It’s the day after the ceremony and we’re all gathered outside the church waiting for the head priest to check the results of my brother's awakening. Father and Mother are both looking at me repeatedly throughout our journey here and have been on edge since the Duke left. I'm know he told them about his offer and how it was up to me for where I wanted to go. It seems I’ll have to put them to rest later.

“Brother, do you feel any different now that you’ve awakened?”

“ No exactly the same”

It’s quite strange for humans as soon as we turn 12 the mana core awakens and the churches have devices that can be used to evaluate the potential of people in different forms of mana. Stood once again in front of this white chapel we are just waiting for Head priest Charlie to welcome us.

As if on cue the head priest opens the door to greet us. “Welcome city lord come, we have other practitioners afterall we can only keep the ceremony private for so long” ushering us in he is moving at a speed unfit for such an old man and taking Noah up unto the pillar he placed 1 hand on Noah's head and the other into the stream, the stream glows an even brighter white before changing into more of a blood red colour and then finally back into a white. Removing his hand from the stream the priest is now holding onto a piece of paper that he gives to Noah before ushering him over to us.

A face full of smiles and seemingly eager to get back and practice he shows us all the paper.

base elements

Dark + Atis god of darkness

Fire - Sutren goddess of fire

Wind - Uslena goddess of wind

Earth 0 Dulina goddess of earth

Light 0 Zyrren god of light

Water + Nimir god of water

space 0 Teena goddess of space

time 0 Chrovnir god of time

sub-elements

death 0 ingen goddess of death

plant 0 Muzotl god of plants

blood + Miien god of blood

Lava - Zulos god of lava

poison 0 Xinir god of poison

electric 0 Altar goddess of electricity

psychic 0 Sorsus goddess of psychic

Metal 0 Izotl goddess of metal

ice 0 Segas god of ice

crystal 0 Zitos god of crystal

sound 0 ovien goddess of sound

healing 0 Orra goddess of healing

smoke - Gilios god of smoke

gravity 0 Tiais god of gravity

The paper seemed to show his affinities and the corresponding gods for them, “Father can you explain this to me?”

“Yes while a 0 does mean your affinity isn’t good it doesn’t mean it’s impossible, after all affinities can grow through many methods and 0 is usually between 0% and 33%. - is a minor affinity between 34% and 66% and + is between 67% and 99%. = is a 100% affinity but they are nigh impossible.

Most people have one or 2 base elements above 0. It's great to see that Noah has 4 and 3 sub elements. It is brilliant after all the sub elements are based on the base elements so you usually see less of them. Our moon family specialises in blood magic and it's no surprise to see a strong affinity there, The duke is a family that specialises in Metal magic for example which is derived from earth and fire, like how blood is from water and dark.”

Looking at the smile on their faces I see that my brothers affinities seem quite good, Father doesn’t seem interested in explaining any more and says I’ll have proper lessons when I reach 12 and my affinities are unlocked after all there's no point in teaching me about earth magic if I can’t even use it. After the ceremony my parents were quick to leave but I decided to stay with Rafael.

“ Joseph are you okay?” hearing the concern in her voice I knew it was my mother speaking, turning around I see her standing there in a red dress looking out of place in a church of light, I guess it’s not that odd considering she’s a believer of Miien.

“Does it not feel weird, being in this church even if you're not a believer?”

Piosing to answer my question she looks quite confused before laughing a little bit, “hehehe you’ve got it wrong Joseph I’m a believer in all the gods it is a fact they exist I just put my Faith in Miien and feel the closest with him. In our family Which has a high Blood affinity we are most likely to be rewarded in our faith from Miien as we can feel their blessings more than families with a low Blood affinity. You will one day understand the blessing of Miien, but until then focus on your studies. Come along we have a priest at home who could tell you more than I could anyway.”

Seeing her waiting for me with an outstretched hand I don’t know how to feel anymore, how fitting that I’m born into a family of blood as that's the only thing that truly binds us. Taking her hand I feel her warmth and see the care in her deep red eyes as I’m escorted home by my mother.

Upon arriving back home we’re all ushered into the dining hall where I see the priest Mother was talking about, most children won't remember but I can ,the old man with the yellow pupils, he was dressed the same even though five years have passed and still had the same walking stick with him.

Standing behind him were two people, a knight in blood red armour holding a red bladed spear and a little girl covered with a red cloak that covered most of her features. When the man I can only assume to be the head priest notices us he goes to stand up before his attendant ushers him to keep seated. “Ohh come on, is there any need for such formalities between us? '' But his musings don’t seem to warrant a response from the attendant and he decides to just keep seated.

Father and Mother go up and kneel in front of the man before planting a kiss on the back of his hand, before ushering the rest of us to do the same, getting closer to the man I see that if anything he looks a bit younger and seems to have less wrinkles then I remember, his hair is a light red but that's probably due to a lack of hair not colour, I imagine that this man could have looked like father in his youth.

After the formalities we take a seat at the table and I notice now that my parents are treating this man with even more respect than the duke, I guess this is the power of belief. He introduced himself as head priest Idium a follower of Miien the blood god.

“It's been 5 years since I've seen you Joseph. You might not remember me but I visited you just after you were born.” Speaking like a grandfather he makes comments on how we’ve all changed since his last visit. I guess my parents might see him as a Father figure since we don’t have any grandparents left.

“ Now that Noah has reached 12 I can see he has true potential as a follower of Miien, the high blood affinity speaks wonders of how the true giver of life sees you. It’s nearly time for the shift in world energy the time of dark mana is nearly upon us and under Atis the dark god shall Miien flourish.” met with my confused stare he seems to catch on that I don’t understand, “Well little joseph what it the current calendar year?”

“ it’s currently 969”

“Nearly there it’s 969 of the Chrovnir calendar. Upon reaching 1000 years the calendar will change and it’ll be year 1 of the Atis calendar. With the new millennium comes a shift in the worlds mana as a different base god takes their turn in supplying the world with Their mana, every base god does this and every 9 millennium is a full cycle, currently it’s Chrovnir the god of time and next calendar it’s Atis the god of darkness. It might not seem that much but as the god supplies the world with their mana the users of said mana tend to receive stronger blessings and have a higher affinity. As blood magic is a sub skill under darkness it’s natural that we’re also able to feel Miiens blessing in such a time”

Faced with his radiating religious zelor I’m left a bit confused looking at my parents who are just as enamoured with this as Idium is. I can't help but question the importance of this type of mana but I guess it’s something that I’ll learn about in the future. On the brighter side my siblings don’t seem to be indoctrinated yet so that’s something I’ll have to stop.

“ ahem anyway we’ve enjoyed our dinner here and don’t want to overstay our welcome so We’ll be heading off now, but first I have to introduce Agana to everyone” Ushering the young girl forward and removing her hood I’m able to get a better look at the girl, appearing to be around the same age as my sister she stood relatively tall and had dark green hair and eyes that seemed to match her pale skin. “ Agana is somebody I’ve been tasked with looking after. She's very bright, who knows in the future she might even become a bishop for the cause.”

This seemed to rile up my parents as my mother began to speak, “ Oh wonderful to be in the presence of a future bishop is amazing to have not even served the child any food I feel a bit ashamed.” Only after she says that do I realise that the girl has not even moved once let alone had any food, looking into those dead green eyes sends a shiver down my spine but these religious fanatics have always been on a different level.

“Don’t mind it too much right now. She is undergoing a week fast so she couldn’t have eaten anyway, ok now it’s really time to go. I’ve enjoyed my stay here today and I’ll be back next for your birthday Alice till the next time.”

After saying his peace he finally begins to leave with my family in tow to walk him to his carriage, leaving me alone with my siblings. Looking at them they seem quite distant to our parents' religion which is quite a good thing as I’ve never been the biggest fan of religion anyway.

“Are you two all good?”

Alice is the first to respond with a brisk “yeah never better” while Noah is still sitting there in silence staring into space, “Noah” my words seem to finally rouse him but he still looks like he has a lot on his mind.

“I’m good, just it’s going to be a long day tomorrow”. Seeing the look of acceptance on his face, it finally sinks in that I’m not going to be seeing him that much anymore and he'll only be coming back once every 6 months or so.

“You’ll be back before you know it, don’t worry too much.” After saying my peace I stand up to leave for the study. I had nothing planned but the atmosphere in the room was suffocating. I feel like I should say some words of encouragement before he leaves but will truly take advice from his little brother.

“Noah you want to go to the Jila academy when you're 16, if you manage to impress the duke I imagine he’ll be able to write a letter of recommendation.” Seeing the distant look become more focused I know my words have resonated with him at least a little bit, but there’s no need to push anymore than this. It's better for him to steel himself. We all have to make sacrifices for the future.