In this world, power is not something that many lack. But something that many soon find hard to keep once they acquire it.
It is said that the weak will always be used by those stronger. That was the way it always has been until the gods ascended back to the heavens after their victory against the evil ancients. They left the mortals in their realm alone to do their biddings, but not before parting all creatures with a gift for their contribution to the war against the ancients.
This gift was in the form of Beucara, a power that flowed through the body and gave irregular abilities to its user. Each person got their power shared between two of the six aspects of Beucara: Enhancer, elementasis, aurasis, sorcesis, informasis, and psychsis. There were also those who fall outside this system who were known as specialists. Each person was assigned two aspects by the gods, that dictated their ability, but not their limit. The only three things holding anyone back from becoming powerful were effort, time, and those who crossed their path.
But those who blindly believe the words written in the books of history as facts are fools who won't last. Even the gods fear the truth that they have worked so hard to hide. But you?
You shall soon realize the harsh reality of how this world truly came to be.
Inside a dimly-lit room sat an old man with grey hair and a short beard, scribbling on a small sheet of paper as he rested his head on his palm.
"My dear friend Rafik, you and I have stuck together through thick and thin." He wrote at first, but then he stopped and curled up the paper only to throw it onto the ground as he had previously done for the 5th time now.
Maquil sighed to himself, as his headache worsened.
"Who could have thought that writing a will could be this demanding for an old man who had so few people who cared for him?" He said as he laid back in his chair.
Through the corner of his eyes, he noticed the picture he had mechanically engraved into a light crystal of him smiling while holding a boy by the hand even though the boy was looking away from the camera.
"But there was still this one boy who still cared for me even though he doesn't like to admit it." He said as he faintly smiled, only for it to disappear.
"Yet I was the one who failed him. I taught him everything he knows about my work. I taught him how to read, how to learn, how to make medicine from common herbs, and how to fix machines. But one thing I couldn't provide him was a normal life for the kid."
"I can't bear the thought of what he will have to go through once he learns how little he knows about everything and how cruel the true world can be in the distant lands. I only wish that he can find those who can help him on his way to self-actualization."
"Now, his fate only abides by what path he is willing to carve for himself. I am sorry, Zekes. I only hope that you find your peace, unlike me." He said as he closed his eyes.
He sat in silence, with not a single thought in his mind. But then he heard a faint thud, then one a bit louder, then multiple.
"It seems like they have already arrived." He said to himself, as he opened his eyes.
He quickly took a piece of paper and started writing, but this time even more hastily.
"Rafik, I am sorry to have to request of you such a daunting task. But the Insurrection have come for me. I suspect what they seek of me is in the possession of Zekes. So I ask of you to take Zekes with you and escape to some distant land, for not even the city of thinkers is safe from the influence of the Insurrection. I know it is selfish of me to ask of you to do this alone with such short notice, but I knew if I had told you about it beforehand, you would have insisted on taking me to the chapel of virtue. But an old man like me would only get in the way of your journey. I am sorry, old friend. Please take care of my precious nephew for me."
With that, he quickly picked up the paper and walked towards a cage that had a raven-like creature in it, possessing a crooked beak and white spots on the feathers of its back.
He opened the cage and attached the paper to the bird's leg with a black ribbon.
"Make haste." He shouted as he released the bird.
As it flew out of the window, Maquil was sure that the sound of it flapping alerted those surrounding his lab from the outside.
He opened a nearby cupboard and took out a red glowing crystal cube and put it into a hand-sized machine which he then carried with him.
As he walked around, he took out a glass of some substance from his pocket and started pouring it on the floor until it emptied when he arrived in front of the front door.
As he opened the door, he looked back at his little laboratory as it reflected in his eyes and said.
"I made sure all the machines I had created throughout my life would only be used to help people, but now I have to destroy all of that remains to save the one life that matters to me the most."
With that, he pressed a button on the machine in his hand and a burst of flame came out. He then lowered it to the ground and set the chemical he had poured into a blazing fire. He could smell the ink on his books and research papers turn into fume as he walked out the door. Soon enough the whole laboratory was on fire.
As he stood there, with his lab burning behind his back, he notices two figures that were not so distant creeping towards him.
Soon they also stood still and one of them seemed to have put his hand on his ear. He was probably communicating with their leader through some sort of device.
"So these are the scouts." Maquil said to himself.
Soon after, the two figures, who Maquil now clearly saw were two heavily armored soldiers with gas masks on, rushed past him into the laboratory.
Not much later, he could see three more soldiers marching toward him, the one in the middle had a dark red stripe painted across the armor on his chest.
When he was only a few steps away from Maquil, he stopped and raised his left arm, signaling his men to halt their march.
"I am Jacob, the commander of Lazul's special defense force." He declared loudly. "Maquil Kazarath, you are arrested for the creation of weapons that have been deemed too dangerous in the eyes of the Insurrection. We demand that you retrieve it for us along with any blueprints related to its creation."
But Maquil only gave him a thousand-yard stare as a response.
"If you want to suffer for nothing, so be it." The commander said, but now with a more serious yet sinisterly calm voice. "The Insurrection shall extract the information out of your brain one way or the other."
"Seize him." He gave the signal.
The two soldiers quickly rushed behind him and knocked him onto the ground, giving him a taste of the dirt on his doorstep.
They put his hand behind his back and cuffed him.
One of the soldiers takes out some sort of syringe from his armor and injects it into Maquil's arm.
Maquil screamed from the pain as he could feel his vision and hearing slowly betray him. He did all he could to keep Zekes safe. But now it was no time to worry, it was time to endure.
Meanwhile, inside the burning laboratory, a soldier looked around the burning building for anything that might point to the existence of the weapon, only to find whatever he touched turned into ashes.
But he noticed that on the table laid something that hasn't burnt yet. A light crystal with a picture on it.
As he inspected it, he saw Maquil holding the hand of a boy.
He stared intently at the boy's face as the fire scorched in the reflection of his goggles, before quickly pocketing it.