TBATE - Brother's Once More

Journey Part 1

A *clang* drowned out the silence as Mother dropped her fork onto her plate.

"What? Reynolds! Arthur and Jayden aren't even four yet! No! Besides, you said if our sons were augmenters, you'd be able to teach them!" Mother spoke with evident desperation.

"I, also, never expected that one, let alone both of my son's, to be such prodigies in mana manipulation. Who has ever heard of an awakening at the age of three, not to mention, two?" Father responded a lot more calmly.

"But that means they'll have to leave home! They're only four, Reynolds! We can't have our babies leave home at such an early age!"

"You don't get it. When I observed their bodies while they meditated, I couldn't help but feel that all of this was natural to them. Alice, honey, I'm holding my sons back by trying to teach them something they can do in their sleep."

And thus began our parents' quarrel.

They went back and forth, basically repeating their initial points; Mother kept saying that we were too young, Father saying that they couldn't hold us back from reaching our full potential, blah. blah.

In the meantime, Arthur was playing a game of war with his food, the peas attacked for the Mother Empire, while the carrots of the Father Nation desperately defended their land. And I was observing both battles.

Finally, my parents settled down and Father turned to us. And like the genius Father he is, he asked the million dollar question.

"Art, Jay, this is concerning you guys too, so you both have a say in this as well. How would you guys feel about going to a big city and having a teacher?"

Ah, wonderful, leave the decision-making to not one but TWO FOUR-YEAR OLD'S. Wonderful choice, Father.

I applauded the effort for trying to make this fair, but I don't think he realized that he was trying to ask two four-year-old's to make a decision that would ultimately change his life...

Trying to conclude this little argument, Arthur spoke up and suggested, "Can we at least try meeting some mentors and have them see if we need to be tutored or not?"

I agreed, only nodding my head.

The silence is so loud.

Arthur Leywin

Did I step on a landmine? Was I not supposed to be this articulate in my sentences at my current age? Are they mad because I didn't choose a side?

Having no confidence in keeping a poker face, I looked down and waited for their response.

Jay kept his head up, observing the situation.

Thankfully, none of my fears were on their minds. My mother finally spoke, quietly she muttered, "We'll at least have their mana cores and channels formally tested. We can figure out what to do from there."

Jayden Leywin

As Father nodded in agreement, we began making preparations the next day. When Arthur said what he did last night, I assumed that we'd be going to a nearby town or a city, maximum a day's worth of travel away, to have us tested by a qualified mage but boy was I wrong.

We were making preparations for a three-week-long journey. A journey via horse-drawn carriage through the Grand Mountains to something called a teleportation gate which would bring us to a city called Xyrus.

A book that I had read popped into my mind. I recalled reading about a floating piece of land built by an ancient organization of conjurers for the sole purpose of housing the most prestigious Mage Academy.