Arriving home, mother immediately ordered the servants to prepare our dinner as she and I went to the parlour waiting for father to come home. While we were waiting for him, I was thinking of the best way to ask mother on when I could start learning magic.

Originally, I was going to wait until I was older to before raising the subject and asking my parents to teach me magic. After all, even if I was eager to learn, I was still much too young to learn something like that and even if I acted very mature for a boy of my age (a fact that they never bothered to question or wonder why) I still am a 5 year old boy. Not exactly an age I would start teaching a child something potentially dangerous.

Even if I did, my parents themselves have shown no inclination to actually teach me magic, even when I showed great curiosity in it. Though despite that, a part of me was grateful that they never asked or said anything about it. After all, to me, I wasn’t originally from this world and even if I was born here like everyone else was. I was still worried that I wouldn’t even be able to use magic to begin with and I wasn’t exactly ready to face my parents telling me that I was unable to use magic like they could.

Thankfully enough, much of my worries were alleviated during the conversation between mother and uncle Hector. I was surprised to hear that even mother had her own Spirit, and just as much when uncle said I was being fed the meat of Spirit Beasts (which was probably the meat that glowed a little that I’ve been eating for the past year). Regardless of that fact, I was delighted to hear that I was definitely going to have Spirit of my own.

“Markus? Markus, are you alright?”, mother’s voice broke me out of my thoughts. Apparently worried about my silence since we’ve arrived home.

“I-I’m alright mom.”, I replied, and started fiddling with the white and blue opal that I got from uncle Hector out of nervousness. Finally deciding that it was now or never, I gathered as much courage as I could and finally asked mother the question that’s been on my mind for the past hour.

“Mom?”

“Yes, Markus?”

“When will you and dad start teaching me that weird thing you guys do?”

“Thing?”

“You know...the one that makes you and dad glow.”

“You mean Spirit Arts? ...well, you’ll have to talk to your dad for that. Don’t worry, I’m sure he’ll be delighted to hear that you want to start learning already. Besides, we were about to get you started learning it anyways.”, I was surprised when she didn’t say it was called magic, though I guess it made sense, considering that we were dealing with Spirits. I suppose that anymore questions will have to wait until father gets back home, for now it’s time for dinner.

Not a moment later after their conversation, father came back home and along with that, the servants immediately announced his arrival. I still was not used to having servants do that even after hearing them everyday, but it was still a bit cool.

Mother and I slowly went to the dining room to meet up with father and dining room. Seeing him as I entered, I contemplated on how I should break the news to father when mother beat me to it.

“Dear, it seems like Markus wants to start his training early.”

“Really?”, he looked at me and smiled.

“I was wondering when you would finally get interested enough to ask.”

“...So when can I start?”, I asked quietly.

“Tomorrow morning, for now let’s have dinner.”, he replied as he clapped his hands together.

Dinner after that was a quiet affair. While I was eating, I decided to take a closer look at the meat that I was eating, and true enough it was indeed special looking. Aside from its delectable fragrance, it glowed ever so slightly and each time I bit into it could feel energy running through my body. I was surprised that I haven’t realised this yet, and needed uncle Hector to indirectly inform me for me to notice.

After that, father called me up to him so that he could remind and prepare my mind for tomorrow. With that out of the way, I headed back up to my room and try then fail to go to sleep due to my excitement for tomorrow.

I woke up the following day remembering the words that father told me last night, “Markus, using Spirit Energy at such a young age is no game, if all you wanted to do was to glow and do cool stuff, then this can wait, but if you are planning on being serious about this, meet me in the morning before breakfast.”

I hurriedly changed into my clothes and met father outside the house by the botanical garden, he was sitting cross legged in the middle of a circle. He beckoned me to come close to him and sit across from him.

“Before you start you must first know what are Spirits, they are things that exist within us they can only be felt and not seen. The origin of Spirits are unknown, but some believe that we are descended from animals and Spirits are beings that allow us to return to our ancestors. To access the Spirit you must first awaken it and form a bond with it only then can you use the power of your Spirit” By this point I was struggling to continue listening due to my lack of sleep last night and as the words became almost like a chant, I slowly let me eyes close themselves.

He noticed my expression slackening, so he decided to raise his right hand put it on my head shocked me with his Spirit Energy or whatever it was to wake me up, “As I was saying, before you awaken your Spirit you must first train the body to be a container that can hold its mighty powers. From now on we will be working to ensure that you survive the awakening.”

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My eyes flew open, I was shocked by what he just said and asked with a shout.

“SURVIVE?!”

“Yes, not all who undergo awakening survive and while most do, it is not an uncommon case to see a child explode from the sudden surge of Spirit power. Don’t worry Markus, that only usually happens to children who had weak bodies to begin with and rarely trained their bodies, It’s highly unlikely that it would ever happen to you. Besides, me and your mother have been preparing you for awhile now.”

Though it was comforting to know that It would probably not happen it didn’t make me any less scared at the fact I might just spontaneously combust suddenly because my Spirit went out of control.

“Don’t think about it Markus, awakening won’t happen for you until you’re 12 which gives us plenty of time to prepare you for it.”

“Alright. The way you’ve been preparing me, that’s the Spirit Beast meat I’ve been eating right?”, I answered, then asked him back, remembering what uncle Hector said.

“Your right, did your mother tell you already?”

“No, it was uncle Hector who pointed it out. Though I still don’t know what it is and does exactly.”, I said, hoping that he would finally answer the question that’s been bugging me for awhile now.

“I’m not surprised, your smart and mature for your age, but we haven’t started your formal education yet, outside of basic reading and writing.”

“So, what’s a Spirit Beast?”, I asked a bit impatiently.

“Patience, I’m getting there. A Spirit Beast is an ordinary animal that has learnt to cultivate and store Spirit Energy, like you in a bit. It is why their meat is so expensive, delicious and why it has a slight glow to it, it because the energy they absorb diffuse into their body, making them incredibly strong, but also great supplements for a soon-to-be cultivator like you.”

“Are all our Spirits, animals?”

“Yes, most Spirits that humans have are Spirit Beasts in form.”

“Then what ab—“

“We’re getting off topic, I know you want to know more, but you can find out some other time. For now, we can start by doing basic exercises, I want to know what I’m working with.”

I was pissed about getting cut off, but I knew that was my fault. So I decided redirect my energy to preparing by doing some light stretches. After which, I headed to brick path and began to run around the garden to show father what my current fitness level was.

After an embarrassingly short 5 minute run, I was already starting to get tired. Father noticing this decided to switch it up, “Good, your doing better than expected. Now switch to push ups.”, I went down on the ground and started alongside father for around 15 push-ups before my arms gave up on me.

“Good, now I want you to do some crunches.”, I immediately obliged and turned to have my back on the ground and immediately started the exercise. 10 crunches later, my body gives up on me and I lay down flat on my back.

“Well that was to be expected, though I have to admit I wasn’t expecting you to do as much as you did, you did well Markus. You’ll be doing this everyday in preparation for your awakening, do you think you can handle that?”

“Of course, this is nothing.”, I said as I tried to catch my breath.

“Good, now that you’re tired it’s time for breakfast recover your energy, remember not to overwork yourself, tonight I will teach you about something different” If the exercises were only going to be basic calisthenics I wouldn’t have been so worried, but it seems father still has something planned for later.

An uneventful day passes and I wait for father to return home from the barracks to see what he had to teach, waiting an entire day was killing me with boredom. I don’t remember how I managed to survive the first few years doing nothing at home, actually shouldn’t I be going to school at this point if they even have it. Regardless, it’s not the time to think about such things.

“Earlier I tested your body, now I will test your spirit energy. I will simply force my Spirit Energy into your body to unlock your Spirit Heart, all you have to do is remember the feeling of the energy flowing through your body. Don’t worry, it only hurts the first time.”

We were back in the gardens, and I was wondering what the hell a ‘Spirit Heart’ was, but I then immediately shuddered at the mention of pain and of father forcing his immense power to penetrate my body and asked, “Isn’t there ano— “.

“Hrrrrrkkkkkkk”

The words could barely escape my mouth before I felt my body being penetrated by the Spirits Energy. My body suddenly felt bloated and I felt myself expanding outwards and then rapidly contracting, I felt like I would pop if he didn’t stop now. I screamed for it to stop but to no avail.

With a deafening shout he said, “Focus Markus, you have to remember the feeling of it or else we’ll have to try again.”

I tried to close off my thoughts, ignore the pain to the best of my abilities and try to feel the energy as it entered and passed through my body, it didn’t feel right to me…it was an indescribable sensation that affected my whole body, one I’ve never felt before and I may have even enjoyed it, if not for the pain.

After what felt like an eternity, the feeling suddenly vanished and my body hit the floor unable to move as it was wracked with pain,

“Sit up Markus, try and feel the spirit energy in the surroundings, now is your best chance.”

I did as I was told and shakily sat up despite the pain and positioned myself in a cross legged position that showed me earlier. I attempted to empty my mind and tried to grasp the ethereal feeling from earlier, but it was to no avail. The pain was much too fresh in my mind for me to focus properly.

I continued to try feeling it in my surroundings for the remainder of the day and then I felt it, a strand of the energy, I tried pulling with my mind it but it didn’t budge.

“Dad, it doesn’t want to move.”

“Try to imagine a rope, use that rope to bind it and bring it towards you.”

I tried again, this time using father’s idea to the best of my abilities and just as I was about to give up, I felt it give way and enter me resting within my heart.

“I DID IT DAD!”, he looked at me pleased by my success, but his expression told me we weren’t done just yet.

“Now is the time for meditation, this will help build up your Spirit Energy reserves and give you better control of it. All you have to do is my instructions while moving the spirit energy throughout your body.”

Still excited, I did as he asked and tried to manipulate the Spirit Energy according to father’s instructions. It was a slow process, one that had to be repeated several times because of my lack of experience. Whenever I tried to gather the Spirit Energy it would almost always disperse, and when I finally did gather enough, when I try to manipulate it, it wouldn’t budge at all.

By the time I finally managed to properly cycle Spirit Energy throughout my body once, it was already the dead of night, and I was pretty sure I missed dinner as well. Father came up to me and asked, “Now that you have an idea of what will be happening from now on are you having second thoughts?”

I thought about then nodded my head, “Dad, the pain was a one-time thing right?”

“Like I said a while ago, the pain only comes the first time.”

“Why does it have to be so painful?”, I asked rather pitifully, shuddering from the memory of it.

“Many reasons, but to be plain and simple, it was because your body was still unaccustomed to Spirit Energy, we mitigated that a bit by feeding you Spirit Beasts, but as you can tell, it was still a painful experience regardless.”

“What about the ‘Spirit Heart’ thing you mentioned earlier?”

“Hmmm, to best describe it, the Spirit Heart is what allows us humans and elves to cultivate Spirit Energy. It is a metaphysical organ directly tied to your heart and is closely related to your cultivation stage. Now, go to sleep. I don’t want to hear any excuses tomorrow.”, father cut me off before I could even say anything.

“...fine.”, I was ashamed to say that I pouted a little for being told to go to bed, but I couldn’t argue, fatigue was already starting to set in and my previous excitement was already fading away, replaced by a drowsy feeling that threatened to have me fall asleep right then and there.

We went back inside the house and I went straight to bed, I felt exhausted as if I had been drained of all my energy, but it was well worth it. As I closed my eyes, I couldn’t help, but to feel excited for the days to come for one last time before darkness took me.