The Beginning After The End (Early Years Book 1) (16 page)

The days went by training quickly,
while I was immersed in training.    Accessing first phase seemed to
become more natural to me now and I was able to conceal the will so other mages
wouldn’t be able to notice.  After the assimilation, the speed of my mana
cultivation went through leaps and bounds.

During this time, there didn’t seem
to be any changes in Sylvie except that she did get a little more intelligent.
 Her vocabulary was still limited but it was a lot easier us to understand
each other.  I went out together with Tess a lot.  She dragged me out
every free time we had and tried to make as many memories as possible before I
left.  Like that, the 4 months that seemed so far away has now passed.

Dressed in a simple olive green
T-shirt and black pants with the feather wrapped around my forearm, I come out
of my room.

“Arthur! Remember to take care! We
will contact you somehow and update you. Take this with you so you can navigate
through the Forest of Elshire if you’re ever in the area.  Or maybe you
can just find another princess to lead you back.” He winks while handing me a
small silver oval compass.

“Uuu… Grandpa!!!”

*SMACK*  “OUCH! Little one! It
was a joke!” Grandpa Virion cries while rubbing his side.

“While Alduin and Merial will be
going in a separate carriage since they’re the King and Queen, Tess and I won’t
be going.  This will be the last time we see each other for now.
 Until next time, Arthur!” He clasps me in a strong hug, almost knocking
Sylvie off of my head.

*Hic*  *Hic*

“I’ll miss you Art! Remember to
come visit again! Uu~ don’t go chasing after human girls okay? Promise me
okay?”  She sniffles while tearing up.

I hug my dear friend and pat her
head as well. “We’ll see each other again! You better be stronger than me the
next time we meet Tess! With Gramps teaching you, you have no excuse!”

She nods, unable to form words
because of her constant sniffling.

I wave goodbye to the both of them
and go with Merial and Alduin giving me a sympathetic smile.  I didn’t
really get to spend much time with the King and Queen but we were now more
comfortable with each other.  I hope that next time, I’ll be able to get
the chance to know them a little better.

I got into the carriage that the
Elf representatives were taking, while The King and Queen are escorted into a
separate carriage.

“Well look who it is! If it isn’t
the human brat! Did the royal family finally kick you out of the Kingdom?”
 An elf boy dressed in a very decorated purple robe smirks.

“Uh… I’m sorry but do I know you?”
I scratch my head while Sylvie is growling, pointing her horns in his
direction.

“I’m the noble you dared bump into
4 years ago while you were with the princess!” He stands up now, pointing an
accusing finger at me.

Ah! I remember who he is.
 “You’re the bug!” I say in realization.

Oops, I don’t think it was supposed
to come out that way.

“Y-you
dare…!?”
His face bright pink and ears twitching in anger as a few people behind him
start snickering.

“Aha sorry, sorry! I didn’t mean to
say that. I never did learn your name though.” I chuckle.

Face still red, trying to preserve
as much of the little dignity he had left, he crosses his arms and declares in
a pompous voice, “My name is Feyrith Ivsaar III, descendent of the noble Ivsaar
family!”

A young elf girl that looked a few
years older than Feyrith pipes in, saying, “We just all call him Feyfey!”

“D-don’t tell him that!” Face
bright red again, Feyfey just looks defeated now.

Aww poor Feyfey.

We go into the teleportation gate
and we’re greeted by the now familiar sensation of being in the middle of a
fast-forwarded film.

“We have arrived in Xyrus!” The
driver announces.

Taking a quick peek out, I notice
we’re surrounded by a parade of people who are cheering for the
representatives.  This tournament was supposed to be one of the biggest
events in the whole Kingdom of Sapin, gathering all of the potential youths
together.  Naturally everyone was excited when they found out the Elves
and Dwarves would be joining the tournament as well.

The driver pulls the carriage to a
remote place after passing through the crowd and whispers to me in the back
that this would be the best time to leave without being noticed.

I say bye to Feyfey and the rest of
the representatives and wish them luck.  Feyfey just turns his head away
but I don’t mind.  Jumping off the carriage with Sylvie still on my head,
I sneak through the alleyway to make my way to where my parents should be.

After around 30 minutes of going
around, I finally find the huge manor that my parents were supposed to
residing.

Wow… I guess not having a child
really did wonders on their savings.

“We’re home Sylv. We’re finally
home.” I say under my breath.

“Kyu?” she just tilts her head, as
if saying 'I thought we were at home before.'

I walk up the flight of stairs and
while taking a deep
breath,
I knock on the giant double
doors.

I found it strange that I was more nervous now,
meeting my family, than when I was a king, meeting the most powerful people in
the world.

“Whew~ let’s do this Sylvie.”

“Kyu” She responds, her excitement oozing into
my mind.

*Knock* *Knock*

I hear faint pitter-patter sounds followed by a
childish “Coming~!”

A maid opens the door with a little girl
holding onto the maid’s uniform, hiding behind her.

The maid looks at me curiously, surprised that
an 8 year old was knocking on the door of a noble’s estate.

“Ahem, nice to meet you.  My name is
Arthur Leywin.  I was informed that my family is currently residing in
this manor.  Do you mind if I speak to them?” I give a slight bow, Sylvie
rocking on my head.

Before the confused maid could even respond, I
hear an all too familiar sound in the background.

“Eleanor Leywin! There you are! You have got to
stop running to the front door every time someone…” My mother stops mid
sentence and drops a small bowl of what looks like food for …my sister?

I look down to see the girl with dazzling brown
eyes, looking at me with curiosity and innocence.  Her light ashy-brown
hair shimmered with a much prettier quality than Father’s but I knew where her
she got the color from.  Her hair was tied into two pigtails on the side
of her head above her ears.

I struggle to peel my eyes away from my little
sister and I turn to face my mother.  Tear welling up; my vision goes
blurry as my lips curl upwards, trembling.

“H-hi mom.  Long time no see.” I give a
small awkward wave, not knowing what to do if she didn’t recognize me.

Fortunately, my fear doesn’t come true and she
raced towards me at a speed I swear was faster than Grandpa Virion’s, but that
might just be because my vision was blurry.

“OH MY BABY! ARTHUR!!”  She arrived in
front of me and collapsed on her knees, her arms around my waist, gripping with
all her strength, afraid that I might disappear again if she lets go.

“You are alive! The Voice… I knew it was you! *
sniff
*  You’re back now! Arthur. My baby!”  And
that was all she could spew before she got broke down into a bawl.

I was worse.  I managed to tremble, “I-I’m
back Mom…” before I started sobbing as well.

That’s the funny thing about love.  You
can be an all powerful, immortal tyrant but when you’re in front of your loved
ones, the ability to control emotions betrays you.

I just kept repeating that I was back and that
I was home, that I’m not leaving, all the while crying.  My mother was a
flurry of emotions.  She was happy that I was back and alive, she was mad
that I couldn’t come back sooner, she was sad that I had to be away from them
and how hard it must have been for me all at the same time.

At one point, Eleanor walked to us and started
patting Mother’s back. “Mama.  There, there.  Don’t cry.”  But
after a bit of unsuccessfully comforting Mother, she starts crying too.

“MY SON!” I turn my head, face still wet with
tears to see outside the sprinting figure of my father drenched in sweat.
 I guess the maid told him I was back.

He doesn’t stop as he reaches us and just
slides on his knee, hugging all of us.

“Arthur! My son! Look how big you are. Oh my
God! You’re back you’re back!” My father was cupping my head in his hands to
get a better look at my face.
 
He
broke down while placing his large hand on the back of my head, bringing my
forehead to touch his.

Our little family reunion continued on.
 My mother sobbing uncontrollably, embracing me, and my oblivious little
sister crying with her, as my father and I just looked at each other with tears
in our eyes, all of us glad that we’re here together.

Eventually, we all managed to settle down.

We were sitting on a couch, my mother right
beside me with Eleanor on her lap.  Father was sitting on a chair he
pulled up, facing me, his elbows on his knee as he leaned forward.  Mother
is holding my hands and still tearing up every time she gets a look at my face.

“Are you okay now?
 
Did you at least eat three meals a day?
 You slept while dressing warmly everyday right?  Oh my baby.
 Look how big you are now.”   Tears escaped her eyes as she squinted and
smiled.   Leave it to mother to worry about those things.

She was stroking my hair now and she placed a
kiss on the crown of my head. “Thank God you’re back.
 
I’m so happy,” she whispered.

Eleanor was looking curiously at both Sylvie
and I while the baby dragon was sitting up next me attentively observing the
three unfamiliar humans.

My father is looking at Sylvie with a curious
look as well but he doesn’t mention her yet.  Turning his gaze to me, his
eyes softened and he keeps shaking his head, saying how big I am now. It must
be a pretty fulfilling yet miserable feeling for a parent to see how big his
son has gotten but not being there with him the whole time to witness it.

“Ellie, say hi to your big brother.  He
was away for a while but he’ll live together with us from now on. Come on, say
‘hello’.”  My mother says to my sister.

“Brother?” She tilts her head, reminding me of
a confused Sylvie.

She cups her hands over my mother’s ear and she
whispers something.

“Haha yes, that big brother.  The one I
always tell stories about.  He’s the one.”

My sister’s eyes start sparkling as she looks
back at me.  I wonder what stories Mother has told her.

“Hai Brother~!” She waves both of her little
hands at me.

*Chuckle*

“Hello Eleanor. It’s nice to meet you… sister.”
I laugh as I pat her head.

Father speaks up now.  “Arthur, we were
devastated after that incident, and we barely believed it when you communicated
to us through our heads.  Tell me, how’d you survive the fall?”

It took a while for me to explain everything
from the beginning.  I withheld some information that I thought might not
be good to tell them just yet.  I explained to them that I subconsciously
wrapped myself in a protective layer of mana and I hit a bunch of branches on
the cliff before landing in a stream.  From there on, I told them about
meeting Tess and how she was almost kidnapped.  After saving her, she led
me to her Kingdom and I stayed there.

“You said something about an illness that kept
you from coming back sooner.  What was all that about?  Are you cured
now?”  My mother chimes in, a look of concern on her face.

Shaking my head, I explain, “You don’t need to
worry about that anymore.  I guess there was a sort of instability in my
mana core that made it so I had episodes of body aches.  It was really bad
at first but luckily there was an elf elder that knew how to cure it.  The
process was slow but he assured me it wasn’t threatening if treated
consistently.”

Relief replaces the prior look of worry and she
just pats my head again.

“So what’s the story with this little pet of
yours?”  My dad just chuckles, finally bringing up Sylvie.

“Haha, while I was travelling, I stumbled into
a mana beast’s den.  It was only the mother and she was badly injured.
 A little bit after I was there, she died.  While I was looking
around, it seemed like she was guarding something so I picked it up thinking it
was something valuable but I didn’t know it was an egg.  She hatched only
a couple of months ago so she’s still a baby.   Say hi to Sylvie.”

I pick her up, holding her body so her limbs
dangled like a kitten’s.

“Kyu~!” She purred, as if saying hi to
everyone.

I didn’t exactly tell my family a lie when I
said this but I’ll tell them everything when I’m older.

I then ask them to update me on what’s happened
to them after we separated.   The only thing I was able to tell from
seeing them through the water divination the first time was that they lived
here in Xyrus, but nothing more so I was exceptionally curious.

After Father explained what happened since
then, my mother chimed in. “That’s right! The Helstea family went on a trip but
they should be arriving back today.  They’re going to be so surprised when
they see you Art!”

I turn to face my mother.  She hasn’t
changed much since I last saw her.  The only thing that I did notice was
that she’s lost a bit of weight and was slightly paler in complexion.  My
heart ached as I figured it was caused from stress and depression after losing
me.  Father was actually buffer now, with a trimmed beard.  I guess
working as an instructor for the Helstea Auction House guards has gotten him in
shape as well.

“Dad.  What color is your mana core now?”
I ask, while Sylvie made her place back on top of my head, tail swishing in
content.

A confident grin emerges from his face as my
father proudly replies, “Your old man broke through from the light red stage a
couple years back and is a dark orange now.”

I raise my eyebrows in surprise.  At the
age of early thirties, my father was doing pretty well for himself.  The
average mage that doesn’t attend school stagnates at light red stage, maybe
dark orange if they’re lucky. Of course it’s different for the elites who have
a much purer mage lineage and have access to better resources, but for a
standard mage, my father was strong.

He then asks me, leaning closer, “What stage
are you at now?”

Scratching my cheek, I mumble, “…dark orange.”

*Crash*

My father stumbles forward off his chair.
 Even my mother gasps in surprise.

“Holy shit!” My father exclaims.

“Shet!” Eleanor echoes, laughing at my father
falling.

“Honey! What did I say about cursing in front
of Ellie?” My mother reprimands while blocking my sister’s ears.

“Haha Sorry.  Sorry! Ellie don’t listen to
what your father is saying.” He then turns back to me.

“My son is still the same genius he used to be.
 Come on.  Have a quick spar with your old man.” My father grins
menacingly while clasping my shoulders.

“Dear!
 
He just got home!
 
Let him
rest.”
 
Mother was holding unto my
hand.

“It’s fine Mom haha.”
 
I gently place my hand on top of hers
and she lets go.

“Men! Always trying to fight! Isn’t that right
Ellie?” My mother shakes his head.

“Papa and Brother are men!” Echoes Ellie.

Both father and me laugh this time.  I’m
glad to be back.

We all get up to move to the backyard when I
hear the door open.

“Rey! I heard your son was alive? What the hell
is going on?” I see a thin proper man with glasses and parted hair in a suit
sweating, with what I assumed to be his wife and daughter running behind him.

“Vincent, everyone! I would like you to meet my
son, Arthur!  He’s back Vince~ Haha!”