Chapter 5: A Fairy Tale For Thee

In the same room with the wooden crib, Alaric was once again waking up to find that his parents already left the room, and as per usual, he decided to start his training.

(Now that I can sense mana, I should try to hone it...) Alaric decided.

Just like before, he concentrated on the mana around him and inside his body, but this time with the help of Mana Sense things went much smoother and he could now properly feel what was around him. It was like being submerged in an ocean of gelatine.

(If I keep it at this pace, I'll have step two complete in only a few years. I'll just have to start filling the mana cores.) Alaric thought proud of his progress and was happy to move on to the next step.

The mana kept circulating all throughout his body, as he slowly trained to someday be able to make a difference. He started a long and strenuous process.

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-Elsewhere-

A room that was not too big nor too small, it had enough space for 10 people to stand tightly, and what occupied it was a wooden desk, a mini table, and a single sofa. Sitting on a chair and writing on some parchment on the desk was a woman with pink hair and eyes, who now had her eyebrows together while her free hand was rubbing her forehead.

"Why did something like this have to knock on my door?... I don't think I have that much luck left after all these years, and I bet they involved Amora in all this too." The pink-haired woman said with a tired voice and leaned back on her chair with her face now facing the roof.

"Mom! Mom!" The sweet voice of a child could be heard calling for the woman with pink hair.

A child with white wavy short hair came and purple eyes in with a smile and ran towards the woman with pink hair.

"Miran my love, what is it?" Said the woman as she looked at Miran with a smile now on her face.

"Hum.. I want to learn magic, please!" Miran said with the eyes of a little angel glowing with hope and happiness, and a smile that would melt even frozen hearts.

"No, I told you before that you're too young to learn magic." The woman said maintaining her smile while saying so.

"Why?! I don't want to wait." Miran said in response with the biggest 'puppy eyes' one could possibly make.

"A no is a no, believe me. When you're older you'll thank me for this, it's for your own good my little fairy." The woman said with a slightly more serious expression seeing Miran's persistence.

"But I just want to be a great mage like you!" Miran yelled.

*sighs* "Do you want to hear a story?" The woman sighed and asked a question to Miran.

Miran was confused when she heard that, she expected her mother to say no again but instead got offered to hear a story, and she was very curious to see what exactly this would lead to.

"Yes!" Miran shouted excited and curious to see what kind of story she would get, she even almost forgot the reason she came here.

"Ok, let me get the book, I'll be back in a bit..." The woman was saying but then she looked at her desk and. "You know what, it's best if you come up with me." She said as she changed her mind.

Miran nodded her head and she followed her mother, to a big room that had multiple shelves, and they walked to one of them and the woman pulled out a relatively small book.

From the way it looked, it seemed like a children's book with a simple draw cover with a blond boy in it.

Then both the woman and Miran sat on one of the sofas in the room. Miran was shaking herself nonstop and humming while she waited for the woman to start.

"Once upon a time..." The woman started the story and Miran attentively listened.

The woman calmly told Miran the story of a boy who just wanted to use magic just like her, and just like Miran the boy was told that he was too young, however, the boy was also told that if he conquered the challenge of the three guardians of magic, he would be able to use magic despite being too young.

The boy after hearing there was a chance to learn, was very happy and hopeful, so he traveled to the waterfall where the 3 guardians were said to live, and he faced many trials and dangers to get there and then when he got there, he was immediately met with a dragon that looked like a giant snake, it could fly and even speak.

The snake dragon said to the bit that he had to choose, between having all the food he wanted even for his family, and going inside the waterfall to pursue magic. If he chose the first, he and his family would never have to worry about food again and could just live free of hunger. But the boy was strong-willed and refused the infinite food.

Inside the waterfall, there was a deep cave with a labyrinth that seemed to go on forever no matter where the boy went, there were just more and more tunnels until he was tired and heard the voices of his family calling out to him. However, he refused and moved on not tremped by home.

This was when he met the second guardian, a giant mole rat, who made him another choice.

The boy could go back to become the king of a great kingdom, one where his family would rule and stay on the throne prosperous and generous for centuries to come. Or he could just go on with his journey for magic.

Not swayed by the offer, the boy continued all the way to the way to the last trial, where he was met with the an underground city ruled by a tyrant. He joined the rebellion and even helped stop this evil King, and that's when he met the last guardian.

The boy could once again make a choice, and this time, he could get all the prizes of the last guardians, a beautiful wife who would always love him, and a great dynasty of descendants fated to greatness. Or he could finally gain magic.

This was once again an easy choice for the boy.

After getting so far and overcoming the two other trials, in the end, he got magic just how he wanted but soon discovered that magic was not exactly as magical as he initially thought.

He could do the things he wanted but only for a short amount of time, he still had to study and try hard to learn each spell, and he could no longer sleep peacefully.

That was because his young body couldn't properly handle magic and he ended up getting Sleep casting, which was a magical condition, where a magic caster under the age of 12 will cast magic spells while asleep and it can lead to death in worst cases. Only those who start casting magic before the age of 12 could contract this.

Once the story was over, the boy became hated by the people because of all the sleep casting and how much damage it did, so he was forced to leave and went to start living in the underground city, he was never seen again in the surface or heard of by anyone. The end.

"So, what do you think my angel? Isn't it a nice story?" The woman said with a smile once she was done telling the story.

"I don't like it! It's a bad story." Miran said with an unsatisfied expression on her face while crossing her arms.

"Oh really? Why is that?" The woman asked seeing Miran's reaction.

"The ending is sad." Miran said in response.

"Maybe, but not all stories have a happy ending." The woman explained to Miran.

"Why not?!" Miran asked.

"Because sometimes bad things happen, now I have to go back to work. Don't stay all grumpy, your face might get stuck like that." The woman said with a victorious slight smile as she left the room with an unsatisfied Miran.

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Time passes and soon it's night, the moon shines bright on the outside.

The room was full, namely Dad, Cystal, Mom, Lillian, and Alaric. These 5 were now sitting on a big table, Dad being on the main seat with Mom on her right while both Crystal and Lillian were next to their mother, and Alaric was being carried by Mom. Aside from them, there were the grandparents present.

"Good night everyone." Dad spoke up in a serious tone and expression as everyone in the room looked at him waiting curious to know what she would say.

"Me and my dear wife Amora, with Sylvia's assistance have discovered yesterday that, Alaric Lofn is talented enough to achieve mana sense before even being one year old!" Dad said with pride and happiness present in her speech and mannerisms, but her eyes relayed a bit of a different story.

*Clap* *Clap* *Clap*

Everyone in the room was clapping their hands and showing their congratulations towards Mom and Dad.

"Wow! Does that mean my little bro is super strong?" Lillian asked.

"No sweetie, it means he can become someone powerful in the future." Mom said to answer.

*Crack!*

The sound of glass breaking filled the room in an instant.

"Crystal! Are you alright!?" Mom yelled as she turned to Crystal after hearing the noise.

"I'm fine, Mom... I just feel tired, so it was an accident... Can I go to my room rest? I don't feel so good." Crystal said with a frown.

"Go ahead, you should try to rest." Dad said calmly before Mom could even muster a word.

"Thank you, I'll excuse myself now." Crystal said and left.

As Crystal left Sylvia began cleaning up.

(Did I do something to her?) Alaric asked himself confused about what just happened

The rest of that dinner went well and was a nice little family moment.

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The next morning, once again Alaric woke up and found himself alone in the room, as usual, he decided to start practicing mana link and continued to fill up his cores.

While Alaric was practicing mana link, footsteps could be heard getting closer, and soon enough someone entered the room and got near Alaric's crib.

"Hi... I heard you're really good at magic stuff. That sucks, because I can't do magic stuff, but everyone really likes magic stuff and it's really cool. I won't do magic stuff, but I will do something cooler! I'll be even bigger and better! You'll see!" Crystal started talking with teary eyes and trembling lips, and the moment she finished she left the room.

(What just happened?!) Alaric asked as he was very confused about it.

Chapter end