Kyrion and Asela followed their father out of the town and into the forest. Their father would tap his hoe on the ground every ten or so steps. Look around, and then continue forward, looking for something.

“Ok kids first off I have what is called a tool spirit, which is an ability based on an item from this world, it can be anything from a boat to a dinner fork. Some are weapons, others are more practical” Bill lifted his magical hoe.

“Sometimes spirits are genetic. I come from a long line of farmers you see, and the first son or daughter tends to inherit a version of both parent’s abilities. Usually combined. Hence Bill Jr. also has a similar tool to mine.”

“What can it do?” Kyrion asked.

“Plant things faster, fertilize the fields evenly. Cut wheat faster. It can do alot.” Bill said.

“What did he get from mom?” Kyrion asked.

Bill frowned and continued. “From what I know there are 3 ranks of power, Fledgling, Practitioner, and Expert. I am a mid-ranked Spirit Practitioner, which means I should have a lot more raw power than a Fledgling. Right now you barely qualify as hatched chicks in this world. Until reaching rank 3, your control over your power along with its output will be extremely limited.”

“Why?” Kyrion asked.

“Compressing mana lowers the quantity but raises the quality. Past rank three your mana pool returns to its base size.”

“Makes sense.”

“I’m gonna write the rest of my advice down in a notebook, and maybe have Ilanda draw the pictures. Sadly Kyrion, you’re gonna have to teach yourself how to read, we don’t have the time for you to master that skill now. We can only do so much for you, in your current condition.” Bill pulled out his hoe and traveled further into the forest to a clearing where a giant boar was currently munching on some mushrooms.

“Kids, stay back. This creature is called a Gluttonous Boar. It’s an early practitioner rank monster, pretty weak, and a delicacy, if possible, avoid it all together. While the tusks look scary, it’s the whole thing you want to avoid, as the monster’s charge is powerful. Those heavy prints on the ground mark its path.”

Bill ran deeper into the clearing, his hoe angled towards the ground. He brought the tool down on a rock to get its attention.

Clank

The boar, surprised by the sound, attempted to run.

Bill, in turn, swung his hoe into the dirt like he would plow a field. A spike of earth shoots up from the ground, winging the boar on its side, leaving behind a bleeding wound.

The boar turned around and charged, knocking over a few small trees as it made its way towards Bill. Who, in response, struck the ground with his hoe, causing a hand made from earth to shoot up from under the boar.

Which it avoided by rolling to the side. Onto a bed of sharp earthen spikes.

The pig shrieked as it got back to its feet, body riddled with tiny holes. Blood poured out like a fountain, and it could hardly stand. Yet, it had the will to continue fighting.

“It’s over,” Bill said as he struck the ground a third time, and earthen hands wrapped around the boar’s wobbling legs trapping it. He then hit the ground a fourth and final time. A spear of earth rose from the ground, piercing the creature through its snout and past the skull.

Bill pulled out a carving knife and began cleaning up the meat and taking a few choice cuts and the tusk. Bill buried the rest of the boar in the ground.

“The power gained from my rank and spirit give me some control over the earth,and plants along with an enhanced body. “

“What do we do now?” Kyrion asked.

“Now, I want you two to look into yourselves and find your center. Upon doing so imagine pulling it out. Turning the object from imagination into reality.” Bill told them

After a minute of focus, a flame appeared in front of Asela, “I did it!” she said in triumph, then the fire died out. A pout formed on her face as she tried to do it again, but nothing happened. She tried to focus again, and as she did, a crown of flame started to manifest before vanishing completely, as Asela found herself completely drained.

Bill rubbed the stubble on his tan face. “Lots of aptitude in manifesting. Appears to be a tool spirit as well. Kyr, any luck?”

Sweat began to build up on Kyrion’s forehead as he tried to find his power. It was as though there was nothing there. His core, center, or whatever it was couldn’t be found.

He pushed further and found some sort of connection in his lower back, near his spine. The feeling traveled up through his body and up to his head. He felt lines begin to branch out through his body from his head like roots spreading out to every part of himself. And then something hot and wet began to pool on his lips.

“Heed my call, child. We will meet soon. A debt owed is a debt repaid and I will come for it.” Said a melodious voice in Kyrion’s head.

Kyrion woke to some jostling from his father. “Kyrion! Oi wake up. It’s been an hour and it looks like a storm is coming, we need to head back now. I need to have a talk with your mother… It seems to be getting worse.”

“Rain?” Kyrion looked up to a patch of rain clouds headed their way. “Ok.” Kyrion tried to stand up, only to collapse as an unseen strain passed through him.

“Oh boy,” Bill said, looking at his daughter, who gave him the, if he’s not walking back, I’m not either, look. “Looks like I have to carry them both.” Bill brought both of the kids home.

Kyrion awoke in his parent’s room. Both were present and waiting for him as he rubbed his eyes wearily. “Seems I passed out again. Why am I here?”

“I didn’t want to believe it,” Bill said solemnly. “I honestly thought it had to have been a sickness-induced dream.”

“I know the feeling, but I told you it wasn’t a dream!” Cordelia snapped back. With a somewhat irritated expression. “We also don’t have much uptime with him.”

“That’s right.” Bill nods.

“Kyrion. Long story short is, you’re dying.” Cordelia let it set in.

Kyrion’s eyes widened in shock. “What? But I’m not even sick!”

“Yes. You are. I’m sure you wonder why you’re prone to passing out, and why we let you do what you want. Kyrion, since you made it to this point, we can tell you this much. So get comfortable, this will be a long story.” Cordelia waited for Kyrion to sit.

Kyrion pinched himself just to make sure he wasn’t still out. “This is real isn’t it.”

Bill nodes solemnly. “Sadly it is.”

Kyrion fell back on the bed and sighed. “Let me get this straight. I’m so full of mana that it’s killing me from the inside. It has been doing so since I’ve been alive.”

“Correct.” Cordelia said.

“Some beast in the dark offered a magical cure and I need to find it and pay some debt.”

“Also right.”

“And you two decided to keep it a secret. Since it didn’t matter if I knew before getting awakened.”

“Sadly if you didn’t live to this point then it wouldn’t have mattered.” Cordelia said coldly.

Kyrion shivered. “Got it. You could sound sadder. Next you’re going to tell me birds don’t deliver babies.”

Bill looked to his wife in confusion.

“Sometimes they do. This world is weird sometimes.” Cordelia said.

Kyrion bit thumb. “You haven’t lied but I get the feeling you left quite a bit out.”

“You aren’t wrong.” Cordelia said.

“Guess it doesn’t matter then.”

“It does matter, you need to grow if you want to survive.” Bill said.

A light glinted in Kyrion’s right eye. “I will get stronger. I will survive. And I will get the full honest to Imala truth out of the both of you.”

“Make it to expert and you’ll have it.” Cordelia smiled.

“That’s got to be hard. Not even dad’s an expert.” Kyrion said.

“It really isn’t. I just stopped training when Jr. was born. Getting to be an expert is the easy part. Surviving as an expert isn’t. The stronger you get the more things will want to kill you.”

“Yeah yeah.” Cordelia sighed.

“I’m a just go….” Kyrion hopped off the bed and left.

In a flash, the month went by as Kyrion was briefed on noble etiquette and manners. Later in the day, he would go out on monster hunts with his father and Asela.

“Every monster has a weakness, when hunting it’s best to study their movements and mannerisms before attempting a fight. Running headlong at something that could kill you unprepared is asisted suicide.” Bill would remind the two kids over and over again.

Asela managed to learn how to fully manifest her spirit, which appeared to be a tiara made from flame. It was pretty to look at and hot to touch. Asela started doing manifestation drills with our father. He emphasized it as one of the most important things to learn, followed by the defensive abilities that manifest after rank two.

Kyrion, on the other hand, had yet to show anything and had begun just building up his body and stamina. By working on the farm with the more challenging chores. Jr would share some of the good tangerines, and he’d be back up in moments.

“Kids?” Bill approached from behind. “When you can read through these notebooks, they have a few exercises me and your mother used to practice. While your grandpa may be a decent teacher, I haven’t seen him since we came down here and he may still be depressed. His son’s death in the last war shook him. It shook your mother as well to be completely honest. I don’t think she found her way back until you two showed up.”

“Whats that mean?”

“I wanna say thank you for your ten years of peace?”

“Dad? I’m eight.” Kyrion was quite surprised.

“I’m sure you are.” Bill replied.

Curella approached Kyrion and flicked him on the side of his head.

“What was that for?” Kyrion rubbed the forming bruise.

“Payback. Don’t go breaking any hearts little brother.”

“What does that mean?” Kyrion was now confused and now oddly tired.

Illanda approached. “Unc…brother Kyrion! I want a present!”

Samantha sighed. “You have a present to give him.”

“I give present, he gives present.” The four-year-old said.

Kyrion wasn’t informed he had to give her a gift. Balling his hands together, he made a weird and guttural sound. Within moments a squad of eight curious squirrels made their way here.

"Now I want you to work for Illanda. She will be your boss from here on. Protect her and make sure stays out of trouble. Also do the thing I like if you see her crying." Kyrion said

"Bill...Your brother is insane." Samantha whispered

"He's your brother too now," Jr said with a smile.

"Whats the thing?" Illanda asked.

Kyrion snapped his fingers six times to a specific rhythm.

The squirrels did a routine that left all the adults watching speechless.

Illanda clapped her hands.

"Kyrion, does that mean the squirrels that have been defecating in our neighbors water supply was your doing?" Bill questioned.

"So, Illanda whatcha get me?"

Illanda handed the boy a green hair tie to replace his old one.

"I feel cheated." Kyrion muttered.

"Yeah. She's four what did you expect." Jr said.

"More, also Jr. The ones in the red box have been laced with a local laxative. Just so you know."

Jr reflexively grabbed his stomach and walked away.

"Is that true?" Samanta asked.

"Nope. The blue box, actually. I had the feeling someone was going through my stash of nuts." A light glinted in the boy's right eye.

"Goodbye Kyrion." Samantha said, taking Illanda with her.

Asela stood next to Kyrion as they looked at their ride. It wasn't anything elaborate. There were quite a few carts headed out, along with some that were just passing through.

“Well, I did always say I wanted to travel.” Kyrion said.

“Now you get to. Don’t start whining about missing home.” Asela replied.

“That’s my line.” Kyrion placed his and Asela’s bags in the carriage. Before helping Asela into the carriage and then climbing in himself. Neither of them knew this was the last time they would see the village for quite some time. The sun rose that dawn bringing with it the start of a new age.