Many years later, Rynu looked up to his mother in confusion. "You want me to what?"
"I want you to show your uncle what you did the other day- remember the flower?" Serena smiled to her son, ecstatic that he had shown signs of magic.
"Go on, bud. Show uncle Raoul what you can do." Pheona's father smiled, Pheona looking at Rynu from beside her father.
"Okay." Rynu said nervously, looking around on the ground and seeing a small vine curling up one of the trees nearby, He walked over and put his hand over the stalk, the vine growing slightly up the tree bark and twisting in on itself.
"Ah, we have a little earth mage." Raoul grinned, setting a hand on top of Pheona's head. "Perhaps we should send them both off to the keep to learn how to control their powers?"
Serena looked up at Raoul uneasily. "I-I don't know."
Raoul watched his sister uneasily, understanding her apprehension. "He'll be okay. He'll be in a safe place."
Serena nodded sadly, kneeling down next to Rynu and hugging him gently. "Would you like that, sweetie? Do you want to learn how to be a magi?"
"Do you have magic too, Mom?" Rynu grinned.
"No, momma can't use magic. All momma's magic went to her brother." Serena grinned up at Raoul, who snickered.
"Doesn't make a difference sis, your son has magic, so you must have a little in you somewhere." He said, looking at her in satisfaction.
"Whatever you say." Serena rolled her eyes with a smile. "Either way, we should get heading back home.
"I'll see you later, Rynu." Pheona waved happily to Rynu, who waved back as they left Avalon.
"I really want to learn how to use my magic." Rynu said as they walked back to their house.
Serena looked down at him uneasily. "That will be up to your father, Rynu."
Rynu frowned, looking at the ground in anger. "You know what he'll say. He'd never let me go."
Serena sighed. "Your father isn't that bad, unless he's been drinking. Just ask him- maybe he'll say yes."
Rynu sighed, opening the door for her and walking into the house. He knew better than to think his father would agree to letting him go to the keep.
"Where have you been?" A gruff voice came from the living room of the house. Serena and Rynu froze in surprise that he was home already. Usually he was home much later.
"We went out for a bit. Nothing special." Serena said casually, pushing Rynu into the hallway. "Go to your room, Rynu."
Rynu walked over to the hallway, looking back at her in concern. He knew what was coming. He had noticed the half empty bottle by his father, and had seen the anger in his eyes. This wouldn't end well.
Rynu flinched as the yells started. He knew what had happened this time, and he couldn't help the guilt that wracked him. His mother had probably asked his father if he could go to the city to learn to control his magic and be a magi. His father yelled in anger, followed by another cry. Rynu flinched again, his fists clenching so hard his nails bit into his palms. He looked to the door when he heard his mother yell this time, his father's voice crying out as something shattered.
The silence that followed made Rynu's heart pound in his chest. He waited, his eyes wide as he listened intently. His father muttered something he couldn't hear and was followed by the most horrifying scream Rynu had ever heard.
Then more silence.
Rynu started shaking with fear, walking over to the door as he heard his father swear loudly. Rynu ran into the hallway, looking over at his mother lying on the ground below his father, who was rubbing a burned shoulder, the cloth burned away from the area.
"Go back to your room." His father growled at him as Rynu stared at his mother on the ground. Her face was unrecognizable, burned to the bone in parts, half of her body burned, the wall behind her singed with a silhouette of her body.
"What did you do to her?" Rynu said, his voice cracking as he saw she wasn't breathing- her one eye was staring straight ahead, glazed over.
"I said go to your room. I'm your father, so you'd better listen to me." His father turned to him, fists bared.
Rynu ground his teeth as the feat seething through him turned to anger. He glared up at his father through his long curly hair and growled low in this throat. "You don't deserve to be my father. You never did."
"What did you say?" The man yelled harshly, hitting Rynu on the side of the face with one of his large fists. Rynu fell to the ground from the blow and wiped his bloody lip, glancing to his side at his mother's body.
"You don't even deserved to be called a human. You're an animal that doesn't even deserve to live!" Rynu yelled, his body glowing bright green in his anger. He glared at his father with intense green eyes as a tendril of his magic connected with his father, making the man yell in pain.
"You killed my mom!" Rynu screamed in pain, his magic exploding from around him, the force shattering objects around the house. He heard a loud thump on the floor as his mind started to get foggy, the black haze overtaking his vision as he collapsed to the floor.