My father seemed fairly steamed when he came into his study and dismissed Ellen without much thought. I opened my mouth to speak, which he quickly rebuked my attempt to defend her. “Alex, do you know what you just did in the kitchen?” He asked me in a rough tone. I stammered my first attempts to speak, thinking he had caught on to his son being smarter than a normal two-year old should be.
“Father, I... I’m sorry if I have made you angry with me. I will not do that again as long as you do not punish Ellen, please. She only helped me by flipping the pages of the book!” I managed to get out as he looked at me in shock. I must have done something extremely taboo in this world, I have never seen him upset like this before.
“Son, I am not going to punish you for using magic. Or Ellen for taking you to the library.” My father said in an almost too calm voice. “I wanted to make sure you knew what you were doing. Magic is not a toy. It can be very dangerous if not handled properly. Now, according to Sarah, both her and Ellen never heard you speak an incantation, is that true son?”
I looked up at my father, the concern in his eyes made me feel horrible for making him worry about me, and I felt that I could have been more discreet in my use of magic. “That is true, father. I only thought about using magic and lightning started to jump from one finger to another until... Well, until mother yelled. Then I lost control of it.”
My father’s look reminded me of the time I got in trouble in my past life and had to fix my neighbor’s mailbox after a few friends and I drove by houses and started hitting them with baseball bats. “Son, I want you to show me what you did to make the lightning come from your hands.” He asked with the standard stern father look of not taking no for an answer.
I lifted my hands and thought about electrons in the air and making them move through my hands. Thankfully, I actually payed attention in chemistry class in my past life. Because that is what gave me the image in my head of moving electrons from one atom to the next. The air began to reek of burned ozone and lightning came to my hands, sparking as it went. My father’s face lit up as he watched me summon electricity without uttering a single word.
“By the gods, you can use magic without incantations.” He spoke in a breathless tone. I looked at him and started to open my mouth before realizing he was fixated on my hands, so I released my control of the magic and immediately felt exhausted. I slumped down in the chair and yawned as my eyes started to feel heavier. Soon I drifted to sleep.
***
I awoke later in my mother’s arms as she sat in an old rocking chair. As I opened my eyes, I soon realized my parents were speaking in hushed tones, and that as soon as they noticed I was awake they stopped talking. “Good morning mother, father.” I said more out of habit then anything.
“Good afternoon son.” My father replied to me, as my mother head me and hugged me close. “You had us worried Alex. You slept for almost a full day.” My mother said as she hugged me tighter, her warmth made me feel a bit better.
“Father, mother, are you mad at me?” I asked unsure of how they felt about me using magic. I felt more relieved when my mother hugged me again and spoke gently to me. “No. No we are not mad, just a little shocked.” She finished with a chuckled to which my father added as he knelt to my eye level. “Shocked is indeed the right word. Let me guess, you stopped using your magic and felt really tired, yes?”
I nodded my head and replied. “Yes father, I felt like I ran for a really long time without stopping.” Truthfully, I had never felt more tired in either of my lives, but I wasn’t going to tell them that.
“That was mana exhaustion. It happens when you use a majority of your mana without letting it recover.” He explained to me with concern in his eyes. “Normally you would learn this later at the academy in the capitol. But seeing as you can use magic, maybe we need to get you a tutor sooner rather than later.”
I nodded with enthusiasm at the mention of me learning magic. “Yes please!” I nearly shouted, before covering my mouth and apologizing for yelling inside. “Father. Is it weird I can use magic without speaking?” I asked my father, alarmed that I might not fit in because of it. He replied in a typical dad fashion by saying. “Weird, no. Different, yes.” He sighed and continued. “But, not entirely unheard of. The last person who could cast magic at an early age without speaking an incantation was the founder of the kingdom and the academy in the capitol. Mage-king Windrow Stormbolt. You and your mother’s ancestor. He lived about five centuries ago.”
“Mother, what does Mage-King mean?” I asked looking at my mother, who gave me a thrilled expression. She was the one who taught me to read, and always enjoyed it when I asked questions. Which was rare for me. “Well, a king is not always a mage. But when one is both a king and a mage, they receive the title mage-king. The same goes for anyone who is a mage in the kingdom. Being born with magic as a noble is not always a good thing should the kingdom go to war, because all mages are required to aid the military during wartime. All mages are required to serve in the military in some fashion. Be it as a simple foot soldier, or a general.”
“Take the current leader of the army. Mage-General James Kelthos. He would be a normal general if he did not have magic. Just like one day you will be a duke. Now that you have shown you have magic; you will be named a Mage-duke instead. Do you understand a bit better now my sweet little Alex?”
I nodded as I leaned in to hug my mother. “Yes, makes sense. How many mages are there currently?” I asked curiously. “I’m not sure.” My mother answered as she stood up set me down. “Now go play while your father and I go talk for a bit. Okay?”
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