"Once upon a time, hundreds of years ago, no, thousands of years ago, there were 8 entities that worked together to create this world. They were called the "Authors," the ones who ruled, controlled the world."
"If we were to compare it, this world is shaped like a coin, divided into 2 halves. The top half had a continent called Tyrvalen, and the bottom half was a continent called Solaris. Humans used to live on both the top and bottom sides. They lived a peaceful, carefree life."
"But then, 100 years after the world was created, demons began to appear on the land of Solaris. They massacred all the people there, turned the entire continent into a dead land,sealed the power of the 8 "Authors" and locked them in another dimension"
"They continued to advance to the upper half of the world, to the continent of Tyrvalen through the gate in the middle of the ocean that connected the 2 worlds. With an indomitable will to fight, the people of Tyrvalen refused to easily give up, they rose up to fight against the demons. The war continued for hundreds of years."
"Finally, after hundreds of years of fighting, there was a king named Leonhardt who volunteered to sacrifice himself to seal the gate connecting the two sides. He and the 3 strongest knights together advanced to the other half of the world, which had become the demon realm."
"A year later, the gate was sealed but the king did not return. Although he sacrificed himself, his achievements are still remembered to this day. Admiring the king's noble sacrifice, the "Authors" used their last bit of power to create the world tree in the middle of the continent to protect the humans of Tyrvalen"
"After 40 years, the continent of Tyrvalen was divided into 3 different countries. The first kingdom, which is also the one we are in, is called Elarion, ruled by the king. Next is the empire called Luminaris, ruled by the emperor. Finally, the Holy Kingdom of Auth, where all the people have stronger faith in the 8 "Authors" than anyone in Elarion and Luminaris, is ruled by 5 popes."
The story ends there. My mother - Seraphine slowly closed the book. Realizing that I had fallen asleep without realizing it, she smiled slightly and walked out of the room, gently closing the door so as not to wake me up.
***
After no longer feeling the breathing of anyone other than me in this room, I slowly sat up and thought.
'It's good that I have more information about the history of this world. In short, all of humanity worships people called "Authors" huh?'
I shook my head, trying to shake off the thoughts about the story my mother just told me and focused on the current matter, which was awakening my mana.
Yesterday, when I was meditating to awaken my mana, I fell into a space that appeared after I died. I thought I had died, but then I suddenly emerged in my room again.
'So that location must have something to do with awakening my mana. I guess I have to give it another shot.'
I repeated the same action as yesterday, crossing my legs, closing my eyes, and concentrating.
10 minutes had passed and I slowly opened my eyes.
'As expected.' I smiled after realizing that I had returned to this place.
Learning from my previous experience, I tried not to lose my composure this time to avoid being teleported back to my room. Knowing that I wasn't dead from yesterday's experience, I felt a little more at ease.
'What should I do now?' I started looking around in this dark space. I could barely see my arms or legs right now, but I could feel my feet stepping on some kind of surface.
I started walking aimlessly, not knowing where I should go or what I should do. I silently hoped that I was going in the right direction.
After 20 minutes of still moving purposelessly, I started to feel a little bored. At that moment: "Bang!" My head hit something hard like a rock.
"Arghhhh!" I screamed in pain from the dull pain on my head.
After 10 seconds, I finally regained my composure, but my head still hurt a little. I ignored the pain and reached out to touch the object I had just collided with. It was definitely a clue that could help me awaken my mana.
After fumbling around it for a bit, I noticed that the object I had just bumped into was spherical and slightly larger than my head. I continued to fumble with the orb, hoping that it would work like in the movies.
Luckily it only took the orb 3 seconds to activate, the orb started to glow, and I promptly reacted by closing my eyes. After a while, I slowly opened my eyes and was completely shocked by the scene I perceived from my vision.
"Woahhhhhh!"
After the orb glowed, the darkness that was enfolding everything just now vanished. It has been replaced with a beautiful view. I was now standing high, higher than even the most majestic mountains. The ground I was standing on was actually clouds that stretched endlessly. At the end of the skyline, I could see the sun emitting a bright, warm light.
'This is awesome!'
After a long while, I turned back and looked up at the mysterious orb. It was now glowing dark red, if my memories served me right, this is the color when people first awaken their mana, which is level 0.
'So that means….. I did it?' I smiled brightly and started jumping up and down in joy, punching the air repeatedly.
I recognized that my body felt completely different from before. I felt a little lighter, and my strength, stamina, and speed were also a little better than before. My eyes could see things more clearly and further. I also felt a current of air moving inside my entire body, maybe it was my mana.
'So this is the effect of mana?'
'But how do I get out of here?' I stopped my overreacting actions and started thinking of a way to get out.
First, I slapped myself in the cheek. Of course, it didn't work. Next, I tried closing my eyes and imagining my room, hoping that the next time I opened my eyes, I would be there. But, that didn't work either.
Then, I tried to move as much as I could. I ran, jumped, punched and kicked the air. After redoing those actions more than 100 times, I stopped counting. My sweaty body ached as if it was about to explode. My punches also started to slow down and had less force. My eyes started to close and at some point, I fell asleep from weariness.
I didn't know how long it had been since I fainted from exhaustion, I slowly woke up and opened my eyes. The first thing I saw was not the familiar ceiling but the atmosphere. My body had also become a lot more comfortable like before and most importantly, I didn't feel hungry.
Desperately, I stood up.
'How long has it been?' I thought as I slowly walked towards the orb.
'What if I can't escape from here?' A horrifying thought popped into my mind. I tried to forget about it but who knows, maybe I'll be stuck here forever.
I pressed my forehead against the sphere and begged, 'Please let me go back. I want to go home. Please!'
It seemed like my desperate plea was listened to because right after that, I noticed a familiar wooden door behind me. How could I not recognize it, I had seen it hundreds of times, it was the door to my house.
Without hesitation, I quickly ran towards the door and opened it.
The next thing I saw was my familiar room.
'I'm back.' I smiled happily.
I looked out the window, the moon was leisurely fading on the horizon. Dawn was coming.