It was a few days after their little beach excursion, and while Kael had learned some things, opening the door wasn't one of them. Even Malakar just shrugged his shoulders saying he hadn't a clue how to open the door as he'd never heard of anyone encountering them before. They were old magic, thought to be lost to time. Still, his venture hadn't been fruitless- Kael now knew that the mage who once lived here helped to found their nation following a great war- his name was Lyze Axare. Not much was known about him other than the story of his being here, that he'd carved out the area of forest next to the Vale and the rune sea as his own plot of land. That he kept away birds and beasts that didn't belong and one day, vanished. Then, Ashwood sprang up around his old home.
Its thought that his enchantments still protect the village to this day, keeping the monsters on the other side of the Vale mountain range at bay. Kael knew that to be a falsehood, now. Either those enchantments were long gone or they are in the process of fading and will have fizzled by the time of the invasion. The book mentioned his vault, assumed to be somewhere near Ashwood and popularly thought to be either in the mountains themselves or along the coast line- and he felt that it was likely what was beyond those doors. That was the extent of what the book could offer him. He knew there were many other tales there that might fetch his fancy but they would have to wait.
"Are we regretting our decision to trust children?" Malakar asked, quite bemused by todays events.
Andre's mother was at the door with her son standing behind her, the boys' eyes focused on the ground and clearly bashful and contrite. Kael was glaring at his head, just a little ticked. A few days. The boy barely lasted a few days before spilling his guts about what happened on the beach.
"Andre claimed he used magic. I didn't want such a rumor to spread through the village and cause thoughts of you and your family to sink lower for the lies of my son....or worse, for some passerby to hear of it and hurt your family without reason."
His mother, Petra, furrowed her brow and turned to look at Kael, who gave a nervous smile and put his hand behind his head, scratching the back of his scalp sheepishly. Andre for his part, mumbled something to which his mother turned back to him, scowling.
"What was that? Speak up, Andre."
Andre looked up and shouted.
"IT'S NOT A LIE! HE CAN DO MAGIC! I SAW!"
Kael felt a sinking in his gut. At this rate, he wasn't going to be able to keep his secret any longer. Mal had done what he could, teaching Kael how to store Aether in his body but it was a pittance, according to the demon king. Kael wasn't going to be able to fight off too many people if they came to steal him away for their own means. Rather than wait for him to prove it, he cleared his throat.
"Sorry but....Andre, if that were true...and I'm not saying it is but if it were, I wouldn't want to admit to it anyway kuz other people might get jealous or angry and try to hurt me. So I'd probably want to keep it a secret, even if I could do magic. I'd also hate to be stolen by a noble or some crazy wizard guy...."
Andre seemed a little taken aback by how mature Kael handled the interaction, but Kael tried to put on his best thoughtful face, treating the interaction almost like a game. Andre turned his eyes to the ground and said- "I...I'm sorry." Before he turned and ran off back down the road. His mother sighed, watching him run for a moment before looking at Petra and rolling her eyes. "His brother was teasing him and he just.... Anyway...I'm sorry for the stories he's telling- hopefully nobody will take them too seriously but I still thought you should know." Petra smiled and waved it off. "No harm done. He's just a child, it'll be fine." As she closed the door, she turned back to Kael and folded her arms, watching him and cocking his brow.
"Kael."
"....yes mother?"
She stared hard, knowing something was amiss. His mother was brilliant, and easily able to figure out his antics. Hiding things from his father was a piece of cake- the man was smart in his own right but didn't have the level of cunning his mother did.
"Can you do magic?"
Kael didn't answer for a moment as he tried to think it out. "Didn't learn your lesson, eh? Gonna spill the beans to someone else?" Kael thought it was stupid too. But...a huge part of him felt agony at just the idea of lying to his mother. He clasped his hands behind his back and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, opening them and looking up at her. He was prepared- he had the perfect story that would sweep all of this under the rug.
"Yes mother, I can."
Fuck.
He couldn't do it. He had seen what happens to his mother, his father, his sister. He could see them now, with his waking eyes. He pushed the images out of his mind and damned them to the forgotten past. He hated being reminded of his failure to protect those he held most dear. Now, here they were, staring at one another. He'd never lied to any of them before. Yes, he was an adult in the mind and was capable of lying but he didn't want to have that kind of relationship with his family and if he couldn't trust his mother, who could he trust? He could still remember the first time he'd told a falsehood. He'd gotten a spanking, and then his mother had sat him down and explained the danger of lies. What could come from them. They'd shook pinky's on a promise never to lie to one another again.
Even now, he just couldn't break it. Not to her, not after he couldn't save them.
Plus he....just didn't want to.
She watched him a moment, chewing her lip. Part of her wanted it to be a lie but...her son hadn't lied since he was six.
"Show me."
He searched her eyes, trying to get some idea of what she was thinking. Perhaps, if he used magic, he could find out- he'd never tried reading minds before. If he tried it now, though...that would mean violating her privacy in a way he didn't want to be known for. So he just took a very large, deep breath and brought out a hand.
He performed the same spell for her that he did for Andre and Youichi- a ball of flame FWOOSHed into being above his palm...about twice the size as last time. His pupils dilated a little- now that was unexpected. Just the few days of training had already done this? He connected with Malakar, who's only response to the change was a smug satisfaction. He could almost hear him saying "That's right you little shit, look at how amazing I am." His mother, meanwhile, had slightly widened eyes and parted lips. But only just- and for having just seen her son do Magic for the first time, she was handling it rather well. Moving over toward him quickly, she put her hand under his and nodded.
"Okay, okay, put it out quickly now."
He did, quite curious at her reaction. She was speaking softly, and after the flame was snuffed seemed to look around at each of the windows, waiting to see if someone was looking inside. After concluding they were safe, she blinked and held up a finger.
"You wait here."
He tilted his head a little in curiosity but nodded, Petra standing and moving quickly out the back door. Heading over to the window, he watched her speed walk up the hill toward his fathers mill. Oh...she was going to get father. That was proven just a moment later as she came marching back down with her hand clasped on his fathers forearm. Once inside, Jack seemed slightly exasperated but just watched as Petra closed the curtains and gestured at Kael.
"Show him."
"Show me what-?"
Kael blinked, but nodded and lit the flame again. His father just went silent and stared for several seconds, mouth opening in shock before Petra waved Kael down, intent to stop him before the show started attracting visitors.
"He's...he's a mage. Our boy is a..." Jack couldn't seem to get a clear thought out, so shocked he was. Petra stepped forward to. "Yeah and at ten years old too. Nobody starts that young. He did silent casting too- mages study for decades to learn that! What if...what if someone finds out and they tell the Duke? Or worse, the royal house? He'd be whisked away to be poked and prodded and studied, so they could replicate his early success." She seemed quite calm for the fearful things she was talking about. Jack finally closed his mouth and swallowed then held up a hand to Petra, who slowly sat down in the chair and clasped both hands in front of her, watching Jack. His father came over and took a knee in front of Kael.
"Son....how long have you been able to do this?"
Kael blinked, looking between him and his mother. At this point, he'd already shown what he can do. Best be honest.
"I...don't really know. I just started trying about a week or so ago."
Of course, he'd been doing it for a lot longer than that if you included his former future but he didn't want to tell them that and as long as they were talking about the him here and now, he wasn't lying. Telling them about the future could have terrible repercussions. On that, he and Malakar agreed. He felt it would scare them far more than this.
Jack nodded.
"Alright then." He looked over at Petra. "We need to find him a tutor. I read that children who discover magic early are prone to be much more gifted in magic than the average mage, but they also run the risk of Aetheric madness. Driven to insanity by their power. If we find him a tutor who is willing to work with us and who claims him as their apprentice then the SOM's will protect them. Even royalty doesn't stick their nose in SOM's business. They can also keep him from using too much Aether and getting sick."
It was a good idea. SOM's was the "Society of Mages". Every mage that wanted to live a relatively care free life became a member. They were sort of their own country- they had a leader called the Grand Magus, who sat on the continental council of ruling classes with the Emperors and Kings. Because every mage belonged to their organization, attacking one meant you were attacking them all. They might pull all mages from your country and, in some cases, have been known to fight back leading to wars that devastated whole kingdoms. Of course, people were smarter now- there hadn't been a war like that in many, many years as the outcome was always a lose/lose. His father was right, but Kael was woe to learn under the thumb of a stranger...especially while trying to figure out the door down at the beach. Malakar spoke up.
"He's got a point...plus...we're literally nowhere with the gate of Lyze and you are pitifully weak. We need help and room to grow- lets press pause on this gate business and get strong. We can always come back."
Kael mulled that over- if he was gone, he couldn't protect the village. But it was several years until the invasion and his family hadn't undergone any issues in his past life. Perhaps, for a while, studying with another may be what was required of him. He conceded the point.
"Yes father."
Jack nodded and stood, looking back at Petra.
"I'll close the mill for a week." He said. "I'll take Kael to some well known magicians and see what they think. Perhaps one of them will have some insight into next steps if they're unwilling to sign him on."
Kael cleared his throat.
"Andre mentioned someone on the beach yesterday. Said they were really young when they did magic too. It was...um..."
Jack raised a brow, putting a hand on his hip. Kael pretended to think for a moment before snapping his fingers as though it just came to him.
"Lirael. He said her name was Lirael."