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? You go to the coop and get some eggs and let me know so I can start!" 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 or doctor 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. He saw 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 being enough to get her noticed for her talent. It's rare to be a dual wielder but with her talent on top of that she was always going to earn a full scholarship.
Anthony looked out the window at his sister with her shorter hair still tied up as she swung her broadsword at a medium height post and he smirked to himself. He could never help but do anything else when he looked at 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. He wanted to be like her, well maybe not like her exactly but to be as special, 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, like now, ba-bump ba-bump, it seemed as if his heart was screaming at him to grow stronger! Anthony looked down at his hand which he 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 Anthony, 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 explored for all the free weekend hours, at least to them, was filled to the brim with plenty of majestic wonders to know. The magic there ran more wild in nature than the kind in the village. In the streams, in the trees, he remembered being 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 creek that he had known all too well before. He walked up to it calmly, but he stopped in his tracks as 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 in bright blue feathers consistently except for around its eyes which were 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 seemed different from a normal bird. He took one careful, slow step forward in a cautious approach crouched as if to not arouse suspicion. The majestic bird quickly responded as it opened its mouth and fired a quick stern shot of water right at Anthony's face, knocking him over but doing no more harm. Anthony spat and rubbed his eyes but he quickly regathered himself. 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?"
"I can't say it feels fantastic," Anthony said with a grunt as he organized himself to meet the eyes of his father. He stood above Anthony, hands on his hips, looking down at Anthony with a slight grin on his face.
As if recognizing the look of surprise on Anthony, his father 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 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, but wouldn't it be fun just to run around." 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 with all of his focus.
"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 he was convinced Anthony knew.
"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. Maybe we were 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, 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 core element mage?" Anthony beckoned, now he was curious.
"It's hard to describe but yes, I think so, it's so peculiar the magic that flows inside you neither your mother or sister can sense it at all, I don't even think there's a widely known term for it, but I can tell that you can sense it, 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. Then, he turned and met eyes with Anthony saying, "Do you get it?" It became clear to him the magical academic theory natural to a seasoned mage had gone over the ten year olds 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 guess I should leave you to start your exploration of this magic if you can, I myself have research to explore."
"Alright, 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.
"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, when he gathered it in specific places sometimes it felt different, 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 use his magic on the world around him to sense it, he could see everything — every pebble, every speck of dust — in a certain span around him. 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. He didn't care, he barely even noticed, because finally he could use magic! But suddenly a smell entered his nose. An odd smell-
Hey! Anthony stumbled, the rock fell. He heard a voice but it was different, it felt like it was in his head.
"Hey! Anthony!" He heard as he felt small hands grab onto his shoulders shaking him. It was Evelyn. "Anthony! Turnaround! What is that?!"
"Okay, Okay" Anthony grumbled disoriented, "Stop shaking… me"
Anthony could see it as he slowly got up, above the treeline, in the direction of the village, his village, his home, he saw smoke, a massive amount, a plume unlike anything he had ever known, but Anthony knew it was bad. Fear seemed to overtake him, his face contorted as a scowl warped his face.
Everything seemed to suddenly stop, there was no beautiful forest, there was no Evelyn, there was no stream! No birds! No stone! No. Magic.
Then it all happened, he broke into a sprint. His legs moved on their own.
"Anthony! Wait!" Evelyn yelled for him, but Anthony couldn't hear her. He couldn't think.
He could control the magic in his body though. He felt it move through him. He made it swell in his legs, through his muscles. He was faster. He was a lot faster as he leaped and bounded through the forest.
Then all of the sudden, he broke through the tree line and just stopped. There it was, his village, or at least that was what was supposed to be there.
The sight was horrifying, his nostrils filled with a sickening stench of blood, smoke, and burnt flesh right before him. He could see the flames, the destroyed houses, the mangled corpses, and the creatures that caused the destruction. They were massive muscular creatures, each of them carrying frightening spiked clubs. They had massive manes, beards, and fearsome red eyes. Giants, he thought. He had learned about them but he was too stunned to move. Too afraid to process.
"AHHHHHH!" He saw it, his Mom and April were fighting two giants. There were a few giant corpses around them, but more were circling, focusing in on them and his mom went down, clutching her leg. April stood between the two of them waving her sword back and forth between the two giants, pointing it at them as she fell back.
Anthony stared at the scene but he couldn't move, he couldn't-
"Anthony! What do we do!" Evelyn said as she shook Anthony's arm, he stumbled but he caught himself. Slowly he turned his head to Evelyn, she was crying, her lip quivered, tears rolled down her cheeks, her eyes shook, trembled, along with her whole body, as she stared deep into his like she didn't want to look away.
"Evelyn" he whispered to himself. He woke up! He calmly, carefully, cautiously, reached for her face and he pulled her head into his chest. He whispered calmly in a steady tone into her ear "Don't be afraid Eve, it'll all be okay just stay here, hide behind the tree.Whatever you do don't follow me, I'll be back soon. Don't you worry for even a second."
"Where are you going Anthony?" She asked, looking up at him, tears still rolling down her cheeks, but at least she wasn't trembling anymore.
"I'm just going to help," he said calmly and slowly.
"Be safe," she said.
"When am I not?" He asked but it wasn't a real question. He smiled at her but he wasn't happy, he just wanted her to feel okay. He turned and he ran, he ran towards the fires, he ran towards the dangers, towards his family.
"Mom! April!" He yelled. April, still warding off the giants, looked towards him, slowly it felt like her face contorted with fear.
"Anthony! Look out!" time suddenly slowed as he looked to his left, he couldn't move quick enough but he could take it all in, his death, right before it happened. A club, with spikes, was coming right for him from his left. A Giant, a bit behind him to his left, swung his weapon towards Anthony. He was smiling, smiling so wide you could see it in the wrinkles around his eyes, almost laughing as his fatal club closed the distance about to strike Anthony for the final time.
Then all of the sudden, he felt a hand push him down and as he laid on the ground the spiked club sailed above him. It missed, but it didn't sound like it, there was a massive thud, blood splattered, and the Giant's bellowing laugh echoed through the valley pounded in his eardrums like it didn't miss. When he turned around he could see who it hit. His dad laid behind him, covered in his own blood, blood that splattered all around him, holes covered his torso as a dark clumpy red leaked out of him. His mouth quivered like it was trying to make out words, but Anthony couldn't hear him. In the split second he saw his father before he pushed himself to a standing position again, he saw his fathers eyes go blank, nobody was behind them anymore, the man he had known all his life had left.
He rose up, anger boiled through his veins, he wanted to cry but he couldn't. He looked at the cruel laughing Giant before him. He raised his arm towards the Giant, he screamed, screamed as loud as he possibly could with every inch of his body and his mana exploded from him in a bang. Suddenly the Giant wasn't smiling anymore, in fact it was gone, its top half had been flung somewhere unbeknown to Anthony, out of sight, and out of mind. The Giant's smile was not replaced, Anthony could not smile, he looked around and caught April's eyes looking at him with bewilderment. Unfortunately for him he could also see four other Giants looking at him, all with the same shocked look, but unlike April their mouths would soon become foul smiles similar to that of the first Giant. They looked down upon him, delighted by a new challenging prey to snuff the life from.
They lost all focus on April, they began to move towards him faster and faster. Anthony knew he couldn't handle all of them, he was already spent, he was just a kid in the end, he could see the end yet again.
Hey! Anthony heard.
"What– What are you?"
That doesn't matter right now, you can finally hear me. Listen, you need to let me take over. I can help you. I can help your family
"Huh– take over?– you can help my family?"
Yes, just let me- But Anthony didn't need more convincing, he surrendered so quickly, he closed his eyes to rest as he didn't really have much to surrender, he was entirely spent, nothing left to give. A new force, presumably piloted by the voice, took over his body. He didn't feel invaded, he felt safe at this point, it was time to be done. The power forced Anthony's eyes to fly open but Anthony couldn't see out of them, they weren't his eyes anymore, it was time for him to rest but he still couldn't cry.
–
When Anthony came to everything was bright, it was loud, it was disorienting. Anthony looked down at his hands and they glowed with a peculiar gold color. He looked around and was overwhelmed, power flowed around him, it seemed as if golden lightning had flashed around him. He slowly turned around and saw April, his sister fighting but she was being pushed away, she couldn't get to him.
"April," he said calmly.
"Anthony! You're back! How did you do all of this?!" She yelled trying to push for him.
"Do all of what?" He asked.
"I- I- Everything! How did you do Everything?!"
Anthony looked around as he took it all in, he was surrounded by corpses but there were no more giants. There were no more people either, just April. She was safe, April was safe! Anthony calmed down and he began to hold back the overwhelming power from flowing from him, and he fell to his knees, April rushed to catch him. While the power had stopped pushing her away it did not stop surging inside him he wasn't sure what his mana would do to him but he couldn't stop.
"April I'm scared. What happened? Are you okay? Am I gonna be okay?" Anthony said, whimpering. "I'm so scared."
"It's okay Anthony," April said, trying to calm him, "Everything is going to be okay."
Suddenly, Anthony felt tears flowing down his face. As he looked at his sister for what he worried might have been the last time, he discovered he could cry again. Then the bright golden energy that was grabbing his destiny by the throat was gone, unfortunately it took Anthony with it.