He turned to face his parents fully, slowly explaining his abilities to them.
"I've always been… different, I learn things faster than I should, it's because I have a very high comprehension talent, I am able to grasp or copy things very quickly. During my awakening I had a strange feeling," Jacob explained, his parents listening intently.
"What kind of feeling?" Elena inquired.
"I just felt like I was bestowed an immense level of power, I don't quite know how to explain it, but you should already know by now that I'm not an ordinary ten year old."
"The whole world knows that." Rhoarin exclaimed, unable to hide his look of worry, "That is why we are trying to protect and train you for the future." He continued.
"I'll be fine, dad… I promise."
"…"
"…"
The silence creeped in until Elena suddenly broke it, "Jacob you're confusing us."
The boy got up from his seat and walked over to them, stretching out his hands to hug them both at the same time.
"You both matter to me more than anyone in this world, and I trust you with my life, so I need you to trust me when I say you have nothing to worry about." Jacob said, not noticing a tear running down his mother's face.
"You hear that dear, our son is all grown up," her voice a little shaky as she looked at Rhoarin, who nodded in agreement.
Jacob eventually broke away from them and looked in his father's eyes, his father took off his necklace and tied it around Jacob's neck firmly.
"No matter where you are, if you ever are in any trouble, just hold this pendant tightly, your mother and I will scour the heavens and the earth to find you." Rhoarin assured, looking at Elena. The pendant was a cross, made entirely out of sapphire, and gold-coated edges.
"Thank you, dad, I'll make sure to always keep it on."
"That's my boy," Rhoarin laughed.
"I'm feeling sleepy, Xenia was intense, I think she forgot how old I was for a minute," Jacob stated playfully, his parents laughed in unison as they let him walk away.
With his back turned, they turned to face each other, their expressions full of suspicion, they still had many questions but would save them for a later time.
'That should keep them at bay for a while,' Jacob mused as he walked to his room.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Far to the eastern wing of the Ironfell castle, a frail old man sat in a room reading his grimoire when he heard a knock on the door.
KNOCK! KNOCK!
"Who could be knocking at such an ungodly hour?" The man mumbled as he scurried over to open the door to a messenger carrying a small purse.
"Elder Zha! A letter arrived from the Flying Macabre this evening, I brought it to you immediately."
"Is that so? Hand it over," the old man commanded.
Elder Zha was one of the seven elders of the Ironfell clan, he was the oldest of the seven and had served the clan loyally for as long as he can remember.
Elders of the clan were sworn in and not allowed any to take wife/wives, although they could bear children, most of them spent their time with escorts or had illicit relationships.
After Elder Zha had dismissed the messenger, he put on his monocle carefully and studied the letter for about thirty minutes.
"They dare… What sort of rubbish is this! What gave them such audacity?" The man scoffed, almost ripping the letter in two but restraining himself.
"I must deliver this to the Patriarch first thing in the morning." He said and turned off his night lamp.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
"Patriarch! This letter came in last night," Elder Zha shouted as he handed the unsealed envelope to Alaric, who studied it slowly, noticing the seal was broken.
"I see you've taken the liberty of reading it yourself Zha." Alaric raised a brow, looking at the man seriously,
"Y-yes Patriarch, my apologies, but the contents, the contents are preposterous, the macabre have surely lost their marbles." Zha replied, his head down, signifying his respect for the clan Patriarch.
Alaric pulled out the letter from the semi worn out envelope and unfolded it, he studied it for about a minute, then he chuckled.
"Surely this is a joke?" He looked at Elder Zha, waving the letter slightly.
"I'm afraid not Patriarch."
"It must be, this lowly sect can't certainly make such demands."
"…" Elder Zha remained silent, he knew speaking too much would anger the Patriarch even further so he decided not to say anything and wait for the information to be digested.
After a brief moment of silence, Alaric spoke up, "Send a letter to the sect leader of the Flying Macabre, organize a meeting, this is a matter we need to solve face to face."
"Yes! Patriarch, that will be done right away." Elder Zha responded, excusing himself from the room immediately, leaving Alaric to sit in silence with his thoughts.
The old man clasped his hands together and rested his chin on his knuckles.
'I might need to make a hard choice very soon, one that may or may not mean war for the Ironfell clan." He thought to himself, shaking his head lightly before resuming his book.
The Flying Macabre sect was the biggest and most powerful sect in the Daven Heaven Continent, only rivaled by the Blood Warrior sect.
The Flying Macabre had the backing of major houses in the continent and therefore were positioned to make demands at any given time, but this particular demand was one that the Patriarch of the Ironfell clan would not agree to, he believed that before joining any group, the said party must be old enough to make the decision on their own without any external influence.
Jacob on the other hand was oblivious to this matter, even though he knew he had the attention of multiple sects, he didn't know they were this close already.