Two hours before sunrise I was woken up by my mother.
It was finally the day I got to receive mana.
The biggest disadvantage to living so close to the edge of the cliff is it takes the longest to get to the central towers, much longer than it used to at our old house.
With sleepy eyes I rolled out of the fur stuffed bed, it couldn't compare to anything from my last life.
But looking back; if I had to trade all my luxuries for the family and functional body I have now, I'd give them up without much thought.
Besides, the fur beds definitely beat the straw beds we used to sleep on.
After waking me up my mother created a tub from the stone floor and filled it with water she conjured.
It was shocking at first, but such use of magic was an everyday occurrence so I got used to it very quickly.
"Wash up well, you know how important a clean body is to a peaceful mind, but don't take too long." My mom told me before leaving my room.
"I will be out quickly." I said with a smile on my face.
My mother, while 3 years younger than my father, was still quite attractive for her 30 years.
She wore a white toga with a tight embroidered belt with several blue stones that would sparkle when catching the light.
The clothing contrasted wonderfully against her dark skin.
Living for generations on the clifftop has darkened all of our skins from spending so much time in the sun.
After washing myself in the water, the cold instantly dispersing my sleepiness, I dressed myself in the giant bed sheet they call a toga.
At first I found it strange to dress myself with only 1 large sheet of fabric but I had mastered it years ago.
It definitely had nothing to do with my mother creating a button to make it easier for me.
Holding a buttoned corned with my left hand, I threw it around like a cape before looping it back around my left arm.
I used the button to fasten the two opposing corners together inside before you put on the tight belt to hold it all in place.
It would always struggle to get dressed before she did that for me.
My belt was embroidered in a pattern identical to my parents, only it didn't have any stones.
The embroidery of the belts were done by your family and it was considered to be both your identification and your source of family pride.
Every family has a different pattern, my parents told me the belts also have another function but I am not allowed to know what that is yet.
The stones on the belt denote both your clan's branch within the golden eye tribes as well as the wearer's mastery with mana.
There were 3 clans on our home.
There were blue stones for those whose origin was water, green stones for those from life, and an amber brown for those who came from stone.
It was generally known the more stones one has on their belt and the more ornate the embroidery was, the more influential the individual was, through magical or social means.
My belt was moderately decorated with a twisting geometric pattern but was far from the most ornate one I have seen.
After leaving my room I joined my father and mother at our table for a small breakfast.
It was mainly simple fruits because they didn't want me to have a heavy meal that could hamper my concentration later.
After having breakfast it was time to go.
My mother hugged me rather tightly before asking me "how is your focus, you aren't hung up on anything right? No mind monsters to make you jumpy?"
I laughed at my mom's attempt to lighten the serious atmosphere before responding in a cheerful voice. "Nope, no mind monsters here. My mind is clearer than a blue sky."
"That's good to hear, don't forget to keep it that way." My father spoke while my mom wrapped me in one last bear hug.
"Time to go," he said as he grabbed my shoulder.
His hand felt quite warm on my shoulder so I looked at him confused.
My dad just smiled sheepishly and said "sorry" before putting his hands behind his head.
I ignored it and continued following him to the towers in the center of our stone village.
Little did I know my father's subtle use of magic was to dry the fabric of my toga.
There were a few wet spots that had gone unnoticed where my mothers face had been.
____________________________________
As we were getting close to the towers we deviated and took a different path from the one I would have taken to get there, then we entered a building I didn't recognize.
I found it odd for two reasons.
Normally the fastest path would be to walk down one of the dividing lines and I hadn't seen this building on any of my explorations, so spoke up and asked my father why we were taking a different route.
"Are we going to the towers? Why are we taking a different route?"
He gave a short answer
"Not quite, it's not the tower itself but somewhere very close to them."
I stayed quiet, trusting he wouldn't do anything to sabotage me.
That would be too far outside of my fathers character.
The building was completely empty with nothing but a doorway leading to a winding staircase going down.
"Step in my footsteps, and nowhere else." my father said seriously before beginning his descent down the stairs.
After each step he would raise the ground slightly to make it easier for me to follow him.
At times it was difficult since we needed to occasionally skip steps and move sideways on others.
When we reached a certain stair around half way down the flight, a blinding light flashes followed by a feeling of my stomach being compressed, nearly making me lose my breakfast.
I definitely would have thrown up if i had a larger breakfast.
Then the light faded and the nausea passed, when I looked around I found myself in a small open area lit with torches.
There were six others standing in the center of the space, 3 adults and 3 children around my age.
"Where are we?" I asked my father.
"We are in the center of the cliff, the area between the 3 towers." he replied quietly.
"What?! How? We were just walking down the stairs!" I asked my father how this was possible.
His answer was a short, "Magic. Now it's time to focus"
I shook my head to remove my shock and used the mind clearing exercises my parents taught me to regain my calm.
Walking towards the people in the middle surrounded by torches.
When I looked at the ground I saw what looked like a star of David only it had concentric circles around and inside the star forming an ornate hexagram.
At each point where the lines intersected there was a flame floating in the air.
Standing at the center of the hexagram were 3 younger people and 3 adults were outside the circle in a group talking.
As we approached the group, the adults turned towards us and mana passed through their eyes causing their crosses to glow in a golden light.
With this gesture I knew their identities.
They were the clan heads and their children.