A year would pass, more thoughts, more notes on loose leaf paper. Which he really needed to bind, they were becoming unwieldy. So far, Reese had continued his no success streak with magic, but that was fine. He was still young after all, just past four and three quarters.

It was Late-summer in the village, the last days of the month of Revvlas or the eight month of the twelve month year. Things had begun to wind down from hot to warm. Days were getting longer, and eventually it would get cool.

On a personal note, Reese couldn't wait for the first Apple harvest in a few weeks. The lack of consistently available produce, particularly fruits, was disappointing. But understandable. He did enjoy the berries of summer, but there were only so many Darcadrin berries you could eat before you grew sick of them. They were basically a strawberry in this world, having a similar taste and texture, just being a little smaller and rounder. Though, the world also had strawberries they just, weren't as good. Also these were orangish-pink and not red. They were quite good in a pie, but there is a limit to the number of pies a boy could eat. At least without getting sick.

Speaking of food, in the kitchen of the Bronwyn family house, a strange man pulled off his very light summer cloak and bag, setting them down on the corner of the table in a less than neat pile.

The man was a doctor if you could call him one. It was the equivalent of the Middle Ages after all, did doctors really exist? Reese would frequently mused suck questions to himself.

Lilith’s stomach had started to show again, a new pregnancy, and the doctor guessed aloud she had to be around five months pregnant. Something she was already aware of. Given how well it was going it was likely a girl this time. Also, something she was aware of. But the doctor wasn’t as sure, and he wanted to do an examination on his acquaintance, and as far as he knew, that was the main reason he was here.

But Lilith had other plans and convinced him that could wait. Lilith needed someone else to do run the examination she wanted, which was not on her. Nor could it be done by her since she did not have full use of her own magic.

Now, the doctor's current patient was the young boy, Reese. And, the doctor was less than amused at the request. Even if Lilith was a friend, he owed a few favors too.

“You realize he’s only 4 right? Even an apt mage won’t usually cast their first spells till their 7.” He tried to dismiss the request he was in the middle of setting up for.

“Yes, but Reese is different. No 4 year old is as well read as him.”

Sighing the doctor rolled his eyes, “Well read? He’s 4, can he even read a tome properly, I mean can he even read?”

“Yes he can, very well in fact. His stance, speech and form are all sound. As a sorceress and a healer myself, I know he should have cast something by now, even if it was small and disorganized. His father has been teaching him with wooden swords too, he never taps into any techniques. His speed and movements are just normal. There should be some indications that of mana flow in him, even if he’s not fully casting. I just don’t see any. I’m worried he might be gateless.” She placed her hand on top of his head. Perhaps to comfort herself more than him.

“You know how rare true gatelessness is, right? Of course, you do… why am I asking.”

And there was that term again, gateless. Reese had heard it a few times, and each time it filled him with a sense of dread. All his magic books mention gates, things like size, order and affinity. None of them said anything about gateless though. It was a worrying thought, made worse by the vacuum of information.

His mother continued, “I’d run the test myself, but I can't do deep healing anymore. I get your frustration, he’s only 4, but if we find out sooner that gives us more time to… figure things out.”

Sighing in defeat, the doctor fully capitulated, most of his instruments already on the table. “Well, we’ll do some basic tests first, if I can’t get something from them… Only after that will I try a deep healing probe. You know I usually charge 3 gold for deep healing, but I guess I can write one of those favors I owe you off.” The doctor sat Reese and began to look him over. Staring at his eye, lifting his hands, poking and probing doing all the things you might expect a doctor to do.

Eventually though pulled some odd tools from his bag, and ran them over his body. One kind of looked like a compass, but it didn’t point north. Another was a set of rods, that were all connected, like a complex dousing rod. It just got weirder from there.

Each tool he pulled out and used caused the doctor's face to scrunch a little bit. His expression is going from boredom to frustration and confusion.

Finally, he took out some simple looking stones using a cloth, and told Reese to hold them and not do anything until he said too.

Reese continued to sit on the chair with the stones in hand and did nothing. After several minutes, he made Reese drop the stones in his bag, while he made every effort to not touch them. The doctor then stuck his head in his bag, as if he was looking for something. Reese had to wonder if he was looking for his marbles.

“No glow.” The doctor spoke flatly.

“His mana is very weak. It’s not even disorganized.” He paused as if to consider the possibility of something he didn’t want to. “Ok, let’s see how he responds to deep healing.”

Deep healing was a specific branch of healing magic. From all of Reese’s reading, none of his books concentrated on deep healing or healing in general, just some references to it all and a lot of warnings. Most healing spells were simple, performing one or more bodily functions, like cauterization or circulation changes. More advanced ones might act like an antibiotic and heal infections. Deep healing, from what he could gather, would cause your body to rapidly repair itself. Doing in seconds what might take weeks or months.

Of course, that kind of power comes with consequences. Abusing Deep healing seemed to have adverse effects, such as rapid aging, life span reduction, and if not done properly could actually make an injury worse, even kill you. Like Deep Healing a broken arm without trying to set it first.

If the doctor wanted to test Deep Healing on him, that meant he would need something to heal. This was not heading in a direction Reese felt comfortable with. An opinion that was verified when the doctor pulled out a rather sharp blade.

Reese felt his mother’s hand comforting on his shoulder. She looked down at him. Smiling, she reassured him it would be ok. Nodding, he looked back at the doctor who now held his right hand with the knife dangerously close to his finger.

“Reese, you’re a brave boy right? I’m going to use this knife to cut the tip of your finger open.”

Reese nodded. He didn’t like the direction this was going, but he wanted to know if he really was gateless. Whatever that actually meant, though it was quickly becoming clearer.

“Once I’ve done that, I’m going to try and cast a healing spell on you and see how your body responds.”

Again Reese nodded, “You’re going to cast a deep healing spell on me and see if it works. If it doesn’t, it means I don’t have a gate.”

The doctor smiled back at him, “You really are a smart boy. I guess your mother was right about you being well read. What’s your favorite book?”

"Well I-"

Using the distraction and without giving him a chance to respond, the knife ran across Reese’s index fingertip. It hurt, and there was a surprising amount of blood. He tried not to scream or cry as the doctor took both his hands and held the bleeding finger between them.

He spoke several spells, and each time checked the wound on Reese’s finger which was consistently, unhealed.

The doctor sighed and dropped the spells entirely before pushing as much mana as he could into Reese’s hands. It didn’t seem to work. He could feel it all tingling his hand, but nothing that felt like it was getting better, and the pain persisted.

“There.” The Doctor sounded and looked out of breath, sweat covered his forehead like he had just run several miles.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Reese looked down at his finger, the wound had stopped bleeding and closed up a bit, but it was still clearly visible, and still hurt.

“I couldn’t get the deep healing to work. But I was able to use a simpler cauterization spell to seal the wound. Even that took a lot of mana.”

The doctor sat down, very clearly out of breath and energy. “I have a normal sized gate but it's well ordered. I put all my mana into those spells. I’ve never seen no response like that outside my old books.” The doctor didn’t want to admit it, but there didn’t seem to be any other answer. “I’m sorry. I think you’re right Lilith, he’s gateless.”

There didn’t seem to be much left to discuss. Perhaps it was the unpleasant atmosphere, or maybe it was just the other reason the Doctor came. But he began to inquire about his mother’s pregnancy, talking about how far along she was again, how well she was doing. He even offered to divine the sex of the child, though everyone in the room had already guessed.

For the next hour, the doctor would poke and probe his mother instead. Lilith tried to smile with the doctor as he talked pleasantries, but it was hard for her. Learning her son was gateless was a shock, even if it was somewhat expected.

Reese wandered out of the room. Lost in his own thoughts. ‘Well, that settles it.’ Reese thought to himself, ‘What next?’

After a morning of moping about, Fortus took Reese for some sword training at the barracks field behind the house. It was going as well as it had in prior days, horribly.

“Reese you have to follow my movements. When I come at you from the side, you need to block. Understand” Fortus stood in front of Reese, fully decked in his armor aside from his head. In his hand was the hardest and sharpest wooden sword Reese had ever faced.

“Yes.” He did understand. His father was the one with the issues. How was Reese, a mere child supposed to defend against a full-grown adult swinging at him.

A sudden flash of wood and light, Reese could see Fortus was aiming for his right side this time. He tried to move, forcing all his muscles to burst with what tiny bits of energy they had and… Thwack. His movements weren't enough, and he was lying on the ground again.

On the plus side, the pain from the prior hits masked the current one. He didn’t understand what his father expected from him. How was he supposed to defend against that? He couldn’t move like his father could.

“Reese, I’m not even using my sword techniques. This is my natural speed. You should be able to tap into something to move fast than this.”

There it was. Being a good sword fighter in this world meant more than just swinging a sword. A competent fighter would be able to use their gate to sub-consciously cast a speed spell and move quicker. It’s how they were all able to move like they did. At least, that was Reese's suspicion there seemed to be some strange hesitation and pride against calling techniques magic.

But it was literally magic! Magic that Reese just didn’t have.

“You know I can’t do that.” Reese’s voice was stern but dejected.

His father rubbed his own face in frustration. Reese couldn’t tell for sure, but it looked like he was whipping away a few tears. “I know son. I know. I just. Ok, let’s try something different.”

Fortus’ second in command, Athenia watched the father and son from a distance. She was always following Fortus around. Reese wasn’t doing bad at least if he was just a commoner. His technique was better than you’d expect from even an older child, still sloppy for an adult, but then again, he wasn't. If he truly couldn't learn any techniques, then that would make any serious battle against a trained sword fighter impossible. She hadn't really heard about a gate being linked with techniques, but she wasn't particularly well read to begin with.

Being born to a useless father who cared more about drinking and gambling would leave her, her sister, and her brother without any formal instruction.

Shaking her head, she consider the boy again. If it was her, she’d be training the boy in bows not swords. Techniques were still used there, but far less.

Twack!

She winced, that one wasn’t gentle.

She winced again as Reese fell back from another hit. A part of her wished Fortus would go easy on the boy, he was after just that a boy just shy of 5. Subconsciously her hand fell over her stomach. Fortus had generally shown himself to be a good father, he never hit Reese outside of training. There wasn’t even an occasion where he was particularly loud with him either. He was kind but stern when he needed to be. Not just to Reese but to Nemi as well. Though, that girl probably did need a bit more discipline.

The way he treated his wife was… He treated Lilith well besides that one thing. Athenia would often daydream about their positions being swapped. What if she was married to Fortus instead? He was older than her, sure. But he had saved her life and was good to her. Even if that was more as friend and sometimes lover.

If not for him, she would have been stuck in slavery with her deadbeat father. The spot on her back with the brand was still hurt sometimes, but it hurt far less than what she went though. Being an attractive girl who was able to fight, well, the arenas outside the six kingdoms are not nice places. Every drop of blood that spilled from her was gold and silver to someone else. Her father would probably have bet against her.

A twist of fate, and a bandit raid by a young Fortus had saved her. You couldn't sell slaves outside the Six Kingdoms. It was one of the very few laws around slavery in the kingdoms, and it's what allowed Fortus to free her, and the other children she was with.

She had been ten at the time, before he even met Lilith, when he was still closer to a boy than the man he is now. When he tried to drop her at an orphanage, she refused to talk about the rest of her family and refused to leave his side. He had taken her and started training her as a soldier, and then sent her off to be a true knight at one of the academies in Thrus. That was all ten years ago, half her life.

Athenia knew the rest of her family was still out there somewhere. But no one knew where, not even her. They had managed to escape before being sold. Disappearing was safer for them that way, since technically they were slaves, if found. She had no idea what happened to her father after being sold, just knowing the rest of her family had escaped slavery was enough for her.

So, what was Fortus if not her family. What they had would never be the life of husband and wife, but maybe it could be close?

Eventually Lilith came out, and with a bit of anger in her voice convinced Fortus to stop hitting Reese. Dropping the sword Fortus then dropped down to on one knee to hug his child. It was clear he loved and cared about the boy. He just wanted more for and from him, and he pushed him in the way he knew how. With an actual shove. A kiss to his wife, Reese and Lilith left, leaving Athenia and Fortus alone on the field behind the house.

With a smile, Fortus hid his disappointment. “That boy, Athenia, he’ll be the death of me one day.”

She tried to laugh but managed a smile instead. Her mind was swimming with thoughts about Fortus, about her, about his family too. One memory in particular came back to her with a blush. The last deep patrol assignment they went on together was about four months ago. Of course, they weren’t alone, but there were a limited number of tents and, well they shared more than a tent, didn’t they. He confided in her how much he wanted another son, and how he didn’t think Lilith could give him one. Her armor was pushing the limits of its straps already, but he hadn't noticed.

Perhaps it was a mistake, but. It seemed right at the time. How was she supposed to tell him now?

“Something wrong Athenia? You look like you have something eating at you.”

She had many things on her mind right now, but one took precedence. “Fortus, I’m going to have a child, a girl.” She chose the direct method, like a punch to the gut.

A light breeze blew over the field. It was late-summer and small winged creatures flip and flutter about. Far in the distance, you could just make out the noise of a passing caravan heading towards the Paved Road, probably west to Trillonia or the east to capital Lam’hath. There was much activity in the village as people wandered about so out to buy things, other to sell, and still other just to wander. But with these two, just silence for what might have been ages. Silence, that was Broken by the wrong question from Fortus.

“A girl, you’re sure?”

She tried not to laugh. “You wanted me to have your child. It wasn’t like I didn’t want it either. But yeah. I asked that doctor that came through to confirm… Are you upset that it’s a girl?”

Of course, he was. Fortus had gambled and lost. Big. In his efforts to have another son, he cheated on his wife with his subordinate, and got a girl instead. He’d have to explain all this to his wife and find a way to live with it. Assuming he could. It wasn’t like he could just hide it. Sure, he could try, but Lilith was skilled enough, she’d be able to detect the blood connection, the fact that Athenia was his subordinate would just reaffirm it.

He wasn’t even completely sure of his own motives. Maybe it was just an excuse to have sex with his attractive subordinate. It wasn’t the first time Fortus had cheated on Lillith. He was a known womanizer, but this time was different. They had produced a child, and there would be consequences for that.

That night, at the Bronwyn home, Dinner was skipped. There was food, that both Nemi and Reese ate in their rooms, but the family would not be sitting together tonight. Downstairs a war brewed that neither child wanted to see, but could still hear.

“It was a moment of weakness Lillith, I thought...”

“Oh, you thought what, Fortus?

“I thought she would give me another son, and we could raise him together.”

Reese tried to focus on either his food, or his papers in front of him. But it was hard. Hearing those words, confirming what he had felt today, hurt. His father wanted another son, because he was broken. Just like last time.

“How the hell does that make what you did right? How does it even make sense?” She couldn’t believe he went there. He refused to believe he was cursed. All those still born sons, beyond Reese anyway, were because of a curse that wasn't between the two of them. Rather, it was only on the one, him. And, he refused to believe that he alone was cursed. Probably because of what it implied about who cursed him.

“I knew you were a womanizer when I married you, but I never thought… How many more are there that I don’t know about?”

Fortus didn’t answer, at least not with words.

“Unbelievable. You will never have another son Fortus. You’re cursed. It’s not me and you know that. It’s you. Reese was literally a gift from the gods, you said that.”

All that yelling couldn’t be good for his future sibling, Reese thought. No matter what he did, he kept wondering the same thing, was it somehow his fault? If he hadn’t been born, his father wouldn’t have even thought about trying to have another son or maybe if he had a gate, his father wouldn’t have felt the need to have another son.

This feeling, he hated it. He was hurting people again, even if it was indirect. His parents would be yelling though out the night, and for Reese, sleep proved difficult, and not just because of the noise.

In the morning, Reese would learn that his father would be staying at the town inn for a few weeks. But life would continue, as it must. Things would eventually return somewhat to normal. Though everyone involved would have a lower opinion of Fortus in the end.