AEIRLYN
WHOOSH!
Fine had landed on my shoulder once more, with the paper in his mouth, handing it over to me. I opened the folded paper analysing it in as much detail as I could.
'You got a gifted kid in your hands. Though his writing is a bit messy, he's a prodigy that's for sure.' Fine hooted.
I smiled, looking at the paper. I was honestly
expecting him to get some of the questions wrong, but to my surprise, he got all of them right. Though what Fine did say about his handwriting was true. I would probably have to give him more writing so that he could perfect it.
At such a young age, he was progressing so quickly. It was an amazing sight to see. Again and again, he had made me prouder. I wrote a letter to my father about how he had awakened at only the age of 2.
My father couldn't believe what I was saying was true, and that he would need to see it for himself. That wasn't the only reason why he wanted to come to visit, it was also to visit Liam himself.
He had been wanting to visit him for so long, but I had kept postponing. But I promised him that when Liam had turned 4, we would come to visit him one day. Father was ecstatic to hear that and couldn't wait to see Liam for himself, though he had already seen him, just not in person quite yet.
CLANG!
FOOSH!
I could hear the laughter of both Liam and Gabriel as Gabriel was teaching Liam how to use a wooden sword and fight. It was the basics, but it was an important fundamental, that Liam had to master and get down. But from the looks of it, he was improving by the minute.
I knew that we could only teach him so much and that one day he would need a better teacher. That was why I was so inclined to perhaps let Father become his disciple. After all, Father was the strongest person that I had ever met and known. In terms of fighting ability, he was far superior to me.
When Liam turned 4, I and Gabriel would tell him the truth about where we come from.
LIAM
Uh. Father was not the best teacher someone could have if they wanted to improve as a mage. Well, that would be for everyone, except for me. I understood what he was trying to teach and I knew that he was trying his hardest to do so.
"Are you ready to have some fun Liam?" A smirk could be seen on Father's face as he gripped his sword tightly.
I did the same nodding. "Yes, Father."
And so we began.
I knew he was going extremely easy against me, which I for one was grateful for. He had made his moves sloppy to the point, that even I could stand a chance. Yet in his eyes, he still wasn't going to go entirely easy on me as he wanted me to have some fighting experience.
SWOOSH!
His swords sliced the air, and I barely managed to evade his attack. Even though he was going easy on me, to me, Father was the most difficult opponent I had faced yet.
I wouldn't be able to rely on my pure strength, as my strength was that of a 2-year-old. He kept pressing me restlessly and viciously in my eyes, while his eyes were probably that he was toying with me.
I quickly realized what I would have to do if I even wanted to slightly even stand a chance against him. I would start having to use my Mana.
And exactly that I did.
I felt such raw power bottled up within me now in such quick succession. I knew it would be now or never.
CLANG!
It worked! It worked!
I knew my father was going easy on me but I had the strength to finally block his sword slice with my own. Even Father had a smile across his face seeing it.
"That's great Liam!" He chuckled.
I knew it wasn't that impressive but for a two-year- old to fight, someone who wasn't even trying in the slightest seemed like a fair trade to me.
Father had put more pressure on his sword, it felt that I was getting lower and lower to the ground as I wouldn't be able to hold off Father's strength even if it was just a smudge of it all.
What I was about to do was pretty stupid, and I knew I might get in a lot of trouble with Mother but if it did work it would be worth it!
I had channel Mana all at one point. My hands. My hands gripped the ever so tightly on the blade as I mustered all the strength I could to push back my father's relentless pressure with his sword. And so I did.
I pushed harder than I ever had with my previous spar with my father. It was like a tug of war and I was winning.
The tides of power had changed ever so slightly, in the back of my head I always reminded myself that Father wasn't trying and was being sloppy with his attack but to finally be able to push forward was certainly an achievement.
I was the one now putting pressure on my Father. I had the upper hand now. My hands were shaking with all the power I felt surging through with Mana, and I knew I wouldn't be able to last long, but it was a sight to see. I had never reached this far in battles with my father.
Father's smile did not waver one bit his grin had grown bigger than before. I knew a mixture of being proud and shocked at what I was doing was on his face.
My body felt as though it would collapse on itself the more I used my Mana core. But I had to be resilient.
CRACK!
GABRIEL
Liam! You prodigy! My little cute prodigy! That was the only thing that came reverberated through my head time and time again, while I held Liam off with my wooden sword.
I knew that he knew that I was going easy on him, but that didn't matter. I was still so impressed at what he was doing. Not to mention he was doing this at the age of 2!
2! It sounds crazy when I picture it myself when I was fighting against a 2-year-old. At first, I wanted to test out his raw strength alone, but as expected it wasn't anything special. That was why I pressured him with my sword attacks that weren't enough to harm him but enough to make him use his Mana.
He was incredibly stronger with his Mana, it was an incredible thing that I was honoured to even witness. My baby boy was holding himself pretty well against me.
But that wasn't the best part of it all, he had another trick up his sleeve. Although I could easily predict and read what he was going to do, I was going to let him have his way within this spar. He had used all his Mana in his hand to push his sword against mine, with even greater strength than last time.
Amazing! At such a young age he was capable of doing this.
CRACK!
Spectacular! My eyes widened in excitement as I realised what he had just done. He had just broken my wooden sword, with his sword.
That was an impressive feat of strength displayed by him. But I knew what was to come next.
Exhaustion.
Before Liam collapsed to the ground, I scooped him up quickly in my arms.
Tiny. I forgot how small my baby boy was. All I could do was stare and smile at his sleeping face, as Liam was sucking his thumb.
I rarely had a chance to have Liam in my arms, as Aerilyn would always want to cradle Liam herself. I could see why now.
He was just so cute of a baby. I touched his hand and how small it was compared to that mine. But how strong of a baby he was.
A warmth had wrapped around my body. "That spar was an amazing sight to see dear," Aerilyn whispered in my ear.
"Aerilyn do you always feel this way."
"About what?"
"Do you always feel love when you look at Liam?"
"Always."
I gave Liam over to Aerilyn as she cradled him in her arms. I wrapped my hands around her as we watched Liam sleep peacefully and silently. Aerilyn made sure to give a kiss on Liam's forehead.
This was what it truly meant to have a family. I just knew it, I would do everything in my ability to keep it like that.
———
Fine was looking over Liam once more in his crib. I could always trust Aerilyn's bond to take care of Liam, after all, Aerilyn had her bond at a very young age. Although I wasn't able to be there and witness it myself.
I looked up at the sky, the stars shining ever so brightly. A sense of beauty was within every one of those stars I was looking at. I sighed deeply to myself.
Why was I thinking about him now?
Why was I thinking about my brother?
At a time like this.
I tried to give out countless excuses to myself as to why I was thinking about him. But I knew why. I was just trying to run away from the answer.
That's all I've done. Run. All I've ever done in my life was run away from my problems. Whether it was the right thing or the wrong thing to do, I don't know. I don't know.
Sometimes I do wonder how my brother is doing in the Kingdom of Sapin. I'd like to believe that his doing well for himself and making changes that our father would never dare to make for the sake of Spain.
Maybe because I had a family of my own, for all these years I've begun thinking about my family over there.
How was Father? I didn't even know whether he was alive or dead.
I was truly a terrible son. Sometimes I wonder, just sometimes if maybe, I deserved to be shunned and exiled by my father.
What if I didn't speak my mind that day, would I be able to bond with my father despite his cruel and harsh behaviour?
And maybe then I could just see my elder brother just once more. Just once was all I needed to feel contempt for myself.
That I didn't make the wrong choice. I wanted to know what it was like on the other side of the continent.
It's not like they would accept me or anything, but I was just a little bit curious. That's all.
What is this?
I looked at my hand. It was wet. I touched my eyes. It was wet.
I was crying. For the first time in a while, I was crying. I hadn't cried since my exile but now here I was, crying.
Was I that weak to cry?
No, I needed this. I needed this moment of silence to cry to myself. There was something that Aerilyn couldn't help me with. It was a battle I would have to face alone, the hardest battle that I would ever face in my life.
But to see Liam improve so much, that as well brought me to tears. It was everything I could ask for. I was a proud father. I had come a long way with this journey of mine. It had downs but it also had some ups in life.
But maybe, just maybe one day, I'd come. . .
Vistit.