Rumius somehow felt as if he'd experienced this falling sensation before. Weightlessness and vertigo through complete darkness enveloped him like a strange hug whose imprint left as soon as it touch him.
Rumius rotated his head to look downwards just as the ground rushed up to meet him.
"BAM!" Rumius struck the ground on his side, left-arm first and he gasped as pain like he never experienced before exploded through his body in a shockwave. He could feel his arm bending, the sensation of his bones shattering like glass. Rumius writhed on the ground in silent agony, eventually curling up into a ball.
" Arggghh…" he whimpered as he clutched his shattered arm. Unmeaningly, his body moved, grinding his arm into the ground. Pain exploded like a erupting volcano and Rumius screamed.
" ARRGGGHHHHH!!!!"
Rumius rolled over onto his back, clutching his side. Pain made his vision go white and swim. Tears sprang to his eyes. Rumius cried softly, desperation to escape the pain clawed at his throat.
' Why am I here?' He thought.' Sob..oh my god what am I doing here?'
' Oh my god…it hurts...'
" Arghhh…"
Rumius didn't even dare look at what had become of his arm. He didn't need to. It was common sense. The pain told him so. The pain told him so, and he believed it. He would be lucky to even have an arm left. Thinking about the thought, Rumius cried a little, but he couldn't lift his hand to wipe the tears away.
Why did he come here? For adventure? Fuck that shit! He didn't want to die! He didn't want to die! Please!
Rumius's breaths started coming raggedly. It was like the air was becoming thinner around him. It was suffocating him, strangling him. And before blacking out, Rumius caught sight of what was left of his arm. Smooth, white skin. A slightly scrawny arm of a boy. Not a trace of swelling or jutting bone or blood under his skin.
' Huh?'
When Rumius awoke, the pain was gone. He didn't know how long he had lain there, curled up on the ground, but the surroundings were still the same as usual. Pitch blackness. Like a night sky robbed of its stars.
Rumius stole another look at his ' shattered arm'. It looked perfectly fine. Just as it always had. Rumius could have sworn he felt it break. No, it didn't break. He was certain he had felt it shatter. The pain was right. He shouldn't have an arm anymore.
Rumius breathed in sharply. Slowly, he felt for his fingers. He twitched them. Then he wiggled them. Then he clenched them and made a fist. Slowly, he bent his elbow, easing his forehand slowly until it had fully folded against his shoulder. When there was no pain. He exhaled.
Relief had never felt so sweet. He could finally breathe normally again.
Rumius stood up slowly, looking into the abyssal surroundings. There was nothing everywhere. It looked like creation had returned to its genesis, just a blank space.
Rumius looked around, unsure.
' What do I do now?' He wondered. Looking up, Rumius tried to retrace where he had come from, but to no avail. The abyss above was as pitch black as everything around. Rumius's next impulse was to kneel and touch the ground.
There was no sensation. None of the characteristic cold that belonged to objects like stone. None of the warmth that came from wood. It was just..nothing. Rumius gulped nervously, a new sense of panic coming over him that was different from the one that came from pain. Thoughts of questioning why he subjected himself to this absurdity surfaced like a rising tide. Rumius desperately held them back.
He would not. He could not lose himself to those feelings again. It would be meaningless to do that. He would waste time and energy. Rumius told himself firmly, clinging on to the faint thread of logic that kept him from collapsing as if it were a lifeline.
Deep breaths of air filled and left Rumius's lungs as he surveyed the surroundings again, looking for anything that could help act as a kind of compass.. Something that could help guide him.
Naturally, like before, there was nothing.
' I need to move forward. Nothing will come of me just standing here.' He thought.
' But where will I go?'
' It doesn't matter. Just go. Even if I am not moving forward, at least I'm still moving.'
Rumius took a step forward.
" Halt."
Rumius froze.
' Who said that?' He thought.
Rumius stood rooted to the ground, unmoving as he waited. And waited.
Even after what had seemed like an eternity, Rumius never heard the voice again. He turned his head and looked around.
There was still nothing, but the voice talked again.
" This is what's wrong with humans. You monkeys just can't listen for instructions." The voice signed. It was deep and tired, as if fed up with him. Rumius didn't know what he did to annoy its owner.
" Uhm…hello?" Rumius dared ask. When the voice didn't reply, Rumius ventured to speak another line.
" May I ask who you are?" He asked respectfully.
The voice didn't reply to him, but continued signing." Haiz… A thousand years of waiting and I get this twerp as the one ventures out of that sunny, shit-eating bastard's domain. Unbelievable." The voice spat.
Rumius didn't know what the voice was going on about, but it seemed to be talking about him.
" …I'm sorry..I guess?" He offered nervously.
The voice finally seemed to take notice of him.
" Oh? So you think yourself smart, don't you?" It snarled.
"...…."
" Already scared shitless. How utterly pathetic."
Rumius didn't know what to say, but his right leg was starting to ache from keeping up all his weight. Rumius shifted back to a regular standing position, looking up at the dark sky. He didn't know what he was facing. But he did know that he shouldn't respond to its taunts.
' This person seems to want me to show strength?' The thought made Rumius nervous, especially when he didn't know who.. or even what he was talking to.
But he doesn't have to think much further than that when the voice suddenly said:
" ' Show strength' you say?" It mused. Rumius's eyes widened.
The voice snickered.
" I suppose so, yes. Tell me twerp, can you ' show strength?'
Rumius saw the opportunity and took it.
" A-And if I can?!" He responded defiantly, though his voice ended up coming out two pitches higher than he had intended. The voice seemed pleasantly surprised. For a moment, Rumius felt the sky smiling at him. It wasn't a good smile though.
" Then-" The voice paused to think. " I suppose I could reward you."
So, Rumius reached inside himself and showed strength in the only way he knew how. Inwardly, he smiled.
An aura burst from Rumius's body like an erupting star. From an outsider's perspective, it appeared as if he was clad in translucent flames, flickering and roaring its defiance.
The voice instantly fell silent, and it was Rumius's turn to smirk. Whoever behind it was shocked.
" Suprise bitch." Rumius sneered uncharacteristically.
The silence then turned stunned, and the thought occurred to Rumius that perhaps he might have gone too far.
The white flames died quickly as Rumius raised his hands in apology.
" I-I'm sorry." He stammered, suddenly afraid.
The silence continued.
" Tch…just when I thought you had some potential. Regardless, it appears that you are indeed made of some stuff.
" What is your name, child?"
" Rumius… de Eldmich."
" Rumius huh." The voice took on a contemplative tone.
" Alright then, Rumius." The voice sneered," Let's me see if you're indeed worthy to-" the voice cut short as black world suddenly rumbled, the void beneath Rumius's feet quaked. There was a pause.
" Tch..out of time so quickly. Just when things were getting fun. Curse the bastard to be ever so observant. "
The surroundings suddenly changed in a dizzying way, as if the fabric of the darkness was being sucked up and reformed. A new reality stitched itself up right before Rumius's eyes.
Rumius blinked, looking at the six gates before him in a daze.
" You came here for your own magic, right? Go, choose any you like. And be quick."
Rumius looked from one gate to the next. He didn't dare believe what he'd heard.
" Each one of these gates is a unique magic?"
" Yes."
" Can you tell me what each one is? I-"
" Yawwwwn…"
Rumius grit his teeth. This was his whole future this asshole was yawning at!
" Where would the fun in that be? Choose, you don't have much time, by the way." The voice pointed out.
And it was right, for the gates were visibly getting smaller and smaller by the second.
Panic filled Rumius for a third time in this brief span of time.
' Shit! Oh god, fuck this asshole!'
He looked around quickly, stressedly looking for something amongst the gates that would tell him anything about what skills the gates contained.
" Green, blue, gold, black, purple." Rumius counted them all off but all of them looked identical save for the colour.
' Shit, shit shit!' Rumius cursed.
" Green, blue, gold, black, purple." He counted them off again.
They had already shrunk to two-thirds their original size.
" Green, blue, gold, black, purple, red. "
" Green, blue, gold, black, purple…"
One third.
" Green, blue.."
Seemingly in an instant, the gates shrunk to a mere dot. Rumius's heart jumped into his throat as he reached out randomly just for the one nearest to him. As his fingertips made contact with the wisps around the gate, his entire body vanished in a flash of green. The world returned to darkness.
" Oh? Quite lucky too, aren't you?"
Rumius felt the same falling sensation again and he shut his eyes hard and braced for the terrible impact that he was sure awaited him.
He waited. But it never came.
Instead, he heard a voice that he had never felt more grateful to hear. A familiar, warm touch graced his arm.
" Baby? Are you alright?"
Runnius opened his eyes to his mother's beautiful, worried-filled amber eyes. He wanted to break down and cry in that very moment until he saw the kindly face and white camauro from behind his mother's shoulder.
He had an expectant look on his face.
Rumius turned to face him.
" Father." He whimpered.
The old man smiled.
" So? What gift has our great lord bestowed you with?"
Rumius remained in uncertain silence.
" Gift? Father?" He repeated.
Bitch what? He didn't get any gift?! Hell, if that was the voice was the god he meant then this old man clearly had something wrong with him! All that asshole gave him was trauma!
Rumius didn't expect to be proved instantly wrong.
In the next moment, a voice sounded in his head. It was his voice, actually, but the minute it came to him, something changed in him. It was like a portion of his brain had been opened up, made new, and expanded. His body was telling him that he had attained something new. Something that was both tangible and intangible. Something more profound than anything he's ever had before.
Rumius could only describe his emotions in that moment as a mess.
' Unique magic: The Windblessed, Scion Of The Approaching Storm.'
' Benefactor: ???????'