After hearing his words, May fell silent. Her beautiful face embraces the expression of acceptance. Now when the cat is out of the bag, what is there to hide anymore?
In reality, she had no reasons to keep secrets. Given her worsening condition, she should've done quite the opposite. She could've acted like a spoiled girl and dropped all the worries on her family. But even then, her heart was grasped by fear. A very natural one at that.
May had always tried to keep things bothering her, hidden from her family. The reason was simple as they were already worried because of her cureless disease. They weren't ready to lose their one and only daughter to some disease. The same applied to her brother as well.
Damian behaved more emotionally around any matter that concerned his sister. That was the reason he tried to protect her and keep her company at all times. Not leaving her alone was what he felt inclined to do.
That was the reason May was so reluctant to talk openly about matters regarding her disease and well …her soon to be death with her family. All she did was to put up a facade with her face smiling all the time giving a vibe that she was alright. The truth however was completely opposite.
People might think of her as a child, a happy one at that. In reality, human lives are very ordinary. Hanging on a sharp dagger which happens to be blunt at the start letting time and experiences sharpen it towards the inevitable death. There are some other factors which tend to sharpen the dagger faster than the time itself, some things which make children mature before their age.
They were… pain, suffering and responsibility.
For some reason May was about to share her inner feelings with a stranger boy whom she had only met.
Only, she didn't. The moment May opened her mouth to say something was suddenly interrupted by the calling of her brother. It seemed he was searching and had finally found her, sitting in the living area and talking with August about some matter.
Damian had no idea what they two were talking about. To him, it seemed as though they were having a friendly chat over something.
August looked at the boy and tried to give a polite welcoming smile, earning an unfriendly glare from Damian in return.
'What's his problem now?'
Ignoring his thoughts August smiled brightly and spoke,
"Excellent! Now when you both are here why don't I give you a tour of our small but beautiful town" he looked at both of them one by one, "you must be feeling bored spending all day inside."
In reality August himself wasn't the person to enjoy things like wandering aimlessly here and there in the town. He hated that and what he hated even more, was having to accompany someone. He enjoyed his alone time well.
But he couldn't do anything about this matter because he was instructed by his mother to keep the guests company and bring them out for a stroll. Thus he offered the siblings a tour.
"Wow!" the girl spoke coming back to her usual polite self, "that would be quite nice of you August"
August nodded with a smile ignoring the reaction of her brother. Damian wondered what would have conspired to make his sister suddenly behave so casually towards August. Following his sister suit Damian also agreed for the tour.
For the first time in his life August was getting a bit excited to wander the streets of the town, for some reason. Unfortunately for him, the peacefulness of the town was about to be breached by a horde of monsters.
The huge bell situated at the top of town square rang loudly, alerting the townsfolk that the danger was coming their way.
"What's the sound? Is that a bell?"
"What does it mean?"
Fiona siblings looked at August in confusion hoping to find an explanation for this sudden cause of disturbance. August's face showed a hint of disappointment for a moment. Then, his eyes shone with burning determination. With a subtle smile he looked at the both of them one by one and spoke,
"I think we have a change of plans"
Right that moment August's father alongwith Lord Victor entered into the mansion seemingly in a hurry. Valerius grabbed a weapon and all Victor did was to put on his battle attire.
"Children! Stay here and don't take a step out of the house" Victor said hurriedly before leaving.
May and Damian were still and confused but they nodded in reply to their father however. August on the other hand managed to catch the attention of his father and reminded him of the sword he promised to bring for himself from the capital.
"Nope! Not happening" he replied, shaking his head, "if I give you the blade now, your mother would definitely kill me."
Valerius felt a bit hesitant to hand the weapon to August now of all times. He knew the only thing keeping August from jumping in the middle of the monster horde was his lack of weapon. Therefore, to keep his son from doing anything dangerous like fighting the incoming horde, Valerius felt reluctant to give him the sword he brought from the capital.
"That's right son, you aren't ready for that sword yet. Now, be a good boy and stay at home."
— — —
Valerius stood on the periphery of the boundary which separated their town from the wilderness of the southern forest. There were a few mages of the town with him to assist in the mission. Who weren't as powerful to counter the incoming monster tide individually, but by working as a team and supporting each other they were definitely the best support he could've gotten from the town.
The main combat unit consisted of three mages. Valerius, his wife Sophia and his friend Victor. While Valerius and Sophia had their elemental aspects mostly related to combat, Victor's core element however was something that wasn't directly related to combat. All of them stood facing the incoming tide dressed up in battle ready gear. Knowing well the fight against these creatures would definitely be one of the toughest.
"Just like the old times" Valerius spoke with a one sided smile, "Felt nostalgic?"
"Keep the nostalgia aside" Sophia spoke, her tone authoritative. A little mad maybe, "Can you please explain why the children are here?"
Apparently, not far from the place which was about to become a battlefield soon August, May and
Damian was also present at the back albeit at some distance.
"Uhm… uh that?" Valerius was speechless. August had successfully swindled him into handing over the weapon and for the permission to be on the battlefield with a long speech of nonsense on father and son bond. That, of course, was something he had read in a book.
"A father should never break his promise" Valerius sighed in his heart.
Technically he hasn't broken the promise but delayed it by some days. Because he was supposed to hand over the sword he brought for his son on the day he came back from the capital. And August had used this particular argument to convince his father to allow him on the battlefield today. As for the Fiona siblings, they weren't cowards either.
Damian and May also were somewhat familiar with battle. Because it was the world where skills reigned supreme. A person has to be skilled in order to thrive here. Battle was something very normal for the people. Unlike this town, the capital didn't have the monster tides at all but people residing there were no strangers to fighting.
This was the world of mages after all. Magic was a power and war and battle were by products of power. Therefore the most skilled fighters in this world were mages who stood at the peak of any kind of elemental aspect.
And the elemental aspects also weren't limited to the physical ones also. There were some elements powerful enough to manipulate one's thinking and the divine ones did also exist too.
Just like Victor had the core element which gave him the power to change one's thinking. It was a kind of mental breakdown and not the kind to literally make a person change his way of thinking. Who knows, maybe it did work that way after all. Victor didn't have enough insight into his core element to find that out.
For now, his magic was limited by various things like when it came to humans, the mana it used was of very high caliber which took a toll on his mind. Not to mention he has to constantly remind himself to not get lost in the depth of the mind of his target.
August knew this much about the core element of his father's old friend that's why he was able to make out the extent of his elemental aspect as well.
Valerius had the elemental aspect which was like a boon to any human mage.
Fire.
Fire was a natural force which was already dangerous enough in its dormant stage. If normal fire could devour a whole forest, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to describe what fire mixed with limitless mana of the surroundings could do. While the element and the mana in the surrounding didn't have any limitations, the person commanding it does have. No matter the amount of physical strength that person held, when it came to elemental control, mental resilience was the skill that mattered the most.
August's mother Sophia was also a mage with exceptional skills and control over her core element. Ice was one of the elements people used to find harder to control because of its irregular relation with mana. Ice type mages formed spells by condensing the water vapours present in the atmosphere. Mana, in that process worked as the mediator between the caster and the environment. Therefore, its relation with the element ice, happens to be kind of strange actually.
This strange relation wasn't exclusive to the element Ice also. There were many elements which made the atmospheric mana behave differently than usual in many kinds of ways.
Beside August, Damian was tightening the grip of his battle ready attire. He had a vague idea about Damian's core element related to water in some way. May on the other hand, was a complete mystery. Her presence here in the battlefield was already a threat to her life in August's opinion. She sat on her usual wheelchair without any protective gear?
Unlike August who was completely covered with armour having metal plating at various spots. He was protected like this because of not having a core element. People having elemental aspects were sturdy and more protected naturally since it was a convenience provided by the core element.
Also unlike August, May had a core element of her own so maybe she had no use for armour or battle wear. Maybe her elemental aspect even helped her to make up for her inability to move.
Rest of the town's mages weren't as skilled but there wasn't anyone in this battlefield inferior than August. He was skilled with the sword, yes, but the combat power provided by even a non-combat element was naturally superior to any of his moves with swordfighting. Meaning a newbie mage could beat an ambivalent warrior without much effort.
August knew his abilities, more than those he knew his limitations because the quantity of restrictions he used to face in combat was more than he could do harm to the enemy.
Today was slightly different though. He had skills with the sword as being taught by the best in his opinion. But in order to put those skills to use he had to wield a weapon which complimented his fighting style well. During fights August always had suspicions if his sword wasn't good enough for him but today it was the other way around.
The sword he held in his hands was long and slender, a katana precisely. The blade was single edged and well made. In fact it gave away the impression of something precious and ornamental, a piece of decoration rather than a deadly weapon. The matte black blade of the sword shone with a dark glimmer. Its leather handle felt easy to control.
At the bottom of the blade and just before the guard, runes carved in the precious metal of the blade read the name of the deadly weapon, "The Fallen Star"
— — — — —