Days and days of waiting. Luckily, the suffering was mutual. Max would be lamenting the days he could run around the house free, with Althea lamenting the days she could afford to let Max roam around.

For Max, looking through each window and pointing out the differences—like a game of Spot the Difference—was his favorite activity. Childish boredom was truly something else. Now, joined at the hip to Althea, he was certainly not happy with the ordeal.

Especially because his parents had been adamant about this being the case.

Max was not a spoiled child, or at least not compared to other children.

Standard culture when it came to raising a child followed the rules of 5s.

For the first 5 years, a baby would be coddled, and given almost all they could ask for. It was just a way for parents to be doting on their children, while also giving them fond memories.

Next, they would be less than, then they would be equal to their parents.

So for Max to get a stern "No," it was a rare occurrence.

Althea also had trouble, focusing so hard all the time was bound to leave her with a headache.

"Ahhh! Leonhardt, can you take the shift? You can't be that bad at resonating! You wanna know what's resonating right now? My head! I can feel it vibrating!" Althea had gone off the rails just a bit.

"Ok, ok, go to sleep." Leonhardt led her to a bed, and she went to bed, for nearly the first time in a week.

After which, Leonhardt watched for a few hours, struggling to feel a resonance. Swordsmen were naturally worse at feeling mana resonances, as it was a skill primarily used by mages. It was how one imbued their spell with their knowledge, allowing it to exhibit certain properties alien to the original element.

So, after about 8 sols of watching Max, Leonhardt had even more respect for his wife, like he needed more.

Max's resonance was a cacophony of differing thoughts, but it seemed like there were two resonances, that conducted each other, like the songs of birds, sung by lovers.

Dual resonance was rare, but not unheard of. And considering their opposite backgrounds, and opposite Ancestral Wills, Althea was well prepared for something like this.

Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

Dual resonances weren't life-changing, but they did change the way one progressed.

When one wanted to expand on their path in an element, they were only allowed one. However, when one had two resonances, they could use two paths, but if the paths didn't line up well enough, they would have to start from the beginning. Their path was more delicate, resulting in their paths being much more thought out, and their progress being slower, but their steps being much larger.

Though Leonhardt would communicate this to Althea later, right now, he was bored.

"Max, what do you wanna do?" Leonhardt questioned Max—though it may have been for himself, and not Max.

"Uhmm… that game where I hide and you look for me… but I wanna look this time!" Max had a sparkle in his eye, excited about the switch-up.

"Why not." Leonhardt shrugged his shoulders, blissfully unaware of the grave mistake he had made.

Since Leonhardt was bigger, he could use a little bit of illusion magic, right? Well, Max said he could—though it wouldn't help.

Dozens of rounds later, Leonhardt's confidence in his darkness sword waltzes was shattered.

Sword waltzes were the equivalent of a neutral spell for swordsmen, usually a simple set of moves one needed to perform in a certain order.

Yet even with these to hide his form…

Max walked through the house, his steps slow. He liked the idea of searching at first, but as he met Leonhardt's eyes, he felt it was all too easy.

Leonhardt sighed, walked forward, and suddenly became easier to see. Shaking his head, he was annoyed by the absolute ease at which Max found him.

Yet Althea was awake now and could take the shift.

So, as she got on the resonance, she saw the dual resonances immediately, one loud, brimming with passion, while one was calm, and directed by purpose. Their harmony caused both in total to be stronger than the sum of its parts.

And this was why his enlightenment was so quick. These two resonances nurtured each other, resulting in Max gaining his moral compass, and set of views far too quickly.

Yet Althea noticed something. The thrumming of the resonance took with it a piece of the chaotic noise, which had become more of an undertone, rather than vice versa.

With each pulse of the music, another segment of the cacophonic noise would get ripped out, as the resonance slowly bettered itself.

"Get him in the training room, Max is gonna enlighten soon." Althea said this, but it was a little too monotone for the situation. But she was tired, cut her some slack.

As they got in the training room, Max was a little confused, they had taught him about the enlightening, but hadn't told him the rest yet.

"You'll feel a pull away from your body, don't resist. Go with the flow, it'll take you to great places. And don't try to leave early, or focus on what's happening outside, we have everything taken care of. You just need to lay down, get comfortable, and let the information pass through you, but retain it." Althea had her instincts kick in, going into the typical maternal lecture.

Though, Max listened attentively, following what his mom said. And he laid down immediately. While it was silly, technically, it was the right call, and the parents calmed him down until Althea heard the signature resonance of enlightenment.

So, they left the room, and let it happen.