Sora and Mina woke up and had no idea what time it was. They opened their curtains and could see the sun rising, and the scene was surreal.
"This place is so beautiful. We never had anything this peaceful back home, did we Sora?"
"I agree. It's breathtaking. Our land was riddled with demons and war. We're sleeping and standing in a castle, which is essentially the last line of defense. We can see the different villages from how high up we are."
"I wonder what we will do today. I hope we start training. I want to use some of this elven magic."
"Me too. It's classified as uncommon. I can't believe after putting nearly 20 years into our past life into training, we were still only level 1 and our master of weapon skill is common."
"Well we have lots to learn."
Knock. Knock. Knock.
The knocking cut Sora off, but Mina politely yelled, "come in!"
It was Xavier and Stefania, only in what looked like their Royal training outfits.
"Good morning. We hope you slept well. Head downstairs, eat breakfast and meet us on the third floor in exactly one hour. That's when we will begin your magical training," Stefania said with a polite curtsy.
"Don't be late," Xavier said and the two were gone as quickly as they came.
Mina and Sora headed downstairs for breakfast, and it was like no breakfast they had ever seen. There were scrambled eggs, bread, cooked sausage and it all smelled delicious.
"We're over 1200 years in the past and their food is better than ours. We ate what we could. That's all there was to it," Sora said as his tummy rumbled.
They quickly ate breakfast, returned to their room, where two sets of training tunics, much like Xavier and Stefania wore, laid on each of their beds.
Each had the same note,
"Because you are here on behalf of the gods, you will be treated as Royal elves. This includes access to bloodline magic. It's our repayment for your amulet and generosity. Signed, King and Queen"
"Ding! Elven Royal Bloodline Magic [Legendary] has been added to your systems. No current skills."
"Woah, that's amazing. Well, let's not keep them waiting!" Sora said with a big grin.
<><><><>
As they reached the third floor, they made sure they were ten minutes early. Xavier and Stefania stood there, chatting away and were surprised to see the two.
"Good, had you shown up on time, you would have been late. Let's enter this sacred training hall and begin," Xavier said, motioning for Stefania to lead Sora and Mina into the training hall.
The training hall was grand and the ceiling stood about 50 feet high. There were targets moving and floating in the air, as well as training dummies, embedded with magic, moving and swinging swords.
"Woah…" Sora said.
"Manners, Sora!" Mina said as she whacked him upside the head.
"I like Mina. She's tough," Xavier said with a large smile.
"Show us what you can do," Stefania said.
Sora and Mina thought of the weapons they wanted to use, and they appeared.
Mina's dual katanas were sheathed behind her back in a criss-cross pattern. She held a bow and arrow in her hand, with the quiver on her back, in the center of the blades.
Sora pulled out his dual longswords and his trusty spear, neatly sheathed on his back.
"That is magic we have not seen. How are you able to do such a thing?" Xavier said.
"A gift from Chronos. We think of what weapon we want, and it shows up. It's known as the master of weapons magic," Mina explained.
Mina began firing arrows in rapid succession at the moving targets in the sky, and to show off a little bit, she asked for a blind fold and still hit every target.
"Impressive. She's quite handy with a bow and she's figured out the patterns of the targets already." Stefania whispered to Xavier.
"Sis, you got my 6?"
"Roger."
They displayed their teamwork with Sora using his long swords on the dummies while Mina protected his back. He too wanted to show off a bit, so he used his retractable spear to hit the floating targets.
"Very good you two, but now let's teach you some elven magic to aid you!" Xavier said with a big smile.
Sora gave his sister a fist bump and they drank some water, awaiting further instruction.
<><><><>
"Elven magic is very similar to nature, which is why Eden oversees our lands. We draw the vitality and lifeforce from nature, formulate it into magic, and use it to best suit our needs," Stefania explained.
"For example, if I want to stop an enemy from attacking or getting away, I can cast a spell that wakes up the Earth. One such skill is called, 'Entanglement,' let me demonstrate."
Xavier took a battle stance, made hand motions, which appeared to be a circle with his left hand while raising his right hand from his waist to the sky and said, "Entanglement!"
Several vines rose from the ground, puncturing and wrapping themselves around the training dummies. When Xavier finally said, "release," the vines returned to the ground.
"Now that the dummies are badly injured, I can use my sacred bloodline magic to restore them. 'Restore!' Stefania said while pointing her arms at each dummy.
This time, they could see a faint, visible line of gold coming from her fingers when she pointed her hands at the dummies. In seconds, the entire room looked brand new.
"Ding! You have learned the Elven Spell, 'Entanglement' [uncommon]. Would you like to add it to your list of spells?
They both clicked yes.
"Ding! Skill successfully saved. Congratulations, you have completed the learn Elder Elven magic quest. You are now level 2."
"Ding! You have learned the Fang Royal Bloodline skill, 'Restore,' [Legendary] Would you like to add it to your list of spells?"
Baffled, the twins could only smile as they both clicked yes.
"Do you mind if we try those skills?" Mina asked.
"Certainly, but don't feel bad if you cannot replicate them right away," Stefania said with a kind smile.
Sora simply said, "Entanglement," and his hands mimicked the motions of Xavier. Several vines began crushing and puncturing the dummies until Sora said, "release!"
"Amazing! Truly amazing, sister, can you restore them?" Xavier asked.
Before Stefania could restore them, Mina had stepped forward, said "restore," and everyone noticed her green eye began to illuminate. To everyone's surprise, all the dummies were as good as new.
"Now that is something we did not expect. I guess the gods really do value Elvenkind!" Xavier said as Stefania hugged Mina, then Sora.
"You two have a bright future. I'd ask for a spar, but that's for another day. Today you are here to learn magic. This will be much easier if you learn every spell, this quickly!"
"Thank you for the kind words but it's the gods you have to thank. Chronos made it possible for us to learn like this. I'm unsure if it will always work this way, but I hope it does!" Sora said, as he was still beat-red in the face from the hug from the Princess.
<><><><>
They took an hour break for lunch and returned to learn new magic. Stefania and Xavier also explained, "the more you respect the Earth, and the people, no matter their race, that live on it. The stronger your magic will grow.
"Be careful not to overuse your magic, as if you completely burn out your mana and energy, you will barely be able to stand and are vulnerable to enemy attacks." Stefania said with a stern tone.
"Have either of you heard of a passive skill called Vitality?" Mina asked.
"No, why do you ask?" Stefania asked.
"It was a spell gifted to us by Eden before we set out. We passively regenerate when not in battle and have the ability to let one of us rest to regenerate, as long as the other twin fights solo." Mina said.
"That is magic of the gods, consider yourselves blessed. I will inform our Mother and Father."
"If you don't mind me asking, why have humans been able to dominate the elves? Do they possess magic?"
"It is because long ago, the great King of humanity, William, who blessed all souls, including elves, was given the Hammer of Justice by the god of Wrath to protect the lands from other threats. Unfortunately, as time passed, his ancestral line stopped viewing elves as equal and with that hammer, we cannot stop him."
"Yes we can, you just need faith, teamwork and most importantly, we need to protect this kingdom."
"You two are very wise. How old were you in your past life?" Xavier asked.
"23," they both responded.
"That's quite young to be so wise. I am 25 and Stefania is 20. Let's get back to work."
They nodded and spent the rest of the day training. By the end of the day, Sora and Mina had a plethora of new skills.
They ate a nice dinner with the Prince and Princess, and returned to their rooms. They both looked out of their windows, noticing the floating lanterns to keep the villages and main city lit at night.
"I'm glad you had us choose this place Mina, thank you." Sora said while hugging his sister.
"No problem, but why are you so sentimental?" Mina asked.
What do you think Mom and Dad would think of us? Do you think they'd be proud of what we're doing?"
"Hard to say with them, but I'd say yes. They were always tough love and fight to survive. I bet we could totally squash them in a duel now!" Mina said with a smile, lightening the mood for Sora.
"You're right, and maybe one day we'll be able to be dragons! I just hope eventually we can complete all the quests and pass on," Sora said as he laid in bed.
"Don't worry brother, get some rest, you did great today," Mina said, kissing him on the forehead.
"Thanks sis."
Mina had walked to her room, laid down and played around with her system.
"Name: Mina Hart. Race. Elf. Level 3. Twin user: Sora Hart [alive]. Four categories of skills: master of weapons (H) [common], (E) Elven Magic [uncommon], (E) Fang Royal Bloodline Magic [Legendary]. (G) god Magic [mythic]. For more detailed descriptions of all spells, please select the corresponding tab."
"That can wait for tomorrow. We learned a lot of new spells today. I just hope we can use it to help," Mina thought, let out a big yawn and fell asleep.
Sora was having trouble sleeping, but didn't want to check his system. "Mom, Dad, I hope you're at peace and can watch over us. We avenged you and I thought that would bring happiness. Instead I feel emptiness, except when I'm helping others."
Sora finally managed to fall asleep, drifting off into dreams of when he was a human.
In his dreams, he was with Mina, as elves in a fight with humankind. He woke up in the middle of the night with sweat dripping from his forehead.
"It was just a nightmare…" Sora thought, as he fell back asleep.