Growing up in a rural village predominantly relying on farming for a living was hard, but I loved it.

  My family was big—we were twelve, including my Father. My siblings and I mostly spent our time helping on the farm, but in our free time, we used to play with the other kids in the village.

  When I was around eight, my father sent me to the local reading teacher. She was an old woman who knew most of my older siblings, as she had taught them before me. I had it hard with her, as I didn’t like studying, but she was patient with me. Eventually, I learned how to read and write, even if it took me more time than the usual kid, approximately three years.

  Seeing I had no talent for learning, my father didn’t push me to go to the nearby town with the closest school. He wasn’t mad at me, as I wasn’t his only son who didn’t have a bright academic future. After that, I spent most of my days on the farm helping, so I didn’t become a liability.

  When I reached puberty at thirteen, my body surpassed my father's height, so he decided I should become a soldier. Being the young teen I was, I didn't put much thought into it. From my early days as a kid, I had a stronger body than usual, paired up with puberty and I looked older than my age. Also, having many siblings meant that my heritage of the farmland would probably not allow me to live off it. So yeah, it was a good idea, as guard jobs often got paid well.

  After Father made up his mind, he did not ask my opinion, he went to ask his brother, my uncle, if he could teach me how to fight.

  Uncle Ghandour was a retired officer. He had been an officer in the army, and he knew how to use different weapons. His preferred weapon was the Bow. He made me practice on a smaller bow, the one I used for practice didn’t need much pulling force, but for me, it was still tough to draw.

  Most days I train for two hours. My uncle made me start by doing bodyweight exercises for about an hour, and then he would ask me to try shooting immobile objects from different distances, this routine lasted for about a month.

  After spending the month training with the small Bow, Uncle Ghandour decided to step up my training, he added training me on how to use a Spear to our schedule. He made me perform simple thrusts, pulls, and slashes to get me familiarized with using Spears. After the spear, we went through using different weapons and like this, the months passed.

  ..........

  Waking up one day, I sneaked across the bedroom to the door. I didn’t want to wake my siblings because it was early dawn. Snatching my outdoor clothes, which consisted of a simple worn-out dark green tunic and black pants, I opened the door, but before I could step out...

  “Where are you going this early?” my youngest sister, Teressa, asked. I replied in jest, “Why the need to ask if you already know?" She looked annoyed but didn't question me, and went back to sleep.

  Closing the door behind me quietly. I went to the bathroom to relieve my bowls and change my clothes.

  Exiting the Bathroom, I stepped on the staircase carefully, as I didn’t want to wake my father with the sound of craning wood. Father usually got up at dawn, but the sun was setting early with these long summer days, so he got an hour or two of extra-needed sleep.

  Finally reaching the ground floor of our two-story house, I exited through the front door.

  “Ah, early dawn air. I swear it is so refreshing I wouldn’t trade it for all the sleep in the world.”

  My uncle advised me to build my endurance, and seeing that I had my arms full with the farm in the morning and parts of the afternoon and the evening full due to training with my uncle, I decided to invest in my early morning hours to build endurance.

  I stretched a bit, then I started with a slow jog to warm up. I gradually increased my pace. Usually, I try to make about twenty loops around the farm, but this time I made only ten as I heard Father calling out to me.

  “Haitham, go to the coop and let the chickens out, they need to eat.”

  “Yes, Dad.” It seems he decided to start his day earlier than usual.

  'I might have to start cutting my sleep hours more.'

  ……….

  After finishing my work at the farm, I took the road to Uncle Ghandour's house. Seeing the neighboring farmlands the farmers seemed to be hard at work. “Hey, Haitham. How is the old man?” A farmer asked while leaning on a hoe. “He’s good, he’s good,” I replied.

  “Are you going to train with Ghandour?”

  “Yes, Uncle.” The Farmer wasn’t my real uncle, but, to show respect, I called him Uncle. I didn’t even know the man's name as his farm wasn’t close to ours. ‘I think I might know his son.’

  "Then make sure to give him my regards."

  "Sure, Uncle," I said, knowing very well that I wasn't going to tell Uncle, as I didn't know the farmer's name.

  “I don't want to take more of your time kid. Good luck to ya.”

  Nodding to acknowledge the old man, I continued.

  It took me about half an hour to travel through farmland to reach my Uncle's home. My other uncles had their lands close to ours, but Uncle Ghandour sold his inherited land when he went to join the army. After Uncle came back, he bought a new house close to the village center, where houses were grouped more tightly and didn't have much farmland.

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  Walking through his front garden, I reached out to knock on his door when I heard him talking.

  “Yes, yes, he should be here anytime now.”

  Opening the door, I walked inside. In the living room, I saw Uncle with a man his age. About fifty-nine years old.

  “Hey Uncle. You seem busy, should I come at another time?” I asked.

  “No, no, Haitham, come in, have a seat.” Uncle said, beckoning me to a seat next to him.

  Walking in, I greeted the man sitting with my uncle, "Good morning," The man just nodded. He was intimidating with his wide shoulders and bulging muscles, but his serious gaze was the most scary part about him, it gave him a fierce aura.

  When I sat, Uncle said excitedly, “Haitham, this is your lucky day! But first, let me introduce you to my friend, Armoun. Armoun is an old companion from my military days who was passing by and decided to visit. We were talking and I mentioned you to him. I told him how I have been training you for the last year, and how dedicated you are. He offered to sell me his spare Lio-"

  "What is Lio?" I cut Uncle off as it was my first time hearing it.

  Armoun decided to explain. “You must know about the yearly Central Square gathering in your village, right?”

  "What does that have to do with anything?" I asked confused at the sudden mention of the yearly gathering.

  "Don't be impatient. Again have you know about the gathering?"

  I replied, “Yes, I have attended a few times.” Unlike other occasions, I didn’t like this gathering as there weren’t any festivities. The villagers gathered in the village’s central square, then, an imperial representative, with a dozen guards, would give a speech about the new achievements of Emporer Suraminos III son of Bablion the Wize. After that, the representative would take all village boys who reached adulthood, or in other words, sixteen years old, to the village hall, where they became official citizens of the empire. The new adults would get their names written on official documents by an imperial scribe.

  The man called Armoun continued, “In the yearly gatherings, the village boys are brought to the village hall to become official citizens.” I nodded to convey that I already knew. Armoun continued, “But what you do not know is; that the new adults get tested to see if they have any innate abilities by using refined Lio.”

  I was puzzled, as it was my first time hearing about using refined Lio to see if people have innate abilities. I knew that, in the Village Hall, other than giving the new adults their official identifications, the only notable thing was that the imperial representative would ask the kids to drink a weird drink. When I asked my older friends what it did, they shrugged saying they didn’t know, but it tasted bitter. After asking Father, he told me it was to celebrate them becoming official citizens. 'Is the bitter drink given to the new adults the Lio he's talking about? And what the hell are innate abilities?' I thought.

  Armoun continued before I could ask what was on my mind, “You see Haitham, what your uncle wants by buying Lio from me is to see if you have any innate abilities.”

  “If what you are saying is right then why do you want me to drink this Lio now? I could wait until I reach sixteen, then I would be tested to see if I have this innate ability you speak of,” I asked, not understanding why Uncle would buy this Lio if the Empire was handing it out for free.

  “The kid is smart,” Armoun said, and Uncle smiled at the praise. Armoun further explained: “Well, you are right to an extent. The problem is, If the imperial representative finds out you have an innate ability, you'll be forced to sign a slave contract for the Emporer.”

  “A slave contract? but I'm a free-born man.”

  "Sigh."

  Armoun sighed at my ignorance, or maybe he sighed at suffering from such contracts. Nonetheless, he continued, “Look kid, the Empire doesn't care if you are born free. They will use all leverages they have to stay in power, even if it breaks their rules.”

  At that moment my uncle interjected, “Haitham, I had to leave the village and sell my land because I was found to have an innate ability at the gathering. I left the family without even giving them a proper reason as I had no say in the matter,” my Uncle said, sorrow filling his voice.

  Now, I understood why Uncle left the village. 'He was forced by a slave contract!' I was so shocked I didn’t know how to respond.

  “Look kid,” Armoun said with all seriousness. I could feel his intense gaze on me, “Your Uncle is taking a huge risk. He is willing to pay me a huge price for some of the leftover Lio I have, so you must understand that he is doing you a huge favor. He is doing this so that you don’t end up like him, he’s doing what he can so you can live your life as you like.” Saying that Armoun got up. Putting a glass vial with a black liquid on the table, he went to the door saying, “I hope you are doing the right thing Ghandour, be careful if anyone finds out your head and mine will go rolling."

  "Haha, sure, sure. Until next time old friend."

  The man gave a faint smile and left.

  ‘I don’t think that this guy was just passing by.’

  ……….

  Staring at the glass vial that must have cost Uncle a lot, if what the man said was true, I asked, "What are these innate abilities you are so excited about, Uncle ?“

  "That's a good question. Innate abilities are unique to all beings. In broad terms, they give us special powers that make us more than just... Humans," Uncle replied.

  "So, if I drink this liquid, I'll get these special powers. Are you sure about this, Uncle?" I asked skeptically.

  “I am not.” Dumbfounded I was left speechless. But Uncle wasn’t done speaking. “I mean I'm pretty sure, but not in the way you might think. You see, my ability is called Valed intuition, it gives me intuitions about the future.”

  “How does that work?” I asked. Uncle frowned, maybe unhappy about me prying about his ability, but still answered, “Look Haitham, what I’m about to tell you must stay between me and you. The workings of my ability are known to a few, and it should stay that way, am I clear?”

  “Yes, Uncle,” I said, a little spooked by the sudden seriousness of his tone.

  “My ability only works on living beings, not things. When I activate it, I need to choose a target. After choosing the target if I think something about the target's future it gives me an itch feeling if that future is probable to happen, and if not, I get no feeling.”

  Fascinated, I said. “This is amazing. Then, what did you think about my future?”

  Smirking, my uncle explained: “It isn’t as fascinating as you might think. I am only given intuition when I think in broad terms, for example, if I’m in a fight I won’t get an intuition about when or where the enemy will release his bowstring. As for your question, I thought about you having a great future, and my intuition gave me a strong itch. That's a general explanation, but it should be enough.”

  I couldn’t stop myself from grinning. It didn’t even occur to me that my uncle was going mad with all this talk about knowing the future, I knew him well, he was a serious and wise man, and I trusted him. “What future are we talking about Uncle?” I said excitedly.

  “As I told you, I can only think in broad terms, so who knows, but my ability has rarely failed me before. You can rest assured that a great future awaits you, but don’t get ahead of yourself as knowing this might change the outcome.”

  “So, when can I drink this potion?” I said hurriedly getting excited, and not paying much attention to his last statement.

  A look of amusement appeared on my uncle’s face, “Ha, you seem excited. Very well, you can drink it now if you wish, but be aware it tastes bitter and might have side effec-”

  Before my Uncle could finish his sentence, I drank the solution in a single gulp.

  He was right it tasted bitter. “Agh, I didn't think it would be this bitter.”

  “You shouldn’t have drunk it so fast! There might be side effects.” Uncle said, with a bit of anxiety leaking in his tone.

  “I’m sorry, I was excit-” I didn’t even manage to continue my sentence when my vision went blank.