I found Mother with Alaster and Rose outside the bar. It was going to open right after the ceremony was over, I was old enough to drink now, but I have seen enough of the drunken antics to not feel like trying any yet.

“Look at what I got!” I called out as I approached them, At first, they smiled, but then it turned to shock at my armor.

“I knew dad was getting you armor, but that is beyond what I expected. Congrats sis, it looks amazing on you!” Alaster said, eying me up and down.

“Yeah, I will have to ask him how much he spent on that.” Mother added, sounded like her contribution was smaller than she realized.

Still, I went up to them both and pulled them into a hug. “Father did say you both helped. Thank you!” I said as I squeezed hard enough to get a groan out of both of them.

After I let go I could see Rose had a jealous look on her face. Had they not even hugged yet? What a weird couple. I had a bit of a devilish idea though.

“Feeling left out?” I asked her as I grabbed her and pulled her into a tight hug. She was surprised and struggled a little, but I just squeezed tighter. She was so soft.

“Alena… let me go…” She asked timidly as she squirmed. It was cute, I wanted to tease her a little more, but if I did too much mother was going to scold me so I let go. Her face was red but it didn’t seem like she hated it as much as she let on.

I talked with them about the armor as time went by. Soon I could see people heading towards the square which reminded me of the talk with father. I didn’t want to let my worry show on my face, so I headed off to the square telling them I was to meet with father. He was not at the square yet but I was sure he would be there soon.

On the far end of the square, there was a tent near the stairs leading up the platform. On top the mana crystal was not placed yet it looked like, but I could see some of the order and an official prepping it to be brought up.

The order seemed to have set up an area for themselves by the smithy on the left. The rest of the village had set out some tables and chairs to the right by the grocer. It felt weird being quite literally the center of attention tonight.

This was a normal setup, though the placement of the tent was a little different. It was normally directly behind the stage, so you could exit and go right up the stage, this time it was turned and angled to the left. Knowing father’s talk this change was likely to give me a clear shot into the woods and slow down the order even slightly. I felt a pit in my stomach thinking about it. I hoped everything would turn out and my father was just overthinking things.

“Ah, hey there missy” I heard from the left.

Kamil was walking up to me, with a friendly smile on his face. I frowned at him for acting so friendly to me. Alaster may have managed to forgive him, even if he had to since he was his superior. But I was not inclined to.

“Oh, I can see the hostility emanating from you missy. We have not seen each other in what, 11 years? Forgive and forget right? That was years ago and your brother has grown to be quite the man, if I had not pushed you both then, he may have been stuck out in this backwater until today.” He said. Each word sounded like venom to me. What did he mean by backwater? Forgive? He is the reason Alaster was taken!

I had to respond though, despite everything if I was too disrespectful to him would just get in trouble.

“It’s a twin thing, I apologize,” I said as I tried to force a smile.

“Oh? Alaster is quite respectful, I suppose that would make you the disrespectful one then? I see, I had not seen many twins, I will have to keep that in mind.” He replied with a smile. I could tell he was egging me on. Still, I took a breath and maintained my smile.

“Ah, Alena? About ready for the ceremony?” I heard father calling out behind me. Thank god, he can save me from this disaster of a human being.

“Yea, was just coming to meet you at the tent,” I said as I turned to him.

He smiled. “Well then, we should discuss some things before it starts. Kamil? Good to see you. I hope you forgive me for cutting your chat short, we have some things to go over and the start is rapidly approaching.”

“Well then if you will excuse me,” I said as I bowed lightly to Kamil, before quickly retreating to the tent. I could hear father having a few words with Kamil behind me, but I paid it no mind and just quickly entered the tent.

I wanted to punch something, but the only thing inside the tent was a table, a lantern, and a couple of chairs. Closing my eyes for a moment, I took some deep breaths to settle down and sat in one of the chairs waiting for Father to finish his chat with Kamil.

Father entered a couple of minutes later, he seemed in a bad mood as well. Kamil was a real people person it seemed.

“That man gets more hateful every time I see him,” He said as he took a seat.

“Ugh, tell me about it. I wanted to punch him so badly” I replied. Rolling my eyes.

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“Good thing you kept your cool, that would be the last thing we need tonight,” he said with a laugh.

“I see you already put on the armor, it looks great on you. I assume you already met up with Lily to show her?” He asked.

“Yea, Rose and Alaster were with her, you are probably going to get a lecture from mother by the sounds of it though”

“I am sure I will, I called in an old favor to get it made but I may have spent far more than I told her. Didn’t want her to feel obligated to take a larger portion of the expense.” He explained. They should seriously just shut up and get married already.

I heard some commotion outside. They were putting up the mana crystal by the sounds of it. Things were going to begin soon.

“Looks like it’s about to begin, I will call you out when it’s your time to take the stage,” Father told me as he got up. Though instead of going out of the tent he went over to me and pulled me into a hug. He usually did not initiate so I was taken aback a little but returned it nonetheless.

He said nothing even after pulling away and leaving the tent. I knew the hug held a lot of meaning, and thanks to that my anxiety level was rising.

I took some breaths to clear my thoughts and focus on the task at hand. I could hear father going into a prayer, but from inside the tent, it was too muffled for me to make it out. I could tell what it was though, a prayer made to Lumin to mark the coming of age of a new follower. I had heard it countless times in previous ceremonies.

The prayer lasted a few minutes, and the crowd joined in to repeat at sections. Finally, it died down and I could hear father coming back down the stairs. It was Showtime.

I got up and walked to the entrance as Father pulled the flap open “Alena, it’s time.” he called. I could see his hand shaking as it held the flap, but I pushed that to the edge of my mind. Everything was going to be fine.

As I exited the tent, cheers erupted. The ceremony was always like this, a happy time for those who came of age. Taking a deep breath I walked up the stairs to the stage. At the center was the mount with the mana crystal. It was white and round, even from where I was I could feel some sort of pressure emanating from it.

Looking around the stage, Everyone other than most of the paladins was cheering for me which made me smile. Alaster and Rose were the most vocal to my right, Mother was to the left with the rest of the villagers but I could not make out what she was saying.

I turned back and saw Father smiling at me. It was time.

I walked up to the crystal and took a second to look at it. As soon as I touched this I was an adult. Depending on what happened here, a lot was about to change.

I reach out my hand and after taking a final deep breath. I put my hand on it.

A familiar sensation went into my arm. Much like when father had directed his mana into me years ago. Though this time was much more potent. Like a flood of energy entering my body. As it went up my arm I felt it hitting resistance. The resistance got stronger as it entered my core. Now my body felt full of energy but there was a pressure that felt like it was building up.

It was beginning to feel uncomfortable, but I had to continue until there was some manner of release. No one else seemed to take this long for it to happen though, was something wrong?

The crowd started to murmur as well, so I felt I was not far off the mark. But as I pondered on the issue, there was a sort of popping sensation deep inside. Then heat started to expand from it.

I gasped as everything went a deep red color as the feeling erupted from my body. I could not see my surroundings anymore. I could hear the excitement from the crowd as I started to clue into what was happening, I was on fire, wasn’t I? I expected maybe a few flames, but it was enough that I could not even see out from it, so it must have been quite the sight.

But then I felt something else behind the heat. Did I have a second element? As it inched its way out there was resistance, and I began to feel heavier. Something was wrong.

Then the pain began. My head started to feel like it was splitting open. My muscles tearing. I wanted to scream but kept it in. Finally, the feeling breached my body.

Everything went black.

Instead of excitement, there were screams this time. Under my hand, the mana crystal cracked as I squeezed it. That couldn’t be good.

With the mana crystal broken, the energy stopped. I still couldn’t see, but I could feel I was absorbing the black haze around me. While I still felt in great pain, especially my head. It seemed like as more of it entered me, I felt more energetic. I remembered this feeling.

This haze was miasma.

Confusion gripped me, I had so many questions, was the crystal rigged with dark mana? Was that possible?

“ALENA!!!!!” I heard father yell, and I looked up.

The haze had cleared enough for me to see. There was still screaming, and to my left, many of the villagers seemed to be running. I didn’t see mother though, and I turned to my right.

Alaster was on his knees, and Rose was on her butt. Kamil seemed to be yelling around him, with some of the paladins seemed to be drawing their swords.

Then it hit me. Father told me if he yelled my name to run. This was what he feared.

I turned to him. He was still at the bottom of the stairs, his hair looked a little singed, likely a result of him standing so close to the stage from my little fire show, but tears were streaming down his face.

There was no time was there? I had to run. I had to run now and get as far as possible from Silvergrove.

I ran to the stairs and rather than take them, leaped down. My muscles were screaming in pain, but their output was insane. I cleared easily three times the distance I expected to and landed right by father.

“I love you” I heard him whisper as I passed him. Those words hurt me more than the rest of the pain in my body. It sounded like a goodbye. But I had to keep going. The letter was still in my pocket, and I had to hope it would explain what was coming next.

Sprinting to the woods I was already past the speed I normally could sprint at. The pain in my muscles was dying down a bit and they felt in top form. The feeling was much stronger than it had been before when I touched miasma.

Bursting past the tree line I was afraid I might trip, but my perception seemed to have increased as well. I could see every obstacle and was able to adjust accordingly, letting me keep my speed as I went through the forest.

It was getting close to dusk, so the paladins would have difficulty finding me if I got farther than they could manage before it got dark. The pond seemed within that range though, but at the speed I was going I should have enough time to look over the letter at least.

I could hide somewhere before they got there. After dark I would be able to see their torches, making it easy to avoid them, but what was I to do from there? I had to hope Father had a plan.

At the rate I was going, forget 30 minutes, even 10 minutes seemed possible to get there. I never felt so alive. Like my body had all its restraints lifted. I had to admit it was convenient to get away, but the implications of having so much miasma in my body could not be good.

Also, the more distance I gained, the better I felt. Like some weight was being lifted off me.

I had to focus on my task though, time to think would come later, for now, I needed to follow the script Father set for me.