The Beginning After The End (Early Years Book 1) (4 page)

A typical day would involve taking
reading and writing lessons from mother and Augmenting training with my father.
 After he covered the basic theory and application of Augmenting, we
started physical training.  Seeing how my body is too small to start
sparring, we opted to running, and body workouts.  I think seeing my
three-year-old body trying to do a pushup would be the funniest thing but my
father did a good job holding in his laughter.

When I’m not taking either of the
lessons, I usually stay cooped up in the newly improved library, reading and
meditating to further condense my mana core.

As the year passed and not much
happening outside of my typical day, my father spoke up while we were having
dinner one night.

“Honey, I think it’s time we get
Art a proper mentor.”

I hear a *clang* that drowns out
the silence as my mother drops her fork onto the plate.

“What??  Reynolds! Arthur
isn’t even four yet! No! Besides, you said if our son is an Augmenter, I
thought you said you’ll be able to teach him!”

“I also never expected our son to
be this much of a prodigy in mana manipulation.  Who has ever heard of an
awakening at the age of three!

“But that means he’ll have to leave
home! He’s only four Reynolds! We can’t have our baby leave home this early!”

“You don’t get it. When I observe
his body while he meditates, I can’t help but feeling all of this is natural
for him.   Alice honey, I’m holding my son back by trying to teach him
something he can do in his sleep.”

Thus began my parents’ quarrel.

They went back and forth, basically
repeating their initial points
;
mother saying I’m too
young, father saying they needed to let me reach my full potential blah blah.

In the meantime, I was playing a
game of war with my food, the peas attacking for the Mother Empire while the
carrots of the Father Nation desperately defending their land.

Finally, my parents settled down
and my father asked me,

“Art, this is concerning you so you
have a say in this as well.  How would you feel going to a big city and
having a teacher?”

Fantastic...

I applaud the effort for trying to
make this fair but you do realize you’re trying to make a 4 year old make a
decision that will ultimately change his life right?

Trying to conclude this little
argument, I said, “Can I at least try meeting some mentors and have them see if
I need to be tutored or not?”

*Silence*

Did I step on a landmine? Was I not
supposed to be this articulate in my sentences at my current age?  Are
they mad because I didn’t choose a side?

Having no confidence in keeping a
poker face, I looked down and waited for their response.

Thankfully, none of my fears were
on their minds.  My mother finally spoke, quietly she muttered, “We’ll at
least formally have his mana core and channels tested. We can figure out what
to do from there.”

As my father nodded in agreement,
we began making preparations the next day.  When I said what I did last
night, I assumed that we’ll be going to a nearby town or a city a day away to
have me tested by a qualified mage, but boy was I wrong.

We were making preparations for a
three-week-long journey.  A journey on a carriage pulled by a couple of
horses through the fucking Grand Mountains to a city called Xyrus.

A book that I read popped into my
mind.  I recall reading about a floating city built by an elite
organization of Conjurers for the sole purpose of housing the most prestigious
Mage Academy.  The city was later built around the academy, both the City
and the academy named after the leader of the organization, Xyrus.

How is it possible to keep a piece
of land, hundreds of kilometers long, afloat? Magnetism?  Then the land
beneath the city will be affected by it.  Does the city have it’s own
different gravitational field?

Anyway!

This journey was going to be long.
 It’s times like these that I wish modern sources of transportation
existed.  In order to get to the city, we’ll have to enter through one of
the designated teleportation gate in the Grand Mountains, otherwise, it’ll take
months traveling across towns to reach the gate below the actual city which is
floating near the border of the Kingdom of Sapin and Darv.

One reason why my father pushed for
us to go on this journey now was because his ex party members were here and
were on their way to the city of Xyrus.  Going now, with them, meant that
we had three Augmenters and two Conjurers along with my mother who was a rare
Emitter and my father, a B class Augmenter.  While the mountain range
didn’t have any mana beasts, there were still the potential dangers from
bandits and wild animals.

While my mother and father took
care of packing all of the necessities, I packed my wooden sword and two books
(Encyclopedia of Dicathen and Foundations of Mana Manipulation) for the
journey.

By mid morning, we were ready to
head out.

Tying my knapsack, with my books
and a couple of snacks, to my back and strapping my wooden sword to my waist, I
held my mother’s hand and followed my parents to meet their ex party members.

Although I’ve heard about them from
time to time from father, I never visited the home while they were helping
rebuild it so it would be the first time meeting them.

The information I learned from my
father of the party Twin Horns consisted of:

Helen Shard: Female Augmenter
specializing in magic archery.

Adam Krensh: Male Augmenter whose
main weapon is the spear.

Jasmine Flamesworth: Female
Augmenter who specializes in speed with dual daggers.

Angela Rose: Female Conjurer
specializing in Wind Magic.

Durden Walker: Male Conjurer
specializing in Earth Magic.

We reached the inn they were
staying at in Ashber and saw them out in front, near the stables.

My father, hugging his ex party
members, exclaimed, “Guys, I want you guys to meet my son Arthur! Go on Art,
introduce yourself.”

Giving a slight half bow while
looking up at them, I introduced myself.

“Hello.  My father has told me
great things about his fellow Twin Horns members.  Thank you for traveling
with us to Xyrus.  We’ll be in your hands.”

“HAHAHA, what is this?  Such
manners! Are you sure he’s your son, Rey?”

The one to respond was the Spear
wielder, Adam. Taking a closer look at him, he seemed like the energetic,
talkative type.  While fairly good looking, with bright red hair tied in a
messy poof at the end, almost like a flame, and a couple of bangs escaping from
the hair tie, he reminded me of some sort of vagabond.  His eyes were
bright and almost seemed like they were always laughing.  The first thing
I noticed though was the scar across his nose, reaching both cheeks.

I felt myself getting picked up.

“Awww...Isn’t he just too precious?
 You should be glad that he doesn’t look like you Reynolds”

Peeling my face away from what felt
like a memory foam death trap before she suffocated me in those gigantic
breasts, I took a good look at the woman who was trying to kill me.  Boy
was she pretty.  I mean, while not as pretty as mother, she gave off the
whole “royal princess” vibe with her long blond hair that came to a curl at the
ends and radiant green eyes that curled down and out.

Just as my hands were about to give
away and my face about to enter the twin abyssal hills, a strong hand grabs me
by my knapsack and takes me away from the well-endowed woman.

“Angela, you’re hurting him.”

There I hung, like a kitten being
carried by his mother from the scruff of his neck, unable to move.

I looked at the giant.

Easily passing two meters in height
with a staff strapped to his back, he put me back on the ground and tidied my
clothes gently.

A gentle giant!

Can I ride on his shoulders the
whole way?  I looked up at him, my eyes getting bigger and almost
sparkling.  I feel so safe in his hands.

He had very narrow eyes and
eyebrows that slanted down, giving him an almost innocent face, compared to his
gigantic body.  The short scruffy black hair on his head completed the
shaggy dog look on him.

Dusting my clothes off, I turned to
face the woman that looked slightly younger than everyone else.  Straight
black hair, back half tied up with a ribbon and she had red, half-open eyes and
curt-looking lips, making her seem very brusque.

“
mhm
” she
slightly nods and then turns away.

Ah… a woman of few words.  How
charming.

Looking as she walks away towards
the stable, I see two short daggers strapped to her lower back, just above the
hips.

The last member of the Twin Horns
is Helen Shard.  She pats my head lightly and smiles charming smile at me.
 The word that would describe Miss Helen in one word would be sharp.
 Sharp eyes, sharp, perky nose, thin red lips, and a flat chest, almost
boyish with her shoulder length hair tied tightly in the back. I can’t help but
get charmed by her charismatic ambience. She seems to exude this “we can do
anything if we believe” atmosphere from her pores that makes her almost glow.
Clothed in light leather armor covering her ches… I mean breasts, and her bow
and arrows strapped to her back, I couldn’t help but compare her to an elf, but
quickly abandoned that thought after I see her rounded ears.

I hopped onto the back carriage
with the help of a little mana reinforcing my legs.  Lately, I’ve gotten
the hang of using my mana in reinforcing my body.  Although I never got
the chance to fully test what I’m capable of, just in case I do too much and
give my parents heart attacks, it’s getting more natural to direct my mana from
my core through my mana channels.

After our party finished loading in
all of our travel necessities into the two carriages we were taking, we
strapped in what I thought would be horses.  It turns
out,
this world has domesticated mana beasts called Skitters for transportation.
 These giant lizards with spikes across their backs and powerful claws are
D class monsters that are a lot more efficient to use, and more expensive, than
horses when travelling mountain terrain.

Let the journey begin!

______________________________________

By nightfall, the once distant
mountain range seemed to have doubled in size.  I wonder how big the Grand
Mountain range will be when we reach the foot.  I’m excited.

We made camp at a small cluster of
boulders.  Nearby
were a lot of scrap wood
from
fallen branches to use as campfire.

One thing I detest about this body
is how much sleep I require.  I slept most of the way and I still feel a
bit sleepy after being awake for a couple of hours.

After setting up a couple of tents
around the fire, my father and mother began talking to the Twin Horns about old
times when Helen sits down next to me and says nonchalantly, “I heard your pops
say that you’re some kind of genius mage…  Is it true you already
awakened?”

Not knowing how to answer, I just
told her the truth.  “Yes.”

She began asking me how I felt when
I awakened and what color my mana core was.  By this time, a couple of
curious ears perked up and Adam said, “Hey Reynolds, do you mind if I test
little Art?”

Both my father and mother seemed a
little hesitant at first, but trusting their old comrade, my father just said
“Alright, but be careful.  I haven’t had the chance to teach him how to
properly fight yet.  We’ve just been doing light strength and mana
exercises ‘til now.”

Adam gets up from his makeshift log
seat and looked around until he found a short stick he felt satisfied with.

“Come here Kid.  Haha, let’s
see what you’re made of!”

I don’t know if he wanted to beat
some sense into the kid he thought had a big ego after hearing I was some sort
of genius or he was genuinely trying to test me, but by the smug grin he had on
his face while looking down at me (even if it was only natural he would
physically look down at me, it still pissed me off), I assumed it might
be the former reason.

Picking up the wooden sword I got
as a present from my parents, I walked to the edge of the camp where Adam was waiting
near a small clearing.

“You know how to reinforce your
weapon right genius?”

By this time, my father already
sensed that Adam was just trying to put a show of dominance into his little
boy, but he just watched, knowing he wouldn’t hurt me too much.

Many thanks dear father.

My mother looked a bit more anxious
as she kept glancing back and forth between me, Adam and father, keeping a firm
hold onto his sleeve.

Well at least mother is here to
heal me if I get hurt right?

I focused my gaze on Adam.
 Images of my past life, dueling other kings with my country and loved
ones at stake, popped up in my head. My eyes narrowed.  He was the
opponent now.

I willed mana into my legs and
dashed forward with both my hands gripping the wooden sword on my right…

Keeping his smug look, Adam
prepared to block my horizontal swing when I feinted and used a special
footwork I developed in my old world that I used for dueling.  Almost
instantly, I blinked a foot diagonally to his right. Curse this body. I couldn’t
perfectly execute the skill because of the height and weight difference
compared to my old body.  I wasn’t used to this 40 pound, 110cm. body.
 While I didn’t reach the area I was aiming for, unfortunately for Adam,
he already prepared his wooden stick to block my horizontal swing from the
other direction so his right side was open.

His smug look all but vanished and
was replaced by a look of surprise with his eyes opening wide, realizing what’s
about to happen.

Swinging my wooden sword to his
open ribcage, I reinforced my wooden sword with mana at the last moment to
conserve my mana because I knew I was definitely at a disadvantage against a
veteran like him.

The look of surprise on Adam all
but lasted a split second before he pivoted his right foot with an almost
inhuman speed.  I squatted in time to dodge his upward swing and switched
my stance from a thrust to a spinning swipe and landed a blow on his left ankle
using all my momentum.  His ankle gave out at that moment, throwing Adam
off balance.

Or so I thought.

He actually did a full on splits
and did a roundhouse sweep with his legs as soon as he was on the ground.

This body won’t be able to take a
hit like that so I jumped up to dodge his legs when, from my peripheral view, I
saw the flash of brown from his wooden stick.

With no time to use the blade to
block the swing, I thrust the pommel of my sword, timing it so Adam’s wooden
stick and the end of my handle would clash.

Newton’s Third Law of Motion
suddenly came into mind.

For every action, there is an equal
and opposite re-action

And boy was the opposite re-action
painful.  While I did block the blow successfully, my 4-year-old body
couldn’t withstand the force of the blow and I flew before gracefully skidding
on the ground like a flat rock on a lake.

Thankfully, I reinforced my whole
body before I took the blow or I would’ve seriously gotten hurt.

Groaning, I sat myself up and
rubbed my throbbing head.  I look up, only to see seven stupefied faces
staring at me.

My mother recovered first, shaking
her head.  She rushed towards me and immediately mumbled a healing spell
around my body.

“Art honey, are you okay? How do
you feel?”

“I’m fine Mom, don’t worry.”

Adam’s voice cuts in, “Haven’t
taught him how to fight my ass! How the hell did you train this little
monster?”

“I didn’t teach him that,” my
father managed to mutter.

He shook himself out of the stupor
and came next to me and asked if I was okay.  I just nodded my head.

He picked me up and gently put me
back down where I was sitting before and squatted down in front of me so he was
eye level.

“Art, where did you learn to fight
like that?”

Deciding to feign ignorance, I
said, putting on my most innocent face, “I learned by reading books and
watching you dad.”

I don’t think saying, “Hey dad, I
was the King Duelist representing my country from a world where diplomatic and
international issues are settled in battles.  I just happened to be
reincarnated as your son… Surprise,” would get a great reaction from him.

“Sorry for roughing you up there
little buddy.  I didn’t expect I would need to use that much strength to
get you off me.”

Seeing Adam apologize gave me a
better impression of him.  I guess he wasn’t a total jerk.

I hear a faint voice from my side.
 “Your fighting style is… unique.  How did you do that step after the
feint?”

Wow! Two complete sentences! That
was the longest thing Jasmine said this whole trip by far.

I feel so honored.

“Thank you?”

I reorganized my thoughts before
trying to explain in steps what I did.

“It’s a simple technique really.
 Since I was feinting to Mr. Krensh’s right side, I place my right foot
forward as the last step before the feint.  There I instantly focus my
mana into the right foot, pushing myself back, and at the same time I bring my
left leg behind right, aimed towards where I want to go, and focus mana unto my
left foot this time, but with more power than when I used mana on my right so
that I don’t propel myself backwards instead of the direction I want to
actually go to.”

That was a mouthful.

I looked around to see Adam, Helen,
and even my father head towards the clearing, trying to test out what I just
explained.

When I turned back to face Jasmine,
I only saw her back as she rushed to the clearing as well.

Mother sat next to me, patting my
head with a gentle smile on her face that seemed to say, “you did well.”
 Angela came up to me too, burying my face, or rather my whole head, in
her bosom cheerfully exclaiming, “Cute AND talented aren’t you? Why couldn’t
you have been born earlier so that this sister could snatch you up herself!”

Blushing, I willed myself away from
those breasts that I suspected to have their own gravitational pull.
 Those…weapons are dangerous.

My guardian angel, Durden, was a
lot calmer about all of this and just gave me
a thumbs
up. He’s so cool.

The night passed as the four idiots
spent most of the time trying to master the feint step while I slept in the
tent with mother.

________________________________________

A couple of days passed as we finally
managed to make it to the foot of the Grand Mountains, which sure lived up to
its name.

Along the way, only Helen managed
to lay down her pride as she asked me for some clarification on the feint step.
 I went over it slowly, explaining what the timing of the interval between
the last right foot and the left foot should be and how to properly balance the
output of mana into both feet so you can go the way you’re aiming. The whole
time, I could almost see the ears of the other three idiots getting bigger as
they tried to suck in the information that I gave her, nodding while
taking mental notes.

The first one to succeed was
Jasmine.  She seemed like the cold, genius type.  I guess it was
true.

She pulled me aside one day,
blushing, while I was taking reading and writing lessons on the back of the
carriage with mother and asked me to watch.

We had to take a small stop so the
carriages wouldn’t leave us behind.  After successfully demonstrating the
feint step to me, I applauded saying “Amazing! You learned it so quickly!”

It’s one of the most basic
techniques I developed, but I’m not going to tell her that.

She responded curtly saying, “It
was nothing” but the upward curvature of her lips and the slight, proud twitch
of her nose showed otherwise.

Haha, she’s happy.

By the time we arrived at the foot
of the Grand Mountains, all four of the idiots managed to learn the technique,
changing it slightly to fit their own fighting style.

The next step of the journey was
going up the mountains.  Luckily, there was a path that was around two
carriages wide that circled around the mountain, eventually leading to the
teleportation gate at the top.

The front carriage included Durden,
holding the reigns in the front, with father besides him keeping him company.
 This carriage carried most of our luggage.  Helen was currently
seated on the top of the second carriage, the one I was riding in, scouting for
any abnormalities. Angela sat in the back carriage with my mom and me, Adam
walking at the back, keeping guard. While Jasmine was steering the carriage, I
keep noticing how she turns back her head and stares at me in, almost making
*jiii* sounds. Is she expecting me to show her other techniques or something?
 Every time I match her gaze, she quickly turns her head back to the
front.

Kukuku…is she five?

Speaking of age, I turned 4 on the
front leg of our journey to the foot of the Grand Mountains.  I don’t know
when Mother prepared a cake or where she even put it (or if it’s even edible!),
but I didn’t complain, put on a big smile and thanked her and everyone else.
 While everyone gave me a hug or a pat on the back, Jasmine surprised me
then when she handed me a short knife, simply saying, “present.”

Aww she cares! I’m tearing up.

Our journey up the mountain was
pretty uneventful.  I spent a lot of my time reading my book on mana
manipulation, trying to find any discrepancies between mana and ki.  So
far, it seemed pretty similar except that, in rare cases, an Augmenter’s mana
usage can take on the property of elements.  Reading on, I noticed that
for beginners able to dabble in this, it wasn’t as distinct as what you may see
Conjurers casting but more like the quality of each distinct element.

For example, an Augmenter, assuming
he has an innate compatibility with fire, would have mana that showed an
explosive quality when used.  Water would have a smooth, flexible quality.
 Earth would have a firm and rigid quality.  Finally, Wind would have
the quality of a sharp blade.

That’s strange.  Back in my
old world, these kinds of qualities in ki had nothing to do with elements but
how you utilized your ki.  Shaping the ki into points and edges will give
it the so called “wind element,” while storing up your mana into a single point
and bursting it at the last moment would give it the “fire element” and so on.
 Sure, practitioners had preferences and were better at practicing one
style more than the other but I wouldn’t go as far as to say it was rare.
 Only the most basic use of ki involved reinforcing the body and weapons.

I’ll have to test this with mana in
the future.  Being stuck in a 4 year old body with constant supervision by
suspicious adults made practicing really hard.

I kept reading on when suddenly I
hear Helen’s voice.

“BANDITS! PREPARE TO ENGAGE!” she
shouted, followed by a rumble of footsteps coming from to our right and our
back.

“Submit, O wind and follow my will.
I command and gather you around in protection.  Wind Barrier!” Instantly I
feel a gust of wind forming a tornado around mother, Angela and I.  Then
the gust shapes into a sphere around us.

Angela is holding out her wand and
was concentrating on keeping the barrier active while arrows constantly hit the
barrier, only to get redirected into a different direction.

My mother pulls me in close, trying
to shield me using her body from whatever might get through.  The barrier
seems to be holding strong thanks to Angela.

In a matter of seconds, the tarp
covering the carriage is torn to shreds and I get a better view of what’s going
on.

We were surrounded.