The distinctive sound of metal colliding harshly with a vulnerable, wooden surface becomes apparent to my attention.

As the sharp softness of sweet trickling rainwater crawls right into my ear.

Tick, tick, tick.

The stopwatch attaching to my silver chain across my neck echoes, and reverberates each tick into my chest.

At my side, I could slightly feel a tugging that was not strong enough to pull me, but is certainly annoying.

“Oh, come on! Wake up big brother!”

The voice of a little girl persistently tweeting keeps going, like a bird begging for food from its mother.

“Please, not now Aella…!”

I mutter, while pulling back a blanket over my head, in doing so pulling it away from my feet due to its small size.

She continues tugging and pushing me, until I throw the blanket completely away in anger. I feel incredibly dizzy, but force myself to sit up straight.

The hay beneath me pricks my legs as I look at the girl who unfortunately is my little sister.

Her eyes being a deep dark blue and her hair a radiant blonde mess, making me consider twice about my explosive thoughts.

“So, what do you want!?”

I erupt.

She looks at me taken-back; a guilty consciousness arises beneath my sweltering big balloon of discomfort, as I look at her innocent face turn upside-down.

“Calm down, now. What do you want though?”

She still looks at me with the same stumbling face and almost begins to talk before mumbling. Then walking out of the open door and slamming it shut.

“That just increased the number of things I want to do today by one, and I think it’s just one little thing too much.”

I utter whilst resting my hand on my head and sighing. I scarp my fingers across the chain and onto the pocket watch, then clicking the button on top of a little wheel.

The metal face of it pops out to show all the mechanical inner-workings of its stripped shell, making the ticking sound even louder.

And on the all-white background of the clock itself all three hands land on eight O’clock exactly.

As the second-hand ticks to one, what feels like being in a dream for a couple years instantly halts and all that fills my blank mind is an accelerated heartbeat; for that moment and the now, faint ticking filled the room or at least my headspace as I close the pocket watch.

I get up and brush the hay off my trousers and put my feet into some shoes thrown out the room and finally tucking in my over-sized tunic into my waist.

I look around, and keep doing so. Wishing only that one day we would be able to have something far better – like a palace or something.

My eyes constantly hover back towards at the poorly built walls, hay roof and all the left-over hay for the cattle that used to live here, all whilst imaging a better life. But to be fair we do move around a lot and this was temporary.

As I regain my ability to think clearly, I put my hands right next to my face before slapping myself harshly, ‘be grateful god damn it!’ repeating over and over again.

“But it’s hard to be grateful when your ambition over-rules your abilities to do anything, it makes you feel so… Useless.”

Walking out of the open stable door and I try my hardest to shut the door with the rusty lock next to the handle.

Idyllically, the rain stops scattering until just this moment. But the water continues dripping from the roof into puddles of muddy waste.

Looking upwards at the sky, the clouds blanket the sun like curtains. Part of me desperately hoping that it would unveil some rays of sunshine to lighten the day, but it doesn’t at that moment.

I turn around gazing at my surrounding and far into the large forest in front of me with nothing but a dirt path travellers use very frequently.

For whatever reason, I become oblivion to the sound of chopping wood, when all of a sudden it nests right back into my ear. like poison with one loud ‘thud’.

“Ed!”

An old voice yells at me, and part of me already knows what is happening, but really didn’t want to accept it.

“What now!”

I counter, looking around behind me just next to the stable and a bit further back, Aella stands sticking her small tongue out at me and silently laughing to herself. All whilst behind father’s erupting mountain of a face.

“Come here!”

He demands. And I stop momentarily. I want to walk away, run or at least just close my eyes and ignore everything around me – but I don’t.

Slowly, step by step I amble towards him, trying to make sense of what I will do next, and step by step as the muddy ground splutters - I open my eyes.

A moment of silence dawns and I could look into his hazel eyes, telling me it was alright. His large, messy beard like a carving from stone being sculpted by Michelangelo himself. He seems un-movable as he stands slightly taller than me and towers over Aella.

“Chop some wood.”

He speaks harshly, destroying all that is silently beautiful. He hands me a heavy axe where the wooden handle is cracked and moist with the metal starting to rust.

He taps me on the shoulder.

“Don’t worry, be happy.”

And then takes Aella with him towards the stable entrance, in the direction of the menacing forest whilst holding her hand, looking as if a lone warrior about to head into a battle against a fleet.

“You just missed breakfast, so make sure you eat something! I’ll see you later!”

He shouts from a distance before I turn around, and whispering my response.

“Alright…”

I glance at the tree stump father had been using as a stand and the ammunition of logs pilled along the wall of the stable. And all in front of me was a clear field dazzling with radiant light, which previously failed to appear beforehand.

‘It seems like anything I hope for turns out in the exact opposite way… What is this luck…?’

With all my might I swing the axe with two hands and hit the wooden stump rooting it down, making just one more scar the tree had endure after its death. And it certainly banishes my pent-up anger inside.

As I pick up a large cut of wood from the pile, I chant a few words under my breathe.

“Versterken.”

Nothing happens though.

“That’s weird…”

I speak to myself in a low tone, confused I ponder for a second before continuing.

I place the log onto the damp floor and remove the axe with one hand whilst struggling a bit.

“If only my non-emblem spell worked – this would be so much easier.”

I place the log onto the stump with one hand and pulling it up with one of my legs onto my body.

And there we go just one more step – ‘Versterken’. I say but this time louder than my other spell.

“But still nothing?”

I ponder as I hold up the axe above my head, and striking down as hard as I could – thud.

“One more time and that’ll do.”

I pull out the axe and continue to do the exact same motion once more and the wood split in half, each side going onto the floor in opposite directions, with splinters everywhere as if a bloody splat.

I repeat until half the stack of intact wooden pieces is cut, and after cutting each one in half, constructing a new pile of ready-to-use wood.

It didn’t feel like long since I started, and my mind couldn’t stop wondering towards other places of gauging interest to remove this pessimistic mood swing.

Slowly, I put the axe down gently on the stump and walking back and forth in circles I finally peruse a strand of fantasy that caught my attention.

In a spark of childish intent, I walk over to the front of the stable and look at my surroundings, on one side there is just the open, peaceful field which is now more lit up as the sun claims its throne higher up in the sky.

And then the other side is full in thick forest, just like everywhere else surrounding the calm paradise. Before going back inside I look back at two paths, one which went directly to the market – in front of the door, and to the left in the more eery-looking forest a path that leads towards the main village.

“Two choices, and a thousand possibilities, I wonder where this life will take me.”

I go inside of the stable and in the corner, I see a few clothes hung up. I rush with excitement and grab a grey cloak on top of all the other pieces of clothing.

Putting the cloak on, I make sure my pocket watch wouldn’t be out at all, and to why I did that – I didn’t really know. It is just something Father made very clear to me – never show the pocket watch to strangers.

For that reason, I assume, amongst a few others factors I don’t grasp because ‘I’m too young’ - we live outside the main villages.

And I like it much better this way. Just us as a family. A humble, peaceful existence.

Closing the door once more, I set my aim straight forth and set off with my hood down. I know I shouldn’t go out on my own and the last time I had done so was too many months ago to remember, with the only memorable aspect is Father becoming incredibly angered.

But even though anxiety chains me to the door, I snap it like a caged animal longing for freedom.

I feel the cold air brush past me like a stallion charging through open fields, whilst the sun-rays gently hover onto my face, alerting a feeling of sleepiness. But every so often the cold out did the warmth and shakes me awake.

The path isn’t the nicest, and it isn’t properly made still with many bumps from rocks laying around, as well as the roots of trees reaching underneath it. Another issue I find when I look for any little thing to complain about is how the path isn’t straight and curves many times shrinking and enlarging randomly.

The ground feels incredibly damp, and as I walk each foot step makes it obvious to my ears that I am in a swampy area. Here the sun didn’t reach some parts of the forest with trees towering like flag poles blocking out the sun.

It's only after around eleven minutes of walking at a slow constant pace, after being lost in the continuous mental maze, that I could hear people, the chattering became louder with every few metres.

And the forest slowly starts to die out the more I walk giving out to human creation. Looking down, the path merges in with a stone one, which feels more pleasant on my feet, after the rough forest path.

And right up ahead I could see rows of stalls, crowds of taverns all over the place and probably anything you could ever dream of and things you couldn’t dream of.

Tapping my only pocket inside my cloak, I feel only a couple small copper coin which was probably misplaced since it was the lowest sum of money. Ninety or more and I would have a silver, the main currency.

I cautiously walk slower into the messily organised, capacious rows of shops and merged in with the crowds of people, I’m looking for a particular person.

“He should be somewhere here.”

I whisper to myself. As my thoughts couldn’t hold their shape or meaning whilst drown by the sounds of mental clanking, drunk men shouting and usual chatter amongst people.

I approach the centre. Which is a big open space, holding a fairly large green, dull plaza. The grass has probably seen better days and there is too much garbage to call it peaceful.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

But the only thing useful to me are the large signs which divide the shops based on what they offer, such as food, metals and clothes.

I look upwards at one of the wooden signs up ahead and read the words “General Spells and Magic”.

I’m about to dismiss everything other than the new information, but in the corner of my eye I notice some people that looked out of place.

And there’s a few too many of them – guards. They have a heavy plated metal amour covering their entire body. A helmet with holes to see and breathe from. And lastly the most intimidating - a weapon by the waist along with other useful spells and magic items.

Sure, I expect some, but it was just all too ‘off’, something like a gut feeling.

I’m just not used to this sort of loud life-style maybe.

I keep walking in the direction I was heading ignoring the fact that came to my realisation and brushing it off to nothing.

I find the street where the spells and magic and I was looking for the store name – Rodger’s Spells.

It’s somewhere near the end of this row, at least from what I remembered.

Continuing to scout for that exact name I keep spiking random interest whilst reading some of the intruding signs – ‘Potion of strength’, ‘Potion of temptation’.

Finally, I see the sign I want, “Rodger’s Spells” although the sign had changed since last time, and from a rusty metal one to a newer wooden one.

With my hood down, I approached the small counter top, I lay both hands on the wooden counter and look up slightly. Just in my sight beneath my hood. I see a man, who is also in a clock approaching me from behind the counter.

“What’s it that I can do for ya, you silent sleek?”

The man says with a warm voice, I choose to stay silent for a moment before making the decision to take off my hood.

I see his entire face much clearer now.

A completely bald head with a blue tattoo of a spear running down the side, is the first thing to note, and then his impressive height. Additionally, no beard but a clean-shaven beard, with an awkward one or two hairs sticking out. Such as one right below his small nose.

Slowly, he sees my face. And I see his fully.

“Ed? I didn’t expect seeing so many kids here.”

“What’s with the changes?”

I ask with a slightly lower pitched voice in a childish way, but now it turns into a much more friendly tone.

“You can’t stay solid in competition if you stay old.”

“Old man, you are old; the only thing you got going is that most people think you are a wizard because of how old you look.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure, I’m probably the old guy in town who sells sparse stuff. And where is Arthur?”

He says in a more comforted tone, as he swirls a liquid in a small class container. The liquid is a thick black and almost looked like tar.

“He’s out somewhere else in the market... We’re about to meet up again!”

I lie, probably because he would start asking more questions, and if father ever found out maybe I’d get into unavoidable trouble.

“Oh, I see, so in that case.”

He pauses and lingers on ‘s’ in each word.

“Smell It’s beauty seeking silently for your nose begging you to smell.”

He whispers, and screws off the wooden lid from the glass container, and puts it closer into my face. I prepare for the smell of death, and yet I’m in shock when in fact it smells like rotting fish.

“Gosh! What’s that? Your diner from last year!?”

“Swallow it swiftly.”

He says with a lower voice, spiking a deep intriguing thought in my head – ‘what would it do?’. But there was no way I would try it.

“Never, not anything from you, that smells like that.”

“Fine, just spectate in spectacular awe.”

He drinks the potion as if it was a shot, and gulps the concoction sharply whilst doing so.

“And? Are you going to die now?”

“No, it just allows me to see Emblem magic aura, its complicated, so you won’t understand it. Scientific splintering and all that nonsense.”

“Scientific splintering…?”

It makes sense then why I wouldn’t understand… If many of the phrases he uses fly over my head.

He looks at me deeply and it’s as if he is being hypnotised.

“Ed, what is your emblem state slash status?”

He asks intrigued, with an aura of shock.

“No clue at all, father says I am a late bloomer or I’m one of those few who done have one, I mean no wonder I come here to get spells-“

Although it’s rare, emblems sometimes don’t get passed down bloodline, one in a couple million. Or usually, people who don’t exhibit emblem status early on, eventually do later with some training.

“I see, that explains it. You use my special spells and non-emblem casts after all. I guess this potion doesn’t work at all then!”

“Oh yeah Rodger! Why do my non-emblem spells not work?!”

It’s the whole reason I came here and I stupidly almost forgot to ask him…

He then starts to ask me the regular, as if he is a concerned mother reuniting after years with her son.

“Have you been eating and drinking? Have you been sleeping? And have you been over-using these spells slash…?”

And he continues as if it is a checklist.

I reluctantly answer “no” to a large majority of them, and realise that it isn’t really his fault which I had expected it to be.

“Alright then, Rodg see ya – don’t get caught up creating poison potions like those.”

As I turn around my field of vision focuses on the interior of the store which I had ignored, there are many shelfs with about a million different books and potions, and in the middle of it all a large clock.

Nothing but the clock ticks and the sounds of the market I couldn’t get over, fade in and out battling with the ticking of the clock. And everything reverts back to normal.

“What was that?”

I ask myself, and realise maybe I didn’t sleep enough last night and it is finally catching up to me.

I lift up my hood, and continue to walk out of the street, I look downwards at the stone bricks each spaced out equidistantly from each other – perfectly.

“What master-minded elemental created this?”

I ask myself. The centre approaches closer and closer, and I trace back my way slowly, trying to recognise familiar places from unknown grounds.

I take a chance and walk towards a street of food benders.

To my left I could smell eggs sizzling and to my right some sort of meat is being burned. My nose regurgitates at the clear divide between good and bad food.

And yet even the foods on the worse side seems heavenly on my empty stomach and monster-like appetite.

I reach the end of the row, and it doesn’t appear to be near the forest. But for now, this place does well as a guide towards the forest.

In front of me is a bench bathing in sunlight as if the visage of the light emblem. Which reminds me about the sun with all the shops hiding me away from the outside world with over-extending arching roofs combining from each side, all in the middle of the walk way.

I sit on the bench very well forgetting to check if it is wet or not, which for the most part is dry. Another horrendous decision.

From the end of the row, I watch the crowd interact.

People shook each other’s hands as greetings, people ate lizard meat in my corner, others gamble away in the shade laughing ang getting more frustrated.

I see other entertainments like games of cards, many board games, which seem to be a highlight of old age. As many elderly people sit sipping away coffee, and happily playing away.

It isn’t unusual to see people from different kingdoms or even different races and emblems of people here in the nature kingdom. However, to see anyone from the dark kingdom is unusual from what I hear, but the kingdoms of Wisdom and Light are regular comers here.

“Everything is in order and peace for the most part, that’s all that really matters around here I guess.”

I sit silently, not sure whether to go back home to an isolated existence or continue here peacefully observing an outside world I romanticise like a painting.

Looking upwards to the clear sky, that’s when I see someone approaching me, withs details become sharper and shape, and the person seems to be shrinking to my height.

I glance towards the person, and look at the face. It is a woman, seemingly around the age of twenty or something.

“Mars? Silo? Or were you, Robert?”

The woman speaks her thoughts out loud, scratching her chin. Her voice irritated me by how familiar it.

“Oh Ed! I haven’t seen you in such a long time!”

“Sorry, I know you and I’m sure of that but when have we met before?”

She looks at me full of shock as if I am betraying her, which by her reaction I really feel like I am being evil. I already know whilst trying to unlock past memories that this is someone who I am going to love or hate...

I look deeply into her brown hair, small nose, elf-like ears and small body. Maybe I am mistaking her for someone I think I know and she is doing that too.

“You don’t remember me? How dare you!”

She snaps back and really obviously starts to cry in a fake manner, but I don’t know if she knows I think it is fake.

I really didn’t know what to make of this person’s approach, and then it hit me like that.

“Oh, your Evie! Angela’s sister oh my…”

I exclaim very loudly; the girl looks at me as if to say ‘about time’. All of a sudden, she puts her arm out to me.

And almost strangles me to death from a hug that unlocks every single cloudy memory about her.

She’s another friend’s sister that I hang out with very occasionally, along with the others in the group.

But Evie specifically feels like that one relative who you don’t remember too well, except that one feeling of intense affection.

In her hand is a meat skewer, and in her other hand she puts another into her mouth and chops down on it.

“Really?”

My mind insists but my manners stay strong – for now. My stomach rumbles and she look at me with a giggle.

I start going a slight red with embarrassment, which when you think about it is a very strange reaction to food.

“Come on, take it! You need protein for those muscles!”

She points at a slightly showing bicep.

I take the skewer with both hands and smell it sharply before taking the first bite.

I feel the tenderness of the meat and sweet odd taste. I don’t hesitate to take a bigger bite this time. I gulp and look at Evie who standing up watching me lost in haze.

“Want to sit down?”

I speak, whilst moving to the other side of the bench and Evie sits down too busy to talk with food in her mouth.

“What meat is this anyways? It tastes too good to be in this world.”

I ask.

“Flamed cow liver.”

“First time trying liver, I guess… And flamed?”

“Yeah, as in a fire elementalist cooked it.”

“Rather weird, no? I mean I’d honestly rather have a chef do this...?”

“But this tends to be cheaper because why would you learn to cook then come here out of all places to work, sounds like too much trouble. It’d do you better to work in the fancy capital.”

“What’s the capital like these days even?”

If anyone knows, it would be Evie. She works in some sort of senior position within the formal army. Doing work beyond any physical deployment. However, it would be ignorant to think she’s not strong enough. As I know she’s a competent water emblem user – controlling water with such power.

“Busy is the only thing I can even think of, but nothing has changed. And I am about to go back today, when I see you, I’ll make sure to hand you that detailed report sergeant!”

I laugh. She always has the power to make anyone cheer up, I don’t know how but just looking at her makes me smile and laugh.

Our eyes meet in conversation and she leans in closer, and then a little bit closer, my hand with the skewer lowers a little in discomfort. And I’m not sure what she’s about to do.

She takes a hand and proceeds to squeeze my nose, and in a childish manner saying

“I got your nose!”

“Oh, come on calm down… It’s not that funny.”

“Oh yes, it is! You used to laugh so much when you were a baby!”

She looks back whilst giggling to herself. I take the entire skewer and put it in my mouth and pull out all the meat, leaving a wooden stick as I devour the rest of the liver.

I gulp a few times and properly finish.

“Thanks for the meal!”

I say towards Evie and I stand up. She doesn’t say anything but nods at me, waves and continues eating.

“See you later! And make sure you stay safe!”

She manages to speak out loud after her mouth was stuffed with food.

“See ya!”

I say walking away on the outskirts of the market towards the forest and waving my hand over my head.

“What now?”

I remark, speaking my thoughts out loud freely in the open space around me.

“Maybe I should head to the village? Or go home, but I wouldn’t be doing anything home… So, the village it is I guess!”

The way to the village earlier from the house merges in with another path that’s near the forest anyways, so it’s very convenient for now.

I look back onto the capacious fields and in the very far distance a mountain range of a wall is protecting this individual kingdom. It looks magnificent as it stands tall over the land as if a guardian.

I wonder if other kingdoms have a better or worse experience to offer and whether exploring out in the world seems as magical as it sounds from travellers and merchants I overhear.

I see the path towards the village, and I re-enter the grasp of the forest with roots, bushes and tall grass reclaiming the stone path until it fades away.

This path seems to be much smaller and had a more restricting view with the sheer number of bushes to actual trees.

Much of the way is downhill, and it becomes flat after a while. Eventually right next to the village, which is in the distance, I can see a massive body of water present. It’s a river, but looks more like an ocean.

Around the waters I can see ordinary people washing clothes, collecting water and children playing in the shallower ends away from the monstrous tides.

“This part of the village has a lot of water elementalists.”

I say to myself, lost in the sunshine that reflects on the water making it almost a blinding mirror. I reach a large open gate to the village, relatively small all of a sudden when I lose myself in the river’s captivation.

I walk through the village slowly, and the sounds of water rushing fades away, and the sound of hard labour replaces it, I can see blacksmiths at work, carpenters restlessly working on pieces and builders constructing a building by starting off with a wooden foundation, and by casting an earth spell to lay out flat ground.

The sight of emblem spells interests me, purely because I don’t have any of my own. Yet to discover if I even have an emblem.

This was no doubt a sector which was devised to work, as there were very few children here. The path here is still a harsh dirt path, and up ahead I can see a carriage pulling some sort of cargo to be unloaded.

Everything here feels like walking into a different chaotic world.

The sun starts to strike me with sweat. Wearing two-layers in this weather is a huge mistake.

I loosen my cloak and fully pull the hood lower behind me, more people gave me glances as they probably aren’t used to visitors.

I give glances back, and the people don’t seem un-friendly or rude, just the exact opposite, and when they see my face, they smile back and wave, because of father’s influence over these areas. But he doesn’t let me know any of the stories – telling me he wants to leave that in the past.

I walk back towards the river and take a sharp right, going over a bridge where it seemed all the children were throwing rocks down below.

I have been here before, with some friends from the same village, I don’t think I would run into them here though, since the housing sector was on the opposite side of here.

Right across the river is somewhere I am actually interested in and fully recognise, next to the river there is a plain building and a sign that reads: “Water Elementalist Training”.

I know I’m not a water elementalist but a distant memory arises and I’m swift to go there, I cross the bridge and make my way down a slope towards.

I’m closer to the building, and I look for an entrance that I remember but all I see is a gap in the building wall to where a door should be, but there simply just isn’t one.

I walk with ever more confusion closer and in the building, I can see some of the interior, but there isn’t much just a wall and a table hugging it.

‘Should I go in?’ I ask myself, and another voice answers for me.

“No.”

“What the hell? Hello?”

How could someone just read my mind like that? I’m in awe and slight horror – ‘this is too weird I have to check it out’. The exact thing that draws me in should be the exact reason I flee, but something like this feels like a great one-off opportunity.

I walk towards the door and right as I am about to step foot within the building that looked like one big room; frozen shards of ice engulf the walls of the entrance and sharply generate inwards to close off the entrance like a spider weaving a web.

The ice casts a reflective mirror, and emits a deep fog floating downwards.

I see my curly hair covering most my face in the mirror, and every small detail of my round face that is uncovered.

I go to touch the ice with one finger and it repels my entire hand backwards with a freezing pain – instant frostbite.

“This isn’t any magic, it had to be an emblem cast.”

I say to myself. I take it as a challenge even more now idiotically enough, If I can get through there, what awaits be must be great is the logic I take back.

“Versterken!”

I shout, hoping that my ‘strengthen’ non-emblem cast works this time.

My entire arm turns a light shade of red. And I curl my hands into fists. ‘It’s working Rodger!’ I remark in my head.

“Here I come Ice wall!”

I charge at it with full force. I’m about to pierce this wall. And right before impact, my fist could feel the air turn any moist into frost.

’Channel your power!’

Something cracks. Shards of ice disperse around me onto the floor.

The ice is slightly blood-coated. And my fist shivers in mild pain, but any scratch to my skin quickly heals as a result of the non-emblem cast.

I start to wonder what would have happened to my hand If not for that strengthening spell. I look at my fist in contemplation for a moment.

“Ha! Take that Ice wall!”

I triumph in excitement, now ‘what treasures await me’ I think to myself.

I take a step forward into the plain building, and nothing appears to object to my plans. I take two more steps forward. I’m in one large room with a floor made out of mats and many spiritual objects.

There is incense lit, filling the room with a flowery aura, a statue small of a waterfall and a large painting of a river.

As I am about to conclude that there is nothing there, and about to question reality about what caused that emblem spell to suddenly appear.

I notice something.

In the corner.

An old man appears, his body looks frail at first, and his back bends as he walks.

‘Did his old geezer really pull that off?!’

I think to myself while standing cautiously.

The man’s face is wrinkly and his eyes are small. He looks at me directly whilst I stay silent not sure whether to perceive the man as intimidating or harmless.

At last, he speaks in a slow, deep voice.

“Who are you!? Breaking the barrier to these grounds?!”

Part of me wants to run away fearing consequences and part of me feels a danger approaching significantly more paramount to my existence. A thrill of mystery reigns over my being.

“I am Ed, Ed Vela! Remember me old man? And I’ve come to seek your aid!”