Baldur the fowl

Anger, rage, fury and wrath. The emotions burnt within me as I saw my mother hurt and unconscious.

How had it come to this.

Well, let's recap.

Granddad was holding me, inquisitively probing me with his eyes as the meeting went on.

Dad and the council of elders had already discussed a number of issues and provided solutions for some while others kept them talking.

In conclusion, the funeral of the dead, those lost to the disaster needed to happen soon pending news from the scouting team on the threat of the wild orcs.

If it turns out that they were displaced by the disaster and weren't actually scouting us to attack then the funeral will be held immediately but otherwise, it will be put on hold until the wild orcs have been dealt.

In the meantime, the bodies will be buried and the grieving families will receive support from the village, in the form of food but that also brought up it's own problems.

The storehouse was hit in the disaster and the food left won't last till winter is over.

'Shocker' I thought I'd restored everything, from the buildings to the health and magic of the villagers but apparently the food was swept away before my restoration magic was cast.

'well nothing to be done about that then'.

If everything went right, the soldiers on their way here will come with food and necessities but seeing as they rushed here, the council of elders couldn't be sure.

Besides like elder Evans said the weather is favorable, despite it still snowing it feels more like summer. Warm and happy, a complete contrast of what should have been. Disaster and all. It should make hunting a bit easier if all the beast haven't been killed or fled.

I was surprised to learn that the reason for the warm weather was not granddad's magic though.

'I wonder what it could be'

But there was hope, so the meeting continued.

Finding housing for the soldiers and accommodating them for the duration of their stay.

It is believed that the soldiers coming were deployed from the capital to provide aid but calculating the distance from the capital to this region and the mobilization of an army on top of that, it couldn't be the case. It will take at the soonest two weeks to a month for an army coming from the capital to reach here.

In which case the soldiers on route to this place weren't sent from the capital. Normally this should have been cause for concern but seeing as there is a barony a day's ride away and the fact that mom's word of the coming soldiers didn't include a warning it eliminated that cause of concern.

How do I know any of this.

Well, when you take your time to listen to the people around you, you'd be surprised at how much you can learn.

The meeting progressed and Granddad expressed his worry about not hearing back from the association to which the priest, called father Obed to my learning also said he sent a message to the church headquarters in the capital asking for aid but hasn't received a reply yet.

Apparently the church employed a unique means of communication. Unlike the wizard association they didn't employ the messengers. They used a high level holy magic tool called a chapel, that could only be operated with holy magic to communicate.

It was concluded that something must have happened to have held back response after the order granddad received from the association but there was nothing we could do about that from here.

The council decided on prioritizing our immediate needs first.

At the end of the day, the meeting was adjourned until later on when the scouting team have brought in their report.

Dad, granddad and I went home and I was left in the care of granddad while dad attended to some work in the house.

Granddad sat me on the table in the kitchen, his staff leaning on the kitchen table while he rested his hand on my head.

There was a tickling sensation on my head and I sensed magic flowing around me.

I giggled to which he continued probing me with his magic. By the look on his face, he was searching for a way to direct the magic into my body but it wasn't working.

The sensation was not harmful in any way only uncomfortable to the point of giggles but that gave me an idea of my own.

During patrol, when Dad and I moved around the village, I was getting these strange sensations, like visons or deja vu. They'd come in strong and disappear almost as if I was seeing something that wasn't there. But just now when granddad released his magic on me I sensed a familiarity to it. A sensation similar to earlier in the day and it was all focused on my senses, particularly my eyes and mind.

I cleared my mind and closed my eyes. My awakening may have been forced and that left a lot to be discovered and understood but at the end of the day, magic felt unexplainable familiar to me. In the sense that I felt whole, like a piece of myself was missing this whole time and I didn't know until I found it.

I allowed this familiarity to lead me and the pieces began to fit into together. And then I opened my eyes.

'beautiful' waves of energy, magic power were everywhere, of varying colors and density. It flowed to it's own rhythm, like the waves of an ocean or wind. It was truly beautiful and made the world much clearer and brighter than before, putting reality into perspective and expanding my mind. I could see everything, from atoms to molecules to every thread of connectivity around us. My understanding of reality expanded richly.

All around us these particles, energy, magic power flowed in and through everything. Woven into the fabric of reality, unseen but felt. It was incredible and I couldn't peel my eyes off of this reality.

Eventually I came to be staring at granddad. I could see his magic, flowing through him in the form of nerves and veins in his body. A magic circuit.

But the closer I looked the more I saw it was in a worn out state. It was incomplete because of the loss of his hand and strained on him every time he used magic.

Whatever caused him to sustain this degree of damage, it did a number on him.

I reached out with my hand, trying to connect my magic power to his magic circuit when I encountered a problem.

There was a delay, a lag in the activation of my magic.

It didn't take me long to find out why that was.

Granddad had told Dad that he couldn't sense any magic from me, that I had zero magic presence and that was because my magic was being sent to the dimension I created as a form of storage.

Drawing magic from that other dimension to this one was what was causing the lag. Which made it a problem I needed to solve otherwise I'd basically be the weakest magician ever.

Eventually the magic did activate and I made contact with granddad's magic circuit.

At first a surprised look appeared on his face and then an inquisitive one to a pained one.

My magic flowed into him, flowing through his magic circuits as I gained a deeper understanding of the damage and how to repair it.

He was old and so too was his magic circuits, each pathway held extensive information of the life he'd lived. The battles he'd fought and his accomplishments. He was a great man and an even greater wizard. I could sense it all.

I cleared the pathways of the impurities in it, mending and strengthening it. Restoring it to optimal functionality. Then I created new pathways to complete the circuit in his body.

It was a surgical process, one that reminded me of video games back on earth and It was fun.

When I finished, granddad was heaving and breathing heavily, sweat pouring down his body like he'd run a marathon and then he lost his balance and fell to his knees. He looked like he was about to lose consciousness.

"Oh Grandine, are you okay?" and then a chestnut hair woman apeared by the kitchen entrance. She had a baby in a basket with her and I recognized her.

"Fheryss. I'm okay. Just out of breath. I think I need to sit down for a bit" granddad took her hand and was led to a chair.

The woman was Fheryss, Mom's bestfriend and she had recently given birth to a baby boy. The child was about two weeks younger than me. Her husband was a hunter and was with mom on the scouting mission. I believe his name was Killian.

"How is the baby? There's nothing wrong with him is there?" granddad inquired as he caught his breath. He looked a bit pale.

"oh no, nothing like that. Lael is fine. More than fine, he does keep me up at night but other than that, he's very active, too active one might say. Not me though haha" she said, her smile shifting from happy to helpless to happy to helpless again.

"I thought it'd be nice for the children to be together, with Gwen and Kill scouting but are you sure you're fine. You look a bit pale there"

"Is that so. I feel fine. I swear. Nothing to worry about... I hope"

"you say that but let see. Is there some soup around here. Let me heat it up for you. The weather might have gotten to you. You're not young anymore you know"

"Thanks. You're always looking after everybody. You're a saint you know that Fheryss"

"Yeah yeah. Just rest while I start the fire. By the way have you feed Albeom yet snd where's Andros?"

"a-h, I-I er was just about to-"

"hah, I'll prepare something for him too. It's a good thing I came here then instead of worrying alone at home"

"the wild orcs huh. Survive one disaster and another rear it's head but they should be home soon. Those two are responsible so they shouldn't cause us too much worry don't you think"

"y-yeah. Honestly I wish they hadn't gone. I feel uneasy about this whole thing and it has me worried"

"Hmm"

The conversation went on and Aunt Ryss laid Lael down in a basket beside me.

I was still observing the magic around me, enjoying the colorful sight when I felt a unique wave of something draw my attention.

I got curious and looked in the basket at Lael who was napping. He appeared like an ordinary baby but I sensed something in him.

It wasn't magic, it felt different, like a flicker but full of potential.

'this is a world of unknown forces' whatever kind of power is in him,

'I look forward to your growth' I said to Lael.

I wonder if we'd be friends when we grow up.

I hope we are. Mom and auntie Ryss are really good friends.

By the time Auntie Ryss finished with the food, I had disabled [reading], the ability to see magic essence. I did brainstorm the name though, magic eyes , essence view, Omni-eyes and others but I settled on [reading] because it felt right to me. At that point in time we were visited by Dreau who had left his post again to come and find Dad. The soldiers had arrived. Ten of them led by a single knight. Not exactly the number we were expecting.

Dad came out from within the house, greeted Auntie Ryss and left with Dreau to go and meet the soldiers.

Some time past by and then he returned with the knight, sir Dordis who was apparently an old friend of the family.

From the little I heard from the conversation between they and granddad, sir Dordis was stationed one day ride away from here at the barony of Greenfield and when the disaster occurred they saw it.

He wanted to rush over here immediately but the baron of Greenfield wouldn't allow him. He cashed in some favors and was able to secure ten men and rushed over here.

He was very surprised when he arrived to find Whitehold still standing and more so at how warm this place was despite the heavy snowfall. Even as they spoke, the surprise lingered on his face.

The conversation between them went on for a bit and just as it was getting interesting a commotion outside drew our attention. They rushed outside and that was when they saw mom, unconscious and bloody in Rase's hands. They looked hurt, badly hurt.

They carried her inside and when I saw her, something heavy sank in my stomach. I couldn't breath properly. I was shaking, trembling, not able to move or think. My mind was blank, all kinds of confusing emotions bubbling up in me. I couldn't do anything. I just sat there, watching as they carried her into the bedroom.

It took a moment before I came to my senses and that was when I noticed that everyone was staying clear of me.

The table had cracked so much so that the instant auntie Fheryss picked both Lael and I it crumbled before our eyes.

And thays when I realized I wasn't just sad and afraid,

'I am angry, enraged and wickedly furious'

It was then that I heard the name

"…Baldur" Rase had said.

"Baldur the Fowl" and granddad and sir Dordis repeated.