Mana. it was the life force of my old world.
It was in everyone and everything, yet not everyone knew how to use it.
To be able to utilize any mana, whether it be inside or outside of you, you had to "awaken".
Of the people who did awaken, most of them did it as young children, and only about a quarter of the world would be awakened.
We viewed mana as some sort of divine power, a blessing from above. Something only people of the military or nobility could use.
And yet, in this new world, my mother is using it to heal a simple cut on my forehead?!
Although this took me a bit aback, I wasn't too surprised.
After all, I was brought into a new world. It is to be expected that whatever system of powers they used would act differently than the one I was used to.
This world did still have a system of awakening however. And just like my old world, only a certain minority of the human population could actually utilize "prana" which was basically their version of mana.
All human children who had awakened were to be sent to one of the major academies corresponding to their region within 3 years of awakening. Since we lived in the Seikatsu region, I was to be sent to Seikatsu Academy, the largest magic academy in Yosheora if I awakened.
My family and I lived the coming years of my childhood in peace, with myself learning more and more about magic in the process.
My father and mother would tell me the basics of the prana system, but I felt that they weren't saying everything.
There were many ways to use prana, but humans typically fell into two categories.
Augmenting and Conjuring.
Augmenters drew on prana from within themselves to enhance their bodies, while Conjurers took prana from the world outside them to cast spells.
My father was an augmenter, however my mother was neither.
She used something called aberrant magic, however she was hesitant to speak about it much.
Prana had 6 elements, those being Earth, Water, Air, Fire, Light, and Darkness.
Certain people would have an affinity to certain elements, and could even have an affinity for multiple.
The next few years of my life were lived in relative peace and comfort. However, that would all stop with my awakening on my 10th birthday.
The awakening wasn't as how I thought it would be. Or maybe mine was just abnormal in the first place.
It was the night before my 10th birthday party, and I was finally drifting to sleep after being unable to contain my excitement.
My mother had told me that most humans awakened around the age of 10, and I had already felt prana particles gathering in my body near my heart to form my core.
Once I had fallen asleep however, my eyes were forced open.
I was no longer in my room.
I looked around, and I saw a gargantuan planet in front of me.
It had all the continents from the book in the library.
Only one word could describe this.
"Beautiful, isn't it?", I heard someone saw behind me.
I swung my head around, attempting to get into a fighting stance.
It was only then that I noticed that nothing was below my feet.
"Calm down now! Feisty one aren't you?", the sound was now coming from my left.
I slowly turned my head to the left and saw a shadowy figure, so black it almost looked like static.
I couldn't make out any actual features other than the wild smile he had plastered on his face, showing nothing but shiny white teeth.
"Who are you?", I asked cautiously.
"Well, that depends on who you ask. Some call me God, some call me the greatest evil to walk this earth. What I am doesn't matter."
"Then why the hell am I here then?", I asked, impatience lacing my voice.
"I just wanted to meet you. As to why? Well, you'll find out soon enough".
The smile on his face disappeared.
"Damn, I guess it's happening now."
The realm started shaking ferociously.
"I'll see you in due time, King".
My eyes widened.
"Wait-"
I couldn't even get the words out before I woke up, this time actually in my room.
A piece of flaming wood fell right in front of my face
My entire room had bursted in flames
I heard footsteps rushing my way.
"Yuuki!"
I heard Michi yell from what used to be my doorway.
"Dad! Are we under attack?", I yelled back, growing increasingly concerned.
Then, I realized.
I'm still floating.
I felt inside my body.
I was right, my core had formed.
Michi finally got past the flames and dropped to his knees.
"Yuuki... It seems that you have awakened my son."
The explosion was confined to my room, so we were still able to have the party in our front yard.
My mind was still stuck on the previous night.
Who was that man? What did he mean by I will "see soon enough"? And how did he know I was a King?
I pushed those thoughts to the back of my mind though.
I had to focus on socializing with the people at the party.
Michi introduced me to an "old friend" of his, Yuichi, that he had known since childhood.
As I was getting introduced, I noticed a little girl hiding behind his leg.
Once I made eye contact, she dipped her head further back and tugged on his pants.
"Oh I'm sorry about that", Yuichi said to me almost jokingly.
"Michi, Yuuki, this is my daughter Haya. She just turned 10 too so I'm hoping you two can get along well."
Haya was a girl of a paler complexion with pristine silver hair flowing down to her shoulders.
She had wide, blue eyes and an almost mysterious aura.
She just stared at me with a curious look, as if she wasn't used to people her age.
"Haya, go play with Yuuki while I talk to my friend okay?"
She gave him a look of disapproval but finally took me by the hand and said told me to cmon.
It was getting awkwardly quiet, so I decided to make small talk.
"So, do you know how our dads know each other?"
"Daddy said that Uncle Michi is his cousin, and they grew up together".
I was going to reply to make conversation, but then I was crushed by a suffocating aura.
It felt wrong to even breathe.
I looked around trying to find the source, and I saw this older man speaking to my father.
And judging by my father's face, he wasn't welcome.
He was tall, making my already tall father look up to him.
Yuichi placed his hand on the man's shoulder.
"I'm sorry but you are making my friend very uncomfortable. Why don't you come back at a later time to congratulate the birthday boy?".
The moment these words left his mouth, he was backhanded in the face with such force that he began to bleed.
Anger began to seep into my psyche, and I prepared myself for a fight.
However, Michi shot me a look that told me to stay back.
Whoever this was, he wasn't on my level.
The man walked up to Michi, getting into his breathing space.
I could see the look in my fathers eyes. He was scared.
I never saw this Goliath of a man ever show fear before in my life.
The man finally uttered some words.
Such simple, everyday words.
Ones that you would hear from old friends meeting up.
Yet the moment these words reached my ears, chills went down my spine.
"Hello, Michi".