Thanks to some good luck, Lucas found himself enjoying a delicious steak along with Fay and her parents. Fay was ecstatic when she found out that her father had made her favorite meal, and Lucas could see why after trying a bite. The steaks were delicious, perfectly cooked and shockingly tender. It wasn’t hard for him to understand just why Fay had been so eager to get back home with a meal like that waiting for her.

  Midway through the meal, Fay’s mother tried to start up a bit of conversation once Lucas and Fay had been given a chance to eat some food. Magnus had stepped out of the room to make some more steaks, since they’d originally only been eating for two.

  “So, you’re really a new blood, Lucas? Your family never said anything about magic to you?”

  ‘New blood’. Again, Lucas heard that term used to describe him. He had a rough idea what it meant, but he wasn’t sure.

  “I don’t think my family had any sort of magic at all. My parents were totally normal, and my grandparents died years ago. They never said anything about magic either,” He replied. “Also, you keep calling me a ‘new blood’, but what does that mean?”

  Fay looked embarrassed when she realized she’d never explained the term to him, and Lissa looked a little surprised before coming to the same realization.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I guess you wouldn’t know what that meant if you didn’t grow up around here,” Lissa apologized. “’New blood’ is a term that we tend to use for people who awaken magic without any signs of having magic in their bloodline. It’s not meant as an insult, if that was what you were worried about.”

  “Fay told me that it’s not common for this to happen,” Lucas replied.

  “The truth is a bit rougher than that,” Magnus cut in as he came back into the room, carrying a plate with a few more steaks for the group to enjoy. Fay immediately snagged one for herself.

  Lucas silently chuckled as he watched Dusk licking her chops, her nose twitching from the delicious smelling meat. When she tried to grab at one of the steaks he had to push her back down to keep the greedy fox from stealing part of the meal. The pouty little huff and glare that he got in return from the fox almost distracted him from the conversation going on at the table. Almost.

  “It’s common for new bloods to be found. But the truth is, we have no idea how rare it actually is. Fay told me about how she found you. It was lucky that she managed to save you when she did. Unfortunately, we don't know how many other people awaken their magic as new bloods and come through a Mirror only to face similar danger with no one to save them. Most new bloods that are talked about are those that got lucky and stumbled through Mirrors connected to towns.”

  The mood at the table shifted as the darker topic was breached. People new to magic could be incredibly rare, or it could have been something far more common, and most didn't survive. It was a horrifying thought.

  “Magnus, that really isn't something to talk about during dinner. Can we leave that be for now?” Lissa asked gently. Lucas agreed. The last thing he wanted to think about at that moment was the potential fates of other new bloods, especially while he was eating.

  Magnus, thankfully, realized how the mood at the table had shifted. Lucas wasn't the only one who looked uncomfortable, as his expression was closely mirrored by Fay.

  “Sorry about that, kids,” He apologized.

  “It's fine, dad,” Fay replied quietly.

  With everyone distracted, Dusk took the chance and snagged a whole steak for herself, the fox managing to go unnoticed as she ducked under the table to enjoy her stolen treat. Lucas lunged and tried to grab the sly little fox but she managed to get out of his reach before he could grab her.

  “Leave her be,” Lissa laughed softly. “We can make some more and she seems hungry.”

  Happy to have the previous subject forgotten, Fay moved the conversation to lighter topics . “By the way, were you ever able to figure out what was going wrong with your project?”

  Whatever project that Fay mentioned got the older man to visibly perk up.

  “I did! Flint and I managed to figure it out yesterday. The problem was the heat. We had the forge running a bit too hot and we left the metal in for a bit too long. It caused the blade to crack each time. We dropped the temperature and kept it in just long enough for the metal to get red hot. It worked perfectly after that.”

  That got Lucas’ attention as well. “You use a forge? Are you some kind of blacksmith?”

  Magnus went to say something before Fay cut in and interrupted him.

  “Dad is the best blacksmith on the whole east coast!”

  Magnus just chuckled and waved off his daughter's boasting. “I'm pretty good, but there's definitely people a lot better than me. I'm just putting my affinities to good use. But yes, I work as one of the town's local blacksmiths. My wife and I run a shop together.”

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  Looking towards Lissa, the older blonde smiled and nodded her head.

  “Magnus is the blacksmith and I'm the enchanter. Together, we make a pretty good pair and sell a large variety of things to people in and out of town,” She explained.

  “Like the map? And the compass?” Lucas asked.

  “Yes, though those were special little gifts for Fay. If you ever need something made by one of us, I'm sure we can help you out,” The woman replied.

  Lucas saw one major flaw with that idea. “But I don't have any money. I won't be able to pay you back.”

  “Don't worry about that, Lucas. We can occasionally find some small jobs or tasks that you could help us out with to make it up to us. We wouldn’t have accepted your money, anyway.”

  It was a sweet gesture from Magnus, but one that Lucas knew he wouldn't take advantage of if he could help it.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Dinner passed slowly, and Lucas happily took the chance to chat with Fay and her family over a delicious meal. He even found out why Fay had been out on her hunting trip in the first place.

  “So you go out on trips like that just to earn some spare change?” Lucas asked.

  “Yup. I know how to hunt them and the butcher’s shop pays me if the meat is fresh. And thanks to my magic I can get it back to town real quick,” Fay replied.

  “It also helps to keep the population from becoming too large and causing issues,” Magnus had chimed in.

  He'd been surprised to find out that Direwolf meat apparently sold well to the town's local butcher, and the pelt could easily be made into clothing that Fay's mother could enchant. He also learned that the woman was a skilled seamstress as well from that conversation.

  Dinner ended with an utterly delicious blueberry pie that Lissa had made. The dessert was amazing, one of the best that Lucas had ever tasted.

  Lucas had heaped praises onto the woman for the delicious treat, which she took in stride and thanked him for his many compliments. As it turned out, food made with ingredients grown in a world full of magic tasted even better than what he was used to. Just like how magic had infused the animals and trees that Lucas had seen, it also could enhance crops and plants as well.

  As Lissa gathered up the plates and took them to the kitchen to clean up, Magnus looked between the two teens.

  “You two should probably head to bed. Looks like dinner ran a bit late,” He suggested.

  But Lucas was confused. As he glanced outside, it didn’t even look dark out to the young man. The sun had been starting to set when they’d gotten to Fay’s house. Dinner couldn’t have taken that long if it wasn’t even fully dark out, yet.

  Fay and her father both gave Lucas confused looks in return, glancing from him and towards the window he looked out of.

  “Lucas, it’s pitch-black outside. I’m pretty sure nothing in town is going to be open at this point,” Fay pointed out.

  “What are you guys talking about? It doesn’t even look that dark out,” Lucas argued. To him, the world outside just looked a bit dimmer and greyer, but he could still easily see the house across the street from Fay’s home.

  Magnus was silent for a few seconds before muttering something under his breath. “Lucas. You said you just got your magic a few days ago?”

  “Yeah. Like three days ago. Why does that matter?”

  “Well, if I’m right, I think that one of your affinities might be giving you a form of night vision. It’s completely pitch-black outside, Lucas. It’s almost midnight, actually. The only way you can possibly see anything out there is if your magic is helping.”

  “But, dad,” Fay jumped in. “It’s only been a few days. It took a week before my Speed magic started to affect me.”

  “Usually, yes,” The man replied. “But sometimes, a person can have a much stronger connection to their affinities. And the passive effects of the affinity can kick in a bit sooner.”

  “Wait, wait, wait. What does this all even mean?” Lucas asked, looking from father to daughter.

  Magnus was the one to explain things further. “I’m pretty sure that one of your magical affinities is directed towards something based around the night or the dark. I knew an old friend who had a Hunting affinity that let him see in the dark too. But the big thing is that this isn’t anything bad or worrying. If anything, it means you might get a grasp on your magic a bit easier.”

  “So… I can’t find it out tonight?” He asked.

  Magnus just laughed. “Kid, it’s almost midnight. Let’s wait until people are actually awake to get your affinities figured out. Come on, I’ll show you to the spare room. We can lend you some clothes for a bit that you can sleep in, though they might be loose.”

  “But-“

  “Lucas,” Magnus gently laid a hand on the young man’s shoulder. “It’s late, and you should get some sleep. Wash up and get some rest. In the morning, you can write that letter to your family and we can get it on its way when we go to bring you by the guild tomorrow. The guild’s resonance stone will still be there by morning.”

  The man’s gentle tone and sound logic pretty much took the rest of the fight out of Lucas. Sleeping on soft grass and mossy logs hadn’t really made for very enjoyable nights of sleep, and the idea of sleeping on an actual bed again sounded really good. With how hard Fay had pushed him to get back to Helstrum, his body definitely felt sore and needed the time to recover.

  Eventually, Lucas caved.

  “Alright.”

  “Good. Now come on, I’ll show you where the spare bedroom and the bathroom is.”

  As Magnus walked off down the hall, Lucas spared one last glance out the window. It was near midnight, and yet he could see the world outside as if it was daytime with a stormy sky. The world was tinged grey and was far from bright, but it was still visible.

  Lucas went to go and follow Magnus, but as he turned to follow the man he spotted a content and happy looking Dusk saunter over to his side.

  “You sure look happy,” He chuckled.

  Dusk just rubbed up against his leg and playfully barked at Lucas before bounding down the hall after Magnus.

  With a laugh, he went to follow the little fox. As he walked down the hall, he couldn’t help but think about his magic, wondering just what it would end up being.

  Having natural night vision did sound pretty cool, at least.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~