"Who?"
The mysterious voice's baffled reply awoke Atlas from his mind's thoughtless meanderings. He then hurriedly performed another bow and explained.
"Please take no notice of that, Sir! I accidentally referenced a name from a tale that I'm familiar with."
"O-oh, okay."
The voice still sounded confused but did not stay on this accidental slipup for long.
Coughing twice to regain its regality, it continued, "As I was saying, you may refer to me as the Shadow Monarch. Now, let me tell you the reason why I spent my precious reserves of remaining energy and saved you."
The voice paused for a moment before continuing with immense authority in its tone.
"Child! Are you willing to enter the path of a magician? To wield power beyond your wildest imagination? To be looked up and revered by every denizen of the Mortal Realm!?"
"I AM!"
Having waited for this question, Atlas puffed up his chest and answered with unparalleled zeal. Inwardly, he was laughing with smugness.
'Hell yeah, I am! That's why I'm here, after all! This is the proper start to a story!'
"Good! Then stand still and receive my inheritance!"
The wizened voice proclaimed and shot a beam of saturated light at Atlas.
Atlas refused to cower or retreat in the slightest and faced that harmless beam with a straight back, taut shoulders, and puffed-out chest.
He still had to close his eyes, though, seeing as to how bright the beam of light was.
"This--! How is this possible!?" The mysterious voice cried out, ever so suddenly.
Hearing the shock inherent within its voice, Atlas could no longer hold back his smug smile. Smiling unreservedly, he thought to himself.
'Ah, yes! Be shocked! Be appalled! Witness the mighty talent of a transmigrator!'
"How could you not have an affinity towards any element at all!?!"
"Say what?"
Atlas snapped his eyes open. He quickly noticed that the beam of light had disappeared from the cavern.
Hurriedly looking at the air, he asked. "Sir Shadow Monarch! What's wrong? Why did the beam of light disappear?"
His question did not receive an immediate answer. The silence continued to linger within the air.
"S-sir Shadow Monarch, what did you mean by 'not having any affinity towards any element at all?'"
After a minute of continued silence, the wizened voice released a heavy, tired sigh.
"Do you really want to know?"
"I have the right to!"
"Alright, then. It's exactly as I said," the old voice limply explained. "You do not possess any affinity towards any of the six elements blessing this world."
"Wha-what!?"
Atlas visibly staggered back. His face sported the expression of disbelief while his eyes carried the expression of betrayal.
Holding his heaving chest with his hands, he stuttered, "Th-that can't be right! This can't happen!! Y-you, check again!"
Facing the young boy's desperate and somewhat disrespectful request, Shadow Monarch heaved another sigh and obeyed.
"Seeing as to how you're the only, and probably the final person ever to step into this place before I disperse forever, I might as well grant you this request."
In all honesty, the mysterious voice also hoped for the result of his talent scrying to be incorrect.
After all, how a person without any affinity towards the elements could be born in a world filled with magic!?!
That's like giving birth to a child with the inability to breathe air!
The very notion of it sounded ridiculous.
Inwardly chanting the spell for the magic's casting, the Shadow Monarch released another beam of light towards the young boy.
This time, it even noticed the young boy face the powerful beam of light with his eyes open.
'How gallant!'
Sadly, Atlas' actions were to no avail. The final result remained unchanged.
The boy possessed zero affinity towards the six elements of the world. In fact, he seemed to have no affinity towards magic itself!
With its powerful perception, the Shadow Monarch quickly discovered a detail that it had missed during the previous scrying.
The young boy's body seemed to passively neutralize the magic present within the surrounding air. This neutralization was too quiet and unnoticeable, and if not for it intently observing the boy and his surroundings, it would've definitely missed it!
'How ridiculous…' it remarked.
"Argh, fu*k! My eyes!"
Atlas' cries of pain brought the Shadow Monarch out of its introspection.
It saw the boy furiously rub at his eyes, rush towards the pond of water and dunk his head into it. His actions did not demean his image within the Shadow Monarch's heart but instead increased the pity it felt towards the boy.
'Such a poor child. To be fated to live his life as a magic-less cripple. I pray he has the will to continue living.'
Heaving a heavy sigh, it rasped, "…Child."
Pulling his face out of the water, Atlas rapidly blinked his eyes. Feeling the burning pain lessen, he quickly turned around and faced the empty air within the cave with much expectation.
"The previous result was wrong, right!?"
Seeing the boy's hope-filled face, the thought of lying to him crossed the mind of the Shadow Monarch.
'No. Giving him false hope is the cruelest thing that anyone could do, given his situation.'
"I'm afraid not, my child."
It then continued with a slightly hopeful tone.
"You seem to be fated to walk an untreaden road."
It let him down gently.
Unfortunately, the careful words of the Shadow Monarch did nothing to lessen the blow Atlas felt to his psyche and his ego.
'I-I, a noble otherworlder, am a talentless, affinity-lacking runt?'
"Th-there must've been others like me, right? I can't be the first person with this affliction! There's got to be some sort of remedy to this!"
Atlas couldn't bring himself to lose all hope or to call it a lack of talent on his part. Instead, he called it an affliction of his body, dumping all blame into the malnourished body of Atlas whatever-his-last-name-was.
"I fear not, my child. You are the first person that I've seen, or even heard of really, with this condition. Also…"
The Shadow Monarch paused for a second before continuing. "What you have is no affliction that can be cured. It's a condition that seems inherent to you. It is something that you're born with. A part of you and can never be removed."
Hearing its explanation was the final blow to Atlas' psyche.
Losing power in his legs, he collapsed onto the floor. The light within his eyes dimmed and his head slumped to stare at the floor with depression.
Seeing him like this, the Shadow Monarch hurriedly mumbled.
"Do-don't lose hope, child."
"Why? Are you telling me that I still have a chance?" Atlas listlessly asked.
Grinding his non-existent teeth, the Shadow Monarch replied after a long time of silence.
"No…"
It then closed its eyes and thought to itself.
'The young boy is probably done for. He seems to have lost all hope and interest in living. He'll probably kill himself soon.'
It then closed its eyes, not wanting to watch a pre-pubescent boy kill himself. After a few minutes, it heard some shuffling sounds and then a voice.
"Can you tell me where I am and what exactly IS magic, Sir Shadow Monarch?"
Atlas stood with a normal expression on his face and a curious gaze within his eyes. No signs of his prior depression were found anywhere on his body.