Chapter 2 - A Journal of Emotions

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'Hi' - Thinking

"Hi" - Talking

(Hi) - Author Talking

Entry 1 - Date - New Sun Cycle 457, 2nd Winter Month, 11th Day (January 11th)

It's been five days since my fifteenth birthday, Haulgan (Haul-Gin) and I managed to convince Rhys to join the war.

It's been quite a long ride since the two of us first met, not even months after first obtaining my injury I met him in the forest, his injured body no different from my own.

At first he was scared, doing his best to get away from me, but a couple snowberries did the trick. Apparently he too was alone so Rhys allowed me to take him in, ever since then we've done our best to get stronger to go out and fight the good fight.

I even managed to pick up magic over the past couple years, apparently during my fight with him my emotions managed to grow to much and I unlocked my magic in the same instance I went to swing.

It wasn't the most pleasant experience, well it was quite horrible, sometimes the pain comes back and I can't sleep because of it... BUT, some good did come from it, our town blacksmith took an interest in the remnants of the after mouth, apparently my body subconsciously retracted some magic since I didn't want to hurt Rhys.

Since my body managed to retract some the weapon survived somewhat, specifically the handle and many wood pieces, because of this Graldor (Guh-Raw-L-Der) managed to repair the weapon and attach a proper blade to the end of it, the extra wood being made into a scabbard.

Though I'm not the biggest fan of Katana's it's what he was able to make with the remnants, maybe one day I'll have it remade into a Longsword. 

Another benefit of the sword is that due to my magic causing it to shatter it was also doused into it, making it know my mana, because of this the handle can act as an Arcane Focus, though I do need to be careful since a strong enough spell, or enough sporadic mana could shatter the blade.

I even named the blade too, I've decided to all it Severance, a bit of an odd name but not only does it fit my name but it's also supposed to represent my ability to severe my fate, Rhys had called it cute, I smacked him with the scabbard.

Entry 5 - Date - New Sun Cycle 457, 3rd Winter Month, 27th Day (February 27th)

I just realized I never explained why I started journaling, I wanted to detail my time going out and fighting the war, Faran had recommended it to clear my though, he said sometimes it might be good to look back on the fun times, times when it was simpler.

Although I didn't completely understand it immediately I'm assuming he's just worrying since I'll be fighting out there and worries for my mental health, honestly he should be worrying for his own health, he needs to recover fast.

Entry 6 - Date - New Sun Cycle 457, 1st Spring Month, 3rd Day (March 3rd)

Today's the day, our mission is to go out and scout the nearby lawless land, or no man's land. As we're a neutral territory fights that we joined would consider us a third unaffiliated party, making any battlefields that we join an open arena basically.

South-West of our town an open area with so much destruction that apparently the snow only cover's a fourth of the field, honestly I sorta doubt it, Rhys has a habit of overexaggerating things.

But I think I'm ready, I've only ever taken a life once so I can't say how well I will do in that department. Honestly the whole situation shook me up, a small group had started hunting in our lands and attempted to attack me, Rhys said they where affiliated with one of the two enemy group's.

He believes they're from Whitalia (Wit-All-E-Uh), a rather large city from our neighboring country of Tverin (Tuh-Ver-In). Faran tried saying they were from Vorier (Vore-E-Air), they proceeded to argue, we never did find out where they were from.

Anyways, recently I managed to cast my first non-verbal fireball, well it was more firespark than anything. After gaining the ability to use magic, at least my body actually gaining some control over it, I was introduced to a couple children's books going over magic.

Sadly due to living out here in the wild artic forest we can't get our hands on proper books, but thankfully a couple people in our town know some magic, Effemy, our resident alchemist, has been a huge help in teaching me.

Magic and all other forms of energy usage, including things like Ki and Aura follow what Effemy and my books refer to as a Foundational System, all energy is unique and can be molded in a multitude of ways.

Take magic for example, the core three ways of activating or using magic are spoken, hand movements, and spell circles. Like fireball, I can say the word fireball in either my own tongue giving the normal buff or use it in the runic tongue the book and Effemy gave me increasing it a lot more than normal.

Then there's hand signs, by getting faster, raising my precision, and having a better fundamental of the spell I can quicken the casting, and even lowering the hand sign usage.

Lastly there are spell circles or formations, by forming a magical circle with the proper composition, writing, and lettering a spell is produced. By increasing your understanding with the spell you can increase the speed at which you can create the circle and increase the effects of the spell, you can also multi-layer it increasing it's effects further.

A huge part in all spell, or just energy in general, is understanding, this is why it was named the Foundational System. One's understanding of a spell differs among everyone and not everyone forms spell circles the exact same.

Take fireball for example, one might form the spell circle runic writing well another might you chemistry, another alchemy, a fourth mathematics. This works for verbal usage too, speaking the word fireball in a different tongue won't alter it's effectiveness unless you truly understand, excluding runic languages but that's because it's considered a higher tongue.

I've personally been having a hard time choosing a foundation for myself, I was originally gonna go with Effemy's own personal style of alchemy but I decided against it since I'm not all that into alchemy.

Another idea I had was to try using my swordsmanship and somehow creating that into a foundation, until I decide my own personal foundation I've stuck to keeping my mind open to choice, kind of like how I've been learning several weapons all my life, just makes it all easier.

I've just now realized that I've been ranting about magic, maybe I should ask Rhys to get me a magic journal to separate my notes, we'll see, anyways until next time I should probably focus on preparing myself for the mission anyway.

Entry 13 - Date - New Sun Cycle 457, 3rd Spring Month, 7th Day (May 7th)

[The continuing text's lettering is shaky]

I still hear them, they've been getting louder every night, every time I try to close my eyes.

Their faces a constant reminder, I knew it would be tough but why fucking why.

I was fine with killing those who knew what they were doing, those who could make their own choice to fight back, those who I could look at and say 'Hey that guy made his choice, he chose to fight us'.

It was so much easier when I can just look at them like animals, beast, those just fighting and those who I could say were in the wrong.

But why FUCKING WHY CHILDREN, why god whywhywhy 

[The page following the past text]

Entry 56 - Date - New Sun Cycle 457, 3rd Summer Month, 26th Day (May 7th)

It's been getting quiet recently, our group recently finished taking down another group. Gisli was badly injured in the process, everyone else only came out with scraped here and there.

This time the group had a couple who could almost be called adults, maybe it's different out there.

To be honest I'm not even supposed to be out here on the field, but it's war time and I was considered skilled and competent enough, maybe Rhys' status as one of the strongest here helped out in the decision.

That's how our town been for a long time now, the skilled can go out and fight no matter the age. But to take on something serious they must be competent.

This war has been going on for quite some time now, Haulgan has been getting antsy but he's been doing good watching over the group while everyone sleeps, he's been resting as we travel.

Currently we're resting on the outskirts of lawless land, Rhys was wrong, there was only a tenth of snow, everything else is blood and bodies.

We're near some old church, abandoned, but we're not going to touch it incase it's trapped, why else would a church be out in the middle of nowhere, especially near our town, none of us recall our town being so religious we'd build a random church in an area by itself.

"You should sleep", staring up from my journal my gaze meets Rhys' eyes, a tired look weighing on them.

"I will in a bit", closing my journal I turn towards the campfire, looking to my right I notice Gisli leaving his tent, "how's your arm doing?"

The Half-Orc takes a seat on one of the nearby logs, grabbing a bowl of soup from the cooking pot. "My shooting arm will be fine, just gotta rest for a bit".

"Don't ignore me Ache, you didn't escape the fight unscathed either, it's my duty-"

"I'm a kid anymore, 15 or not I've got more blood on my hands then some fighters from home can say they've got." My words come out harsher then I intended, but from his gaze I can tell he knows that.

Standing from my seat I grab my bag and Severance before heading towards the forest, "I'm gonna do a perimeter check".

"Acheron! God damnit", burying his face into his hands the older man let's out a long sigh.

"Give him time Rhys, he's just as stressed and tired as the rest of us, if not more. Plus he's got burden of trying to keep up with us".

"He shouldn't have too! I tell him all the time that he's doing perfectly fine and he's not holding us back", a frustrated sigh escapes his lips.

"That doesn't stop him from feeling that way, you know things aren't ever that easy when it comes to teenage emotions, remember when you almost burnt down Marie's inn because you tried fighti-"

"DON'T YOU ST-", He pauses for a moment before sighing, "yes I remember". He goes to take a seat by the Half-Orc but before he can get lectured he quickly stands up the sound of someone yelling taking his and many others in the nearby vicinities attention.

"RHYS RHYS!", a women comes running towards the camp from the nearby forest, a second sound coming from deeper within, a crow cawing as it circles a young boy, his once black hair now stripped with an almost snow like white color.

"I now Haulgan, you don't need to remind me, I know Rhys cares but still I can't help it. Sometimes he just treats me like a kid too much. ---- You don't need to get so angry with me, it doesn't matter if I'm fifteen I'm far more mature than most adults, ---- Don't give me that tone you little-", the boy quickly crouches down, a crow swooping over his head.

"Don't attack me! What's gotten into you?", a voice of confusion can be heard being followed by a sigh, raising his arm the crow lands on it before moving up to his shoulder and nudging him.

"You don't need to tell me twice, let me finish my sweep then we'll do a bit of training.

The two stay there for a while, the crow of reason attacking him and pulling pit maneuvers in attempt to throw him off balance, no magic being used to make it fair.

"Staying out of reach the entire time is EXTREMELY unfair you know", a gaze pierces the avian as it caws at him, before throwing a branch at him with it's mouth.

"Why you little-"

"Acheron", a soft voice comes out from behind him, his body turning to meet his godfathers. A look telling him something important has happened.

"Rhys? Is something wrong", despite his previous complaints and frustration he quickly throws it aside, a weird creeping feeling crawling up his back.

Raising his right hand he hands over a letter, taking the boy starts reading it, his eyes widening with shock.

"You mean-?"

"Yes Acheron, the war... it's over"

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