《In a World of Magic》


 Prologue

    An old man sat by a fire in an inn, in front of a crowd.


    "Let me tell you a story.." He said while his eyes were glowing. "However, this story is not just a story. What I am about to tell you, is real. As real as we all are, sitting here by the fire." He continued.


    "The story begins in a village in the north. Have you been to the north, my friends?" He asked. Some who were listening nodded, and the old man continued: "Yes, I see.." He coughed couple times.


    "In the village, a woman was pregnant and she was waiting for her first baby. She was very beautiful, just like you, the beautiful lady there." The old man pointed a young lady in front of him with a cane. Thewomanblushed and tried to hide her embarrassment by hiding her face with her hands. Some women close to her started giggling and even some of the men were unable to to hold back their laughter. The woman.. the old man pointed at was easily the ugliest thing that any of them had ever seen, but that is enough about that.


    The old man continued his story: "Ah, yes, where was I? Finally the time came when the baby would born. She was finally giving birth. Her husband was terribly nervous as he heard the screaming and groaning from his wife." The old man raised his mug of beer and chugged down a good amount, a small red tint could be seen from his cheeks. After putting the mug down, he continued the story: "The woman had helped her older sisters when they had given birth to their children, so she knew how it would work. As we all know, there is usually a surge of mana into the newborn baby. However, what happened terrified herself and the older sister that was helping her with her birth..." The old man paused for a moment.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    "Yes... There was no surge of mana this time, the woman was shocked, truly shocked. She could not believe that her first son was a stillborn. Her husband rushed into the room and was about to congratulate her wife with a huge smile on his face." The old man looked around, some of the women started tearing up a bit. Only those who had undergone such would and could imagine the horrible, oh so horrible event.


    Without pause, the old man continued his story and not being attention to the crowd listening: "The man stopped and he was as shocked as his wife was. Their son... dead? There was no surge of mana this time. It meant that the baby was a stillborn. All of a sudden the baby boy who had his eyes closed without crying or moving opened his small eyes and looked around. His eyes had a peculiar violet glow in them, and then he started crying." This time the crowd started to weep even harder, even some of the burlier and tougher men were shedding small tears. Of course, nobody would ever mention such happening, who knows what would happen if they did.


    The old man continued his story: "The couple both started crying when they realized their son had not been a stillborn. Even if the boy did not have magic like others, at least he was alive, they would surely spoil their son and they would do all in their power that he could live in a world with magic... even if he himself did not have any."


    The old man sitting on his chair looked at his crowd, he had clearly managed to captivate them with his story. Now he wondered if he should continue or head to bed. It was already getting late, but it seemed like the crowd was waiting for him to continue...


    The old man coughed couple times waiting for the crowd to quiet down and then he started to continue his story: "Khrm.. Indeed, the boy was fine but without mana. I doubt that any of us could imagine the hardships the boy would go through. Imagine your lives without magic, what would that be like?" Whispering could be heard from the crowd while the old man took another good chug from his mug.


    "This is the story of a boy who had no mana..."

 Chapter 1

    The boy called Zakai started to realize he was different when he turned five years old. The village elders had told everyone that there would be an affinity test every year for the children who had turned six years old. Zakai did not understand as his parents never really talked about magic or mana at that matter.


    Even though, it was called a test, it was just simply putting one¡¯s hand on to a small blueish stone. The stone would react and give out the test results, and it would show how much mana the person using the stone had.


    In this world, an average adult man had the amount of 100 mana, women while they were not as strong as men in physically, they boasted an average of 120 mana. In general, women tend to have more mana than men. Nobody knew the reason why, it had been like this for as long as they had been able to measure the amount of mana.


    Zakai¡¯s mother, Elya had the highest amount of mana in their village, she had a whopping 350 mana. Having high mana meant that she was a capable mage. She was a teacher of magic for the village. Zakai¡¯s father, Bahadur was an enchanter. His mana was only half of what Elya had but his talent lied in creating magical items that could be used for almost anything depending on the situation.


    Zakai knew that magic existed and he had even seen other children using magic. He had tried many times, but he simply could not find mana in himself to use magic like others did. One day he asked his parents, they were sitting at their table eating dinner.


    ¡°Umm... mom, dad? Why is it that I can¡¯t use magic like others can?¡± Zakai asked after he had swallowed a piece of the bread he was eating.


    ¡°Well¡­ Zakai, boy¡­ you see¡­¡± Bahadur tried to avoid the question.


    ¡°Zak, my dear¡­ We have not been completely honest with you¡­ There is no easy way to tell this¡­¡± Zakai¡¯s mom Elya paused.


    ¡°¡­ Am I adopted?¡± Tears started to appear in Zakai¡¯s eyes as he stared at his parents.


    ¡°¡°What?! No!¡±¡± Both Bahadur and Elya yelled in a sync.


    ¡°Oh, then what were you trying to tell me?¡± Zakai cheerfully asked as if nothing had ever happened.


    Elya looked at Bahadur and they both nodded at each other.


    ¡°Zak, you do not have mana. When you were born your body did not absorb mana from the environment around us, and it just never happened.¡± Elya said, trying hard to hide her tears. Bahadur stood up to comfort his wife.


    ¡°I don¡¯t have mana¡­ what is mana?¡± Zakai wondered.


    ¡°it is what we use for casting magic, boy.¡± Bahadur answered.


    At that moment Zakai realized that he would not be able to use magic. No mana meant no magic. One would imagine that Zakai would start crying because in this world magic was everything, and everyone had it, if by any chance one did not have magic, they would be considered crippled and in some extreme cases those who had no mana would be cast away in a blink of an eye.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    Zakai, however, did not cry. He did not at the time understand what it meant to have no mana, to have no magic. Zakai just continued eating his dinner. Bahadur and Elya looked silently at the boy who they knew did not understand what they had said. Explaining such would be too much for the little boy for time being.


    Zakai turned six years old, and it would finally be his turn to be examined for the test. There was a total of twelve children participating in the test. Zakai was eagerly waiting for the test to begin.


    The elder who was in charge of the event came to the big hall where the children and their parents had gathered.


    ¡°Welcome!¡± The elder yelled. ¡°It is that time of the year again, when we of the village Balra, test the children for their affinity. Bring me the orb!¡± He continued and two burly men came carrying the affinity test stone.


    ¡°Let us begin! First is Adal¡­ Come to the orb and place your hand on top of it.¡± The elder said in somewhat commanding tone, and a small scrawny boy stood up and went to the orb.


    Even if he looked like twig, he was still rather talented in magic. He placed his hand on the orb and it started glowing. After a moment some numbers appeared on the orb.


    70!


    The first child had an affinity of 70? Unheard of! Definitely a talent, normally a six years old child would have something between 10 and 20.


    Adal¡¯s parents knew that he had a decent amount of mana, but 70?! That was a huge amount of mana for a child. They were elated, and they almost exploded in joy.


    Elya knew she would have to teach the boy¡­ so that he would not burn down the village or kill someone accidentally. Control was one of the most important things, and there were quite a lot of people who were not taught precise control over their mana only to be engulfed by it. Being overwhelmed by mana was not a pretty sight.


    The test continued¡­


    11!


    16!


    12!


    The numbers after Adal were normal and there wasn¡¯t any big surprises. However, then the elder called out a name.


    ¡°Jerilyn!¡± A small girl that was easily the tiniest among all the children stood up and walked towards the orb. She was actually the only friend Zakai had. Zakai knew she could use magic and she was good at it. Elya had already taught her a bit as she was quite close with Jerilyn¡¯s parents.


    The orb glowed and the number shown was shocking, if a jaw could drop on the floor it just happened. Figuratively, of course. The girl had an amazing amount of mana, even more than some of the men.


    101!


    It was beyond reason, even Elya was shocked and she knew it would be high¡­ but over 100 at six years old? Elya had 83 when she had the test and she currently had over 300.


    This time even the elder had his mouth opened and you could fit a whole apple inside his mouth. He was so shocked he dropped his glasses on the ground, only to wake up after he had stepped on them. Cursing in his mind, he coughed and the crowd woke up. Was this a dream? Over 100? What is going on?! Everyone thought of the same thing.


    The next numbers were normal again but there was one impressive one in between¡­ however, it was not even close to what Adal and Jerilyn had.


    20!


    44!


    13!


    44 was not bad, but comparing to those two¡­ it was a far cry from them. Finally, Zakai¡¯s name was called and he walked to the orb and put his hand on top of it.


    There was no glow, nothing happened. The elder and the others wondered if the orb had broken.


    ¡°It seems like the orb has broken¡­ We shall replace it and bring a new one in a moment!¡± The elder waved his hand and the men who brought the orb ran to pick up another one.


    After a moment, another orb was brought to the hall and the same thing happened.


    Nothing at all. No numbers nothing. At that moment, Zakai realized that life was¡­ unfair. He had no mana and no affinity whatsoever.

 Chapter 2

    Four years later, Zakai had long gotten over the fact that he could not use magic for he had no mana. He focused on other things, and around three years ago, he had started training under one of the guards. Zakai had begged and begged for many days before the old guard finally accepted to take him as his disciple. The old guard, Matt, knew the boy could not use magic, but that did not mean much.


    An average person with magic of 100 normally could not do much with their low mana pool. They could start a fire or wash themselves, some depending how their talents were, could craft magical items. but nothing truly dangerous, At least not truly dangerous to others who had the same amount of mana.


    The training was nothing special, just the regular body strengthening training. Everyone just called the boy Zak. Zakai¡¯s name was annoying to pronounce and calling him Zak was easier. Some of the bullies even started to use the word as a synonym for someone who had no talent in magic. Zakai did not mind, he had tried to fight them multiple times but every time, the bullies managed to pull one over him. Usually by using magic. After Zakai had started his training with Matt, the bullies had stopped targeting Zakai as much as they used to. Most of the children did not have that high magic to win against someone who had done basic body training for some time.


    The days passed by, and nothing really happened. Jerilyn stopped playing with Zakai after her parents noticed that Zakai had no mana. Almost everyone avoided him in school. He did not have any friends, at home he tried to act like he had many friends and everything was fine¡­ but both Bahadur and Elya knew, they just did not want to say anything when the boy tried so hard. It was really hard on them too. They could not help but worry about the boy. Life, indeed, was unfair.


    It was autumn. The children would have a school trip to a nearby ruins lead by Elya and a male teacher. The ruins were ancient. There were rumors and stories how they came to be, but nobody really knew who had built them. The ruins was a popular school trip place, and every year a lot of people would travel there to take a look at the mysterious place. The trip would only take a few hours by foot from Balra.


    All the children were excited to go to the ruins even Zakai. It was his very first adventure outside the village. He had a dream, he wanted to go and see the world, he wanted to be an adventurer, even though he knew that it would be very hard for him. Being unable to use any kind of magic for surely make life harder. He did not mind, he was sure he would be able to handle it. At least, he had a dream.


    The children gathered at the school to start getting ready for the trip. The morning dew was still on the blades of grass as it was very early. Normally, the school would begin few hours later but since they had to walk all the way to the ruins and to be able to get back on the same day, they would have to leave early.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    ¡°Look, it¡¯s the zak.¡± Some of the children whispered to each other when they saw Zakai had also come.


    ¡°Bah, you idiots! Why bother yourselves with even looking at the trash?¡± A boy sitting with legs crossed said. Who else, but Adal, of course. Zakai gave him a glare and Adal just yawned as if he did not even notice the glare.


    ¡°Yes, you are right!¡± The other children chimed in, trying to curry favors by sticking to Adal¡¯s side. Adal knew what they were trying to do, he was not stupid, but he did not care as long as they despised the manaless freak. Adal could not stand that there was something like Zakai in the same class as he was.


    Adal had already reached over 100 mana when he turned ten years old. He had the highest amount of mana amongst the boys. Of course, Zakai still being the last as he had none at all.


    Zakai just outright ignored the others that were sneering at him, and just continued to wait for his mother to show up, so they could finally start the trip to the ruins. He had left home quite a bit earlier than his mother, because he was so excited he could not wait, nor did he want to be seen walking next to Elya. That would have been terribly awkward for a ten-year-old.


    After a moment Elya showed up with the male teacher, Godo. They gathered everyone and started a roll call. Everyone was there and so they could finally start their first adventure towards the ruins.


    After an hour of walking, some of the children were already complaining about how the trip was too long and they would die before they would reach the place. Zakai was walking at the front, the body training he had done helped him a lot and he would most likely be able to walk hours and hours without feeling a thing. Some of the other children complained about how they were so tired and so on and on.


    ¡°Elya, we should take a break, some of the children are starting to run out of stamina¡­¡± Godo said while wiping the sweat of his plump face. He was a fat man and he did not even want to come in the first place. He had seen the ruins multiple times in the past and nothing had changed in the ruins.


    ¡°Very well, let us take a break!¡± Elya smiled and spoke. Elya knew that it was Godo who needed a break¡­ the man looked like he was literally dying with his heavy breathing and panting. He sounded like a constipated gorilla¡­ honestly, the sight was not pretty. Elya had a hard time keeping herself from laughing while some children laughed so hard they were about to burst. Godo did not know what they were laughing about, of course.


    Finally, after a couple more breaks and two hours they finally reached the ruins. The walls had started to fade in color and there were different kinds of vines growing on them. There was a wooden gate that was still intact but it looked it could fall over any moment. The group walked closer to the gate and Elya told everyone the same thing she had said many many times before: ¡°Alright, we are finally here. Everyone, be careful once we get inside. While all the traps and such have been dismantled years ago, it is still better to be careful. Try not to touch or break anything¡± She winked and pushed the gate open, while Godo was panting and leaning on the wall next to the gate.


    Indeed, Zakai¡¯s first adventure, and it begins now¡­

 Chapter 3

    After the gate was opened, many of the children felt like they had entered a different world. The mana around the ruins was completely different than what they were used to. Zakai could not tell the difference as he just walked forward while ignoring the others while they stood shocked at what they felt.


    Elya just looked at her son and sighed: ¡°If only he would have some friends¡­¡± She mumbled under her breath and then also took a step forward.


    Zakai was fascinated by the ruins. Such an old place and it was still there. Even though the colors had faded on the pillars and such, it would have been interesting to see what the place looked like all those years ago, when it had been built. The ruins looked like an ancient garden, the plants had overgrown and mostly weeds and different kinds of vines grew all around the place. Zakai did not actually care about the architecture or the plants or flowers or whatever they were. He was just overjoyed to see such a place existed. His mother had talked about traps before¡­ ¡°I wonder what kind of traps there were here¡­¡± Zakai mumbled out loud.


    ¡°All kinds of traps, but it is probably better that you do not think about the traps¡­ they were terrifying.¡± A voice came from behind him, he turned and he saw Jerilyn with couple of her friends.


    ¡°Really? How do you know?¡± he asked quickly to hide that the answer startled him.


    ¡°Really, Jer? Why did you speak to the zak? Let¡¯s just go and leave that garbage here!¡± One of the girls said.


    ¡°Pfft. Yes, let¡¯s go.¡± Jerilyn chuckled and turned around to go. She had no idea why she had said anything to him in the first place. Honestly, she still remembered all the times they played when they were younger, but after the affinity test her parents were adamant on stopping her playing with the boy.


    Zakai was annoyed, this time he really was annoyed. Normally, he did not care that others mocked him but now for some reason, he really had felt it for the first time in a long time. Zakai thought Jerilyn was better than the others¡­ of course, he had misunderstood, the girl meant no harm when she chuckled earlier.


    After taking a moment to calm himself, Zakai remembered that there were different kinds of runes etched to a statue that was supposed to be in the middle of the ruins. He wanted to see them, so he gathered himself again and slowly followed after the girls.


    After a moment Zakai caught up with the girls. They were staring at the statue as if the thing was alive. Zakai could not understand what they saw in the statue or in the etchings for that matter, but he still decided to give it a go. Trying his hardest, he looked at the runes, and suddenly he could hear a voice.


    ¡°You¡­¡±


    ¡°Are¡­¡±


    ¡°Not¡­¡±


    ¡°Safe here¡­¡±You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    Jolting Zakai awake from the staring, he looked around and kept wondering here did that voice come from. It was impossible to tell whether the voice belonged to a man or woman. It felt like it was just the words that appeared in his head, while he was also quite sure he had heard it. As far as he knew no one had had such an experience here before.


    However, to Zakai¡¯s surprise it seemed like the girls also had heard the ¡°voice¡±. They were terrified, it seemed like they knew what it meant.


    ¡°Uh, did you hear that too?¡± Zakai asked and the girls just ignored him. So, he tried asking again and again until one of them answered.


    ¡°You also heard it, trash? Impossible, that was infused with mana, there is no way you could have heard it.¡± Said a temperamental red-haired girl, and of course, she just blurted it all out.


    ¡°Liz, don¡¯t be so mean to him¡­¡± Jerilyn smiled.


    HUHUHUHUHUHUHU!


    They heard a maniacal laughter all of a sudden. It felt like it was strengthened by mana so everyone inside the ruins would hear it.


    ¡°Maybe we should go see what happened?¡± One of the girls pondered.


    ¡°¡±Yes, we should.¡±¡± Liz and Zakai answered at the same time. Liz turned to glare at Zakai, her face was filled with disgust. Zakai just ignored the disgusted glare and started walking towards the entrance.


    The girls looked at Zakai¡¯s back as he walked towards the gate. Shortly after they also followed. Even though that laughter gave them goose bumps. Maybe it was the magic involved, as it seemed like Zakai had no clue what had happened.


    Zakai was mostly unaffected by magic, such as mind control and different kinds of curses that used the person¡¯s own mana to either attack or control the person. In fact, he was immune to all the magic that affected someone else¡¯s mana. Of course, someone could for example, move his body physically with magic but they could not make him move it by using mind controlling magic. Of course, both of those types were rare as those born manaless were a lot rarer and everyone could purge those curses, and unshackle them from mind control with a bit of their own mana.


    Almost everyone else was gathered at the entrance. There stood a man in black outfit, his skin was dark blueish and he had pointy ears. One of the ancient races¡­ A dark elf. Dark elves did not particularly like staying in the sun for too long. Most of the dark elves lived underground like dwarves.


    ¡°Huhu, welcome, humans!¡± The dark elf chuckled. ¡°It would seem I have hit¡­ What did you humans call it again? Ah! Yes, huhu, a jackpot! And now, I will kill all of you.¡± The dark elf¡¯s expression turned very serious.


    The dark elf had waited for two days for someone to show up at the ruins to test his new magic. He had done these sorts of things before, and he always wanted a test subject who was alive. This time¡­ he would have multiple test subjects. He had chosen the ruins as the place for the test¡­ because if he got caught, he could always use the excuse of a trap that one of them had accidentally triggered a hidden trap. Something like that had happened in the but it was quickly covered up.


    The air around the dark elf started to change into something eerie. Blueish swirls appeared around him and the temperate in the air dropped drastically.


    For a moment, everything felt like a dream. The children could not comprehend what was happening.


    ¡°GET BACK!¡± It was Godo that yelled at everyone, surprisingly enough he was the first one to react. The children woken up from their stupor started running away from the dark elf. Before most of them managed to hide the cold of the magic had already seeped into some of the children. Whether it was adrenaline or the nature of the magic, they had no realized what was going on.


    ¡°AAAAGH!¡± A scream sounded out while a child saw another one completely frozen.


    The dark elf in black looked like a god of death preying on those about to die. Zakai and the girls would be in for a surprise¡­

 Chapter 4

    Zakai and the other three felt a colder and colder as they got closer to the gate. There were no sounds at all, it was as if the whole world stood still. ¡®What the hell is going on here?¡¯ Zakai thought to himself. The girls realized that it was magic that changed the temperature but none of them could have known the exact cause.


    Zakai turned around and looked at the girls. They were trembling, whether it was the cold or what had happened Zakai did not ask¡­ he would not get an answer, he thought.


    ¡°Zak, there is something wrong here¡­ This is caused by magic and I don¡¯t think it¡¯s through a trap. There is someone out there making this all happen.¡± Jerilyn said when she noticed Zakai looking at them.


    ¡°This? Are you sure? Does it have something to do with the voice we heard earlier?¡±


    ¡°Well, duh. That is obvious, trash.¡± It was Liz who answered this time, her tone indifferent.


    Zakai sighed and turned away from them to continue going towards the gate. Jerilyn reprimanded Liz for being like that for him. Liz did not even have a reason for how she acted, most likely it was learned from her parents as they both were somewhat respected mages in Balra.


    ¡°AAAAGH!¡±


    Zakai and the others stopped in their tracks when they heard the scream.


    ¡°Do you think we should just stay away and hide?¡± Asked the last girl.


    ¡°That scream came from one of Adal¡¯s friends¡­ Something horrible is happening there, we should try to find Miss Elya first.¡± Jerilyn said coldly.


    ¡°Unless she is there already¡­¡± Liz glanced at Zakai who had not moved at all after the scream.


    ¡°Shut your trap, chickenhead!¡± Zakai woke up and yelled at Liz. Liz startled and almost fell down from the sudden outburst from Zakai. She had never seen him act like that before. It was scary, but nothing that could come even close to comparing how scary and crazy what was happening in the ruins right now.


    -


    Elya was there at the gate. She had used a movement type magic that allowed her to increase her speed multiple times. She knew how horrible the world was, and this just proved it again. There was a dark elf who had sliced Godo¡¯s stomach open. His guts would have spilled on the half-frozen ground if he had not been frozen before his untimely death. The dark elf just licked his blade and moved on to the next target. He did not care whether he killed men, women or children. They all were the same for him.


    A fireball the size of a human head flew towards the dark elf and sizzled as it hit the blueish swirls.


    ¡°Tch.¡± Elya clicked her tongue and prepared her next magic. The dark elf noticed her and licked his lips.


    ¡°Huhu, well, hello there beautiful! It seems like I can truly test out my new magic this time¡­ someone of your caliber would not break so easily.¡± He laughed, and in a blink of an eye had moved next to Elya. She was caught by surprise as she had not expected for him to move so fast. The blade is whistled and stuck to her shoulder. The whole arm became numb, there was some sort of magic on the blade. Yes, it was the same as the swirls.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    There was nothing she could do. Was this despair? The dark elf looked at her eyes and said: ¡°You were a lot weaker than I gave you credit for¡­¡± He was displeased, he thought he had found a toy to play with.


    Elya could only glare at the dark elf as her whole body kept getting colder and colder. She could not use magic, something was blocking it off. It was as if she had no mana. ¡®Is this how it feels to have no mana¡­?¡¯ she asked herself. She could not give up now, and the mana in her flared up. It caught the dark elf off guard as he was thrown five meters away from her.


    ¡°YES, THIS IS IT!¡± The dark elf¡¯s mood was completely different from the earlier, now one could see the joy in his eyes.


    ¡°You sick bastard¡­¡± Elya mumbled and made another fireball, this almost three times bigger than the earlier.


    The fireball flew towards the dark elf, but this time it did not sizzle as the one earlier did. The difference in size and in power was huge.


    The dark elf no longer had that shit-eating grin on his face, his face had changed into an even more serious expression than earlier.


    Elya kept throwing the big fireballs at the dark elf, but either the dark elf dodged them or after hitting his magic they were easily cut through with his blade. Elya was starting to feel the pain in her shoulder, she had not been able to use her other hand after it had been struck.


    ¡°Well, I believe playtime is over.¡± The dark elf spoke out and again he had already moved next to Elya. This time¡­ The blade stabbed her stomach, and she could only groan. She could not say anything, and after glancing at the dark elf again¡­ she fell to the ground. Just a small thud was heard as she hit the ground.


    ¡°MOM!¡± A boy who had come running saw her mom lying on the ground next to the pointy eared man.


    ¡°Huhuhu¡­ HUHUHU!¡± The dark elf¡¯s laugh rang out as he watched the delicious sadness on the boy¡¯s face.


    ¡°Welcome, prey. For this is the end of your life. Do not worry, prey. For I am merciful, and I will let you join your mother shortly. Huhuhu!¡± The dark elf said to the boy who could not stop his tears.


    Zakai saw her mother on the ground, and he could not stop himself from crying. She was half-frozen and she had been struck twice. Once to the shoulder and the other to the stomach. Zakai could not control himself as he lunged towards the dark elf. He knew that the amount of training would do nothing against someone like him, someone who could defeat his mother without a scratch.


    Even though in reality the dark elf had suffered quite a bit in his fight against Elya, after all, blocking those huge fireballs had taken a huge toll on him and he would not be able to stand much longer if he would have to keep using the magic. The movement ability he used was not magic, but entirely a physical talent he had noticed he had almost a century ago. This opponent had been the strongest he had ever fought. He tried his hardest to keep his cool under the situation where he was almost like a sitting duck, but then he realized that the boy had not used magic at all when he charged at him.


    ¡°No magic, prey? Are you mocking me?¡± The dark elf said in a mocking tone and slashed his blade towards Zakai. The blade hit the boy¡¯s face as he could not find the time to dodge it, he ignored the pain and kicked the dark elf as hard as he could.


    ¡°How dare you harm me, prey!¡± The dark elf howled in pain as the kick had shattered his kneecap, the boy had definitely trained hard. As the dark elf grimaced, he could not keep up his magic anymore and he was completely exhausted, so he had no other choice but to flee for time being.


    ¡°Oh, I will find you, you little shit, and I will kill your whole family, just you wait for it!¡± The dark elf threw down a small bag in his hand, smoke bomb of sorts. The smoke filled the area. Zakai had lost consciousness after he had kicked the dark elf. He hoped it that it would have been just a nightmare¡­

 Chapter 5

    ¡°He is awake!¡± A familiar sound rand in Zakai¡¯s ears as he slowly opened his eyes. He could not open them. He heard a door open and a voice called out.


    ¡°Boy, don¡¯t try to open your eyes yet. That slash hit your face pretty bad¡­ Somehow, we managed to fix your eyes but it seems like the lingering magic left on the blade was still strong¡­ well, at least you didn¡¯t go blind, hoho. We are back at your home, so don¡¯t worry.¡± The doctor let out a small chuckle.


    ¡°Zak, you will be fine¡­ HIC!¡± Bahadur told the boy while trying to keep calm himself.


    ¡°D-dad, what happened to mom? Is she okay?¡± Zakai asked as he remembered what had happened back at the ruins. He started sobbing, and the tears kept falling.


    ¡°She¡­ didn¡¯t make it, Zak.¡± Bahadur just stated coldly. Zakai knew how much they loved each other. His father being cold all of a sudden? It was just that bad, apparently.


    Bahadur continued after a small pause: ¡°But don¡¯t you worry, boy. The son of a bitch who did this to my Elya will die. If he manages to escape from the Grasp, I promise you, boy. I will PERSONALLY hunt down that bastard.¡±


    Zakai started to smile a bit at the remark at the end of his father¡¯s sentence, and then he fell back to sleep, still hoping this whole ordeal was nothing but a bad nightmare, but he knew¡­ the truth.


    The Grasp was something similar to a punitive force in this world. Usually they acted as the jury, the judge and the executioner. Although, this just meant that they would hunt down criminals and of the sort. They would not protect villages from beasts or other kinds of monsters. They were an individual group of people that had impressive abilities, some even dreamed to become one of them, to uphold some sort of justice.


    Three days later, Zakai woke up again. The doctor came to check him again to see if he was alright, and told the boy that he could remove the bandage so they could check his sight.


    Zakai took the bandages off from his eyes, he noticed that the whole world looked completely different. It was as if there had literally been something covering his eyes, and he did not mean the bandages.


    He could see mana. He could see the mana of the doctor, and then he looked back to himself, but the mana seemed to avoid him. The man in front of him looked like as if he was a glowing torch made of mana. Zakai woke up from the trance and the colors of mana he saw disappeared when the doctor poked at him: ¡°You there, boy? I¡¯ve asked few times but you still seem to be sleeping.¡±If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    ¡°What¡­ What is going on? I though¡­ I¡­ nevermind.¡± Zakai bit lost in his thoughts mumbled.


    ¡°Uh, yeah. Let¡¯s start by checking how your sight is¡­ Do you know if that glow in your eyes has always been there?¡± The doctor wondered.


    ¡°Glow? Mom told me, my eyes glowed when I was born, but I don¡¯t think they¡¯ve ever done so after¡­¡±


    ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll just ask your father, but otherwise it seems like your fine¡­ well, as fine as you can be. Take it easy, boy.¡± The doctor started packing up his stuff, and after he was done. He showed Zakai thumbs up and left the room to speak with the boy¡¯s father.


    Zakai started crying again. Only now did he finally realize how painful it was. He would have no mother anymore. As they say, you only understand the value of something when you lose it. It is exactly what had happened to Zakai. He did not care about the children or the other teacher who had died at the ruins. Death was almost as common as flu in this world. No matter how hard he tried to suppress his current feelings, he just could not.


    After a moment of crying as hard as he could, he vowed to himself to never lose another important person if he could help it. He had curled up, and he was holding his knees on his chest. He would train harder. He would never give up. He would never stop.


    Bahadur walked into the room: ¡°Just you and me¡­ But don¡¯t worry, life will go on.¡± Bahadur tried his hardest to comfort the boy, but he himself had clearly been crying as well. His eyes were bloodshot, it was clear he had barely slept these few days. It was hard on him as well.


    Bahadur sat down on Zakai¡¯s bed and hugged the boy and whispered: ¡°Don¡¯t worry¡­ we will be fine¡­ Your mother would be so proud of you, and thank the gods¡­ that you came back to me at least. I don¡¯t know what I would have done had you died as well.¡±


    Zakai had just stopped crying but after what his father had told him¡­ He could not help himself. He hugged his father even harder and cried, and cried.


    It was a tragedy. Out of 14 people, 7 had died. It had been almost ten years since the last death in Balra, and now they had seven all of a sudden. The biggest problem was that now their capable teacher of magic had also passed away. Elya did a wonderful job and she was liked by everyone.


    The group of girls that had followed Zakai back to the gate had survived. Nothing had happened to them, and they knew what happened back there. They saw how Zakai had charged at the murderous dark elf. Somehow, Zakai¡¯s kick had broken the dark elf¡¯s leg and he had run away. They had no idea how it happened, all they knew was that somehow Zakai had driven that monster of a dark elf away. It was most likely the only reason any of them survived that day.


    Most of the children that had been there changed the way they saw Zakai. He was no longer complete garbage and manaless freak in their eyes. Some even started to greet him when they saw him.

 Chapter 6

    The incident at the ruins took place seven years ago, and in a couple days it would finally be Zakai¡¯s graduation from the school. Everything had changed after what happened back then. The years had been a lot kinder to him. Perhaps out of pity or whatever, but Zakai himself did not care. He had bigger plans. He would leave Balra and go to the capital. He had heard that a mercenary group was looking for recruits. He wanted to see the world, and from what he had read and heard, joining some mercenary group would be a good idea to experience a lot of things the world had to offer.


    The graduation came, a handshake and a pat on the shoulder. Not exactly a huge ceremony. It was over very quickly.


    ¡°We¡¯ve finally graduated¡­¡± Zakai said out loud accidentally. The others around him glanced at him. Yes, they had finally graduated.


    ¡°So, Zak¡­ got any plans what to do next? Gonna stay at the village?¡± Keris asked. Keris was one of those who had been at the ruins. They had become friends during the years. Not only Keris but some others too had at least become friendlier towards Zakai. Of course, Adal was still a prick but there had to be one of those around.


    ¡°I was thinking about heading to the capital¡­ They say there¡¯s a mercenary group looking for recruits. After that¡­ I¡¯m not sure where that¡¯ll lead me.¡± Zakai told Keris.


    ¡°Uh, yeah¡­ Good luck with that.¡± Keris said while scratching his head.


    Zakai started laughing as he knew how much Keris hated exercising. ¡°Heheh, I¡¯ll be back at some point. You just keep studying that magic of yours and you might just make something out of yourself one day!¡±


    ¡°Oh, you bastard, stop mocking me!¡± Keris embarrassingly yelled back at Zakai. Both started laughing and they said their farewells.


    Tomorrow morning Zakai would leave Balra. He had not gone outside the village since what happened at the ruins. He did not even want to, but now he knew it would be his only chance. Mercenary groups did not recruit new people often. Usually, they just brought in their own relatives or other people they knew beforehand. It cost too much resources to bring up new recruits in general.


    Luckily for Zakai one of the merchants living in Balra needed to go and restock his supplies at the capital. The merchant did not mind the youth following the carriages. They had plenty of space in them currently. While bandit attacks were somewhat common, the merchant had hired ten guards to protect the three carriages.


    The morning came, and the group was packing up the things they needed for the trip. The trip would take around five days to the capital.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    Bahadur and Zakai both came to help with the packing. Everything was starting to be ready for the trip and they would be able to leave as soon as the merchant finishes the paperwork required.


    Bahadur stopped Zakai for a moment: ¡°Zak, my son¡­ You have grown. I want you to have this. It is something your mother used to wear.¡± Tearing up a bit while handing over a pendant.


    ¡°Thanks, dad. I¡¯ll definitely take good care of it. Don¡¯t worry. There will be a time when I come back to visit Balra again.¡± Paused for a moment as he smiled, but turning serious after: ¡°Dad, I will find that dark elf, I promise this to you, as I have already promised mom.¡±


    ¡°You fool, don¡¯t bother with things of the past. Just don¡¯t get yourself killed because of ghosts of the past. Your mother would say the same thing, goddammit, but if you do find that son of a bitch, please do make him pay for what he did.¡± Bahadur chuckled and turned serious at the end of his sentence.


    The other guards who had seen what happened between the two were just shaking their head. ¡®Definitely father and a son.¡¯ They thought while resuming back to whatever they were doing.


    After an hour, the merchant finally came with the needed paperwork, and they could finally start their trip towards the capital.


    After a hug and a quick goodbye Bahadur waved his hand as Zakai climbed up into one of the carriages.


    ¡®Damn, the kid is already an adult. Time sure flew by past these few years. Elya would have been proud of the little bugger. He never once complained even when we had harder times occasionally.¡¯ Thought Bahadur.


    Life would continue normally in Balra as if nothing had ever happened. Bahadur went back to creating whatever magical items were needed. Keris with his somewhat average magic capability tried hard to stabilize his own personal magic which was pretty much just something similar to a breeze of wind that would revitalize those who hit the breeze. If he would manage to have the magic only affect those he would want to affect, it would be very useful. Adal and Jerilyn had both graduated year earlier. They had also both left to the capital back then. They had both joined a mage¡¯s guild. Liz and her parents had moved away from Balra after the incident in the mysterious ruins. Apparently, they had moved to a bit larger village to the south. The others that had graduated mostly stayed at Balra to help continue their parents¡¯ work.


    The trip started of very smoothly and nothing happened for the first two days. ¡®It is almost too peaceful.¡¯ Zakai thought as he was sitting in one of the carriages. One of the guards hired to protect the carriage was sitting on the opposite side of him.


    ¡°Dey say¡­ yoo survive¡­ agenst the¡­ doork elf?¡± The guard chuckled and asked Zakai. It was pretty obvious that he was slightly ¡°tipsy¡± as he tried his.


    ¡°Yes, it is true¡­ but I¡¯d rather not talk about it.¡± Zakai just replied coldly.


    ¡°Oooh¡­ a real woorrior. KHUKHUKHU!¡± The guard started laughing.


    ¡®It will be a long trip.¡¯ Zakai thought while he gazed outside the carriage at the nearby forest. A sudden glint hit his eyes.


    WOOOSH


    An arrow flew past him missing his cheek only by a few millimeters. The guard instantly sobered up and stood up: ¡°WE AAR ONDER ATTACK BOYS!¡± He grabbed his halberd and shield while quickly jumping out of the carriage.


    ¡®Well, at least we had two days of peaceful traveling¡­¡¯ Zakai thought as he steeled himself. He had already gripped the hilt of his short sword. He would not let anyone die this time, if he could help it.