Two years after my first to Oakridge town I was in the marketplace with Dad once again. Ever since that day, I had gone to town with Dad every single time he went. The town itself remains a complete letdown, but there were still opportunities to be found there. There was a possibility of running into traveling mages in town as they stopped by for supplies or information.
Mages travel all over for their jobs and there aren't many vehicles in this world to speed up the process for them. This means that most jobs are a multiple-day endeavor and they need to stop at towns and villages along the way to rest and restock. So far, I've seen three mages in Oakridge town for my efforts.
The first was a massive bald man who looked suspiciously similar to Jura Neekis, but I didn't get a chance to confirm that. My first sight of anything magical had turned me rabid with excitement and I made a blind dash for him, only to get my collar snatched by Dad and swiftly brought home where I was grounded for two weeks.
The second was a beautiful brunette in yellow robes who I didn't recognize from the series. This time, I showed no reaction to her until I was certain that Dad had his back turned. Then I swiftly escaped to her side. I played the lost child beautifully to get her to lead me away from the marketplace "in search of my dad". I got her to tell me about her water magic and some basic meditation tips to find my magic core before Father found us and took me away. This time I was grounded for a month for running off with a stranger.
The third is right before my eyes, about to leave the marketplace through a side ally. He is exactly my kind of mage though from what I can see, so I have no intention of letting him slip away. He's an average-height male with steel grey eyes, dark blue hair in a ponytail, and leather gear that almost looks like a witcher's getup. On his hip is a scimitar, (one of the coolest types of swords in my professional opinion) but I also know that he is a mage because earlier I saw him show his flame magic to a group of kids. A magic swordsman is my ideal, so I can't let him slip away.
Maybe I can even get him to give me a sword or two!
With my motivation set in place, I carefully back away from Dad as he engages in haggling down an old merchant's dress prices. We originally came here to get a present for Mira's tenth birthday next week. It was enough of a distraction for me to break free and charge into the ally in pursuit of the mage.
I find him just as he turns another corner ahead and rush to keep up. Rounding the corner and breathing heavily, I'm greeted by the sight of my target and the seven kids from the marketplace. They were all completely silent and had vacant expressions on their faces, almost like they were dolls.
Something's wrong.
"Well, well. I'd figured I already had enough, and this is the last batch anyways, but it looks like another fish decided to jump into the net." He grins down at me in a way that makes my stomach turn and reaches his hand out. "Come 'ere kid. Don't you want to learn magic? I can teach it to you."
It's too late. We're less than ten feet away and I'm only four years old. With my legs being as short as they are there's no way that I'll be able to run away. He'll catch me before I can take three steps. I need to distract him first, but how? As long as he at least turns his head away, I can have a chance, but he doesn't seem like an idiot and I'm not some genius protagonist with all the answers. All I can think of are simple and obvious tricks, but I have to try something.
"What's wrong with them?" I point at the kids behind him. Please look!
"Don't worry about them, boy. They're meditating right now. Just come here so I can teach you as well." His eyes remain fixed on me.
"Ah! Dad, this guy's creeping me out!" I shout out, looking over his shoulder. I see his eyes go to the side and his neck starts to twist and I take off. This is the best chance I'll get.
THUD*
I don't make it five steps before I'm slammed to the ground and held down. All I can do now is shout for help.
"DAAA…" My shout quickly cuts off and I no longer feel in control of my body.
"Go stand next to the other brats." His cold voice orders and my body obeys.
No matter how much I mentally scream and fight, not a sound is made and I continue to walk up to the group before turning to face the mage and stopping.
"Damn, you're way too perceptive for such a little brat. What are you, like five? The youngest brat I've ever taken turns out to be the smartest." The mage grumbles as he slowly strolls back to us. Slowly, the grin returns to his face and he leans down in front of me. "But being so smart is a good thing. Makes you more valuable, I think Brain will like you, assuming you survive long enough to make an impression."
Brain, as in Zero, the leader of Oracion Seis and one of the biggest psychopaths in the series. My heart was racing in fear and my head felt like it was going to split open, but before the fear could truly settle in, I heard a voice.
"Cyrus! Cyrus, where'd you run off to this time? Cyrus, If you don't come back now I'm going to set Mira on you." Dad's voice echoed from around the corner.
"I swear, it's one thing after another today," The mage exasperates, but his smile soon returns. "But this will be a good learning experience for you. That's your dad right?" He pats me on the head and waits for Dad to round the corner.
When my dad finally appears, his eyes go wide with horror after one quick glimpse of the situation. As a hunter in a world with monsters abound, he's incredibly quick at assessing danger. He swiftly takes his bow off his shoulder and readies an arrow.
"Let the children go, and I will pretend I didn't see anything." His voice is filled with authority that I've never heard from him before. "We can go our separate ways and put this behind us."
"Hahaha! Are you serious?" The mage laughed, but even without being able to look up at his face, I could tell it was superficial. "A little village hunter is threatening me, a member of Dancing Coffin? That's a seriously bad joke."
"I'm sure you don't want to cause a commotion in town." Dad continued, undeterred by the mage's anger.
"There won't be any commotion to worry about, just a life lesson for these brats here." Without warning, the mage snapped his fingers, and a dome-shaped bubble surrounded the ally. "My hypnosis is just something I learned as a little parlor trick, this is my real magic, Silence. Now we don't have any problems, do we?"
Seeing the situation spinning out of control, Dad loosed an arrow at him without hesitation. The mage drew his sword and blocked the arrow with incredible speed before dashing at Dad so fast that my eyes couldn't even follow him. A second later, a soft thump was heard and Dad's arm hit the ground.
He screamed in pain but still turned to face the mage. The mage looked completely at ease and called out to me.
"Watch closely, kid. This is the reality of what it means for the weak to challenge the strong. The same thing would be happening to me if I challenged Brain."
A flash of movement, another thump, another scream.
"The world just ain't fair, and where you're going, you can't even pretend that it is."
In another flash, Dad falls towards me, and his right leg falls in the other direction.
"I'm doing this for your own good kid, if you don't learn what cruelty looks like now, you'll die quickly."
He grabs Father by the hair and drags his face up to mine, mere inches away.
I try to scream, to shout, to cry, to hug him. I try to do anything, but all my body allows is for me to stare at him with a vacant expression as his throat is slit and the light in his eyes fades out.
The mage drops him to the ground like a broken toy and pulls out a large silver coin.
"This is a teleport coin, a pretty rare magic item, and the reason my guild is so good at what we do. I need all of you to hold hands so I can bring you all to your new home." Our bodies complied and he grabbed my hand and was about to activate the coin when he stopped and looked at me. Grey eyes meeting green. "Oh, by the way, I'm Crowley and I'll be your teacher from now on. A pleasure to meet ya."
Then he activated the teleport and my world turned black.