Astes (2)

[Seventeen/Sephil]

"I think that our first course of action should be to make money." Seventeen said, staring at the wooden ceiling that had slight hints of mold growing at the corners. They had just finished dinner after an evening of fooling around with Stephen and Crystal. The two kids had been dragged off by Tessa's dad to sleep.

"We could always just go back to the mansion." Tessa replied. "I can give you two more of my salary if you need it."

"No need. I heard from Schwab – the floating blowfish - that there are fighting arenas in the Copper Sectors. That's close to here. If you fight in the top arenas, you can earn plenty of money in a short amount of time. Why don't we go try it out?"

"No." Tessa said, resolute. "It's too dangerous. You both have never learned how to fight, are malnourished and weak, and have not awakened your magic. Your life is not a joke."

"I know, I know." Seventeen smirked. "Wait until tomorrow to make your decision. We may not have magic yet, but Schwab said that there were lower arenas where magic was banned. And they're safe enough for us to-"

"You'll be fighting against strong healthy adults who can probably break a few of your bones with just a punch."

"Just wait until tomorrow to make your decision. We have to make a lot money somehow."

"Why?" Tessa asked. "I know that we may not be able to afford much, but was there really so much wrong with our previous lifestyle that you have to risk your life for money? I can take on another job in my free time and get more money. You may not be able to leave the duke's mansion for a few more years, but I can protect you from Mandy and the other maids."

"You can't." X finally spoke. "It's too much for you to do both. You shouldn't have to in the first place." She petted the air calmly. "And we won't be risking our lives for money. I'll make sure that we win easily."

"How about you choose?" Seventeen finally proposed, seeing Tessa's still distraught look. "If you think that we are not ready to fight in an arena, then we won't. However, you have to have trust in us. We are not Ash and Sephil; we have skills that they never got the opportunity to learn." She smiled. "Anyways, we also need to learn magic."

"You can't do that either," Tessa said. "First, we don't have high level magic stones to give you a proper awakening. Second, your body won't be able to handle it. Most people wait until they are 13 before awakening their magic because otherwise, there is a serious chance that you can get seriously injured or even die."

"Why?"

"The process for awakening magic involves absorbing magic from a magic stone. Because the magic from the stone is foreign to your body, your body's instinctual reaction is to reject it with its own magic. That's why this works; your body's magic is essentially jumpstarted to get rid of the foreign magic. The issue is that with all of this is that it can be very dangerous if you lose control at all in your current state. Because you have to guide the magic through your body to reach your own magic which is stored in your soul, if you lose control at all, it can cause permanent damage or result in death."

"But as long as we focus on guiding the magic in and out of our bodies, we'll be fine. Right?"

"Technically, yes. However, the reason why most people wait until they are 13 is because it's extremely difficult to prevent any magic from leaking out of your magic pathways and into your body. A little damage that may have no serious damage to a healthy 13-year-old can easily break both of you in your current state."

"Tell her that Red and I can help you two guide your magic. There's no need to worry about that." Schwab interjected, suddenly appearing in front of her face.

"Schwab says that he can guide the magic. We'll be fine."

"This is seri-" She sighed. "You know what? It doesn't matter either way. We don't have magic stones for your two to awaken your magic nor do we know what elements we need anyways."

"Aren't there magic stones everywhere? Your sink has one for the water. Can't we just use that one?"

"The magic stone powering the sink is F-class. It's a very low-quality stone because it just has to provide water. Its magic will not be enough to jumpstart your magic. Also, since we don't know what element you have – although it should be wind – we can't do anything. If you absorb the wrong element, your body's magic won't be able to fight it off, and you will die."

"I have wind, water, and dark magic," X said.

"And you have fire, wind, and light magic," Schwab stated.

"Let me guess, your spirit pet told you that as well." She stood up. "Look, there's a limit to how much I can place my 'trust' in both of you. If you continue this way and you're wrong, you may lose your lives. And I won't let that happen." She calmly stormed out of the room, a silent anger emanating from her body.

"So, that did not work." Seventeen broke the silence, cracking a bitter smile. "To be fair, I would not believe us either. Two seven-year-olds who woke up from a cold and now want to lead a dangerous life and save the world. If the world needs to be saved by abused five-year-olds, it may not be worth saving."

"Hey Seventeen, have you thought of the possibility that Tessa may never believe us? When you lose someone close to you, even if the reality is right in front of you, you will look for anything to pretend that it's not real."

"You talk as if you've experienced this before."

"Haven't you as well? Otherwise, to me, you don't seem like the type of person who would get involved in the organization."

"I suppose you don't know me particularly well." Seventeen sighed. "I don't know. We still have a few days left to persuade Tessa of the truth. It can be hard to accept it, but she doesn't really have much of a choice. We have to gain enough power to complete the first quest by the end of this month. Either way, I will fulfill my promise to Sephil – I will give Tessa a life where she doesn't have to worry about anything. I'm sure that she would rather have the twins still be alive, but it's too late. Even if we didn't come, they were bound to die." She pulled the coarse blanket Tessa had laid out over herself. "Anyways, let's sleep. We have to train tomorrow morning." She yawned, rolling herself into her blanket like a burrito. "I am quite out of shape."