Uther Quinly
My grandson.
He had his mother's pert nose with his dad's golden eyes and jet black hair, he was adorable and the best-behaved child I'd seen in my life. On the surface, he was just a normal child, but I knew there was something more. When I had done the affinity test on him to check what mana he would be able to use, I was astounded to see his core had already developed to that of an average 9-10-year-old child. I'd been suspicious, so when everyone went to sleep, I opened my mana vision.
I could see the swirling platoon of colors all around me for about a kilometer in every direction, as vast and mysterious as ever. I focused on a room on the second floor where Ace was put to sleep at night. He'd already graduated from a crib to a small bed. After my senses settled in on the room, I found Ace nestled on his bed, with a ten-pound book sat in front of him. I observed as his pure mana manipulated the air around him to turn the pages every few minutes. I focused away from his room and onto Ace himself and was shocked to see that he had his mana circling his body, it was slow and unrefined, but it was being done nonetheless. This was a technique that kids only started to learn at about age ten, age seven, if they were a prodigy, it wasn't an understatement to say that a two-year-old performing this technique was unheard of for a human child. Cycling was known as manipulating mana to move throughout your body. There were six general tiers for skill level, used mostly as a general estimate of a user's ability. It went in descending order, so Ace was currently at the bottom tier, Tier six; if he could move around while still cycling, that would be closer to Tier five. I personally was Tier one, but I've lived over ninety years and never seen anything like this being done by a human.
As I was thinking over the possible reasons for Ace's unusual skill level, the book in front of him vanished. I watched the mana where the book had been and saw the ambient mana change. The next second the space was replaced by a new book, this one smaller and detailing the races of the continent of Athia, while on the shelf was the ten-pound book, placed as if it had never left. There was only one element of mana that could alter space to that degree.
It was common knowledge that space mana existed. However, the only human space mage I’d met in my life thus far was far from normal and about as unfriendly as you could get.
If Ace could already cycle at his age and had a space mana ability, it would shake up parts of the country. If the royalty and that thing over in the capital heard of this, they’d want him whisked over right away; even if I flexed my political influence to keep him here, he would likely come here himself and take him by force. When I had fought his brother, we were evenly matched, and I knew for a fact he was stronger than his brother. Even if I called in some favours to help keep him with the family, the kingdom would likely offer up one of the princesses in an arranged marriage. So while it was one thing to reject sending him off to the capital, it would be another thing entirely to decline marrying into the royal family.
I'd have to keep this a secret at all costs, lest I accidentally sell off my grandson or worse. Space mana users were few and far between, and all almost were exceptional in some way. The current situation in this country for a new space user was not ideal. They probably wouldn't kill him right away, most likely opting to see if he would join their side willingly; if he refused, he would be killed, or worse. When he gets a little older, I’ll have to train him personally or even call in some more favours from old friends to get him some lessons with the human space mage. For now, he just had to grow up without any major hurdles, and once he reached an old enough age, we could make some real progress on not just his ability, but his knowledge of this continent and the world. My partner Hubert perked up beside me.
'How long can you afford to wait? It won't be long before Nicholas picks up on it; he isn’t as perceptive as you, but he’s still your son, and as much as he loves Ace, he puts his duty as an earl first. He would have no trouble accepting an arranged marriage; hell, you could explain the true nature of the royals, and he'd still probably send him off.' He spoke directly into my mind, jolting me out of my train of thought. I looked over at him and watched him stretch his legs before pulling a paw to his face and giving it a lick. He flew across the room to his designated mini-griffin-bed and set himself down gracefully.
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