by Roharp17
*Maybe he had just cast a spell?*
Danny, also noticed that the mana wasn't being stored in his body equally. The wizard was talking to an elderly man who was clutching his arm and had trouble breathing. The wizard held out his hand to the man’s chest and mumbled some words. Light shown in front of the wizard's palm and grew in size and intensity. Danny could see the mana leaving the wizards body into the spell... ball. Like in the wizard’s body, the spell didn't move steadily. Now that he knew what to look for, the rate at which the spell swelled was not consistent. Then suddenly it flashed and the old man’s body glowed. The man’s breathing stabilized and he smiled thanking the young wizard.
A note from Roharp17
Edited
Chapter 13
Danny had not slept at all the previous night. He had spent well into the early hours of the morning trying to fix what had been done to his brother. No matter how he tried, he could not reconnect his brother to the source. He wasn't even sure where his brother's connection was and had tried dozens of locations across his lower abdomen. Danny had tried healing magic in a last attempt, scared this would wake him for sure. His brother was such a heavy sleeper he didn't even realize it when Danny passed out from exhaustion on the floor next to his bed.
The next morning, Danny awoke in time to say goodbye to his brother. He would only see his brother on holidays just like his older sisters. Gary had finally left to join the boy’s academy.
Danny couldn't stop the feeling that he could have had some way to prevent all this and turned to his father, curious of what would happen to Gary.
When asked, Danny's father told him "Gary will be getting an education like I did. He will learn subjects like history, writing, and math. Later in his schooling Gary will learn a trade. Usually men do a number of apprenticeships before settling on one. Whatever trade he decides on will be the best determination to the type of [unknown] he would eventually marry."
Confused Danny asked, "What is an [unknown]."
Danny's father looked down at him and said, "Well son, when you get old enough and pick a profession to apprenticeship under, your mother and I will be approached by families that have a daughter that would like you to be her husband. This daughter will have gathered two other girls from different families to join you in this marriage. These three girls together are called a Trio. When you finally reach the age of sixteen, you will be allowed to get married." He paused and looked over at Danny's mom to see if she was hearing, he whispered, "If you’re lucky and work hard, more than one family will ask for you. Then you get to pick the prettiest one."
About that time a pillow smacked my father in the face. His father comically fell over in his chair. Danny looked over at his mom. Squinting, she didn't seemed that amused, but her lip had a slight tilt in one corner.
Even while laughing at his father’s antics, Danny couldn't help the tilt of his head in complete confusion, "Why three?"
Laughing, his father patted Danny back and explained, "Because for every three girls born there is only one boy born. Now, sometimes after a war, there are not as many women and you will find special cases of two women marrying a man."
Thinking of high male infant mortality rates, Danny asked, "Do the boy babies die a lot?"
Danny's father shook his head, "They do sometimes, but not anymore than girl babies. Three girls and one boy is also the same for all creatures, elves, dwarves, and the different beast races."
Danny couldn't believe it three girls for every boy. What would cause that? His father had ruled out a high rate of male infant mortality. He had enough biology to know there wasn't a way to add more X or Y chromosomes to get this result. Plus that usually resulted in disorders. The fact that they prescribed a specific number led him to believe it was probably genetic, but anything was possible. He was now in a world with magic.
Something else his father said confused him, so he asked, "Why do more women die when there is war?"
"Well, the only men that are allowed to go to war have had two sons. They are trained as crossbowmen. Wizards are also taken into battle, and they are used to bring devastating spells down on the enemy from afar," explained his father.
Danny thought for a moment, then asked, "When was the last war?"
"Oh, that was a very very long time ago. We were not united under the Diadem back then. That all changed when we discovered the ancient keys to unlock our magic. Since then, we have only had minor skirmishes with human outlaws and beastman tribes. The beastman are not a united people like the elves, dwarves, and humans. Though most of the time they leave us alone," his father explained.
“Where did the ancient keys come from?”
“If I remember correctly, they were found in ancient ruins from times past, before the cataclysm.”
Danny looked excited, “Are there any nearby!”
Danny’s father chuckled and rubbed Danny’s hair, “Not that I have heard of. These ruins were far off to the east.”
Danny was worried. He didn't know how his mana was going to survive the use of one of the ancient keys. From the way he unlocked his mana he knew mana lines to be sensitive things. For that matter, he didn't understand how they could be forced like that and still function. He was sure the boys were blacking out from the pain and overload. It just happened so quickly their brains didn’t have a chance to register it.
He considered again, coming forward and sharing his knowledge to prevent this from happening, but a boy of five telling grown men they were wrong. After meeting some nobles, his grandparents on his father’s side, he could easily guess there power hungry factions came out of the woodwork to try and gobble him up. He died once already and he was going to make the better of this second chance. He would try to help his family, but from this point on it was a game of survival.
Danny had water and air affinity at level five. It was time to train earth and fire to the same level. How was he going to train either without his family knowing? He thought about building a cave down below ground, but how would he practice fire in a confined space. How would he explain his absence if they looked all over the backyard and he couldn't be found. He rejected that idea. What if instead of trying to move the earth, he tried to feel with it instead? He had tried to use his mana before to sense thing. Maybe he needed to try using an element to sense with instead of raw mana.
Sitting in the training circle, as he had come called it, Danny focused on the rune for earth. Instead of casting with his hands he focused downward through his feet and legs. He felt the earth begin to rise up below him. He opened his eyes to find himself on a small mound. Small, but noticeable. He remembered how he reversed the airflow to create air that pushed him. This time he used it with earth. The mound lowered... too far. Working this way for a while he was able to get the ground back to its previous flatness. Focusing again he started over.
Weeks past with his new obsession. His mom more than once found him sitting there focused and asked him if he felt alright. He told her he was just resting. This didn't allay her fears, but Danny didn't worry as he was getting close. He couldn't do anything with his magic except move the earth. He discovered that if he focused he could stretch his mana very thinly over an area. Casting the earth rune caused small pockets of earth to shift in minute amounts in different directions. If he cast too much mana over the area it would try to shift the whole thing. By stretching the mana very thinly it only affected a percentage of the earth, and this was evenly distributed over the whole area. When done quickly enough this didn't do anything visible. Danny found that if he closed his eyes and focused, he could sense the resistance in the area by how much he had to push or pull in either direction.
Danny practiced this regularly and it cost little mana to do so. Eventually this resulted in his ability to sense the different stratifications of soil and earth, where apparent, as well as any cavities underground. Because his mana was an extension of his focus, these resistances created a three dimensional image in his mind.
Danny reached level four in earth affinity. Also, learning to stretch his mana not only farther out but over a specific area, had granted him level 6 in mana manipulation. He was a Journeyman in that skill now. He had some other Journeyman skills but never reached them since his birth. Not only did he feel his intelligence increase significantly, he was given specific knowledge instead of a hint. He was given the knowledge to create magic armor over his body. Instead of a circle, as he had pictured them, they were almost like a force field right above his skin or clothes. They were not visible until struck. Once activated they would last as long as his mana did. The magic armors could block only so much incoming damage, and recharged as quickly as his mana flowed into them. The armors also only blocked the element they were associated with. Danny wasn't given knowledge of a physical resistant magic armor. He at least had something new to work on.
Danny's mother, worried about his recent lack of activity during the day had asked Sarah and his father if he could help in the shop. Especially since Gary was at the academy no. She thought he should get more social interaction than she could provide while working in her shed. This was not at all what Danny needed right now. He needed to get stronger and find a way to beat or avoid the power from that ancient key. Unfortunately, he was still just a child.
Danny's first day at work in the family store was not what he expected. Waking up as early as he had to, helped him realize how slow a morning start his mother got. He left with his father and got there to find the store already open. Sarah was behind the counter feeding Mary the last of her breakfast. Sarah said good morning to the two of them and his dad went over to give the two of them a kiss. Danny played the role of big brother and cleaned up Mary while his father and Sarah discussed what needed doing. His father was apparently happy he was going to start helping out because he had some time intensive repairs around the place. One of the things his father helped with was running interference when there were too many customers for Sarah to handle by herself. He wanted to be able to work on the repairs without having to stop every 15 minutes to help a customer. Sarah wasn't sure about a five year old doing this but his father apparently had a lot of confidence in him. Danny figured the man just had a case of wishful thinking. Fortunately for his father, Danny had more sales experience than he let on. His ignorance of the stores contents should help hide this.
Sarah didn't look confident in his abilities, but took the time to walk Danny around the store and spoke about how she wanted him to help. Barb made mainly weapons and tools of good quality. My mother on the other hand made leather satchels, scabbards, quivers, and backpacks. While his mother’s designs were sturdy enough, where they really shined was the artistry she put into every piece. Sarah did her part by ordering other goods at wholesale that complimented the main attractions of the store. Sarah made sure to give him tips and tricks she thought a five your old would be able to use when dealing with different types of customers. She didn't discuss prices with him as she only saw him helping point out where things were and distracting impatient customers. She asked that he come to her with anyone wanting to buy something. Danny hung out behind the counter mostly, playing with Mary until Sarah needed his help. Not wanting to shirk on his magical training, Danny did his best to keep one of his magic armor up at all times. Since it was invisible only when initially cast or his he could hide it well. He started with earth wanting to see if he could get his affinity to level five.
He didn't get his very first real customer till the next day. Sarah was dealing with an unruly young woman who wanted to buy one of Barb's most expensive blades on credit. Sarah's polite attempts at telling her no were met as an apparent affront to the woman's honor. Sarah looked over at Danny and jerked her head toward someone in the front of the store. All while trying to keep a civil smile on her face. Danny walked to the front of the store to find a finely dressed Woman a few years older than his mother. She practically screamed money.
"Good morning, my name is Danny Creek, how can I help you today," started of Danny politely. Sarah had gone over with him how to properly address customers.
The woman looked around disdainfully and asked, "Yes, I am Lady Deluge, a friend of mine bought a leather handbag with the most beautiful artwork on it. When I inquired she pointed me to this... shop."
This woman reminded him of his father’s parents. Danny made sure to keep his tone childlike. If he played this right he could probably make this work in his favor. "Oh, I know where they are! My mommy makes the leather bags, she puts really pretty pictures on all of them. I watched her make them, she works very hard," Danny proudly bragged.
The woman looked at him closely as they walked to a particular section of the store, "How old are you boy, shouldn't we get one of your mothers or father?"
Ignoring her question, Danny quickly grabbed one of his mother’s small bags. The carving on the leather was of a single tree growing on an island in the middle of a river. The tree was bending against the wind and a heavy rain could be seen falling around it. You really could almost imagine the feel the wind and rain, as you touched the impressions left by the carving tools. Danny turned to her and said, "See, there are many pretty bags here. Look! This one has a tree in it that is caught in a big storm. Doesn't Deluge mean big storm," Danny asked innocently.
"Why yes child it does, a very strong name for our Family. That bag is beautiful, my friend’s is not that lovely," The lady replied.
Danny smiled and nodded, but then he frowned and looked at the bag, "Oh no! I remember mommy making this one. She said it was very special. I don't think this one is supposed to be here. I better put it behind the counter so it doesn't get bought. Mommy would be very sad," Turning to head towards the back of the store Danny smiled as the small bag was snatched from his hands.
The woman looked at the bag as if it was made of gold, "My, this purse is lovely and the scene is truly a powerful one! It does convey an essence of our family name..."
"Oh lady, please don't be mad, I don't want my mommy to be sad because I sold the special bag...," Danny said with a worried face.
"Just name a price young man that your mother will be happy to part with this treasure," Ms. Deluge assured him.
Danny had been paying attention to Sarah earlier as she made sales and responded to requests for prices. Of course, being biased, he paid specific attention to her quoted prices for his mother's works. He remembered Sarah had given two prices for the bags and he doubled the price. With false nervousness, he shifted his eyes around as if his mother would show up at any moment.
Danny quickly explained, "I'm not good with money yet, but I remember Sarah saying 800 triplets was good price for bags. I apologize, lady, but I really, really don't want to get in trouble with my mommy!"
Ms. Deluge smiled and handed over a whole sextet to the boy,
"Here is two hundred more just to make sure you do not get into any trouble young man!"
"Oh surely this is too much lady Deluge, I would not wish to take too much and get in trouble," Danny worriedly asked.
"You take that coin right this instance, and I will not hear another word about it," Ms. Deluge said with a stern look, but a smile hiding behind her eyes as she looked at her new bag.
Danny thanked her profusely as she left the store. Yesterday, Danny had learned that there were two common coins in diadem. The triplet and the sextet. A sextet was worth one thousand triplets. The triplet was a round silver coin with a triangle carved out of the middle. The sextant was a gold coin with a hexagon carved out of the middle. Both coins had intricate designs pressed into them to deter counterfeiting. If there was anything higher Sarah didn't go over that, or sell anything with that high a price.
Walking up to the front, Danny crossed paths with the still upset lady Sarah had been dealing with before as she left the store. As Danny got to the counter, he saw Sarah staring daggers at the back of lady unhappily until she left the store.
Sighing, while pinching her nose, Sarah said, "That... woman, comes in once a month to pull the same stunt, and every month I tell her no. She thinks I'll finally just give in... So what did the other customer want? Did we have what she was looking for?"
"It was a Lady Deluge, a friend of hers bought one of mommy's bags. I showed her one and she thought it was very pretty. Then I remembered it was one of mommy's favorites and she would be sad if I sold it," Danny said sadly.