Danny had not slept at all the previous night. He had spent well into the early hours of the morning trying to fix what had been done to his brother. No matter how he tried, he could not reconnect his brother to the source. He wasn't even sure where his brother's connection was and had tried dozens of locations across his lower abdomen. Danny had tried healing magic in a last attempt, scared this would wake him for sure. His brother was such a heavy sleeper he didn't even realize it when Danny passed out from exhaustion on the floor next to his bed.

The next morning, Danny awoke in time to say goodbye to his brother. He would only see his brother on holidays just like his older sisters. Gary had finally left to join the boy’s academy.

Danny couldn't stop the feeling that he could have had some way to prevent all this and turned to his father, curious of what would happen to Gary.

When asked, Danny's father told him "Gary will be getting an education like I did. He will learn subjects like history, writing, and math. Later in his schooling Gary will learn a trade. Usually men do a number of apprenticeships before settling on one. Whatever trade he decides on will be the best determination to the type of [unknown] he would eventually marry."

Confused Danny asked, "What is an [unknown]."

Danny's father looked down at him and said, "Well son, when you get old enough and pick a profession to apprenticeship under, your mother and I will be approached by families that have a daughter that would like you to be her husband. This daughter will have gathered two other girls from different families to join you in this marriage. These three girls together are called a Trio. When you finally reach the age of sixteen, you will be allowed to get married." He paused and looked over at Danny's mom to see if she was hearing, he whispered, "If you’re lucky and work hard, more than one family will ask for you. Then you get to pick the prettiest one."

About that time a pillow smacked my father in the face. His father comically fell over in his chair. Danny looked over at his mom. Squinting, she didn't seemed that amused, but her lip had a slight tilt in one corner.

Even while laughing at his father’s antics, Danny couldn't help the tilt of his head in complete confusion, "Why three?"

Laughing, his father patted Danny back and explained, "Because for every three girls born there is only one boy born. Now, sometimes after a war, there are not as many women and you will find special cases of two women marrying a man."

Thinking of high male infant mortality rates, Danny asked, "Do the boy babies die a lot?"

Danny's father shook his head, "They do sometimes, but not anymore than girl babies. Three girls and one boy is also the same for all creatures, elves, dwarves, and the different beast races."

Danny couldn't believe it three girls for every boy. What would cause that? His father had ruled out a high rate of male infant mortality. He had enough biology to know there wasn't a way to add more X or Y chromosomes to get this result. Plus that usually resulted in disorders. The fact that they prescribed a specific number led him to believe it was probably genetic, but anything was possible. He was now in a world with magic.

Something else his father said confused him, so he asked, "Why do more women die when there is war?"

"Well, the only men that are allowed to go to war have had two sons. They are trained as crossbowmen. Wizards are also taken into battle, and they are used to bring devastating spells down on the enemy from afar," explained his father.

Danny thought for a moment, then asked, "When was the last war?"

"Oh, that was a very very long time ago. We were not united under the Diadem back then. That all changed when we discovered the ancient keys to unlock our magic. Since then, we have only had minor skirmishes with human outlaws and beastman tribes. The beastman are not a united people like the elves, dwarves, and humans. Though most of the time they leave us alone," his father explained.

“Where did the ancient keys come from?”

“If I remember correctly, they were found in ancient ruins from times past, before the cataclysm.”

Danny looked excited, “Are there any nearby!”

Danny’s father chuckled and rubbed Danny’s hair, “Not that I have heard of. These ruins were far off to the east.”

Danny was worried. He didn't know how his mana was going to survive the use of one of the ancient keys. From the way he unlocked his mana he knew mana lines to be sensitive things. For that matter, he didn't understand how they could be forced like that and still function. He was sure the boys were blacking out from the pain and overload. It just happened so quickly their brains didn’t have a chance to register it.

He considered again, coming forward and sharing his knowledge to prevent this from happening, but a boy of five telling grown men they were wrong. After meeting some nobles, his grandparents on his father’s side, he could easily guess there power hungry factions came out of the woodwork to try and gobble him up. He died once already and he was going to make the better of this second chance. He would try to help his family, but from this point on it was a game of survival.

Danny had water and air affinity at level five. It was time to train earth and fire to the same level. How was he going to train either without his family knowing? He thought about building a cave down below ground, but how would he practice fire in a confined space. How would he explain his absence if they looked all over the backyard and he couldn't be found. He rejected that idea. What if instead of trying to move the earth, he tried to feel with it instead? He had tried to use his mana before to sense thing. Maybe he needed to try using an element to sense with instead of raw mana.

Sitting in the training circle, as he had come called it, Danny focused on the rune for earth. Instead of casting with his hands he focused downward through his feet and legs. He felt the earth begin to rise up below him. He opened his eyes to find himself on a small mound. Small, but noticeable. He remembered how he reversed the airflow to create air that pushed him. This time he used it with earth. The mound lowered... too far. Working this way for a while he was able to get the ground back to its previous flatness. Focusing again he started over.

Weeks past with his new obsession. His mom more than once found him sitting there focused and asked him if he felt alright. He told her he was just resting. This didn't allay her fears, but Danny didn't worry as he was getting close. He couldn't do anything with his magic except move the earth. He discovered that if he focused he could stretch his mana very thinly over an area. Casting the earth rune caused small pockets of earth to shift in minute amounts in different directions. If he cast too much mana over the area it would try to shift the whole thing. By stretching the mana very thinly it only affected a percentage of the earth, and this was evenly distributed over the whole area. When done quickly enough this didn't do anything visible. Danny found that if he closed his eyes and focused, he could sense the resistance in the area by how much he had to push or pull in either direction.

Danny practiced this regularly and it cost little mana to do so. Eventually this resulted in his ability to sense the different stratifications of soil and earth, where apparent, as well as any cavities underground. Because his mana was an extension of his focus, these resistances created a three dimensional image in his mind.

Smiling, Danny realized further possibilities. Looked up at the wall around his backyard, he stretched his mana out thinly over to it. He cast air and repeated the process, accept moving just a few molecules of air over the affected area instead of soil. The air needed more fine tuning than earth, due to the fact the air moved more easily. Danny could hear something rattle behind the wall before he perfected the fine tuning. He was pleasantly surprised that not only was he able to sense where the wall was, he also sensed that there was a box on the other side of the wall. The box had a bowl on top, and something sticking out of the bowl. Walking up to the wall he checked the area with his mana sight and didn't find anyone with connection to mana nearby. His mom was busy working away and he heard her whistling like she did when she got excited about a project. He opened a small whole in the stone wall with earth affinity. Sure enough the box was a square table, the bowl was a planter, and the thing sticking out of it was a dead plant of some kind. Closing up the hole he punched his fist in the air. Progress is sweet. Maybe if he learned to move slightly more molecules in the affected area he would get a higher resolution mental image. He decided to call this method scanning.

Danny reached level four in earth affinity. Also, learning to stretch his mana not only farther out but over a specific area, had granted him level 6 in mana manipulation. He was a Journeyman in that skill now. He had some other Journeyman skills but never reached them since his birth. Not only did he feel his intelligence increase significantly, he was given specific knowledge instead of a hint. He was given the knowledge to create magic armor over his body. Instead of a circle, as he had pictured them, they were almost like a force field right above his skin or clothes. They were not visible until struck. Once activated they would last as long as his mana did. The magic armors could block only so much incoming damage, and recharged as quickly as his mana flowed into them. The armors also only blocked the element they were associated with. Danny wasn't given knowledge of a physical resistant magic armor. He at least had something new to work on.

Danny's mother, worried about his recent lack of activity during the day had asked Sarah and his father if he could help in the shop. Especially since Gary was at the academy no. She thought he should get more social interaction than she could provide while working in her shed. This was not at all what Danny needed right now. He needed to get stronger and find a way to beat or avoid the power from that ancient key. Unfortunately, he was still just a child.

Danny's first day at work in the family store was not what he expected. Waking up as early as he had to, helped him realize how slow a morning start his mother got. He left with his father and got there to find the store already open. Sarah was behind the counter feeding Mary the last of her breakfast. Sarah said good morning to the two of them and his dad went over to give the two of them a kiss. Danny played the role of big brother and cleaned up Mary while his father and Sarah discussed what needed doing. His father was apparently happy he was going to start helping out because he had some time intensive repairs around the place. One of the things his father helped with was running interference when there were too many customers for Sarah to handle by herself. He wanted to be able to work on the repairs without having to stop every 15 minutes to help a customer. Sarah wasn't sure about a five year old doing this but his father apparently had a lot of confidence in him. Danny figured the man just had a case of wishful thinking. Fortunately for his father, Danny had more sales experience than he let on. His ignorance of the stores contents should help hide this.

Sarah didn't look confident in his abilities, but took the time to walk Danny around the store and spoke about how she wanted him to help. Barb made mainly weapons and tools of good quality. My mother on the other hand made leather satchels, scabbards, quivers, and backpacks. While his mother’s designs were sturdy enough, where they really shined was the artistry she put into every piece. Sarah did her part by ordering other goods at wholesale that complimented the main attractions of the store. Sarah made sure to give him tips and tricks she thought a five your old would be able to use when dealing with different types of customers. She didn't discuss prices with him as she only saw him helping point out where things were and distracting impatient customers. She asked that he come to her with anyone wanting to buy something. Danny hung out behind the counter mostly, playing with Mary until Sarah needed his help. Not wanting to shirk on his magical training, Danny did his best to keep one of his magic armor up at all times. Since it was invisible only when initially cast or his he could hide it well. He started with earth wanting to see if he could get his affinity to level five.

He didn't get his very first real customer till the next day. Sarah was dealing with an unruly young woman who wanted to buy one of Barb's most expensive blades on credit. Sarah's polite attempts at telling her no were met as an apparent affront to the woman's honor. Sarah looked over at Danny and jerked her head toward someone in the front of the store. All while trying to keep a civil smile on her face. Danny walked to the front of the store to find a finely dressed Woman a few years older than his mother. She practically screamed money.

"Good morning, my name is Danny Creek, how can I help you today," started of Danny politely. Sarah had gone over with him how to properly address customers.

The woman looked around disdainfully and asked, "Yes, I am Lady Deluge, a friend of mine bought a leather handbag with the most beautiful artwork on it. When I inquired she pointed me to this... shop."

This woman reminded him of his father’s parents. Danny made sure to keep his tone childlike. If he played this right he could probably make this work in his favor. "Oh, I know where they are! My mommy makes the leather bags, she puts really pretty pictures on all of them. I watched her make them, she works very hard," Danny proudly bragged.

The woman looked at him closely as they walked to a particular section of the store, "How old are you boy, shouldn't we get one of your mothers or father?"

Ignoring her question, Danny quickly grabbed one of his mother’s small bags. The carving on the leather was of a single tree growing on an island in the middle of a river. The tree was bending against the wind and a heavy rain could be seen falling around it. You really could almost imagine the feel the wind and rain, as you touched the impressions left by the carving tools. Danny turned to her and said, "See, there are many pretty bags here. Look! This one has a tree in it that is caught in a big storm. Doesn't Deluge mean big storm," Danny asked innocently.

"Why yes child it does, a very strong name for our Family. That bag is beautiful, my friend’s is not that lovely," The lady replied.

Danny smiled and nodded, but then he frowned and looked at the bag, "Oh no! I remember mommy making this one. She said it was very special. I don't think this one is supposed to be here. I better put it behind the counter so it doesn't get bought. Mommy would be very sad," Turning to head towards the back of the store Danny smiled as the small bag was snatched from his hands.

The woman looked at the bag as if it was made of gold, "My, this purse is lovely and the scene is truly a powerful one! It does convey an essence of our family name..."

"Oh lady, please don't be mad, I don't want my mommy to be sad because I sold the special bag...," Danny said with a worried face.

"Just name a price young man that your mother will be happy to part with this treasure," Ms. Deluge assured him.

Danny had been paying attention to Sarah earlier as she made sales and responded to requests for prices. Of course, being biased, he paid specific attention to her quoted prices for his mother's works. He remembered Sarah had given two prices for the bags and he doubled the price. With false nervousness, he shifted his eyes around as if his mother would show up at any moment.

Danny quickly explained, "I'm not good with money yet, but I remember Sarah saying 800 triplets was good price for bags. I apologize, lady, but I really, really don't want to get in trouble with my mommy!"

Ms. Deluge smiled and handed over a whole sextet to the boy, "Here is two hundred more just to make sure you do not get into any trouble young man!"

"Oh surely this is too much lady Deluge, I would not wish to take too much and get in trouble," Danny worriedly asked.

"You take that coin right this instance, and I will not hear another word about it," Ms. Deluge said with a stern look, but a smile hiding behind her eyes as she looked at her new bag.

Danny thanked her profusely as she left the store. Yesterday, Danny had learned that there were two common coins in diadem. The triplet and the sextet. A sextet was worth one thousand triplets. The triplet was a round silver coin with a triangle carved out of the middle. The sextant was a gold coin with a hexagon carved out of the middle. Both coins had intricate designs pressed into them to deter counterfeiting. If there was anything higher Sarah didn't go over that, or sell anything with that high a price.

Walking up to the front, Danny crossed paths with the still upset lady Sarah had been dealing with before as she left the store. As Danny got to the counter, he saw Sarah staring daggers at the back of lady unhappily until she left the store.

Sighing, while pinching her nose, Sarah said, "That... woman, comes in once a month to pull the same stunt, and every month I tell her no. She thinks I'll finally just give in... So what did the other customer want? Did we have what she was looking for?"

"It was a Lady Deluge, a friend of hers bought one of mommy's bags. I showed her one and she thought it was very pretty. Then I remembered it was one of mommy's favorites and she would be sad if I sold it," Danny said sadly.

Sarah looked confused and alarmed, saying, "Lady Deluge! She is from a noble family. We can't refuse her, she will ruin us. If she mentioned a friend that could only be another noble. Having two women of that class showing off your mothers bags would cause demand to hit the ceiling. Which bag was that, unless your mother makes something specifically for someone it goes out for sale! Maybe I can catch up to her and give her a discount... maybe 300 triplets," Sarah mumbled while heading for the bags.

Smiling inside at how well this was going, Danny looked alarmed and described the bag to her. Handing her the sextet, Danny looked properly chastised and said, "I'm sorry Sarah, she really wanted it and you were busy with that scary lady so... I only sold it for one." Danny ducked his head before continuing, "I will make sure to ask you next time, I'm sorry. I will go help daddy..."

Having seen his father go around back of the store with his cart Danny went to help him unload. Sarah meanwhile, just stood there staring at the sextant with wide eyes and a slightly open mouth.

A lunch time Sarah tore his father away from his repair project to watch the store. She took Danny out for lunch and a special treat and praised him on the excellent job he did. That night she bragged to the whole family about what he had done. His mother was the most pleased with him and overjoyed that her craft was sold to such a high ranking person.

Sarah put Danny in charge of restocking and selling his mother’s wares. Under her close supervision, of course. For a few months his mother's bags and other items were in high demand. The family's profits increased and soon there was a backlog of requests as his mother couldn't make new items fast enough.

Danny overheard Sarah speaking with his mother one night. Sarah said that members from some of the richer merchant families would visit to see the rumored little genius who sold his mother's wares with skill far above what his age should allow. She said she had received a few hints from these visitors. The merchant family representatives showed great interest in securing a future marriage interview for one of their families' young daughters, and her future Trio. Sarah politely told them she would be happy to discuss this with the rest of her Trio before making any decisions.

They both giggled and started whispering after realizing they were being so loud. Danny couldn't help but feel dread knowing they probably were planning his future right now. He knew, based on their personalities that they would listen to his opinion on such matters. He also knew if an opportunity for an excellent family connection presented itself, he would be pressured into taking it. He considered playing dumb and getting worse with sales, but that cat was already out of the bag. Better this than his magic and the government snatching him away...

Danny was pleased when his mercantile skill, trade, advanced to Journeyman. All those years working retail in college, and before he could got the job at the lab, really paid off. He was given knowledge on purchasing, specifically in bulk. He guessed this made sense, as his knowledge and experience tended more towards the selling side of business. All the haggling and persuading (and maybe a little deceiving with white lies) gained Danny more insights into the human language.

He was pleased to gain Journeyman level in the language skill diadem (spoken). His smile fell as he learned many swear words in his new language. He had gained the skill after a lengthy sales pitch with an older woman, from a family the rich merchant class, who decided in the end not to buy anything at all. As the knowledge of the foul words filled his mind, Danny turned to look out the front door and the people passing buy. A look of complete confusion crossed his face as he thought of those grand sorcerers all those years ago. Probably giggling like little boys as they infused the crystal with every cuss word they knew. "Daft elements damned old farts...," Danny said under his breath, with just a little bit of humor.

Just leaving his earth armor on didn't appear to advance his skill. So he tried moving it away from his body to include other objects. During lulls in customers, he would stretch the field around his body out. The field shaped itself around his clothes so why not other objects. He would touch an object and the magic armor field would deform and reach out, like someone pushing on the inside of an inflated balloon. Intent and not just focus, seemed to play a large part in magic. His first attempts had him stretching and pulling the armor. Trying to force the field to a shape he wanted didn't cause the effect he wanted. Then one day he touched an object and stretched the magic armor out a little, then imagined the object being included. His total mana dropped and stayed there, not going up. He was excited, but when he moved his hand away, to punch it the air, his connection to the magic armor left him. As his total mana started rising again, he realized he or what he was touching had to be in contact to share the magic armor. Looking back at the object with his mana sight, he saw a mana shield was still in place! But as he kept watching the shield slowly dissipated. A temporary affect was better than none.

While restocking and straightening inventory, he took to experimenting in how many physically touching objects he could chain with his magic armor. He found it was dependent upon the total size of the objects and his maximum mana. It was during these experiments he came across an anomaly. One of the larger leather backpacks would never accept the shield, regardless of how much he tried. He cast his mana out in a bubble around it and was shocked when he couldn't get his mana near it. He stretched out a thin layer of mana, and cast air scanning, only to find a vague fuzziness where the backpack shout be. Danny didn't want to get his hopes up as he reached out with his hand, while activating mana sight. He released all the mana he could push through his small mana lines. The mana was rebuffed from the surface of the backpack, dissipating into the surrounding air. This was great, but his mana was like a trickle compared to the tsunami that the ancient key produced. He noticed the leather looked different than what his mother normally worked with. He immediately inquired about the backpacks odd coloring. Sarah said it came from a particular variant beast in the swamps to the far north. The leather was praised for its durability, and if properly maintained was waterproof. Sarah told him that his mother’s skill in leather craft had advanced to where she felt she was ready to start working with this new leather.

“What’s a variant beast?”

Sarah stopped working on something at the counter and turned to him while looking hesitant for some reason, “Beasts, Danny, are normal creatures that have… grown stronger than their normal counterparts. They are usually much larger, stronger, and faster. The beast that this leather came from was a beast variant. They can use a specific affinity.”

Danny was shocked as no one had told him about this yet. He was seriously getting resentful towards this whole cultures avoidance with sharing knowledge. If he had even heard about such creatures he would have asked more questions. Now that he had an opportunity he did.

Danny discovered that it usually took whole military squads to take down a single beast, and a platoon would be needed to take down a variant. This was why the leather used was so expensive. Fortunately these creatures were very large so there was usually plenty of material to be gained from them. Danny was going to guess that grown stronger referred to them unlocking their sanctuaries. How an animal would do this a new puzzle. The variants sounded like beasts that had unlocked their mana.

“Sarah, where do these beasts live, are there any in the town?”

Sarah shook her head, and thinking Danny was scared squatted down to hug him, “No Danny, there are no beasts in the city. They do live outside the city, in the areas that haven’t been cultivated by humans. They do attack some of the rural farms and villages from time to time, but that is what the military is for. You don’t have to worry about them attacking Diadem as we are near the center of the human country.”

Danny smiled at her reassuringly so she would quit thinking he was scared.

Danny visited his mother early that afternoon while she was still working and asked to see some of the new leather. She showed him the piece she was she was working on. Danny praised her work and gave her a list of new requests for commissions that came in. When the prices for her items kept rising, and the demands for new and specific items grew, his family decided to get an apprentice for her. The young girl, was from a major merchant family. Her mother wasn't the head of the family, but an artisan that joined in a Trio with a major merchant's daughter. Since professions usually passed from mother to daughter, the family had pulled some strings at the girl’s academy to get her in with the renowned leather crafter, Danny’s mother. Danny learned that girls at the academy spent part of their last years there under an apprenticeship. While Danny's mother had to take time to train the girl, once she found where the girl could best help, work proceeded at a faster pace. His family also received an important connection to this prominent merchant family.

Once the girl found out who Danny was, she would take time to tell him about her sisters and how pretty and kind they were.

Danny was polite and responded, as expected, but he couldn't help wondering, *What was wrong with the people in this culture? Everyone was already talking about marriage options and I am just a few months away from turning six.*