"Wow! So cool! You can already use magic even though you are still six years old!" one boy said to another.
It was almost night. And as usual, some boys gathered in the park, forming a circle. They watched the boy standing in the middle of the group— who was creating sparks of fire in his hand.
"So cool!" another boy said.
"My father is the strongest exorcist in this city, and I will be the next strongest one," said the boy standing in the middle.
Meanwhile, one boy around the same age as other boys was sitting on this swing, looking down as if he was immersed in some deep thought.
A girl rushed over to him and sat on the swing beside
"What's wrong, Luka?"
"...."
The boy said nothing.
The girl jumped from the swing, climbed on the swing the boy was sitting on and started swinging it.
"I won't stop until you say something," said the girl.
Her light pink hair swayed up and down as they swung.
"Luka~"
"Leave me alone, Ana," said the boy, finally breaking his silence.
The girl stopped and jumped down from the swing saying, "Why do you look so sad? You should be happy because it's—"
"Hey Ana!" another boy entered the park and called Ana.
"Sieg! You are here. Please come here and do something. Luka is not talking to me," Ana pleaded.
"No, you come here. I want to show you something cool."
"What is it?"
"Come with me. It's just around the block."
"Okay!" Ana turned towards Luka and said, "Let's go, Luka."
"You go."
"Why are you being so mean today?!" Ana almost started crying.
"Ana! Come fast, or it will run away!" Sieg called out loud.
"Coming!"
Ana left the park with Sieg, leaving Luka alone like he was before.
The other boys were still admiring the boy who was able to use magic at this young age.
Magic could be used by anyone as long as they had mana.
They were of different types. Mana and magic were connected to each other.
If someone had magic, but no mana, then he or she would only be able to use magic for a short amount of time. After that, they would need to wait until their mana recovered.
Everyone who contained mana could use magic. Magic was a catalyst to use that mana, a medium for them to utilize their mana to get rid of the corrupted beings.
Then comes different types of magic, depending on what kind of mana they have.
Lightning, fire, wind, earth, and water. These were the five basic types of elemental powers. Though nowadays, water and earth types were rarely seen.
As for the other types, for example, ice. The use of both water and wind resulted in ice-type magic, but they were also rare.
It was the duty of an exorcist to exorcise every phantom, spirit, impurities, corrupted beings, and many other things. However, not only the exorcists but also normal humans could get affected by it.
Humans and exorcists coexist together. They are both the same— though the only difference is the use of magic and mana.
The impurities automatically get attracted by the powers of exorcists. That's why most of the exorcists' families live in the exorcist colonies.
As of now, small impurities were gathered around the boys in the park.
"Hey, look! Liks are here." one of the boys pointed to the Liks gathered around them.
Liks were small bats like impurities. They were the weakest form of any impurities. Therefore, they were not considered dangerous, but they could be harmful if they were stung multiple times.
As humans had no powers, they couldn't see them. But exorcists could.
All the boys started running here and there while jumping, trying to catch Liks.
All eight boys caught one or two Liks.
"They are so weak. Even though we can't use magic yet, we can easily kill them," one of the boys said.
"Hey, I got an idea," one of the boys whispered.
He looked at Luka, who was still sitting on the swing. Then, he gestured to all the boys to come near him.
They started whispering to each other while glancing at Luka as if they were planning to do something.
"Okay."
"Yeah."
"Let's do it."
All the boys spread all over the park.
One boy went near Luka while hiding his hand at his back—holding Liks.
"Hey, Luka," the boy called out.
Luka looked up and said, "What?"
"Guess what?"
"I don't want to guess."
"Boo!"
The boy threw Liks at Luka. Luka was startled by it and jumped from the swing to run to the middle of the park.
All the boys came out and threw Liks at Luka.
Luka ran into the small tunnel, which was just another ride in the park for kids' playing purposes.
As soon as Luka ran into the tunnel, one boy closed the exit.
Luka turned back and tried to get out of the tunnel from the entrance, but much to his surprise, all the boys, were peeking from the entrance as they all threw Liks into the tunnel and closed the entrance.
"No!" Luka yelled as he tried to run under the tunnel.
Now that both exits were close, it was dark in the tunnel, and Luka couldn't see anything overtly.
Luka ran to another exit and started banging on the door while yelling, "Open the door!" But no one opened it.
All the boys were just laughing outside and hearing Luka screaming as if their ears were being pleased by it.
The Liks started biting Luka as he crouched down in fear. Their bites stung and left a mark on the body.
Though they might not affect the adult exorcist— but here, Luka was just a six-year-old boy. If not treated immediately, those could be harmful.
Soon, his entire body was covered by Liks.
"Argh!"
He was crying in pain.
"Help me!"
He yelled for help, but no one helped him.
Every exorcist had mana; They were born with it. Some had large amounts of mana, while some had low mana.
The mana could be used through magic, but Luka didn't have any magic.
He couldn't defeat even the weakest impurities. All he could do was sit there quietly and wait for someone to help him.
"Run! Ana is here!" all the boys started yelling as soon as Ana entered the park with Sieg.
Sieg immediately hurried to the tunnel and opened the door. He ran inside and killed all the Liks instantly.
When they died, their body automatically disappeared. The reason for that was they were weak. The stronger the impurities, the more time their body would take to disappear.
Meanwhile, Ana was beating the shit out of all the boys. Three of them were already unconscious, while two of them were bleeding.
"Hey! What's going on here?" A man wearing a suit yelled as he hurried to the park.
He was an exorcist who was on patrol duty. And to him, it looked like Ana was beating the kids as if it was a totally one-sided fight.
"Why are you beating them?" the officer asked.
"They were bullying Luka."
"Luka?"
She pointed her finger at the tunnel from which Luka and Sieg just came out.
"Oh! That magicless boy."
"No one hurts Luka. If anyone hurts him or makes him cry, I will kill them!"
The officer patted Ana and said, "Now, this is not the word a small girl like you should say."
He called the boys' parents— including Sieg's-and they came soon after to take their children home.
Ana's mother also came to take her home. But no one for Luka because the officer hadn't called Luka's parents.
The officer also left on his patrol.
Ana and Luka are neighbors. And they are childhood friends, though they were still kids.
Luka sat on the swing and looked down at his feet. What happened today wasn't unusual for him.
Everyone— except Ana and Sieg always bullied him. Since Luka was the weakest, he was a punchbag for those bullies.
Ana walked to Luka and said, "Let's go, Luka. Today is my birthday, and we also have to cut the cake, gifts and many other things. It will be so much fun."
"..."
The stings from his body disappeared with no trace of any marks.
Despite having high mana, Luka couldn't use magic. Without magic, which was the catalyst, a medium, all that high mana was useless. So he couldn't use the mana in his body.
It was just like there was an engine but no fuel. Or like there was fuel/ materials to burn fire, but nothing to ignite it.
"Hey Luka," Ana shook Luka.
"What?"
"Look at me."
Luka looked up and spoke, "What?"
"Don't worry. I will protect you." Ana said with a smile on her face.
Luka gritted his teeth and yelled, "I don't need anyone to protect me!"
"But—"
"Just go now!"
"But it's my birthday. You have to come, otherwise—"
"I will come. Leave me alone for now!"
"You better come, or I will remember this and pay it back hundreds of fold." Ana left the park with her mother.
"Ana, you idiot," he muttered.
After a while, Luka jumped down from the swing and walked to the middle of the park.
He glanced around and raised his hand. Then he grabbed his right hand with the left and tried to gather magic on his hand, but it was useless.
He didn't have any magic, and he knew it— everyone knew it.
Although, six years was indeed a very early age to state whether a person would be strong in the future or not. Whether he would be able to use magic or not. But using magic and having magic were different things.
Every exorcist is born with mana and the magic to use that mana. But since Luka had no magic, he couldn't use his mana.
"Dammit!" he muttered.
He knew that he wouldn't be able to use magic today, not tomorrow, nor the day after that. And the cruel truth that he would stay magicless forever.
It wasn't like a magicless couldn't become an exorcist. In fact, there were magicless exorcists out there, but they were close to non-existent.
In this world, power was everything.
The strongest were considered celebrities, followed by their subordinates and their subordinates.
In other words, the power brought fame.
Luka never planned to get stronger. But he had his own dreams to achieve.
He grew up hearing and believing all those stories of exorcists. So he wanted to become one. He wanted to become like them, to protect the world, family, and his loved ones. But what could a magicless person do?
The answer was nothing.
As Luka was crying about his own fate, he gritted his teeth and clenched his fist.
"Why me?" He muttered in a solemn voice as he was asking someone who gave powers to all exorcists.
No one knew where the powers came from, nor did they know about the origin of the impurities.
They have been fighting with each other ever since forever, not knowing anything about the reasons; they just kept fighting.
It was almost night. Luka glanced around and said, "I should go now, or Ana will get angry."
He ran towards the exit to the park. As he was running, he tripped and fell down.
"Argh!" he groaned in pain. But that didn't stop him from getting up.
He got up and ran towards the exit, but there was no exit there.
"What?"
He glanced around to see he was in an unfamiliar place.