Remembrance

Jay's feet hit the creek water that causes a splash to come up and sprinkle droplets of water on his face. He smiles as he wipes away the water and turns to look back at the height from which he dropped from. The window from his room, about two stories in the air, that always showed him the view of the vast forest just beyond his reach, a forest filled to the brim with unknown wonders and treasures that Jay desired to obtain. He had calculated it greatly in the past to try and achieve the feat he accomplished today, figuring out at what time exactly he would need to use his telekinesis to soften the landing. Since the first time his curiosity arose to venture into the world around him, he had used many different ways to sneak out of the castle and into the forest, but jumping out his bedroom window easily took the cake compared to the devices he had employed before. Jay passed over the creek and headed into the woods, he had decided that today was the day he would venture towards the mountain that lay close to the kingdom. He walked for about ten minutes, weaving in between trees and thorns, hurdling boulders and trying his best not to get distracted by the wondrous flora and fauna around him. Finally, he came to they place that had impeded him in the past; a large rock with large thorns spiraling around it making it impossible to pass through without getting stabbed by nature's six inch daggers. Jay jumped up and down a bit trying to hype himself up, muttering under his breath "It's just a rock, its barely bigger than you are. You already have the proper measurements and weight to know that this is doable so just do it." He balled his hands next to him and focused his mind on the rock that stopped Jay's discovery in the past. His magic began to flow through him causing his Iris's to glow white as his powers reached out like invisible tendrils and attached to the rock. The moment he felt he had a good hold, he began to try and lift the thorny nemesis of his youth into the air.

However, something to understand about people with kinetic magic is that the stress they feel while using their abilities affects the mind, not the body. The strain that the body feels as it lifts a heavy object is a similar feeling for an individual that is using telekinesis, but the effect applies force to the mind instead. In order to reduce this strain, kinetic type magic users must work their ability like a muscle, training it as any other part of the body. While Jay's normal body is that of a six year old boy, his telekinetic muscle has been trained through lifting and pushing many rocks and objects in his exploration.

Jay felt a vast amount of pressure pushing upon his head, causing veins in his head to pop out and the whites of his eyes to become bloodshot. He knew that he had never lifted something as big as this rock before, and the many thorns that latched onto the rock and trees around it did not help with his attempt to defy gravity. After about ten seconds of focusing with all he could, Jay began to hear a ringing in his ear and the pressure grew more intense than before. He began to consider giving up, to give himself some peace from the agony he was enduring, but immediately neglected the thought when he saw the rock start to rise. Little by little, a centimeter at a time, the rock ascended to about two feet in the air. Jay could see a tiny opening just big enough for him to slip through underneath the rock where thorns would not stick him. He inhaled and exhaled deeply as he took a step forward. His right foot extended forward in a stiff and rigid manner and laid itself down upon the ground once more. Jay felt as if the rock were sitting upon his head not allowing him to move freely, but rather a robotic manner, if a robot were in severe pain. Jay continued to take step after step, the pressure increasing with each foot forward. As he approached the tiny entrance he leaned down and collapsed to the ground with his head just inside the opening, the pressure throwing his equilibrium off balance. The rock gave way for a second, dropping a few inches and causing a thorn to press itself right against Jay's nose. His eyes glowed brighter as he began to lift the rock to its original position. After a great deal of shimmying and clasping the earth beneath him with white knuckles, he finally found himself on the other side. The moment his body was clear, his mind gave in and the stone fell. In a split second he curled himself into a ball narrowly avoiding being a cripple for the remainder of his life. His eyes returned to normal, although bloodshot, and sweat began to pour down his face. His head felt light and he could have laid there for hours just recovering from his ordeal, but adrenaline shot through his system and a smile encroached across his face. He pulled himself to his feet and threw his hands up in accomplishment, his bright smile overcoming his exhaustion and imbalance in his equilibrium. Jay began to trod forward, somewhat less nimbly than before, exploring new terrain before him. It wasn't long until Jay could feel the slight slant of the mountain becoming closer and he swells with excitement at getting closer to his goal. His feet begin to move a little faster, following the pace of his desire, carrying him towards the adventure that lies ahead, when the ground gives way and he tumbles into darkness.

Jay opens his eyes and looks around to find that the darkness behind his eyelids matches the darkness that surrounds him. He puts his hand up in front of him to try and get a sense of self but can't even see his hand. "Well this isn't good," Jay exclaims feeling his surroundings. He presses around him and finds that the space is just big enough for him to crawl in, and it seems like directly in front of him is a wall of dirt, on the other side is more loose as it is where he just fell through and the dirt followed behind. He reaches around and lands his hand upon what he feels to be a stone. Using his touch he examines it and finds the stone, despite not being visible, seems to be rough on one side and glassy on the other. To get a sense of the density, he focuses his mind and his iris's glow white as he lifts the stone into the air. However, some odd occurrence begins to happen and the stone, about three inches long, begins to glow in a bluish tint, illuminating the area, as it floats in the air. Jay's eyes twinkle with excitement at the glowing stone that he now realizes is a gem. He examines all around the gem and finds that the longer he uses his magic upon it, the brighter the gem glows. Jay uses his best estimates to measure the gem and take mental notes of his analysis. Behind him another blue glowing gem that is nearly three times as big as the other and shaped like a ball is doing the same thing. He tries to examine both, holding the round gem in one hand and letting the other float in the air in front of him, trying to make heads or tails of the situation. The floating gem beings to shake and grow unstable. Jay puts his face closer towards it and notices that cracks begin to form across it and the shaking becomes violent. Jay lets the gem drop to the ground in front of him and skirts his body back against the dirt wall, his head just barely touching the ceiling. The ball type gem has stopped glowing, but the other still glows as bright as ever and is cracking fast. In a moment of quick thinking, out of fear of the outcome, Jay pushes pushes the gem against the loose dirt and then proceeds to use his telekinesis to let dirt from above him fall over it. In a large flash, light floods out of the gem illuminating the dirt for a split second before exploding, showering earth in Jay's face and completely covering his body.

Jay unearths himself from the burial the explosion put him in and finds sunlight has now entered into the crawl space he fell into. He moves his body forward to find a small crater where the gem exploded, giving him a very clear way to get out just a few feet above his head. Despite the terrifying circumstances Jay has found himself in, he is overcome with euphoria and his smile doesn't diminish in the slightest. He rushes back into the crawlspace digs through the dirt to find the other gem. Hay finds the gem and in a quick grab he crawls back out and jumps out of the hole. In the excitement of the moment he forgets his goal to reach the mountain and, with the gem in tow, proceeds back towards the castle with haste. My brothers are not going to believe this amazing discovery, Jay thinks as his splendor carries him back to the castle.

-

Jay runs down a long corridor as fast as his feet can carry him holding a translucent blue gem in his arms. The yellow and red banners leading to the throne room pass him in a blur as he throws all his excited energy into his legs. When he finally reaches the large oak doors that impede him from moving forward, he stops with a huge smile across his face and addresses the guard standing there. "Hector! You are never going to believe what I found!" Jay says with exasperation. The guard gives a jovial chuckle and smiles down at Jay.

"Really, and what is it that you have there young master?" Hector says as he leans down to get a better look at the gem. He lowers himself to about Jay's shoulder level where the symbol on the headdress of his guards armor can clearly be seen, a falcon surrounded by the sun.

"This right here my loyal guard…" Jay says with major theatrics, "Is known as a chromatic, a term I coined myself!" A smug look rises across Jay's face as if he is expecting a round of applause for this statement, instead all he receives is the confused look that adorns Hector's face.

"A Chrom...I'm sorry young master but I don't think you and I operate on the same wavelength, you may have to explain…" Hector says as he scratches his head. Jay gives a frustrated look as his enthusiastic demeanor is wasted on someone who doesn't have the same level of appreciation for the gem. Even with that in mind, Jay smiles once again and begins to explain what it is he holds.

"This is a gem that inherently stores mana, meaning that when focusing one's own power source upon this gem; the mana can be kept as energy within this gem! Imagine the complex things that can be done with such a power source! Through such we could power machines, advance teleportation, bring about devices such as centrifuges like in the 'stories of another world'! the applications... " Jay began to stammer on until he was interrupted by Hector's Jovial chuckle that had now been upgraded into a full laugh.

"You and your stories Young Master. You sound like you want to become one of those mythical half-mages they talk about in bedtime stories...remind me of their name again," Hector waves his hand in front of him and his left eyebrow lifts up high as he tries to find the word. Jay drops his excited demeanor and brings his hands to his sides in defeat.

"A scientist," Jay now answers with a monotone voice, he is clearly unimpressed with the royal guards lack of gusto about the amazing potential of such a stone, and instead treats the boy as simply that; a boy. Hector slaps him on the back hard enough to bring Jay's feet into the air for a quick moment before he comes back down in a stinging pain.

"That's it! Young Jayfifth: The Scientist" Hector says through a continued laugh. Jay smiles a fake side smile and rubs his back hoping to ease the pain of the burly man unintentional pain upon him. Hector's laughter echoes louder throughout the building causing the banners to sway slightly and the shutters to shake. Hector's magic coming from his booming voice accidentally activates his mana causing his eyes to glow blue for a second and the large door begins to shake. Jay drops the chromatic and covers his ears with his hands to hopefully suppress the loud boom, when suddenly the large wooden doors are blown open by a gust of wind. Jay's oldest brother, tall, handsome, and with piercing blue eyes comes through the door and yells towards hector.

"HECTOR THIS IS THE THIRD TIME I HAVE HAD TO WARN YOU…" out of the corner of his eye Illia, the eldest brother and heir to the throne notices Jay. "Oh, hello Jay! It is good to see you little brother, where have you been?," Illia says as he pats his youngest brother on the head. Jay responds with a huge smile of gratitude at seeing his eldest brother. Jay knows that he is different from his brothers because he has no interest in matters of the throne of Illverstand that they seem to covet so much, but they have always supported him and shown him love in his difference. Especially his eldest brother, Illia has always been the only one willing to actually go out and explore with Jay, at least trying to understand him. At the mention of the young Jay the other three brothers come through the doorway. The second and third in line, twins named Lalend and Euctis, push each back and forth while muttering angrily (as is usual between them) before they both look at Jay with a smile.

"Well if it isn't the young prince, have you brought us a new stone to add to the royal rock collection?" Lalend says with a sly smile.

Lalend is tall and toned yet somewhat lanky. He has his dirty blonde hair, a mix of colors between his mothers and fathers, perfectly placed to the side like all of the royal brothers, however his wardrobe is unkempt with missing buttons and untucked in attire. One look at him would instantly tell someone that he has no intention of being under another persons rule. Despite his look Lalend is actually the only brother to inherit his father's storm magic, the most rare form of elemental magic, which he believes gives him right to the throne.

Jay mistakes his brothers facetious attitude for actual interest. He opens his mouth and dons his theatrical demeanor once more to talk about the chromatic but realizes that it isn't in his hand anymore. Jay looks around him and finds the chromatic behind him, however now it glows blue. A cynical laughter comes from Lalend as he watches his brother fumble around for the gem. "I can't get enough of this kid," Lalend says as he wipes a tear from his eye, he finds this situation much more entertaining than the other three brothers. Euctis hits Lalend on the back of his head, to which Lalend reacts by grabbing his head in pain and moving away from his brother. "What was that for Euctis?! I was taking an interest in our brothers passion of rocks!" Lalend halfway yells at his brother in an exasperated manner. A sigh leaves Euctis lips as he takes grabs a cloth from his other coat and removes his glasses to clean them.

"Lalend you and I both know that you had no intention of interest in our little brothers passion; also act more like a prince when in the presence of other people," Euctis condescends his twin, he places his glasses back on his face and pushes them up the bridge of his nose.

Euctis has brown hair, like Jay and Tyrius, but that is about the only commonality they have with each other. He is the tallest of all the brothers and tends to remain monotone as if he is above almost every situation. His judgmental demeanor offsets his attractiveness, making him the most disliked, and sought after prince by the women in the kingdom. Euctis never seems to let up his attitude other than when he is with his twin, he becomes more rowdy around Lalend. The type of rowdy that would put sleeping pills in Illia's muffin then send him floating on a raft towards the sea.

Euctis may have scolded his brothers actions, but Jay already knew that Euctis had no interest in Jay's passion for 'rocks' either. However, finding his brothers to be loving towards him, he told them about his discoveries almost every single day, even if his brothers listened only to humor him. Jay composes himself once again but finds the attempt to grab his brothers collective attention comes to no avail. Instead, he simply stands there examining the now glowing gem with curiosity in his eyes as his brothers continue to argue. Tyrius, the fourth in line, remains silent in the doorway, trying to seem above it all as usual. Despite being one of the two least likely to inherit the throne, he acts higher and mightier than the other. He is the shortest of the brothers, other than Jay, and has been told many times by Lalend and the women of the kingdom that he isn't endearing. Tyrius keeps a constant effort to look as pristine as a member of the royal family should, but unlike Euctis who it comes naturally to, his form of pristine seems very forced. Jay and Tyrius have always had a strange connection. They are the only two in the family who didn't inherit elemental type magic; instead they both fall under the category of Kinetics, the second highest magical category. They both gained the Kinetic magical category from their mothers side of the family. Jay was always proud to have some form of connection to his mother, since her passing just a year before, but Tyrius viewed such things as a curse. Tyrius was always trying to prove to others that just because he wasn't of the elemental category like his older three brothers, that he still was just as worthy to be considered king. Jay and Tyrius, despite being the closest in age, had never really been the type to hangout on Saturday afternoons or look out for one another when trouble comes. Jay assumed that Tyrius didn't like him because he was of the same magical category that he held disdain towards. The only inkling that Jay got a sense of brotherly love between them was at random times when Tyrius would ask him how his magical training was coming along. Jay in turn would always answer the same "I think my Telekinesis is broken." To which his brother would nod and give him some form of little advice like 'focus your mind' or 'remember that waving your hands doesn't help when your using your mind'. Jay never could understand why his brother would occasionally take an interest in his magic, but the only thing he thought it could be in his adolescent mind is that Tyrius is showing in his own way that he cares.

While the other brothers continue to quarrel, Tyrius remains silent and Jay laughs loudly as Illia and Euctis get caught up in Lalends stupidity. The sound of loud footsteps begins to come down the hall and the boys voices grow silent at their presence, knowing what omen they bring. The footsteps come to a halt and Jay turns his head and finds his father smiling widely down at him. His father's blond hair is swept to the right side as usual but his bushy mustache sits upon his lips twitching in anger. The smile should have been disarming but Jay knew his father all too well to believe all was ok; also the veins popping out of his father's hands as they were clasped tightly behind his back did not give off a sense of "calm". "Jay B Cornelius, I am so glad that you could join us for the family meeting today…" his father said through his teeth, "...and while wearing muddy outdoor clothing." Jay looked down at himself and came to the realization that his body was covered in dirt and mud, with the hem of his pants slightly damp. Jay peeked his head down the main corridor from which he came noticing for the first time the trail of muddy footprints that followed all the way to his current position. Jay began to understand a little bit of why his father might be so angry. Then he realized that he was supposed to be in the throne room a little over an hour ago for a meeting. Which might explain why his father would have such anger at finding his son where he is supposed to be but an hour later than planned. Jay turns his head slowly to smile back at his father, taking the glowing chromatic and showing it to his father:

"Look what I found in the woods…" Jay says silently and anxiously, awaiting his father's judgment. The other fourth brothers act as if they are not conscious of the situation and backtrack into the room from which they came. Jay's father's smile drops from his face to an uninterested frown. He takes the chromatic from Jay then turns to Hector.

"Hector please take Jay to get a bath and some cleaning supplies to make the hallway return to its former glory," he turns his attention to Jay, "You may have this glowing blue gemstone back when you meet your brothers and I in the throne room for a State meeting as it is your duty as a member of the royal family." His father speaks in a calm demeanor but his words could cut glass, Jay remembers the time that Lalend snuck a cup of ale from the kitchen and then proceeded to accidentally spill it on their father...the demeanor he has now is quite similar.

"Um," Lalend's head appears on the side of the doorway, "I don't mean to be that guy, but Euctis and I had plans with Christine and Olive in town, and I know how you dad like people to keep their appointments. SO shouldn't we just start without Jay?" Lalend says with a quizzical look on his face as if he is wanting his father to look at him and say 'of course, how could I not realize that!' Instead, their father just turned and looked at Lalend deadpan.

"Are you suggesting that your brother shouldn't be at the meeting? Are you also suggesting that he shouldn't have to clean up after his actions? Just so you and Euctis can go and impress Olive and Christine with the fact that you are royalty. Tell me, is this your assertion Lalend?" The king's agitation causes the air to fill with static that makes Lalend and Jay's hair stand up on his head.

"What? Me? No! Never! Plans change! Yeah it's no biggie, I'll just stand up the most beautiful girl in the kingdom because of my curious and late little…" Lalend's words trailed off as to not let any words other than agreement reach his father. Lalend's head disappeared as he murmured to himself angrily. Jay's father put his hand on Jay's shoulder and turned him in the direction of the hallway.

"Now, follow Hector and do what needs to be done. You are a Cornelius, and a Prince, despite being of young age please try your best to act as such," Jay's father says. Despite his harsh attitude there was a touch of tenderness in his voice. A touch that completely went over Jay's head in his annoyance with the fact that his gemstone had been taken away, but a tenderness that came from a single father trying his best to fill all the positions he commanded with sincerity. Jay and Hector walked down the hallway, Jay was disinterested in anything that didn't have to do with his gemstone so he was not in a merry mood. He turned his head for a second and in that small glimpse he saw his father drop his guard, wipe his eyes, and let exhaustion over take him before smiling once more and being the strong king Jay had always known. Even when the world felt unstable, Jay always saw his father as a stable position. So stable that the world relied on his strength and Jay believed that his father's strength was unconquerable. However, in that one small look, Jay for the first time questioned his father's strength. Little did he know at the time, but that single doubt caused Jay torment for many years to come, because if he hadn't doubted his father in that moment, could the future possibly have been changed?