Create My Kingdom: Chapter 8

Samuel:

Symph left early this morning. When I saw her she seemed to have a look of new determination in her eyes. I was glad to see the old her slowly start to return. However it seems like she's going off to make some headway on training her abilities but I honestly feel stuck. After practicing magic for months on end I don't feel myself getting any better at increasing the output power for my spells. When I use fire it's still just a tiny little spark, and with water I can only control a golf ball sized amount. Due to the fact that I can really only use these two spells I haven't even been able to make new magical items with Bestowel.

I have been racking my head on what would be useful in terms of magical items, and have several fun experiments that I'd love to try. The only problem is the ability to do those said experiments required me to increase my magical ability. The only things I've been able to do is make some pebbles wobble, control a tiny bit of water, and make a spark. I feel like nothing has changed. Maybe this is something I can bring up with Mother and Father.

Later that night after eating super I decided to pop the question.

"Hey Mom and Dad…" They both turned to look at me surprised by the sudden conversation I was starting.

"I can use magic." They both widened there eyes but said nothing. I wasn't sure if it was due to my independence; they didn't want to scare me away from asking for help.

"Like real magic, or playing with Symphonia and you guys use spells. I know we played Wizards and Warriors back in my age." My dad tried to laugh off the situation of his child being able to use magic.

I reached out my hand and summoned a small smark to my palm. Their eyes grew even wider in their skulls.

"Son, where did you learn to do this?" My father asked almost in a scary tone.

In a panic I hastily responded, "Well you see Dad I always saw you playing with fire so one day I thought really really hard to do the same, and POOF there was fire in my hand."

I could see his stern look fading away and a soft gentle expression remandied.

My mother chimed in next, "Well the only course of action is getting you trained in the art of magic. I was hoping my boy was going to be like me!" The words coming out of my mother's mouth didn't seem to match the look in her eyes. She seemed almost disappointed. I let the conversation trail off from there, and the topic of me being able to use magic seemingly was swept under the rug.

The next morning after waking I stumbled to the kitchen table expecting breakfast to be ready, but instead there sat my mother. She was dressed in an unfamiliar robe with a pointy blue hat with stars decorating the rim.

"Please sit down Samuel. There's a lot we have to discuss." She said with a slight grimace to her face.

I sat down at the opposite end of the table. For some reason I could feel myself starting to sweat a little. The atmosphere of my mother seemed to be dark and foreboding.

"I really am glad you've become a mage. However, there are some serious downsides of you becoming one. First and foremost due to you being able to use magic at such a young age you'd be considered to be a gifted student. If your father and I don't turn you into the magical citadel of the Avarice's army we would be tried for treason." She said all of this with a slight wry smile. I could tell that saying the words made her incredibly sad.

"Wait what do you mean turn me in? I'd have to go away?" I could feel my voice breaking. Thoughts started pouring through my mind left and right. How would I be close to Symphonia? What if she gets in some serious trouble how would I be able to help her out? She would literally die without me at her side? We're stuck in this shitty new land and now we'd have to be apart?

My mind was destroying itself at an increasingly fast pace.

"You see why your dad and I were so sad to hear of it?" She stood up from her chair and grabbed the staff that was hidden behind her. She started slowly walking around the room.

"When I was about fourteen years of age I showed talent in magic. My family was an incredibly poor family, and it wasn't hard for them to pass me along to the citadel of magic in exchange for financial compensation. I spent ten long hard years studying magic, and another ten being of service to the king on the battlefield. I even developed a nickname…" She stared at me for some time.

"I'm about to put a lot of pressure on you. For the decision I'm about to give to you is one that could affect a lot of people. I know that you're very mature for your age, and you've been a dream of a child. However if anyone connected to the cities were to ever discover that we kept it hidden they could legally get your father and I executed. Do you understand what I mean, Samuel?" She looked at me long and hard. I sat there sweating in my seat. If anyone were to ever see me practicing magic I could get these two people killed.

I took a deep breath and calmly asked my mother, "I understand this is a selfish request. Can you teach me how to better control my magic. I don't want to be away from my family, but I still want to be able to better understand how magic works. No matter what I do I can't increase my ability with it." I humbly bowed before my mother. I always made it a goal to not be a hindrance to my family, and this is the first time I can remember making an actual selfish request of them.

My mother smiled from ear to ear. She held her arms up requesting a hug and I accepted.

"Thank you Mother!" I whispered into her ear. She just nodded her head up and down. I didn't comment on the fact that my shoulder was getting wet from her tears. No need to ruin the mood that we had.

Later that night at dinner my mother asked if my father could make some changes to our storage room downstairs.

"Dear, you don't need to go overboard with it, but I need a spot to be able to teach little Sam how to use magic. Could you help us out with that?" My mother gave him the biggest puppy dog eyes I've ever seen.

He let out a massive sigh. Stood up from the table and walked around to stand beside me.

"If we're doing this then I will be going overboard. I will talk to my new apprentice and let him know that I will be busy for the next few days. While I'm building it you should just teach him some basic stuff in the meantime. I'm sure your mother already told you about all of the risks and what not. Are you sure you can keep it hidden?" My father gave me a stern look.

I respectfully bowed my head, "yes father I appreciate the risks you guys are making on my behalf. I promise that no one other than Symphonia, who already knows, and you guys will hear of it."

"Good. It's fine if they know they'll never betray this family, but the one person you have to be the most wary of is that damn minister. He's had his eyes on this family since day one. If he even catches a whiff of it he'll hold it over our heads forever." He seemed satisfied with my answer and walked down to our storage in the basement. My mother just simply winked at me and went back to eating.

That following morning my mother walked me into the woods. The entire walk there was no talking, just me watching the back of my mother as we ascended the mountainous valley. Everywhere I looked was covered in foliage. This was the deepest I had ever gone into the mountain, and for whatever reason I could feel the hair on my forearms standing on end. Finally my curiosity got the better of me.

"Mother, this place feels weird. Where are we?" She chuckled to herself but still kept walking on.

"You'll see soon enough my son." With those words we continued on in silence.

I could see a bright light shining through the trees up ahead and finally we broke the clearing. All around me was a lush and extravagant forest. Filled with neon glowing flowers that hung from the canopy above. There were mythical fairies fluttering about, and below them lay a crystal clear lake. The water was so clear that I could see tiny individual fish lazing about under the water's surface. All I could muster at this awe inspiring sight was a simple "Wow".

Even while living as a human on Earth I had never seen something quite like this. It was honestly a magical scene at just the sheer beauty of it all.

My mother's voice broke the visage around me and snapped me back to reality, "Son, I've brought you to the wise water's to tell us what magical affinity you have."

I stared at her and she gestured for me to follow her. At this moment I didn't have any clear line of thought. I was still just so shell shocked at the scene that lay before me that I was just a simple puppet following the commands of my mother.

"Long ago my master brought me to a place much like this." she knelt by the waters edge stroking the surface. Where her fingers touched left small little trails of red sparks on the water's surface.

"There are so many things in this world that we can't explain, and this is one of them. When my master brought me here he did so just like I have with you. Didn't say anything, and I honestly thank him for it. It allows this moment to be seared into my memory, and I remember it like it was yesterday. Touching the surface of the water, and discovering what made me who I was." She closed her eyes and kept on lightly brushing the surface of the water.

"Child of mine come sit by your mother so we can see what kind of mage you will become." She patted on the spot that was directly next to her own.

I walked over to her gently kneeling down just like my mother was.

"Go on. Touch the surface just like your mother is." She smiled at me. I could tell by the look in her eyes that she was genuinely happy to be sharing this moment with me.

I looked at the water and lightly brushed my fingers against the surface. As the tips of my fingers made contact with the water I could feel an intense feeling of a vacuum sucking me away. I was drawn to this force and no matter how I fought it I was sucked into it. My mind was awash in vivid colors of neon purple, dark red, and stars were scattering the sky. The intense force of the suction seemed that it would tear me in half at any second, scattering my life force across the cosmos. Then just as if it had been a dream I was back to reality just lightly skimming my fingers across the surface. I could feel a cold sweat permeate my being, and my mother was sitting there grimacing at me.

"Of all the power's to have an affinity to, why that one my son?" She asked the question with an extremely sad smile on her face.

"Did I do something wrong, Mother?" My voice felt hoarse as if I had been running all day without fluids. I kept trying to clear my throat, but alas nothing could alleviate the parched feeling that permeated my body.

"There are several different types of mages that exist within this world. Many are categorized into useful, special, and underperformers. You my son…" She looked down at the ground and wouldn't meet my gaze. What if I was someone special wouldn't that be a good thing?

"Mother it's ok I can handle whatever you're about to say." I felt proud saying so. I mean I knew I was going to be a powerful mage. Why can't she just say so?

"Your magic type is considered to be the weakest of them all. However…" She kept going on and on about how that didn't mean I was going to be weak. It just meant the element I had the highest proficiency in was the weakest element of them all. Talk about cutting a guy's dream short. I thought that God wanted me to create the greatest kingdom in the entire world. How the fuck am I supposed to do that if I'm considered weak?

"Son, I don't want you to think anything of this. Mother will teach you how to use the other elements. I know that you'll do great things with your magic. You'll make us so proud." She pinched my cheek and smiled at my sullen face.