Alex, Adelia, and Claire arrived at the place Adelia called home; it was a mansion located in the woods in the middle of nowhere, a perfect place to hide.
It was a nicely built brick house with a well-cared-for garden located to the right side of it.
"So, this is where your brother is?" Alex asked Adelia.
"Yes, this is our family home. Please come in; he's expecting us." Adelia said.
The group walked inside and noticed it was well maintained; they could even see their reflections in the floor, but there were no maids or butlers in sight.
"It's so clean in here." Claire said.
"Ah yes, my brother is... well, a bit of a neat freak. By the way, please take your shoes off before taking the step here. I'd rather not have to deal with his complaining." Adelia said this while pointing at a small step that led to the sparkling floors.
All three of them took off their shoes and placed them on a rack next to the door.
Adelia led Alex and Claire down a corridor to a very nice-looking white door with gold designs.
"Alex, this is where we separate; Claire, you will be coming with me; there's something I want to talk to you about." Adelia said.
"But.." Claire tried to reject her offer; after all, she didn't want to leave Alex.
"It's okay, Claire; we'll see each other again soon." Alex said, smiling at Claire.
"Fine..."
Claire reluctantly went with Adelia while Alex opened up the white door.
Adelia and Claire would walk through the mansion and enter the gardens.
Claire was mesmerized by the beauty of the place; there was even a wonderfully made water fountain at the center of it with a stone statue of the goddess Kearis on it.
"So what is it you want to talk to me about?" Claire asked.
"Well Claire I've been wanting to ask you this for awhile, but do you know magic?" Adelia asked, confusing Claire.
"As far as I know, I don't possess any magic. I've used magic stones before to help me fight or finish jobs, but never any of my own. Why do you ask?" Claire answered.
"Well, as I've mentioned before, I possess an elemental magic origin, and one of the benefits to possessing this is being able to see magic inside of people, especially those with the same element as me, which, as it turns out, you also have ice magic." Adelia explained.
"What? I have magic?" Claire asked.
"Ice magic, to be exact, is the same as mine. It's more latent and not as powerful as mine, but it is definitely in there, and there is a lot of mana around it." Adelia said.
Claire was confused; she had never even considered having real magic, but why didn't anyone teach her? Wouldn't her mother or even the group she joined know about it?
"Listen, I know right now you're confused about what I just said, but I want to give you an offer: let me train you. Since we possess the same element, we should have an easier time getting you up to speed with magic training." Adelia said.
"But what if I'm not good at it?" Claire said.
She was nervous, of course; her whole life was about to change; being a mage is an honor in the Empire after all.
"I know you want to stay by Alex's side, but after his training he will become significantly stronger than he is now. Wouldn't you like to be on a similar level to him and be able to be his equal?" Adelia offered it with a smile on her face.
"His E-equal?" That's what Adelia said, but Claire heard it a bit differently. If she had a similar strength level to Alex, she would have more value to him, meaning there was even less of a chance of him leaving her.
Even despite his words that always worried her, it was her biggest fear—being alone again. This was the best way for her to make sure that fear never happened.
"I accept." Claire said.
"Perfect, we'll begin training tomorrow. Now Alex and Percival should almost be done; let's go to the kitchen to get lunch prepped." Adelia said.
*In the Mansion*
Alex knocked on the white door and heard a voice coming from inside.
"Come in, Alex."
Alex did as the voice said and was shocked at the sight. It wasn't a big room, but in the center of the back wall was what can only be described as a throne, surrounded by several bookshelves, and on the throne was a man with long silver hair reading a book he had gotten about halfway through. His clear blue eyes were as clear as day.
"Ah yes, I've been waiting, Alex. It's about time we met. My name is Percival Calder, the current holder of the Origin of Light. It's nice to meet you." Percival introduced himself.
"Origin of Light?" Alex asked.
"Yes, similar to how you possess the lightning origin, I possess the light origin." Percival said before he held out his hand, and suddenly a globe of light appeared in his palm.
"Now let's begin our discussion about why I brought you here." Percival said.
"Adelia said You wanted to train me." Alex stated.
"That's part of it; yes, you need training, but you also need to learn about the threat we origin users face." Percival said. "Take a seat; this is going to be a bit of a story."
"Long ago, when magic was still fairly new to this world, there was a group of mages, each having mastered their respective elements to the highest degree, even farther than the modern-day grand mages; they were so advanced they knew every single aspect of their elements.
Light, Ice, Gale, Flames, Shadow, Earth, Lightning, and Water.
Those users of these elements became so in tune with their natures that it created something that even now we don't fully understand, the origins, but what we do know is that it bestows on us power and the potential to become as strong as the original users themselves, which is something each origin user has wanted to achieve but has failed to do so. None of us have been able to reach our peak despite our various users.
Of course, even when possessing this magic, they couldn't live forever like the elves and their magic. So they each came together and installed a spell on each origin, a spell that allows the origin to be passed down. Sometimes, like in your case, it is bestowed upon a successor or, in other cases, stolen by another person or group.
Since the origin started being passed down, we have rarely ever been united; sometimes we've even fought each other on the battlefields of warring countries, and sometimes one of us turns against the others, but we've always survived and kept every origin safe, for the most part.
There have been multiple groups that have tried to kill the origin users, but we have managed to fend them off every time....except recently.
A group we've dubbed the Immortals has been hunting us.
As Adelia has told you, there have been three confirmed attacks, resulting in one of us being severely wounded, another being killed, and, as you know, a former origin holder being killed.
This group seems to have power similar to our own, and they never travel alone; they always work in groups, which, considering origin users typically stay alone, means we're easy pickings, so to speak.
This is where you come in, Alex. I want you to learn from me, join me in uniting the origin users once again, and also help me find other origin users. So what do you say?"
"Wait, wait, wait, I understand that there's a group hunting us and all, but you said you want to find other origin users, but Adelia said there was even another origin besides me in the capital; why didn't we also bring them?" Alex asked, confused.
"Oh, her...well, we have before, but she is a bit... temperamental." Percival explained.
"Temperamental?" Alex asked.
"Ah yes, you see, when I gave her this same speech, I believe her answer to me was, and Im quoting here, "go fuck yourself."" Percival said laughing.
"Well, she seems...interesting." Alex said, slightly laughing.
"That she is, and while her personality...could use some work, she is extremely powerful. Who knows, maybe you'll meet sometime in the future." Percival said.
"Great, so she can tell me to go fuck myself too. Got you." Alex laughed.
"Maybe, but back on topic, what is your answer, Alex?" Percival asked Alex.
"You're going to train me how to be stronger, right?" Alex asked.
"Yes, and we will succeed in doing so." Percival said.
This is what Alex wanted—to get stronger so he could help those he loved, no matter the cost.
"Good, I accept."
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