Chapter 5
It took Zale all through the night to reach home on foot. He could see smoke rising from the chimney. His parents must have stayed up to wait for him. He should have been home hours ago. His house was nestled next to a couple other farm houses. All the families were responsible for working the land in service to the Jeskai family. In return they got to take a small share of the product for themselves and live on the land tax free. Not a great living, but an honest one.
His house was only two bedrooms. The kitchen, living room, and dining room smashed into one. The outhouse was shared by two of his neighbors. One of the main reasons Zale wished to become an Elemental Master so he could escape this kind of life. He had helped his father and mother in the fields since he was twelve, it wasn’t his cup of tea. When he visited the city with his father to deliver their crops to the Jeskai family and use their share to trade he had been envious of the young nobles. Their education, their dress, their etiquette, their food, their housing. It was all better. You only get one life, and Zale wasn’t going to settle.
He opened his front door as quietly as possible and kicked his boots off. Despite living on a farm his mother still would swat him a good one if he tracked mud into the house. Sitting at their small table was Zale’s father, Jordan Ashwater. He was in his early forty’s with a rough beard. Both of Zale’s parents had awoken to earth abilities and passives that were ranked at D. His father had Rejuvenate, which helped heal the land during the winter so they didn’t have to practice crop rotation. His mother had the D rank ability Loose Earth which made tilling the fields much easier on the mules. While not combat abilities they still guaranteed his parents work.
“Well, how did it go?” Jordan asked.
Zale sat down across his father. He didn’t even know where to start so he just went with the beginning. He told Jordan about his dual passives. About the Spirit Hall sponsorship. Even about his confrontation with Sorana Jeskai. His father connected with Zale’s spirit gem just to confirm his son’s abilities. He ended the day’s events by dumping the contents of the bag the Senior Abbot had given him. Gold coins scattered the table with a single medicinal pellet that was as smooth as a pearl.
Zale hadn’t counted the bag's contents on the road so this was his first time seeing how much the abbot had given him. He hadn’t expected that the coins would be gold. Silver maybe, but not gold. His family barely made ten silver in an entire year. On the table over forty gold coins were piled up. One hundred copper made one silver and the same was true for silver making gold. To their family this was a fortune.
“I will have to leave for Delvers Ridge in a couple days if I want to seriously compete in the school tournament.”
Zale packed the gold back into the bag the abbot had given him and pushed it toward his father. Jordan shook his head in shock and pushed the bag of gold back to Zale.
“This was given to you. For you. Keep it. As for leaving, let me talk it over with your mother tomorrow. You’ve had a big day, get some sleep.”
Zale took the bag in his hand and walked quietly to bed. He was careful not to wake his sister as he entered their room. With the house only being two bedrooms he was forced to share a room with his ten-year-old sister Abigail. His whole family had worried that as the two grew up sharing a room would become a hassle because of privacy. Zale realized that with his awakening that would most likely be a non-issue. Once he left to train in Delvers Ridge it would be a long time before he returned. Most likely it would only be for a day or two before the school tournament.
The next morning, he woke up late. Normally if he overslept his sister or mother would wake him up for chores. Abigail loved dumping water on him in the morning. It was late morning when he got up, the smell of bacon grease and eggs invaded his room. He got dressed as fast as he could, ashamed his father was working the fields by himself. Weighing the bag of gold he decided to tie it to his belt but let it hang on the inside of his pants so people couldn’t see it.
When he rushed into the kitchen breakfast was on the table. His mother was cleaning the dishes. He shoveled the food into his mouth as fast as he could. He was a little surprised Abigail wasn’t helping with the dishes. Normally she did most of the housework because she wasn’t old enough to help with the farm work yet.
Zale’s mother Helen couldn’t help but tear up as she watched Zale eat.
“I can’t believe you’re going to leave us,” she cried.
Zale wasn’t sure how to comfort her. No mother wants to see her child leave. Zale just hugged her.
“I have to go help dad or the whole day will be gone.”
His mother waved at the door.
“A storm is coming. Everyone is just about done already.”
Almost on que the air shook with thunder. Zale twitched. His passive Lightning rod didn’t make him feel good in a storm. Either way he still needed to help his father and neighbors finish the day’s work before it rained. He put on his boots and kissed his mother on the cheek before he left.
It was spring. Planting season. Zale’s mother had already used her active Loose Earth weeks ago. Now they were just tilling the land and planting seeds. He could see his father was already done tilling their portion of the field and was disconnecting the mule from the plow. Zale hurried over and helped take the harness off.
“You put the mule back in the barn. I’ll put the plow away and get your sister. It’s going to pour any second,” Jordan said.
Zale took the mule by its reigns and pulled it toward the barn. One of the few things the Jeskai family did do for the farmers was build a large barn that everyone who worked the land could use. Most of the animals were housed there.
Sure enough Zale was only halfway to the barn when the rain came down. It was a hard downpour. The type of rain that only lasts a couple minutes but feels like the world is ending. He could see his father hold his jacket above Abigail’s head as they ran into the house. Zale tried to hurry the stubborn mule up but it seemed content taking its sweet time. About thirty yards from the barn the mule had a switch in speed though as it bolted past Zale ripping the reigns right from his hands as it ran directly into the barn on its own accord. He had never seen something like it. Almost like the mule was scared of something. The hair on the back of Zale’s neck stood up.
Crack!
The ground next to Zale exploded as a bolt of lightning struck mere feet away from him. Zale was thrown to the ground by the power of the lightning. His ears rung so loud he couldn’t hear anything. He stood up as best he could and ran the rest of the way to the barn. He would be safe inside. The rain continued to come down harder than ever.
The animals inside the barn were terrified. They could sense the danger of the storm. They could sense the danger coming from Zale. None of the animals wanted to be near him. Before he could even find a spot to sit and wait out the storm another lightning bolt slammed down. This one wasn’t near him though; this was right on top of him. The barn shook when the lightning struck its roof.
The horses and mules freaked out. They tried everything to break out of their stalls. Zale looked up and saw red, yellow and orange on the roof. Fire. He looked outside the barn and saw men shouting and running out of their homes in the rain. If the barn burned down their community would lose a lot. If the fire spread to the fields they could lose everything. Luckily it was raining so the fire most likely wouldn’t spread.
Crack.
A second bolt shook the entire barn and the flames on the thatched roof blazed even brighter. That was when Zale realized. He was doing this. His passive was what was attracting the lightning. As much as he wanted to stay and help put the fire out he knew if he did it would just put everyone else in trouble. So he did the only thing he could think of. He ran.
He ran out of the barn and through the fields as fast as he could. He ran in the opposite direction of his house, toward the forest. He ran despite hearing thunder all around him. He ran and never looked back. The more distance he put between himself and his home, the safer his family would be.