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Chapter 2 - Remori clan II
🕑 Added 2023-11-22 14:26:45 +0000 UTCIn a cavern-like structure deep below ground in the Remori clan’s residence. Arlen Remori stood next to his grandson, his actual grandson, that is, because even if the youngest generation Remori all called him ‘grandpa,’ he was actually their great-grandfather.
His oldest son, along with his wife, had died in the Outskirts not long after giving birth to Adonni, Axel, and Amisa. Leaving him to raise them himself for most of their life. His daughter had married the young master of the Grath family, and his youngest son left long ago to travel the world. This left a generation gap in the Remori clan.
In front of the two mages was a large plate of metal encased in the stone floor. Small runic inscriptions were engraved in the metal, forming a big circle with strange mana lighting up the different runes in a seemingly random pattern. Arlen turned to Adonni, the next patriarch of the Remori clan, and asked, “What do you think? I don’t know what will happen, but we might finally get a clue as to what kind of purpose this strange formation serves.”
Adonni looked at him with furrowed brows and appeared to be thinking hard. Arlen then added, “Of course, we might all blow up before figuring anything out. Gahaha!” He let out a big laugh at the thought, but Adonni seemed to think it was a genuine possibility.
“Granddad, I don’t think this is something to laugh at. Shouldn’t we move somewhere else for a while? We can keep an eye on the situation, but I think the children should be moved until whatever is going to happen happens.” Adonni said with a worried expression on his face.
“Bah! We have been fine where we are for almost 70 years now. And even if things have started to act up in the last few weeks, I doubt that the Shiorin or whoever built this thing did so just to make it explode. Who knows, it might release some mysterious blessing that has been building up for hundreds of thousands of years. Are you willing to let the little ones miss out on that? It might even gift a spark to Adion.”
Adonni had to agree with his grandfather's logic but was reluctant to dismiss all the risks. “Still.” he said, “I would rather take some precautions.”
Arlen sighed and spoke, “Tell you what, I will leave all the decisions to you. I will be going away with Aiden and Ailera soon anyway. I probably won’t be back for a year or two. You will be in charge of the clan during that time, so it only seems proper to leave this to you.”
“What!” Adonni exclaimed, “What do you mean? This is too important for me to decide on alone.”
“Then talk to Miya about it. I won’t be here forever, and I’ll be making the rounds to Cyalis with the kids in the coming years, so I won’t be around much. As you are the future patriarch, I should start giving you some responsibilities.” Arlen said.
“I understand that, but this is something of great consequence; it is the whole reason you decided to build the manor of the Remori clan here,” Adonni said.
And it was true. Almost 70 years ago, Arlen had felt something in the mana passing through these parts, and after looking for a while, he found the cave with the strange runic formation. In those days, it wasn’t nearly as active as it seemed to be lately, though.
Arlen had decided to settle down with his family in these parts, which is why the Remori clan only controls a small town of 10,000 people. A 2nd-tier family clan should be able to have their manor in a much more populous place of the kingdom, but because of this one cave, Arlen had decided to stay.
“Hmm. Well, nothing has happened for so long. I’m sure things will be the same by the time I return. Whatever precautions you want to take, you can. I won’t blame you. We will discuss it more when I get back.” Arlen said with a tone of finality in his voice and then added with a grin, “Now. Time for me to see that monster of a son of yours.”
—
Whoosh!
A metal ball the size and shape of a plum flew past where Adion had just stood. Adion felt cold sweat running down his back.
That was close. And fast! Grandpa isn’t holding back today.
More objects came towards Adion, mostly just regular plums or other things that held no real danger. But being blindfolded and not knowing when a metal ball could come flying, Adion was on high alert. He focused on the mana he could feel around him for any signs of flying fruit. Suddenly, he felt a great increase in mana behind him, and he got a bad feeling, so he jumped to the side just as what he could only guess was a ball of water flew past him.
Has he started using magic? What the hell is going on?
His grandfather had always trained with all his grandchildren, but he had taken a particular interest in Adion since he noticed his high mana sense and skill in controlling mana. This type of training, where he throws stuff at Adion while blindfolded, started when he noticed Adion had ‘The spatial awareness of a Diamond,’ as he put it. Every child of the Remori clan had this strange sense to a higher degree than they should, but no one came close to Adion.
In the beginning, he had only thrown harmless items at him, but when Adion started to be able to dodge almost all of them, his grandfather started getting serious. ‘No one will throw plums at you in real life,’ he had said and began mixing in metal plums occasionally. Adion thought that metal plums would be thrown at him even less frequently than real plums but didn’t say anything about it. Once, one of those cursed objects even broke his arm when he didn’t manage to dodge in time. His grandfather was unapologetic when it happened and only claimed that it would hone his danger sense.
And Adion noticed that it was indeed true. After every injury from that blasted metal plum, he got a more precise feeling of danger whenever those were thrown compared to the mostly harmless items. And seeing the results of his training, he never complained about it.
Just as he dodged the water ball, he got hit in the face with a real plum he couldn’t dodge in time. Right after that, Adion felt the presence of his grandfather coming towards him as well as another feeling that was very closely related to his danger sense, something that had been beaten into him since he was five years old. His whole body could feel that something was being swung towards him, and on pure instinct, Adion pulled out his training sword and managed to block the attack from his grandfather just in time.
Sword attacks as well? That’s new.
“Hehe, truly a little monster. Guess I won’t have to go easy on you anymore.” He heard his grandfather say in front of him.
“Easy? You ha-” But before he could finish, another sword strike hit him on the side of his head. Adion screamed in pain and tried to focus, but another strike hit his arm hard, making him drop his sword. Adion thought that would be it, but his grandfather showed no mercy as he rained down strikes on the defenseless Adion. He didn’t manage to dodge a single one as his grandfather was a Diamond, and he would have no chance if he didn’t go very easy on him.
After a minute of pummeling, his grandfather finally eased up, and Adion fell down, bruised and exhausted.
“That’s so you don’t get too conceited when I’m gone and continue to train hard in my absence.” He heard his grandfather say.
Adion lifted his blindfold and looked at him. He was an old man with thick white hair who looked fit and energetic, more like a healthy 50-year-old than the 100-year-old he actually was, which wasn’t surprising as a Diamond had a lifespan of about 200 years.
“When have I ever not been training hard, Grandpa?” Adion said in an exasperated voice.
“Well, better safe than sorry.” His grandfather answered and chuckled. “Anyway, when I return from dropping off your brother and sister in Cyalis, I will give you my full attention until you form a core. So don’t try anything before I come back. I will be with you and try to help in case anything goes wrong. Focus on your mana control, and don’t disappoint me.”
“Don’t worry, Grandpa, I won’t.” Adion stood up and tried to ignore the pain.
“Hm, good.” His grandfather said and approached him and laid a hand on his shoulder. “I know it’s been hard on you, but I’m proud of you. Your tenacity will be rewarded in the future. I’m sure you will fly through the stages when you have your core.”
Adion turned his head away and let out a rare, small smile. “I will. And don’t worry, when I pass you in strength, I will help you train to repay the favor. I’ll start practicing my throw with metal plums while you are away to prepare.”
“Ha! Little brat, I'm looking forward to it.” His grandfather said and then grumbled to himself, “A sparkless aiming above Diamond. This brat is getting too cocky.” But he still had a smile on his face.
“Anyway, let’s go eat dinner. We will be leaving tomorrow, and you won’t be able to see your siblings for a long time, so be nice.”
A while later, Adion entered the dining hall alongside his grandfather and saw his parents and siblings chatting happily. Adion didn’t change his expression, but inwardly, he smiled bitterly.
I’m going to miss the family dinner. But I guess Mom and Dad will still be here.
Adion had been training constantly since he was about five years old, and one of the few moments of relaxation was when he was eating dinner with his family. Adion looked at them all fondly. His mother, Miya Remori, had long blond hair and carried a warm smile on her lips. Her eyes were dark blue, much like Adion’s own.
His father, Adonni Remori, had short black hair and a neatly trimmed beard that he had decided to wear the last couple of years for some reason. Perhaps it instilled more authority. It made him look older, after all.
His older brother, Aiden Remori, was 16 and had just reached the Bronze core stage. That made him a genius, even considering the whole continent. He was eligible to go to Cyalis Academy after all. He had blonde hair like their mother and green eyes that matched their late great-grandmother.
Adion’s older sister, Ailera Remori, was 15 and still in the high Iron stage. She still had a good chance to reach Bronze before 17, though. She had black hair like Adion and their father and was the only water mage among the children of the Remori clan. She had not inherited a fire spark like the rest of them but a water spark from their mother.
As he took his seat, his sister looked at him and said, “Adion, grandpa, you are late. The food is almost cold.”
Adion nodded and said, “Mm. So we came right on time as we were in the mood to eat almost cold food. That’s good.”
Adion got his sister riled up successfully, and she said, “No one likes cold food, Adion, don’t lie!”
“Sister is angry even though she is wrong. Sister is weird.” Adion responded. It was something he had learned from his grandfather. Well, his grandfather had told him to ‘assess the situation calmly and objectively, ignore unnecessary details and detach yourself from your emotions to arrive at the best solution. Force yourself to vocalize it concisely.’
Of course, it was meant for Adion to practice responding well to unexpected circumstances, whether in battles or social settings, and to react to the situation in the best manner possible.
Adion mostly used it to tease his sister, though.
“You are the weird one! Stop talking like that.” His sister exclaimed.
“Sister gets more upset the more I speak. Funny.” Adion responded.
Before his sister could respond, his mother broke in to stop the fight. “Alright, Adion. This is the last time you will see each other for years, so be nice.”
Adion had to admit he would miss his sister when she was in Cyalis.
Cyalis was a city-state located by the Melorian Bay. It was an enormous city with everything one could imagine. Most famous was Cyalis Academy, the best Academy on the continent, and only the top geniuses could attend as you had to be a Bronze mage and no older than 17 to get accepted. And to graduate, you had to reach Silver during the five years you stayed there.
Adion wished to go there too, but he knew that would be impossible. Even if he formed a core when he turned 14, he wouldn’t have enough time to reach Bronze. He wasn’t too sad about it, though. He could spend those years training by himself, perhaps joining the Outskirts Guild and hone his Will in the Endless Forest.
Adion snapped out of his thoughts of his future adventures as a mage, looked to his sister, and apologized. “Sorry, Ailera. You’re not weird.”
“It's good that you know.” His sister harrumphed.
His mother looked at him lovingly and said, “My little rascal. I heard you spent almost the entire training again today. You shouldn’t forget to rest once in a while. Rest is just as important as training, you know. Here, hurry up and eat.”
His mother placed a large chicken breast on his plate and continued to place rice and basically every vegetable in existence from the dishes already on the table.
“Okay, I guess I will rest a little tomorrow. I'm too sore for physical training anyway.” Adion answered and started eating.
“Oh, too sore to train? I heard you only had sword practice in the morning and then trained with your grandfather just now. When did you get hurt?” His mother asked and looked at his grandfather with a stern face.
“Miya, don't worry. The boy is simply tired. It's important to strain his muscles so he can grow strong in the future, you know.” His grandfather nervously answered.
His father, who had been listening while eating, decided to jump in as he looked at his son with a grin.
“Olden told me about the fight with Alex this morning. To be able to sense the movement of mana of someone else in the middle of a fight was something even I couldn’t do until I was Iron. Just how good of a mana sense does this scary son of mine have?”
“What scary son? I have just practiced a lot. You are just lazy. I mean, Iron? You should focus on your mana sense more because that’s just embarrassing.” Adion answered with a slight smirk on his face.
His family started laughing at Adion teasing his father. Meanwhile, his father looked like all air was blown out of him.
“Oh, my son is embarrassed over this poor father,” He sighed dramatically. “Never mind reaching Gold at the age of 30. With this monster of a son, I cannot rest a second before Diamond, or I will bring shame to the clan.”
“It’s good that you are reevaluating your work ethic, Dad. Just let me know, and I will give you a motivational boost in the future.” Adion answered with a stone face.
His brother jumped in on the fun, “Adion has a point, Dad. You are 41 and still middle Gold. Grandpa reached Diamond at 45, so you are way behind.”
“He told me he reached Diamond when he was 52 when I was a kid, and he has been shaving off one year at a time as I got older and closer to his stage. Don’t listen to that old liar.” His father answered in fake anger.
“I just didn’t want to make you lose hope, so I told you an older age to encourage you.” His grandfather shook his head and sighed, “The truth is I was only 40 when I reached Diamond. I’m sorry for lying, little Adonni.”
Everyone started laughing at their wild grandfather suddenly acting like a wise elder. Adion’s father just shook his head and gave up trying to win against his family. The night continued, and the family stayed seated later than usual as this was the last dinner for years with Aiden and Ailera.
Adion went to bed and decided to heed his mother’s advice and take a rare day of rest the next day. He slept for much longer than usual that night, and when he woke up, his grandfather had already left for Cyalis with his brother and sister, a journey that would take them months.
