After finishing breakfast, the Pax siblings started cleaning up. Humphrey, who did end up getting enough to eat once he was free, cleared the table and started lighting some candles. After he placed three candles around the living room, he sat back down at the table and waved his right hand. As his hand pointed to a candle, the wick spontaneously lit.
"Stop showing off and get packing, it's almost time for that."
"Alright, alright."
At Frederick's request, Humphrey stood back up and helped finish cleaning. The light scent of the lavender-scented candles wafted through the cabin.
After cleaning, the siblings went upstairs to their rooms. After about 10 minutes of hustle and bustle, they gathered again downstairs. On each of their fingers were silver rings with their initials on the respective rings. As the eldest, Frederick looked at his siblings and scanned the kitchen and living room (confirming it was all clean). Then as he was looking around the living room, Frederick's gaze stopped, an eyebrow raised.
"Hold it."
A slender arm. Frederick's palm stuck out towards his younger brother Godfrey.
"Leave it here, we'll be back soon."
"...Fine."
Godfrey tapped his ring, and small portrait appeared in his hand. Godfrey then placed the portrait back on the small table where it once lay. After placing the picture back down and seeing his brother's nod, the siblings headed out of the cabin.
"Watch your step, it gets steep here."
The area around the cabin was flat, but as one ventured out further, the bumps and curves made traversing much harder. Whenever there were steep inclines or wide gaps, the elder brothers helped their younger siblings cross.
There was much reliance on the older siblings, as the age gap between them varied greatly. Frederick and Humphrey were only 2 years apart from each other, as were Godfrey and Arcadia. However, Humphrey was also 10 years older than Godfrey, leaving a distinct gap between the now slim 13 year old Godfrey and the bear-like 23 year old Humphrey. This was simply due to circumstances, at least that was what their father would tell them. Whether that was simple or complicated wasn't clear to the siblings.
As the siblings continued through the forest, Godfrey was very keen on the methods that his brothers used to travel. Frederick's skills were very different from Humphrey's. Where when they both might cross a 50 meter river together, Humphrey would leave small craters when he landed. Conversely, Frederick didn't even leave a footstep on landing. While it didn't make much of a difference to the strain put on either of the brothers, it fascinated Godfrey whenever he watched. He may not know the full concepts behind Qi and Aura, but he knew that's where they were going today.
"It's just up ahead."
As Humphrey uttered those words, the view cleared up in Godfrey's eyes. The trees faded away as they took the last steps, the siblings stood atop a hill. Before their eyes, a horde of magnificent buildings large and tall filled their view.
"Dragon Gate City."
Arcadia muttered the name of the city before them, in awe of the foreign sights that completely differed from her home in the cabin. Frederick looked back at his two youngest siblings, squatted down to eye level for them and spoke.
"This is where you two will learn about mana. You've seen us use it, but here's where you'll really understand it."
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"Let's goooo!"
Taking advantage of the excitement of his younger siblings, Humphrey picked up Arcadia and Godfrey onto his shoulders. He then quickly jumped off the hill towards the city before Frederick could react.
"Dangit, wait for me Dumb-phrey!"
Quickly catching up to his brother and Frederick smiled as he saw the excited faces of his siblings. He remembered how excited he was when their father brought him and Humphrey here, years back. If only their father could be here now.
The siblings came to a stop at the entrance of the city. Arcadia and Godfrey's heads leaned back as they looked up at the massive gate in front of them.
Large, copper carp tails adorned the bottom of the city, which transitioned to massive gold dragon heads at the ends of the bodies. These two dragon heads faced off at the top of the gate, giving off a majestic aura from the intricate craftsmanship of the gate's adornments. The doors of the gate were a sleek dark metal, that seemed to suck in all of the suns rays. Perhaps only Phoenix could make this door shine bright.
After speaking with the guards at the gate, who simply did an identification check, the Pax siblings finally entered the city.
""Whoa~""
Arcadia and Godfrey were still on Humphrey's shoulders, absolutely stunned as the sights of the city filled their eyes. Endless brick roads that seemed to go anywhere and everywhere. The hustle and bustle of folks walking along the road, of various looks. From the usual features they saw on their brothers, to a large bear with tiny spectacles, carrying a large sack over his shoulder. There were pointy eared tall people walking alongside small people with more hair on their face than their father.
Seeing their dazzled siblings, Frederick and Humphrey chuckled and continued along to their destination.
"Here we are!"
""Wow!""
The siblings stopped in front of a brown brick building with a large white sign above its door. The houses here were odd to the newcomer siblings, in that there was no gap between one house and the next. The sign above their destination read in dark-green, "William's Appraisal".
Letting down his younger siblings, Humphrey then opened the white door for his family.
*Ding* *Ding*
"Oh, welcome in!"
On the right side of the entrance, a clerk behind a counter welcomed in the Pax guests.
"Hello! We're here for an Affinity Appraisal for these two behind us."
"AA for two, understood. Ah, the Pax family, Master will meet you in the back, please follow me."
The clerk led the siblings past some shelves of merchandise that Godfrey did not recognize, and through a pair of red curtains. On the other side, he saw a large empty room with a circle being painted on the ground by an elderly man with a monocle. The shapes and writing on the circle seemed like letters forming words.
"...Try...Check...Respond?"
Hearing someone muttering next to him, Godfrey turned to see Arcadia seemingly reading while staring at the circle.
*Thud* *Clammer*
The elderly who was painting on the circle suddenly fell over. Then he quickly got up, put down his pen, and tidied off. Following which, the elderly man rushed over to Arcadia with shining eyes.
"Were you reading my magic circle?!"
The large eyes filled with expectations as large as his nose, got awkwardly close to Arcadia. Frederick and Humphrey reacted late, however out of respect for this eccentric old man, they gently pulled him away from their sister.
Noticing his absence of mind, the elderly man cleared his throat and spoke more calmly.
"My apologies young lady, I haven't met another mage who could read runes in quite a while. You must be favored by the spirits. I am William, William Harbinger. Might I know your name, miss?"
Being startled from the earlier abrupt actions from William, Arcadia was hesitant to respond and looked at her oldest brother Frederick. Only after seeing him nod to her, did she reply.
"I'm Arcadia, Arcadia Pax."
"Pax? What a coincidence, I was just making a magic circle for my friend Ves Pax's daughter and son. That must be you and...you, correct?"
Seeing William turn to him, Godfrey nodded along with Arcadia.
'He might be dad's friend, but he's kinda weird..."
Not knowing what Godfrey was thinking, William turned back to his magic circle. Picking up the pen from earlier, it began to glow red at the tip, in William's hand. With a few extra strokes, the magic circle was completed within an extra minute.
"Well then, as a gift for surprising me, little miss Arcadia, please step into the circle here and we will begin your Affinity Appraisal. Don't fret, you should only feel a slight tingle as mana passes through you."
Seeing his sister hesitating once more, Godfrey extended his hand to his sister.
"Don't worry, we'll be right here."
Feeling comforted by her brother, Arcadia held Godfrey's hand as he guided her into the circle. As she took her first step into the circle, the circle changed from red to white and light of the same color began to envelop Arcadia.
The light began to form into runes that swirled around Arcadia, slow enough that she could make out the shapes. As she watched the runes continue to swirl, she made out a few words.
'Welcome to our world.'