POV: Reynolds Leywin

  I didn't know what I'd do if little Art never awakened as a mage. I didn’t care how long it took—if he could train to become any kind of mage, I knew I would be a proud and happy father.

  It was easy to tell what type of mage someone would be when they awakened: While augmenters and conjurers both form a translucent barrier, the mana behaves differently around them during that time. Augmenters, when they first awaken, form a sort of pushing force around the barrier, signifying dominant mana channels in the body. Conjurers form a vacuum of mana, showing their mana veins are stronger.

  Not to brag, but when I first awakened—at the early age of twelve—I was sleeping, and the pushing force made me float for a good couple of minutes. Enough force to lift a human body—imagine that!

  Alice and I were standing in the front yard after dinner, talking about training pns for Arthur. If he ended up a conjurer, I figured we could get a tutor from town, since neither of us are much good at that.

  Then, BOOM.

  The explosion shattered the calm. My ears rang, and I immediately threw Alice behind me and shielded her with a conjured dome of mana.

  "ARTHUR!!"

  She screamed, pale with terror.

  I barreled through the yard, mana coating my skin, eyes scanning through debris and dust. Our home was half gone—reduced to scorched wreckage. The ground trembled beneath me as I neared the source of the bst.

  There he was—Arthur, suspended in the air, surrounded by a faint translucent sphere. Mana pulsed outward from him like a heartbeat, a clear sign: an augmenter. The force had leveled most of the house.

  But he was smiling, unscathed.

  My legs gave out beneath me. I dropped to my knees and stared at the floating boy who was my son.

  My baby had awakened.

  Only three years old.

  Behind me, Alice gasped, running forward with shaking hands. “Arthur! Oh my God—Arthur!”

  But then, something else caught my eye. A second ripple, subtler. Another sphere—half-obscured behind the smoldering remains of the nursery door.

  A second boy.

  POV: Aldric Leywin

  The world cracked open.

  That was how it felt when mana surged into me—not gentle, not calm, but like a flood tearing through old stone. My core, once inert, now pulsed in my chest, cold and burning all at once. A dark shimmer spread around me, a faint outline of power.

  I had awakened.

  But with that came something else. The curse.

  It rose like smoke curling from a dying fire. It had slept within me, dormant, like a coiled beast. And now, with the birth of mana, it stirred—hungry.

  I gasped as my hands trembled. I could feel it rising up my arms, licking at my skin from the inside. It wasn’t visible—yet—but I knew it. That rot. That ruin.

  The grass beneath me shriveled where my fingers brushed it.

  No—no, not again.

  But then… mana. That new flow within me. I reached for it instinctively, willing it not outward but inward. Toward the curse. Not to feed it, but to stop it.

  Like ice pressing down on fire, my mana flowed into the wrongness, and it recoiled. It didn’t vanish—but it paused, snarling silently, driven back into the corners of my being. It cost me. The drain was immediate, my new core flickering with the effort.

  But it worked.

  My heart pounded so loudly I could barely hear the shouting outside. Arthur’s awakening—of course. His had come first. Everyone had run to him. I stared through the haze at the ruined wall, at the shadow of my family.

  “By the gods…” I heard my father’s voice crack. “Alice… Aldric too…”

  I didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t even cry. All I could feel was that looming presence, buried now, smothered—for the moment.

  POV: Arthur Leywin

  Wow, I feel great!

  Feeling refreshed at my breakthrough, I closed my eyes to sense my newly formed mana core. My sweet little mana core!

  “ART! OH MY BABY! Are you okay?”

  I turned to see my mother rushing toward me, with Father stumbling up behind her. Mom swept me up, clutching me with that iron grip she always used when worried.

  “Mom! No cry. What’s wrong?” I squeaked.

  She didn't answer, just sobbed harder, pressing her cheek against my hair.

  My dad finally caught up, patting her shoulder and tousling my hair.

  “You awakened,” he whispered, trying to keep his voice steady. “You did it, Art.”

  I blinked, still not fully processing. My gaze swept around. Half the house was gone, but it didn’t feel like a loss. It felt like a beginning.

  Then Father’s expression changed, eyes shifting past me, back toward the nursery.

  He stood slowly. “Alice... Aldric.”

  I turned, confused.

  There, huddled by the nursery’s cracked threshold, Aldric sat in the grass—twin mana barrier barely flickering. His face was pale, eyes wide, arms pulled tight against his chest.

  Mom cpped a hand to her mouth. “Aldric? Oh my baby…”

  She ran to him next, trying to lift him, but he flinched at her touch, his little fingers curling into trembling fists. I saw it too—where his hand had rested, the grass was dead. Just a patch. Small.

  Dad knelt beside them, brow furrowed. He didn’t say what I knew he wanted to: ‘Why didn’t we see this before?’

  Instead, he smiled. “Both our boys… both awakened.”

  Aldric didn’t speak. He just stared ahead, eyes unfocused.

  “Don’t worry,” Dad said, gncing back at me. “We’ll clean this up.”

  POV: Aldric Leywin

  Their hands felt warm. Gentle.

  But I couldn’t trust it.

  The curse hadn’t gone—it was hiding, waiting. And I could feel how easily it could surge again. How fragile the mana barrier was. It took all my effort just to keep it suppressed, even now. I couldn’t touch them—not without risking it escaping.

  My fingers twitched in my p. I focused inward, on my new mana core. It was bck, dim and misty, but it was there. And more than that—it gave me control. Not victory. Not peace. But enough to resist.

  As long as I fed it mana.

  How long could I keep that up?

  I didn’t know.

  I didn’t tell them. Not that night, or the next.

  Arthur slept easily, dreaming of new adventures. But I y awake, hands clenched, body cold with sweat, feeling the rot at the edge of every heartbeat.

  But I also felt a sense of accomplishment and joy, I could finally suppress the curse on my own.