《Anomaly of Altrar》 Prologue - Fated Meeting Alfred POV "Ahh life is so simple, its peaceful but quite boring" I looked around at the green scenery, it was as if the season was the middle of spring rather than winter. Trees were filling my vision in all directions with a lush green blanket The quiet chirping of small insects filled my ears with a soothing natural melody unlike those made by man. A calming tune which put the mind and heart at ease despite the lack of vision amongst the thick foliage. Some would call these types of places a paradise that many would long to live in. But for me, it''s become a rather bland scenery since it''s been more than 130 years since I left this place. Nothing changes, no matter what happens on the outside, the inside of this forest remains the same. Honestly if it wasn''t for the fact that I dislike interacting with others, I probably would have gone insane after about 30 years.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. "I almost wish that something disastrous happens, at least that would entertain me for a short while" I proceeded along the familiar path towards a clearing, in the middle of the clearing was a bright blue lake shimmering in the sunlight. I approach it leisurely with practised movements and bend down to wash my face. Unexpectedly out of the corner of my eye, a muddy object caught my interest. Such objects are very uncommon, even magical beasts avoid this area since it''s my most frequented area. I edge towards it with a tinge of cautioness prepared for any dangerous situation. As I get closer, I notice the lack of movement. I hasten my steps and examine the object. As I grab the object, thick mud sticks to my hand. "Honestly this better not be a log, I need to rewash because of this" I look at the object and widen my eyes in shock. I pick it up and rush directly to the lake. Without hesiation I jump into the water with the object cradled in my arms. Furiously throwing water over the object in moderate amounts, I clear away all of the mud stuck to it. Once its all gone, I gasp with a mixture of shock and expectation. "What? What is a young child doing here?" Chapter 1 - Patience Alfred POV "A young child? Why is such a thing so deep in the forest?" I cleaned the young boys body, taking care not to make any sudden movements to wake him up. As I finished, I lifted him out and brought him to the river bank. Using my face towel, I wiped his body dry gently and picked him up. As I looked around at the familiar scenery, suprisingly everything seemed vibrant. Fresh bursts of colour filled my vision, the sunlight pierced my skin making it tingle. "Finally, something interesting is about to happen" I walked along the well-worn path towards a 2 story log house. The outside was a simplistic log cabin design with a variety of flowers surrounding a gravel path. I quickly unlocked the door and shoved my way into the house. "Ah i''m home, I suppose the best thing to do would be put him to bed" I looked ahead and headed towards the stairs. The house consisted of one bathroom, a kitchen, a living room and a dining room on the first floor. The stairs were directly in front of the door within the living room. I climbed the stairs and went into the room on my right. Before my eyes, a king-sized bed was spread in front of me. To its left was a small desk and chair while on the right was a large wardrobe filled with various clothes and accessories mainly centered around combat easy clothes. I laid the young child on the bed and went to the wardrobe. Picking a random shirt and underwear without looking, I put them on the boy. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. "At least this way he won''t get cold even if he''s asleep for a few more days" I grabbed hold of the boys wrist and put my ear near his mouth lidtening to his quiet breaths. All tension leaves my body as I realise he is in a stable state and will wake up eventually. "I probably could use a Light Magic healing spell on him but I should wait until I know more about his situation." After contemplating how to deal with this new guest, I left the room and went down the stairs to the kitchen. The kitchen was unexpectedly clean, the devices were powered by magical cores that are found within magic beasts and deep in the ground. I turn on the stove and head to the freezing container for meat. Since i''ve lived in the forest for such a long time, I have accumulated a large amount of magical beast meat. Since magical meat contains mana particles, it means the stronger a beast is, the more delicious it''s meat is. "I should use a fairly high-grade meat, it''ll likely help relieve some of my tension and maybe his if he wakes." I throw the meat from a disaster class beast into the metallic pot along with various vegetables. The stew would take some time so I head up the stairs again. This time I went past the first door on my right and opened the door directly infront of me. As the door opened, my view is filled with an innumerable amount of books stacked high on shelves. This room is my personal library. The scent of paper and books of all genres fill my nostrils, truly a calming atmosphere. I explore the shelves in search for an interesting book to kill time. I''ve read these books countless times to the point that I have at least half of them memorised, yet they still interest me and provoke various thoughts in my mind. I took a book about space time magic theory and went back into the master bedroom. I don''t have the aptitude for Space time magic as no matter what I do, I cannot seem to train it. In this world, people are born innately with aptitudes in magic making it easier for them to train in it. However those without it can still gain skills in that type of magic, it just take an immense amount of time with barely any results. Even if they manage to train it, making further progress in levelling the magic takes even more time than the initial stage of learning it. After a few hours of reading, the bed started to stir. "Not long now" Chapter 2 - Introductions Alfred POV I took a few deep breaths and slowly closed the book. My face slowly turns towards the lump in the bed that is lightly moving. The bed suddenly began to rustle more as time passed. After a few long minutes of waiting, the covers on the bed were finally lifted slightly, exposing a young child in a half-concious state slowly stretching. The boy rubbed his eyes and slowly looked around with unfocused eyes taking in the unfamiliar scenery. After what felt like hours the boy turned towards me, his eyes bore into me as they showed a look of suprise and confusion. I continued to quietly look back at him while he processes the situation as not to startle or alarm him. Within a few minutes, a tinge of composure had come back to his appearance. He watched me quietly, not making any attempt to move or make conversation. "Right I suppose I should introduce myself first, My name is Alfred Gemini and this is my humble abode. You are?" I tried to be as casual as possible with my introduction whilst also not coming across as overbearing. My name is one that is quite widely known across the continent making it a good negotiation tool in some cases. However forsome reason, my instincts tell me that my name will have very little affect in this scenario. While I was considering the situation, the boy started speaking. "My name is... it''s Sirius, I think?" His reply shocked me. His voice and expression contained genuine puzzlement when introducing himself to the point that no sense of lies were seen in it. "You think? Does that mean that you do not remember? Amnesia?" I was curious as this important information could shape my future treatment of this child.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. "I''m not sure, I have general knowledge like my name and age vaguely with some knowledge about the world I assume. But no matter what, I cannot seem to remember memories" His response once again shocked me. It was not the sort of response a child would give, that added with his abnormal composure to the situation. Regardless of my own shock, I tried to remain a focused mind as panicking in this situation would only be detrimental rather than helpful. "I see well it should be fine for now, you were in a bad state when I picked you up so maybe it''s a trauma induced amnesia. Let''s just make do for now" "Thank you for helping me. I do not know what happened to me but at least for now i''m safe." "Anyways, how about we continue this conversation during dinner? I have made a simple meat stew for today." After saying that, I stood up and helped him out of bed. We spent no more time in there and left towards the kitchen. On the way, I sent sneak peeks at Sirius following me. His body seemed to be fine luckily, there was no strange movements or pained expressions. He seemed to mostly be accepting his situation as it is since there seemed to be a lot of trust in his actions. Once we arrived in the kitchen, I sent Sirius to the seats so that I can dish up the food. He obediently sat at the table and watched me bring two bowls of meat stew in. While his expression didn''t show anything, his eyes showed a desparate look. I guess he must be really hungry from sleeping for so long. "Anyway eat up. I have plenty more. I forgot to ask before but how old are you if you remember?" "Thank you for your generousity. I believe I am 9 years old right now if my vague memories are correct" "Thats quite a bit older than I thought. May I ask what your race is?" "Human I think? I mean I can''t say for definite but I feel that I am" "I see, well when you turn 12 we should be able to see" "What happens when i''m 12?" "Ah I suppose you wouldn''t know, when a child comes of age at 12, they''re able to use a decipher stone to look up their own details" "Why not now?" "The decipher stone does not recognise immature mana particles so typically 12 years of age for any race is when they become mature. This will inevitably lead to a growth spurt so 12 is typically a crucial age for kids" "I see that makes sense, I guess now we have to discuss what happens next" "That we do" I turned to face Sirius in the eyes. My expression serious, I know this will be a decision that will change our lives forever. Chapter 3 - Short Term Plan Sirius POV As soon as I woke up, I was thrown into a strange situation with absolutely no recollection of any prior events. To sum it up, it was horrifying. Luckily the old man called Alfred tried his best to accomodate me so that I have minimal tension. "Alfred, may I ask some questions please?" Alfred shows a look of understanding and nodded to me. "Thank you! So where exactly am I first off?" "Well you''re in my home in the Eternal Forest. The eternal forest is based in the Kingdom of Vultania. I''ll leave it at that for now since I don''t want to overload you" Alfred finishes his brief explanation and smiles at me as I processed all of the new details. At least now I have a basic understanding of my whereabouts even if it is only the names. I dip my spoon into the stew and brought it to my mouth. The moment the spoon enters my mouth, the flavors burst throughout my mouth bringing tears to my eyes. "Alfred this is delicious!" Alfred awkwardly scratches the side of his head and smiles at me. "Its probably the meat quality, I only have shallow knowledge from books about cooking but thank you for your praise" "As for my second question, about this world. You mentioned mana particles, is this the magic in my memory?" Alfred nods his head causing his light grey hair to gently sway forward and back. He leans forward and stares into my eyes with his bright emerald green eyes. "Correct. Mana is the source of magic in the sense that it is the catalyst to initiate magic. However there is two versions of mana, internal and external. Internal mana can be used as it is by people and beasts however external mana needs to be refined by the body first before its converted into internal."Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. "I see, so does that mean that if you''re in a more mana dense area, the stronger someones internal mana would be?" Alfred stares at me in agape shock but quickly recollects himself. His gaze contains a hint of respect towards me. It feels weird having a handsome man who looks to be in his early 50s look at me with such a gaze. "I''m impressed, technically that is true. However, people are also limited by their training techniques. Training techniques are a set of training stages used to infuse external mana into internal and increase the strength of a persons mana and their body. These techniques can be split between Common, Rare, Royal and Divine with common being the worst." "Oh that makes a lot of sense. How would one procure this training technique? Is there schools?" "Indeed, there are schools but for Royal and Divine training, there is only a few who possess such training techniques. In the case of royal and divine techniques, they''re memories that are sealed until the age of 12. Therefore there is barely any known. The most commonly known would be the 3 Royal techniques used by the Royal families." "So the rich monopolise the best techniques? What about you Alfred?" "I suppose they do, though it suprises me you can realise that at your age. Are you sure you''re 9 years old? As for me, I am a possessor of a Royal technique that I got from my master. The only catch is that this technique can only be passed on when I die so I cannot directly take a disciple." When I heard that I dropped my shoulders. I mean if I could get hold of a royal technique so early on then surviving would be so easy. However the moment the condition of inheritance was told to me, I removed that option as a whole. Theres no way I can think of my saviors death. As Alfred watches me fall deep into thought with a slightly down expression, he reaches out and pats my head. My light brown hair is ruffled as my pale purple eyes look at Alfred due to him trying to cheer me up. "Its fine, you still have 3 more years until you are of age. Who knows, you may inherit your own technique from memories. Although right now we need to discuss our situation. What do you plan to do now?" "What do I plan to do? I have no clue honestly... I barely know anything." Alfred leant back and stretches. His face looks refreshed and ready. "If thats the case then you should stay here until you''re ready to challenge the world. Recently I have been lacking in company so it helps me too" I remain silent and stare at Alfred. After a few minutes of silence that felt like years, I nodded my head.