Chapter 03 – Aslan

Taham told me that I earned my ticket to Mehn Academy. He will refer me to academy as a candidate. Even though Taham was elder of our village, he was influential all over the kingdom. Nevertheless, he was the elder of the motherland. The original village establish by Kali. I was told that wolf’s corps could be buried or burned. I choose neither. I wanted it to be cleaned and stuffed to be kept. I asked my mother for that and she told me it is not a good omen but I insisted and she did as I told her. Until the summer I was more or less free. I was reading a lot. Basic mana manipulation, history, mathematics, philosophy and anything that I could get my hands on. Even the water would rot if it was kept in same place for a long time. A person who thought that he reached his peak would not improve but self-destruct. I was thirsty for knowledge. As I knew more, I felt I know less as there was more to learn and grasp and less time to apply the knowledge on practical life. My greatest challenge was time. You could not stop it, or manipulate it. Life is a race against time. Use of time or its management was my first and foremost trial.

I was not an outgoing kid. I would always prefer to listen and if my opinion was asked I would try to express myself in few words as possible. Few times, I tried to talk in depth to my mother about what I feel like who I am and what I want to do, I saw the expression in her eyes and let it go. She looked at me as she would always looked at my father. I reckon she thought I resemble him. I hated the idea. So I stopped conversing with her.

third week of summer: 15 year old girl called Mariette won the tournament. It was her and me who would be sent to Mehn academy and would not pay a penny for our education over there. There were rich traders, elders of villages, amirs of provinces and their viziers who could afford to send their kids to Mehn and most of the time they did to show off them as valuable “assets” of kind in the future. I get to know that Dar brought to land together but messed up our tribal values. Dignity, pride and way of warrior was getting lost as time passed. Regardless, peace and stability was upon us. Beast men of the north and demons of the south have not attacked us in a long time. Warriors were getting used to peace.

Peace and stability had its positive sides to it too. You could buy fish and caviar in our village likewise in Mehn they could buy magical healing herbs from our village. Trade was booming. I did not like the idea but I was not against it either like my father. You had to adapt to current situation to afford the best. As members of Kali tribe we were exempt from most of the taxes. It was a great advantage. That’s why most of the big time traders were from our tribe, but who have moved to different parts of the kingdom and established their business. My father was dreaming about the past, while my mother wanted to live in the present. I, in contrast, wanted to strive to future that should be molded with my hands and brains.

My father’s skin color was a bit dark. My mother’s was very bright. Both of them had black hair and black eyes. My sister took after my father. Dark skinned girl, with big black eyes and white teeth. She was beautiful. More than 5 prominent families of our kingdom had sent their son’s and lots of dowry to ask her hand in marriage from my father. Normally, parents were the ones who approved the marriage. In our case, the useless father let us do to whatever we want (and by God, mom was going crazy because of his decision). My sister had refused everyone. Once she told me she would marry the one who she would fell in love with. I smiled and nodded. My skin color is brownish. As I grew up I looked more and more like my father. After the wolf thing, I began to run few kilometers a day. I knew that the next time if I met something that endangers my life I won’t be as lucky as that day. I talked to my mom about my interest in magic. She told me that she would speak with village shaman and if I was eligible she would initiate the process for mana acquisition and manipulation and teach me few basic spells of fire or water. She had mana affiliated of fire and water. Quite a few magicians had more than one affiliated element. It’s just she gave up everything for my father. He did not live up to her expectations. Life is cruel.

The next day, we went to shaman’s hut. Shaman was more like a religious figure rather than magician. Her name was Hitomi. I never saw her face as she was covered in robe and would not show her face to anybody. But she had those beautiful blue eyes. They mesmerized me. Same night my mother brought me to her hut again. It was located in rear end of the village facing the big mountains. I was told to stay calm through the process so that not to hurt myself or go crazy. She told me it is easy when you let go of everything and let the nature show you the pass rather than pushing for the answer. I listened to her carefully. She told me after the process ended, I would either awaken the mana deposit within me(if there was any at all) or have the ability to acquire the mana surrounding me that existed in nature(it was the hard way, as I have read about them in my free time). She brought up a glass of a drink. I was supposed to drink it facing towards the mountains sitting in lotus position. I drank it in one go. Closed my eyes and began to chant prayers. I would call upon the nature to show me the pass.

Firstly, there was something that was burning inside me, as if blood was rushing all over my body much faster than it was supposed to. I got used to it. I did let go of everything. I began to lose myself. It felt as if I had no legs or arms or abdomen or head. It was like some kind of out of body experience. Everything became dark. Darkness all around me. I forgot the prayers, I stopped even trying to remember them. Submitting to the situation and waiting was the only choice.

A voice. I heard it.

[Me]: Who is it?

[-]: You are going crazy my friend.

[Me]: You are the one talking and responded to my question.

[-]: Am I?

[Me]: Who are you?

[-]: I am Aslan.

[Me]: We have same names.

[Aslan]: Why are you here?

[Me]: I want Mother Nature to show me the way.

[Aslan]: Does my voice sounds like Mother Nature talking to you?

[Me]: I am lost?

[Aslan]: Where did you expect to be?

[Me]: Hitomi told me... [I was stopped]

[Aslan]: Cut the crap! Hitomi this, Hitomi that. The only useful thing what she did all this time was giving you the drink.

[Me]: You know about the drink?

[Aslan]: We did drink it, didn’t we? Listen, I will let you see but choice is up to you. You will never ever see me or hear from me again. Good luck and do not die.

And it happened. Lights popped out of everywhere. They looked like stars of the sky. A beautiful sight to see. I was engulfed in pleasure, overwhelmed at beauty. I was floating in the darkness and they were surrounding me. Stars began to fade away slowly. It was dark again. I began to open my eyes.

P.S: If you guys could comment on what should I elaborate on more and which parts should I pass by less would be awesome. By the way, I'm sorry for my bad English. Do not expect more than this.

P.P.S: Right now and for the next few chapters, you readers should take it as introduction. We will move up story, go into details about MC and other characters as story goes by. I'm planning a crazy twist so just keep up reading.

Next: Chapter 04 - Challenger?