8!

As Darren continues to called off names, anxiety boiled up inside Lucras. He felt that this wasn't his own anxiety, and just maybe this anxiety came from the ghost. He started to feel worse and worse as the names kept being called. And after some time passed, Lucras decided to finally ask, 'Hey Ava, is the ghost ok? I am feeling so anxious and I don't think it's mine. Also, can you ask the ghost what I should call him as I can't keep calling him ghost…'

There was nothing for a moment before a screen and voice explained, [He looks like he is having a panic attack, and I am currently trying to call him down. I can ask, but I do not know if he will answer right now]

After a brief moment of silence, Ava's voice rang out again, [He currently isn't ready to talk, and he is still in the middle of his panic attack, but I feel like he appreciates your intent to help!]

Around the time Ava's voice stopped ringing in his head, Darren called out "Lucras Tiller!"

Lucras then slowly started to walk up to the stage. As he passed people, he felt excitement at his new opportunities and dread from the freaking out ghost. He loved magic and waited for the opportunity to mess with it and understand it. Around half the people were also filled with the same excited expression he had, while almost all of the others were slightly disappointed, while also being satisfied. As he finally arrived at the stage, he walked up the stone stairs as his excitement overcame the fear he felt in his heart.

Coming up to the orb, he looked in as he could see it better, and it really looked like a void of space. He could almost see the galaxies he would light up would be, all the stars he is destined to achieve. After calming himself down for a second as he took a deep breath, he decided to took command of his fate, and touched the fated orb.

Then the unexpected happened…

Nothing…

Nothing lights up. Nothing happened at all. It seemed to be the same dull space orb as before. Dread started to fill him up, and this time he could finally feel it coming from himself. Thought filled him, 'did I do something wrong? Did I break it? Is it over? Where is the magic!?!' But after a moment of calming down from his chaotic thoughts and looking harder, he finally found those stars that would decide his fate. Looking deeply in there, he found them as they were very faint, and there were….

8…

Feeling like he was seeing things, and wanting to rub his eyes and check again. He looked deeply but a voice filled with disdain coming from Darren rang out that crippled his hopes, "What are you waiting for, a new star? You got an eight so you'll never do anything related to magic! Leave quickly because we have better people with more potential than you to go through today."

Shock filled him before everything came crashing in. The world felt like it was collapsing in front of him as all of his hopes of magic were crush viciously before him. Despair and desperation filled him as he tried to 'wake up' from this nightmare. But it was all true, all infront of him. Tears started to dwell around his eyes as the threatened to drop.

After his shock episode, Lucras raced off the stage. He realized that he probably did not wanting to make the mage mad as he could quickly kill him. He raced back to his family, tears flowing from his eyes, as the cruel reality set in that he would never get to experience magic. Sadness echoed out from him as he would never get to explore this world, never get to go on grand adventures, and never get to understand this magic that fascinated him in his old world. He would never get to experience so much that he planned, that caused him to poor liquid from his eyes.

Dashing though the crowd, he felt the disgusted eyes of others as they moved away from him. While some looked with pity mixed in, no one seemed to want to be associated with him. Everything crumbled apart as Lucras desperately ran toward his family. To seek some comfort in this hell, this unimaginable pain that he felt inside of him.

Finally, as he reached his family, he looked towards his mother and saw an expression of sadness, as she looked as if she blamed herself for the experience of her son. Lucras quickly jumped and hugged his mother as tears streamed down his face. He quietly let out all of his sadness from his inability to go see the workings of magic and the loss of his old world. The emotional shock he had been holding onto when he was transported here finally broke through his mental barrier, and more tears poured out of his reddened eyes.

As he cried, he felt a mass hug from behind. After an emotional moment, he realized his sister was hugging him, trying to comfort her older brother. When he looked back, he saw a serious expression that made her look like she was on a mission. Her little voice rang out in his head, "Don't worry Lucras, I will be a good little sister and protect the family as you had. I will work to be the strongest so that you can be safe and happy."

With tears about to run out, he replied, "Don't worry, I am happy if you are safe and happy." He straightened himself up and continued "Let's head home; I am fine. Magic is stupid anyway and I don't need it."

The mother heard his words and seemed to feel better about the circumstances, and quickly brought her two children home. When they reached home, Lucras decided to ran up to his room to get some quiet time. He called out to his system, 'What happened? How am I meant to have an amazing adventure without any magic? If you are some great system then how could I not have some sort of magic?'

A blue screen just appeared before him without a voice, as it read, [Your current body is damaged, so you currently can't access magic. And no, you can have an amazing adventure even without magic; you'll just have to find it. Third, I am a great "thing", its just you don't appreciate what I have given you…]

Anger vanished before him, as he vented, 'I wish I could come in there and fight you'

…

After going onto his bed, Lucras began to think about what to do next without magic, as he decided not to get cry over spilled milk. But downstairs his mom and Alexa began discussing things.

"Your brother seemed distressed," Hazel said, almost absent minded. Scenes seem to flash before her eyes reminding her of a painful experience.

Alexa replied, with some sorrow in her voice, "Don't worry mom, even if Lucras can't use magic, he can always go adventuring… We already knew this might happen right?"

Hazel sighed. A full memory flashed before her eyes again as it all came together. Smoke running out of the house, a flash of blue light coming from inside of the house, her son running out of the house with his sister in arms and immediately passing out. Her daughter telling a tale of her brother saving her with glowing arms and flying symboles, at the age of 9. She didn't believe Alexa at first, because no one should be able to use magic at that young age. But after the house fire was put out by the local water mage, she went inside and found traces of magic inside of Alexa's room, more specifically ice magic. Even after she lost her magic in the war, she could always feel remaining magic and it's type. But a higher tier magic coming from an underdeveloped body is just impossible to make sense of in her mind.

But it happened. Right in front of her. After checking Lucras body more in depth she found that unlike how he originally was absorbing lots of natural mana as kids normally do, he was now absorbing maybe an eighth of the original amount. She never told her son what she found out, but decided to call in some favors she had to get her son healed. It did help him recover faster, but he never absorbed the healthy amount of mana from the environment again.

That didn't seem to stop him from being cheerful as he continued to grow up, though he was a lot weaker than the others and a lot paler. And even though he looked sickly, but he never showed it on his face. It made her forget about what happened in the past because 'if he is happy then why am I sad, I should join him and be happy with him'.

That was until today, when the mother and sister pair saw those 8 small dim stars, and remembered what had happened 5 years previous. They realized that those events were linked and he saved them by hurting himself permanently. He wasted his future for there present which rocked there cores.