TBATE Ballad of Madness

Chapter 4 Happy Accident

Reynolds Leywin

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My baby boys. I still remember the joy followed by the immediate tension when I first found out that Alice was pregnant with twins. The town doctor clearly in his wording when he told us how even with today's advancements in medicine, the chances of both being born healthy were less then 50%, and yet defying all odds, Alice was able to give birth to both of them. It was such a joyous occasion.

I just couldn't wait to tell them all about magic. I don't remember exactly when I started training, but I was very young. I hoped they were both augmenters, like me. I only knew the basics of conjuring, and used it merely as a mental exercise. Alice on the other hand, was one of the most talented people I'd ever seen. Even as an emitter, she was just exceptional. Back when we were adventurers, she could easily use an area of effect spell to heal all allies up to a 5 yard radius. And she choose me for her husband, I'll never get tired of saying that. While the adventurer's life was exciting, if not for that ... the incident with Alice and Lensa, we wouldn't have settled down so quickly.

I told Art and Ryan about the adventuring life. All those stories and everything. Alice said that I was just brainwashing them, but I wanted them to have at least some experience when they got older. I didn't knew what I'd do if they didn't awaken as a mage. As long as they both managed to become any kind of mage, I knew I would be a proud and happy father. The type of mage someone would become was apparent when one first awakened. While both, augmenters and conjurers formed a translucent barrier, augmenters form a sort of pushing force displaying their dominant mana channels while conjurers would form a vacuum of mana around them due to their dominant mana veins. The degree of ones talent on the other hand, would be displayed by the force of pushing or pulling. Not to brag, but when I first awakened, at the early age of 12 btw, the pushing force made me float for a good couple of seconds. Enough to lift a human body! Imagine that!!!

I was with Alice in the front yard after dinner, making planes to train Art and Ryan after they awaken. I was just in the middle of thinking when...

Boom!!!

What happened??

Around 2 quarters of the house was gone. The boys!! Both Art and Ryan were still in the house!!!The blood drained from Alice's face and her eyes went wide with disbelief and worry. I pushed her down, covering her with a temporary shield and rushed towards the explosion, shielding myself with a layer of mana over my skin. The debris from our house came flying towards me as I desperately made my way through the explosion. Finally after going through all that was left of my house and yard, I saw it.

I was baffled by the sight as my eyes shook in disbelief. Just how did this happen??My legs gave out as I fell to my knees while I gaped at the sight.

"Reynolds, honey!!", I was barely able to look back at my wife with my mouth still open from the shock.

"Reynolds, what happened?? What's going on? Where's Art and Ryan??", she asked as she made her way through covering her face with her arms while moving towards me. The explosion had almost died down and I could only point towards its source in the air.

Confused, she followed the line of my finger and after seeing the sight, all she could manage to whisper was, "Ohh my!!"

-- -- --Ryan Leywin-- -- --

I don't know if it was due to underestimating myself or working too hard, but within the last couple of days I had finally collected all the mana particles I could feel within my body. All that was left was to compress it to form the mana core, but I was a bit hesitant. Afterall, it wasn't the right time yet.

According to my plan, Arthur had yet to awaken, let alone going to that place. Still, since doing something was better then doing nothing at all, I kept trying to control mana particles now floating near where my core would soon be. I figured getting a feel of them was for the better as in the beginning I wasn't even able to do so for a couple of months, let alone control them. Not to mention, during the entire process, I realized just how difficult it was to not only collect the mana particles scattered throughout my body, but also simultaneously focus on the ones which were already near my solar plexus. This was because the attractive force between the mana particles wasn't strong enough, especially in the beginning.

I wondered if I would be a conjurer or an augmenter. This line of thought soon let me to the question of which elements I would be able to control. It be great if I were able to control all 4 like Arthur but then again, he was the MC so it kind of made sense for him. But then what about me. I reincarnated too right??

Thinking about this made me a bit depressed so I immediately started thinking of something else. There has to be a better reason for why Art got to control all 4 elements. Wait, she was an anomaly too wasn't she??

I was about to finish the thought when...

Boom!!!

I was startled by the sudden explosion and lost control of both my thoughts and the mana particles I was playing with. I felt power surging within me as mana started to rush towards my core.

Oh no...did I accidently awakened??

Just when I thought that, I felt myself being pulled and...

"Aahh" I almost screamed as I was barely able to hold on to my consciousness after being hit in the head. Wasn't a barrier supposed to form around them when someone awakened?? Wait the sound earlier...It couldn't be, right???

Suddenly I fell to the ground and when I opened my eyes, as if to mock my plans, there it was...