Omens
***Sometime in the past***
"Dad where are we?"
Marcus and his father had traveled a lot further out than what he was used too. Usually they'd go to the same spot beside a river near their home but this time he and his father traveled somewhere different.
The place they traveled to was still within the forest but the scenery had change a bit in that there was no river and the sun barely shown through with the dense population of trees in the area. The area was also very quiet and seemed barren of any life aside from himself, his father and the numerous trees that surrounded them.
Liam looked up at his son and stared at him for awhile. Marcus was slightly uncomfortable with his father's serious gaze but continued to stand there and wait for a reply.
"Marcus today I'm going to teach you how to wield mana."
Liam stopped to let his son digest what he said.
Marcus instantly grew excited by the prospect of being able to finally utilize mana. He was ten years old now and had only been able to swing around his wooden scythe during training. He'd never actually been able to use mana in any shape or form and was relegated to only being allowed to perform physical fitness training.
Meanwhile, his younger sister Alicia was already using mana by the age of five and loved to rub it in Marcus's face from time to time during his training sessions and at home.
He was extremely jealous of his younger sister since he'd been older than her by two years and still wasn't able to use mana.
It wasn't from lack of trying either. Marcus had tried to use mana countless times already but whenever he tried to, his parents would reprimand him or he felt weirdly empty inside and stopped trying altogether.
He wasn't quite sure why his parents got so angry when he tried to use mana so he chalked it up to them favoring Alicia over him and just cursed his own luck for being the oldest.
Liam was staring at his son throughout his entire thought process with a placid expression on his face and after allowing Marcus a few minutes to digest what he'd said he started to talk again.
"Marcus do you know why it is your mother and I were against you using mana?"
Marcus was confused because he had a guess but didn't want to tell his father because he figured it might anger him if he told him what he actually thought.
Acknowledging his sons silence as his answer, Liam decided to continue.
"How about this, why do you think we allowed Alicia to use mana and not you?"
Marcus's face scrunched up as if he was thinking about something really hard. He had no clue as to why his parents let Alicia use mana and not him. Deep down he knew his parents loved him and Alicia very much and wouldn't allow one child to do something and not allow the other unless it was for a reason.
Marcus wanted to just throw a random guess out but he knew his father hated when he spoke without thinking so he thought really long and hard about his answer before speaking.
Liam waited patiently for his son to gather his thoughts.
Finally Marcus spoke up.
"Is it because something is wrong with the mana I wield?"
On the outside Liam's face was still as stoic as ever and didn't reveal any of his thoughts, but on the inside, he was very happy with Marcus's assumption.
"Oh? Why do you think that?"
Marcus didn't need any time to think because he guessed a few things from his parents reactions to him using mana and how he himself felt after trying to use said mana.
"Well... whenever I try to use mana, you and mom always get really angry."
Only partially satisfied with his son's response. Liam urged him to keep going.
"And? Is that all?"
"No. I also felt weird inside when I tried using mana. It felt like I was tired, sad, and angry all at once."
Finally satisfied with his son's response, Liam decided to help him out a bit.
"Well, you're on the right track but you're not fully there yet. You see son, how mana works for people like us is different compared to how it works for others."
Marcus listened attentively as his father continued.
"For example, your mother and sister's possess an affinity for light magic as can be observed by their silver hair and eye color.
"Mana directly influences not only our body and its biological processes but how we feel and act as a result as well."
Liam paused to allow his son time to digest what he had just said before continuing.
"Whenever your sister uses her magic, she feels emotions like kindness and compassion more strongly than one normally would."
At this statement Marcus only rolled his eyes, internally of course. He'd never speak badly of Alicia whilst in the same vicinity as his father. Doing so would only bring about an outcome with his father that Marcus would much rather avoid.
His father continued to speak, seemingly oblivious to his sons thoughts.
"Now, this doesn't mean she isn't kind or compassionate whenever she isn't using magic. In fact, she still feels them more strongly than another person who isn't a light mage would, but her feelings still aren't as strong as when she is using magic."
Liam had to stop speaking because it seemed his son stopped following him somewhere in between, as could be observed by the puzzled expression on his face.
"So what your saying is, the little grem-, I mean Alicia, experiences feelings like kindness and compassion more distinctly than other people who aren't light mages?"
Liam chose to ignore Marcus's previous jab at his sister and decided to answer his son's question.
"Correct."
"Does that mean mom also experiences these feelings as well?"
"Good question," Liam responded "but as you grow older and mature more, you tend to rein in your emotions a great deal versus when a person is young and still growing."
Marcus seemed to understand everything so far so Liam continued.
"Now back to how our mana is different from others, do you remember the gift your mother gave you."
Marcus hadn't forgotten about his mother's gift ever since he received it. In fact he was quite curious as to how this looped into their training today and why it was she had given it to him today specifically.
Marcus nodded his head for his father to continue.
Noticing he still had his son's attention Liam suddenly let out a sigh.
"Marcus the things I'm about to tell you next are for your ears and your ears only. This means you are not to speak about this to anyone else aside from your mother and I."
Liam paused for a second to make sure his son was still listening and was beginning to understand the gravity of the situation a little.
Marcus sensed his father's seriousness on the matter so he remained silent and attentive.
"The 'gift' your mother gave you is a relic used to hide our kind from others," said Liam. "You probably don't remember because you were so young but there are very few that exist with our hair and eye color.
"Due to this, we must hide who we are using relics like the one you and I are wearing now."
Marcus stopped to look at his father's hair and eye colors and for a second ignored it and remembered his original appearance in place of what the relic was hiding.
Marcus wasn't sure why he needed to hide his hair and eye color but he was positive his father would explain it to him now.
"Marcus, we are not like your mother and sister or many other people for that matter. Our race is seen as cursed. And because of this, others hate and shun us because they think we seek to do them harm.
"Whether it be dwarf, human, elf, or demon, no one wants a repeat of what happened 300 years ago."
Liam said the last part a little bit lower so that his son couldn't hear him, so Marcus only really heard the part about others not liking people like he and his father.
Marcus finally grew slightly impatient at the speed his father was relaying this information so he decided to speak up and ask a question.
"Dad, if we're not like mom and Alicia, then what are we?"
Liam waited a few moments before replying. It seemed he was having an internal struggle about whether to reveal the information to Marcus or not.
After all, they had been living reclusive lives up until this point and so he didn't feel there was a need to tell Marcus all of this.
However, deep down he knew that keeping something so important from him would do more than just leave him ignorant. Death would be the best case scenario if he were to go around showing his hair and eye color to others.
After having this internal struggle for a few moments, Liam finally revealed to Marcus what others referred to them as.
"Marcus, our race are descendants of very grotesque and vile species known as Wraiths, and as such, we are known by the people of Terra as Omens."
Hadiah
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