《The Explorer's Guide》Chap. 4 - The growth of knowledge

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I wake up to the morning light shining through the windows, i try to turn my head to the side and feel my movements still stiff and laggy as always but there has been an improvement in that regard as i can now control my hand movement and my feet. I can also see better, my vision no longer a blur of shapes and colors, but normal eyesight.

I involuntarily begin to bawl and get the attention of my new mother who seems to have the features of what i saw in earth’s fantasy as elves, she has pointed ears and sharp but beautiful features, and is taller than the average human.

She approaches the crib that located at the feet of her bed and her face comes into focus, i concentrate on the marvelous mixtures of golds and greens that are her hair and eyes. She smiles and whispers reassuring words. " ___ child _______ hungry?" the language, to which I've deciphered to some minimal extent already because of my ‘mothers’ lullaby songs made me find parallelisms between English and this new language.

As i am picked up to be fed and cleaned. I feel truly embarrassed as a grown man, to rely on someone to this extent but it can’t be helped as i am still only two weeks old. I’ve absorbed every little detail that can bring me a bigger picture of this world and its inhabitants. Firstly i think about their features and agility, i’ve never seen such graceful movements from normal humans and their physical strength isn't weak either, perhaps a head and a half taller than normal humans from earth and carry themselves with imposing manners. And through those discoveries, i’ve also figured that there is actual magic in this world, it also seems that this world is not as medieval i though it to be in the first place, there is digital devices and other technological gadgets.

From what i see, magic does not work as one would expect, there is a need for some sort of amulet, something that my mother wears always in her neck. She uses some sculpture of a foreign bird with two tails as a magical amulet, it is made from some kind ebony and when she sings for me it lits bright jade, the mixture of colors making the amulet have a beautiful gleam.

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She moves me around the room and places me in her bosom for me to feed. Right after, she cleans me of my mess and after that is done she puts me on the floor to play with the toys. She looks out the window as though she knows something is there and exits the room as if something caught her eye. After such an odd action i think of my first time in this room, in the beginning, i felt as this was yet another world where all was to be routine, boring activities followed by the same old pattern i had lived until now, at least physically.

I recall my memory of five days ago were my mother laid me down in front of my baby toys. I stared harshly at the wooden blocks hoping they would implode until some rough and muffled sounds came from the big window on the room, such window had a full view of the yard and there two men fought as if with special effects. They threw each other magnificent sword strikes and precise and agile martial arts. The leaner man with the golden buzzcut on his head was later revealed to be my father. The other man was burlier, not much but there was an obvious muscular advantage to which he tried to exert.

The biggest surprise though was not the amazing clashes or the speed that occurred. But instead where the raw elements that flew from their fingers and arms acting as if they had minds of their own, seeking their target and being repelled by the enemy. I sat in the velveted floor gawking at this phenomenon like a total idiot.

From then onwards i tried to make any semblance of a spark appear on my fingers every day but to no avail.

"Pherhaps i need a talisman or a totem of sorts, like my mother." As i mumbled i felt, more than i heard a big tremor and i quickly deviated my attention to the fields outside and focus on the very same window with the view to the yard, and what i saw was the sight of nigh impossible.

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The two women were walking confidently towards each other and emanating physical auras of great strength. One of the auras was jade and the other yellow, the most impressive part was the magic that they were using. Throwing in times flames condensed in balls and other times massive walls of ice. After a while, i saw all kinds of spells done in succession, until a rumbling shadow of darkness descended on my mother, just as the other woman countered the bright warming light spell done by her opponent.

Using magic they dueled each other with brutal precision and murderous intent. I started to worry about the one i recognized as my mother in the jade-like aura. I had become somewhat attached to the woman that was now my progenitor, she had sung for me, lull me and even she played with me. How could i, a man who never had such attention's before resist with a cold heart to such affection, especially after the loneliness of the void?

"Th-this is a magic duel, right?" i though "My mother is holding her opponent back, but i feel like they are almost equal in power."

As i tried not to blink my mother launches several spikes through the ground up into the position of her foe, only to be countered by a small but thick wall of ice in an angular position to the ground thus deflecting them, but as her oponent focuses on the spikes my mother forms another spike of earthly color and throws it ending a few milimiters away from her oponents face as it is cought by the vines made from the mysterious girl, as they wrap arround her arms as an uncouncios set of armour, just as quick as the battle began, it ended with both mutually staring and the strange woman giving a resigned look at her feet signaling her defeat.

I fear the worst when they start to approach each other, but soon relax when i see them laugh and hug while holding what seems to be a polite conversation, making it seem as nothing really happened. My first pure magical duel ended and i start to understand how magic works, i realize they were drawing their power from their surroundings and interacting with the particles to be of use, some even mutating the elements. ‘To create fire, particles tend to bond with each other to form a physical reaction. So they must make them obey them and fuse them even possibly creating new types of particles’. I feel excited just thinking of the thousands of possibilities, like creating plutonium and splitting them to create a massive reaction, of course, i'm not that well versed in physics and certainly, i'm am not going to ‘nuke’ anybody, for now at least.

As my thoughts fly inside of me i try to close my eyes and clear my mind to focus on the spar between my mother and her opponent. Then i feel it, for the first time i feel more than the air wrapped around my body. I feel something ethereal, like a second skin, and i try to manipulate the particles forcefully making them obey me. Agitatedly i summon all my will and i feel it, it is nothing but a gentle sway, not even noteworthy, but to me is the true beginning of my journey.

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