Happy Days

In a small farm a small brown-haired boy playfully wrestled with a mole-like being as a tall man worked in a nearby field.

“Kyle, that’s enough playing for now, I need Digby to help me till the fields,” he called out to the struggling duo, a small smile on his sun browned face.

Kyle looked up from his position on the mole’s back his face dropping at his father’s words, “But daaad,” he moaned as the mole chuckled at his put-upon distress.

“Now, now Kyle, you’ve been playing with me all morning, I have to help John now or we’ll have no goods to sell in the village next season,” chastised the mole in a rumbling voice reaching up to pluck the pouting boy from his back with blunt claws.

“Aww, but now I’m going to be bored Digby,” Kyle whined causing his father’s grin to widen as he closed in, crouching next to his son.

Looking into Kyle’s azure eyes he asked him, “Well why don’t you go find your mother then, ask her to tell you a story, she’ll be doing some sewing right now and I’m sure she would appreciate the company.”

Kyle’s mood improved dramatically, and he ran off in the direction of the farmhouse giggling as the two watched on shaking their heads. Kyle’s father ran his hand through his dark hair as he watched his son disappear inside before asking his companion, “Was I ever like that Dig?”

“Heh, we both were when we were his age Jerald,” the oversized mole replied his beady black eyes twinkling with amusement.

“Well at least I’m over it now,” said Kyle’s dad as he turned his attention the untilled field, “Well, we should get started, this field ain’t gonna till itself.”

“Right boss.”

Inside the house a beautiful woman with long hair the same colour as Kyle’s eyes had a torn tunic on the table in front of her, hearing the crashing sound of her energetic son’s entrance she looked up to reveal that her own eyes, while sharing the same hue as her hair, glowed with an internal light.

“Kyle dear, would you please be gentler with the house,” she chastised the small boy as he ran into the room with a wide smile adorning his features.

“Sorry mum,” the boy replied. “Mum could you tell me a story?”

“Very well, what sort of story would you like to hear?”

Kyle frowned as he tried to think of something.

“… Tell me about the world from before again,” he said his eyes shining as he took a seat at the table next to his mother.

Kyle’s mother sighed, she had told him this story many times before, despite the unpleasant nature of the story Kyle always wanted to hear it again.

“Alright dear,” she said putting her sewing needle down and turning towards her son.

“Once upon a time, there was no System, humans lived in huge cities, with towers that stretched to the heavens. One day blue screens started to appear in front of everyone warning of a time when the world as they knew it would end.”

“The people panicked when they realised that they had all seen the same message, but nothing further happened for months and gradually they forgot. A year later the without warning the screens appeared again, and one by one glowing lights formed over the cities.”

Kyle started wriggling, “Mum, you missed the best bit out, what did the new screens say?”

Laughing at his antics she continued, “I was getting there dear, they told of worlds where everything was different, worlds where beings that belonged in fairy tales like elves and dwarves as well as magic and strange wildlife. They also said that their world was being combined with these worlds and the System would give all the inhabitants of the new world it was creating, the ability to fight against monsters that the screens claimed were creating the glowing lights.”

“Following this the screens gave the people a series of choices that allowed them to do many things they had only been able to dream of doing before, by selecting classes that gave them the power to cast spells or the skill to wield weapons. Unfortunately, some people didn’t understand how these things worked and perished when the monsters started to appear from the glowing lights.”

Turning back to her sewing she tried to continue the work she had been doing before she had been interrupted, glancing sideways at her son who was bobbing from side to side looking like he was about to explode, she bit her lip in amusement as he finally asked the question she knew was coming.

“But mum, why did all this happen in the first place?”

“No-one knows for sure dear, but they say the screens said that this was all preparation for some sort of war,” she replied grinning to herself as her fingers deftly pulled the tear that she was working on shut.

“A war? We’ve had wars, haven’t we? Which one was it?”

Kyle’s mother frowned slightly at this line of questioning, before answering the curious boy, “Well, the churches think the war the System was referring to hasn’t come yet.”

“Will I have to fight in the war?”

“I don’t know Kyle, but I sure hope not, now go and find Ai, if you ask nicely she’ll sing for you, I have to finish this, so I can get started on tonight’s dinner,” She replied and quickly changed the subject to distract her son from this unpleasant line of thought.

“Aww, okay,” said the young boy before dashing off to look for Ai.

Ai was his mother’s Soul Companion, a being summoned from a spiritual plane to aid the one they were bound to, like a summoned familiar that a caster might use but more intelligent and useful, the giant mole Digby was also one of these and was bound to Kyles’ father.

Ai had the shape of a bird with blue and green feathers and was currently sleeping on her perch, her head tucked under an emerald feathered wing. She was rather rudely awakened when Kyle burst into the room and nearly fell on her long-plumed tail, “Young man! Do you not know it’s rude to surprise someone when they’re sleeping!?” she squawked unamused by the boy’s antics.

Kyle scuffed his foot on the ground and replied sadly, “Sorry Ai, I didn’t know.”

The look on Ai’s face softened as she stared at the repentant boy, “That’s fine dear, but be more careful next time.”

“Ai could you sing for me please?” Kyle asked in the sweetest voice he could muster, causing the bird-shaped companion to shake as she silently laughed at him before she replied.

“Alright dear sit down and I’ll begin,” she replied.

Kyle obediently sat down, and she began singing a lullaby in her high pure voice and soon Kyle had fallen asleep, as his mother had no doubt planned.

By the time Kyle awakened his mother had almost finished the stew they would be having for dinner that night and his father had returned from the field with Digby with whom Kyle promptly began another wrestling match, his energy levels having been restored by his nap.

After they had finished their stew they started talking about what they had planned for tomorrow.

“So, my boy, it’s time for your own Soul Companion to be summoned tomorrow, maybe then the rest of us will be able to get some rest, wouldn’t that be something huh Emma?” Kyle’s dad laughed as he ruffled his son’s hair.

“Oh, I very much doubt that dear, but it would be nice wouldn’t it,” Kyle’s mother replied as she cleared the plates off the table, Ai flapping over to the sink and filling it with water using her magic.

“Digby it’s your turn to do the dishes,” she called causing him to grumble and plod over to a nearby cabinet where he picked up a small wooden crate to stand on.

“I can’t wait! I wonder what my companion will look like?” Kyle shouted excitedly waving his arms in the air as he started listing the things he wanted as his companion, much to the amusement of his family.

A couple of hours later Emma decided that it was time for Kyle to go to bed, and Kyle dragged his feet as he wandered off to his room.

The following day the family headed off down the road to the nearby village of Farholt, where Kyle would be taking part in the yearly Summoning Ritual like most of the citizens of the country they lived in did when they turned eight years of age.

Kyle held his mother’s hand as they walked into the village, Emma was not very popular in the village due to her unusual features, the main reason for this was headed their way in the form of Denzel, Farholt’s Guard Captain.

“Well, well what do we have here?” Denzel sneered as he approached revealing his unpleasant character, despite appearing to be the proverbial knight in shining armour, it was well known in the village that he had a severe dislike of non-humans and the rare variant humans like Emma.

“The witch has come in to my village, has she?”

Kyles’ hand tightened around his mother’s as the other members of his family bristled at the man’s slur.

“That’s ‘Snowstorm Witch’ to you Captain,” Emma replied as her face turned as cold as ice, befitting the nickname she had once possessed as a high-level Adventurer.

Denzel flinched, he was a mid-levelled Adventurer at best and knew that she was more than powerful enough to defeat him.

“Hey Jerald, Emma, how’ve you guys been doing,” a loud voice sailed down the street towards them, the source was a burly man with thinning brown hair who was walking towards the group with a wide smile on his face.

“Hey Al, we’re all good here,” replied Kyle’s dad seeming to ignore Denzel as he passed him giving the burly man’s hand a firm shake.

Kyle glared at Denzel as his mother pulled him firmly along, the man turning to stare back at him.

“Come on then Thomas is waiting in the church, wouldn’t want to miss the big day now would we Kyle?” Al grinned down at the boy, whose face quickly reverted to its previous excited expression.

“Uhuh!” Kyle nodded, and started to pull his mother towards the church in his eagerness to get started.

“Alright then let’s head to the church,” Al said with a chuckle before continuing in a louder tone of voice for Denzel’s benefit. “Did you know that your parents helped pay for building the church Kyle?”

“Yeah!” Kyle chirped happily. “And they helped pay for your inn too, right?”

“That’s right Kyle,” Al replied with a chuckle shooting a glance at Denzel who flinched away from the larger man’s gaze. “They did.”

Once inside the church, they were greeted by a few of the families that were within, though they weren’t popular in town with most families there were still some that resisted Denzel’s efforts to turn Farholt against them.

Kyle let go of his mother’s hand and walked up to the front of the church under the watchful gaze of those present. Taking his position alongside the other children in front of a large bluish stone altar that was covered in mystical seeming runes, Kyle looked up at an older man who was wearing the robes of a priest and waited impatiently for him to start.

This man was the ‘Thomas’ Al had mentioned earlier and often visited Kyle’s farm to see his parents, as they had been party members in their Adventurer days. When Emma and Jerald had decided to settle down he and Al, deciding they were starting to get too old had followed them to Farholt.

Thomas smiled down at Kyle briefly before turning his attention to the task at hand.

“When the System first appeared in our world and changed everything, people didn’t understand the powers that they were given and many perished to monster and each other as old disputes flared up. One day a man decided to attempt to put limitations on these powers while simultaneously giving us a way to protect us from our selves as well as each other. This practice also allowed us to protect those too young from making foolish decisions that could get them killed before they grew up. This practice has since become popular in many communities even those outside of our own Kingdom”

Thomas stared out over the heads of the children the solemn faces of their families returning his gaze. As one might expect not everyone was pleased about the idea of their children eventually gaining powers and fighting monsters, so eventually someone had come up with a partial solution, sealing their access to these powers until they became old enough to understand them as well as giving them a constant companion that could aid them in their choices as well as help keep them safe.

Thomas had a big role in Farholt, his class System Priest was the only class with access to the school of magic known as ‘Programming,’ which allowed the class to perform healing and other magics much like a normal priest class, but also allowed the user to affect system notifications and unlock access to a Class Stones more advanced functions like the ritual to summon companions.

Raising his hands mystical runes like the ones on the Class Stone appeared before him, as he manipulated them into their correct patterns before activating the spell.

“Summon Soul-bound Companion”

The blue runes in front of Thomas flashed once before disappearing, followed by the runes on the Class Stone itself glowing the same colour as the children reached out their hands towards it.

A rainbow coloured light appeared above the stone before splitting into smaller light, that matched the number of children undergoing the ritual, each one landing in a child’s outstretched hand.

Kyle watched as the orb began to take on a new form, longer and thinner than the previous one, warmth flowing up his arm and coming to rest in his chest as the light slowly solidified into a serpent about as long as his forearm, with silvery scales that shone iridescently in the light cast by the Class Stone, a thin crest of pure white feathers running down it’s back.

The small creature opened its eyes blinking sleepily, before catching Kyles gaze with liquid black eyes, yawning at the boy it opened its mouth and the voice of a small girl issued from its scaled lips.

“To complete the contract, you must give me a name,” she stated seriously, Kyle frowned as he pondered what to call her and eventually came to a decision.

“Fi, your name is Fi,” he breathed his eyes wide as he looked down at her in awe.

“Fi,” she replied trying the name out before nodding her assent. “Yes, that will do nicely.”

The warmth in his chest settled with an almost audible click as she accepted the contract. All around the two other children were completing their own contracts and Thomas walked around the Class Stone to check that all was well.

“Could those of you who have completed their contracts please ask your companions to bring up your status screens please?”

Kyle looked down at Fi who nodded, and a blue screen appeared in the air in front of Kyle.

Statistics

Name: Kyle Fergusson

Race: Aethereal Human

Level: 1

Class: None

HP: 40/40

HP regen: 0.4 p/s

MP: 60/60

MP regen: 1.5 p/s

SP: 30/30

SP regen: 1.5 p/s

Str: 4(4)

Dex: 5(5)

Agi: 5(5)

Con: 4(4)

End: 3(3)

Int: 5(5)

Wis: 3(3)

Will: 3(3)

Exp to next Level: 0%

Unassigned Stat Points: 0

Racial Traits

Fast Learner- Human racial trait that increases the growth rate of skills, awards 1 more Skill point per Level. This trait has been limited due to the presence of a racial variant.

Mana-charged- Racial trait of an Aethereal variant human increases the amount of mana given by the Intelligence stat by two, unlocks Mana Manipulation.

Thomas walked along behind the children checking screens in front of them nodding to himself, it seemed that there were no problems, not that such things were common, but he was still thankful that his class gave him the ability to examine the status sheets of others. Stopping briefly as he checked Kyle’s status he was mildly surprised to find that the boy had inherited his mother’s racial variant but moved on. Once he was done he sent the children back to their parents with a smile on his face, telling them that they would receive their class when they turned fifteen.

Kyle ran up to his family still gently holding Fi in his hands.

“Everyone I’d like you to meet Fi.”