2018
An entire city cried out for help. They're screaming in unfathomable agony. They were suffering. Buildings collapsed, crushing everything it lays on. Roads were destroyed, like after an earthquake struck. The debris floating about in the air, weightless.
In the aftermath, approximately three thousand were killed and two hundred missing. All happened within the span of twelve minutes. Three perpetrators were suspects, The Manipulator, The Dark Kin, and Death Flower. All three disappeared without a trace.
What was a secret society then was brought to light, there was absolutely no way of covering it. The society was ruled over by three families of hierarchy: the Varr family, the Crescent family, and the Hinora family. They have been governing the sorcerer society for hundreds of years.
For an entire year, people were in fear, confused, looking and begging for an answer. Three sorcerers destroyed three cities in twelve minutes. The three families talked to the governments, and new rules were implemented in 2019:
1. If citizens have awoken their powers as a sorcerer they must enroll in a sorcerer school in which they will undergo training as a sorcerer for three years.
1.1 The citizens must enroll at the age of fifteen until they're eighteen.
2. Citizens that have awoken their power as a sorcerer but are classified as Core-User are not obliged to enroll.
3. Unlicensed use of mana may be subject to punishment.
3.1 Usage of mana in breaking any laws such as but not limited to assault, murder, robbery, arson, vandalism, etc. will be deemed as a Mana Criminal.
3.2 Mana Criminals will be dealt with under the rules of sorcerer society. No court system.
3.3 Investigations will be handled by a trusted sorcerer.
The country and continent Dayland have surprisingly been safe for eighteen years.
2036
A boy with messy straight black hair with a natural navy blue color on the end of each strand. Dark blue eyes. Half Asian and half Caucasian. Around five foot nine inches, nine inches and a half. An unzipped black hoodie over a cyan shirt. Black long pants and shoes with no shoe laces.
He was standing in a parking lot. A parking lot in his school—junior high. Surrounded by a circle of students. And within the circle were he and five other students. About the same size as him, clenched fists, heavy breathing from the five.
"You sure you wanna do this?"
He walks closer to the student who asked him. Stared him dead in the eyes. The student raised his fist and threw a right jab at him. He pivots backwards, catches the hand of the student with his left hand, and with his right hand, he lands three short punches in the middle of the student's stomach. Then he releases him and took a step back. The student was struggling to breathe. He took a step forward and then lands an unguarded hit from his right elbow. And the student fell down and lay unconscious.
The other four students became nervous but were still confident in their numbers. Four to one, they thought that the odds were with them. The four started running at him at the same time. One was faster than the three and comes in with his right fist ready to punch. The fast one punches the air as he ducks under and hits the student with his elbow in the middle of his torso. The fast one falls to the ground. The second one arrives and throws a frontward kick at him. He quickly turns around and catches their leg. He pivots forward with his leg slightly off the ground, moving very fast and hitting the second student's leg, sweeping him and dropping him to the ground.
A student came up behind him and tried to land a blow on the back of his head, he instinctively dodges it by shifting his body to the right. His knees bent slightly, his right hand holding the student's arm and he hits the student's chest with his left elbow. While the fourth student ran to him with their mind blank. He lands a front-forward kick to the student's chest and they fell over. He turns around to the third student who was last standing. He lands a bluff kick, a kick to the balls that was for sure miss. The student blocks his kick. He pulls back his leg, shifts his body to the side, and lands two simultaneous kicks to the student's kidneys and head. The student drops to the ground and whines in pain.
"Tsk... You guys are pathetic. I thought you'd put up a fight." He said.
Another student came running, he was wearing a long sleeve shirt, and he had black, straight, and tidy hair.
"Dan!" The student yelled
He looks over at him with a disappointed look on his face.
"Oh hey, Sam."
"What the hell?" Sam confused
"What?"
"You just beat up five guys in the parking lot."
"Aaaaaaaand?!"
"You're gonna get yourself in trouble!"
"I'll be fine. Besides I'm moving away anyway. So are you."
"Yeah, but still!"
An overweight man then came in running with a white dress suit. Old, wears glasses with straps, white beard, and greying hair. He was panting all over as he arrived.
"Daniel Fash, my office now!" He ordered angrily
Dan rolled his eyes and went to his office. Sam followed him from behind.
Dan sat on a chair in front of this overweight man's desk. A nameplate on his desk facing outward "Dr. Gunn".
"Do you have any idea what you've done?" Dr. Gunn asks
"Do enlighten me." Dan said in a condescending tone
"You just beat up five innocent kids in the school parking lot and you act as if nothing happened."
"Well, they weren't innocent." Dan claimed
"Really? How so?" Dr. Gunn doubts
"Well, first, they were bullying these first years. Stealing their lunch money and stationaries. Also intimidating them."
"Do you have any proof of this?"
"Few witnesses. Ask the first years."
"Even if that's true, you can't just beat them up."
"They started it. They sent out an invite for the school to watch. I had only part take in the fighting."
"I get that you're leaving this school but you are leaving a bad reputation in this school. Do you really want that?"
"Standing up to bullies is a bad reputation?"
"You need an attitude check, Mr. Fash."
Dan fell silent. Rolled his eyes then sighed.
"Are we done here?" Dan asked
"Get out."
Dan stood up and head to the door. He pushes the door open and closes the door behind him slowly. He catches Sam on the corner of his eyes and turns to him.
"Oh hey." Dan said
"So?"
"Got away with it."
"No. Not yet anyway."
"Whatever. I'm going home."
The two walked out the school through the front door. A few students from their class stared at Dan. Sam notices it and became slightly uncomfortable, while Dan didn't give two fucks about them. They kept walking and Dan walked home, while Sam was going home with his older brother. They waved at each other then Dan walked home.
On his way home, the sun disappeared. Clouds shrouded it. Thunder rumbles in the distance, Dan keeps on walking. He suddenly feels heavy on his shoulders, something resting upon them. He turns around and the world was black. The world was black and filled with emptiness. A void of darkness.
Something then appeared in front of his face, it made him jump and fell backwards. It resembled a human sitting—crossing its legs—but upside down, floating. This thing wore a very dark grey trench coat, long black pants, and black leather shoes. A mask on its face, it glowed dim white in a shape of a cartoonish smile. Within the eyeholes was a single dot of white.
"Welcome to Black Abyss." As it said that the smile glowed brighter but then dimmed when it stopped.
"What the fuck are you? What the fuck is this? Where am I?"
"I'm what they call a dark fragment. You're cursed with the Dark element hence you are the next dark sorcerer. I'm your predecessor."
"Where are we?"
"Uhh... Black Abyss? As I said."
"No, I mean where is this abyss?"
"It's a divine technique of bringing thought to reality with mana."
"How does that answer a question that I asked?"
"Ugh... I already don't like you. We are in a different space within our reality. We're just in a pocket dimension."
"And who are you?"
"Jonathan Bayer. Call me Jon."
"Daniel Fash. Call me Dan."
"You don't need to tell me anything. Every thought you have I will know it."
"That's creepy."
"So you have nine days before you move to the Core Intel High, we'll begin practice at midnight."
"Practice? Midnight?"
"Dark sorcerers thrive in the dark. You'll learn all the spells within our arsenal. From basic amplification spells and shadow swap to advanced gravity and areal-time manipulation."
"Can I be frank with you?"
"I don't know how changing your name helps." Jon said
"Fuck you."
"Heh. What?"
"I have only recently awoken my powers about four days ago. And my mom and I've been busy with administration. So... I didn't get a single thing you just said."
Jon then gasped behind the mask and fell to the ground in a dramatic fashion. "What?!" He yelled in genuine terror and disgust.
"Are you fucking serious? Like actually genuinely honestly?" He suddenly was standing and was about two inches away from him
"I am." Dan did not stutter
"Val, you should've had him!!!!!"
"Val?"
"Never mind that. Fuck sake. I hafta give ye fokin basic training, eh? I can do that."
"Why'd he turn British all of a sudden?" Dan confused in his thoughts.
The abyss then felt like it was closing in on Dan. It turns into a liquid-like substance and gathered in Dan's shadow. Dan then started running to his house. A wide white house at the hook of the road, a two-story house with a basement and a garage. A car parked in front of the garage door, an Audi. He quickly skips to his terrace and knocks gently on the wooden door.
His mom quickly jogs to the door and opened it for him. "Hey honey, how was school?"
"It was okay." He replied unenthusiastically
"Did you get in another fight?" She presumed
"Maybe." He said
"Did you start it?" She asks
"No."
"Good."
Dan walks through the door in front of his mom. From entering he could smell a sharp aroma.
"What've you been cooking?"
"Your favorite, beef curry udon." His mom replied
"On what occasion?" Dan asks
"How could you forget?"
"How could you forget?"
Jon and his mom said in unison.
"Ah. My birthday's today."
"Happy fifteenth birthday, Dan!" His mom said thrilled
"That's one year closer to death!" Jon exclaimed excitedly
Dan chuckled nervously.
"Shut up." Dan whispered to Jon
"Are you telling me to shut up?"
"What? No."
"Whatever, just go shower before dinner. And don't sleep!"
"Yeah, okay."
Dan ran up the stairs and bolted to his room. He busts through the room and drops his bag on his bed and hung his hoodie on his door. He took off his shirt and threw it into his laundry basket. He walked out of his room and hopped in the shower. It was February and it was winter but no snow out. Cold, about 9 degrees Celsius.
"You're insane." Jon said
"Why?" He ask
"It's winter you fucking maniac. Why the hell are you taking a cold shower?"
"Do you feel the cold?"
"No. Cause that's not how it works."
"Then shut up."
Dan got out of the shower and dried himself with his towel. He wrapped himself with it and walked to his room. He wore a white t-shirt and wool shorts. He joined his mom in the dining room where she had prepared a spread of meals.
"Thanks for putting in all the effort you put in for my birthday."
"Anything for my boy."
Dan smiles and blushes. He puts his hands together and his mother followed, the two closed their eyes and uttered "Thank you for this food."
The two finished half the meal within two to three minutes.
"So... Dan, how are you feeling about moving to a boarding school for sorcerers?"
"Can't say I'm excited but it's definitely new grounds for me. We'll see."
"I'm sure you'll do great as a sorcerer."
Dan looked at his mom's right wrist. A higanbana flower. He always wondered what it meant since she said that it held meaning to her. He always felt uneasy asking about it, so he kept quiet. But Jon noticed it too and recognizes it.
"A higanbana flower!"
"A what?"
"What?"
"Uh... Nothing."
"The higanbana flower, also known as red spider lily, red magic lily, or equinox flower. The flower was called the Japanese death flower. It was placed in graveyards to fend off animals from eating the dead. In old Buddhist writings, it was said that it guides the dead in the afterlife, the cycle of rebirth, reincarnation."
"Mom, why do you have that tattoo?"
"This flower... It represents the past I had. A story for another time."
"I thought we said no secrets."
"How many people actually tell everything about themselves?"
"I guess... Few. Very few."
"There're things best to leave in the dark."
"You could say that again."
Dan chuckled. The two enjoyed their meals to the fullest. They finished all the food that was prepared by his mom—the beef curry udon, ebi, hiyayakko, and rolled omelettes. Dan was a sucker for Japanese food, he loved them but had never actually gone to Japan before. Their plan for the end of this year.
"Wait here." His mom said as she got up and walked to the living room
She came back bringing a high quality cardboard box. Seeing her Dan pilled up all the empty bowls and plates and put them aside. She sat down with the box, it was a black box detailed in white. She puts it on the table and slowly slides it to him.
"What's this?" Dan's interest piqued
"This came in the mail today, your sorcerer attire. And my present inside." She said excited
"From the school already?"
"Yeah."
Dan opens the box carefully and finds a folded dark grey suit he lifts it and puts it on the table. Under the suit were matching pants, a black belt, and a headband with a black X pattern.
He takes everything out and puts it on the table.
"A suit? You designed my attire to be a suit? Why?"
"It's manly and it's a suit for social events. If you ever need to go to one on a mission you won't need a change of clothes."
"Why would I ever get invited to social events?"
"Don't put yourself down like that."
"Yeah, sorry. It's not that I don't like it, I love it, just caught me off guard that's it."
Dan then picks up the headband and unwraps it. He lifts his hair up and wears the headband. Maybe a little too tight. His hair is pushed upward but a few strands fell under it. Dan didn't feel like tidying it up.
"What do you think?"
"You look really handsome."
"Thanks. But, why'd you got me a headband? What's the motive?"
"Straight to the point. I remembered when you were little you'd always wear a ribbon on your head. So I bought you a headband, you loved it. But then you stopped wearing it because of school regulations. Since Core Intel doesn't give a shit about what the students wear I thought it'd be nice for you to start wearing a headband again. I also made it from scratch this time."
"Really? Wow. This is really good then."
"Thanks, glad you like it."
"Yeah, I'll wear it."
The two then teamed up and washed the dishes and watched a movie afterwards. A romance action movie. Then they went to bed.