His thoughts took him to dark places and those places he would rather leave.
"No. I cannot let you come with me. I don't think I need to explain why I can't let you come. Forget what I said earlier about it not being dangerous, if you even believed it anyway. This whole situation is beyond dangerous. I have a sinking suspicion that the meteor was not ordinary. I'm going for the safety of you and the kingdom. I've been in situations like these before so I know what to do. Please, I need you to understand," the grandfather explained in apparent anguish and determination.
Selia, however, was not buying her grandfather's explanation. She believed the part about it being incredibly dangerous but the part about her grandpa being able to handle it? No. He was well over sixty years old looking around the corner at seventy. How could his feeble frame fight off whatever lay lurking in the depths of that crater?
Furthermore, it surprised her slightly that her grandpa said no to her. Although it was the answer she expected to such an outrageous request, it was still strange hearing the word come out of his mouth. He hardly ever said no to her.
But, in the end, she was open-minded. She did not let her annoyance at being refused cloud her judgement. He couldn't just be blindly confident in his success, he had to have strength to back up the confidence and determination he exuded.
She tried remembering what he said in order to find some clues as to his confidence. He said he had been in situations like these before. What the Hell did that mean? Situations like this? How could there ever be another situation like this? This was a once in a million year occurrence!
"Wait, what do you mean you have been in situations like this before?" She asked imploringly.
The grandfather winced, as if he had said something he shouldn't have. "I may have exaggerated a little bit okay? I just need you to understand that I can handle this. I may look old and lame but I am most certainly not,"
Selia still looked extremely sceptical. "If you give me proof of your... mighty power... then I will stay here and wait for you to come back," she lied. She would follow him regardless if he had strength or not. She knew he would make her stay here one way or another and she figured the easiest way to go with him was through lying.
Selia's grandfather sighed in exasperation, "Alright," he didn't see the harm in showing her his power. It's not like there was anybody other than Selia around to see it. And also, if his display of power could keep Selia here and away from harm then so be it. "But don't speak of this to anyone."
He raised his right hand before him and spoke some incomprehensible mutterings. A formless ball of energy appeared in his hand shortly thereafter and steadily grew bigger.
The ball did not give off any sound, light, or pressure on the nearby surroundings, it was simply there. The formless energy grew larger still and began to gain color as more and more energy was poured in.
Selia was about to comment on how this really wasn't too impressive when her grandfather's eyes seemed to turn serious, radiating with potential energy.
Energy poured into the ball in a torrent. The lines of energy could be seen exiting every pore of Selia's grandfather, entering the ball. The pressure, which was nonexistent before, leveled the surroundings in a five meter radius. Strangely, Selia, who was standing within that five meter radius, was safe.
She realized that it must have been a magical shield or barrier of some sort draped over her by her grandpa.
"In reality Selia, I've never told you my real name. Obviously, you know that as whenever you've asked I've always told you to call me grandfather or grandpa. But, if my real name will help you understand that I am in no danger of perishing, then I'll tell you it. This ball of energy I am cultivating serves a double purpose as well. I had already planned to launch it but I did not plan to let you witness it. Hopefully, this will convince you that I am worthy to take on this task and eliminate any worry you may have."
The energy withdrawal reached a climax as all the energy in the surrounding area seemed to be sucked straight into the sphere. Energy danced chaotically within the sphere in a myriad of colors. It was truly a beautiful sight to behold.
"It's Fyslenir," he said as he raised his hand up towards the sky and flicked his middle finger at hypersonic speeds. The ball was launched at the speed of a bullet towards the top of the forcefield and detonated.
There was no explosion as some may have expected, but a an all-consuming white light. Anybody staring in the direction of the light would have been blinded for a short while.
The light was as much a display of power as it was a signal to let the king of the kingdom of Dalar know that he was on the scene.
The light faded and Selia was left staring in disbelief at her grandfather.
"Fyslenir?! That Fyslenir?! The one who founded this kingdom two hundred and fifty years ago?" Meanwhile in her mind the same phrase kept repeating itself. 'That's not possible, that's not possible, that's...'
"No," he said sounding slightly embarrassed, "I'm actually his son but the details behind my origins aren't that important right now. What's important is figuring out what the hell is going on around here."
'And keeping you safe' he thought with sudden trepidation.
"Don't just sweep this under the rug! There is obviously a lot I don't know but I'll set it aside for right now. You are right, this situation takes priority. You've proven your strength and I'll keep my promise and wait here for your return,"
Fyslenir's shoulders slumped in relief. "I'll be off then. It shouldn't take too long," he said before walking off towards the smoking crater in the distance...
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'So I was teleported?' I wondered in astonishment. 'But that still doesn't explain the massive crater behind me.'
I walked around a small bit trying to gain my bearings. 'Am I in the Laknarian Empire? I guess I expected it to be more magical and beautiful. Not that my surroundings aren't beautiful, I just expected it to be more than ordinary.'
'Man I really need to find some clothes, I hate walking around naked. What if someone sees me?'
I paused, my mind in pain, 'Then again, why should I care. Does having clothing really mean anything in the grand scheme of things? Modesty is a concept created by humans for humans. It doesn't mean anything.'
I paused again, 'It would be nice though, to have clothing.'
What the hell is wrong with me? Why am I battling myself? Very strange.
I continued walking around, looking for what, I didn't know. There was really nothing of interest around this area besides... a house!
There was a house in the distance! Well, house was a nice term for what seemed to be a structure closer to a hovel than a house.
I started running at full speed, only now realizing how hungry I was. Perhaps my mana deficiency contributed to that. It seemed to be mere seconds before I reached the structure that had seemed at first to be over a half mile away. I didn't care though, I was hungry as hell and needed some nourishment.
I kicked open the already half broken door and launched inside. I searched through the hovel as fast as I could looking for anything remotely close to food which, admittedly, wasn't much. A bag of flour, a piece of hard tack, and three potatoes. The flour was inedible I thought so I ate the hardtack and potatoes instead.
It tasted horrible but I'm not one to complain. I've had to eat worse believe it or not. The food had taken the edge off my hunger but I was still famished. I made it my primary goal to find more food. I walked out of the house and began to look around to see if I could spot more houses...
Wait a minute.
'Houses? There wouldn't be any houses if I was in the Laknarian Empire because there aren't any humans there. Well there's not supposed to be humans there anyway but that's besides the point. The point is that I am most likely not in the empire so that brings me back to square one. Where in the hell am I? And why did I get sent wherever here is if it was a teleportation spell set up within the Laknarian border? Wouldn't I have been put in a prison cell at the least?'
My speculative thoughts raised more questions than answers and I had to shut it down lest I lose my mind.
'Okay, one step at a time. Find food first and worry about whatever happened later... Oh shoot! Clothes! I almost forgot.'
I went back inside and rummaged through some of the drawers, noting that the inhabitants must have been a man and a woman. The man only had three shirts that looked closer to sacks than any shirt I'd ever seen, and two pairs of trousers with quite a few stitched-up holes in them. I picked the smallest of each and put them on. They were still extremely baggy on my small frame but it didn't really matter to me. I was just thankful I wouldn't be shamed if people saw me.
Satisfied, I walked toward the broken door again.
I take in the state of the house as I leave it, noting the boards and debris around the house. 'I'm guessing that's from the explosion. I wonder where the people are that lived here. Obviously people lived here because the potatoes were still fresh. And oh, I did just rob their house didn't I?'
I felt kind of bad about that but then again, I needed the food more than they did.
I mentally slapped myself, 'That's the exact kind or rationalization that I hate about humanity. People rationalizing their wrongdoings and making it seem like they were in the right. I sure am one to talk though. I do it all the time.'
What a sight I must have been at that moment. Whenever I climb into my mental void and start having conversations with myself, my body stops responding to outside stimulus completely. Thus, I looked like a statue staring into space halfway between the house I just exited and the copse of trees I was headed towards that housed a pond.
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It was at this moment in Avnar's temporary stasis that Fyslenir returned to the house after a fruitless search of the crater. He had searched and searched but found no sign of the meteor in the crater. After scrutinizing the area for 10 minutes with a variety of investigative spells, the only thing he found were an unidentified pair of footprints that permeated the area inside the crater and out. He followed the footprints from their origin to where the abruptly ended and was left in confusion. None of his investigative spells worked beyond that so he was left to scour the region without help.
He wanted to go back to his granddaughter first however to check if she was safe before he started his investigation again. He wanted to finish this up before the soldiers the kingdom had definitely sent, arrived.
Near his house now, he noticed a figure standing about where he had left Selia and assumed it was her. He walked closer still and was about to announce his presence when he realized that it was someone else standing there instead of Selia. And standing they were. As still as a statue with a pair of dead, soulless eyes to match.
(AN: I'm just going to call Fyslenir, Fys from now on because it's easier than spelling out his full name.)
Fys was instantly wary, concealing his presence as he crept closer. He wasn't going to give this random stranger the benefit of the doubt, even if he looked like a teenager, after everything that had happened.
A foot away now, he grabbed a knife that was hidden within his pocket dimension and put the boy in a chokehold while pressing the knife against the boy's neck, just above the clavicle.
"Who are you and where is Selia,"