Naming Ceremony

The next two weeks after the Swirl Tides lit up the night were as relaxed as they could be. My studying slowed down because I already reached my goal of being able to read the 'History of Oria'. I didn't read that book all that much.

I was having too much fun with Eyva, learning through her, not some dusty old book.

With our newfound freetime, we spent it using her Scry, the one she would soon give me, to explore my curiosity.

Today was the day before my first birthday, or naming ceremony as this world called it. Technically, it would be celebrated right after midnight today, so until then, I was just killing time with Eyva.

"Scry, show me an image of a dragon," said Eyva. "A great, big one. As big as can be."

"Searching Archives…" A voice from the Scry, neutral but feminine, very much like a virtual assistant, chimed out as the orb floated in the air. Eyva and I sat together on the bed, expectantly watching.

"Look at that!" said Eyva. The Scry projected a rectangular screen showing a giant dragon standing atop a mountain like it was a perch. It looked very much like a typical fantasy dragon, but even though I knew what those looked like, I was still awed.

Its scales were jagged and grey like rock formations. Its four wings fanned out to block the very sun. A creature like that would have undoubtedly been one of the strongest, if not the strongest creature back on earth with its sheer size alone.

It made me realize that the overall power level of this world was much higher, full of high fantasy magic and creatures as it was. I wondered how useful my martial arts would be even if I did train them. I could deal with things like guns and kill the average person with a single punch, but against a beast like that?

No shot. What was I going to do, punch its pinky toe?

"The great dragon hero was just like this," said Eyva. "Even bigger, if the legends are true, though he chose to take a form that suited the chosen peoples more, living amongst us and growing fond of our lives. It is from he that the Mugi, now one of the chosen people themselves, were sired."

Eyva saw the concern in my eyes as I sized up the dragon and reassured me. "Dragons are very rare now, little leaf. Ones of this size no longer exist. Most likely, you will never encounter one."

I was simultaneously relieved and disappointed at this. Part of the appeal of being in a fantasy world was seeing dragons, right? And now that was taken from me.

Sigh.

Like this, though, I passed the time with Eyva learning about the world through the Scry.

I had asked Eyva about the many creatures and peoples of this world, and she had shown me what they all looked like. There were humans, elves, dwarves, and mugi. The first three were pretty easy to imagine, with dwarves being rather unique in that they were actually quite large, about the size of the average human, except much wider, so they looked shorter.

The mugi were the newest to me, but even they weren't all that monster looking. They were, in essence, lizard people.

They had reptilian eyes and tails, but in general, looked quite human. Mugi nobility had wings and frills like monitor lizards.

These four races made up the 'Chosen Peoples', selected by a deity called the Great Mother that all four civilizations worshipped.

It was said that the Old Gods ruled over life in tyranny, raising it and wiping it out at their merciless whims.

However, the Great Mother, a god from the stars, arrived on this world and took pity upon the helpless mortals. She gave four mortal heroes great power and together, they defeated and sealed the Old Gods away."

These were the heroes I watched endlessly through the Scry when I was an infant.

There was Elseus, the human hero of the sun.

Aife, the Elven maiden of the moon.

Valdyr, the Dwarven hammer of the forge.

And Zor-Gurundanth, the dragon hero and master of the elements.

Aside from the Chosen, there were many more minor races, too, mostly demi-humans with bestial traits that were more highly attuned with the Wild.

They did not have large civilizations, though, or if they did have things like cities, lived very far away from humans.

I learned of the distinction between Wild and Arcane as well.

The Wild embodied the power of nature and the body.

The Arcane embodied the power of magic and the mind.

Beings more attuned with the Wild had stronger, bigger bodies and, if they were magical beasts, access to mystical power as well. That power was called Force and it involved as I understood in gaming terms 'racial abilities'.

Stuff like dragon breath or a magical eel monster's ability to generate lightning and so on.

In contrast, beings attuned with the Arcane generally had smaller bodies but much more developed minds. Their wild instincts were dulled in exchange for a greater connection to the Swirl, the dimension of magic.

Using their knowledge and capacity to innovate, they crafted Spells to compete with Wild Forces.

Most beings were attuned with the Wild or the Arcane, but not both. Hence why my unnatural growth was seen as an ill omen of low magical talent.

On top of that, unfortunately, as a human, I had no access to Forces since humans did not really have any 'racial abilities' like draconic breaths.

Honestly, it felt like I was dealt a really crappy hand in this new life. I was born into a kingdom of wands and spells with a body meant for lifting and running.

Two lives in a row, I was born as a musclehead. Maybe it was just destiny at this point.

Eyva did mention that other human kingdoms picked out Wild attuned individuals and raised them to be powerful warriors, which did indicate that outside of Oria, there were competent physical fighters out there.

Oria, however, almost completely did away with warriors that fought with sword and shield. They relied on Gemtek, technology powered using potent magic crystals and spells, to field golems to do any hands-on fighting or labor.

In other words, I had no real place in Oria. Even if I did Awaken, with how Wild my body was, it was very likely I wasn't going to have a lot of magical potential. In that case, I wouldn't be qualified to be a Magic Lord.

I would be relegated to being a Scholar that used my brains in a purely academic fashion. The issue was I didn't actually have brains. I was cheating with my fully developed adult mind in a child's body. I was pretty sure I was no genius.

The more I grew up, the more real geniuses would start to eclipse me.

Oria did have an order of knights called the Spellblade Order, but they were a dying breed that existed more for ceremonial purpose than anything else.

If I joined the Spellblade Order, I was at best going to just be marching in parades.

Overall, objectively speaking, my life didn't seem all that full of sunshine and dreams ahead of me.

Eyva thought I was a 'Fated' child, meaning I was both attuned to the Wild and the Arcane like the four great heroes.

She thought this because of how smart I was, but again, I was smart because I was cheating with an adult mind.

Genetics wise, I was, realistically speaking, probably not the brightest cookie out there. Body wise, I was probably only attuned to the Wild.

Fated children were said to be so rare that they were a myth at this point, and Oria, having selectively bred out the Wild from their blood, had not had a Fated birth in over five centuries.

But even though things didn't seem that great ahead of me, I still felt hopeful.

Hope.

It wasn't something I had felt much of, if at all, in my past life. i thought it was a sham that weak people held onto because they had nothing else.

But Eyva taught me to hold it close to me, and I liked it. It made me feel like there was always something to look forward to, some chance to believe in.

I had hope that things would be different. And I knew that no matter what, as long as Eyva was around, I had someone I could show the smile I had forged in this new world.

"Now, now," Eyva said, noticing my sigh and brief spell of thinking silence. "You should not have such a dreary look in your eyes. Tomorrow is your first naming ceremony! I have been talking with your father, showing him your studying, and he seems pleased.

At the very least, he has agreed to give you a name tomorrow."

Great. After one entire year, I finally got a real name. Talk about neglect.

"And then I can Awaken right after?" I asked. That was more important to me than a name from an uncaring father.

"Again, thinking only about Awakening. There is more to a naming ceremony than that! It is a time of merriment. Celebration." Eyva sighed. "But I have come to know you are a realistic child.

After some preparation, yes, you may. I will synchronize with you."

"You're not as against Awakening me as you were before," I pointed out.

"Your father has approved the ritual too, and his approval means quite a bit.

Regardless of his parenting, he is still a Magic Lord.

He has a great many resources under his disposal, not to mention his own knowledge.

With his assistance, I am more confident that the Synchronicity will be safe for you.

I suspect that is why he seems more content these days.

Synchronicity will ensure your Awakening, and thus, his bloodline, and even if he is displeased, he still has to acknowledge you are his son, and that he cannot simply create another.

He must work with what he has, which, as I have convinced him, is quite a bit.

He has acknowledged your intelligence and realized that were you to Awaken now, you would have many years of study ahead of the other children," said Eyva.

"Good." For once, it looked like I was finally going to get some real fatherly support here.

Granted, he just wanted me to be worthy of the family name, but as long as I got help, I wouldn't complain.

"Ah, I almost forgot, I have to send this into the artificer's today to get it fully decoded." Eyva took the Scry into her hands. Its blue glow faded as it deactivated, the holographic screen disappearing. "Once it is decoded, you need only add a drop of your blood and a press of your finger to make it recognize you as its new master."

I nodded.

"I will head to the city to have it done." Eyva looked out the window. The sun was setting. "I may be gone for a few hours, but I will be back by midnight. I would not miss your naming ceremony for anything, little leaf.

And I will make sure to bring you candied emberblossoms. Your favorite."

"Come back quick," I said. Candied emberblossoms were, as the name suggested, bright red flowers candied in sugar.

I never realized this in my old life because my diet was mostly random food I scavenged, and I'll tell you now that processed sugars were very, very rare in a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

But in this world, surrounded by all kinds of flavors, I found out I had quite a bit of a sweet tooth.

The candied emberblossoms hit all the right spots for me. They were sweet and fruity, tasting strongly like strawberries back on earth, though with a slightly spicy hint – another flavor I enjoyed.

"Of course, little leaf." Eyva put her hand to my cheek before she left, putting on a broad hat to cover her ears and look fashionable.

At the door, before she left, waving me goodbye with a smile, and I waved back, eagerly awaiting her return.

Eyva's revelation put me in a better mood. My father was willing to work with me, and I was fine with that.

As long as he wasn't out to kill me, I thought, I would be grateful with what I got. It really did seem like the hoping I did was paying off. Maybe there was more merit to it than I thought.

So, I waited for midnight.

For my naming ceremony. For candied fireblossoms. For Eyva's return.

In the end, she never came back.