Ronan Dyer POV
"Hey! Don't stop!" Looking over I glared at my uncle. I had just stopped for a moment to catch my breath but he was yelling at me. Growling to myself I turned back to the blow and began to push it again. Everyday was hard manual labor. Pulling, pushing, and moving hard barren dirt. It had not rained in almost two months and the earth was cracked. There was almost no water left in the well and we could only wait for the caravan of merchants who would pass through here any day to come and give us supplies. Pushing a little harder I struggled with a rock. When it refused to move I went to the front of the plow and began to dig up the rock with my bare hands. I'd plowed this section yesterday and this rock haven't been here yesterday. Damn this must be my cousin again. At 11 she was the most spoiled person I knew and had the strongest earth talent that was seen for miles around. She could form small rocks wherever she walked, with great effort though. She must have purposely done this, which means there are gonna be a long line of rocks for me to dig up. Just what I need. Just then I heard a cry and one of the neighbors kids running towards us a smile on his face. My uncle barks at him, the vile old man,
"Bratt what's got you so happy!?" The boy smiles and says,
"The Merchants are a mile down the road. I gotta tell momma to gather our gods to sell." My uncle starts and says
"There here already, boy,"I was the boy he was referring to even though i was fifteen and quite lanky for my age,"Go get your cousin and bring the goods. We have to meet them in the town square and make sure to get a good spot." I nod and silently abandon the plow. Running of towards the house i barge in and my cousin, was sitting at the table stuffing her greedy face full of delicate pastries. She wore a bright yellow dress that was paired with pigtail. Looking at me she said,
"What are you ding in the house Boy." I glare at her and said,
"The merchants are here piggy." at my first few words her face lights up but at my nickname for her a frown crosses her face and she says,
"I'M NOT A PIG" I looked at her and said ,
"Ugly duck"
"Shut your mouth yo orphan bastard." I stiffen at her words. She spoke the truth, I was tequnely an orphan bastard. My mother had left once and gotten pregnant and come home, she'd gotten sick during my childbirth and died when I was three but not before telling with my father was. The bastard was a local priest and was already married but he'd abandoned my mother. I had no father in my mind. Turning my back on her I made my way to the storage area and opened the cupboard. Pulling out the few precious ores i nodded and tied them up in a cloth before turning to leave. My cousin, the pig face, had already left na I was alone but that was alright. I don't mind being alone. Exiting the house I saw my Uncle and my cousin far ahead of me and walking happily. My grandfather had given his considerable fortune to his children. But my mother had already passed at my grandfathers passing. My uncle got all of the sizable fortune. Which was spent all on his daughter. Though we did make a considerable amount from the ores we mines. Sorry, I mind them. I was forced to mine the ores with my own hands and then my cousin would clean them by cleaning of all the impurities, leaving shining stones behind.
It took my half an hour to reach the town square. Well more like village square, there was barely a dozen families who lived here. Half of them had already assembled and the other half were all on their way. Nodding to a few people I silently joined the other villagers and everyone waited impatiently for the caravan to arrive. And then we saw them. A slow moving bunch of wagons with a cloud of dust coming from up behind them. When they pulled up everyone immediately rushed the traders. I went to the back and found our usual trader and said,
"Greetings Merchant Hull." The merchant nodded to me and said,
"Greetings young Dyer, What have you brought me this time?" I holdup the bundle and said,
"Check these please." He nodded and we were likely the only two quiet people in the mass of people. Setting the sack down on the back of his wagon he opened t to revel three chunks of raw iron ore and two chunks of copper ore. It didn't look like much but copper was considered expensive in these parts because of how little there was and Iron ore was well desired, especially in such large chunks. Merchant Hull held up three fingers and said,
"I'll give you three silvers for the iron and twenty coppers for the copper pieces." I nod and turn my attention to an unusual horde of people. Pointing at it I aid,
"What's going on there?" Merchant hull nodded his head and says,
"A military official came. His job is to test everyone's potentials. Though he has a terrible personality." Nodding my head I say,
"I'll take the deal. " The merchant nodes and hands me the correct amount of money. Turning I find uncle and hand him the money. He only grunts and I watch as my cousin pushes her way to the front of the kids Standing before the military officer she said,
"Test me!" She looked very proud of herself. The officer had a bored look on his face and he says,
"Touch the globe. The number of rings show your level. The color indicates your power level." my cousin snorts and said,
"I already know that." Pacing her hand on it she scrunched up her face and closes her eyes but it just makes her face appear even more ugly. I watched as five weak brown rings appears. The man looks up and says,
"Earth mage, rank 5, you're strong enough to enter the mage battalions when you reach the age of 17. " Reaching over he pulls out a sheet of paper and a pen and writes something on it. Handing it to her he says,
"Use this if you wish to enter the mage battalion. I the great 10th rank, Official Magistrate Dill recommended you." Blinking I watch as everyone tests their power. The army only sends people out every ten years or so and Last time I was too young to get my powers tested since they only manifest once you turn 10 years of age. Once all the children had gone I stepped forward and said,
"May I please test." The man looked dp ain't me and said,
"Go ahead, You've been standing there long enough that I didn't need to explain it to you." I nodded and reached forward nd touched the ball. Suddenly ten, fifteen, no 18 rings or weird golden rings appeared. The rings were not solid or faded like others but appears as an almost static, electric golden light. The man stood up and shouted,
"An 18th rank healer!" Everyone was staring at me and I took a step back. The man Official Majesties Dill had stood up and a look of shock was on his face. Taking a step back i said,
"Um...what's going on." The man said,
"You have one of the rarest elements ever. " I blinked and asked with a bit of hope,
"What does this mean about my future position?" The man calmed down and said,
"Unfortunately there has never been a case of a male healer, there all female and they all are taken in by the church usually. You could join the army and act as a healer but other than healing wounds at a low rank you will never amass to anything." Turning around I said,
"Nah, I'd rather be a farmer." He blinked and said,
"But what about joining the church. I'm sure you could have a decent position-" Shaking my head I said,
"I'm a farmer, through and threw." I turned to find my uncles furious face and a teary eyed piglet. Pointing at me he said,
"How come you never told me that you could heal." Raising my hands I said,
"I didn't know i could." He was furious and said,
"Go home you useless pile of flesh." Nodding I turned and obediently headed home. But inside I raged. Why did I have to listen to this worthless pile of flesh. I wanted to cut of his head. Calmly I walked back to the house. I had nothing to do so might as well work on getting those rocks up form the earth or else i'd have to work late tomorrow.
Two weeks had passed since the merchants had come thru and nothing had happened except that I was held at and now my uncle deemed it alright to hit me with his horse whip if i didn't move fast enough or was deemed as being lazy and his excuse was that I could heal myself. Which I couldn't. I don't know why i can't heal myself or use any of my powers at all.is tried plenty believe me being whipped, it hurt a lot. Some days I just wanted to kill them both but if I did that then I'd be cast out the village and then i'd have nothing and nowhere to go. The sun had set a long time ago and I was sitting outside watching quietly incase my cousin left her room and tried to stone the fields again. In the silence of the night i suddenly heard horse hooves and stood up and saw a man on a horse riding this way. He didn't look like he was in a rush but at his side sat a weird foreign sword and he was dressed in metal armour, which was expensive and only soldiers of higher rank go metal armour, everyone else got leather and spars bits of metal. The man saw me and came to a stop. When He stopped I saw he had very feminine features and long hair which was cut roughly around his head and the long stuff at the bottom was pulled together by a band f hair and pulled over one shoulder. He looked at me and said in a weird accent, clearly this language want his native one,
"Oh, kind villager could you tell me where I could find Rockne village." Blinking twice i said,
"You are already in Rockben village." He blinked and said,
"Oh I am, really. Im looking for a healing mage here." I looked at him weirdly and asked,
"Are You with the church?" He shook his head and I said,
"I am the healing mage you are looking for though I can't actually heal." The man looked more carefully at me and said,
"Oh, you're the healing mage. Then-"