Chapter 16: Left after silence
Floyde touched his head–he was still dizzy. His eyes jolted open in disbelief and terror. The trees around were gone, a huge crater formed from where he was. Blood in trees, and flesh lying near him.
Smoke poured out from every tree you could see. Ashes on the air and blood splattered around made it look like a catastrophe. And above, the obvious things you could see were smoke and fire pouring out.
"Shit! What's happening." Floyde stood up and looked around for the people in the white cloaks earlier, but all of them were nowhere to be seen; they were now dead. Screams of fear could only be heard from afar echoing the forest.
Luis didn't seem to be with Floyde, he also wasn't around. Floyde dashed out of the forest going to the town where fire and smoke mostly emitted and to escape the horrible scene right now. The trees Floyde encountered had been burnt and some were unscathed.
Running minutes out of the forest Floyde finally arrived back at Merlon. His eyes froze open after seeing what he just saw–silent and messy.
Messy with broken buildings. Silent with no one talking. Floyde saw everything–from the broken paths to the collapsed buildings: bars, shops, etc.–destroyed with no life seen within.
They were all gone. Luis wasn't here, the people in cloaks all died, and the population of the town lessened to 0; not a single life around.
Floyde left the town; perplexed and scared. He heard screams from the town but he arrived with no one to be seen. But instead, a destroyed town.
After arriving in this world, it had all been weird encounters. Floyde stopped somewhere in the forest, dug the dirt under with his bare hands, and took something out.
"Thank god it's still here," Floyde said in relief. He pulled out a magic bag. 'I still remember what the term magic bag was in those RPG games I played.'
It was a magic item that could hold a large number of goods that would normally exceed the capacity of a bag of the same size.
Magic bags are divided into numerous categories in this world.
First, it was labeled as a specialized object that could only be used by magicians or a general-purpose item that could be used by everyone, just like other magic equipment.
There was the problem whether it was the type that could have been pre-registered to the user(s) as an exclusive item only to be used by the registrant(s) or the general-purpose type that can be used by anyone.
Yet a few magicians are able to create ones that could be used by everybody, and they are costly. They also have capacity issues, regardless of the fact that others have large capacities.
Floyde places his fingers on the small mana prism attached to the magic bag and transferred his mana into it.
As a result, a summary of all the items in the magic bag, and also a note from Luis, emerged in his consciousness.
He instantly took out the note from the magic bag and opened it. A meticulously documented list of all the contents in the magic bag was included in the note of Luis.
Floyde then pulled out a thin book that had a brown cover. He inhaled heavily and opened it.
Luis said to Floyde that if he ever disappeared and hadn't arrived back to him within 15 minutes, he had to dig out the magic bag.
'Is this déjà vu?' Floyde flipped the pages and saw the same thing he had seen from another book.
'Beginner magic, intermediate magic, advanced magic.' Floyde remembered where he had seen the same thing. 'That middle-aged man had the same book, but this book is thinner.'
The book ended up on a page where it had a paper slipped in. 'This will help you since I'm not around.' Floyde removed the paper and read the page on the book: 'Holy magic.'
Floyde looked back at the paper he removed and continued to read, 'Learn this. One day, you'll be able to surpass me. I believe in you, my disciple.'
He then read the note he pulled out of the magic bag. 'These are all the items you will be needing in your adventure as a magician. I do also hope you could attend the academy for you to be able to understand more of magic. Though I doubt you'll need lessons since you could already do magic.'
Floyde then continued reading, below was the written contents in the magic bag. There were a lot of items stored. Since Floyde had a list of all of the items, he could just imagine the item he would pull out of the bag.
There were tons of food, which didn't seem to expire: hard-baked bread, monster meat seasoned in salt, and cookies with no sugar. Floyde couldn't understand how the magic bag works even after thinking about it carefully.
Due to the effects of magic, the rules of physics deviate inside the magic bag. It not only holds much more than a bag of its size should, but it also stops time for the items kept inside. The contents of the magic bag haven't aged at all as an outcome of this.
The same robe of Luis was in the bag. It seems that magic is infused into his robe adding protection and healing. Floyde didn't want to wear it because he wanted to stay lowkey. Since magic wasn't hereditary, magic items with power such as protection would cause a ruckus.
The backup weaponry and armor were in the bag. They're primarily made of iron and bronze.
The equipment, including the spare tents, gives the impression of belonging to a medieval army. There was also concern about the availability of potable water. As a result, many leather bags containing water were stored.
There was one thing that made Floyde doubt Luis. There were tons of large jewels, ornaments, silver coins, and gold coins. Floyde was wondering maybe he was a robber, though he eventually came to the conclusion he wasn't.
The serious lecture, "You don't just use your magic when you feel like doing it" gave Floyde the fact that Luis was a loyal and honest mage who follows the rules and regulations.
Aside from those, Floyde hoped for a magic item like a refrigerator, which wasn't available in the bag. The bag contained everything that would probably suffice him for at least 6 months.
Floyde remembered what the Voice had said in his dream. The body he is using right now lives in the town of Ecrin. He should start off his new adventure in this new world at Ecrin. And if fate is kind, he might meet Amira or Luis again.