Hey, everything was black yet Anthony heard that sound.
Hey, it's time, today, it's time. What was it saying, Anthony couldn't quite make it out, not yet. It was a blur like the presence was being kept from him, but he didn't know why.
Hey! Can you hear me?! HEY!
"Hey! Anthony!" He heard, still stirring, everything was too bright.
"Wha–"
"ANTHONY!!" He jumped when he heard her behind him. With his eyes closed and focused on his breath, it's almost as if he was asking to be startled.
"Oh I'm sorry, what's up Eve?" It was his little sister, Evelyn, with whom he shared a room. She stood at the side of his bed, her head smothered in brown hair and her curious brown eyes barely peeking over the comforter. "Do you need something?"
"You need something! To get up!" She yelled.
"Okay, okay," he said with a hint of a giggle, as he sat up in bed and looked down at his sister. "I'm up, what's happening?"
"I don't know, I'm bored," she whined.
"Then maybe you shouldn't get up so early," he answered with a shrug of his shoulders. "If we were both still sleeping peacefully there would be no boredom to solve."
"You know!-"
"Yes I know, I know. How about we go get some breakfast, then we explore the woods for a bit? If you go to the coop and get some eggs I'll cook us up some eggs and sausage!" Anthony said with a warm smile, attempting to get the most out of his younger sister's early morning energy.
"Okay!" she answered, beaming as she hustled out of the room. Anthony knew his sister well enough to know what she wanted to hear.
As he rose from his bed he looked out his window just to get a good glimpse of the scenery before his morning was disrupted. He could see out of his little town, in his little life, the townspeople making their way to their jobs, the farmers coming into town to sell their harvest at the market. The guards fastened their armour and grabbed their spears as they gracefully received their assignments from his mother, the garrison commander Erin Vahleer.
He saw his father, the town healer Parker Vahleer, as he scuttled off to work. He looked out onto the vast landscape, an endless dirt road that led to nowhere, rows upon rows of wheat leading into the horizon, and the forest filled to the brim with fantastical things. Plenty of beautiful trees or fascinating little animals that eleven year old Anthony was sure to meet later that day.
All of those things were amazing, but Anthony saw them everyday: they weren't special. Special changes. Special stands out. Special is what makes the world go round.
Luckily Anthony didn't have to look very far to find special as he gazed out the window just into his own front yard. His older sister was outside, swinging her sword at the thick wooden training dummy, adding even more swordmarks to the thousands already tallied.
April Vahleer was fourteen years old, soon to turn fifteen, and it had already been five years since she awoke not only as a mage, but a dual element mage. She could already wield fire and water magic, and she was training as a swordsman mage with the help of their mother.
Everyone knew April was a prodigy and would soon be heading to the most prestigious magic school, the Varas Academy, at the end of the summer. He had heard his dad say how fortunate they were for the Vahleer's connection to the Lehmann's so April could get noticed for her talent. It's incredibly rare to be a dual wielder much less one so prodigious, but even despite that her fight would always be an uphill one due to their commoner status.
Anthony looked out the window at his sister with her shorter auburn hair, tied up in a ponytail to keep it out of the path of her broadsword as she swung at a training post and he smirked to himself in admiration. He could never help but do anything else when he watched her train, even if envy should've taken over his young mind.
April got all the attention, she was all mother cared about, his father sang her praises endlessly, but she deserved it, and frankly Anthony didn't even want it. But he did want to be like her, well maybe not like her exactly but to be as special, to be as great a warrior mage as he possibly could be. He yearned for it with every inch of his body, with every breath to his lungs, it seemed as if his heart pulsated with that hunger with every beat.
Sometimes it seemed overwhelming, even now, ba-bump ba-bump, his heart was screamed at him to grow stronger! Anthony looked down at his hand which he had clasped to his heart and closed his eyes. A few deep breaths and his heart beat quieted, but the desire it instilled in him had yet to silence.
As he heard Eve scuttling around outside their room he knew it was time to get up and fulfill his promises. Stretching out his arms along with a long yawn he finally climbed out of bed. In the main room Anthony made his way towards the door as he let out a yawn before he opened it and hollered "April! I'm gonna make some eggs and sausage for me and Eve, do you want some?!"
"Yeah!" April said, slouching her shoulders, letting her sword fall to her side. "Are you gonna need me to light the fire?!"
"Yes please!" Anthony answered with a smile continuing to hold the door open for her to come in.
"Thanks little dude," April said as she entered their house.
"You really wanna call the guy who's about to make your food little dude?"
"You're awfully snappy, do you want to be threatening me before I light the fire you need to cook your food too?" She said with a smile.
"It's just more convenient this way, I could totally do it by myself if I needed to."
"Really Anthony? Well why don't you give it a try," she said, excited for a chance her little brother could manifest the same flames she does. Anthony tentatively stepped forward to the oven that April crouched in front of and took April's hand as she reached for his. "Alright, just stick out your hand like this point it at the wood, then feel the mana moving through you, gather it in your hand, and say 'ignite.'"
Anthony closed his eyes trying to search for the mana within him and attempted to gather it. He could sense some mystical particle within him, a powerful energy that seemed otherworldly compared to the rest of him. It had its own wild flow through his body, seemingly coming from his chest coursing through him and outwards with no direction.
Like he had attempted many times before out of his own curiosity he tried to wield that flow, guide it, enclose it within himself. He then tried to guide it, willing the mana to move towards his hand. After he had finally successfully gathered it all there he chanted "Ignite!" but only silence, "Ignite! Ignite!" he looked at his hand with dismay. He could feel the mana in his palm, yet there was no extra warmth. There were no sparks in the formation of logs before him, just silence.
"Oh it's okay Ant, any day now" April said as she moved her hand to point towards the wood in the oven. Then as if it was nothing she chanted "Ignite" and flames poured out of her fingers and onto the wood, and all of the sudden it was ablaze and breakfast could be cooked. "Hey we're lucky you somehow have some amazing cooking talent, it's not like I could cook the way you can when I was twelve."
"I'm not twelve for a few more days."
"Oh so you're counting em down now, just get started on dinner." She said as she ruffled Anthony's scruffy dark black hair with a small grin. Then retreating to a chair to lay back in and close her eyes to recover from her training outside she heard,
"April, what if I'm just not a fire mage?"
` "Entirely possible, I mean Vahleers are usually known to be healers, there are only seven better healers than dad in the Empire and one of them is our aunt." She said as she lowered her head to meet Anthony's eyes seeing the slight look of disappointment on his face. "But that's not what I see for you, to be honest you really strike me as a warrior."
"Really?!" Anthony exclaimed with possible excitement.
"Yeah, and ya know carrying on the family legacy really feels like an Eve job doesn't it" April said as the two both looked over to Eve playing with her feet as if they were talking to each other and then they both laughed.
"Alright I'm gonna get started on the eggs," Anthony declared, rushing back to his cooking duties.
"Remember the sausage and can you get me a towel so I can wipe the sweat off?!" April yelled as Anthony skipped towards the oven.
"Get it yourself you lazy bum!" He yelled back, to which April laughed.
—
After breakfast, as April returned to her training and duties for the day, Anthony found himself completely free to do whatever he wanted, given that he took Evelyn along with him and kept her out of trouble. The forest they spent every second of waking freedom exploring was, at least to them, filled to the brim with plenty of majestic wonders.
Magic there ran more wild in nature than the kind in the village. In the streams, in the trees, he was once told magic came from life, and what place was more full of life than the forest. The plants, the animals, the fish in the streams, even the rare small docile mana beast will allow him to observe from afar.
While this may have been a time to express his curiosity, for Evelyn, it was just free range to play as would be natural for an eight year old. She always returned home with at least a scratch if not more. Anthony would be scorned, but never too much.
"Don't stray too far!" Anthony yelled to Evelyn, but she ran off as soon as they breached the forests.
"Okay!" She yelled gleefully as she hopped skipped and continued to stray too far, but what could be done. Anthony just chuckled to himself as he gazed upon the vast forest; his eyes fell upon a familiar creek.
He began to walk up towards the river calmly, but he stopped in his tracks once he discovered a bird drinking at the creek bed. It was a larger bird, not anywhere near the size of an eagle but still bigger than a pigeon. The bird was covered from head to toe in bright blue feathers except for the area around its eyes which was clad in white. When it noticed Anthony gazing towards it, it met his eyes but it did not falter.
Anthony was even more curious now, something seemed ever so peculiar about it, its presence entirely different from a normal bird. He took one careful, slow step forward in a cautious approach, crouched as if to not arouse suspicion.
But the bird immediately spotted him and quickly responded, opening its mouth and firing a quick stern shot of water right at Anthony's face, knocking him over. Anthony spat and rubbed his eyes as he quickly regathered himself. But when he looked up the bird had vanished, likely flown far away.
"A mana beast huh?" said a voice Anthony heard from behind. It seemed someone had come up on him while he was focused on the bird. "How does it feel to be hit with a water spell, Ant?"
"I can't say it feels fantastic," Anthony said with a sarcastic grunt as he organized himself to meet the eyes of his father. He stood above Anthony, hands on his hips, looking down at his son with a slight grin on his face.
Recognizing the look of surprise on Anthony, his father preemptively answered "I had a big break on the research I've been working on for so long, so I thought I might take a little break to come out and spend some time with you and Evelyn," he said cheerfully. He searched around for his youngest daughter with no success then laughed a hearty laugh. "It looks like I'll have a hard time getting a bit of time with though Eve huh?"
"We'll find her when she falls down and starts crying just like every other day." Anthony grumbled as he plopped down on the soft grass.
"Such is the price of being a free spirit, wouldn't it be fun just to run around everyday?." Anthony's father replied, ever lighthearted.
"You know you could too?"
"I'm not quite so sure about that," he chuckled as he took a seat down next to his son. "Anyway, so what did you see out here with the mana beast?"
"What do you mean?" Anthony responded, not fully processing the question.
"Come on, think, it felt different didn't it? Like its presence altogether seemed unnatural, mystical?" Anthony's father said with a knowing grin, trying to walk Anthony towards an answer.
"Huh?! You're right!" Anthony said, startled, as his father finally beckoned his full attention. "I could tell, I could feel it, it had like an aura around it."
Anthony's father smiled at him and chuckled a bit before looking forward towards the forest. "Your mother is enamored with your sister's magic, fire and water. By talent alone, April will probably even master ice and lightning magic as well. It's incredibly rare to find a dual core element mage with that much talent as your sister."
"Yeah, yeah. April's the best, I get it," he answered, following it up with a short blown raspberry.
"Wait, hold on a second, you didn't let me finish. Your mom and you are right: April is extremely talented. But your mother has always been a warrior since we were younger in our own imperial squad serving under the Queen directly. Were we the greatest warriors and mages of our time? Nowhere close. We were only like the fifteenth best squad but we had our merits and got to travel a lot-
"Wait where was I going with this? — oh yes, your mother was and is a great warrior and I'm just a healer, but just based off skill with magic itself, I do have a bit of a leg up on her. I can sense that you have just as much talent as your sister, your magic is just a little different, more special than hers."
"More special than a dual element mage?" Anthony beckoned, now he was curious.
"It's hard to describe but yes, I think so, the magic that flows inside you is so distinct that neither your mother or sister can sense it at all, but I can sense it, and I know you can feel it's presence too. I bet you can even manipulate the surprisingly large amount of mana within you, probably have been able to for a while. If you wanted to you could be a fantastic mage one day."
"Really?"
"Yes indeed, at least I fully believe in it. I mean you have a magic within that's entirely unique to you, at least as far as I know."
"As far as you know?" Anthony said, his face riddled with skepticism. "Wait, if no one else has this magic how am I going to become a great mage myself are there even spells for me to learn?!"
"You're right, it will be difficult but luckily spells are not the end all be all of magic," Anthony's father declared.
"Wait, really, what do you mean now?" Anthony asked from his father.
"Uhhh, spells are weird, they're more like writing down a complicated equation ahead of time, then choosing a variable to represent that equation to get the solution. Mages learn the equation and use it through the variable, that's what spells are but spells still need to be made in the first place, so how did they get made?" Anthony's father declared, waving his arms around in indiscriminate patterns like an academic madman.
Only once he turned and met eyes with Anthony and asking, "Do you get it?" did it became clear to him the academic magical theory natural of a seasoned mage had gone over the eleven year old's head.
"Okay, so it's like spells make it easier to do complicated magic on demand, but magic really only requires good mana control, sense, and imagination."
"So I don't need spells?!" Anthony said, finally getting it as his amazement set in.
"Yes, if you work hard you can do great things without spells. I mean me, your sister, and your mother, can do simple magic without spells. Your sister might be able to do more complicated stuff without spells one day too."
"All I need to do is work hard? That I think I can do" Anthony said with determination.
"Really?" Anthony's father smiled, "You know you don't have to, being born with each specific magic makes it feel like our futures are predestined but you don't have to be a warrior-mage or even a mage at all. I'm a healer but I use science so —"
"No!" Anthony interrupted, "I want to, I want to so bad."
"Well, well, it seems like you take after your sister, you got a bit of that hunger in you." He chuckled as he met Anthony's determined eyes and proceeded to get up to return to his work. "I tell you what, I have to get back to my research but how about you think on what we talked about, maybe explore your mana a bit and we'll work on it together later?"
"You promise?"
"Of course!" Anthony's father said already turning around to leave. "I mean I'll always be here."
"Okay! Thanks! Bye dad." Anthony said as he was already turning around with excitement to work on his new ideas of magic. He didn't even watch his father walk off.
"Yep, see you at dinner Anthony." his father said as he turned around to leave. "Make sure your sister gets back."
Anthony didn't even respond; he was already engrossed in himself, focussed on figuring out the way to use the energy inside him. He sat there for what felt like hours, simply observing the flow of energy inside him, not even necessarily trying to control it. Feeling the way it moved — the way it interacted with his body. He even compared it to the magic he observed around him the way it flowed and engaged with its surroundings.
He began to try to control his mana, to guide it, he noticed that not every flow of mana within him felt the same, his mana wasn't consistent. Sometimes he felt a pulling sensation, and sometimes the mana felt like it wanted to push the air around him.
He kept his eyes closed but he started to project his magic onto the world around him. He sense his surroundings, he could see everything — every pebble, every speck of dust — in a certain span around him, all without opening his eyes.
He found a rock, around three feet, four inches to the right of him and tried to apply his mana, the type that pushed and pulled. The rock wobbled back and forth tentatively as if it was considering the small pilgrimage Anthony was forcing upon it. It began to float, ever so slightly.
As Anthony's mana surrounded it he got more ambitious, pulling it off the ground, thrusting it forward pushing it any way he wanted. Anthony could move the rock! He could lift it! A smile spread to the edges of his face as he whipped the rock from his left to his right. This was magic! This was his magic!
He laughed out loud, finally dropping the rock as the overwhelming joy had stolen his focus. But he didn't care, he barely even noticed, because finally he could use magic! Then suddenly an odd smell entered his nose. A disgusting smell-