Chapter Twelve

The Force That Holds Me Back

With Kaze dropping the bomb on me and my father that I had a massive well of gravity mana inside of me, we tried to make use of it. When we first found out, I wanted to immediately jump into casting gravity spells, but after a few tries, I found that it was much more difficult than I thought.

I had figured that I would be able to easily cast almost any of the spells that I was thinking of. After all, Kaze made it sound like I was some sort of god with the amount of mana that I had. She said that it was like I already had met the gravity spirit… speaking of which she still hasn't told me much about him, hell, or any of the other spirits. Still, the few words that I did hear from her about the gravity spirit made it sound like they weren't very close with each other.

With this in mind, I made my way back into the house, looking for Kaze, only to see my mom making some food. From the looks of it, it seemed to be a regular sandwich. With my thought thoroughly derailed from seeing the food, I began to think about how much I enjoyed my mother's cooking.

Things as simple as a sandwich to things as complicated as pot pies with tens upon tens of ingredients that are all made by hand. I love all of it. You could tell that it wasn't something that she threw together willy-nilly; they were always meticulously crafted for my father and I.

Thinking about it now, my father had been spending more and more time at work recently. It was weird; usually, he would have a decent amount of time at home, but now it was slowly starting to decrease. He still had a reasonable amount of time that he could spend at home, but instead of getting home a six O'clock, he now gets home around seven-seven thirty. Not too long ago, we were talking about it at the dinner table. He said that he was getting more responsibility, which was why he was working more, but he also said that he needed to talk something over with my mom after dinner and that I couldn't know about it yet.

Realizing that I was way off track from what I originally intended to do, I began to walk down the hall to talk with Kaze. Walking down the hall, I felt a strange flash of mana that I had never felt before. I rushed the rest of the way to my room only to find something standing over Kaze's miniature form.

There was almost no way to describe the 'thing' standing over Kaze. It was in the shape of a human, but it looked like a living shadow, but so much worse. It was indescribably dark. It was like looking into the depths of space before the first star was born before there was any light in the universe. It was like I was looking into an endless abyss.

After my split second of observing the 'thing,' it turned and stared at me, straight into my eyes, into my soul, before muttering something I didn't understand. Then it looked back at Kaze and said something similar to what it had said to me. Even with the words sounding eerily similar, I could tell that the words spoken to Kaze did not have the same meaning as the words that 'it' said to me. What it said to Kaze had an almost palpable sinister aura that seemed to funnel out with its words, then 'it' began to collapse in on itself in a mesmerizing way. Its limbs folded in on itself, then the whole thing shrank to a point that kept getting smaller and smaller till it was no longer there.

Immediately I rushed over to kaze to ask her what had just happened, but she started to speak before I even got to her. She said, "What do you want to know because I am willing to bet that you have a lot of questions."

I just stared at Kaze for a while before finally asking her, "Who was that… What was that thing?" There were so many thoughts racing through my head, but that was by far the most prominent one. What in god's name was that black figure?

"In short, that was another spirit, like myself, but he is much meaner, stronger, and at the end of the day scarier than I am. Hell and probably than I ever will be. Adam, I wish I could explain more to you more about who he was, but I don't want you to be dragged into my dilemmas. It's no place for a child no matter how strong or brave you may be."

Not wanting to accept her answer, I tried to push harder and said, "No, I want to know more about what that thing was!"

In I think the most genuine voice that she could make, Kaze said, "Adam, I'm sorry. I really am, but it is against my morals to bring you into this, but it's also against my will. Even if I wanted to tell you, I wouldn't be able to tell you the whole story. I'm sorry Adam."

"Can you at least tell me what 'it' said?" I asked sullenly, having utterly given up on actually learning what 'it' was after Kaze's genuine declaration.

"Adam, I don't know if you want to hear this or not. Are you absolutely sure you want me to tell you what he said?" Kaze said while looking down at herself in a sheepish manner, presumably ashamed that she was even considering telling me about this 'thing.'

In the soberest tone my ten-year-old body could muster, I responded, "Yes, I want to know. Please tell me more about 'it.'"

"Adam… when he first started talking to you, he said, 'Well, aren't you interesting. You are bonded with her, but you still lean towards gravity. How wonderful. You ended up like this even without the proper help of a spirit.'"

I didn't understand why Kaze said I wouldn't want to hear what 'it' was saying until she revealed what 'it' said to her.

"And to me, he declared, 'And Kaze, I will be back for that boy, after all, he is my-'"

Kaze was suddenly cut short by a storm of flashing lights. Whenever the brief spurt of flashes was over, I found Kaze's small form lying prone on the ground, unconscious.

λ λ λ

Kaze woke up around an hour later and explained what happened to her, but during the time that she was unconscious, I went out and had a conversation with my mother while we were both eating those sandwiches that she was making earlier. There were a few important things that we talked about, ranging from what happened with Kaze earlier, but funnily enough, the most important thing that we talked about wasn't the 'thing' that appeared in my room but an ominous warning that my mom said we would talk more about with my father at dinner.

The way that she said it was so simple but also so wearily. All she said was, "Tonight, your father and I have to talk to you about something important. You might not like it right now, but in the future, it will be better for all of us." It was just how she said it that pushed me to be so worried. It left me wondering what they were planning to talk to me about. The only thing that I could think of was something along the lines of either them separating or me having to go somewhere, but either way, it seemed unlikely.

If they wanted to send me somewhere, I had no clue where it would be. I had gotten a lot better at magic, but nowhere near the level to be sent to somewhere like a magic academy. Even the low-level magic schools were only for my age's smartest and highest-level mages, which I definitely was not one of. I was just at the line of average, if not slightly below average, for my age.

It also seemed unlikely that they were thinking of separating. From what I had seen, everything between them was good. We all still sat together and talked in the living room after dinner.

With all that, it left me even more confused. There was no way I would be sent to some academy, and I don't think they would send me anywhere else to do god knows what. There was nothing that I could think of that was important enough that I wouldn't like that required both of my parents to tell me, but just as I was about to ask my mother to explain more, I felt another wave of mana spread throughout the house originating from my room, granted this time it felt a little different from the first time. Still, I shot up from my seat and urgently said to my mom, " I think it's' back!"

Hearing this, my mother shouted at me, who was already beginning to sprint down the hall, "Adam, no! Didn't that 'thing' say that it would be back!"

I'm not going to lie. That thought hadn't occurred to me yet. I completely disregarded my safety rushing to my room like this, but instead of backing off like I probably should have, I rushed forward even faster with the help of burst and prepared multiple small wind blades with fire mixed into them. It was an extremely lethal combo, especially considering that I had dissected both of the spells used enough to make them much more powerful than most people could. The only thing is that those were really the only useful spells that I could use.

After I had seven of my wind blades prepared, I slammed open the doors of my room only to see Kaze sitting there floating in the air like she usually would, except this time she had a slightly displeased but also worried look.

She silently stared at me like that for a few seconds before asking me in a tone eerily similar to a disapproving mother, "What are you planning to do with those?"

Glad that nothing was in my room to attack either Kaze or me, I replied, "Well, I thought that weird shadow 'thing' was coming back for either you or me."

Kaze gave me a heartfelt but disapproving look before she began to talk.

"Adam, there are a few things that you should know. I know that I said that I would never tell you, and I wish to stand by that, but if you are thinking of fighting when he comes back, I need to tell you a few things. Firstly to make you understand how important what I am saying I want to show you something."

After she said that, she floated up to me and placed her small hand on my forehead just as my mother rushed into the room. Whenever Kaze's hand touched my head, it felt like I was being swept up into a tornado. It felt like she was handing me control of a natural disaster. It hurt, but at the same time, I knew that if I tried hard enough, I would be able to control the disaster that was swirling through me. Then just as quickly as it started, Kaze pulled her hand away from my head, and I fell to my knees.

That's when I realized what was just shown to me. Kaze demonstrated what she could do and what she could accomplish with her magic. It was terrifying. A being in this world could wield so much strength, but what she said next was even more worrisome.

"Adam, your clever, you know why, and so do I, so you can figure that what I just showed you was a demonstration. You also may be able to tell that I wasn't even trying when I did that. Now that you understand that, I hope the gravity of my next words truly reaches you."

"If that thing ever comes back, it doesn't matter if it's for you or for me. I need you to run. Take your mother and father with you and get away from wherever you are as quickly as possible. That thing is stronger than you, your father, and this entire village combined. It's stronger than me. That thing is undoubtedly one of the most powerful beings that exist in this world."