Revelation [Pt 1]

Arnik lay on his bed in his room, he'd been lying there for most of the day reminiscing about the events of the past few days.

When he'd woken up after the fight, he was in the school infirmary. Instructor Sykes had come to see him sometime later, and the school had decided to let him, Rowan and Gerdi go scot-free but with serious warnings, the only one who'd receive some level of punishment would be Werner Tidme who'd failed to supervise the fight properly.

He'd been discharged a few days later, but both Rowan and Gerdi would require more treatment due to the severity of their injuries, it would take at least two weeks for both to properly recover. Arnik had visited his friend while still in the infirmary, his friend's state had made him really sad and quite depressed. Other than that, there was still the issue of his father, he needed to see him as soon as possible to discuss a number of things.

Arnik decided to go see him immediately, it was a Saturday and he didn't have much to do anyway, he'd just obtain permission to leave school and be back by evening. He left the dorm and headed for the school gate, as he passed various groups of students gathered together, he could hear them whispering things about him among themselves. The fight was all the students talked about, especially those in the lower classes. Many hadn't imagined the difference in power between them and the elite class to be so overwhelming. The only topic more popular than the fight was Arnik's blue flames, there had only been a handful of blue-flamed mages in history and all had been quite powerful, for an elite student in his first year to suddenly have them, it was a huge sensation indeed.

Ignoring all the whispers and side remarks he finally got to the school gate, got permission to leave, and left for the frost mansion. Lirdunia was a society that fully integrated technological advancements with the use of magic, it was predominantly populated by humans but also housed a number of different races.

The Frost mansion, being the home of a prestigious family was located to the far north of the academy, both were situated in Marrakech, a district that housed the affluent members of the society and the capital of Lirdunia.

Arnik had just gotten to the halfway point of his destination when he suddenly had a thought, even though it was a Saturday, it was just past midday and his father would still be working probably till the late hours of the night, whereas he had to be back in school by evening to beat the curfew, " urrgh how could I be so dumb" he said rubbing his temple in frustration, nevertheless, he decided to still go to the Frost mansion rather than go back to the academy," I'm already halfway there, might as well just see it through to the end"

A few minutes later he arrived at the massive gates of the Frost mansion, the security guard recognized him and after a short exchange of pleasantries, he was allowed access into the massive estate. He immediately headed for the staff quarters, the Frost estate was very large, it housed several facilities and buildings and the Mansion itself stood at its center, from the main gate alone, it would take at least ten minutes to get to the staff quarters on foot. As a child, Arnik had gingerly explored every nook and cranny of the estate, he was a curious child who took great pride In exploring the massive piece of land, expeditions, he called them, it was on one of such expeditions that he had come across Eissa Frost practicing magic.

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It had been a cold summer day, it had rained a little in the morning but little Arnik had been so eager to go out and play. Immediately it stopped raining, Arnik rushed towards the pond intending to catch some fish. On getting to the pond he tried unsuccessfully for several hours to catch something but just couldn't, he quickly got bored and decided instead to climb a nearby oak tree for fun. He had just climbed to one of the trees' high branches when he heard two voices, they were the voices of Eissa and an elderly mage who Arnik knew to be Eissa's Magic Instructor, they both stopped as they got to the pond, Arnik listened more intently on their conversation.

" You need to calm down Eissa, feel the mana around you, and then absorb it all" as the instructor said this Eissa closed are eyes, at first there was silence and then the water began to ripple, and then it began, the pond began to move much more violently and soon waves could be seen. " Very good, very good, now visualize and materialize", Eissa took a long deep breath, and as she let it out slowly but surely the pond began to freeze over, this continued until she got halfway, and then she stopped. " Well done Eissa," her instructor said, a smile plastered across his face, Arnik who was still up in the tree was left wide-eyed and jaw dropped, this singular event set him on the path that he was on to date.

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Even as he passed the pond right now, these were the thoughts in his head till he eventually got to the staff quarters. He exchanged pleasantries with a couple of servants along the way and soon got to the apartment in which he and his father stayed. He noticed that the door was open slightly and proceeded to open it all the way, and was surprised to find his father in bed. He seemed to be shivering a bit, Arnik hurriedly rushed to his father's side,

" Dad what's wrong are you alright?" he asked worriedly, his dad who had been sleeping unbeknownst to Arnik opened his eyes to find his son who was supposed to be in school staring down at him,

" Arnik, what are you doing here kiddo," he asked surprised, " That's beside the point now dad, I got home to find you shivering in bed, are you ill ?" Arnik asked, worry still etched on his face. Shimon was caught off guard by his son's level of concern and tried to alleviate it a bit, " I'm fine, I'm just a little cold that's all, you don't need to worry about it" he answered trying to force a smile.

In response, Arnik simply got up and walked towards the little fireplace that served as a stove and source of warmth, in a swift movement he generated a fireball and launched it at the logs piled on top of each other and the stove ignited, he then silently walked towards the door and left the room. He came back a short while later with some vegetables in his hand and began chopping them, he then poured these ingredients into a pot and began making soup. Shimon watched silently as his son moved effortlessly and quickly, Arnik had learned to cook from an early age, this he did so he could have dinner ready for his dad who usually got back from work pretty late, Shimon couldn't tell exactly what it was but his son looked a lot different from when he left a few weeks back, there was almost an air of maturity around him. Soon the soup was done and Arnik served his dad, he also served himself and both ate in silence.

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Once done, Arnik cleared both plates and sat on a chair opposite his father who still sat in bed. His father looked a lot better after eating and getting warmed up and he decided to proceed with his discussion.

"Dad there's something I need to talk to you about, " Arnik said,

Shimon sensing his son was serious sat up and spoke" I'm listening kiddo",

Arnik continued " What do you know about something called a Soulrune?"

Shimon's face fell, this was the last thing he expected to hear from his son, how could he know about something that had been implanted in him since when he was just a baby?. Shimon let out a deep breath and tried to calm himself, Arnik was a bright boy and sooner or later he was bound to find out the truth, in a steady voice he answered his son,

" There's no need to dilly dally, I can tell that you already know about the Soulrune embedded within you",

Arnik was taken aback by his father's directness, but he simply nodded in agreement.

" You were bound to find out sooner or later" continued Shimon, he let out a sigh, " What I am about to tell you is something that happened before you were born, something that involves your mother"

Arnik stiffened at the mention of his mother, this was a topic that his father always deliberately avoided as a child and he had stopped asking about her after a certain age.

" Does this also involve how she died? " Arnik asked, trying to sound as calm as possible,

Shimon let out a small sad smile, Arnik could see tears welling up in his father's eyes,

" Your mother isn't dead Arnik, she is very much alive " Shimon answered, a drop of tear falling from his eye.