"Sometimes it is about the journey we experience, not the destination we seek"
....
Reinhardt exited the grocery store and opened a cold drink and took a long sip "Ah! So refreshing, man the summer heat this time is really intense."
Reinhardt continued walking through the empty street in the dead of the night and was making his ways towards his home.
He was famous 15 years old pro gamer and had many titles to his name, despite his age and had finished many hard games on nightmare difficulty but currently he was having difficulty with one game, a game he didn't even like.
"Blegh, of all the games my sister had to force me to play, it had to be [Sakura's Blossom], *ptui*, what kind of shitty name is that?" Reinhardt a pro gamer, was forced to finish an otome game, although the good side was that it was an acclaimed RPG with many awards to its name and had many fans, but he still the felt the plot was all over the place.
"AND SERIOUSLY!? Why the fuck do you have three main antagonists to prolong the story, can you have sympathy for the people who have to go through hours of that nauseating gameplay to achieve 100% completion to get a stupid secret ending." His sister who was a fanatic of the game wanted to achieve 100% but couldn't because she wasn't that good at it, and neither was anyone else for that matter.
The problem wasn't achieving 100% but rather it was the game. It was a game where you collected dudes as trophies, he couldn't even have a straight face when a 3d handsome male winked at him resulting in nausea, and he felt like vomiting every time, but finally that nightmare was about to be over. Finally he was going to achieve 100% and then.....he would burn that game disc to ashes, even if it meant his sister killing him.
"Never, I shall never let another comrade suffer such travesty, even if it is a small step in the crusade. I will strive forward to remove this curse from the world...hmm I could burn their office." While contemplating Reinhardt was going down a flight of stairs and slipped.
He was going to hit the floor hard, and he was sure his face would surely be bruised, but as he was about to hit the floor, time seemed to slow down as everything started glitching like a corrupted screen and his surrounding changed.
When time resumed, night had turned to day, and he was....among the high clouds up in the sky, everything looked beautiful as the sun shone on the clouds and showed a picturesque scene. Admiration came onto Reinhardt's face before that started to change into full blown panic as he started free falling downwards.
"fuck,fuck,FUCK! WHHHHHHHYYYYYYYY!!!!" Reinhardt was screaming like a girl as he plummeted towards the ground not understanding how he went from a city street in the night to being thousands of feet high in the sky with the morning sun shining brilliantly. He underwent great changes of emotions in his final moments as he reached the ground which appeared to be a forest. From fear to panic, anger, denial and then to acceptance as he screamed his lungs out.
The moment of panic lasted for a moment before clarity slowly started coming back to him, since he was about to die from whatever the fuck was happening to him, he decided to yell all the inner thoughts he had in his short 15 year old life.
"FUCK YOU whoever is doing this,*sigh* since these are my last moments I refuse to die crying like a girl and will go down blazing in glory" he nobly said ignoring the fact that he had been crying like a girl a few moments before and decided to empty out his heart " MOM, DAD! I am sorry I disappointed you for not seriously pursuing my studies, and I am sorry I never showed you guys how much I loved you and I regret not spending enough time with you, Sis although you are annoying and a headache, but I always wanted to tell you that you are the best sibling I could have ever had and you are the coolest person I have ever known, Amy i am sorry I rejected you, it wasn't because I didn't like you, well actually I thought you were cute as hell, but I was seriously scared that you were playing with my feelings until I saw you crying, please forgive me and Jason, my bro, my best friend…..if you ever hear this...thank you for always having my back....and please burn my porn stash! Well adios, Fuck you wooooooooorld!!!"
Reinhardt reached the ground and closed his eyes and with a content smile after shouting out everything he held in his heart. As he reached the ground he heard a splash and felt immense pain before his vision darkened.
….
Meanwhile a group of knights were wandering through the woods seemingly leisurely but if one looked close they could see that all the knights were surveying the surroundings cautiously. The leaves of the trees rustled from the calm breeze and lush greenery made a great contrast with the sky marred by the colors of the sun that was soon to set while the soft chirps of birds sounded through the forest as they flew around the trees, the cold ground was continuously imprinted with the hooves of their mares as they continued forward. Meanwhile surrounded by all the knights, two girls were riding on a horse as they were happily chatting.
"Celine this time the hunt was quite fun, but didn't you invite Prince Claude as well. Did he have some important business to attend to?" A petite girl with short brown hair and golden eyes said with an inquiring tone. The girl had a very cute countenance with doe eyes, a straight nose with a round face and seemed like a girl everyone would want to protect.
Another girl with long silver hair and deep blue eyes spoke in a reserved manner, a contrast to the other girl's bubbly personality. She had soft unblemished skin as white as snow, with high cheekbones and sharp eyes with her long hair cascading down to the sides of her face. "I did as my father asked me to, but he did not respond to my invitation this time as well and besides I doubt someone like him could have important business to attend to." She was a beautiful girl and had an aura of grace and elegance and had an ethereal and beautiful voice.
The other girl huffed in anger with an annoyed expression, "Seriously, what is that guy even thinking, isn't he your fiancé, but he still acts like this."
Celine, the silvered haired girl said with a slight smile, "It's okay, Emily, you don't have to worry yourself about these things, it can't be helped." She felt the same as her friend but alas she was resigned for the fool they were talking about was her betrothed fiancé.
Emily sighed, "I wish there was-"
Emily was interrupted with a loud splash sound heard at distance. The horses were startled but were quickly reined in by the experienced knights. The knights became alert as their eyes wildly darted around. Celine narrowed her eyes and asked the head knight with a serious expression, "what was that sound?"
The head knight replied in a similar serious tone but with much more respect, "I am not sure my lady, but if I have to guess, it was of something crashing into the nearby lake but I am not sure."
Celine nodded and ordered the knights, "We will investigate what it is but if it is something troublesome, we will immediately depart instead of taking any actions." The knights nodded in agreement, there were not that many of them in number since they had come for a simple hunt and this part of the forest was mostly devoid of magical beasts. They rode towards the lake at the front while the girls followed a bit further behind accompanied by a few knights.
Emily asked Celine with a curious tone, "What do you think it might be Celine?" Celine who was riding beside her held her chin and contemplated, "I am not sure, this part of Orwell Forest is sparsely populated by magic beasts, and even still they are very weak. Mostly there are only simple wild animals in this part of the forest. But still, we should be cautious since there have been cases of things going awry."
Emily nodded in agreement and she willed as her mana started circulating in her 1st magic circle, besides her Celine started doing the same.
She herself was from Garcia family, and her father was a count. Her family had a history of powerful wind mages but recently their family had a bad streak of luck as their family magic abilities worsened with each generation but she was an exception and a very welcomed one at that. She had been judged to have high aptitude for wind magic and her father was already planning for her admission into 'Bastille' one of the best academies on the continent that focused on nurturing the next generation, of both warriors and mages.
Celine was the daughter of Duke Gersha Restize, a powerful 5th circle mage of the water attribute. Celine was his only daughter and was similarly talented like her father but furthermore was a deviant with her ice affinity being as high as her water affinity as most only had affinities for one element not including its mutated form. If they did or had more affinities with other elements as mages, they were called deviants.
"My lady! We have found a young boy in the lake, but he appears to be injured, he seems to have fell from a great height seemingly from the loud splash that we heard earlier and his injuries are severe. The men are currently taking him out."
Celine nodded and went forward on her horse followed by Emily. There they saw the knights take out a strangely dressed boy from the lake and laid him on the ground. One look and one would be able to tell that he was badly injured from the fall he had, curiously the looked up and only the saw the silent sky. "Give him a potion, I want to know where he came from"
The knight nodded and took out a red colored potion, he put to the youth's mouth and let down his mouth. The boy coughed but the potion went down his throat. The wounds on the youth's body started healing at a fast pace and eventually closed up.
"let's go back to the town of kier, it's getting late."
The head knight came forward, "forgive me my lady, but I think it would be unwise, the boy, although his wounds have healed, he has still a lost a lot of blood. It would be better if we rest for a while so that the boys condition improves as the potion fully does its work, and then we may move. We would reach the town just before nightfall."
Celine nodded, "Very well, but first let's move away from here, the smell of blood may attract wild beasts here, even more so since animals tend be near lakes more often, and also...clean him up as well."
The knight got to work and cleaned the bloodied boy up before they started moving a little bit further near some flat rocks where they dismounted from their horses. The girls went and sat atop a flat rock as they watched the knights go about their duties while they boy lied on top of grass a few meters away from them. He appeared to be around the same age as him. Emily was looking at him with a concerned gaze while Celine had hers narrowed with suspicions.
They both observed they boy as hey lay there, his chest heaving up and down in his slumber with questions in their heart and waited till the boy's condition became a little better.