The sweet sound of chirping birds woke me from my bed. I turned and saw my wife, Ashley, sleeping soundly. She looked beautiful when she slept; she had been trying so hard to give our kids a normal life. I touched her cheek lightly while she was still asleep.
"Good morning, Ashley," I said. "Time for my usual patrol around our house."
She slowly whispered, still half-asleep, "Honey, so early? Wait a bit. Are you sure you want to go this early?" she pressed.
I stared at her and gently pressed her cheek. "Yes, Ashley, dear. Besides, I need to check those barrier seals you set up."
Still half-asleep, she hugged me and said, "It's been a while since we did it. Why don't we do that first before you go?"
An hour had passed, and I stepped out of the house a happy man as Ashley waved me off. I began my patrol, which usually started at the first of four seals that acted as a barrier for us.
As I walked toward the first barrier, I felt sad for Ashley, thinking about how she was no longer able to perform magic at a high level. The "All-Devouring Seal" didn't get its name for nothing, as it devoured the caster's core along with their mana. Now, she was only capable of performing minor healing magic. "Poor Ashley," I thought, "all she wants is to have a normal life. I'll definitely try my best to get her some flowers today." I touched my nose, thinking to myself, "I'm so romantic, aren't I?" I chuckled a loud laugh with my hands on my hips.
"These seals are just way too far," I thought aloud to myself. The seals were among the last things Ashley did to secure our children's future. Each seal was intentionally placed two kilometers from the house and two kilometers from each other, which would give us enough time to react if someone broke or passed the barrier.
"These Ashborns are just so naturally gifted with making seals." Ashley is too secretive about her life. She usually didn't let me know much about them, but from what I know, they are a bloodline of mages who specialize in seals and barriers. I'll definitely get her to tell me more someday.
PART 2
"Finally, here." I crouched down, staring at the rock made from limestone with the seal glowing golden, placed directly in the fields. From what Ashley told me, only people inside the barrier would be able to see these rocks. If any regular person were to come, they would simply pass us by without noticing they were literally in our territory, as we and our house are not visible to them. My job here, as Ashley said, is because she is a member of a side branch family. She is unable to go beyond her barrier and must no longer see these stones with her own eyes, as it is part of a contract she made to keep us safe. She did say that the main branch Ashborns check and touch the seals repeatedly, as they need to check the inscription to see if it's still effective.
Before I realized it, I was already at my last seal check. "Alright, almost done. All I need to do is check if anything is off." This was mainly to ensure each seal was functioning with the same efficiency.
Upon arriving at the seal, I saw a familiar-looking black bird perched on the stone. It appeared to be searching for worms, I guessed. As I got closer, I realized the bird wasn't a typical local species. "Strange, what is a raven doing here?" I thought. Most birds around here were not ravens, and it definitely wasn't within the barrier when the seal was cast.
"Could it be?" My worst fear was realized. Even if the bird was from the outside, it shouldn't have been able to get in. As a resting place, birds are supposed to fly above the barrier, as it has a height range of fifty meters.
Stepping closer to the bird, the raven didn't bother to take off. "Steady now, Vulgabread... just need to move a bit closer." As I steadied my feet, preparing to catch it, the raven surprisingly flew towards my shoulder. I gently grabbed it and asked, "How did you get in here?"
Staring at the bird as if it were a new discovery, I noticed it had a small piece of paper rolled up and tucked into its feathers in the stomach region. This raven was clearly a messenger bird. I placed two of my fingers to grab the well-hidden paper. "What do we have here now? So this messenger bird got into the barrier on its own?"
Immediately, with the raven in hand, I stepped toward the seal. "No sign of fading on the stone," I observed. I then decided to reduce my grip on the bird and finally read what was inside. The message was plain and simple: "It's time...the koi's protection won't hold much longer, they must begin…Anaya."
PART 3
To my surprise, I realized who had sent the bird: Anaya, the grand midwife. She had said that when it was time to begin training the twins, she would send a message. Ashley had given her a special ink and purification water, which meant she just had to use the water to protect the paper, and it would get to us. She was the only one Ashley trusted to know our exact location; how could I have forgotten?
Smacking my head, I realized this meant only one thing. The only thought that came to mind was to check on my fish pond. I had been researching extensively with these fishes, even though Ashley had not realized it, as it was something she would definitely not approve of. Anything linked to mana was something she didn't want her mind or the kids to know about. Besides, the fishes hadn't been responding to my tests yet.
"So it's time... Sorry, Ashley, but our twins must begin to get stronger to defend against any forces that want them dead."
I finally freed the bird and saw it was no longer able to even go outside our barrier, just fly around the vicinity. "Good, the barrier is still strong... this means we still have a bit more time for the twins."
Leaving the seal, I went to my secret pond, which resided in a well-hidden cave. This was my special cave that I had created long before I met Ashley to store anything I wanted hidden from public view. It was a perfect place to grow my fish pond, which contained my test subjects that I believed could help my twins.
Upon entering the small cave I had built, I saw a well-constructed fish pond. This was where I kept some of my deeper research work on "mana beast development." This was no ordinary fish pond, as it contained two main species: carp and koi fish. Staring at the 25 fishes of two species swimming peacefully in the pond, I remembered my extensive research. I had discovered that koi and carp were especially immune to dragon magic. This was a strange phenomenon I had discovered back in my academy days.
I then bought various dragon-based magical tools. I would inflict tiny injuries on the fishes and see which had healed perfectly, but none ever healed as I had wanted. However, after the twins were born and the grand midwife used her spells, I came to the conclusion that either koi or carp had an immunity to dragon magic to some extent. It was stated that only creatures whose bloodline had the dragon path could heal from a cut from a dragon mana-made tool.