The Magic Within Me

After the hug I felt refreshed. I didn't have a family in my past, this was the truth. I was an orphan since birth. I let go and sat back down in my seat.

I really did not know anything about this place so I asked, "So... mom, where are we right now?"

Elena looked overjoyed that I had called her mom and responded, "We are in the plateaus of Sound Valley."

Curious, i asked, "Why is it called Sound Valley?"

Markus looked up from his newspaper, "It got its name because almost all of the civilians that live here practice and perform sound magic."

So magic exists in this world. That means I can do it as well?

"So that means you guys can do sound magic?"

Elena chuckled, "Yes, I'm pretty good at it as well unlike my husband here."

Markus laughed sarcastically.

"May I see a demonstration?" I asked with curiosity in my eyes.

"Sure, Its Zeph's bedtime anyway."

She motioned me to follow her and Zeph. We climbed the stairs to the second story and walked into the first door on the right. It looked like a typical child's room with toys scattered around. Elena tucked Zeph in his bed and then sang a lullaby. I didn't recognize the song but it was very beautiful and instantly made me feel sleepy. Zeph almost instantaneously drifted off to sleep.

Elena kissed Zeph's forehead before leaving his room, me included.

After we stepped outside the room I asked, "How did you do that?"

She responded, "That was song magic, the only hex of sound magic that few posses. I am one of those few."

"What's a hex?"

"Hm, I guess you could say an evolved form of the magic in question." She smiled humbly then proceeded to walk down the stairs.

I called out to her suddenly, "Wait. I would like to try my hand at it as well."

She looked at me sympathetically, "Nova, few people posses this ability and it takes years to appear in someone. Also, years of training in sound magic help awaken it. I don't know if you can."

I looked at her resolutely, "You never know until you try. So I will try."

She had a half smirk and chuckled a bit, "Alright, but lets go outside as not to wake up Zeph."

We walked downstairs and out the door. It was late in the afternoon and the setting sun looked beautiful over the horizon. We walked a few meters away from the house and stopped at a few tree stumps. She sat down on a stump and I sat opposite her.

Elena spoke in a teaching manor, "Song magic is similar to sound magic but they are not identical. Sound magic uses the sound waves already in the area to either deafen the opponent or gather all the sound in an area in one spot. There are other ways to use sound magic but those are the ones I know of. If you have any questions about sound magic you can ask Markus since he used to be an adventurer."

I glanced towards the house and kept a mental note to get tips and train with Markus later. Elena paused for a few seconds, probably to gather her thoughts.

"Song magic however, uses the sound from ones voice to make someone feel a specific emotion. Like how I made Zeph sleepy earlier."

"But how do you preform song magic?"

Elena looked at me with a simple gaze, "There is no explanation on how to preform it. It is innate, something one is born with, the ability to sing that is."

So I guess I have to figure it out on my own, huh?

"Thank you for explaining it anyway. I'll try to do it now with what you taught me."

I looked to the horizon and thought about how I should activate the magic within me. If song magic manipulates emotions of others then I guess I should sing with emotion. I pondered what to sing and decided to sing what was on my mind in my past life; troubles of suppressing my true self. I sang out, projecting my voice towards the horizon. It resonated a sad but beautiful tone. I sang at a slow pace to emphasize the meaning in my words. After I finished my song I turned around to see Elena heavily crying.

Concerned, I asked, "What's the matter? Are you hurt?"

She quickly shook her head, "Nothing's the matter. I just can't stop crying."

After about a minute Elena stopped crying and looked in my direction, "I guess you really don't know until you try. That was some powerful song magic. I'm very proud."

She got up from the stump and walked over to me, pulling me into a tight embrace. After a few seconds I did the same. We both pulled away at the same time and walked back inside the house.

Elena smiled brightly and looked at Markus, "Honey, guess what? Nova preforms song magic like me!"

Markus immediately looked up from the newspaper he was reading, "what! *cough* I mean thats really impressive Nova." He regained his composure and stared at me in disbelief.

I remembered my mental note from earlier, "Father, would you mind teaching me sound magic? I want to be able to do both sound and song magic."

He had an excited expression on his face, "Of course I can! Its been forever since the last time I got to use sound magic. We can start training tomorrow morning."

I excitedly responded, "Thank you!"

Magic huh? It's all so surreal. I wonder what tomorrow will bring?