Cold!

A Boy with golden hair and pupils that were seemingly made out of brass suddenly jolted awake at the cold feeling on his lower left arm. It felt like cold metal was touching him, biting against his flesh at every turn.

Opening his eyes, he found a familiar sight. It was a human, roughly 1.50 metres in height staring back at him. However, this human lacked facial features, or anything else that could make him a true human. He was made out of metal, and his blue eyes had an intelligent look to them. This was none other than the Boy's most prized possession, his favourite toy.

Seemingly annoyed at this sight, the Boy simply grunted and looked at the toy who was staring at him. He sighed and questioned the toy,

"Arc, it's nine o'clock. What in the world do you want at this hour?"

In fact, the Boy was a heavy sleeper. If possible, he would like no less than to sleep until the afternoon. However, real life usually interrupted his sleep - just like this instance.

The toy had no mouth, so it tried to make a few hand gestures to signal a meaning. However, the Boy simply facepalmed at his incompetence to add a mouth to his prized toy. He understood nothing.

Seemingly giving up, the toy began pulling at the Boy's arm, the cold metal biting against his flesh once more. Pulling his arm away due to the cold, the Boy got up from the bed, understanding that the toy wanted the Boy to follow him.

"Fine, fine. Give me a moment to get ready."

Following that, the Boy began to get dressed. He wore a simple white shirt with beige trousers to prevent his wardrobe from being a complete disaster. He cared very little about what he wore, but he had to do at least the minimum of appearances.

He looked at himself and brushed his hair, which had been messed thoroughly due to his erratic sleeping positions. He looked at himself, doing a finger guns gesture and smiling;

"Lookin' good, Lua."

Although a bit egotistical, this was Lua Moonsilver. He was a standard commoner born to standard parents. He spent his time tinkering with gadgets, occasionally making something incredible - like his favourite toy previously mentioned.

However, he was a far cry from a mechanic. He had been born into this world with the ability to create intricate machinery, but he lacked the proper knowledge and experience to build something that would awe everyone.

Putting his right hand into the pocket of his trousers, he opened the door, following the toy down the stairs. He entered the spacious living room of the house, his eyes instantly landing on a woman reading a book on the couch. She wore simple rounded glasses that matched her hazel eyes. She had brown hair that flowed down to her back, giving her a beautiful yet simplistic look. This lady was Elizabeth Moonsilver, Lua's mother. Seeing Lua enter the living room, she looked up at him and gave him a warm smile.

"You're up early. How come?"

Lua sighed and pointed at the toy, indicating he was responsible.

"Apparently Arc has something to show me that simply cannot wait until I have my beauty sleep. Is father home?"

Elizabeth shook her head, giving a slightly solemn smile.

"You should know best how much in need you tinkerers are."

Elizabeth was telling the truth. People who knew their way around gadgets were hard to come by, and in the town, Lua and his father were the only people who were up to the task. His father was a few grades above Lua in terms of ability, which is why he was desired far more than Lua was.

Hearing this, Lua nodded slightly.

"Who is the customer this time? Did Larry break his extender again?"

Elizabeth chuckled slightly at Lua's snide remark. She shook her head and answered;

"I wish. This time, it's Lord Mare."

Hearing this, Lua was taken aback. The Lord of the domain was a powerful man. He had one of the strongest armies in the entire Kingdom, and was responsible for collecting tax and defending the entire region of Caen.

What could the Lord want from father..?

Shaking his head, he decided to ask his mother for answers, but she simply shook her head to indicate she didn't know. Frowning at this turn of events, Lua decided to wait until his father came back home before delving further.

Arc had been getting more and more impatient, so with a chuckle, Lua continued to follow him.

Arc led Lua out of the house, and towards their garden. Behind their house, there was a great and dense forest that was filled with countless myths of brave adventurers going in, not to return. Upon noticing Arc's desire to enter it, Lua abruptly stopped following.

"We're going to enter the Woods of Achora?"

Arc did a few more gestures to indicate a different message, and Lua understood none of them.

However, this did give Lua the opportunity to understand that this matter was deeper than he had thought. If the answer was a simple yes or no, Arc would've used his head to do the corresponding gesture.

Hmm.. does this mean that whatever he wants to show me can barely be considered in the forest?

After pondering a bit more, Lua arrived at a conclusion.

"Are we going to be barely entering the forest, then?"

Arc nodded enthusiastically, finally able to get his message across. Lua decided to trust his prized toy and follow him to the edge of the dense forest, where he saw a small glimmer at the edge of his sight. Intrigued, he began to walk up to where the glimmer was with Arc in tow. There was no need for words - this was absolutely what Arc wanted to show him. He felt drawn to the glimmer for some inexplicable reason.

However, upon getting closer, he began to get a head splitting headache, enough to make him fall to the ground. He instantly began to crawl away, fearing whatever had just happened to his mind. He was on the verge of tears.

Arc, on the other hand, was as usual. Nonchalant to whatever had just happened to Lua, he looked at the glimmer with continued interest.

As Lua's headache began to recede, he looked at Arc who was unaffected by the events. Although normally the best idea would be to retreat and ignore the gem until a better solution was found, for some reason, Lua's mind was filled with one thought:

I need to have it!

This wasn't normal for Lua's personality. He was cautious and calculating, completely opposite of whatever he was trying to do now. And so, he had a brilliant idea:

"Arc, try grabbing it. You seem to be unaffected by it."

Arc nodded at his request, as he was just as eager to touch the glimmer. Upon approaching it, Arc noticed it was a green gem shaped like a triangular prism. Although it had a few cracks, it still seemed quite ordinary.

Arc bent down to grab it, and as soon as he did, Lua sent out a terrifying screech.

His mind was being absolutely demolished! His thoughts were in chaos, and his headache had just intensified by multiple degrees. Unable to bear it any longer, he became unconscious.