years later
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, IGRIS!" Everyone shouted.
I was sitting down in the middle of the table with my father, mother, and Stella.
Asuna wasn't able to come home that much anymore after she started school, but she still makes sure to tell me happy birthday over Communication Crystal.
These past years have flown by, but I did enjoy being a baby since it did have its very own perks while being a baby was nice having more control over my body, and being able to expand my knowledge.
This world has something called "ruins," ruins are places scattered around the world there being said to be a innumerous amount of ruins, this mostly springs from that fact that some ruins contain beasts that are way too powerful to ponder with, ruins are known for their beasts filled corner to corner with beasts whose only meaning to life is to eat and consume others.
They have no morals, if it came down to a point where the mother would starve to death the mother would eat their own children to survive and likewise for any other member of the family, but there have been cases where beasts have seemed, "intelligent" but most were mindless creatures that relied on brute force, in a way—everyone singing happy birthday to me snapped me out of my string of thought.
Mother came to me and gave me a kiss on my cheek. Then a warm-hearted hug, "I love you, Igris." her voice was sincere, "I love you too, Mom." returning the hug that she gave me, "Come here, Igris. Daddy has a present for you." "Yes, Father." In his hands were what looked like a blade wrapped up in paper.
"What is that?" I acted oblivious even though anyone could obviously make out what it was, "It's a sword that I crafted with my bare hands; it's meant for you when you have finished your training, but you haven't awakened yet."
I sighed mentally, I've yet to awaken, it's looking like I'm going to be a late bloomer… I hope so. Since I haven't awakened I decided to read about, "awakenings," a phenomenon known as "awakenings" is when someone's power from within is drawn out at a random moment. No one knows what causes these awakenings to occur at random moments, but they know the normal ages. An awakening usually happens between ages four and six. Some awakenings cause only small casualties, while others can scale up to the size of a large mountain. Some even argue that the greater the casualty, the more power one can wield. But me… Nope, I'm a rare case of when someone doesn't awaken in the ages four-six, they either awaken late or don't awaken at all. I'm REALLY hoping that isn't the case for me.
"Thank you for the gift, Father. No matter how late I awaken, I will strive to become the best and the strongest in this whole world." I wasn't like my sister, who awakened at an early age—the age of four—and father and mother say her awakening was so powerful it could have blown the whole house away in an instant.
He then proceeds to put his hand on my head and mess up my hair putting on a big grin on his face. "That's my Igris. The most fearless man in this world is right behind me, of course, your dad is the toughest man that's out there."
"Father, when will I be able to start my training?"
"Igris, as soon as you awaken, I will train you." I've heard this plenty of times from him, but it saddens me: 'Will I ever awaken?' I've probably asked myself this over a million times by now, and sadly, I'm not joking. Over these past years, I've trained my body a lot without the knowledge of my parents, though they would probably help. I insist on doing this alone because I want to be able to surprise my father with my skills and not be looked down upon, though Father would never do that. . . Would that barbarian of a man do that? Nope, he's too caring; I love that about him.
My mother then came over.
"Come on, let's go eat!" Welp, It's time to eat!
"Master Igris, congratulations on your 7th birthday; it has been lovely watching you grow up. I love you. Make sure to become big and strong for me."
"I will Stella, also you can drop the, 'master' part, just call me 'Iggy.'"
"No, no—" Stella said, waving her hands frantically as if she did something wrong, "I insist we're all family here, no need to be so formal." I then gave her a big hug, I can tell she was hesitant, not about hugging me, but dropping the so-called formals. After about a second she accepted the hug, squeezing me tight. Yeah, this should've been said a long time ago, it doesn't feel right being called "master" by someone, especially someone I think of as my family.
We then sat down at the table and ate together, and looking back, I don't really get to see Asuna that often.
But that's because she goes to school, so I don't really mind.
…..
Several hours had passed, and it had started to get dark outside.
So I chose to go take a bath and get ready for bed.
I ran the bath water and sat down on the stool as the water slowly filled the tub.
I wonder why I still haven't awakened. I mean, I am a year late; I don't really understand. Is there a certain criteria you must meet to be able to awaken?
I let out a big sigh before I decided to leap into the tub splashing the water all over the floor, "Oopsie," I muttered underneath my breath.
Laying in water really gives you a peace from the mind, it's as if your mind, and body had entered a different realm. I've been studying lots of things over these past years as I've waited for my day of awakening, even coming to terms on learning the basic magic elements: fire, wind, water, and earth. Which they are overall cliche, until I began reading deeper into the books seeing that every element has a unique twist to it, i'd say, yet still its basics.
Fire
Wind
Water
Earth
These are just the basic forms of the four elements, though there are still many more. In order to learn other elements, you must learn at least one of the basic fundamentals of its respective counterpart. For example, someone who specializes in water would be able to use the ice element. I straightened my back up and noticed my body had begun to sink into the water. Each element houses its own unique counterparts, some even unique to a single individual.
For my sister, it seems like she specializes in wind; at least from what I remember, those spears that protected her looked to be some sort of creation from wind, but that wouldn't make sense for her to be able to do that at the mere age of four, or was she able to condense the mana around her into those spears? That's the only plausible reason I can think of, even though it takes a lot of talent. One day, I might ask her how she did it.
BOOM!