The Healer Of Light And The Prince Of Darkness

20. Keeping It Under Wraps

He was just a little boy starting to collect his first memories in his life when he was first told about the Temple.

"... So, listen carefully, dear, this temple is like no other else. It centers all the divine energy in the Magic Kingdom."

"They even say that the goddess herself is watching over that place."

"It can't be helped," a light laughter was heard by the boy, "It's obviously a great place and as you can see all the Great Saints have lived in the Temple during their lives."

He was determined that he would be a part of the Temple. That was his first and biggest wish and at the age of ten he had finally decided. He was going to the Temple!

It couldn't help that his family was poor, though. His parents and his parents' parents were all farmers in the part of Hares where few things were able to grow. The famine in Hares almost every year originated in those western parts of Hares and the civilians were already used to it as the natural disasters were a common thing for them.

As the seventh child of his poor family and not have been brought up with much care the boy didn't hold much feeling against leaving his family, nor his birth land. He was, though, convinced in something else.

He would be a great healer one day.

No one told him it would be that hard, though. The boy had encountered many difficulties while trying to reach the capital firstly but the clear rejection he had received by the man from the Temple made him shocked.

What was he going to do now? He certainly wasn't going home where famine was a part in the civilian's daily life. His ambition was to be a great healer after all!

Apparently he had been able to convince the man who he didn't know the identity but the boy was soon attracted by the Temple from the inside. The man had made him follow him and now that they were in the corridors the boy was able to see with his own eyes some paintings about twice or thrice his height. They all portraited people in with robes. Some of them were of men with serious faces and stern impressions. Others showed smiling girls and warmhearted women staring as if in your soul.

The painter surely was great in his job as he was able to portrait all of them so well but those people too made the boy stunned. They had such an... aura that made him feel blessed just to be able to take a look at their images.

"Hey, youngster!"

The loud voice that spread fast in the large corridor mad the boy turn around immediately. The man he used to follow had stopped and now was frowning.

"We've arrived. You are going to take a test whether you possess the required mana to be accepted as a trainee."

They had stopped in front of a room, the boy realized. Was this the place all things were starting for him? One day he was going to recall the fear he felt, the paintings he saw and the test... He was going to take but... What test?

No one had mentioned anything about any tests!

"... so that's something new added a year ago," the man said.

"It's not hard to pass but a thin string of light mana is definitely not passable in this type of test. It's made in order to select those that would be able to answer the conditions our generous saintess sets."

That wasn't right. The temples in all Hares were for people to have a shelter. They accepted all. And above those all were the ones that were actually potential to heal as they had light mana. They were rare but not as much as the magicians that controlled natural elements.