Awakening

Ethan's POV:

I sat under the tree collecting energy in my solar plexus in the front yard. One year has passed since I began gathering energy.

As grandma said, it might take a while to sense the energy around you, but this was not the case for me. It only took a few minutes to feel the energy around me.

But the hard part was to locate its source. Initially, I sensed it both from outside and inside when I felt the energy. As time passed, I could identify its origin, coming from within. So, that means I'm an aura user.

Although I have been gathering energy since last year, I still didn't feel like I was getting much out of it. I feel like I'm trying to fill a bottomless pit.

When I was sitting under the tree, a sudden surge of energy began to flow through my body.

'What is this energy?'

Before I could think of something, I was floating in an unknown space. It was completely dark wherever you looked in space.

'Where am I?'

I looked around, but all I saw was darkness.

Following a few seconds,

A blue lightning ball appears near me. The ball was around the fist of an adult. Despite the blue lightning ball, the space remained dark.

I reached out my hand to the lightning ball for no explanation. I did not feel pain when I touched the ball, but rather a strange sensation overwhelmed me.

A moment later, the blue lighting ball became glowing brighter and brighter with each passing second until it was so bright that I could no longer see anything.

'What on earth is going on?'

When I opened my eyes, I was back in the front yard. I was surrounded by wind, and the tree I was sitting under was lying on the ground.

'Wait, on the ground?' I raised my eyebrows.

I looked around and saw the front yard was messy. The grass and flowers in the front yard are nowhere to be seen.

I spotted grandpa as he stood some distance away from me, smiling.

"What happened here?"

While walking toward my grandpa, I started to feel dizzy and almost slipped.

Before I fell, Grandpa picked me up in his hands.

"Congrats, my little camp on your awakening," Grandpa said with a smile.

'So, I awaken….'

As I grew weary, I fell asleep in grandpa's arms.

Aldric Flammia's POV:

My grandson

I was so happy that we had a grandson. He is now three years old; man, time sure moves fast. He is growing as a healthy child.

Perhaps if his parents were also here, he would have more happy memories. My blood started boiling whenever I thought of why they weren't here.

'Let's put that aside for now.' I shook my head.

It appeared he was interested in magic. Last year, he went to Sarina to learn more about magic. And the things that Sarina told me were shocking. But it would have been better if he came to me and asked about martial arts.

'Well, he can choose whether to learn or not.' I sighed.

"Grandpa Aldric, what are you thinking?" The girl asked who was with me.

She is Iris, 12 years old, granddaughter of an old friend. She had a beautiful face complemented by brown hair and brown eyes. I am sure she will become a beautiful lady when she grows up. She wanted to learn martial arts, so I brought her along.

"I was just thinking about my grandson."

"How old is he?" she asked with sparkling eyes.

"He is three years old."

"He is younger than me."

"Yeah, so take good care of him,"

"I'll take care of him like a big sister." She said with excitement.

Hearing her words, I smiled.

'Looks like Eethie got a new friend or rather his very first.'

As we approached the house, strong winds began blowing.

*Thud*

Suddenly, the tree fell in the yard.

Following the fall of the tree, I heard Sarina scream,

Upon hearing her scream, I immediately ran toward her. As soon as I was close to her. I saw her face turn pale, and her eyes widened in disbelief and worry.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Eethie…"

"What about Eethie?"

She pointed to the fallen tree.

"He was sitting under the tree."

In response to her words, I rushed towards the tree.

When I neared the tree, I saw wind around Eethie, still sitting on the ground with his eyes closed.

My jaw hung loose when I saw this. He was only three years old, and yet he awakened.

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

A few seconds later, he opened his eyes.

The wind around him began to disappear as soon as he opened his eyes.

After seeing the yard's condition, he looked around and was dumbfounded.

"What happened here?" He asked.

Upon seeing his reaction, I only chuckled.

Seeing me, he began to walk towards me. However, he fell after a few steps.

Before he could fall, I picked him up in my hands.

"Congrats, my little camp on your awakening," I said with a smile.

He fell asleep in my arms.

The wind also disappeared around him as he fell asleep.

I walked towards Sarina while Eethie was sleeping in my arms.

The moment Sarina saw Eethie's peaceful sleeping face, she breathed a sigh of relief.

After she calmed down, she realized something had changed around him. When she sensed the aura around him, she looked at me in disbelief.

I only smiled at her reaction,

On the other hand, Iris said aloud, in disbelief

"He…he awakened!"

I only nodded.

"Let's go inside. We'll talk about it inside."

Sarina nodded but seemed still in shock.

I was enjoying her reaction. You don't see her reacting like this every day.

When we got inside the house, I carried Eethie to his room and laid him down gently on his bed.

Having left his room, I sat down at the table with Iris and Sarina.

A few minutes of silence followed on the table.

"So, what are we going to do?" Sarina said while breaking the silence,

"Nothing, just living the same way as we did until now." I casually said.

Sarina slammed her hands on the table,

"What do you mean by 'nothing'? You also sensed it, didn't you? I thought we had a few more years before he awakened."

"Yeah, I sensed it. And I also had the same thought as you. But so, what?"

Hearing my words, her eyes widened.

"Listen, Sarina, even if you try to lock him in a room, sooner or later, everyone will know who he is. And when that happens, what will you do?"

Upon hearing my words, Sarina's eyes began to tear up.

"Then what should we do?"

I got near her and embraced her.

"The only thing we can do is to protect and support him,"

After Sarina calmed down, I asked.

"Are you alright, now?"

"Yeah"

Once I released her for my embrace, I returned to my chair.

While all of this was happening, Iris sat quietly on her chair.

"I assume you want to know what we are talking about, right?"

"Y...yes" She nodded her head hesitantly.

"Wait!" Sarina said.

"She won't tell anyone, right?" I said while looking at Iris.

"Yeah, I won't tell anyone." She jerked her head in rapid succession.

"See," I smiled.

"Fine, do whatever you want?" Sarina said in a defeated voice.

"The thing is, Eethie, awakened as an aura and mana user at the same time. In addition, he also awakened an element."

"WHAT?" She shouted.

"Keep it down, As far as I can tell, he didn't know about it,"

"But that's so rare or nearly impossible, isn't it?" She said in a low voice.

"That's why she is worried that if others find out about it, they could use him as a guinea pig."

After a few seconds of silence, she said,

"There must be more to it, right?"

Hearing her words, I raise my eyebrows.

"Why are you saying that?" Sarina asked.

"If that's all it was, then why did you cry?..."

She took a short pause and said,

"...If you don't want to tell, that's fine with me."

'Today's kids are truly something else.' I shook my head,

"This is not a secret at all, at least not to the villagers."

"Wait, does grandpa know about the thing you aren't telling me?" She asked.

"Yes, not just your grandpa, but also your father and mother,"

"Even, father and mother?" Her eyes widened with shock.

I nodded.

"So, it's an adult thing."

"I suppose you could say that," I said with a smile.

Following that, we talked about random things for a while.

When we were talking, someone yelled from outside the house.

"Old man, what the heck is this?"

After getting up from the chair, I walked toward the door, followed by Sarina and Iris. Upon opening the door, I saw a young man with black hair and red eyes on the door.

"Why are you yelling, Paul?"

It was Paul, one of the villagers. He was a former adventurer.

"What do you mean by 'why'? Don't you see this huge tree on the ground?" He pointed towards the fallen tree.

"That's, it was because of Eethie," I said.

"What does that mean?" He titled his head.

"Eethie is responsible for the fallen tree."

"How the hell did a three-year-old kid make that big tree fall?" he asked with an annoying look.

"Ask Sarina or Iris, if you don't believe me."

Sarina and Iris nodded their heads in agreement as Paul looked at them.

"But, how?"

I told him everything that had happened.

After hearing the thing, he was stunned.

"Heavens!"

He mumbled, still unable to believe what I was saying.

Well, it's not his fault; I would also have a hard time believing it if I were in his shoes.

After contemplating for some time,

"So from now on, we have to be on guard," he said with a serious face. The disbelief from earlier was no longer there.

"Yeah, but let's not tell others for now,"

"Fine, I'll leave now."

After he said that, he left.

I came out of the house when he left.

"Let's fix this tree first. Others may react the same way as Paul if they see this." I told Sarina.

"You are right about that," she said as she got near the tree and began the incantation.

Soon, the fallen tree began to regrow, and within a few moments, the tree was once again standing tall.

We saw Eethie come out of his room as we entered the house.