Kick-Start
----------------------------------------
“He awakened!?”
Vreena blurted those words out almost unconsciously, her mouth agape and her eyes still quivering in shock. She took a few steps back unconsciously, staring at me with a look of utter confusion. Owen was also having a hard time processing that bit of information but given the abhorrent display of shock Vreena was putting on right now, his reaction seemed far tamer in comparison.
“Eheh-heh...We’re honestly just as surprised as you two, I mean, even I didn’t awaken until I was eight years old.” Julia chuckled, lightly placing a hand on her now reddened cheek. Though she was being humble about it, I could tell that she was in fact feeling relentless pride in my recent achievement.
“Your awakening huh? And just how long ago was that exactly?” Vreena sarcastically remarked.
“It has been quite some time since then, if I’m remembering correctly, you probably weren’t even born yet.”
“.....and they say I’m old....”
“Well, I’m still a maiden at heart~”
Julia spoke those words rather carelessly so I couldn’t even tell if she was being serious or not.
“Hah-Hah! Well, whatever the case, its undeniable that our son here is a prodigy, I mean he can already read so I suppose this is just a natural step up from there.” Oliver once again began relentlessly ruffling my hair, unlike Julia he had no intention of feigning humility, his broad grin and vigorous tone was all the proof one needed to see.
“Still....that’s quite a bit of mana you’ve got there Liam, when I felt that surge of power coming from over here, I thought there was some sort of epic duel underway.” Finally coming to terms with the situation, the elder stooped to meet my eye level before lightly pinching my cheek. “Well done kid, now you get to finally be like your mom and dad...though it's a little earlier than planned.”
“Father, will you teach me how to use magic now?” I directed that clueless question to the man now smiling proudly beside me.
“Heh - you’ve got spirit Liam. I wasn’t expecting to start your training so soon but seeing as you’re a mage now, there’s no reason for us not to get started, right Julia?”
“I suppose so. You can start training tomorrow but just remember to take it easy on him, he hasn’t even been a mage for a day yet.”
“I know, it’ll take a while, but it's time to start whipping you into shape kiddo. Are you ready?”
“Yeah I am!”
“Just what I wanted to hear, you’ve got a lot to learn you know, you’re leaking way too much mana right now.” He stuck a finger to my chest with a smug grin, I hadn’t even realized it up until now but the mana circulating throughout my body had been subtly leaking out this entire time. The rampaging inferno that had been swirling inside my body just moments ago was now starting to dissipate into nothing more than a tender blaze. The more my surge of power dwindled, the more I felt the claws of the dreaded sensation known as lethargy begin tightening its grip on my mind.
Oliver wasn’t wrong about me needing better control, I was never versed in the art of magic, in fact, this had been my first time experiencing it so my control right now really wasn’t much better than a four-year-olds.
Refining my core and controlling my mana were clearly two different things, before my awakening just now all the mana in my entire body had been concentrated into my ‘core’ but now that it was flowing through my mana channels and was fully distributed throughout my entire body, it felt like the floodgates to my very own dam of power had finally bust open.
After a few seconds of sharpening my focus, I was able to somewhat halt the rapid depletion of my own mana, but this was a far cry from a perfect solution, you could barely even call it a stopgap measure.
“Ohh...looks like you’re catching on, as expected of my son, but you still need a lot of work. For now, just try to suppress it as best as you can.”
Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.
“Su...press?”
This was one of the very few times where Oliver’s succinct explanations just wouldn’t cut it.
Taking note of my confusion, Oliver’s features mirrored my own perplexity, he folded his arms in a pondering gesture as he attempted to make the concept easier for me to process. The fact that I even had to resort to such a tactic in the first place filled me with nothing but shame, but as the humans used to say, ‘desperate times called for desperate measures.’
“I guess you can’t keep up with all your father’s magic gibberish just yet Liam. What he means is that you should close your eyes and focus on collecting all the bright lights in your body into one place.” Julia made her way over to me with an amused look on her face. Just like Vreena had done earlier, she kneeled to meet my eye level and extended a finger towards my stomach.
“When you see the bright lights in your mind, try collecting them here.”
“Okay....I’ll try...”
Abiding by her directive, the moment I began directing the mana in my body towards my core, the lethargic feeling that had been growing more present in my mind by the second subtly began to fade.
“There....see it wasn’t that hard right?” I couldn't tell if it was because of her voice or that fact that I was now looking directly at her, but something about her words seemed oddly compelling.
“It wasn't hard at all, thanks mom.”
“Fufu you’re very welcome.”
Rising to her feet, Julia glanced back at Oliver with a triumphant look in her eyes, she flashed him a bold ‘thumbs up’ as if to say, ‘that’s how its done.’
The man’s shoulders drooped in response, being bested by Julia seemed to have caught him completely off guard. “Y-you really did make it easier for him to understand.......”
Those mumbling words escaped Oliver’s lips, inciting laughter from the people now gathered around me.
“He’s going to learn things from you a lot faster when he grows up, but for now, I’m in the lead~” Those words were coated in a thick veil of sarcasm, smiling in resignation Oliver could do nothing else but accept his defeat.
“Hah-Hah, you’ve got a wonderful family here Oliver, this is the first time I've ever heard of any child awakening at such a young age, well done little one.” Owen, who had been frozen in a state of shock up until now sent a subtle gesture of approval my way.
“It's good to hear even a little good news considering the situation right now. By the way, what kind of mage is he? I doubt a child so extraordinary would only end up being a savant, so I’m guessing he belongs somewhere along the lines of a radical...or maybe even a dualist?”
Oliver stared blankly at him for a moment before finally grasping the meaning behind his words.
“Oh! That’s right, we haven’t checked his affinity yet, but I don’t think you’re very far off the mark.”
“Savant....radical? Mother what are those?” Tugging on the hem of Julia’s clothes, I timidly asked the innocent question. From where I was standing, I heard Oliver’s dejected voice mutter something along the lines of ‘So you're automatically just going to her with you questions now huh......” But I decided to ignore that. My ‘parents’ had this strange fascination with trying to show off their level of competence, but none of that ever really mattered to me. Just getting the correct answers to my questions was enough to sate my curiosity, I didn’t actually care who they came from.
“Savants and radicals are just different kinds of mages, the magic you get will depend on what kind of mage you are.”
“Then....what’s different about them? Can you show me?”
The four of them froze for a few seconds after hearing my question, but in that looming silence I heard Vreena heave a sigh before placing a hand over her face. “Haaah.....I wasn’t expecting you to ask something like that Liam, but then again, I can’t blame you. Let’s just hope these two idiots don’t take this too far.”
“......Our house has already been banged up quite a bit, so I doubt things could get any worse than this. Come on Liam, let’s step back a bit.” Julia clasped my small hand in hers, taking the lead as she pulled me back from the atmosphere now filled with palpable tension.
Looking back, I saw both Owen and Oliver mirroring the mischievous expressions on their faces. For some reason, the moment I asked for a demonstration their expressions instantly warped into ones of eager anticipation.
“Heh - hear that, Oliver? Your son wants a demonstration, so how about a light spar to commemorate his awakening as a mage?” Owen stepped forward, sharpening the battle hungry gleam now in his eyes, it didn’t take much for me to realize that he was itching for a fight. This must have been what Vreena and Julia were sulking about, they probably didn’t want them getting carried away and destroying something in the process, but to me this was the perfect opportunity to observe mages up close rather than through the pages of some dusty old tome.
“That's some confidence you’ve got there. Very well, I’m in a good mood right now so there’s no harm in me putting on a show for my son. Show me what you’ve got.” Adjusting his glasses, Oliver steadied his hulking frame, clearly undeterred by the presence of the opponent now standing before him.
Responding to his gesture in kind, Owen did a few stretching motions before adjusting the metal bracers on his arms. There wasn’t a sliver of hesitation emanating from either of them, in fact it almost seemed like they were being giddy about this. Locking eyes, the two men armed themselves, steadying their breathing for the literal clash of magic vs might that was about to unfold.