The birds began to chirp as the sun rose high over the rocky mountains. The warm, bright light hit the thin glass panes of the curtainless window of a young sleeper's bedroom, waking him from his sweet dreams.
I forgot to put the curtains back up, Yuto cursed his own carelessness as he pulled the bluish blanket to cover part of his face. Leaving his long silky red hair shining in the light.
His eyes were heavy, his body numb, and his mind a little groggy as a result of his morning drowsiness. Which made the desire to lie longer in his comfortable bed spread.
Strong desire, but Yuto countered his own lazy thoughts and decided to wake up in earnest. Since this was his routine every day of the week, and if he was ever late, his mother would come into his room to wake him up.
Throwing the blanket off his thin body, the young man stretched to warm his numb limbs, and slight involuntary groans came from his lips.
Yuto staggered out of bed and put on his wooden slippers. He left the room and went to the bathroom where he washed his face with cold water to remove the rest of his drowsiness. He wiped his face with a cotton towel, washed his hands, and used his index finger to rub some of the green toothpaste on his teeth.
He gargled some water and spit it into the sink. He walked over to the square pot and began to urinate. "I really needed that," he said relieved.
After finishing all his hygiene and needs. The red-haired man left for the kitchen where he met a beautiful woman with short shoulder-length red hair, wearing an open blue dress that revealed much of her white skin. She was humming excitedly while handling the kitchen knife to cut some yellow vegetables. Distracted, until she heard the sound of footsteps coming toward her.
"Good to see you up to start the day Yuto. In case it took a little longer I would wake you up. Now come to the table so you can warm your stomach with some food," smiling happily, his mother, Karina, waved her hand to get him to come closer.
"No need to worry mom, the morning laziness hasn't beaten me yet... for now," jokingly, Yuto smiled as he moved to the rectangular table in the center of the kitchen. He pulled out the wooden chair padded with animal skin and sat down. The smell of warm milk sweetened with honey and slices of bread covered with melted goat cheese was caught by his good sense of smell, making his stomach buzz with anxiety.
Forming saliva in his mouth, Yuto wasted no time to start eating, "Delicious as always, I'll never get tired of eating this," he made expressions of happiness as he savored his favorite food in the morning.
"Yes, I also remember hearing those same words at every meal since when you turned four moons old"
"You can't blame me if all your meals are óotimaas," Yuto smiled wryly as he filled his mouth with food. Although it was a simple meal, it possessed a really good taste, but just in case it wasn't. He wouldn't go so far as to complain to his mother, he never did, he just tried to savor every bite and be thankful for his meals. For in a world where someone complains about his own food, somewhere far away or somewhere close, someone else would wish to have it while his aching belly rumbles with hunger.
"So, how are you feeling about today? Anxious?"
"Anxious? Is there anything special in store? Yeah, nothing comes to mind right now...", Yuto raised his eyebrow in confusion as he poured the already warm milk down his throat.
"You...," Karina sighed disappointed to see how much of an idiot her son could be sometimes. "Have you forgotten that today is seventeen moons since you were born you little idiot!", she scolded him as she finished chopping the vegetables and threw them into the porcelain pot to cook. "Today is the day to go to the sacred temple to receive your blessing mark, but if you don't want to, you can go on another date."
"Seventeen!? M-but wouldn't it just be next week?", Yuto was showing a bit of surprise mixed with confusion. He had no idea that today would be his seventeen moon birthday, in his mind, it would only be a week ahead.
"Yes, and that was a week ago, you spent so much time focused on your learning with your teachers and your adventures in the guilds that you eventually forgot."
Yuto may be a bit careless at times, but forgetting such an important day as his cycle of moons is not in his nature, for he has looked forward to this occasion for dozens of seasons. Where his coming of age would be reached according to the laws of the sacred temple and the blessing mark given by the gods would be conceived.
And to arrive at this moment in a favorable way, Yuto sought to learn the concepts of magic and the ways of applying them. As well as alchemy and swordplay. He even discovered a rare talent for writing and reading runes from ancient times.
Yuto was enthusiastic and poured all his sweat into learning and mastering each of the requirements he found necessary to earn a good mark. For, it is common knowledge, that the mark will be given in focus of your greatest talent in practical use.
Examples for those with talent and who study magic focused on lightning. The mark for these people comes in the color purple with electrical symbols.
And for those who are dedicated to using weapons like swords and spears. It turns a few pointed stripes in almost identical colors to their skins.
And for those without any talents and without practice in activities related to these. The marks will be given at random, coming in useless blessings most of the time.
So with this in mind, Yuto tried to learn for each one that was interesting in his point of view and that would give him a good profession in the future. And Yuto proved to be great in his learning, no matter what the area really was, he managed to be above average in relation to the great majority. But analyzing all his grades given by his teachers, they all contained the same parameters, with no overrides.
So his mark could come into focus for one of these, but if not, to bad luck. He would still have a good future ahead of him, especially with his runes since it is a rare thing these days.
"This is worrying, how could I forget something this important... I've even made an appointment with Master Hieba for today," Yuto sighed and took the opportunity to massage his temples.
"As I already told you, you can go on another date, but I don't think your master will mind too much if you miss going to the temple. And you have waited for today for a long time, so just go get your mark and then go see your master to tell him the news."
Yuto analyzed his mother's words and saw that she was indeed right. He had waited a long time for this moment, even his own rune master smiled at this. He did not want to wait any longer than he already did and his master would understand his delay.
Decided, Yuto swallowed the rest of the super-nutritious milk in his glass and wiped his mouth. He got up and went to his room to change his clothes and returned to the kitchen, I followed him to his mother where he hugged her tightly and gave her a kiss on her soft cheek. "Wish me luck mom"
"Fufufu, you will be rewarded with something good for your efforts, unlike me who did nothing and just got milk on my breasts," Karina applied a loving kiss to Yuto's forehead.
"Well, although it has no taste at all it is very nutritious, and I love to drink it, especially when I get it from the fountain" he smiled as he took Karina's breasts and massaged them lovingly making her let out a soft moan.
"Just go at once you little pervert!", with a certain pink blush on her cheekbones, Karina hit Yuto lightly on the head to make him leave and start his activities.
"Haha ok," raising his hands in a sign of surrender, Yuto separated from his mother and made his way to the door and said goodbye, "I'm going now and you don't have to wait for me for lunch, because today will be a busy day."
Unlocking the rather sturdy wooden door, Yuto stepped out and closed it back. He took a deep breath and started walking quickly towards the temple which was about twenty minutes walk away...