ILIAS PAYNE
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“So, the colonel told me about your little duel with Jaime,” Trisha said as we ate our dinner.
“I’m sorry.”
“What are you apologizing for? It wasn’t your fault that Jaime acts up. Speaking from experience, I used to act like her when the colonel and I were your age.”
“Oh. So what about our duel?”
“The colonel was impressed. He thought you would grow up with your nose in books, so he was surprised when you fought him. He wants to hone it, so he asked for my permission and I granted it. You will train alongside Jaime in the art of swordplay.”
Camaro wouldn’t be able to teach me anything new, but my child brain was ecstatic. At least my swordsmanship won’t come out of nowhere.
“Mother, do you think I picked up the way of the sword from Father?” I asked, trying to hide my true skills.
“Definitely not, your father is good at many things. Swordsmanship, however, isn’t one of them.”
“Who is he? I’ve been getting curious.”
“Ilias, you will learn of your father yourself.”
“Could you at least tell me why he isn’t here raising me with you? I don’t want to wait just for him to never show up.”
“Ilias!” she yelled.
I pushed for an answer way too far. This was my own fault.
“Sorry.”
“No, it’s my fault. You see all the other kids with their fathers so it’s only natural to ask about your own,” Mother sighed. “I will not tell you anything about him because he asked me to keep his identity hidden from you. He left for important matters and he’ll be gone for a long time, but he said he’ll be back. I know in my heart that he’ll keep his word. Maybe I’m being selfish, Ilias, but please be patient. For me.”
I nodded. “Of course, Mother.”
When the next day came, Camaro continued his lesson from yesterday. This time, we spent the morning learning about the types of creatures and plants that inhabited labyrinths and the loot they drop when killed or harvested.
Jaime was surprisingly focused, raising her hand to clear up any questions she had and to answer trivia Camaro would throw at us. Though she would occasionally yawn and stare out the window.
Jaime was trying so hard to learn and it wasn’t fair that I had an adult’s mind, so I asked questions and answered incorrectly along with her.
When lunch came, Private Gama came to report that Tank had been acting grumpy. The armoured lizard might have eaten something that upset his stomach. Camaro grabbed his lunch and ate it on his way to Tank, leaving us with Lieutenant Doria who was doing paperwork with Sergeant Hendrik.
“Hey, Jaime, has the colonel told you about your parents?”
“No, I don’t know anything about them other than they were both in the military and that my mother was an elf and my father was a terran. The colonel doesn’t talk to me about them. Even when I ask he says he’ll tell me when the time comes.”
“That makes two of us. You know about my family situation, right?”
“I think. Auntie Trish raises you by herself, doesn’t she?”
“Exactly. My father is out there somewhere, but my mother won’t tell me who he is. She said he left for an important reason, but shouldn’t she be the most important?”
Jaime stared intently at the bookshelf behind me as if in deep thought. “Ah-ha! I cracked it. You have a dead-beat father!”
“That’s not making me feel better…”
“Is there nothing in your house that can give us any clues? Pictures, letters, anything?”
“Nothing. There’s no trace of him in the house but my mother is still clearly in love with him, which I’m confused about.”
“Are you sure there’s nothing? What if the clues are hidden? It isn’t really a clue if it’s easy to find.”
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“There is something peculiar in my house. There’s a secret room under the stairs behind some furniture. When I brought it up, I was specifically told not to open the door.”
“We’ve got our lead!” Jaime said, grabbing me by the wrist and dragging me out of the library for the second day in a row. But this time, her mood was completely different. “Let’s go look for clues!”
There was no way I was talking her out of this. I’ve had bouts of curiosity like this back when I was mentally her age and no talk would get me to think otherwise. I wish the lieutenant and sergeant saw us, but they were too busy with paperwork.
Reluctantly, I led the way, hoping we would run into either the colonel or one of his subordinates. We didn’t, but I was relieved for some reason. I think it was because I wanted to know what was in that hidden room.
We arrived at my house, carefully sneaking around to make sure we weren’t seen. After peeking through the windows, we discovered that the house was empty.
“I think Mother went out for a house call or to do errands.”
“That’s perfect, we’ll be in and out before Auntie finds out.”
It took both of us at full strength to push the dresser out of the way. We found a handle along the wall.
“If Auntie Trish doesn’t want you snooping around, she would definitely keep the key to this room on her. We gotta be quick so I’ll break the handle.”
“You said we’ll be in and out without no one finding out! Mother will definitely know that something is up if she finds the handle broken!”
Jaime thought for a while before grabbing a cleaver and wedging it where the door would lock. After shimming it for a while, she managed to wiggle the cleaver in between the crack and open the door.
Jaime entered first, stirring dust into the air. Since the window was boarded off, we left the door open to let some light in.
The hidden room was a study and the years left it untouched with dust and cobwebs. Large bookcases filled the room’s walls and an oak desk stood underneath the window. The collection was about four times larger than the collection Mother had in the living room. Ancient and modern maps hung on the walls with scribbled notes attached at random places.
I studied the books closer and found that they were mostly encyclopedias about general things, textbooks on history, and a large number of grimoires on jynx and cursed artifacts.
Jaime and I looked around but found nothing that provided clues to the identity of my father.
There was one, however.
This stuff clearly didn’t belong to Trisha because why wouldn’t she just put these outside or put them up for sale? She would also have to be a highly skilled jynxist if she had owned all of these things, but she was only skilled in healing.
Everything here belongs to my father so he would have to be a very talented jynxist. And with all of his notes and maps around, he must’ve left to do research on something.
So I’m dealing with the type of father that would put his work above his family. That’s just lovely.
“I think this is good,” I told Jaime. “Let’s head back.”
“Aren’t you curious about jynx, though?”
“I am, but not here and not now.”
“This book right here is about how to cast spells. Let’s try it.”
Curiosity killed the cat. If that saying were true, I would be one dead feline. I wasn’t able to perform jynx in my previous life, but maybe this body will finally let me. Children usually didn’t start learning jynx until they were eight, but one simple spell wouldn’t hurt. I had to know if Ilias was as jynxless as Decan was.
“I’ll try first,” Jaime said, flipping through the book’s pages and holding an open arm outward. “Oh elixir of life, let thy strength flow through me. Lend thy power to cast afar. Water ball!”
A water ball the size of a large marble formed in front of Jaime’s palm and dropped to the floor. Usually, a water ball spell would be as big as a fist and would eject far but this was Jaime’s first try after all.
“Haha! I can do jynx!” she cheered. “Oh elixir of life, let thy strength flow through me. Lend thy power to cast afar. Water ball! Oh elixir of life, let thy strength flow through me. Lend thy power to cast afar. Water ball! Oh elixir of life, let thy strength flow through me. Lend thy power to cast afar. Water ball! Oh elixir of life, let thy strength flow through me. Lend thy power to cast afar. Water ball!”
“Hey, I don’t think you should be overdoing that.”
“Oh elixir of life, let thy strength flow through me. Lend thy power to cast afar. Water ball!”
The moment a water ball formed, Jaime passed out and I barely caught her in time before she dropped to the floor. She woke up confused a couple of seconds later.
“That was cool. Ilias, you gotta try.” She flipped through the pages. “Try this one.”
“Water Cannon? Why are you making me perform a spell that’s harder?”
“I believe you can do it.”
She doesn’t believe I can do it. She’s making me fail so she can feel better. I don’t mind giving her the satisfaction of seeing me fail.
I held my hand outwards. “Let the power of impact and force flow through my body and conjure into a spout of great strength. Water Cannon!”
A tingling sensation flowed through my body, spreading everywhere before focusing into my palm as a jet of water as big as a tree trunk exploded from my hand, blowing a hole in the house. The force ejected Jaime and I into the wall behind us, cracking a few bones in the process. The bookcases that were in the spell's way were shattered and the books they held were nothing but drenched pages and falling pieces of paper. The wall was splintered wood and broken glass was embedded into the cobblestone wall surrounding the property.
So much for this being a stealth mission.
As scared as I was of the consequences that were about to be rained on me, I was happy. Happy that this new body of mine was able to use jynx and perform an intermediate-levelled spell first try.
I’m glad—and a bit saddened—that I don’t have to be jynxless in this life as well.