Chapter 7.1 - (Kevin) I want to be a mage!
Kevin is five years old. He has been going to school for five whole months now and has two friends who happen to be the only other students since his species according to his teacher have low fertility, whatever that means. School had just ended an hour ago and Kevin is walking home slowly. Normally after school Kevin, Jovi, and Lea would go out to the village outskirts and play but planting season had started so both Jovi and Lea have to be home early to help their parents in the fields, both of their parents are farmers. Kevin had wasted some time helping the teacher clean the school, Mr. Cabmen is old so he always welcomes help. He also likes telling stories of ‘the good old days,’ saying that he will retire once the city sends a new teacher to take over, but that might take a few years. As to why Kevin is avoiding home the answer is simple, his dad. Recently his dad has been trying to get Kevin interested in crafting, it started after he told him that he is expected to continue the family trade and learn the techniques improved over the generations. But Kevin doesn’t like crafting! Whenever his father finds Kevin at home with nothing to do he drags Kevin with him to watch and explain crafting. Kevin quickly realized that he hated it and started avoiding being at home or stick around his mom helping with chores and gardening.
As he was walking down the street he glanced at each villager, surly someone could use a hand. Kevin was coming up to his house with no luck when he spotted strangers in the village. It was rare to see anyone new, the only people that came here were the same merchants and the same caravans. He quickly stopped moving then changed direction away from home and toward the strangers. Kevin followed them through the village running from one hiding place to another. There were four of them, two men and two women. The first man was tall with muscles bulging everywhere and was covered with armor, a big sword on his back. The women at his side that was speaking to him also seemed strong and wore armor, however she had a normal sized sword at her waist instead of a big sword. The two following didn’t seem strong and wore robes not armor. The man wore a red robe and the woman looked even frailer than the man wore a white robe.
Kevin paused his pursuit when he saw that they were leaving the village toward the forest. His mom always warned him to not go near the forest since it had animals but also beasts. He turned and looked to the direction of home then back to the weird strangers, I am five years old he scolded himself for being scared of some trees. Kevin picked up his pace and entered the forest after the strangers.
The forest was dark, the trees’ branches and leaves covered the sky leaving little light to pass through. Kevin gulped as he tried to spot the strangers. It was another five minutes of strained nerves when a war cry and battle sounds made Kevin jump. following the noise Kevin spotted the group and hid behind a tree. They were being attacked by a large beast. It had four feet, red fur, large claws that released waves of red energy each time the beast struck. Remembering lessons at school Kevin thought it looked like what his teacher called a lion. Soon Kevin was engrossed in the battle, the two in armer attacked the beast directly leaving large scrapes on the beast also receiving their own wounds, but they seemed to not even take notice. The woman in white spoke started saying something but her voice was drowned out from the battle. Then the man and woman in front were covered in golden sparkles an they healed! The bloody wounds seemed to just sew themselves up right in front of Kevin’s eyes. The beast must have realize what the white woman had done because it roared then charged at the woman. The warriors taken by surprise failed to act fast enough and Kevin thought the woman was going to die. He shut his eyes tightly his body shaking, but there was no scream rather there was a painful roar. Peaking an eye open to see a burnt dead beast.
“Grrrr”
Hearing something behind him Kevin froze and turned around. A large wolf towered over him, saliva dipping from its jaws. Kevin released a scream and ran but was hit from behind nocking him against a tree. Kevin felt blood pouring down his back his eye sight dimming as he watched helplessly, the wolf slowly stalking to him. Am I going to die? I should have listened and not gone in the woods, Kevin thought; his conscious fading. Just before the darkness came Kevin saw the man in the red rope jump in front of his his hand extended toward the wolf.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Kevin woke up on a bed looking at an unfamiliar ceiling. He sat up straight as he recalled what happened and broke out in cold sweat, then calmed down as he realized that he was alive, safe, and didn’t hurt anymore.
“Good you’re awake.”
Kevin turned quickly to the doorway and spotted the red robed man entering. “What happened?”
“What happened! You were an idiot and me and my partners saved you thats what happened. What were you thinking going in that forest!” The man yelled at Kevin.
Kevin’s eyes filled knowing that the man was right. “Sorry.”
The man sighed as he saw the boy reflect on his actions, but if they weren’t there he would have died. “Just don’t do it again. We are in the inn do you know your way home from here?”
Kevin nodded but spoke up when he saw the man about to leave, “Wait! how did you save me? How did that lion get burned?”
The man looked back shocked and asked, “How did you know about the lion beast? Wait were you following us?”
Kevin’s face turned red with shame but nodded again.
Sighing the man scolded himself in his head realizing that it was their fault for not noticing the kid following them. “I saved you and burnt the beast using magic boy, I am a mage after all.”
Kevin stared at the door the man had left from, a mage he thought. Kevin remembered the battle he had watched, how each one of the strangers fought. He had been amazed at each ones strength but when he saw the lion burnt to a crisp by the normal looking man his heart had pounded and right now just remembering it made his heart drum unlike all the times he watched his dad craft.
“Mage,” Kevin whispered as he got up from the bed. His mind replaying the scene of the red man jumping in front of him hand out toward the wolf.
Kevin walked home thinking and when he opened the door he walked inside with a new goal in mind, he will become a mage!
----------------------------------------
Chapter 7.2 - (Kevin) My sister was born.
7 year old Kevin paced back and forth through the hallway his brows scrunched with worry as he listened to his mom’s screams from the bedroom. There were three people in the bedroom, his dad, mom, and a healer. Kevin had wanted to be in there too but his dad hadn’t allowed it saying that he could enter after the birth. As he waited and paced Kevin recounted that day nearly nine months before.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Kevin returned home from school purposely ignoring his Dad’s workshop and headed to the kitchen where his mother would likely be. It had taken a year but his father finally stopped dragging Kevin to his workshop after making a deal that if at ten, Kevin lacked enough mana to become a good mage he would take over the family trade. But even after the deal was made Kevin continued to help his mother around the home finding that he enjoyed spending time and helping his mom. Also Kevin knew that if he even showed the slightest interest in crafting his dad would be all over him.
Kevin spotted his mom preparing lunch and immediately started to help by taking over the salad making.
His mom smiled at him, “Thank…” His mom’s face went pale and she rushed off.
Kevin dropped what he was doing and ran after his mom, what could be wrong? Kevin thought as he followed his mom’s path. He found her in the bathroom leaning over the waste remover, puking. Her face was pale as she leaned heavily against its rim.
“DAD!!!” Kevin screamed at the top of his lungs as his mom started puking again.
There were crash noises and then his dad appeared ruffled and worried. “What is it? What’s wrong!?” He then spotted his wife and ran to her side, rubbing her back.
“Kevin go to the healer’s house I will stay with your mother.”
Kevin nodded then ran to the healer’s house, once he explained what happened the healer rushed back with Kevin.
Kevin watched nervously with his dad as the healer examined his mom. The healer wasn’t a mage, it isn’t often a mage would lower themselves to work in a village let alone a healing mage.
When the healer finished he looked at them and smiled, “Congratulations, she is pregnant.”
Kevin was shocked, he never thought he would have a sibling, would he make a good brother? Kevin even barley noticed his dad fall to the ground unconscious.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
After another long scream there was silence and Kevin stopped his pacing to stand in front of the door. Once it opened he stormed in knocking his dad out of the way stopping before his new sibling and mom.
“Meet your new sister, Yue.” His mom held out the little bundle she carried.
Carefully Kevin took his sister in his arms and peeked though the blankets around her. In his arms lay a small sleeping baby, a small amount of brown hair on her little head.
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Kevin was woken up by his sister’s crying, groaning he rolled over and placed his pillow over his head waiting for one of his parents to solve the situation. After five minutes he gave up, claiming out of bed Kevin headed down the hallway to his sister’s room.
Kevin could only sigh at what he found, his mom was in a state of panic as she rocked Yue back and forth while his dad was making all sorts of sounds and faces. Kevin ignored his parents and went to his sister. Plucking her out of his mom’s grasp he left the room.
Kevin walked down the hall to the garden with his crying sister in a gentle hold. After getting outside he sat on the bench and looked down at her. He knew his mom had fed her recently, Kevin felt her diaper and it was clean. So Kevin just held her waiting for her to calm down. After a while the cries stopped and his sister’s beautiful violet eyes stared up at him, Kevin smiled as they slowly closed and his sister went back to sleep.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Kevin adored his sister, ever since she was born her eye’s seemed to be filled with love and intelligence. Whenever he was with her she seemed to listen and understand, if he ever got frustrated or just needed to talk he would go to her and feel like she understood. Which he knew was stupid since she was still just a baby. There was this one time that his dad left her in the living room alone, when Kevin and his mom came home it looked like she was reading! But of course it was just her looking at pictures since she couldn’t read yet. Kevin had taken her back to her crib to find her sheets tied up and hanging like a rope. For a second he wondered if his sister actually got out on her own thinking of how intelligent she sometimes looked, but when she giggled and smiled Kevin realized how stupid that thought was it could only have been his dad playing around.
Once she reached an age where she could walk and talk Kevin would either be worried or smiling at her. She would be adorable coming up to him asking his to read a book or explain what something was, but she would also go everywhere. If you took your eyes off her she would be somewhere else. It was cute how curious his sister was but he was afraid something would happen to her when no one was looking. Well no matter how far she went Kevin and his mom made sure she never got into his dad’s workshop there were far too many dangerous things in there. Such as poisonous plants, tools, fire, nettles, etc.
Kevin still looked forward to being a mage, even more so now since if he was powerful then he would be able to protect Yue if she ever needed him. He didn’t like the idea of leaving Yue but he had till he was 15 and after he became advanced rank he would go on adventures but always be able to return to Yue’s side when she needed him or if he missed her. And even before then he could come back home during holidays if he went to a near by school.
(Author note: in most magic schools students only need to reach advanced rank in order to graduate although they could choose to stay longer or get accepted into a more advanced school. Most schools also don’t ‘restrain’ their students since the students are not considered as a danger unlike ten year olds at a power level of 7 or higher.)
----------------------------------------
Chapter 7.3 - (Kevin) Magic
Kevin finally turned ten and looked forward to when a magic tester came to the village. In cities the children turning ten would go to the mage guild or a magic school to get tested but in far away small villages mage testers come personally once a year to villages that claim to have ten year old children. On his birthday his mom had given him a book on magic although his dad wasn’t pleased about it. Whenever Kevin was reading it Yue would pull on his sleeve and ask if he could read aloud which made Kevin happy that Yue seemed to have interest in magic too.
It explained that everything contained mana from people, animals, stones, and even the air. Not everyone or anything can use the mana they have though and everything and one has different amounts, you can train to get more mana though. At age ten almost all sentient races can awaken to their ability to control their mana. To use magic you have to control your mana in your body to either come out in a form you want such as fire or you can have your mana connect with other mana such as the mana in the air and take control over a portion. It is also possible to insert your mana into other things, this is how one does enchantments or activate a magical artifact. The way to control your mana is done through spells or chants, this focuses the mana and gets it to be used in the way you want. Although what you say in your chant does not truly matter the longer the chant the less of an ‘image’ and control you need to have the spell work. Some experienced mages are able to use chantless or shortened chants however it is risky as if they do not have a clear image or control the magic could go haywire. About 1 out of 10,000 can one day use shortened chants and 1 out of 100,000 can one day use chantless. But it is preferred to use chants since it takes less control and if one uses a pre made chant it almost can be automatic as long as the mage can focus their mana.
Since to use magic one just manipulates mana technically a mage can use any type of magic. However in sentient beings and beasts their mana normally has certain types of mana that they find easier to use. Most mages focus on the one type of magic and learn a little in one or two more types. This is so that they can focus solely on one type and get stronger faster in that one specialty.
The book had a few basic chants in it however since Kevin didn’t know how to use his mana yet they were useless. It also described that when a child is first tested they will be scored from 0-10 in how much mana they currently have. It is only after being able to do 15 spells, to be able to manipulate mana to a certain degree, and have a magic score of 5 can someone be considered a beginner level mage, before that the person is considered a potential mage.
Kevin couldn’t wait for the magic tester to arrive but at the same time he was nervous and fretful of it because if he didn’t have enough mana it was back to the crafting table with his dad. Kevin put the magic book away on the bookshelf, he had reread it so many times he practically had it memorized. Each day since turning ten Kevin would run around the village to help get rid of all his excited energy of wondering if today is the day the tester would come. Having ran in the morning and reread the book Kevin paced back and forth trying to think of something to do.
“Kevin stop pacing, if you need something to do come and help me in the garden.” Kevin’s mom teased looking at him from the back door.
Kevin looked to his mom with a slight smile he knew he was being stupid, there was no telling when the tester would come only that he or she would come sometime this year since they hadn't visited the village yet. Kevin went out side and saw that his mom had been in the middle of planting seeds and cuttings, with a practiced ease Kevin started helping.
(One hour later)
“Mommy a scary man wants you.” Kevin heard Yue yell from in the house. His mom laughed and he smiled as they both got up to see who was at the door.
At the door Kevin’s heart seemed to pause before beating at breakneck speed, at the door was a man in a robe. Kevin’s mind went blank and he could only hear his heart pounding as he followed his mom and the mage into the living room. Before he knew it everyone was in the room and he stood in front of the mage and his crystal ball. Kevin tried to calm his excitement as he stared at the ball. He had read what to do, he would place his hand on the ball and try to feel for his mana, even if he couldn’t at first, the enchantment on the crystal would help pull his mana out and then scan its score. Kevin placed his hand on the crystal and tried to feel for anything.
“Activate the power within.” The mage spoke and with it Kevin felt something being pulled out, his skin felt as if it was being ticked by thousands of grass blades. The crystal started to glow, it started at a pale yellow before increasing in brightness. After reaching a bright but still fine to stare at brightness it started changing color. By the end the mage held a purple okay brightness crystal. Kevin gasped as he stared at the crystal, he had went to the school teacher previously about the mana test and knew that such a bright purple meant he had a high mana score. Kevin was about to smile when he realized something the mage quickly explained to his sister.
“It means your brother gets to come with me to the academy when I leave this village today, little girl. Your brother has above a 7 magic score so the law states that he has to go to the capital’s school now instead of going to a school at age 15 or not at all. ” The mage spoke with excitement, then he mumbled under his breath, “and as his finder I might get rewarded hehe”.
Kevin didn’t know what to think, yes he wanted to be a mage and having great potential made him happy. But looking at his sister and parents he knew he didn’t want to go yet. Would Yue even remember him when he could return? At the capital he would have to become saint rank which would take a really long time. Kevin was about to say something to his sister when he felt the mage grab his hand and drag him out the door.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Kevin stared blindly out of the carriage’s window, the mage sat across of him mumbling about rewards. Will Yue be alright without him? He was supposed to be her big brother, protecting, guiding, being a role model for his little sister. But now who knows how long it will be until he sees her or his parents again. Yue is only three years old, she might not even recognize him when he returns who knows when.
Kevin could see it now, he would come home, knock on the door. A young woman answers, she has long brown hair with curious violet eyes and she asks “Who are you?”
Kevin shivered at his thought and immediately decided that he would train as hard as he could, become a saint in record breaking time so that hopefully when he next sees his sister she will remember him.