The Arks

"Yes! The song is called 'Monody'! Don't forget, ok? It's our village's anthem. Long ago, a bad person wanted to destroy our home," said Val, gently patting her baby brother's head.

"And a powerful group of Mages came to our aid. But the bad person was too strong. And instead of focusing on the bad person," continued Nic, looking at the happy baby's eyes.

"They focused on our village people. They risked their lives to protect ours because to them, we were more important than winning a fight," chimed the two.

Toddler Bryan's eyes sparkled as his two siblings told the story of Monody. The Song that saved the village from the Poisoned Pond.

"And then, a woman with red eyes and a hood began to sing. She asked them all to sing the song that we just did. And we helped the Mages to stop that mean person from destroying our village. Humans and Mages can work together."

Humans and Mages can work together... That sounded like something Mavislin would say.

"You're not far from the truth. Those 'Mages' she was referring to are the Mages that you work with now. She placed her wings on the line to fight the enemy that tried to destroy your village."

Bryan remained silent as he watched on.

"And the mysterious Mage with red eyes and a hood was called 'Nom'. That's a funny name, right?" asked his sister, ruffling the toddler's hair.

He squealed and laughed. Bryan widened his eyes the more he thought about that name. He realized who it belonged to and took a step back.

"Nova Orlatith Harmony. 'Nom'. My adopted mother... She saved the village?!" asked Bryan, flabbergasted.

"Most likely. I don't have solid proof but the names seem to match. Alright, let's flash forward to when you first developed your powers. That would be interesting to see," said the voice, sounding happy.

The scene changed once more, this time, it was Bryan sitting on the floor with a bunch of papers lying around. They were drawings of the constellations. And each piece of paper had a single cancellation with its name on it.

"Bryan! What are you doing on the floor like that?" asked Val, who came back with a sack of things.

To Bryan's and Val's surprise, the drawings were well drawn out with both the names and the meanings. Val picked up one that had 'Virgo' on it.

" 'Symbol Of The Maiden, Goddess Of Innocence and Purity... Virgo, Stars Of The Virgin.' How did you get these things? We don't have any knowledge about stars or constellations. Or about zodiac signs," asked Val, looking at Bryan with confusion.

The current Bryan was impressed. His incantations and knowledge about the constellations started at an early age. From what he could recall, Nova was the one who taught him about the stars. He was a quick learner but perhaps it was because he previously had known about it.

That was probably the main reason why he jumped from an amateur to an intermediate Mage when he showed Nova the extent of his powers. It was vastly unstable but it wasn't a beginner level of Magecraft. He seemed to know quite a bit of his Magecraft as well.

"You loved the stars more than anything else. You would spend an unhealthy amount of time outside at night to stare at the sky. Your siblings thought you were a special child since you were a quiet kid and refused to make any friends," explained the voice.

"Your powers would show in this memory. But not in the way that you'd expect. In the end, it was to protect someone from getting hurt."

"That sounds like what I would do, I guess. I have had a nasty habit of using my powers to save others..." replied Bryan, sighing.

"Like I said, not in the way you expect. During this time, you only knew the main 12 constellations. And your powers were far too weak to be on the offensive side."

"To protect others, I don't need to be on the offense. I just need a very good defense. I just need enough power to protect others from getting hurt, I don't have to retaliate or hurt anyone else. Right?" asked Bryan, giving a smile.

That was what Minwoo told him when he first got recruited. The man was referring to his skills as a human combatant, not as a Mage.. You only need to give out enough to protect, you don't always have to fight back.