A blur passes a hair's width from my face sending up a cloud of dust and dirt as it strikes the ground. I watch unmoving as the gleaming chunk of steel is ripped free and unceremoniously pushed my way. I flinch and an axe is shoved into my hands as I’m left alone with two piles of neatly cut logs ready to be split. Well, I have been crashing at their place for almost three months now. A little work here and there is the least I could do.
I raise the blade and swing watching as the two halves fly into their piles. So far living in a world full of magic has been very uneventful, for the most part, it’s just boring, I expected wizards and dragons, not medieval Europe. Regardless I’m kept busy most of the day dealing with various chores and odd jobs around the village. The people here are also very nice which was unexpected for me, I thought I’d be treated as an outcast or something but that might only happen in movies.
The village itself is very small, only holding a dozen houses but they’re fairly big and there’s still room to add one or two more if they needed it. I’ve also learned a few names even if I get the pronunciation wrong more often than not.
Arvi is the name of the hunter but he might be more like a chief or mayor as almost everyone comes to talk to him about something. Anna is the older daughter, she does pretty much the same jobs I do just with a heavier focus on the farms outside the walls. Emma is the younger daughter she’s not told to do anything besides read but most of the time she’s doing that any way that or drawing. The last name I learned is that of my savior, Oliver the town blacksmith, he’s the one that made that healing flower thing and was the only person excited to see me. I assume he was just surprised to see me alive.
That flower and the telepathy thing are about all I've seen of magic at the moment. I sometimes see Anna studying from a massive book but I can’t even talk properly so it could just be their version of a textbook and I’d be none the wiser. Lately, I’ve been seeing her less and less all of my mind link language lessons being done by Arvi, and one very awkward session with Oliver when he wanted me to carry something.
My forehead is thick with sweat by the time I finish with the axe and I’m reminded of another oddity of this place. The weather here doesn’t seem to change as much as back home, when I arrived it should’ve been mid to late summer, and yet the weather hasn’t cooled since I’ve been here. After three months you’d think it’d be early fall by now but I don’t think it’s even rained once yet! I think they use magic to get water but I’ve not seen anything that stood out.
A man whose name I don’t know yet brings over a small wooden cart and we start loading the wood on the back, he waves as he leaves. I wonder if everyone in this village can use magic or if it’s just the few people I’ve seen. From what I see during my language sessions I have to assume that silk stuff is everywhere around us at all times, kind of like gravity. So is magic just knowing which bit to grab out of the air? Without help I can’t even see the stuff never mind touching it so I guess magic is out of the question for me, I could always master the sword or something.
Ha! Like I’d ever need one.
From behind me, I hear the heavy footsteps of Ariv’s boots, I turn and he’s holding two wooden swords.
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Arvi.
The sword lands point first into the ground and I watch as Xavier hesitates to go near it, I smile a big toothy grin as friendly as I can make it. He instantly recoils in fear and takes a few steps away from the handle. We can’t have that so I swing intentionally missing him and instead tapping the sword in the dirt with my own.
My smile is gone.
He’s weak and while I’m unsure if it’s from his time in the wilds or him just being a city boy I can’t have him dying before the year is out. So while Anna trains in magic I will train him to wield the sword, he may need to protect her on the journey to the capital though it’s more likely the opposite. He’s just so skinny, it’s almost painful to look at, even kids in the village have more muscle than him!
He’s holding the sword, I swipe at the hand guard careful not to hit his hand and risk shattering those weak bones. Surprisingly he holds tight and manages to move in response to my swing but he’s far too slow to avoid it, the sword clattering to the ground. I wait until he’s ready before I swing again, already showing improvement. He tries to react the moment I move but again he’s far too slow, the sword doesn’t leave his hands.
We go like this for around an hour or so and slowly there’s an improvement as the fear of injury fades away. Confidence is the key in combat and without a sure strike none of the intended power is used in the motions of the sword. Trying to teach this wordlessly adds a layer of complexity I’m not used to but I enjoy the challenge. It’s been well over a decade since I’ve had any real combat and while he’s no high protectorate Xavier is a damn good replacement. I expected his small frame and general weakness to be a major disadvantage against me but gradually he’s learning to use that lower weight to dodge and reflect.
It’s dusk when he can no longer stand and I’m forced to end our spar short, I’d hoped to end it with him getting a single hit on me but I fear he’s too new for even that. It’ll take months and I won’t be going easy on him but given time he’ll be a fine swordsman.
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Anna.
My mana struggles as I push toward Xavier but I persevere and connect right as my stamina is leaving me. I have to focus to maintain myself against the void that is the man beside me but it’s easy enough to do after so much practice. Dad calls him broken that the Scar shattered his mana but as I grow more and more accustomed to his presence I find myself wondering if that’s all that has happened. As much as I want to study Xavier and the odd nature of his mana we don’t have time for that.
I run him through more vocabulary double checking each time that he understands the picture book but I'm rushing and he can tell. Tonight’s focus is going to make his recovery a little harder but just as I did he must persevere.
Mana flows around us the thin white and blue wisps dancing like flower petals in the wind, swaying without a care in the world until I give them focus. Layers upon layers of white land on my head while blue lines circle the mess of brown that is his hair. It’s beautiful, I’ve never done this outside of the theories in moms book but watching it in real time has me in awe, Xavier looks ready to cry.
The layers grow and at last, I can’t handle the strain my body tense as I feel every fiber of my being begging me to cast something, but I don’t. Instead, I push everything I hold toward Xavier leaving only the absolute minimum I need to keep breathing under my own power. It feels awful. I'm struggling to breathe. My body is heavy and my eyes are threatening to snap shut at any second, is this what he experiences constantly? I’m both amazed and terrified at his physical progress.
Xavier takes a deep breath and Speaks to me.