What’s going on? What kind of dream is this? And why can’t I fucking breathe?

I woke up quickly with my face covered and something wrapped around my head. I was struggling to breathe as well. Ah. Just another morning.

It’s been a few months since Cerila started living with me and this scenario has become commonplace. I slowly and gently removed Cerila’s white bushy tail from my head, trying my best not to wake her. For some reason her tail always seemed to find itself wrapped around my dang head, I wouldn’t even mind if it was literally anything else. I took a few breaths of fresh morning air and sighed. I had thought after a while she would just sleep on her own but that scenario never came to pass. But honestly, at this point, I’ve just gotten so used to her sleeping in the same bed with me it would probably feel weird without her.

My parents didn’t even bother to get another bed for her even though my father was more than capable of buying or even making one. She has her own room but she rarely uses it, it’s pretty much just a glorified closet for her at this point. Also, when Dad came home and found Cerila living with us he didn’t even seem the least bit shocked. My parents admitted to me that they both thought about having Cerila stay with us after they figured out what she was going through. So when she asked my mother to live with us that night she didn’t even hesitate to take her in. All in all that whole mess turned out perfectly.

Captain Amber did exactly what he promised and the whole issue was nothing more than an insignificant report that got filed away to be forgotten. Cerila’s siblings also wanted nothing to do with her and she wanted nothing to do with them. I would occasionally catch Celedon’s punk ass glaring at me from across the market but he never made any attempts at retribution against me. As for the incident as a whole, well… we never really talked about it.

It seems everybody has just decided to pretend it never happened. I wasn’t sure if that was the right call but I figured Cerila would talk about it when she felt comfortable. And I wasn’t going to be the one to pressure her to bring up painful memories of the past, especially since I’m hiding my own. But then again, I still did have a few lingering questions. What exactly happened to Cerila’s parents and just how did it lead to her own family treating her like this? Maybe I’ll find out one day.

My morning thoughts were interrupted by Cerila’s tail attempting to wrap itself around my head once more. I rolled myself away and in the process nearly fell off my bed. And of course, somebody had to witness my embarrassment, because my wonderful Dad had gone through all the trouble of hiding his presence from me and is currently standing in the doorway just grinning at me. Some things never change.

I released myself from the warmth of my wonderful, handcrafted, manaweave sheets and did a full-body stretch with a long yawn, glorious. This morning, like nearly every morning, I would be training with Dad. Sometimes Cerila would wake up and join me but that was a rare occasion, she sleeps like a damn rock. And much like my other friend, she isn’t much of a morning person I learned. This surprised me since she would always come to my house early in the morning. I guess that shows just how hard she was trying.

—-

I quickly got ready for this morning’s training session and met Dad outside. It’s almost dawn so it’s still dark outside. I enjoy waking up this early, it makes my days feel longer and more satisfying. I took a deep breath of the crisp morning air and prepared myself for today’s training. My training consisted of a warm up jog, followed by a routine of bodyweight exercises, which included but were not limited to, air squats, pushups, a plethora of abdominal workouts, and various types of lunges. Then we would move to a sparring session and weapon drills with either my practice staff or the bow. Once I was finished with that I would wind down with another jog and some stretches.

My Dad seemed very knowledgeable about working out and how to properly build and maintain not only muscle but flexibility, stamina, and general fitness. His training regime seemed to be decades ahead of its time, if I was solo training myself at this age I would be following a similar regime.

It was especially surprising considering Elves weren’t known for being physically built, but my dad crushed all those notions. Since he has been routinely working out with me for the last few years he has gotten noticeably more in shape. He is by far the most well-built Elf I have seen so far.

He has broad shoulders and a chiseled body to match. Then again, I wasn’t sure if it was a Dark Elf thing or just my dad. I had long since decided that I wouldn’t attempt to alter this world’s course, but I was very interested to see what would happen if I introduced a proper weight training regime with a complementary diet. Just what kind of monsters could I make in this world with a bench press and squat rack I wonder? But this would be for when I get older. I shall be the world’s first bodybuilding Dark Elf. If I can even get half my physique back from my previous body that would be incredible. But it was a little too young to be lifting heavy, so wait I must.

However, at the start of my training, I had made a critical mistake. For months I always enhanced my body with mana. I had thought it would benefit both my physical body’s growth and my mana control but I was wrong. If I used mana my body would not reap the benefits of getting physically stronger with exercise.

Even though with mana enhancement I could bring my strength, speed, and stamina to a level that wasn’t normal for someone my age, doing so would see that my body did not benefit from working out. I could do a fantastic amount of pushups easily while enhancing my body with mana but as soon as I stopped I would be lucky to do 40 without my arms falling off. So now I train my body and my mana control separately. And in doing so I’ve gotten much stronger in both categories. I might be the most in-shape 6-year-old on the planet.

I also stopped using mana to enhance myself while sparring with Dad. I figured it would be good if I learned the fundamentals and gained muscle memory from the ground up without using mana. And even though I think this is the correct decision it always leads me to a similar situation. With me laying flat on my back in the dirt after my father promptly kicked my ass.

“Come on, get up, Kal. That was a nice try but you need to lower your base more so I can’t knock you over,” My dad said with a big smile.

“Yes, Dad,” I groaned as I pushed myself up and dusted off my butt.

He calmly walked over to me and helped me adjust my stance. Giving me easy-to-digest information and explaining everything thoroughly. In the beginning, I thought he enjoyed beating down his own son. But that wasn’t the case. My dad just seemed like a natural-born teacher, it appeared that he genuinely enjoyed teaching me things, even if I had to learn the hard way.

I had to admit, he was a good teacher. He wasn’t just a natural with the spear, he was extremely dedicated and disciplined with it as well. His skill with the bow was nothing to scoff at either, he might not be the world’s best archer, but the man could use a bow. I guess that might come with his job. My knowledge of martial weapons was lackluster at best, after all in my previous life why would I have ever practiced with a spear or sword when I had a handheld rail gun that fired tungsten rods past the speed of sound. I knew my way around a knife but that was for last resort moments.

“Hey, Son. Why don’t you try going all out today for a little change of pace? You can even use magic against me!” My dad suggested happily with a confident smile.

Really? I’d never once cast a spell against my father while training. After all, I could only use earth and fire magic and they were both pretty dangerous.

“Are you sure, Dad?” I asked while raising my eyebrows at him.

“Don’t give me that look! You might be a young and upcoming mage, but I am still your amazing and very talented father! Whatever you can throw at me, I can handle it! I promise.”

“Okay, Dad. If you say so.”

“Let’s move away from the house a bit more. Don’t want to send a stray fireball into the house, Mom might actually kill us both…”

Was that a hint of fear my father just showed me? I know my mom could handle herself in a fight, she did go with my dad and wiped out all the monsters in the forest after I was attacked. I never did ask her about it, felt like that was a painful memory of her first child nearly dying alone in the woods. But In my concussed daze I remember her using lighting magic and I’ve seen her use all the elemental schools of magic besides earth. I know my dad can use water magic but other than that I wasn’t sure.Together we started walking a good distance away from the house when I decided to ask,

“Dad? What kind of magic can you use?”

“Mmmm well let’s see, for the elemental schools, I’m Expert level in both wind and water. I’m barely Immediate in fire and I can’t use earth magic at all.”

“Really? That’s amazing.” I said honestly.

His face reddened and he started waving his hand dismissively, “Oh it’s nothing really, I’m sure one day you will be an amazing mage.”

Dad was being modest. It was impressive that he was an Expert level mage in two schools, people could go their entire lives with never reaching Expert in one school let alone two. I knew he was awesome.

“What other schools can you use?” I asked curiously.

“Oh well, you see… that’s a little secret. I'm sure you will be able to use this school of magic when you are older. Now that I think about it you are getting to the point where we are going to have to start braiding your hair.”

He tried to change the subject as if I wouldn’t notice. Fine by me, I’m sure he has his reasons. If he didn’t want to tell me I wasn’t going to force him.

He is right though, my hair has gotten very long. I’ve only cut it a few times just to keep it healthy and growing. But I have a love-hate relationship with my hair. It’s a pain to wash it properly and maintain it, but I’ve grown to like it. I was bald in my previous life so having long hair was something fresh. It also helped keep the thoughts of how I used to be out of my head.

“Why don’t we cut our hair, Dad?” I asked.

I figured it was sort of a traditional thing. It seemed most Elves had long hair in varying lengths. But both Wood and High Elves weren’t opposed to having shorter hair.

“It’s just the way we Dark Elves have done it for generations. Once you turn 15 you are recognized as an adult in the tribe. On the day of your 15th birthday, there is a whole ceremony where I’ll braid your hair in a special way. It’s a long process, but it signifies that you are now a man and a warrior that is ready to take on the world.”

“I see.” That was a lot to take in.

“But of course you are just as much as a Dark Elf as you are a High Elf. I don’t want to force you to only think of one side of your heritage, I suppose it’s just a little selfish of me to want to raise you this way. At the end of the day, you can live your life any way you want to, Son. I promise you, no matter what choices you make I will always support you. Of course, if I could just make one selfish request of you, it’s that you don’t cut your hair till that special day. I very much look forward to the day of your ceremony Kaladin, nothing would make me happier than to be the one to usher you into manhood,” He said brimming with a fond smile.

Although his request was selfish it wasn’t rooted in anything malicious. It was simply a desire built from love to share a fond experience with me. He just wanted to pass on an important tradition to me as it clearly mattered very much to him. So of course I would make that promise, just another one to add to the collection. A small warmth spread through my chest as I thought about just how much he really cares.

“Of course, Dad. I’ll be looking forward to that day as well.” I smiled back.

I didn’t care too much for tradition either way. Perhaps that was my knowledge of a previous life telling me that traditions tend to root people down with unrealistic ideals. I was very much a victim of such poisonous thoughts, but not all tradition was bad. This was also a tradition that I could follow, if it made Dad happy, then it would make me happy. But I had another round of questions to ask Dad, I figured since he was in the mood now would be a good time.

“Dad, can you tell me about your family?”

My dad just smiled, “Of course, today seems like a good day. But let’s go ahead and stretch before our little bout, and we can talk. Ember Wave.”

My dad cast an altered Intermediate-level fire spell to clear out the grass. It was a simple spell that didn’t have too many uses other than starting a small fire, people normally used the spell to start a campfire or stove but I guess this was one way to use it. We were in a clearing a solid distance away from home and I watched his spell send out a small wave of fire in a circle that burned away the grass. It cleared the grass perfectly and stopped without catching anything else on fire. Looks like he has perfect control of even his weakest school of elemental magic. I’m not sure if I could even use that much precision with the same spell, and I can cast the same Ember spell.

“Pretty cool, huh?” He asked with a smile. I nodded in admiration. “Can you make a decent-sized stone wall in the direction of the house? I don’t want any of your spells to reach the house, but just in case you know?”

I just looked at him and grinned. “You just don’t want Mom to see us fight, right?”

In an odd moment of clarity, I saw right through him. Perhaps I’m getting better at understanding people now. After all, he knew very well none of my spells would ever reach the house at this distance. I saw a small bead of sweat roll down his face.

“No, not at all. It’s just for safety, Kal,” He said, his voice wavering a bit.

“Dad…”

“Okay, yes…I don’t want your mom to see us,” He admitted.

I just smiled, “Sure thing.”

Although I didn’t have to, I placed my hands on the ground to make casting the spell easier. I also didn’t vocalize my spells, which helped many people form spell cores. Having a proper image in your head for your spell helped decrease mana cost, also using existing elements for elemental magic also helped decrease the cost of a spell. Although some people always vocalized their spells it didn’t make too much sense for me, but I always tried to use existing materials in my spells. After all, if you vocalized your spell your opponent knew what was coming. The only time it made sense to me to vocalize your magic was if you were in a group fighting and you needed to properly communicate your actions with your comrades. But I digress, everybody is different. A barrier of earth erupted from the ground obscuring the clearing from our house.

“Now then, let’s get ready,” My dad said cheerfully. We both plopped onto the ground and began to limber up.

“So… where to start? Well as you already know I am a Dark Elf. Dark Elves live in the southernmost tip of this continent, we call that area of the continent The Vast Barrens. The area is like a rolling sea of orange and yellow grass. Trees are short and sparse but there are still plenty of them. I actually had timber ordered specially ordered from there to make your bow. The trees have black bark and red leaves, but the timber is a mix of black and red. I personally quite like it, it’s super durable and flexible as well. Makes for some of the best bows.”

Mmm. I see, so it’s like a savanna? Open grassland that still has some trees. Also, that explains the black and red tree in front of the school.

Dad continued,

“We also share the land with the Dragonkin, although at first there was war and animosity amongst our races it didn’t last long. We battled each other and rather than continue to wage war, we decided to fight in honor battles. Through many battles, our races grew to understand and respect each other, to the point that now we live in peace and mutual respect. Occasionally there are still honor battles, but they don’t happen too often. Of course, I’ve only visited our homeland a few times.”

Now that surprised me. I knew Dad traveled before he had me, but I was under the impression he grew up and spent most of his life with Dark Elves.

“You see, the Shadow Tribe, our tribe, is a nomadic tribe. Meaning we never really settled down anywhere. Although our kin called The Vast Barrens home we never claimed as much. The Shadow Tribe is one of the smallest tribes, however, we have forever carved our names into history. In order to make a living, we often live as adventurers or sellswords, this lead to us earning quite the reputation. You see, members of our tribe who distinguish themselves as strong warriors are given the title of Shadow Dancer. Shadow Dancers are known for their combat prowess and are sought out by nearly everyone who knows about them,” He said proudly.

“So does that mean you are a Shadow Dancer?” I asked.

“Hehe, I sure am. Well, I used to be at least, I don’t claim to be one anymore. I much prefer the title of Dad nowadays,” he said with a shy smile and scratching the back of his head.

I see. I knew Dad was amazing. To think he is such a prestigious warrior. But it brought a smile to my face knowing he preferred to be Dad to me rather than a Shadow Dancer.

“To tell you the truth, I fought in the most recent war that this continent faced. I fought as a mercenary for the Old Empire against the Tel'an'duth Empire and the Krunbar Kingdom.”

I didn’t know that... I remembered that I had that other book Grandpa got for my birthday. It was a brief history of this continent. I should get around to reading it since I've only skimmed through it. I’ve just been focusing on my other book, Deguzman’s Guide to Magical Monsters and More, as it was easier to read. It's just a picture book with information on various monsters of this world. I had been using it as a reference for learning the Human language, but I think I’m comfortable enough now to tackle the history book. I also remembered that Mom was from Tel’an’duth as well…

“Is that how you met Mom?”

“Oh, so she told you? Well…” He trailed off and seemed unsure of what to say next. He just shrugged his shoulders and said, “That’s a story for another time. We should get this little match of ours started, you ready?”

Dang, just when things were getting good. Fine fine… “Yes, sir, Shadow Dancer, sir,” I said with a mocking tone and salute. My dad just chuckled and we both walked about 30 yards away from each other.

“Now, I won’t use magic offensively at all, but I want you to use everything you have. Even your fire magic, I promise you won’t hurt me or start any fires, so just give it your all, okay?”

I was a little apprehensive about using fire magic but if my dad said he could handle it then he probably could.

“The fight will end if I knock you down or if you land a single hit on me, okay?”

“I understand,” I confirmed.

Just a single hit? I guess I’ve never even managed to hit my dad a single time before. But now that I could use magic I can close the gap even if it’s just a little. This might be the edge I need to finally beat him and I plan on taking this seriously. I’m kind of tired of getting my ass kicked by everybody that is not some punk kid.

But I had the sudden realization that this scenario was kind of weird. Surely it wasn’t normal for fathers to spar with their 6-year-old child using magic and going all out? Meh, guess we are far past normal at this point. Most children can’t cast magical fireballs at their fathers to begin with.

Dad has been carrying around a big bundle of blue cloth all day. I hadn’t bothered to ask him what he was carrying but it seemed I would have my answer soon enough. He unwrapped two wooden practice swords from the blue cloth and began to strap them on his belt.

“You are using swords?” I asked confused.

I’ve never seen Dad use a sword before. He always used his spear or his own training staff. So this was new to me.

“Yup. I figured I should use some different weapons against you today since I always use a spear. Don’t want you getting any bad habits after all. Also, it’s been a while since I’ve used these bad boys, so it should be fun,” He responded with a smile.

I figured he was doing this to give me a better chance. There was no way my dad, who dedicated so much time to the spear, could possibly be anywhere as proficient with swords as he is with spears. Fine by me Dad. Your hubris will be your downfall.

He swung his swords around in circles and I did the same with my staff. We’ve made some modifications to the staff over the last year and added iron bands around the tips to increase the weight. I still didn’t have a spear tip but that was fine. We locked eyes and got into our stances.

“On you, Kal,” He smiled.

It wasn’t his usual warm smile, it was the smile he always wore before he got serious. It was the smile of a warrior about to enter battle. However, my father emitted no bloodlust whatsoever.

I’ll take any opportunity to win this. I wasted no time and formed 4 fireballs and sent them blazing towards him. I didn’t hold anything back either. I felt the scorching heat as the air around me burned. They rapidly approached Dad, I sent 2 slightly to his left and right, 1 for his chest, and the other just a bit above him hoping he would dodge into them. However, I did not expect him to run straight into them. He coated the simple wooden practice swords in a torrent of water and sliced through 3 of the 4 fireballs, letting the one that went high sail past him as he walked towards me. What the fuck? He can just cut down my spells with a wooden sword like that?

Not letting myself get distracted I decided to try earth next. I slammed my foot into the ground and launched a dozen boulders towards my slowly advancing father. Instead of water this time, he coated the swords in a gale of wind and carved straight through my boulders. I didn’t back down and sent more boulders and fireballs at him. He coated each sword in either wind or water and sliced down all my projectiles effortlessly. My dad was closing the distance slowly as he methodically dismantled my feeble attempts to strike him. Well, this isn’t good. Let’s get creative.

I focused more mana into my next earth spell and raised a much larger boulder into the air. I launched the boulder as fast as possible but I also followed it up with a fast-moving fireball. Before the boulder reached him the fireball crashed into the back of it and splintered the boulder sending a cloud of shrapnel at him. My dad’s calm face contorted into a smile as the shrapnel sped towards him. Before the cloud reached him I dropped to the ground and placed my hands down and raised a wave of earth spikes. I also sent a few extra fireballs just for good measure. Okay, something HAS to hit him right?

Wrong. I was left slack-jawed as he just started sprinting towards me. He was running straight into my barrage of spells without a care in the world, his fearless smile plastered onto his face. A gust of wind deflected my shrapnel cloud and knocked my fireballs off course. Even though I sent tons of spikes jutting from the ground, Dad nimbly dodged them without breaking a sweat. He even used my spikes as platforms to bound towards me. Shit, I’m at half mana already and I haven’t even scratched him.

I knew as soon as he closed the distance I was done for, I couldn’t match his strength even if he was using a weapon he was unfamiliar with. But judging by his confidence, it seemed he was plenty comfortable swinging those swords around. I underestimated my father yet again and now my hubris would be my downfall. I sent a few more desperate fireballs but he just cut them down all the same. He was nearly on top of me now so I thought I’d try something new. I’d never cast this spell before but now is as good a time as any. I formed the core for Fire Wave and let it lose. A wave of orange hot fire spread out in front of me and advanced at a rapid pace. I lowered myself into a fighting stance and prepared for the inevitable clash that would follow.

The wave engulfed Dad but he didn’t come immediately out the other side. After a few seconds, he was just standing stock still sweat dripping down his forehead. He almost seemed afraid? I got a bit worried and went to call out to him but somebody beat me to it,

“What are you doing, dear?” My mom asked, her voice devoid of all emotion.

I hadn’t even noticed that she was here. She was standing just past my stone wall. She was smiling at my dad but she didn’t seem all too happy.

“Well… I was uhhhh..” My dad trailed off. But I decided to save him,

“It was my idea, I wanted to see how much stronger I’ve gotten!” I said quickly.

My mom turned her head and gave me a real smile, “Oh? I see. If you say so, sweety. Just make sure you clean up when you are done, okay?”

“Yes, mom,” I replied sweetly with a smile. She just gave me a little wave and started walking back towards the house.

After a few minutes of silence, Dad quietly spoke, “Thanks… Kal”

I just gave him a wry smile in return. But I truly smiled at the small piece of scorched hair on the top of his head.

A shallow victory is still a victory. Thanks, Mom.