Journey To Xyrus

The day was finally here. Me and Arthur had backpacks tied on, he carrying the books "Encyclopedia of Dicathen" as well as "Foundations of Mana Manipulation". Along with his wooden sword at his waist.

I also carried my wooden sword but kept it tucked behind my back. I didn't like the feeling of it bouncing against my leg as I walked. My backpack was loaded with snacks, me and Arthur had planned this out in secret, though it's doubtful our parents would have cared.

Grabbing hold of our mother's hands, we all took off to meet our escorts for this trip. Alice and Reynolds previous adventurer party called: Twin Horns.

We met them at the inn they were staying at in the center of Ashber. Though calling it an inn was a little exaggerated. It was a small building that mostly consisted of a tavern and stables, with only a few actual rooms. I imagine the Twin Horns had to bunk together, likely boys in one, girls in the other.

"Fellas, I want you guys to meet my sons, Arthur and Roland! Go on boys, introduce yourselves." Dad said while greeting each of his former party with a hug.

Arthur stepped forward first. He had taken the role of "big brother" almost zealously, which I wouldn't complain about seeing as I had never had siblings before. So such a thing was rather nice, and I found myself not caring that I was the younger one, even if only by a mere few seconds. I just couldn't see why kids had cared so much about it in my last life.

"Hello.  My father has told me great things about his fellow Twin Horns members.  Thank you for traveling with us to Xyrus.  We'll be in your hands." Arthur said with a half bow.

My face contorted in secondhand embarrassment, we were kids of Reynolds and he was talking some kind of noble. Maybe he this world is similar to his last one and he had been a noble? Or at least interacted with them? Maybe I should bring it up one day. His reincarnation that is. Though I'm not exactly sure what would be the best way to go about that.

"HAHAHA, what is this?  Such manners! Are you sure he's your son, Rey?" A red haired man with a scar across his nose burst out from laughing. He looked from Arthur to me.

"What about you kid?" He asked.

I took a quick step away from Arthur and struggled to maintain a straight face when his jaw dropped.

"My name's Roland. Arthur can be weird sometimes, don't lump me in with him." I said almost convincingly, but my lips twitching upward gave me away.

"And a jokester, that's more in line with Reynolds. Hopefully you don't pick up any of his bad habits he had before he met Alice." Adam continued, but when I turned back to Arthur he was being engulfed by a rather bountiful busom. The blonde haired wind mage, Angela.

He was soon rescued by Durden who held him aloft by the scruff of his shirt, and before I could laugh at him I was soon bounded up into the same "trap" that had just recently held Arthur.

She had a nice sent. Not in a weird way, just that she radiated kindness and made one feel at ease. I was soon rudely extricated from her grasp by Durden in much the same way Arthur had. Both of us hanging in the air from each of his meaty hands. This man was huge!

"Angela, you're hurting them," a deep voice grunted.

Lies! Giant man, if that was how I was going to see this life end then it would have been worth it! Much better than my last at least. This must be Durden, the earth conjurer. I took in his whole form as he set us down, straightening our clothes in the process.

Next up was a younger woman or maybe she was still a teenager? I couldn't quite tell, but she was definitely the youngest of the group. Excluding me and Arthur of course.

"Mhm." She nodded to us and turned away just as fast. I raised an eyebrow as I looked at Arthur and he just shrugged. Oh well, I can understand an outcast, or at least an introvert. I wonder what her story is? Jasmine Flamesworth seemed to be a person of few words.

Last but not least was, Helen Shard. She didn't say anything, just settling on smiling at us and giving our hair a ruffle. With introductions out the way we hopped into the carriage and set off on our 3 week long Journey to Xyrus.

"How are you not sleepy, Rol?" Arthur asked bleary eyed, rubbing at them as he yawned. I opened my eyes from where I sat, both of us in the back of the cart while mother and Angela sat towards the front.

"Because I've been meditating. Didn't it say in the book that meditation could substitute for rest?" I posed as I went back to meditating.

"No?" Arthur responded confused.

"Oh. Well it does, from what I've found out." I replied.

"Hmmm. If you say so Rol, then I'll join you." I just nodded at Art's words and soon I could feel the circulation of his mana. It felt different than mine.

It wasn't wrong I don't think you could say, if anything it might have been more efficient. If I was an augmenter, I'm not. He held his static and then would pulse it rapidly, as if he was still trying to breakthrough for the first time.

Mine was like a stream, constantly flowing and carving its way through my body. It made sense that different mages would have different meditation methods.

Soon we were stopping for the night.

"I heard your pops say that you two are some kind of genius mages…  Is it true you've both already awakened?" Helen asked as she sat down beside Arthur.

I just shrugged with a nod, but Arthur went into further detail. For me it was hard to say whether we could be considered geniuses or not. After all we were both reincarnated, so who's to say what we would have been capable of if not.

"Hey Reynolds, do you mind if I test the little geniuses?" Adam spoke up from across the fire. I couldn't believe this man wanted to spar with 2 three-year olds. Well we were nearing four, but still!

"Ah, I'm a conjurer. You 2 can spar though." I said with a smile at Art who looked at me in betrayal. Sorry Arthur, but I didn't die just get bullied around by some man.

"Nonsense Roland! I'm sure you'll do just fine, I'll be going easy after all." Adam answered me with a smile as he found a stick, giving it a couple test swings. I looked to mother and father, but neither of them seemed to be coming to my rescue anytime soon.

Sigh.

"Fine." I finally said, rising and grabbing my wooden sword as we made our way to a small clearing next to the encampment.

"Alright, but be careful.  I haven't had the chance to teach them how to properly fight yet.  We've just been doing light strength and mana exercises 'til now." Dad said. Or you could just call this off you know? No? Ah well.

"You know how to reinforce your weapons right, geniuses?" he asked, emphasizing the last word.

I looked over at Arthur out of the corner of my eye and watched as he settled into a bona fide sword stance. I just held the small sword in my right hand stretched out in front while keeping my left hand free, ready to let off a little bit of magic.

Arthur looked to me, and I could see that something was different. He was excited? It seemed my brother was a battle junky. When his head whipped back, he was already dashing forward. I could feel the mana pulsing through his body, aiding him as he ran towards Adam.

He began a horizontal swing to Adam's left, who promptly brought up his sword to block. Well I couldn't make it too easy for Adam, could I?

Focusing at his feet using my free hand as a focus I manipulated the ground beneath his feet. It still wasn't great, the accuracy and speed was poor, but it got the job done.

The earth under his right foot gave way, and as fast as I could, I filled it back up and tried to harden it with his foot trapped inside.

It didn't work, it distracted him though, and that allowed Arthur's attack, which was a feint, to land on Adam's right side. Adam cringed in pain, but responded quickly with a swing that Arthur ducked under.

It was amazing to watch Arthur as he spun with the momentum and lashed out at Adam's ankle that had been slowed by my dirt trap. Adam feigned falling from the strike but when into a split instead.

I shot some dirt from ground, aiming for his face and when he leaned back to dodge it Arthur pounced with a thrust. Adam rolled away trying to sweep Arthur's legs as he did, but Art jumped over them.

Adam's stick came up with him out of the roll, but I raised a short dirt wall in between the 2 of them. Short and not very wide, but it done its job of preventing Adam's attack from hitting Arthur. Or so I thought.

Moving faster than he had before during the fight, he rounded on Arthur. They exchanged a series of blows that honestly I felt Art was winning through pure technique, but Adam's strength was too much.

He sent Arthur tumbling back, but I softened the ground for him as he rolled. When I turned back Adam was running towards me. I couldn't reinforce my weapon like them, that was an augmenter thing. But I could strengthen my body.

Using my mana to boost my speed, I dodged his swings with turns and rolls. Tripping him up with dirt traps and uneven footing, but his veteran status showed through in how it only barely showed him down.

Finally he had me cornered and was bringing his stick down towards me and I swung my sword across coating it with earth and rocks. It lashed out like a whip, but due to the poor formation of it, it only buffeted him. It was enough though.

Arthur leaped up from behind him, making Adam have to abandon his swing on me, to defend himself. That was the wrong choice though.

Strengthening my arms I swung for the back of his legs, which caused his knees to buckle forward. And while he deflected Arthur's first swing, he could stop the next when Argur pivoted to Adam's flank again and strike the same side as earlier.

Just as I thought we were about to win, since I was manipulating the ground to swallow up his lower legs. Adam did a handstand, kicking out with his reinforced legs to kick me and then Arthur, one after the other.

I had let go of my body reinforcing to manipulate the Earth, and heard the small crunch of the fingers that gripped the sword. At least 3 broke, but not only that I was flung back a good 5 feet. I lay on the ground panting, clutching my hand with the broken fingers.

Only I couldn't feel the pain. The only thing I could feel was… Excitement? I heart was pounding but it was as much exhilaration as it was the exercise of the fight. I could feel the smile on my face, and I brought my none broken hand up to feel it and I laughed.

I couldn't remember the last time something had been so fun. I had been so disinterested in things from last life, no matter what it was. Now here I was just sparring, but it was the most fun I'd ever had.

When I sat up I saw the state my finger were in, already purpling from the break. That's when I finally felt the pain, and I had to bite back a cry. Mother was beside me then and the familiar green glow began soothing the pain in my fingers.

"Are you alright, Roland?" She asked with more than a little panic in her voice. I looked up to her with a smile.

"That was fun, mom!" She looked stunned at first, but soon shook her head with a smile.

"And here I thought only your father and Arthur were battle junkies." She said softly. Soon she was finished healing my fingers and kissed me on the head.

We got up to walk towards the others, where I could see Adam rubbing his head with Durden standing next to him. Heh, looks like he got what he deserved. Then I saw Arthur, who besides winded, didn't look as beat up as I did.

Apparently when he had seen Adam kick me, he flattened to ground and rolled under Adam's legs. Before they could go any further, dad and mom had stopped the fight since they had heard my fingers break. Dad had even know I hadn't been reinforcing my body with mana. No wonder this guy used to be a B-rank adventurer.

I thought everything was over now, but soon everyone was looking at Arthur.

"Haven't taught him how to fight my ass! How the hell did you train this little monster?" he groaned, still rubbing his head. "And that one too, with all those earth attacks. You're trying to tell me he only awakened a couple weeks ago?" He finished by pointing at me.

Dad didn't really seem to know what to say as he really hadn't taught Arthur any of those moves he had used in that fight. Mine was much easier to explain.

"The books taught about making pitfalls with earth magic. I tried some other things, but as you can see they didn't really work to well." I shrugged as I down on the log next to Angela. She moved me to sit in her lap and wrapped her arms around me. Ah, heaven.

"I learned by reading books and watching Dad." Arthur said, but I felt that the others were having trouble believing that. Oh well, it's not like they would guess that he was reincarnator.

"Sorry about the fingers there kid, didn't realize you'd stopped reinforcing yourself." Adam said sheepishly.

I smirked at him. "We'll beat you next time though. Better get stronger if you don't want to lose to a couple kids." I said and Adam grinned back at me.

"You're on, you little monsters." He said messing up my hair in the process.

Finally it was the last person I expected to who spoke.

"Your fighting style is… unique.  How did you do that step after the feint?" Jasmine asked Arthur, and it happened to be the most she'd spoken the whole trip so far. Maybe she was also a battle maniac?

Arthur then went about explaining his technique and that had father, Jasmine, Adam and surprisingly even Helen going out to practice it. I guess even Archers had to be ready for a melee.

Arthur sat beside me and Angela, mother joining beside him.

"You both did well." She said, as she pulled Arthur into her side. I was in a different kind of heaven, so I didn't jump down to join them.

"Cute AND talented aren't you? Why couldn't you have been born earlier so that this sister could snatch you up herself!" Angela spoke up and I felt her grip around me tighten even more. Yet all I could feel was my body sinking even deeper into these seemingly endless mounds. I found myself internally agreeing, if only I had been brought here sooner and met Angela.

Soon me, mother and Arthur were in our tent for bed. And I found myself for the first time since coming here, too tired to meditate for even a moment. Quickly falling asleep.

****

The next few days were rather uneventful. I spent most of the day reading or meditating in the back of the cart. Sometimes taking to exercising with Arthur by running alongside the cart. Even go so far as Arthur would through a stick or something similar and have me try to hit it with my earth magic.

One thing I hadn't told the others yet, is that I was pretty sure I could use all the elements. Whenever I was meditating I could feel it, the different energies permeating my body.

Finally I decided to try it out and with the next stick I focused on the wind. Like the Earth it was a lot easier for me to imagine using it. It was ever present as we moved along. The wind that buffeted my face as we ran, or even just the cool breeze coming off the Grand Mountains.

I'm sure I'll figure out water and fire too, but that's for later.

I thought about the wind and reached out with my mana towards it, feeling the wind infused with mana. I imagined a blade forming from the wind and slicing the stick in half. I didn't even need to wave my hand or slash my sword. The wind just moved exactly as I imagined and sliced through the stick with ease.

I blinked a few times, as I sat back looking at the bisected stick. That had been so much easier than using earth magic! Did I have a substantial affinity for wind? Or had I just been using earth wrong?

I felt 2 hand hands on my shoulders and found Arthur staring at me in shock.

"How did you do that?!" He asked loudly, but I could only shrug.

"It just felt right? I don't really know how to describe it, but it just made sense in my head that the wind didn't need to come from if I was using the outside mana. So instead of bringing the mana in and then unleashing it I skipped that and just unleashed my mana where the wind mana already was."

Arthur's face increasingly grew more confused, as I spoke.

"I'm not sure I really understand, maybe it's because I'm an augmenter. That was awesome though!"

That's when we heard Helen shout.

"BANDITS! PREPARE TO ENGAGE!" she shouted, as a rumble of footsteps came from our right and rear. I looked over Arthur's shoulder and saw around 30 bandits rushing towards our group.

I felt a pit form in my stomach. Could the Twin Horns defeat so many? It was 30 against 6 of them.