Max's Grandfather looked at him with a forced smile as he began to speak once more. What they were going to talk about was a serious matter. More serious than anything that Max had, had to deal with ever before.
"Max, listen to me. What I'm about to say is very important." He said before looking Max in the eyes.
Max nodded in understanding as his fearful disposition leaned more towards anxiousness than anything else. He fidgeted slightly in his chair as strange energy was filling him, willing him to run away.
"Alright, Max. You seem to have awakened. This means that in one fantastical magical way your body, soul, and mind have changed in such a matter that you are no longer quite as human as you were before."
"I'm not human?!" Max asked in startled confusion.
"No, you are plenty human... You are just something more now. Something has changed you in your life that has given you a connection to magic that is extremely rare. It's one in a million for one to awaken and 99% of those who awaken, awaken from birth."
"You are a magical oddity. Something so rare in this world that you could almost say to be extinct yet resurrected. I believe you to be nature-born. Meaning that nature chose you for a reason and the only reason why I believe this is because you became a different person when you were struck by that lightning bolt oh so many years ago. It seemed to have changed you for... not necessarily the better but in a way that was beneficial to you.
"Here in a few weeks, I will find someone to help test what exactly you are. There are plenty of different naturals in this world and you may be one of 9."
"Do you remember the three aspects of magic Max?"
Max nodded in a confused manner.
"Well, the three categories under each aspect happen to have naturals attached to them."
"For instance, I and your father were talking about a Foci that has awoken in the family. He is around the age of 5 now and he has just become intelligent enough to cast magic. Foci's are underneath the vococular or vocal branch of the body magic."
"Now Max could you guess what a natural of the Vococular branch could do?"
Max sat and pondered. Something inside of him had lit up with a fire. A fire of knowledge. But something else was holding him back. His Grandfather had just caused him a tremendous amount of pain. All because he didn't believe in him.
'Will I be able to forgive him?'
"Those who are naturals under the Vococular or Vocal branch are... naturals at calling magic? Vococular means to call magic through one's views or vision and vocal means to call magic through one's voice or sound made by oneself. So magic comes naturally to them?" Max asked as his mind was in turmoil.
"Correct Max. Magic just seems to come their way when they need it or want it to. Magic is a fickle beast but for those who are Foci... they have tamed it."
"In addition to casting magic at a young age, they also have higher growth when it comes to magic, and other than that not much else is known about the Naturals of Vococular or Vocal magic."
Max nodded while feeling conflicted. He enjoyed this. Spending time with his grandfather and listening to the tales of magic and its secrets. But that pain that Max felt kept him in check.
'This is my family but... in a second if I appear to not be what I truly am they will call me out in the worst of ways.' Max thought before becoming solemn.
Onyx Blacklock noticed his grandson's somber gaze and put a hand on Max's shoulder to which Max gently shrugged it off.
"I'm sorry Max... About before." He said to the person in his family who was most like him.
'He's so fascinated about the world of magic... not batshit crazy about business and the prospect of making money like his father and... like his siblings.'
"It's fine. Something has happened to me. I have changed. I am no longer a Blacklock like before, though still a Blacklock through and through." Max answered with a gentle smile.
The two talked for the better part of an hour before Max's father entered the room.
He looked more disheveled than Max had ever seen him before. There were just a few too many defiant hairs among the neatly combed mass of hair that his father had. His clothes looked slightly out of place as well, not pressed like they usually were.
"There you are, my son." He said before grasping Max in a death-like hug.
After nearly a minute of suffocation, Max felt relief as his Father stood up abruptly.
"Father! You should have known better than to harm a child! He's your blood you old coot." Max's father said in a slightly elevated tone of voice which clearly showed that he was upset.
Grandfather raised his hands in a sign of defense and fault.
"What I have done is wrong, I understand that, but you would have done the same if you were in my shoes." Onyx Blacklock said plainly though a touch of pain flooded the corner of his words.
"In no way would I hurt my son Father. I would not flinch to send out an intruder but to send Leon against your grandchild?! That is just cruel. Can you not sense the kinship of our family just by looking at him." He said before holding onto Max's shoulder and looking him up and down while gesturing towards Grandfather angrily.
And at that moment Max was all that a Blacklock could be. He looked calm and collected though he was hurting inside. He held himself with pride. He knew he was a Blacklock no matter where he came before... taking over this body.
'I am Maxwell Blacklock!'
Stolen novel; please report.
His grandfather looked at his son and grandson at a loss for words and simply stood up and began to leave the room but before opening the door he left one parting sentence.
"I will atone for this that I swear."
And with that, he was gone.
---
Max didn't see his Grandfather in the coming weeks but that didn't matter as much to him as he awoke one morning to find two intruders in his room.
"What have we here?" One of them shouted out.
"A sleeping little Blacklock?" The other answered.
"Wrong!" The other said before finishing "We have ourselves a Growing Man of a Blacklock!"
Max rubbed his eyes and turned over from his nice slumber to see his two bickering siblings standing in the room in strange clothing. Saph was a good few inches taller than before, now being the smaller of the two, and Rube had grown nearly a foot taller reaching 5 foot 10 inches in height at the young age of 13. Other than that it was just as they had left. The same old Saph and Rube.
Max got out of the bed abruptly and tackled his siblings in the strongest hug he could muster through an 8-year-old who couldn't be too strong.
The three siblings smiled and laughed among each other as they played among themselves for the first time in nearly three years.
After a little of tussling around Max finally got an edge in their playtime to ask a question.
"What was it like! Being at that strange place filled with those magical teachings!" He asked enthusiastically with a wide grin filling his face.
Saph and Rube looked at each other and gave a little nod to each other before looking back at Max with a mischievous look in their eyes.
"It's a place of great danger," Saph said in a low tone, looking over her shoulder as if someone might be listening.
"Monsters lurk at every corner and one of the professors is even a dragon!" Rube said in reply, animating a beast with his hands into the air out of illusion magic.
Max stared at the illusion with awe as the red beast snapped towards his face and he reeled back to only find himself sitting on his bed again and the twins bawling in laughter.
Max, realizing he had been had, started to give the two a thorough eight-year-old beating.
After a couple mock 'Your hurting me!' He finally let the two go from his wrath as they kept laughing and patting Max's head.
"Man it's great to be back for a few days," Rube said before jabbing Saph in the side with his shoulder.
"A few days only?!"
Saph and Rube gave each other a sad glance before forcing on a smile and nodding.
"A few days of freedom before we are trapped in the dungeons of the great flying tower!" They both said together and so continued the playful banter of children.
---
The visit was wonderful but it ended too soon as he found himself saying his goodbyes to his Max and Rube once more, though this time it was less rushed than the last.
Max watched his Rube stand up straight with a collared vest shirt with an under-tone color of blue and an over color of purple. He had two cuff links on either wrist that glowed a dull azure color and seemed to vibrate his entire body slightly and the tie seemed to pull it all together in its checkered blue and white manner.
Saph wore similar colored clothing though wore a simple skirt and dress shirt with a tie attached to the top of the vest shirt she was wearing. Instead of the strange cufflinks, his brother was wearing Saph instead wore a simple necklace that glowed a dull purple and seemed to entrance those who stared at it.
'Such a strange school to require people to wear such strange garb.' Max thought as he hugged them one last time and said his goodbyes. He wouldn't see them again until next year but before that he would get their notes... and that was what he looked forward too though the family was only second to magic.
---
Not even an hour after his siblings left his grandfather approached him in his room. A knock on the door startled Max from his writing as he stared intently at his journal filled with magical interactions. He had managed to simplify many spells to a twitch of the finger but some of them were a little harder to command.
He turned his attention from his journal to his grandfather and stood up in a position of attention. He had to be formal to the head of the family after all.
"Max..." His grandfather sighed as he motioned for him to follow.
Max hesitantly took a step forward and found himself walking to his grandfather's study. A place he had not been remotely near since the 'event'.
'Though I do suppose that the event was my fault' Max thought to himself as he remembered his stubborn manner when he didn't reveal his magical nature to his family even though he was struggling... bleeding even. 'I should have told them. I suppose it was partially my fault for being an idiot.'
After entering the simply decorated room he found himself face to face with a strange person.
He wasn't abnormally tall or short and was just about in the middle. Some would call it the 'perfect height'. He was bald with a clean-shaven face that had pronounced jawbones that made him pop out in a crowd. He held himself fairly casually but something about him echoed confidence as he fidgeted with a ring that glowed a bright orange that reminded one of the sun.
He wore simple clothes that could be mistaken to be worn by someone who was simply walking by you in the street. A simple t-shirt and a pair of jeans and a small-cap that was on his head seemed to be trying to hide the fact that he was bald though it was glaringly obvious since there was no hair peeking out of the edges of the cap.
Max's grandfather sat down in the desk chair, leaving the two of them left standing. He stared at Max for a few seconds before beginning to speak.
"From this moment onward I plan on full-heartedly teaching you what I know about magic. I won't give up on you even if you find yourself in a rut for years. You are family and I shouldn't have thought twice that you weren't." He said with a smile on his face.
"I know this may seem manipulative but I truly love magic as well. I just can't pursue it as you can. So please. Accept this as my apology."
Max nodded slowly. It sounded fair to him. Help to learn knowledge about magic for his forgiveness. If Max was an ordinary person then he might think the situation peculiar but he wasn't a normal person. He was Maxwell Blacklock. Lover of magic. So something along these lines makes perfect sense to him.
Max's grandfather released a breath of relief and began to speak, this time a little more energetically.
"This is Leonard Madlock. A member of the Madlock family, though recently disgraced. He is an excellent teacher and someone I trust full-heartedly. He shall be the one testing you today to see what type of natural you are as well as finding out what element suits you best."
Max nodded once more before giving a curt bow towards Leonard who, in kind, returned the bow.
"It is a pleasure to meet you young Max. I have heard plenty from your grandfather about you." He said in a thickly accented voice. Max frowned as he couldn't quite discern where the accent was from however quickly changed his face to a forced gentle smile.
"All good I suppose?"
"Of course. For one so bright at your age it is a shame that you were not taught magic sooner." He said while giving a chiding stare towards Max's grandfather.
'That's new. No one acts against grandfather other than father and even then...' Max thought of the shaking mess of his father when he was confronting his grandfather.
"Now Mister Leonard is going to take your hands into his and run a few tests to try and see what you are." His grandfather said casually.
Max nodded and raised his hands out in front of him.
Leonard approached with a strange glint in his eyes as he took Max's hands into his own.
Max instantly felt many feelings flood through him. One prying into every pore of his body, including his mind and soul.
After mere seconds Leonard released his hands and put his hand against his chin. Almost as if contemplating.
"It's been many years since this has last happened. I don't believe it has been in our lifetime Onyx." He said while chucklingly looking at grandfather.
And in return, all he got was an inquisitive stare back at him with a glint of anticipation.
"We have a seeker. The first one in quite a long time..."
Onyx stood up from his chair in alert and was about to say something before Leonard hushed him with a single raised finger.
"And his blood is different than ours. Unique you could say. Something to look into. His mind is unique as well. I would have thought him a Cotten if he showed any signs other than the size of his mind. It is truly... limitless." He finished before a glint on his finger swirled into action.
'Magic!' Max thought before preparing himself for what was to happen next.