Chapter 34

It had been a few days since Marius and Darius' birthday party. Today was the fourth day into the week and the Alston family was preparing to head out. It was time to check the mana at the temple.

The twins have been fairly excited about finding out their type of mana so they have been very eager and impatient.

"Dad hurry up!! Let's go now so we can reach the temple quickly!" Marius yelled from inside the carriage.

"Yeah dad hurry please!"

Cassian chuckled, "Alright, alright, I'm coming but we still need to wait for your other siblings."

Aeliana walked out of the house, beads of sweat forming on her forehead as the sun glared from above.

'God this sun is about to cook me.' she thought to herself as she wiped the sweat away.

A shadow fell upon her causing her to look up and find a parasol raised above her head.

"You might faint from the heat." a young male voice spoke.

"Oh brother, thank you for the parasol."

Claud smiled and shook his head, "This is nothing. Flora had been holding it from before, I just helped her get it to you."

Aeliana lightly laughed, "Still, thank you brother."

She had been getting along with Claud slowly after he had apologised to her, and even though they both knew she hadn't forgiven him, she could see he was really trying. It's still quite unusual for him to be like this now, she was quite happy with how things are progressing.

"Brother Claud! Aeliana! Hurryyy!!! Darius and I want to go now!" Marius yelled.

"What about brother?" Claud muttered, glancing around.

"Leon said he wants to study and that we can go without him," Cassian answered.

"Oh, alright. Aeliana let's go in."

"Okay brother."

Claud and Aeliana got into another carriage together with Flora while Cassian headed into the carriage with the twins. The two carriages headed off, leaving the duchy and to the temple.

'Daddy said it will take around three hours' Aeliana thought as she glanced out the window.

Flora was knitting to pass the time in the carriage whilst Claud read a book about music. She brought her attention back to the scenery before getting bored of it not long later. She slumped back down into her seat and yawned.

'I should have brought something to play or do'

"Are you tired?" she heard Claud speaking to her.

With her eyes barely open, she sluggishly nodded. Since she had nothing to do, she began to feel drowsy. As she was about to fall asleep, her head was lightly pushed and pressed against a shoulder.

She knew it was Claud's but before she could say anything, she fell asleep only waking up once they reached the temple.

The temple was placed on a high hill and it spans wide across. Aeliana rubbed her eyes and gazed at the temple. It stood tall and slightly intimidating in her opinion. A statue from the corner of her eye caught her attention.

It was in the middle of the temple. The statue was a female with long wavy hair and dressed in a robe. Her eyes were closed and held a praying pose with her hands clasped together.

There was no name written below the statue so Aeliana could only assume it was the goddess that this world prayed to.

"Duke Alston, welcome to the temple." an old man spoke slowly walking over with two other priests walking beside him.

Cassian shook hands with the head priest and smiled, "Hello Your Excellency, how have you been?"

The Bishop smiled and nodded, "We have been doing well, I received your letter a month back about your two sons wanting to check their mana, they have just turned six, correct?"

"Yes Your Excellency, they have been very excited for this day to come." Cassian chuckled, patting the twins on the head.

The Bishop glanced at the twins and smiled, "Well then, please follow us inside the temple. The ceremony will begin soon."

"Darius! What do you think you will get?" Marius excitedly asked as the family followed behind the priests into the temple.

Darius pondered for a bit before shrugging, "I hope I get common and have not too much or too little mana."

"I hope I get dark just like brother Leon! Dark magic is so cool!"

Aeliana was walking not too far from them, overheard their conversation. 'Brother has dark magic? I never knew that...'

"Don't worry Aeliana, although people say dark magic is scary, most admire those who have such a rare magic."

She heard Claud speaking to her. She turned to him and nodded. Her expression must have given Claud a misunderstanding.

"I don't find it scary. Just like Marius, I think it's cool."

Claud nodded and muttered quietly, "If brother heard that I wonder how he would react."

Aeliana tilted her head to the side, unable to catch what he had said. He smiled and shook his head so she simply brushed it off, not wanting to pry into it.

They finally reached the hall where the ceremony will take place. The twins continued following the priests up to the centre where a crystal ball on a soft pillow rested on a podium. Aeliana, Claud and their father sat by the bench, waiting for the results.

The Bishop stood behind the podium and cleared his throat. He turned to the twins and smiled,

"One of you may step forward and simply rest your hand on the crystal ball."

"I'll go first!" Marius announced and stepped forward.

He extended his right hand out and placed it on the crystal ball. The ball shimmered semi-brightly before a greenish-blue colour covered it entirely. The Bishop observed the crystal ball before nodding.

"You have common magic and your amount of mana is medium."

Marius pouted and quietly thanked the Bishop before stepping down. Darius glanced at his twin and took a step forward. Just like Marius, he placed his hand on the crystal ball.

The ball glowed brighter than previously and turned into the same colour Marius had.

"It seems like you have common magic as well. The amount of mana is high, congratulations." the Bishop spoke, nodding as he concluded.

Darius glanced at Marius with a worried expression but upon seeing Marius' excited expression, it was wiped away.

"You have a lot of mana Darius!!" Marius exclaimed.

"Yeah! It's too bad you didn't get dark magic as you wanted.." Darius muttered but his twin waved it off and grinned.

"It's fine! I preferred swords anyway, it's pretty good I have a decent amount of mana in me."

Darius smiled at his optimism before turning to the Bishop and thanking him. The twins returned back to where their family was sitting.

"Congratulations." Cassian chuckled, ruffling their hair, "This calls for a celebration once we get back home. How about some cake?"

"Oh! Can we have chocolate cake?"

"Yeah! Can we have chocolate cake?"

Cassian laughed at the twins' replies and nodded, "Let's have some chocolate cake then. We will head back once I finish talking with the Bishop, okay kids?"

"Okay dad." all four answered back.

"I'll keep an eye on them dad." Claud spoke.

Cassian smiled and went over to the Bishop. Claud turned back and grinned cheekily, "Since dad has things to do with the Bishop, whyn't we all play hide and seek?"

"Okay!!"

"I'll count and you all can hide. Just remember only the temple, don't go further than that okay?"

After seeing all three of them comply, he covered his eyes and began counting. The three quickly ran away, trying their best to find the perfect hiding spot. Aeliana ran in another direction from the twins and looked around.

After running around a bit more, she found a perfect hiding spot behind the bushes. Worried that Claud had already finished counting, she dove into the bushes, quietly sitting still, hoping not to get caught.

Not long later, she could hear footsteps and Claud's voice.

"...Where are they? Hah...I should have restricted more areas of the temple so I wouldn't be searching the entire place now.."

She held in her giggles and heard the footsteps drifting away. She wanted to peek out to see her surroundings but she heard footsteps again. Aeliana quickly covered her mouth with her hands and silently waited for the footsteps to disappear.

The footsteps instead grew closer and a hand was on the bushes. Rustling sounds echoed before a young childish voice spoke,

"What are you doing?"