《Rhucon》


 Chapter 1 Awakening

    From the void to a badly lit room he awoke, gasping for the damp air around him. A terrible headache heightened in pain as the sluggish blood in his veins began to rush throughout his body.


    Looking straight up at the ceiling the boy simply laid still, and unmoving. The only truth in the world is the pain in his head at that moment.


    Minutes passed, and the pain slowly dulled itself, only remaining in his left arm which he felt was likely to be broken. Having finally gained the strength to move, his first thought was to look at his surroundings.


    A scene straight out of the deepest pits of hell waited for him. The limbs, and torsos of others laid strewn around him. Some bodies parts appeared to have burst leaving nothing but gore, and strands of flesh across the floor. Very few bodies remained completely intact, however the way the necks and bones were bent he knew they were all dead.


    ¡°Someone... help please...¡± Subconsciously he began to call for help, yet it came out raspy and lacking in energy. Terrified he weakly began to struggle to try to free himself from the pile of corpses that he laid upon.


    Pushing away an arm to his side he rolled off the pile claiming freedom, falling on a flat cold stone floor, sticky from the blood of all the corpses around him. Exhausted from the half meter he had managed to move, he laid still on his back trying to catch his breath slowly resisting the urge to vomit because of his immediate surroundings.


    After what felt like hours, he forced himself to stand, feeling weak, and clumsy. Barely keeping his balance he looked around the terribly illuminated room, which ironically seemed to be the only bright side to this nightmare.


    From his standing position, he was able to finally have a better look at what was before him. The bodies were of children that couldn¡¯t have been more than 3-5 years old. They were all starting to swell as they absorbed the dampness in the air into themselves. The faint sweet scent of rot could be detected beneath the overwhelming iron smell of blood.


    ¡°Who were all these people, and what did this to them? Actually, why am I here?¡±


    He instantly went rigid, as the chaos of emotions, and thoughts all scattered as he tried to remember anything about his life before this moment, only to find it all blank.


    ¡°Who am I?¡± The child''s voice was heartbreaking. His tears fell for the first time from his eyes. The death, and cruelty before him terrified him, but the unknown condition of his identity sent him over the edge as he fell back to his knees crying for someone to help him even though he knew no one would.


    Half an hour had passed yet everything was still a mess in his head, and nothing made sense, but he knew he couldn¡¯t stay surrounded by all these bodies without going crazy.


    Standing back up with some effort he began walking forward at a snail''s pace, avoiding the piles of flesh on the floor, and stepping over random limbs that seemed to have made their own escapes as he had. Time seemed nonexistent as he slowly trudged forward only stopping to rest for a bit before continuing on.


    The room turned into a tunnel as the temperature slowly began to rise, and he felt the tunnel gain a decline. Time crept on without meaning as he finally saw a bright light at the end of the tunnel. The thought of finally escaping this nightmare spurred him on to move faster.


    Exhausted and about to collapse he broke through into the light to find himself before a vibrant and beautiful scenery.


    Two bright suns in the blue sky warmed him to his bones as the emerald expanse of untouched woodland went in all directions, only being obstructed by a mountain range to the south, or at least what he believed to be south.


    The air seemed to reinvigorate him as he regained his strength even faster than while in the tunnel. Finally feeling somewhat relaxed after all that had happened the small boy fell to the floor, having the spring weather wash over him as he felt himself absorb a formless energy that was all around him.


    He hadn¡¯t noticed prior, but it had also been in the tunnel before, just extremely thin compared to what was around him now. He didn''t know what it was but it seemed to fill him, as he felt warmth enter the bruises all over his body.


    His broken arm began to fix itself before his stunned eye¡¯s, even the pain it caused couldn¡¯t take away from what he was seeing. Fifteen minutes later the badly mangle limb was completely healed.


    ¡°That definitely wasn¡¯t normal, and I¡¯m pretty sure 2 suns is also not normal. But why does it feel this way to me? The number of suns doesn''t just change. Massive celestial bodies don¡¯t just suddenly spring into existence.¡± Where is this information coming from!?"


    With so many problems and questions, in the end, he decided to just ignore everything and think about it later, as he felt the encroaching grasp of sleep. He let his mind wander, falling unconscious soon after and leaving these worries to his future self.


    It¡¯s been 2 weeks since he awoke for the first time and since then he¡¯s learned a lot about himself and his new environment.


    Strangely enough, it appeared that he couldn''t starve, which relieved him of some of his worries. Whenever he got close to starving his body would begin to absorb the invisible energy that seemed to exist all around him.


    It provided his body with an alternate form of sustenance that kept him going, but it wasn¡¯t a perfect replacement for food, so he ate the berries he would find surrounding his camp near the entrance to the cave. A stream nearby provided him with fresh water which he still needed to drink normally like anyone else.


    His next discovery was that of his appearance, after a rainstorm he was able to see his reflection perfectly on a large still puddle that formed in a crevasse.


    A child around 4 years old stared back at him with sharp features and high cheekbones that seemed to enhance his expressions. Light silver hair fell to his shoulders making him look a bit androgynous in appearance.


    He bet unless someone looked hard enough they would likely mistake him for a girl. He also had a pair of piercing violet eyes which caused him to smile brightly at himself. Besides the odd colored features, and his thin body he looked just like a regular child.


    Now when it came to his environment he didn¡¯t venture out very far from his camp, he was simply too scared of being attacked by a wild animal. With his tiny body, he wouldn''t last very long.


    Though he had yet to spot anything larger than a squirrel and some strange birds. He could tell it was nothing but forest for dozens of kilometers in all directions. The thought of having to travel with his small weak body petrified him, and because of this he never strayed far from his camp hoping someone would eventually come by and rescue him.


    What was he going to do? Was he really going to wait here until someone found him? What if no one ever did? These thoughts filled his head every day only increasing in intensity as the weeks dragged on.


    He had almost picked clean all the berry bushes nearby and knew he was going to have to move from this location or die from lack of nutrition even if his body would still contain the energy to move.


    The days past by, and as he picked the last of the berry''s he was out of options. He was starting to get so desperate he decided to see if he could find any food in the cave he had climbed out of.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    While the pit that birthed him was a terrifying place, but the thought of heading out into the wild only to die to a beast without even being able to fight back frightened him even more.


    Making his preparation he went into the cave the next day which coincidentally marked a month since he first came out of it.


    As he made his way down into the pit full of energy unlike before, he managed to cut the trip to a short 30-minute walk. The rotting smell he expected to hit his nose never came through which confused and scared him.


    It wasn''t long before he arrived at the room that he awoke at and, was shocked to find it completely empty. Even the blood that should have stained the stone floor was gone.


    ¡°What''s going on?!¡± It took all he had not to run out of the room that moment as thoughts of a monster having eaten all the corpses filled his mind. Thankfully he managed to force himself to calm down once he realized no beast could remove blood stains from the stone regardless how hungry it might have been.


    Compared to last time he was able to now give the cave a more in-depth look. The moss growing on the ceiling and walls was a lot brighter than the last time he was here allowing him to see a lot more.


    The room was unadorned, and barely more than a cave that had its rough edges cut smooth. On the ceiling, a few holes, almost like laundry chutes were the only other features that he could spot.


    While shivering from the cold, he noticed a door that was partially left open. It seemed part of the wall, and he was sure if it wasn''t left open by accident he would have never found it.


    While feeling the blood pump faster in his veins, he made his way over to the door carefully as he could, afraid of stepping on a trap despite how stupid it might sound. He had long ago come to the conclusion he was a cautious coward, he wasn¡¯t ashamed though, but simply glad that he wasn¡¯t a carless idiot instead.


    He tried opening the door further, but being unable to budge it at all he chose to squeeze his thin frame through it, grateful for his lack of baby fat.


    Once inside he found himself facing a spiral staircase seemingly going upwards without end, making him groan in frustration. Why couldn¡¯t anything just be easy he thought as he began the long climb up.


    It took him an hour and three breaks to go up all the way to the top. He estimated it to be almost 35 floors, a challenge even for an adult let alone a child of 4 years.


    His breathing rough, and legs aching almost as much as when he first woke up he laid at the end of the spiral staircase dripping in sweat and already thirsty to the point where the inside of his mouth felt like a barren desert.


    Taking a few more minutes to prepare himself he noticed that the weird energy in his surroundings was even denser here than on the outside. As though sensing this change his body began absorbing the energy intensely, trying to reduce its exhaustion.


    Once again he stood before a large door, though this time it was closed shut. Afraid that after all this he would only find the door locked his spirits began to fall.


    Shaking his worries off forcibly he put his small hands on the large doorknob and turned it. A soft creak was heard as the door open, and the smell of candle wax, dusty books, and rusted blood entered his nose. A bright light floated in the air illuminating the entire study a soft yellow.


    An eerie silence pervaded the study with only the sound of his heavy breathing audible throughout the room. The old looking test tubes were strewed about shattered into pieces, with some of them even containing what looks like blood. Shelves which might have once been full of books laid splintered across the floor with random pieces of paper strewn about.


    It seems the owner had left in a hurry though that didn''t stop him from being a little more cautious than before. His mind might understand things like an adult, but sometimes it flowed like a child''s, making him have to focus extra hard to prevent it from happening.


    Only a few books here or there could be spotted but it excited him, the books could be sources of knowledge for him, or at least a way to drive away the boredom, and fear in his heart.


    He continued moving around picking up a book here and there. ¡°Alchemical Ingredient Encyclopedia V. 1, Anatomy of the Human Body Fifth Edition, A Shallow Description of the Soul By Lacron Fellwood.¡± He didn''t understand how he could read them but he could which was a lot better than not being able to.


    His subconscious was full of useful information that only seemed to make itself known in random bits sometimes. The books, on the other hand, was knowledge he could learn, and retain which filled him with a powerful obsession to mentally consume all their content.


    Having gathered the 3 books, he chose to leave them in the middle of the room as he continued to explore the ransacked study as they were too heavy for him to lug around easily.


    His bare requirements for food meant that as long as whoever had been living here ate like a normal person, he was sure to find enough to last him for a while.


    In the corner of the study was a massive wooden desk that was in an even larger mess than the rest of the room. The chair was shattered, and unusable, while the desk had seen better days, looking as though a wild beast mauled it. Whatever had done this he sure didn¡¯t want to meet it.


    Behind the desk, he found a black curtain that he slowly moved aside to find himself gazing at dozens of large empty and shattered cylinders. This room behind the desk was easily 4 times larger than the room before, but having a lot more stuff inside it. Making his way inside he avoided the broken glass that littered the stone floor. Without shoes, having his feet sliced open wasn''t something he wished to experience.


    The deeper he went into the room he found even more signs of a struggle, with the floor containing deep claw marks every few feet. Once again he really didn¡¯t want to meet the beast that could leave 4 inch deep cuts in solid stone.


    While in thought about that he tripped just barely managing to catch himself with the nearest object. Soft cloth completely unlike the thick leaves he used to cover himself was felt in his petite fingers. Looking to what he had grabbed on to he barely held in a scream, as his heart began to pump blood furiously throughout his small frame.


    A dead old man with brownish-gray hair stared back at him with the same violet eyes as his own, only these lacked that same shine that indicated the presence of life.Trembling softly he let go of the body and stepped back to look at it properly at a distance.


    Deep gashes could be seen on its chest and neck. Seems the beast had gotten this old man, whoever he might be. Though skittish he slowly poked around the old man, hoping to find something he could use. He quickly found a red stained knife in his left hand. It looked like whatever had done this hadn''t gotten away completely unscathed.


    Wrapping his small fingers around part of the handle he tried prying it from the dead man, only to be met with the resistance of rigor mortis letting him know the murder had only occurred a few days prior. How he knew what rigor mortis was, was beyond him, but he made sure to memorize the new information.


    Eventually, with enough effort, he got the knife out of the man''s hand but the body began to move spooking him and causing him to jump backward. The body fell face first into the ground and releasing the sharp sound of metal on stone. He sighed in relief as it was only his efforts to retrieve the knife that unbalanced the body.


    Looking around to see what had made the noise he eventually spotted a ring on the floor amongst the remains of shattered teeth. Covered in thick blood, and saliva, it seems the old man had kept this ring in their mouth to his disgust.


    Taking the old man''s sleeve he picked up the ring and wiped it down revealing a simple and unadorned iron ring. Once he felt it was clean enough he grabbed it with his bare hand and received a strange shock throughout his body.


    ¡°Why does everything have to be so weird.¡± He questioned as he felt the ever-present energy begin to circle from the outside into him, and then from him into the ring. It lasted for another 15 seconds before his senses expanded.


    A connection had been made between him, and the ring as strange as it might sound in his head. A large area of around 10x10m existed within the ring, it almost like a different room.


    All he had to do was focus and everything within the ring was accessible, and boy was there a lot of stuff. He was also able to pull stuff out and put it back in, it was almost magical he thought. His issue of food was solved as he found hundreds of loaves of bread, eggs, water, and even what looked like jerky.


    He also found some spare clothing, which is what he had been hoping for the most besides the food when he came here. Running around with leaves covering his privates like a savage wasn¡¯t something he wanted to keep doing. Plus he had been lucky to have escaped during spring if it had been winter he would have frozen to death the moment he left the cave.


    Besides a small hatchet that was left the rest of the items in the ring, he had no idea how to handle so he decided against doing so.


    Returning to reality he looked back at the body that had given him all these gifts and bowed, mentally thanking the dead man.


    Afterward, he quickly left the room, his previous thoughts of fear dissipated in the excitement of the what the ring would do for him. His childish brain for once helping him.


    He quickly gathered the books he left in the first room, as well as anything of interest including the desk. Quickly making his way down the stairs he returned to his camp.


    He changed into what looked like adults boxers and a shirt which he cut the sleeves and bottom off. After that, he continued examining the ring leading him to discover that time seemed to flow a lot slower in the ring than on the outside so his food wouldn¡¯t spoil at all!


    Happy that he wouldn¡¯t have to venture into the wild, and with plenty of food to last him for years thanks to his special body, he let himself feast for only that day, learning the feeling of being full for the very first time in his life. Bliss was all he knew as he wrapped himself in warm blankets experiencing the best sleep he¡¯d ever had.


    Despite not knowing who he was, or what he was going to do, life was good at the moment, and he would enjoy it while he could.

 Chapter 2 Falling Star

    The pure silver celestial body known as the moon painted a beautifully serene sight in the night sky, but then like the shattering of a mirror the peace fell to peices.


    A rapidly moving crimson star left a bright scar through the sky as it was followed by 3 more prominent screaks closely behind.


    ¡°How could the three of you call me your sister and treat me like this!¡± An angry yet grief riddin womans words echoed thoughout the night.


    Oh, how she had fallen it seems. Her the Vermillion Bird of the south, a naturally born Phoenix, a woman almost without equal in terms of beauty and strength this world.


    As arrogant as this all might sound none of it were lies and millions of souls worshiped her for these reasons alone, but it seemed her friendly words of advice had been taken out of context by the lower god that had visited their plane of existence.


    Responding to her accusing shout 3 other beauties stared at her back with emotionally thick eyes.


    ¡°Oh shut the up Vesta! You know we wouldn''t have to this it wasn¡¯t because you angered a being from the God-realm. You must repent of your life otherwise the punishment will spread towards us as well!¡± Your stupidity and arrogance led to this! How is telling higher being they should take some beauty advice from you a bright idea?¡± The maiden of the East The Azure Dragoness shouted.


    Anyone could see that their eyes contained tears, as the other 3 maidens of the Cardinal Directions of this world chased closely behind their fellow sister.


    ¡°Just because I can be reborn doesn¡¯t mean I will regain all my memories! That''s also just the beginning you were all told to keep me sealed in my egg for 1000 years! NO WAY IN FUCKING HELL WILL I BE DEGRADED IN SUCH A WAY FOR THAT LONG!¡±


    As a phoenix death was simply rebirth for Vesta. She was also a pure phoenix birthed by the universe itself, something that had probably occurred less than 10 times in the trillions of years since the beginning of existence. This meant her soul would forever be bound to her egg. Even the gods couldn¡¯t kill her for good, leading to sealing being the only available punishment.


    But all this came at a cost because while some of the memories would return to her it would be slowly over the course of dozens of years. In this time period the development of a new ego/personality was bound to happen even it was the same soul. To the new her all the old memories would simply be those of a different person.


    The individual from the God-Realm was also being somewhat merciful since they could have chosen to seal her in the egg for over 10,000 years if they really wanted to be cruel.


    ¡°Just accept it Vesta, don''t make us have to hurt you! You''re our little sister! We will protect your egg with our lives. With our help, I swear that within less than 20,000 years you¡¯ll be back at your peak! The words of The White Tiger maiden of the west were full of pain, pleading for Vesta to just accept fate.


    The Black Tortoise maiden of the North remained silent, but Vesta spotted free-flowing blood coming from her tightly closed hands, they had been extremely close as children.


    Though she didn¡¯t want her sisters to die she wasn¡¯t going to allow herself to be sealed. The God-realm being would be satisfied enough with her temporary death. This fiasco was simply a way for it to torture her.


    In the end, though she was going to lose who she was, something she had never experienced before unlike other phoenix''s. She would come back into the world not knowing anyone or anything besides wisps of knowledge that wouldn¡¯t make any sense to her. Pity is all she could feel for such an existence.


    The chase was coming to a close as Vesta was quickly drained of her energy having to defend against the attacks of sisters, as well as run away from their lessor servants.


    She was really reaching the end here apparently. Her fate was sealed, and she would lose her memories, and herself regardless of what happened, but she wouldn¡¯t give that dam higher being the satisfaction of sealing her.


    Abruptly turning around Vesta smiled wickedly, and yelled: ¡°Be stunned in awe by my beautiful end my sisters, and their foolish followers!¡± Shattering her core Vesta began to glow bright crimson!


    Seeing this the 3 maidens realized that this was the end of their sister as they knew her, but still gave one quick tearful look at Vesta. They would retrieve her egg after her attack was over and protect it for the next 1000 years until they could release her from her seal. She wouldn''t be the same as before but they would make sure she would stay pure, and sweet like in their childhoods instead of the arrogant, and brash woman she had grown into.


    ¡°Teleport out you fools or you''ll all become less than ash in the wind!¡± Following their own words of advice the sisters teleported just out of Vanessa''s range which was an absurd 1500 km, but thankfully they were over the ocean 6000 km away from any form of civilization. Though some coastal towns were sure to be destroyed by the Tsunami that was about to be formed.


    Back at Vesta location, she laughed sadly. ¡°Seems I forgot to tell you all it takes me at least 10 seconds to detonate myself¡±.


    The seconds ticked by but in the mind of Vesta, each second was an eternity reminding her how she was about to lose who she was. Would have been better if it all ended at once she thought wistfully.


    With a swipe of her arm, she tore a rift in space. She didn''t know where her egg was going to end up but hopefully, the presence of life would be scarce, death would await any near its landing. Digging into her core she removed the egg that would become her in the future.


    ¡°I hope you have better luck than me in the future Vesta spoke to the egg. At the moment she was simply an existence of energy about to blow with a conscious. The egg contained her true self as well as a portion of her memories despite them being locked away.


    Taking some of the energy around her she covered the egg in a warm blanket of her aura and sent it flying through the portal where it would appear no different from a meteorite. The aura would attack, and shatter the soul of anything within 100 km of where it landed, a precaution against predators. The egg would awaken around a day, and her new life would begin.


    The seconds reach their end, and she smiled as he brought her current life to the close with the most beautiful explosion anyone witnessing had ever seen.


    At a distance where the other sisters were, they saw a radiant flash followed but a bright explosion visible over 50,000 km miles away lighting up the night sky over the ocean. Her new life now awaited her somewhere else.


    Unknown Location


    It¡¯s been almost an entire 11 months since the boy without a name woke up for the first time. Despite the soul-crushing loneliness he felt some nights, his days were always exciting, and he had become a little more confident moving around his general area, to explore somewhat, but never more than 3 km.


    Not having to worry about food really took a load off his chest as he became happy, losing a lot of the fear he had held in his heart.


    Using the hatchet to cut down some trees, he had made himself a large windproof shack. It took him 1 month but once it was done his joy was boundless as he looked at the little home against stone wall he had made himself.


    While winter had been extremely mild so far, it was still cold enough to force him to chop into larger trees to try and gather firewood to prevent himself from freezing during the night.


    In his physical endeavors, he learned how to push the strange energy in the air into his limbs allowing him to enhance them increasing his strength up to 5 times. This was the main reason he was more willing to explore his surroundings now.


    With further experimentation, he even learned how to increase his body''s temperature reducing how often he had to go fetch firewood.


    This left him with a lot more time in the day to study the books he had found in the old man¡¯s dwelling. He also found out sadly that his reading abilities were abysmal despite knowing how to read the titles of the books. They also contained dozens of words he simply didn¡¯t understand.


    Not willing to be put off by this though he poured himself into the books to understand as much as he could. As his only form of entertainment, it kept his every available free moment occupied.


    Like a sponge, he absorbed information learning and remembering the continents he couldn¡¯t understand.


    The first textbook Alchemical Ingredient Encyclopedia V. 1 was the easiest to understand as it was simply a book of common plants, and all the uses they could have. For example, he went looking for some Bambac Roots which could be found almost anywhere and had the common use of warding of weak animals, and insects when burned. The moment he had read about that he had excavated almost all the dirt within 200m finding enough of it to last him for months, happy to have his worries decrease.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    The next book Anatomy of the Human Body Fifth Edition was extremely boring but detailed on a lot about the average human body, but with little else to do, he devoured its contents, coming to the conclusion that he definitely didn''t have an average human body. At least he would be able to provide basic medical assistance to others in the future.


    The last book was really thin, no more than 20 pages, and a lot more abstract in understanding. A Shallow description of the Soul By Lacron Fellwood explained the most simple things known about the soul as a whole.


    The Soul was an existence that could never truly be destroyed, it could be torn apart but would always reform itself if enough time passed. It seemed that all souls were of equal standing when it came to reincarnation. This meant that one life you might be at the top of the food chain, then the next the lowest form of prey. Though apparently, this was different if you had a guardian deity, who if enough individuals accept could become in charge of all the souls of its specific species allowing them to constantly be reborn as the same race. Most plants and animals didn¡¯t have this luxury though, stuck with the chaotic cycle of rebirth without a guide.


    The book even talked about individuals who once they reached a high enough realm could choose to reincarnate without the need of a deity to handle their soul. They would slowly regain their memories over time as long as they cultivated mana in their body in the next life.


    Cultivate. Realms. Both these words seemed to hold additional meanings besides the ones he already knew. Then there was the word Mana. The energy source of the soul, and of life itself. While the soul could produce its own, most of it within the bodies of living beings came from the world itself.


    That strange energy that he has been feeling since he woke up was Mana. When he found about that, he went crazy trying to scour the book for how to cultivate since from what he could understand to cultivate, and raise one¡¯s realm meant to become stronger!


    But then a stray thought terrified him out of his crazed state. ¡°Didn''t it say animals could also cultivate?¡± Dread filled him as he realized that even if he did find a way to cultivate he would have to deal with beasts who could also cultivate themselves. They didn''t even need to be taught since they improve themselves with nothing but instinct to guide them.


    He didn¡¯t leave his shack for an entire week when he realized that.


    Winter had entered its last month, and while it''s been weak almost its entire duration, it seemed to have given its all near the end, as a blizzard brewed and unleashed its fury on the poor boy''s shack. Spending the entire night shivering even with the fire, and his internal burning mana, all he could do was wrap himself tightly hoping he didn¡¯t end up frozen solid by the morning.


    The hours dragged on as the cold prevented him from falling asleep, but eventually, the howling wind from outside began to die down, as a peace settled in on the shack.


    Though still as cold as before it was now slowly starting to heat up, as the stray beams of light from the rising suns began to warm up the world.


    Glad that the storm had finally ended the boy looked at the dying embers of his fire in his makeshift oven. All his spare firewood had been consumed, and he would have to spend part of the day restocking it or risk freezing the coming evening.


    Groaning as he left the little heat his blankets provided him, he grabbed half a loaf of bread from the ring, washing it down with some milk. He was going to need as much energy as he could since he would have to clear not only the snow around his shack but the snow towards the small trees as well. Bundling up in oversized clothing the boy opened the door only to find the snow all the way to his waist or around 55 centimeters if he wanted to be accurate. This was going to be a long day it seemed.


    Using a small wooden shield he found in the ring as a shovel he spent the next hour clearing the snow around his shack. Then gazing at the area with small trees he started shoveling snow out of his way.


    Four hours later he had enough wood to last him for days as long as it didn''t snow again. Feeling drained, and chilled to the bone, the young boy began his trip back to the shack. It was halfway through the journey that he felt the mana in the air react in the strangest way since he had become aware of its existence.


    The air seemed to surge, and the fabric of reality warped and twisted high above him in the sky. A rip in space the size of a small door opened, and a blazing light tore through the sky raising the average temperature of his surroundings to that of a blazing summer day.


    The boy''s eyes locked on the light in awe as it proceeded to impact the ground few kilometers in the direction of the mountain which he liked to believe was south. The following blast took only took a second to reach him but it was powerful enough to shatter his eardrums, and knock him off balance, sending him into the melting snow.


    ¡°Was that a meteorite!?¡± His thoughts in chaos as he forced himself back up into standing position. A powerful ringing echoed in his ears, as they began to try and heal.


    The mana in the air was on fire as he could literally see the snow melting around him. He felt like he was in an oven, forcing him to take off as much of his clothing as he could.


    At least the snow would be gone sooner he thought as he started heading back to the shack. He wasn¡¯t going to risk going near a meteorite that was probably hot enough to burn him just by getting near it.


    It was at the moment though that the surging mana in the air seemed to change, and began to force its way into his body with malicious intent.


    ¡°What the hell!¡± He screamed feeling a strange aura with a will to kill enter his body, the altered mana being its vessel.


    The mana raged throughout his insides as though searching for something to attack, which was quickly found in the center of the boy''s chest.


    The boy for the first time ever was able to sense his own soul and was left dumbfounded at what he found. A perfect violet sphere floated silently not at all concerned about the blazing inferno that was heading its way.


    Seeing the flames make contact with his soul the boy felt a deep sense melancholy compared to his usual fear.


    ¡°It seems that even with how careful I was I¡¯m still going to lose my life without having found any answers.¡± Acceptance of his fate was swift, and unlike his usually fearful self, but maybe this was for the better he thought.


    ¡°Crack¡± The sharp sound of sound beginning to break entered his mind, looking back towards his soul expecting it to be on the verge of shattering he was astounded to see something else entirely.


    His Soul was rotating at terrifying speeds, as it ripped apart the foreign entity to shreds. The floating remains were quickly absorbed by the sphere, as though the previous blazing flames had never existed.


    The boy was scared but amazed at his soul. He had read about this situation in the book A Shallow description of the Soul By Lacron Fellwood. He had just survived a soul attack, but his soul had dealt with it as though the situation were nothing more than a mosquito attacking a human.


    While impressed by its tenacity, and strength the boy wasn''t going to take any more chances he prepared to charge back towards his shack.


    The moment he turned though he felt his soul stir once more. A powerful tug pulled at him, as though indicating him to move towards the impact zone.


    ¡°Do I really have to?¡± He asked his soul. It responded by increasing the strength of the pull.


    Sighing he accepted his fate, if his soul the deepest representation of himself was telling to do it, it must be important.


    Gathering as much courage as he could, the boy began the long trek, hoping his thin frame looked unappetizing enough to avoid being eaten.


    The minutes rolled by and, luck seemed to be on his side as he made his way towards the meteorite. All the snow had melted, and the only animals he came across all laid dead on the floor. Moose, deer, badgers, and even a massive black bear all seemed to have taken their last breath recently as all the bodies were all warm when he touched them.


    For all the fear he held against the animals of the forest, it seemed his stomach was fearless, as the thought of roasting some deer over the flame made his mouth water with no end. Fresh meat after only consuming jerky since his awakening was a tantalizing idea he could now afford to entertain. Putting all the dead bodies in the ring that hung around his neck he slowly got closer to his goal as he felt the temperature around him continue to rise.


    His goal came within sight as he watched the smoldering remains of woodland burn slowly around a deep crater. A scorched circle around 50m left the ground barren, and black. If it wasn''t because of all the melted snow dousing the flames this part of the forest would probably be an inferno.


    Now wearing nothing but boxers, and the shoes he made himself with spare leather, the boy continued on into the stifling heat.


    His head was woozy, and it was starting to get hazy but his soul kept telling him to keep moving forward. Without rest, he continued onward forgetting his fear of the situation if it meant he could rest soon.


    Making it to the lip of the crater, he peeked inside the surprisingly shallow pit. It couldn¡¯t be more than 1.5 meters deep, and 3 meters wide. Seeing how hot the area still was though, he poured some snow he had stored in his ring, which he originally planned to keep for the hot summer months.


    Huge clouds of steam rushed out of the crater but it still wasn¡¯t enough, so he poured the 2 barrels of water he had originally found in the in-ring but never had to use because of the stream near his home. He could always refill them later anyway.


    After a while of pouring the steam eventually stopped to his luck. He didn¡¯t have any more water, and something was telling him he wouldn''t be able to leave until he found whatever it was that was down there.


    Climbing into the shallow crater he felt himself step into the hot muddy water and knelt down to look around, with his soul pointing him along. Coming to the center of the pit he started digging, feeling his hands start to burn, from the almost boiling water but it was almost as though he lost control of himself, the pain irrelevant to his goal of procuring whatever had landed out here.


    Touching upon a metallic crimson oval the size of a chicken''s egg, he watched in fascination as the skin on his hands boiled and peeled off because of the heat, yet he felt no pain. Even the skin on his arms and body was sizzling. He could feel a thin fog in his mind clouding his thoughts somewhat but he simply ignored it, focusing on the object before him.


    The object perfectly smooth, lacking even the smallest blemish even after its massive impact. Whatever it was, it sure was durable, maybe he could have it turned into a dagger once he reached civilization.


    Maybe his soul had sensed the strange treasure and wanted to acquire it. Who would have guessed that his soul could detect treasure! The childish thoughts of becoming rich with such an ability making him smiled, which made a terrifying sight, as the bones in his hand became visible.


    Now that his soul wasn¡¯t tugging at him, the boy decided to head back home but not before trying to put the egg into his ring only to find out he couldn¡¯t.


    Though curious as to why he couldn¡¯t he chose to head back with the egg in his hand which at the moment was nothing more than a few strips of flesh, and blackening bones.


    He didn¡¯t seem to notice though as he took the extremely hot object, back to his camp, first stopping by his stream to cool the egg down. Holding it under the water with his good hand now that his other hand couldn¡¯t seem to grip it anymore, the egg cooled down all the way until it was slightly above the temperature of his skin. Not being able to cool it down anymore he returned to his shack to lay on his pile of blankets holding the egg over his heart with his good hand.


    Around this time though he felt the strange fog his soul had placed in his mind leave, and worst pain he had ever experience in his life come from all the severe burns, with the pain in what was left of his hand being the worse. Unable to endure the pain any longer the boy promptly passed out.


    The shack became still with only the pained breathing of the small boy and shining egg over his heart.

 Chapter 3 Rebirth

    Pain had been a constant companion since I first woke up. Pain of the body. Pain of the mind. Pain of the soul. Experiencing more than any kid had the right to, I was simply glad it hadn¡¯t driven me mad yet. But maybe I was mad, would explain why I held a molten egg in my hand the day before.


    I could try to chalk it up to being my soul''s fault, but my soul me wasn¡¯t it? So if my soul was mad, then I must truly be disturbed.


    Wiping away these stray thoughts, I grimaced as I felt the dusty wasteland that I use to call my mouth beg me for water. The irritation from my bleeding chapped lips, and swollen tongue was a less than a pleasant experience.


    Trying to sit up, I mentally prepared myself as I tried looking at my left hand, expecting to find nothing but blackened remains.


    Seems my strange body had done it again as I found it completely intact, as though yesterday¡¯s bout with insanity had never happened.


    It was pink and looked bony but it was there. Enduring the soreness, and feeble feeling across my body, I looked at the small mirror I kept to the side of my little nest of blankets.


    My eyes went wide as stared at little more than a skeleton wearing a suit of skin. If I had been on the verge of being malnourished before then I definitely had gone far, and beyond that now.


    My mouth still begging me to provide it with sweet relief, I activated my ring, grasped a vase full of stream water, and tried to down it quickly. This ended up being a bad idea as I quickly end up a coughing mess within seconds.


    ¡°Better drink it slowly next time, or I¡¯ll be known as the idiot that choked to death drinking water¡±


    After gathering myself from almost drowning, I felt the pain in my throat still throbbing but at least the thirst was gone. Laying back down in my nest I relaxed and waited for an hour as I let the water get absorbed into my body. It seemed to be have been a good idea as a lot of the soreness in my body eased up. This allowed for greater forms of movement without inducing nerve-wracking pain across my body.


    Inspecting once again the malnourished boy in the mirror that happened to be me, I sighed and pulled out a ton of food from my ring, preparing myself to cook. Though my body wasn¡¯t demanding me to eat I had come to the conclusion that it didn¡¯t seem to be able to. Still, I knew for a fact that if I remained like this it would severely stunt my growth, and that something I really didn¡¯t want to happen. Being small sucked, being small forever would really fucking suck.


    I had made a little oven with a chimney using stones I found around, sealing it with mud that once dry was as hard as stone. With it, I cooked myself some scrambled eggs with shredded pieces of jerky. It produced a divine smell that actually caused my normally unresponsive stomach to grumble. Using a clean knife I cut slices off the loaf of bread and made myself a good old fashion sandwich.


    Three sandwiches later, and a pleased stomach, I laid down once again in my nest to take a food nap. I was going to burn through a few weeks of supplies to get back to my original weight but there was nothing I could really do about it.


    Feeling something hard on my back as I tried to fall asleep I tossed around the blankets until I found what was causing the discomfort.


    A goddamn idiot would have been the nicest words to describe myself, as I stared at the object I had risked my life the day before to retrieved. Having a child''s attention span sure did suck.


    At a quick glance, it appears no different from yesterday when I believed it was simply glowing just a soft red. This changed though when giving it a more detailed examination showed it was constantly cycling through various shades of red. Sometimes it would be crimson, then pink, then scarlet, then fresh blood red. It didn¡¯t seem to stop as it just keeps rotating through different shades.


    Things got really strange when as though sensing me staring at it, the object began to pulsate. Scaring me with the sudden development I dropped the object into my nest were it began radiating heat, and the pulsations gained a time.


    Recognition dawned on me.¡°That looks an awful lot like a heartbeat.¡± Nervous sweat began to drip down my neck, as the strange egg-shaped object on my bed began to glow as brightly as when I first found it.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    Inducing a change in its surrounding, all the mana began to rush towards the egg like a primal tidal wave. As it slowly converged on the egg the heat rose greatly, and I watched my beloved blankets begin to catch fire. Too afraid to move I laid still as the strange egg I had picked up the day before started burning down my home.


    If things continued this way my entire shack was going to turn to ashes, and I would be left homeless once more. Feeling my eyes mist up at the injustice, I barely held the dam that was about to burst.


    Why did my soul make me get this egg only to have it burn down my home, was that not simply self-harm? Wait didn¡¯t it let me severely burn myself yesterday simply to retrieve the egg¡­.


    ¡°My home¡­.¡± I whispered as the tears broke through.


    Completely unaware of my misery the egg burned all the blankets to dust, as flames were like a thirsty dog licking the walls of my shack.


    I was about to abandon the shack to its fate when the mana in the area surged once more this collapsing quickly where I believed the egg to be. Even the flames seemed unable to resist as the surrounding fire in my shack was absorbed into the small egg.


    Now only the egg and the surrounding ashes of my blankets remained. The room was silent besides the steady heartbeat that came from the egg.


    ¡°Is it over?¡± I slumped to my knees glad I wasn''t going to lose my home. Whatever that thing was it sure was causing me a lot of grief. Maybe I should just get rid of the thing, and screw whatever my soul might tell me.


    ¡°Crack!¡± A sharp sound pierced my thoughts, and my eyes focus back in on the egg. The once smooth surface had a large crack running down its side. ¡°Crick!¡± Once again the sound seemed to enter directly into my mind as I watched on in fascination. The crack had expanded into dozens of smaller ones.


    I became transfixed as it hit me. The heartbeat, the egg shape, the connection my soul was giving me towards it, all these were clues I had been ignoring! The strange object that fell from the skies was actually a living creature!


    My breathing became heavy, and a crescent moon expanded on my face. Unparalleled energy filled every fiber of my being, and my thoughts were moving at lightning speed.


    ¡°Would it be safe? Could I keep it? Should I keep it? How should I feed it if I kept it?¡± Question after question filled my mind, but unlike most of the ones, I already had the thoughts of these fill me with unbelievable joy.


    A friend. A companion. Another living being to end this godforsaken loneliness that left me quivering uncontrollably every other night. An unknown dream had been granted and I was ecstatic. My previous worries over my shack were all but forgotten as I began to imagine a future where I wasn¡¯t completely alone!


    Like a statue, I stood there, unable to move my body, or retract my eye¡¯s from the birth of a new creature into this world.


    The cracks continued to spread on the surface of the egg, each time it looked like it was about to break smaller cracks seemed to form, but the struggle seemed to grower weaker as time went on.


    ¡°What going on? Why isn¡¯t it hatching?!¡± Anxiety began to gnaw at my heart as I realized what was going on. Eggs that didn¡¯t hatch properly were no different from the stillborns of mammals!


    My eyesight was dimming around the edges, and my breathing became heavy and uneven. It appeared that after providing me with a glimmer of hope, the reality was about to crush it before it was even was born.


    ¡°NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO! Feeling the savage touch of insanity begin to take hold in my mind, I jumped forwards without a care at how I would land.


    Diving, and badly scraping my knees stone floor, I softly scooped the scalding egg into my hands as I tried to gently scrape off the shell without harming the creature inside.


    My hands were bleeding from burns once more but I ignored them as I peeled back the shell to find an ugly little ball of wet fluff. Besides its red color, it looked just like a newborn chick.


    I could feel the weakest of heartbeats so it was still alive, but I was scared, what if it died in my hands, it seemed to lack the energy to even breath. ¡°Had dousing its heat yesterday been a bad idea. Was it my fault it was going to die?¡± Did I somehow wash away some of the energy it needed to survive!?¡± The questions just wouldn''t stop attacking my conscious.


    The tears flowed freely as I didn¡¯t know what to do to save it. Sensing my disturbed state my soul began to rotate slowly. A soft mist of energy was emitted and sent out towards the small chick.


    I began to glow a soft violet as a wave of mana the size of nothing I¡¯d ever felt was sent from my soul into the small chick in my hands.


    The once reddish chick was rapidly losing its colors, as though it was becoming sun bleached. Its feathers and fur, then paled as it eventually settled on a white hue shaded with violet at its tips.


    Pulling it up to my face I softly hugged it, and prayed to whatever is in the world might call itself a god to keep the little thing alive.


    Something seemed to be listening to me as I felt the soft feathery fur brush itself on my face and the soft crying, and chirping of the bird.


    Watching that the poor little thing that had almost never been born into this world, I realized how similar it was to a small freshly lit ember. Even the smallest breezes held the potential to end its feeble existence.


    Hugging the chick closer to my face, a feeling of peace settled over my heart. I decided that despite how scared I was of this world I lived in, to protect this little ember from the harms it might bring, I wouldn¡¯t hesitate risk my life. It was now my family, and I would die first before becoming alone again.

 Chapter 4 Visitor in the Night

    The charred black walls and floor of my shack made for an ugly sight as I held the one at fault between my little hands. I knew it wasn¡¯t guilty, but I couldn¡¯t help but sigh. This mess needed to be cleaned, and the hatchling sure wasn¡¯t going to do it. Gently making a small nest for the cute feathery ball, I was thankful that it had fallen asleep not long after hatching. Now that my hands were free I got to work.


    Opening the shack door I let the chilled air flow inside, enjoying the pleasant cold. Soon after I began the process of cleaning the shack, which I found mentally calming after the chaotic state my emotions had been in not long ago.


    The smoke and ash in the air had dissipated and black stains were removed at the expense of some spare cloth. Making a new nest with the leftover blankets I noticed how they were rougher in texture, but I believe they should be just as warm as the ones I use to sleep with.


    Looking over at the sleeping fluffball, I realized I had no idea what I was going to feed it. If I fed it the wrong thing it could become sick, or worse die. Nerves itching I started pacing back and forth hoping my faulty memories might contain something useful about how to raise a bird.


    Remembering how Id saw birds eat larvae and worms, my joy surged as I ran outside ready to dig up as much as I could before the hatchling woke up.


    As I stepped outside something felt different to me. It had always been quiet in the area where I lived but now¡­ a sense of emptiness filled the air, as though no other living thing existed in the world besides me. Even the normally loud distant bird screeches were nonexistent as I felt the tender rush of goosebumps crawl across my flesh.


    Gazing at what had once been a field of beautiful evergreens, unease filled me. It appeared a plague had ravaged all the winter trees in the area. They had lost most of their needles, and the remaining ones were turning an old dusty brown. The once powerful dark brown trunks became a sickly white.


    Trembling slightly, my mana sense as I liked to call it felt something even strange in the air. Resentment. The mana reeked of resentment. It gave off waves of it, looking for something to release its revenge upon. I was starting to freak out again, but the need to feed the hatchling helped stabilize my emotions.


    It was unlikely for me to find worms because it was winter but if I dug deep enough I might find some larvae.


    With a shield and mana enhanced strength I dug madly looking for anything I could feed the hatchling, only to find disappointment. My effort had been successful at finding larvae, and other strange insects but they were all dead! The normally plump white larvae were shriveled and covered in black spots.


    My failure at procuring a meal for the hatchling hurt me as was left with no choice but to risk feeding it raw meat. Ignoring my ominous surrounding trudged my way back to the shack briefly cleaning myself before entering.


    ¡°Chirp chirp chirp!¡± Shit, the hatchling had woken up and now it was crying for food! Rushing forward I quickly got to its side.


    Pulling out a small deer from the ring I slowly cut a thin strip of flesh from its side. It was tough getting through the fur but once it was out of the way the rest was a lot easier.


    The hatchling just keeps chirping and chirping, trying to express its hunger to me. Feeling nervous I slowly used the knife to cut fingernail size bits of the 8cm of flesh.


    ¡°Please be able to eat this, otherwise I''m going to go nuttier than I already am¡­¡± Softly I said to the bird lowering a tiny piece down to its beak.


    In the blink of an eye, the meat was gone and I was left wondering what the hell had just happened.


    ¡°Chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp.¡± It wanted more, even I could tell that from its eager chirps. Happy that it the hatching was able to eat meat I continued feeding it as the day went on and nighttime fell.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    ¡°Just how¡­?¡± My mouth ajar, I stared at the fluff ball that had just consumed more than 30 times its body weight in deer meat.


    ¡°Chirp chirp chirp¡­.chiiirrrppppp.¡± Releasing a few chirps with one that sounded an awful lot like a burp the cute bird fell asleep in my hands again but now I had something else consuming my thoughts.


    ¡°If it continues to eat proportionally like this, I''m royally fucked.¡± A chunk of meat was missing from the deer, and I just could not understand where it had all gone. It hadn¡¯t even changed size!


    This was going to be a lot harder than the original difficulty I thought I was going to face. Feeding a Bird that ate 30 times its body weight would only get more difficult. All I could do is hope that it decreases somewhat as it grows otherwise I''m going to have to start hunting smaller animals.


    But if this was what it took to make sure my new friend survived I would swallow my fear and try hunting.


    Night had fallen and as I laid on my back with the small hatchling already resting, I tried to fall asleep, but the back of my neck began prickling badly.


    Like a hidden beast, I knew something was watching me. It was then that I noticed the temperature of the shack had fallen dramatically. My breath produced steam in the frigid air as the fire in my oven began to dwindle as though something was slowly choking the life out of it.


    As the fire died the shadows elongated across the wall, appearing like scrawny demonic hands. A new presence appeared around my mana sense, and sensing my detection it turned to stare directly in my direction. A hulking beast was standing outside the shack¡­¡­.


    Whether I was shivering from the extreme cold or the eerie monster outside, I could not tell as both had reached unprecedented levels I¡¯d yet to experience. My mana couldn''t even keep me warm as I felt the chill slowly seep into my bones, a parasite looking to consume its host.


    All the heat in the shack has dissipated, the fire had been snuffed out, and I could feel ice forming on my eyelashes.


    ¡°Hahhh¡­.Hahhh... Hahhh¡­.¡± As it inhaled and exhaled the air, the temperature continued to drop further, the numbing of my toes began to set in as eventually, I lost the feeling in my entire legs. The monster outside the door was at least 3 ? m tall, and 1 m wide, it was a massive thing, easily able to break the shack to get to me.


    It was then that a soft knocking on the shack''s door began to sound out, and I completely stopped breathing. ¡°Please go away¡­. Please go away¡­. Please Go away¡­.¡± A self-created mantra was all I could repeat as I prayed to whatever higher being might listen to make the monster outside my door leave.


    The heavy breathing stopped suddenly, and my mana sense could not detect anything, but I knew it was still there, as I felt the temperature continue to drop.


    ¡°Open up child¡­. It''s not nice¡­. To leave guests¡­. At the door¡­.¡± The most terrifying of voices I had ever heard came from the entity outside. It was like the collective screaming wails thousands of individuals had all coalesced together to form a corrupted intimidation of speech. It¡¯s voice contained a powerful temptation causing me to subconsciously reach for the door for it but this feeling was quickly destroyed as my soul began to rotate violently.


    Looking deep into myself the Violet sphere that was my soul was enraged, compared to the time before was not pleased with what was going on.


    As its rotation speed increased further the violet mana within began leaking out, warming my body as though I was taking a hot bath. The Hatchling in my hand had been completely immune to the cold, emitting enough heat to keep the hands cradled around it warm.


    The room slowly filled with my soul¡¯s mana and the cold was being forced out. The darkness got lighter, and the moonlight actually began to softly light the inside of the room.


    The breathing monster went still outside.


    ¡°I will return... Boy¡­You and your¡­. Pet will make¡­. for an excellent¡­.Meal.¡± The demonic voice let one last disturbing promise as I felt it disappear into the dark night.


    Regaining the sense of feeling in my legs I shakily moved to the oven trying to rekindle the flame. My every step wobbly as the thought about what had just visited me was burned into my mind.


    My shack wasn''t a safe haven anymore which was about as bad as it got for someone in the middle of nowhere. As for why it didn¡¯t just destroy the shack when it was half its size I didn¡¯t understand, but I was thankful it hadn¡¯t.


    Staring into my hands the hatchling remained asleep, as though the horrific incident had nothing to do with it. Unfortunately for the hatchling, we were in a very shitty situation. It had chosen both me and the chick as its next meal making a promise out of it. I had no idea how to prevent myself, and my companion from meeting our early dooms, which only increase my already long list of nerve-wracking worries.


    The experience had left me exhausted, and despite my fears, I was slowly falling asleep. The dreams grip eventually took me into the world of my subconscious where dreams of the demon outside haunted me.

 Chapter 5 A New Legend Begins

    I¡¯ve gone on a lot in my short time about how much fear I felt since waking up, but after the last few day¡¯s everything before seems pathetic in comparison. I now understood true fear thanks to the fiend that stalked me every night in the darkness. Slow agonizing dread ripping my lucid thoughts to shreds, death was slowly becoming the more tempting alternative.


    The nights were filled with the sharp chattering of my teeth, an action induced from the cold the creature always seemed to carry like an ever-present tide, ebbing and waning between the day and night.


    Some days it would simply stand outside unmoving, a false statue and others it would inspect around the shack as though looking for somewhere to enter, a casual brush from its body causing the shack to shake lightly. It''s heavy breathing alone enough to push my sanity to the edge as it waited for delirium to take me and open the door like a predator spooking its prey into action. But by far the worst nights were when it would simply describe in extreme detail all the tortures it would bestow on me before consuming me, as though it were an honor for my pathetic existence to receive his grace.


    Hours of slowly flaying off my skin with its claws, inhumanly forcing me to gouge out my eyeballs only to eat them afterward, using my own hands to crush the hatchling to death as it struggled uselessly.


    Things could also be worse as these were but passing thoughts to the fiend and were but the more simple ones it diabolically whispered about. The appetizer before the meal, the fermenting of fine wine, the planting of fear before the rich harvest.


    The only reason I hadn¡¯t simply crawled into a ball, and lost my mind was that of the hatchling, my godsend Ember as I¡¯d taken to calling it. The only light keeping me from diving head first into the abyss.


    The nights were horrid, but the daytime with Ember was the only solace in my home that had become a prison. Thinking back it was the fourth day after the fiend''s visit, I groggily awoke from a nightmare because of the restless Ember moving around in my hand, trying to escape its confines while loudly chirping in annoyance at its inability to.


    Opening my hands the muddled mass of thoughts that was my mind was wiped as I was met the most stunningly beautiful pair of eye¡¯s that would probably ever exist in this world. The embodiment of a summers sunset existed as its eye¡¯s. The hue¡¯s of crimson, and violet infinitely swirling in a maelstrom of beauty, and chaos. It was an extraordinary contrast to the silky white fluff that made up most of its body.


    Losing myself in those eyes I slowly forgot the fiend and felt myself relax, the stress-filled muscles that a five-year-old should never experience lose their tightness. This sense of peace was healing in nature and I wish I could ignore the world and stare into those eyes forever.


    But as they say, good things never last long as Ember began chirping loudly again annoyed that it was still trapped in the grip of my hand. The fear crawled back slowly but finding less of a foothold in my heart. Until the fiend returned to ruin it again I would make use of this calm and take care of my cute little Ember.


    With the ability to now form complex thoughts that didn¡¯t involve me ending up in the stomach of a monster, I softly placed Ember on the heavy blankets that laid on the floor.


    It was amazing to think the fluff ball hand become even fluffier over the course of 4 days. It¡¯s probably grown enough to be considered a nestling, now able to move around somewhat but still to weak fly.


    The little white ball chirped happily as it gained its freedom. It beautiful eyes looked up at me cutely making sure I was still in the same spot, maybe afraid that I would leave it alone.


    I¡¯d come to the conclusion that my little Ember was a magical creature of sorts, as I read in the Lacrons book. Similar to regular animals but starting at a higher point than their brethren they were able to manipulate mana from the moment they were born. The soft warmth it always gave off being my first of many clues.


    As a magical creature, they were born being able to rapidly develop their intelligence, its awareness of my existence as something other than its caretaker being another one of my clues.


    Unhurriedly getting on its thin legs that looked more like fine twigs, Ember took a standing position and held it for an entire 10 seconds before falling back down onto its fluffy rear end. The sight was a breath of air into my heart, as even more of the fear left me to make room for the growing love I had for this cute little companion of mine.


    An impossible miffed expression appeared on its face, as it started chirping loudly then looking at me as though it were my fault it didn''t have the strength. Hearing Embers chirping change tone to indicate it was hungry I pulled out what remained of the little deer. Since I had fed it the first time over 45 kilograms of its flesh had been consumed by the little black hole that was Embers stomach.


    It was also picky over its choice of meat from the deer only eating the soft fatty flesh meaning the actual meat I could feed it on this deer was almost gone with today''s meal being last of the useful meat. I hadn''teaten any myself, as I wasto worried about ending up in a stomach to think about filling my own.


    The chirps continued as the meat slowly disappeared into Embers maw. Once again releasing a cute burp chirp Ember ruffled its feathers then chirped in my direction indication that it wanted me to pick it back up.


    Laughing softly for the first time in day¡¯s I delicately picked it up between my hands as it quickly snuggled itself into my palm quickly falling asleep.


    Placing Ember up to my chest, its warmth provided me with the feeling of being in contact with another person something I craved dearly. It was still bright outside, but it wouldn''t be long before that changed, and it returned.


    There was still one more thing that would happen before I could be left to my own thoughts though, and it was gathering fast.


    Every day after feasting, and falling asleep Ember would begin to aggravate the mana around it slowly sucking it all in. The issue was that I could feel that the surrounding mana had changed drastically ever since the fiend showed up. Dark, and rotting the mana felt, if I could have seen it I''m sure it would look like a miasmic death cloud drifting softly to take the lives of its unsuspecting victims.


    Even without any knowledge of what it was, it couldn¡¯t be something good for you when it radiated off the fiend itself. The mana would slowly gather around us, and since I was completely surrounding Ember it was being absorbed by me. I didn''t know how I did it but it simply entered my body where my soul was a standby gradually consuming it.


    It would then release a violet hot mist that floated towards Ember who greedily absorbed it, before stopping its unconscious pull on nearby mana.


    After that, the stillness return, leaving me alone in the shack that contained me. The fiend would return tonight to continue its meal prepping as it liked to describe its chattering, and the fear would begin to consume me once again.


    I felt myself grow heavy, the weight of the future bearing down on me. I estimated I had at least 9 months of food left for myself before I would waste away into dust. Ember, on the other hand, had less than 2 months with it preferring choice cuts of meat as its meals. I saw no way out of this situation, it left me feeling powerless and drained.


    ¡°My fear is ever consuming, my existence uncertain since my first moment of awareness, yet why do I maintain my wretched sanity? It chips, cracks, buckles, bends, yet it won''t break? The youth I am already broke long ago, my mind perceiving things not as a child but as an adult. Is that what caused my memory loss?¡± Speaking to myself I asked questions that I knew no one would answer.


    Pulling me out of my depressing thoughts the little bird in my hands burped and fell still once again. A wisp of mana the same hue as Embers eye¡¯s floated around it. Strange, I''ve never seen Ember do that after a meal.


    My ever unusual Soul began to rotate faster than I''ve ever seen it before as the sphere turned into an ovoid from the rapid speed it was moving at. My mind was becoming hazy as I felt my soul take control of my body and absorb the little wisp into itself.


    Things were going dark as a heat filled me, and I watched in fascination as my soul went from pure violet to being sprinkled with bits of glowing crimson. A thought that originated from my soul came to, a connection was being formed. Gazing at the little Ember in my hands I felt its existence in a way I couldn''t describe. Oblivious to what was going on Ember slumbered on, unaware of the massive changes that were going on around it. The haze in my mind thickened even as a bright flash became the last thing I saw before I lost consciousness.


    Melanie Kedora''s Perspective


    The bitter wind was soothing as it helped me contain the rage that was prone to boil over at any moment as I stood over the side of my skyship Star Drop.


    ¡°Fucking Council! They knew I was going to head out for an expedition to the Seatol Islands for a few weeks yet they pull this bullshit out of their crummy assholes for me to do!¡± I was livid as I remembered the orders I received a few hours prior.


    ¡°A large disturbance in the ambient mana was detected far to the west of the island, and we require your assistance to uncover what is causing it. Hopefully, it¡¯s just the Guardian punishing some fools, so make haste we expect your return within a week, and not a moment later otherwise we will suspend your privileges for a year.¡±


    Just thinking about it was infuriating, they loved to pull this shit on her all the time simply because she didn''t like all their rules.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    ¡°Calm down Mel its only a week then we can be on our merry way.¡± Laughed Carvolo as the wind blew his long black hair into the wind, his coppery tinted horns curving like those of a ram. The bastard probably thought he looked majestic the narcissistic idiot.


    ¡°Ah just shut the hell up Carvolo before I drop your sorry ass overboard. Watching you try to get back on would do plenty for my anger right now.¡±


    As Carvolo¡¯s face pale it eased some of the anger I held as I looked at the outer core of my precious ship making sure was still running smoothly. Strange things happened all the time, and finding my ship leaking mana while outside the safety range was not something I particularly felt like experiencing


    The Isle of Broken Memories was a pretty ominous name for my homeland but it had its reasons. Those who left the safety of the small colonized area would sometimes go missing without leaving a trace, and those that came back would be broken off the mind unresponsive to their loved ones, sometimes claiming they didn''t know them.


    Many warranted it to the Guardian, a magical beast that claimed this island as its own, quite the accomplishment considering it was a ? the size of the nearest continent of Mezz. If it wasn''t because one of my ancestors made a very expensive secrete deal with it for a portion of its land to be occupied by my race I doubt this island would have a sentient life besides the odd beast here or there.


    Any race that came to the island without its permission was warned once then if failing to take heed to the warning they would simply die on the spot as though divine will have descended to take the life of the foolish, which probably wasn''t far off from the truth.


    ¡°Captain Melanie, forgive this incompetent ones words, I simply wished to ease the anger caused by the idiots from the council.¡± Getting to one knee in a respectful tone Carvolo began showering me with praises, a skill he took great care to constantly improved to my annoyance. Though hearing him call the Council idiots did bring a smile to my face.


    Seeing me smile I visible saw him relax. While not a bad person Carvolo was a womanizer, and the only reason he had joined my mottle crew was that he decided I would be his next conquest. The idiot didn''t seem to realize I completely saw through him though. If it wasn''t for his charismatic ways with the Council and his skill with the bow I would never have let him join my crew.


    Carvolo was getting back on his feet when he was suddenly tackled to the ship''s deck by a large brown beast. ¡°Get off me you stupid mutt!!¡± His scream girlish in pitch made me laugh out loud as Joon started licking his face with excitement slobbering it up until Carvalos face was drenched.


    ¡°JOON HEEL¡±! A petite woman no taller than 155 cm commanded as she rose from the inside of the ship. Whimpering as though being caught doing something bad Joon stopped covering Carvolo¡¯s face in its saliva and quickly returned to its half-sized owner. The Haeckel being a strange breed of a beast like a mixture between a dog and a bear.


    ¡°What did I say to you about putting garbage in your mouth! You¡¯ll get sick!¡±


    With the savage words that exited her mouth, I smiled brightly as I watched my childhood best friend, and second in command Anita Grell walk towards me. Though small in stature she was anything but weak, being a beast master she was able to commune with all matter of animals and beasts befriending them and using them to support her already brutish fighting style. Her ashy horns pointing upwards into the sky, ready to impale any that annoyed her, fierce grey eye¡¯s promising such pain would be brutal.


    Carvolos face looked like he had eaten the most bitter of medicines as he tried to clean his face and quietly excused himself swiftly heading back into the ship. I almost felt sorry for him¡­... Almost being the choice word here.


    ¡°You cool down yet Mel? It''s only a week so don''t let the Council get to you, we''ll be heading out towards the Seatol Islands in no time.¡± Her cheerful words quickly quenching my anger, she¡¯d always been great at doing that and I loved her like a sister for it. She was incomparable to the fake blood ones I actually had. Nothing but lies, and tricks behind their every smile.


    Sighing deeply I agreed ¡°Your right Ani but those idiots just love scratching me the wrong way, just because I renounced the ¡®responsibilities¡¯ they wanted to force on to me.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s fine Mel that''s in the past now, they can''t stop us from chasing our dreams anymore. Soon enough we can leave their control and become independent taking whatever contracts we please. Just 5 more years till then so just don''t lose it until then please.¡± With puppy eyes, Anita completely washed away any remaining rage I held. She was right, I would simply follow their orders until we were allowed to take our own contracts, but after that day I would be sure to speak on all the feelings I''m bottling up.


    The door open as the remaining 2 idiots of my crew walked into the deck.


    ¡°Hahaha did you see Carvolos face hahaha he was dripping saliva all over the floor, ah it was priceless. Stupid charismatic punk, just because he looks better than me he thinks can try to swoon the captain with his sugar words.¡±


    ¡°Woah there Fenton your words make it sound as though you yourself want the captain.¡±


    Going red Fenton went mute as he looked in my direction, like a cute deer caught in headlights he went rigid as he saw me smiling in their direction. Gorn laughed his huge frame a massive difference from his best friends relatively smaller one. These two idiots were also my childhood friends, and despite their stupid antics, I loved them both like family.


    Fenton being the ship''s healer, and Gorn the artificer who made sure everything was kept in working order including our weapons. A mottle crew indeed considering we were all in our late teens still children to our elvish race, who didn''t fully mature until 75 years.


    Fenton was around my height but since he likes to hunch at times he appeared shorter but was still handsome in a scholarly way. His Azure eyes taking peeks at times he thought I wasn''t looking. His short cropped hair allowed his antler-like horns to truly stand out, something he held great pride in.


    I would also have to be as dense as a rock to not realize he had feelings for me but, I didn''t really feel like starting any relationship yet. Plus I would probably end up killing him because of the stress his idiocies brought me, heavens forbid we were together, I don''t think I he would live longer than 2 weeks.


    Gorn, on the other hand, was a massive man. Dark tanned skin with bulging muscles that could shatter solid stone. He stood at 200 cm tall dwarfing Fenton''s 175 cm height. Black eyes like the night enhance his already handsome face. But the most interesting thing about his appearance would have to be his long single horn, like the famous Unicorn it was also a deadly weapon at his disposal.


    Now that we were all here I smiled as I stared at my crew. Each some of the best in their respective fields for their ages by a long shot, well at least on the Island.


    ¡°So are you all ready to get this job done so we can finally go make a name for ourselves?¡±


    ¡°You know it, captain!¡± They cheered in unison as they all got to their places.


    Ani began to attract the birds in the area towards here with her nature magic, asking about anything strange happening in the surrounding area.


    Gorn pulled out a strange artifact from his Spacial pouch and place it on the deck, sending out pulses of mana trying to scout the area for any disturbances.


    Fenton on the other hand simply sat down, and send out his awareness trying to sense the leylines for unnatural manipulations or rare natural events.


    They were each doing the same thing in their own way. Trying to find the area we were supposed to head towards. Unfortunately, Carvolo and I didn¡¯t have any skill like this and were left with nothing to do to but keep guard over them.


    Having returned clean faced Carvolo was back to his usual calm self but this time without any of the flirty looks he likes to through my way. He was all business now and this ability to focus when needed was one of his few redeeming qualities.


    The forest below us flew by and after around an hour all 3 ended their, investigation but none of them looked happy about the results. This might turn out harder than I expected.


    ¡°Ani you first what did the birds tell you?¡± Her normally cute face was full of pain as she began her explanation.


    ¡°The birds are in misery, many of their brethren simply ceased to exist, a wide extinction event happened nearby killing tens of thousands of animals within a certain range.¡± Her voice was full mourning for all the animals that had died. Specializing in nature magic her closeness to nature made events like this extremely painful to her. I would have to comfort her after the mission was done, otherwise, she would remain depressed for a few weeks.


    ¡°How about you Gorn anything strange pop up on your artifact?¡±


    With a grim face, Gorm replied with less than pleasant news. ¡°An emptiness exists to the northwest of us. It wasn''t just the animals that died, all the plant life had also been completely annihilated.¡± His words full of a sense of foreboding. Things were really looking bad and if Fenton''s answer was as we were suspecting things were about to get a whole lot harder.


    Turning towards my friend I was surprised to find him panting and pale-faced with sweat flowing like a river down his chest. ¡°Fenton please tell us it''s not what we think it is¡­¡±


    After taking a deep breath Fenton answered, and our fears become reality.


    ¡°The leylines nearby have been tainted, something that can only occur when a huge amount of resentful souls come into existence. To our North-West, 200 Km away exists a death zone without any life. I estimate it to be at least 70-100 km in diameter.¡± He goes silent before once again saying the words neither of us wanted to hear.


    ¡°It''s the birth of a shade¡­ A lesser demon.¡± He spits out the words in disgust. A shade despite being a lesser demon was extremely dangerous for anyone below the Legend rank, an entire 2 ranks above our puny Champion rank.


    ¡°Let''s abandon this mission, losing our privileges for a year is nothing compared to our lives.¡± Quickly accessing the situation as more than we could handle, as Captain I gave the order to retreat. I wasn''t going throw our lives away just so the bigots at the Council could save some coin.


    Just as I was about to turn around and head to the control room Fenton grabbed my arm his face full now wearing a strange expression I''ve seen plenty of times before.


    ¡°Mel. I also sense something else.¡± Looking at him wondering what he was going on I ask him ¡°What did you sense? Actually, it doesn''t matter, we aren''t going in there not when there''s a newly born Shade.¡± I was about to start ignoring him when he got uncomfortably close, eyes burning with what I could only think to be a plan,


    ¡°The shade is weak, something inside the death zone hurt it enough where it''s still recuperating. The souls of those that were once part of it were purified and whispered to me through the ley lines... They spoke of a Violet rage, cleansing them from the Shade.¡±


    Staring into his eyes I came to understand what he wanted to do. ¡°Do you think its a relic? Staring between Gorn and Fenton I saw Gorn eyebrows furrow, deep in thought, he then spoke his mind.


    ¡°The Isle of Broken Memories is one of the 9 cursed lands of the world, many powerful individuals have lost their life here either to the Guardian or to some other supernatural cause. Over the 2 million years of its recorded history, countless have disappeared within its boundary. For a super expert from the past have died here leaving a relic wouldn''t be too far from a possibility.¡±


    Facing Fenton again I asked the simple question that would determine our next move. ¡°How strong is it now?¡± My face was all seriousness as I gazed into his azure eye¡¯s, our lives were much more precious than some powerful relic, but it the shade was weakened and we could kill it we would make a huge contribution to the Capital and pocket a powerful artifact.


    Eye¡¯s locked into mine Fenton pridefully thumped his chest as he exclaimed: ¡°It should be within our Champion rank powerwise, stronger than any one of us individually but a lamb to the slaughter with all of our efforts combined!¡±


    There it was, the idiotic confidence. Things were probably just as he described but I knew nothing could be taken at face value. The shade could be anything in shape or size, so we would still be in danger, but to improve ourselves I think this could be a fine challenge. We had all been progressing slowly recently. A little life-threatening action might be what we need to improve ourselves.


    ¡°Turn the ship to the southwest, we got ourselves a shade to hunt, and some loot to collect.¡± My orders were swift, and sharp fighting the shade during the day while it was weakened would be a lot easier than during the night.


    With the crew''s blood pumping they all began heading down into the main Quarters of the ship when a bright light to the North-west illuminated the entire sky turning it a stunning violet. Seems today will be the first of many stories history will remember us by.

 Chapter 6 A Myriad of Questions

    Rhucon


    The pungent smell of death startles me awake from my groggy unconscious state. Opening my eyes I was greeted with a boundless soft blue sky, the clouds so carefree and unrestrained I couldn''t help but sigh. Oh, how I wish I could be like them.


    But then reality came crashing back down on me as I remembered I was being stalked by a monster. If the only thing keeping it out of my shack was an invitation to enter I think the lack of roof now qualifies my home as open grounds.


    The trickle of fear that normally would have begun to consume me didn¡¯t come through. I was worried but not scared, but hadn¡¯t those two always been synonymous to me? After momentarily getting lost in my thoughts a soft snoring brought me back from my daze as I gawked in disbelief at what had attracted my attention.


    A cherub seemed to have popped into existence, as a little girl a year or two younger than me laid resting on the stone ground of the shack. Celestial hair reaching a purity of white that I didn''t know was possible. Thick but silky it reached her lower back, as I noticed the ends being a deep violet bordering on purple. With a softer face than my own, her chubby cheeks had a healthy glow that was a stark contrast from my sickly pale sheen. Even with the simple unadorned white dress she wore, the sense of meeting an angelic being that had descended couldn''t be denied.


    Where had she come from? Filled with this one question my thoughts became muddled, and disorganized still trying to piece themselves together after having seen the astonishing little girl. The question floated in my mind as I subconsciously rubbed my hands, and realized something was missing.


    A thunder strike seems to hit me as the fog in my mind cleared and I instantly yelled out. ¡°Ember!¡± The little girl was quickly forgotten by me as I started tossing the blankets around, anxiety starting to dig its sharp claws into me.


    It was during my frenzied tossing and turning that the little girl stirred from her slumber, turning her petite neck in my direction as she opened her eye¡¯s to glare at me in annoyance. A familiar pair eye that couldn''t exist anywhere else gazed back at me as I recognized the swirling sunset within those iris¡¯s. ¡°Quiet¡± A voice entered my mind, cute and childlike but laced with mild annoyance.


    ¡°Ember?¡± I stared at the girl in incredulity, unable to comprehend how the tiny nestling I could hold in the palm of my hands the day before had become this girl.


    The sour wind blew towards us bringing the light rotting smell of trees. Sniffing the wind her face curled into a cute pout, obviously not pleased with the smell. Slowly coming to a stand on wobbly legs never before used she made her way over to me then wrapped her arms around waist and promptly fell asleep on my lap, leaving me with a cozy warmth that I could only call divine.


    The heat she radiated was like a warm blanket, quickly returning me to my groggy state, as even the rotting smell around us began to fade away. Slowly trying to peel Ember off myself without hurting her I was met with resistance as her beautiful eyes opened once again staring directly into my own.


    ¡°Sleep.Tired.Annoying. Rhucon.¡± Instead of a word this time it was more like her emotions hit my mind with meaning. She apparently wanted me to shut up and let her sleep peacefully but I didn''t want to fall asleep with so many questions.


    ¡°Wait, what was that last emotion a word?¡± Is that what she calls me? Becoming distracted at weird meaning the warmth took advantage of my idle mind quickly snagging me away into the dream world. Why am I falling unconscious so much these days I sigh internally as everything goes black once again.


    Melanie Kedora''s Perspective


    The rotting corpses, of millions of trees, was not a pleasant smell, to say the least, and even the Stardrops air filters couldn''t stop it completely. Resisting the urge to vomit, I watched my fellow crewmates share my experience. Having always been weak of stomach since we were kids Fenton actually ended up puking.


    ¡°Shit, we gotta get this job done fast¡± The tone of his voice pitiable as he started rinsing his mouth with some water after regurgitating his breakfast into the trash bin he kept in the main quarters. ¡°The taints reached its peak within the Shades present domain. If we don¡¯t kill it soon it won''t even be a week until it doubles its current domain, where it won''t just be healed but even stronger than before. If that happens only the elders, and Storm Guard will be able to deal with it.¡±


    Fenton''s words were perturbing but I we were all already aware of the danger we could face, but our trust in him was solid, He would never put us in a situation we couldn''t handle, though the level of danger was always something to watch for.


    Shifting my attention I sense a powerful killing intent to my side. Anita¡¯s composure was a mess but I couldn¡¯t blame her feelings. As a lover, and protector of nature the loathsome existence of a shade slandered, and attacked all her beliefs.


    ¡°I''m going to eradicate that filth from the world, and use its revolting cadaver as a tribute to properly send the souls of the forest into the next life.¡± Vow dripping with bloodthirst, Anita¡¯s promise caused Fenton back to straighten, and even the massive Gorn wasn¡¯t immune as I saw his face twitch at every word. Body shivering barely containing her molten wrath, I wrapped her in a hug as the pleasant scent of pine filled my nose. Her rage started to slowly simmer down, still present but now properly restrained.


    A massive crystal screen in front of us gave us a detailed view of the shades domain as we entered it. Death had ravaged this poor land, as the once flowing emerald forests were nothing but whitened trees. Poisonous Miasma drifted across the valleys with the wind, slowly encroaching the edge of the Shades domain.


    At the stable speed of 700 km/h the Stardrop was going they would reach the target within a few minutes. The bright violet flash had been a surprise and they were all hoping it was the relic having reacted to the Shades presence once more. The weaker it was when the crew engaged it the better off they would all be in the fight.


    Sitting directly across from me on the roundtable that we used for planning, Carvolo stood up, gave me some good news for once. ¡°Captain, During my coming of age ceremony my mother provided me with the gift of 3 Dhiaga Arrows. While difficult to shoot they should be able to deeply harm the Shade if you all create an opening for me.¡±


    Carvolos sudden words left the rest of the crew and myself all stunned for a second as I stared at the radiant aura the azure arrows in his hand seemed to emit. His devotion to the mission made smile as I happen to be aware of exactly how much one of those arrows cost, having seen it in one of my father''s monthly catalogs he got from the Mezz continent. Let''s just say that two dozen would probably be enough to pay of the rest of the massive debt that I had incurred when purchasing my beautiful skyship.


    Even Anita looked at him without the usual disdain, something that the rest of us rarely ever saw happens. Staring straight into his eyes I watched as he remained stoic, completely unlike his normal self, who would have said something idiotic like ¡®Like what you see Captain?¡¯.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    ¡°I¡¯ll reimburse you for your arrows after the Seatol island mission.¡± Those arrows weren''t cheap, but if we really did kill the Shade, it¡¯s heart should sell for quite a bit on the market, letting me make headway into my debt, even after I split the earnings. Hopefully, Carvolo won''t need to use more than one to kill the shade.


    Gratitude in his eyes Carvolo nodded and fell silent as he joined the rest in mentally preparing for the fight to come.


    The minutes ticked by as Gorn controlled the ship with extreme precision towards our target. Though I might be the Captain I¡¯d be lucky to be considered half as skilled as him when it came to controlling Stardrop.


    Eventually, we came within 10 km of the destination. Anchoring the ship the crew disembarked, while once again controlling the urge to vomit. Gorn then left the ship prep for flight as well as activating its security wards, though this might be the middle of nowhere id like to come back and find my ship in one piece. Lastly, Since Joon didn¡¯t have the ability to keep up with us Anita had him keep watch over the ship as added protection.


    Nightful was less than to hours out so we had to get the job done as soon as possible. Not wasting another moment we silently made our way towards the target. Leaving the ship behind as we sped by the rotting remains of the trees, and the littered carcass of a wide assortment of animals we made sure to watch how much noise our movements made. Spooking the shade into retreating before we got eye¡¯s on it would make the situation escalate from dangerous to deadly.


    With the miasma to deal with, we had to keep the mana in our Dantian constantly flowing throughout our bodies to prevent ourselves from being poisoned. Turning head to the side after another cycle of cleansing the poison, I spotted Anita close at my heels. I couldn¡¯t help but internally sigh as I noticed the disturbing red tint her eyes radiated. Even after calming down most of her anger back at the Stardrop it seems I would have to keep an eye on her so she didn''t do anything too reckless when we came into contact with the Shade.


    Since everyone besides Anita unable to moves as fast over large distances, we had to keep our speed to around half of what we could normally achieve. I was in the lead closely followed by Anita, then Carvolo, and with Fenton and Gorn tied for last.


    As we were barreling by a small stream I started noticing that the miasma was becoming increasingly thin and eventually it was completely gone as we found ourselves breaking into a small clearing.


    Standing solitary at the base of a hill we spotted a miserable shack so short that it couldn¡¯t even accommodate an adult unless they got onto their knees. It didn¡¯t even have a roof from what we could tell leaving me to wonder what the point of even build the measly thing was if it was no different from being out in the open.


    ¡°Since when did Shades take up carpentry?¡± Fenton''s words cause the rest of the group to look at him like an idiot, which was exactly what he was at the moment. Glaring daggers at him I emphasized with my eyebrows for him to shut his stupid mouth. I swear it''s like the more dangerous the situation the more likely he is to crack a joke.


    Closely inspecting the shack that looked ready to fall over at the slightest touch, we closed in. Even though my nerves were a mess as the Captain I kept myself calm on the outside and led the rest of the crew forward with the all the bravery I could muster.


    At first mild wind seem to be the only sound in this world of death, but as we approached something else echoed in our ears. The softest of breathing could be heard coming from the shack, leaving us all stunned in silence.


    Time seemed to come to a stop as we all stood to stare into the shack, I wasn''t even breathing at this point making the blood flow in my ears sound like the pounding of two massive drums. Two petite girls slept within each other''s arms, with the larger of the two holding the younger one protectively.


    Mouth agape my mind finally decided it was time to form coherent thoughts. ¡°Children! How the hell had children gotten here!¡± My mind was a mess as I tried to comprehend how these two girls got so far in the middle of nowhere. Then another thing clicked in my head as I noticed their lack of horns! There not Sarvi! Head spinning with all these questions I turned to Fenton hoping for some answers as to what the fuck was going on.


    Eye¡¯s so wide they looked like they were about to pop out of their sockets Fenton remained unresponsive, his gaze never leaving the girls in the shack. This was mimicked almost exactly by the rest of the crew. If I didn¡¯t know any better my crewmates were secretly all goldfish.


    Second, to recover Anita, eye¡¯s lost the red from before and a deep worry had replaced them as she was the next to speak up. ¡°Why are their children here! We gotta get them out of here before the shade returns!


    So many questions to handle, this trip had ended in failure and now the best course of action we could take left before the shade notices us.


    As though listening in on our thoughts a hideous chuckle echoed lightly. ¡°He...he...Heee..¡± The breeze stopped. The scent of rot intensified, as an artic chill seemed to settle on our bodies.


    ¡°The shades awake.¡± While trying to hide the dismay in his voice Carvolo said what we all sensed. Everyone¡¯s blood ran cold as we looked at the children before us. The notion of fighting the shade instantly left us, we simply couldn''t afford to engage it under these circumstances.


    ¡°Grab them, and head back to the ship! Fenton keep them asleep, we can¡¯t afford the have them wake up struggling in this danger.¡± With my swift orders, we jumped into action. Pulling out a vial from his bag of holding Fenton directly tossed a small amount of sleeping powder onto the children''s noses whose eyes were flickering at the noise, but with the ability to knock out a creature 10 times the children''s size they were unable to resist its effects.


    Grabbing the two girls, and placing them between my arms, I was alarmed to notice that one of them children was nothing but skin and bones, but with our current predicament, all I could do was push these thoughts to the back of my mind to deal with later.


    ¡°Gorn grab Fenton and use one for your toys, you¡¯ll need to keep up with us!¡± My neck was starting to prickle as a powerful sense of forbidding hit my soul. The shade was coming, and it wasn¡¯t very far from us.


    Apparently, I wasn¡¯t the only one who perceived this as I saw the faces of the crew turn pale. Though within Anita eyes traces of red could be seen again, but the need to protect the girls squashed down her anger giving her intense focus on our current predicament.


    Gorn unceremoniously picked up Fenton like a bag of potatoes and tossed him on his back as a floating glowing disk appeared at his feet, which exploded with momentum as he quickly closed in on our heels.


    A frigid cold was beginning to enclose us as we madly, rushed our way back to the StarDrop. The thunderous sound of trees exploding into splinters echoed behind us, compelling us all to move even fast than before.


    Before long I had exceeded what I previously called my top speed, as the danger spurred my mana to new heights within me. Oh, where all the bravery from before had gone I wondered.


    ¡°Thump thump thump. Now, where¡­ are you¡­ taking my meal¡­.?¡± The vilest of voices reverberated behind us, as its heavy footsteps got closer and closer.


    I was racking my brain for what we could possibly do! The ship was less than 500 meters away but the shade was less than 100 behind us, and at the speed, it was going someone was going to get caught. But like a gift from the heavens, my brain lit up as I got an idea!


    ¡°CARVOLO!!!! DETONATE YOUR DHAIGA ARROWS BEHIND US IF YOU WANT TO SURVIVE!!!!¡± Screaming so loud I felt the sweet taste of iron in my mouth as hurt my throat.


    Now, this was the moment of truth, would he waste all his arrows and guarantee us some time to get away, or would be stingy, and only use one which would likely only enrage the shade.


    ¡°DETONATE!!!¡± I quickly got my answer as a powerful explosion propelled me and the rest of the crew forwards at twice our speed, quickly closing the gap between us and the ship.


    As I managed to land safely with the children next to the Stardrop the ghastliest scream of pain I¡¯d ever heard radiated within my mind, and even managing to rattle my soul''s defense.


    ¡°RUN FROM ME FOOLS, BUT I WON''T BE DENIED MY MEAL! I''ll FIND YOU AGAIN AND DISEMBOWEL YOU WITH YOUR OWN HANDS MAY THE HEAVENS AND HELLS BEAR WITNESS TO MY VOW!!! The shades promise was so powerful it even causes the heavenly lightning to streak across the previously empty sky.


    Tightly hugging the innocent children the Shade had chosen as it meal, a budding rage was blooming in my heart at its heinous vow. ¡®Well, I won''t let you fiend, let see how tuff you really are when you come to Yuroto.¡¯ If it even got within 100km of the Capital death was all that would await it.


    The ship was taking off as we caught the barest glimpse of the monster that had chased us. Standing 3m tall with thick black fur covering every part of its body, the appearance of manlike moose stared at our departing ship with the ink black eyes the only promised suffering.


    Glancing away I brought the children to the medical bay to see if Fenton could find anything wrong with them. Then maybe some answers to all these questions swirling in my head. I guess I now have two new temporary cabin girls. A light smile breaking my face after the stress of the last few hours.

 Chapter 7 Ghost Eyes

    It¡¯s been 2 hours since their brush with the shade but Mel could still feel the smallest tremors of fear in her heart as she stared at the malnourished young girl in the infirmary bed. Since they arrive on the ship Fenton had been examining her, checking for any other issues she might have. The younger child had already been cleared, with Fenton even declaring she was healthier than a normal child had any right to be, but since they didn''t know their race they couldn''t completely be sure about anything so they left the other sleeping child in the care of Anita as they attended to the older girl.


    ¡°Well, I honestly have no idea how this girl is even alive right now. She¡¯s way below the threshold for starvation yet I can''t seem to find any negative influences because of it. Her breathing''s stable but during my examination, I tried injecting some of my mana into her to catch a reaction from her body, but then something odd happened.¡± Turning away from the child Fenton showed Mel a face she rarely got the chance to see. A clueless frown filled his face making his soft face feel somewhat childish.


    Containing a small laugh at Fenton¡¯s perturbed state, Mel felt more of the fear evaporate, and a light smile blossom on her face. As long as the children were safe, oddities could be dealt with later on.


    ¡°So what exactly happened then Fen? Or are you trying to build suspense again?¡± Mel knew that Fenton was serious this time but since he always seemed to like make jokes during similar situations, she decided to take a jab at him in revenge.


    ¡°What?! NO!¡± Face being dyed a light scarlet Fenton realized what Mel was doing, and changed the focus back to the girl.


    ¡°My mana hit a wall and bounced right back at me. The only reason I was able to diagnose her partially was because of how thin she is. Though I do recommend a shower for her, she¡¯s covered in dried blood but I can''t seem to find the wounds that might have caused it, so I''ll have Anita do a full body search on her after everyone cleans up. Then maybe we could get some answers to this strange incident.¡±


    This rare serious side was nice Mel thought, if only he acted like this 10% of the time, she could tolerate his wild antics with less stress.


    Nodding to his words Mel then froze a new thought shoved itself into her recently relaxed mind.


    ¡°So I understand that they aren''t Sarvi, but how did they evade the Guardian?... Did the Guardian even notice their intrusion?..... I find it hard to believe that 2 children did what thousands of powerful experts have tried in the past.¡± Mel¡¯s face grew solemn as her thoughts started taking a turn for the worse.Stolen novel; please report.


    ¡°How are we going to explain their existence to the Council Fen?¡± Mel began to realize they might be entering a dark hole.


    Being as smart as he was Fen easily picked up on what Mel meant and boy it wasn''t good. Face turning somber, It felt to Mel that his antler horns were drooping, azure even eyes losing some of their brightness.


    ¡°While the Council of Elders might be a bunch of asshats, they aren¡¯t truly cruel otherwise they would never have made it into the council in the first place. But the Five Noble families? Some wouldn''t hesitate to torture these children if it meant learning how they evaded the guardian¡¯s notice. Some might even keep them as pets simply because they were of a different race making them the rarest pets you could ever acquire on the island.¡±


    The dark thoughts came without end as Mel began to realize their worries were actually still very present, but now they were being caused by their own people instead of a demonic shade.


    At every word, Fenton''s face seemed to grow darker and darker until eventually, in an act of defiance he erupted with emotion!


    ¡°NO! THESE INNOCENT CHILDREN DON''T DESERVE SUCH A FATE! The dimness in his eyes was snuffed out as a burning Azure blaze shone brightly. He looked so heroic for once, his posture straight as an arrow, a huge difference to his normally slouched self, but it seemed to come at a cost as blood began to leak from his mouth.


    Feeling the vibrations in the air Mel could instantly tell Fenton had destabilized hisDantian as the mana began to leak from his in large waves.


    Rising quickly Mel smacked him in the back of the head to calm him down. While she was proud of his words, he couldn''t allow his cultivation to suffer a backlash because of his sentiments. If he was lucky the backlash would only leave him bedridden for a month, anything worse could possibly leave him crippled or dead.


    ¡°CALM DOWN IDIOT!¡± Hell now even she was yelling. ¡°Don''t destabilize yourDantian just because you got angry. Let¡¯s calm down and try to figure out a solution. Though I think it would be better if we were all present. The more minds we have tackling this problem the faster we can find a solution.


    Wiping the blood from his mouth, His eyes still shone with vigor but he nodded softly.


    ¡°Thanks, Mel. Who knows what would happen to me if you weren''t always there for me. Blushing lightly he turned his mind inward towards his soul to stabilize himself.


    The path of cultivation was a dangerous one with the possibility of powerful emotions regardless of their origin being strong catalysts for disturbing the inner peace of the soul. To control oneself even in such a situation was one of the many things they were taught as children when the first began cultivating.


    ¡°Probably dead in the middle of nowhere idiot.¡± Mel couldn''t help but mumble back as she turned her gaze towards the child only to find herself staring at a pair of Ghostly Violet eyes. She shivered lightly and ¡°Oh.." was all she got out of her mouth before the child burst out of the bed.

 Chapter 8 Five Seconds

    While swimming between the layers of my murky subconscious, an assortment of voices entered my ears. Their strange language feeling familiar enough to cause some recognition within me yet sufficiently alien to my ears that I couldn¡¯t comprehend what they were discussing.


    Time passed, the world around me but a dreamy wisp, a leaf in the air being carried around. The only thoughts focused on how comfortable the bed beneath me felt and the absence of a dark presence I couldn''t recall.


    The cozy air and calmness of the room was akin to the first night I found the blankets in the iron ring. ¡°No this is even better than that time.¡± The fleeting thought forming just as it was about to sink me deeper into my subconscious, but like always peace rarely stayed with me for long.


    A fierce wave of mana washed over me materializing ripples throughout the calm pond that had once been my mind, yet now transformed into a roiling storm with wild and seething waves as high as mountains.


    Breaking free from storm my I regained consciousness, shoving myself up from my resting position and coming face to face with the eyes of someone new.


    Time slowed to a crawl while my wits were captured by her exquisite beauty. A young lady with hair like reddening autumn leaves, appearing no older than 17 yet emitting an aura of maturity returned my own stupefied gaze with her own equally dazed expression. Narrow eyebrows stretching upwards brought into my focus emerald gems speckled in gold that I could only deduce to be her eyes. Yet she gave even more for me to gawk at as my stare found an even more absurdity with her appearance. Sepia horns thick as my wrist created a marvel of nature as they extended out, performing an entire curved loop a few centimeters above her head before ending as dangerous tips that could probably gore me without difficulty. Now here stood a very pretty lady, with very scary horns.


    The speed at which my mind was processing all this information was alarming, and I¡¯d yet to encounter a situation that would cause this reaction from my body. However like thunder striking down twice another ripple struck my sanity as I realized my little Ember was nowhere to be seen.


    Focus changing instantly, my previously weak and frail body was set ablaze as the mana within me became a vitality that filled every muscle fiber, ligament, and tendon with the untamed fury of a savage beast.


    The world became crisper as a singular thought erased all unneeded distractions from my conscious mind. ¡°FIND EMBER.¡± A purpose, a desire, an objective. There was no time to think about the situation, only finding Ember mattered.


    Balmy fists clenching tightly around the blanket that I had just recently been snuggling, I met the tepid air with vigor and tossed fabric over my horned watcher who continued to remain dazed and unresponsive.


    Body low to the ground, the bare soles of my feet and toes find their grip to be weak on the smooth polished wooden floor but they hold on nonetheless. With my brain working overtime my perception of time moved at a snail''s pace as the blanket fell towards the horned lady. Every footstep pushing my boundaries as my feeble body screamed in protest at the strain it was being put under.


    The door was hard to miss as it happened to be three meters right behind the horned lady, my resolves harden as I approach from the side hoping that I was quick enough to avoid her.


    With the blistering speed, my mind was processing the information I doubted more than three seconds had passed since I made my move. However it looked like my capturer was finally on the response as the blanket was swept aside with adept hands, and the emerald eyes of before were afire with intense scrutiny with its sole focus being my little self.


    If the adrenaline and thoughts of danger that might occur Ember had not sharpened my mind to a singular focus I probably would have frozen like prey beneath a predatory gaze.


    What happened next was beyond what I could have expected as just as I passed her side she moved with such speed I all I ended up seeing was the cast of a shadow fall over me. A powerful prickling on the back of my neck was all the warning I needed as I pour even more mana into my forward extending foot and released all the potential energy in one step sending me forward at three times my previous pace and avoiding the attempt that had been made to grab on to me.


    With my adrenaline numbing the pain of my broken toes I flew towards the door, hand ready to shut it behind so I could buy myself some much needed time.


    Then the prickling returned but even more powerful than before as I managed to catch a blur speed by my side and then appear in front of me, sharpening into focus as the lady. For the first time since gaining this supernatural focus anxiety started to gnaw on the surface of my heart, then my little Ember who I promised to protect the moment she entered this world appeared in my mind. The memory of seeing her first as her nestling form, and then in her child state, made me realize I couldn''t accomplish anything without first hardening my heart.


    ¡°Sorry lady, I¡¯m hoping this is all just some misunderstanding but I can''t take the risk right now and find out. I must find my little Ember.¡± A frown slowly painted my face as I made my decision.


    At the speed I was going I could make it to the door without a single additional footstep, but the horned lady was in my way, so the only way around was to take her down. Unfortunately for me, the only method I had was to try and knock out an adult who was few times my height and weight. Additionally that didnt even take into consideration how much faster she was than me. She was definitely as my book had mentioned, a cultivator so sending her into sleepy time would require multiple times more force than my body could probably handle. Concentration reaching a new extremity I fully pieced together my plan from loose bits of information floating around my chaotic mind.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    ¡°Pretty horned lady, most likely a cultivator, fast, around 175cm, 3 times my height, highest point I could hit would be the upper left side of her chest. If I''m lucky this should hurt enough to leave her breathless!¡±


    If I found the singular focus I had before to frightening it was nothing compared to what happen began next. The colors of the world drained away leaving only a blank canvas as only the horned lady and I remained.


    Massive migraine forming, I forced my left leg downward, turning my waist and upper body towards to the right transforming all my momentum into rotational energy. Giving it my all to stay balanced I felt the bones in my ankle strain under the pressure but hold just long enough all me to whip my right leg with enough force to break bones.


    As the power of my kick connected to her ribcage, I felt something go incredible wrong as my leg rebounded off the soft flesh, fracturing and then snapping in multiple spots.


    My eyesight went molten white as the pain robbed me of my mental facilities, and a powerful scream backed by my mana infused longs shattered my own eardrums leaving me to fall to the floor frothing at the mouth.


    Guess I¡¯d failed my little Ember, the one thought in the all the pain that I managed to form before the tears fell and I wailed because of the pain, and more importantly because of Ember.


    5 Seconds earlier Melanie''s perspective


    Violet eerie eye¡¯s unlike anything Melanie had ever witnessed in her life gazed into her own, containing unknown depths of sadness and melancholy within them. The pain and anguished emotions that were sent over were so powerful and debilitating that if her mental strength hadn''t been high enough she just might have been rendered a wailing mess.


    As the blanket eventually fell over Melanie face she finally snapped out of her daze, the break in sight had stopped the strange hypnosis the eyes had put her under. Though deep in her soul she could tell those emotions the child had transmitted were truthful, and it hurt her to know someone so young could be carrying such trauma she knew she would have to detain the child until they could have Gorn put a suppression bracelet on her. Only Fen had high enough mental strength to resist such an ability completely, but he was currently stabilizing his Dantian leaving him clueless to the events of his immediate surroundings.


    Swiftly, swiping away the blanket she caught sight of the child from the corner of her vision but making sure to avoid eye contact. Thin, and frail she was yet what little muscle existed on her bones could be seen bulging outwards, the effort evident even without Melanie''s entire focus on her. This child was fast, maybe even slightly faster than Melanie herself had been at that age, and thats saying something since she was considered a genius for her mana control when she first started cultivating as a child.


    All it took was three seconds for the girl to traverse close to four meters from a resting position, and Melanie was kinda impressed but it was but a kitten before her mother in Melanie''s eyes as she made a soft swipe for the child''s chest, planning to catch them and calm them down in her embrace.


    Melanie suspected the child was probably reacting to the disappearance of the other girl, who was likely her younger sister, but Fenton had promised that the girls would remain asleep for at least another 1 hour before their bodies filtered the sleeping powder. So either this girl had a strong resistance to drugs or Fenton''s emotional burst had woken her up when the mana flowed over her body. Both conclusions being extraordinary if either turns out to be true.


    Watching her arm close in on the child Melanie was once again stunned as the child suddenly exploded with speed, leaving blood stain footprint on the polished floors.


    ¡°What!! Did she just destroy her toes for additional speed!¡± Stunned Melanie¡¯s eye¡¯s followed the child who shot forward like an arrow from a bow straight and true towards the door. This child was now moving much faster than a kid their age was capable of, and the stain on the floor told Melanie the child''s own body agreed with this.


    ¡°This girl''s crazy! She''s going to cripple herself like this!¡± Melanie realized that this girl was even more mysterious than before, such resolve at her age was unbelievable. Melanie became even more worried now as she realized this ghost-eyed child wouldn¡¯t give up until she was completely suppressed. The girl was completely fine with breaking their bones if it meant accomplishing their goal, a conviction was rare even in adults with ages in the triple digits.


    There was no more holding back Melanie discerned, she was going to incapacitate the child so she could calm her, and finally get some answers to their questions.


    With but the lightest steps Melanie''s figure moved, instantaneously appearing in front of the child''s arms ready to drag them into a tight embrace to settle down them dow. It would be as easy as picking a daisy from the ground, or at least it should have been if not for what transpired next.


    To her further disbelief the child reacted even faster than Melanie as she brought down her foot and performed a beautiful full circle roundhouse kick leaving Mel unable to react properly beside subconsciously enhancing her side with mana.


    With horrified eye¡¯s she watched the young child¡¯s leg connect with her side, rebound and then shatter in several places sending bone fragments flying throughout the room. Stomach dropping she watched as the pain registered in the young girls face, followed by an inhumanly loud scream that almost shattered Mel''s eardrums.


    Watching the child fall to the floor and begin frothing at the mouth with splintered bones clawing their way out of her flesh, Mel could only fall right next to the child and grasp them tightly using what little experience she had with healing magic to try and numb the pain.


    ¡°IM SORRY! IM SORRY! IM SORRY!¡± Mel had only brought more pain into the child''s life. She thought she was taking the child serious when she made the attempt to grab them, but if that had been the case this never would have happened.


    Cradling the wailing child Mel was quickly surrounded by the rest of the crew as the scream brought them all down to the medical bay as fast as they could. When they saw the bleeding and wailing child, their gazes shifted to focus on Mel.


    Child in hand Anita came crouch next to Mel giving the girl a quick glance, then began to softly stroke Mels hair.


    ¡°Shush Mel its ok, relax, let''s get the girl to the bed and see if we can wake Fenton up.¡± Mel remained unresponsive as she held the girl gently, the guilt strangling her as she found it hard to breathe.


    It was at that moment though that the wailing girl stopped suddenly, and their hand reached out for the other girl in Anita¡¯s arms.


    ¡°Ember..¡± the Archaic word escaped the pain clenched lips before the child visible relaxed and finally passed out, as the worry within her face washed away.