Disappointment, Hope, and Tragedy

One day, while Alex and Sophia were training in the front yard with their dad, a mysterious woman came to visit.

From the pointy hat and the long black cloak fully covering their body, it was clear the mysterious woman was some sort of mage.

"Sophia, come. It's time to test your magical capability." The mother waved as she opened the door for the mysterious woman.

"Yay!"

Sophia immediately dropped the sword onto the floor, running inside as his dad pulled him back to continue the training.

A few minutes later...

When the mysterious woman left, he immediately asked both of his parents why he couldn't be tested with Sophia.

Once again, he was met with the argument that he was too early. But this time, he was finally given a date.

He just had to wait until he was six years old, which was still two years away.

---

After waiting for what felt like forever, the mysterious woman once again returns to their home.

"Mom! Is it my turn?" Alex excitedly asked.

"Yes, yes. It's your turn," the mother murmured as she opened the door for the mysterious woman to come inside.

After five minutes of waiting, the mother guided him into the parents' bedroom.

"Woah..."

Alex was stunned as the bedroom had gone through a complete transformation.

The bed, the ceiling, and even the floor were completely gone, replaced with some sort of black void.

"What are you waiting for?" the mysterious woman asked, noticing Alex standing still outside the hallway.

After seeing the mysterious woman and his mom both standing in the black void perfectly fine, he finally took his first step.

The black void was a solid block with almost the same feeling and sound as the wooden block in the actual bedroom.

"Is this magic?" Alex curiously asked.

"Yep, it's magic... Hey Katherine, where's Paul?"

The mysterious woman asked as she looked towards Alex's mom, who shrugged her shoulder.

"He had been busy dealing with the monster outbreak nearby."

Katherine replied as she lifted Alex to a black table with a crystal ball right in the middle.

"I see... Okay, Alex, it's time for you to put your hand above the crystal ball and start imagining things," the mysterious woman whispered.

Alex quickly moved his hand, but a problem appeared right off the start.

"What am I supposed to imagine?"

"Just anything that comes to mind when your hands hover over the crystal ball."

Despite the mysterious woman's advice, Alex couldn't feel anything after he repeatedly had his hand over the crystal ball.

See nothing appearing, the mysterious woman pushed his hands away before putting the crystal ball inside her bag.

"Amelia, is Alex okay?" Katherine asked in a concerned voice.

"He has zero magical capability. Is he really your son? How is he so drastically different from your daughter?"

"What? That can't be right——"

"Alex, shush. Don't question Miss Amelia like that... Is there any way for me to help him?"

Seeing a mother genuinely wanting to help his son, the mysterious woman decided to give her a little hope.

"When your other daughter is old enough to take the test, I'll come back again to give you an answer."

As the mysterious woman snapped her finger, she vanished right before their eyes, along with the black void in the room.

The bedroom was back to normal as if nothing had ever happened to it, with Alex and Katherine standing next to each other.

"Mom... am I a failure?" Alex nervously asked.

"No, you're not a failure. I don't want to hear you say that ever again, you hear me?"

Alex nodded in agreement, but his face was on the edge of tearing up as he thought back to what the mysterious woman had said earlier.

"Alex, you wanted to be an adventurer, just like your dad, right?"

Katherine asked as she lifted Alex into her arm, gently patting him on the head as if he was still a baby.

"I... I do."

"Then you can't cry over things like this. You have to have a strong heart to become an adventurer."

After a long silence, Alex still couldn't hold it back as tears started to fall from his eyes.

He couldn't believe his fantasy of being a mage had ended before it could even start—the reality of being a normal person was just too crushing to process.

"It's okay, Alex. Just let it all out. You don't have to hold it in..."

Katherine's sudden change of strategy made Alex sob even harder, but the sobbing slowly began to die down.

"How can I be an adventurer if Miss Amelia just said I don't have any magical capability——"

"So? Magic doesn't define someone as a failure or not. Your dad doesn't have any magic either, and he's doing just fine as an adventure."

As she wiped the tears off of Alex's face, she suddenly decided to ask something to distract him.

"Alex, you want to use magic and be a boy, right?"

The second part of the question caught Alex a little off guard, but he nodded in agreement.

"Then you're going to learn your father's sword skill and become a swordsman just like him.

And guess what? You'll still be able to use magic that way as well, too, so your dream of using magic isn't over yet."

Within seconds, Alex's sadness quickly disappeared as he looked right into her eyes with hope.

"Really? I can still use magic?" Alex excitedly asked.

"Yes, Alex, a swordsman doesn't need any magical capability to use magical scrolls.

Look, let me give you one to use right now... Just let me find it first."

After digging in the drawer for a while, Katherine finally returned with a piece of cloth bearing an unknown letter.

"Here, just imagine fire as you hold this scroll."

As Alex closed his eyes and started imagining fire in his head, he felt a burning sensation, which made him open his eyes again.

"There's fire on my finger!" Alex excitedly yelled as a small flame hung on his fingertip.

"Be careful... Don't be sad about not being able to use magic now, okay?"

Katherine softly lectured as she took the scroll away from Alex, causing the flame to vanish.

"Thank you, Mom! I love you!"

"I love you too, Alex."

---

Ever since the day after the crystal ball test, Alex had been working extra hard on his sword training.

He was still training alone even when his dad was off to work, forcing Sophia to be his training mate with his share of candies.

Just as he thought the next two years would go by until his little sister Mary took her magical test, tragedy struck the family.

---

It was a rainy afternoon.

Several men and women in knight's armor came into the house soaking wet, carrying a box along with a sword.

"Mrs.Katherine. I'm afraid your husband Paul, he's..."

One of the knights in front hesitated for a second after seeing the kids peeking around the corner before running away.

"He's what? Just tell me."

Katherine asked as her face started to look more and more nervous after noticing the sword belonging to Paul.

"We were fighting a monster outbreak, and he fell into one of the monster's traps while saving us——"

"Where is his body?"

"We couldn't find it. When we came back, the only thing we found was his sword on the ground."

As soon as the knight finished talking, Katherine's face suddenly darkened for the first time.

All of the knights knew there was no chance for him to come back, especially swordsmen who had lost their swords on the battlefield.

"We're terribly sorry, madam... If there's anything we can do for you, please contact us."

Seeing Katherine not speaking a single word, the knight puts the sword and the box on the table before leaving the house in silence.

"Mom... Are you okay?" Sophia nervously asked as she and Alex finally walked out of the room.

"I'm fine, Sophia... Take care of Alex and Mary, okay? I'll be right back."

Before the two of them could say anything, Katherine quickly ran back into her room and came back out with a bag.

Alex immediately recognized it, the same one that the mysterious woman had carried with her in the past.

Without saying another word, Katherine locked the house door before leaving.

"Alex, what should we do now? Why did Mom look so angry and sad?" Sophia worryingly asked.

"I don't know... But Mom told us to take care of Mary. Let's go bring her here first."

As the two headed back into the bedroom, Mary was almost asleep in her crib, waking up after seeing them walk in.

"Mary, do you want to wait for Mom with us?" Alex asked.

With a nod, Alex tried to reach inside to get Mary out of the crib. But he was too short even to reach the top side.

Fortunately, Sophia was tall enough to reach inside and carried Mary out, allowing the three to head straight back to the living room.

The two of them helped Mary sit up on the sofa, but she soon fell asleep underneath the warm blanket.

After waiting for who knows how long, a knocking sound finally came through.

"Wait, don't open the door yet. Mom has a key. It might be a stranger outside." Alex warned, holding Sophia back before she could reach the door.

"You're right... But what do we do now, then?"

As the two stood in front of the door, they could hear the knocking sound becoming increasingly urgent.

But looking at the peephole above them, it was at least double their height combined.

"Wait, I got an idea."

Alex quickly moved his back and shoulder against the door. Sophia immediately understood as she quickly crawled on top of him.

"It's Miss Amelia!"

As Sophia jumped back down to the ground, the two both reached for the door and opened it.

"Oh hey, Sophia and Alex, do you guys know where your mom is at?"

Sophia shook her head, but Alex quickly pointed over to the sword on the table.

"A lot of people came to the house earlier, and Dad's sword is over there."

Miss Amelia's face immediately began to change after hearing his answer, going from calm to worry.

"You three stay inside the house, okay? Auntie is going to go find your mom."

After repeating what Katherine had said, Miss Amelia ran straight into the rain as the door closed.