Herald went back to the house and closed the door. He could see his wife Sofie on the right side near the window that is facing the garden. Herald approached his wife who didn't seem to notice him and he gently put his hand on her shoulder. Sofie who seemed to be thinking something then she turned to Herald and smiled.
"You seemed to be in deepthought. Are you thinking of the past? Remembering your training days?"
Sofie sighed.
"Honestly I hardly think about the past ever since we moved here and since I got pregnant, I haven't recalled about our pasts till now. I am happy to be just house wife cooking for you and Alphonse. Does he need to start his training at this age? He is still a child and he doesn't has the burdens and pressure we had. Why not let him grow up to be a normal child?"
Herald looked at his wife and he is also feeling down thinking about the past. He sighed and looked at Alphonse and smiled. Herald then looked at wife Sofie again and said, "You are right about Alphonse not having the pressure to train and grow up as we had in our childhood. He is not an ordinary child. Sooner or later he should start watching his back and starting to train early isn't that bad. We are still alive, aren't we?" Herald smiled.
Sofie looked at Herald and then at Alphonse, while she is still facing the window said, "You are right. The past is not gonna leave us alone. If it is not us, they will come for Alphonse. At least he is interested in training, that is a good thing."
"Yes, he is definitely interested in training. I guess that is something that runs in our family.", said Herald with a proud smile.
Sophie looked at Herald agonizingly and said, "Your family is nuts and their battle crazy approach has almost ruined them. You people are lucky to be still alive."
Herald looked up and seems to be remembering something and said, "Yeah, I don't deny that. We were crazy back then."
(Now to Alphonse's side.)
Alphonse is still in garden standing still. He thought the spell would be very powerful but it isn't. He could easily move and continue his daily life as he does. He was thinking about what to do now. Should he act struggling and go inside or should he just walk away as if this is nothing. If he acts struggling then he should keep up that attitude for a while and slowly ease out. It is just too much effort and acting. On the other hand if he goes inside normally, his parents would be surprised but he could just rub it off saying, "I don't know, maybe I am just strong.". Alphonse looked up in the sky, it is good sunny day. Not too hot or cold. One of those nice California weather. He turned around and looked at the home and there on other side of window he could see his parents. They seem to be talking about something. His mother seems to be upset, maybe she doesn't wan me to start training at this age.
Alphonse decided that he would just walk it off and he just walked towards the home, opened the back door and went to his room. While he was on the way to the room, he looked at his parents and smiled. They sure are surprised, Alphonse thought. Herald looked at Sofie puzzlingly. Sofie is also puzzled by what has just happened. She looked at Herald and said, "How did Alphonse did that? Did you set the spell right Herald?". Herald was very sure that he set the spell right. The spell has the formula embedded in it which correlates the amount of mana that is sent to it to gravitational field strength. So to exert more gravitational pull, one has to just send more amount of mana to it.
Herald was thinking about the formula that is embedded to this and was double checking if his calculations were right according to mana that is sent. He turned to Sofie and said, "Yes, I'm sure. He couldn't have activated your bloodline, wouldn't he? I know it it is not something that is naturally awakened but other than that I couldn't explain this."
Sofie thought for a bit and said , "no, that doesn't work like that. Maybe he is naturally strong. Why don't I go and examine his body? That way I could find if there is anything out of norm"
"Good idea", said Herald and they followed to Alphonse's room and could see Alphonse was on his bed examining the spell on his wrists. Alphonse saw his parents and greeted them and he turned to his father and said, "Father, you should increase the spell. Make it at least three times as powerful as now". Herald shook his head and said, "let your mother examine you first, she's good at this stuff. Afterwards, I can fine tune the spell so that it improves your body." Sofie went to Alphonse who was still sitting on his bed. She went down on her knees so she could be at the same level with her son and said, "Alphonse dear, how did you do that? We know you have skills with mana and have been taking in lot of mana but that doesn't explain what you just did". Alphonse looked at his mother and was having second thoughts on what to tell his parents. Should he say that he is just stronger and don't know or should he tell tell the truth. Alphonse decided and said, "I don't know mom, I am just strong and I was playing with mana."
Sofie gently took Alphonse's right hand and said, "Alphonse dear, you might be strong now but that doesn't mean everything is alright. Mana can damage the body internally. Now, I will check your body by sending in my mana. No need to be afraid. This will not hurt and just relax, okay?" Alphonse is surprised. He thought that his parents would just let it slide and be happy that he is stronger now. He wondered if he should tell the truth if his mother discovers the violet mana. He said okay to his mother.
Sofie took hold of Alphonse's right hand and she could see one superficial vein protruding slightly outside on his arm. She pressed that vein and sent a wisp of her mana inside. She closed her eyes and focused on the mana she sent. She has to concentrate a lot because her mana is now in a foreign body and it is hard to maintain the connection to the wisp of her mana. It will be much hard if Alphonse tried to oppose her mana. Sofie should maintain the right amount of mana and pressure as overdoing would injure Alphonse. As the mana entered the blood vessels, she could immediately tell that the mana mixed in this blood is not ordinary mana. It feels different and it is lot stronger than normal mana. As Sofie's mana went through the vein, she could feel her mana is burning that means Alphonse's mana probably has fire element in it and it isn't normal kind of fire either. It is overwhelming and stronger fire.
Sofie explored Alphonse's body through her mana and made some observations. The mana is not evenly distributed all over his body and some organs have absorbed some and some haven't. If it goes like this longer like this, Alphonse would have health issues, Sofie thought. Sofie released her control over the mana and opened her eyes. She looked at Alphonse and said, "Alphonse, you said you haven't done anything but your body doesn't says so. Tell me what exactly have you done? Where did you find that kind of mana which is in your body? Did anyone came while you were playing in the back garden? Did you meet any strange person?" Sofie thought although she was alert all times about where Alphonse is and presence of other life forms around him. She can easily detect other life forms.
Alphonse looked worried and he isn't acting. He is worried that he got found out. The one thing he wanted was to not let his parents worry over him but it is what happening now. He decided he should tell the truth to his parents. He looked at his mother and his father. They both are looking at him seriously, not angry but with a worried expression on their face. Alphonse took a deep breath and said, "Mom, dad, you know how I can play with mana right?"
"Yes", Sofie said.
Herald just nodded his head and he still remembers the first time when Alphonse was around six months old, he was trying to grab mana with his hand.
Alphonse said, "While I was playing with mana, I discovered that I can make new mana if I put pressure into it. I did it because it was fun and after putting a lot of pressure, I discovered this kind of mana". Alphonse held his hand out and violet colored ball appeared on top of his hand. Alphonse then said, "I am covering the violet colored mana tightly with normal mana, otherwise it would light on fire."