The Void. A place filled with mysterious energy, foreign to the mana that the inhabitants of the Fultra Realm have experienced. Very few people know of it's existence, and those that do are aware of the monstrous power that lies within.
To describe the scenery of such a place, the Void stretched infinitely, a deep yet vibrant purple was the prominent colour of the Void that was enough to illuminate the darkness that accompanied a place with no natural light, be that the sparkling energy or the countless creatures birthed from its own power.
Somewhere in the endless expanse of the Void stood a man with his eyes closed and hands crossed behind his back. This man had a face of concentration yet relaxation, clearly in the middle of thought. He was known as Zane back when he lived in the Fultra Realm, before he stumbled into the Void.
Zane stood at a height of 6"1 with an athletic build that was sculpted to perfection, making the phrase "body of a Greek God" seem rather lacking in comparison. His hair was a pure white, brushed backwards with a few strands hanging forwards towards his closed eyes.
Complimenting his look of perfection, Zane had soft white skin that made him look celestial and his eyebrows were perfectly matched with the beautiful pearlescent hair that sat atop his head, whilst his facial features could most accurately be described as eye catching. Most people would consider this man to be at the peak of attraction for all species, sporting a look of Divinity.
In contrast to this Zane's breathtaking looks was the line of purple energy that shone on the skin of his face, the line began at the bottom of his right eye and ran halfway down his cheek, giving the appearance of a single teardrop. However this purple line steamed and looked similar to a fresh burn mark that showed no sign of healing.
*Sigh*
Suddenly his face relaxed completely as he let out a heavy sigh and his eyes shot open. Each eye shone with the same violet energy that matched both his facial scar and the Void, if one was to look into them too long it would be easy to lose themselves to the mysterious attraction they presented, provided with an equal amount of danger.
*crack* *crack*
First rotating his head then stretching his arms behind his back releases two loud cracking sounds that made a slight smile of pleasure appear at the corner of his mouth. Pleased with his body not being too stiff after so long stationary, Zane began to scan the area with his sense, covering thousands of kilometers in an instant and painting a clear picture in his mind of everything within this scanning distance. To describe it more accurately, nothing within this area could escape his metaphorical "eye" that gave the information of everything it found straight to his brain, telling him what it was, what it is made of, it's life energy, it's mana readings and so on.
ZANE POV:
'No sign of vitality within a thousand kilometers huh? Oh well, I've spent 1000 years like this anyway so I can't say that I was expecting a different outcome by doing a quick scan.' Zane thought inwardly. Zane wasn't surprised in the least. Ever since arriving in the Void he has practically been alone. The sole "living" being within the infinite Void Realm, still unsure if he could even classify as a true living being after all the change he has undergone these past 1000 years.
Zane remembers every second of it. The day he arrived in this terrifying place, all the way until today, his 1000th official year having passed in the Void. However from what he knew, these 1000 years are only equal to that of 1 year back on his home the Fultra Realm. 'I still can't believe it's been so many years of pain and suffering, the feeling of submerging every square inch of my body in unfathomable pain that was akin to slowly reforming my entire frame. To top it off, simultaneously trying to absorb an endless amount of knowledge from Aether that felt like someone was scraping out my brain and then forcefully replacing the lumps with new knowledge.'
Although he complained, it was Zane who chose to go through with this after all. He was informed of the endless pain he would suffer before the merging process took place, Zane even remembered signing the pact with his own blood, so in reality if he wanted to blame his suffering on anyone, it would be himself.
However this millennium of both physical and mental torture was not in vain, Zane was doing it all for his survival, so he could once again breathe in the fresh air of his homeland, to be able to witness what changes had occurred in the time he had been missing and so he could uncover the mystery of who he was and why his heart was so special.
'Most of all I must keep my promise, it's the least I could do for you, Aether, my friend'. A sullen look took over Zane.
"AAAAARGGGHH!" Zane clutched his head and roared like a dying beast as a shooting pain sourced in his head, feeling like his brain was being torn open, he couldn't help drop to his knees from the onslaught of this unbearable feeling as memories flashed through his head rapidly. Zane's skull began to throb heavily and he felt his eyesight dimming by the second, his limbs one by one gave up on him as they turned limp as if he had become paralyzed until the only thing left working was his gradually closing eyes. 'Why now? Why does it hurt so much more?' Zane tried to peace together what was happening in his mind, but his consciousness was slipping away and his eyesight darkening by the second. 'I can't hold on much long-' before he could finish his thought Zane felt his mind let go and pure darkness clouded his mind as his body went completely limp...
FLASHBACK 1000 years prior:
"Hunting is becoming more difficult as the mana beasts of grade 3 and 4 come out of hibernation." Zane mumbled to himself as he sharpened the pointed arrowhead with the blade of his pocket knife. Mana beasts consist of any magically endowed beast, given the name "mana beast" as they are creatures that all in their own ways utilize mana.
There are so many possibilities for the countless species of mana beasts and they all have their own unique powers and abilities, hence the grading system put in place to help anyone differentiate the level of difficulty one of these mana beasts may oppose. Starting at grade 1 for the weakest and grade 9 for the strongest, it is also worth noting that the difference in power between each grade is large, especially as the grades become higher. For instance a grade 1 mana beast is not far below a grade 2, whereas the difference between a grade 6 and grade 7 could be considered huge.
However being at a grade doesn't mean that a mana beast would not be able to advance its grade, as long as they consume enough mana through other means such as; killing other mana beasts and eating their cores, absorbing ambient mana or practicing powers that may suffice as an adequate source of evolution.
Zane knew that since the grade 3 and 4 mana beasts were going to be returning to his hunting grounds, all of his lower grade prey would be either stolen by these higher grade beasts or too afraid to come out, making tonight's chances of dinner tonight slim. "Just my luck." Zane cursed at the God of luck for having to always be against him.
"Hahahaha!" Laughing hysterically he clenched the arrowhead that he had been sharpening with the knife, the sharp edges digging into the skin of his hand. Blood began leaking between his fingers and dripping onto the forest floor.
Zane knew that it was getting late and he was still yet to catch any food for himself and the chances he had were becoming slimmer as the sky started to darken. The bright orange sun shone through the gaps between the thick green leaves of the forest trees.
*sigh*
Although Zane knew how much of a problem this was for him, he still couldn't help but admire the beauty of nature. 'Alright it's time to get moving' Zane relaxed, feeling invigorated by the suns warm rays he no longer felt panicked and decided to loosen his grip on the arrowhead sticking out of his hand.
Opening his hand up and assessing the damage he caused himself, the metal arrowhead had dug into the flesh of his hand and left him with a deep slice across his palm and crimson red covered his right hand.
'What a pain, to think that I would be so careless' Zane couldn't help but regret the stupidity he felt he just displayed and was glad no one was around to see him do this to himself.
'First I'll wrap this wound up, then I will decide whether to cancel the hunt or to carry on with the risk of grade 3 and 4 beasts appearing.' Zane tore a piece of cloth from the left sleeve of his top and then proceeded to wrap it around his wounded hand, tightening it before tying a knot to keep the improvised bandage in place.
Zane's attire could only be described as plain. He wore a pair of green dyed cloth trousers and similar top, some light leather shoes and a makeshift arrow quiver that hung from his back. His wooden bow was resting against the tree beside him for easy access incase of an emergency.
Zane was a good looking man, at least that's what others thought, yet he himself had never been too confident in his own looks due to his lackluster treatment. He had dark brown hair and a pair of emerald gem eyes accompanied by his above average facial features that gave him an attractive face.
He stood at 5"10 and had a fit body due to the fact that he always looked after himself. This included him having to hunt to eat unless the nearby merchant would be willing to give him some spare rice with no charge.
The merchant only did this to keep Zane bringing him magic beast pelts, but this didn't bother Zane in the slightest as he knew the merchant had to make a living and even with the alternate purpose, he appreciated the help.
Realistically he was barely living and Zane was well aware of this, but had no active means to change his unfortunate position. Zane had no relatives that he knew of, he was dropped at the local villages Inn when he was just a baby where the Inn keeper looked after him until he died from age. That was when Zane was 15 and since then he has been living alone in a cave, surviving through his own means of hunting and selling the materials he could gather while doing so.
The biggest problem Zane had was his affinity with mana. Most species and creatures had some level of affinity with mana. It was practically unheard of that someone was incompatible with mana, but that was the case for Zane. Since birth he knew that he was different, always able to feel the mana however he had no control over it as his mana core was non-existent.
A mana core was always found inside the heart of a creature, but anyone could sense someone's mana core and their overall affinity with mana. Similar to mana beast grades, the humanoid species also measured their power with a grading system in relation to their power. The system goes like this; SSS being the strongest, SS, S, A, B, C, D, E and F being the lowest.
Zane couldn't even be classified as an F grade as he had zero affinity with mana and with no known way to fix this he was classified as permanently disabled.