“So, what questions does everyone have today?” Vahlen as he stands in front of his fellow group members. Everyone’s hands instantly shoot up in the air and Vahlen sighs as he will most likely have his work cut out for him.
“Yes Alex, what is your question?”
“What is magic and where does it come from?” Alex asks, smiling as he figures he already stumped Vahlen. Vahlen scoffs when he notices Alex’s smile.
“When we are all born, it is said that 1 and 100 children will be born with a magical sigil imprinted on their heart. This magical sigil is connected to their brain by various nerves and functions as an organ essentially. Even though it is just an image imprinted in their heart, its power is said to be boundless and the type of sigil you are born with will determine what magic you have. Most people are only born with one sigil, but in extremely rare cases someone can be born with two sigils. This will lead you to either dying due to the clashing magics or you are able to control two different types of magic.”
Vahlen takes a second and catches his breath from the long winded and rapidly said explanation. Some of the boys sit there with their mouths wide open with amazement, while the others have looks filled with curiosity and interest in the topic.
“The way your sigil performs magic is from the air we breathe, which is filled with magic due to my earlier explanation about Ceiling Mana Crystals. When you breathe air, the mana from the air flows through your bloodstream and goes to your magic sigil, which in turn is able to use the magic to give you all abilities. Does that answer your question Alex?”
“Yeah.” Alex says with a perturbed face since he was not able to stump Vahlen.
“Why don’t we see any adults using magic though?” Aaron asks. This catches Vahlen off guard and he is silent for a minute, which seems like forever for the young boys. Alex is wide eyed from the fact that Vahlen had an immediate answer to his question but doesn’t seem to be able to answer Aaron’s question.
“Truth is, I tried to look for the answer myself. Unfortunately, even the library has no answers. Many studies have been done on the topic yet for some reason, people with magical abilities seem to disappear at random times, but always before their 18th birthday.”
Everyone’s face goes pale and the air goes cold from the sudden tension hanging over everyone’s heads.
“What do you mean everyone just disappears. Do they die?” Devan asks, trying to get an explanation to Vahlen’s words.
“No, since no one ever finds the body.”
This doesn’t help as the atmosphere seems to become heavier on everyone’s shoulders. The thought of impending doom looming over the horizon scares all of the boys witless, except for Vahlen.
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“How can you be so calm about that bro? You’re implying that we all will just vanish literally at any time?!” Cam yells, trying to find the reason Vahlen is so calm so he too can be at peace.
“Well, the disappearances only start after a Monster Breakout and only last for the generation that was alive during the Monster Breakout. Our generation has yet to have one so we are safe for now. Plus I learned this when I was seven and have come to terms with it.”
The boys let out a sigh of reprieve when they hear that Vahlen is confident that they will not just disappear randomly, yet Vahlen’s answer only leads to more questions.
“What exactly is a Monster Breakout?” Tanner asks, genuinely curious about the topic not because he is afraid of disappearing but because he too is scholarly like Vahlen.
“Essentially a Monster Breakout is when varying types of monsters starting appearing from the ground around towns and trying to go on a murder rampage on the nearby villagers. Usually, the nearby kids who have magical abilities are able to stop their local Monster Breakout, but there are times when the Monster Breakout is so strong that it completely destroys a whole town, not leaving a single person alive.” Vahlen says nonchalantly, even though he is talking about mass death to a whole population of people.
The Squad will sometimes make some dark jokes, but the fact that random towns are completely murdered and leveled due to monsters once a generation is a terrifying thought and topic for the 12-13 year old boys.
Finally noticing that the others are not taking this information well, Vahlen slaps himself in the face. In truth, Vahlen is not that socially adept, and he didn’t take into consideration that talking about mass death to people who are oblivious to this sort of occurrence could alter their perception of reality.
“Do you know when the next Monster Breakout is?” Ken asks, with him being the most calm about the whole situation other than Vahlen.
“Well, they tend to happen about 16-17 years apart from each other and it has been around 15 and a half years since the last one if I remember correctly. That means it could happen from six months from now to about a year and a half. The good thing about them is there are signs of ‘sample attacks’ of one to two monsters before each Monster Breakout. The monsters seen in this ‘sample attack’ shows what monsters will be found in the Monster Breakout because each Monster Breakout can vary on many different fronts.”
Ever since Vahlen said that it could happen in six months, no one has made a move since. Not even to breathe.
All of the sudden everyone begins to run towards the gym or out towards the woods. Vahlen is entirely confused by this and looks to the only person who didn’t leave, Aaron.
Aaron nervously laughs and goes to get up from his patch in the grass while explaining what just happened.
“When you said it could happen in six months, I assume everyone had the same thought. We must train in order to survive. That is when people went out to do agility training or strength training.”
“Oooooooooh, makes sense.”
“Wanna spar a little? Might as well train as well so we can really kick some monster ass right?” Aaron says while he stretches his limbs. Vahlen smiles at this starts stretching as well, accepting Aaron’s challenge.
All of the boys continue to train nearly everyday, expecting the worst from their upcoming trail.