One day, while Alex and Sophia were training in the front yard with their dad, a mysterious woman came to visit.
From the pointy hat and the long black cloak fully covering their body, it perfectly matches Alex's memory of what he imagined as a mage.
"Sophia, come. It's time to test your magical capability." The mother waved as she opened the door for the mysterious woman.
"Yay!"
Sophia immediately dropped the sword onto the floor, running inside as his dad pulled him back to continue the sword training.
"Dad, how about me? What can't I go with her?" Alex impatiently asked.
"It's not your turn yet... Your mom said you have to wait until you're six years old. Just wait two years, okay?"
"Okay..."
Alex had no choice but to accept it, watching the mysterious woman come out of the house after a few minutes, with both Sophia and Mom thanking her.
---
After waiting for what felt like forever, the mysterious woman once again returns to their home.
"Mom! Is it my turn?" Alex excitedly asked.
"Yes, yes. It's your turn," the mother murmured as she opened the door for the mysterious woman to come inside.
After five minutes of waiting, the mother guided him into the parents' bedroom.
"Whoa..."
Alex was stunned as the bedroom had gone through a complete transformation.
The bed, the ceiling, and even the floor were completely gone, replaced with some sort of black void.
"What are you waiting for?" the mysterious woman asked, noticing Alex standing still outside the hallway.
After seeing the mysterious woman and his mom both standing in the black void perfectly fine, he finally took his first step.
The black void was a solid block with almost the same feeling and sound as the wooden block in the actual bedroom.
He quickly realized everything around him was just a visual change, not actual physical changes that impacted where everything in the room was located.
"Is this magic?" Alex curiously asked.
"Yep, it's magic... Hey Katherine, where's Paul?"
The mysterious woman asked as she looked towards Alex's mom, who shrugged her shoulders.
"He had been busy dealing with the monster outbreak nearby. He should be back around later in the afternoon."
Katherine replied as she lifted Alex up to the black table, which had a crystal ball right in the middle.
"Okay, Alex, it's time for you to put your hand above the crystal ball and start imagining things," the mysterious woman whispered.
Alex quickly hovered his hand over the crystal ball, but a problem appeared right off the bat.
"What am I supposed to imagine?" Alex curiously asked.
"Just anything that comes to mind when your hands hover over the crystal ball. Anything works."
Despite the mysterious woman's advice, Alex couldn't feel anything after he repeatedly had his hand over the crystal ball.
Everything just came up blank in his head. He just felt empty for some weird reason, even as he tried to think of things happening in the past.
Seeing nothing appearing, the mysterious woman pushed his hands away before putting the crystal ball inside her bag.
"Amelia, is Alex okay?" Katherine worryingly asked.
"He has zero magical capability. Is he really your son? How is he so drastically different from your daughter, Sophia?"
"What? That can't be right——"
"Alex, shush. Don't question Miss Amelia like that... Is there any way for me to help him?" Katherine asked as she put Alex back down on the floor.
Seeing a mother genuinely wanting to help his son, the mysterious woman decided to give her a little hope.
"When your other daughter is old enough to take the test, I'll come back again to give you an answer."
As the mysterious woman snapped her finger, she vanished right before their eyes, along with the black void in the room.
The bedroom was back to normal as if nothing had ever happened to it, with Alex standing right next to a seated Katherine.
"Mom... Am I a failure?"
"No, you're not a failure, Alex. I don't want to hear you say that ever again, you hear me?"
Alex nodded in agreement, but his face was on the verge of tearing up as he thought back to what the mysterious woman had said earlier.
"Alex, you wanted to be an adventurer, just like your dad, right?" Katherine suddenly asked as she lifted him to her lap.
"I... I do."
"Then you can't cry over things like this. You have to have a strong heart and be a man to become an adventurer."
After a few seconds, Alex still couldn't hold it back as tears started to fall from his eyes.
He couldn't believe his fantasy of being a mage had ended before it could even start—the reality of being a normal person was just too crushing to process.
"It's okay, Alex. Just let it all out. You don't have to hold it in..."
As Katherine gently patted him on the head, Alex's sob slowly died back down as his mind recollected itself.
"Mom, how can I be an adventurer if Miss Amelia just said I don't have any magical capability?"
"So? Your dad doesn't have any magic either, and he's doing just fine as an adventurer. Having magic or not doesn't define someone as a failure."
As she wiped the tears off Alex's face, she suddenly decided to ask something to distract him.
"Alex, you want to use magic and be a boy, right?"
The second part of the question caught Alex a little off guard, but he nodded in agreement.
"Then you're going to learn your father's sword skill and become a swordsman just like him.
And guess what? You'll still be able to use magic that way as well, so your dream of using magic isn't over yet."
Within seconds, Alex's sadness quickly disappeared as he looked back at her with hopeful eyes.
"Really? I can still use magic?" Alex excitedly asked.
"Yes, Alex, a swordsman doesn't need any magical capability to use magical scrolls. Look, let me give you one to use right now."
After digging in the drawer for a while, Katherine finally returned with a piece of cloth bearing an unknown letter.
"Here, just imagine fire as you hold this scroll."
As Alex closed his eyes and started imagining fire in his head, he felt a burning sensation, which made him open his eyes again.
"There's fire on my finger!" Alex excitedly yelled as a small flame hung in the air on his fingertip.
"Be careful... Don't be sad about not being able to use magic now, okay?" Katherine whispered as she took the scroll away.
"Thank you, Mom! Muah! I love you!"
"I love you too, Alex."
---
Ever since the day after the crystal ball test, Alex had been working extra hard on his sword training.
He was still training alone even when his dad was off to work, forcing Sophia to be his training mate by bribing her with his share of candies.
Just as he thought the next two years would go by until his little sister Mary took her magical test, tragedy struck the family.
It was a rainy afternoon...
Several men and women in knights' armor came into the house, soaking wet, carrying a box along with a sword inside.
"Mrs.Katherine. I'm afraid your husband, Paul, he's..."
One of the knights in front hesitated for a second after seeing Alex peeking around the corner before running away.
"He's what? Just tell me."
Katherine impatiently asked as her face started to look more and more nervous after noticing the sword belonging to Paul.
"We were fighting a monster outbreak, and he fell into one of the monster's traps while saving us——"
"Where is his body?"
"We couldn't find it. When we came back, the only thing we found was his sword on the ground."
As soon as the knight finished talking, Katherine's face suddenly darkened for the first time.
Everyone fell into silence as they all knew there was no chance for him to come back, especially for a swordsman who had lost their sword on the battlefield.
"We're terribly sorry, madam... If there's anything we can do for you, please contact us."
Seeing Katherine not speaking a single word, the knight puts the box onto the table before leaving the house.
"Mom... Are you okay?" Sophia nervously asked as she and Alex finally walked out of the room.
"I'm fine, Sophia... Take care of Alex and Mary, okay? I'll be right back."
Before the two of them could say anything, Katherine quickly ran back into her room and came back out with a bag.
Alex immediately recognized the bag. It was the same one that the mysterious woman had carried with her in the past.
Without saying another word, Katherine locked the house door before leaving, not giving them a chance to ask any questions.
"Alex, what should we do now? Why did Mom look so angry and sad?" Sophia worryingly asked.
"I don't know... But Mom told us to take care of Mary. Let's go bring her here first."
As the two headed back into the bedroom, Mary was almost asleep in her crib, only waking up after seeing them walk in.
"Mary, do you want to wait for Mom with us?" Alex asked.
With a nod, Alex tried to reach inside to get Mary out of the crib. But he was too short even to reach the top side.
Fortunately, Sophia was tall enough to reach inside and carry Mary out, allowing the three to head straight back to the living room.
The two of them helped Mary sit up on the sofa, but she soon fell asleep underneath the warm blanket.
After waiting for who knows how long, a knocking sound finally came through.
"Wait, don't open the door yet. Mom has a key. It might be a stranger outside." Alex warned, holding Sophia back before she could reach the door.
"You're right... But what do we do now, then?"
As the two stood in front of the door, they could hear the knocking sound becoming increasingly urgent.
They wanted to check who it was, but looking at the peephole above them, it was at least double their height combined.
"Wait, I got an idea."
Alex quickly moved his back and shoulder against the door. Sophia immediately understood as she quickly crawled on top of him.
"It's Miss Amelia!"
As Sophia jumped back down to the ground, the two did the same again to reach for the doorknob and turn it.
"Oh, hey, Sophia and Alex, do you guys know where your mom is?"
Sophia quickly shook her head, but Alex pointed over to the sword on the table before stating what had happened earlier.
"People wearing armor came to the house earlier, and they dropped off Dad's sword over to the table before she left the house with a black bag."
A frown immediately appeared on Miss Amelia's face as she quickly walked over to examine the box before going back to the door.
"You three stay inside the house, okay? Auntie is going to go find your mom."
After repeating what Katherine had said, Miss Amelia stormed out into the rain as the door closed on its own.