Ciaran got up in the morning and got dressed before deciding on something important, TODAY he would find another piece of that funky metal, Ciaran had breakfast and headed out the door like usual but scoured the streets with his monocle searching for any hint of colour where it shouldn’t belong, Ciaran’s conversations with his mother were rather brief until he stopped speaking altogether as he looked at the shop window of the blacksmith for what felt like the fiftieth time and he felt the futility of his actions, determined not to ask for help Ciaran decided that he should search the rest of the way to school and never stop searching until he finds another way.
Once Ciaran had gotten his kiss on the cheek he headed off to class where he was greeted by the eight students there already and Mr Luper’s vibrant face, it looked like he had found a solution to all his worries overnight.
Once everyone was present Mr Luper stood up from his stool and exclaimed with much gusto
“Everyone leaves your bags; we will now have pe for the first fifteen minutes of each lesson instead of a dedicated day”
Mr Luper’s joyous face tricked the children into believing that it was a good thing. Soon Mr Luper had them running laps around the main academy building, he would give some breaks occasionally and keep the children at a manageable pace which for some turned out to be more of a walk than a run, but Mr Luper seemed excited to see the results of his planning as when he dragged the children back inside, he nearly forgot to tell them what to do
“Today we will be writing a summary of the books you took home last night; you will structure it like so…”
Mr Luper gave an example and decided to teach properly from the start for once yet many of the children including Ciaran were still worried, some couldn’t write proper sentences while others hadn’t even taken their books out of their bags. Ciaran’s solution was to try and write about one of the stories he had read the day prior. At the first break Ciaran was around three quarters done, he enjoyed his time relaxing and playing games but not what came after, when Mr Luper said lesson, it seemed he meant each section of the day, once in the morning and once after each break. By the time Ciaran returned to class he had little energy to mess around or do work finishing the last quarter of his work just before the second bell and handing it in to Mr Luper.
“Mr I’m finished”
“Hand it here and get some more paper, you will write about one of the other books you read”
Others weren’t so lucky as Ciaran and had to go to another table and have someone in the group read a new book to them for them to summarise.
Little happened during the second break as the children were rather docile thanks to Mr Luper’s plan however had severe side effects after the students third run as they began to act more like mindless husks than people their third run after the break and the children were basically walking zombies, Mr Luper was not upset however as he had already achieved his goal of getting a piece of writing to assess the level of the children, he did this so he could organise them by a skill level other than abysmal and teach each group accordingly.
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At the end of the day other then complaining about having to exercise which got a strange smile as a reaction from his mother Ciaran retreated to his room intent on resting his eyes… for… just a second, when Ciaran opened his eyes again it was already time for dinner.
The next two weeks went by like a blur as Ciaran got used to school life the only evidence of his efforts culminating in his literacy skills that slowly inched forward each day and his burgeoning friendships as he spent more time with each member of the class. There were few highlights that he remembered outside of his friends, other than the constant exhaustion that was slowly subsiding and the fact he nicked himself on a chisel but his memory shifted, it had been two weeks but today was much more interesting, the school day had been rather dull but on his way home he was surprised by his mother dragging him into the blacksmith’s shop and within he saw his father sitting on a plush sofa by a rack displaying spears of fine craftmanship. Ciaran took in his surroundings like a curious cat, he had never been inside a shop that sold weapons but those weren’t the only things on display, there were many assortments of tools that lined the walls and shelves from nails and horseshoes to hammers and pliers.
There was a gruff man his body plump in shape, but his fluffy exterior hid layers of experience and muscle bound tightly and packaged into a beast of a man. The blacksmith spoke his voice surprisingly soft despite his build and his language “boy, I hear ya have a question for me?”. Ciaran nodded shyly realising that his parents had somehow picked up on his interest in the store and deduced the reason to be curiosity.
the man seeing Ciaran’s nod spoke his voice more endearing than before trying to coax the boy into speaking “then let’s hear it”. Ciaran responded to the man’s efforts “well I saw that some of the objects in your store window had different aether to what looked to be their material”, hearing this answer the blacksmith looked to Ciaran’s seeking an answer why he had sought him out to answer such a simple question for the boy only to see Ciaran’s father lift his arms and smile, it was out of his control and the man seemed to find amusement in the situation. The blacksmith let out a resigned sigh before answering Ciaran’s question “well boy, that’s because another type of Aether has been imbued into them, whether by inscription or enchantment” Ciaran’s eyes lit up and he asked another question “what’s inscription?” the boy had read enough tales of hero’s lately to know that special mages could enchant an object giving it new properties and with the newfound knowledge that they were infusing Aether into the object to illicit a change the only knowledge that now eluded him was inscription.
Seeing Ciaran’s beaming eyes that seemed to hold endless questions the blacksmith seemed to understand why Ciaran’s father had arranged the meeting, he grabbed a fine wooden seat sitting before the couch and inviting anon to sit next to his father on the couch. The blacksmith’s eyes closed for a second in contemplation but he soon opened them wearily “inscription is when you make a physical channel for the aether, it is like enchantment but requires specialised tools and materials, there are many ways to inscribe and many different thing’s to inscribe the most common is magic circles but there are also instances where one might inscribe runes or words of old, unlike enchantment inscriptions last longer only dissipating when they have been worn out compared to the time limit attached to an enchantment due to the whims of the Aether”. Ciaran asked the blacksmith yet another question “how do you inscribe something, what do the tool’s look like?” the blacksmith was about to answer but once he saw the faces of Ciaran’s parents that had lit up due to his question he guessed their intent instead opting to say “get some more muscle on yer frame and I will teach you, how’s that?” the offer was tantalizing to Ciaran his curiosity yet to be satiated and he readily accepted after very little contemplation “sure” he was basically fizzing in his seat with excitement at finding out something new with a challenge.