<- Go back to Fiction Works Originally written from December 19, 2025 to January 2, 2026, 10 daysChapter 1 - Restart
Settling down on a chair, John watched the seagulls eddying above. “What is it that I was?” He wrested his cane and knocked it along the sidewalk. The two men sitting beside him quietly nodded, staring into the road.
John laughed weakly. “At one point, I was. But things changed, and I couldn’t adapt to the changes, couldn’t make sense of it…” His voice trailed off. “I should’ve. I should’ve…”
“What?” said Mark, one of the two men seated next to him.
“I don’t know,” John said. “I barely get it. It barely…” He waved his hands, trying to find the word. “I barely get it. It barely… you know… occurs to me in a sense that like, it’s supposed to make sense. Because it doesn’t!” He slammed the cane against the ground. “I should’ve…”
“Yeah,” said Matthew, the other man seated next to him. “That’s… that’s life, you know?”
“Yeah… I guess…” John sunk in his chair.
“What defines a person?” he continued, raising his hand lamely, holding it up over the faded moon hanging in the afternoon sky. “I have no clue.”
The two men beside him kept quiet, adjusting themselves in their seats. “It is a matter of patience,” said Mark.
“Patience? What, what do you mean?” John glanced at each of the two.
“Well, that’s the thing, isn’t it?” Mark straightened in his chair.
“Yeah…” John stared at the ground. His expression slowly grew puzzled. “Yeah?” He stroked his forehead over his brow.
He got up. “Either way… See you guys at the court on… Tues? Was it?”
“Yeah, yeah, Tues-day,” Mark enunciated.
John waved goodbye and left in his car. Matthew followed. Mark sat for a while, staring at the clouds, the last one to leave the street.
Later, John arrived home, setting his cane down before he sat on the couch, groaning as he did.
“You know.” He stared at his cat, who meowed in response to his petting hand. “I used to think life was like something you could put together, but now, well, even back then, it really didn’t make sense.” He laughed hollowly, drawing another meow from his cat.
Then his eyes looked up, and his mouth became ajar. Sparkles darted into his eyes.
“I will never see the point at which things end.” The window broadened, and the street outside expanded. His vision narrow, and his focus sharpened. The moment slowed. His focus, a car’s wheel, filled his vision.
The asphalt road stretched even farther up to the horizon.
The houses shrunk, becoming diagonal 2D images.
“Yeah.” He came to his senses. The cat continued meowing.
The silence went on too long.
“What was that?”
He lifted his palm up. In the middle of it, a magical glowing vortex swirled. He jerked away and yelped.
The vortex remained there, but he was unscathed.
He mouthed, “What the f…”
The vortex expanded and made a whooshing sound.
He jerked back, covering his face with his other hand. “What’s this?”
Good morning, said a voice in his head.
He shook. “What the fuck, what the hell is this!”
I’m Mortimer Jones. Welcome to my crazy world. Here’s two things you’ll find most pleasant.
“What?” He abruptly fell to the ground and puked out black goo. The sharpest pain pulsed through his entire body, rippling again and again, tearing through his body. He puked more, until his entire body was emptied out of the goo.
A mirror floated in front of him. Look.
He raised his head. In the mirror was the young man he was decades ago.
His voice died in his throat.
A wave of calm washed over him, ending his intense emotions in an instant.
His face snapped back to a neutral expression. “What?” He instinctively stood up gradually, gasping at the fact his legs were fine.
“What’s going on?”
You’ve been blessed.
“In what way? Wait, first, who are you?”
I’m Mortimer.
“Who’s that? Am I talking to… Are you God?”
No. And for your question, you’ve been blessed. Simple as that. That means you’re now my disciple.
“So… what? You Jesus or something?”
Close.
“Muhammad?”
No, no. You’ve got it all wrong. I’m not any of the people you’ve familiar with. I’m my own thing. I’m Culle, and no, don’t call me a god. I don’t want to get into the metaphysical aspects of what I am, so let’s just keep it to just Culle. Just think, “Ooh, super cool powerful thing!” And that’s it!
“How am I supposed to do just that? You can’t expect me to go along with this just like that.”
Well, it is what it is. John somehow felt that the voice shrugged just now.
John struck out to the main door and opened it. The breeze swept his black, wavy, curly, shoulder-length hair. “Wait, didn’t you just say to call you Mortimer? What happened to that? Culle? Which one should I call you?”
Either, or, anything really! That’s the fun of it! He imagined a white-haired boy bouncing in the air with clouds in his arms.
“I’m not following, but okay… What would you have me do? I’ll give you my answer.” He looked at his palm. The vortex disappeared sometime after the voice appeared.
The voice appeared as a small boy floating dramatically in the air. He wore energetic yellow-orange bloomers and a vibrant red coat with cuffs, and on his head sat a streetwise snapback cap. Finally, ancient, star-shaped golden sparkles swirled around his form.
He jabbed his finger in the direction of the neighbor’s parked car. “Look at that. What do you see?”
“A car?” John’s conservative black-and-white striped polo yellowed ever so slightly in his luminous, youthful presence.
The boy floated right next to his ear, turning his head so his cap didn’t hit John. “No, no, it’s more than that! It’s a portal, a gateway to another world!”
The boy’s dancing sparkles stopped on John’s body, pushing into where the free air should be.
John pushed them away and stepped back. Smiling, the boy floated back to where he just was.
The two met each other’s gaze for a moment. One frowned. The other did breaststrokes mid-air with his coat-sleeved arms and bloomer-covered legs.
John tried to scratch his head, only to realize he had full, healthy hair instead of a bald spot. He rubbed over his chest, stiffling the surge of feelings that sought to erupt.
“Now.” The boy flew to the car and snapped his finger. A magical breeze lifted John across the road, setting him in front of the car door.
“Do I just go inside?” John looked around.
“Yes.” The boy got into the driver’s seat. John hesitantly did as told.
Once they were in the car, John’s eyelids grew heavy. He fell asleep.
He woke up in front of a gigantic spoon filled with soup.
He screamed, coming to his senses. His voice, however, came out as a baby’s cry.
What’s happening?
The boy’s voice resounded throughout his mind. Well, well, what do we have here?
John appeared in his mind space. His eyes followed a series of floating steps leading to a throne. On it lounged the boy.
“Hmph! Isn’t it fun!”
John peeked back into reality, the inside of his mouth filling with soup. What is? The panic that should have been consuming him was nowhere to be found.
Your new life! The boy rose, striding down the steps. He floated off them to John and patted his shoulder before vanishing.
John jolted back to reality. What’s going to happen to me?
You’ll be fine! The voice trailed off, disappearing.
John, now in a baby’s body, stared back at the woman who fed him. Tall, aged, gray hair. Behind her stood three girls much shorter, taking turns looking at him.
He smiled inwardly. His parents had passed, his siblings had moved on and started their own family trees, and his children had grown up and moved abroad along with his grandchildren. But if this new life was truly real, then he could do it all over again.
He leaned closer and opened his mouth wide for the next spoon, grinning childishly as he swallowed.
Oh and one final thing. The boy’s voice returned, followed by the sound of someone snapping their finger.
John’s eyes shut tight before snapping open. The gibberish mutters coming out of the older woman’s and girls’ mouths suddenly made sense. Hey, wait! he mentally called out, but there was no answer.
“…is he going to be okay?” said one of the three girls watching him, Loren. She had never seen a baby this big. Well, she had never seen one ever. She thought they were as small as the babies of the farm animals her family raised. But she was dead wrong. The baby looked like it could trip someone. She had to be start watching for baby-shaped obstacles while running around the house then.
“He looks okay,” said another girl, Dharni. “Right, Lola?”
“Yes.” The grandmother set him down on the table and went across the room to swirl the pot she was cooking in.
The third girl, the youngest, leapt until she lost her breath. “Hey! Can someone give him to me!”
“No, no.” Lola looked over at the girl with begging eyes and wagged her finger.
The two other girls turned around and struck out to the door. “Okay, we’re going outside,” Loren said. “Tell us if he starts crying again, okay?” They hurried and sprinted across the field.
“When are they coming home?” Minnie, the girl who stayed, was standing on tiptoe, peeking at the baby every several seconds, as much as her feet could handle.
Lola smiled as she looked inside the pot. “Soon.”
John’s eyes thoughtfully shifted between the two.
Screams from outside pierced his ears.
His heart stopped for a moment.
“We’re home!” said two older voices, belonging to people in their thirties.
The girls whooped. The smallest one ran outside to meet them, embracing them and kissing their cheeks.
John’s eyes flickered as he listened to the reunion.
Lola returned to him, looking out the window, with a settled expression.
She raised her hand above him, covering him in shadow.
He stared into it. A glow slowly appeared in her palm.
He shut his eyes.
The next moment, dark-purple particles showered him, exiting her palm.
A wave of warmth washed over his whole body, surging inside and filling him. He had no idea what was happening, but whatever it was, it felt good.
After she removed her hands, he stared right into her eyes, snagging them, just to see what another person his age from this world was thinking. Lola stopped. “What is it, little Mikmik?”
He tried to squint with his baby eyelids. Mikmik… Wait, that’s my name? His face grew pensive. Interesting. He tried to pronounce the name in his head. That better be a nickname…
While Lola went back to the pot, his gaze flitted back and forth as he processed all the different names he could’ve had. Then he stopped and lifted his eyes to the ceiling. “You know, at this point, it doesn’t matter.* He imperceptibly nodded his enlarged head and chuckled breathily to himself. But it’s nice to analyze over something so trivial for once.
His mind took a U-turn and started flashing through all the possibilities. Wait, if Lola (assuming that’s her name) could do that hand magic thing she just did, maybe I can do it too.
The arrival of the two adults and the girls into the room interrupted his thoughts. “Oooh! I smell something!” said who John presumed to be the mother of the three girls.
“I’m so dizzy,” said his father, drinking a cup of water taken straight from a deep well.
The three girls followed suit and drank water as well. “Yummy!” said Loren. “I’m so full!” said Dharni. “Can we go now?” said Minnie.
“Wait, just wait,” their mother said, starting a conversation with Lola about village affairs. Seeing his wife was busy, the father sat down and beckoned the three over. “Guys, come, I’ll show you something.” Beside him was the bag he brought with him on the trip.
“What, what, what!” exclaimed the three.
He took out something from the bag. Gemstones glimmering like faint starlight filled his palm. “Oh look! What’s this?”
The three leapt, ran, and yelled across the room like frenzied goblins, their bodies shaking with delight.
John rapidly blinked at the towering flailing girls sweeping past and sending gusts of air in his direction.
While the whole family was in a buzz, he fell into thought.
Even when I was younger, we were divided into rooms. We grew apart quickly as soon as university started. There was this unspoken thing about how one should learn to be their own person. A family as close as this feels strange, almost primitive. Won’t they struggle to define themselves? How will they escape the blurring of personal boundaries? I guess… they have to protect each other more than anything. If this is how it is in this world, so be it.
He smiled with a mental shrug. I’ve lived too long to get caught up. But seeing it, no, experiencing it for myself changes everything.
Magic. Family. His two new goals.
When his mother finally lifted him over her shoulder, an ax lodged on a lonely stump outside drew his gaze.
Just you wait. I’ll meet it as it comes. He raised his baby fist and pumped it in the air.
Chapter 2 - Family Trip
John looked at the two girls, Loren and Dharni, who he learned quickly were his two sisters. By the arms and legs, they carried him across the field like a roasted pig. Sometimes, I wonder if I’m a second from death every day. He tried to laugh.
Their father, Hudson, clapped once. “Okay, okay, set him right… here!” He tapped where the two should place him on the family wagon. Lola was already on it, and so was their mother, Nehelia. The two women glanced over, yawning. Barely a reaction.
John opened his mouth for a moment. This couldn’t be normal.
As the wagon began to move, Lola set him upright and, with her hand supporting the back of his head, showed him the world.
John could barely see past the blur with how unstable her hold and the wagon were. But from the little he could understand, it was a vivid blue and green, with no urban structure or anything. This was going to be a long trip.
“How long left?” Minnie said in a low voice, slouching at the very back of the wagon beside her two sisters.
“Min, we just left,” her father said in a dull but playful tone, grinning. He leaned back into the crates, his hands finding purchase on the wood while his legs swung over the edge.
Their driver, a farm boy, raised one hand over his mouth and stifled a sneeze. “Excuse me.”
“Seven minutes?” Minnie smiled weakly.
Hudson shot her a frown. “What? Where’d you get that?”
She howled.
John couldn’t help but find it funny. He recalled his childhood when he and his younger brothers were kids and how they said they’d run away when their parents denied them something they wanted badly.
“Okay, now that we’re leaving, let’s pray,” said their father, raising his hands in the air. His wife quickly hushed Minnie in the background.
John’s smile disappeared. This was the first time he was hearing this.
“Thank you Remish for your guidance in our lives. We thank you for all that you’ve done for us and for all you’ll continue to do for us. I pray you show us what we’re missing and what we should do next, for we are but confused sheep in your presence. Strengthen us in this time of need and empower us to do what you have commanded us to do, which is to stay steadfast and to multiply our joys with others.”
Wait, which god is this? Mortimer? Culle? Or someone else entirely? Either way, this better be good. If I can get another blessing… Sorry Culle if you’re listening to this.
Speaking of blessings, can I learn magic now? Can I tap into it by myself with just my mental faculties? Can I expand my mana well? Is there anything I can do right now?
If I could just find out how to do that. But I fear it won’t come easily unless I went to school for it, like the most important thing—literacy. At least that one’s covered. Magic sounds completely made-up. Is it closer to studying or workout? Or maybe it was like yoga or chakra? Is my “intellect” even useful here? Should I just “vibe” it out? Psychedelics? New Age?
The road ahead of the wagon was covered with hooded men. Damn. Culle, you gave me everything, but a clear path to magic.
His father took out an ax, got off, and swaggered up to them. The wagon was still moving.
He cried, even if his baby lips couldn’t say what he wanted so badly to say. Wait! Wait! Wait! No! No! No!
Down the road, Hudson shook hands with the men one by one. “Thank you.”
“It is our honor.” They tipped the edge of their hoods as a gesture of respect.
John beamed with all the relief in the world. You’ve gotta be joking right?
As soon as the wagon rounded the corner, it offered them a full view of the field they were going to in the first place.
“We’re here!” Hudson led the wagon into the field, waving his hands back and forth.
Once the wagon stopped, Loren and Dharni hopped off and ran into the field.
“I thought you said it was going to be longer!” Minnie climbed on top of the wagon.
“Hey, hey, you might fall!” Lola held her hand.
Nehelia started bringing down stuff in the meantime. “Be careful,” she said without looking.
Hudson eyed his wife, who rolled her eyes at him with a suppressed laugh. “I didn’t say that. I just said it wasn’t going to be seven minutes. And it was… ten!” He snickered and hooted with laughter.
Minnie’s groan carried faintly into the distance.
The families all gathered in the field glanced to see the Nehelia family coming in.
John shot glances whenever he could. Magic? Hello! Can someone help me out here?!
As his family grew closer, he could see, in the middle of the field, tables and lots of food.
Around them, teenagers and kids ran around, playing with each other. The three girls joined in.
John frowned with that baby face for a moment.
But he decided to take a deep breath and let the surge of calm fill him again. I just need to look for that strand. That’s all I need.
He closed his eyes.
While the mountains and jungle surrounding him exhaled complex, stimulating early morning air, he felt how it entered his lungs and left.
If he could just reach for that silky thread and clench it, then he would control his entire body’s mana well and generate his most vivid imaginations.
But he wasn’t even sure if that was the right image of it. Maybe, it was a donut, and he had to insert his spectral hand through it. Either way, he was going to awaken his dormant spirit.
Something tickled inside him. Okay, did I… He looked down.
He soiled himself.
That wasn’t the spirit I wanted to awaken.
Later, while everyone had fun, he rubbed his chin, as clumsy as his baby hands were. Maybe, that’s it. Let’s try it again. He squeezed his eyes shut.
He soiled himself again. No. That’s not it, but I’m getting close. He imagined himself reaching out into the darkness.
Something sparked inside him. In the darkness, where he couldn’t see, his mental hand felt something.
He opened his eyes. That’s it! He was sure of it. In his head, mana was flowing, coursing through the rest of his body.
He took another deep breath, then stopped halfway. Wait, I haven’t heard anyone do an incantation yet. Even if I had mana, what would a spell look like? A button that says “Cast Spell”? No, it had to be something else.
His gaze settled on one of his three sisters, Loren. She was showing the other kids her gemstones. They pretended the gemstones were characters and made them fight each other.
“Gemstones,” he tried to say, only to babble it.
As soon as the girls finished playing, they returned their gems to their parents for safekeeping.
John forced himself to crawl, barely inching along. I just need to touch it once.
Lola picked him up.
I’ll be back.
“Oh, you cutesy little cutey-coo!”
One day.
As soon as they got home, John did everything to touch the gemstones, but he could barely move his body. Once he grew out of this frail form, he would reach to the skies. The sheer horror of this prison instilled in him the ambition to rise above this powerlessness.
Nehelia yawned, leaving his side. “Okay, I’m leaving, ma. Time for a nap, bebe.” After getting her things, she kissed him before going out the door.
Lola nodded, staring calmly at him across the room.
John froze. What’s going on now? The squeals of the three girls from outside made it hard to think. But something in her eyes was different. What was this feeling?
As soon as Nehelia and Hudson were far gone, she spoke, “I can sense something has changed. You’ve awoken something.”
Oh shitzadoodle.
“For only 6 months, this is amazing.”
She walked close and fiddled with his ear. “Are you going to be a powerful mage one day?” She lifted her head, looking outside. “I hope not. The world out there is very unforgiving. It’s best if you live slowly.”
I’ve barely even done anything.
She turned around, grabbed something shiny from the shelf, and placed it on the floor. “If you are truly blessed, you should be able to do this much.”
A gemstone.
Wait. No. If she knows…
John kept still. Whatever I do, I can’t let it slip. I am not getting that gemstone.
After several minutes of the worst silence had passed, her eyes shifted. “Maybe… I was wrong.” She picked the gemstone up and returned it.
I don’t know how she knows, but clearly, that’s a sign my mana is working. Hells yeah. But the gemstone… No question about it. It’s my next step.
As the days passed, Lola continued taking care of things in the house and feeding the four.
Once the two parents returned two months later, it was the same bonding.
Slowly, every night, when everyone was asleep, he sat down against the wall and kept feeling his mana, hoping Lola didn’t wake up from any burst of mana he achieved. It was like he was doing naughty.
Their parents left again, and it was the same.
Years passed, and John grew so in touch with his inner mana that he wondered if there was this separate consciousness inside him. Or maybe he was going crazy from all the isolation. Fortunately, by 3 years old, he could finally start speaking in sentences. Of course, he pretended to be a typical child, even if he could already both understand and speak full sentences by 2 years old.
“Good morning, everyone,” he babbled. He was on the same table where he first gained consciousness in this world. It was also where he trained his mana and where Lola placed him while she did things around the house. In front of the family, he called it “Fefen,” using the same name he gave his favorite childhood pillow back on Earth.
His oldest sister, Loren, cuffed him lightly on the head as she passed. “Whatcha doing, loser.”
Hudson, seated in conversation with Lola, glanced over his shoulder. “Careful,” he said chidingly, his voice overlapping with Minnie’s.
“Hey! Stop that.” Minnie, the youngest, sprang into him and enveloped him cheek to cheek. She turned her head forward and nuzzled his face, her nose tickling his and making him giggle.
Dharni, the middle child, occasionally threw him a blank look from at least two steps away. Sometimes, whenever her two sisters were getting rough with him, she furrowed her brows a little, like right now.
Nehelia was talking to someone outside, while Hudson broke down the recent costs of their travels to Lola as a meaty aroma filled the room. Lola got up every so often to check the pot, still nodding and responding to whatever he said.
Once the food was done, everyone ate together. It was a special moment in John’s second life every time, because it was only now he could tell what really went on in this family. He learned everything from the way they held their spoons, the way they handled trivial conflict, and the way they balanced their basic needs with their goals, just from the stories they told alone. No one hid their cards. Only he did. This time, he wasn’t the only one. The man Nehelia was talking to outside just now was here as well, smiling at the only toddler in the room. “Hello,” he said.
He looked at his parents as practiced, “unable” to answer for himself.
“Oh, he’s shy.” Nehelia waved her hand. “We rarely get visitors inside.”
Yes! Thank you, new mom.
“Oh? Am I the only one who feels his mana?” the man said. Lola looked away.
Something happy died in John. What?
Nehelia stopped eating. “He has mana?” She cocked her head at Lola. “Ma? You didn’t tell me.”
Lola laughed sheepishly. “I didn’t want you to worry. You know.”
“Well, if he’s got mana, let’s bring him already.” Nehelia turned to the man. “How good is it?”
“Very good. I could hear it from outside.”
Hear? Is that how Lola experienced it this whole time? He glanced at Lola.
The man continued, “Okay, here’s the deal. I know someone who knows someone who knows someone who can bring him.”
“Where?” John said.
“Academy,” his mom said. “Not that far from here. So you’ll be fine.”
Wait, if that means gemstones, then I should do it. I’ve been holding it back here because Lola was just too sensitive. She caught him several times already, and he thought he managed to lie his way out of it. But all this time, she actually knew.
“Are there gemstones? Spells? Magic?”
“Yes. It’s all about that. You’ll learn a lot.”
“How about my sisters?”
“They… they will be here when you get back.”
“I don’t want to leave them.”
“It’s fine. They’ll visit you. You want that?”
“No, I don’t want to go.” Why am I saying this? Why am I crying? Tears wet his cheeks, the same ones Minnie pressed hers against earlier.
“You’ll be okay.”
“Well,” the man said, “we can talk about this another time. Thank you for the food, Lola.”
“Goodbye, Panz,” Nehelia said.
“Thank you Panz.” Waving, Hudson rose and flumped on the couch. He observed his only son’s tear-glistened face.
“Mikmik, how about this? I get you a tutor. Would you like that?”
John stopped rubbing his face and looked his new father straight in the eyes. “Really?”
“Yeah, why not?” Hudson had a serene smile.
“Thanks dad!”
Hudson’s mouth quivered. He turned aside, his chest heaving. When his eyes met his son’s again, he gave a choked laugh. “Whatever.” He offered a vague wave of his hand and looked away. “The only thing that matters to me is that you’re okay.” He met his daughters’ waiting gazes. “Each and every one of you.”
John’s lower lip trembled.
The sisters started crying. Nefelia chuckled contentedly to herself. Lola gave an old, wrinkled, downward smile.
The crying carried across the field down the road. “Okay,” Panz said, “I probably shouldn’t be here.” He quickened his steps.
Chapter 3 - Death
John stared at the ground. If I died right now, I wouldn’t be too surprised. But there’s a part of me that doesn’t want to.
“Okay, wanna try?” Hudson smirked, swinging an ax like a propeller.
John’s absent eyes slowly widened, and his expression soured.
“I’m kidding!” Hudson slammed down, as wind, force, and blade split the log on the stump.
“When?” John said, looking in the sleepy distance.
“She’s coming. Just you wait.”
“‘Seven minutes’?” John got his sister’s tone just right.
The two burst out laughing.
Minnie ran across the house and shook her fist through the window. “Hey! I heard that!”
“Sorry, honey!”
He turned his head back to John before splitting another. “So how does the mana work? I’ve never awakened mine, and they said since I didn’t awaken it by five years old, it was lost forever. So count yourself blessed.”
Well, actually, I am, in more ways than one.
Falling from the sky, a hooded woman landed behind the two, barely scratching the ground and kicking up only a whiff of dust. “Good day, apricots.”
Apricots?
Hudson hugged him from behind.
“Welcome!” Hudson released one hand, shook hers, and brushed cheeks with her twice in greeting. “This is my son, Mikmik.” He raised both arms, unveiling him.
“Hello.” She offered John a hand, and the two shook hands like fine adults.
“So his mana?” Hudson grabbed John’s shoulders, startling him, before tapping his chest twice, jolting him again.
“I already know.” Smiling warmly, she glanced between the two boyish faces. She snapped her finger, and John flinched. Blue particles left her finger pads. “Yes, I can not only feel his mana, but my spell says it too.”
“Great!” Hudson clapped lightly and rapidly like a kid. John’s eyes wandered.
The woman noticed him looking her up and down. She wore a purple blouse with a white skirt.
“It’s okay to wear a dress outside?” John said. Humid heat was beating down, and mountains and jungle hemmed them in.
Hudson pulled him aside. “Oh, that’s because she can afford to do that,” he whispered. “Magic keeps her body cool and comfortable.”
The woman nonchalantly studied her surroundings like she had all the time in the world.
“What’s your name?” John said, getting Hudson off him.
“Nocturne.” The woman barely turned in reply.
John nodded to himself, eyes flicking aside in thought.
“So?” she said. “When can we start?”
“Now.”
“Good.” She stopped ambling in a small circle and snapped to attention. “Can you show me one right now?”
“A spell?”
“Yes. Any. I just need to see your grasp of the fundamentals.”
“I don’t know any.”
“Oh. Well, I can’t say I’m surprised. Here.” She handed him a gemstone. It was hot, unlike all the gemstones he tried holding.
He dropped it to the ground and picked it up, balancing it over the entire surface of his hands and arms as he hurried to speak. “What do I do?”
“Mana. Put it in.”
“Okay, I’ll try.” John closed his eyes, but his face kept tensing at how hot the gemestone was.
“You don’t have to hold it.”
“Oh, right.” John set it on the stump next to the lodged ax and raised his hands in its direction, squeezing his eyes shut.
The ax started shimmering.
“Uh,” she said, “I think you put it in the wrong one… Wait a minute…” The ax’s blade was glowing, while the handle wasn’t. “How did you do this?”
Hudson shook and turned around, suppressing a whoop and biting his nail.
“Huh? What happened?” John opened his eyes, jerking at the sight of the ax. “What’s this? What’s happening?”
She went to the gemstone. “It’s still hot. Did you aim at this?” She held it up.
“Yes.”
“Well, I don’t think your mana is compatible with it then. Maybe we can get another one. But… since your mana worked on the ax, this changes things.”
Hudson eyed him eagerly, practically vibrating.
“What?” John said. “What does it change?”
“You have the signs of a spellblade,” she said. Hudson ripped out a strangled yes, pumping his fists and hissing with triumph.
He ran inside and nudged John’s three sisters, Lola, and Nehelia outside to share the news.
John gripped the ax as told. But he could barely lift it in his three-year-old body. If he pushed harder, he could, but that would mean giving up control and potentially hurting himself.
Nocturne took her hand off the ax head. “That’s all for now.”
He let go.
His family cheered and hollered behind him.
He faced them.
They accepted him into their arms.
Nocturne averted her gaze and began wandering away.
“Thank you, Nocturne!” John exclaimed. The rest of his family echoed him.
She stopped, a weathered laugh escaping her lips. After closing her eyes and taking her deepest breath in a long time, she launched herself off the ground and soared through the skies.
Okay, now the only thing left is exercise. Once I can wield an ax, that should be my true start.
As soon as the next day came, he ran around the field with his sisters. He thought to do wall push-ups, but that would look too unnatural for a 3-year-old.
If he could just wield this ax, this entire world would be his in a way, at least for this little slice of everything.
He pressed his fingers on the wall every time he passed one, and he carried items up and down as a child would, increasing his weight, frequency, and repetitions over time. And slowly but surely, his grip strength grew.
Three years later, by the time he had wowed his parents enough times, he asked for the ax, and they agreed immediately.
In mid-afternoon, the family went outside. While Hudson kept it steady, John clenched the handle.
The ax lifted off the stump.
Finally.
He grinned, and the family roared, clapping.
He dropped it.
Eight seconds, huh? He rubbed his dominant hand and twirled its fingers, smirking inwardly, while outwardly beaming at his family.
The next week, he tried again, raising both hands and gripping, making sure it leaned outward rather than toward his head.
Nine seconds. He gave a toothy smile.
Ten.
Eleven.
Twelve.
Fifteen.
Once he could hold it for a whopping thirty seconds, he started dropping it at the stump. The joy of training. I miss it!
By the time he could hold it for a whole a minute and a half, he angled it at the stump and threw it down.
Afterwards, he couldn’t use his arms to carry anything for ten days. They were stuck in a resting curled state where he could barely extend them at all, but it subsided over time. By the seventh day, it was like normal, but he was still careful and kept his weights light.
Five years later, at eleven years old, he swung the glowing mana-injected ax at the stump and slammed it down. He pounded it again and again, and all was left of it after all those years were scars upon scars upon scars layered on top of each other. Hot air emanated from his lungs. *Perfect. I’m getting closer to the form I had back then. But I still got more to go.” He got his father to put a log, and after many attempts, he split it in half. The end product was childish, messy, and rough, but his father said it was good for his age.
“It’s time,” Hudson said at the dinner table, tapping his shoulder as he sat down.
John’s expression tensed for a moment before he laughed. “Okay. I’ll try.”
After lunch, he went out into the field but travelled farther out through the denser parts of the forest. He strode up to one of the trees, dragging his glowing ax along. Then he clenched, and the ax stiffened in his grip. After a moment, he raised it, sunlight gleaming off its blade. Then he swung it.
It slammed the tree, making a thud the tree absorbed.
He tried again, this time with more control.
The tree stayed firm and healthy.
He began striking it repetitively, taking a deep breath in between strikes and tensing his whole body a split-second before the ax collided.
Ten minutes later, once he used up all his energy reserves, he stared aimlessly, huffing like a ravenous mama bear tearing up floorboards for honey. “What is it?” he said as soon as his father composed himself at the edge of his vision.
“You did it,” Hudson said.
“Huh?” In his blurry vision, John turned forward. He froze.
The tree he was chopping just now was creaking and moments away from falling. in the middle was a gap where most of the trunk used to be.
“Let’s go.” Hudson pulled him away.
The tree’s groans carried across the field right before it collapsed.
They returned home, both quiet the whole way.
“You know what this means, right?”
“I’ll be like you.”
“No. You’ll have to hide it and have people you trust if that’s the case. But no, this is not normal. You’ll have to join the academy sooner or later. Something like this… you’d have to waste it. Or you could run far away from here. But neither of those are good options. So… I know I said it’s okay for you to stay here. But this is beyond me.”
John’s smile cracked. He restored it quickly. “Okay then…” His tone was polite, but something tore and flared inside him. “Where’s Mom?”
“She’s coming home late. But she’ll be there.”
Once Nehelia returned and Hudson explained what happened, she laughed, making the whole family freeze in place. “To think my son would get something like this. I never thought it was possible. Never believed. But now, it’s real…” She stopped to chuckle for a moment, looking up as if communing with the heavens. “This is the best thing that’s ever happened to our family.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again to face Mikmik. “Can you use this? If not for yourself, then for us? I know you care a lot, but what’s more important is that you’re not forcing us to bear the weight of being the reason for your wasted potential. So please, trust me when I say that this is the only chance you’ll ever get. Once you’re in your thirties, something like this isn’t special anymore. So while you still can, go. It’s a bad omen, I know. But you’re going to have to brace for it. Whatever happens now, I want you to do exactly what this new… ability… is asking of you. Once you’re done with that, you can return. That’s all I’m asking.” She raised her hands briefly.
By the time he could even process what happened, the next day, he was on a wagon heading straight to the academy. Shitzadoodle. I got better. Only to have it all taken away from me. I did it to protect the family. And now, no one’s there to help them. I’m not there. I’ve failed by becoming too strong. But there was a part of me that expected this. It never turned out the way you wanted it. I admit this is just the way it is. He accepted such things a long time ago. And now, he was doing it again. Another trial, another lesson, another new day.
He stroked his ax’s handle. I have something I didn’t have before. Everything from now on is an obstacle to me reaching my family.
Once he arrived,