Father brought us inside the church. There were still some people here, dad had likely abandoned his service hearing Alaster scream.

“Sorry everyone, I need to cancel service for today,” Father said as we entered. He never canceled service, so I was a little shocked he did so without hesitation. No one seemed to complain though, shuffling out quickly.

“I will let you…” Mom started to say, but dad quickly stopped her.

“You are more of a parent to them than I am, your place is here,” he said. Mom didn’t say anything further and just followed us as we moved to the back of the church.

Father had expanded the church to make room for us, the addition had our rooms and a living area. We all sat down at the table, Mother rarely joined us here, but there were always 4 chairs. I was not sure why they seemed distant to each other, but not to us. Though they tried to not make it show.

Father had healed my nose while we got settled. Washing my face and hands, though some blood still clung to my clothes. I don’t think any of us were too worried about that right now though.

The mood was somber, and we all sat in silence for a while before father finally started to speak. “I was wrong to bring Kamil to train you. But you should be prepared early if his assessment is true”.

Alaster seemed very concerned. The atmosphere was getting to him. “Light magic is something good though right father?” He asked.

“Yes, but being able to manifest it so early is a sign you are a prodigy and someone that the Paladin Order will not ignore. You will be taken by them soon.” He replied.

Those were not the words I wanted to hear, it meant separation. I might be a prodigy too, I could imagine it with us being twins, but would mother or father be able to go with us? If I wasn’t then was Alaster going to go alone? Mother had moved her chair closer to me so she could hold me while we talked. I was happy she was here with us.

“I just wanted to stop him from hurting her,” he said, clearly emotional. “Was that wrong?” he asked.

“No, no it’s not,” Father said, choking on his words as he said them. “You did well, I am proud of you, I am at fault for putting you in that position. I…. I felt I had to prepare you both sooner rather than later for the dangers in the world. And Kamil’s visit seemed like a perfect opportunity” he paused.

“No that is an excuse, I could see he had changed, become fanatical since I last saw him. Many men in this village could have taken his place, but I had the naive belief that I needed only the best for you”.

I could see where he was coming from. Kamil was very skilled, and I am not sure I could take anyone else from the village as seriously as that training session. Still, I could not help but feel angry, not so much at him, but at this situation that had left our control.

“How long?” I asked. I knew no matter what the answer was I was not going to like it, but I needed to know anyway.

“Kamil is here for a month, your training just lined up with another mission that he was here for. He is expected to send reports weekly, and his saying he will delay it as long as he can, which is likely only a day. He is very by the book. He arrived yesterday so I can only assume he sent this week’s report already on his arrival, that gives us 7 days before he sends the report. After that…… he is likely to be ordered to return in haste with Alaster. I would say 2 weeks is all we would have.” Father explained.

2 weeks, it was too quick. Sure father seemed to indicate there could be some variance, but he knew far more about the order than I did.

“I don’t want to go!” Alaster screamed. “Can’t we all go together?”.

Father sighed “It’s not that simple, the capital is a hard place to live, especially without enough backing. You will gain some once you become a Paladin, but that is years away. The best we can hope for is breaks that you will be allowed to visit home. It is not much different than a boarding school.”

That eased my mind a little, but how often? We had not been separated for more than a day since we were born, it felt like life was about to take a major change and I was powerless to do anything about it.

“If I can use light magic, would I be able to go with him?” I asked. I didn’t want to leave, but it tore me up thinking about Alaster being alone.

“Kamil will likely want to test you as well, yes. It isn’t common to test children but I imagine he is going to want to do it anyway. I am not going to let him do it though, so I will instead. After today I don’t want him near you if I can help it.”.

I felt a slight bit of excitement through the dread. Magic was cool, and if I could use it then at least I could stay with Alaster, though the prospect of separating from Father and Mother was just as painful. I couldn’t imagine what kind of test Kamil would do, so I agreed with my father on having him test me.

“What does this test entail?” Mother asked, finally speaking.

“I will just try to push some light mana into her, let her feel it, and see if she senses her own and push it out. There are better ways to test, but for a child, it can be dangerous. Kamil is unlikely to care, but at least he will trust my assessment, lying to a paladin is not so easy.” Father replied.

I could feel mother tighten her grip somewhat. “But hiding things is easy then?” she asked. Father returned a shocked look, what did she mean? Did she want us to hide something from Kamil?

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“I will do what I can to protect them, trust in that if only that,” he said. I felt there was some deeper meaning to his words, but mother seemed to accept that and loosened her grip.

“Alright, I know you only have the best of intentions for them, but your love of secrecy could get them in more trouble in the future.” She sighed.

We sat in silence for a while, before father finally called an end to our little family meeting, we all had a lot we needed to process.

“Tomorrow I will test you, Alena, for today I suggest you stay in the church. I don’t want Kamil getting close to you until I have tested you.” Father said as we got up. I didn’t want to get close to him even after I was tested.

Mother went and hugged Alaster, who unlike before made no effort to protest and returned it. That did bring a slight smile to my face, I would have hated it if he kept up being distant from her in these circumstances.

The day passed without much talk. None of us seemed to know what to say right now. It had been a few years since I and Alaster slept together, but I crawled into his bed and wasn’t going to let him protest tonight, though he didn’t try to stop me.

In the morning, Father told us to stay home inside today and mother came soon after to make us breakfast and keep us entertained while Father did his usual service. We didn’t feel like doing anything though, and I found myself listening to Father’s service.

It was a sermon on holding fast against anything related to the parasite. An invasive entity that plagues Lumin. I wondered why it didn’t have a name, but humanizing anything related to it was forbidden, so it made sense in a way.

He continued into how outside Aston, the taint known as dark magic had left the world corrupted, and Aston was the last bastion of a pure society. There were still humans outside Aston, but care had to be taken with them since the corruption of the world ran deep.

Church’s like this one was built as wards and the prayers offered helped to strengthen them. Prayer was very important since without it, the wards would weaken and demons would be able to spawn close to the village.

I had never seen a demon, though there was a time that many people got sick, and with Father’s attention diverted fewer prayers were offered. That resulted in a demon near the village which almost got to one of the other children. It was dispatched though, but it helped to reinforce the importance of prayer.

Father’s sermon finished with loud, uniform clapping. After the prayer was finished and the villagers left, father came to the back. Alaster had fallen asleep sitting with Mother, so me and father quietly went out to the front. It was time to get my magic tested.

Father sat me down at the front and knelt in front of me. I was unsure of what this entailed but I could feel some excitement.

“Now, Alena. This is not something normally done, so please don’t try to force anything. I told your mother yesterday that it entailed pushing my mana into you, but it’s not quite that simple” He said, looking me in the eyes. What did he mean?

“I am going to need to injure you slightly, so my mana has something to do. I won’t hurt you more than needed, just a simple scratch on the back of the hand, but I want you to be ready for it.” He said with a totally serious face.

I almost giggled, I was a tough girl. I had taken many hard tumbles and I was sure a little scratch wouldn’t do much. “I will be fine. I will make sure I don’t make mother come in here and give you a scolding” I said. I was sure his main worry was Mother rushing in here and scolding him.

“Thank you, now close your eyes, once I begin I want you to feel what is entering your body and hold out your other hand and try to push that same feeling out.” He explained. I was not sure what he meant, but I didn’t expect magic to be simple, so I complied and closed my eyes.

“Good, I will begin, keep your eyes closed and focus on the feeling, try to push all other thoughts out.” He seemed rather tense, I could feel it through the hand he had gripping me.

I focused on my hands, one was held by my father, and the other was outstretched. Soon I felt something cold slide across my hand and pain. I had not expected him to use a knife! Just a fingernail or something.

I recovered and focused on the task at hand, focusing on the pain made it much worst. I wanted to hit him for being so misleading, but that might of been the point, and probably much better than what Kamil would have done.

I could feel something cool on the wound, Father’s healing magic. It seemed much weaker than I was used to, likely because the application was different. Still, I tried to feel what was flowing into my body.

As I did, something inside me seemed to react. I could feel the heat within my body. It felt different but similar. I tried to direct it to my hand but felt like it was constricted like something was blocking it. I tried to push as much as I could, but the strain felt a little painful. Still, I managed to get the feeling in the palm of my hand.

“Good, good. I see. That is enough Alena.” Father said. I released the feeling and my hand was already healed. I opened my eyes as father reached around me and hugged me.

“I am sorry Alena, I didn’t want to hurt you like that, but magic needs a purpose to be used.” He said as he finished the hug.

I returned the hug, I knew he had only the best intentions but I was also eager to hear the result. “So, am I like Alaster?” I asked.

“You have magic, but not like Alaster unfortunately. There is some fire magic, but it is weak. It may grow before you come of age, but the Paladin Order will not be too interested in having you join Alaster before you are of age.” Not the answer I wanted to hear, but it did make sense about the heat I felt.

“I felt like it was constricted, held back. I had to push to get it out” I said, hoping father would know something about that.

“I am not sure, children being tested is not normal. Do NOT try on your own though. I did not do this because I wanted to, and I don’t want you getting any ideas until you come of age.” From the stern look in his eyes, I knew he was not kidding. The feeling was a little painful, so I didn’t want to try again though.

After that, the days went by much like they usually had. Me and Alaster tried to make the most of the time we had left with each other. We slept together each night. Mother even joined us one night. But time still moved and inched closer to when we would be split up.

Father’s estimate proved to be correct, and on the morning of Alaster’s departure, I almost could not bring myself to see him off. But I knew I would regret it if I didn’t. I had to send him off with a smile.

Kamil thankfully would not be his teacher, he would just be escorting him to the capital with a group of Paladins that had been stationed here for whatever mission they were here for. A child like me would never be told what their purpose was.

I put on my best smile and tried to make it out as a joyous occasion, that he was going to be a paladin and I was happy for him. However, I don’t think I fooled anyone with the tears and snot I was producing. Alaster did not do much better, trying to console me with his mess of a face.

Soon it was over, and the carriage he looked out the back of disappeared out of sight. Mother took me home and stayed with me that night. I could tell she was just as emotional as I was, but trying not to show it.

It took a while for me to recover at all, everything felt wrong without Alaster always at my side. I felt alone, there may have been other children in the village, but I was the only girl my age. Alaster was the one who bridged that gap and now the other children seemed to keep their distance.

I wasn’t going to let them continue that though.