2 2

The baby was named Solan, after his great-grandfather Solanessia, who spent his whole life fulfilling his dream of opening his own forge in the city. Moving from village to city is a hard work, not only tenacity and connections, but also luck. Solanessia is lucky. One of the representatives of the blacksmith's guild became interested in the village blacksmith and helped him to borrow his own production in the city.

Solanessia became a legend for the blacksmith family, the embodiment of the best qualities necessary for a good craftsman. From his childhood, Solana's grandfather, Terrick, taught his grandson's craft, wishing him to become as legendary as Solanessia. By the time he was ten years old, Terrick had realized that he had talent. Unfortunately, not to blacksmithing ... To sloppiness. And, perhaps, even to stupidity.

To take on a hot frying pan? Easy! Fall down the stairs? Even easier! Sometimes it seemed to Terrik that the child had more scars than he had. Apparently, God of luck spat in Solana's face, and it is not clear whether he took away all the luck or gave it to him.

" Grandfather..." Solan said with little guilt in his voice.

" What is it this time?"

Terrick turned slowly, smoking his favorite pipe. He was not pleased with the view. His grandson, combing his curly hair back, smiled widely. But all his clothes had been torn by the many cuts from which the blood flowed. It immediately occurred to him that he had rolled his body over something loose and sharp.

A girl as old as Solan ran up to Terrick. She had long curly hair, the color of ripe wheat, and an extremely worried look. Her cousin, who had promised to protect and preserve her "lucky" brother, once again failed to keep her promise.

" Grandfather Terrick! " - She screamed, running to Terrick.

" What happened?!"

" Grandfather, everything in..." - tried to calm Solan to grandfather.

"Shut up, Grandpa! Rosie?!"

"Grandpa... I..."

"Fucking hell! He's bleeding out, isn't he?! Run quickly to the priest Gil!"

" Yes! Come on, Solan!" - The girl took his hand and they ran.

Solana's laughter once again made Terrick fall out of reality. Having taken a stick with which the old man could move quickly, he followed the children to the Hyundza Temple, the only place where they could save the life of a stupid child for free.

At that time, Rosie, Solana's cousin, led him to the priest. She blamed herself for not keeping an eye on her brother and for not keeping her promise to protect him from herself. On the other hand, it was fun to jump on the roof of an abandoned house. Who knew that the rotten boards could not stand ... It is good that Solan somehow did not fall to the ground floor, but just rolled off the roof.

On the way they met some familiar children. They were not even surprised to see the next damage on Solana's body. It was not for nothing that he was nicknamed "lucky", but the lucky one could fall from a five-meter high wall directly into a haystack and not even break anything. And how he climbs, using only one hand, causes unimaginable delight. Solan can proudly claim to be the best climber in town! The guards, by the way, can also confirm that she does not get tired of prescribing the neckties when he climbes in.

" Ha," - one of Solan's friends ran up to him. " What is it this time?"

The boy's name was Bob. He had brown eyes and a big hole between his front teeth. He liked spending time with Solan, though his father kept saying that he shouldn't spend time with crazy, lepers and ugly people.

" You wouldn't believe it! " - Solan answered. - " We sneaked into Jerry's old house!"

" Come on! There's security there!"

" And we're up on the roof, from Ishmael's tavern, over the fence and Mandis garden!"

" You're... you're... you're crazy! You could have been killed!"

" Bob! "- Rosie protested. " We're careful!"

"Nobody saw us! " - Solan confirmed.

Bob was three years older than them and, as the son of a merchant, knew who the nobles were and, most importantly, who the magicians were. Magicians set up "nets" on the entire territory of the nobility and only the suicidal person will jump into it. He personally saw what happened to the man who got into his father's "net", who ordered from the magicians to protect himself from thieves. The man was flattened all over the floor, and his hand was left on the stolen goods.

" They are noblemen! They have magic everywhere! " Bob decided not to tempt fate by being with a "lucky man" and ran away.

No one else detained Solan with Rosie, and they reached the Hyundza Church. At the entrance they were greeted by a novice and, finding out what they were doing, he let them in. Inside it was very quiet, it seemed that the noise from the outside was drowned out and only the steps of clerics and novices were reverberated from the walls.

Numerous shops along the walls were empty, and were rarely visited by believers in the evenings. The hall itself was lit up with a bright greenish light, and at the very end there was an altar for prayers. If you go around the corner, you can go up to the second floor, where novices and some priests lived. Irwin, the abbot, was not in town at the moment, but went to Larija on business.

" Solan, Rosie," one of their novices greeted them.

" St. Fred," the children worshipped." - We are at his mercy to Gil.

" Of course. As soon as he is free, I will tell him you are expecting him."

" Thank you! "

" Sit down for now."

Sitting on the bench by the wall, the children began to wait. Solan put his hand on his chest, and when he took it away, he saw that it was covered in blood. Ten minutes later, he noticed a strange picture: a lot of black spheres were flying around him, but no matter how much he tried to focus on them, they were constantly disappearing and appeared sharply on the periphery of vision. Without paying attention to other people, Solan tried to catch the spheres in the middle of nowhere, but they suddenly began to burst like soap bubbles.

Some of the novices in the neighborhood stared at the child playing on the bench with a little surprise. Of course, they all had a magical gift and saw that he somehow absorbed the mana hovering in space. Even for a novice who was ready to pass the first rank magician's exam, such a task might not seem to be a trivial one. However, they didn't care and their interest was quickly lost.

" Solan, what are you doing? " - Rosie asked, feeling her cousin put his head on her shoulder.

" I want to sleep," Solan said with a drowsy voice.

" Oh, okay."

When Solan closed his eyes, he fell asleep. Deep water of consciousness pulled him down and down and, at some point, he ceased to understand what was in the church. Images of unknown creatures and things, many incoherent words and sentences flashed before his eyes. All this was interspersed with scenes from an obscure place, where instead of the sky there was a bloody glow.

" Sir! I don't know..."

My grandfather's voice was heard through the dream, and there was a blow. Something broke down and fell. A rattle. Broken vase, voices of unknown people. Threats mixed with apologies made their way through the veil of Solan's sleeping consciousness, but he could not comprehend a single word.

" I will give everything back, sir! "- My grandfather swore. –" I will..."

Solan fell asleep again, this time completely isolating his hearing organs from the material world. Images flashed in consciousness with renewed vigor. Reality fell apart. He spent the whole night in a coma without waking up, and on the second day he woke up as a completely different person.