My father then led us out further away from our house as to not cause collateral damage, just in case we got a bit rowdy. The woods just outside our house was boasted for its magnitude and density. The opaque dark wood pillars would spiral endlessly past what your vision could allow you to see, at least without mana supporting your cause. Past what could not be identified by the naked eye, a canopy of glossy, sleek leaves rested in bunched groups that outstretched from the tawny viscid branches that seeped a herbal aroma. The bustling stream of the river sounded in harmony with the tumbling rocks that fell into the current and the creaking of the trees.
The clouds slightly intercepted our vision at times and hindered our path with its fluffy bloated compact snow-white visage since the land of our nation naturally floated in the sky. The reason for this phenomenon hadn't been fully explored, but what researchers believed at the time was that the sight of where the nation rested on was a highly dense gathering of gravity influenced mana that exploded one day and has ever since released a constant stable amount of the required force to uphold this great mass. If it were to ever fall, well...you can imagine the chaos that would ensue.
"Were here." My father announced to me, stopping in front of me unexpectedly causing me to almost crash into his behind. I peered past my fathers leg to inspect the terrain he had made us travel to. A vacant space that seemed to be a cessation between the crammed wildlife that had wrapped around us during our excursion here. Without further notice, he grabbed the back of my collared shirt, which had been sewn by mother and given to me for my birthday, slinging me marginally across the meadow that clasped the coarse-grained dirt. I converted the momentum over and twisted my mass in a primal position, landing precisely on all fours and skating back a slight distance forcing me to arch my back and dig in my feet firmer.
"What was that for?" I called out with a raised eyebrow to the figure who stood in front of me, with his flowering hair that hadn't been cut in years, the tips now skating into swirls that darkened from the paler shade of hair extending from his scalp.
"Why, what's the matter? You landed it so there should be no issue in the method I used to accelerate your arrival. Now sit down somewhere with your legs closed and focus on the mana in your crux." His speech remained ignorant to my question and instead facilitated me with further instructions after treating me so roughly.
Sigh, so demanding.
Upon his order, I applied and carried out his directives, slumping down and stooping with my eyes closed.
"Properly!" He corrected me, kicking me in my back tilting me forwards, gifting me an unwanted splash of gelatinous russet mush on my face. "If you had positioned yourself correctly I wouldn't have been able to knock you out of position, so again!"
I rearranged my position upon scavenging off of the filth and angling my spine with my body in a perfectly contorted ninety degree angle. My breathing lagged and the tension from my body slowly exerted outwardly, disposing of the horrendous strain from my body. My eyelids naturally fell and my spiritual figure transferred into the essence of my crux, which swarmed with bubbling mana that closely resembled a scarlet flowing mercury solvent, which I presumed was a manifestation that linked deeply to my past life from its menacing tone which juxtaposed my current life in this body so far. Perhaps the appearance of your crux is heavily influenced by your spirit?
"Have you entered?" He questioned before continuing, to which I replied with a firm nod. "Ok, what I want you to do is identify the mana in your crux and try to match its signature to the mana that surrounds us." He carefully conveyed his instructions, pacing in circles around me and pronouncing each word clearly.
Maybe I should just to do it without me waiting for him to relay it, I thought but instead settled on giving my father some sort of accomplishment he can be proud of. I methodically implemented the system I had used in my previous life to complete this. A system born from feeling and instinct, applicable only by I, who has cultivated his keen sense of tendency and proportionality to hone this.
"Good, good." He repeated as the mana from the surroundings coalesced towards me swaying the air more violently and thinning the oxygen around me. The mana inside my crux began forming into a rhythmic stir that departed the mana through my veins and gathered the external mana attributed to the wind that glided fanatically in the proximity. "Channel it with more precision, more finesse, more density...and release."
Upon the colour returning to my darkness shielded eyes, a verdant glow rested on the outlines of my body, radiating a calm before the storm energy. I knelt to one knee and pushed off the ground returning balance to my soles and taking in a heavy and deep inhale. My leer sharpened at the circling wall of wood in my immediate view, before landing a seemingly ponderous step forward -- yet silence followed only to be abruptly disorganized by lashes of wind exploding from where I lingered before, resurfacing in the mammoth's wooden limbs vicinity. A ferocious drilling strike impaled, propelled by the congregated mana exploding from my open-pointed palm, the tips of my fingers serving as the drills point of impact that carried its influence through, gouging an eye out in the middle of it, and the several trees behind it.
The following noise roared across the distant land and my father looked to me with a crazed whirlpool gathering in the hue of his navy blue iris. A crazed smile spread through his hardened features and applause followed soon after. "That was incredible. As expected of the genius child who learned such incredible speech at a young age. You almost feel like your not a child deep down." Some sort of negative emotion swayed and tremored into his words, the screeching of his teeth worryingly grating before he came to stop and apologised, releasing the tension built in his clenched fist.
"I'm sorry, about that. I don't know what came over me. Anyway, congratulations. You can now master the other elements with the knowledge of tapping into a natural element and using their applications in magic." His words were filled with nothing at all, just words discarded for the sake of it as a solemn smile eased into his features.
"Thank you, father." I replied in my usual stoic tone, but then he reached for his back and brought out a wrapped item similar in length to a sword.
"Here. It's too big for you to use it now, but you have earned it as a result of your growth. Once you've grown into this sword, I'm sure you'll be a formidable man." He then dropped the clothed sword into my two hands as I struggled to uphold the weight and relied on my mana to carry it with me back home.
It was a strange exchange I just had with the man who was my supposed father in this life, and though tension arose, my father corrected himself. Perhaps my actions since coming to this world have stripped him of the father he wished to be? I do not yet understand my father nor my mother, but I hope I can learn something in them time I spend with them, no matter how insignificant it may be, because maybe I'll discover something new for my own cause.
Possibly change...and grow to love and accept them with my heart.
