A while later I had arrived back in front of my house. I carefully pressed against the beige door and stepped through, not bothering to relinquish my feet of my shoes. My mother and father both rested around the table, Ronny knitting in the rocking chair that meekly squeaked in a pesky noise akin to that of a mountain termite, and Aldir enjoying his herbal tea that pleasantly gave of a soothing smell of freshly picked mint.

Their gazes attentively lifted to my approaching figure, stumbling around in the shoes that stomped with each step I took, imprinting my presence.

"You're back early today Eli, anything out of the usual happen?" Aldir looked up at me, setting aside his mug and fixing his navy ocean blue hue, presenting from his iris, and sharply searching for any abnormalities within my look.

I quickly dismissed him with a firm shaking of my head and turned to my mother briefly, figuring she would possess more information on this topic than my father. Her body opened up to me and she dropped the equipment to her lap.

She's doing it by hand? That's unusual. She used to do it with the assistance of magic.

I examined her permeating smile and her eyes which shielded themselves behind the closing nature of them. Frozen in a non-stop blink that forcefully remained shut. I excreted a small unnoticeable pulse of mana and diverged it towards her. Due to the relentless practicing of my mana, I have been able to interact and sense mana better now without even having to enter mana sight. The particles around her dishevelled, and seemingly culminated in a dark cloud that ate away at the light near her. Her mana crux vaguely beat in a steady rhythm that felt weaker and more sickly than a normal one.

Her brows strayed from her flexed state she displayed whilst smiling and changed to a realised expression. The look in her revealed eyes begged me to not mention what I discovered.

How did she know that I knew?

I decided to bury my questions for the time being and began speaking. "Mother, I was wondering if you happened to know if we have some magical texts? You know, like for mages. Or perhaps you know of places where I can find such books?"

My father seemed to abstain from our conversation and headed out, saluting to my mother and mentioning he's out to leave for work to which my mother just endearingly rubbed his back. Once father had left, she refocused her attention towards my figure that still stood, not daring to take a singular step and awaiting her response.

She attempted to speak but then she put her fist in a cupped hand and began coughing. Her expression whittling away from her previously pristine complexion and snow-white skin that glowed under the shimmer of the sun. All that remained was a sickly lightly pale-green complexion resting as residue on her body.

I still didn't approach, even when it looked like she would cough out her lungs. The dawning look on my face still clung to the matter I mentioned. She smiled kindly, hiding her growing weakness and more brittle physique.

"Unfortunately darling Eli, we don't have any magical texts in the house. They were much to expensive for people like us to buy them." She began and her words already revealed discrepancies in our families situation that I've noticed for a long time. A young couple who just started a family with a whole new last name that never existed, the sword of Time, and my fathers educated knowledge that has been cultivated. Our families situation didn't add up.

My theory was my father belonged to some noble family and had ran away alongside my mother, who was a commoner, but I yet to know as to why would he leave his family and abandon it. This as just a theory, but it felt like I was close to hitting the mark. It would also explain our unusual financial situation and the unexpected presence of such a pristine weapon in the possession of my father.

"As for our situation now, we still cannot afford such precious study materials for you. We're sorry, but its impossible for our family to be able to do so. As for where you would be able to find, there is a town past the one we usually shop at, but the cost is still much to costly for nobodies like us to afford, even to rent. I'm sorry, but we can't comply with your desire." Her soft scarlet eyes diverted their occupation to observing the floor.

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My mother clearly dealt those words with a heavy hand to me. Most other things she allows me to have, yet this is the first time she denied me. I'm almost glad. It seemed like she had no preservation skills, but I was wrong after all.

"I understand mother. Thank you for listening to my selfishness. One more thing before I go, if I may intrude on what I felt-"

She cut my words out with a sharp threatening voice. " Don't bring that up. Forget it and move on. That is an unesssecary worry for you. No point in stirring a massive fuss for nowt."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it to come out like that." She corrected her tone and slowly slumped down to her knees, resting her head wrapped in the pristine onyx locks that smoothed to the touch and holding me in a tight embrace.

"I love you, Eli." She uttered with tears spilling from her eyes. A ponderous stone of massive magnitude lay stuck in her throat and she struggled to collect the words from her dried mouth. "I-I love you...so much." Her words spilled with deep pain and regret harnessed by the thing she refused to disclose to me.

My hands remained at my waist. My face was fixed in the same demeanour it had demonstrated from the start. All whilst the woman in front of me, my biological mother who had dedicated so much to me...was now clinging to me and crying...and I still felt nothing. I've tried to change through my actions and I adapted to the families climate by showing more emotion, yet nothing seems to ignite the frigid feeling I stored in my heart.

"I know, mother," was all I could reply. He breaths becoming heavier to release and snot poured down her nose. I pulled her off me and sat her on her rocking chair. "Rest up for now mother. I'll be off. Don't worry, I won't mention this to father. But I do want an explanation for this."

Her sobbing intensified and she cradled in a ball. "I-I-I-I-I c-c-can't," she mustered from her nervy tears, "I-I'm ssss...ss...so-o-orry, but I can't. N-n-no matter what." She enunciated some words more and the others seemed to die down in a convoluted spiral.

I assessed her figure which trembled incredibly, her hands hidden in her tops mahogany sleeve. "Ok mother. You don't have to. Just clam down for the time being. I'll be right back. I'll make you some tea, okay?" I comforted her, patting her head and suggesting we take a small interval each to ourselves. Maybe she just needs a few peaceful moments. I doubt I'll be able to cheer her up, so I'll just give her the only thing I can. Silence, and time.

The water steadily came to a boil and steam rose throughout the room, vapour covering our windows and creating a cosy atmosphere. I set the herbal leaves in a cup and added some potent healing magic, the strongest I had that would affect such mana related problems. I then added the water. It's pattern swirled in a instantaneous vortex and set a pleasant smell across the house.

I walked back to my mother who patted her eyes with the sleeves she till hid her arms in, revealing only her fingers bunched up, and arranged the cup on the table right next to her.

All she could muster was an affectionate look that still wrapped me in such sincerity it gave me hope for myself, but reminded me of the vacuum in pace of my heart as well.

Sigh...

"I-I'm sorry. This must be a hassle for you." She interpreted from my exaugurated exhale.

"No mother. I apologise for making you think so. I was just...thinking. Mother, do you reckon people change. And if they do, how?" I knew it wasn't smart asking a person who was still unstable and recovering, but I felt like it was something I was obliged to do.

Her lips touched the cup and slurped on the lime coloured liquid built in the cup. "I think people do change. Inherently, our nature may be difficult to discard, yet progression is something our kind has always pursued. Intelligence, culture, strength. All these developed over the course and so did things such as morals. Society and the world changed. And for that to happen, individuals must have realigned their approach. The journey to change is a long and difficult one, but trust me when I tell you, that its much better to be happier than it is to be clouded by the haunting past. To reach the future, the past must be deeply ingrained into your psyche to evolve from it. Once you have, the past isn't something that needs to tie you down with prevalent memory nor emotion. Let it be a lesson you learn from that you can apply later, yet not need the lesson to be recalled as well."

Her words were seeded with honesty and knowledge. Not something I would expect from someone so young. Nevertheless, she gave me courage.

My scarlet eyes softened and I pressed her hands to my forehead and then kissed them. "Thank you. I needed that."

The corners of her moth slightly raised up tenderly, but quivering from the exhaustion of her emotional outburst. Her presence imposed a more timid suit that usual. "I'll leave you to rest mother. Drink up and relax for the rest of the day. But please, whatever's going on with you...just know that I'll be there for you and so will dad." I departed, turning my head away and walking out the room, closing the kitchens door behind me and pressing my back to it.

"After midnight falls, I'm going to have to check out that town she mentioned." I found it slightly strange how she revealed this place knowing I would look for it even if she told me not to. Perhaps her thoughts are being labelled incorrectly due to her state. Oh well, no time to think about it now.