The Beginning After The End (Early Years Book 1) (14 page)

I shake
my head at this. “I think it’ll be better for us to have a fresh new
surrounding.
 
Our home in Ashber has
too many memories of Art.
 
I don’t
think we’ll be able to get over it if we stay there.
 
We’ll hire some merchants to deliver
some of our stuff from Ashber here to us.”

She looks
down and thinks for a little bit before nodding.
 
Then she adds, “What about a job?
 
How will we afford to live here?
 
This is a very expensive neighborhood
Rey.”

I throw
in a smile that just seems so rare these days.
 
“I know an old friend that lives
here.
 
He’s asked me to be his guard
a couple of times a few years back and we still keep in touch.
 
He’s a fairly renown noble in this area
and his manor is huge.
 
I’m sure
he’ll have a place for us to stay.
 
They’re good people Alice.”

She looks
a little doubtful at first but after getting a ride to the manor and hugging my
old friend, her uncertainty vanishes.
 

“Rey! My
old pal! What brings you to this little city?”
 
A thin bespectacled man in a suit
exclaims as he lets go of me.

Vincent
Helstea.
 
Around 1.7 meters in
height with a thin frame for a body, he was a man of brains, not brawn.
 
Vincent was a normal human but a very
successful one at that.
 
The Helstea
House had been in the trading business for centuries.
 
While their family was on the decline
for a few generations, Vincent single-handedly brought his family’s asset to
its new high after building the first Helstea Auction House in Xyrus and later
building several auction houses within neighboring cities.
 
We met when he was on one of his trips
to a more remote city to build an Auction House when he ran into trouble with
bandits.
 
I was there with him at
that time, fulfilling the escort mission that the Guild assigned me. After
saving him, we hit it off pretty well.

The maid
that answered the door left after she saw Vincent hugging me.
 
Soon after, his wife and daughter came
out as well, curious as to what all the commotion is about.
 

“Tabitha!
Meet my dear friend Reynolds and his wife Alice!
 
Alice, Reynolds, this is my wife Tabitha
and this here is my lovely daughter, Lilia.” Vincent exclaims while picking up
her daughter.
 
She seems to be the
around the same age as Art was, with lovely hazel eyes that remind me of a
kitten and long brown hair, braided.
 
She’ll grow up to be a beautiful young lady.

I greet
myself, “Tabitha! It’s great to finally meet you.
 
Vince has told me so many great things
about you during our trip together to Eksire City.
 
What a cute daughter you guys have.”

After my
wife introduced herself and exchanged pleasantries with Tabitha, Vincent urged
us into the living room to get comfortable.

“So what
brings you here Rey.
 
Last time you
sent me a letter, you said you got yourself settled all the way up in Ashber.”
He says, handing Alice and me a glass of wine.

I took a
deep breath out and told them the story.

*Clank*

“I had no
idea.
 
I’m so sorry for your loss.”
Vincent manages to mutter.
 
His wife
has her mouth covered with her hands.
 
“I wouldn’t know what to do if I lost Lilia.
 
Is there anything I can do for you?”

I scratch
my cheek and ask, “You asked me a couple times to teach your Auction House’s
guards a thing or two about magic.
 
Is that offer still up in the air?
 
I don’t want to stay here for free Vince, but I don’t my wife to go back
to the old house in Ashber where Arthur was born and raised in.”

At that,
a big grin appeared on Vincent. “You know, we could actually really use someone
like you right now!
 
We just
renovated our Heltea Auction House so it can accommodate three times as many
people.
 
With that, we got a fresh
new batch of Augmenter recruits that need some guidance.
 
I think you’ll be perfect for it.
 
Can you handle it?” He winks at me.

I just
chuckle and nod, shaking the hand that he put out, sealing the deal.

I didn’t
start working for the first couple of days.
 
Alice and I got
ourselves
situated in the left wing of the manor.
 
Vincent was pretty lenient, saying we could have a couple of rooms, in
case we want any more future babies.
 
I just slapped his butt at that and he runs off grinning.
 
Alice and Tabitha hit it off really
well.
 
I was worried she’d be lonely
when I started working but Tabitha has a lot of free time as well and just
takes care of Lilia so having Alice around really brightened up her day.
 
Once work started, I was busy training
the new recruits.
 
These mages were
not the most talented, but they were willing to work hard.
 
After pounding the essentials into their
head, I feel like they’ll make a pretty solid team of guards.
 
Of course, all of the elite mages, both
Conjurers and Augmenters, are attending school at Xyrus Academy. So the ones
that don’t want to be Adventurers end up being hired by rich nobles, like Vincent,
as guards, which is much safer.

It’s been
a couple of months now since Alice and I settled down in Xyrus.
 
We’ve grown accustomed to the city
life.
 
Alice’s belly seems to be
getting bigger by the day and, while she still has nightmares about losing
Arthur, having Tabitha around really helped.
 
Just getting back home, I’m welcomed by
the delicious smell of beef stew.
 
Vincent and Tabitha have gone out on a date while Alice promised to
watch over Lilia with the maids, so it was just the two of us having dinner
tonight.
 

“This
beef stew looks amazing Alice.
 
What’s the special occasion today?” I grin at her.

She
smiles softly and just replies, “It’s been a while since I’ve cooked for
you.
 
I hope you enjoy it.
 
This used to be Art’s favorite dish.”

Her face
turns downcast and before I get the chance to console her…

Hi Mom, hi Dad.
 
It’s me, your son Arthur …

My mind
blanks.
 
This is Art’s voice.
 
No.
 
I’m hearing things.
 
I look
at Alice while the voice continues to talk in my head.
 
Her face is in distraught as she’s
looking around.
 
Is she hearing
voices too?

…Again, I’m alive and well mom, dad.
 
I managed to survive the fall off the
cliff…

What is going on?
 
My son is alive?
 
Kingdom of Elenoir?
 
Illness?

…It may
take a couple of months or even years for me to be able to go back but just be
sure that I WILL be going back home.  I love you guys *sniff* so much and
I miss you.  Stay safe, and dad, make sure to keep mom and my baby sibling
safe. Mom *sniff*, please make sure dad doesn’t get into trouble.  
Your son, Art.

I look at my wife again.
 

“You just heard the voice now too right Rey?”
She manages to cry out.

“Y-yeah. I just heard Art’s voice.”
 
I reply, still dazed.

*Crash*

“He’s alive! Honey! Our baby is alive! Oh my
goodness!”
 
Alice falls on her knees
and just weeps, a smile that tells me her tears are from joy.

Hell, I’m crying right now.
 
My son is alive.
 
“Our son is alive!!!” I madly
laugh.
 

“Hey Art! Hurry up! We’re going to
be late!”

“AAAGGHHHH!!  Tess! Stop! I
give! I GIVE!”  I cry out.

Tess gets off me, letting go of the
leg lock she had in a firm grip.

“Can’t there a gentler way of
waking me up Tess?” I grumble, rubbing the feeling back into my leg.

“It’s getting harder and harder to
wake you up in the morning! I have to do something right? Besides, you should
be grateful such a pretty lady is waking you up every morning.” She throws in a
wink.

“I find the maids here plenty
pretty thank you very much.” I softly mutter.

She must’ve heard because that
earned me
a firm squeeze
to the side.

Where did the shy Tess that was too
scared to sleep alone in the tent go; the sweet Tess that begged me not to go?
 Bring her back! I liked her better!

Something I realized in my three
years of living in Elenoir was that elves awaken earlier than humans do.
 Where as the average age for a human is around 13-14 years old, elves
awaken around 10-11.

Tess awakened a little early last
year and boy did she awaken with a bang.  It wasn’t as big as when I first
awakened but she did manage to destroy her room upstairs and fall down and
create a small crater from the implosion in the kitchen right below.
 Since then, she’s been joining me in training with Gramps.  All I
can say is, since awakening, she’s turned into something akin to the devils
incarnate.  She knows how strong my body is so she has no hesitation in
using me as her sandbag as she tries new spells that she learned from
Grandpa Virion and other Conjurer teachers.   What she just doesn’t seem
to get after all my cries is that I still feel pain dammit!  

As for me, today is a very special
day because after 3 years, I finally finished the assimilation of mana into my
body yesterday night.  It’s almost my birthday so I’ll be 8, while Tess has
turned 9 a couple months ago.  During this time, I wasn’t allowed to
absorb any mana from my surroundings and only used my innate mana formed from
my mana core to spread it into my body.  Today is the ceremony that takes
place after a Beast Tamer finishes his assimilation.

I skip showering and just change
into a more presentable robe, tucking the stone, into my robe before heading
out into the courtyard with Tess.

“Finally awake now eh Art?
 How did your wife wake you up today? Haha~!”  Grandpa Virion mused
as he was sipping tea on the small table outside.

“Ugh, wife?  Where?  I
didn’t know you could marry ogres.  You’re turning her into a monster
Gramps.” I groan.

Luckily Tess didn’t hear that as
she came outside soon after.

*Chuckle* “She’s going to grow up
into a fine woman Art.  Better sweep her off her feet before it’s too
late” He throws me playful smirk.

Tess just blushes at that and kicks
my shin.

“AGGH!”

Wha~?
Why?
What did I do?

“Hahaha! Art! Are you ready?
 Today is finally the day.  After this ceremony, you’ll truly be
considered a Beast Tamer.”  He says, arms crossed.

I just nod while Tess heads to the
table Gramps was sitting on to watch.

It wasn’t really a ceremony.
 All it consisted of was Gramps exerting a large amount of mana into my
core, triggering the will to awaken and spread out into my body.

“Do you remember the basic phases
of Beast Tamers, Art?” He quizzes.

I recite the basics that Grandpa
Virion pounded into me these past years. “All Beast Tamers have a different number
of forms that they can will their bodies into. The number of forms depends on
the strength of the Beast’s will that is left in the mana core.  The first
phase, that all Beast Tamers have, is Acquire.  In this phase, the Tamer
can utilize a small portion of the inherent ability that their beast has.
  The second stage is Integrate, where the Tamer’s body wholly infuses
with the Beast’s will, allowing a much better control over their beasts’
inherent abilities.”

“Correct!  The phases that the
Beast Tamers are able to unlock simply shows how much they can utilize their
beasts’ will.  The stronger the beast, the harder it is, but at the same
time, if the tamer can’t get insight, then it is also impossible to get past
the first phase.”  He turns serious.

“One thing you should know is the
differences in how a Beast Tamer’s will is acquired.  If the beast is
killed and his mana core is extracted with its will still intact, a mage can
absorb the will and try to gain insights.  That mage would be considered forged
tamer.  While it is a lot easier and straightforward to be a forged tamer,
the probability of gaining insight is very rare.  One of the reasons it
took me so long for me to be able to break into the second phase was because I
am a forged tamer.  I consider myself lucky to even be able to break into
the second stage though Haha.  Arthur, you are one of the extremely rare
legacy tamers; where the beast willingly imparted its will unto you.”

Continuing on, he says, “Art, my
first phase doesn’t really make me that much faster, but I’m able to erase a
bit of my presence and blend myself into the dark.  You haven’t seen my
second phase right?  Watch carefully.  It took me over ten years for
me to make a breakthrough into this phase.”

Feeling a powerful surge of mana
surrounding his body, I involuntarily cringe.  All of a sudden, the mana
around his body seeps back into him and my eyes widen.

Grandpa’s skin turns pitch black.
 Even the whites of his eyes turn black while his irises turn sharp and
glow yellow.  His tied white hair becomes unbound and is also a shiny
black color.  The aura that surrounds him makes me shudder and take a step
back.

“This is the Integrate phase. I’m
going to sneak up behind you.  Pay attention.”  He growls.

Is it really sneaking up if he
tells me? …Is what I was thinking when he just disappears from my vision.
 I don’t feel his presence at all but I look behind me because he told me
where he’d be aiming for.

His finger is pointed at my jugular
and he’s looking down at me with his glowing yellow eyes.

Cold sweat beads down my forehead.

Fast. It seemed like instant
teleportation but I knew it wasn’t by the skid mark from his initial position.
 It was speed that even I couldn’t keep up with.  Not even close. No.
 The scary part wasn’t even his insane speed.  It was his lack of
presence.  Even directly behind me, I couldn’t sense where he was.

He turns back to normal, his face
slightly flushed.

“Whew! Using that form always takes
a toll on me.  After training with it for a couple decades, I’m able to
keep the form on for about 50 minutes. Do you see the difference in power
between the first and second phase Art?”

I nod my head vigorously.

“Good! Let’s begin the ceremony.”
He replies.

We stand face to face, only and
arm’s length apart.  Tess was now leaning forward in excitement, as we’re
about to start.

“Just let your mana come out
freely.  Don’t try to control anything.  I’ll restrain you if
necessary so it’s crucial that you keep a relaxed state of mind.”  He
explains.

He begins exerting mana into my
core, making the mana already inside me spill out.

Instantly, I feel a warm sensation
as it feels like a hot gust of mana flows out of my body.

“BOOM!”

I open my eyes to see Gramps thrown
back 20 meters and I see Tess roll back from the force as well.

I suddenly feel an unbearable pain,
like my skeleton is trying to crawl out of my skin.  I don’t even have the
strength to scream and begin to feel myself passing out.  I welcome
the darkness to relieve me from my pain.

Waking up back in my bed, I sit up
feeling rather refreshed.  Sitting to the side of me, laying her head down
on my legs is Tess.  Looking at her sleeping like this, it reminds me of
when I was escorting her back home after saving her from the slave traders.

Grandpa walks in soon after and he
sits down on the other side of the bed, not bothering to wake up his slumbering
granddaughter.

“How do you feel brat?” He gives me
a half grin.

I respond in a serious tone. “I
should be asking you that Gramps.  I saw you getting sent flying and even
Tess was knocked back.”

He just chucked at that before
saying, “I have to admit I wasn’t expecting that great of a force.  I know
you probably have a good reason for not even telling me what kind of beast gave
you its will but is it not possible even now for you to talk?”

I think a little before nodding.
 He had the right to know.  If it wasn’t for him, I probably wouldn’t
be alive.

“…It was a dragon that passed her
will
unto me.”

I hear an audible gasp from Grandpa
Virion as his jaw slacks and his eyes widen.  The little color he had on
his pale face was all but gone and his naturally sharp eyes turned round.

“D-dragon…” He manages to wheeze
out, his eyes narrowed.

“Dear lord… a D-dragon Tamer.
 In my life, I’ve never thought I’d be able to see the birth of a Dragon
Tamer…I-
I’m
even the one that trained him! HAHAHA! A
Dragon Tamer!”

Tess wakes up from the now senile
Grandpa Virion and looks at him, confused.

He suddenly grabs both my shoulders
and looks at me intently. “You did right in keeping this a secret.  Do not
tell anyone else.  This power of yours has to be kept a secret until you
have the strength to protect yourself and those around you.”

“Yeah, I'm beginning to believe
that more and more, Gramps.” I nod seriously.

“Good! Although I would like to
know the whole story, I am more than satisfied with what you’ve told me for
now.”  He smiles.

“What is it Gramps? What did Art
tell you?  Uu…not fair, keeping secrets from me.” Tess starts pouting at
this point.

“Hahaha~ you’ll know when the time
is right little one.  Arthur! I have good news.  The teleportation
gate that is supposed to open in two years will be opening early.  There
is a tournament that will be held in the city of Xyrus in four months.
 This tournament will be a very important occasion because both the
dwarves and the elves are sending in youths as representatives for the
tournament.  We can sneak you back into Sapin without the humans knowing
at that time.” Gramps exclaims with a smile on his sharp face.

“Really Gramps? I can go home
soon?”  I jump out of bed and hug him.

I can finally see my parents again!
 I have been sending messages to my parents every once in a while through
Elder Rinia but after seeing them through the water divination technique, I
wasn’t able to see them again.

“Y-
you’re
going to be leaving soon, Art?” I see my close friend look crestfallen.

“Yeah.  I have to meet my
family soon.  Don’t worry though! I’ll visit you again! And maybe you can
come visit me in Sapin!” I try to cheer her up.

“We still have four months Arthur!
Until the day the teleportation gates open, I expect you to train harder than
before brat! Your mana core hasn’t developed at all these past three years from
the assimilation you had to do.  Don’t focus on just training your beast’s
will.  That should only be used as a trump card.  Understand?”

Grandpa turns serious when he
declares this.  He’s right though.  I shouldn’t use my beast’s will
if possible.

Continuing, Grandpa slaps my back
and says, “Now! Take a bath and then rest.  You reek of something rotten
brat.  Little one, let’s leave Arthur alone so he can recuperate.”

I see Tess still looking depressed
from the fact that I’ll be leaving in a couple of months.  Growing up and
living with her for three years has given us a bond that is close to siblings
and while she’s only ten years old, the fact that she’s showing signs of
blossoming into a beautiful woman does make me feel a twinge of regret that I
won’t be here with her as she grows up.

“Tess! Cheer up okay?  I’ll
still be around for a couple more months and even after I leave, it’s not going
to permanent.  I hope you can someday come and meet my parents too.”
 I give her a sincere hug.

“Eeep! W-what are you?”  I can
almost see the steam coming out of her head as she turns bright red.
 Suddenly, she pushes me away and runs out.

*Chuckle*

“Ah! Youth!  Haha~ Sleep well
brat!” He just shakes his head while closing the door.

Was Tess going through puberty
already?