The Prophecy
For the next two days, there was no going into town or no visitors at the farm. Living their lives as usual.
***On the morning of the third day
Ellis and Sophia wake up and head down to breakfast; and upon entering the kitchen, see that their parents are glaring at them. "Ellis..., show me what you have found?" Their father asked angerly.
"You heard about what happened in town the other day, haven't you?" Ellis questions sheepishly. Noticing their fathers' terse nod.
The twins look at each other than back at their father.
Ellis looks to his sister who shrugs, sighs, and just nods her head in affirmation. Ellis takes out the stone and shows it to his father. "Hand it here" his father says. Picking up the stone from his son's hand, he sighs and then asks them to follow him into the living room. "Sit, and I will tell you the truth about our family, but please do not talk about it with anyone else. It can be very dangerous, not just for you but for anyone who learns the truth. Do you understand?" To reassure them, the twins nod.
"I will tell you how it was told to me, when I was around your age. It all started when an ancient sorcerer, Magnus, had created three stones of power, a vision that came to him. No one knows if he was just looking for power, or what his true intensions were. Or if it all was an accident. In this vision, there were two possible outcomes. One is the path to destroy Janar, and the other path leads prosperity. If the three stones fall into the wrong hands, who would use them for greed, then that can spell ruin for us all. "This is the prophesy that was passed down through the ages:"
Two to find, one to hold.
Three makes one.
Earth, Fire, Blood.
Family of Fire lost; find the stone in the mountain without a peak.
Stone of Earth found in the place of the same name.
Leader of men holds the Stone to control.
The three stones are the Bloodstone, the Firestone, and the Earthstone. The Bloodstone is a mystery to everyone and the family protecting the stone is a secret, no one knows the abilities that it holds, but one can guess that is probably has control in some way over the blood. The Firestone can conjure or use existing fire at will. Lastly, the Earthstone, you probably have figured out, is able to control and shape the ground beneath your feet.
There are prerequisites to being able to use the stone's; and that is, it has to be from one of the three families chosen by the king for guarding, and they need to have some moderate amount of magical talent. For the chosen families, were each from a magical bloodline. "If you were told about this, does that mean we are from one of those families?" Sophia asked curiously.
"Yes, my father left with me and my mother from our ancestral home of, Limestrand, to live here in Keld. We were, and this is where secrecy comes in, a noble and magical bloodline, the Everard's. Leaving all that behind to become normal farmers with the name Dankworth," their father clarifies.
Ellis' is shocked hearing the name Everard but continues to listen to his parents before asking his questions.
***
Their mother, Sonia, leaves the room; and goes into the kitchen and brings out their morning meal so they can break their fast, while they chat. Upon re-entering the sitting area with the fire going, she lays the tray with the food on the living room table, and pours tea for her husband, the twins, and herself. They absently move the food around on their plates or just holds their cup of tea. "Your father has told me about his history after we got married, and it still amazes me."
"Dad, do you have any magic? "How did the stone end up in the field?" Ellis asked with delight in his eyes and bombarding his father with questions. Ellis decides not to mention anything about this invisible status thing.
"To an extent, why do you think we became farmers. Our family magic specialty is with the earth," his father replied, smiling at his son. "It would be no problem to plow the fields with magic, but we are in hiding and it would give us away. So, we do it the normal way." As to your other question, I do not know, my father must have done it, hidden it where no one could find it. Back then the farm was not as prosperous or big as it is now."
"Now, who wants to find out how much magic they have," Basil says with a smirk.
"But what about the other families, who are they?" Sophia asked.
"Well, it may surprise you, but King Alvis and his family has the bloodstone."
"What?!" Ellis and Sophia yell at the same time, shocked. "But I thought you said nobody knew who protected that particular stone?" Ellis shouted.
"How do you think the kingdom was never defeated, true no one knows the whole truth behind the royal family. They have even more secrets than we do," their father informed.
"And the last family? The one's guarding the Firestone, who is it?" Ellis asked.
"Even I do not know that; all I know is that whomever it is was, was made or subjugated, a Fire Giant to watch over it. You may be able to find it in an old history book, but I doubt it. The history was kept in the families and what I just told you, is all that anyone really knows. Family names were kept secret from the rest of the world to keep the stones safe," their father acknowledged.
"Come, follow me, and we will test your magic in the back fields." Ellis and Sophia follow their father from the house into the fields until they are far enough away, where they cannot damage anything.
Basil tries several times to put a barrier around them before succeeding, so that nobody who has magic, will not be able to detect any magic that the three of them are about to do. "Phew, have not had to do that for many years, and I am out of practice."
*Ding*
New Spell learned: You have just learned Barrier. The Barrier spell creates a translucent dome around you and anyone else you want to hide with you. You cannot be seen or heard. Costs 5 mana and 2 seconds to cast at your current level.
Ellis seems to be shocked on a regular basis these days, and it has only been three days since getting this, for want of a better word, system.
Clearing his throat to get their attention, seeing his son staring into space. "Now I want the two of you to look inside yourselves to your core; it can be in the form of a well or something else," he explained.
They each take a few moments to do as he suggests. Sophia is the first to connect with her magic, "I feel it, but it feels kind of small," she says kind of disappointed. "Do not worry, Soph, you are just finding out that you have magic, it will grow as you grow, and, in the future, your magic will get stronger, " her father gently assures her. She and her dad look over to her brother, and notice he is struggling a bit.
"It's alright, if you have trouble at first. You've never known that you had magic. I have faith in you both. Keep working on it. Soph, practice getting in touch with your magic faster, it may save you later on," their father encouraged.
***
Ellis tries once again, and it is like the last time, he sees not a well, but a lake. Both times, he goes to place his hand in the lake, his hand comes into contact with a solid surface and his hand is pushed back.
On his third attempt, he tries something different. He realizes that he has been looking at this all wrong. He thought his powers looked more like water, but what if it was more solid like the earth? He places his hand back on the surface, adding more force so as not to be pushed back, until there is a small hole. As soon as the hole appears, he can feel the power filling up his entire body. As soon as this happens, he distantly hears his dad speaking than stutter off.
"I think that is enough for to…today..." he stutters off, feeling the big burst of magic coming off of Ellis. His dad and sister stare at him in amazement. Of course, he doesn't realize this because of him having his eyes closed and his concentration was on sensing and coming in contact with his magic. His dad said to picture a well, but his magical core was much bigger.
Far off in the distance, he hears his dad say, "don't let it control you; you control it."
*Ding*
New Spell Unlocked: Earth manipulation. You can now manipulate the ground any way you choose. No limit to what you can create. Cost: 5 mana per second.
Ellis not only enforces his will by imagining a plug in the hole that he made, using the earth to block off the excess power pouring out. Where he can open the hole for more magic to seep out for when he needs it.
When he appears back in reality, he can feel his dad's hand on his shoulder for encouragement. "Congratulation's son, you and your sister will work on accessing your power faster and on controlling it later on, but now it is time to go home and have some lunch. The both of you did not get off to that bad of a start," he says with a proud smile on his face.
Ellis looks up into the sky, noticing that it is just after noon. Basil lets the barrier fall and heads to the house. Sophia follows than Ellis and Bean bring up the rear.
That night in bed, Ellis opens and studies his status updates. Along with his two new spells, he notices that his mana went down by half. Stifling a gasp so as not to wake his family. He tries to think back to when or how this could have happened. One possibility is:
'This must be from when I made that whole, trying to connect with my center.'
***
...The next day...
Ellis and Sophia spend the morning doing their chores. Ellis takes this time to test out a few things concerning with this system. Mainly, what happens when his stats go up. He focuses on his mana, or energy as his father called it, to see if that makes changes. It becomes such a focal point that he doesn't even notice when he physically stops moving.
"Ellis!" Someone shouts. He isn't brought out of his centralization of mana manipulation, that all it took was someone to grab his shoulder and yank him back to reality. He looks up to see his father starring at him. He cannot decipher the look on his father's face; fear, shock, or anger.
After a long, pause his father says, "We'll talk about this more after dinner, finish up here before coming in for lunch."
Sophia looks at him with fear and awe, with a little trepidation. She leaves Ellis to finish by himself. Ellis takes a quick second to inspect his status for any changes before finishing up what he was doing before his distraction over his training took priority.
Intelligence +2
At lunchtime, they clean themselves up and hurriedly eat their lunch. Lunch was a quiet affair, Basil in a contemplative mood. Then they rush out to the back field with their father, to practice calling up and controlling their magic.
Basil told them to never practice without him putting up the barrier. Before practice gets started, he takes the stone from Ellis and tells him, "Hand over the stone, you will get it back for you are now the new protector of the stone, but I am going to make it more convenient for you to carry." Ellis just nods his head. "Let's get started, shall we?" What Basil doesn't tell his son is that he doesn't want Ellis to rely on the stone but his own ability.
All throughout training that day, his father barely looked at or say anything to him.
Constitution +1
Everyone is sitting around in the evening, when Basil and Ellis head outside to talk about what happened earlier. "That was reckless, son."
"I know da, but no one else was around. Only Soph. All I really was trying to master my control over what I could do with my ma...energy."
*sigh* "Just try to be more careful, alright buddy. I don't want anything to happen to you or your sister and mother. OK?!"
***
On the third day of working with the twins on their magic, Basil can see that his children are getting stronger in their magic, but he decides that they need a break.
"Alright, that's enough, we will stop using magic today," Basil says. Dropping the barrier when he feels his children's magic under control. He tosses each of them a wooden practice sword. "Ellis, you first."
Eyes shining, Ellis steps in front of his father in what he assumes is the ready stance, and say "you're going to teach us to fight?"
"Well, why not, you need to be able to defend yourselves, you cannot always rely on your magic; it is very tiring, it will physically exhaust you and could end killing you, if you use too much energy. The best thing is to find a balance with magic and sword," Basil instructs. "Now, stand guard, defend yourself against my blade," he shouts and attacks without warning while Sophia looks on.
Ellis is barely able to bring his sword up and block the attack to his head, when his father instantly swings for a second attack. Earning a hit to Ellis' right side.
"Oof," wincing and holding his side, his father walks up to him with his own sword pointed to the ground. "Not bad, you were able to block my first blow."
Constitution +1
"Here, you need to hold your sword up higher in the beginning stance and watch for every movement that I make. Your opponent's body will tell you what he or she will do, before they even attack. Got it." He guides the twins through each of the stances. "Ellis, go rest but still watch as your sister takes a turn." Ellis nods and goes to sit down so he can watch his sister get a bruising for once. He gets a notification as soon as sits down, and realized he got another one while sparring with his father.
Agility +1
Sophia steps up in front of her father, holding her wooden blade just like he demonstrated to her and Ellis. Just as with Ellis, her father makes a strike so suddenly that it leaves her little time to bring the blade up to defend the targeted area; which so happens to be her head. In quick succession, her father's second strike is to her left side. She is somehow able to block that as well. Her father spins around her and knocks his practice blade to the back of her knee; making her kneel on the ground, and he makes as if to finish her off and just stops inches from her back.
"Well done, Soph, but remember enemies won't stop their blows. But since this is our first bout and a demonstration, I held off; and well-done Ellis," their father exclaims. He looks to the sky, pretending to check the position of the sun, when in fact he is feeling with his senses that someone is watching them. "Children lets head inside and get ready for dinner; I didn't realize how long our practices had kept us.
***
Unbeknownst to the three in the clearing, McKenna was watching the whole instructed lessons to the children and no one was even the wiser, or so McKenna thought. While the beautiful, and vain sorceress was watching everything; and wondering how a family of farmers, came to have such powerful magic never in all her books, not once did she come across any mention any of the guardian families' names. Not until her hired guards she sent out, along with Fetch, sent her a reconnaissance report back to her; telling her everything she now knows.
For several days, all McKenna did was wait and watch the children practice. 'Fools, that flimsy barrier isn't enough to block me from seeing inside.' Her eyes turn to a whitish magical glow somehow letting her see through the magic of the barrier. 'Having the ability to see them practice, she notices that the girl has great control, but little power. While the boy has little control, and a lot of power. But his control steadily grows by the day. Maybe I should try to sway them to my side first.' She thought. 'But first I need to get rid of the parents.'
McKenna gives herself a day or two more for thinking up a plan to remove or kill the parents and to nab the children.
The next day: very early, she heads back to the farm to set up the first part of her plan. She heads to a hiding spot behind the house so that she can see the children leave. While having her apprentice on the lookout a good distance in front of the farm; in case the children change their routine and leave that way instead. When everything is set up, she waits until she sees the children leave the house, heads close to the barn, and faces the house. Her plan is simple, McKenna creates the biggest fireball she can, seeing that the barrier around the children and them practicing, she throws the fireball at the house.
Meanwhile...unbeknownst to McKenna, when Ellis and Sophia left through the back door, their parents left through the front, they are headed to town for supplies. They never make it to the road when they hear the explosion from the house. Trent goes the tell McKenna, but it is too late she has already torched the house. "Hahaha," Trent observes thinking his mistress has gone crazy. "Mistress, nobody was inside the house." McKenna's laughter stops abruptly, frowning, she scowls and then screams loud enough to scatter birds from the nearby trees.
"Find Them!" she yells; not realizing that the boy is trying to tell her something.
***
Ellis and Sophia run around the burning house, in-between the barn and burning remains of the house. Scare, they meet up with their parents. They head into the barn and saddle the horse. 'Ride!'