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I managed to subdue the involuntary wheezing breaths escaping me after a few seconds but I couldn’t do the same for my now flustered parents, well, flustered father was more like it.
“W-What’s wrong Liam!? Is he alright Julia?” The man hastily questioned upon his swift turn.
Between my labored breaths, I was able to dispel his concerns by raising my hand to give him the “thumbs up” gesture despite the blatantly crooked smile tilting over on one side of my face. The pitiful attempt at reassurance was well on its way to being accepted, but before it even got to that my ever loving mother decided to interject with her calming voice.
“It’s alright, he’s not in any serious trouble right now, just relax and control your breathing like that Liam.” She said, her voice still tender.
“For now?” Oliver asked, his brows slowly forming an arch. “Don’t tell me this has something to do with-”
“Yeah…It’s the Signum”
I was already used to hearing her say that word but right now it felt like the term was meant to send a shiver up my spine.
“Mother, is there something wrong with me?” Curiosity or confusion, I wasn’t sure which one, but something unsettling laced my tone.
“No there’s nothing wrong with you, you’re just a little sick that’s all.” Her gentle smile beaming down on me could easily pass as the pinnacle of reassurance.
“A sickness?….I’ve never gotten sick before…” I stiffly remarked
She gently stroked a hand through my hair with a trembling smile. “Well there are different kinds of sicknesses, the ones I told you about before were the type that affected the body but, in your case the sickness is affecting your mana core.”
“And that’s happening…because I have this thing on my forehead?”
She smiled
“Yeah, not every Druid can get that mark, if you’re not born with it then it’s really hard to bring it out. Although in your case it’s not all that strange since I’m your mother but….”
Her words trailed off, following along the subtle swerve of her eyes that slowly came to a stop on my father who was now a short distance away from us.
“It’s because he’s half human isn’t it?” Oliver somberly questioned
“Mhm” she affirmed with a nod. “Liam wasn’t born with the Signum and he’s never trained with lesser spirits either so I’m not even sure how he was able to manifest it in the first place, but I think his human half is having a hard time accepting it and that’s causing an imbalance in his mana core.”
Julia’s explanation sounded perfectly reasonable and yet, Oliver’s gaze solemnly fell to the floor. The pleasant scenery combined with the backdrop of the setting sun must have wholly contrasted with what he was actually feeling right now.
“Oliver, it’s not your fault.” My mother spoke up, her voice now firm. “There aren’t any spirits around here so he’s never done any form of Druid training before now, that’s something he’ll need to get used to but regardless, he’s never actually been taught how to wield his power as a Druid. His Druid half isn’t perfectly in sync with his Signum either, so nobody should take the blame here.”
Stunned by her vigor, he stood there absentmindedly, only taking a moment to adjust his glasses and cast off his doubts with a chuckle.
“Well that was a rather quick change of heart…” Julia chimed, matching his smile.
“I could say the same for you, sometimes I forget how fickle you are.”
“Only when the situation calls for it.” She replied, leaning over me with a satisfied expression.
“Liam, we’re going to get you all fixed up but, until we get your sickness cured, I want you to avoid using magic alright? Can you do that for your mother?” Phrasing her request like that just made refusal seem all but impossible.
“Okay mother, but who’s going to cure me?” She glanced over at my father, who had no choice but to nod in approval.
“Well, we were originally planning to return to Orna after all of this was over, but going back with our son like this is definitely a bad idea.” He sighed
“Father?”
“It’s a little earlier than planned but we’ll be paying your grandparents a visit in Sylvan, my village.” Julia replied, her face brimming with joy.
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“Sylvan…That’s the place where they’ll cure my sickness?”
“Yep! I’ll just need to have my dad look at you. He’s probably upset that I didn’t come by earlier but I’m sure he wouldn’t turn his poor grandson away.” For some reason her expression right now seemed rather sly.
“Sylvan is westbound from here so we might have a slightly longer journey on our hands, teleportation gates aren’t really an option either so I suppose we’ll just have to do this the old fashioned way, and on that note….” Oliver extended a hand that briskly pulled me back to my feet. “ I’d like to introduce you to some people, they’ll be our guards along the way.”
As soon as he guided me over to the edge of the sun lit patio, I stood on tiptoe, sheltering my eyes from the descending sun all while trying to steal a glance at the three figures pompously approaching our position.
“We’re a little behind schedule aren’t we, old friend?” Calling out to Oliver with an overhead wave was a young man with fiery red hair that was slicked back as if to give way to his youthful appearance. His grey eyes almost matched the color of his collared white shirt that had two brown pouches wrapped around his right arm.
Dangling across his back was what seemed to be something like a perfectly polished silver lance. He wasn’t as big as my father but I could easily tell that his body wasn’t any less developed just off his ferocious strides.
It was my first time seeing these people in person but I had heard of them before. My parents had somewhat of a habit that made them rattle on and on about their days as raiders whenever my supposed bedtime was approaching, the tales only grew taller as soon as they started mentioning their party members.
These people were the other members of their B rank party - The Ember Fangs.
Just from the man’s appearance, I instantly recognized him as Flynn Nolan, the earth mage of the group.
”Isn’t it fine?” The young girl riding atop Flynn’s shoulder carelessly asked. “I mean, without our help you’d never be able to patch this place up would you, leader?” She leaned forward with a sneer before floating off Flynn’s shoulder and lingering in the air.
Oliver shrugged off her taunt, something he was clearly used to doing, but Julia on the other hand, seemed to endorse it quite well, it had even earned a chuckle from her.
Out of everyone here, the small girl’s appearance was by far the strangest. Her shoulder length azure hair barely reached down to the nape of her neck, it formed a prominent bang that almost blocked off the entirety of her forehead.
Everything from the color of her eyes, to her loose fitting, frilly ended dress and even the painted nails on her bare feet matched the azure color of her hair. Still, there was nothing too strange about that, the differences became apparent when taking note of her height since she was no more than twenty centimeters tall.
Her focused, yet playful gaze left an impression of absolute confidence subtly hidden behind her well-placed smug features and her thin smile was one so peculiar it seemed to draw attention away from her stature.
Although the compounding effect of all those attributes made this woman stand out quite a bit, they all paled in comparison to her most defining feature.
That title would of course belong to the pair of translucent blue wings extending from her back, resembling the ones found on the creatures called "butterflies." If not for the faint traces of magical energy constantly trickling off her wings, they could quite easily compete with the original.
I recognized the Owner of those conspicuous wings as Myra, she belonged to the race known as the Faeries.
“Hm?” She paused midair, placing a hand beneath her cheek before floating over to me and stopping inches away from my face.
“This kid….doesn’t look like you at all Oliver.” She spat flatly, leaning closer as if trying to gaze into the depths of my being.
“That’s what everyone says…” Julia spoke up with a laugh “….But I have a feeling he’ll grow into it, he’s probably just a late bloomer.”
“Ever the optimist aren’t you Julia?”
“But I mean it’s true isn’t it? Or what….do you think I’m lying Myra?”
“Geh! W-we’ll see about that!” The small creature shrugged, floating back a few paces.
“Myra, that’s bad manners y’know…. Or at least that’s what Allen says anyway.” Her companion spoke up from a short distance behind her. It was another girl decked out in a short sleeved orange top that was completed by the addition of armor plates along her shoulders and forearms, with a silky white pants that seemed quite flexible at a glance.
Just like Flynn, she too was carrying a weapon strapped across her back, but it wasn’t a lance this time, contrary to her companion, she was carrying a quill full of arrows. Though she highly resembled a human, she clearly wasn’t human herself given the pair of fluffy orange ears peeking out from the top of her head and her wagging tail that perfectly matched its color.
“It’s fine Jytte, it’s not like he’s around anyway.” Myra scoffed at the mention of that name just now.
“I guess I really shouldn’t be surprised, looks like none of you have changed all that much.” Oliver said with a smile, stepping off the patio to perform a “high-five” with his red haired companion.
“Now then, you all know him but he’s never formally met any of you. Come on Liam, say hello to them.”
Seeing the different counterparts to humans had somewhat left me at a loss for words, I’d almost forgotten that introductions were in order.