In the Sky Wall Mountain Range, a large facility stood atop a clean grassy plain.
The horizon was surrounded by mountains and a river flowed nearby.
The 'facility' was a large white building surrounded by blue walls in a rectangular manner. It stood alone in the plane with only a dirt road connecting it's gates to a nearby city.
Yet despite the loneliness, the place was filled with spirit.
Inside the building, in a room- sat several kids. All with varying hair and eye color which gave more color to the white walls of the room.
Standing in front of them was a middle-age man wearing plain white clothes and a tag- Renley Boluk. The most stand-out feature of the man was the kind-happy smile on his face as he spoke-
"Well, kids. Today we talk about magic! Do any of you know what magic is?"
Several kids nodded but most remained silent, though their eyes were sparkling- ready to use those beautiful abilities the 'adults' used.
"Ren- you speak" said Renly
"It's the th-thing we can do with mana" Ren-a brown haired boy answered-unsure of the words to use.
"Good, not a bad answer...and what is mana?"
"It is the essence of life present in every being alive and it is the source of magic" A calm-sweet voice entered everyone's ear as eyes immediately darted to the source of the voice- a boy that stood out from the rest.
He seemed larger than every kid around, more than that- his white hair and silver eyes were unique. Although his face was innocent and cute, his intelligence and confidence was a rarity for those his age.
"Perfect, Nier- you have already started mana manipulation...have you not? Renley asked with pride.
"Yep!" A jovial grin came on the silver-eyed boy's face but it soon turned nervous-"but it's really hard"
The kids gasped, shocked that their superhuman brother found something 'hard'
"Heh, don't worry...everyone goes through that phase. Anyways- yeah, mana is the source of magic. All of you are 9, have you all felt the mana around you? After all-7 year olds can do it."
All kids nodded but sadness filled their eyes. Nier was already absorbing mana and manipulating it while they couldn't do so in same age.
"Calm down all of you- you guys are just 9, Nier is 12 years old. Most people are able to manipulate mana only when they get 10 years old, so you don't have to compare" Said Renley kindly.
He looked towards Nier, their eyes connected. A sorry expression came upon Renley's face, Nier however smiled in a forgiving manner.
The kids looked at Nier betrayed- "You said you were 9! Why did you lie?"-shouted Lina.
"Stop it kids...I was the one who told him to do so. I won't hear any complaints!" Renley said.
"Does that mean I must call you big brother now?" Lina muttered in shock.
"So today I'll do a demonstration on basic magic- elemental conjuration. It simply means- to create an element. Most of you have elements like fire, water, earth etc."
Renley extended his hands and asked "Do you see anything?"
Everyone denied.
"You see, my hand is currently covered in mana but it's invisible to the eye. Do you see anything now?"
"Yes! There is a large ball of water on your hand!" Lina- a redhead replied.
"Nope. This highly condensed wind mana- that is, I put a lot of mana in a single point. That's why it's visible and the reason it looks like water is because my wind mana is colorless, though it does feel like water when you cover your body with mana." Renley said with a smile
Everyone nodded.
"Now, I'll condense it just a little further" Renley muttered as he opened the windows- "Check this out!"
He swiped as hands as a shockwave of wind shook the air and continued past horizon.
""WOAH"" ""So powerful!"" Although it wasn't the first time for everyone to witness such feat, it was still mind-blowing to them.
"You liked that?" Renley asked with a smile.
Everyone nodded.
"One day you can achieve similar feats, do you guys want to become strong?"
Everyone nodded...except one.
Renley looked at Nier, confused but continued the class.
Soon the class ended and Renley told everyone to leave except Nier.
A gentle expression came on the face of the balbo bearded man.
"Do you not want to become powerful?" He asked.
"I guess I can...?Am I already not strong? Besides, why do I need to be strong?" The boy answered-unsure.
"What's your dream?"
"Hey! I answered you and then asked you. So shouldn't you answer first!" The boy asked with a pout.
"I will, I will. but tell me your dream first"
"I guess I want to travel around all the world and see the places you told us to be fantasies among fantasies, to meet all the species around the world, to meet all the great people out there!" The boy excitedly answered and continued-
"Not just me- Lina, Big Bro Traicion, Marvis, Dev and even Llenar! Infact almost everyone wants to do so!"
Renley smiled hearing the boy.
"When and why did you think of this dream?"
"I don't kno-"
"Hearing the stories I and all the others tell you. Am I wrong?"
The silver eyes widened and Nier nodded.
"Exactly, the one who told you such stories is me, but some places that I mentioned. I myself never visited because of the danger. Some places are just legends that the weak will never find. You are...special- Nier. I have told you and you know it yourself. The anti-mana core.
It challenges the very essence of life. You are already powerful for your age but you need more, if you want to find such places...to protect your friends. That's something you need to etch into your mind if you want to travel the world. You don't need to be the strongest but some place... never mind."
As Nier took it all in- "Oh right, I strayed off. I called you to apologize, I lied to them about your age-"
"It's fine Renz, as long as they are happy. It doesn't matter" Nier said calmly with a smile and stormed off.
'What an angel' Renly smiled and close his green eyes.
Running around the facility, Nier reached a playground filled with kids and immediate began looking for someone- and he found her.
"Ma'am! Let's go to the Valt Tower!" Nier said to a beautiful woman with green hair. She turned to him and smiled.
"Nope"
"Eh...Please!
It took some time but Nier convinced her. Along with him and some other kids, Deena reached a tree and put her palm on it.
"Lina, you haven't seen this. Right?" She asked and before Lina could ask- green light erupted from her palm, the tree split vertically in the middle, expanded and swallowed them.
________________________
A tree near Valt City suddenly split open like a mouth as a woman and various children stepped out.
"WHAT HAPPENED" Lina cried out, tears in her eyes. But she calmed down after Deena sweet-talked her and gave her a candy.
"That was my magic technique, you see- my element is wood and my technique allows me to mark trees through which I can pass to other marked places. But there are too many limitations- Trees larger than me, a limited radius, mana consumption, and the mark vanishes once used. That's why I tell you not to trouble me!"
"Magic technique?"
"You'll awaken your own technique after you are 10"
"Whoa"
They soon reached the city gates. The guards saw them approaching and smiled. It always was a good distraction seeing such naive positivity. They wished they could become kids again- such technique wasn't unheard of but they had responsibilities.
Entering the city, the began exploring the place brimming with spirit as a large tower stood in view.
"You guys want something?"
Everyone nodded.
They soon entered a toffee shop. The shop owner smiled seeing them and took out various toffees as though she knew the children's wish.
Deena just took out a coin when-
"Consider this a gift" The shop owner said with a smile.
"But Ms. Nan-"
"No buts Deena, like I said- consider this as a gift or my thanks to the kid" Shop owner Nana insisted and looked towards Nier with a smile"
"Thank you dear for your help last week"
"You don't need to aunty, It was nothing" Smilingly said Nier scratching his head.
"I say Deena, you must take care of this boy, he's a treasure"
Deena nodded with a proud smile and they walked off towards the tower.
'Is the tower becoming larger?'
Suddenly Nier felt a tug disrupting his thoughts. Ran looked at him with puppy eyes and showed him the empty rapper.
Nier's eyes widened.
"again?"
Ran nodded.
Nier patted him with a gentle smile and passed his own toffee to Ran, who jovially ate it- without thinking much about his brother's sacrifice.
As they were walking, Nier saw a frail old man passing the road almost fall, he dashed forward and held the man who looked at him and smiled.
'Was the sky always red?' Nier thought noticing another oddity.
'Was the sun always silver?'
He felt a tug on his shoulder and looked towards the old man.
Who smiled.
His smile stretch past his cheeks. Literally.
The man opened his mouth-empty like a void. Black like a void. The already sunken eyes sunk deeper till all that was left was...nothing.
He looked around.
Everyone was gone.
Everyone except Deena. Who looked at him- terrified
He looked down at himself- covered in red.
He looked up. There was an old man no more, but him. With holes for eyes and a void of a smile. Before he could comprehend anything. He was devoured.
"Nooooooooo!"
"*Huff* *huff* *huff* Will this never stop? *sigh*"