The Falling Sand, A Few Special Grains. (Dust)

The announcement drowned the noise of swords clanging in the field, and my body, which was nearly falling over from exhaustion, gained a renewed energy.

Something had happened. I was not positive, but I was quite sure that it was due to my other pieces.

The final two problems that I could think of that would stop us from meeting up at school were now null and void. The lack of money, and the lack of knowledge that school existed.

“Woah! Don’t scare me like that! Where’d all this energy come from!?” Ruby was pushed into the defensive as I unleashed attack after attack at her, a devilish smile on my face.

“Emotions are simply a form of energy that can’t be measured! Now, are you going to attack yet?” I replied, spurring her on.

She smirked at me.

“As if you could fight me at my best.”

“As if you haven’t tried that yet.”

“Tch.” She flipped my sword away from my chest, leaving me defenseless.

Or, at least, unable to defend with my sword.

She lunged forward, but I raised my hand, letting my small amount of mana form hundreds of tiny plates, less than an inch by an inch in size.

Her sword pierced forward, and broke the first plate.

There’s an interesting piece of info that seems like it should be common knowledge, but isn’t. All forces affect one another. A leaf that blows into a building affects it. Every time you take a step, you affect the earth beneath you. Not everything shows the effect, but it’s always there.

Blocking is a force using inertia to stop the blade.

Parrying is using inertia to deflect the blade.

Mana breaks just after it’s attacked.

However, if you place it at a proper angle, then as it’s cut through…

Ruby’s blade sliced my side, and she fell towards me, her balance ruined and her body left wide open.

I swung my sword with my entire body, clamping her wrist down with my arm as I swung it down to add more power to my swing.

“I believe… I’ve won.”

Ruby had caught the sword in her other hand, but a small line of blood traced a line on her neck.

“Indeed… you have… just what happened there?” She seemed more confused than concerned with the fact that she was bleeding.

“I already told you. Emotions are a power source that can’t be quantified, with the ability to let you challenge greater obstacles.”

I let go of my sword, and she went to go get her wound healed, seeming deep in thought.

I still felt the rushing emotions coursing around, leaving me with a feeling similar to adrenaline. It was becoming harder to control myself from running about and yelling about how happy I was.

Instead, I calmed my breathing and sealed away the feeling.

The smile didn’t leave my face, though, as I went with Ruby to get my side healed as well.

The candlelight that lit the room seemed serene, the flames burning slowly as they waltzed atop the wick of the birthday candles.

The cake wasn’t anything too huge, and neither was the party, but I was actually glad for that.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Six people other than myself were the only ones to witness me as I blew out the few candles, leaving my wish to be carried away on the lingering smoke and embers.

The magelight brightened, and clapping began, laughing following.

“Finally 5 now? I’ve been waiting for ages already!” Luna laughed at me.

“Come on, it was only a few weeks!” I countered.

“It was a few weeks! That, in itself, is more than long enough!” She crossed her arms and took an elegant pose.

We locked defiant eyes, but we couldn’t hold back our laughter for long.

I placed my hand on her head and stroked her hair, running my fingers lightly through it.

“...No fair…” She reached up and grabbed my hand. I heard a camera shutter sound in the background, faster than normal.

“Even though you’re younger than me, you’re taller.” She whined, getting on the tips of her toes to be the same height as me.

“It’s fine. You’re cute as you are.” Drunk on happiness, my restrictions lessened slightly, and that made it through.

“Cu… Cute?!” Luna’s voice sank in volume, but her face rose in temperature as she blushed grandly.

I smiled at her, resuming my petting.

She ran away, covering her face.

I looked behind me, and the group of my parents and the king and queen hurriedly stopped whispering to eachother and begun cutting the cake and serving it.

Once I’d gotten my slice, I sat down and conversed with my parents for a little bit, talking about the world, magic, and listening to legends for a while.

I listened in on a little bit of the conversations that went on around me as well, such as when my mother shared some of my childhood antics with the Queen as if it was natural, displaying her unique camera magic to show her the scenes she’d saved.

My father talked to the king about some normal things to discuss at a birthday party, such as the state of the government and the relations to the nearby kingdoms and nations.

I certainly didn’t find it normal, but it was useful info, so I listened in and didn’t complain.

Luna had come back for the cake, before leaving again, not looking at me once, while Ruby… although I remembered seeing her earlier, she’s gone now. I wonder where she went to?

I finished my slice of cake, and I was getting a bit bored just sitting here listening, so I grabbed another slice and walked around the castle. I wasn’t particularly looking for Luna nor Ruby, but if I found them, then all the better.

I looked down to cut into my cake, and saw a shadow cast over my feet, so I immediately dodged to the right, keeping my cake on my plate with my fork.

“Ah, sorry, boy. Didn’t mean to. What would be your name? I’ll give you something in return for the scare.” The man knelt down, seeming to look over me for wounds, and seeming surprised that he wasn’t finding anything.

“Ah, no, it was my fault. It would have been bad if I accidentally got your suit messed up.” I avoided giving my name. Something about him seemed bad.

“Well then, I guess I’ll give you this as a token of appreciation that you didn’t do that.” He slid a token into my pocket, about the size of a half dollar coin.

I simply continued watching him as he walked back the way I came, keeping silent.

Thinking for a few seconds, I couldn’t think of where he could be going, so I simply shrugged and continued wandering around.

“Shamure 27th… I need to remember that…” I muttered to myself, repeating it in my head.

The day of my birthday.

The year is divided up exactly the same in this world, probably something to do with our friendly reincarnated goddess who made the world, but the names are quite different.

Here, I’ll give out the key for it.

Calendar Key

(You may want to write this down, as the new names will be the only ones used from now on. You may be able to work around it with some context clues, but good luck for the rest of the page…)

January -> Tychen (Tie-shen)

February -> Rheal (Rhey-all)

March -> Eileith (A-el-aith)

April -> Shamuer (Sham-ure)

May -> Heben (Heben)

June -> Hielach (Hey-lock)

July -> Elpir (El-Pier)

August -> Iral (E-Ral)

September -> Zakdem (Sack-Dem)

October -> Zaberal (Zab-er-all)

November -> Ithrin (Ith-Rin)

December -> Alises (Ah-liss-ess)

I was born Shamuer 27th, while Luna was born Eileith 12th.

For the way that School is mapped out on a calendar:

School lasts for 5 hours a day, almost every day.

It starts Elpir 17th and ends Eileith 15th

There are only a few select holidays between them:

(Days of Hope) Iral 10th -> Iral 12th

(The Birthday of the Moon) Ithrin 8th -> Ithrin 10th

(Weeks of White) Alises 10th -> Alises 24th

(Vepha Victory Week) Tychen 4th -> Tychen 11th

(Arthur’s Week) Tychen 23rd -> Tychen 30th

There are also 4 home visit days, where the teachers split up the students and visit their homes throughout those four days. If you’re not visited during the first home visit, then you may be visited on the second. Most of the times, you’re informed of which day that you’re being visited, albeit only a day or two in advance, so anything super bad doesn’t have time to be hidden.

1st day: Zakdem 23rd

2nd day: Zaberal 6th

3rd day: Alises 12th

4th day: Rheal 21st

The Falling Sand, A Few Special Grains (Cont.)

I didn’t manage to find anybody while I was walking, so I ended up just strolling about for the longest time, not really doing anything.

It was nice to relax in the gardens a little bit, and just think aloud to myself for a little bit, little to no chance for me to be heard.

After I’d calmed down, and gotten bored, the sun was already beginning to set.

“Things like this are nice, every once and awhile… My birthdays before weren’t anywhere near as great as this… Then again, I didn’t have mana, nor did I have this many people by my side…” I chuckled to myself, before lifting myself from the bench and walking back to my room.