I was running at full speed, and at that moment, trying to get out of the woods was my top priority. After seeing the osopache carcass disappear, I started running like there was no tomorrow. Being so close to something beyond the scope of details chilled my blood and reminded me that I had to be extremely careful. I stayed in the same spot for a long time, covered in blood and completely vulnerable.
I couldn't think of anything but running, trying to avoid the branches I found along the way. I was still carrying everything I'd managed to take from the osopache: a good portion of meat that should last me a while, the main claws, its skin, and some bones that were from its arm. I continued running until I began to see light through the trunks. It was an excellent sign that I was about to leave the forest. It was already getting dark, and I didn't want to stay a second longer. I was exhausted, feeling sticky all over. Bathed in blood, both mine and the animal's, all the effort from the fight and the dismemberment was already taking its toll.
I leaped out of the woods, all the momentum I had causing me to slip on the tender grass growing around me. I lay on the ground, thinking how lucky I was and how tired I felt. I resumed my path and continued toward the house. As time passed, I began to feel worse and worse; the pain in my ribs and head were killing me. With all my effort, I reached the edge of the house. My father caught sight of me and began to trot toward me. When he saw that I was walking increasingly slowly, he increased his pace. Fortunately, he was able to catch me before I fell to the ground. I was completely exhausted and in pain.
He started screaming for my mother, who quickly went out to check on me. He immediately snapped his fingers in an attempt to clean my clothes and some of my skin. They breathed a sigh of relief when they realized that most of the blood on him wasn't mine.
My father picked me up and carried me into the house. I muttered with all my might about the bag containing all the fruits of my labor. My mother bent down to pick it up and was surprised by the weight of the package. She got everything she was carrying into the house as best she could. They then began to clean me with damp cloths and assess the severity of my injuries, to see if they should call Grandma Thea.
"Mother, you don't need to worry. It's just a few scrapes and bruises from the fight with the animal." I told my mother, trying to show that I was fine, although even talking required a lot of effort. A consultation with Grandma would cost us a lot, and it wasn't something I couldn't invest in without careful consideration.
"Sam, your condition, although according to you it's not that serious, we still don't know the state of your injuries. They may be more significant than they appear. You've gotten into trouble again, even though we've already talked about this." My father stammered. I could sense a bit of sadness and melancholy in his tone. I suppose he must feel responsible for me going hunting.
-"Father, it's nothing, I'm fine. The only thing I'm really hungry for is real tiredness. I'd like to eat and sleep for a while. I'd appreciate it if you could help me pack up what I brought. The skin can help Mom through the winters, and the meat will feed us well for a while." They turned around to check what he had brought, both of them almost choking on their breath.
-"An Ursing. Frank, that hide and claws have to be from an Ursing.
How the hell did you fight that, Sam? Ursings can use fire abilities." My mother scolded , her tone worried as her anger grew. I knew what I had done was irresponsible and very risky, but it was a decision I had made and I couldn't escape it now.
Without realizing it, I fell asleep or fainted while talking to my parents; I was extremely tired. My parents were completely scared, but my mother soon realized I was fine and breathing normally. So she just let me rest and then she would talk to me again.
I woke up completely refreshed. My wounds no longer hurt as much as they had the day before, and my headache was gone. Now all that remained were my clothes—if the few tattered garments I was wearing could even be called clothes. I continued checking myself and realized that, strangely, everything was better than I had expected. I tried to get the energy flowing like I had in the forest, but I couldn't. I sat in the lotus position and began to meditate. I meditated for a long time.
After a while, the smell of freshly cooked food overwhelmed me, and I had to get up to change and leave the room. My mother was already about to serve. Apparently, she was using the meat I brought; it smelled wonderful. While my father walked into the house, the table was being finished.
The meat my mother made was delicious. It had a slight spicy flavor that made my taste buds jump; it was an explosion of flavor. We all focused on eating and nothing else. We couldn't speak; we were blinded by the delicious taste of the food.
After a while, the food was gone and everyone had smug looks on their faces. I decided it was best to apologize and talk to my parents about what had happened, so I took action.
"Father, Mother. I'm truly sorry I hid from you that I was heading into the forest, but I was very curious. I came back a few days ago with scrapes, and I also went to the forest. I hope you'll forgive me for not telling you, but I didn't want to worry you. I just wanted to be able to support you and help you a little with whatever I could. I hope you'll forgive me this time." I told my parents the half-truth. It was true that I wanted to lessen their workload, but it was also due to the constant hunger that plagued me. For the first time in a long time, I was satisfied. My parents remained silent for a while, while they continued to watch me .
"Sam, it's not that we're mad. We already knew you went into the woods, and that's why you came back hurt. We're also partly responsible for you getting hurt. We love you and want the best for you. All we ask is that you be careful. You've always been a very strong and talented boy, learning very quickly and always helping out around the house. I don't know if other mothers are as lucky, but we're proud of you, and I think it's time I taught you what little I know. It's better to have more ways to defend yourself than to always leave things up to chance." I was surprised by my mother's comment, while at the same time my father looked at me approvingly. Apparently, the two of them had already made their decision and decided together that it was best.
After that, my father and I went out to do the daily chores, while my mother organized everything. When evening fell, my mother began preparing lunch, and I was tidying up the room, thinking about what to do with the Ursing bone I had. I decided the best thing to do would be to make a longer-than-normal type of dagger, and with the claws I would try to make spear points or small throwing blades.
After making my decision, I began cleaning the bones and claws of any debris they might have. Shaping the bone would be extremely difficult without the proper tools, so I tried to imagine what could help me with the task of grinding and filing the bone to give it the proper shape and edge. Since I only had one bone and eight claws, I decided to start with the claws. With those, I could get a little more practice without worrying about the first failure and ruining everything.
My mother yelled, saying lunch was ready, and my father and I quickly went to eat. When we were done, my mother surprised me by saying that starting that afternoon, she would begin teaching me how magic works. My father was very surprised, as I had asked her many times, but she had never agreed.
When everything was organized, my mother came into my room and sat next to me.
-"Sam, I didn't want to teach you magic because everything in this world has a price," he said with a warning tone. "Even so, I decided it was better to teach you how to use it, than to let you wander around without it; magic is a path you can enter, but never leave. The dangers and secrets that lie within are too many. You must be very careful. Although it is commonly used, it is not very common among commoners like us," he finished.
While my mother was saying all this, I just wanted her to hurry up, even though I listened to all her recommendations, but the excitement I felt to learn magic I couldn't even describe with words.
-"Even if you don't believe my words now, and from your look, I can tell that you just want to learn as quickly as possible, I hope you remember what I've told you."- he continued with the warning- "You must be very discreet, at least until you can have some status and cannot be attacked so easily."
I could only put on a straight face and promise my mother that I would always be careful. Her words carried great weight, as if she weren't just saying them to me, but that, at some point, she herself would have had to follow them.
-"Well, I hope you understand that and can follow my instructions.
Magic has different levels, and with that comes the difficulty and expense we have to assume," he said starting the lesson. "For example, the cleansing spell that you almost always see me use, Mundatus , is not very expensive and we can apply it to different areas. The greater the effect, the more it will consume. All spells have to be accompanied by a visualization. In this case, to cleanse, you must imagine what area you want to clean and how deeply; the consumption of this also increases."
-"Now, what we consume for spells is known as Mana . It's an energy shared by everyone, with some places where it's more concentrated than others. That's why the vast majority of creatures can use mana at will; just by breathing and knowing how to accumulate mana, you can learn to use it."
I couldn't help but stare at her and nod, listening intently to what she was saying.
-"To accumulate mana , we humans have developed different ways; some have tried to accumulate it in their veins, but it hasn't been very efficient, since they usually burst; others try to distribute it throughout the body, although it works better than in the veins, it's not very efficient either. What most have preferred is to try to accumulate it, and little by little increase the amount you can accumulate."- my mother continued while moving her hands.
-"Being able to accumulate the size of a grain of rice at the beginning is considered good, if you can make it grow to the size of a bean, it is considered excellent."
As I listened to my mother speak, I shuddered. Maybe storing up the mana was good, but I don't think doing the circulation was a good idea. Maybe that was why it was causing me so much pain. Thank goodness I was saved from bursting; that doesn't sound like a very desirable death.
I continued listening to my mother for a while. She explained many things to me about mana and how to condense it. I think it's best not to tell her that the accumulation of mana I possess has almost reached the size of a baby's fist.
He explained to me some of the elements used in spells; these are the natural elements: wood, fire, air, water, and earth. He also told me there are other elements, such as light, darkness, time, and space. There are different applications and combinations of these, but they seem too complicated to even begin discussing them now.
After that wealth of information, my mother went to prepare dinner. I stayed behind to absorb the information and returned to what I was doing with the animal bones.
With the new concepts learned, I tried to imagine one of the claws as clean as possible, from where it was attached to the bone to the tip. I wanted it to be perfect; doing it manually had been very difficult, and it didn't turn out very well either.
After projecting the image well in my mind, I pronounced the words that my mother said
-"Mundatus"-I said while holding the claw that was almost the size of my palm.
At that moment, I felt my eyes heavy and a great surge of energy, like when the energy had engulfed me along with the saber. The shock that hit my body was so strong that I felt an unbearable headache and could barely keep my eyes open.
I opened them with all my strength, the claw I held in my hand, was nothing like it had been before, the shine it had made it look wonderful, so much so that for a moment I forgot the pain that assailed me and continued examining it, not only had I cleaned the entire surface of the flesh and grime it had, I had practically polished it and left it ready to use as decoration.
I hid the claw next to my bed; I didn't want my mother to be surprised by what I'd done. I don't think it's a very normal thing to do. I'll try to tell her later, when she shows me a little more.