Blades of Creation

Chapter 6

A flashback from 10 years ago, where Max was just 5 years old.

His uncle Samuel Fortes was juggling 7 knives, the blades are all spinning in the air yet he's not having any trouble of catching it by the handle everytime. His face was full confidence and a grin full of smug eager to impress his audience Rem and Max that are sitting on a grassy field at the bottom of the tree.

Samuel then threw all of the seven knives one by one at the branches of the tree and grazed on the stems making apples rained all over the spot where Max and Rem were sitting on. Rem was amazed and applaud his dad with a smile of mouth fully open.

Max, on the other hand, looked away with an irritated expression after seeing the performance.

"That was amazing!" Rem made a standing ovation and clapped his hands louder with an adorable and exhilarating smile.

"Don't be fooled by your dad, Rem." Max said in an upsetting tone. "He's a class A conjurer -- that means he can control his conjurations even at this distance"

A metal statue that looks exactly like Max appeared on his left side imitating his exact posing and facial expression.  He couldn't see it because he's facing Rem on his right side.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Max asked when he noticed Rem trying so hard to hold out his laughter "Is there something on my face?" He wondered.

The face of the statue imitates Max's every expression and mouth's movements which made Rem burst out of laughter.

Max looked at his left side and jumped in fright the moment he noticed the metal statue.

"You know, it's not good for a child to be skeptical of everything" the statue spoke with a bored facial expression.

Max noticed the voice was coming from another direction and made his furious glare dart towards his uncle.

"A child should be full of dreams and believe everything's possible" His uncle said as he sprinkles some dust from his hands all over the air and metal butterfly appeared and flew all over the place

Samuel's smile however disaperead the moment he looked at Max's eyes. "Well... Considering what you just went through, it's reasonable enough that you would act in such a way. But still, I think that--"

Max kicked the metal statue and it shattered like glass that it scarred the smile out of Rem's face.

"Stop trying to cheer me up!" Max shouted towards his uncle.

His uncle did not to reply and calmly made eye contact with Max's furious glare.

"I never... Wanted to have anything to do with conjurers ever again!!!"

The flashback ended and Max woke up in the hospital bed.

**********************

Her mother Martha was sitting beside him and reading a magazine until she realized that Max was awake.

She sighs and held her chest in relief.

Max tried his best to get up from the bed but was interrupted by the pain in his abdomen. Her mother then acted fast and helped him sit up.

Max looked at his lower body and saw it full of bandages. "how long was I out?" he asked his mom

"Thirty-eight hours after you were found" another guy answered his question who was sitting on the desk beside his bed.

Max immediately turns his head towards the desk and found that the person sitting there is none other than his cousin Rem.

Max frowns and stared at him for a few seconds, waiting for clarifications but Rem kept typing on his keyboard and ignored his cousin's implications