Thorus's tournament was set for eleven months from now, but the weight of it already loomed heavily over our household. I had never seen him so worried, pacing from one corner of the room to the other, his brow furrowed in deep thought. The next day, my mother, Anne, took me with her to the storeroom. She was busy folding clothes and preparing for the coming winter.
"Mother," I asked, "what would happen if Father became the chief?"
With a soft smile, she replied, "He would be one of the most important people in the kingdom."
Curious, I asked, "But aren't chiefs more like workers of the kingdom?"
She turned around, chuckling, and playfully pulled my nose. "Your father would be more like the king of Ura village. He will have men loyal to him," she said, giving me a reassuring pat.
Then she called for a servant, asking for the chief's gift. A maid brought the red crystal sphere on a pillow. My mother placed her hands over it, whispering, "Oh, all magic spirits. Please hear me." But nothing happened, and she sighed, "Welp, I think I'm not chosen either."
She placed the red crystal in the locker below, within my reach. Just then, Thorus called from another room, "Honeyy! Where are my undergarments?" Mother rolled her eyes, muttering, "I wonder how he survives without me on his adventures," and hurried to the door.
"Leaving me, well, that's nice," I said aloud. But she quickly poked her head back in, "Oh my, I forgot to close the door. Don't want my preciousness getting hurt." She shut the door and went off again, shouting, "I told you, check in the racks!"
I sat there, speechless, but my curiosity about the red crystal was only growing. I tried to open the locker but couldn't muster the strength. So, I did what any four-year-old with a mind like mine would do and I stared at it for an hour, hoping something would change. Eventually, I distracted myself with a book about magic from the shelves.
The section I was reading was about distant magic. Magic that could be summoned near an enemy. It explained that aura could be shaped into various forms and placed further away but required time. For example, aura could be shaped into thread-like lines and inserted inside objects or enemies. It mentioned that you could, theoretically, explode something from the inside if the enemy's aura was 100 times weaker than yours.
But this was impossible for humans since the highest aura difference between people was about 15. Sir Graham Murray—Dianne's father, the red-haired girl from yesterday—had an aura difference of 14 from an average mage.
The book continued, explaining that while using magic inside humans was almost impossible, it could be done on objects and insects, as they had little to no aura.
Objects? I thought to myself. Isn't a locker an object?
Excited, I realized all I had to do was use the principles of the magic I was learning on the locker. But how? I couldn't use flame magic. I didn't want to burn the whole thing down.
Suddenly, I remembered my past life as an engineer, specifically my work on the Zenit-2M rocket back in 1969. During that time, I had to manage the heat of the RS-25 engine. To do that, we had some theories. One was to create a torus-shaped flame that spun rapidly, and we cooled it using wind. Since I don't have to worry about the shape of the container and its heat management. Maybe I could apply the same principle here!
The locker had cracks, which meant it could easily vent heat, and if I rapidly expanded the gasses inside, I could create a small shockwave to open it. Or, I thought, I could just fill the locker with wind and create a small tornado to force it open.
"Ahh, Sebastian," I muttered to myself. "You always overcomplicate things. I can't blame myself, though. I'm an engineer, after all."
I decided to simplify it. I imagined my aura like a thin thread and directed it into the locker. I heated the air inside, causing it to move in a linear motion, creating a small artificial tornado inside the confined space. At first, the locker door moved slightly, and then—bam—it swung open, and the red crystal rolled out.
"Yes!" I shouted, celebrating my small victory.
I kept my hands over the crystal, closed my eyes, and visualized my aura engulfing it as I recited, "Oh, all magic spirits. Please hear me." I waited for something. Anything? but the truth was, I felt nothing. Guess I'm not the chosen one either, I thought. But what did it even mean to be the chosen one, anyway?
Just as I was lost in thought, the door suddenly flew open. Bam! My mother stood there. "Oh, Ales, I bought some fruit hogs for you," she said, her voice trailing off as her eyes shifted toward the open locker. Her face changed, and she yelled, "Ales, turn around!"
I quickly turned, trying to hide the evidence of my mischief. I had already slipped the blue crystal into my mouth. She approached, her suspicion obvious. "Open your mouth," she commanded. I panicked and, without thinking, swallowed the crystal whole.
I opened my mouth to show her nothing was there. "Oh, I thought you had..." She continued talking, but her voice started to fade. I couldn't hear her. My vision blurred, and suddenly, the room began to spin. My body felt light, and before I knew it, I collapsed.
When I opened my eyes again, I wasn't in control of my body. What's happening? I floated above the ground, weightless. I could see my mother standing by the door, her face a mixture of shock and concern. Lightning crackled in the air, flashes of energy illuminating the space. I don't kno… My thoughts faded as dizziness overcame me again, and the world around me went dark.