《Quantum》


 Chapter 1

    Year 839 of the Fourth Era.


    A blanket of orange encroached upon the woodlands while the sun steadily rose. The chilly morning breeze slowly warmed as the familiar light shown through the landscape, signaling the inhabitants to awake once more.


    Within a small village, a young boy similarly awoke. He drowsily opened his eyes as he turned his head toward a window in his room. Sunlight pierced through small openings in the poorly crafted wooden window, however, that is just what the boy needed.


    After moving his face away from the slightly blinding light, the boy stood up from his bed and walked toward a large bowl filled with water. He splashed his face a couple times before he turned around to look at the other side of the large room.


    Father must already be in the field.


    The boy looked away from his father''s bed and proceeded to the door of his home. After he opened it, a familiar site appeared before his eyes. Several mud-built homes were lined up everywhere; the roofs of such houses were entirely made from straw and giant leaves woven around large branches. The huts themselves were, of course, not only built from mud but from a collection of materials that were hardened and used as a structure.


    The boy saw other children walking out of their homes to enjoy the sunlight. Mothers carrying empty bowls proceeded to coach along their children, handing them their own bowls. All the women and children started to walk toward their only source of water: the river.


    The boy looked behind him to find no one. His father was already out in the field and he had never even seen his mother before. Unfortunately, such a fate was no all that uncommon. The boy was familiar with other children whose mothers had died in childbirth; such a thing wasn''t preventable with their primitiveness. However, there of course were mothers that had survived and lived on to give another one or two children. The fathers were the ones that usually worked all day long either in the field or hunting and gathering for food.


    Despite the village''s rigorous attempts to farm, most crops continued to die. Most of the villages food source was still hunting animals and gathering food from plants that grew in the wild. Many problems existed with their farms that they had yet to discover, unfortunately.


    The boy walked back inside his home to grab his own bowl to fill with water by the river. Because he was alone he would have to do quite a few trips. His father was always busy so the boy had to take care of the house himself.


    After he got his bowl, the boy started to walk toward the river. He heard a couple voices from his right as two other boys jogged over to him.


    "Elkon, good morning!"


    "Good morning Elkon."


    The two boys greeted the young boy, Elkon, with their own bowls in hand.


    "Good morning Sati and Luid." Elkon replied with a slight smile on his face.


    "Ready to do the usual?" Sati said.


    "Yea, but it''s too early to do chores, isn''t it?" Elkon stated.


    "I agree, but father always wakes me up so early. Why can''t we just sleep in once in a while?" Luid said while yawning.


    "Because if we don''t get water, we die!" Sati exclaimed.


    "Yea but we won''t die by not collecting water this early in the morning!" Luid replied.


    "Luid, you''re always looking to get out of chores. It''s not like we have anything else to do, right"?


    "Of course I have other things!"


    "Like what?" Elkon asked as he rolled his eyes.


    "Like playing warrior with my big bro!"


    "But your brother is always out helping your father. You know you can''t play with him anymore." Sati said.


    "I know...I just wish he wasn''t so tired all the time. I think he''s sick." Luid said.


    "There''s no way he''s sick. Your big brother used to have even more energy than Elkon!" Sati exclaimed.


    "Right? Which is why I think he''s sick...I want to do something for him but what can we do? We don''t have a healer in our village..."


    Luid looked down as he walked with the other two boys. Elkon stared at Luid as they leisurely walked down the path. He knew that Luid''s mother had died because of an unknown illness, so he understood why Luid would occaisonally talk about becoming a healer.


    Unfortunately, an eight-year old healer is practically impossible. Even an authentic healer may have no been able to do anything to cure such unknown illnesses. Most people weren''t able to overcome illnesses and healers were very rare.


    "Well, maybe you can become a healer one day." Elkon stated.


    "Yea right. I barely want to do chores, what good would I be as a healer?" Luid replied.


    "Don''t say that. We need healers. I bet you''d do great at healing people."


    Luid only faintly smiled as the trio arrived at the river.


    The river itself was fairly big; it was approximately sixty feet across yet the deepest part would only go up to a grown man''s waist. Fortunately for the village, the water within the river came straight from a mountain near them. Whenever it snowed during the winter, the river would rise but the village itself was far away enough to not be flooded. To the villagers, this river was a godsend.


    Seeing a spot open, the trio walked over and filled up their bowls with water. Other villagers were busy chatting and gathering water. A few children walked into the shallowest parts of the river to play while the older kids, usually around eight to twelve years old, would help their mothers.


    Elkon decided to relax a little before bringing the water back to his home. The other two boys stayed as well and watched the younger kids play in the river.


    "We used to be that young once, huh?" Sati said.


    "Yea, but now we have to gather water and stuff. Wish I could still play with them." Luid replied.


    "Yea, those were fun ti-"


    Before Sati could finish, the trio heard a loud scream from one of the mothers. They turned their heads to look over at her only to see one of her fingers pointed upstream.


    Elkon moved his head and spotted it: a flash flood.


    Why is there a flash flood?!


    He immediately stood up holding his bowl of water and begun to move away from the river. Everyone else that was there did the same, however, many abandoned their bowls in order to pick up their children.


    "The kids in the water!" Sati exclaimed.


    Elkon looked toward the river and noticed there were a few kids still knee-deep inside it. He glanced to the left to see how quickly the water was moving downstream. After just one second, Elkon''s only thought was to abandon the children still in the river.


    He saw Sati instantly move forward yet Luid seemed to be planted to the ground. Elkon noticed Luid''s frozen expression and understood it wasn''t because Luid didn''t want to save the children, it was because he was too scared to act. Sati on the other hand seemed to have no regard for his own life as he sprinted forward in order to help the children out of the river.


    However, before Sati could even take his second step, Elkon grabbed Sati''s arm and flung him backward. Of course, being only eight years old, the distance Sati was thrown wasn''t far. Sati stumbled a few paces before falling on his butt. He incredulously stared at Elkon as he saw him do the same to Luid.


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    "You idiots, they''re already gone. Save yourselves instead of dying a useless death." Elkon stated.


    Although it took long to describe, Elkon''s decision and action only took two seconds. However, two seconds was quite long when facing a flash flood.


    Sati and Luid both stared at Elkon in disbelief. They could feel a faint feeling of pressure coming from Elkon''s gaze, causing them to subconsciously get up and run away. Elkon calmly but quickly walked in the same direction while he silently looked upstream.


    The flash flood was only a couple seconds away. The roaring of water became louder and louder even though Elkon was now several feet away. Judging how much water was coming down, he was confident in his own judgement of the distance between him and edge of the water.


    Despite Sati and Luid running away, there were obviously a couple others that went to try to save the kids in the river. The screams of the children were already being drowned out by the sound of the raging water. Even the shouts of the adults that were trying to save them could barely be heard.


    Because of how far the children were in the river, there was basically no hope to save them. Elkon knew this by merely glancing at them. He also knew that others would try to save them regardless, that is one of the reasons why he decided to to get Sati and Luid to run away. The second reason is because he''d rather use his energy saving the two people he was close to rather than children he didn''t know and that had no chance of surviving a random disaster such as this.


    It wasn''t difficult to theorize why a flash flood occured; maybe it was because it was near the end of winter and something had blocked all the snow from the mountain so it all came down at once when there was enough pressure. Regardless, it happened.


    Only one second had passed and Elkon was another few feet away. He could now only faintly hear the others in the river. He decided not to look in their direction anymore, mostly because he already came to the conclusion that they were gone. Looking at them before they were swept away would only serve as an even worse experience.


    Of course, Elkon''s line of thinking was much simpler. He just didn''t want to watch as people from his village were killed. He also knew that he had abandoned them, but for a good reason in his mind.


    Now, only the sound of water entered Elkon''s ears. Because of this, he could hear nothing else. What he didn''t notice and what he didn''t even consider was debris being carried in the flood. Maybe it was because he was too young to consider all the possibilities and dangers, and this was the cause of his own disaster.


    As the water behind him swept through the river, Elkon understood that the people behind him were no longer in the same world. He continued to walk foward, yet to his surprise, the scene in front of his eyes instantly changed. He felt something swipe past his leg, flipping and flinging him a few feet into the air. The world in his eyes was only a swirl and he felt air ripping around his body.


    He didn''t know what hit him and he would probably never find out. He only knew that now, he was in the same situation as the people that were in the river. After only a second, he felt the deathly cold water engulf him. The force of the moving water propelled him foward and he could feel a few bones in his body cracking. The pain of the injuries was so intense that he almost blacked out. At the same time, water replaced the air that escaped his lungs.


    Elkon could only see blackness. His bones hurt and his chest hurt. His head was pounding as he struggled to not take in any more water. Yet, despite his efforts, his weak childish body could not resist the pain any longer. Water entered his lungs before he felt a sudden pull come from beneath him.


    Elkon''s body was suddenly sucked downward within a current. A hole was at the bottom of the river, which water was flowing into. Luckily for Elkon, the force of him plunging into the water and flowing along a strong current forced him to the bottom of the river toward the hole.


    Unknown to him, the same fate occurred to a couple others. However, Elkon''s situation was maybe a little better than theirs.


    Of course, Elkon had no idea what was happening because he was already unconscious. His body was flowing down the large tunnel until suddenly being thrown out into a small but deep pond. The tunnel connected to an underground cave, and the water the flowed into it created a pond that slowly flowed toward another location.


    Inside the cave itself were large crystals placed in random locations. They gave off a powerful light that illuminated the entirety of the cave. Outside of the small pond was flat ground with an odd structure placed against the back wall. Next to the pond were three bodies strewn about.


    A fourth appeared alongside large waves created by the influx of water through the hole. Due to the large waves, the body was flipped over the edge of the pond onto solid ground. This body wasn''t a dead body, actually. A small flicker of life was left behind by the unconsciousness of its mind and, due to that small flicker, his body spasmed while water flowed out of his mouth.


    Small pockets of air entered the body''s lungs but were quickly forced out alongside water. Tears leaked out of the eyes as the body subconsciously clutched its head. After a few seconds of continuous forceful coughing, the body successfully obtained enough air to force out the remaining water. It continued to do so several times before signs of calmness started to show.


    The body belonged to Elkon. Because he lost consciousness, his body was free to focus all of its energy on surviving. However, due to the lack of oxygen, the damage to his brain wasn''t something to ignore. It took quite some time for his breathing to finally settle. Fortunately, the damage done to his mind wasn''t too extreme. Otherwise, he would probably be considered brain dead.


    Despite that, the damage done to his body was extensive. Almost all the bones in his body were either broken or shattered. It was safe to say that his moving body looked like a wet noodle. However, if one looked closely enough, they would be able to see that the light coming from the crystals were slowly moving through Elkon''s skin. The process was incredibly slow, but the light was healing his physical body.


    Unfortunately for the other bodies, although the light was doing the same for them, they were already considered brain dead. It is unknown whether the light could fully heal the brain. Since damage to the brain is directly linked to the mind, whether their minds returned after their brains were healed or not is something that remains to be seen. For Elkon, however, the chance of such a healing occurring is more likely.


    It was in this way that Elkon silently slept. He slept for an unknown amount of time. The light was miraculous enough to provide the needed nutrients to his body. Yet the light did not have strengthing capabilities, only healing. Even if he was fully healed by the light, he would still have the same childish body that he had before.


    Then, Elkon awoke.

 Chapter 2

    Elkon''s breathing slightly increased after seeing an odd light enter his eyes. The confusion he felt grew as a warm sensation wrapped around him. Despite this warm feeling, he felt incredible pain all over his body. He tried to move his finger yet only that caused excruciating pain to course through his hand. The after-chill of the pain swept down his sides and back.


    He tried his best to calm his breathing. He noticed from the pain that by expanding his chest too much from breathing would cause his pain to increase. Not only this, but every time he exhaled, his head pounded with pain. He tried his best to think of anything else but his mind was still too muddled to fully comprehend the situation or location he was in. He failed to notice that his new reality was being trapped inside an underground cave.


    After about one minute, Elkon blacked out once again. Fortunately for him, his body healed slightly faster when he was unconsciousness. The more relaxed his body the easier it was for it to healed. The only other bad thing in his situation was the oddly preserved dead bodies of other villagers near him. Of course, Elkon didn''t even notice them. Yet there was still an eerie silence that permeated through the cave. One alive, the rest dead. All of them were motionless for a long time.


    Another unknown period of time passed before Elkon woke up. This time he was able to slightly move his body. His eyes'' ability to focus dramatically improved, allowing to him to make out the area around him. Although his mind was still slightly muddled he was able to understand that he was not somewhere he knew. For sure, he had to be in a place no one else had been to before. As far as he knows, he was just in a deserted cave. Little did he know that he technically wasn''t alone.


    Elkon greatly struggled to move his head. He saw to his right the bodies of other villagers. Elkon was slightly confused as to why their bodies hadn''t started to rot, so he guessed that they might still be alive. His knowledge of the world was very limited, so he did not know anything about the light that had been continuously absorbed by his body. The dead bodies of the villagers also did the same, even though they were dead. Elkon hoped they were in the same situation he was but he wouldn''t know for sure until his mind cleared. He wasn''t panicking mostly because he was too confused about his situation to even panic. It was either that or he didn''t care enough to panic.


    The only thing Elkon heard was the soft splashing of water. He still felt pain through his entire body. He was able to slightly move his limbs but his movement was limited. Really, the only thing he could do was look around with his eyes. For now he wouldn''t unwillingly drop into unconsciousness so he decided to survey his surroundings as best he could.


    In his sight, the cave was almost perfectly smooth. The creators of light, which he just discovered were actually large crystal-like structures, were spread out evenly within the cave. They also did not look naturally grown but intelligently controlled. There weren''t crystals growing out in random directions, they seemed to be perfectly cylindrical in shape. The light they emitted was pure white and had no color. Though due to Elkon''s vision still not being completely focused, he imagined there was a colorful spectrum of light flickering through the air.


    Elkon tried to move his arm but the pain was too intense for him to do so. He felt the light flowing through his skin and disappearing inside his body. Despite it only being a healing light, it seemed to be changing Elkon''s body on the atomic level. Obviously he didn''t notice it himself. Instead of it strengthening his body, it was changing it instead. The process was slow, however.


    Feeling the warm light, Elkon decided to slip into dreamland.


    ___


    Elkon slowly opened his eyes to the same scene he saw before. This time though he didn''t feel pain. He sat up and bent his knees. To his surprise, his joints didn''t ache. He did not know how long he had been in the cave for, but it was definitely a long time. The clothes on his body had a small layer of dust on them, which lightly moved when he sat up.


    He looked up at the hole in the wall and noticed that the water seemed to be flowing through more calmly. He saw the pond and the small stream that connected to another hole about forty feet away. The water passing through seemed to have been put there purposefully, though with the passage of time the water had gradually wore down the ground it flowed against.


    He noticed the bodies strewn about near him. In total, there were four. He guessed another had appeared while he was unconscious. As for the few others that were hit by the wave, Elkon had no idea. The four bodies on the ground seemed to be perfectly preserved with no hints of injuries. He recognized their faces but as for their names, he did not know. Elkon felt nothing as he looked at their bodies, probably because they still looked like they were alive.


    He didn''t know the true state of their bodies or brain. Seeing as how he was completely fine after who knows how long he slept, Elkon was curious about the condition their bodies were in. He thought the light had something to do with the healing process his body went through but he doubted that it would bring a person back to life. Perhaps healing the brain could correct damage to it, but to completely revive a person is more complex than just healing.


    Elkon didn''t know what to do so he tore his eyes away from the bodies. He looked toward the far back of the cave and saw a strange structure there. It resembled a large table with various shapes around it. Some of the shapes looked like arms that were connected to the back wall and stretched out above the table. The structure had smaller crystals surrounding it, giving light to everything in the area.


    The sight of it caused Elkon to freeze. He had never seen anything such as that before in his life. He started to walk toward it completely intrigued. As he got closer, he noticed a chair in front of the table. After about a minute of continuous walking, he got close enough to see a vague shape sitting on the chair. A peculiar smell entered Elkon''s nose.


    He walked to the other side of the chair and let out a small yelp of surprise before he took a couple steps away. Sitting in the chair was a skeleton. No skin, no flesh, no hair, just a skeleton. Elkon was most surprised that it was a skeleton and nothing else. The bones themselves seemed clean but Elkon noticed that there were signs of them breaking down.


    Elkon''s surprise quickly became confusion. The bodies of the villagers were perfectly preserved yet this skeleton was here? Elkon thought that maybe the light from the crystals wasn''t all-powerful. If enough time passed, eventually everything breaks down. The same can be said for the skeleton sitting in the chair. But for how long was it down there? How long did it take for it to whittle away to only bones?


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    Elkon didn''t know. It definitely had to be a very long time, though. He guessed the strange odor had to do with the bones. The smell wasn''t the smell of death that Elkon was familiar with. It was a kind of smell that combined a rusty metal with a trace of dry blood.


    Instead of trying to touch the skeleton Elkon moved the chair, which had small wheels on the bottom, a little further away from the table. Getting back, he started to look over the table.


    There were several different objects placed on it. The objects were entirely foreign to Elkon, as the most advanced object he had seen was probably one of the huts he lived in. There was no dust on the table nor any of the objects which seemed peculiar. The strange arms that stretched out from the wall were silently hanging over Elkon as if they were trapped in time.


    In the middle of the table, placed nearest the edge, was a strange board. There were numerous small squares placed on it and a few were different in size. Strange symbols marked each one. Elkon had never seen such symbols before, so his curiosity only grew. Completely intrigued, Elkon reached out and tapped the biggest square he saw.


    The board faintly pulsed with light from the square Elkon pressed. The arms that were so silently hanging suddenly moved to form four points above the table. A blue light appeared between them all, resembling a square. The blue light illuminated the area around the table with a gentle light.


    Symbols appeared within the light screen along with a long white square, a rectangle, below them. Elkon had no idea what it said, obviously, but he had guesses as to what it was. He remembered playing make-believe games with other children. These games included tag, how fast can they run, and game that required them to guess a word to obtain a piece of food or honey.


    Of those games, the word guessing game stood out the most. In order to obtain the right to pass through the white rectangle was to guess a word, Elkon thought. However, how lucky would he have to be in order to correctly guess a word in a language he had never seen before?


    Elkon decided to give it a try regardless. He randomly pressed a few squares and the same symbols he touched appeared in the blue light. After four symbols appeared, the light changed to a different symbol. However, it suddenly went back to the same screen with the white rectangle.


    Wrong, I''m guessing.


    Elkon thought as he tried again.


    The same result appeared. It seemed like it would only ever take four symbols. No more, no less. However, guessing the correct symbol pattern out of all the options still seemed like an impossibility. So, instead of trying to continue guessing, Elkon decided to look around.


    Any symbol Elkon discovered he would try on the board. Unfortunately, none of them worked. He looked almost everywhere on the table but still found nothing pertaining to the symbol pattern. However, there was still one place he didn''t look. The skeleton.


    Elkon turned toward the chair and walked to it. Facing the skeleton once again, he examined it more closely than last time. He couldn''t find anything on or under the skeleton, from what he could see, so he almost gave up. When he looked in-between the skeleton''s knees, he noticed a few markings on the chair itself.


    The markings were quite vague but the general shape were still there. However, those marking didn''t look like the symbols on the board. It was if there were flipped.


    Flipped...?


    Elkon looked at the skeleton then down at the markings.


    Ah, the skeleton carved them from his side but I''m looking at them on the other side.


    Elkon moved behind the skeleton to look over its shoulder down at the markings. However, the symbols still didn''t match anything he saw on the board. There were similarities but the differences made it confusing. For Elkon, he didn''t really understand. So, he just guessed at which ones looked closest to the markings.


    His first attempt was a failure. Elkon didn''t expect much when he continued his attempts. He went back and forth between the markings and the board a couple times to make sure he got his choices correct. Because the markings were so old, they were quite vague. After several attempts Elkon decided to stop and rest.


    Being alive and well is good, but finding a way out is even better. Elkon didn''t know of any other way out of the cave other than the water. He looked around but it still all looked the same. the cave was completely empty except for the water, bodies, and table.


    Elkon wondered why the skeleton, whoever it was, decided to stay inside the cave until he or she died. If they knew everything about the strange objects on the table, then why did they trap themselves? Or, strangely, how did they trap themselves? Why did they decide to die underground within a room by themselves? Where did they come from?


    Elkon sighed and he looked down at the ground. He was only a kid yet he had to end up trapped in a place like that. Not only that, but he was being kept alive by the crystals'' light. He didn''t even have to eat food or drink water because of it.


    He thought of his two friends Sati and Luid. He saved them from killing themselves...


    But...


    Elkon slightly gasped. If he was somehow swiped off his feet by something in the water, then Sati and Luid could have met the same fate. Elkon sighed once again before he sat down on the ground. He hadn''t known Sati and Luid for long. The only reason why they first became friends was because all three of them were the outcasts of the children. They had their differences but they still helped each other out. The other children didn''t bully them, they just had their own groups. The village was a very "help each other out" kind of village, mostly because by helping each other they could become stronger.


    Regardless of that, Elkon still felt depressed. He was all alone and he didn''t know if his only real friends were alive or not. He didn''t know how long the light would keep him alive. The skeleton was proof that his survival was not indefinite and that the light was not all-powerful. It had its own limit but it was still powerful.


    However, that didn''t bring Elkon much relief. He already understood that if there''s no way out and if he couldn''t somehow get passed the security on the blue light, he would stay inside the cave for a very long time before he dies. Just the thought of it made chills run down his back.

 Chapter 3: Discovery

    Elkon remembered the last time he felt this type of deep despair. Despite his young age, because of the various circumstances surrounding the village, Elkon had no choice but to experience scenes and actions done by other villagers or done to other villagers.


    He felt no definitive sadness toward his long-dead mother, mostly because he had never even seen her face before. He envied other children who''s mothers survived child birth but that was all. He didn''t hold dark emotions or thoughts toward the children and fortunately for him he wasn''t seen as an outlier because of his mother. That''s mainly because deaths attributed to child birth was too common.


    The experiences he had to go through were related to raids from surrounding villages, disease, slaughter of livestock for food in desperate times, and other things. The smell of blood and death was already ingrained into his brain, just like all the other children. That was normal for them since the first time they were able to be completely self-aware. After enough time, they all didn''t even blink an eye to seeing an animal being cut into pieces.


    Not only that, but the children begin their training in hunting and butchering from a young age. Around twelve years old is when the adults dictated was the right age for it start, so Elkon still had a few years to go until was forced to do those acts personally. Of course, if everything went according to plan.


    But now, Elkon was trapped underground. He had already been slumped onto the ground wallowing in his self-pity for several minutes. He was scared of the long, lonely years ahead of him. He was too scared to kill himself and thoughts of being unlucky that he survived swam through his head. He felt useless, so he sat there. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he fell to his side. He completely forgot about the blue light, the skeleton, and the dead villagers as he was completely swallowed by his despair...


    He fell asleep after he had cried his eyes out. The light calmed and healed his swollen eyes yet it was unable to influence his emotions whatsoever. Elkon slept on the hard ground for a long time before he opened his eyes once more.


    He sat up and looked around, realizing once again that he was in reality. He started to cry which caused his healed eyes to swell. His head pounded with pain from the stress. The light slightly calmed it, however, it couldn''t do much immediately. Elkon held his head in his hands, and after half an hour of continuous crying, he fell asleep.


    ____________________


    After an unknown period of time, Elkon went through the same cycle again and again. His emotions of despair were too strong for him to counter immediately. The pressing weight of complete loneliness for who knows how long was too much for an eight year old to handle. However, he had experience despair before and was able to pull himself through with his father''s help. This time, though, he only had himself.


    He lost count how many times he had fallen asleep. However, Elkon slowly grew resistant to his despair. Finally, he had woken up without slowly beginning to cry.


    "I need to stop..."


    His voice was hoarse and tired. He chose to speak aloud because he needed to hear at least something other than running water.


    Elkon stood up and smacked his cheeks a few times before walking around.


    "First, I need to think. If this cave was intentionally created, then it needs an exit. The only one I see is where the water flows into. I don''t really like water..."


    Elkon looked toward the table to distract him from thoughts of drowning.


    "Unless it was intentionally created without one. Whoever that skeleton was, they let themselves die here. Who was that person and why did he allow himself to die here? If he wanted to die, then why did he create this healing light..."


    What Elkon saw was a mystery that made no sense. To hide down in a cave just to die but to die slowly? Elkon couldn''t understand the logic behind the decisions that were made. Yet there must have been a reason. Elkon already learned in his short life that everything has an explanation, regardless of how ridiculous it seems.


    He knew that his people weren''t normal. They somehow awakened abilities when they reached a certain physical maturity, usually around the ages of eleven to fourteen. The ability is completely random. For example, someone could be able to run three times faster than a normal person while someone else would be able to create fire from nothing. Others are able to control the hair on their body or even just walking on water. The randomness of the abilities is baffling but there had to be a reason for it.


    Elkon had seen from raids that there were people with truly powerful abilities. For example, he saw his father fighting against a person who were able to grow two arms from his back. His father himself had the ability of controlling anything earth related, though it was quite weak. The strongest person Elkon had seen was able to suck the air out of anything that had lungs. The raids themselves were rare, however.


    Of course, Elkon''s view and experience of the world was quite small. He couldn''t imagine what other abilities might exist. His world only spanned to a few neighboring villages. He once asked his father what was beyond the villages and his father only said that they were within the borders of a kingdom called Magrar. His father didn''t go further into detail, saying that Elkon would learn when he grew up.


    Elkon had no way of knowing what ability he would have but he didn''t have much hope for anything good. Just obtaining an ability like manipulating earth was extremely lucky, regardless of the strength. He knew if he got a useless ability that he would become a useless person who''s only worth was plowing the fields until he died. But if he got a more combat-centered ability that wasn''t pitifully weak, he would have a far better future.


    However, his father was already the third strongest person in his village despite his earth manipulation being so weak. The main reason why his father was considered strong was because he mostly manipulated earth into weapons that he wielded instead of using them as projectiles. Though he also uses earth to shoot at people, his main skill is hand-to-hand combat.


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    Elkon had only ever seen his father use his ability once. The people in the villages usually don''t have a use for their abilities, depending.


    Elkon pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind. He had no way of figuring out the mysteries so he decided not to pursue it for now. He looked at the blue light screen and decided to try it a few more times. He walked over to the chair once again and continued to reread the markings. He tried over and over yet he failed every time. He eventually lost count how many times he had tried to break past the barrier.


    Time and time again, Elkon stared at the markings on the chair. It just didn''t make sense to him. He had tried every combination he could create but still nothing worked. Elkon let out a frustrated yell before he shoved the chair to the ground along with the skeleton.


    The skeleton softly hit the ground, turning to ash. Followed by it was the sound of the chair cracking under the force of Elkon''s push. It too easily broke apart as it hit the floor. The only sound was the soft cracking of material and the thump of ash. Yet, hidden within that sound was a very soft clack. However, in the deathly silence of the cave, Elkon was able to detect it.


    "The markings!"


    Elkon gasped. He didn''t realize what he did until after he did it. He secretly reprimanded himself for letting his emotions control him.


    He knew the markings were gone. Only pieces were what remained of the chair. He didn''t forget the hidden sound within the ash, so he knelt down next to it.


    "I still remember what the markings looked like, so I should be fine..."


    Elkon consoled himself before he dug his hands into the ash.


    After he reached into the pile, he felt something oddly different within it. Grabbing it, he pulled it out and held it before his eyes.


    Within his grasp was a small square. It had a light shine to it despite its darker color. It was about as a big as his thumb and about half a millimeter thick. Elkon was completely intrigued as he looked at it, not knowing where the hell it came from.


    "It was inside the skeleton the whole time? The skeleton broke down so easily, yet this thing is still completely intact."


    He placed it carefully next to the board on the table. Elkon decided to just continue trying to get the password correct. This time, however, he compared the symbols on the board to the ones he memorized. The symbols just didn''t match but the similarities were definitely not coincidental. After thinking about it for so long, he slowly worked out each symbol and matched it the one he thought resembled each one.


    Eventually, he figured out why the symbols looked so different yet similar. The symbols marked down by the skeleton were mirrored then turned upside down. Elkon himself didn''t have the vocabulary to describe the difference between the symbols, so he just thought that the skeleton did something weird to them.


    Elkon pressed each square and watched the symbols appear on the blue screen. After he pressed the fourth square, the blue screen instantly changed.


    Several lines of symbols appeared. None of them made any sense to Elkon, obviously, but he knew he had succeeded.


    "Yes! Hahahaha! I did it! That took so long!"


    Elkon pumped his fists into the air and did a little jig as he celebrated. It felt like a long time had passed since he first tried and now he had finally succeeded. A weight was released off Elkon''s shoulders as he turned back to the blue screen.


    "It changed?"


    The previous symbols were replaced with new ones. However, the thing that surprised Elkon the most was the small square floating in the air. There wasn''t a sound signaling its ascent but there it was. The only thing on the blue screen was a line of symbols then two individual symbols underneath it. The two symbols were spaced apart intentionally, almost as if they were options.


    To Elkon, that didn''t make a difference since he had no idea what they meant. So, he just pressed whatever symbol correlated with the symbol on the left of the blue screen.


    The arms in the wall instantly moved and grabbed Elkon off the floor.


    "What the?!"


    Smaller arms sprouted from pockets inside the arms and stretched toward Elkon. They stabbed their sharp ends into his body and injected minuscule machines inside him. They formed a connecting system within his body and there were two main positions the system focused upon: Elkon''s heart and brain.


    The machines painlessly covered his heart and began to mimic its movement. Inside his head the machines covered several points on the outer layer while others moved to plant themselves on the inner layers. All of the machines simultaneously produced a relaxant inside Elkon''s body alongside a liquid that caused him to go unconscious.


    Two of the smaller arms moved to just above Elkon''s head. Two blades appeared and effortlessly cut into his skull. They moved parallel to one another, smoothly cutting a perfect square in his skull. Machines from inside his head pushed the square up before a small arm carefully retrieved it, placing it within a sterilized container.


    Blood slowly seeped out of the missing piece in Elkon''s head. However, due to the interference of the arms and machines, it was controlled.


    Smaller arms held the square and slowly placed it on the exposed area of Elkon''s brain. The square neatly changed to fit the curve of Elkon''s brain and the machines within his body secured it. The material the square was made of seemed to copy the folds and structure of Elkon''s brain, merging with it while still being its own object. The machines connected with the square to make a secondary system within the many folds of his brain.


    A few seconds later, the small arms retrieved the cut out skull and placed it back into the spot it was removed from. An unknown substance was placed on the sides of the piece of bone, helping to heal and secure it. Machines from the inside sealed the lines while the arms on the outside did the same. The procedure was finished so the arms gently put Elkon back onto the ground.


    Elkon was still unconscious and remained so for a long time. His body was completely relaxed as he slept, unaware of the silence that returned once more.

 Chapter 4

    An unknown period of time passed before Elkon woke up. His eyes showed unmatched clarity. The whites of his eyes were purely smooth and his iris''s sky blue color was now a deep ocean blue. His gray hair, a signature of the peasants of his people, transformed to an abyssal black. His lightly tan skin color didn''t change, however, the texture and subconscious look was altered.


    The tiny machines inside his body were working to gradually develop Elkon''s body enough so that it could keep up with the new addition to Elkon''s brain. For example, if Elkon could calculate ten thousand times faster than he previously could but his body couldn''t keep up with it, what good would it do? Therefore, the small machines were constantly at work preparing Elkon''s young body to handle the stress that would eventually be placed upon it. Of course, the machines can only do so much. The rest would be up to Elkon.


    Elkon looked around, unsure of what happened. He noticed that everything he looked at seemed to be clearer but he was confused as to why. His body felt the same from what he could tell though he noticed the difference in his skin.


    "What happened?"


    Elkon said out loud to himself. He looked over at the table to saw nothing different. The arms were still hanging in the air and the blue screen was still displayed. There were different symbols on it but Elkon didn''t mind it.


    A few seconds went by in his confusion and what confused him even more was a word in his language appeared in his vision.


    ''Hello''


    Elkon looked at the word more confused than surprised. It seemed like it was in the air yet it followed everywhere his eyes moved. He stared at the word for several seconds unsure of what to do. But then, he spoke.


    "Hello."


    The word disappeared and was replaced by a square with even more words.


    ''Default language, Magrarian, selected based on your native language. To change the language, go to "Settings".


    Due to the language selected being previously unknown, the startup process was delayed by 31 seconds in order to decipher the language based upon your memories.''


    "The heck is this?"


    ''BCI system start-up completed. To begin using your BCI, read the owner''s manual.''


    "Owner''s man..ual?"


    A very long list of various descriptions appeared before Elkon. The list detailed the uses of the so-called BCI and how to use it. Elkon was mostly confused concerning everything, however, he understood the basic jist of it. He could essentially instantly download anything that was on the BCI directly to his brain. Meaning, if the knowledge was available, he could learn anything he wanted.


    The only precaution that the list gave concerned the biological storage limit for information. The BCI had thousands of times more information past the limit of Elkon''s physical brain. So, if Elkon downloaded everything into his brain, it would become overloaded and result in brain-death. Although the creators of the BCI were not able to extend the storage of the brain, they were able to give the ability of searching for information to owner. So, instead of instantly learning something, the owner would have to learn it themselves through the stored information.


    The good thing about the brain is that, by learning it that way, any information added would make random information be "forgotten" in order to free up space. That can be bypassed by instantly downloading enough information to destroy the biological limit, so that is why the precaution was created.


    "This is...amazing. I wonder how it works?"


    A screen appeared, only visible to Elkon, which detailed every single experiment performed that led to the BCI. Decades of work and experiments were poured into creating such a device, which led to other discoveries as well. Once the first BCI was successfully created and implanted onto a person''s brain, the advancement of that species skyrocketed. The dates, times, places, and people were all foreign to Elkon so he had no idea when the BCI was created nor what happened to the species that created it.


    After reading through some information, he was intrigued by many different words and phrases. He had no clue what any of them meant at all, which created a thirst for that knowledge. He searched and searched and searched until he gradually began to understand only a few words. The more sophisticated vocabulary would take much more time if he did not download it into his brain.


    He of course searched how to do so. He read the instructions over and over before he understood. He then searched for a book of words so that he could understand the more difficult phrases. Of course, his primitive language was unable to have such difficult words or descriptions. After Elkon understood that, he searched for the native language of the BCI.


    Then, he downloaded that information into his brain. It was called Tashian and it was not the only language on the BCI. In fact, there were hundreds of different languages. Magrarian was just another addition to the list. Elkon didn''t fully understand so he just decided to download them all.


    He didn''t feel any different after he did. The only thing he did was change the language of the BCI to Tashian and he discovered that he was able to understand all of it. From then on, he downloaded many books of words on language. He searched for all the information he could find on words.


    Elkon figured if he didn''t understand the terminology then what use was it to even read? He eventually stopped after downloading more than thirty books on words and terminology pertaining to various professions. After that, he went back to find the experiments only to discover another language. However, this time, it was not a language of words but of numbers.


    Elkon was intrigued by those new symbols. There were so many weird lines and symbols that he had never seen before. After searching for a while, Elkon discovered what it was: math. He started to download everything he could find on the subject. He downloaded books upon books of beginners to advanced mathematics. Then he did the same for the most advanced, straight up toward the limit that the original species reached.


    Time passed like this. Elkon continuously searched through information for a long time. What he liked most was actually reading information instead of just downloading it. The reason for that is after downloading it he wouldn''t realize that he learned anything new. The next time he saw or used whatever information it was would be when he realized he knew what it was.


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    One of his favorite things to do was to read. He would read about all kinds of things, from science to history and history to literature. He read many things pertaining to the body of the original species and how remarkably similar it was to his own people. However, there were differences that had appeared over the passage of time. One thing Elkon now knew is that all things changed as time passed, regardless of what it was.


    Elkon lost himself in his pursuit of knowledge. He forgot the cave, the villager''s bodies, and the passage of time. Eventually, he used the table and its technology to look at the many things that were laid on it. Materials he had seen only in the BCI were present on the table. Elkon knew exactly what they were used for, though he didn''t have the ability to use them yet.


    On the outside, months had passed. Elkon wasn''t able to know, however. He discovered the time function in the BCI but he didn''t know how long he was inside the cave for. He just knew, according to the amount of time he was aware about, it had been two weeks since he discovered the BCI. Since then he had learned about a vast amount of information.


    He also discovered that there was a type of omnipresent energy within the world that he now knew. The species that made the BCI managed to manipulate it with technology. According to the BCI, there were many other species that used other means to harness the energy. They all called it by different names but it was always the same. Many used different techniques to manipulate it and eventually some species were born with inherit abilities.


    In reality, those were mutations caused by the continuous use of the energy in previous members of that species. Elkon discovered within the mass of information that there were species similar to his. However, only his had such a large range of randomness associated with the abilities. Unfortunately, there wasn''t a way to change the ability because it was not possible to know what ability it would be. The only way to manipulate the ability was to augment the part of the brain pertaining to the ability.


    Unfortunately again, Elkon didn''t know which part of his brain was connected to his ability. He also had no way of knowing what his ability would be. The only thing for him to do was to wait for it to manifest itself. If his ability was complete trash, he wouldn''t try to do anything.


    Along with all of this, Elkon managed to find out what the crystal pillars were. Apparently they were machines created specifically to keep an organism alive for as long as possible. The light itself wasn''t technically light but a type of energy cell that was capable of finding an organism and then planting itself inside of it. After it successfully did so, it would break itself down into nutrients and regenerate dying cells.


    Because it would only regenerate dying cells and not replace them, the continuously regenerating cells would eventually die. However that only happens over a very long period of time.


    There were many other things Elkon searched for and learned. Subjects pertaining to food, entertainment, civilization, health, and weapons. It was as if Elkon was possessed with the pursuit of knowledge. With a seemingly endless amount of information, how could he not be intoxicated by it? Elkon''s understanding of life and a far distant world increased as time passed.


    Elkon looked at maps of the species'' old world. He did not know if the map represented his own world or some other place. He eventually discovered the sciences of astronomy, which greatly surprised him. His world changed from being only a few villages to an entire universe.


    Elkon laid back to let that information sink in. He was merely eight years old yet he had already learned more than any person on his planet. However, although he has all that knowledge, that doesn''t mean he''s invincible. If he can''t apply any of what he had learned, then he obviously wouldn''t get anywhere in his life.


    Elkon thought about what he should do. For once he stopped and contemplated his situation. His vast storage of knowledge would greatly aid him yet he didn''t know where to start. He knew what materials to use and how to build a variety of objects. However, he had no clue where to get any of the materials needed nor how to refine them. Even if he did, he needed tools and places for the materials to be processed and the objects to be built.


    He needed materials, yes. What he needed more was a civilization. Not a small and puny village filled with primitive farmers and gatherers. He needed to create a place that was sufficient enough for his desires. In order to do that, he would have to start at the basics. It would be inefficient if he just dumped highly advanced technology onto a primitive people.


    Besides, there were many materials and substances that could only be created by using basic elements. Then those new materials would create other materials for other structures and objects. The cycle continues in that manner and Elkon understood that. There was no way for him to magically create any material he needed. The only thing he had was knowledge, not the ability to create anything from nothing.


    So, it was like this that Elkon began his research into the most basic methods of creating materials and metals. After a while he had to search for information on finding the base elements and metals that were required to create stronger ones. If he didn''t know how to do such things then he would get no where.


    After that he learned various smelting techniques alongside smithing and crafts. Elkon realized that he would have to start at the beginning instead of jumping straight to the end. He didn''t have access to materials needed to build nuclear weaponry or laser guns and what-not. All he currently had were the raw materials in the ground.


    Elkon decided to do so because he needed to teach other people. He needed others to help gather metals and smelt them and create all kinds of objects. He had to start small at first and then gradually increase his influence to the other villages. After that, he would spread farther until he reached more villages. Eventually, he hoped he would be able to reach even bigger locations in the Kingdom of Magrar.


    Every journey begins with the first step. For Elkon, learning everything himself was his first step.