The whole world is a man's birthplace. -Caecilius Statius-

Simon: Year 2185

My birth created a major, malfunctional shitstorm in my family. My father screamed and ranted and my mother cried for hours. I was taken to a wet nurse and neither of my parents would even look at me after the initial moment that I came into the world and was identified as a human male.

My father is an Elf of high status, my mother is a Grand White Witch, and I was supposed to be born with the powers and looks of an Elf. I have four older sisters who are all Witches, and as the fifth child I would not be able to inherit any powers of merit from my mother as a Witch, thus my father wanted me to have his abilities and looks. He wanted an heir to train to be just like him and be able to follow him as a great military leader. They got the male part correct. But the rest was all wrong. That is what I was told all my young life. I was born an ordinary human. No powers of any kind, nothing special about me in any way shape, or form. No legacy for my father or my mother.

After my time with the wet nurse, I was given over to my sisters to be raised. My parents still refused to look at me. When they had to speak to me, I would be brought to my father's office and they would be staring at their computers or at books and would speak to me from behind the cover of those items. They also never called me by my name, Simon, I was just "boy." I was a disappointment, and I am often surprised they took the time to give me a name other than the law required it.

My sisters were barely old enough to do the task they were given, but in reality, I think the first few years our tutors did the raising of all of us. As I mentioned, I had four sisters, Sara, who was seven, Stacie was five and a half, Sandra was four, and Sicilia was two. As we grew up together, I loved my sisters, I looked up to Sara, my anchor, and the strongest of us all. I could always count on a snide comment about everything and everyone from Stacie, or as she would insist later in her youth, Stacia. Sandra was the quiet sister of the four and always a fantastic listener. My true friend was Sicilia, I called her CeeCee, as I couldn't say her name at first.

Father was gone quite often, fighting in the wars to the East. We lived in the former United States. All that was left of the US was mostly the Western and Central States. Currently, we lived in what was called Illinois. This spanned what was once the states of Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and a large portion of what was once Ontario Canada. If you drew a line from what was Michigan to Louisiana on an old map, everything East of that was no longer part of the US. When the Elves reappeared, following the discovery of shifters by humans, Dwarves also decided that they wanted to be known and they claimed the Appalachian Mountains as theirs and also the territory surrounding it. The Eastern sections of the US became unwelcome to Humans and Elves. Now there was constant war along the Western borders of the Appalachian mountain range.

Honestly, I didn't know a lot about the wars as I grew up. Other than what information I got in my history lessons, and those were thin, no one talked about the wars. My parents felt I would need just the basics such as English, Math, and Science. I also learned Latin, Elvish, and the guttural basic shifter language. My tutor was a wonderful young woman by the name of Darlene Wilson and she also acted as a nanny of sorts as my sisters had their common lessons but also their lessons for the Craft of being Witches. Sara tried to be there for us younger kids, but dinner was the only time we all spent with each other. I wondered at times why she seemed so angry and it wasn't until I had grown up a bit that the enormity of the responsibility laid upon her shoulders became clear. Mother came down each evening and asked Sara how the girls were doing and if I had behaved in a proper manner. I was never asked directly how I was and I did not receive any hugs or so much as a pat on the head. It was a lonely and bereft existence.

My bedroom was the smallest of the six in the nanny suite. There was a large "master" room for the nannies to stay in, then the four rooms the girls had for their bedrooms/studies, and then what was originally a storage closet that I used. My twin bed just fit in the back of the room and my small desk left me just enough room to get past it to the bed. There was a single bulb on the ceiling for light and the switch was next to the door. I had to turn the light out and navigate to the bed in the dark, no window for air or light. I never complained, I was a disappointment to my parents, it was what I deserved for failing to be what they needed. Mother was finished having children after me, something about her being able to retain her position as a Grand White Witch. I never understood it, but I didn't need to understand, I just needed to know that I was not going to get anything from my parents that resembled affection.

When I was five, I found that I could do magic. I was so excited. I thought about telling my mother, I would no longer be useless and could be something to the family. I was headed across the common room to talk to Sara about this when I heard her and my mother talking about me.

"He doesn't need to be tested. Boys do not become Witches. If he has any magical ability it would be sporadic and less than reliable. Just watch for anything unusual and we will suppress anything that might be showing." My mother sounded tired.

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Sara answered immediately. "I understand mother, I just thought we ought to test and see and nip this in the bud early."

"That wouldn't help. The tests are for real ability and would not detect anything he might be able to do." Mother dismissed Sara with a wave of her hand.

I went back to my room and cried into my pillow for an hour. I thought perhaps this would set me out from the ordinary, but I was just a faulty spark. I sat up in bed when Darlene knocked on the door and brought my lessons for the day. I walked over to my desk and began on the writing and math that she had for me. Darlene had a gift for me that day. It was my birthday and it would be the first and last present I would ever get from anyone. She told me it had to be a secret as my parents would not find it very professional if they knew my tutor was showing me kindness like this. I smiled and hugged her. Inside the box was a journal. Darlene told me that she wanted me to record my happy moments so that someday I would have something with light from my childhood to remember. I clutched it to my chest and already had different plans for the little book.

I started watching my sisters in the afternoons when I was left to my own devices and they had their magic lessons. I mostly watched CeeCee as she was just starting hers. I learned the poses and hand movements. All of it was like a dance in a way. Very formal and precise. I watched the others as well for different techniques for similar spells. I began absorbing the various ways of casting. Sara was methodical while Stacie tended to be fancy to the point of having unnecessary movements in her forms. Sandra had troubles with remembering the slightest nuances and this gave me lots of repetition to watch. CeeCee was fluid and all her movements were filled with a childlike joy one could not help but fall into. My sisters did not seem to notice that I was watching, but one of their instructors did and it was decided that if I was going to watch my sisters that I needed to be protected. My parents might not have a use for me, but I was still a child of the household and thus if I were to come to harm, well they did not want to face the potential consequences. I was told quite clearly,

"When you want to watch, you must do so from the sofa in the center of the common room, and the four of us together will cast a shield to protect that area from the spells that are being cast. We must make certain that your safety is maintained at all times."

I was incredibly happy to sit there and watch my sisters and now I didn't have to be so sneaky about it. I still had to sneak into CeeCee's room when they were in their regular school lessons to copy from her spell book as none could know I had that. I had even managed to get into Sara, Stacie, and Sandra's rooms, but their books were vastly different from CeeCee's. Sara's was much more aggressive, and Stacie and Sandra were focused almost solely on defense. I wanted to be balanced. CeeCee was that balance. She had a good focus on offense, defense, and healing. Her spell focus was perfect.

This was my life for ten years. Lessons with Darlene. Watching my sister's practice. Practicing in secret in my room and praying to the Goddess that no one would catch on that I was doing this. I had refined my spell book. It now contained spells of my own design and my own notes on spells that I had taken from my sisters. I felt that it was almost time to reveal what I could do to my sisters and mother in the hope that I would, at last, be accepted. I decided that on my fifteenth birthday I would show them all that I had done and could do.

I didn't realize that my sisters had planned to throw me a party for my fifteenth. They felt that I had done everything I was supposed to do and had been everything they had wanted me to be, so I deserved something special. Sara had gone into my room to try and get an idea of what I might like for my birthday. She came storming out of my room and rushed to the carpeted area where my other three sisters were all gathered around me and telling me jokes. Sara stopped in front of me and confronted me with my spellbook.

"Simon! What the hell is this!?" She screamed.

I stared at the book and was knocked speechless.

"That's what I thought. I can't believe you have betrayed us like this! We have raised you, given our time to make sure that you were happy and not just left alone. You repay us by stealing spells from us?" Sara was flipping through the book as she was talking.

CeeCee grabbed the book and read through it. "I know these spells. Many of them are mine, but the notes, you have changed some of them. What were you thinking?"

I was trying to tell them but each time I started to speak one of my sisters would start yelling again about how I was an ungrateful child and today of all days.

"We were going to have a party for your birthday today to celebrate how wonderful you have been for these past fifteen years and instead we find that you have been sneaking behind our backs, like some sort of thief." Sara stormed over to the fireplace and tossed my book into the flames. "You will not be copying any more spells. I can't believe you thought it would do any good to a magic dead male like you anyway."

That was when they all got the shock of a lifetime. I had cast the protection and personal seal spells on my spell book just like the girls were told to when they made theirs. It was some of the first writing in the book of all four of my sisters. The fire in the fireplace turned blue then purple and then a magical explosion concussed from within and knocked all five of us on the floor.

When I regained my feet, I saw that the book was ash in the bottom of the fireplace, the rest of the wood in the fireplace was consumed completely by the magical fire. The hearthstone was also cracked. I turned around with tears in my eyes and stared at my sisters. Sara looked at me with shock and horror in her eyes.

"You stay here. Do not move from this room!"

My sisters headed for the stairs and I could hear them running down calling for my mother. I sank to the floor seething. The tears continued to flow but I was staring at the broken hearthstone and the ash pile in the shape of a book. My spell book. Ten years of work. Gone. I began to breath harder, I was coming close to hyperventilating when something touched my head. I looked up and there stood the avatar of the God Pan. He smiled at me and with another touch under my chin, he guided me to stand. Once I was standing he kissed me on the forehead and touched me with a palm over my heart. It was at that moment that I was shown ancient magic that would allow me to be what I wanted despite my spellbook being destroyed. I shed a few more tears and then with a bow to Pan I found a set of pipes hanging from my neck. I turned and headed down the stairs at a run.