Ingo was a great teacher. Whenever any of us were struggling or didn't understand, he'd break down his lesson into even smaller parts and teach bit by bit. For people like me that, learning has always been a struggle, he honestly was amazing.
There was a lot of fancy words used in his teaching. But to dumb it down a lot. Moving mana and controlling it inside of my body would feel much like when you open an oven and a burst of heat envelops you, to properly control it inside you, is to take and move that warm feeling around.
To control it outside your body was more akin to taking the cold refreshing feeling when you finally quench your thirst, and moving it towards a singular point just outside your reach.
Neither one made sense to me at first. Falyon was a natural at controlling mana outside her body. And thus used that as a reason to mock me and show her pure blood was better than my mixed. I just let her enjoy her victory, I wasn't about to argue with a kid again.
Priorie was the best at controlling inner mana, but not near the level Falyon showed with her outter mana. Tuk was just like me and having issues with it. Ingo figured it was because our mixed blood probably also had a mix of organs and muscles from both, so there may be more resistance.
That got me really interested in learning about my body more if I could, if my heart was somewhere else that would be good to know.
Around the age of seven my parents left home for a while to make some money doing quests. My siblings were in charge.
Normally I'd have no issue with this, my siblings were both amazing.
The issue was, most adults in the village had left on this mission. Ingo and most of the kids parents included.
This was suspicious under normal circumstances. But I still didn't trust that entity that helped me be reborn here. They were plotting something, and I was a cog in their machine.
I'd learn how important on my eighth birthday. The day everything fell apart again.
It was just before sunrise. When what sounded like a bomb going off jumped me awake.
"Bring is the halfbreeds you're hiding or we will kill every person living here!" A gruff angry voice yelled outside. Several voices.
Seems this is what I should have prepared for. But my skills still sucked.
Suddenly my bedroom door burst open, and I saw my sister, tears running down her face, yet a stern look on her face. "Alfyn, we need to go now."
Her voice didn't waver. She was brave.
"Where is.." I started to ask where my brother was.
"We're going now!" She said even sterner, "I need to protect you, mom said so."
I didn't question her any further, though I had a very bad feeling.
We rushed out the back of our house, directly into the forest behind it.
We ran. We didn't stop. I figured Luke was either dead or soon to be, it hurt. I had spent to little time with him, I hadn't tried to get to know him, or any of my family at all.
I'll always regret that now I thought.
Eventually I got tired, I did have a child's body after all.
"You still can't control mana at all can you?" Lioaria asked.
I just shook my head as a response, among being a horrible son and brother, I had no talent for the skills of this world either. I really was a waste.
Suddenly she cupped my head between her hands. She stared into my eyes. "Relax, and focus on what you're about to feel."
We've all felt an adrenaline rush before, hell I woke up with one today. Feeling mana course through me felt like that but a thousand times stronger, it was the best feeling ever.
As suddenly as I felt it run through me it stopped and I collapsed.
"You, you don't have any mana of your own.." she said, drifting off in thought.
Suddenly we heard laughter, a lot of it, from all around.
"So one halfbreed is a coward and the other is obsolete, for the pay to kill y'all I figured this would've been hard," one of the men said as he lunged towards us, sword ready.
He was about twenty paces from us when he erupted into flames and quickly turned to ashes. I turned my head slowly to see my sister standing above me, staff at the ready (she did not have that before, and I have no idea where it came from).
"As long as I live and breathe not a hair on my brothers head shall be touched!" She shouted, slamming the butt of her staff into the ground.
As if in command from here, the wind picked up around us and clouds gathered over head.
"I will make this forest all of your graves," she screamed as she lifted her staff aloft as a bolt of lightning came down. Crashing into her staff, then scattering around, going straight through truther the hearts or heads of most of the men surrounding us.
My sister was a badass.
Sadly that display of power left her exhausted it seemed, and there were still more men ready to attack us.
"Sorry Alfyn, I wasn't strong enough, please forgive your siblings for being so weak," she cried as she took a knee next to me.
I wanted to cry, but I still couldn't move from when she ran her mana through me.
Those ended up being her last words as an arrow pierced the back of her throat, and she fell forward. Blood pooling beneath us.
"Sorry kid, but this is business," some man said as his spear came down at my chest.