I walked up to Barus, only to see that he was already looking at me.
"You came." - I said, trying to start up a conversation.
"Not like there's much else to do, is there youngin'?"- He retorted, almost jokingly. Yet you could see a slight hurt in his expression, as well as happiness.
"So Barus, I have a question. I don't know how to put this in any other way, but what do those inscriptions on your back mean?"- I asked, trying to coax a response from him.
Filthy mages- I heard.
Wish this punishment rune on my mana would finally go away.
Wish they wouldn't come this year, this child is one of the few good seedlings.
Noticed that my head started getting foggy and that I was starting to listen to what I shouldn't. i then realized that it came from Barus.
He motioned me to go outside with him, and I followed.
"What do you see when you look at it? Remember what I've told you, you gotta focus and look at the bigger picture, don't dwell on specifics"- Barus said.
"It looks like a red cross with some face below it."
"What you see, and what you should see are two different things." - Barus said, with his typical jokester look.
Out of the blue, Barus back lit up and the red cross faded. He looked haggard when he did so, but still smiled.
"What do you see now, young Child?"- He asked, smilling ever so slightly.
"It's like one of those demons in the fairy tales... It says "Fortuna pertinet ad Barus". What does it mean?" - I asked, not even comprehending what just happened. "And why did you call me a child? You're the second one to do so today, I don't get it."
"It's the motto of my family, although we're no more. Exiled, banished, called traitors. - He spat, with a venomous look in his eyes - it means Fortune belongs to Barus, my family."
"So Barus was never your name? Why'd you lie to everyone?
"Names are fickle things Child, yet such powerful ones, don't you think? You don't even know yours and yet you demand to know others?"- He said, almost mockingly.
"Yet, I did not lie. Barus is indeed part of my name, just not it's entirety. You also have some explaining to do, Child."
"Why do I have to explain anything? Actually, why did those inscriptions even change, haven't you been banished?"- I asked, confused.
"It's been long and the punishment rune is wearing off, which means the punishment rune on my back is getting weaker. Still can't control my mana for anything too useful and I should be a cripple, but... Wait a minute, whose Child are you? Rala, Scylla, Skotra...? No, that would make no sense as your talent would have already bloomed..."
"What do you mean whose child am I? I don't even know any of those names. Why do you hate mages if you were or are one? I don't get any of this and my brain is now hurting. Also, why can I hear people's thoughts and see their dreams or nightmares? It makes no sense to me."- I exasperately said, not even knowing why I said it.
"What did you just say?"- Barus ran up to me and grabbed my collar, looking as if he had seen a ghost.
"I sometimes can hear people's thoughts and see their dreams? That part?"- I asked, still looking for an answer to all the questions.
"Child, your locket. Where? Is? It?"
"Right here"- I said, as I lifted up my shirt - "I don't even know what it is."
Barus made a beckoning gesture to the place where the amulet was sitting on my neck and I handed it over to him. He smiled as soon as he got it in his hand.
"Where is the inscription that used to reside here?"- Barus kept prodding, almost freaking me out.
"It happened today. I was in my room and then someone from some Razi family spoke in my head and called me a Child and then the inscription was plastered on the back of my hand, but it's gone now." -I lifted my hand to show him.
"Yes, it may seem to be gone. Yet, what have I told you, Child? Look at the bigger picture."
Barus bit his finger and dripped a bit of his blood on my hand. He then drew what looked like a crude circle.
Suddenly, the back of my hand lit up and Barus backed away, almost as if for dramatic effect.
"What does it say or what does it look like? Recognise it?"- I asked, interested in his reaction
"Indeed I know it, and it makes a lot of sense yet it doesn't. Fate really is a bitch isn't it..."- He said, with a forlorn expression.
I looked at my hand. It now had a black raven on it, stamped with "compos mentis" at it's feet, whatever that meant. My locket also lit up when I touched it, and it revealed a new inscription on it's back. It read "To my dear Rubius, may this protect him when the time comes".
"It means "in control of the mind" and it's the motto of the fallen noble Razi family. Do you know what that even means, Child?"-Barus asked, with tears in his eyes.
"I really don't and please, just stop with the child thing already, it's getting annoying."- I said, thoroughly annoyed at him.
"It just a costumary title Chi... nevermind. It's what noble mages used to call mages that had attained adulthood but still hadn't mastered a Tier zero spell. Don't panic, I'll walk you through this."
"Garim Barus is my name, which you were so curious about. Do not mention it again, for it might bring you more harm than good. Tommorow morning, come to the clearing in the forest near your house, I'll meet you there and explain all of this to you.Now, let's get back inside, shall we?"- He said, not even waiting for me.
The rest of the night progressed quickly, with almost no hiccups other than a few drunken people partying a tad too much. Mother quickly cleaned up the place and got order around the house and went to bed, seeing how tiring the day had been.
I quickly followed suit and lied down in bed.
Yet, I couldn't fall asleep. Everything that had happened today was racing through my mind, and as I was trying to understand it and piece it all together, it clicked to me.
I'm a mage.
A really, true-to-blood mage.
Yet, I can't cast the simplest of spells, that's why I was called a Child?
Also, Rubius? Who's that? Is that my birth name?
Either way, it should be fine right? It's not like I have a teacher or anything, so I can't blame it on me.
I begrudgingly turned around and went to sleep.
I woke up the next day, with a splitting headache as a reminder of the rough night. I put on my clothes, had lunch and went to the clearing to meet Barus. He had arrived early and set up a small array of objects in a line, almost as if target practice.
"Today I'm officially taking you in as a disciple, and you're beggining training as one of the noblest mages there is, a Telepath, Rubius Razi."