As I started to fall backwards I heard a chair being pushed back before someone caught me.
"You alright womaniser?" Sōzokujin asked
"I'm alright and I'm not a womanizer!" I snapped back
"Says the guy who tried to make both my sister and my mom fall for him." He said
"Me and Lexia are just friends and Uxor wanted to talk to me." I said as I tried to stand up by myself
"But I bet you enjoyed it." He said as I pushed away from him and regaining my balance just to lose it again
"Can you help him get to the table Sōzokujin?" Lupus asked who was now on the floor
"Sure." He said as he put my arm over his shoulder
"Thanks" I begrudgingly said in response
"No problem."
"Hey, Lupus, why couldn't I keep my balance?" I asked
"You'll realise after we eat." He said as he made it to a plate on the table with special food
"Am I just hungry?" I asked Sōzokujin
"Don't ask me, ask my mother or father." He answered as he let go of me near the table
"Mr. Dryadalis, do you know what's wrong with me?"
"Hmm, here give me your hand." He said as he reached out his hand toward me
"Alright." I said as I gave him my hand
"Lupus! Did you know about this!?" He shouted
"As I said he's going to realise after dinner right." Lupus said still eating his food
"He's right, you'll know for yourself after dinner." Dryadalis said as he started eating
"I guess you can start eating." Uxor said
As dinner went on the members of the family were talking but I just sat there eating my food feeling worse and worse as more time passed until I ate the last piece of food and was ready to leave. Then Uxor gave me more food saying "You need to eat to get better." or something like that but at this point I was feeling so dizzy and had gotten such a bad headache that I just ate all the food that they put on my plate until there was no more food left, I took a big sip of water and a deep breath and then the feeling of dizziness and the headache were replaced with the feeling of a warmth in my chest right in the middle.
"Are you feeling better?" Lupus asked as he jumped up on my shoulder
"Yeah, but what is this warmth in the middle of my chest?" I asked
"Well you remember when your friends were surrounded by flames right?"
"Of course I do."
"Well, that's what it looks like when you get your power from a god, but when you get your power from within yourself then it is manifested as a warmth in your body."
"The power of a god manifests as soon as you're born, while the power within you awakens at the age of fourteen, but since you're not from this world I guess it just awakens a little later." Dryadalis ads
"Almost right my friend." Lupus said
"What am I missing?" Dryadalis asked
"The power awakens when someone pours magic into the same spot on him as where you feel your magic coming from, for example I feel my magic flowing from my tail." Lupus answered
"I feel it from my stomach." Dryadalis said
"I feel it from my biceps." Sōzokujin said
"I from my breast's." Uxor said
"And I also feel it from the middle of my chest, same as Loki." Lexia said
"And if Lupus is right then that's the reason I feel it from my chest too." I said
"It seems you understand it now." Lupus said "I was gonna ask Dryadalis to pour magic into you from the same spot he felt magic flowing from him but I guess you couldn't help yourself from touching each other."
"Shut up Lupus!" I said as I pushed him of my shoulder
"Hey, let's have a sparring match, Loki." Sōzokujin said
"With you Sōzokujin?" I asked in surprise
"Yeah, with me! And stop calling me Sōzokujin, you can call me Jin." He said as he stood up from the table
"Sure, but I have only fought in a real battle once before." I said
"And you defeated twenty goblins without having any magic." Lupus said
"When you said you were injured by goblins I thought you were weak but since you didn't have any magic you might just be something special." Jin said
"Sure, I'll spar with you." I said as I also stood up
"Hey Sōzokujin, make sure you push him until he thinks he's going to die." Dryadalis said as he too stood up and made his way outside
"Ehh?" I became very confused and terrified by what he said
"You ready?" Jin said as he put his arm around my shoulder
"Yeah, but I'm not gonna lose so easily!" I said pushing what Dryadalis said out of my mind
"You wish!"
As I stood to take a weapon I realised some were in a trash barrel.
"Why are these treated like trash?" I asked Jin
"Because they have been used over a hundred times in sparring and have become dull or really fragile." Jin said as he took a sword
"Then I won't take a sword from that barrel then." I said as I turned my attention toward the other swords
I picked up a longsword and got into position to start the duel. With Dryadalis as the judge I got into a position I was comfortable in.
"What is that stance!" Jin said feeling insulted
"It's just the stance I feel the most comfortable in." I answered
"Ready! Set! GO!"
The instant Dryadalis said go Sōzokujin was already right in front of me I barely managed to block his attack being pushed back a considerable distance, but before I could recollect myself he was already thrusting toward my face, all I could do was deflect his attacks and try so strike any opening I could. But, even though I was losing, it was fun, the most fun I'd had since arriving in this world. The only thing that came close was while I was facing death against the goblins, I felt as though everything had lost color, lost interest, everything, except Sōzokujin.
"Dryadalis!" Lupus shouted to get the man's attention
"What!" He shouted back
"Tell Sōzokujin to use magic to strengthen his body now!"
"What!?"
"Quickly!"
"Sōzokujin use magic to defend yourself, don't question it, just do as I say!" Dryadalis shouted
"Fine!" Sōzokujin shouts back as his body is engulfed in green flames and the size of his muscles increase
I launch at him as soon as I regain my balance from his last strike, I swing my sword toward him forcing him to block and sending him crashing into the house but before he could hit the wall I appear behind and swing my sword up from below him which he barely manages to stop and gets slammed into the roof and passes out, and before I could go to attack him again Dryadalis hits me in the neck knocking me out.
"So that's why you wanted Sōzokujin to use magic." Dryadalis said
"This boy has the magic type of all the races in him, including Fire and Thunder." Lupus said while healing Sōzokujin
"What happened to Loki?" Lexia asked as she ran into the room
"The side effect of the Dark element activated and gave him incredible strength in exchange for going berserk." Dryadalis said
"Could you heal Loki Lexia?" Lupus asked
"Of course!" Lexia said as she placed her hands on my chest
I immediately woke up fully healed.
"What happened?" I asked as I sat up
"That was fast." Uxor said
"It's because she healed him where his magic supply is, and the fact that their magic system is identical can't hurt either." Dryadalis said
"You managed to end the match in a draw." Lupus said
"But…" I tried to ask more questions
"But that doesn't mean you're stronger than me!" Jin said who had also woken up
"It just means we can both grow stronger!" I said as I reached out my hand to help him up
"Yeah! We'll grow stronger together! As friends!" He said taking my hand
"And rivals!" I said as I pulled him up
"Anyway, let's get some sleep, it's getting late." Uxor said
"Yeah, but I don't think we can sleep here, since I blew a hole in the roof... Sorry." I said apoligizing for the giant hole that was now in the house
"It's fine, this is just our guest house." Jin said
"Yeah, the main house is a bit further towards the center of the city." Dryadalis said
"We were supposed to live here during our stay but I guess that won't be happening since you destroyed the place." Lupus said jumping back on my head
"Hey, stop being on my head all the time!" I said trying to take him of
"Stop that! Spirit animals need to be close to the being they deem their master!" Lupus said
"Then sit on my shoulder, not my head!" I shouted at him
"Fine!" He said as he jumped onto my shoulder instead
"Anywa-" As I was gonna ask where the house was an elf around Dryadalis's age came barging in
"Are you okay chef!?" He shouted as soon as he opened the door
"It's okay Mamoru, just a sparring match going too far." As they were talking Uxor pulled me aside
"I'm going to cast disguise magic on you so you look like an elf, okay?" She whispered
"As to not cause a panic among the other elves right?" I answered with a quiet voice
"Exactly now close your eyes."
"Sure."
As I closed my eyes I felt her place two fingers on my forehead and then a warmth spreading from that spot, just like when Lexia healed me earlier.
"Here, take a look." She said, and as I opened my eyes and as I looked into the mirror she was holding I realized my ears had changed and gotten pointier and my muscle structure had changed a little. "I programmed this appearance into this earring so when you tap it you can activate and deactivate the disguise at any time you'd like."
"Thank you." I said as I put it on
"Come on, we're leaving!" Jin said
"Ohh, and since Loki isn't an elf name your elf-self's name will be Itazura." Uxor said
"Sure." I said not questioning her
As we went down the street a lot of people were asking who I was, and Dryadalis always answered the same thing, "A guest", I realised that out of all the elves I saw while walking not a single one had black hair. I decided not to think about it since the disguise magic changed my hair from the usual pitch black hair to crimson red hair, and I guessed there was a good reason for it. As we reached the house I realised just how privileged the leaders of countries are since the house was three times bigger than any of the other buildings in the city.
"Welcome to our home!" Jin said as Dryadalis opened the door
"Loki, you will sleep in Sōzokujin's room while you stay here." Dryadalis said
"Sure, but I hope you don't intend for me to sleep well since this guy definitely snores." I said pointing my thumb over my shoulder at Jin
"I do not snore you little brat!" He said as he tried to grab me in a chokehold
"You're gonna need to be faster than that to catch me you big baby!" I said as I jumped over him
"I suggest you quiet down and get to bed before I make you sleep outside!" Uxor said loudly but calmly with a pressure that was even more terrifying than Dryadalis's pressure that I was scared half to death by earlier
"Yeah, sure, no problem." Jin and I said in unison and then disappeared from there
"Your mom's even scarier than your dad!" I said as we prepared to go to sleep
"It seems you blowing up the guest house and then starting a fight with me in the main house made her more than a little annoyed." He said as he jumped into bed
"Ohh, and on the way here I realised no elf had black hair, why is that?" I asked
"Because the humans killed all of them." Jin answered, the atmosphere turned dark and I decided not to bring it up again
"Sorry for bringing it up." I said as I rolled over to get some sleep
"It's fine, it just brought up some memories of my old friend."
"Old friend?"
"Yeah, we used to go to train together, but, when we were four the humans showed up and killed all of the black haired elves, all because some old lady said that a black haired boy who was a friend of the elves would destroy the kingdom of Santaro." He said
"That doesn't mean it was an elf who would destroy the kingdom!" I said getting even angrier at the humans, and their god
"I know, but that's in the past now, so just go to sleep." He said as he closed his eyes
"Sure."
Even though I said I would go to sleep I just couldn't stop thinking about how selfish the humans were in this world, but after debating what to do for at least an hour I knew that I would become the one who would destroy the humans for what they had done, not only their god but their entire country and after finding another reason for needing to get stronger I finally fell asleep.