"And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it."

Roald Dahl

Nathair had questions, but he was afraid if he spoke, his father might not continue talking. He made a mental note of what he wanted to ask.

“My father isn’t powerful. That was why it was surprising that I Manifested when you consider my parentage. I am also quite powerful, though I did not know that until later. As it was, I almost lost my Luachmhor. That is the correct term for a gem that is Manifested. It is rarely used other than for academic purposes. Most people just call it an M-gem.”

Nathair was getting annoyed at Argus’s inability to keep to a single point. He was compiling a list of questions to ask. Though, what he just learned was another indicator that genetics was the more likely cause of manifestation.

“My eldest brother didn’t Manifest. This was particularly shameful because he couldn’t inherit the title if he didn’t Manifest. As a younger half-brother, our gems would be compatible, so it would fall to me to have mine extracted and given to him. They made it seem like I was upholding the family honor.”

This obviously didn’t happen. His father still had his M-gem.

Argus smiled at him. “I got lucky. Our grandfather was already old and decided it would be best to retire. It was more likely that he was already close to dying and couldn’t cast. While my M-gem might be compatible, it wasn’t known how much power they would be able to generate. In the end, my brother got our grandfather's gems.”

Nathair furrowed his brow. Was this magic at play? The appearance of Manifestation in a person appeared to be the work of a gene. Though, the expression of the homozygous recessive gene developed closer to that of an organ.

“Does implantation fail sometimes?” His voice was clinical. The people who had a heterozygous genotype could still use the organ after implantation, but it was likely that it had problems functioning.

Argus was surprised by the question. “Yes, but it does not happen often.”

The implantation would fail if they were homozygous dominant. It was fascinating but also a bit biologically incorrect. He would need to research where the discrepancies laid. There was also bound to be the influence of magic in his findings.

“What continent did our family originate from?” Nathair did not have a picture of the geography of this world. Anything more than what he knew now would be advanced information.

Argus looked troubled. “This is not a secret, but I would like to talk with your mother more about what to tell you.”

He didn’t want to make things different for his parents, but the lack of information was beginning to irritate him. If his parents didn’t share what they knew, his journey to magic might stall here. It was hard for him to swallow how dependent he was.

As an actual child, this information would come to him over time. As an adult, he felt the need to search it out.

Nathair didn’t know how long he spent quizzing his father on every question he had. Some things his father had no answer for. Others he pointedly refused to answer.

He was disappointed by the fact that only about thirty percent of his questions had a satisfactory answer.

He didn’t believe that he was being given a clear picture. It was surprising how much his father was telling a seven-year-old child. For him, it still wasn’t enough. His parents had already accepted the change in him. They didn’t know the cause, but he did not have to go through so much to hide it.

Sophia had called them for dinner twice. Turning back to his father, he asked his final question. “Have you ever thought about going back?”

Argus let out a sigh, seeming to age before regaining his composure. “It is impossible to get back to where we came from. We only managed to get here by luck. Your mother and I were determined to die. We used an ancient teleportation sigil.”

This opened a whole new set of questions that Nathair had. “An ancient what?” The more he heard, the more questions he had.

“Sigil. This is a magic circle or array that is written in the ancient language. There are differences between ancient magic and modern magic. I am not the best to explain it.”

“What is the sigil?” Nathair felt that Argus was really good at burying the point in useless extra information.

“Teleportation. They don’t function properly, and you don’t know where you are going to land. Our lives were practically forfeit. We didn’t have much to lose.”

Nathair got an answer to a question he wanted, but not to the question that he asked. When he pushed for more answers, Argus steadfastly refused.

Didn’t his father understand the repercussions of the bombs he just dropped on Nathair? How could he hint at so much and then refuse to give any answers?

He was half carried, half dragged out of the room. Dinner was a blur. He spent most of his time going over the information in his head.

They left him alone to think about the information he was given. Every time he met his parent’s eyes, they would look away. Occasionally, his mother would give him a small smile.

The taste of the food did not register. It could have been cardboard, and he wouldn’t have noticed. He took note of his parent’s helpless smile and Oran’s concerned look. Aneira was too busy playing with her food to notice.

He had to rethink everything he previously assumed. His family situation was likely to be a lot better than he originally thought. The shows of poverty were most likely deliberate. His father had brushed it off, but they stole some things from their families when they ran away.

The inconsistencies in his parents also made sense. He commented on his parents' vitality before. It was in direct contrast to their wan and weary look. Could they have done something to their appearance?

There was also the issue of magic. If a person had an M-gem, they would not need a gem to cast. There had to be other uses other than just eliminating the need for an external tool to cast with. A person's mana capacity was probably the biggest one.

Argus had mentioned that the M-gem that developed was different for each person but hadn’t delved further.

He got the distinct impression that his parents weren’t in agreement about what he should and shouldn’t learn. From the concerned looks his mother sent his way during dinner. It was clear she would prefer it if he didn’t stray far from home.

Being a mage would not allow for that.

SENA, store all the information gained in a special folder. Place all new information about magic and manifestation in this folder. Break it apart into relevant categories. Mark it as important.

Yes, Nathair.

He would have to find time to question his mother. She was much more likely to give in and answer his questions. Despite any reluctance, she might have.

A lot of the information left him confused. How could you know about the continents but be sure that no one could hunt you down or that you couldn’t return?

His father spoke of school as if Nathair would have the chance to go. Not as a commoner but as a noble.

It would depend on his parents. He would be able to use magic. Every adult could, but the process of Manifesting was different. His father had mentioned injecting mana. He doubted that commoners knew about that.

Fuck! His eyes widened, and he sat up straight. How did commoners Manifest? It was not a process that happened spontaneously or naturally. They would have to get an infusion of mana. He doubted that nobles would let the process slip out of their hands.

Why was his memory fixed after so long? His death and the side effects were no longer an appropriate reason.

There must be something environmental that caused the infusion process.

SENA, check for any energy serges that this body experienced. Focus on energy spikes similar to the magic that the body experienced while still in utero. Check the dates before the fusion process started and before this body was found in the barn.

SENA had been implanted and activated in a bio chamber that provided an energy source for the process to start. The fusion process happened on its own with no external help needed. Since SENA had already been implanted, it never crossed his mind that the process would need an energy source.

That was most likely why it was still functioning in the womb. It was SENA that had drawn from his mother’s magic to support his brain functioning. After he was born, he lost the energy source.

The process would have started when he came in contact with an energy source. It would have to be a source that he could absorb.

Yes, Nathair. Searching...