N : {} denotes something read or said in a past/flashback of a character
Len sucked in a deep breath at those words. It was ridiculous. He was a Demigod! Lord Pasarus was the most honourable of the higher ups and Renley immediately came to the conclusion that it was an assassination. Yet the circumstances regarding his death seemed far from assassination after all. How can one cause inversion?
Len opened his mouth but a terrible feeling hit him so he kept shut. His mana was warning him. Looks like they would have to stay here for sometime. He would need to talk and check the reaction of his mana to determine foe and ally. As long one of the remaining four higher up agreed to let them leave, their situation would be better but as of now, something wasn't right in the Golden League.
'Kyber' Renley thought
______________
Almost two months passed by and Nier got a little used to living in the cottage. During the month, he learnt many simple concepts and other things but also learnt some interesting things such as the fact that Diana was a doctor who took care of the three orphans being one herself to give them motherly love.
The place they lived in was located in a mountain region called Duswey on the outskirts of a town. Another thing was the fact that Cecilia and Traicion were real brother and sisters while Layla came from somewhere else. Eyes had nerves connected with mana veins which is why people had their eye colour matching their mana colours. A lot of times it was both hair and eye matching the mana colours due to the same reasons. Of course, a lot of families had fixed hair colours when the genes were accumulated and strong.
This exact fact had struck everyone's curiousity as Nier had silver eyes and white hair to which he told them that he didn't know the reason and they were convinced. It was a simple but effective excuse. Diana seemed to know more but she had already talked to Renley, Nier didn't know what they talked about but the Anti-core was kept a secret.
---*---
"So now that I think you are used to your situation a little bit. I think I should teach you about the world."
Nier was immediately interested as he sat on chair behind a round table. Diana also sat putting a book or two on the table and adjusted herself. The chair Nier sat on was off course elevated allowing him to sit properly.
"I will start with the beginning. It is said that billions of years ago, a cosmic being created three 'realms'. The Spirit Realm, Chaos Realm and Abyss Realm. The Spirit Realm and the Chaos realm contained mana which gave birth to their respective denizens but the Chaos Realm was left without such benefits... until three-four thousand years ago.
When rocks from the sky fell on this planet and the True Dragons came from nowhere. Zelrun for the first time had mana. With mana, came life. Six general species- Humans, Elves, Giants, Demons, Beasts and Manaborn were formed in Zelrun. It is said that they took centuries to understand life and settle properly. That era is called the first age of magic.
Many conflicts happened, sometimes peace was formed and everything coalesced in the formation of several kingdoms. That was the second era known as the first civilization age. Any thing you want to say?" Diana asked after gulping saliva down her parched throat.
She had been slow in her narration and continued only when Nier nodded so she was sure he understood most things but questions were definitely to arise.
"Who is the cos...mic bing that you menshioned?" Nier asked.
'Being not bing. You should put some emphasis there'
Diana didn't correct him and answered softly.
"To be honest, there is no concrete proof of their existence so I am not sure. He is however, the most worshipped god. I myself am not a believer but you can choose what you want."
"God?"
"They are beings of unimaginable power who embody concepts and created aspects of life. For sorcerers, they are a goal. I will come to it so don't worry"
Nier nodded and signalled for Diana to continue.
"Where was I...yeah. The species living in Zelrun formed kingdom. Then four thousand and two hundred years after the chaos meteors fell. Now, due to reasons we'll come upon in the story, not much is known about those kingdoms or anything in that era aside from the one I will talk about-" Diana paused for a second.
'Those at the top of superpowers might know more but I am just some doctor.' Diana thought but continued-
"-Anyways- One such human kingdom known as the Sun Kingdom found mines full of celestial stones. When the meteors fell, they birthed many mystical objects. The celestial stones were stones which absorbed energy from celestial bodies in space such as the sun, moon and other twinkling stars."
"They found a way how to integrate the celestial stones in their body and with that, formed the Golden Star Empire, the most prosperous, magnificent and strongest empire to have ever been recorded. It was the golden age of magic" Diana said wistfully as though imagining the grandeur of the times. An unmatched era. When sorcerery was at it's peak. Nier was drawn in by her narration as she was also showing him illustrated pictures of whatever she was talking in the books she brought.
"To summarise, stones fell. Mana was born. People were born, they fought but sometimes didn't. A supreme empire was formed and magic was at it's peak."
Diana repeated causing Nier to nod.
"Then it happened. seventeen to fifteen hundred years ago, Five unknown beings, one by one ascended into godhood. They reached a transcendental level unseen by anyone. The level that would now be classified as...The seventh order."
Nier raised his eyebrows at the revelation as he realised he had only heard of seven grades with the highest being supposedly sixth order.
"But I heard the highest was sixth order?" Nier voiced his doubts.
"You are right about that. The grading system was formed after the gods perished so we didn't have a way to know If the transcendental level is equal to grade seven but recently, it is being accepted that grade seven would be equal to godhood."
Nier nodded when it hit him-
"Gods perished?"
Weren't they extremely strong?
"About that. After their ascension, the gods blessed the lands when out of nowhere fifteen hundred years ago, Otherworldly beings appeared. Those otherworldly beings were able to match and even surpass the gods themselves plunging the world into destruction. That is the reason why we don't have many records of what happened in and before the golden age of sorcery."
Diana took a break once again drinking a glass of water before continuing.
"Four of the gods however, sacrificed themselves allowing victory over the otherworldly creature by killing them, saving the world. Only one god was left, the God of Death. He vanished however, although there are theories on why. That's information you don't really need. I will cut the details of what happened for later, but after reconsolidation- some major wars and struggles. We finally formed the 'New Realm' as it is now a millennium later.
*Baam
"Aaah!! Play with me Nier! I prepared the shoes!"
Layla with her twinkling eyes suddenly barged into the room pulling Nier to play with her. Nier looked at Diana and she smiled.
"Go on. I will continue later"
--------
The sun settled arrived as Nier, sat in the backyard along with Cecilia, Layla and Traicion. Diana had left to buy groceries.
"It will be fun!"
"Layla!! We can't go out in the mountain forests without telling big sister..." Traicion rubbed his forehead.
"Yes...that would also worry her too" Nier chimed in.
"Oh come on! Pweity Pwease" Layla made a puppy eyes as she said. The move was effective as the other three were almost convinced. Almost.
"L-Like I said. What if we get attacked? Or something happened?" Traicion said.
"Isn't the forest a place without beasts? Or was big sis lying?" Layla pouted.
"B-but...it is dark...I am... afraid" Cecilia muttered shyly.
"That's it! We are not going!" Traicion was convinced now that his sister disagreed with the plan.
"Going where?"
A soft and pleasant voice startled them as they turned to look at the house. Diana stood there leaning against the wood wall with her arms crossed.
"Um.."
"Big brother Traicion wanted us to go with him to the forest" Layla said with an extremely serious face.
"WHAT!?" Traicion gasped at her lie.
Layla stuck her tongue at him and hid behind Nier. Nier who used to this looked at Traicion with challenging eyes. Traicion returned the look. Cecilia looked at all of them baffled.
Diana ignored the little girl's accusations and sighed.
"If you want to go there then you could just tell me you know. It's not like I will decline"
"Hmph. Adventurer travel alone with their friends! That is the most exciting!' Layla said out loud.
"That is true but safety is more important. You'll hopefully understand someday sigh*. Anyways, you don't consider me a friend huh?" Diana said with a teasing grin. She of course understood that kids felt restricted around adults and wished for freedom so she was just teasing her.
"No no...Y-yo...I...You are...like...mama" Layla muttered shyly.
Diana however, heard the redhead which caused her eyes to widen. A silence took over before Diana gave the most beautiful smile the kids had ever seen her give.
"Is that so? I am glad to hear that. Let's have dinner before going to the forest"
Layla raised her hands above her head infectiously smiling in excitement. Nier smiled as well before looking at the sky. The countless stars twinkling above soothed him. What was it in the forest that got her so excited? Maybe it was just the journey and memories with friends. Sometimes that was all it took to enjoy life.
On the dinner table, Nier ate silently watching Layla with her bubbly attitude, Cecilia with her quite and shy attitude and Traicion trying to act mature but failing at it often times while Diana looked at the circus with a smild. He of course chimed in giving one-liners before going back to eating.
Nier smiled looking at them. While he didn't show it, he was extremely confused and unsure. He felt as though he had took a stranger's body yet it was his own. He did not know who he was and still wasn't sure. But maybe that wasn't all that mattered. Instead of just trying to search all that was lost, focusing on building the future was more important. He felt...happy right now. He had something he could even call a family. A few people were missing right now but they will come.
'Layla wanted to become an adventurer, didn't she? Maybe I can do that and travel the world with them' Nier thought.
There was a triple new moon today so the night light was at it's lowest. Such an event happened every four-six weeks and today was such a day. Getting everything that was needed, the group walked out to the backyard as Diana walked to one of the trees.
"Get ready everyone"
------
Exiting the tree's mouth, Nier looked around, they were currently in a dark forest and nothing could be seen. The noise of bugs was the only sound which sent an eerie sensation down the children's spine.
"I think a bug got on my leg!" Nier said looking down. It however proved to be paranoia as there was nothing. Cecilia was shivering looking around while Traicion narrowed his eyes looking around her. While Layla was actively searching for some bug so she could sneak one into Traicion's shirt.
*Chsh
Diana lit a lamp in her hands with a smile and looker around. They were surrounded by trees whom Nier noticed to be smaller than the ones in Janmini. Looking at the others, it seemed they all knew the destination already. Curious, Nier simply followed them.
Layla kept the kids entertained otherwise it would have been a boring walk as they finally reached the end of the forest after five minutes of walking. Nier could see the last line of trees reaching him as they continued to enlarge in his eyes before he passed them as the most beautiful scenery Nier had ever seen came before his eyes.
They were standing at the bank of a cliff from where Nier could see an endless green expanse. The darkness failed to hide the trees as many of the trees shaped like mushrooms were glowing with colour full specks of light bustling around the forest. That wasn't all, the lack of any moon in the sky proved to be a boon as the veil of light that covered the sky had been peeled to reveal the purple cosmos and the endless brilliant stars.
Nier's eyes widened in daze as he looked at the picture that made him feel infinitely small yet so wonderstruck. The others clearly felt the same as they happily sat there in silence.
A matress had been prepared and they were all wearing thick cloths and sweaters as it was a chilly season especially in the mountains. Diana touched a twig nearby as it grew into a bundle of sticks before she burned it starting a campfire.
Looking at the stars, Nier remembered what he had recently read.