"Cursed child, get out of the village," voices could be heard outside their house, a small rock shattered their windows. Sighing deeply, Ela grabbed her broom, sweeping up the shards of glass. This wasn't the first time this happened. Ever since her kids turned six, Zahra and Jason's abnormalities in their appearance were quite obvious, with Zahra's horns getting larger and Jason's pointy ears, pupils turning that into a wolf's. Rumors even began to spread about how during the birth of the twins, a demon appeared almost killing the two, which wasn't that far from the truth. For a couple of months they were bullied by the villagers' kids, but Jason and Zahra simply ignored them.
Ela looked at her two children, who didn't seem at all bothered by the insults. Zahra was helping around with the housework, currently chopping up some things she foraged from the forest. Jason was fiddling with a sharp stone, carving weird lines on a piece of wood, which Ela thought were some sort of drawings. Another brick was tossed through the broken window, and since Ela was standing right where the last rock fell, she was hit by the incoming projectile.
She screamed in surprise, falling to the ground as the brick hit her directly in the skull. Hearing the scream, the kids outside knew that they crossed the line, quickly scattering. Zahra quickly went over to check on Ela, who was slightly bleeding, with drops of blood rolling down her face. The stone that Jason held crumbled into dust, a terrifying aura erupting from his small figure. "It's alright, Jason please calm down," Ela tried to comfort the raging Jason, afraid that he'll do something dumb that will hurt himself. "My dear, can you help me call priest Aldway," Ela said, trying to distract Jason. "Zahra, look after her, I'll go out for a walk," Jason said, storming out the door before Ela could stop him.
With a wolf's keen sense of smell, he easily tracked the kids into the woods, where they were playing their next game completely forgetting what they just did. This fueled Jason's rage even more, Ela didn't deserve this. He could tolerate the insults since he didn't really cared, but they shouldn't have involved Ela.
Jason stood silently, observing the kids. Easily hiding his presence, the possibility of the kids seeing him was close to zero. There were nine kids, the one leading them was a sixteen year old boy named Cooper. Wearing a leather tunic and carrying a blunt rusty sword, he was the leader of the small group. Being the strongest kid with quite a big frame, everyone followed his wishes. Since they lived in the forest where monsters regularly appeared, each kid was armed enough to kill a goblin or slime. Daggers, swords, and bows could be seen strapped to their belts.
"Let's have a war," Cooper said, as he began to separate the kids into two groups. The kids quickly complied, since mock battles weren't that rare. They all had wooden swords and blunt arrows where the tips were wrapped with cloth. Jason leaned on the tree trunk, a nasty plot came to mind. Soon enough, the two groups were hiding in their respective positions, pointing bows at each other. But before they could unleash their shots, Jason's fingertips began to glow. Mana began to fluctuate, most mages could've sensed the abnormality, but the kids couldn't even cast the simplest kind of magic, not to mention detecting the small changes in the surrounding mana.
"Seeking. Pierce. Acceleration," Jason stacked the three most common spells that every archer would've used. The arrows began to light up one by one, vibrating from the increased power. Unfortunately, the kids that were focused on the battle were completely oblivious to this since they couldn't see nor sense mana. As they unleashed their arrows, they knew that something had gone horribly wrong. Enhanced by the piercing spell, the arrows spun at a crazy speed, preparing to drill through any armor. The acceleration spell lowered the air resistance, increasing the arrow's speed. The seeking spell allowed the arrow to slightly correct itself, shifting a little bit more towards the center of the target.
Screams echoed through the forest at the arrows hit their marks, lodging into the flesh of the kids. "Next time, don't mess with my family," Jason shouted loud enough for every kid to hear, as he slipped back to his home. Perhaps six years living as a kid made Jason immature, since announcing to everyone that he was the culprit wasn't exactly the best choice.
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The screams quickly alerted the adults in the village, who quickly rushed towards the crime scene. And sure enough, they were not that pleased to see arrows stuck in their kids. The adults thought that the kids had forgot to change their arrows before playing the game, so they quickly helped to tend their wounds. Priest Aldway carefully pulled out an arrow, quickly sealing the wound with a healing spell. Seeing that the tip was covered in cloth, he was puzzled at first. But after sensing the faint traces of mana on the arrow, he was shocked. "Someone enchanted their arrows! Bring the kids that need immediate care to me right now!" the middle-aged priest shouted.
The men from the village were all experienced hunters that were skilled with a bow and arrow. Some of them quickly noticed the weird wounds that definitely weren't caused by a normal arrow. "Piercing spells," the most experienced hunter quickly recognized the unique patterns that only a spinning arrow could cause. The bearded hunter who looked to be around his forties looked around, noticing that all the arrows were perfectly aimed towards their right chests. "Damn it, seeking magic. Which bastard did this?" he shouted in anger. Unfortunately, most of the kids fell unconscious due to the wrenching pain, just as the hunter prepared to retrieve his weapons, a faint sound came from Cooper. "The cursed twins, they did this," he said, with a gaping hole in his chest.
"Impossible!" Priest Aldway said, not believing a six year old child was able to enchant a dozen arrows, not mention that it wasn't only one spell. "I'll get the answers from them myself," the bearded hunter, Slade, walked back to the village with a grim expression.
Back at their house, Zahra was carefully tending her mother's wounds. Conjuring a water ball, she washed off the dirt and blood on her face. "Mend wounds," Zahra casted, Ela felt a warm glow envelope her aching head. "Soothe," Zahra casted, Ela feeling a sense of drowsiness wash over her. Before falling into deep slumber, she whispered, "Thank you." Jason entered the room, checking on Ela. "She'll be alright," Zahra said, sensing the lingering mana on her brother's fingertips. Tucking Ela in bed, Zahra asked, "What did you do to the kids?" Recalling the scenes where the flaming skeleton ripped out hearts and chopped of heads, it was quite hard to associate that with the innocent looking child in front of her. "They got what they deserve. Prepare to fight if something goes wrong," Jason said, rummaging through the drawers.
He had crafted some useful gadgets since his current prowess was quite lackluster. "Why do we need to fight?" Zahra asked, trying to imagine what Jason did to incur the wrath of the villagers. "Nothing lethal," Jason said, shrugging. Soon enough, a hurried knocking sound could be heard. Judging by the force, the one banging on the door was definitely a adult. Opening the door, Jason met the glare of Slade, who was brimming with anger. "Do you know what you did?" he said, clearly irritated. "What happened?" Jason said, unfazed by Slade's intimidating aura. "Don't play dumb, I have witnesses," Slade said, thinking that the six year old would easily admit his mistakes. Pretending to look around, Jason said, "Don't think I see anyone, sir. Perhaps you are hearing and seeing things." Slade's blood began to boil, if wasn't a calm and collected hunter, he would've punched Jason right in the face.
"So what happened?" Zahra asked, still completely unaware of the situation. Thinking that Zahra was also playing dumb, Slade said, "I had enough of your tricks, who enchanted the arrows?" Zahra gasped, realizing what Jason did. "Don't make me bring you to the priest's house," Slade threatened. "What can he do? Ask God to punishment those guilty of crime?" Jason laughed. Slade snapped, shouting, "Which one of you bastards enchanted the arrows? THEY COULD HAVE DIED!" "MY OWN MOTHER COULD'VE DIED!" Jason shouted, releasing a sliver of his aura. Furious, Slade pulled out his dagger, further threatening the two. "You bastards act like it was our fault when you let your kids do whatever they want, smashing our windows, hurling insults daily, and hurting our mother! Now that they got what they deserved, you decide to put the blame on us?" Jason refuted, which was quite the sight to behold. Slade decided that it was better if he confined the two first, since it didn't seem like he was going to get any answers. "COME WITH ME," he ordered in a rough voice.