Today was a day like any other or so Matthew wanted to believe, he was a 12 years old boy, a little taller than the average for his age, and had brown wavy hair that matched his brown eyes. He was raised in the Fallen Kingdom under the name of the Blackcrow family.
To tell the truth, Matthew had not been feeling well these last few days, he felt that something did not fit in the attitudes of the others.
It all started a week ago when his father's exploration group returned from a hunt and with them they brought a dragon, apparently somehow they had managed to not only capture a dragon but one of the 3 Emperor Dragons.
The Dragon was immobilized with magic seals and several steel beams, then it was displayed in a large hall so that everyone could observe it. The school where Matthew attended did not wait and organized several groups of different grades to go visit the dragon.
It was on the day of his visit to the dragon that he felt something inside him break, it was a sensation he had felt several times throughout his short life, but that day was different, it was much stronger.
When the group of young people was satisfied and wanted to leave, Matthew decided to stay behind secretly, he wanted to know more about this dragon, he wanted to talk to him, without knowing that this simple conversation would completely change both his life and that of the dragon.
That same night a great rumble was heard throughout the kingdom followed by the news that the dragon had broken free and escaped to the east.
It was from that moment that things got strange for Matthew, little by little he noticed that the attitude of the others in the kingdom was... strange, for some reason they hated non-human races and classified them as wild and uncivilized, which made no sense to him since it had been shown throughout history that other races possessed an intellect similar to that of humans.
It wasn't until yesterday that he knew something was truly wrong, he felt as if something was constantly watching him from the shadows and apparently he wasn't the only one who noticed it. His father had asked him not to leave the kingdom for any reason and when he walked through the city he could see several members of his house (Blackcrow) watching him carefully, as if they were waiting for something to happen.
Matthew arrived home after a long day at school noticing that there was no one on the entire ground floor except for a letter on the table. Matthew focused his senses managing to perceive a magic as weak as that of a normal civilian on the upper floor, assuming it was his mother, Matthew looked at the letter again noticing that it was in fact from his mother and was addressed to him, making him a reminder.
Matthew opened the letter noticing that it was slightly damp in some parts, as if small drops had fallen on it.
"Matthew, remember that today is the big banquet at Blackcrow Manor. Your father and I will go ahead to help set up the banquet, get ready and come quickly to the banquet.
P.S.: put on some nice clothes otherwise I will spank your ass in front of everyone at the banquet to embarrass you"
Matthew's eye twitched in irritation at his mother's tyranny and he placed the letter on the table being careful not to make any noise. This letter told him that his parents were not at home so whoever was on the second floor was not someone from his family.
Matthew walked stealthily until he reached the living room where he took the wooden sword that his school had given him at the beginning of the year. Slowly, Matthew headed up the stairs to the second floor, managing to hear the noise coming from his own room. Matthew kicked open the door and saw a creature that he had never seen before in his life, not even in history books.
The creature had a humanoid body, it walked using its hands and feet at the same time, its body was black like coal with red lines running all over its body, on its head it had bright white horns that contrasted with its body. The scariest thing was its face, it had no eyes as such, only simple red spiral marks and from its mouth came a strange black liquid that stained the few sharp teeth it had.
"So these are the effects of the drugs"
Matthew joked to calm his fear.
The strange creature turned to where Matthew was and let out a horrible screech, like a pig being killed, then launched itself at Matthew.
Matthew easily dodged it by stepping to the side and gave it a strong blow with his sword, sending the creature down the stairs.
"It's no different than a normal civilian in terms of strength and speed"
Matthew quickly assessed, calmly going down the stairs he could see the creature growling at him and then launching itself again.
"It seems that it has no use of reason, what the hell is it?" he wondered.
Matthew extended his hand using his pure magic to push the creature into the air towards the table, then extended his fingers firing a lightning bolt that electrocuted the creature causing it to writhe in pain. After a few seconds, the creature stood up clearly angrier only to repeat its same attack and launch itself at Matthew again.
"Logic and you don't seem to get along, do you?"
With these few attacks Matthew had already deduced that this creature lacked any use of reason and logic, it was as if it could simply follow an order, attack. Matthew grabbed the creature by the horns with his left hand slamming it against the ground, then put his knee on the creature's back and grabbing it by the horns again he turned its head snapping its neck.
"I would say that I expected more from you, but my mother taught me not to lie"
Matthew stood looking at the lifeless body of the creature and how that black liquid was still coming out of its mouth, 'disgusting' Matthew thought ready to go to the bank to report what had happened, but before he could get close to the door it was knocked down.
3 of the same creatures entered accompanied by another larger creature, it seemed to be a combination of one of those creatures and an orc. Its body was muscular and its horns were much smaller, they barely came out of its head.
-Is there no security in this Kingdom? - Matthew wondered when he saw that after so much scandal still no guard came to find out what was going on.
The 3 smaller creatures gave exactly the same scream that the other had given when they saw Matthew making him understand that it was not a war cry as he had thought before, they were asking for reinforcements.
Matthew quickly extended his hand, casting a spell and throwing a powerful flame towards the creatures in order to interrupt their call. The largest creature noticed Matthew's intentions and quickly stood in front of the creatures, receiving the attack head on as if it were nothing. Matthew, seeing that the flames did not affect the big one and could not reach the smaller ones, took a big breath of air and then blew, casting an air spell that enhanced the fire spell. The huge creature barely stood on its feet, enduring the attack. Matthew, seeing it, amplified his control over magic, forcing it to increase its power.
The fire suddenly grew, knocking down the large creature and directly hitting the 3 small creatures. It continued to grow until it hit the windows where it spread out of the house. Matthew exhaled tiredly. This was the first time he had used so many consecutive spells in a single day, in addition to forcing himself to increase his control over natural magic.
Matthew inhaled and exhaled heavily trying to regain his breath and some energy, the 3 small creatures were charred on the ground while the large one was standing up, barely affected by the fire.
"Why the hell is there so much difference between them?" Matthew asked into the nothingness
The large creature, already standing, looked at Matthew radiating anger and with a powerful roar unleashed a large stream of air from its body that pushed Matthew a little. The creature's body swelled making it look more muscular and the lines that were previously painted on its body now danced furiously around it in the form of lightning.
"Is that enhancement magic?... no this isn't magic, what is it?"
Matthew felt the energy around the creature, it was nothing he had seen before, it was dark and lifeless, lacking that lively and pure essence that magic possessed. The creature launched itself at Matthew at high speed without letting him react.
Matthew was rammed at high speed through the wall and was thrown into the yard of his house, Matthew rolled on the ground trying to catch his breath, while he saw how the creature approached little by little.
'Am I going to die?' Matthew thought scared, those creatures came for him specifically. They had entered his house and invaded his room, they had not entered another room.
"You must die for the sake of my King!!" The creature spoke for the first time, declaring that it came to kill Matthew. The creature raised its arms to give one last blow.
"You are the only one who will die here!!"
A voice was heard not far from them followed by the sound of a stick hitting the floor. Matthew caught sight of an old man with a long beard. He was wearing a long tunic with long dark blue sleeves and in his hand he was carrying a white staff that matched his hat.
A white wave came out of the staff and spread in less than a second, hitting the creature directly and turning it into ashes as soon as it touched it.
"Look, sending a second-class corrupt for just one child"
The old man quickly approached Matthew with a worried expression, leaning in front of him and passing his hand a few centimeters from his body making sure he was okay. After checking Matthew's condition, the old man sighed calmly and a white light came out of his hand quickly healing the minor wounds on Matthew's body.
"Thank you for the help, but who are you?" Matthew asked, looking at the old man.
"I am Merlin Emrys. It is a pleasure to finally meet you, young Matthew."