His fifth birthday came on an overcast day like no other. His father was out in the fields working, and had told Tyrian to stay at home to await his Orb.

‘When the sun reaches its highest in the sky, the divines will bless.’ His father had told him.

Tyrian was trying maintain some degree of calm, sitting in the mouth of his homes’ lone door, staring at his father reaping away at the small section of Ouy in the distance.

Further past his father, he could see a couple other farmers doing the same. The only people he could recognize were his neighbors. Han and his two sons, Gerson & Gilberto working away in their own fields. They looked like his father, dark haired, stockily built and hunched from years of farming. They had brown, mud-like eyes that reflected their [Orb of Earth].

Tyrian hadn’t gotten to know the boys who were only a few years older than him, apparently play-dates weren’t a thing, which he was thankful for.

It was a painful enough to be a child.

The thought of having to pretend to ‘play’ with actual children was dread inducing in his eyes. Tyrian was grateful for his father’s introversion, the man wasn’t socially-awkward per se, but being a man of few words tended to leave that impression.

The only person he had seen his father have a conversation with was the weaver, an old friend apparently, and the Herbalist who lived on the edges of the village. Yet even those interactions were a couple sentences at most.

Tyrian looked down at his little hands, the calluses that had built on his tiny little palms from tying Ouy with rough woven rope, the blisters that had healed from a single planting season. Nobody seemed to bat an eye at the use of child-labour, which he faintly remembered to be abhorred in his old world.

Sigh…

The memories of his past had stopped fading, but they had burned away to a point that he couldn’t recall any of the faces he once knew. Only fleeting feelings of a more civilized world.

Was this the consequence of reincarnation? Am I special? Or does everybody reincarnate like this?

Questions he knew he’d never get the answer to, well, maybe if he could ask the Divines.

He looked up at the overcast sky, and though he couldn’t see the sun, he felt that the time was close.

Tyrian closed his eyes, slipping into his own mind. He was told that the process of being blessed wasn’t painful, but for some it was quite the surprise, since blessings would manifest in ways most suited to the person. Whatever that meant he didn’t know, and people wouldn’t elaborate citing personal reasons.

Aquil or Lumia.

Water or Light.

…

GONG!

A reverberation rang out in his mind. His tiny body shook, his muscles quivering under building pressure. A sizzling heat burned within his chest, quickly turning to a soothing coolness.

Slowly, his body relaxed as the heat dissipated. His mind calmed, the pressure lifting from his body. The entire blessing took only a handful of breaths. Tyrian exhaled, releasing the final moment of tension in his breath.

He opened his eyes to the world once more.

He saw the fields of purple and red Ouys in the distance, his father still reaping away. The clouds were still overcast. Nothing had changed outside.

Except within.

He felt something new resting in the center of his chest. It felt like a new limb, a well of power to be pulled upon. When he focused his mind on the warmth it communicated with him, almost talked to him.

[Orb of Orb] it told him from within the darkness of his mind.

What? That did sound right at all…

Tyrian stretched out his hand, like his father had done many years before, baring his palm to the sky.

Come. He willed.

The energy in his chest twitched, but didn’t move.

MOVE. He commanded.

The energy twitched once more, like a dog refusing to move, but slowly, as he impressed his consciousness onto the new limb it yielded under his mental will. The energy moved, from his chest to his arm, down from his elbow to his palm. Tyrian watched as a small almost imperceptible strand of energy appeared. It was tiny as first, but as more energy swirled to join together up it increased in size until it was the size of his tiny fist.

A perfectly spherical Orb of translucent energy hovered above his palm. Like a glass sphere it shimmered in the air, slightly warping anything behind it.

Tyrian smiled. I’m a fucking wizard. He thought. Then everything went dark.

—

He awoke to the starchy scent of Ouy. The soft bubbling of soup and the hushed berating voice of Aunty Amun.

“I can’t BELIEVE you let him awaken alone! Even after all these year you— you!” She admonished Lucas. Tyrian watched, slowly coming to consciousness until his stomach rumbled loudly.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

The man sighed, looking over to see Tyrian awake. “Come Tyrian, eat.” He said, waving Tyrian over. Aunty Amun huffed, but calmed herself in front of Tyrian, moving back over to fill a bamboo bowl with soup.

Tyrian sat down on the bamboo stool near the fire, feeling the warmth in his chest once more.

“Well, out with it then, what [Orb] did you get? Was it water like your father?” Aunty Amun asked, passing over the steaming bowl of soup. Tyrian salivated smelling the herbs and sweet aromas of the soup, Aunty Amun cooking was leagues better than his father’s.

He held himself back from gorging down the soup, he had to pick his next words carefully.

“No, its not water.” Tyrian said.

Lucas sucked in a breath quickly turning away towards the fires beneath the iron pot. Aunty Amun rolled her eyes at the man before smiling softly and congratulating in a low voice, “Ah! How wonderful, lady Lumia smiles upon this household.” She cheered.

Tyrian merely nodded, not wanting to reveal the odd nature of his Orb. He took advantage of her presence to ask a question. “What happened to me?” He asked while helping himself to the soup.

Aunty Amun looked at Lucas to see if he’d answer, but from the wetness in his eyes that didn’t seem to be happening. She sighed,“That was Orb-Burn my boy, or just Burn as we call it. When you use up your Capacity your body puts ya to sleep to stop you from getting hurt.” She said, taking the empty bowl of soup from him. She refilled it and handed it back before continuing.

“You be careful now, it’s always fun to play with your [Orb] but it is not a toy. Do not take the blessings of the Divines lightly, especially the Light. Lumia is held in very high regard around here, you best take your time while practicing, ya hear me?”

“Yes Aunty Amun.” Tyrian replied through the slurps of his soup.

“And you Lucas, divines! What will we ever do with you? You can’t just ignore teaching the boy how to use his [Orb] because he reminds you of her! Do you think that’s what she’d want?”

Lucas stilled at her words, before whimpering into his hands. Aunty Amun groaned, turning away from the shell of a man. “Little Tyrian, if you ever need help with your [Orb] you’re free to visit me, it’s quite a walk but you’re five now so you’re a big boy.”

“Thank you Aunty Amun, as well as for the soup, it’s delicious, as always.” Tyrian thanked her, genuinely grateful for her help. He’d definitely take her up on the offer to learn more about his abilities, since it seemed like his father wasn’t going to be taking the initiative.

Aunty Amun smiled, always receptive of his compliments. “Thankfully you’re growing up alright.” She said ruffling his dark hair.

Aunty Amun left only a little later, leaving a pot of soup bubbling behind. She had to leave as it was soon to be dark, and the walk back was long. The house was left in an awkward silence, I mean it was always awkwardly silent, but this is just painful.

Lucas stood suddenly and walked to the door, stopping abruptly at its periphery. His head turned, as if he was going to say something — but he swallowed the words. The man stepped through the door, closing it behind him.

The house was left in silence. The pot still bubbling, the sweet aroma of herbs and Ouy filling the air. Tyrian just sat there in confusion, a half-bowl of soup sitting in his lap.

Little did Tyrian know, as soon as that door closed, Lucas would never been seen again.

—

Lucas’ departure left Tyrian in a rather precarious position.

It took two days until Tyrian truly decided that the man was indeed not returning. On the third day he asked his neighbors, Han, if they had seen his father to no avail.

Did the guy just up and walk into the bamboo’s depths?

That would be a death-sentence. He was told explicitly, many times by Aunty Amun and even once by Lucas to never step foot in the Bamboo forests depths. Citing creatures of prey, and other things that stalked the unknowns. There was no way in hell that he was going after the man, where would he even start?

The craziest thing, was that at the age of five, he was now of age to inherit the lands of his father.

Including the required yearly tithe for the Temple.

Tyrian sat at the forefront of his now, rather empty home, looking out at the small section of Ouy left to be harvested. He had a couple weeks left till first rain, which marked the beginning of Frost. He could manage that, it’d be back-breaking work for a five year old child, but he’d manage. It was getting the Ouy over to the Temple, then preparing fire-wood before going into the village to buy any other needed fire-starters, furs and other miscellaneous items to survive the Frost before the cold began setting in that was going to give him a migraine, and perhaps frost-bite.

He sighed.

Tyrian bared his palm to the sky. Carefully, he willed a tiny piece of the energy from within himself outwards. An orb of translucent energy, the size of a nail came into being. It was transparent, a shimmering sphere of force.

Tyrian had experimented with [Orb of Orb] over the past couple of days tentatively. He was still a little worried about Burn, since passing out was just that bit more dangerous now that he was alone.

He discovered a few aspects, namely how to adjust the size of the Orb and not pass out, but something was off about his Orb.

It doesn’t fall within any of the five divines at all…

Why? Wasn’t he supposed to have Light or Water as per his mother or father.

But [Orb of Orb]? Is this a joke? I waited five fucking years.

He stared at the Orb. It was immaterial, Tyrian swiped his hand through the sphere, his fingers felt friction, similar to clawing your hand through a body of water, just without the wetness.

It different though, more substantial to mere friction, it felt like his fingers were being forced back.

He had seen his father use his Orb a host of times over the past five years, and even the neighbors Earth Orb when they came over to help with the tilling. Each time, the Orb would always manifest within the element given.

There had been no mention, ever, of a purely raw Orb.

“ah… fuck me.” He said aloud for the first time since being born in this world. Maybe I should just go ask Aunty Amun for help. He thought to himself.

There was just too much on his plate, he was five for christ—er, divines sake. He gave another little child-like sigh and stood up.

Maybe if I just dump all of my problems on Aunty Amun, she’ll take care of it. He prayed as he walked towards the village. There were a few concerns in the back of his mind. Namely, how she’d react to his [Orb of Orb] as well as the simple problem that Tyrian had no idea where she lived.