Volume 01- Chapter 03: The Twin Horns

^ NEW COVER.

~3723 words

The carriage juddered marginally as the wheel of the carriage hit a small rock. The journey until now was a breeze. After almost 3 years of being imprisoned in a the most backward city of a medieval era world, it was a good change- both for the eyes and mind.

Placing my arms over the edge of the carriage, I took in the sight of huge mountains covered in a prolific veil of green. The clear blue sky was slowly but gradually being filled with multiple grey clouds spreading overcast.

Cold wind blew as I felt a slight chill. Opening my mouth, I took in a deep breath, filling my lungs with the unpolluted and untainted air to the brim. A rejuvenating wave washed over me, the tranquil quietness that was unperturbed, calmed my nerves.

Birds flew overhead, happily chirping as they flew in brisk wind without restraints. Looking back, I saw Alice, sitting with Helen as they chatted about various things. My gaze travelled from Alice's face, taking in the sight of her vibrant auburn hair. I looked down at her or more specifically at her belly.

Her demeanor had changed over the course of past weeks. Awkward movement, nausea, change in behavior, agitation. The signs were there but I decided not to pay much attention to it. As of now, I wanted to focus on myself. Closing my eyes, I peered inwards. Two spheres of energy brimmed with an unbridled amount of energy, surging, waiting to be unleashed. My primary core was light red already, however this core was something only I knew about. My parents and the twin horns knew only about my secondary core that just a breath away from dark red.

Usually, a mage's elemental affinity manifests upon reaching the light red stage. At first, I thought that an elemental affinity was based upon lineage and environment. Just like how elves are close to nature, so only the have the ability to use plant magic which is a combination of earth and water magic. The more exposure to ambient elemental mana one gets, the more chances are there that the core composition will be of that specific element, making it the specific element of that mage.

However, in my case it was different. Due to me preparing for every possible element and their deviant forms in advance, I was able to unlock all elements. The knowledge of chemistry from my past life was helpful in many ways. Changing the bonding of water molecules, I could create ice, morph fire into lightning. But all of this was theoretical. I was barely able to maintain the elements for long. The amount of mana in a light red core was not as much as I thought it would be. However, the existence of second core helps to supplement it.

Wind and Fire were the elements that I had the most proficiency in. My conversance with Water and Earth element were almost the same. Alternatively, I was close to unlocking the deviant forms of the former two.

My gaze ventured from one place to another- from one latitudinous mountain to steep and lush green valleys, then the lofty clouds, alternating between white and grey. The burning orange orb- Sun, played hide and seek as it was exposed and obscured by the playful clouds in a rapid succession. The winds continued to get colder. For the first time since coming to this world... It felt good.

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Throwing a dry twig in the bonfire in front of us, I sat between Alice and Reynolds. The other member of the 'Twin Horns', sat around the bonfire, making a circle. The girls giggled as they joked and gossiped... except the mysterious girl, Jasmine. She sat in the corner, her hands around the warm mug as she sipped the contents of it slowly, savoring its taste by licking her lips. Her eyes, as red as crystallized blood shot upwards and looked at me. With a simple tilt of head to the other side, I averted my gaze.

She's sharp.

"So, Reynolds... You were saying that your son is a one-in-a-century genius", The goofiest of the Twin Horns, Adam Kresh, said shooting a taunting smirk at Reynolds.

"Indeed, he is. He is my son after all, buahaha" Rey barked out loud, earning facepalms and annoyed grumps from the ladies, "and yeah I say that because he is already awakened." He casually spoke, dropping a bombshell like it was nothing.

Everyone's eyes widened at hearing this. Every pair of eyes were directed at me- Shock, disbelief, bewilderment- all of it flashed in their eyes making a static tension in the air, that lingered like a suffocating miasma. But the most intense gaze was that of Jasmine, who until now never took an interest in anything happening. She was now looking at me with a newfound interest. If I want to get something I desire out of her, I have to make her invested in me. And now I knew exactly what could make that happen.

"Kid... you are having a spar with me, right now", Adam spoke, standing up as he picked up a metal rod as his makeshift spear.

About time.

Alice's mouth opened, trying to say something, but before she could utter a single word I stood up,

"Fine." I said in my usual monotone voice, my face as impassive as ever. It was bound to happen one way or the other. His impulsive nature hosted something else deep inside Adam Kresh too... A desire of being on the top. To be recognized. It was the same for the girl, Jasmine, but it was buried inside her. The desire had died out already for her. However, the constant struggle of improving and still not being able to achieve a result equivalent to efforts made Adam's nature like this.

But this fight could benefit me. As I made my way towards the open area where Adam already stood with no stance and a confident smirk, I looked over my shoulder. Rey shot me a thumbs up and a wide grin. I tried to smile but judging from his expression looks like my smile looked more of a deadpan than a genuine smile. Alice had a worried expression over her face, while Jasmine was busy digging holes in my back with her penetrating almost caustic gaze.

Standing a yard away from Adam I looked at him who was now playfully swinging his spear around.

"You know the basics of mana augmentation, right?" He asked as he got into a simple stance. It was simple to the naked eye but with my experience I knew that it had next to no openings. His dedication and hard work that he put into his fighting style was evident and it was appreciable. Yet, this was as far as hard work could take a person.

Every human is born with a natural roof. That roof or limitation could be sabotaged to a degree with hard work and constant struggles and the so-called power of "Never giving up". It is true that a talented individual would need to work hard to harness the real potential of his talent. However, a talented individual with even half of the hard work would beat the brute muscle head.

It wasn't very different for Adam Kresh. His lack of talent and excessive reliance on hard work would be his fall. With a sigh, I nodded my head- a reply to his previous question.

"Won't you be using a weapon?" He asked, looking around, trying to spot my weapon.

"I prefer hand-to-hand combat", I replied in the usual apathy laced tone.

"So, you're taking after your father", He said looking at Reynolds and then at me. "All right, show me how talented you are", he said as I saw the makeshift spear hum in a thin sheen of mana. The metal rod enkindled in a white hue of his mana.

In response I raised both of hands at my eye level. Years of dedication towards the different forms of fighting styles flashed in my mind. Numerous possibilities of approaching the situation appeared in my mind as I slowly began to nitpick the scenario that won't give me much trouble neither would deprive me of the results I wanted. I couldn't humiliate Adam, but I couldn't lose too. In simple words I have to make it seem like I won by a stroke of fortune or lost by just a hair breadth.

Mana travelled from my secondary core, augmenting my limbs while wind mana conjured from my first core. Using wind mana beneath my feet, I propelled towards Adam like a crashing meteor at blinding speeds. My hand curled into a ball as I plunged it into his abdomen. His vacillating composure became unambivalent, as he regained it just as soon as he had lost it. Raising his leg, he blocked my punch and countered with a downward slash with his spear. Bringing my other hand up, I caught it by its upper area, while augmenting my hand with a similar amount of mana as him.

Adam's eyes widened as he looked at me, matching his strength. It was a temporary effect. This immature body was much stronger than normal kids my age, but Adam was a fully grown adult who had dedicated his life to fights, engaging in life threatening battles. It was just a matter of time before he overpowers me.

He swung his spear counterclockwise, breaking free of my iron grip.

"A downward kick" I muttered as he did the same and I avoided it.

A jab to abdomen.

Kick at head level.

A feint punch towards face and redirect it to a diagonal slash with spear.

One after another, I could read his muscle twitches and predict his moves. I could see the frustration and embarrassment build up on his scarred face. He was getting agitated and the fact that I was a 4-year-old was even better, fanning his frustration even further. He might've had an advantage when it came to mana levels and strength, but he lacked the thought process to utilize it. In simple words he was falling in a trap.

In the corner of my eyes, I spotted Jasmine's eyes glistening with excitement as she was now standing on her tiptoes. She was probably the only one who caught up with what I was doing. Everyone else had a shocked look over their faces, still processing what was going on.

"I guess this is enough attention. I should end it now." I whispered to myself.

My back feet planted in the ground, a small aperture forming in it from the force of my mana augmented heel. My fingers twitched as I pulled them. The veil of darkness around us with bare illumination from moonlight and bonfire, brightened even further.

Adam's eyes widened, his lightning quick movements coming to a screeching halt.

My fingers twitched once more, a small drop of blood falling from Adam's cheek on the muddy ground below.

"You monster", Adam's voice was almost muted as he found himself amidst a cobweb made of multiple mana strings. His body was barely moving as even the slightest twitch of muscle could result in a vital cut. During his relentless assault he had allowed his defenses to be easily compromised, leaving more than enough openings for anyone to kill him.

A wise man once said, "A person who can anger you, becomes your master", and that was exactly what happened to Adam. In his implacable attempts of redeeming himself and embarrassments, he had let himself be manipulated and controlled, playing and dancing right in the palm of my hand. The threads tied around the tips of my fingers were almost stationary, barely moving in tandem with his chest that heaved in and out, short of breath.

I looked at him, my eyes tired, "Do you yield?" I asked. It was an unnecessary question. In a friendly bout where we weren't thirsty for each other's blood, I had won. However, if it was a battle of life and death, I am not sure what would've happened.

Adam's hands raised up in a placating manner, signaling the admittance of his own defeat. The supplementation of mana to the strings severed as they vanished in thin air.

"Haven't taught him anything, my ass. He almost killed me!" Adam almost pounced on Reynolds, his tone carrying betrayal. Reynolds looked shocked, like he couldn't understand what was going on himself. I don't blame him though. The most he knew about me was that I had a really good stamina since he caught me doing my daily White Room routine one day.

"This is the first time I have seen him use mana. I never knew he... Oh my deity!" Reynolds exclaimed and picked me up, laughing and swinging me around. I don't know if he knows but this habit of his has really started to get on my nerves.

"Put him down, Rey!" Alice said suddenly in a reprimanding tone and caught me in her arms, snatching me away from the crazy guy who was my father. She wrapped her arms around me, burying my face in her chest. She patted my head and combed her fingers in my hair, "My baby... are you hurt?" She asked and I heard a "HEY!" from Adam but he suddenly went quiet, most likely because of the glare from one of the women. Women truly are menacing creatures.

I peeled my face away from her but remained in her embrace. I looked up, her eyes as brown as my morning coffee in my previous life looked at me with a worry that I never experienced before, "I am fine", I replied and placed my head back on her chest.

It was strange. Uncanny and almost cryptic. Her embrace... her touch... it felt warm, comforting. Like a subtle breeze of spring after a long month of arctic winter. My hands travelled up, gripping at the side of her shirt. It was the first time I was acting and feeling like this.

For today... maybe just for today I will reward myself with something I never deserve.

With those thoughts my consciousness started to falter- fading in and out. Her slender fingers brushed my hair gently.

My eyes felt heavy...

The last thing I saw was Jasmine sitting along with Alice, a bantam smile tugged at the corner of her lips and her eyes tracing and studying me- a look of curiosity.

The plan was successful.

>> TIME SKIP TO WHEN BANDITS ATTACKED <<

An un-augmented arrow whistled past me as I looked up. Collecting my wits, I analyzed our situation. Around 20 bandits attacked our carriage. Sending a surge of mana among the bandits, I tried to look for mages. There were 4 mages in the mix. 1 was light red, the other one solid red. The rest 2 were at a stage above mine, so I couldn't determine what stage their core is.

If the Twin Horns went all out, they could win against them. The probability of our winning was somewhere around 85-90%. However, there was a weight on our shoulders. I looked to my right to see the source of the burden. My mother, Alice. She was pregnant, I was sure of that. Not only that she was a non-combatant. Her field of focus was healing. Which means she needed someone to guard her at all times. A liability. However, she still was an important asset. So, losing her would do more harm than good.

The wind conjurer, Angela and earth conjurer, Durden, set up shields made of wind and stone. Arrows augmented with mana flew like miniature versions of rockets from Helen Shard's bow, downing one bandit after another.

The sound of daggers leaving their scabbard ringed in my ear from the right. Like a comet, Jasmine bolted towards the bandits. Her movement was fluid. Each step was nimble and calculated. Her dagger cleaved and diced bandits in a rapid succession. Like she had become one with wind, she blew like a glacial blizzard, leaving nothing but dead bodies behind.

Reynolds on the other hand was fighting with his fists. His fight style wasn't the best among Twin Horns but that could suffice. For now. Looking downwards, I saw Alice trembling and holding my body close to her, her lips gently kissing my forehead as she kept telling me everything was okay.

Suddenly the whole carriage yanked backwards as something crashed into it. Alice's grip loosened over me. Taking advantage of it, I slipped through her and went over to the point of impact. Looking down I saw Reynolds, stuck inside the carriage as it splintered where Reynolds crashed.

Stream of blood stained his ashen hair and came down. The left side of his face was caked in his own blood and mud. Looking forward, I saw a bulky looking man with a huge sword in his hand and a victorious smirk over his face. No doubt it was the leader.

A game of chess. Sometimes, it's not about the numbers of pieces... sometimes it's just the placement of the correct pieces in the correct squares. Now that everything was in its right place, I just had to pull the strings. Reynolds turned around, his eyes showing fear and anxiety.

"Arthur Leywin, listen to me. You have to take your mom away." He said between hitched breaths- Mana and Bodily exhaustion catching up with him. Wasting no time in heroic speeches to stay and help him, I gripped Alice's hand firmly, giving her no room to back down. She winced slightly under my grip, but that didn't matter.

"Go, Arthur. We will cover you", Adam's voice reached my ears, carried by the wind. I ran while scanning my environment. 20 bandits attacked us. 16 were non-mages, 14 of which were dead and 2 laid down, with their hands and feet mutilated from Helen's arrows. The real problems were the mages. Looking around I sent another pulse of mana. It was a method I had devised. Similar to earth attribute spell, [Earth Pulse] this technique acted like a SONAR from my previous world. Resonating with a core and then reporting back in the form of a frequency that was exclusive to my mana signature alone.

Mana was leaving the core of the light red mage as Jasmine's dagger slid out of his sternum. The other mage had already died, impaled on an earthen spike conjured by Durden. Reynolds and Adam engaged with the boss. That makes 3.

That means...

The last one would be...

Right here...

I looked back. A man with a staff in hand had already charged a water sphere. Letting the restraint on mana supply lose from both cores, I pointed my hand towards the mage. Lightning crackled as more and more deviant mana from my primary core trickled and was further intensified with the mana from my secondary core.

Orange lightning stuck to me and travelled towards my finger like a python. Lightning truly was a powerful deviant form. It could kill and subdue people in the most mysterious and interesting ways.

Think of it in terms of weight. How much weight would it take to kill a human?

You could put 1,000,000 pounds on the person's toes. It would destroy the toes, but not kill the person. You could drop 1 ounce from 100 feet onto their head, which would probably kill them.

Same thing with electricity. A few milliamps at under a volt applied to the correct place in the brain could paralyze the person. Thousands of volts and amps passed through a toe would burn the toe to a crisp, but not paralyze the person.

However, the bandits were of no use to me. I could simply burn them to a medium rare crisp. But expending so much mana would be a waste. Using the correct percentage and using it in the correct place was most vital.

The water ball fired at us at a blistering speed. I pushed Alice out of harm's way. It was a transactional act. Just like how she took care of me, nursed me, embraced me when I was tired... I did the same. A transaction of equal exchange.

Ducking below I avoided his attack and pointed my finger at his chest. The spark of lightning leapfrogged towards him. Just as it made contact with the mage his whole body convulsed and spasmed. In a few seconds, the man died.

However, this wasn't over. A pair of eyes have been bothering me.

Acting as if I slipped, I fell from the edge of cliff. I heard panicked shocks of everyone calling out my name. However, I ignored it. It wasn't a rebellious act of escaping from my parents for freedom. No... It was an act to protect my freedom from that exact thing. Just as I was about to make contact with ground a small sheen of mana surrounded me.

It was foreign mana. Not my own. This proved my hypothesis.

The mana sheen was not enough. So, I concurred wind mana and broke my fall. Landing deftly on the ground, I pushed my hands in the pockets of my pants. I looked here and there, trying to spot someone. I sent a surge of mana, but a weird occurrence happened. The resonating surge that I receive after sending the pulse didn't came back from the west.

My gaze travelled in the direction of the boundless trees in the forest with nothing but a suffocating dark lingering in it.

"You've been stalking me since we arrived here. Isn't it time you finally reveal yourself?" I said, my voice colder than usual as I kept staring towards the west of the forest.

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(A/n Hey Everyone. Hope you all are doing good. So yeah, The Masterpiece and The Debacle will be updated once a week. This one on Tuesday and Debacle on Saturday.

Although this is the schedule, it may change according to events happening in life.

Since it's one upload per week. I will write longer chaps.

Hope you all enjoyed this. See ya all next time. Until then, Stay blessed and Happy reading...(^^)