Chapter Eleven

It has been a year since Claude was introduced to science. Now he was five and a half years old. Currently, he was reading a book, sitting on a chair in the garden. Cerebrus was also there, laying beside him, sleeping. Over the years, Cerebrus hadn't change. He was still the same, no change in fur color or anything. According to Leslie, Cerebrus's species has a very long life, so they age slowly. This is why they make a good companion to the elfs.

But Claude has changed, his white hair would flutter when a breeze flew by the garden. His amber eyes were now full of sincerity. His height was around 107 cms. But his routine hasn't changed much. He would learn spells from his parents or spellbook in the morning. In the afternoon, he would accompany his mother for noble etiquettes. She would really stress on this aspect. She told him that she knew what kind of person nobles were. So she had to prepare him for the worst because she knew he was destined for great things and as his parents it was their job, to ensure he had all the tools to accomplish them.

In the evening, he was usually free, so he would sometimes read a book on this world's culture or accompany his parents to the nearby town or the capital.

Since their first visit to the capital, all the responsibility of cooking were on Milo's shoulder. And man, he could cook. He told them that in his homeland, he would sometimes cook for himself, so he had some experience. His dishes were unique, they were not found in any restaurant's menu.

Aside magic, his progress in science was great. He was shown an experiment at the end of the week and he had to infer his findings to Milo and he would analyze his findings and correct them, to make Claude understand.

Milo had told him that science was divided into three parts, namely Physics, Chemistry, Biology.

He only had basic knowledge of the latter two but former one was his forte. He sometimes rambled about how good he was in his homeland.

But Claude was worried about something, he didn't talk about it to either one of his parents. It was magic, he still wasn't able to cast a spell despite memorizing all the amateur grade spells. He was depressed because he read that some prodigies casted their first spell by age of three. So he was already two and half years behind and that gap was increasing day by day. This made him feel lost. He didn't want to talk to his parents because they would think he was a failure.

A few days had passed since Claude began to work on his magic by himself, he was making progress albeit slowly but this wasn't what he wanted. He had high expectations for him and now he could see those shatter like a glass. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore, he decided he would talk to his parents first thing in the morning.

Morning came and at the table, the family of three was having breakfast. It comprised of whole grain bread with butter, some apple pies and milk. After finishing it, Claude spoke " I need to talk to you guys. "

"About damn time." said Milo while grinning.

"Let's move to the couch first. It's not good habit to talk at the dining table." Leslie

Claude nodded and moved first, followed by Milo and then Leslie.

"What is it that you want to talk about? " asked Leslie.

Claude took a deep breath and said, " I still can't cast spells although I am learning both science and magic. Science is really good, it has shown me things that i never even knew existed but it isn't helping me. I just don't know where to begin. I don't even know where the problem lies." As he went on, his breathing became ragged. His eyes started to redden, some tears were forming and were ready to fall. It was like he was having a breakdown. But suddenly he thought about the creators of those amateur spells ( How did Bane felt when he created that fireball spell? He wanted power. He wanted prestige. He decided that he wanted to rise above the masses. Or how that dwarf felt. Despair, Pain when he saw his brethren become prey. Or that simple elf who just wanted to preserve food or human who created first body strengthening spell)

It was as if a dam broke inside his mind, now the water could flow without any inhibitions. His thoughts were moving freely and he felt really great.

He opened his eyes and saw his parents smiling back at him, he felt warm in his heart. He went forward and hugged them. After a minute or so they separated, with smiles on each of their faces.

Milo said first, " Congratulations, son on stepping on the path of a mage. "

Leslie also said, "Congratulations, Claude but we have to continue where we left off. Continue on how you were feeling before just now. "

She saw his confused face and said, "You will understand it later on. Now continue."

He began, "It felt like as if...as if, i was stuck. I felt like water getting stagnant. I wasn't able to move neither forwards nor backwards."

Leslie didn't say anything for a moment and then began, "Good. Very good, Claude. Now you have to remember the feeling. Next time you ever get the same feeling, remember to take a step back and try to take a look at a big picture and if that doesn't work, remember to find us. We will always there to help you, no matter the circumstances. Now let's go celebrate this special occasion."

Though Leslie was strict with him, she loved him more than anything in this world. Milo was funny and cheerful but Leslie was the one who knew him the best. She was who always thought about his future, sharing her expression and giving him life lessons. That's why he didn't want to disappoint her.

Everyone gave their order to Chef Milo. Leslie wanted to have fried rice with gravy Manchurian. Claude gave his order of steak. Cerebrus was given roasted hares. Everyone was happy.

Next day, Claude was back in the garden. He was standing with his eyes closed. He was as still as a statue with only his hair waving in the air. Milo, Leslie and Cerebrus were standing on the side, observing him. He opened his eyes slowly and gently. When he had them fully opened, you could see a different light in his eyes. He lifted his hand and turned it slightly towards him and chanted,

FIREBALL

A gust of wind blew, a sigh escaped from the mouth of observers. You could see a sphere at the centre of Claude's hand. It was fiery red. It had some flickering waves of fire occasionally sprout out from it, slowly the sphere began to grow, from marble sized to a egg sized then to a bowl sized and finally stopped when it was football sized.

He had finally done it. He was a mage now. He looked at the sphere and he was elated. It was his first spell. Clappings were sounded out, he was congratulated but he could hear nothing. He was too engrossed in that sphere. At that moment, he felt that there was nothing more beautiful than this ball of fire.

When he broke from his daze, he looked around and saw Cerebrus howling,

He had to stand on his toes and Cerebrus had to bent down so that Claude could touch it's head. As if he could understand it, "Thanks Cerebrus. I'm finally a mage. "

He moved towards his parents, he hugged Milo first "Very good son. I am so proud of you. "

He then hugged Leslie, "I feel so good for you. May you achieve success in all your endeavors. " blessed Leslie.