‘Okay, so here’s what I’ve learned from reading, or rather, my mom reading to me, over the past three months. There are three continents: Warek, Garto, and Marenth. Warek is full of humans, with some elves, dwarves, and demi-humans sprinkled in. Garto is a Dwarven continent where basically all of the iron is mined and worked on to make SWORDS! Got a bit too excited there. Anyway… Marenth is the elven continent where magic came from and spread out to the rest of the world, so I guess you could say it’s pretty… magical to be there? No? Okay mind–wow. 

Speaking of magic, there are two ways of doing it, however, both of them require mana to be drawn from the air around the person casting. The first way is by using incantations, or chants. This is what I assume my mother did when she removed that purple thingy from my room. A caster does this by focusing on the chant and the form that the spell takes. So, I assume, if it were a fireball spell, the person casting would focus on saying the incantation and picturing what the spell looks like before it forms, and then releasing it. This seems like it’s the hardest form of spellcasting because of its need of precision and concentration. 

The other way to perform magic is to just do it silently. The caster forms the shape of the spell to their will. This takes a lot of time to get right from what I’ve heard, but with enough training, it should be easy. The only caveat to either of these is that you have to work really hard for it, and sometimes people just aren’t good at all. This is why there are only a few thousand mages on each continent compared to the population in the millions for each. Most people would rather do the work their parents have been doing for generations.’ 

Suddenly, Aron’s dad calls out for him. “Aron, come here for your food, son.” 

Aron jumps at the noise and toddles slowly over to his dad and looks up at him. “P-Papa.” His dad picks him up and looks into his gleaming purple eyes and starts to cry and smile. “You’re such a smart boy, son.” 

‘Should I tell my parents about me getting reincarnated when I’m older? Maybe at some point, but for now I should just act like I didn’t come from another world.’ 

His father sets him down on a wooden chair with a tray in the middle of it and feeds him baby food. “I don’t know if you can understand me, son, but just know, I do love you. There are things you won’t understand ‘til you’re older, which I hope you can eventually forgive me for.” He smiles and starts to cry again. “Tomorrow your daddy has to get out of the house and leave forever. It’ll be okay, I know you can be strong without me.” He gets a quill and a small piece of paper and slowly writes something down. 

‘Wait… what? I don’t even know his name and he’s leaving me? Leaving mother as well? This dude’s a scumbag. He’s just leaving us after everything he’s done for this family? What kind of man does this?’ Aron aggressively shakes his head at his father, trying desperately to get him to stop and pay attention to him. His father begins writing on a new piece of paper and looks at him with tears in his eyes. 

“Son, please take care of yourself and your mother for me. We will meet again one day.” He pats his son’s head lovingly and both of them cry. Aron cries loudly and his mother wakes up and begins to walk out of her room, each of her footsteps making the floorboards creak. Aron’s father looks at him one last time. “Be safe, son. Protect your mother.” He pats Aron’s head and leaves. Aron’s mother walks over to the chair and holds him lovingly. 

“What happened sweetie?” She notices the note on the table next to the old wooden icebox and walks over to it. She gasps as she reads it and tears stream down her face one after another. She holds onto Aron tightly as she continues to read it and they both sob for the rest of the night.