CH3: Fateful Encounter with the Arcane Sanctuary
***
Ten Years later…
Two children, a ten years old boy and a nine years old girl, ran through the Pryford Forest.
The full moon barely illuminated the forest through the canopy of large threes as the children tried to escape from their pursuers.
The boy led the way as he expertly navigated through the forest. However, his stamina waned as he struggled to lead the girl, who kept with him with ease, forward.
He realised they couldn't go on like this as he would eventually cause the girl -the true target of the pursuit- to be captured.
He changed his mind about escaping the pursuers and led the girl towards the inner region of the forest.
The trees noticeably became bigger.
The boy's eyes darted from one tree trunk to another.
Soon, after a few minutes of searching, his eyes lit up as he found what he was looking for.
"Zora, this way!"
He led the girl to a big tree with a hole in its trunk.
The hole was just large enough for the little girl to enter, plus it was hidden out of sight.
The children skilfully climbed the tree and the boy helped the younger girl get into the hole.
"Stay here and hide quietly."
"What about you, Leo?" The little girl asked.
"I will lead them away." The boy said. He thumped his chest and added, "No one knows this forest better than me. I will lead them away."
"Leo, wait. This is what they want. Maybe if you give it to them, they will let us go." Zora passed him a ping-pong ball-sized sphere crystal.
There was an attractive illusionary golden flame within the crystal.
The boy took the crystal then made his way down the tree and cleared his tracks before running deeper into the forest.
He was very familiar with the dangers of the forest thanks to the teachings of his adoptive father and Zora's biological father, who made a living as a logger of trees in the forest.
Leo used everything his childish self knew and could think of to try to escape the pursuers, but it was for naught.
How could a child like him who couldn't use mana hope to escape adults who had strong mana?
The three pursuers soon caught up to him.
They slowly funnelled the young boy towards a place they could corner and catch him.
Leo found himself heading towards a cliff with no escape.
He hid, but he knew it was only a matter of time before he was found.
Frustration, fear and sadness filled his entire being.
'If only I had mana!' The young boy thought for the umpteenth time.
Every child in the world awakened their sense of mana at the age of 7, through a relatively simple and ubiquitous ritual that everyone knew, even those in the slums.
After they sensed mana, the children would be able to pull it into their bodies, store it and slowly form a core.
However, Leo couldn't store mana.
His body was like a sieve that leaked away any mana that managed to enter it.
As a result, Leo was ridiculed by the people around him.
For in this world where Power reigned supreme, not being able to store mana to form his mana core meant Leo would forever be weak!
Even a girl younger than him like Zora was physically stronger than him in all physical parameters just because she could absorb and store mana.
Over the last three years, Leo had come to accept his weak fate. He would ordinarily not have involved himself in the business of the powerful Awakeners who controlled the slums.
However, this time, their target was Zora.
She was the biological daughter of the couple who raised him from young. She was like a sister to him.
Zora's parents had died in the crossfire of a battle between Beasts and Hunters after a Nest erupted close to the slums, forming a beast tide.
Fortunately, in the aftermath of the beast tide, Zora had been recognised by a Blacksmith Awakener for her mana sensitivity talent and taken under his wing. So she didn't suffer as an orphan like Leo did after her parent's passing.
It had been two years since Zora left with the Blacksmith, Leo who had been struggling to survive in the slums by any means he could; pickpocketing, stealing, begging, doing odd jobs etc., had almost forgotten about her.
Only for the girl to return, revealing that the Blacksmith had been killed by some evil Hunters who wanted to steal from him.
Before the Blacksmith died, he gave her the Hunters' target -the crystal ball- and told her to escape.
The little girl naively believed the Blacksmith cared for her.
However, Leo who had long been disillusioned to the world knew the Blacksmith must have tried to use her as a decoy in order to save his life.
If it was anyone else, Leo would have sent them on their way. But he couldn't do that to Zora.
Which was how he found himself in this predicament.
Although he lacked mana, he made up for it with his wit, causing him to mature faster than other children his age.
He knew the ways of the world.
He knew that the moment he decided to interfere, he was dead along with Zora.
However, he still tried to at least save her.
Unlike him, she could still become something in this life.
As long as she carefully nurtured her mana core, and awakens a good Gift during her 15th birthday, she would be able to make something of her life.
Leo could tell he was trapped.
His body trembled instinctively as the pursuers closed in on him.
But amidst the fear, unyieldingness rose within him.
Even if he was going to die, he wouldn't give his pursuers the satisfaction of getting what they wanted.
He wasn't naïve like Zora. He knew once the Hunters got what they wanted, they would kill him immediately. He had seen this happen more than once in the slums.
Since he was going to die anyway, he might as well go out causing damage to his pursuers.
And to a small extent, the world that forsook him.
A crazed look unbecoming of a ten years old child appeared on his face as he swallowed the crystal ball enclosing the golden flame.
The crystal oddly melted away as it went down his throat, releasing the flame about to land in his stomach.
His body immediately felt warm.
However, before the experience could last, his pursuers arrived, and they had found his hiding spot.
Leo flashed them a crazed grin then ran towards the cliff.
Then, he jumped.
He decided to end things on his own terms rather than give these Hunters -these privileged ones- the satisfaction of killing him.
"Ah!!!"
As he fell down the cliff, the warm heat caused by the golden flame in him had become a raging fire.
Leo was burning from the inside out!
Before he crashed into the river below the cliff, the heat radiating from him caused the surface of the water to boil, making him fall relatively safely into the water.
However, this was only just.
Leo was left without an unbroken bone in his body. His body wanted to shut down and lose consciousness, but the searing flames wouldn't let it.
The young boy screamed in agony as the water around him vaporised on contact.
He was eventually pushed to the river bank where he lay there in pain and misery.
Once again the boy cursed at the cruelty of fate.
Not only did it rob him of his chance to rise from his station in life, but it went further to even kick him while he was down.
Even when he accepted death, he wasn't allowed a peaceful one.
Death by burning… one of the most painful ways to die.
This was the final send-off this cruel world gave him.
Tears streamed down his eyes only for them to evaporate immediately.
He lamented.
Had fate given him a chance, he would have worked hard and not waste the gift of mana like other children his age. He would struggle until he became the strongest person in the world, no matter what it took.
In his final moments, as he finally began to lose consciousness as his lifeforce drained away, the boy wondered why fate bothered to let him be born if it had decided to treat him so cruelly…
Within the embrace of death, he finally saw freedom from the shackles of this cruel world.
Just as he was about to give in to eternal darkness, the mind of the boy too mature for his age found an odd tranquillity. The pain from being burnt alive from the inside was gone. Then, he saw and heard in his mind,
[Do you wish to live?]
At first, the boy thought it was just the final illusion before death.
But another message appeared in his mind once more.
[Do you want power? Do you wish to become the strongest?]
This time, the boy didn't hesitate and answered, 'Yes!'.
[What price are you willing to pay to become the strongest?]
'I will pay any price!'
[Then become my user in this world. For a price, I will give you everything you need to reach the peak in your world.]
'Who are you?'
[I am the greatest support Artefact in the known Universe, the Arcane Sanctuary.]
(To be continued…)