Bound and Broken (Melas Book 1) Page 3

  With that said, Aria pointed the tube part of the prism towards the fireplace, and activated the mana crystal. A small jet of red flames shot out, igniting the wood, bringing the fireplace to life.

  ***

  It’s not working, I sighed, looking at the lighter in my hand.

  When my mom did it, it looked so very easy; her explanation to me on how to work it, also sounded so very easy. She made it seem like it took almost no effort, but that was obviously not the case, since it’s been half an hour and I haven’t done anything!

  I turned to look at my mom, standing with her pointed hat, working up a new brew of healing paste. It’s supposed to be able to patch up most nonlethal injuries in a single day, which was better than most medicine in my previous life.

  And it was not even as good as an Alchemical healing potion, which could reattach even a severed limb. My mom could make those too, but the ingredients were too expensive, and could not be found anywhere near Villamcreek. So, the village had to make do with just the healing paste.

  As she continued her work, I slowly found myself gazing at my mom in admiration. She was a Herbalist, an Alchemist, and a scholar. She could use magic, and could also use even the most advanced of mana tools around. She was so amazing, and I wanted to be just like her. But…

  But I can’t even work this dumb lighter!

  I found myself looking at the lighter again, and sighed even louder than before. Perhaps having the potential to be the greatest magic-user did not translate well to being able to work simple tools; I had feared that, which was why I wanted my mom to teach me magic.

  I would have been amazing right off the bat— I could have quickly learned to protect myself, and maybe even be able to protect my mom if something ever happened to her.

  ....yeah, no.

  If my mom was ever in any real danger, I did not think I’d be able to do anything to help her; she was extremely powerful, and even with the request I made to that false god, I doubted that I would be able to catch up to her anytime soon.

  Then maybe... Adrian? If he was ever in trouble I could protect him if I learned magic. Wait, I can’t. If I learned magic and he found out, he’d definitely tell on me, even if I made him promise not to! Wasn’t that how those kinds of stories usually went? Yeah, it’s probably a good thing mom didn’t teach me magic.

  Whatever the case was, I needed to focus. I needed to remember what my mom said. Working mana tools felt like you were trying to force mana out of the stone; it needed to feel like a nudge, and not a push. Trying to push leads to trying to manipulate too much mana at once, and would usually lead to nothing happening for most people— especially beginners.

  That was because a beginner’s control over mana would still be weak and unrefined. They tended to either only slightly graze the mana, or try to shove it to the ground without the strength to actually do so. On the other hand, people who have worked mana tools for a while would have built up more strength, and would actually succeed in shoving if they wanted to.

  That would lead to immediately depleting a mana crystal, which wasn’t something you wanted to do in most cases. Doing so with an everyday tool like a lighter, would just make it combust into an explosion that wouldn’t even kill you. But doing it with a weapon would most likely kill anything nearby. That’s why people also had to refine their control over the mana, and not just force it. With power, and no control, they might have accidentally destroyed the tool they were using.

  None of that mattered to me, however, since I can’t use the stupid thing! I was supposed to be feeling like I’m prodding into it. Touch the mana with one finger, giving it a slight push. But that’s all too abstract for me to understand. Touching the mana? How does that even work! Isn’t everything made of mana? Aren’t I always touching mana? None of this makes any sense!

  Because I had no idea what I was doing, nothing happened. I was supposed to just feel it out, but it was not working—

  Suddenly, I felt it— like an extension of my body that sprouted out of nowhere. It was weak. Difficult to move. It reminded me of when I was first reborn. When I could barely even move my arms and legs; I had no strength back then, because I barely had any muscles. And yet, that wasn’t the worst part— that was the lack of control.

  I knew how fingers work, considering how I’ve used them all my life. But when I became a baby again, I could not control my fingers. My fingers would never move the way I wanted it to. When I tried to move a single finger, sometimes all of them moved and sometimes none of them did. It was always completely random, and it was so frustrating.

  Same thing with when I tried learning how to speak; when I opened my mouth and moved my tongue, things that barely qualified as sounds came out instead of actual words. It made me feel so out of control, and it nearly drove me insane. It was no wonder newborns did not have the brain capacity to understand or remember anything! Because if they did, I was certain most kids would grow up with some sort of complex.

  Right now though, I was glad I remembered all of it. It made this new limb much easier to control. I had the experience, so all it took was just to remember how it felt, and to feel it out from there.

  So using the limb, I seized the mana inside the mana crystal, and pushed. I didn’t push like an adult who was trying to start a fight in a bar, nor did I push like a kid who’s trying to get into their parents’ bedroom without waking them up. Instead, I pushed like a baby— one that’s climbing on a countertop, and sees their mothers’ expensive vase. A baby who then made the stupid decision to push the vase, simply out of pure curiosity to see what would happen.

  And when I pushed, I felt the vase wobble. It wobbled on the countertop, but didn’t drop. So I did what any baby would do in that situation— I pushed again. And again. And again.

  Finally, the vase fell. Off the countertop, and into the hard marble ground, shattering into thousands of tiny pieces.

  And just like any mother would do, my own mom came running to me. Except however, she was not running to the sound of her expensive china shattering; something else called on her, making her run to me. My mom ran, not to witness the destruction of something precious, but to instead witness something that was precious: her daughter taking her first steps.

  So, as my mom dropped everything she was doing to see what I did— to see the gentle candle-like flame hovering at the tip of the lighter— I turned to her and smiled wider than I ever did in my previous life.

  "Look mom! I did it!"

  Chapter 4: Stranger Danger

  It’s hot.

  I wiped the sweat off my forehead and looked up: the sun was high up in the sky, and there was not a cloud in sight. It’s probably noon, time to go back.

  I hefted the basket filled with herbs up from the ground next to my feet, and slung it around my shoulder. It was not exactly filled to the brim, but there were still plenty of herbs in it— a satisfactory amount to bring back for the day. I walked out of the thicket of trees I was in, taking no more than a minute to reach the clearing where the brown haired boy was waiting for me.

  Adrian sat leaning against a fallen tree, with one hand right next to the holster hanging off his waist. When he heard me approach, he jumped up, reaching for his father’s pistol—

  "Oh, you’re back," Adrian said, visibly relaxing. Straightening, he lowered his arms and heaved out a sigh. "You scared me, y’know. You should’ve said something."

  "Sorry," I spoke briefly.

  But despite my quick response— which may have seemed ingenuine to most people— I actually was apologetic. The boy had been accompanying me in my gathering trips for a while, and I was grateful to him for it. Unfortunately, however, my antisocial tendencies to not announce my presence and my quiet footsteps led to him being jumpy around me whenever we went out, since he was always on alert for any Monsters or even wild animals in the area.

  "It’s fine," he said, dusting himself off. "It’s just— my dad brings me out when he goes hunting, and he makes me
stay on guard at all times. He says one small mistake gets you killed, right? And, uh… I don’t want either of us to die."

  I nodded my head in response.

  "In fact, I should’ve known better, since you always sneak up on me. But all habits die hard— that’s what mom says. So I guess my dad did a good job teaching me to be cautious, huh?" Adrian laughed.

  "I won’t do it again," I said.

  "Oh, no, it’s really not a problem. I was just making a joke. It’s like if you say something that’s absurd— not that I don’t think you don’t understand jokes, I just meant..." the boy trailed off, as I gave him no reaction. He quickly tried to change the subject, pointing at the basket in my hand. "You sure you wanna head back now? It’s not even full."

  "We’ll be late for Mr Walden’s lesson."

  He gave me a weak grin. "I don’t see how that’s a problem…?"

  It was another attempt at a joke, although he did not commit fully to it; I did not know how to respond to it, so I just made a noise. "Mhm."

  We both stood there awkwardly for another moment; it was not long, but it felt like forever for some reason. Finally, Adrian managed to mutter under his breath.

  "...let’s go?"

  I nodded again. The boy led the way back as we made our way back to the village. We continued to walk together quietly for a few minutes, before a voice finally broke the silence.

  "Greetings."

  The voice was hoarse and rough, definitely not belonging to the boy walking in front of me. It came from behind us, and we both whirled around to face the strange voice.

  A suspicious looking man strode out from the trees behind us. No, not suspicious looking— he was literally just suspicious.

  He was dressed in what was similar to a black trench coat, and wore a pointed hat like my mom usually did, except it was black, not purple. Its wide brim was twice as large too. He had both of his hands held out in a placating gesture, before either Adrian or I even saw him. Yep, definitely suspicious.

  Adrian seemed to agree, as his hand was already on his holster, tightly gripping the gun. The man noticed our hostility as he took a small step back, speaking in as civil of a manner as he could.

  "Now, now. I am just a traveler looking for a place to stay for the night. If you could just bring me to your village, I will truly appreciate it."

  It did not work. His gruff voice betrayed his attempt at a soothing tone, and each word he spoke was over enunciated; it sounded too forced— too fake. Somehow, this was enough for Adrian to change his mind as he relaxed.

  "Sure, we were just on our way back. We can show—" he started, but I didn’t let him finish.

  "No."

  Both Adrian and the man turned to me in surprise. Neither expected that response. And why would they? If we brought him to the village, we would be safe. He could not do anything to us there, in front of all the villagers. But it wasn’t my safety that I cared about.

  This man snuck up on us without making a sound. And even though he was a ‘traveler’, he was alone and without a pack animal, in a world where Monsters roamed free in the wild. And worst of all, he was quite clearly hiding something with the way he was dressed. He could have been something like… a Witch hunter? That was a thing back on Earth, right? Not that Witches existed in this world. Powerful spellcasters were often called Dark Acolytes, apparently.

  And if this man saw my mom and somehow recognized her... well, she would probably kill him. But then we would be kicked out of the village. So I was not letting this guy near Villamcreek.

  "We’re not going anywhere until you leave."

  The man raised an eyebrow at that, seemingly amused.

  "And if I just don’t move, would you just wait here forever? Surely you’d get tired after a while and return home. Then I can just follow you back."

  "Then he’ll shoot you." I pointed at Adrian, who opted to trust me and slowly unholstered his gun. I gave the man an ultimatum.

  "And if you try to follow us, we’ll tell everyone that a creepy guy tried to kidnap us in the woods. We’ll tell them that he’s following us, so when you try to enter the village, they’ll shoot you. So go away."

  I stood firm as the man stared at me. His eyes lingered on my face for almost a minute, before he finally broke off; he threw his hands up in resignation, sighing.

  "Guess I’ll just have to find another place to stay."

  With that said, the man slowly turned around, and stalked away.

  Adrian and I kept our eyes on the man in silence until he was finally out of sight. When it seemed like he was finally gone, Adrian turned to me.

  "Are you alright?"

  "I’m fine," I said apologetically, "sorry about that."

  "You sure? That’s the most I’ve heard you speak in one go. I—" he paused, turning to face me. He looked me straight in the eyes before continuing, "What happened? What was wrong with him?"

  Shrugging, I turned to look up at the sky like I was in deep thought. Then slowly, I lowered my gaze back towards Adrian, and grinned.

  "Stranger danger."

  Adrian did not get my joke!

  Of course he wouldn’t. Living in a small village, you don’t learn to be wary of strangers. I had to explain the joke to him on the way back, and got a polite laugh in return. I didn't even know why he bothered— that never makes things better when you fail at delivering a joke.

  But at least I proved that I did have a sense of humor; even if he did not find me funny at all. I might have been incapable of basic social interaction ever since I came to this world, but at least I was trying.

  It took us an hour to get back to the village. I didn’t drop the basket off at home, just in case the man decided to follow us. Plus, we were late for Mr Walden’s lesson. When we got there, the middle aged man was in the middle of teaching us some basic maths.

  It was definitely something most kids my age should have learned years ago. Simple addition and subtraction. Nothing too complex, yet most kids seemed to be struggling with it; I quickly appeased Mr Walden’s ire at my tardiness by solving the rest of the math problems he gave us and explaining how I came to my answers.

  By the end of the lesson, he seemed to have forgotten about my slight against him by being late, as he didn’t glare at me when I approached him. I told him about the suspicious man, and with Adrian’s help, managed to convince him that the man was probably some sort of criminal that wanted to harm the village, and definitely not some Inquisitor from the Church.

  After that, Adrian walked me all the way home for the first time; he usually only followed me as far as the village walls, but he was worried for my safety. He insisted on staying over for a few hours, so I decided to tutor him for a bit..

  I taught Adrian simple multiplication and division, since he was much smarter than most other kids. While the other kids struggled in Mr Walden’s class, he was always able to grasp everything quite quickly.

  When that was done, I took out some of my mom’s books, and helped him improve his reading and writing. He was once again better than other kids at it, though he still struggled with the more complex words; I taught him a couple of words— even helping him learn some of the Venerable Language— before the sun finally began setting. It was then, he finally had to go back home.

  I then spent the next hour messing with the lighter, refining my control over the mana crystal. As the sun set, and the day came to a close, my mom finally arrived back home.

  ***

  "Welcome home mom!"

  Aria was greeted by a cheerful Melas, as soon as she walked in through the door. She bent down to kiss her daughter, hugging her as she did.

  "How are you, dear?"

  The young woman began preparing their dinner as Melas started telling her about her day. Aria was making some mushroom stew, something which she knew her daughter liked. As she did, Melas got to the part where she decided to go home, before pausing. Being her mother, this did not go unnoticed by Aria.

  "Is
something the matter, Melas?" Aria asked, placing a lid over the boiling pot.

  "It’s— nothing. Nothing’s wrong."

  Aria frowned. She knew her daughter well enough to know that something was in fact wrong, and it was not nothing. So she turned away from the boiling cauldron, and faced her daughter with concern.

  "Melas, if something happened, you can tell me."

  "N-no, nothing happened!" exclaimed the little girl, before hesitating. "At least, not yet, I think…"

  "Not yet?"

  Blinking, Aria took a step back away from the kitchen. Now she was confused. Aria assumed that her daughter was attacked by some Monster or wild animal while out gathering, and did not want to say it in fear of being barred from going out again— not that it was something Aria would have done.

  Melas was with Adrian, so maybe…

  "Did something happen with Adrian?"

  "Adrian— huh?"

  "It’s fine, dear. Adrian is a good boy. It’s natural for children your age to start feeling that way. Though you are still young, if you feel like you have thought it through, I will approve of any boy you bring home."

  "What?! No! It’s not that at all!"

  Melas sighed.

  "There was a man."

  This time, Aria did not approve. It may have been legal in some of the Free Cities and the Puer Kingdom, but an adult and a child should not be entering into that kind of a relationship. It was not right, and not in the 'it’s just wrong' kind of way to Aria. She could actually give a plethora of logical and moral reasonings as to why it should not be allowed. As Aria opened her mouth to speak, her daughter must have sensed what she was going to say and interrupted her.

  "And I don’t mean it like that. I’m talking about a suspicious man. A complete stranger who showed up in the woods."

  Aria immediately clamped her mouth shut. Melas eyed her mom carefully, as if she was making sure her mom wouldn’t speak over her, before continuing.