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CHAPTER START---
Oberon was sleeping on the couch, having almost finished the new book. His training earlier today completely exhausted his mind and magic.
After getting cleaned up, he tried to get some reading done, but immediately fell asleep.
And hours later, his parents walked in as the sun was setting to see Oberon on the couch, his grandma on a chair nearby, and his sister sitting on the floor, playing with some toys.
As the door closes behind them he immediately gets up, not able to get any deep rest with the Magic Energy still permeating the village and gnawing at his senses.
"Dad!" he sits up and looks at his parents. "What was the Magic coming from earlier?"
His grandmother also looks at them expectantly while his sister just continues playing.
Both his parents make their way toward the couch and he moves aside for them to sit beside him, his dad picks up his sister and seats her in his lap.
"Don't tell anyone what I'm about to say, alright?" his dad says.
He and his grandma nod along.
"Well, today one worker discovered a Dragon Lacrima."
His grandmother chokes on nothing at the reveal while he just looks at his dad in wonder, not knowing what that even is.
"Dragon Lacrima?" Oberon asks.
"Those really exist?" his grandmother asks.
"Apparently so," his dad says. "I've been on the village communication Lacrima with the Magic Council all day, and they've all but confirmed it. A few squads of Rune Knights from the capital have already left and should be here before lunch tomorrow to secure it."
"What's a Dragon Lacrima?" Oberon asks again. "Does it give you wings? Or maybe it lets you breathe fire, does it?"
"Hmm, well, according to what the people from the council said, it's like the heart of a dragon condensed into a tiny little crystal," his dad says. "It's super dangerous. Obviously, you can sense all the Magic Energy that thing is giving off. Well, you probably couldn't, but everyone else could. I had to seal it behind a few layers of enchantments way at the bottom of the mine so everyone feels safe. But even from way down there, we can still feel it. Apparently, someone has to have some kind of magic procedure done on them to implant it inside them, then they get some kind of lost dragon magic. Pretty cool, right?"
"That sounds awesome!" Oberon sits up excitedly. "You can breathe fire, and get wings, and turn big, and—"
"Settle down now. It's not the fire breathing kind of dragon," his mom says.
"It's not?"
"No, this is a Rock Dragon Lacrima."
"Rocks are heavy. Can they fly?"
"How would we know? Dragons have been extinct for hundreds of years," his dad says. "But considering we're still feeling the magical energy from it even this far away, you'd probably be so huge flying doesn't matter."
"More importantly," his grandma says. "Will the government finally be giving our village some attention, and perhaps a reward?"
"Yes, they will," his mom says. "The reward for turning in something like this instead of running away with it is massive. The village will be able to brave at least a decade of winters with no problem."
"Good. If they weren't going to reward you, then it probably would have been better to let this one eat it," she gestures to Oberon.
"I don't think it works like that, mom," his mother says.
"Eating a rock sounds gross," Oberon says. "And my magic is cooler than some stupid rock dragon. Just today I split the big rock in the backyard in t—" he slaps his hands over his mouth.
"You did what?" his dad asks.
"Uhh, nothing?"
His mom just sighs and pinches her brow. "Well, at least it's not fire magic. Probably would have had to rebuild the house a dozen times by now."
"I'm not that bad. I never practice the big magic things inside," he says proudly.
"That's true," his dad says. "And that's why I asked for some Magic Manuals as part of the reward. Figured we could cut down the waiting a bit. What do you think?"
"YES!" Oberon leaps out of his seat and begins pacing back and forth, counting on his fingers. "So many types of magic to choose from, but how many can I even learn? Is there a limit? But what about my magic? I still need to master Cosmic. But—"
His mom reaches out and grabs his shoulders, forcing him to focus on them.
"Settle down sweetie, we requested Gravity and Light Magic, but the reward won't be prepared until they take the Lacrima back to the capital and the council verifies it. We'll ask them for a list of options if that'll help."
Oberon just silently nods, stunned and amazed by what he's hearing.
"Alright, now that the good news is out of the way, let's celebrate," his dad says. "So who wants cake?"
And so to celebrate their good fortune, the Alkwan family had an early dessert, before a very special dinner.
Later that night while everyone was asleep, Oberon was pacing back and forth in his room.
There were books open all over his bed.
He had two sheets of paper already filled out with every magic he could think of, remember reading about in these books, or hearing about from the adults around him.
But the list was too long, even he knew it was too much to ask for.
So he decided he'd pick five. He'd pick five Magics to ask for, and hopefully he'd get the manuals.
They had already accounted for Gravity and Light Magic, leaving three more.
"Alright." He picks up the lists and skims them once more. Then sighs and puts them back down, going back to pacing.
"So I don't need flight since I already have Gravity Magic, I'll be able to fly eventually once my control is more natural. Fire is cool but, mom wouldn't like that, so she probably won't let me get it. Ice? Nah, that's lame. Lightning? That's pretty cool, but aside from hurting people, that doesn't let me do much...Unless I can transform into a lightning bolt, that'd be pretty cool! After that would be… probably Solid Script Magic. Writing out effects and making them real could let me copy all different kinds of Magic. Or maybe something to see the future... no, they'd never give me that, if it even exists."
He continues pacing back and forth, constantly reviewing the list repeatedly.
"Transformation Magic could be fun, then I'd get to fly and breath underwater. Actually, yeah, it's like a bunch of different Magics in one. I can become a bird, or a fish, or a mole and dig. Maybe I'll even be able to transform into a Dragon, so it's like I got the Dragon Lacrima too!"
He looks over his lists, then takes a new page to make his final requests.
"Alright, Gravity, Light, and Transformation Magic. That leaves two more, four if Gravity and Light don't count so I should pick more in case."
He writes those choices down on a fresh page, then continues pacing for a while.
"Healing Magic would be nice. That way when anyone gets hurt we don't have to wait weeks for help to get to us up here... but Healing Magic is lost magic, it hasn't existed for centuries. If they had that, they'd only keep it for if the king stubs his toe."
He paces about for a while longer, then snaps his fingers as a thought occurs.
"I don't actually need Light Magic to be on the list, and I can learn a bunch of other Magics too if I just get some kind of 'Message Magic', that way I can talk to my parents all the time and they'll let me leave and go join a guild sooner! Or even better, Teleportation Magic! If I can instantly go to Magnolia and back, then they won't have any problems with that. At least if I go just to learn Magics... They probably still don't want me going on missions till I'm older, so lame."
He crumples up the paper and makes a new list, with Teleportation and 'Message' Magic at the top.
"Right, and after that would be, hmm?" He paces about even more, but can't think of anything.
With many choices available, he had to select which dream he wanted to come true.
Even as the sun began rising on the horizon, he kept pacing back and forth, lost in his own world.
"I wonder if some kind of Magic that lets you copy other Magics exists... if they have that I should ask for it, even if they probably wouldn't give me something like that."
And thus 'Copy Magic' gets added to his wish list.
"But that one won't really help me until I get out of this village... but after I get out it'll be better than the others since I can just learn those a lot easier."
He stops pacing and thinks hard about these decisions.
More interesting and cool Magics now by making the others a higher priority, or get 'Copy Magic' and have it essentially be useless for the years until he meets a wizard that isn't his dad.
A truly impossible choice for his 8-year-old brain to handle, even more so while sleep deprived.
But luckily, his dad opening the door interrupted it.
Then taking one glance at the state of his bed with the books and papers, and the dark bags under Oberon's eyes.
And the man gives a exasperated sigh, "did you stay up all night thinking about what Magic Manuals to ask for?"
"Uh, no?"
The man sighs once again, "the reward won't be final until the council gets the Dragon Lacrima and inspects it, so you've at least got a week to decide."
"I know, but just... new Magics."
"I know, but not getting killed by your mom for staying up all night should also be very exciting," his dad sees him look fearful at the reminder. "Well, you won't be able to focus anyway, so just stay home today. No school, alright?"
"Yes!"
"But get some sleep. No more thinking about Magic. Deal?"
"Deal," Oberon says excitedly and immediately begins cleaning up.
"Good, I still need to take your sister to the school, I'll come check on you at around lunchtime, but then the other Rune Knights should be gone with the Lacrima, after that I'll come here and tell you how it went."
"Alright dad, I'll get some sleep," Oberon says as he crawls into bed, already feeling his eyes closing as he gets comfortable.
"Good, I'll see ya in a few hours buddy..."
END CHAPTER---
Discord: discord .gg /eHuxNeZfyS [Come chat with me]
pat.reon: Keanu_Eugene [Read ahead & support me]
You.tube: @KeanuEugene [Giving away all my writing knowledge]