Book 2: Chapter 6

Henri’s body turned stiff. Helather gasped and covered her open mouth with her cupped hands. They both couldn’t believe what was happening. Forget about how their son’s wounds had healed and how he had come back to life, they were more shocked about his change of attitude. He seemed like a completely different person.

Henri didn’t push Cyil away nor did he hug him back. Now, it was was Helather’s turn to recover from her shock first and take decisive action.

“Henri, what are you doing?! Why aren’t you hugging our adorable son?” Helather scolded Henri’s behaviour then moved in to embrace the two.

“Uhhh, right right. I forgot.” Henri raised his two thick, well-muscled arms and hugged Cyil back.

The whole family shared a hug and for the briefest of moments, Cyil forgot that this wasn’t his family.

When Cyil realized the two weren’t in a hurry to end the hug, he said: “Mom and Dad, tell me what happened. Why was I at the cemetery? What were all those people doing there?”

Helather and Henri exchanged a glance and Helather answered: “Mahoj, we were hoping you could tell us what happened. Do you not remember what happened?”

Cyil frowned and shook his head. “Mom, I don’t remember. A lot of things are fuzzy and hard to remember. Maybe you could tell me and I might remember.” Cyil spoke according to the dialogue he had drawn up in his head.

Helather and Henri exchanged another look and this time it was who Henri answered.

“Son, it was just that, people wanted to see a mage perform magic so you were showing the townsfolk your magic and you overdid it and fainted. That’s all there is to it. Don’t worry about anything and just rest.”

Henri and Helather absolutely did not want their son to regain his memories. Should he do so, then they would lose their son. Their son was fine the way he was now.

Henri’s answer did not go according to the conversation Cyil had planned but it turned out to be even better.

Cyil nodded and smiled at his parents. “I’ll sleep then, mom and dad. Please wake me up when we have supper!”

Helather smoothed out Cyil’s hair and wanted to tell him to change his clothes and wash himself first but she didn’t want to rush things.

“Okay, I’ll make your favorite dish,” Helather smiled back at Cyil and pulled Henri with her to leave.

When the door gently closed, Cyil breathed a sigh of relief and plopped onto the bed. That was when he jumped back up, as if a snack had just bitten his butt. The previous tense situation had not allowed him to feel or smell himself but now that he did, he smelled like poop!

“Gross,” Cyil gagged and rushed out of the room.

Helather and Henri had just sat down at the dining table and was about to discuss their son’s situation when Cyil came barging out of his room, startling them for the umptheenth time today.

“Mahoj, what’s wrong?” Helather rushed up to Cyil.

“I just need to shower and change my clothes.” Cyil said, a bit embarrassed. “Mom, do you still have my old set of clothes?”

“Of course, I always have a set of clothes ready for you.” Helather never gave up hope that her son would return so every year around this time, she would prepare a new set of clothes for him. She guessed how tall he would be and bought clothes accordingly. Though Helather and Henri both wore clothes that were patched together from older ones, they wanted their son to have new clothes to wear. He was a mage, after all.

“Thank you,” Cyil said naturally.

Helather’s heart warmed at her son’s ‘thank you’. She hadn’t heard those words from him since he left for magic school at the age of 6…

After Cyil finished cleaning himself and putting on the most luxurious clothes he had personally worn in his life, he decided to meditate and practice magic.

Cyil hadn’t even the chance to use a single spell when he had learned of his Saint innate spells but he would now finally get the chance to.

Cyil quickly went over everything he remembered from Mahoj’s memories and everything Baccaus taught him. Cyil felt he had a good grasp on how to cast spells so he didn’t hesitate and casted his innate spell.

Water Sphere!

The elemental water particles in the air was instantly tug into Cyil’s body and they coursed through his body up to his two outstretched palms.

Slowly, the condensed water particles seeped out of Cyil’s palms and a ball of water the size of a head formed, hovering slightly away from Cyil’s two palms.

“Amazing!” Cyil’s concentration broke and the water sphere collapsed, splashing down onto the floor.

Cyil didn’t mind his mistake and just bathed in the feeling of having just casted his first spell.

“Look, grandpa Baccaus, I’ve taken my first step! I’ll become strong and return to help you and grandma so wait for me.” Cyil didn’t let his success get to his head and continued to experiment with the meager amount of different spells Mahoj had known. To Cyil’s surprise, however, he couldn’t even conjure up a rank 1 water spell!

Mahoj’s was a rank 2 level 2, low-grade water elemental mage. His innate spell was Water Sphere. He had no magical equipments. He had learned to use 3 water spells, two of which were the rank 1 Water Ball (a weaker version of Water Sphere) and rank 1 Water Shield, and one of which was rank 2, called Soothing Water.

Cyil had ‘learned’ the incantation for Water Ball from Mahoj’s memories but even when he repeated it word for word the water particles didn’t follow the correct route in his body, resulting in failure. Despite this, Cyil was not disheartened and continued to keep trying and trying and trying, until a knock on his door woke him up from his frenzied state.

Cyil was covered in sweat and his spiritual energy was nearly drained, but his mind was still crisp and clear. Cyil didn’t know that this was a phenomenon caused by the growth of his soul. Cyil’s soul’s strength was currently comparable to that of a rank 5 mage and his soul was still stabilizing its power, meaning it would grow a bit more before stopping. The stronger his soul, the more benefits it would bring to his mental strength and spiritual power.

But Cyil couldn’t be blamed for not knowing because he had only recently stepped into the realm of magic. In actuality, over 99% of mages on Nakrul didn’t know about the benefits of a strong soul. Not much research had been done on the topic and those that knew of its benefits didn’t publicize the information; they were busy figuring out ways to train their soul. Alas, training the soul is not something that can be easily done. Tampering with the soul could result in it becoming damaged at the slightest sign of mishandling. Some would even have their soul shattered, resulting in death; yet, those that do succeed in tempering their souls would find a noticeable increase in their strength.

Cyil had been lucky enough to not have his soul destroyed because the Death God had used an intricate Death Spell called Death God’s Promise of Everlasting Pleasure. This spell would trap the victim in dreams revolving around their own greatest desires. It didn’t necessarily tamper with the soul but was a mental attack. The instant a person was trapped by this illusion, the Death God would kill them. If the person’s mental and soul strength was strong enough, they would be able to shake off the illusions, too; no one would willing to be trapped in an enemies’ illusion spell for a long period of time, after all! The Death God didn’t use the spell with the intention of it being a method to train Cyil’s soul and mental strength. Had he known, he would have freaked out and found another way to keep Cyil’s soul locked up…

*thump*

Another knock came from his door. Cyil hopped out of his bed and went to open the door. Helather was standing behind the door and said, “supper's ready! We have your favorite, chicken stew with lots of vegetables!”

“Chicken?!” Cyil gulped. Apparently, Mahoj’s favorite dish before he was left for Noxiams Academy was chicken stew, but Cyil’s favorite dish was meat in general! He never got to eat much of it in Fayburn so when he heard the menu for supper tonight, he was already drooling at the mouth.

When Helather saw Cyil’s blank look and saliva, she laughed and helped him wipe off the drool, without fear of being struck by her son. “This is my child,” Helather thought. “My child is back.”

Cyil quickly came back to his senses and followed Helather to the dining table.

Already at the table, Henri declared with open arms, “dig in!”

Cyil didn’t mind table manners and grabbed at the wooden utensils. “Thank you for the meal mom,” Cyil merrily beamed then remembered and added, “and dad!”

Cyil sat down and ate his first real meal in years. His last meal had been with Baccaus, and that was about 3 years ago. He ate as if he had two stomachs to feed and before he knew it, the chicken stew was almost gone.

“Oh no!” Cyil stopped himself. “Sorry mom and dad, I ate too much and didn’t leave much for you to eat.”

“Don’t worry son, I am sorry we couldn’t make more for you to eat.” Helather said with a smile. She confidently reached over and dabbed Cyil’s greasy mouth with a cloth.

“The day after tomorrow I will get paid so I’ll buy us another chicken. Maybe even two!” Henri gave a thumbs up and grinned, looking to comfort Cyil in his own way.

Cyil could see what Helather and Henri were trying to do and this warmed his heart. Not saying a word he only nodded and smiled, reminding himself that they were not his parents...

The family was busy having a nice meal that night and could not have known that that would be the last supper they would share until many, many years later.