It has been about… seven years? Since I was born into this world, and today is my birthday.
One thing that I have learned about this world is that birthdays are not really celebrated. Except with a few exceptions as I would soon learn
One day, a seemingly ordinary day, I awoke to find my mother beaming at me with a wide-eyed grin poking over the foot of my bed.
"Good morning sweety"
"Uh... good morning, Mom," I reply. "Did I… Do something?.."
"Nope." She walks over to where I'm laying, and picks me up out of my bed
"Hey!" I yelp
Despite my attempts to struggle, she manages to carry me into what I have been internally calling the "Living room". As we enter I can see my father sitting at the table, with a very stern face on.
Just what is going on?
What did I do? I just woke up!
Mother plops me down onto the chair across from him at the other end of the table, then disappears into the kitchen
"Jason," my father starts with a stern tone
Oh, I do not hear my full name very often
"It is time for you to take up some responsibility for your actions." He continues
Uh... What? What the hell did I do?
"As the years go by you will be given difficult, life altering choices, for you and the people around you"
"Oi! Stop talking like that, you idiot. You're scaring him." Mother appears out of the kitchen and smacks him in the back of the head with one hand, hiding something behind her back. "Let's talk about this later dear, first… TADA!"
Whipping around quickly, mother is holding a surprisingly good looking, uniform cake.
It is an entirely white cake, though I might have wanted some kind of decoration. Though that is not as important.
A wide eyed grin, similar to mothers, slowly grows on my face. "Wow mom! How long did it take you to make this?"
A cake, I do not remember the last time I had a cake, just like many things in my new life, it is strangely comforting. It's been like what? 15 years since I had a cake?
"Oh well…" Mother says, trying to hide a strange smile, "actually, your father made this early this morning. He's much better at making breads than I am."
"Oh wow!" I exclaim "Let's eat! Let's eat!"
I am strangely excited
As Mother cuts into it, I can tell that It is a very delicate cake, something you would find from a professional bakery. Though it seems rather plain. The inside is tinted red from a light hint of strawberry blended into the batter it looks like.
As I bite into it, I can tell that It is very basic, but the best thing I have ever eaten
"Oh, Jace! Are you okay?" Mother says, furrowing her brow, a hint of worry in her tone
I can feel the warm trickle of tears. I drop my fork, feeling the salty tears rundown my cheek and fall down onto my hand.
With a low voice, I say: "Thank you father, it is very good"
As I look up, I can see father just sitting there, stunned; not sure what to do at the sight of his crying son. Though I can see a hint of joy at being complimented on his work behind his eyes.
We eat in silence for a little bit, until we are all done with the cake.
"Alright Jace, let me try this again." My father starts again, more relaxed this time, "You have come to an age where you have to start thinking for yourself. So, me and your mother got something commissioned for you"
My father gets up from the table and walks down the hallway behind me. I can hear the heavy lock of his office turn as he enters it.
A lot like him, his office is even more of a mystery than the man himself. I have never even gotten a peak into the room itself. Just what is in there? An armory? Ancient eldritch tomes? A Lich's phylactery? A pink unicorn named Lenard?
As I hear the creaking of floorboards, I turn around to see father holding something in his arms. He sits back down, mother standing up and taking a position to his left.
"Happy birthday Jace!" They both exclaim, father handing me my gift
It is a short sword, only slightly longer than a dagger, with a blue and gray molted sheath
As I grab it, I unsheathe it a little, gripping it by the leather bound hilt. Its wing-like cross guard glittering in the morning light.
As I gently run my thumb against the edge, I can feel its masterfully honed, razor sharp edge. There is a phrase etched into the blade, near the guard in the common language of this world: "For the Future".
But the most captivating thing is the pommel of the weapon, at the butt of the grip; securely fastened by steel latches, is a clear blue gem, glittering in the light coming from the window. I can feel an energy inside of me stir as I hold my blade.
"That is a class of weapon known as a mage knight's blade. It is put simply, a blade that aids in the use of ma-"
"It's a sword and a magic focus!" Mother exclaims cutting off my father, an excited light entering her eyes. "It's a weapon from my homeland, we had it commissioned just for you!"
"Uh" my father continues, regaining his composure "It is a weapon used largely by the Order of Magical knights of the Korinthian crown. We thought" looking up towards mother and grabbing her hand, "it would be a great introduction for your education. Though we do not have a true school in Haven, feel free to learn from any of the other townsfolk, I'm sure they would be happy to oblige. I will also be unlocking my study for you, you are free to read from and learn from all that is in there"
"And I'll start training you in the basics of the sword. Even if you take after your father and become a mage, we thought it would be good for you to learn to defend yourself in case you're unable to use magic." Mother's eyes lock onto mine, "Oh we're just gonna have so much fun!" Her smile now twisting into a mischievous grin
That... Is very worrying to hear.
"Jason"
"Yes Father?"
"If you take care of that blade, I am sure it will take care of you. And the same goes for the people you meet out there in the world. It is full of terrible, and capable people." A slight grimace entering his face, probably recalling an especially terrible encounter.
"I do not mean to scare you, I only wish for the best of you"
————————————————————————————————————
It has been about a week since my birthday
My father had to leave on another one of his trips the next day, so Mother thought it would be the perfect time to start my training.
Immediately, she had me doing cardio and body weight workouts. We did laps around the border of the town until I could not run anymore, then she would pick me up and do another five laps before returning back to the house.
I would do pushups and sit-ups until my arms and abs would be sore, then she would make me do one more.
Which brings us to this morning.
"Up, up, we got a fun day ahead of us." She says while banging the door open as she bursts through. She is wearing a metal breastplate and arm guards, along with her usual shorts and leather boots.
"Uh, what are we doing for today's session?" I say groggily, rubbing my eye
We had a long and late session yesterday, so I practically passed out the minute I touched my bed, not even eating dinner
"Get dressed, and bring your sword." she ducks out of the room, and clatters with something in the other room
I walk over to the small desk that was also given to me on my birthday. It is a basic table with a singular drawer and some hinges in the back to allow it to be slanted. The only thing that adorns it is my grey blade, sheathed and collecting dust. I had been so busy that I had almost forgotten about it.
I get dressed in my usual smock and pants, I grab a belt from my closet and tie the sheathed blade to my hip.
As I grab the blade, I can feel what I assume is my mana, swirling around inside me. It is a little weird to describe, not exactly in my body. It is like when you have your blood drawn, or my veins are plastic catheters or something. I can feel it flowing, but more like it's flowing through something synthetic inside of my body.
"Are you coming, you slowpoke?!"
"Yes, I'm coming Mom." I call back
Yawning, I reluctantly march into the living room
There, Mother has put on what looks like a silver tiara. She has a black and silver sword attached to her right hip and is holding a similarly silver and black spear, inlaid with small blue gemstones along the shaft. A faded golden spirals rise up the shaft.
I had no idea Mother had anything like this.
"Alright, we'll be taking a little trip for today's training, I want to feel your instincts out." She says with a little grimace
Without another word, Mother marches out the door
We walk through town. It is still very early in the morning, so the only other people out here are shop owners groggily tending to their shops. A few give their greetings to Mother. But as they see the spear, a few take a brief worried glance towards me
For a lack of a better term; Oh God, what did I get myself into?
I have not left the house on my own yet, the only times I do leave the cabin is when Mother takes me for training sessions on the outskirts of town. I make sure to stay close to Mothers march
She begins to slow down as it appears that we near our destination
It is what looks like a rather large wrestling ring, with two wooden bleachers to the left and right. On the opposite end of the ring from us is a smaller, slightly raised ring almost like a podium
Mother walks over to the "podium". With a rather strong thrust, she drives the butt of her spear into it, touching her forehead to its shaft.
As I jog over to her to see what she is doing, I hear that she is chanting an incantation
"-d king, to bring honorable death afoot the glorious stage of battle and wonderful victory. I beseech thee for proctor of this game, to protect us, to train us in order to meet upon the holy grounds of war"
She releases the spear, now standing erect on the pedestal.
A golden light emanates from the spear, intertwining with the steel ring, ending with an ethereal golden dome covering the arena, and what resembles a score board appearing in front of the spear.
After taking in her work, she turns on her heel towards me. "You don't need to worry about any physical harm, any damage will be instantly healed and a point will be added to the tally"
I can only stand there with a face mixed with worry and confusion
Without another word, my Mother awkwardly grabs her sword with her right hand, and begins to rush over towards where I am.
I panic. My Mother for the past seven years, rushing towards me, blade brandished in hand, her kind eyes slightly clouded with a sinister sheen. I can do nothing
A dark cloud covers my mind. Of course, why would I have assumed that something like this wouldn't have happened eventually.
I can feel the cold steel pierce my skin with a silver-black flash. In what seems like a fraction of a second. It seems she has taken the first move
As the pain registers, it is quickly flown away, the blade almost magnetically repelled by a golden light. I can see the number one enter the left side of the score board.
My thoughts are racing, my heart feels like it is going to beat out of my chest
"Jace!' Mother calls out to me, jogging towards me. "Gods, are you ok?" Her words, dipped in worry with a hint of regret.
I can feel the saliva leave my mouth, leaving a raspy sand paper
She drops her sword, and tightly embraces me
"Sh, sh, sh. It's alright. Everything is fine, see?" She grabs my arm desperately, showing me the untouched skin on my arm. Clearly an attempt to console. "I'm sorry, I went too hard right off the bat. I am doing this for your own sake you know? It's scary out there, so I don't want you to be scared if you ever get in a fight. My own mother did the same for me. I see I should have taught you more. So how about this?" She grabs my watery face. "If I can land two more hits on you, or you can hit me once, I'll call it a day. How about that?"
But even the "two more hits" seems to unwillingly leave her mouth
"Alright" I say with a small sniffle
It takes a long minute before she releases me. We take official stances across from each other at the edges of the circle
I can feel my hand shaking a little
"Alright, Begin!" She shouts
She starts to pace around the circumference of the circle. I copy her walk and tentatively watch her
What am I supposed to do? I am fuckin seven or something! She's like a grizzled warrior. The fuck you mean "Land a hit on you"?
As I am thinking, she plants her feet into the ground and launches towards me. I am unable to react in time, a look of grief crossing her face.
At the last second, she twists the blade around, and slams the side of it into my side, sending me rolling a little. The blow seems softer than the previous one.
My vision is starting to blur a little bit, I can feel my hand shaking even more
"Jace, I... Uh..." A slight waver enters her voice. "This is the last one, then we can go home. I like to think of a good memory to calm my mind, if that… Helps..." Her head lowers slightly as she look at the ground
What does she know of fear? She's a valkyrian esque, battle hardened bad ass. And just her fuckin nobody of a son
No.
Even if I have a past life, I am still her son. Right here, right now, she's trying to protect me. A strange warmth enters my body
I push myself up from the ground, my clothes now thoroughly dirtied. I tightly grip the leather hilt of my grey blade, unsheathing it from my hip.
And I begin to pace opposite of my mother once again.
I can see a brief look of bewilderment enter her face, but it is quickly thrown away in a proud smile.
Again, she shouts "Begin". But copying me this time as we begin to circle each other.
I can feel my legs wanting to give way, but I use what little will I can spare to keep myself upright
I can see her legs tense as she once more drives them into the ground and dashes towards me, blade raised up high to deliver a powerful overhead slash.
In that instant, my mind flashes a familiar scene in my mind. That of my past life. The warm feeling, now fully encompassing my body. I think back to my vacation in the Caribbean, just floating on the water, relaxed as I can be. I can feel my muscles relax a little now
She brings the blade down towards my head. I am barely able to side-step it, the blade clanging against mine.
I try to tackle her, to try and grapple her in order to get a sneaky hit in. She immediately sees right through me, using her hand to smack me off balance.
It did not really work on the kid in the alley too well, I should not have tried it on someone so much stronger than I am.
I am thrown onto my back, her blade swinging towards my chest as she wheels around towards me.
It is over
I try to frantically back-hand slash my short sword towards her in a last ditch effort, a last spurt of my fracturing strength, expended in a single strike. I can picture the cool ocean breeze, pushing my body towards the ocean. The water waving through me, feeling it trickle down my fingers as I bring my wet hand towards my face.
No, that's not exactly right
It is a strange feeling.
The grip of the short sword begins to warm in my hand
My hand feels strangely more sweaty than it already was
I can feel something being sucked out of my hand, as if an invisible vacuum is sucking all the sweat from every pore in my hand, a hot-cold current.
The feeling grows in an instant as water begins to permeate against the edge of the blade
A cool mist following my blade appears, that quickly turns to small spikes of ice that fly towards my Mother.
I can see her proud smile grow even wider
She very easily deflects the icicles with her off hand. Quickly changing the direction of her blade, the pommel of her sword instead comes flying towards my head.
I wake up, being carried back along the road of the town.
I can hear mother humming slightly. Though a bit unnerving, it feels good to hear.
My entire body feels sore, even more than what I felt the night before
I have lost our little bout, but I am not too hurt about it. It was a losing battle to begin with
We make it home soundly and briskly
Mother puts me down in the living room. She tries to reach towards me gingerly, but recoils at the last second. She hefts up her spear, and goes to put it away.
Before she can, I can feel my tattered body reach out for her and grab her legs from behind
"I'm alright Mom," I meekly say
"That's good to hear. You can go lie down, I'll make us some lunch"
And with that, she leaves the room
I do feel a bit hurt, but I do not think I can really hold it against her. For now, I have some more wonderful theories to think about
And with that, I turn the knob on my father's study and enter it.