Youth

It has been four months since my miraculous bout of magic, yet I have been unable to replicate such power since.

It has frustrated me greatly, but I will not give up. I know that without such power, my dreams and ambitions of carving a kingdom out for myself in this brutal world would be nigh impossible. So I continued trying, every night, I would meditate and seek to find this power dwelling inside me. After hours of failure and frustration, I would forfeit my attempts for the night, and let sleep claim me.

However this night was different. Overwhelmed with feelings of anger at my failed attempts, I yelled.

"For the sake of all the gods, WORK!" And there it was, once again I felt that euphoric feeling of power, of control. The water around me rising to my call and embracing me. This time however, I knew my earlier mistake and made sure to maintain my focus.

It was beautiful, I had near complete control of the water around me, I could shape it, move it. However my moment of triumph was interrupted by my mother screaming across the room. I quickly dispelled all my control and focus allowing the water to this time maneuver itself back into the bucket, without mess.

"Marcus! What in gods name are you screaming for?!" My mother burst into the room, clearly quite upset at my outburst.

"Apologies mother, I had an unpleasant dream." Such an excuse only caused her more anger, and she proceeded to beat me fiercely. But whilst I curled on the ground, I allowed myself a smile. The pain of the beating seemingly obsolete compared to the happiness and pride I had at my earlier accomplishment.

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Years passed, and I made many amazing discoveries regarding magic.

First off, magic is controlled by emotion, I figured this out after my outburst. Once knowing this simple but crucial piece of information, it made it much easier for me to progress in my skill and power.

Also, magic stems from a core of power dwelling in a persons body. Think of it similar to a well filled with water, once the water runs out, you would be unable to draw more water from it. However the well also seemed to grow with practice and time, and compared to it's size when I had my first successful attempt at magic, it was almost twice the size now.

I could easily manipulate the water around me. I tried other elements, and while I caused some reaction, my powers retaining to water remained unparalleled in magnitude and control. Many times I would joke with myself that I was the son of Poseidon, the god of sea and waters. I doubted this however, while my mom rarely spoke of my father, I know he was a soldier for Sparta, and he died in an earlier conflict with the Athenians, Sparta's bitter rival.

Something to discuss about however is my coming birthday, tomorrow to be exact. You see, in Sparta, a childs seventh birthday signaled the beginning of a period known as the 'agoge', where he would be taken from his mother and molded into a soldier for Sparta.

I wasn't worried for this coming period however, it is not that I didn't know of the hardship that would come, nor did I think it would be easy, it was because I knew that I would get through it. While perhaps not as barbaric, Atherean training was by no means easy. As a prince and even as a king I still subjected myself to hours of grueling training a day.

While my body may be that of a child, yet unaware to the struggles of war, my mind was that of a man, who has seen dozens of battles, and slain hundreds of men. I would make it through the agoge that much I was certain of.

If anything I was actually excited to go, it was the first step I would take towards my end goal. I could gain the respect of Sparta and her army, whilst furthering my own prestige. I know that I could simply reveal my powers over water, claim to be the son of Poseidon, and takeover, but that would be a feeble and unstable reign. In Sparta, they rarely worshipped any gods besides that of Ares, the god of war. As my old father would say, 'A castle built of sand is easily blown away.'

It would be much better to have the respect of the country, and during a war or conflict, which this period is ripe with, I would reveal my powers and gain their reverence instead. Plus they would never really respect a ruler who did not go through the agoge, which even royalty is expected to go through.

Something to take note of was Sparta's weaknesses. No matter the pride that Sparta puts in her military, throughout my childhood I began to realize that while Sparta has a strong army, should other Greek City States truly put their mind to it, it would not be too difficult to cripple Sparta. You see our helots whom we treat less than cattle, outnumber the Spartan citizens seven to one. Should they revolt, Sparta would be hard pressed to recover.

'So many weaknesses.' I thought to myself, 'does this country truly have no one with half a brain?' It was a mistake I would be sure to rectify once I become king, however problems in the present take precedence.

"Mother, have the Persians truly invaded Greece?" My mother just told me of a recent invasion of Greece headed by the Persian Empire. This actually caused me worry. Due to my age I would be unable to participate in the conflict, and if the stories of the size of Darius the firsts army are even half accurate, even if I did I would be unable to make much difference.

"Yes Marcus, they have already subjugated Macedon and Thrace. Worry not though, even with their numbers they are nothing to true Spartan warriors, like you will one day be." My mother gave me a proud look, I was already showing signs of being physically and mentally superior to other children my age.

I was able to steal food rather easily, and grew up with much more muscle mass then my peers, I also was much taller than them due to this. Standing at roughly 35 kondylos (around 4 foot 6), I towered over other children my age.

My families social standing actually improved due to this quite comically. It seems that I had a lot of expectations standing on my shoulder, many expected me to be an honored warrior of Sparta.

However this Persian invasion may force me to completely change my plans. I can only hope that our armies and that of our neighbors would be enough to at least hold them off until I am powerful enough and old enough to enter the conflict myself.

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