Aregoria: Book 1 - The Return of the Dragons

Chapter 2

Home, there's nothing like it.

The portal opened up on the side of a large group of boulders that for one second looked like a trio of dragons before it morphed back into normal rock. Raphael blinked, then smiled. Magic was always amazing him with what it could do.

He saw his aunt and uncles farmhouse just up ahead, smoke coming out of the three chimneys blew blue and green smoke rings out of the top of the house that slowly faded away into the air. His aunt had been seeking out greener ways to do her potions and sometimes an experiment went wrong, but when it went right, the chimneys blew out clear colours.

Rafael climbed over the wooden fence and walked through the paddock, letting the magic that seemed to be overflowing from him lately out of his fingers and into the dirt below him. It always made the grass grow a little faster and wild flowers pop up in his wake. Doing this helped to feed the animals they kept and they never did without.

Rafael could see his Aunt Prinnie walking out onto the back porch. She waved him over. He turned and took a step and flashed; appearing right next to her.

"You could've walked, Rafe! How many times do I have to tell you? Don't use your magic for the menial!" Prinnie slapped lightheartedly across his right shoulder.

"Now where's the fun in that?" Raphael quipped.

"Your Uncle went out again into town. He won't be back till nightfall. He wants you to help me with the chores. You can do that can't you?" 

Rafael looked at her, tilting his head to the side as he saw through his minds eye all the things his uncle expected him to do.

"All the small stuff I've just fix with magic, but I will go and let the cows out into the pasture and feed the rest of the animals by hand."

Prinnie smiled widely at Raphael. When he used magic to fix things, those items became ten times stronger than they were before and they lasted decades. She went back into the house to get the dinner started while Rafael headed towards the barn.

He grabbed feed for the chickens and changing his boots over to his farm ones walked out to the chicken pen to feed the chickens. He had to be careful about how he fed the animals, because one slip of the wrong thought and he could have giant chickens or cows on his hands. The town people would have loved another one of his magical "hush hush" mess ups, but his aunt and uncle, not so much.

Raphael led one dairy cow out at a time to the nearby pasture. The field had the darkest green grass he had ever created which made the little cows milk they used a dream to drink. He let the cow into the pasture and turned to get the calf. He looped the rope in his hand around the calfs harness and led him into where his mama was waiting for him. The calf would grow up well and if he looked strong enough he would breed the next calf to another cow, if not, the cow would then be brought to the butcher to feed a lot of hungry families. Those days where the hardest for him. When they found a willing farmer who wanted to use the bull to breed, that was a good day in Rafes oppinion. He was never one for killing things. He patted the mother and calf on their large heads and murmured for them to take their time and enjoy the sunshine. They mooed back in response before lowering their heads to the rich grass at their hooves.

Raphael did the same things with the other cows, horses and sheep. He let the chickens roam in a gated area where they could also feed on grass. The eggs where always better when they got to graze.

Whistling to himself, Raphael got to cleaning out the stalls. He used magic to get the manure out, but he filled the stalls with fresh hay by hand. He loved the smell and the animals didn't care much for magic in their homes even if it came from a kind person.