The jolt of the carriage stopping woke up Ojero from his sleep, and he quickly realized they had arrived at the dukedom castle.
He turned over to his brother, who he shook awake. Orpham awoke with a jolt, shooting up with a yelp, that managed to wake both mother and father.
Ojero was unsure if he imagined it, but he could've sworn he saw tears on his fathers cheeks.
"We are home? Good."
Father spoke as he started to leave the carriage, turning his face away from the others. It was very early in the morning, but the servants were still there to open the doors and prepare everything for them. Due to the family sleeping in the carriage, they were not tired enough to sleep but not energized enough to play.
They all decided to congregate in the library, a very popular area for them to gather for family stories and lessons. Father always sat in his great leather armchair, while mother sat in a smaller chair of a similar shape to his left.
The brothers each had their own chair, custom tailored to their wishes. Father thought it would be better for their studies to have a chair they felt would be the best for them.
Orpham's was white and gold, in the family shades of course, and was shaped much like fathers. Ojero's, however, was black and purple and shaped more like a throne with much more comfortable cushioning. It had a tall backboard, and was very sturdy. Every time father saw Ojero sitting in it, he would usually get saddened somehow, but Ojero didn't care enough to stop using it for just that reason.
Vulkupa set a fire to keep them warm, as he went to stand by the door, ready to help when needed.
"Ok boys, since it was mentioned earlier, its time for you to learn what a familiar is and what the familiar scroll does."
"As you both know, I have a familiar, a Shock Hound, which I named Typhoon for his quick and savage attack patterns. Most magi gain a familiar their first year at the academy, which always represents a person's main magical archetype and personality. Due to this, no main fire mage will not have a fire based familiar, but what kind of familiar is always based on the magi. Someone hot headed and brutal may have a scorched bear, but someone calmer and more composed, may have a flaming falcon. I even knew of one fire lord magi who had a pure fire elemental."
"Elemental's represent every single magic. There is always an elemental to represent a magic, and the rarer the magic the rarer the elemental. Mythical magics like you boys have only have 1 elemental known in existence. For you Orpham, the elemental will most likely be light based. Although you used spacial magic, you used light magic with it and the light was clearly mixed with the spacial magic."
"The thing with spacial magic is that it absorbs everything, even light. For your light magic to be able to not only fight but beat the gravitational pull, it means your light side was more powerful."
"I was once lucky enough to see a light elemental, and it was a creature I will never forget. It is known as Lights Grace. They say its power can rival a dozen supreme magi at once, so long as its bonded magi is strong enough. That is the big catch for familiars, is they rely on their bonded hosts strength. A familiar can only be at most 1 tier over its bonded magi, and until the magi reaches a high enough level equal to the familiars original level, the familiars mana will be severely limited."
The boys sat with rapt attention, even Ojero who was suddenly very curious what familiar he would get. He knew all of his crystals were mythical, so his familiar would be an elemental, but which one would it be?
"Now, a familiar scroll reaches into the familiar realm, which some call the Elemental Domain due to the elemental's ruling over it. It sends a pulse into the realm attracting only the most compatible familiar. I have never heard of a person be upset with their familiar due to it being so similar to themselves."
Orpham piped in with a question at this, a look of pure excitement on his face.
"Elemental Domain? Is it possible to go there, not just ask for a familiar from it?"
"Yes, it is possible, although it is very dangerous. More familiars than not are savage beasts, and many are stronger than even myself, even 1 on 1. The only ones who can go there safely are those that have an elemental familiar, due to them being classified as kings of the realm. Even a common level elemental is still given respect, because they keep all of the common level familiars of their element in check."
"Have you ever gone there, dad?"
"Yes, once I did. I was looking for an old friend there..."
Father got distant once more, as if his mind was a million miles away, surfing through an endless stream of memories best left forgotten. As he looked to be going deeper into his thoughts, Orpham waved his hand in front of his face, saying "Hello? Dad?"
Father instantly snapped back to reality with a jolt.
"Sorry kids, I lost myself. I must be getting older, hahaha"
Although father was laughing, Ojero did not miss the light sweat on his forehead when he spoke.
"There is only three ways to tell someones familiar. First is to see it yourself, the second is to have a very deep knowledge of both familiars and the person it question. Their personality will almost always reflect a known familiar, and you can limit it down to only 1 or 2 possibilities. The third and final way is the familiar mark."
Father lifted unbuttoned his jacked, took it off, and then did the same with his collared shirt. He then pulled up the sleeve on his final shirt, and on his shoulder was a tattoo of a dog inside a lightning bolt, looking like it was running on it.
"A familiar mark is always unique to the familiar, and represents the exact familiar it is. It is always a tattoo and will have either the familiar itself, or in the case of an elemental it will have their elements symbolic representation. To differentiate between the elemental's tier, you can tell by size. A small mark is weaker, a big mark is much stronger."
"The tattoo's also serve as a sort of storage for your elemental, being able to absorb and summon them from the Elemental Domain at will. When they are both summoned and away, you will be able to mentally communicate with your familiar, allowing you to be prepared for all kinds of situations."
Suddenly, fathers tattoo started sparking as a thin lighting bolt shot out, and when it hit the floor, a tall and proud husky stood, lighting sparking off of its body hundreds of times a second. The floor where it hit was unscathed, as if the original lighting never existed.
"As you can see, its very useful in combat to summon a powerful ally. All magi use them, because not only can they help in combat themselves, you can channel your mana more powerfully with them, causing all sorts of powerful spells that would be impossible on your own."
Unable to contain himself, Orpham blurted out.
"When can I get my own? I am so excited!!!"
Strangely, father smiled at this outburst. Usually he would harshly rebuke it, but he knew the excitement because he had interrupted his own father during this talk.
"Soon, after you arrive at the academy. Its a year long course. Some take longer to summon a familiar, and this is not necessarily their fault. Many familiars try to break the familiar scrolls connection, because similar to how we can channel mana through a familiar when they are close, familiars can use us to boost their own mana from any distance. Not only this, but in the Spiritual Domain they are not limited by our own strength. That only takes effect when summoned over."
"I once had a friend who was also legendary tier, and yet he spent 11 months trying to summon a familiar before it finally was able to get to him. For those that summon them sooner, they get to practice combat. In the second year, that's the entire class focus."
"Now, we must get you both familiar scrolls."
Father nodded towards Vulkupa, who nodded back and walked up to the portrait of Quasar Guestino the Great, that hung over the fire. Quasar Guestino the Great was the first ever Guestino, and was the one father was named after.
Vulkupa carefully took down the portrait, and behind it was a yellow box with lightning symbols on it. It looks quite plain, but had an aura of strength around it. Vulkupa carefully took it out of the hole it was in, and gave it to father before returning to his post by the door.
Father carefully pulled open the lid, and inside was a stack of 3 scrolls.
"These are mythic familiar scrolls, passed down from the Guestinos to each and every mythical child in the family. Quasar Guestino, our great forefather, had gained 5 of them from the then-king as a reward for his great work. While we have never had a mythic since him, your great great grandfather gave two scrolls to the emperor of Everentile, due to his daughter and her fiance both had mythical powers, but did not have familiars yet."
"These scrolls can only work with someone who wields a mythic power, and summons the familiar more strongly than any other scroll. In accordance to Quasar the Greats decree, one scroll to each mythic heir."
Father took two of them, handed one to each. In a rare display of pure, unfiltered emotion, Ojero actually started crying when he got one, a feeling of power in his instant grasp.
Father wrongly thought it was gratitude, and inside he thought 'maybe there is hope for him after all.'
Orpham almost snatched it from fathers hand in excitement, and started jumped around once he got it, almost unable to stop himself from attempting to use it then and there.
"These scrolls will help you gain an advantage, but there is never a substitute for hard work. Even with the strongest elemental familiar, you would be nothing without strength you yourself worked hard for. Understood?"
Both boys nodded frivolously, eyes glued to the paper scrolls in their hands. Father sighed and waved Vulkupa over, who took the box, replaced it in the hole in the wall, and rehung the portrait.
"Ok boys, now go get some sleep. You may have your fun for the next week, but the week after that will be full of hard work to prepare for the academy. During this time I will sign all the required documents and get you enrolled, but it will be on you to pack your items. There will be no servants at the academy for you to order around, so you must learn to prepare yourselves now."
"Yes father," they both said in barely concealed excitement, still drooling over the scrolls, as they stood up and walked out of the room, still staring at their hands, as if they thought if they looked away it would disappear.
Once they left the room, father snorted.
"I wasn't like that when I got my familiar scroll."
"Sir, I distinctly remember you being so excited you ripped it from your fathers hand and ran out of the room before locking yourself in a pantry for hours, and was found sleeping with the scroll wrapped up in your arms."
Father's eyes widened as he looked away from Vulkupa.
"I did not know you remembered that."
"Sir, I would never in a million years forget what you looked like when I opened that door."