Author's corner:

Hello and welcome to my story. I hope you all have a great time reading it!

Any and all critisism is welcome and appreciated.

The first few chapters will be mostly focused on world building. While some instances in those might feel "heavier" it's mostly due to circumstances, so expect parts of the main story, later on, to be more lighthearted.

English is not my native language, although I do think that I have a good grasp of it, if you spot any mistakes I would greatly appreciate if you pointed them out to me.

Have a good day and stay healthy!

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Chapter 1: Awakening

.1 Daily Nap Time

“Ugh…”

My body screamed in pain like a thousand needles were casually strolling inside it. With my whole body spasming, I felt myself getting lost in my thoughts once more. At least, this time, they were regular ones and not the weird hallucinations that often came with the pains.

Here, lying on the wet dirt, gave me the perfect view of my ineptitude. My almost numb brain could only marvel at the massive difference in height of the wheat stalks that gently waved with the breeze. My crops barely reaching my knees, and my father’s towering way above my seven year old total height.

It was to be expected of course, my father was well within his second job, while I didn’t even have my baptism. But even judging from my friends’ crops, it seemed safe to assume that I didn’t have any great aptitude for farming. Unfortunately for me though, neither on the general studies, nor on the physical training was I above any of my friends.

Lugan was way faster than any of us in understanding anything in our classes, and he could recite the names of all the nearby nobles, from Baron and above, as well as the whole history of our Duchy. So his baptism could probably name him something that used knowledge or studies, maybe something like a merchant or a scholar, maybe even a mage. Elsa could lap all of us except Greg in our training, and speaking of little Greg, not even Daren who was nine years old could beat him in a spar. So, those two, would probably become soldiers or something along those lines. The rest, Daren, Elly, Fay, Jack, all showed some form of aptitude for their father’s jobs already as well.

Of course, aptitude wasn’t everything. It just meant that you would progress faster in a skill that you had aptitude for. Still, it would be nice to know what I could shine as, even if it was a simply double or triple growth and not the stuff of legends like fifty times or more faster…

“Andy!”

Ah! It seems my father noticed my fallen body. My eyes shifted towards his massive, sunburned figure as he rushed towards me, trampling and crushing the field in his efforts to reach me as fast as possible.

His farmer physique allowed him to grab me in one fell swoop, lifting me to his shoulders, and, without even breaking his stride, continuing onwards towards our house. He kicked the door open causing my mother to drop the wooden plate she was washing as she violently twisted around towards the commotion, causing her almost golden, shoulder length, hair to twirl around like a wild hurricane.

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I heard him shouting, without even turning his head towards her, as he continued on towards my room.

“Olein quick, go get Neven.”

And shortly thereafter, my eyelids, no longer able to withstand the pain, closed and darkness enveloped me.

When I opened my eyes again my whole body felt heavy and stiff, and my mind was reeling from the usual hallucinations of the weird world that I usually dreamt about in my seizures, but at least the pain was gone. From beyond the closed door I could hear the muffled voices of my parents and granny Neven, the healer of the village and my caretaker since I was born.

“But Neven, it isn’t even a full week since the last time he had a seizure!”

“Yes, five days to be exact. But it’s nothing we didn’t expect Olein.” granny’s voice, cracked from the old age, came in direct contrast to my mother’s almost melodic, mellow, one, before she continued on.

“My medicines may stabilize the mana inside the boy but they do not help with what had caused the original disarray. And as I’ve told you before, as the boy grows so does his mana. He will continue to get worse as time passes.”

“Then!” My father’s abruptly interrupted only to be shushed down by the healer.

“I’ve already told you what to do. The baptism changes us. There is a good chance that it’ll help repair whatever causes the mana to run rampart inside him.”

“But… he’s too young. He just turned seven a few months ago.”

“I know how old he is. I helped you deliver him to this world, didn’t I? There are nobles that have their baptisms as soon as they are five years old. You don’t need to wait till you are ten. Ten is just used for”

“For aptitudes to grow.” My father’s dry voice once again interrupted. “You know lady Neven that the boy’s aptitudes have yet to show. What if an early baptism stirs him towards a wrong path? And that’s just for a chance! If you told me it would surely fix him, aptitudes be damned, I would have already gone to the temple. But”

“But nothing. He’s your son, think about his future carefully. The way the seizures have intensified this last year, I can probably help him for a few more months, but afterwards I doubt my medicines will do enough.”

Silence reigned for a short moment before granny’s voice broke it again “He should be up by now, let me check on him before I leave.”

And with that, the hushed voices were replaced by the familiar sound of granny Neven’s walking stick as it clicked against the wooden floor as she approached my door.

As the door opened I was greeted by the familiar sight of the old lady. The faded purple clothes seemed to match perfectly with her faded gray hair, caught neatly in a bun above her wrinkled face. Yet, like the cane she used to lean upon to walk, her back was straight as an arrow, almost as if she was trying to defy her advancing age.

“You shouldn’t eavesdrop on your parents.” She smiled as she closed the door behind her and sat near my bed.

“So, how are you feeling?”

“Ugh, like I’ve been hit by a truck…”

“Truck? Is this another thing from your hallucinations?”

“I… I think so.”

“Did you have another one today?”

“Yeah…”

“Was it about steel carriages that run without horses, or about glass towers that rise up to the air as metal birds fly way above them?”

“No. It was another one. A weird classroom full of adults, and me looking at them while talking about some numbers that made absolutely no sense…”

“Ha! Probably nightmares because you didn’t get something right in your class yesterday.”

Her smile warmed up as her hand brushed my disarrayed brown hair away from my swollen eyes.

“Don’t worry child. I promise you’ll get better. Just remember, your parents are already worried sick about you without having to worry about your mind and about hallucinations and dreams. Keep those to yourself for now. Now… let’s check you out.”

Her hand went over my chest as she started moving her lips, almost like whispering but without any sound coming out of her mouth. Then slowly, out of thin air, tiny symbols and runes made of pure white started appearing in front of her eyes, growing and growing until they suddenly vanished. Granny’s eyes flashed with the same pure white color for an instant, and then, like nothing has happened, she turned and looked at me again.

“Everything seems to be fine for now. But be a dear and go grab me some crimson lilies, a few bloodweeds, and if you find a purple dragon stem or two tomorrow if you are rested. Then come to my house to help me ground them to make you another poultice to have in stock just in case anything happens. Ok?”

And without even waiting for my answer, granny was already standing up and walking towards the door. As the usual muffled chatter from outside started again, once more I felt my eyes getting heavy and I fell asleep.