The Darkness in the Great Families

Saint Joseph Missouri, March of 1999

Xavier ran laughing around the manor as the maid in charge of his schedule tried to chase him down. "Young master please stop! You must attend your mathematics lessons now."

Xavier didn't slow down or stop laughing as he looked back at the maid. "Catch me if you can Sarah!" Running from the maids had always been one of Xavier's favorite things to do.

Breathing heavily the maid continued to charge after Xavier and was dismayed when he ran around the corner. Speeding up the maid followed him. Turning the corner she came upon the sight of Xavier sitting on the ground looking up at his father's disapproving face.

"Familia head!" The maid trembled. Being in the presence of the family head did that to most of the staff. His immense cultivation emitted a pressure which even normal people would feel.

Xavier tried to bury his head further into his shoulders. His father was the only person in the world who could make him feel trepidation. It was like there was this sense of expectation. It made him afraid there was something his father knew he didn't.

"You're supposed to be at your lessons. Why are you here?" His father's voice was calm and even.

Xavier shrugged innocently. "Just not feeling right today father."

His father nodded. "And not feeling right seems to result in you running around like a chicken with its head cut off?"

Xavier nodded sheepishly. "That's right. It's a odd presentation of a symptom."

Xavier's father's congenial expression disappeared. "Go back to your lessons now before I find something else for you to do."

Xavier scampered up and ran past the maid back to the study for his class. His mathematics teacher was waiting there for him with a stern look on his face. Xavier gave a student's bow before taking his seat.

The teacher sighed and shook his head. "How am I expected to teach a child like you? You do not respect the knowledge you can learn."

Xavier frowned. "Teacher it's not my fault. Mathematics is so boring. Besides it isn't like I'll need math for summoning magic."

The teacher threw up his hands. "How do you know, for certain, that you'll awaken summoning magic?"

"It's easy. My whole family is famous for summoning magic. It's what we do." Xavier's nonchalant answer frustrated the teacher to no end.

"There are more than a few examples of your family members not awakening summoning magic. What is your answer to them?" The teacher came around the desk to sit right next to Xavier.

"Those were cases of family members who were only distantly descended from Connor Mitchell. All those in his direct line of descent have awakened summoning magic." Xavier had always had a fascination with history nothing more so than his own familia's history.

"And what about an instance where a person's determination isn't summoning but is in the direct line of defense? For instance, do you know what your own determination might be?" The teacher nodded sagely. "Perhaps you should go ask."

Xavier hesitated then nodded. "I think I'll go do that."

Xavier went to his father's study and found him going over the home accounts. He looked up at Xavier. "Why aren't you attending to your lessons? Didn't I already warn you that if you didn't I would find something else for you to do?"

"Father my mathematics teacher brought something up that has me worried." Xavier approached his father's desk and sat in the seat on its side opposite to his father.

"Did he now? It sounds like your teacher may be overreaching his duties a little. I'm going to have to have a discussion with him." Xavier's father's brow creased as a stern look came over his face.

"So there is something to it then. Tell me. There's no point hiding it now that I know, right?" Xavier found his curiosity at its max. And also his anger. They were hiding something from him. Something that was about him.

His father's expression became amused. "You think that now that you know there is something we're not telling you that it means you're ready to know what it is? I can tell you now that there's a lot we're not telling you. Most of the time it's for your own good." He paused, "But in this case it doesn't really matter much."

"When you were born, like all descendants of the family, a determination was done to see which element you were likely to awaken when you awoke your first magic. Most people don't learn of this in the family until they actually awaken their magic. That's because it isn't always accurate. It's been proven wrong before. You unlike the majority of the main family weren't pre disposed to the summoning element but to the space element."

Xavier was astounded by his father's words. The space element, huh. Wait, what the heck was that? He'd never even heard of this element before. "Father what is the space element and why haven't I heard of it before?"

His father smiled. "You don't have to worry. Having the space element is a very good thing. It may be the rarest element in the world. It's an element that allows you to manipulate space with your will. Moving objects, slowing things down, and teleporting are a few of the abilities tied to the space element."

Xavier was completely dumbfounded at the explanation of the space element. That was just so insane! Xavier took a few deep breaths to calm himself down. "If I awaken this space element as my first element will it be an issue with the family?"

Xavier's father shook his head. "Not in the slightest. Space magicians are so rare that any force in the world would be delighted to have one among their ranks."

Xavier felt relief. At least his family wouldn't be disappointed with him then. Something his father had said made him feel concern for another reason. "Wait why is it that I've never heard of people in the direct line awakening something other than the summoning element?"

Xavier's father frowned and then sighed. "There have been a few in the direct line that have failed to awaken the summoning element before. It hasn't happened since before I took over as the head of the family otherwise you would have heard of it." He sighed again, "Before my time if someone didn't awaken the summoning element they would be told they had been adopted by the main family after their own had died in our service. And then they would either be asked to serve as an outer servant to the family or exiled. It was a cruel practice that won't be allowed to continue in my time."

Xavier was horrified by this darkness that infected his family. He'd never thought that it was something that could occur in his family. "Why? Why would they do that?"

His father sighed again. "In the old days after the first Mitchell discovered summoning magic it was considered shameful to be part of his family without access to the summoning element." He looked up at Xavier, "It wasn't just our family. Many of the founding families are the same. If their family in the direct line can't awaken the magic their family's famous for then they're considered as not being part of the family. In certain cases, it's far crueler than what happens in our family. There have been cases when it was thought that the parent not of the family line had been unfaithful. More than one divorce was forced because of it. In the scariest circumstances the 'unfaithful' spouse would simply disappear along with the 'defective' child."

Xavier was horrified at this aspect of the great families. Was there really such darkness in man's heart? His father spoke again. "Don't worry. Like I said it's not a practice that will survive past my rule. Even if you awoke a 'weak' element like the blessing element I still wouldn't allow anyone to disparage my son."

Xavier felt a rush of warmth for his father that he rarely had. "But you said that the space element is an outstanding one, right? So there's no way I'll have a weak element anyway."

His father grimaced at him. "There's one thing you should always keep in mind, Xavier. There's no such thing as a weak element. Only a weak magician." Xavier looked at his father as his father nodded at him. "You'll understand one day. Some of the most difficult battles I've fought have been against magicians who use so called 'weak' elements in unexpected ways."