My head was swirling while I laid in bed and tried to mentally digest everything my parents just shared with me. After they told me, they sent me back to my room so I could get some rest, apparently I looked more tired than I let on. That was fine, I needed to time to think anyways...is what I would liked to have had before Voxea piped up in my head.
"So...mind telling me what you talked about?", Voxea asked. "Can't you read my mind or something?", I retorted. "Usually yes, but you're mind was racing with a lot of stress and random thoughts. I couldn't parse out the bits that seemed relevant to your conversation. Lesson 1 of clairvoyant magic, you can't mind read a panicked person", she responded sagely.
While that was interesting to know, I wasn't in the right state of mind to appreciate that statement. "Alright", I said exasperated, "I guess if I retell it to you, it would help me solidify it to myself".
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Before I was born, my mother and father we're actually bitter enemies and to understand how that changed and why they changed their names, I had to know my families history. They told me that long before the Old Empire fell, there were two maji families that hated each other. On one side was the Volance family, sky maji who specialized in air and lightning magic like tornadoes and thunderbolts, while the other side was the Firmis clan, who specialized in Earth magic, namely manipulating metals into weapons and using gems as catalysts, whatever that means.
The two families can trace their lineages back to two maji, Albedo Volance and Maldread Firmis. The two were originally on rather neutral terms with each other, but due to opposing political views, wartime advancements, a girl who dumped both of them for a different guy and, to quote my father, "a bunch of horse shit that in retrospect was really dumb to start a blood feud over", the two became bitter enemies.This blood feud ended up passing down the generational lines, the two families always somehow becoming rivals regardless of whatever enterprises they pursued. This rivalry somehow even surviving the collapse of the Old Empire. Granted, around that time they went from being public maji households to landed nobles, they still maintain some of their ancient traditions behind a veil of secrecy and money. Thankfully, the violence between the two started to wane a bit as time went on...this all changed when the New Empire was established.
When Zarasul the Renewer made his presence known and brought the binding arts to the people, they were among the first to answer the call to become binders. Turned out the two families had a knack for controlling majimonsters due to their roots as maji noble households, which also gave them the leverage and power necessary to form two knightly orders: the Storm Striders of House Volance and the Crystal Roses of Clan Firmis.
My parents were descendants of the founders of both houses/orders, so naturally they ended up butting heads a lot when it came to assignments and duels...up until one particular mission.