Year 1246, Seventh month
The light streamed in through the large chapel window.A boy and an old man sat comfortably on the long wooden benches, the sun illuminating them both.
"Stigma?" —He murmured, trying to remember what it meant, or if he even knew that strange word—
"Well… The right thing would be to start from scratch," Duncan said upon seeing that the boy didn't recognize the word, and he continued speaking. "The gods created multiple types of life forms all over our world, such as an Angel or you."
He paused briefly so the boy could slowly process what he had just said.
"And inside our chests…" —He paused for a moment to point to himself just below his heart— "is our energy heart."
"?" —Duncan's words ended up going in one ear and out the other for the boy—
"Well, they'll explain it much better to you someday at the academy in a couple of years, ha, ha, ha." —The old man couldn't help but laugh at the look of surprise on the boy's face— "Well, let's just say it's the reason your dad is so tall, strong, and resilient."
"Oh, I get it now!" —The old man had finally said something he understood; he was starting to think he wasn't as smart as his mom said he was—
"This heart can absorb two types of energy, natural or divine (from the Gods)," —He paused for just a second, before Aedric could start asking questions— "One of those energies is in the air we breathe, being the most common one used by mages due to its versatility. And the other is divine energy."
Duncan stopped the explanation for a moment, which annoyed the concentrated Aedric, who was enjoying listening to a class worthy of his great intelligence.
The boy was about to open his mouth to complain, but something stopped him: a flame of fire was coming out of the old man's hands. This made Aedric scream in panic.
"Where's the water?!" —He quickly stood up, looking for water to put out the flame covering Duncan's hand; he didn't want to lose his friend so soon—
"Calm down, kid." —The man had a satisfied smile on his face; the boy's reaction didn't disappoint him— "This is divine power, the fire of Ignis."
"Ignis? Does the god let you use his power?" —He asked suspiciously; Aedric would not be easily fooled by the old man's joke—
"More like his pure element, fire. Because of this, you cannot use the power of different gods; you have to decide on a single element when you dedicate yourself, a single god." —He pauses momentarily— "The god of light and darkness is the only exception, as he represents two elements, but even then you can only use one of the two."
— He's getting complicated again— Aedric thought; the only thing he understood was that you can only use a single element from a single god.
"Divine power is so strong and pure that the energy heart cannot contain another type of energy, whether natural or from another god," —He sighs and takes a breath; explaining this to such a young boy was difficult to summarize— "And this is where your stigma comes in; you are special, Aedric."
He started jumping up and down in excitement; Duncan hadn't finished explaining yet, but he felt that what the old man was about to say would be quite cool.
"You were blessed by Ignis since you were born, which makes you very strong," —He said in the simplest way he could think of— "And that makes you special, but that is a problem. If the church finds out, you will be separated from your family and sent very far away from here." —The old man looked sad as he finished speaking—
"…" —The excitement quickly cooled and was replaced by fear; he didn't want that to happen—
Duncan remained silent for a while, giving him time to process the information.
"Are the people from the church going to turn me into a stew? Maybe the blessed ones are a special meal like Karen," —He remembered the sheep from a long time ago; tears were about to flow at the idea of becoming a stew—
"Who is Karen?" —Now it was his turn to be confused; this boy's mind was intriguing, to say the least— "No, you are not going to be made into a stew; they will take you far from here to educate you and make you someone of important status."
A sigh of relief escaped him; he definitely didn't want to become food. But the fear returned to him as he remembered Duncan's words.
"I don't want to leave here; I like being with Mommy, Dad, Rinella, Noren, and you!" —Not even the gods themselves could break his stubbornness; he had already decided to stay here—
"Relax, that's why you always have to hide the stigma on your chest. The use of divine power is not very rare so you can use it and practice it freely, but make sure not to use all your power in front of other people," —The old man said with a calming tone of voice—
"I understand, but how do I practice this power?" —It was a question he had had for a while—
"You just have to practice managing it by giving it shapes and moving it in complex and fast ways. You can do this just by thinking about it, as you are a blessed one; the only thing you need is to practice your imagination and think quickly. On the other hand, your divine power increases when you pray, as you have been doing since I met you; the divine power gathers naturally and this increases its reserve and power slowly and gradually." —The old man looked at his wise and intelligent disciple, expecting him to have understood everything—
"…" —Once again Duncan was looked at strangely by Aedric; he had gotten lost halfway through the explanation—
—He will definitely forget a large part of what I explained to him today; I'll have to remind him every day— thought the old man.
"Go home for now; that's too much information for today," —He patted the boy on the back—
"I still have energy to learn much more!" —He replied, trying not to look like a fool—
"Oh really? Well then, you'll stay here all night learning from me without breaks," —He said with a wicked and strict tone of voice—
"On second thought, I'm really sleepy and tired right now…" —He began rubbing his eyes and yawning obviously—
Both stood up and walked towards the doors, the light of the sunset illuminating their backs.
Later, during the night…
The moon adorned the dark, night sky; a boy was sitting outside a wooden cabin, and beside him a small wooden doghouse that protected him from the cold air.
Angel stared intently at his face; his bulging eyes seemed to be able to see the depths of his soul while his face was ridiculously close to Aedric's.
"I can't concentrate if you look at me like that," —He gave a playful, force-free slap to his dog's face, in a vain attempt to make him stop looking at him so intensely—
The dog, taking it as a challenge and also a game, pressed his face even closer to his owner's. Aedric could feel Angel's intense breathing on his neck and his snout pressing against his cheek.
"ENOUGH!" —He yelled angrily; he had been trying to create fire for a while, but for some reason he couldn't concentrate—
The dog jumped in surprise at the scream and for some reason ran off towards the forest.
—Am I going to have to get up and chase him like yesterday?— he thought to himself.
As he was about to get up off the ground, he could see something approaching him at great speed.
"Have you descended into madness?!" —Sometimes he was surprised at how peculiar his pet could be—
He was going to dodge it, but he realized that the cabin was right behind him; Angel would hit his head hard if he dodged. He had no other choice but to be rammed at great speed by the miniature beast.
"Khuguu!" —The air was knocked out of his lungs by the blow—
He wanted to reprimand him, but when his eyes turned to his dog, it started spinning around like helicopter blades. The sight made him forget his annoyance, and he started laughing while holding his stomach.
He finally realized that he had been stressed and tired the entire time since he got home; his dog was trying to cheer him up in his own peculiar way.
"You're smarter than you look, hahaha," —He continued making fun of his pet—
"WOOF!" —He barked angrily—
He sat back down on the ground, this time in the lotus position; he liked this position as it left space for Angel to lie down comfortably on top of him.
The dog climbed onto his lap without hesitation and made himself comfortable, this time without bothering the boy.
Aedric closed his eyes and began to remember all the warm moments of his life. Every time he had felt happy, sad, excited, disappointed, angry—all those moments burned inside him, not a flame that causes pain, but a warm flame that kept him warm even in the cold northern climate.
"Woof!" —Angel barked at what he was witnessing—
Aedric opened his eyes to see what the dog was barking at; it was at that moment he realized that it wasn't cold anymore and observed his surroundings more closely.
The dog's wooden doghouse was on fire.
"Wooaah! DAAAAAAAAAD!" —He immediately stood up, causing Angel to fall to the ground, and ran inside—
"Wuuuuuuuuuuuu!" —Angel howled sadly at the night sky; he was left homeless and had also been thrown onto the dirt—
Several minutes later…
Aedric was being scolded inside the cabin by his parents. Mildred used her water magic to put out the fire and try to save the depressed dog's home, but it was too late; it was completely black.
"Why didn't you let us know you were going to practice your magic?!" —His father questioned him severely—
"And why were you doing it next to the cabin?!" —Mildred reproached her son; she was furious about her son's foolishness, though mostly it was because when she tried to use water magic, only a couple of droplets came out, which made Garreth mock her. She hadn't practiced her magic in many years and was put in a tight spot like this out of nowhere—
"…" —Aedric remained silent; his father, mother, and even his dog were looking at him with a frown. He felt especially guilty towards Angel. The only one who didn't seem to care about the situation was Noren, disinterested and quiet as always—
His parents had been teaching Noren how to speak; it was at that moment that he began to scream asking for help.
—Looking back, that was kind of funny— Aedric thought internally, but he didn't dare show the slightest hint of laughter, especially in front of the dog who was gently biting his ankles with rage, but without hurting him.
"Now Angel will have to sleep inside our home; you'll share a bed with him starting today," —His father said severely—
He didn't dare protest; although he preferred to sleep alone, he had no other choice. He would accept the weight of his sins.
Moments later…
Aedric was staring at the ceiling of the now dark cabin, only dimly lit by the fireplace.
Normally by this time he would already be asleep, like everyone else in the house, with the exception of someone else—a dog was staring intently at him, their faces so close that there was practically no distance between them.
"I already apologized to you, Angel…" —He whispered softly—
"Grrrr" —The dog growled softly—
After a while, the dog finally forgave him and lay down next to him. Aedric hugged Angel while he slept soundly; maybe sleeping with company is better than sleeping alone.
—End of Chapter 7—