5 years.
A long yet short time. Many things can happen in 5 years. A child can become an adult but, nothing can change. But in the same amount of time, mountains can become valleys, rivers can become oceans. A lot is possible in 5 years; the indomitable human spirit has shown this fact many times in history.
Those 5 years for Eleanor, took everything away from her. Her beautiful and happy family had become devastated.
Many bad business ventures in a row had left the family in much debt. Like adding oil to fire, her father had passed away a year ago and her mother followed soon. Paying off debts the family had lost considerable amounts of its assets.
Many of Eleanor's extended family came to them to help them, but Eleanor saw through them like glass. They just wanted the lost glory of her family. So, she rejected them. It may have been a bad idea, since there aren't many things a 9-year old can do in the real world, but it was far better than selling the only thing left of her family to those greedy bastards and eventually be thrown away like garbage or be treated worse than dogs.
Their schemes also led to many citizens who lived in the lands controlled by Eleanor's family to leave, as they took over all the taxing of the citizens within the barony, as the court had decided that the children were too young. The taxes were immediately increased several folds, leaving most of the towns within the large barony to become dead, and now only one town remained, at the heart of the barony, the only town which could reliably support itself from the abysmal taxes.
The court did make the correct judgement that the portion of the taxes collected should be given to the main family for their livelihood, but it seemed that through some schemes and behind sealed walls corruption they could forgo this rule, leaving the children alone to fend for them in the hostile environment. Eleanor knew she couldn't even think about asking for help, because when she does; it would be over, the court then could transfer all their privileges to the extended family.
Many citizens turned against the baron family as they did not know, the politics of aristocrats were rarely shared to the common folks. And those who did know had already left. The barony that Eleanor's father and ancestors had worked so hard to build up was now…failing.
Those bastards wanted to destroy what they couldn't have.
It had been 3 months after she and her brother had been orphaned. She had been stressing a bit but, she knew couldn't cave in; for herself and her brother. If she was a normal 9-year old, she wouldn't have been able to handle the stress.
But of course, she wasn't normal, she was far from it. She was a warrior, a knight who had faced countless despair and fought through them.
***
Eleanor began thinking, racking her brains to formulate a good plan that would set her brother's future straight. It was night and she was in bed with her 4-year old brother, Alex.
Alex was scared of sleeping alone in the empty mansion, so he slept with Eleanor. It was normal behavior for a 4-year old kid...but times were rough and action needed to be taken. She wanted her brother to have a normal life but, due to the circumstances that simple task seemed impossible.
The moon shone brightly from the windows, Eleanor cursed God inwardly.
"I wished for a better life, why are you making me struggle so much?! Didn't you say you were going to grant my wish!? What is this? This wasn't what I wanted!"
Eleanor shifted left and right because she was very frustrated. So she began thinking even harder and preparing for the future.
Her brother was 4 years old, and in 5 years he would have to attend the academy. Of course, the academy wasn't a necessary step but it was something Eleanor wanted for her brother. Eleanor had some intuition that not everything was going to work out smoothly so, she had some money however, it wasn't enough to last them a 5 year to get proper training for her brother, let alone be enough for the academy's fees.
Eleanor racked up her brains, she had exactly 100 gold. This was the money she saved up for 4 years from her family, and now she had to use them wisely to pay for foods and use it well to earn money enough for her brother's fees.
As she rolled around in her bed, she suddenly made eye contact with Alex. "Oh, did I wake you up?" she asked in a soft voice. "No, I just couldn't sleep." Alex answered back.
Looking at Alex, Eleanor got a strange feeling inside of her. She felt guilty. Almost of as if she had been the one to bring such misfortune to the family, she felt as if she jinxed them. She thought a bit more before making a decision, she needed to take up the sword again; she needed to teach Alex the sword now to make sure he would get a scholarship and never be troubled by anyone. So, she started to make a basis for her long-term plans.
Eleanor looked at her brother, Alexander Von Russel, named after the hero, her brother was still so young, yet those bastards, their extended family wanted them gone.
Eleanor slowly raised her energy. This energy was not aura; it was the basis for all superhuman abilities, human will. Aura, mana, or holy energy did not require control of the human will, it was required to master them, and for Eleanor who had reached the peak of this path, it was a surprise for her when she started to struggle in this control. Obviously, this was the first time she had even used her abilities in her current life, so maybe she thought that she had gotten rusty overtime.
The energy first coated Eleanor as she quickly examined her own body, and found a few mutations, which were likely the reason her family used to be one of the most revered clans in history. But, those things did not bother her, as her plans hadn't exactly changed.
The raised energy, though small slowly coated Alex who felt a bit of warmth in his body. He chuckled a bit because he felt a bit ticklish by this energy. Eleanor was examining his body bit by bit.
This method could only be used when the user was incredibly stronger than her opponent, or if the opponent allowed for the user to use it. It could also be very dangerous, as foreign energy in one's body is always a recipe for disaster. But, Eleanor was not really concerned; she had the dignity of ex-grandmaster to uphold after all, and even if something bad did happen, a human body is much more resilient than it seems, especially so for their blessed body, if anything this will make Alex's body more resilient against an opponent's energy in the future.
Her energy checked his body for deviations, things that could hinder him in the future from head to toe. Then, she reached his heart, there was a mutation.
Alex had an extra chamber in his heart, and through her energy she was positive it was not dysfunctional. This chamber was a mutation in humans which allowed them to better process superhuman energy like aura and, or mana. This muscle seemed to be doing nothing at the moment since Alex hadn't learned to control it at the moment. It was likely a trait handed down from her ancestors as she also had this mutation of the heart.
"Hey sister, what're you doing? I'm feeling ticklish", Alex chuckled trying to hold his laugh unable to understand how his sister was tickling him when he could see both her hands.
Eleanor smiled a bit, but did not answer, she continued with the task at hand. The energy moved below the heart, towards the abdomen, and suddenly she jerked up. She couldn't believe what she had felt.
"This…this-", she couldn't make words up, she didn't know if she should've been happy, or concerned.
What she felt from her energy was a node, a small gland near the spleen, spell-weaver gland. However that was not the only reason for her excitement, it was another node near the liver, the harmonium nexus. Another mutation, the same ones her captain had in their previous life.
Aura and magic are inherently repulsive to one-another. Mana when processed by the gland creates a force within the heart, which circulates throughout the body giving a slight boost to bodily function, and through speech or in later enlightenment stages, human will, to create spells which are the application of mana.
Aura on the other hand was unique in that it required no special gland, no special lineage, or neither divine intervention to practice. It was pure perseverance, it formed in the body slowly as a person uses their body and gains enlightenment unlike magic which is mostly instant. It starts to strengthen one's body, as they gain more and more enlightenment slowly transitioning from formless aura to solidified aura.
These two forces are repulsive to an extent. It is not that mages couldn't train their bodies; in fact they could as although mana and aura are repulsive, when one had enough high quality mana in their system, small amounts of aura could exist in their bodies without any repercussion. However, since most mages rarely get to this level, they choose not to spend their time learning aura, as any mistake could lead to their bodies imploding.
But, beings like Alex were different. To have spell-weaver gland and the harmonium nexus, a gland that stabilizes both aura and mana in the body. While mana resides in the heart alone, and aura throughout the body, this gland made it so that even when they were in contact instead of repelling each other, they could exist in an equilibrium state.
Alex was visibly shaken by his sister's sudden movement. He was panicked making incoherent noises, trying to understand the situation. After all, just a few moments ago his sister seemed to be showing him some weird magic trick by tickling him without even touching him, now she suddenly jumped on the jumped also making incoherent noises.
Eleanor quickly formed her thoughts.
In addition to the spell-weaver gland, which was a gland which allowed from humans to process magic through mana, something most humans lacked, he had the harmonium nexus which allowed him to use both mana and aura. He also had extra chamber in his heart, for efficient energy use, and his heart seemed to be much stronger than most human. Well, untrained his body was closer to a trained amateur. However, aside from the glands, the rest seemed to be gifts from the ancestors.
"It seems my brother won't be cruising through life either", Eleanor thought as she re-calibrated her future actions.
"Hey. Alex."
"Mhmmm?" Alex answered unable to form words after the shock he had just gone through.
"Do you want to learn swordsmanship?"
"Can sister wield a sword?"
"Yes. So, do you want to learn it?"
"Only if sister herself is willing to teach me." Alex said with wryly grin. Eleanor saw her younger brother's grin and smiled to herself.
Alex suddenly hugged Eleanor which made her feel even more guilty but, she pushed through.
"Ok, we'll start tomorrow morning so be ready."
While previously, Eleanor decided to make Alex a scholar if she felt he did not have a relatively strong body, and because it was generally easier to teach subject even though she herself was a novice than to teach martial arts because of additional costs which would add up over time. She had to teach him all she could; talent like his should never go unrealized.
***
The next morning, Alex made his way towards the old training area of the mansion. He felt quite drowsy but, he was quite excited for his training session with his sister. When he opened up the gates to the hall, he saw her. Eleanor was wearing a training outfit which was similar to his own. She was wearing gloves too, which confused Alex as he knew how sweaty people who trained got.
Eleanor was a bit taller than other girls her age, presumably because of her bloodline and, with her training outfit with her current stature gave her quite a dignified look even though she was very young physically. Alex was stunned looking at her for a moment, mesmerized at his sister's dignity, but he collected himself asking a question which originally confused him.
"Won't you be hot in those?" he asked tilting his head.
"Well, in society it is frowned upon if noble women have "bad" hands. So I have to wear these since I do not want our family to look bad.", Eleanor made a gesture while she recited "bad" again to add some comedic effect, but it seemed Alex was much pre-occupied with other thoughts.
As the words about society came out of Eleanor's mouth, Alex got visibly upset and somehow got even more fired up at the prospect of training and getting stronger. Eleanor noticed this sudden change in Alex's behavior and felt a bit confused.
"Well, we should begin now" Eleanor brought her hands together and with the sounds of her hands joining Alex's training also began.
***
Alex started by doing basic stretching. He would do push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, and crunches as much as he could and make that the basis to improve upon, then run 10 laps around the, now overgrown and un-manned, garden of the mansion. Eleanor of course didn't have spare money to hire cooks, let alone afford a gardener, so the once beautiful and lush garden today looked quite disorderly.
After the warm-ups, Alex would take a 10 minute break before starting the next warm-up to learn the basics of swordsmanship, mainly the footwork, the consistency of his strikes, and his eyes.
For footwork, he would have to run even more laps around the garden but, this time he had to do many unconventional movements like suddenly switch to hopping on one leg, or running on his hands. This was done as Eleanor instructed of course, and she would also do these training alongside Alex too. This exercise was for his form and agility, as to be a sword master one required a strong body with excellent flexibility, proficiency, and motor movements.
For the consistency, he would first just copy Eleanor's form and begin to strike a worn down scare-crow repeatedly with the same strength multiple times. According to Eleanor, Alex needed to be able to hit the scare crow with the same strength a thousand times in a row for now. This was an important stamina exercise, as being able to attack an enemy with the same strength was a skill many would never master and a very good hidden skill in battle.
And lastly for eye or vision training, this would be done throughout the day whenever Eleanor and Alex were together where Eleanor would quiz her brother about various things in the surrounding, like the color of the flower they passed while jogging or, the number of petals it had or the number of birds flying in the sky or the number of knots in her dress. This was arguably the most important exercise for Alex to learn, awareness of his surrounding and anticipation of the future. This was a skill Eleanor wanted Alex to master at all costs, as it was something that he could benefit from regardless of what he did in the future.
Starting from that day, Alex would spend his entire morning and evening training, upwards of 6 hours a day, with minimal breaks. Some could argue that it was too much exercise for a 4 year old child, but because of their blessed bodies they managed to hold up.
Eleanor also trained with Alex, but her training was denser as she did harder exercises than train longer since, she didn't really have to relearn the basics. But, as she began training she noticed something, something she hoped was just a whim.
She would frown occasionally, which would be noticed by Alex. Alex never questioned Eleanor; he just chalked her frowns to be that of worry, as his sister had a lot of things on her hand currently. But, he was only partially correct as, Eleanor's worries were about her body, and her abilities. She would occasionally lose balance while striking, or sometimes strike too hard; this was unbecoming of an ex-grandmaster. It was very concerning too; she was already struggling with dummies, what would happen during real combat? She was concerned and confused, but that did not stop her training. If she lost most her abilities, she just needed to start again.
A week after their training had begun; Alex was coming along quite nicely. He was quite talented and he was barely able to keep up with a quarter of Eleanor's pace. She couldn't remember how her old squad could hold up against her, but she knew Alex was doing much better for his age. However, just because he was her brother, didn't mean she hold back while teaching him.
She taught him slowly so, he could grasp the teachings well but, strictly and quickly so that he could enter the academy without any problems and hopefully be able to get a scholarship.
In their off time, she taught him etiquette and essential education so that, he would not be embarrassed after entering the high class environment, and survival lessons on foods he should and shouldn't eat in the wild, the how-to's on making shelter and fire. They even made brief visits to the forest behind their mansion for a quick practical lesson too.
Sometimes they would spar to ensure Alex's proper growth. Alex could only last a minute at most while sparring his sister, but that was to be expected, and even above expectations since Eleanor was an ex-grandmaster.
All in all, her brother was quite talented. She even began teaching him bare handed combat earlier than expected which was good news.
She couldn't teach her brother much about magic, but she could impart something on her brother which would help him quite a bit in the future once all the requirements were met. She desired to teach him everything he needed for swordsmanship.
With this Alex's training progressed smoothly for a week.
***
"Phew! That's it for today, you can go wash up. I will stop by the family's treasury. And, there won't be any afternoon training today, I plan on resting for the day. Maybe you can train by yourself." Eleanor said as she ended her light spar with her brother.
"I will do that sister. But, why are you going to the treasury?" Alex asked.
"We might run out of money sooner than expected so I'll see what I can salvage and get some money." Eleanor said as she made her way to the treasury. Although many things had been taken by the debt collectors, she hoped that she could find something of value to use in the future.
When she talked about her family's circumstance, Alex had a slight grim expression on his face. Seeing this, Eleanor put her hand on his head and patted him.
"Its fine, this sister of yours will do something about this. Don't worry." Eleanor assured him and this seemed to lighten his expression. She pulled his hand away from him and started making her way to the treasury.
.
.
.
"This-this is much worse than I imagined…"
The entire treasury was emptied. This reminded when the debt-collectors came to take all the debt, they took everything notable; anything that looked like it could fetch even a copper. Looking at the empty treasury, Eleanor gritted her teeth; she internally vowed to make those who did this pay.
She made her way towards the end of the room, suddenly her instincts fired up; someone…no something was calling out to her. She walked ahead, beside her was a small broken cabinet, the cabinet was empty, but something was under the cabinet. A necklace, she was intrigued by it, she reached out to it, as soon as she did she realized that it was a real treasure. It wasn't anything special in appearance, it was just a thin silver chain, but her instincts told otherwise.
She slowly put it on and realized that she had found something truly great.