It had been a few days since the princess birthday parade.
Alex was alone in the woods, training with his speed.
His goal was to get faster as fast as possible.
Seeing Arthur Waltz, the hero, had caused something to spurn in Alex. The need to get stronger, faster, and better.
He had trained with Raven, Kaede, and Claire for the past few days, hoping to develop his abilities.
Each of them helped him in different ways: Raven helped him with his lightning ability, Kaede trained his evasion techniques to dodge attacks, and Claire was helping his mobility and hand-to-hand combat.
However, today Alex wanted to train alone because he wanted to test his lightning origin. Something his family didn't know about quite yet.
Alex started to channel his mana, and his eyes started to glow purple as he accessed his origin.
Lightning started to form around his body. He could hear the lightning crackle as he moved the lightning around his body.
Alex moved the lightning to his tachi, making the blade of it have sparks of lightning around it.
Alex closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"HYAH!"
Alex used his blade and swung it in the direction of a tree twenty feet ahead of him. A gust of wind formed, making dirt and leaves fly away from him. The lightning crackle could be heard for miles. The lightning hit the tree and went clean through the bottom of the tree, cutting it down as it crashed into the ground.
Alex took another deep breath and thought to himself.
"It's getting easier and easier."
Alex's training has caused his magic to improve a lot, especially with his origin in use.
Alex put his tachi back in its sheath and stopped using his magic.
As Alex was about to walk away, he heard someone speak.
*clap clap clap* "Good job with your strike there."
Alex turned around and saw a girl, maybe a few years older than him, with long, dark blue hair and dark blue eyes. She was very pretty in Alex's eyes; he could compare her to Kaede, who also has blue hair.
"Who are you?" Alex asked the girl.
"My name is Adelia Calder, and like you, I'm an origin user."
"Another Origin User? Ghost never told me about the others." Alex thought to himself.
"I can see you're a bit confused; I'm the origin user of ice, and I know you're the current origin user of lightning. Now if you would please listen to me, there's a lot I need to catch you up on." Adelia said.
"Alright." Alex sat down on the stump of the tree he had knocked down. He didn't quite trust Adelia yet but was willing to hear her out if she was telling the truth, and so far he can't sense any malice in her.
Alex looked around for a place for Adelia to sit and was even about to offer his seat until...
Adelia had used her magic to create a seat made of ice. She sat on it, crossed her legs, and prepared to talk to Alex.
"Now, Alex, I guess first I need to explain about us origin users. How much do you know?" Adelia asked.
"Not much, to be honest; I know there are eight origins, each representing a different element, and possessing an origin can increase our magical abilities." Alex explained.
"That's correct, there are eight origin holders, you being the newest among us. Now, because it was apparent you couldn't sense me, Im assuming you're still fairly new to learning how to access the origin." Adelia said.
"Yeah, Ghost was supposed to train me, but I haven't seen him in awhile, so I've had to learn by myself." Alex said.
Alex had been wondering where Ghost was. Ghost said he was supposed to give Alex one final lesson, but after everything that's happened, he hasn't heard from him.
"Well..." Adelia knew Ghost had trained him a little, but it seems he doesn't know what has happened to Ghost.
"Let me explain a little. Origin users and, in a way, can sense each other; we know roughly where everyone is; in fact, I know there is another user somewhere in the capital right now besides us. We can also tell when one of us...passes. Im guessing you felt pain in your chest a few days ago?" Adelia asked.
"My origin caused that? I was worried about what could cause that pain; I was scared I had a heart issue or something." Alex said.
"Yes, in short, each of our origins is linked together. That's why we can sense each other and sense when something happens to one of us." Adelia said.
"Wait, two questions!" Alex said. "First, you said there was another user here? In the royal capital?"
"Yes, I know who it is, and more than likely she knows we're here as well, but she tends not to involve herself in certain things; more than likely she knew you were here since you arrived but hasn't approached you."
"Another user? Was it the princess? No... I didn't sense anything when I saw her. Would I even know, though, since I don't have complete access to my origin?" Alex thought to himself.
"Okay, second question: you said that pain meant... an origin user passed?" Alex asked.
Adelia had a sad look on her face and started to explain, "Yes, when one of us passes, we sense it, so to speak. The pain you felt a few days ago was due to one of us dying. The Earth Origin holder, Gerard."
"Do you know how he died?" Alex asked.
"It wasn't of natural causes, that's for sure. Alex, this is going to be hard to explain, but there are groups that target us. Our origins have abilities—abilities others want for their own objectives. Right now, there is a group that has been terrorizing us recently. We confirmed three attacks on our own. The first attack was on our Origin of Shadow user; however, luckily, she escaped relatively unharmed, and the most recent was Gerard." Adelia explained.
"What about the second attack?" Alex asked.
"That's where this conversation gets tougher; the second attack was on someone who had passed his origin to someone else—to you, Alex." Adelia said, her eyes getting teary.
"They attacked...Ghost?" Alex asked, his face now showing he was worried. "He's okay, right?"
"Alex, I'm sorry. Ghost didn't survive the attack." Adelia said with a tear coming down her cheek.
"No...but he....how."
Alex was at a loss for words. The man who taught him what he knew, the man who trusted him with something so important, was now gone, and there was nothing he could do. Did he die because he no longer had the origin? What would've happened if Alex hadn't taken the origin yet?
While Alex was stuck in his thoughts, Adelia got up from her seat and grabbed Alex's hand.
"Ghost trusted you with his origin, Alex, which means I trust you. When I was first given my origin he helped train me. I owed him a lot and was never able to pay him back. Maybe through helping you, I can do just that." Adelia said.
"You'll help me?" Alex asked. "But we use two different origin elements?"
"Your correct; however, I can help you manage your origin, and while I can't help you with your magic, I can help you with combat and how to properly use your origin." Adelia explained. "However, there is something you must do, and you won't like it."
"What is it?" Alex asked.
"You must come with me to see my brother, another origin user. There, we will help you as much as we can. However, only you can come." Adelia said.
"I have to leave my family?" Alex asked.
"Yes, I'm sorry, Alex, but if you want to learn how to properly use your abilities, You have to leave them." Adelia said.
"Can I have time to think about it?" Alex asked.
"Yes, I'll be here for a week, so hopefully you come to a decision by then. I'll be staying at The Azure Tree Inn, waiting for you to come to your decision." Adelia said.
"Okay, thank you for giving me this time." Alex said to Adelia.
"Of course, we're in this together now after all." Adelia smiled at Alex before she left him alone to think.
"Ghost is gone..." Alex thought to himself.
A tear came down his cheek before he wiped it away and got his thoughts together.
"But she wants me to leave...can I even do that? I spent so long getting my family together, and now, if I want to get stronger, I have to leave them."
Alex walked back to his aunt's house, still thinking. He didn't speak to anyone once he got to the house and went up to his room, but he didn't go without catching some eyes.
"What's wrong with Alex?" Eve asked.
"I don't know; maybe something went wrong while he was training?" Amelie said.
"No, something is troubling him." Kaede said.
"Should we go talk to him?" Amelie asked.
"No, it's best to leave him to his thoughts when this happens." Kaede said, however, that she thought something different.
"I wish he was willing to talk, at least to me."
Alex locked himself in his room and sat on his bed.
"If I get stronger, I can protect them better, right?" He thought to himself. "But I have to leave them for who knows how long. I don't know what to do."
Alex sighed as he laid down on the bed.
"I don't have to come to a decision at this moment. So let's just sleep on it." Alex said.
Throughout the week, Alex spent time with everyone in the house. He went to a well-known restaurant with Anna, Amelie, and Lyanna. He and Raven went for a walk and had a picnic in one of the famous parks in the capital. Eve, Kaede, and Him went shopping and walked around the city sightseeing. He took Claire and the rest of the girls to one of the small festivals held in the city.
He spent as much time with them as he could and enjoyed every minute of it, until the day came.
It had been a week, and he needed to make a choice.
At the Azure Tree Inn, Alex walked through the doors and immediately spotted Adelia.
She smiled and waved him over.
"I'm ready." Alex said.
"Are you sure? This is a big moment for you." Adelia said.
"I spent a week thinking about it, spending time with them, and I've made my decision. I'll go with you." Alex said.
Adelia smiled and said "Alright, let's go."
The two left the city with their backpacks on their backs. Alex had prepared supplies along with his tachi to go. Alex looked back into the city and smiled.
"I'll see all of you soon."
*Back at Lyanna's house*
"MOM!"
Raven yelled from Alex's room, and Anna, Lyanna, and Kaede came running up to her and spotted Raven crying while holding a piece of paper in her hands. Anna walked over to Raven and held her in her arms, trying to comfort her.
Kaede grabbed the note and started reading it.
"Well, I have no doubt you guys are going to be mad at me after reading this, but please let me explain and know every word I write here is true. A long time ago, back when I was training with my magic, I met a man. He was the one I spent time training with, and he was the reason I got stronger. Through his teachings, he taught me everything I knew. However, one day he explained to me that he held a power, a very special power, and that one day he'd give it to me, and that's what happened. Apparently, this power is shared with others, but this power doesn't come without its burdens. I never learned how to properly control it, and while I was training by myself last week, another person with this power approached me. She told me the truth behind my power and the burden it carries: there is a group that is hunting people with our power; according to her, two other wielders of this power have already died, one of them being my teacher. So after a week of thinking and debating myself, I decided to go with her to have her help me learn how to use this power and defend myself, but I won't be returning to the house for a long time. I don't know when I'll be back, but I will be back; that's a promise. I love each and every single one of you guys with all I have.
In the black box on my desk, there are envelopes addressed to each of you, all written by me, and things I wanted to say to each of you. I'm sorry I left without saying anything, and I know when I return I'll be in for the biggest ass kicking possible. Just know I will be back. Please take care of each other.
- Love, Alex."
Kaede stared blankly at the note, a tear coming down her cheek.
She walked over to the black box Alex wrote about and opened it; sure enough, there were letters addressed to everyone, including her. She picked them up and stared at hers.
"That idiot."
The rest of the house all met up together and handed out the letters, but one remained.
"Where's Claire?" Amelie asked.
* Elsewhere*
As Alex and Adelia walked down the dirt roads together, neither realized they were being followed.
"You're not leaving me, Alex."
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AN: Hey everyone, I just want to say thank you as this is the end of our first arc. I never expected to reach this far in my story, but all of your support has gotten me here and almost at 75K views, which is insanity.
Now for the next arc, it won't come out tomorrow because I want to get A LOT of writing done, and maybe another day as Im recovering from being sick, so we'll see.
But some of the things you'll see are Alex, Adelia, and Claire's stories as they venture out into the world and how Alex has to change in order to get stronger. While also seeing how Anna, Raven, and the others deal with the fact that they left. There is also a small time skip planned at some point in the next arc; it won't skip more than 1 year, so don't worry about that.
I'm also getting something done for the new story that drops in the fall, which I'm also psyched about.
If you want to support me and my future endeavors, hit up Patreon. It's as cheap as 1 dollar for the lowest tier. You can also get on my discord for free with the link below:
Patreon:
https://patreon.com/Alex_Blackwood628
Discord:
https://discord.gg/97ejzvAGKb
THANK ALL OF YOU GUYS