“Faster, Elex!” My father shouted as he adjusted his body after tossing me across the training field. I quickly recuperated after landing awkwardly on my back off the ground, keeping my stance low and preparing myself for another attack. He still never held back against me despite our difference in experience… just the way I wanted it.
With a colossal torrent of tensed-up energy, I burst myself from the ground with an immense gust of wind trailing behind me to propel myself toward him, shooting off many small pieces of rubble out the rear of my back foot. I made it obvious by raising my right fist as to where I would strike him on the left side of his face. However, upon contact he effortlessly raised up his right arm to block my attack whilst smirking at me, completely oblivious to my next move.
Now that I had him holding me upright, I manipulated the wind to help twist my body around to allow me to kick him with my leg on the other side of his face, hoping the closed distance between us would give me the advantage I needed to land a blow, as he would have little time to react. Unfortunately, before my leg could make contact with my father's cheek, he roughly tugged on the arm that he held, causing me to lose my balance and make my attack go wide. He released my arm, allowing my body to flop to the ground with what would have been a thump If I didn't soften my descent with a cushion of air.
“Your still too slow Elex” He groaned “I know I am a stronger opponent than you, and I'm sure that your tricks would work against almost anyone the same age as you, so I can applaud you for the creativity, but you need to move faster if you want to compete with people with more experience.” He would tell me the same things every day we trained together, ‘move faster, stay lower, and don't use all your mana on one big spell.’ he would say. Sometimes it felt like whenever I would excel in one thing he tried to teach me, I would almost always fall back on another.
We had been sparring like this nonstop for the past two years and a half, and the feeling as if my eleventh and twelfth birthdays went by in a flash was apparent. My height and physical prowess had increased exponentially, to a point where I doubt there was anyone else my age who would be able to give me a challenge, although you could say I was somewhat overconfident in my abilities. Training with my father has proved to be beneficial for me this past year, as not only had I improved in controlling my earth abilities - which was easier considering my father had an affinity towards earth himself - but I was becoming more adept in my control over the air as well.
We trained by focusing on one affinity per day, to get maximum efficiency in my development as a fighter. Today I was to use air in our sparring, and personally, I preferred the days when I got to use the air affinity. It just felt right to me, the feeling of the wind following my every command as I guided its path through the atmosphere toward my target was euphoric. Or commanding gales of wind to sweep me off my feet and take flight into the skies, gave off a sort of feeling that I was able to leave all my past troubles behind and venture into new areas. I couldn't quite say the same for my earth affinity though, as I didn't fall into harmony with the earth as I did with the air. Controlling the earth arc stone felt rough and rigid, although it did make me feel fortified, a sort of confidence would flush over me when manipulating the ground, but it just wasn't the same.
“Get up, and ready yourself for my next attack,” my father said “ You may think of yourself strong, Elex, but the kids you'll be facing at Haulburn Academy will have been living in wealth their entire lives. They would have had the best tutors, greater facilities, and some will have even gone the extra mile to use performance-enhancing elixirs to increase their progression. All I'm saying is, if you want to stay on top and keep up with them, you're going to have to maintain this level of rigorous training, or at least find someone strong enough to motivate you to keep progressing.” After he finished talking he walked backward to create a distance between us and waited for me to stand.
As I rose to my feet panting from hours of casting spells, I was able to mumble the words “Apertia” aloud, letting my body absorb the mana from the ring my grandfather gave me, and feel my mana reserves begin to slowly be replenished. I aimed my left arm out towards my father and searched deep within myself to clutch all the mana I had within me from the ring so far, and use it against my father in one swoop. Once again ignoring his words of advice not to waste fuel. I could see he was getting ready to respond with a similar kind of attack, as I watched flames begin to circle around his body.
We released our attacks almost simultaneously, and our spells collided somewhere in the middle. Upon impact I could feel the force of his flames against my constant barrage of wind, slowly edging me backwards and causing me to lose balance occasionally. I used up the mana the ring provided me the instant it came in, constantly reminding me I was nearing the end of my reserves. We held our spells in stasis for another three minutes or so, bringing me to my limits as the beam of wind I produced decreased in size and I could feel him gaining on me. Our collision abruptly broke and I descended to my knees, panting as if I had just run for a thousand miles.
“You should learn not to rely on that ring. Only use it as a last resort” He shouted, walking towards me and staring down at my gasping face “But I admit your stamina has improved”
“But let me guess, still not enough” I replied through ragged breaths.
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Later in the evening, as the sun descended past the horizon, I sat with my father and grandparents in the dining hall around a table far too big for the four of us. As I finished scooping my dessert onto my spoon, it clanked with the silver of my ring, erratically filling the moments of silence in the air.
“So how did Elex’s training go today?” my grandfather asked aloud, not speaking to anyone in particular
“It was good” my father responded “He is improving well, I'm sure he will be amongst the top of his class when goes to the academy” A proud smile formed on his face.
“That's good to hear,” My grandfather said now turning his face toward me “It's always been a dream of mine to make the Boldwick name great, and I have been doing my best with the company. You may not carry that name Elex, but you are still of this house, and so, you should also do everything in your power to make a name for yourself” he continued to stare at me intently.
“I will do my best grandfather” I replied, looking back at him.
“Yes you will,” he said. He got up from his seat and headed through to the next room to grab something. Returning, he held a black box with green decor around its edges, and he placed it in front of me next to my plate. Seeing the badge symbol on the face of the lid confirmed my suspicions about where it was from.
“From the school?” my father asked with a face full of pudding
“Yes, It arrived this morning while you were studying with Mr. Wilson,” Grandfather replied, but facing me instead.
Lifting the lid of the box to see the contents inside, I pulled out a blazer, trousers, a tie, and two white shirts, all protected and neatly folded within a clear garment bag. A letter rested at the bottom of the box underneath the clothes, stamped with the Hualburn academy symbol. I picked up and opened the letter, preparing myself to read it aloud for all to hear.
“Dear Mr. Vinspear.” I cleared my throat “It is with great pleasure that we inform you of your acceptance to Haulburn Academy, Sunderland’s greatest magic school of the past century. ” I took a moment to look around at my family, unable to hide my expressions of excitement as I read with a gaping grin on my face. “You have been given this opportunity in recognition of the support from the Boldwick company. We have enclosed your daily uniform and a starter package with this letter so you can familiarize yourself with the campus and get back to us if any size changes may be required. Feel free to reach out to us at any time, as we would like to make the transition as easy as possible. We are looking forward to having you at our school. Welcome to Haulburn Academy. Sincerely, Professor Harrison Saundont”
My father snagged the letter from my hands as soon as I stopped reading to get a look for himself. He flipped it around to read extra details that were noted on the back.
As I opened my mouth to thank my grandparent again, my grandmother already had her arms around my torso squeezing me tight.
"Congratulations, Elex !" she said
“Well, what are you waiting for,” my grandfather said, “go and put it on”.
Leaving my grandmother's hold, I took the box with the contents inside and briskly walked to the living room, out of the kitchen, and across the main vestibule. Unwrapping the items with care, I slowly swapped them for my current clothes, feeling the smooth cold sensation of fresh material on my bare skin. Looking in the nearest full-body mirror, I glanced at myself for some time, allowing my brain to accept the clothes on my body before I could think of reasons why they didn't suit me.
The whole uniform had a black foundation, aside from the white shirt provided. It was embellished with green decor all over it, the lapel of the jacket being the same olive color as the small beams of stripes that ran around the sleeve vents. The rich buttons had a somewhat golden peanut look to them, as they blended well with the shade of green giving it an earthy image. I placed the tie to fit firmly under my collar, allowing the school sigil to face outward uniformly. I paused once more, searing the image of myself with the uniform into my head, changing poses every now and then with my hands in and out of my pockets to see how I would look. And I was pleased with what I saw. I gave myself a corny smile in the mirror before hurriedly leaving the room before I could make myself cringe anymore.
Heading back through to the kitchen, I walked in on my family all standing and preparing to leave for the night. They all turned towards me, including the kitchen maids who stared at me scrutinizingly whilst collecting the plates from the table.
“Well…?” I asked. Looking back at them while they stared at me in silence. Had I looked so good that my appearance left them speechless? Or was it the damned trousers, I had thought to myself they looked a bit stiff on my lower half.
“You look…” my grandmother took a moment to look me up and down once again “...Great,” she said with wide eyes. Everyone else in the room agreed with her statement, nodding their heads as they stared at me.
My father walked approached me and adjusted the tie and collar under my chin, perhaps it wasn't in the center of my body like I thought it was.
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“Well you sure do look smart, Elex,” he said whilst pulling on my tie to tighten it around my neck. “Of course not as good as I looked when I was at school, but still good enough,” he said with a smirk. “Anyway, take this off now. It's time we finish your training for today, I want to try something new.”
Once the table had been cleared, my grandparents made their way to the bedroom, while my father and I got dressed and headed back outside to train under the blue light of the night sky.
We sat near the center of the training field, our legs crossed on the ground opposite from one another. My father looked up at a dark oncoming rain cloud in the distance and smacked his teeth. He then turned over his head in my direction and told me to watch him closely. He closed his eyes, and we sat there in silence for a time, the only noise being the scuffling from a bush or the chirp from a cricket. However, I could feel it just slightly, the slow gradual build-up of pressure that surrounded him, as he released a wave of his aura into the atmosphere. It expanded by the second, becoming more suffocating as I began to skip a few breaths. It looked as if the blades of grass and wind would shake as his aura increased, but instead, it left me feeling paralyzed.
When he opened his eyes to look at me once again, he could see I was struggling just to watch him clearly, and in response concealed his aura.
“Ahaha, it's overwhelming to experience that for the first time, isn't it?” He asked me while laughing.
“Yeah, that was something” I replied
“That was my mana signature, or what most people just call an aura today. If you want to release your aura you need to search deep within you and let it lose. It's not very hard to do, and it doesn't take as much time as I had just done it, but for the sake of demonstration, I wanted to give you an example.” he said while getting up from his seat, leaving me there. “Now you try” he stopped walking a few paces back and stared at me with his hand crossed. “Look deep within your mana body and let your mana signature loose.”
I closed my eyes and felt the mana within me. I didn't exactly know what it meant to search "deep within", but I knew innately what I had to do. Feeling the insides of my mana body I abruptly let out a burst of my pure mana in the form of an aura. It felt calming, like being surrounded by, what I suppose I could call my own presence.
“Good, good, Elex. Keep this up” my father said. I had my eyes closed but with my aura extended outward, I could feel him circling me. Watching me as I released a light pressure for him to observe.
Holding that same position for a few minutes, I could clearly feel the difference between exerting my mana through an arc stone and releasing it as an aura. When I used mana through the arc stones, it felt akin to scooping out chunks of water from a bucket, the bucket being my mana supply. You could certainly feel the mana spent after manifesting your desired spell. On the other hand, when I released it as an aura, it felt more like the water was leaving the bucket by a slow evaporation process, albeit there was no real power generated in the end, but I suppose it comes with other benefits.
My father made me sit there until almost all of my mana had been depleted. I felt a strange biliousness feeling consume my body like I always did whenever reaching the limits of my mana supply. Of course, that could all be avoided with the help of my ring, but my father insisted I don't get too familiar with it. Forcing myself to keep a steady discharge, I had to stop due to the pain I felt within my body. Coughing and spitting out bile that had risen up to my throat.
“Elex, are you ok?” My father's hand came up behind me, patting my back to aid me.
“Yes I'm fine, just not used to this I guess.”
“Well don't push yourself too hard,” he said with a reassuring smirk. “You want to go again ?” he asked
“Yeah, let's do it,” I sighed. Calling it a day and going to my bed was what I yearned for, but I knew that if I wanted to improve in any aspect of mana control, sleeping was not the way. Readjusting myself on the grass, I sat crossed-legged and twisted my back to release tension.
“You mind If I take some mana from the ring to refuel?” I turned my head to face my father.
“Go on,” He said.
Closing my eyes and saying the words ‘apertia’, I felt the familiar unusual feeling of mana rapidly filling my channels, as it rushed around my body in order to replenish my storage. Sometime later, when I decided I had a moderate amount of mana in me, I began to search again. Looking deep within my mana body for a release of my aura.
I could feel all that was a part of me: my mana channels and the arc stones, but there was something else. Something I had noticed before but took no recognition of. Only now it seemed to be more conspicuous. Like an abyss within my body, waiting to be explored. I was hesitant at first, it felt like it was edging me on to do something, as if it were calling me forth to seek within its depths. "Should I ask my father about this?" I thought. It gave off an ominous feeling within, like it wasn't mine, and yet it was inside of my mana body. I looked closer, and seeing as this foreign area in my body had been here for as long as I could remember, I decided it was my right to delve into it. Straying away from my father's lesson, and letting my curiosity get the better of me, I plunged into the unknown waters of my body, hoping to gain more insight.
A wave of pain and nausea passed my senses for a moment, causing me to lose focus and jolt my eyes open abruptly until all I could feel was a burning sensation on my left upper arm. It seemed to spread down my forearm and reach out to the arc stones in my knuckles. I bawled in pain at the abruptness of it all, the feeling of fire searing throughout my arm was not a pleasant one. What had I done? What had I tapped into?
“Elex, what are you doing!” my father shouted as he began to walk hastily towards me.
“My arm” I winced while holding it out. As the pain seemed to throb back and forth from my knuckles to my shoulder, I pulled back the sleeve covering my arm to reveal white tribal-looking patterns branding my skin. As I got up from my seat, surges of tension prickled across my body, it felt like my frame was going to burst with the overwhelming pressure, and the struggling look on my face depicted my pain to my father clearly.
“My son…” he stuttered over his own words. My father's eyes widened in shock at this new revelation, staggering a few steps as he approached me. “y…you have a ‘Trigon’? ” he spoke aloud to himself in disbelief. He slowly approached with an arm out, as if he were attempting to pat the snout of a wild beast. I just stood there and stared at him. My body had gone numb, the patter of the oncoming rain on my skin was null and my eyes didn't blink despite its disturbance. I analyzed my hand in front of me, clinically staring at the white markings embedded in my skin. They traveled around my arm, intertwining with one another, and circled around the two arc stones I had equipped.
It wasn't just plain spurts of tension I felt flow around my body, it was almost as if I felt inclined to release it. As if something inside me was swelling up and urging me, just waiting to be let go from my claustrophobic embrace. I lifted my hand upwards and pointed it toward the sky, the huge thick black rain clouds now hovering above this area of the city. I had no idea what I was doing, but it felt like I was going to internally burst with energy if I did nothing. With a climaxing scream, I triggered the air arc stone within me and let loose all the tensed-up energy that had accumulated.
“Elex!” My father shouted as the immense build-up of wind was rattling his clothes and everything else around me for at least forty yards. He was being pushed back ever so slightly, one hand now in front of his face as he put his weight onto one leg for purchase, but my focus was elsewhere. The white stripes on my arm began to glow, quickly illuminating light around me and dimming over and over again. When I shot the wind upwards from my hand, the gales seemed to listen willingly to my calling, as the fallen leaves and weak blades of grass rose up with the vigorous gust I produced effortlessly. The seemingly dense clouds split in the center as the sharp breeze tore through its surface, leaving a gaping hole in its body above our neighborhood. The darkness that had lingered over was expelled, leaving only the radiance of the moon to shine upon us through the new unnatural opening in the clouds.
When I attempted to use abilities with little to no mana, my body would reject me, coughing up vomit and the like, I knew the consequence. So, exerting everything I had in one fell swoop hit me instantly, feeling my body collapse to the floor, and hearing the call of my name from my father across the field moments before I blacked out.
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Hours later, I awoke from my deep slumber, a groggy feeling and the stiffness of my limbs were apparent in my body as I attempted to sit up. I was in my room, my father most likely brought me up here after last night. I have to admit that my memory was somewhat foggy, but as I spent more time in thought, my memories slowly came back to me. What had happened to me? What were those marks on my arm?... The marks on my arm!
I moved as fast as my body allowed me to without pain, removing the covers from my torso without much strain, and uncovered anything hiding my arm. I looked up and down all the parts I could observe of my limb in hopes I would find something similar to what I had seen last night, but to no avail. Was it a dream? No, of course not, I could still feel the slight throbbing I had experienced last night on my body. As I sat in my bed and pondered for some time, I gathered all my strength and swung my lower half to the side, allowing my legs to land at the edge of my bed. The god rays of light shone through the cyan curtains of my windows, some of them beaming down on my face, telling me it was past the break of dawn.
I attempted to walk out of my room, slowly grabbing onto any piece of furniture I could for support of my body. As I walked across the landing, I could hear the muffled sound of people talking in one of the rooms downstairs. I carefully made my way down, step by step, and the voices began to become clear.
“... I would never do that to him, Richard,” one of the voices said. It was my father, no doubt about it. He and my grandfather were talking about something. Me maybe? I walked towards their voices to listen in more.
“I just can't believe you only notice this now. You have been training him for the past three years and it's only now you saw this ?” my grandfather said. His voice seemed a bit irritated.
I took another step, but to my surprise the floorboards groaned at my weight, causing me to cringe internally. Well, no point in hiding I suppose. I walked through into the living room where they both sat down with cups of tea in front of them. They turned their heads to face me, my grandfather smiled and told me to sit, pointing his finger at the sofa.
“Good morning, how are you?” my father said, his smile didn't seem genuine, like he was hiding how he really felt about me being here - at least that's how I saw it.
“I'm fine” I replied
“I hope you slept alri-” He was suddenly cut off by my grandfather.
“Oh by Arcinose, Raja. Let's not waste time” Grandfather groaned impatiently. “How long have you known about that power your father claims you have, boy ?” he stared at me scrutinizingly. My grandfather was a kind man, I knew that for sure. But this wasn't like him, or at least what I had seen of him. I was taken aback by his raised voice, it was somewhat intimidating and kind of scary, akin to the feeling you would get if you saw the calmest person in the world lose their nerves.
“I didn’t know,” I said hurriedly, “I just…” What happened? I can't even explain it myself. Maybe my grandfather thought I had taken some sort of elixir from his shop behind his back. Or maybe my body was reacting negatively to the ring Anaya gave me. No, both of those seemed too far-fetched. None of it made any sense.
“Do you know what a Trigon is, Elex?” he said to me finally. His voice calmed, and his posture changed as we all noticed my grandmother slowly creeping up from behind me to see what was going on.
“I...I don’t” I replied
My grandfather let out a sigh as his wife came and sat next to him with a somber look on her face. He said “Elex, the Trigon is not something that is taken lightly, especially among the church. Very few people have been born with this ability, and I can't stress enough how little we know about Trigon's origins” He sighed again, rubbing his fingers on his temples. He looked up at me and stared scrutinizingly, the shape of crow's feet resting at the corner of his eyes wrinkling as he blinked.
“I’m sorry but I don't understand. What have I done ?” They were scaring me with the way they didn't take this situation lightly, but I had a right to know. I hadn't done anything, so why should I now be forced to bear the burden of their stress without knowing where it comes from?
“It’s not about what you’ve done. It’s about what you have” my father retorted. I turned to face him with shock in my eyes. Even my father was shaking my confidence.
“Elex, the Lumin Cathedral believes the Trigon's power originates from the Usurper. From all the books you read, I shouldn't have to explain to you who that is” My grandfather explained. “It's a power that has unknown capabilities, and so the Lumin Cathedral had made the decree that all individuals born with the Trigon were a danger to our society and should surrender themselves for divine punishment under the law of Arcinose.”
I stood there in disbelief at what I was hearing: the Usurper, the law of Arcinose, a threat to society. It was all nonsense, it had to be. How could this have been the first time I had heard of this? None of the plethoras of books I had read on the power of the Arcin mentioned anything about a Trigon - apparently some forbidden power inherited from the Usurper - A god.
“So what do you want me to do? Turn myself in for something I was born with?” My voice rose with anger, “and who would believe such stupid superstitions like that? Trust me, I'm no threat to our society, and I think if I knew I had the power of a god within me I would have used it to save my mother.” The tone of my voice was stained with bitterness, and only after I saw the look on my family's faces did I realize what I had said.
My grandmother got up from her seat and paced toward me. The stinging from the slap she left on my cheek also left an echo throughout the room as her palm connected to my face. Her eyes were beginning to water and she stared at me with sorrow.
“Your grandfather only wants to help you, my sweet boy” her voice struggled to speak clearly as it cracked with every other syllable. She came in and held me tight, letting out a whimper as she took me in her embrace. “He just doesn't want to lose his grandchild,” she said.
My grandfather stood up and pulled me from my grandmother, holding me by my shoulders. “ I don't want you to do anything, Elex. In fact, I forbid you to use that power ever again. I doubt that it just happened randomly, you must have done something to make it happen, and whatever that may be, never do it again.” He held his hand in the air to forestall any oncoming protestation. “If you want to know why Elex. Do what you know best and read about it. I doubt anything I say will bring you closure on the matter unless you do your own research.” He sighed while looking at the floor. “But listen to me now, my boy. You will begin school within a month from today, and I suggest that you learn as much as you can about the Trigon”
Why was this happening? I didn't ask for this, and yet I was now being told that because of something inside of me, I would be persecuted for a gift I was born with - or maybe "curse" would be a better word to describe it.