Silas Sylvannister did not awake with a start. Slipping in and out of consciousness in a half-awake state, he eventually dragged himself to reality after a dreamless sleep. His entire body ached as if it had been punctured and steamrolled over the course of decades. In fact, Silas quickly realized that he had a physical form.
All those years of sleep had made him almost forget he was a person. Observing his limbs, the color of the skin, the cleanliness of it all, the texture… he slowly rose to his feet on unstable legs. He felt his hair – medium-length and brown, almost black. Spiky in some places, smooth in others. His eyes darted back and forth, taking in his unfamiliar landscape. Already his mind was racing, trying frantically to piece together any information that might help him survive.
He knew his name was Silas. Silas Sylvannister, and that he was 17 years old. He was a boy, not too tall, not too short. When he gazed around his environment, he recognized trees, grass, and the sky. Words popped up in his mind as his eyes swept the area. If he could think of words, and he could recognize objects… he should have the ability to speak. To test it out, Silas opened his mouth, noting that he also somehow knew his mouth would produce sound for him.
"Hello. I am Silas Sylvannister."
Silas took a step back instinctively the second he heard his own voice. It was hauntingly familiar, yet alien. It was like a long-lost friend that had changed and grown up over the years, wearing the same clothes they had worn back then. Different, but still the same. Quickly Silas deducted several things from that experiment.
First, he had complete control over grammar and was fluent in language. He also knew customs, such as greetings. He conjured up an image of what he had just said in his mind. Glowing white text swam to the surface of his imagination. By that he also realized he could read. But when he tried to draw up memories concerning past experiences, nothing came to mind. His mind remained completely dark.
How odd, Silas thought to himself. I can remember who I am and recognize the world around me as if I've already learnt about it, but I can't remember a single experience I've had in my life. I don't know who my family was, who my friends were, and how I got here.
Suddenly, Silas felt a pulse in his heart that was not his heartbeat. It rippled through him like the vibrations of a loud drum at a concert. It reminded him of sleeping, somehow. Instinct told him to reach out his arm. Silas did so, and focused intently on a patch of ground in front of him.
Move, his subconscious will told the patch of ground from somewhere deep inside his head.
The small patch of ground slowly began to shift, rippling like waves on the ocean surface. Then, it rose slowly out of the ground, loose dirt and roots cascading. Silas' eyes widened and he lost focus. The patch of ground dropped immediately, landing with a thud in the earth. Cracks that signified the outline of the patch were still visible in the earth. The rippling in his heart suddenly quieted, before amplifying again and returning to normal.
I just used magic! Silas thought to himself, in complete shock. He knew that humans were usually born with little to no magical power. Even the ability to lift a rock was incredible for a human. Monsters, on the other hand, were born connected to nature. Humanity had long ago scorned its bond with nature and cut themselves off. As such, they lost the ability to use magic.
Monsters, even though born through artificial human means, were still animals in a sense, a different species that could form a new bond with nature. As such, they were both intelligent and magically gifted. It was easy to see how once species would dominate another. Humans never stood a chance.
It was because of this reason Silas was so surprised. Because of the actions of his predecessors there was no way he should have been able to lift the rock. He surmised that the pulse he could feel within his heart was his mana, which allowed monsters to conduct magic. When he lifted the patch of earth, he felt his mana decrease.
That meant that there was still a limit to what he could do at any given time. Judging by the impact lifting the earth had left on his heart, he guessed he couldn't really do much more than that. His magic would only be useful in mundane or niche situations.
That didn't matter to Silas. He could use magic! The ability to do so would have made him famous… if the rest of humanity weren't already dead. However, Silas was unaware of that fact. He didn't realize that monsters had taken over the globe – only that they had magic and humans did not. Fantasies of being popular and loved began to pop up in Silas' head, before he quickly squashed them himself.
First, he needed to find other humans. He needed to stay focus and alert, always analyzing his surroundings. He needed to find out where he was, where the nearest inhabited place was, what the inhabitants were like, and why he could use magic. He guessed that he should hide his magical power at first and collect information – otherwise, he would risk someone acting negatively the second he showed them his power.
Silas needed to be cautious. In addition, he needed to find food and water. Putting his arms against a nearby tree trunk, Silas realized he knew how to climb. How lucky, Silas thought to himself. I must've been pretty sporty before.
Silas climbed on top of a sturdy-looking branch and looked out from all four directions. In the distance, Silas saw a great white semi-sphere peeking above the treetops. It was so large, even at such a faraway distance, Silas thought it must have been wide enough to house a million people. It was truly awe-inspiring, even from that far away. On foot, it probably would have taken several days to reach its location.
There was no way that there wasn't civilization inside the sphere. There had to be people in there, living in the sphere. But then, that would mean that space would be limited and things would get cramped quickly. Why would they live in a sphere, unless the outside was dangerous? A shiver ran through Silas' spine.
The outside was dangerous, and he was outside. Something was off about this.
Silas looked the other way to see if he could find anything else noteworthy. To his overwhelming joy he saw a great mountain directly behind him, towering into the atmosphere, dwarfing his vantage point. Near the base of the mountain ran a waterfall, cascading into a luscious pond. The vegetation around the pond was lavishly green, a green that made Silas' eyes water. It looked like an oasis, a safe haven. Silas immediately decided to make that his base.
Climbing down from the tree, Silas took in the position of the sun in the sky and determined a route to the oasis. He decided to play with his new powers by upturning small patches of dirt behind him as he walked, to leave a trail in case he got lost. He found that if he did it absentmindedly, it never worked, so Silas had to stare at the dirt sideways in order to manipulate it.
After a few minutes of walking, the pulse in his heart diminished before stopping entirely. When it did, Silas felt exhaustion overcome his body for a brief second. Then his mana began to replenish and he felt weak energy coursing through his veins again. The trail of upturned dirt lay behind him, and Silas had to sit down again and wait for the mana to recover fully before he felt he was strong enough to continue.
After a few more minutes of walking, Silas was intrigued by an oddly shaped log that lay in a small clearing. He slowly crept closer, and he realized suddenly that it was a human. Her shirt and her pants were the same color as the dirt around her, making her blend in with the foliage. Her light blonde hair, spread out around her head and swamped in mud, gave her away.
Silas was first filled with a sense of relief – he was no longer alone, he could have a companion to sort things out with. But then his caution came in. He had no idea who this girl was and why she was lying unconscious in a puddle of mud in the middle of a clearing. She could be an enemy for all he knew. Creeping closer as to not rouse her from her sleep, Silas put a hand to her temple and checked her pulse.
The inside of her chin was warm and lively, reverberating with life. Her heart beat steadily. She was definitely alive. Her breathing was normal, and her eyes twitched intermittently beneath her closed eyelids. She was sleeping, and Silas guessed she would wake up soon. She had no visible injuries and looked perfectly healthy. The sun was already high above their heads, and soon she wouldn't be able to resist her internal clock's alarm and wake up naturally.
Silas hid himself behind a tree, picking up a sharp-looking rock he found near the roots. He clutched it fiercely in his hand, ready to throw it at a moment's notice. He resolved to wait until she woke up and watch her movements to see if she was hostile or not. If she was separated from a group, she would act confused, but try and contact her companions. If she was like Silas, alone in an unfamiliar landscape with no memories, then perhaps Silas could use that to his advantage.
Soon enough, the girl began to stir. Silas whipped himself around, pressing his back to the trunk of the tree. He had picked a tree with a low crotch so he could peep between the branches. It also offered enough shade for him to hide his face.
His heart began to race, sensing the potential danger in the situation. He watched as the girl slowly pushed herself to her feet, taking her hair in her hands. He saw her grimace at the mud stains before getting to her feet. She swayed a little, as if unused to the feeling of standing. She even tottered forward a bit before almost tripping on her boots, which were completely covered in dirt.
She wore a zipped camo jacket and black cargo pants. A glint of red sparkled from her face and Silas realized that her irises were red. He started – no human, save for some albinos – should have red eyes. She was most likely a monster that looked incredibly like a human.
He ran through all the species that came to his mind, but none of them both had red eyes and were able to appear like a human. Lykans, for example, could have red eyes, but even Lykan-demis, who had human physiques, had discernable wolfish ears and tails.
The unknown girl looked around confusedly, squinting into the sun. She held up her hand to cover the light, so at least she had those survival instincts. She also had human hands. She looked young, just about Silas' age, maybe a little younger, and definitely shorter. Her build was lean and light. Silas thought she was more nimble and agile than he was. She had just the right body type for fitting into small spaces.
Nothing about her seemed intimidating or alien, except her eyes. Otherwise, she looked like a completely normal human being. What a "normal" human being actually looked like, Silas couldn't imagine. He just knew this girl fit the description. The girl paced back and forth, her mouth hanging open a little bit as if she couldn't believe what was happening. In that moment, Silas felt she looked a little vulnerable. He wondered what he had looked like when he had first woken up.