The annual seasons passed far too quickly over the course of the year. It was like the blink of an eye. And now winter, my favorite season and the current one. I love the cold, the snow, and playing with my brother and his friends. With the year that has passed, I am now four years old.
In this past year I was able to learn a lot about the theory behind mana and spells. About magic in general. Besides discovering interesting information about my family.
For example, now I know Damian's age, he is eight years old. He studies, together with Ellen, at a public government school. A school that I will attend someday in the future.
My mother is thirty-five years old, her name is Nataly and, besides being a housewife, she works with some feminine things in a studio created in an unused room of the house.
Where? you ask me. In the office where I study…
My father is named Natur and is thirty-three years old, he works as the captain of the village guard. He is quite strong. That's why, despite his other duties, he also stays on the wall with the other men.
My name is Ryoumi Zy, whose nickname is Ryo.
As I said before, I learned the basics of magic. But I can't use it because I don't have a formed mana core yet.
After reading more books about magic, I discovered that to use mana it is necessary to have a formed mana core. And a core is usually commonly formed at twelve years old.
My parents told me that after winter I will start going to school. From what my brother told me, it's a place to study various things, make friends, and experience more things, maybe discovering a new hobby. Damian is excited about the idea of me making friends and getting off his and his friends' backs.
Even without having a core, I will start training my physique, so as not to waste time and to be able to quickly handle learning magic in practice.
Setting those thoughts aside, I picked up a spoon beside my plate and stuck it into the soup, taking out a piece of carrot and meat.
— Mom, can I walk around the village a bit? — I asked my mother.
— You can. But you have to go with Damian. — she replied.
— Damian? — I turned to him with a cute face, making it impossible to refuse.
Damian looked at me with an expression of adoration. He didn't refuse.
— Okay — he agreed, with a brief sigh. Then remembering, I saw from his facial expression that he was considering a possible encounter with Ellen along the way.
— Yay! — I shouted excitedly with joy.
— Be careful, you barely go out, stay by your brother's side at all times. — my father said with concern in his voice. With a gentle smile, he placed his hand on my head and messed up my hair.
— Don't worry, dad! — I said happily and energetically.
After he took his hand off my head, I fixed my hair.
Damian and I went out walking along the gravel street of the village. We went to the center, the commercial district, to meet Damian's friends.
I didn't pay much attention to them, but rather to the surroundings of the street. They went into a toy store, I don't know exactly what's there. Well, right. Various toys? Boring.
I paid more attention to a library next to the store. And instead of going into the store, I went into the library.
Before thinking about going in, I had to convince Damian to let me and wait for me.
— Dam, I don't want toys. Let me go to the library. And when you're leaving, you come here and call me and I'll go. Okay? — I said, already making my usual adorable face to try to convince him. — Please?
He looked at me and thought. — Alright, but when I call you, you have to come.
— Alright! — I said happily.
I ran to the door and went in. When I finished pushing the door and letting it swing back on its own, I saw Grandma Neses at the reception.
— Oh, if it isn't the young boy from the Zyu family. Welcome, child. — said the lady.
— You… have two jobs? Village doctor and librarian?
— Child, by any chance… do you remember me? — she said, radiating doubt in her words. — Hmm. You were very young. Well, I took care of you until you were two years old. Anyway.
She shrugged, placed her elbow on the counter, and rested her face on her hand. With a soft smile she clicked her tongue and said: — So, what brings a boy as young as you here?
— I… am looking for books to read. — I said formally.
— Hahaha… — she burst into laughter. — You don't need to be so formal with me. I'm like a grandmother to half the village's population.
— Well, what should I call you then? — I said shyly.
— You can call me Grandma Neses. — she suggested. With a mischievous smile.
— Okay. — I accepted innocently. — But just out of curiosity. How old are you?
She looked at me, pouted, and answered casually. — I'm almost forty.
— You're almost my parents' age. Are you sure you want me to call you grandma?
— Well, whatever, you decide. Now, what kind of book are you looking for? About what exactly? — she asked curiously.
— Books about enchantments and mana control. Do you have them?
— Haha. — she laughed a little. — I do. But… what do you want them for? — she asked curiously.
— I want to learn more about magic than I already know. — I replied proudly of what I already knew.
— Oh? And what do you know about magic? — once again her curiosity took over her words.
— I know the basics in general. I just don't have how to use mana. But even so, I want to learn how to use it.
— Hehe, I see. You remind me of my past self, despite the difference in age, I'll give you good books. — she said cheerfully.
She came out from behind her wooden counter and called me to follow her. I followed slightly at her side, without getting in her way.
— Listen, grandma, do you only work as a librarian? — I asked curiously since I remember her being my midwife.
— Hehe, yes. I am a mid-class mage in magical society. — she spoke bitterly, almost spitting on the floor. Her step became heavy for a few seconds. — So what I can do is versatile. I help people with my healing magic, I assist births, and many other things. But what I love most beyond all that are books, they helped me when I needed it most.
— I see... Grandma, you…
— Here. We've arrived where the books you want are. Hold out your hands.
I skillfully held out my hands, and she threw five books into them. One about mana control and the rest about magical enchantments. One of each element.
— If you manage to learn anything and do magic I'll teach you what I know. What do you think? — she said with a sweet and gentle smile. Her words were just casual remarks, I know that. However, even knowing that what she said isn't something serious, I want her to teach me.
— Okay! — I said as innocently as I could.
She signed the books in my name and put them on a strap to make it easier for a small child like me to carry them.
— When are you going home to rest? — I asked curiously.
— I'm already going. Actually, let me go get my scarf, or I'll forget. — she said, looking at the clock on the wall. She waved with a caring smile and then said: — Goodbye, boy.
When I left the library, Damian and his friends were already outside talking while waiting for me.
They bought another ball. The other one had burst from use.
Since it wasn't too late and they were excited about the new ball, we went to the soccer field. As always, I stayed cheering with Ellen, whom we met along the way.
— You're going to play in this cold and with winter clothes? — I asked Damian curiously.
— We're going to play in the cold, yes, we don't really mind, and we'll sweat a lot so the cold doesn't really matter. And yes, since we'll sweat a lot, we'll take off the outer winter clothes.
I was surprised by how much he thought that through. And strangely the field and the seats were clean when we arrived. Not that strange. I just remembered that the field is public and the municipality sends people to clean these places.
— So how are you? — Ellen asked. I don't know why she started a conversation, but I could see she was bored.
— I'm fine. And you? — I replied immediately.
— I'm fine too. — when Ellen answered, the moments that followed were a silent torture of awkwardness.
"What should I say now? After I learned to speak, I've only talked to mom, dad, and Damian and his friends. And no one else."
I thought nervously.
"No panic."
— And your relationship with Damian? — with nothing to say, I asked about her thing with my older brother.
— W-what? So suddenly? — Ellen stammered at my sudden question. Her face turned red and her eyes looked away a few times, but in the end they fixed on Damian.
Damian didn't notice Ellen's gaze and kept playing with his friends.
— Well, he is… — her face redder than a tomato. — Nice. — she pouted.
My bladder hurt and a pressure followed the pain. — Ellen, I'm going to go pee. — I pointed to the entrance of the forest in front of us, right behind the field. It was the only option since there was no bathroom nearby.
Ellen nodded.
I stood up and slowly walked to the first trees. I hid behind a bush next to a tree.
I peed quickly to return fast.
A noise came from the bushes.
The rustling of leaves and the sound of snow falling to the ground increased every minute. I instinctively took steps back. I could see shadows among the leaves.
In one of my steps back, I tripped over a tree root sticking out of the ground covered with snow. I fell face-first into the snow.
I couldn't rely on the flat terrain. There was a slope behind me, when my back hit the ground, I rolled down the slope.
I felt my back being torn by something sharp. A rock. Several sharp sticks stuck in the ground pierced my back.
When I stopped I felt something liquid and warm coming out of my back. It's blood.
My back is exposed to the air. My belly seems to sink into the earthy ground.
In comparison, icy cold water, freezing due to the cold, flows through a stream just a few centimeters from me. My hand was over a small part of the stream. My hand was full of blood, the warmth of the blood fighting the cold of the water. And the flowing current of the freezing water washes my fingers and carries the blood through the stream, making my body feel thermal shock.
My consciousness was about to fade. I am feeling unbearable pain and cold.
The pain throbs every second without stopping. I can barely breathe, or it hurts even more.
Despite the external and internal pain I try to gather some strength to stand.
"I can't die here. I barely even grew up."
I placed my hands on the dirty ground and got up. I supported myself on my knees, my right arm resting on my knee.
Standing, my legs trembled nonstop. My weakness was being a four-year-old child. My head began to crack with unbearable pain.
Everything was unbearable.
CRACK!
The sound of a branch breaking came out of nowhere.
A sudden and random being appeared. A monster, called Frizzy vulpes. A curly fox, translating from the scientific name.
This is a mana beast whose main weapon is wind magic.
One of the books I read in the office was a bestiary, it contains information about various magical beasts.
ROAR!
The beast growled.
It positioned itself in an attack stance and instead of coming toward me it stayed still.
However, at that same instant something hit my cheek making a superficial cut.
I felt bile rising from my stomach and reaching my mouth, when I was hit in the stomach by an invisible wind.
Again I fell, but this time like a dog and I vomited everything that was and wasn't in my stomach.
An overwhelming fear filled my body.
It was in this brief moment that it came to my mind. — I was just born and barely grew. I will not die now.
I didn't scream.
Even without screaming, someone answered me.
— But you will not die, boy.
— …
I didn't respond. I didn't have enough strength to respond. Before losing consciousness my head hit the ground.
* * *
Waking up, the first thing I saw was Grandma Neses' face. And it expressed confusion, concern, and fear.
— Good thing you woke up. Are you okay? — she asked.
— I am. What happened? — I asked confused, my head is dizzy, with vertigo effects.
Suddenly an uncontrollable fear arose from inside my chest. My heart tightened, my hand reflexively went to my left chest. My fingers squeezed the flesh under the trembling heart of a young child.
I began to gasp unconsciously and my hand over my chest kept squeezing tremblingly until it gave out and fell.
A brief melancholic silence until Grandma Neses broke the tragic atmosphere: — You almost died.
She said looking at me and at the ground.
— …
I said nothing. I just stayed silent. Nothing came out of my mouth, even if I tried.
— I saved you, fortunately. However, it was unintentional, it was… pure luck, yours. — she said not knowing what to say to cheer me up. Any wrong word could make me remember what happened.
She wanted to avoid that, I think.
Her hands trembled on her thighs. She looked firmly at me. Her mouth opened and closed a few times, but she preferred to stay silent. Grandma Neses, trying to tell me something, bit her lower lip, her crimson blood running from her mouth to her chin.
— I… — she hesitated. Stammered and said: — I can see an aura coming from you. A huge crimson red energy.
She hesitated again.
— Congratulations… You awakened. — her voice trembling, almost in tears. Her fists, now clenched, bled and the blood ran down her hand to the black satin skirt, with embroidered silk details.
I didn't understand anything. There was nothing like this in the books I read.
My incredulous and unfocused face caught Neses' attention. Making her say: — You may not know, but one of the ways to awaken your core is by suffering trauma. Something similar happened to you. Another is a cruel and inhumane method. This method consists of putting yourself under extreme psychological pressure, forcing the user to awaken the mana core.
I couldn't process everything thrown at me.
— However, — she continued. — the downside is that your body was forced to develop an organ it is not used to having, that is, you will suffer until your body gets used to it. And if it doesn't get used to it, you will die. — she added. — But, a countermeasure is to cultivate your core to a level that forces your body to adapt. This level makes the practitioner's body evolve and rebuild itself to adapt to the cultivation. It doesn't make you invincible, but it makes you officially become a martial artist.
She smiled kindly.
— Don't worry about it. Take care of your health and later I will help you with whatever you need.
I didn't understand anything she said. It was too much information for me to quickly process.
She took me home and there she explained to my parents what had happened.