CRACK!

  The hell?! What's going on!?

  My eyes shot open and I instinctively tossed a fist in the general vicinity of whichever beast had decided to attack me.

  My fist was caught, however, and easily disarmed. It was then that I noticed who exactly it was that had decided to so rudely wake me.

  My ‘older sister’, Ariane Bluestone.

  She was standing right beside my bed, a spinning ball of air in her hand, and a cheeky grin on her face.

  Ugh… of course.

  “Wakey wakey, Cae! Papa said it's time for your training!”

  “... Sure, okay, sis. Tell dad I'm coming.”

  Grinning, she made the ball of air in her hand disappear, and ran out.

  Haha.

  Seriously, what a rude girl!

  What about the dignity of rest, Ariane!? Don't you have a human heart?!

  Children really are the worst.

  I'll get her back for this eventually.

  Cracking my neck and yawning, I sat up and got out of bed. It was about midday now, which was probably why Aaron was calling me.

  It was the time we'd decided on, since I, who was still a small child, needed a lot of sleep.

  I opened the door and began to walk down the stairs, still in my pajamas.

  Grace was the one I'd have to go to freshen up, since she was the only water mage at home right now.

  I had to be careful here, going down the stairs that is, since my stumpy legs were prone to tripping over themselves, you see. Even if I was four now, I hadn't improved much in terms of my physical ability.

  It'd been about six or seven months since I'd figured out how to absorb mana, so I was sure I was four years old now.

  Though, it seems Elise and Aaron didn't particularly care to celebrate birthdays every year. Mine had come and gone without much fanfare, after all.

  Of course, I didn't really mind, since I couldn't even remember the last time I had a birthday party, in this life or the last.

  More importantly, I had also made amazing progress after I'd crossed that roadblock!

  It'd been only half a year, and I was pretty close to done with all my mana vessels. Only the ones at the tips of my toes were left.

  For some reason or other, this was taking more time than my upper body had. Then again, I did have some reference to go off of for them, so I was still pretty satisfied with my progress.

  As a side note, they had also begun teaching me to read and write properly now, which was nice. I hadn't known how to even start learning writing.

  My first lesson's tomorrow, so I'm pretty stoked about that. I'll have to pretend I can't read very well.

  It'll be suspicious otherwise, won't it?

  As I cautiously placed my feet on the stairs, making sure not to trip, I thought about that a bit more.

  I’m pretty sure Elise has seen me reading books, so she probably does expect me to know at least a bit.

  Therefore, acting completely illiterate probably wasn't the move either.

  Well, that's for me to think about tomorrow. After all, I—

  Fire ran down my spine.

  My legs jolted, and then completely froze.

  Since I was in the middle of taking a step, instead of touching the stairs squarely, my foot landed on the edge, causing me to slip.

  My vision blurred.

  “Hhck!”

  Not this again!

  I shot out a hand, grabbing the railing as tightly as I could. Right after, I shot out another hand, finally stabilising myself.

  Just a second after, the muscles in my legs briefly twitched before they finally unfroze.

  I took a deep breath of air, before finally stepping off the stairs and onto the floor proper.

  Quickly, I swung my head all around me. Thankfully, no one was around to see that.

  “… Haaah”

  I can't believe it's gotten this bad.

  For a while now, I'd been getting these sudden flashes of heat. It came out of nowhere, without any warning and would run through my entire mana system.

  Sometimes it was like a lighter, flares and sparks of heat pulsing outward from the centre of my body. At other times, it was like scalding water, pouring down my spine.

  It would completely interrupt whatever it is I was doing. And then, it would disappear, just as suddenly as it had appeared.

  Most barely lasted a second. Some, like this one, a few.

  I’d first felt this phenomenon six months ago, when I had first figured out mana absorption.

  At first, I hadn't thought much of it, since I wasn't hurt by it, and they were infrequent enough to not cause any mishaps.

  However, now…

  It's different.

  They happened at least once every day, without fail. I was pretty sure they were actually getting worse and worse with time.

  Thankfully, it still wasn't causing me any pain, but I still had no clue what to do about them.

  Of course, I did have a few theories about what it could be.

  First of all, it only started after I had started absorbing mana consciously and had full-body circulation in the works.

  Second, it almost always started with a strong surge at my core, from which it instantly rushed up my spine.

  Lastly, it happened more frequently on days I had trained more heavily on.

  From all of this I could tell that it had something to do with Awakening, but that didn't mean I knew what exactly was going on, what I could do about them or what they could be doing.

  Should I tell Aaron and Elise about this?

  No, not yet. It hasn't gotten—

  I stalled for a moment, standing still in front of the stairs.

  On second thought, maybe now's not the time for me to be so untrusting.

  Elise and Aaron have been nothing but kind and caring. This shouldn't be any different.

  I'd kept plenty from them, and I felt it was perfectly reasonable to do so, considering I didn't want to have any misinterpretations about me.

  This however, wasn't so simple. Sure, it wasn't actively harming me now, at least not directly, but who knows how long that would last.

  I still didn't know much, if anything, about this world. Best I relied on the people who did, and not accidentally kill myself by ignoring it.

  Now, how to bring it up to them…

  …

  “Haah—dad! Haah—slow—down! I—can’t run—that—fast!”

  “Come on Cae! Don't get tired now!” Aaron said, looking back at me while he started to run even faster, disappearing behind the turn.

  If you couldn't already tell, I was suffering.

  It was only natural of course. I was trying to keep pace with a grown man, one who was a fighter by profession, while having the stamina of a four year old.

  I didn't blame Aaron. It wasn't his fault, after all, that I was doing this.

  No, this was all me. Me and my arrogance that had made me think I could handle even more intense training.

  Ugh, whatever. Just deal with it, man.

  Shaking my head, I pushed my short legs as hard as I could and caught up to Aaron. He was in front of the house, sitting on the grassy yard, his knees folded and not a hair out of place.

  I ran forward, and expended the last bit of energy I had to sit down, before promptly collapsing on my back.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  “Well, well. Finally made it, did you?"

  "Aren't workouts great? Don't you feel just amazing?”

  … Amazingly sore.

  I sat there for a few seconds, before turning on my side to face Aaron.

  … Okay. He's free now. This is the best time I'll have.

  Let's do this.

  “Um—dad? I have a question?”

  “Yeah? Shoot.”

  Just ask him.

  It'll be fine. Nothing will go wrong.

  “It's about, um, something that's been happening lately.”

  “...Go on.” Aaron raised a brow, the corner of lips twitching upwards.

  Ugh… how do I even say this?

  “Recently… I’ve been getting… these flashes… of heat! It's been happening a lot! I got kinda worried about it! Is this something I should be worried about!?”

  Okay, it's done.

  It's out in the world now.

  The smile dropped from Aaron's face, and a pondering look appeared in its place.

  “... Is that right? How long has this been happening, Cae? And where exactly are these flashes happening?”

  “Um, well, ever since we went on that hunt last year. For that Shingder thing? And it's all over my body. Starting from my chest and then going out everywhere!”

  “Does it hurt? How long does it last?”

  He continued to ask, all while checking my pulse and temperature.

  His expression didn't change much, with only his brow furrowing a tiny bit. It seems like things were normal enough.

  “No, not really. It's not painful, just kinda annoying. And, it's around for, like, a few seconds? Yeah, it's like that!”

  “Right.” Aaron looked to the side for a bit, scratching his chin. He whispered something under his breath, before turning back to look at me.

  … Interesting.

  I thought he'd be freaking out, same as every other time I got even slightly hurt, but he's not.

  He seems more confused than worried, really.

  Maybe this isn't a cause for concern?

  “Well, Cae, do you have any idea what could have caused this?” He asked, looking straight at me, a look in his eyes that felt both confused and knowing at the same time.

  “I mean, it couldn't have happened on its own, could it?”

  Sorry, Aaron, I can't tell you that.

  Even if I did want to, I have no clue how to explain everything that had led up to this.

  It'd be way too difficult to explain, and has way too many pitfalls for me to fall in.

  “Dad, if I knew that, would I have asked you?!”

  “Fair, fair. I suppose not,” bending his knees, Aaron stood up, cracking his back before helping me up as well. “Don't worry Cae, I'm pretty sure I know what this is. We'll go to Ms. Farla’s tomorrow, and get you checked out.”

  He then quickly looked back down at me.

  “You do remember Ms. Farla right?”

  “... Yeah. She's the old woman at the fancy shop in town.”

  “Then that’s that!”

  Huh.

  I guess it's… not that big of a deal?

  Even Aaron's not hung up about it, and he's always the first to react when me or Ariane were in any trouble.

  Huh.

  He really didn't think I was in any danger during that hunt then, did he?

  Crazy.

  Well, regardless of that, good to know that I haven't screwed myself.

  As I was thinking that, Aaron had come and shoved a wooden training sword into my hands, though it was more of a thick wooden stick really.

  “Alright, Cae. It's time for your sword drills now! You can't be slacking off!”

  Hah.

  Same as always, huh?

  I trailed behind him behind the house, where he'd cleared out a small patch of land to serve as a training ground.

  It had actually been there before Ariane's Awakening. Aaron and Elise trained too, after all. They couldn't afford to get rusty, after all.

  Of course, after Ariane had Awakened, she'd started training here as well. And now, I was too.

  Fun for the whole family, right?

  Aaron stood to the side, a relaxed smile on his face. The same one he almost always seemed to have.

  “Right then! Begin with the first form!”

  I placed my feet properly, left foot back and right in front, and raised my arms up.

  With the sword up, I took a step forward and swung it down as hard as I could.

  It was a perfectly normal swing, one that wasn't, and couldn't be, anything less than mundane.

  …

  Unfortunately, it turned out to not be mundane.

  Not at all.

  You see, when I was doing any physical training that let me stay mostly still, I used to try and circulate my mana again.

  You know, for efficiency.

  I hadn't seen much success for a while, or at all really. It wasn't just difficult to focus on mana circulation whilst doing something else, it was nearly impossible.

  Now, since I had been doing at it for so long, nearly as long as I'd been doing these exercises, it had become something of an instinct.

  And now, by what could have only been a prank from fate, I'd found myself succeeding.

  Not in useful way, mind you, since I didn't know what exactly had triggered it, but it did happen.

  A clump of mana flew out from my core, which I could see clear as a summer sky. And, as soon as it had, I had also swung down.

  That caused it to accelerate immensely, and made it shoot through my body like a bullet.

  "Hrkh!"

  My teeth clacked together, almost making me bite my tongue.

  It felt as though molten slag had been poured straight down my spine. I froze completely, my entire body seizing tight.

  Flares of heat tore through me, at once feeling like scalding torrents and like flames.

  Even stranger, the heat didn't dissipate like it usually did. Instead, it stuck around, tearing up and down my body.

  Argh!

  What the hell!?

  “Cae?! Why'd you freeze up?!”

  Aaron had rushed over as soon as I'd let the sword fall.

  As soon as he'd touched my shoulder, my arms spasmed. This continued for a few seconds, before I regained feeling in them.

  The overt pain had stopped but worryingly, the heat still hadn't disappeared.

  “It was that thing! What I just told you about!”

  “I can see that! You're hot to the touch!”

  He rubbed my back, prying the sword out of my hands. I was sure he'd done so in the hope to comfort me, but I didn't have the heart to say that his actions weren't helping at all.

  They were just making the heat flare harder.

  He stared at it, a look on his face that I knew meant familiarity. It was too long to be normal, but I had bigger concerns than to question him.

  “What do I do!?”

  Aaron's face twitched, the same way it always did when he was panicking and trying to stamp it down.

  “Let's stop here for now,” he said, taking me by the hand, and leading me back to the house. I was thankful for that, since my legs felt like jelly now.

  “Get some rest for now, and when your mother's home tomorrow, we'll talk about what to do.”

  “Are you sure, dad? What if it's something bad!?”

  “Don't worry, Cae. It's definitely not. You'll be fine!” replied Aaron, smiling at me softly and giving me a thumbs up.

  Funny... how that's also... a thing here.

  “But really, you should rest now. Maybe talk to Ari. You haven't been spending much time with her lately.”

  … I wonder if that's the truth. Or, if he's just trying to make me feel better.

  But… yeah. I should get some rest. I've been feeling really tired these days.

  “Okay. I'll do that.”

  We were finally in front of the front door now, but I stalled for a moment.

  “Are you sure it'll be fine, dad?”

  “Jeez! Aren't you a worrywart?” Aaron paused for a moment. He looked down at me then, opening the door.

  “Don't worry. It'll be fine, Caelum,” he said, possibly trying to reassure me. That his hand tightened then, I chose to ignore.

  … Fine, I'll choose to believe that.

  We walked in then, Aaron taking me to my room, and staying until I was laying on the bed.

  He nodded, ruffling my hair, before walking out.

  Why'd he leave the door open?

  Sighing, I turned onto my side.

  …

  “So, sis… how's your day been?”

  Ariane looked up from her bowl with surprise in her eyes, cheeks still puffed up, full of vegetable soup.

  Elise wasn't home today, so one of the four seats at the table was empty. Fittingly, we were also having soup and bread for dinner because of that, since they were Aaron and Ariane's preference.

  I'd been eagerly awaiting her return, since apparently, she's the one who was experienced in whatever I was going through.

  She had a habit of putting too much in her mouth at once, kind of like a chipmunk. A chipmunk without any self-control, that is.

  Gulping down her food, she replied with a thumbs up.

  "It was pretty great—I mean, it was quite a nice day, Caelum!”

  There she goes trying to mimic Elise again.

  “Oh—wow! Really! Why's that?” I asked, trying to raise a spoonful of soup to my mouth.

  That I was still feeling sparks going up and down my arm, however, made that extremely difficult.

  Damn, this is getting worse and worse.

  “Isn’t it quite obvious, Caelum? Mom’s not home today!” She said, with a look on her face that seemed to question just how I couldn't ask such a question.

  “As such, I didn't have to do any training today! And, and, I got to use spells I wanted!”

  Oh, Ariane, you don't even notice, do you?

  “Wow, Ari! I didn't know you disliked lessons with your mother so much! I hope that's not the case for me?”

  Aaron decided to chime in then, having already finished his bread and soup, with Grace already bringing in another serving.

  “Of course not! Your training’s way more fun, dad! Mom just makes me cast the same spells over and over again!”

  “Hehehe, if only Elise were here. I'd love to see the look on her face!”

  … Isn't this sweet?

  My eye twitched, and right after, so did my hand. It was the heat, which was the cause of this.

  Even though I'd been dealing with it for the good part of today, it had only been building in intensity.

  This has to be related to my Awakening, doesn't it? Everything seems to be pointing to that.

  It has to be coming soon then, doesn't it?

  Hopefully.

  “... Haaah.”

  “Is something the matter, young master Caelum?

  “Hiek!”

  How did I not hear her?

  “Uh, yeah! Everything's fine! Why wouldn't it be?” I said, giving her a shaky smile.

  “I had just noticed that you've not even taken a spoonful? Is the taste not to your liking?”

  Damn, she noticed.

  “No, no! It tastes amazing! I'm just—feeling a bit under the weather, is all!”

  “Really? You appeared to be okay when I woke you up?” chimed in Ariane, having overheard Grace.

  “If you don't feel well, you should rest for now, Cae. Not eating dinner one day isn't going to do anything.” Aaron said, joining in.

  His face was painted in the same expression he always had when he suspected something.

  I wonder… what he… knows.

  “Yeah! If you're feeling bad, you should go to bed!”

  … Well, who can say no to that.

  “A-alright, sure then. I'm going back to my room then.”

  “Sleep tight, Caelum! And don't let a Hobgoblin get you, okay?”

  “... Yeah, of course”

  "Don't forget to say your grace, Cae."

  Ah, right. There is that.

  "I thank you... Great Lady... for this meal today."

  A pretty standard saying, all things considered.

  Elise and Aaron had began teaching me prayers and such recently, and most of them were similar to this one.

  I felt they were oddly brief and casual. Thanks for meal, in my experience, usually involved more praises and honours.

  Oh well, it's not that important to me.

  Then, pushing the thought out of my head, I carefully got down from the chair, standing up on trembling legs.

  Thankfully, I could get down by myself, at least.

  “Sorry about wasting your cooking, Ms. Grace.” I said, passing her by.

  “It's no issue, young master. I wish for your good health, and pray that you will recover soon.”

  Yeah, I hope so too.

  And hopefully, I’d Awaken soon too.

  …

  My eyes opened, the wooden ceiling of my room revealing itself to me. My eyes felt twitchy and dry, mostly from the lack of proper sleep I'd gotten last night.

  As soon as I had, however…

  “…Urgh.”

  An ache ran through my entire body. The sunlight peaking through the window, and beaming into my eyes only made me feel worse.

  But, I soon realised that I had something far greater to be concerned over.

  I could feel my mana core.

  Actually feel it, as if it was another organ in my body.

  I shot up and immediately focused on my mana core. Within a few seconds, my mana structure revealed itself to me, and I saw…

  Something I'd never seen before.

  … It's… pulsating?

  It expanded, then contracted, thumping like a heart. With every beat, flaring, boiling waves of mana shot out, running through my mana vessels and leaving a burn in their wake.

  It beat in sync with my heart, taking not even a half-second of delay.

  Something’s happening.

  I grasped the heated flow of mana, something as easy as thinking, and tried to circulate it.

  Even though I hadn't absorbed any mana, it easily reached past my hips.

  It flowed through every vessel without a single blockage.

  Instead of pouring into my flesh, like it usually did, it circled back and went straight back into my central vessel.

  Then, it dropped straight down into my mana core.

  However, it didn't pass right through. No, it was blocked.

  Blocked by a countercurrent of mana both flowing and flaring.

  Sweat dripped down in sheets from all over my body, as heat built and built in intensity.

  It was a sticky heat.

  A humid heat.

  Damn!

  But, even that didn't last long. The blockage of mana was blown apart like a candle flame.

  …Crack.

  Something snapped, and fire spread everywhere.

  …

  “Well—how—known?”

  “I—he—early—too much!”

  “Mom, dad—I think—waking up!”

  I heard bits and pieces of speech around me, all from familiar voices.

  I didn't get what exactly they were talking about, but it had definitely woken me up.

  I twitched my fingers, a cold and spongy brushing against them. Strangely, I also felt large, rough cracks. Something like burnt wood.

  Even stranger, however, was that I felt good. Great, even. Phenomenal, if you would.

  Better than I'd ever remembered feeling. There was a lightness, a weightlessness perhaps, to my body.

  One that had quite never been there in the four years that I'd had this body. My fingers, small and chubby as they were, flexed with ease.

  As did my legs, moving perfectly as I wished when I shuffled them around.

  With that deep feeling of... satisfaction, maybe, I opened my eyes with a blink. And above me, I saw faces.

  Elise, Aaron and Ariane were hovering over me, all of them with different expressions on their faces.

  … What happened?

  For the life of me, I could not recall the series of events that could have led up to this.

  “Umm, w-what's going on…?” I questioned, bracing my hands against the ground and pushing myself upright.

  As my palms slid against the floor, I briefly glanced down to see what had happened to the floor.

  Burnt and… soaked? Together?

  Shaking my head, I looked back up, only to see Aaron's lips flapping open and shut like a fish gasping for air.

  He continued doing that for a while. Eventually he stopped trying entirely and looked over to Elise for help.

  I looked at her as well.

  “Caelum dear, it's just—I, well—"

  She sighed deeply, as if she herself didn't believe what she was going to say.

  Oh, my Lady, grant me clarity of speech. How should I even begin, I heard her say under her breath, before taking a deep breath and staring at me.

  Looks she's built up the courage.

  “It seems you… you have Awakened, Caelum.”

  …Oh!

  “I-I have? I r-really h-have?!”

  My voice came out trembling, practically stuttering. It rose and fell like the start to the worst vibrato to ever be sung.

  It's happened?!

  Hahaha!

  Finally!

  An exuberant smile broke out onto my face, actually kind of hurting from how wide it was.

  I almost started jumping for joy, and nearly did before realising I was still on the ground.

  Right then and there, I was about to dive right in to start looking at my mana system.

  I'd almost crossed my legs, and had even started to shut my eyes when—

  “Ahem!”

  A cough reminded me that I was not alone.

  “Well, looks like someone's excited,” Aaron laughed awkwardly, most likely from not knowing how to react.

  Though, strangely, his laugh felt slightly strained at places. It was then that Aaron and Elise’s reactions to Ariane's Awakening popped up in my mind.

  Well, I'm sure it's nothing too serious.

  It's probably just worrying about money or resources or something.

  Don't worry, though, you two. I'll be excited enough for all of us.

  “And, it seems you’ve already learnt some things, haven't you?” added Elise, her tone half-accusatory and half-curious.

  “Ahahaha, um, well, it's… you know?.”

  Come on, come on.

  Think, you oblivious dumbass!

  What can I say, what can I say? Should I blame it on Ariane? Say that she's been talking my ears off!?

  About magic and Awakening and spells and everything?

  “Cae, could it be that, perhaps, you’ve been sneaking peaks at Ari’s books?”

  Good enough!

  “... Sorry, mom, sis, I have. But, but, listen, I don't think it's that weird for me to do! I mean, I've been—”

  “Alright, alright, calm down. We understand.”

  Aaron said, his tone oddly disarming and neutral.

  Something about the way he said that though…

  Feels like he doesn't quite believe me, and just doesn't want to push me.

  Then, Aaron turned his head to stare straight at Elise with an enormous grin.

  That grin’s shaky too…

  Why's that?

  “After all, it's only natural that, after seeing his awesome dad in action, he'd be interested.”

  “Be serious, Aaron. Cae’s not a meathead like you,” retorted Elise playfully, though it didn't quite reach her eyes.

  “It's quite obvious that he became interested in magic from seeing his mother's deftness and skill in everyday use.”

  Oh boy, here they go again. It's actually kind of funny how competitive they were.

  Hell, they jumped into one shot up way faster than even the ones before.

  ... Awfully fast, considering the situation.

  Normally, I would've let them keep going, but I still had things to ask and confirm.

  “Mom, dad?”

  “Yeah, Cae?”

  “Yes, Cae?”

  “When will I start learning magic? Ariane started just a few days after her Awakening! But you already have the materials right?! So, clearly—”

  “Woah, woah! Slow down, little guy! Breathe a little!”

  “But it's magic, dad! Like all the stories and tales you and mom tell me. Like Mr. Elis and you!”

  “Yes, yes, of course you're excited. It's only natural. And, yes, we will get to your training soon as well. It's just that, before we start with that, we need to…”

  Elise sighed deeply, as did Aaron. That was the second one they'd done in the past five minutes.

  They're being hesitant.

  Oddly so.

  ... I'm missing something here. Definitely missing something.

  They hadn't been like this with Ariane even.

  Ariane was off to the side, blowing small gusts of wind at the floor, utterly unaware of her parent's hesitation.

  Then, after having paused for a full ten seconds, with a variety of expressions passing over their faces, they finally spoke.

  Together.

  “We need to have you examined. The both of you. We've delayed long enough.”

  “So, we’re going to have to take a little trip, a trip to Cromer, that is.” followed up Aaron.

  Huh?

  What?