Kick-Start

  “He awakened!?”

  Vreena blurted the words out unconsciously, her mouth agape and her eyes still quivering with shock. She took a few steps back unconsciously, staring at me with a look of utter confusion. Owen was also having a hard time processing that bit of information but given the abhorrent display of shock Vreena was putting on right, his reaction seemed far tamer in comparison.

  “Eheh-heh, We’re honestly just as surprised as you two, I mean, even I didn’t awaken until I was eight years old.” Julia chuckled lightly, placing a hand to her cheek. Though she was being humble about it, I could tell that she was in fact feeling relentless pride in my recent achievement.

  “Your awakening huh? And just how long ago was that exactly?” Vreena sarcastically remarked.

  “It has been quite some time since then, if I’m remembering correctly, you probably weren’t even born yet.”

  “And they say I’m old.” the elder scoffed

  “Well, I’m still a maiden at heart~”

  Julia spoke those words rather carelessly so I couldn’t even tell if she was being serious or not.

  “Hah-Hah! Well, whatever the case, its undeniable that our son here is a prodigy, I mean he can already read so I suppose this is just a natural step up from there.” Oliver once again began relentlessly ruffling my hair, unlike Julia he had no intention of feigning humility, his broad grin and vigorous tone was all the proof one needed to see.

  “Still, that’s quite a bit of mana you’ve got there Liam, when I felt that surge of power coming from over here I thought there was some sort of epic duel underway.” Finally coming to terms with the situation, the elder stooped to meet my eye level before lightly pinching my cheek. “Well done kid, now you get to finally be like your parents, though it's a little earlier than planned.”

  “Father, will you teach me how to use magic now?” I directed that clueless question to the man smiling proudly beside me.

  “Hmph, you’ve got spirit Liam. I wasn’t expecting to start your training so soon but seeing as you’re a mage now, there’s no reason for us not to get started, right Julia?”

  “I suppose so. You can start training tomorrow but just remember to take it easy on him, he hasn’t even been a mage for a day yet.”

  “I know, it’ll take a while, but it's time to start whipping you into shape kiddo. Are you ready?”

  “Yeah I am!”

  “Just what I wanted to hear, you’ve got a lot to learn you know, you’re leaking way too much mana right now.” He stuck a finger to my chest with a smug grin, I hadn’t realized it before but the mana circulating through my body had been subtly leaking out this entire time. The rampaging inferno from earlier was starting to dissipate into nothing more than a tender blaze. The more my surge of power dwindled, the more I felt the claws of lethargy tightening its grip on my mind.

  Oliver wasn’t wrong about me needing better control, I was never versed in the art of magic, in fact, this was my first time experiencing it so my control at the moment really wasn’t much better than a four-year-olds.

  Refining my core and controlling my mana were clearly two different things, before my awakening, all the mana in my entire body was concentrated into my ‘core’ but now that it was flowing through my mana channels and was fully distributed throughout my body, it felt like the floodgates to my power finally bust open.

  After a few seconds of sharpening my focus, I was able to somewhat halt the rapid depletion of my mana but this was a far cry from a perfect solution, it could barely even be called a stopgap measure.

  “Ohh, looks like you’re catching on, as expected of my son. You still need a lot of work but for now, just try to suppress it as best as you can.”

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  “Su...press?”

  This was one of the very few times where Oliver’s succinct explanations just wouldn’t cut it.

  Taking note of my confusion, Oliver’s features mirrored my perplexity. He folded his arms in a pondering gesture, intending to make the concept easier for me to process. The fact that I even had to resort to such a tactic in the first place filled me with nothing but shame, but as the humans used to say, ‘desperate times called for desperate measures.’

  “I guess you can’t keep up with all your father’s magic gibberish just yet Liam. What he means is that you should close your eyes and focus on collecting all the bright lights in your body into one place.” Julia replied contently, sporting an amused look on her face. Just like Vreena had done earlier, she kneeled to my level and stuck a finger to my stomach.

  “When you see the bright lights in your mind, try collecting them here.”

  “Okay, I’ll try...”

  Abiding by her directive, the moment I began directing the mana in my body towards my core, the lethargic feeling growing more evident in my mind began to fade.

  “There, see it wasn’t that hard right?” I couldn't tell if it was because of her voice or that fact that I was looking directly at her, but something about her words seemed oddly compelling.

  “It wasn't hard at all, thanks mother.”

  “Fufu you’re very welcome.”

  Rising to her feet, Julia glanced back at Oliver with a triumphant look in her eyes, she flashed him a bold ‘thumbs up’ as if to say, ‘that’s how its done.’

  The man’s shoulders drooped in response. Being bested by Julia seemed to have caught him completely off guard. “Y-you really did make it easier for him to understand...”

  Those mumbling words escaped Oliver’s lips, inciting laughter from the people now gathered around me.

  “He’s going to learn things from you a lot faster when he grows up, but for now, I’m in the lead~” Those words were coated in a thick veil of sarcasm, smiling in resignation Oliver could do nothing else but accept his defeat.

  “Heh, you’ve got a wonderful family here Oliver. This is the first time I've ever heard of any child awakening at such a young age, well done little one.” Owen, who had been frozen in a state of shock up until now sent a subtle gesture of approval my way.

  “It's good to hear even a little good news considering the situation right now. By the way, what kind of mage is he? I doubt a child so extraordinary would end up being a regular savant, so I’m guessing he belongs somewhere along the lines of a radical or maybe even a dualist?”

  “Oh! That’s right, we haven’t checked his affinity yet, but I don’t think you’re very far off the mark.”

  “Savant....radical? Mother what are those?” Tugging on the hem of Julia’s clothes, I timidly asked the innocent question. From where I was standing, I heard Oliver’s dejected voice mutter something along the lines of ‘So you're automatically just going to her with you questions now huh.” But I decided to ignore that. My ‘parents’ had this strange fascination with trying to show off their level of competence, but none of that ever really mattered to me. Just getting the correct answers to my questions was enough to sate my curiosity, I didn’t actually care who they came from.

  “Savants and radicals are just different kinds of mages, the magic you get will depend on what kind of mage you are.”

  “What’s different about them? Can you show me?”

  The four of them froze for a few seconds, but in that looming silence I heard Vreena heave a sigh before placing a hand over her face. “I wasn’t expecting you to ask something like that Liam, but then again, I can’t blame you. Let’s just hope these two idiots don’t take this too far.”

  “Our house has already been banged up quite a bit, so I doubt things could get any worse than this. Come on Liam, let’s step back a little.” Julia clasped my hand in hers, taking the lead as she pulled me back from the atmosphere being filled with a palpable tension.

  Looking back, I saw both Owen and Oliver mirroring the mischievous expressions on their faces. For some reason, the moment I asked for a demonstration their expressions instantly warped into ones of eager anticipation.

  “Heh - hear that, Oliver? Your son wants a demonstration, so how about a light spar to commemorate his awakening as a mage?” Owen stepped forward, sharpening the battle hungry gleam in his eyes. It didn’t take much for me to realize that he was itching for a fight. This must have been what Vreena and Julia were sulking about, they probably didn’t want them getting carried away and destroying something else in the process, but to me this was the perfect opportunity to observe mages up close rather than through the pages of some dusty old tome.

  “That's some confidence you’ve got there. Very well, I’m in a good mood right now so there’s no harm in me putting on a show for my son. Show me what you’ve got.” Adjusting his glasses, Oliver steadied his hulking frame, clearly undeterred by the presence of the opponent before him.

  Responding to his gesture in kind, Owen did a few stretching motions before adjusting the metal bracers on his arms. There wasn’t a sliver of hesitation emanating from either of them, in fact it almost seemed like they were being giddy about this. Locking eyes, the two men armed themselves, steadying their breathing for the literal clash of magic vs might that was about to unfold.