The day after discovering the attic, I had only one thing on my mind.
The books.
Ever since I'd found those old books about elemental magic, I couldn't think about anything else. Every time I saw my mother cast a spell, I thought back to the pages I'd read the day before. Every time I heard someone mention magic, my curiosity grew a little more.
But there was a problem.
I couldn't ask Mira to teach me.
Not yet.
If I explained that I'd found books in the attic and wanted to start practicing magic on my own, she'd probably ask why I was so interested in something I had never seriously studied before.
And more importantly, I didn't want her to discover that I could understand those books far more easily than a two-year-old should have been able to.
So I decided to keep it a secret.
The attic became my little laboratory.
Whenever my parents were busy and I had some free time, I would quietly climb the stairs. I made sure no one was following me, then closed the door behind me before settling down among the old belongings.
At first, all I did was read.
The books explained the basics of elemental magic with astonishing precision.
The principle was relatively simple.
To use magic, you first had to understand what you wanted to create, then guide your magical energy to give the spell form.
But there was one essential step.
The incantation.
To cast a spell, you had to speak a sequence of words that structured the magic.
The books gave several examples.
To produce a small flame, you had to recite a precise formula.
To manipulate water, another one.
To make earth appear, yet another.
At first, it seemed logical to me.
After all, an incantation could serve as a guide.
It kept you from losing control of the magic and made it easier to reproduce a spell you already knew.
So I spent several days learning the different formulas.
I repeated them under my breath.
Again and again.
I memorized every word.
Then I started trying them out.
My first attempt was a failure.
So was my second.
My third produced only a tiny spark that vanished immediately.
Even so, I smiled.
A spark.
I'd managed to produce a spark.
In another world, that wouldn't have been anything extraordinary.
For me, it was different.
I'd just created something that had existed only in the stories of my past life.
I tried again.
Every day.
Little by little, the results improved.
A small flame appeared.
Then a slightly larger one.
After that, I managed to manipulate a small amount of water.
Earth was more difficult to control.
Wind was even stranger.
As for healing magic...
It required a completely different kind of concentration.
Still, I was beginning to understand the fundamental principles.
And more importantly, I was beginning to understand something important.
Magic wasn't just a matter of words.
The incantation was a tool.
A way to guide the energy.
But the energy itself seemed to respond to something else.
My will.
My imagination.
My understanding of the spell.
That idea prompted me to try something.
One day, after finishing another book, I sat down in the middle of the attic and looked at my hand.
I knew the formula for the spell I wanted to use perfectly.
I could simply say it.
But I wondered...
Was it really necessary?
I closed my eyes.
I visualized a small flame.
Not just its shape.
Its heat.
Its movement.
The way it would appear in the air.
I focused my energy.
Nothing happened.
I tried again.
Still nothing.
I sighed.
"It's not working..."
Then I remembered what my mother had told me when I was much younger.
Magic required you to understand what you wanted to create.
Maybe I was simply trying to mechanically reproduce what was written in the book.
I tried again.
This time, I didn't think about the formula anymore.
I thought only about the result.
A small flame.
A gentle warmth.
A light in the darkness.
Something moved in my hand.
A small flame appeared.
I remained perfectly still.
I hadn't spoken a single word.
The flame flickered for a few seconds before disappearing.
I looked at my hand.
Then at the book.
Then at my hand again.
Impossible...
I'd just cast a spell without an incantation.
I wasn't even sure what had just happened.
So I tried again.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
With every attempt, the result became slightly more stable.
It wasn't perfect.
I still needed a great deal of concentration.
But it worked.
I'd just discovered something the books didn't even mention.
The following months were devoted to magic.
My daily life, however, barely changed.
I continued eating with my parents.
I continued spending time with Kael.
I continued learning from Mira.
I played when I was supposed to play.
I answered normally when someone spoke to me.
And as soon as I had a few minutes of free time...
I went up to the attic.
Time passed without me realizing it.
I started with fire.
Then water.
Then earth.
Wind was probably the hardest to understand.
It wasn't visible, and its nature was much more difficult to grasp.
But with enough practice, I managed to produce small currents of air.
Healing magic was the last kind I studied seriously.
I'd already seen Mira use it.
That helped me immensely.
I could observe her movements and compare what I did with what I'd seen.
After several months, I had finally mastered the basics of the five forms of magic taught in my books.
Fire.
Water.
Earth.
Wind.
Healing.
I knew there were probably other forms of magic.
But the books I'd found didn't mention them.
So I had no idea what they might be.
For now, that was enough for me.
I was only three years old.
And I still had a tremendous amount of time ahead of me.
At least, that's what I thought.
An entire year had passed since I discovered the attic.
I was three years old now.
And that day, I was about to make a mistake.
A huge mistake.
I climbed the stairs as I did almost every day.
I opened the attic door.
No one had followed me.
Perfect.
I closed it behind me and headed toward my books.
Lately, I had started finding the basic spells too easy.
I wanted to try something more difficult.
A higher-level fire spell.
The book explained that this kind of spell required an enormous amount of energy and, above all, much more control.
I knew that.
I also knew I probably wasn't ready.
But I was curious.
And curiosity had always been my greatest flaw.
I set the book down.
I positioned myself in the center of the room.
I took a deep breath.
I held out my hands.
I visualized the magic.
An enormous amount of heat began to gather in front of me.
My eyes widened.
It works.
The fireball grew larger.
Again.
And again.
It quickly became much larger than anything I'd ever created before.
The fireball continued to grow.
I started to panic.
Wait...
I tried to make it smaller.
Nothing.
I tried to stop the spell.
Nothing.
The magic kept accumulating in front of me.
"Uh..."
I stepped back.
Then my foot caught on something.
I lost my balance.
The magic completely escaped my control.
The fireball shot straight toward the window.
"Crap!"
It tore across the attic.
The window exploded into shards.
Then the fireball rose into the sky.
One second.
Two seconds.
Then—
BOOM!
A massive explosion lit up the sky above the garden.
The sound echoed throughout the house.
I remained seated on the floor.
Silent.
My eyes wide open.
My heart was pounding as fast as it could.
I'd probably just made the biggest mistake of my life.
But...
No one had been hurt.
The explosion had happened high enough in the sky that it hadn't damaged anything.
I looked at the remains of the window.
Then at the sky.
Then at my hands.
A smile slowly spread across my face.
"I did it..."
The attic door flew open.
"EWEN!"
Mira entered first.
Kael was right behind her.
They both stopped immediately.
Their eyes moved from the shattered window...
To the books scattered across the floor...
Then to me.
Finally, they looked at the sky.
A huge cloud of smoke still hung above the garden.
No one spoke for several seconds.
Mira was the first to regain her senses.
She hurried over to me and crouched down.
"Ewen! Are you all right?"
"Yeah..."
She quickly examined me to make sure I wasn't injured.
Then her gaze fell on the books.
She picked one up.
Her expression changed.
She knew these books.
She'd probably seen them in the attic before.
"Ewen..."
She looked at the window.
Then at the sky.
Then at the book in her hand.
"Did you do this?"
I lowered my head slightly.
I knew there was no point in lying now.
"Yes."
Kael remained silent.
He was still looking at the sky.
"You used fire magic?"
I nodded.
Mira frowned.
"What incantation did you use?"
I looked up.
"None."
The silence grew even heavier.
Mira stared at me.
"...None?"
"I didn't say anything."
She looked at Kael.
Then at me.
"Do it again."
I blinked.
"Now?"
"A small flame. Nothing more."
I held out my hand.
I concentrated.
A small flame appeared above my palm.
Without a single word.
Mira remained perfectly still.
She slowly brought her hand close to the flame without touching it.
"Without an incantation..."
She seemed to be having trouble understanding.
Kael, meanwhile, stepped closer.
"You already knew how to do this?"
"Yes."
"How long have you been able to?"
"I don't know..."
It wasn't really a lie.
I no longer knew exactly when I'd managed to understand magic without an incantation.
Mira took a deep breath.
"Do something else."
I looked at her.
"Fire magic?"
"No."
She pointed to a container sitting in the corner of the attic.
"Water."
I walked over to the container.
I held out my hand.
I concentrated.
The water rose gently.
It left the container and formed a small sphere floating in the air.
Still without an incantation.
This time, Mira said nothing.
She simply watched.
"Earth..."
I placed my hand on the floor.
A small amount of earth rose and gradually formed a little column.
Kael began to understand.
"Wind."
I raised my hand.
A current of air swept through the attic and stirred my parents' hair.
Then Mira looked at me with a different expression.
"Healing magic."
I knew she wanted to confirm something.
I concentrated.
A faint light appeared around my hand.
I'd learned it by watching my mother.
Mira remained completely silent.
She looked at my hand.
Then at the books.
Then at my hand again.
She understood.
It wasn't just a fire spell.
It wasn't a fluke.
I had truly mastered the five forms of elemental magic I'd studied.
And above all...
I used them without incantations.
Kael ran a hand over his face.
"Wait..."
He looked at Mira.
"Did he really just use five different kinds of magic without speaking a single incantation?"
Mira slowly nodded.
"Yes."
She turned toward me.
Her gaze was no longer simply that of a mother looking at her child.
She was trying to understand what she was looking at.
"Ewen..."
She took a deep breath.
"How long have you been doing this?"
I looked at the books scattered around me.
Then at my parents.
"Since I found the attic about a year ago."
Mira remained silent.
"You learned all of this by yourself?"
I nodded.
She closed her eyes for a few seconds.
I could practically see the questions racing through her mind.
How?
Why?
Since when?
And above all...
How could a three-year-old learn so much in a single year?
Kael, meanwhile, seemed even more confused.
He looked at the books.
Then at me.
Then at the shattered window.
"So..."
He pointed at the window.
"All of this happened because you wanted to try a more powerful spell?"
I lowered my head.
"Yes."
He remained silent.
Then he sighed.
"At least you didn't break anything else."
Mira looked at him.
"The window?"
"Yes."
"Kael."
"What?"
"He just cast a spell powerful enough to make the sky above our house explode without an incantation."
"I know."
He looked at me again.
This time, his expression was serious.
"Exactly."
Kael's usual smile was gone.
He thought for a few moments before speaking.
"Ewen can't keep doing this."
I raised my head.
"Why?"
"Because you need a real teacher."
Mira remained silent.
She seemed to be thinking the same thing.
Kael eventually folded his arms.
"I know someone."
"Who?"
"An old acquaintance."
He looked at Mira.
"Someone who can teach him magic properly."
Mira frowned slightly.
"Are you sure you want to entrust this to her?"
Kael nodded.
"More than ever."
Then he looked at his son.
Me.
For the first time since I'd known him, my father wasn't joking.
He was serious.
And I still didn't know who this person was.
I didn't know what she was going to teach me.
But one thing was certain...
My life had just taken an entirely new direction.