Today was a day like many others I had since my family arrived in Xyrus. I spent the early morning training and exercising along with my laps around the manor. My father had even started joining me to help me by sparring with me before he would go to work at the auction house. Just a light sparring as since I still had no mana, my body was just too small and weak for anything serious.
It was currently the end of my physical training and I was sitting in a lotus position. Out in the open, enjoying the heat of the sun on my skin as summer was in full swing. It wasn't quite the hottest point of the day yet, but it wasn't far off especially when in direct sunlight. Something about it helped while I meditated, I wasn't sure why.
Also like everyday my stalk-.. er observer, Lilia was watching me, but today she was finally coming up to me.
"What are you doing?" She asked, walking up beside me while I remained still in my position.
"I'm trying to form a mana core." I replied, eyes still closed as I focused as much as I could on my breathing. These past few months the lights had been getting brighter and more plentiful, but they had yet to even come close to forming anything I would associate with a core. I guess I didn't know if the core actually looked like a sphere or not, but that was how i envisioned it. So far it just looked like the night sky in there, hundreds if not thousands of lights taking up space.
"You can do that?" Lilia asked with obvious interest. She moved closer and crouched next to me. It felt a bit awkward having her staring at me from so close while I was trying to meditate, so i decided to open my eyes and talk directly.
"Well I'm not completely sure of course, but I figured if mages needed to meditate to increase their power and core purity, then maybe it could also be used to form a core." She sat there nodding at my words before tucking her dress and her legs to the side.
"Can you teach me?" Determination was clear on her face as she held my gaze. It wasn't the shy and hesitant look I was used to seeing on her face. It made me want to root for her and I wondered if perhaps in the story Arthur teaches her about meditation and helps her become a mage.
"Sure! But I'll be honest, I'm not sure this will work. After all I've been doing this for almost two ye—.." I caught myself before saying "two years". I wasn't sure how it would be viewed if I told her that I had been meditating since I was 2 years old. "I've been doing this for a while now, as it's what Arthur said allowed him to form his core and I still haven't managed to form my own." I finished looking for her reply.
"Did your brother really form his mana core at only 3 years old?" She asked. I could only nod as I felt a brief bit of pain in my chest, but I pushed it away and smiled.
"Ya, Arthur was something of a prodigy. I hope to become as good as he would have been… No I hope I can find a way to become better than he would have been." I said, the conversation dying as my thoughts consumed me.
"Ah sorry, I got lost in thought. Here, I'll teach you how to meditate. The good thing about it that you can pretty much do it anywhere, but I find that I feel I make the most progress when I'm surrounded by nature." She nodded and for the next couple hours we sat there, me teaching and showing Lilia how to meditate.
Based on the information of the books I read in this world, such a thing was not how people did it. For some reason whether you became a mage was left entirely up to chance and genetics. I couldn't understand why meditation wouldn't just be the standard practice as most stories I'd ever read had always had a way for people to acquire the power in the world. Unless their body was stunted in some way.
Soon we were called for breakfast by the maids and my day passed with usual lessons from my mother. Now we mostly went over history of the continent and due to my insistence she taught me more and more about magic as well. Lilia had her own noble ladies classes that she went to during this time and everything was shaping up to be a normal day until it was dinner time. The Helsteas had left for the evening to have a family dinner out in the city, and we were having our own family dinner. A stew that we hadn't had since Arthur, fresh and homemade by Alice herself.
The mood around the table was rather melancholic. Mother's belly seemed to grow with each passing day, and the stew had us all reminiscing on better times. Until a voice that we hadn't heard in sometime, suddenly spoke in our head.
'Hi Mom, hi dad and hey Roland. It's me, Arthur…'
My hand lost its grip on my spoon which clattered into the bowl, but the sound barely registered to my ears. I was listening for the voice, that familiar voice. My eyes finally left my soup and I saw a similarly bewildered expression on both Alice and Reynolds face. I'm sure mine looked much the same as we try to understand what exactly was happening.
'…Again, I'm a live and well. I managed to survive the fall off the cliff…'
His voice continued to speak to us and each word sent pangs through my heart. I could feel the lump forming in my throat as I tried to make sense of everything. Arthur was alive? He survived the fall and had somehow ended up in the Elf Kingdom, Elenoir, of all places? He had acquired a sickness that they were helping him over and it would take time for him to come back home. Home to us.
"You both heard the voice just now too, right? Please tell me it wasn't just me that heard his voice." Mother said, her voice permeated with the same desperation I felt. I was glad he was alive but I wanted him home now, we all did.
"Ya!" I replied jumping up and moving to hold her hand.
"Y-yeah. I just heard Art's voice." Reynolds responded, his voice low with surprise.
"H-he's alive! Oh Arthur's alive! Oh my goodness…" Mother finished with a mutter that soon turned into weeping. Met with her tears my own soon found their way to my eyes and followed by Dad's. We were all huddled into a hug as we cried, tears of happiness streaked down our faces as we reveled in the news. We couldn't believe it.
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