Elius frowned. He took a deep breath, raised his head, and looked up to the sky. The blazing sun shone relentlessly on top of the kingdom. The dazzling sunbeams fell onto him, illuminating his crimson hair and making his training incredibly insufferable. Elius wiped the sweat from his forehead, then he brought his hands together and closed his eyes. He felt like he deepened his connection to the world by focusing on the energy around him. For a second, he felt everything more precisely. The chirping sounds of the birds became much clearer. In the middle of the summer, he felt the sweet summer breeze brushing over his face for the first time. Then he imagined the world’s energy, so-called mana, gathered in his palm, creating a ball of water. Everything was happening just in seconds, he opened his eyes after 2 seconds, and he succeeded in forming a ball of water the size of his palm. Casting magic was becoming faster and easier with each time he did. He smiled broadly at this great success and splashed the water all over his face.
“Aah, that is refreshing. And dad says the mages are weak.”
He shook his head in disappointment.
“What an ignorance dad that I have.”
He said to himself while raising his right hand and pointing out the boulder 10 meters ahead of him.
‘I’m so close. This time it won’t fail. I can do this!’
After his little inwardly motivational speech, he focused again, but this time, instead of water, he was trying to create a fireball. Tiny sparks became visible. The more he concentrated, the more visible they became. And before long, the mana around his palm turned red and suddenly took the form of a fireball. It was burning brightly but brought no harm to Elius. It didn’t burn his hand. That was one of his concerns, but instead, the feeling was warm, like the fireball was greeting its new master. Elius smiled brightly. The fire was the hardest one to create among four basic elements for Elius. He made it fly into the boulder in front of him with excitement. The recoil made him take a step back, but the fireball successfully hit the boulder and dispersed, leaving a small ash mark on the boulder. Immediately after that, Elius focused his attention on his mana core and found himself floating in the middle of endless darkness. It was the space inside of his mana core. Some said it was your inner world, and some said the mana core is the soul of the human body, and this realm was the soul realm. People couldn’t access the other’s mana core unless they got permission or they were ridiculously strong. Elius saw four nodes connected. They were the spells he learned until now.
‘Nice! After learning the fireball, it became four. Finally!’
He rejoiced inwardly. The nodes that he saw were the node system that everyone has. It was like a star map. At first glance, it didn’t seem very sensible, but these nodes were probably the biggest thing that a mage had ever achieved. A great wizard from ancient times, when the mages were superior and searched for spells to make people’s lives easier, was trying to create a storage spell. After years of research, he managed to create a storage spell, but instead of what he was expecting, it didn’t work, or so he thought. When he finally realized that his new spell could store other spells, he was terrified by his invention. It was more than any human could comprehend. Within a week, there was no one left who had not heard about this spell’s existence, and eventually, they found a way to engrave it into the mana core. The second shock came when people with the storage magic realized that their babies were born with it. Effectiveness aside, it could also be inherited from lineage. The best part about this spell was once you learned a new spell, a new node was being created and connecting with others, and when you wanted to use that spell again after it was recorded, you didn’t have to do fancy hand signs or chant magical words. All you had to do was simply think about that spell. While Elius was checking his nodes, he has drawn back into reality by the sound of logs falling to the ground behind him. He turned his head to see what was going on.
“Dad?”
He walked towards his dad and saw so many little logs beneath his feet.
“What are you going do with this much log?”
After hearing that, his dad made a confused expression and squinted his eyes. With a sigh, he pointed to the wooden house behind him.
“You were the one who kept saying that this house needs repairing.”
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It was a small house, they usually rarely entered the house except to sleep anyway, but it indeed needed repairing. Much of its exterior paint was peeling, and it looked so fragile that a strong wind could take the roof away, and it would collapse on any impact. And every time they entered the house, the crackling sounds under their feet made it feel as if the house was screaming in agony. So Elius was constantly nagging for his dad to repair it.
“But I never really thought you would do it.”
Elius was surprised since his father didn’t do much except physical training and lying down all day. He only went hunting animals once a month to get food, but that was it. His father knew precisely what Elius was implying.
“It was until now. I saw what you did back there. You can finally create the four basic elements, right?”
Elius smiled with excitement and nodded quickly. Seeing that made his father smile too, and he put his hand on Elius’ shoulder.
“Good, now you’ve become a man. It’s time, follow me.”
Elius skeptically pursued his father.
“I'm six years old, I don’t think I became a man, but time for what?”
He curiously asked while following his dad inside the house, but his father didn’t answer. Just like the exterior, the interior of the house looked ragged too. There was not much furniture, only two beds, one in Elius’ room and one in his father’s room, and a dinner table in the kitchen. His father stood in the middle of his room and pushed the rug aside, revealing the secret trapdoor. Elius’ eyes widened.
“Is there a secret passage to underground or something?”
“No.”
His father calmly opened the door and showed what was inside it. It was just like a closet, it wasn’t too deep like a secret compartment, and a chest was resting in it.
“Come on, help me carry this outside.”
They both held from one side and started to carry it.
“What is this?”
Elius asked with a curious expression and tone, and his dad started to explain while carrying it.
“This is the legacy that our dynasty’s founder left behind. His name was Julius. He was a mage just like you, and his last words were, ‘I’m leaving this behind, and it can only be opened by the mage that came after me.’ And that wizard that came after him is you.”
Elius was becoming more excited. They were finally outside. While putting the chest on the ground, his father continued.
“The dynasty was already on the verge of falling apart before Julius died, and with his death, only a handful of people remained. And now there are only two of us. It is a miracle that you became a mage.”
Elius was listening, but he gave much more attention to the chest in front of him. His eyes were fixated on it. Even though years had passed, the chest was looking like newly created. Without raising his head, he asked.
“Dad, are you sure this was with us for generations?”
His father thought the same thing when the chest was passed on to him. He tried to open the box many times to clear his suspicion but never succeeded. There was a handprint right in the middle of the chest. First, he tried to put his hand and pour mana into it because that was the obvious thing to do, but it backfired, and some unknown energy pushed him a few meters back. Then he tried to destroy it with force, but this time it became worse. Because of the recoil, he almost lost his arm. That made him sure that this chest was left behind by someone mighty.
“Yes, try to put your hand here and pour some mana in it.”
He pointed to the handprint, and Elius did as he was told. After a few seconds of mana pouring, a light blue light began to envelop the chest. Elius instinctively pulled his hand and took a step back. The light became brighter and brighter. After it had reached an almost blinding brilliance, they both heard a ‘click’ sound, and the light dispersed. After hearing that, Elius immediately reached for the chest and tried to open it.
“Careful!”
But he ignored his father and opened the chest. Unlike what he was expecting, there were two books, both covered in black leather, two long bandages, a little white sphere with the size of a little smaller than Elius’ palm, and finally something that he couldn’t understand. It was looking like a black hilt with nothing attached to it. Before he could reach and take anything out, the white sphere started to glow and float in the air. This time, the two of them reflexively stepped back together, and his father stood before Elius in case of a dangerous situation occurred. The sphere kept floating. After it reached a certain height, it stopped. Then a shape began to form around the sphere. It was a black figure that looked like a human. Then a mouth formed on his face, and it opened. Before long, a shadow figure without a face was standing before them.