It was early morning as Simon climbed out of bed. He had awoken from the distinct smell of food. He stretched, and moved to check the state of his body. For the first time since waking up in the shuttle, there was no discomfort. A plain brown robe was placed on the bench for him. He remember to make a wide berth from where the bowl had landed. Simon dressed quickly in the chilly room, and made his way through the doorway. As he exited the room, he ended up in the kitchen, both inhabitants he had met sat at a big table. He walked and sat at an empty seat, opposite Amara and Thomas. Before he could say anything, a bowl and cup was placed before him. Though it was the same food as last time, he didn’t mind. The fireplace crackled as he ate.  

“Morning” Simon croaked between scoops.

“Good morning Simon!” Thomas said with an amused tone “Feeling better?”

“Much, thank you”

“Yes yes i can see that, when we found you looked very pale and sick. So we did, the only thing anyone would do..” Thomas continued. A low grunt came from Amara as he explained.

“Thank you, both for that. I had a bad couple of days. I don’t have anything on me to repay you for healing me, but i can work” Simon answered and finished his breakfast.

The table was quickly cleaned of by Amara. Thomas and Simon continued talking. She stole some glances at the boy sitting at the table. She felt relieved that he was feeling better, but her neutral expression didn’t change.

“Nonsense! It’s only right, that honorable sages, help each other when in danger”

“Sage?” Simon looked at Thomas confused.

“Ah yes quite a peculiar magic you have boy. I hope you could show this old man some of it’s secrets” Thomas resumed, not answering his question.

“Wait, wait, wait! What’s a sage?” Simon quickly cut him off.

Now Thomas looked bewildered. This was not the response he was hoping for. Was the boy simple or bad at lying? He racked his brain what he should say next.

‘Aha, he must be testing me to check if i'm one!’

Thomas expression changed to a smile, as he put out his hand. Simon focused on it, and waited. After a few mumbles from the old man, a small fire formed over his palm. Simon did a double take, and nearly fell off the chair. He didn’t have much time to explain this fire, before he once again was left surprised. A water ball coming from kitchen, shot off and extinguished the fire. He looked between Thomas and Amara, now once again reminded he was talking to aliens.

“As you can see, we are both sages, so now quickly show me!” Thomas propped his chair closer, and waited intently.

“Umm, i can’t do that” Simon denied.

“Nonsense boy, I saw you showing Amara yesterday”

“What?” He looked at Amara, who was pointing at a bowl “What the crazy bowl? I did that?” Simon pointed at himself, and both alien nodded at him.

“Boy, you’re telling me you didn’t know you were a sage? You're not lying right?” Thomas looked sceptical.

Simon shook his head and glanced at Thomas hands.

“Are you simple then?” Thomas asked tilting his head “I knew a retarded sage back in the day, who could sink into the ground.. Didn’t end well”.

Simon was slightly hurt, this must be the first time an astronaut was called mentally handicapped. The only explanation, was that these aliens were magicians and thought he was one. As he watched Thomas he could see some resemblance with Gandalf from Lord of the Rings books.

‘Well, maybe more a Gandalf santa’ Simon pondered.

“Ah no, i didn’t know i was a “Sage”, is it like a magician?” Simon asked.

“Haha magician! They can only do useless things like talk to grass, and do simple tricks! No, a sages are masters over the six elements, that make up the world” Thomas explained while stroking his beard.

Amara came back to the table started to reading a book, not bothering participating in the discussion.

“Six elements? Like earth, water..”

“Ah yes, the six elements that make up the world! Fire, water, earth, wind, light and darkness..” Thomas droned on for a long time, explaining the so called elements, and their uses to Simon like he was a simpleton. Fire sages used fire and was the most destructive of the elements. Water countered fire, and didn’t have much use on land, though the most expert of water sages could form and use ice. Earth sages could manipulate the earth and wind sages could use the wind, there had even been wind sages that could form lightning. Light and darkness was a bit more bizarre. The light sages could use healing spells, but also incantations that could boost regular people's strengths. Finally the darkness element could employ shadows and night, to disorient the senses. There was much more information that Thomas explained, mostly of different sages he had met and defeated during his life.

It’s all sounded amazing, maybe a bit basic for Simon who had probably had the best education on the planet. If magic existed here, how did it correspond with the laws of physics. Controlling these elements must use energy from somewhere. Simon contemplated this almost tuning out Thomas. If he had been the cause of the bowls theatrics yesterday, he must have done something to it. All he could remember is having a regular headache at the time.

‘Wait.. the bowl shooting up into the ceiling does not match any of these so called elements’      

“So, what element am i?” Simon cut him off in the middle of s story about a light sage that was so powerful, his augmentation and healing spells caused the patients to explode.    

“So, he cast it on his enemies instead! Haha! Huh? Ah yes, that is what i also would like to know i dedicated most of my life to study the elements”

“How long have you had your blessing?” Thomas asked.

“Blessing?” Simon once again looked confused.

“Boy are you sure you're not stupid?” Both Thomas and Amara looked at him with.

“No.. Where i'm from i’ve never heard of blessing”

“Must have some other name for it where you come from then.. Hmm that might explain why you’re so strange. Well the blessing is the gift from the gods, every person receive when they become adults..” Thomas followed with a lengthy clarification.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Blessing was the worldwide term for the gifts all people acquires when they reach puberty. It was a broad term, since the blessing came in a myriad of different changes. Most people received additional strength or better senses. Some became smarter and there were even cases of people seeing the world in purple. Rarer still, was people becoming sages that could use the elements to perform, what seemed like miracles to the common people. These individuals what highly sought after by nobles since most blessings, had a change to be hereditary.

“I knew of one man who never aged, now that’s a blessing! Too bad he could not move..” Thomas was back to talking about people with strange blessings.

It was an eyeopener for Simon, this blessing phenomenon could explain why his muscles were so prominent. And now that he thought more about it, his senses were more sharp. But, if that was true, he had gotten more than one blessing, which Thomas haven’t mentioned could occur. Maybe he was a special case having not grown up here, this made Simon somewhat excited. Having a special body and being a sage seemed like a great fortune in this weird world.

Simon tried once again to stop Thomas talking. He only stopped when Amara elbowed his side.

“I just received my blessing mr Thomas, so i have no experience with being a sage” Simon explained. He thought that is was best to be honest with his benefactors.

“Huh boy, you look older than that.. Weird maybe people grow up slower where you’re from. You look at least, 16 cycles” Thomas answered.

“Well I’m thirt.. Wait what!?” Simon stood up quickly, and almost ran outside to the water barrel he had spotted from the chair.

When he reached it he gazed at his reflection, he saw a young boy staring back at him. As he used his hands to feel his face, it finally registered that it was him. He looked like he had done in high school, but with an even more handsome and chiseled face. Various expressions were displayed in the water.

‘Must be these blessings’ Simon thought to himself while staring.

“What a weird one..” Thomas laughed as he watched Simon from the window. Amara could only agree with a nod. This boy was definitely strange.

-----------------------------------         

Simon was left to his own devices, as Amara worked in the garden and Thomas disappeared to his library. He had much to think about. He sat pondering while watching Amara working. Though she had an average face, her furry ears and clear blue eyes was striking and exotic for Simon. It was pleasant to watch, and the clear sunlight and sweat from working only highlighted her features.

The one story house, was located alone in a clearing. It was L shaped, and made mostly from stone, though the roof was clad in dirt and vegetation. Several chimes were located on the roof. It looked almost natural in the clearing. Just outside the house was a giant garden with different plants and herbs. The house and garden formed a perfect rectangle. A dirt path made it’s way from the house downhill, and he could see the bigger road from where he sat. On the path was a small shed and outhouse. When spotting this he hurried to outhouse.

As he made his way back to the bench he smiled at Amara, who only watched him.  ‘Wierd Girl’. ‘Wierd Boy’. They both thought at the same time.

He went back to thinking of his sage power. Launching a bowl didn’t fit the description of the elements. Even though their explanations was very crude and basic for a person from earth, they didn’t fit. He made the assumption that the so called blessings was caused by some foreign energy that existed here, and sages could somehow harness this energy to preform magic. The synopsis was that he somehow had altered the gravity of the bowl, or he had used telekinetic powers to push it. As gravity was a natural phenomenon, he must have gained some energy to counteract it. The force required to, invert gravity, on a small object, like the bowl was not much, but coming from him it was still amazing. Even though gravity was the weakest interactions of nature, it still had limitless potential. If he could harness this power, the possibilities were endless.

‘Well, i can either think all day, or i can experiment’ Simon thought with a silly grin.

He started breathing rhythmically and focused. He tried to get back the feeling he had felt during his headache. For a half an hour he felt normal and made no progress. Simon was about to give up, before he felt something weird, it almost felt like a small continues tap in his head. It was very faint and felt alien. As he focused on it the headache came back with a vengeance, he caressed his face and opened his eyes. The concentration was slipping, with the pain and he made a last ditch effort to keep it. While experimenting Simon's eyes was locked on Amara working, and the garden tool next to her started to float. Amara watched Simon in pain, trying to impress her with his meager power. It only lasted three seconds, before the feeling slipped away and the tool fell back in the dirt.

“Success!” Simon smiled.

As this was the second time he had seen it happened, it made him a believer. This instance had been less painful that the first. It almost felt like a new muscle, just waiting to be trained. Time flew by, as he sat alone pondering. With these blessings, his life would certainly be interesting. Finally, during this uneventful moment, his thoughts finally drifted to earth. His home, much like this planet but also vastly different. Even though he lacked any meaningful relationships, he would miss it. He would miss his job most, since being in space had been both his and his grandfather's dream. Not being able to visit his family and grandfather graves would certainly haunt him. He could try to get back, but that seemed like a pipedream at the moment, since these people didn’t even have toilets. Another problem, was that he still didn’t have a clue how he ended up here, maybe it wasn't because of his experiment.

He made up his mind to solve some of the riddles of this world and train in his new power, maybe someday he would find his way home. He, would adapt to his new circumstances, like he had done before.

‘But first food’ Simon stood up and dusted himself off, and went back inside to continue his talk. There was much to learn.