Age of Kings 1066

POV Rio

It had been a few weeks since I met Hatterene, or as she is known in the nearby area, the lady of the woods, or the lady of the mist. I was completely confused and assumed I was in the Pokémon world, but then I was told that she was a magical creature and that there aren't many of them left in the world. Which gave me something really interesting.

'Magic.'

This world has magic, and my mother is apparently a Master Talent Healer. From what she explained, there are 6 levels of talent. And even having a talent for magic is rare. The lowest is Low, this is the level at which you could cast some very simple cantrips from said school of magic. This was where most people who had any talent were. Next was Moderate, this was where you could cast some spells that could affect multiple people, but usually lacked any serious power, and were still not the most useful. The next level was High Talent, this was where you could cast much more powerful spells. From mom's example, this is where a fire talent mage could cast a fireball that could explode and cause serious damage on the battlefield. Or as a healer, they could reattach a severed limb. This was the level that most people capped out at.

'But the fact that they call it talent even though it can be increased, is inaccurate to me. It makes more sense to call them affinities.'

A person born with an affinity can train for a long time and gradually increase their level. The higher the initial affinity, the longer it takes to increase. A low talent, for example, would take a year or maybe two to increase to moderate, but from moderate to high it would take upwards of a decade.

'Which brings me to the next level of affinity, the one Mom has.'

The Master level was considered the peak for mortals. It could go further beyond, but Mom had never heard of anyone accomplishing it. Master level affinities allowed them to do powerful magic spells. For Restoration, it could make the user easily live for a few centuries and could make them nearly unkillable on the battlefield. As long as they had Mana, they could keep fighting. Which you would think would make them the undisputed rulers of the world, but there was a catch.

Master level affinities are rare. Like 1 in 10 million rare. And healers are even rarer. Somewhere along the lines of 1 in a billion or higher. As it turns out, even the type of affinity can be a lottery. Just because your parents both have the same affinity doesn't mean you will inherit it. And even if you do, it might be a different level.

'Then there is the real problem.'

Mom's comment about magic creatures being rare didn't just apply to them. It applied to all magic users. It turns out I was living in the year 1053, and the Abrahamic Religions didn't like magic. And had spent the last several centuries exterminating any magic users or magical creatures they could find. Now, only the Duchy we lived in had any. Or at least for the most part. There could be a few other magic users hiding elsewhere. And I knew that the world was large and that there was surely a larger magic population on the other side of the world.

'I recall Shinto had some magical elements. And China surely has a few sects of magic users.'

Of course, I knew that it was very likely I would never know or see that side of the world in my lifetime, as we were a family living in the woods in a Duchy surrounded by Catholic Countries that want to destroy this country.

'Well, on the bright side, we are safe here for now.'

We were living in a place called the Lost Woods. Hatterene was the protector of this area, and the ruler of the woods was an ancient Ent named Treebeard. Which I found interesting since I had heard of an Ent named that before, but I let it be for now. Now, back to the magic explanations.

The level above Master is Demigod. This was a level of magic that wasn't completely clear what it could do, but Mom said that she was told that this level could bring someone who had died recently back to life and could regrow lost limbs or even survive without a head. But that was all legend and myth, so no one knew for sure. But the next level was known and had numerous examples. God level. Called so because only the Gods had ever shown this level of magic before. And yes, Gods were real here, or at least there was enough evidence to definitely prove that they once existed.

'Or at least as far as the primitive science of this time suggests as such. I will keep an open mind, as if magic and magical creatures exist, then it isn't impossible that the Gods exist or existed.'

I mean, you could argue my presence further proves the existence of the soul, and that means that an afterlife could also exist. Which usually meant some sort of god or caretaker of the dead. You could also say that Hatterene's existence could hint that Arceus exists.

'Hmm, or could it be a cosmic coincidence. Theoretically, it's not impossible.'

I had to stop thinking about that, as my mind was not doing so well with the math and calculations I tried to do.

'My flesh is weak. Perhaps he was right and the certainty of steel is the way to go.'

I make a little joke, but get back to what I was doing. I asked a question to my Mom that I had been wondering for a while now, and her answer made me worry.

"Mom, do I have a dad?"

She freezes and then looks a bit pained and kneels in front of me.

"Oh, sweetie, yes, you do."

"Where is he?"

"He... is somewhere else. I will tell you when you are older," She spoke with pain in her eyes.

I didn't press the issue as I could tell this was a very sore subject, and I just hugged her. That was a few days ago, and I decided not to bring it up again anytime soon. From her answer, I came to the two most likely answers.

'Either he is dead or missing. The look on her face is not the one of abandonment or a victim, but one of someone who has lost a loved one.'

I would know, as I had that exact same look back then. But that made me question some things that I wanted the answer to, but had no way to answer them for now.

'Her Restoration magic is as good as a mortal can get, so how could he have died? It would have to be a sudden death. Or if he vanished, then perhaps a kidnapping.'

I knew I wouldn't get an answer, but the other things I learned were a good distraction. We lived in the Lost Woods, which was near a village called Valenwood. It was called that by the founders, who were elves. Which led me to ask about the other races, and I was told that while most are all gone, there used to be all kinds of races. Dwarves, Elves, Dragons, Griffons, Pegasi, Ogres, Halflings, Gnomes, Centaurs, Fairies, Goblins, Kobolds, Satyrs, and many others. But nowadays, most are extinct or haven't been seen in a few centuries. 

'At least she said that some are rarely seen, but not impossible to see. Even saying that Griffons can be seen daily in the capital.'

Other species that were at least known to still exist were Elves, Griffons, Centaurs, Beastfolk, Fairies, Nature Spirits, and what are commonly referred to as magical creatures. Which is basically just what they call Pokémon. I was very upset to hear that so many interesting and wonderful creatures were extinct before I got the chance to meet them. But there was nothing I could do. The country we were currently living in was called Concordia. It was nicknamed the Sanctuary. It accepted almost anybody who was ostracized by the rest of the world. As long as they accepted their new way of life and didn't judge the other races that lived here.

'I suppose that this means I am living in a place I could consider the best place for me.'

This place was a paradise compared to the rest of the world at this time. Our house was only slightly larger than an average house in this country. Unlike other nations where peasants are not permitted to move from one place to another, this nation allows anyone to move freely as long as they let the government know of the change in living place. It was also an extremely welcoming place where discrimination was rare and usually punished swiftly and severely. It also had a higher-than-average tech level for this era. I knew this because My Mom took me to the nearby village, and I saw a Horizontal-Axis Windmill. Which wasn't present in this region until later in the 11th century, and even then, they were not common. It wouldn't be in a random village in the no offense to them middle of nowhere.

'But according to Mom, these are common across the country.'

If we were in the Middle East or Iberia, then I would understand, but we were just south of the Southern Carpathian Mountains. That wasn't the only bombshell I discovered that day. It turned out that we were part of the Duchal Family of Concordia. Mom was the technical lady of Valenwood. But I didn't understand why we were living in such a remote location and not at least near the capital. We were as far from the capital as you could get without leaving the country, or at least the area classified as the country. But when I asked Mom dodged the question and distracted me with potty training.

'I have to admit that was a pretty clever idea as I have dropped the subject.'

It didn't take long to understand how to use the toilet. It was something that distracted me more because I learned that the toilet was a magical item. Which Mom told me everyone can use simple magic items, regardless of whether they have an affinity, as everyone has some mana and can therefore use such a simple magic item. The Pot, as it was officially called, would take your excrement and then convert it into energy and water. The energy was used to keep the Pot charged while the water entered the ground and returned to nature, or you could use it for other things. She assured me that no one had ever gotten sick from drinking the recycled water, but I wasn't convinced.

'I am not a dog. Let Mr. Peabody do that. Is that racist? Dogist? Speciesist? Whatever.'

I let that go and passed the Potty training easily. Which was good because having to use a cloth sack for the last few weeks was extremely unpleasant. But that made me learn that there was another magic item that could be used similarly to the pot. It cleaned clothing easily and with no strain to the cloth. I was told that this magic item was intended for upper-class people due to the difficulty in creating it. It required at least a Moderate level affinity in either enchanting or alteration magic.

'Which brings up the types of magic.'

There was an affinity for almost every type you could think of. Water, Earth, Fire, Air, and all the other elements. Even odder types like Light and Dark. Then you had the broader types. Alteration, Illusion, Restoration, Summoning, Necromancy, Space, Time, Divination, Nature, Shamanistic, and many others. Some were rarer than others. Necromancy, for instance, hadn't been seen in over 600 years. And was thought to be an extinct school of magic. On the other hand, you had Alteration Magic, which was the most common magic type. Technically, elemental magic was most often lumped into the School called Destruction because that was what it was called for centuries, due to it being used as a weapon of war. But in recent history, that has been changing, and instead, elemental magic is being used for other purposes. Like forging with Fire. Or road construction with Earth. Farming with Water. Or travel/sailing with Wind Magic.

'I am glad to see that they are able to find more creative uses for such affinities. Even I can admit I wouldn't immediately jump to the idea of using Fire magic to help with forging.'

"Rio, dinner's ready."

"Coming!"

I left the review there for the day and decided to spend the rest of the day just being a kid.

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Authors Note:

So, a lot of background info and other things, but I figured it would make sense to get it established early, so everyone can understand the magic system. And also some other factors that might become important later. I will add all the different magic types and levels of rarity in the next chapter. So I don't have to repeat that this affinity is rarer than this one when it comes up later, and so I don't have to have Rio spell it out since arguably Rio's Mom wouldn't know all of this. Until next time, Ciao.