her shoulder and down her bosom. Her eyes, a more deep and passionate blue than the moons themselves, spoke silent words of compassion and pity that could pierce the heart of any man. Her lips, a subtle pink, overflowing with youth that didn¡¯t betray her age which must have been late twenties at most. She was speaking, but in a tongue that I couldn¡¯t understand. I was captivated by her so I instinctively tried to reach out a hand to caress her cheek, but only a baby¡¯s hand came into view. I tried to bring the hand closer to my face and, with a little delay, it obeyed. That was my hand, but how? Before I had a chance to think about anything further, the young woman lightly grasped my hands, and I saw in her eyes a look one see¡¯s only once in a lifetime. It¡¯s the same look my late wife gave my daughter when she was born. A look of hope; the inaudible promise that you will be loved and protected for as many years as we have in this world. A look that betrays all the potential and dreams of infinite possibility only a child can have. I looked at my hand again, and it was the same tiny hand as before, moving as I command it. I couldn¡¯t be sure, but I think I¡¯m this woman¡¯s child. This is too vivid to be a dream, but how can it be anything except that? I looked at the woman, but her eyes were losing their light. Worried, I looked down and saw that she was cleanly cut in two from the waist down. She was dying and, in her last moments of life, she tried to bestow all the well-wishes and hope a mother can to her child before they go. It was truly a piteous sight that I could resonate with, for my wife had given the same look to our daughter on her death-bed. Through my grasped hand, I could feel a subtle warmth, like a rush of blood through my fingertips that coursed its way to my center. It was bright and felt like a weightless blanket that stole the discomfort from my body. It shone brightly with a flame whose color was a bleached blue as frost is upon the window of a cold morning sky. The more the flame danced, the more I could feel the fatigue washing off of my body. I remembered the feeling in my hand, of the warm flame and, to the woman¡¯s surprise, the flame whirled around on the palm of my hand as if it listened to my every whim. A gentle smile overtook her face as the light in her eyes paled further. As I wondered just how many more seconds she had left in this world, a lanky man stepped through the debris of the cabin. He wore his dark hair back in a bun, and his narrowed eyes scanned around what now appears to be a carriage. His eyes flew wide in surprise at the sight before him; a young woman and a baby enveloped in azure flame. As his expression changes to panic, I recall Shaun¡¯s expression and realize exactly what he¡¯s going to do. I raise my hands towards him as he readies a sword over his head. This is a gentle fire, so it won¡¯t work. I need a fast and hot fire that leaves nothing behind. I closed my eyes and thought to gather all the fire in the area; anything that felt like this weightless warmth, and condense it into my hand. Then I let it turn white hot as I wished the fire to change its intention, and then I shot it like quicksilver as his blade swung down. The woman pushed herself over me as everything was drowned in a blinding white followed quickly by a ¡®crack¡¯ that reverberated the world around us, threatening to blow away even the light that now impedes its path suffused into the air around us. Chapter 1 - Immersion Chapter 1 - Immersion As the white faded, I quickly stole a breath of air and looked around me surroundings. It was day now, but I couldn¡¯t see the woman or the carriage anymore. I was wrapped in a blanket and there was a roof over my head now. Had I been knocked out? The sound of my stomach broke the silence and a younger girl quickly came to my bedside and lifted me to her bosom. I¡¯m a grown man. This shouldn¡¯t be right, but I¡¯m in the body of a newborn, and I¡¯m hungry. I greedily took the food source afforded to me, and took the opportunity to look at my benefactor. It looked to be a young girl in her late teens, or early twenties, and while she wasn¡¯t as beautiful as what I assume was my mother, she is still quite the visual treat. Her shoulder length hair was a midnight black with a sheen so lustrous it would appear white in the perfect lighting. In stark contrast to her hair, her eyes shone a wonderful array of hazel, with colors perfectly encapsulating an autumn forest at dusk. The slightest hints of violet along the outer edge, and flecks of subdued yellows and oranges are all encompassed by a predominant, but light, chestnut color whose depth loses to no ocean known to man. Was the standard of beauty much higher here? It must be, because all these women so far have been breaking the scales. She started to sing a soothing lullaby in that strange language and I felt the same weightless warmth from before. With a full stomach and the cozy atmosphere, I fell asleep to the gentle swaying whilst promising to myself that I¡¯d be more attentive to my surroundings next time I wake up. ¡ªCheyenne¡¯s Perspective¡ª I was woken up in the middle of the night by an old man knocking at the door. Normal hours for the orphanage are from 10 in the morning to 6 in the evening, so I cautiously opened the door. ¡°How can I he-¡° ¡°I found this newborn among some debris down the road. Look after him¡± The grizzled old man, wearing a viridian cloak and robe, had hardly finished his sentence when he produced the newborn from beneath his woolen cloak. It was the most precious thing that couldn¡¯t have been more than a few days old at the most. He was covered in soot, mud, and other unspeakables, but he was perfectly proportioned, almost like a doll. He was sleeping soundly despite being wet from the rain. ¡°This child¡­ I¡¯ve been told that his name is Callum Rennant. Don¡¯t speak of his family name, and do watch over him¡­ carefully.¡± I looked up to ask the old man more, but he was already gone without a sound like he had been spirited away. ¡®Rennant, like branch family to the King of Biruth?¡¯ Why would such a child be placed in my care instead of the royal midwife? ¡°¡­!¡± Callum is freezing and his pulse is slowing. He appears to be suffering from mana exhaustion, so I quickly stripped him and dried him off. I¡¯ll clean him later, but I need to stabilize him first, so I cast a beginner class Enchantment magic. [I, who understands the origin of power, seek the essence of fire to stave off chill and sickness, please protect this child!] Heat Pulse is a low difficulty detoxification magic meant to raise your resistance to Ice magic, but this version is so weak that the best it can do is fend off a slight chill. Regardless, it¡¯s doing the trick. I walked back from the lobby into the den, and sat him on the bench by the windows facing out towards the front door as I quickly fetched water and some rags. Recasting Heat Pulse on the bucket of water this time, I brought it to just above body temperature and went to work wiping him down. He was a mess! How could that old man let him get to this state? I placed a hand on his bare chest after wiping it down and began slowly infusing my own mana into the boy. It¡¯s dangerous to do all at once, so I would have to split it into multiple sessions before morning. I don¡¯t have very good control of my mana, but I¡¯m good enough to where I won¡¯t harm this child. I imagine a feeling similar to blood rushing to my core and begin collecting mana. I retain that feeling and push it out through my arm and fingertips slowly into the boy. His color returns as his regular beige skin tone blossoms out from where I¡¯m touching. His breathing slows and he lets out a small sigh as he gets comfortable, adjusting himself. As it turns out, his hair is a chestnut brown, not black. ¡°Ha-ha¡­ you¡¯ve been through a lot, haven¡¯t you?¡± I spoke to him in the gentlest tone I could eke out. He looks so much like my little Ryner when he was born. The motherly feelings that I had thought I¡¯d lost began welling inside my chest as the tears started flowing. I continued bathing him as memories of the child I¡¯d lost at birth a month ago painfully resurfaced. I noticed a scar, or a birthmark, on his left side; it was a cute little crescent. After I had finished cleaning him up, I set him down in the nursery, the room just to the left of the window if you¡¯re facing the front wall. He looks so content sleeping there. It almost feels criminal to have to wake him in a few hours. I returned to my chambers with a reignited determination. I will protect this child from any harm that comes his way. I promise, my little Callum. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. I woke early that morning and swiftly made my way over to Callum¡¯s side. He was still sleeping soundly, but it was just daybreak. I¡¯ll let him sleep a while longer before I begin his treatment again. About an hour later, he began to stir and his eyes shot open like he¡¯d been startled by his own stomach growling. Poor thing must be starving. Having gone through child birth recently, I was still producing milk, so I hurried over to him and gently lifted him to by breast. He made an interesting face, but his stomach growled again and his expression quickly surrendered to hunger. As he hesitatingly ate, I pulled him in a bit tighter and began infusing my mana again, but this time I permeated the air around us with mana and allowed it to cover Callum. His body should do the rest. [I, who understands the source of knowledge, seek the essence of the wind to calm the mind] I cast a beginner Healing Enchantment meant to calm the mind with my voice as the medium. The magic uses my voice to permeate the air and affect all those around me in a given area and with a good amount of mana gathered, I begin a lullaby. ¡ªCallum¡¯s/Jacob¡¯s Perspective¡ª The next time I woke up, it was already mid-day, and significantly noisy. I appeared as though I was in a nursery, but there were candles instead of lights, and the building seemed far from the building standards of the post-industrialized world. As a scientist and a teacher, I know I¡¯m supposed to be open to different possibilities, but I can¡¯t quite bring myself to believe that I have reverted to a baby in a different world. I gaze back down at my body, but I can¡¯t quite muster the strength in my neck to lift my head, but I can still see the telltale signs of baby fat. I lift my arm, and I realize that all the fatigue from the other day is gone. I feel great! ¡°Uuuaaa~!¡± Oh, my tongue isn¡¯t exactly cooperating with this body, so I guess intelligent sounds are a no-go until I get used to it. I¡¯ll take that as a good thing, since I¡¯m not quite sure how they¡¯d handle a talking newborn. Are demons a thing in this world? Probably. I¡¯d better not push it. Now, the thing that piqued my curiosity the other day¡­ right! I had tried to stop that guy from killing my mother before I was knocked out. Well, it¡¯s not like I can do anything about it now. She was basically dead anyways, so I guess there was nothing I could¡¯ve done anyways. Though I say that, it doesn¡¯t help me feel any better. ¡°¡­!¡± The black haired woman just walked in again, and I still can¡¯t understand a word of what she¡¯s saying, but it must be something along the lines of, ¡®Ah, you¡¯re awake!¡¯ Following quickly behind her is a slew of other kids anywhere from 3-9 years of age. She picks me up, and it looks like the collective switch gets flipped as they start doing what I assume is asking her questions about me in rapid succession. Oh my. That¡¯s an interesting smell. Which one of¡­ oh, it seems that I emptied my bowels in the night. That¡¯s unfortunate. ¡°Uuugu uuumaoo!¡± Help, I¡¯m in distress! I¡¯m being stripped against my will! That¡¯s my butt, lady. Where do you think you¡¯re touching? Look, you¡¯ve done your job, now clothe me, woman! ¡°Cheyenne. *** *** **** ** Chey?¡± She was pointing at herself saying ¡®Chey¡¯ and ¡®Cheyenne¡¯ over and over, so that must be her name. Chey, huh? That¡¯s a nice name. Wait, how about we make me decent first, then you can try and teach me your name. Yes, pants. I love pants. I¡¯m pretty sure I¡¯m going to have a stigma about this later in life, but let¡¯s push it into the recesses of the mind, shall we? Clothed and presentable to the world again, I examine the other kids gawking at me. It seems like your typical human isn¡¯t the only intelligent biped anymore. At least, last time I checked, toddlers don¡¯t have big bushy beards where I¡¯m from, so I¡¯m just going to assume that he¡¯s a dwarf. Along with the dwarf boy stood a few other children: a cat-eared boy, a human girl and boy, an elf-girl, and a raccoon girl. Obviously, Chey was human. I ate, I crapped, and I napped. This is the life¡­ at least, I wish I could continue this lifestyle, but I need to return to my own world. If it¡¯s possible for me to be transported to a different world, then I can believe that there is also the possibility of me being able to go back to my world at the time of my death. Magic seems to exist in this world, so there should be some spell that could help me. Curse this infantile body. After a few hours, I can¡¯t help but fall asleep. I¡¯m just going to have to wait for this body to develop more. Chapter 2 - Soaked Chapter 2 - Soaked ¡ª5 Months Later¡ª As it turns out, the human language is very similar to the systems I¡¯m familiar with on Earth. It didn¡¯t take me very long to figure it out since Chey likes to read to me. She had read a book to me, one time, that had a map in it, and it looked nothing like what I¡¯m familiar with. It showed five continents, and their world is named Arun. If I can trust the accuracy of a children¡¯s book, then I¡¯m in an orphanage on the continent of Biruth in a country called Tir. ¡°Cal, it¡¯s time to for lunch!¡± You¡¯re right on time Chey. I was just starting to feel the pangs of starvation. It¡¯s already past noon and you¡¯re just now waking up. How am I supposed to grow if you keep starving me like this you irresponsible woman. Social Services, Police, Santa, anyone, save me from this neglect! ¡°What¡¯s that face for little guy? Do you need a changing again?¡± Don¡¯t try to change the subject while I¡¯m trying to stare literal daggers into you, but yes, I do, and I¡¯ll happily announce that it¡¯s absolutely horrific. After I¡¯m changed and fed, she takes me over to the shelf to grab a book to read. I notice a book that seems out of place amongst the group at the top of the shelf, so I waggle my arm at it as best I can to get her attention. ¡°¡­Introduction to Magic? Well, it¡¯s not like you understand what I¡¯m saying with any of these books anyways.¡± ¡°Uwa.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t respond like you do understand what I¡¯m saying. That¡¯s kind of creepy Cal.¡± I actually do understand now, but I¡¯ll let you believe whatever you want as long as you read that book. ¡°This was the first book I had bought when I was a kid Cal. I know you don¡¯t understand it yet, but I hope that when you become a great mage, that you use this magic well and for a good cause.¡± All matter contains mana and that mana is used as the fuel for magic. A mage can use his own mana or mana from his surroundings to cast a spell, but apparently it¡¯s more difficult to use external mana as one has to be able to sense it outside of their body. Thanks to my lack of understanding in the beginning, and my mother who introduced me to magic early, I was able to spend the last 5 months replicating the feeling of collecting mana from my crib. It¡¯s something entirely foreign to me, but after playing around with it I feels like I¡¯ve known about it all of my life. For me, mana feels like a surge of warmth through my body like when feeling suddenly returns to a limb after letting it fall asleep. After playing with it for a while longer, I figured out that as long as you know generally what you trying to accomplish with mana, you can make it happen. Take fire for example, you¡¯re using mana to ignite the oxygen in the air and you can change the properties of the fire by fueling it with different gasses. Having an extensive background in chemistry should be of some use here. [I, who understands the source of power, seek the essence of water] Chey cast the beginner water spell from the book and created a fist sized ball of water above her palm. Interesting, that is. What¡¯s the chant for? Is that like training wheels for the spell? After she¡¯d gotten through the book, I had a rough understanding of how mana and magic worked, so now I just need her to leave the room so I can try it out for myself. ¡°Thank you Cal.¡± Thank me¡­ for what? I haven¡¯t done anything to warrant a ¡®thank you¡¯, actually I should be thanking you, but I¡¯m an infant, so I¡¯ll just make a face at you for now. ¡°ha-ha. It¡¯s almost like you understand what I¡¯m saying. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if you could talk already and you¡¯re just hiding it from me¡± Whoa there Chey. You¡¯re scaring me. A ditz like you shouldn¡¯t have moments of clarity like that too often; it¡¯s bad for my health. Now feed me and get ready to change me again. Mwahahahaha! With Chey and the other children all in the den, I was free to experiment with magic in the nursery. I chose the fire magic that my mother used to save me the night I was born. First I closed my eyes and imagined the mana collecting in my hand. Then I thought of a gentle warmth escaping just above the skin. I opened my eyes, let the mana seep out, and a delicate blue flame was produced atop my open hand. Yes, I did it! Now let¡¯s see if you can mess with it after casting. I moved the fire back and forth across the room while supplying a steady stream of mana, but I started feeling very sluggish after a while. Is it time for me to take a nap already? No, it can¡¯t be. I had just woken up from one not too long ago. Now let¡¯s try adding a spin to it. Before I could even try, the flame dispersed and my eyelids got unbearably heavy. I couldn¡¯t lift my arms and I was face down on the bed spread, and lying down like that, my consciousness was stolen from me. ¡°That¡¯s called mana exhaustion, Cal¡± Just becoming conscious again, my eyes shot open and I frantically searched around the room for the source of the words directed at me. It was Ciel, the Cat demi-human, with his head poking in between the slats on my crib. ¡°Thank you for the tip. Why did you not tell Chey that I can talk and use magic Ciel?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t know you could talk, but that makes this easier. Cal, as long as you don¡¯t try and make any trouble for Chey, I won¡¯t tell anyone. Everyone has got their reasons.¡± Ciel said, puffing out his chest. ¡°You¡¯re awfully sharp for a 7 year old¡± ¡°You¡¯re one to talk.¡± ¡°Point taken.¡± ¡°So, what are you?¡± ¡°Well, as far as I can tell, I am a human.¡± ¡°You know quite a bit for a human baby.¡± At this point, I was wondering if not I should come clean to Ciel. I¡¯ve got things that I need to do, and having someone in my corner would be a big help. Just then, his almond eyes shone from behind the curtain of auburn hair as if he could tell what I was thinking. Am I that obvious? Well, a half-truth shouldn¡¯t hurt. ¡°Ciel, it is like this, someone did something to me, and now I have a lot of memories that are not my own¡­ if that explains anything. I do not know who did it, or why it happened, but that is my situation.¡± ¡°Okay, that¡¯s fine. Just don¡¯t make any trouble for Chey. She is good to us.¡± ¡°I think Chey is good too. I will try not to make too much trouble for her.¡± I told him with a smile. With an expression of approval, Ciel grasped the side of my crib and vaulted over to my side. ¡°Now, show me what you did again. Was that fire magic? It was so cool! I want to do that.¡± ¡°Yes, that was fire magic. My body feels alright, and I want to try it again anyways, so sit still.¡± If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Ciel obediently sat down and watched while I prepared to cast the magic. What was the problem last time? Ciel said that it was mana exhaustion, and I can¡¯t imagine that my mana pool should be that small forever, so maybe I should use smaller spells until I get used to using mana. Let¡¯s test the theory. I closed my eyes and created a smaller image this time. Instead of covering my surroundings with a blanket of flames, I thought a more golf ball sized flame would do for now. With the image steady in my mind, I began collecting mana into my hand directly this time. As soon as it felt like the right amount I let it seep from my hand and ignite. The small threads of fire collected into a very subdued orb of red flame. The drain was significantly less than when I cast a blue flame, so temperature must play a factor. Now let¡¯s see if intensity plays a factor as well. I withdrew the flame to my index finger and increased the amount of mana and oxygen being fed into the flame. The effect was immediate and, as long as I continued to feed it mana, it moved as intended. The mana cost steadily increased so I returned it back to its original form as a will-o-wisp above my upturned hand. ¡°Wow, you can even do it chantless!¡± ¡°Is that something unusual?¡± ¡°Yeah, only some really talented mages can cast magic without a chant.¡± ¡°Interesting, it is not that hard though?¡± ¡°How do you do it then?¡± After explaining my process to him, he tried to cast a fire as I had done, but he was breathing heavily after a few attempts. ¡°Here, let me show you again.¡± I decided to cast a water ball this time and talk him through the process. ¡°First, form a clear image of what you want to happen in your mind. I¡¯m imagining the moisture from the air being drawn to a single point above my hand.¡± ¡°Then, I feel for the mana in and around my body. To me, it feels like a warm, weightless blanket that makes the air feel a little thicker.¡± I gathered the mana slowly in my hand, monitoring my body for any signs of exhaustion. ¡°When you have some mana collected, imagine the mana coming from your hand into the point you have in your mind.¡± At that point a small baseball sized orb of water took shape. Ciel followed suit, and made his water ball, although, it was a little bigger and unstable. ¡°Great! Now stabilize the form in your mind and still the water ball.¡± ¡°This is amazing, how¡¯d you figure it out? How do you fire it?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, and I don¡¯t know.¡± Thinking about it, do I fire it the same way that I made it? With that train of thought, I tried to apply a little force behind the ball, and it exploded forward with a splat. ¡°Oh, my bad. I guess that was a bit too direct.¡± ¡°Umm, well if we can¡¯t figure out how to launch it yet, how do we get rid of it?¡± ¡°For my Will-o-wisp, I just cut the supply of mana.¡± Ciel turned his attention back to his water ball, and it fell straight down, soaking the bedding. ¡°I¡¯m¡­ sorry.¡± ¡°Hahahaha, that is okay!¡± I said reassuringly while trying to stifle a laugh. Determined to cast a proper water ball, I had Ciel grab a bucket so we wouldn¡¯t have any more spills. ¡°So, the problem now is that the water ball just explodes when I try to launch it. Am I using too much force, or am I¡­ applying it the wrong way?¡± I form the water ball and, unlike before, I started spinning the ball until it was starting to froth up from the speed. This was consuming a huge portion of my infant sized mana pool, so I had to launch it quickly. Aiming down at the bucket, I imagined a cone of mana behind the water ball and pulled the trigger. The water ball left my hand with surprising force and was heading straight for the bucket a few feet away. Not good! ¡°Cal!¡± It nailed the bucket with enough force to shoot it into the wall almost 10 feet across the room, landing with a crash. I could feel my eyelids getting really heavy. Changing the spell like that took up much more mana than I thought it would have, but I could use more magic than yesterday, so your aggregate mana must increase the more you use it. ¡°Ciel, I am sorry¡­ I can¡¯t¡­ stay awake¡­¡± I could see him trying to say something to me, but I am too tired to understand. Soaked in today¡¯s successful attempt, I fell asleep. Chapter 3 - School Cliques Chapter 3 - School Cliques I awoke the next morning to find the room dry, and void of any evidence from the previous night¡¯s experimentation. Ciel must have cleaned it up after I fell unconscious from mana exhaustion. Speaking of mana, I need to see if my aggregate mana has increased. I should stick to using a single spell in the future so I have a baseline to compare with. Ciel was across the room and sleeping like the dead, which is probably from mopping up our mess. Almost like clockwork, Chey came in and we went through our morning routine of changing, feeding, and playing. I¡¯m almost 6 months old at this point, so I start saying basic words that she repeats a lot in order to maintain my fa?ade of a slightly gifted baby. Her expression was priceless when she first heard me say ¡®Chey¡¯. It reminded me of when my daughter, Leah, had first called me ¡®papa¡¯. In her excitement, she woke the other children sleeping in the room. Turning red from embarrassment, she quickly apologized to the shell-shocked orphans for waking them earlier than normal, and went to prepare breakfast. After everyone had shaken off their grogginess, and left for the den to go play, I began testing the limits of my mana. I chose to cast a high temperature fireball as it would merely dissipate when I exhausted my mana completely. With my current amount of mana, I¡¯m able to keep the spell active for ten minutes before I start feeling heavy, and another 2 minutes before I lose consciousness. I wake up a few hours later to Chey lifting me from the crib, right on schedule. As if intentionally trying to foil my plan for the day, she moved me to the den with the other kids. Tch, now my plans are foiled. I try not to admit it, but I feel as though I¡¯m acting more immature each day. To go from 63 years old to newborn is something everyone wishes for at least once in their lives. Maybe I should put some thought into making the most out of this second chance until I can figure out how to return to my world. Having been sat down in the den, I took some time to observe the other children. I¡¯ve been so absorbed in getting used to various things about my body, that I never really had a chance to learn anything else. The Demi-humans were the ones with the partial animal anatomy, like Ciel for example. It wasn¡¯t only limited to cats apparently as there was a 5 year old raccoon Demi-human named Rukh running around. It makes me wonder how many other variations there are. The others playing with Rukh were: Talia and Ulrich, the human children, and Thurr, the dwarf. Apart from Rukh, they were aged 7, 6, and 9, respectively. Elena, the elf girl, who didn¡¯t speak by the way, was reading on the other side of the room trying to pay as little attention as possible to the other children. I sat there, in the center of the floor, stacking some blocks like a good little baby whilst observing the kids, when Ciel finally rose from the dead. He groggily made his way over to me and plopped down beside me. ¡°Thank you for cleaning all that up last night Ciel.¡± ¡°What are you talking about? Do you really think I had time to clean all of that up before Chey came running into the room?¡± ¡°Then what happened?¡± ¡°Chey came running in and I told her the truth.¡± ¡°You¡­!¡± ¡°I told her I was practicing magic and that I was sorry that I¡¯d made a mess.¡± ¡°Does that ¡®thank you¡¯ still stand?¡± ¡°Good kitty.¡± ¡°Now that¡¯s just rude.¡± ¡°Heh, sorry. Thank you, Ciel.¡± Ciel is a good kid; I think I can trust him from now on. While we were talking, a leather ball flew at us from across the room. I didn¡¯t know how much physical damage this body could take, so I panicked and raised my hand about to cast water ball, but Ciel dashed in front of me, pushing my hand down. The ball was made out of rough leather, and hit him hard enough for the ¡®ping¡¯ to reverberate in my eardrums. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. The ball came from the group of kids and the two human children were playing ¡®keep away¡¯ with Elena and her book. Why do kids have to act like this? Thurr, the dwarf child stepped forward with the look of contempt. ¡°Hey what¡¯s a sub-human like you thinking!? Our ball is filthy now!¡± Ciel whipped his head back around and jumped at the dwarf, but before he could get to him, Chey walked through the door. ¡°Stop.¡± The whole room stopped breathing except for one: the physical manifestation of terror incarnate. The slow pace she was taking, coupled with how she was visibly trying, and failing, to conceal her anger. When she reached the two of them, she snatch up Ciel and his face up to her level. ¡°What have I told you about fighting?¡± ¡°But, he-¡­¡± ¡°What did I tell you about fighting.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry Chey. I won¡¯t do it again.¡± ¡°Good boy, now apologize to Thurr.¡± Dejectedly, Ciel apologized to the bearded boy who was wearing a nasty smile that was hard to notice unless you were staring at it from my level. I noticed the elf girl stealing away to the shared bedroom in the commotion. After Ciel received his punishment, Chey came over and picked me up to feed me. ¡°I don¡¯t know what to do Cal. I know that we¡¯re a little isolated out here, but we¡¯re not far away from town and I need to help these kids find families of their own.¡± I let out an ¡®Mmm¡¯ to try and reassure her as best as a baby can and she just gave me a wry smile. She set me down in the crib after I¡¯d eaten my fill and then left with Elena to get the other kids¡¯ dinner prepared. Ciel joined me just after Chey had left. Apparently part of his punishment was being sent to bed with no dinner. ¡°Do not be too mad at Chey, she didn¡¯t know any better.¡± ¡°I know Cal. It just makes me mad is all. Oh, and I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve heard me use compound words a lot. Would you mind using them? It sounds so¡­ weird hearing a 6 month old baby talk like that.¡± ¡°Is ¡®don¡¯t¡¯ correct in this case?¡± ¡°Yup. Also try using ¡®you¡¯re¡¯, ¡®your¡¯, ¡®hasn¡¯t¡¯, and ¡®won¡¯t¡¯.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll work on it. Do you want to try learn some wind magic with me? I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll get caught with that¡± With a plan laid out, I told him that I needed to check something tonight, before they all finished dinner, and that I¡¯d run out of mana again, so we¡¯d be learning wind magic in the morning. As it turns out, my theory was correct. I was able to keep the spell active for almost twice as long as this morning. Of course, that means that I was out cold¡­ again.
I''m sorry that it took so long to get this one out. It''s been one hell of a day. Let me know what you guys think and thank you to the two of you that left me reviews. I''ll be taking it to heart and working on it as I go along. Cheers and thank you for reading! Chapter 4 - Backsplash Chapter 4 - Backsplash ¡°Thanks for everything yesterday, Ciel.¡± ¡°No problem. So how do we do wind magic?¡± As promised, I was working on wind magic with my associate. From what I can tell, he was having trouble imagining the concept of wind. I kept my fireball cast while explaining. ¡°Imagine it like you¡¯re blowing the dust off of something. After you¡¯ve got that, take only your body out of the image.¡± ¡°So like¡­ blowing out a candle without your mouth?¡± ¡°Yeah, try that.¡± I used my fireball to light the candle hanging from the wall and ushered Ciel to try out his idea on that. It took a few tries, but he eventually caught on to chantless wind magic and blasted the whole candle off the holder. I¡¯m now able to keep the fireball going for almost an hour, also I¡¯ve figured out that I don¡¯t need to run my tanks empty to improve my mana capacity. There¡¯s also a method to replenish your mana with the ambient mana around you that is similar to the meditation I¡¯ve seen in movies from Earth. So, after we both ran our mana supplies down, we performed, what I¡¯m calling, Mana Breathing. I had Ciel ask Cheyenne about it, and she had no recollection of a similar skill existing. That means that it¡¯s a high possibility that Ciel and I are the only two people who can use Mana Breathing. It¡¯s not that hard when you actually think about it. Once one understands the feeling of mana, it becomes easy to perceive in the air. All one has to do is draw the mana into their lungs when they breathe and let it diffuse into the body. What would normally take me 4 hours to recover now takes twenty minutes. Using this skill also seems to have an effect on one¡¯s aggregate mana as it steadily increases your maximum once you¡¯ve restored what is missing. After recovering our mana, Chey popped in to feed me and tell Ciel that lunch was ready. I made baby noises at him, and he let out a laugh as he stood up to leave. ¡°Thanks for watching Cal while I prepped lunch. He seems to really like you.¡± ¡°It¡¯s alright Chey. I actually enjoy it, so it¡¯s not a big deal.¡± Ciel said with his arms boyishly linking behind his head as he left the room. ¡°I¡¯ll join you guys after I finish feeding him¡± As I ate, she picked up the ¡®Introduction to Magic¡¯ book and began reading. Today she covered beginner healing and dual casting. The concept for healing magic was that, depending on the level of the spell, it can go from accelerating the body¡¯s natural regenerative capabilities, to re-growing limbs. Dual casting is just as it sounds, and the ledger of the book makes note of how it is the foundation of compound magic. The magic spells we sorted into their difficulty levels: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Master, and Peerless. There were various subcategories that they were further sorted into, but apparently, you got different effects depending on what spells you combined. My little blowtorch experiment was actually a compound magic called using the two spells and . If I could combine water, ice, and fire magic, could I make lightning? As a test, I created a layer of ice dust and heat, surrounded in water vapor I shrunk it to about the size of a marble just above my index finger. It was small and hidden behind the book, so Chey couldn¡¯t really see what was going on. I started agitating the layer of ice to start transferring electrons to the heat layer. I could feel the flow of electricity, so I cut mana to everything but the faint prickly feeling on the tip of my finger. I fed it a little bit more mana and I saw tiny sparks of violet leap across the pad of my finger. It worked! I can cast chantless lightning magic. Unfortunately, Chey adjusted herself at the wrong moment, and I bumped her with my statically charged hand. There was a small ¡®snap¡¯ and Chey squeaked. ¡°Ah! Jeez! Where¡¯d that come from?¡± Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. Now that I¡¯d eaten my fill, and with Chey none the wiser, she moved to set me back down in the crib. I clung to her and resisted being set down until she finally caved and brought me out into the den with the rest of the kids. ¡°Think they¡¯ll try anything today Cal?¡± ¡°You know that they will after you defied them yesterday.¡± I explained what I¡¯d figured out earlier about compound magic and lightning magic to Ciel, but after his initial shock, no pun intended, he tried and failed to wrap his head around the concept. I¡¯ll just have to show him later. It had been almost 8 hours, and they hadn''t done a thing out of the ordinary, although, Rukh seemed quite uncomfortable. I¡¯ll see what we can do for her if the need arises. Another hour and a half passed and we were almost fast asleep when the door creaked open. Three kids and two buckets of water. It was obvious what they were planning, but Rukh was absent. Looks like we¡¯re not going to have to use wind magic here. They all crept up to Ciel¡¯s bedside and dumped their buckets over his head, but the water wasn¡¯t coming out. While he feigned sleep, I was keeping the water stationary in the buckets with magic. When they moved the buckets back to see why nothing happened, I cut the flow of mana and it came splashing down on their heads eliciting a scream unbefitting of a bearded boy. Ciel couldn¡¯t help but break character and burst into laughter at the sweet irony. Not only that, but they couldn¡¯t frame anyone this time, because I¡¯m a baby, and this isn¡¯t their room. ¡°How come you know magic!?¡± Thurr said through a matted down ginger facial hair. ¡°That¡¯s not fair!¡± Talia screeched indignantly. ¡°Neither is three on one Talia.¡± It was Chey that spoke from the against the door frame. How long has she been standing there? ¡°I thought it was weird when Ciel lunged at you the other day. He isn¡¯t like that, so to make up for the way I punished him yesterday, I decided to let him get back at you guys as long as it wasn¡¯t too dangerous. Are you satisfied Ciel?¡± ¡°I would have rather not done anything, but yeah. It felt good in a way.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t get used to it little guy. When you grow up, you¡¯ll realize that revenge is not as sweet as it seems.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll keep that in mind Ma¡¯am.¡± ¡°¡­and have you three learned your lesson? You shouldn¡¯t be picking on each other.¡± ¡°Okay¡­¡± Thurr, Talia, and Ulrich said in unison. After the incident, everyone returned to their rooms, and Ciel hopped over into my crib once he was sure Elena was asleep. ¡°We got ¡®em, Cal!¡± ¡°Sure did! Though, Ciel, what Chey said is true¡­ about revenge. It hardly works out as planned and the price for it can be steep.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll take it to heart. Now show me that lightning magic you were talking about, please.¡± ¡°Alright, just stop shaking me. You¡¯ll give me Shaken Baby Syndrome.¡± ¡°What¡¯s tha- Ah, okay? Please show me!¡± Laughing, as quietly as I could, I explained lightning magic to him again and gave him a little zap on the hand. Violet light danced about the room until we both fell asleep. He never did figure out how to use lightning magic.
I''ll try and keep up the pace. 2-3 days at the most should be the longest you guys and gals ever have to wait. Cheers! Thanks for reading. Chapter 5 - An Ocean of Potential Chapter 5 ¨C An Ocean of Potential Over the course of the next three years, we maintained a steady routine of magic, and body, training. I¡¯d be 4 years old in 6 months, Ciel just turned 10, and Elena, who wasn¡¯t actually asleep the night I discovered lightning magic, will be 8 in a few months. Apparently, Elena had thought something was strange about me, especially after Ciel started learning magic, and chantless too nonetheless. The only wrinkle in the sheets was that I was moved into one of the other bedrooms with Thurr and Ulrich. It was Talia and Rukh in one room, Ciel and Elena in another, and Thurr, Ulrich, and I in the last one. Due to being in separate rooms now, I couldn¡¯t easily teach the two of them my method for magic. Speaking of magic, I couldn¡¯t even make a dent in mine with just a fireball anymore. I wound up having to cast the intermediate spell to exercise my mana pool. ¡°It¡¯s time for lunch guys! Cal, Elena, Ciel, come and eat!¡± ¡°Okay,¡± we said in unison. Today¡¯s lunch was a Yegni root soup with rabbit meat and bread. The soup tasted like ginger and I¡¯m pretty sure that it wasn¡¯t a normal rabbit, but solid food tastes so good compared to milk all the time. ¡°Alright kids since you¡¯re all a bit older, I¡¯ll be starting your basic education after lunch today. Who knows how to read?¡± I hesitated, but I raised my hand along with Elena and Ciel. I mean, it¡¯s not too farfetched that a 4 year old knows how to read¡­ right? ¡°Then I¡¯ll start you guys off on arithmetic and magic while I teach these guys how to read and write in the human language.¡± Finishing lunch, we broke up into our groups and got to work. Rukh, Thurr, Ulrich, and Talia began working on memorizing the alphabet and then Chey came our direction. She decided to teach us all magic together, so she wound up using this worlds currency to teach us mathematics. In order from lowest value, to highest, this continent uses: Stone, Iron, Copper, Silver, Blue Mithril, and Gold all in coin form. Stone coins were the equivalent of the American penny, or 1 cent, and everything following was worth ten times as much as the next. So, 1 Gold coin was worth 10 Blue Mithril coins, and 1 Blue Mithril coin was worth 10 Silver coins, and so on. She made us do some mock purchases using apples, then let us work out some basic problems until the other group finished with their work. ¡°Great, now that you guys are all done with that, meet me outside after break. It¡¯s time for some magic!¡± ¡°Cal?¡± ¡°Yes, Chey?¡± ¡°Where¡¯d you leave my ¡®Introduction to Magic¡¯ book?¡± ¡°I put it back on the shelf in your room.¡± Recently, I¡¯ve been carrying the book around and reading it, even though I¡¯ve already learned everything that it has to offer, to see if I can gleam something that we may have overlooked. That, and it gives a realistic reason as to why I can read and write already. We all gathered in the field out behind the building and stood beside one another as instructed. Chey knows that Ciel can use some magic, but she still has no idea that Elena and I can as well. ¡°I don¡¯t know how much magic you guys know, or if you were properly taught what you do know, so I will be starting from the basics.¡± She started by casting , the classless water spell with no rotation, size, or temperature modifications. After having everyone memorize the incantation, she instructed us to all cast the spell as best as we can, and to aim for the targets in front of us, starting with Thurr, the oldest. [I, who understands the source of power, seek the essence of water] A ball of water, about the size of a softball, unsteadily formed in front of his hand. After a few seconds, his face started turning red as the setting sun and his , the complete version of . The difference between the two is that has one end tapered off to allow for better aerodynamics as it¡¯s meant to be shot at a target; whereas, is just meant to create water. The four projectiles orbited his body until he directed them towards one of the straw targets about 10 feet away. They flew through the air and impacted the straw doll, sending spray and straw flying. The target that was just set up for this class, was still intact, but a lot worse for wear after the beating it just took. ¡°Wow! When did you learn Multi-Casting?¡± ¡°A little more than a year ago, Chey.¡± ¡°You¡¯re only ten, and you seem to have mastered some of the Advanced level concepts. Most people don¡¯t even start learning magic until they¡¯re ten, and you¡¯re already at this level. You must be some kind of genius.¡± ¡°If you think I¡¯m a genius, you should see Cal.¡± ¡°Cal¡­ knows magic already?¡± ¡°Yeah, he taught me almost everything I know.¡± ¡°Ciel!¡± ¡°She was going to find out anyways Cal.¡± Elena went up next. She has a bit more talent with magic than Ciel, and her aggregate mana far surpasses his as well, so she cast 8 and they were spinning so fast that they were almost pointed. They whipped through the air faster than a professional baseball pitch and tore the straw dummy to pieces. After everything settled, only a broken post and several lengths of straw were left. This was all, of course, chantless. After Ulrich barely managed to manifest , but the spell dissolved instantly after being completed. He was almost talentless. Rukh, on the other hand, had far more trouble. She could collect the mana, but it seems she was having trouble manifesting the spell. ¡°Alright Cal, it¡¯s your turn, but I want you to cast the most powerful magic that you know.¡± Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. ¡°Are you sure?¡± ¡°Yeah, blow me away.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s try and not do that. Could you have everyone stand back against the house?¡± ¡°You guys heard Cal.¡± ¡°Tch, what can the squirt do that we couldn¡¯t?¡± ¡°Listen Ulrich, if you want to get fried, then just be stubborn and stand there.¡± ¡°Stop bickering you two. Now, go stand under the awning.¡± Now that everyone was a good distance away from the targets, I had to choose between two of the more destructive spells that I¡¯ve developed. ¡°I can¡¯t use my most destructive spell, otherwise I¡¯d cause too much collateral damage to the forest around us. Is my second most powerful alright?¡± ¡°Use your best judgment, Cal.¡± I raised my hand towards the straw dummies, and gathered mana, but not in my hand. This time, I gathered mana in a single point in the center of the straw dummies. I created two hollow spheres of ice and spun the counter to each other whilst generating a small orb of heat in the center. I completed every step in an instant, and in the next moment, a bright flash of light blinded everyone. The shockwave blew the tables and chairs away, and shattered the windows behind us. From start to finish it took me just a second to cast after I¡¯d raised my arm. The result was a massive crater 15 feet across and 3 feet deep with no evidence of any straw dummies ever existing in the first place. works by instantly creating a thundercloud and forcibly crushing it, cause an implosion one instant, and in the next an explosion of lightning at center of where I cast it. The original size is about the same as a beach ball, but it costs a lot of mana to make it any smaller as it requires you to be able to delicately handle mana. I¡¯ve been practicing the fine control of mana, but it¡¯s difficult. ¡°When did... Cal. When did you learn¡­ lightning magic? That¡¯s a Master level spell, and with your invocation time and chantless, the power might even reach Peerless,¡± Chey said with her mouth hanging agape. ¡°I think I was around 6 months old when I became conscious of how magic worked? I can remember that I cast something when I was born, but the spell was already partially complete because of my mother. I just took the spell and modified it to suit my needs.¡± ¡°You can remember things from when you were born?¡± ¡°Yeah, I even remember the first time you sang your lullaby to me with magic infused in it.¡± ¡°Hahahahaha! I knew it, you could understand me back then! You were always making sounds like you were answering me.¡± ¡°Yeah, I couldn¡¯t figure out how to use my tongue back then, so I just made sounds and hoped that you understood me.¡± Thurr had fainted, and the other kids we¡¯re just now getting over the initial shock. Elena¡¯s expression hadn¡¯t changed, but Ciel was excitedly jumping around. ¡°Cal! Holy shit, you showed me lightning magic, but never like that before! That was amazing.¡± Ulrich had fallen to his knees and Talia was just standing there with her eyes as wide as dinner plates. Their original bravado, shattered. ¡°What other spells have you been working on?¡± Chey asked, cocking her head to the side quizzically. ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know what they are officially called, or if they even exist, but I can cast large scale spells from every element. I can make thunderstorms, tornados, lightning, explosions, ravines, a field of earth spikes, you name it. Now, I¡¯ve only done them on a small scale, because I didn¡¯t know if it was okay to show you, but I can tell you that it¡¯s definitely easier to cast them larger, rather than smaller.¡± I raised my hands towards everyone and cast a fire spell that was near and dear to my heart. Blue flames wrapped themselves around Chey and the other kids. I told them to just relax. It was the spell my mother used on me before she was killed. ¡°This is ?¡± Chey asked, dumbstruck a second time. ¡°Is that what it¡¯s called? It¡¯s a Master ranked compound spell that heals the mind and body.¡± ¡°The old man wasn¡¯t lying¡­ that spell is a secret technique from the Rennant house that governs the continent.¡± ¡°The fire isn¡¯t burning me¡­? ¡°Yes, Rukh. It¡¯s a high class healing magic that recovers your mana and mends your body. It can even bring someone back from the brink of death. You should have noticed that the ringing in your ears has stopped.¡± ¡°Do you know how to do it, Chey?¡± ¡°No, I don¡¯t dear. The only person in the world that can use it right now is Cal, and even if you could understand how to cast the spell, it takes a lot of mana to cast.¡± ¡°If you guys will follow me to the lake, I¡¯ll show you my most powerful skill. I need to test my limits for once¡± ¡°Sure,¡± Chey replied, nodding her head energetically. I cast to help everyone recover from the minor damage they took from , so that we could all make our way down to the lake. It was about half a mile downhill, so we reached the shore of the lake in about 10 minutes at walking pace. ¡°I¡¯m going to cast my fire magic now, so don¡¯t stand behind anything that can tip over, and don¡¯t stand behind any trees because they¡¯ll probably be uprooted.¡± ¡°What magic is it, Cal?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know Chey, so you¡¯ll have to let me know afterwards. I can cast this one in an instant as well, so pay close attention.¡± With that said, I gathered mana into my palm and instantly compressed the blue flame into a high intensity, violently rotating, ball of white flame. Then I pulled the trigger and shot it towards the center of the lake. It exploded out towards the center, creating a shockwave akin to the main battery on a battleship. It parted the surface of the water in its path. In the moment that it touched the surface of the water, the world around us stopped. Before our eyes could register what had happened, the world was dyed white and the series of shockwaves threatened to tear the surrounding forest asunder. When our vision returned, we saw a monolithic pillar of smoke, violet fire, and water, rising from the center of the great lake, drawing its contents towards the cap of the mushroom cloud. The smoke rose high into the atmosphere and the darkened sky was only illuminated by the iridescent fire reaching for the heavens. ¡°Then you can combo another spell off of this if you want.¡± With my still raised hand, I concentrated mana into the mushroom cloud and inverted the layers of cold and hot air, creating a current that would generate a terrifying amount of electricity. Columns of electricity erupted outwards from the center of the plume across its entire length. After 20 or so seconds, the countless bolts of lightning stopped falling on the lake¡¯s surface and utter silence swallowed the forest once again. Having used up too much mana, I sat down and smiled. ¡°How is your body feeling, Cal?¡± Chey asked after collecting herself. ¡°I¡¯m almost completely empty, but I should be fine in about an hour. What was the first spell I used supposed to be called?¡± ¡°That¡¯s good. I¡¯ve never heard of a spell like it before, so I don¡¯t know. Wait, did you say an hour?¡± ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s a technique I developed with Ciel called Mana Breathing. I¡¯ll teach you after I recover.¡± ¡°O-okay¡­¡± I know how she feels. I experienced that a lot in my previous life as a teacher. I know it feels crummy right now, to have a much younger student surpass you, but it¡¯ll become a sense of pride for you as teacher later on. Just then, from where I was sitting, I heard a thud. Then I heard another. Then I started hearing several. It was raining live, slightly steamed, fish. It looks like they were drawn up the stem of the plume along with the surrounding water and air. I shot a glance over at Chey, and she just looks down and shakes her head with her face in her palm. We ate fish for the next week. I also decided to name the magic . Fish is great.
I''m sorry this one took so long. i wasn''t expecting a chapter of this size, nor was I expecting to work as many hours as I did at my regular job. Thank you for for your patience. Cheers! Thank you for reading! Chapter 6 - Swimming Upstream Chapter 6 ¨C After I demonstrated my various magic, Chey gave me free reign to study as I please while the other kids are in class. There were some days when I¡¯d stick around and help the other students out, but other days, I¡¯d just grab a book and read. I¡¯d learn a variety of new magic over the next few years, but I could only understand up to intermediate level in healing magic, except for my spell. That¡¯s a spell unique to my lineage, apparently. We started doing mock fights as well. I¡¯d do fine until they got close, but I had no idea how to fight these guys up close. It¡¯s not like I can¡¯t do anything, but all of the spells that could help are large area of effect skills that could seriously injure the other person, so they weren¡¯t even an option in all reality. My skill works to ward off anyone who wants to try and get close, but constantly using that skill to win doesn¡¯t help me learn anything new. I need to learn how to fight. It¡¯s as simple as that. In light of this, on my 7th birthday, Chey sent a message to one of her old adventuring buddies, and employed her as our new combat instructor. Remmy Leilos is a C rank adventurer who has mastered the Biruth sword style to the advanced level, as well as a few magics to the intermediate level. ¡°Alright! Finish up your warm up routines and meet me out back,¡± Remmy said with sweat dripping down onto her leather breastplate. She can¡¯t be comfortable in that! She¡¯s wearing a full leather set complete with leather vambraces, pants, shin guards, and greaves, along with heavy cloth under armor. It has got to be hot as hell wearing all that. ¡°Today, we will be having mock battles. Projectile magic is not allowed. Cal, Ulrich, get in the pit.¡± ¡®The pit¡¯ is that hole I made back when I first used . We decided to start using it for practice since we would be destroying the landscape anyways. ¡°Fighters to the center. Begin when you¡¯re ready.¡± As soon as my feet touched the dirt, Ulrich rushed at me with his sword. I noticed the glimmer of his double edged short sword from the top of my vision and only just barely put my sword in between us. The blades were dulled, so even though it split my cheek, it didn¡¯t cleave my head in two. ¡°The battle doesn¡¯t start only because I give the word. If you see an opportunity, then take it. There is no such thing as dirty tactics in battle.¡± I dropped my stance and angled my blade to let his slide over my head. I dove into his center, thrusting my hilt into his gut in a motion similar to a horizontal hammer fist. Ulrich saw it coming and pivoted on his foot to sidestep my strike. He brought his sword around into an upward strike like a tennis backhand, but because he was off balance from his footwork, the strike was slow. I planted my right foot down and pushed my torso back and around. I swung the flat of my sword upward to parry his strike, but it wasn¡¯t to block; it was to break his stance. I put enough force into my swing that Ulrich¡¯s arm was thrown up, exposing his chest. I spun around and threw my foot into his chest with a spinning back kick. It connected with his sternum and threw him into the wall of the pit. ¡°Stop! Winner: Callum!¡± ¡°Tch!¡± ¡°Sloppy. Your parry and kick were decent, but you¡¯re too naive. Ulrich has much better battle sense than you.¡± ¡°I understand, thank you for your guidance, Master.¡± I said, bowing respectfully. ¡°I won¡¯t let you off easy next time, Cal.¡± If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°How about you win a match against him, then try saying that again.¡± Ciel chimed in, teasingly. ¡°Ciel, don¡¯t provoke him.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t need you defending me, Demi-human.¡± ¡°How about you duel me next then?¡± Ciel had changed a lot in the last 3 years. Not so much in appearance, but his attitude has gotten coarser. His voice hadn¡¯t changed at all though, which is strange for a child who is supposed to be going through puberty. Ciel was 13, Elena was 11, and I had turned 7. Having been worked thoroughly by Remmy, my body has grown well. I could run long distances without tiring, but I still needed to build up some strength. The next match was between Elena and Ciel. ¡°Fighters to the pit!¡± They both settled into their stances in the pit. Elena held her sword, and body, low to the ground, while Ciel assumed a single handed mid stance. Elena took the initiative and dashed forward maintaining a dangerously small distance between the ground and her face. It was a good choice, since there¡¯s not much you can do to counter it unless you also adopt a lower stance. In a flash, Elena covered the distance, and brought her sword upwards and across Ciel¡¯s body, but Ciel ducked low and used her sword to guide the threat away. Sparks flew from the crossing blades, and Ciel took the opportunity to sidestep Elena¡¯s body and plant a left hook with her free hand into her side. Elena took the blow in stride and brought the hilt of her sword crashing into Ciel¡¯s knee. ¡°Stop! Winner: Elena!¡± It was over in a few seconds and Elena had her sword pressed against Ciel¡¯s throat. Ciel let out a sigh, ¡°I can never win against you.¡± ¡°That¡¯s because you don¡¯t think ahead. You only think about what¡¯s in front of you, rather than what will be in front of you.¡± ¡°Well said Elena. Ciel, take note of Elena¡¯s words. It¡¯s sound advice.¡± After everyone had a chance to duel, we did our warm down routines and went down to the lake to wash up. I stripped off the leather breastplate I was wearing and dunked my head into the water to cool off. I raised my head and caught the top of Ciel¡¯s head on the other side of a bush along the lake. I was walking over to him, but I got a bad feeling, so I started to turn around, but then I saw Ulrich with his body inside the bush. Was he planning a surprise attack on Ciel? I walked up to him and grabbed his collar. I yanked him hard, but my foot slipped on a fallen branch and I fell through the bush. Ciel screamed and covered his body, but¡­ we''re both guys so¡­? ¡°Cal¡­ you¡­ he¡­¡± Ciel turned to run, but he tripped on an upturned root. I rushed over to help, but I wound up with a face full of foot. That was not the parts a boy should have. Chapter 7 - Causing Waves Chapter 7 ¨C Causing Waves ¡ªCiel¡¯s Perspective¡ª ¡°Aggggh! Why does Elena have to be good at everything!?¡± I started learning magic with Cal first, so I just don¡¯t understand how Elena got so much better when she¡¯s only been practicing for half as long. Well, we Demi-humans have never had a great affinity with magic, so I guess it¡¯s understandable, but this much of a difference is too much! Elena and I had been practicing on our own after Cal was moved to the boy¡¯s room. He was only in our room because Chey would come in and check on him at night and that is less weird when it¡¯s a girl¡¯s room. I wonder, has Cal seen us changing? I don¡¯t think so. Actually, Cal¡¯s growth has been weird. He was talking when he was 6 months old, not only that, but he could also use magic. I think it¡¯s cool that he can use chantless magic, but after showing us all of his magic, I think he¡¯s frightened the other kids. Thurr acts tough, but immediately backs down if Cal gets involved, so Ulrich¡¯s taken his place as their unofficial group leader. I think Talia is indifferent, but maybe she¡¯s just hiding behind her brother, metaphorically speaking. Rukh is the worst off, I believe. She won¡¯t even look in his general direction. I know Chey loves Cal like her own son, but I can¡¯t help but feel like her image of him has changed a little bit. I mean, that was really advanced magic that even a Court Magi couldn¡¯t accomplish. Cal is a sweet kid if you get to know him, but at first impression, he seems cold, calculated, and a little mischievous. What¡¯s the word I¡¯m looking for¡­ it¡¯s almost like he¡¯s in a perpetual melancholy. I can understand why. He can remember every moment since his birth, and as a result, he witnessed his mother¡¯s murder. He told me the story about the bandits and how he had hastily used the early version of the to stop the bandit, but I can¡¯t help but think that he feels responsible for his mother¡¯s death. He talks about it as if it doesn¡¯t affect him much, but I feel like that¡¯s just the fa?ade he puts up to distance himself from his feelings. He doesn¡¯t have to shoulder the burden himself. Both of my parents were killed too, and my brother and I were sold as slaves. The only reason I¡¯m here now is because of my brother being a decoy so that I could escape, so I really do understand how he feels responsible for the fate of his family. Then there¡¯s his business about having memories from another person. Maybe he feels out of place? I reached the shore of the lake in what seemed like no time while thinking about the happenings from the last few years. ¡°Guh, Remmy, you¡¯re a slave driver!¡± I shouted to myself. With my luck, she¡¯ll probably have heard me and make me run until my legs give out again. I don¡¯t know how that woman does it! How can you have those proportions and still move like that; it¡¯s just unnatural. I¡¯ve even noticed Cal staring at them, but I don¡¯t think he¡¯s doing it on purpose. It¡¯s actually really funny. When Remmy addresses him, his face may look calm, but the raised heart rate, flushed skin, and cold sweat indicates that he¡¯s putting an awful amount of effort into maintaining eye-contact. ¡°I may not have much to look at now, but just you wait!¡± I pouted while frustratedly removing my leather training equipment. We were covered in grime from our training session with Remmy. We were made to crawl through the dirt, climb and jump from trees, fight, run, and do practice swings ¡®til we couldn¡¯t hold the swords anymore. I¡¯ve been instructed to wash my body off in the lake so I don¡¯t dirty the bath. Though, I¡¯ve got a better method. I cast to create a spout of hot water from the ground, then stood under the cascade of water as it fell back down. I only started growing my hair our recently, so the grime washed away quickly under the temperate shower to reveal the lustrous auburn color my tribe is known for. The mud gave way to a Toasted pale complexion, made rosy by the steam. ¡°How¡¯d it even get my tail dirty!? I look like a Plains Stalker with that stripe pattern.¡± I finished washing my tail off, and I heard something crash through the bush behind me. Turning around, I saw Cal¡¯s heading poking through the bush holding onto Ulrich¡¯s collar who was face down in the dirt. I screamed in surprise as I tried to cover myself, but there wasn¡¯t much else I could do. Excuse me? Wait, what? I¡­ ¡°Cal¡­ you¡­ he¡­¡± I said, oratory skills failing me as Cal blinked his eyes, still unaware of his situation. I turned to run, but my foot got caught up on a tree root, and I fell in the mud slick I¡¯d created from the geyser. Face down in the mud, I couldn¡¯t see, but I heard footsteps coming from behind me, so panicking as I was, I threw a kick high and connected with something hard as a bag of rocks. ¡ªCallum¡¯s Perspective¡ª ¡°Mmfph!¡± I let out a muffled shout as her foot connected with the center of my head. My neck made a series of disturbing cracking noises as my head was violently displaced. The sky made a few rotations in my vision before the ground abruptly obstructed it. I¡¯ve done something unforgivable. How do I even explain this? ¡®I¡¯m sorry, I thought you were a boy,¡¯ or ¡®I didn¡¯t mean to peep, I was just stopping Ulrich¡¯. They all sound like excuses, and the first one might even incite her scorn! God, my head hurts. Getting up while clutching my head, I see that Ciel had sat back up and was trying to wipe the mud from her eyes. I grabbed the cloth she¡¯d hung up and wrapped it around her body. She twitched, obviously still in shock, but didn¡¯t say anything as she continued trying to clear the mud away from her eyes. I pulled out a hand cloth and cast to moisten it. After placing it in her hand, I sat turned around, and I waited for her to finish. ¡°Cal¡­ did you see?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not going to lie and say I didn¡¯t, but you¡¯re going to have to let me explain myself.¡± She sat and thought about it while wiping her face with the cloth I¡¯d handed her. Having cleared the mud from her eyes she spoke, ¡°I know you¡¯re not like that, so I¡¯ll give you a chance to explain yourself, but only this once.¡± If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°I noticed the top of your head from the other side of the bush and I was going to come over to you¡­¡± I averted her gaze for a moment, as I shifted my feet and crossed my arms in a menial effort to put some distance between us, ¡°but¡­ now, I know this is going to sound terrible, so please don¡¯t take it the wrong way, but I thought you were a boy, and I tripped when I tried to pull Ulrich out of that bush.¡± ¡°¡­and how can I not take that the wrong way¡­?¡± she said with a vein popping up on her forehead from trying to hold a smile. ¡°Chey thinks you¡¯re a boy though? Haven¡¯t you noticed her calling you ¡®he¡¯, or ¡®him¡¯ all the time?¡± At that statement, her expression went blank, with her eyes looking like two solitary dots, blinking in disbelief. I handed Ciel her clean set of clothes and went to check on Ulrich as she changed. He was long gone. I wish I had his survival instincts right about now. Ciel then came out of the brush looking more depressed and tired than angry as she let out an extended sigh. Even with an aggregate age a little over 70, I still don¡¯t understand women. ¡°Thinking about it, I never did act like a girl, and I never gave you a reason to think I was one, so I¡¯ll give you a free pass for now.¡± She said, dejectedly, her eyes saying that she¡¯d lost all confidence as a woman. I owe a big thanks to whatever greater power exists in this world, because any other woman on earth would¡¯ve had my head. We walked back up the path to the house in silence as the daylight receded. Maybe it¡¯s just me trying to think about anything else other than my current situation, but this world is really beautiful. The trees are abundant and healthy, and the air is almost sweet due to the lack of pollution like on Earth. There was no light noise either, so you could see the night sky in all its splendor, undaunted by the pervasive glow of the modern world. As the level of light continued to drop, more stars flooded the night sky; significantly more than any I¡¯d ever seen before. The binary ice blue moons took command of the sky as the sun dropped completely behind us. This is the same night sky that I see every night, and every time it reminds me of ¡®that¡¯ night. A night coated in the warm glow of the spell my mother had used to save me when I was born. I never did think about it, rather, I purposely tried to not think about it. I know I couldn¡¯t have done anything to save her, but I can¡¯t help but think that I was the one who caused her death. If I hadn¡¯t used that skill, and only taken out the bandit, would she still be alive? Would her have saved her? I¡¯ll have to ask Chey about it when we get back. ¡°Cal, I¡¯m not mad at you, if that¡¯s what you¡¯re thinking.¡± ¡°Thank you, but no, to be honest that¡¯s not what¡¯s on my mind.¡± ¡°Thinking about your mother?¡± Taken aback, I stopped and looked at Ciel. She was looking at the ground, and her hair was covering this side of her face, but I could tell what expression she was wearing. ¡°It¡¯s not your fault, Cal. From what you¡¯ve told me, there¡¯s nothing that you could have done that would have made a difference. You were a newborn at the time.¡± ¡°Mm,¡± I said in a manner akin to a verbal shrug. ¡°If you want, we can go sit at the top of the hill just up there and talk about it?¡± ¡°No, I already understand that nothing I did would have made any difference in the outcome¡­ I just want some closure. I mean, I only knew her for a day, but she was my mother.¡± Then I realized what felt off the entire time we were walking up here. The sun had set behind us, why is there a sunset in front of us now? I rushed up to the top of the hill hoping that it was something different than what I was thinking. Unfortunately, it was worse. I could feel my blood boiling remembering the night from seven years ago. The orphanage had been broken into and set ablaze by bandits. They were gathering up the other children, blindfolding them, and locking them in cages on a carriage. Ciel came up from behind me and covered her mouth in shock. ¡°Cal th-¡± ¡°Shh! Wait, let¡¯s get an idea of what we¡¯re going to have to fight before we rush in.¡± Suddenly, a cone of ice erupted from the rear of another carriage, swallowing a couple of bandits in an icy prison. Chey stepped out, mercilessly crushing the two men trapped in the platform of ice beneath her feet. Her eyes wide with murderous intent, she began chanting another spell, but was stopped prematurely by a single man in a grey hood who severed her hand at the wrist. Not missing a beat, Chey swung her bloody wrist around and flung blood into his eyes. She then counter rotated, away from the blade, and executed a textbook uppercut. The man was only grazed, as he had stepped back in time, but she clipped the hood, tearing it from his head. Feelings, that I had tried to keep buried, resurfaced as the man jumped into the light, avoiding a follow up punch from Chey. His face was severely burned, but he had the same dark hair that was tied back in a bun, and he had the same narrowed eyes from that night seven years ago.
I just realized that this web uploader does not carry over the formatting I''ve done in MS Word. I''ll edit it and properly format the line spacing when I get home. Thank you for your patience, and I hope you enjoy the chapter! Cheers! Thank you for reading. P.S. Thanks, also, for all the input. I take every comment into consideration when I''m writing. I understand that I have flaws in my writing, and it''s a big help when you guys point out my errors, or places where my writing is a bit choppy, or awkward. Chapter 8 - Wake Chapter 8 ¨C Wake At first, I thought I had felt nothing, but that was just the shock. After remembering just what this man had done, or what he was going to do, I realized that it was rage. My jaw was clenched and my fists were clenched so hard that my knuckles turned white. I stood at the top of the hill with Ciel as memories of my previous life flooded back to me: Memories of my daughter, my grandchildren, and my students. It filled me with regret and rage all over again. ¡°Cal!¡± Ciel had yelled for me and dragged me back to my senses. I had been covered in flames caused by my mana leaking out unintentionally. I¡¯ve got 57 more years under my belt than she does, and she still has a better head on her shoulders than I do. I should really start acting my age. ¡°Ciel, stick to the forest and fire a volley of from behind them. There¡¯s only two of us and over a dozen of them, and Chey can¡¯t hold them off forever like that.¡± ¡°Sure, what else?¡± ¡°Once you get around their rear flank, shoot for the farthest targets; it doesn¡¯t matter if you hit, so run away, through the forest, back to here as soon as you finish casting.¡± She started running down the hill, sticking to the left most forest edge as instructed. I ran opposite of that and waited for her spells to find their targets. She¡¯s more proficient at Earth type Destruction magic than Water, so 8 came hurtling from the forest to the front most bandits. A few of them struck true and downed the aggressors, but 9 remained excluding the burned man. The plan worked; they all turned around as predicted, but before they could finish turning, I ran to the center of the 9 and cast the earth spell . The mana coursed through my hands into the ground and collapsed it, dropping everyone around me. Giving them no time to recover, I cast turning the upturned dirt beneath their feet into a slick arena of mud. One bandit, undaunted by the squelching quagmire, launched himself in the air towards me, so I cast in preparation for the inevitable. In the few seconds that it took me to veil myself with a coat of lightning, he was upon me. His grimy raider boot came crashing down, aiming for my head, but I parried with a deft circular motion. Even though I redirected most of the impact, it still shook my body. Out of the corner of my vision, I saw a metallic sheen sweeping beneath his cloak that hadn¡¯t yet had the time to settle, so I spun around and lean my body back, barely avoiding the dagger that would have torn across my chest. I tried to regain my posture, but he threw the tail end of his cloak at my face. I swatted it out of the air, but he had vanished. Before I could think to look down, my legs had been swept from under me, and I began falling to the ground. Fearing what would come next, I fed as much mana as I could into the still active The hooded bandit stopped his follow up attack and leaped back to avoid being paralyzed by the electricity. ¡°¡­ chantless¡­?¡± a surge of cobalt lightning arced across the veritable quagmire with me at the epicenter. The hooded bandit¡¯s eyes grew wide in disbelief as the expanse enveloped him. Those closest were mercilessly electrocuted, everyone else in the area was numbed by the shock. The hood flew off of my opponent from the body spasms caused from the shock, and it revealed two nimble cat ears, set upon his twilight-orange hair: cut somewhat short and spikey, but neat. He seemed to be a cat Demi-Human boy in his late teens. Maybe the spikey hair was my fault now that I think about it. Chey and the burned man had also been caught in the spell, and were rendered immobile. She¡¯d lost a lot of blood though. Seizing the opportunity, I cast on her. She was enveloped by the distinctive frost-blue flame, and I took note of her severed wrist. It started bubbling at the point of separation, and the flames started burning intensely around the area. I saw bone and muscle sprout from the base until a slightly off color replica of her original hand was left in its place. This time, the surprise was universal. I was amazed at how omnipotent magic is, the Demi-Human bandit was in awe, and If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.the burned man shifted from surprise to anger. Good, come at me. I¡¯ll finish what I started 7 years ago. I overestimated the effectiveness of the paralysis. The Demi-Human was already free and rushing at me, claws extended from his fingers that were as long as steak knives. Not noticing the blur that was rushing from my left, I cast a simple spell. It flew from my hand faster than I could stop it, and was intercepted by someone who should have been waiting in the forest, but the Demi-Human I¡¯d been fighting shouted out to her. ¡°Ciel!¡± We both shouted in unison. She was knocked out instantly and a nasty burn streaked over her eyes. The Demi-Human cat-boy scooped her and turned to run off, but an array of boulders flying at me prevented me from giving chase. I cast a simple wind spell to disperse the dust and debris kicked up by the group of boulders; however, they had already disappeared. The burned man, who had cast the previous earth magic, was already chanting another spell, fortunately, that meant that he was now ignoring Chey who was still right where she fell, recovering. [I, who commands the origin of power, orders the essence of earth to burst forth and pierce my enemies.] I cast in a wedge before me to divert the innumerable clay darts towards either side, and rushed forward. After I diverted the last dart, I was barely 15 feet from him, and I fired off two bolts of fire. I could feel my mana running empty as dissipated, but like I said, I¡¯m going to finish what I started, and I¡¯m going to see this cremation to the end. ¡°Come at me Rennant boy!¡± He said insidiously as the corner of his mouth rose in a contemptuous smile on his scarred face. He avoided both of the spells, ducking behind the iced over empty carriage. Aiming for the other children in the carriage across from him, he began chanting some kind of fire magic. I didn¡¯t have time to figure out exactly what it was. I had to try and stop him, but it was a feint. As I dashed to get in between his spell and the other children, he redirected himself and fired off another volley of clay darts directly in my path. I didn¡¯t have the time, or the mental stability, to cast a defensive magic, so I prepared to take it head on. It hurt, but curiously I only took glancing blows. Even after saying that, I was bleeding profusely and had one marker sized dart lodged in my right leg. Was he missing me on purpose? Dozens of darts were flying in my direction, and only one scores a direct hit? ¡°You¡¯re curious as to why I didn¡¯t kill you, aren¡¯t you?¡± He said with a pompous look of disgust and contempt. ¡°Simply, I am known as Liorre the Slave dealer, and I can¡¯t have my product get too damaged, now can I? I have a reputation to uphold, boy. Though,¡± he said, motioning to his face, ¡°I must apologize for some damage, you see it¡¯s a little personal.¡± Gritting my teeth through the pain, I raised my hand at Liorre who was walking towards me. Becoming dizzy, I began condensing a ball of white flames. ¡°Oh dear, no. We¡¯re can¡¯t have that again.¡± Liorre said, casting a magic I didn¡¯t know. His incantation used some words that I wasn¡¯t familiar with, and then the fireball fizzled out in my hand. ¡°What!? I can¡¯t¡­ be out of mana¡­ yet.¡± I said as a familiar blackness encroached on my vision. ¡°You weren¡¯t, at least not before, but I can¡¯t have you using that spell again and killing us both.¡± ¡°You canceled my magic¡­ how?¡± ¡°Trade secret, boy.¡± The last thing I remember is being helped me into the dirt with a deft kick to the temple.
Author''s Note: I realize that I''ve fallen into some cliches in the last few chapters, but stick with me. I did them for a reason, and it helped to build the foundation I needed for character growth. I hope you all enjoy the chapter! P.S. I''ll be going through and editing the chapters after I finish Volume 1. Cheers! Thank you for reading! Chapter 9 - Changing of the Tides Chapter 9 ¨C Changing of the Tides At the darkest hour of the night when even the predators of the forest keep to themselves, just outside the smoldering rubble, Chey began to wake. She rose to a sitting position slowly, clutching her head. As soon as she regained the ability to process her thoughts, her eyes shot open and her senses went of full alert. ¡°¡­!¡± ¡ªCheyenne¡¯s Perspective¡ª As soon as I remembered what was happening, I shot up and got into a fighting stance, ready to defend against any incoming attacks, but it was pitch black. I could hear the sounds of the forest and the faint crackling of dying embers, and the pervasive scent of burning wood overpowered my sense of smell. I spat out the small pool of blood that had collected in my mouth, leaving an aftertaste of copper and a slight twinge of soreness in my jaw. A swift night breeze blew the plumes of smoke and clouds from the sky, and the light from the moons illuminated the smoldering remnants of the orphanage and a deserted battlefield. After a few seconds, I calmed down and realized that I was the only soul left alive here. The only movement came from the branches of the nearby uruk trees and the assorted foliage around me. I ran about the area, shouting the children¡¯s names, hoping that they were safe. Hoping to, at least, find a sign of where they could have gone had Callum been beaten, but I found nothing. Twinges of soreness assaulted my jaw again, and I brought my hand up to massage the pain. ¡°¡­?¡± Curiously, the hand that was once severed, is right where is should be; albeit, of a slightly rosier color. I¡¯ll have to teach Callum about the price of some healing magic. When you heal someone, you¡¯re essential using the body¡¯s natural regenerative ability and accelerating it. The cost associated with regenerating a limb is not only a large sum of mana, but it also exhausts the victim¡¯s life as well to a certain degree. Judging by the state of our home, and the life of the few embers that remained to dimly cast their incandescent glow, it must have already been hours since the assault. I wandered around, amidst the rubble, shifting between emotions of sadness, pain, anger, and regret. I didn¡¯t know if I wanted to lash out and break everything, or weep for the children I¡¯d grown so fond of over the years. In the beginning, I thought, I would run the orphanage to help these kids find families. Thurr was the first under my care. I put out posters and advertised on all of the town boards, hoping to help the child find a family that would care for him, but a year passed a no one answered. Then came the twins Talia and Ulrich. They both were absolutely adorable with their wavy blond hair and green eyes. If it wasn¡¯t for the ears being human, one could easily mistake them for being elven children. Talia was stubborn and protective of her brother, who was quite shy at first, but Ulrich quickly became friends with Thurr and made a complete change. He started acting proud, confident, and strong, and Talia grew quite happy with her brother. It seemed like she didn¡¯t have to worry so much about him, but it didn¡¯t change the fact that she had his back no matter the situation. It was an adorable role reversal. Of course, over the time that I¡¯d had them, I reached out to potential families, but still no response. Then came Elena. I¡¯d found her while I was on my way back from town after doing some grocery shopping. She was emaciated and dirty, and she must have been exhausted, because her feet had sores to such a degree that she must have been walking for days on end. I was honestly surprised that she had lived for that long as a child on her own in the wilderness. After cleaning her up, wiping the dirt and grime away, her natural elven qualities shone through. Her bright and straight blonde hair was long and lustrous, her skin, save for the injuries of course, was without a blemish, and her eyes were such a deep green, and so captivating, that I felt as though I¡¯d become lost if I¡¯d stared for too long. She didn¡¯t seem shy, but she was quiet. Elena would keep to herself and refuse to join in on the other kids¡¯ fun, even at my behest. She would just remain in her room and read. As I walked around what used to be my room I noticed, among the debris, a book poking out from the fallen shelf. It was Cal¡¯s favorite, the ¡®Introduction to Magic¡¯ tome that he¡¯d scour over for days on end. Rukh tried the same thing when she was dropped off at my orphanage. She was really despondent most of the time, and desperately wanted to prove to her parents, who had left her here, that she could be useful, so she picked up this book and tried to teach herself how to read and write, but she just wasn¡¯t ready for that yet; She was only trying to emulate what her parents would do. That¡¯s when Ciel joined us. I had found Ciel while on another excursion through the city. I was walking down the market bazaar when she had come and bumped me from behind. The only thing I saw was a glimpse of an orange blur dashing into an alleyway from the edge of my vision. I was confused until I¡¯d gone to pay for the grains I¡¯d selected. He¡¯d cut my purse and stolen my coins! I only brought what I needed for that trip, so he only walked off with a handful of stone and iron coins. I came back the next day to search for him, but he never turned up, so I assumed that she was picked up by the guards. The next time I saw him was a week later while on another shopping excursion. He was sitting down, with his arms wrapped around his knees, staring off into space. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. A light drizzle had developed into full-on rain, so I ducked into the bakery across the way. It was a summer shower, so it lasted about as long as my love life. I bought a loaf of bread and a sweet pastry as a sign of gratitude to the bakery owners for letting me use their shop as shelter from the rain, which had gotten much lighter. I walked back out into the light drizzle and I saw him still sitting there, in the same position as before. He had sat through the rain! At the time, I thought to myself, ¡®I understand being stubborn, but don¡¯t be stupid¡¯. He recognized me as soon as I walked up and tried to flee, but I¡¯d already had him by the arm. He gave up so quickly. You had no idea what my intentions were, but you still offered no resistance to being captured. After I let him calm down a bit, I gave him a pat on the head, and offered the pastry. He slapped it from my hand, giving me this scornful look as he ran off again. Honey, pride won¡¯t fill your empty belly. I was now determined to help him, so I came back almost every day to try and get Ciel to come along with me. After a few weeks of trying, I stopped seeing him around. This time, for sure, I thought something had happened. A month went by and I hadn¡¯t seen a trace of him, until I heard some shouts around the back of the adventurer¡¯s guild. ¡°Oi, oi, oi¡­ where¡¯d you stash our coins you fucking brat!?¡± ¡°You should listen when brother talks. He¡¯ll think that you¡¯re deaf and have to use¡­ more physical means to communicate.¡± Peeking around the corner, I saw two men talking down to someone who was very sick, judging from the coughing. ¡°¡­ I didn¡¯t steal anything from you¡­¡± ¡°Are you calling us liars?¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah! Are you calling us liars?¡± ¡°Who, exactly, do you think the guards will believe, a street urchin like you, or two upstanding adventurers like us?¡± Ciel, having heard enough, spit on their boots in an act of defiance, to which they responded to by lifting him by the neck, pressing him against the wall. ¡°That¡¯s it! We know that you pick other peoples purses, so you must have some coins on you. Now hand them over!¡± I¡¯d had enough just being a bystander, so I chanted , binding their feet in place. Surprised, they loosened their grip and Ciel slipped from his tattered clothes. It was then that I¡¯d figured out that Ciel was a girl, even emaciated as she was. Since the two muscle-heads couldn¡¯t move, knocking them out took minimal effort and a brick. Remembering back now, the brick played a key role as the brick of asshole slaying: the brickening. The men having been promptly dealt with, I scooped up the unconscious Ciel, clothed her, and returned back home. I had set her down on the couch by the bay window and started to put my groceries in the pantry, but she was starting to wake before I had gotten the chance. I sat by her side until she was fully coherent, ¡°How¡¯re you doing?¡± I asked, but as soon as she saw me she adopted an expression of pure terror and despair. This is common for those who¡¯ve had some kind of trauma, so I won¡¯t ask her about it until she¡¯s ready, but for starters¡­ ¡°Go wash up; ladies can¡¯t stay dirty like that.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not a lady¡­ I¡¯m a boy! Girls are weak¡­ and I can¡¯t be weak¡­¡± She was on the verge of tears, so I wasn¡¯t about to argue that this ¡®girl¡¯, right in front, of her just beat up two burly men. I had decided to play along until she¡¯s ready to tell her story. Then Callum came along and we had a wonderful, peaceful time¡­ until now. I continued walking around the burning rubble, remembering various things like when Ciel found her voice and started asserting herself amongst the group. The sibling-esque fights that happened over there in the den. The bathroom where Rukh had a panic attack from her first baby tooth falling out. The drawings that the children had done. All of these memories welling up inside of me brought me to my knees in tears. As strong as I was, I couldn¡¯t even protect those closest to me. I will find them. I will find Liorre and take from him until he has nothing left. Be it material possessions, dignity, pride, or his mind; I will take it all and leave him nothing. Steeling my resolve, I tucked the magic tome into the rucksack that survived the fire, along with the money I¡¯d saved, and set off for Timera, the capital city of Biruth, where I¡¯d have the best chance of finding information on the kids.
Author''s Note: I thought this would be a good point for some introspection and back-stories. I feel like Chey had been playing the NPC role for too long, so I''m giving this chapter to her. Don''t worry Cal will be back in the next chapter, and I''ll give Ciel''s POV if you want to know exactly what''s up with her. Let me know if you like the direction the story is going so far. Cheers! Thank you for reading! Chapter 10 - Among Bottom Feeders Chapter 10 ¨C Among Bottom Feeders ¡°Ugh. Tastes like glue.¡± The meals were free, the room leaves a little to be desired, but I¡¯ve got a bed to myself at least. The toilet is a glorified bucket and the privacy, well¡­ at least there¡¯s only one person watching me from the other side of the bars, but hey, the bright side is it¡¯s free. ¡°Hey, at least you¡¯re eating. I¡¯ve got to sit here for 8 hours at a time, watching you shit in a bucket.¡± ¡°Mind the splash zone, buddy.¡± The grumpy little gnome watching me was just that, a gnome. He was a stout little guy, about 4 feet in height with no facial to speak of. Apparently, gnomes and dwarfs are entirely different species and it¡¯s a huge insult to call them the other race. Gnomes think they¡¯re smarter than the dwarves, which may actually be true since they¡¯re better with magic then their bearded brethren. ¡°Do you think you could take these bracelets off? Stone makes for a crappy accessory. It also makes casting magic and frying your ass kind of difficult.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the point, lad. You know, you don¡¯t have to act sour all the time.¡± ¡°Yeah, but I have to keep up my image somehow. You may be nice, but your friends are assholes.¡± ¡°First off, Liorre is not my friend. Second, I¡¯m not doing this because I want to.¡± He¡¯s really not a bad guy, but damn, these cuffs really are uncomfortable. They are also inscribed with an anti-magic enchantment making escape somewhat¡­ difficult. We were all blindfolded, bound, and dragged off to some warehouse somewhere. The other kids were in another room and, apart from being imprisoned, were okay. According to Oli, my gnome overlord, they weren¡¯t going to be moved for a while, so until then, I¡¯ve got no reason to panic. I¡¯m making an effort to be more level-headed because, in all honesty, I screwed up. Ciel was hurt, and it¡¯s my fault. I was reckless and I almost deep-fried the kids with my last magic when I fought with Liorre. If he hadn¡¯t cancelled my magic, they would have all been hurt, or worse. I feel terrible about it, but they¡¯re all fine, and I can¡¯t afford to lose my head, metaphorically speaking that is. Every now and then Tiral, Ciel¡¯s brother, will come down to my cell and stare at me. No matter what I say, no matter what I do, he doesn¡¯t respond. He just glares at me. I understand where he¡¯s coming from, so can¡¯t argue with the man. ¡°¡­ How¡¯s she doing¡­? Please at least tell me that. If you guys would take off these restraints, I could heal her with my magic.¡± ¡°No¡­ this kind of injury¡­ you can¡¯t heal.¡± ¡°Wait¡­ what? You can speak?¡± ¡°The wound is already cauterized and even if you healed the physical wound, restoring her vision would be an entirely different matter.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­ I¡¯m so sorry. I didn¡¯t know¡­¡± ¡°¡­¡± he sighed and looked up at me for the first time since I was brought here. His almond eyes looking as though he was tossing something around in his head, but he apparently tabled the internal monologue since he got up and left the room without another word. ¡°What did he mean by that¡­? Can¡¯t you heal any injury with magic?¡± This is the first time in the last few days that I¡¯ve been here, so I¡¯m going to make the most of it. Firstly, the doors are solid iron; they aren¡¯t budging at all. I have a wooden cot, a wooden table, and a bucket to work with, so nothing happening there. The walls are solid stone, and the windows are too small for me to fit through, so I assume that we¡¯re in a cave system of sorts. Outside my cell, I could only see a small and bare stone hallway leading down to a door. ¡°Shit,¡± I sighed. There¡¯s nothing for me to even use to try and escape. Even if I had anything useful, these stupid bracelets are¡­ wait¡­ normally, the inscriptions would be glowing and make sleeping very difficult, but now they weren¡¯t. Now, how about a little test? I gathered a little mana in my palm and brought a small fire to life. Brilliant! I don¡¯t understand why the anti-magic bracelets had suddenly stopped working, but I¡¯m not going to squander this opportunity by being reckless. I think that hiding the fact that I can use magic is the most prudent choice for now. The door opened, so I quickly dissolved my magic as Oli, my aforementioned gnome watchman, walked through the doorway. ¡°Wasn¡¯t Tiral supposed to be watching you?¡± ¡°I guess, but he just up and left without a word.¡± Oli sighed as he said, ¡°it¡¯s fine. We¡¯re going to put you to work here anyways, so come on, get up.¡± Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. ¡°¡­ You¡¯re going to let a prisoner walk around your headquarters¡­?¡± ¡°In a sense, but you¡¯re going to be working your ass off.¡± ¡°Hey, as long as I don¡¯t have to use that damn bucket anymore, then it¡¯s a deal.¡± ¡°You know, you have a foul mouth for a kid.¡± As I was being shown to my new room, I paid careful attention to my surroundings. Exiting through the single door at the end of the hallway, I confirmed my original suspicions; we were in a huge cave system. The main room was as large as a sports stadium with a gaping hole in the roof that illuminated the interior with sunlight. The interior, was a series of floors spanning several stories down into the abyss and up to the roof with a hole heading straight down the middle. There was an entire city built inside this cave system with buildings hewn from the walls and wooden supports strung up everywhere like a spider¡¯s web holding the whole thing together. Maybe this was the interior of a dead volcano? That would also explain why I never got any sunlight through the window in my cell. What¡¯s the point of the window!? ¡°Oli, what is this place?¡± ¡°It¡¯s the underground city of Hydeni.¡± ¡°Hydeni, huh? Whereabouts is it in Biruth?¡± ¡°Lad, I can¡¯t tell you that, but it¡¯s not on a map. It¡¯s a city built by refugees and the undesirables.¡± ¡°Ah, so that¡¯s why you guys can set up shop down here.¡± ¡°Yeah, but only on the lower rings down here. The upper rings are the ¡®upper class¡¯ citizens.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think you¡¯re a bad person, Oli.¡± ¡°Aye, like I told you, we¡¯re not in this business because we want to be, lad. Truth be told, I don¡¯t like Liorre one bit- Ah, we¡¯re here. It¡¯s the blacksmith¡¯s just up on the right.¡± This building is slightly different from the rest. Instead of just being carved from the rock, it was made from stacked stone bricks. The door was made of iron, and the sign above had an ornate emblem of a mithril dragon wrapped around a silver dagger. ¡°Oli, I meant to ask you before, but, where is Liorre?¡± ¡°He disappeared after we brought you here for some reason or another.¡± ¡°Huh. I figured, he¡¯d be watching over me personally after I gave him those burns.¡± ¡°You mean you were the one who caused those burns!?¡± ¡°He didn¡¯t tell you? Yeah, apparently, I almost turned him into charcoal when I was a newborn.¡± ¡°Th-that¡¯s hilarious! The fire mage Liorre was beaten by a newborns accidental fire magic discharge!?¡± Oli said, doubled over trying, and failing, to contain his boisterous laughter. It wasn¡¯t accidental, but he doesn¡¯t need to know that. After Oli managed to reign in his laughter, he motioned for me to walk into the blacksmith¡¯s. The inside was actually very nice looking. The flooring was all varnished wood, and the inside walls were a smoother stone than the outside. Chandeliers with candles hung from the ceiling illuminating the room, but the real source of light was coming through a door that lead to the back room. ¡°Oi, Halvarr, I¡¯ve got the apprentice you requested!¡± We waited a few minutes for a response, but 5 minutes passed and we hadn¡¯t heard a single sound come from the back. Oli, getting impatient, ushered me to follow him into the back room. I pushed the door open only to be met with the sight of a full moon. Not the pleasant type either; it was a short and stout little man standing on a stool in the buff, thankfully, with his back turned. He was mumbling something in the corner of the room at a table by the billowing stone forge. ¡°Oh for the gods¡¯ sake, Halvarr, not this shit again!¡± Startled, the bearded nudist jumped and fell from his stool onto the stone ground. ¡°Feck! Oli, what in the name of Tiabaul are you doing here!?¡± He asked desperately. ¡°I¡¯ve got your new apprentice here,¡± he said, pointing at me with his thumb, obviously exasperated with the pitiable dwarf. ¡°We¡¯ll be waiting in the front, so put some clothes on and, please, hurry at every opportunity.¡± Apparently, my new role is to assist this dwarf in making equipment for my captors. He''s still naked. ------------------ Author''s Note: I''m sorry this chapter took so long. A lot of personal things came up as well as a big storm, so I''ve gotten behind. I''ll have chapter 11 coming out soon as well, so please look forward to it. Here''s a drawing of Ciel. I plan on fleshing this out some more and adding a few more characters to the art for my cover. Cheers! Thank you for reading! Chapter 11 - Wet Behind the Ears Chapter 11 ¨C Wet Behind the Ears Halvarr is eccentric, but I¡¯ve found that he is not a bad person. I still haven¡¯t figured out why he insists on forging in the buff, because the only thing separating his ¡®bits¡¯ from the white-hot iron is a worn out apron. He had asked me to do the same, but I had to politely refuse. The other children are doing just fine. I mean, our living conditions aren¡¯t the best, but they are safe, for now. After I¡¯d finished sorting Halvarr¡¯s stock of iron and scrap, I went back to my quarters behind the bandit¡¯s hideout. I could probably escape whenever I wanted, but that would mean leaving Ulrich, Talia, Rukh, Thurr, Elena and Ciel behind, and that¡¯s not an option. I¡¯m just going to go along with this setup for now. The front of the building was a bar, which was perfect if your employees and clients are of the unsavory variety. Through the kitchen, in the back, there was the stairway that led down to our¡­ eh¡­ holding cell¡­ if that¡¯s what you want to call it. ¡°Hey guys, I¡¯m back.¡± Over the past few days that we¡¯ve been here, the 5 other kids had been working the front of the house, but I still haven¡¯t seen Ciel. I had told them not to mention her, because it was a good chance that they didn¡¯t even know about her at all since Tiral escaped with her rather quickly that night, and she had never shown herself except to cast from the forest¡¯s edge. ¡°Tch! If it wasn¡¯t for these damn bracelets we could have escaped by now,¡± Ulrich said, kicking some scrap metal around. ¡°Ulrich, don¡¯t speak so callously. As it stands, even if you could use magic, it¡¯s only of the beginner level and at least one of them is able to cancel out magic, so behave yourself until we have a plan,¡± I said, trying to be the voice of reason, but it just seemed to aggravate him. ¡°Why are you siding with them!? They killed Chey and Ciel is missing, Cal!¡± ¡°No. Ciel isn¡¯t missing, and I cast on Chey before I got captured, so she should be fine.¡± ¡°You¡¯re just saying that because it¡¯s convenient for you!¡± Having had enough, Ulrich lunged at me, tackling me to the ground. Having been caught flat-footed I hit the dirt immediately. ¡°Ulrich!¡± Thurr called out, running to pull him off. Unfortunately, he wasn¡¯t nearly fast enough. Ulrich managed to hit me a few times through my guard. ¡°You¡¯ve heard the gossip at the bar haven¡¯t you!? I was only passing through for a moment and I still heard a few guys talking about how a woman with raven black hair was going from town to town icing over bandit camps. Who else can that be but Chey?¡± As I¡¯d said to Ulrich who just stormed off to his bunk, there were rumors that the ¡®Polar Queen¡¯ had returned and was rampaging through various towns asking for our whereabouts. ¡°Even Halvarr, the dwarf I¡¯m working under, is talking about her.¡± ¡°Halvarr? You mean the Mithril Dragon Armorer, Halvarr?¡± ¡°You¡¯re telling me that the deranged nudist dwarf has a title like that, Thurr?¡± ¡°Yeah, Chey had told me that he¡¯s a legendary blacksmith who is known for his magic equipment made of mithril back in the Biruth revolution 50 years ago.¡± I blinked a few times while I tried to process what I¡¯d just heard. No, I refuse to believe that Halvarr has such a dignified title. After talking back and forth with Thurr and Rukh, I was unable to handle the unbelievable revelation of Halvarr¡¯s history, so I decided that I¡¯d turn in for the night. On the way back to my room I overheard Liorre for the first time since we were kidnapped. ¡°¡­ yeah, he¡¯s cooperating¡­ for now at least. He¡¯s learning adequately. As long as everything proceeds smoothly from here, we should be able to reach you.¡± Tiral came around the corner at the end of the hall, so I had to sneak away before I could hear anymore. What in the world was that about? Not wanting to think about anything else today, I began my mana breathing routine. My mana capacity has increased a lot, so unless I¡¯m firing off major spells back to back, I¡¯ll never run out of mana. I did that for the rest of the night until I eventually fell asleep. The next morning, I was hard at work with Halvarr again. In light of the full moon during mid-day, I decided to work around the other end of the shop until Halvarr spoke up. ¡°Hey sprout c¡¯mere. Can you use magic?¡± ¡°Not with these bracelets on, I can¡¯t.¡± ¡°Oh hush, your mana is leaking out like you¡¯ve got a hole in the bucket. I can see it from here.¡± ¡°You can see mana?¡± Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. ¡°Yeah, and those bracelets haven¡¯t been working properly for a while now, so now I¡¯m curious. If you can use magic, and you have that much mana, why haven¡¯t you used it to escape yet?¡± ¡°You¡¯re okay with me being able to use magic even though I¡¯m supposed to be here against my will?¡± ¡°Are you saying it¡¯s not against your will?¡± ¡°Fair point. If I were to try an escape, it would have to be with the other kids that I came with, and I wouldn¡¯t be able to do that without using large scale magic at my current skill level.¡± ¡°To what degree can you use magic, boy?¡± ¡°Well, as far as I can tell, it¡¯s either Advanced or Master class magic.¡± ¡°¡­ Hmmm¡­ no offense sprout, but I¡¯m going to need some proof of that. Ah, don¡¯t worry, you¡¯re more valuable to me if you are able to use magic, so I¡¯ll keep it a secret.¡± ¡°Sure, and thanks. What kind of magic do you want to see?¡± ¡°I need fire magic, so show me the hottest flame you can make.¡± Say no more, friend. I moved to the center of the room and started gathering my mana. ¡°You¡¯ve got excellent control of your mana. I¡¯ll tell you the secret to seeing mana after this.¡± Nodding my head, I cast a high intensity . The flame was a bright white jet erupting from my palm. ¡°I need it hotter, sprout.¡± I focused my mana and began to forcibly feed the Flame Lance. It shifted from bright to dazzling, but I kept increasing the intensity until it burst into a roaring blue jet of flame that rose to, and began scorching, the high ceiling. ¡°Make it smaller! A flame that large is useless to me¡­ and it will probably set my shop on fire.¡± Using considerably more mana, I began trying to reduce the size for the panicky Halvarr, but I felt it lose intensity when I tried. To avoid losing heat and intensity as I reduced the scale of the jet, I increased the amount of mana consumption to the point where I thought I could physically feel the mana coursing through my body as if it were blood. The blue color grew brighter and hotter until it was so bright that we had to look away, but after I¡¯d reduced it to about 6 feet, the already considerable mana consumption spiked and the flame instantly turned violet and shrunk to a single foot in height. ¡°¡­!¡± -- Halvarr¡¯s eyes widened and he waved at me to stop as the noise from the violet jet muffled any attempt at speech. I cut off the supply of mana, and let it die out. I slumped down and sat on the ground, winded. I still had about half of my mana remaining, but it tired me out at the rate it had been draining. ¡°Amazing! That was a variation of flame lance¡­ right?¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ i-it is¡­ I just¡­ ramped up¡­ the mana cost.¡± I wasn¡¯t aware that spells could exhaust you physically like this; it¡¯s something to be mindful of in the future. I wipe the beads of sweat from my brow and look up at the ceiling and it¡¯s been charred completely black. The point where the fire had licked was still glowing red. There¡¯s no one above us¡­ right? ¡°Rest up sprout, because tomorrow I¡¯m going to need you. I swear on my life and my name as Halvarr, the Mithril Dragon Armorer that your secret remains between us as long as you are willing to use that magic for me.¡± ¡°As long as I don¡¯t have to do anything bad, and I¡¯m allowed to come here and practice my magic when I please, then you¡¯ve got a deal.¡± ¡°Ha! I accept your terms. I¡¯ve been waiting 50 years for this opportunity, I¡¯m not going to let a bunch of lowlifes ruin it for me. Remember, just because I helped them in the past does not mean I owe them my allegiance.¡± ¡°Thank you, Halvarr. Would you mind telling me what we¡¯re doing tomorrow? If that¡¯s okay, that is.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll fill you in when you arrive tomorrow, but I can tell you that it¡¯s not malicious in nature, so of that you don¡¯t have to worry.¡± ¡°Umm, okay. I can live with that. I¡¯m just going to rest here until I can feel my legs again.¡± Halvarr gave a hearty laugh and handed me a flask of water from the table against the wall. I drank it gratefully, while Halvarr disappeared into another room of to the side. When he returned I felt my jaw unhinge as it dropped to the floor in surprise. He was wearing clothes.
Author''s Note: Hey guys, I''m sorry about the super long delay for this chapter. A number of things came up at work, and my significant other had been down for the weekend from university, so I had to put ''Intervention'' on the back burner for a little bit, but I worked on it when I could, so here''s chapter 11! Chapter 12 is currently in the works and I''m still super excited to continue writing. Thank you for your patience and I hope you enjoy the chapter!