Akai was no longer working for the sawmill anymore. Drake had hired him to work in the forge with his daughter. Together, they increased the quality of what the forge can make drastically. Akai has grown more competent in controlling the fire in the forge. Lamorie discovered her affinity is with water, and can quench and temper metal using this innate magic much better than before. Drake mostly supervised and let the two kids do the work themselves. He still guides and helps where needed. He felt immeasurable pride when watching his daughter work. Lamorie hadn’t been able to re-create the same feat she did before, however metal seems much more willing to change its shape when she was the one working on it, instead of her father.

  Over this week, Lamorie’s physical strength had been slowly but steadily growing. She was now a good deal stronger than her own father, despite being many times smaller than him.

  As Drake was sitting and wondering at just how strong Lamorie would become when she’s older, the door to the forge swung open. Which was completely unnecessary because of the open shop front right next to it. Bright sunlight shining through in the clear morning.

  A week had passed and Kidd was finally done being punished by his parents. He glared at his two friends before pointing at them, “Both of you, training field. Now.”

  Akai and Lamorie looked at each other in confusion for a moment before Drake gave them a pat on the back. He said “Go ahead.” and Lamorie smiled. She was the first one out and Kidd was already jogging down the road to the training field.

  Lamorie and Akai looked at him before Lamorie said “Geez, he seemed really intense.”

  “Yeah, he’s taking this way too seriously.” Akai said as they decided to walk at a leisurely pace instead of keeping up with Kidd.

  By the time they arrived, Kidd was standing in the field and tossed Akai a training sword. Lamorie didn’t ask for one because she didn’t really care for the whole sword fighting thing.

  Lamorie walked off to the side and leaned against a fence at the edge of the field as Akai and Kidd took a stance.

  Akai felt the strange heat in his chest again as Kidd’s foot slowly slid in the dirt. Then he lunged forwards with an attack.

  Lamorie squinted as the sound of wooden swords clacking together. Akai moving as fast as a blur, but despite being so fast Kidd saw right through his movements. Parrying each strike and barely missing his ripostes.

  A sweat drop beaded on Akai’s forehead as he was actually being stressed by Kidd. Akai felt like he may regret this, but he wanted to learn just how much his friend has improved. Akai’s eyes sharpened as wisps of flame began to form in the air around his feet and hands. Then, with much greater speed and force before Akai parried Kidd’s sword and tried to sweep it for a disarm. However, a strange burning sensation filled Akai’s chest again.

  Like before, a passion burned in Kidd’s eyes. He managed to step back and pull away, disengaging in time to avoid being disarmed. Akai steadied himself and swung down with enough force to blow through any guard Kidd would put up. Kidd, however, did not try to block. He intercepted Akai’s swing with his own, just enough to divert the strike as his leg rose into a kick. Landing on Akai’s side with enough force to make him stumble.

  Akai took a step back to steady himself. He tried to push the flames around him more to increase his strength. But by the time he tried to focus on that, Kidd was moving in again.

  No matter how much Akai tried to use his new power to gain the advantage, Kidd continued to push him more and more.

  Finally, Akai made a mistake and pushed his power too far. Flame swirled around him as he empowered himself as much as he could. His chest burned as he swung his sword full force. It wasn’t until it was about to connect, Akai realized his mistake. If his sword hit, Kidd would be lucky to live with broken bones.

  In the last moment, however. The burning in Akai’s chest grew more and Lamorie even felt a pain fill her own body for a moment. The skies, clear and blue, somehow had a bolt of lightning fall from the heavens that struck Kidd. The electric energy did not hurt Kid however. Instead, it sparked around his body as his eyes glow a faint light blue behind his normally red iris. With speed that completely Eclipsed what Akai was capable of, Kidd swung his own sword and it sent Akai’s flying upwards broken in two pieces. In the same fluid motion, Kidd stepped forwards and thrusted. The wooden sword brushing past Akai’s head, intentionally missing. Akai’s eyes widened and the flames dispersed instantly. However Kidd stood there, electricity crackling around him for a moment before it slowly lightened up and stopped.

  Kidd then stood up straight and had a smirk on his face as Akai and Lamorie, as well as the half dozen other villagers training for the militia stared in shock.

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  “I told you it would happen.” Kidd said as the pieces of Akai’s wooden sword finally landed on the ground. “Now lets go, I wanna tell my father.”

  Lamorie leaned off the fence and said “Hang on, I want to have a turn.” as she felt the urge to give this a shot.

  Kidd blinked as Lamorie walked up to them. Akai sighed and said “Let me get you a training weapon.”

  “Some kind of hammer, please” Lamorie called out as Kidd felt very awkward about this. He rubbed the back of his head. “Are you sure about this Lamorie?”

  “Of course I am” she sighed, rolling her shoulders as she began to stretch a little.

  “Well, you know.. You don’t really practice this sort of thing.”

  Lamorie rolled her eyes and held out her hand as Akai walked back, He had a simple wooden version of a war-hammer. He tossed it and she caught it easily. Twirling it a little she tried to take a stance, though it looked fairly weird.

  Kidd raised his sword and looked at Lamorie as he saw a green energy begin gently flowing around her arms. He narrowed his eyes before Lamorie ran forwards. The dirt compressed under her boot as she launched forwards with extreme speed.

  Electricity cracked around Kidd as it barely gave him enough time to raise his sword to parry.

  Lamorie’s war-hammer shot up but she dug her heel into the ground bringing herself to a stop just behind Kidd. She then swung it down and Kidd moved as fast as the lightning that struck him a moment ago. But it wasn’t much use. Lamorie’s wooden hammer crashed right through, breaking Kidd’s wooden sword before stopping less than an inch from his head. She then gently tapped it against his head and said “boop, I win” before Kidd fell to his knees. Genuine fear in his eyes still lingering as Lamorie smiled and twirled the wooden weapon, walking to put it back.

  “She’s.. too strong..” he muttered.

  Many minutes later, Kidd composed himself and walked into his parents house with Akai and Lamorie in tow. Before Kidd could say anything, a shoe went flying over his head. Next thing he knew, his mother was shouting “I told you to stay away from that training field!” as she walked from inside the house, her face flushed with anger. His father followed behind, not saying anything. He was smart enough to know not to butt in when she gets like this.

  Kidd thought of an amusing way to let his parents know what happened. So he took a step forward. Just as his foot landed on the floor, electricity crackled around his leg. Suddenly, with a flash, Kidd was 30ft and across the room, embracing his mother in a hug.

  She stood, shocked, as Akai and Lamorie poked their heads in from the doorway. Seeing Kidd’s mother looking a mix of angry, horrified, and stunned. His father looked more shocked than anything. Then, Christie wrapped her arms around Kidd as his father broke into a boisterous laugh. He put an arm around Christie and a hand on Kidd’s shoulder. Liam said “Moving here was the best thing to happen to us, Our boy had been blessed with an awakening!”

  But Christie didn’t seem super happy, she wrapped her arms tighter around Kidd and she muttered “you stupid boy, why did you keep training?” on the verge of tears.

  Seeing this, Akai and Lamorie walked in a bit concerned.

  “Christie, it’ll be fine. He’s my son after all” Liam said, rubbing his wife’s back as he toned down his excitement.

  “That’s exactly why I’m scared, Liam..”

  “What’s wrong?” Lamorie couldn’t help but ask, confused why Christie was upset about Kidd awakening.

  “It’s.. Liam, you tell her.” Christie said with a sigh as Kidd began to look worried about making his mother upset.

  “I wasn’t going to tell you two until you were a bit older, but I guess now is as good of a time as any.” Liam said, more firmly holding Kidd’s shoulder.

  “You are awakened and citizens of this kingdom, Legonia. It’s mandated by the king that anyone who awakens must join the army for a time. Conscription is mandatory.. But don’t worry too much, the minimum age you have to be is 14. So you all have 4 more years.”

  Kidd, Akai, and Lamorie looked startled by the news. They’ll be made to join the army? Akai didn’t seem to mind, but Lamorie frowned. Not wanting this at all.

  “You’ll go to an academy to start off, so don’t feel like they’ll just drop you in the middle of a battle.” Liam said, holding Christie and Kidd close.

  “An academy?” Akai asked with a contemplative look on his face.

  “Yeah, an academy. They have retired folks and even hire some sorcerers to to teach the awakened. A lot would be around 14-18 years old, but don’t be surprised if you see some middle aged people as students. Most people don’t awaken as young as you three did.”

  Lamorie frowned and Akai rubbed the back of his head. He sighed and said “so we have 4 years together before we gotta leave the village. Then we’ll be gone for a while after that..”

  Christie said “Yes, that’s why.. I didn’t want you to train so hard, Kidd.. I didn’t want you to be a soldier. Because every day you’re not here, I’m going to be scared to hear you’ll never be coming back…”

  Liam patted their shoulders and spoke up. “That’s enough of a somber mood. This is still an amazing thing to happen, Christie. Kidd is strong, just like me. I know he’ll do well. I’ll help prepare them before they head off, but lets get that festival planned. We have another person to add to make it a holiday.”