In the empty space filled with millions of stars. It seemed as if the stars were moving at a breakneck speed. Many stars, many beautiful nebulas, many rocks...passed by. But were they moving? Or was it the illusion of perspective?
There were moments when the only thing visible was darkness. The only destination was darkness. Sometimes little dots would pass by like uncaring strangers. There was no up, down, left or right. Only the path that seemed opposite to all the stars. Suddenly a voice...no- a cry? Echoed in the empty space. The dots passed by and the world seemed so empty but the cry was...soothing.
Beep...
It was lonely
Beep...
So lonely
Beep...
Suddenly, light came into view when a blue sphere seemed to be enlarging on the path.
Beep Beep Beep!
Huh!?
Where...am I?
Who...am...I?
Darkness seemed to split horizontally as light entered the boy's eyes
The boy looked around himself without moving...he was lying on a bed in a room that looked like it was in an hospital.
He took the view in confusion, putting aside his dream as he suddenly shifted his eyes towards the right of the bed.
Was someone there?
"Who?"
He squinted his eyes but saw nothing...
He put aside this as he focused on his body. He couldn't move an inch, aside from his eyeballs, all his gody parts refused to move. Not only that...it felt just so- unfamiliar.
As if the body wasn't his own.
He turned his eyes to his left, he saw a box on which there were green lines, the seemed be forming 'spikes' and producing a beep sound continuously. He turned to took a good look at the room again, doing so- he realized that he could move his head, at the very least- turn it.
The room was completely white, with the only noticeable colors being the curtains that hung on the wall in front of the boy. He soon realized that he could twitch his fingers but still wasn't able to move.
Realizing he couldn't do anything, the boy focused on his memories.
He couldn't remember anything. Not even who he was.
'What's happening to me?'
Just as the boy was contemplating, the curtains departed and a figure wearing a mask walked in. The figure looked like a man's, wearing a white long coat with golden edges with the emblem of two swords forming a cross on his shirt at the chest. The mask was white and covered his whole face leaving two holes of the eyes.
The man was surprised judging by how his eyes widened as soon as they landed on the boy.
At first, there was a joyful reaction but soon his eyes narrowed.
"His mana is...?"
The masked man muttered to himself, his voice deep but muffled by the mask. The man carefully walked towards him and said in a gentle tone.
"คгє ץ๏ย Ŧєєɭเภﻮ คɭгเﻮђՇ кเ๔?"
The boy looked at the man with a confused expression.
Ths masked man stopped for a moment and continued forward.
"Are you feeling alrig...Offcourse you aren't! A stupid question...Umm..."
Suddenly, the boy sat down and began shaking his hands, as if checking their mobility.
He turned to the man and nodded.
"So..You can understand Zalnese?" The masked man asked, a little surprised due to the delayed reaction.
The boy nodded.
"You can speak?"
The boy nodded again.
"So..um- speak? Anything..."
The opened his mouth and ultimately closed it.
The masked man who had crouched down to meet the boy at an eye to eye level asked...
"So you can't speak?"
"No"
"..."
"..."
---
"Anyways, can you tell me what happened here and who are you? You can choose not to" The masked man asked in a gentle tone.
"..."
"Not much of a talker you are, I see. Is it that you don't wish to tell me what happened or that you simply cannot"
The masked man asked calmly
The boy kept his mouth closed but brought his hand up showing two fingers.
"So you can't. huh....have you lost your memories? I mean, do you not know who you are?"
The boy nodded.
'He forgot how he got here or what happened but still remembers Zalnese...Things that are core to one's identity are still remembered instinctually? Or maybe he forgot traumatic memories and event based based memories...maybe all'
The masked man thought with a frown as he adjusted his posture.
"Do remember your name? Sorry...I should introduce myself first. I am a member of the Golden League. I cannot present my name but you can call me Renzy"
The boy gave him a confused look but nodded regardless...name? A throbbing sensation hit his head causing his to frown.
[Wha...s..ou..nam..chi.d]
A voice rang in his head but he couldn't understand it completely
"Nier...I am...Nier"
Renzy looked at him with a little amount of surprise.
'The name...He doesn't seem to be from Janmini as I had speculated. He doesn't even understand Janmei. The boy looks sculpted...it even reminds me of 'them'. Though from what I have learned of this, he was probably experimented on. He could actually be sculpted in a way'
Renzy suddenly tilted his and looked at the 'box' behind Nier. He chuckled and said-
"That is a box which shows heartbeat...if I remember correctly. I thought these things were still in theoretical phase but to think they have been made already. If I remember correctly, they jammed the concept of Mana detecting equipments with the heart or something like that. Janmini truly is the center of discovery. Hah. Anyway-"
Before Renzy could finish, the creak of the door took his attention. Another person who had the same paladin attire but with a different mask walked inside calmly. The man had long case in his hands as he took a look at the white-haired boy and said calmly.
"You found anyone else?"
"No...but I think there was someone at the rank of a master who arrived before us." Renzy replied.
"I believe that too...not only were the protective formations surrounding this place were broken but many of the sorcerers working here were dead"
"You shouldn't talk about death near children, my friend"
"Oh come on...The brat probably doesn't even know the meaning of death. Besides, it's important to face reality"
"Len, Children aren't the smartest but you are still grossly underestimating their intelligence."
"Then you haven't met my nephew"
"I will that to your sister"
"Say, why don't I treat you to dinner tonight...I am sure you would like it."
"Heh, I will and I am sure that the boy will like it too."
The banter between the masked men came to a stop as 'Len' frowned.
"Renzy, you know the regulations of the League. We have to first present the boy in the council."
Renzy looked at the boy who was looking at them curiously, with a frown.
"You can see that he understands what you say. Right?"
"Zalnese is the universal language that most learn to speak. Not a problem"
*Sigh
"Let's try to find about the boy before we go back...Len" Renzy said with a hard stare.
"Haah... We'll have to do this quickly. They might have already been alerted due to third party's invasion."
"Their last base left huh... It's our only chance" Renzy muttered
"..."
"Still worth a try. We don't know the motive of the person who invaded before us but I feel that it was someone who was doing it for the blessings"
"Heh, when did you begin to believe in the Gods" Len grinned
"I don't have faith in Gods but I believe in the wishes of humanity"
"Heh, Let's go"
Nier warily looked at Len and the case in his hands as Nier hid behind Renzy. Clearly having picked a favorite. Well, the boy was unwilling to follow anyone but it seemed that he was instinctively fearful of what was outside.
Right as he passed the door. Red entered his eyes. The hall of the building was littered with corpses. Blood was splashed on the walls everywhere.
The kid looked at the mess for a moment before he wobbled back, grabbed his head in pain and puked. Tears emerged from his eyes as the world suddenly turned dark.
____
"I really think we should go by foot, we'll probably reach much quickly."
"Well you aren't wrong about that but it would be probably traumatic for a kid to wake up in the hands of a stranger in the middle of a dark forest"
"My friend, it would be traumatic for a boy to be in the hands of a stranger no matter what the place is"
"Ahem, That is true but he doesn't really have any memories, does he? He probably does not care"
"Len, I have worked with you for years and I still find it hard to believe that you are an actual law enforcer"
"You make me sound like a villain "
"YOU make yourself sound like villain"
"Alright, I'll keep my mouth shut"
"Yes you should because the kid has been listening for some time now"
Nier groaned as he opened his eyes. He looked around realized that they were in a moving 'box' pulled by an animal. He looked outside the window and saw many weird buildings pass by. The roads had no artificial light source but he could see specks of light floating around vanishing and reappearing randomly. He looked above and saw three balls in the sky. One purple, one blue and one grey. The three moons of Zelrun. He was mesmerized but turned his attention to the specks of light.
Maybe his expression gave it away but Renzy who was still wearing a mask answered his doubts.
"Those are Ghost Body Fireflies. Magical creatures that can only be found here in Janmini. Only through exorcism, can they be finished but they are relatively unharming unless provoked too much"
Nier nodded but his expression said he didn't understand.
"Have you forgotten the existence of Magical beasts? Or do you still remember"
"....Umm...I am not suprised they esist"
"Hmm. It should be surprised not suprised and well, exi-* Sigh..Sorry.. nevermind me. It's become habit for me to correct kids on their mistakes having been teaching the language to some children. Anyways, I guess you know they should exist but no what they are. The beasts in the world can use inborn abilities from birth, Said abilities can be elemental but can also be varieties of other things.
They unlock more abilities as they age though it differs. The abilities can be passive or active and can be used for combat or they can have non combative abilities.
The flies that we can see often times here have the ability to turn invisible, to use the power of light and form a strong defencive shield when they are in a group. They only have one offensive ability but it is extremely dangerous. Soul invasion, which attacks one's soul. Not only that- being ghosts mean that they cannot killed through simply mana but need to be exorcised. And people that can do that are rare"
Nier listened to everything and found himself interested to hear more. Maybe it was the flashiness of it, but he found himself excited.
He squinted his eyes as he noticed a vaguely familiar word.
"Mana?"
"You don't understand what mana is?"
Hearing the unfamiliar voice, Nier leaned forward and realised that a fourth person was sitting in the carriage.
The said person seemed like someone only a little older than him with spiky black hair reaching his shoulders and sharp crimson eyes.
Renzy was sitting between the both of them blocking Nier's view which caused him to be late on the realization.
Len who was driving the carriage remained silent.
"Heh, Kyber...It's not surprising- He's a kid. Kids are shown and told of magic but they aren't given the details untill they go to a Magic academy." Renley said.
"Is that so, I remember knowing mana from as far as I can remember anything" Kyber replied.
"Well, we can say the same about the kid now...Hahaha...sorry that was a dark joke" Renley laughed.
"Tch. Joking on someone's amnesia. Anyways...I'm sorry to not introduce myself before. I am Kyber. I am 11 and I am learning magic from Renzy. I am still surprised that you are not a boy" The black haired boy extended his hands with a smile.
"Nier" The silver eyed boy nodded and instinctively grapped the extended hand shaking it.
The crimson eyes of Kyber constricted as he said in shock
"This...how are you so physically strong...for a kid"
Renzy narrowed his eyes hearing thst and Len looked back for a moment.
The boys separated their hands when Renzy extended his hands.
Nier refused to shake hands.
"Eh? What is wrong with my hands?"
Nier raised his eyebrows and grabbed Renzy's palm.
Renzy immediately went into thoughts as he separated his hands
'This kid...what happened in that laboratory. What did they do to him? His strength is extraordinary and he has those silver eyes and white hair. Hopefully, we can find that in the records.'
The masked man set aside his thoughts and answered the previous question
"Mana is you see...an energy that is inside all beings. If you don't understand what energy is, then...um. Just think of it as a gas that is inside humans that we use to create magic. Mana exists in air as well but unless it is all concentr...unless there is too much of mana in one place, it is not possible to see it. It is very important- if one looses their mana, they'd die. I've said all that, but I think I should give the details."
Renzy leaned back adjusting his posture as he continued
"All humans have a 'domain' inside them. A sort of storage or another space that can only be accessed by the one it belongs to. This innate 'domain' is non physical meaning it is not something that exists in the real world and you cannot touch it by say, ripping open someone's stomach.
And yes, that's where domains exists, in your stomach"
Hearing that, Nier caressed his stomach as if searching for the empty void.
Renzy continued -
"Inside the domain, there is a core. A stone like core that is the source of mana. A mana core. The mana core absorbs the mana in air and converts it into mana one can use. There is a limit to how much one can store immediately, so one needs training to expand their capacity. Unfortunately, one's ceiling in capacity and their speed of growth is decided from birth but there are ways to make up for the lack of a high mana capacity. Such as pure skill in mana manipulation. That is, being better in shaping your mana and controlling its flow. Having a good element, a bloodline ability, artifacts, mana properties or simply, a strong technique. " Renzy gave time to Nier for absorbing what he said as he looked outside the windows. Kyber was silently listening too, strengthening what he already knew.
He then continued-
"Let me go over some of the terms- bloodline abilities are abilities one can inherit if they had a line of ancestors that were extremely strong sorcerers...ah sorcerers are people who use magic for combat or even anything actually...anyways- artifacts are items that are magical . Elements are...elements your mana will take form of, when condensed. For example, someone with fire element can produce fire by condensing it. There many elements that I cannot even count right now so that's something we'll go over later."
Renzy brought his right palm up as a green covered his hands and vanished simultaneously as Nier felt prickly cold wind pass through his body.
Renzy smiled as he continued
"That was my wind element. The prickly sensation you felt was the property of my mana. It is sharp to say. I lowered my output so you don't get sliced. There have been sorcerers who reached great heights solely by the use of their special properties. Everything that I have told yoh is just the basic of magic and there is much more to learn. As for the last part...techniques. You'll get to witness them real time."
The carriage suddenly stopped as Renzy grabbed both boys blurring from his seat as the carriage suddenly flattened
*Boom