Chapter 2
6 years ago...
On the second floor of the Fulmine Manor, a young boy who could be no older than 11 years-old sat beside a black-haired man with warm brown eyes in what seemed to be a laboratory filled with all manner of equipment and mystical items.
“It’s beautiful!”, the boy exclaimed as he stared in wonder at the beautiful emerald that held a pulsing light.
“It’s not just a pretty stone child”, said the man as he took the gem from the boy’s hands, “It’s a portal stone, the first of mana device capable of generating a portal big enough for a human to pass through.”
“So does that mean we can go anywhere in the world?”, the boy asked. “No, not exactly. It’s only able to create a portal to its sister stone, which is right here”, the man replied as he held up another glowing gem, this one was red.
*Creak*
The door was slowly opened by a beautiful woman with snow white hair, tanned skin, and emerald green eyes.
“Dear, Charles of the Thronheart family is waiting for us at the front lobby”, informed the woman.
The man turned to her and said, “Thank you, Lydia. I guess I’ve had enough relaxation for the day. Come Alus, let us go meet our guest downstairs.”
“As you wish, father”, the boy responded as he remembered his proper etiquette. As they exited the room, an armored young woman with blonde hair and grey eyes joined them as they walked down the hall. “Mia, did Mr. Thornheart say why he wanted to see us?”, Tovior asked the armored woman. “No, sir. He only said that he wanted to talk to you and your family about a private matter”, Mia said. “Then be ready”, Tovior said as they approached the stairs. “Don’t worry sir. We have twenty guards in the lobby you’ll be safe with us”, Mia reassured.
The group walked down to the front lobby where a blonde man was talking to a small group of five hooded figures. As soon as the man saw Tovior walking towards him, he stopped talking to the hooded figures.
“ Professor Tovior Fulmine. It is truly an honor to meet one of the Mana Research Association’s top researchers in dimensional magic. Professors Charles Thornheart, at your service”, the man said as he held out his hand. Tovior’s eyes narrow in something akin suspicion. “Yes, I’ve heard of you too, Professor Charles Thornheart”, Tovior replied as he took the hand in a firm handshake, “You are one of the top developers of destructive spells and magical weapons in the Association. So why are you here? I could hardly imagine you would visit me because you admire my work.”
This is new. I’ve never seen father be so… suspicious of a guest before, Alus thought.
“You are correct as usual Professor, but first I would like to ask, must we have all these listeners in the room? I’d like to discuss this matter in relative privacy”, Charles asked casually as he motioned towards the armored guards that surrounded them.
“You know these aren’t exactly the safest times Mr. Thornheart. So please state your business here or I am going to have to ask you to leave”, Tovior said firmly.
“Ah of course. My apologies for being so insensitive. As for the matter that I wish to speak about with you, it has to do with your most recent research in dimensional manipulation”, Charles said with an unsettling smile, “You see, I heard that you managed to open a portal to a certain dimension.”
“Yes, we recently opened a portal to a new dimension, but I don’t see why that would matter to you. All that was in there was volatile mana”, Tovior answered cautiously.
Charles gave a small chuckle and said,”Oh Tovior, you may be a genius mage, but you are an awful liar. We already know what you found in that dimension and that is why we can’t let you or your family live.”
As if on cue, blue light began emanating from the each of the hooded figures’ hands. One group of guards drew their blades and rushed the group, while the other rushed to form a wall between the Fulmine family and the hooded figures. Tovior and Lydia began casting a spell and a ball of energy formed in front of them, while Charles was nowhere to be seen.
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By the time the guards had closed the distance between them and the enemy, the hooded figures were holding ghostly weapons made of blue light. One of the hooded figures spun their halberd into a vicious swing that cut one of the guards into pieces. Another one of the hooded figures flipped into the air and threw glowing daggers that pierced the two of the guard’s necks through a crack in their armor. Another one of the assailants threw a spear that flew at an unnatural speed towards Mia. She deftly caught it with a gauntleted hand, but then the lance exploded with a great burst of light that blasted Mia into a stone wall. The wall cracked under the force of the impact and Mia fell to the ground unconscious.
Tovior and Lydia finally finished their spell and a gigantic ball of fire was hurled towards the group of assailants. But one of the hooded figures launched himself towards the giant ball of fire and sliced apart it with with a glowing katana.
Alus was staring wide-eyed at the hooded figures slaughtering the guards in such a graceful manner that it could almost be called beautiful. He watched his father, calm and collected, shouting orders to the guards as he began casting another spell. Something akin to admiration filled the boy’s heart as he watched his father fight against these assailants without fear.
“Alus! Take this and get out of here”, shouted Tovior as he tossed what looked to be a gemstone to him. Tovior’s shout made him remember the dangerous situation he was in and he managed to catch the stone before it flew over his head. Alus began to turn to run but then…
*Shlunk!*
A glowing dagger flew past the guards and into Tovior’s chest. The dagger disintegrated into nothingness as his body fell to the floor. Alus stopped dead in his tracks. It was like the whole world had stopped moving as he watched his father’s body lying in a pool of blood. There was just no way, Alus thought. There’s no way my father could die like that.
He faintly heard Mia desperately shouting for him to run, but he couldn’t move. He couldn’t stop looking at his father’s corpse lying on the ground. Darkness began closing in on his vision.
There’s no way, Alus thought as everything faded to black.
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*Present Day*
In a small room of an inn in the city of Chrona, a young man with jet-black hair and light skin, twisted and turned in a small cot. “Dad… Mom…”, the young man muttered in his sleep. As he continued to twist and turn, you could see him clutching onto a transparent stone that seemed to be made of something like glass.
“No don’t!”, the young man shouted as he got up with a start. The young man looked around the room with emerald-green eyes and took a deep breath. He looked at the glass stone in his palm and clutched it tight. The man got out of the bed and put the stone in his pocket.
Someone knocked on the door. “Alus, it’s time to get up. We have work in thirty minutes”, said a feminine voice through the door. “I’ll be down in fifteen Mia”, responded Alus as he got put on light leather armor. He fastened the last strap of his chest plate, took a sheathed shortsword from the nightstand, and then ran down the wooden stairs.
A woman who looked to be in her late-twenties with grey eyes and blonde hair was waiting for Alus at the base of the stairs. She wore a small metal chest plate and iron gauntlets. When Alus reached the bottom of the stairs, she handed him a bag. “The job is to take out an ogre that has been stealing the livestock of some farms a couple miles up north. Shouldn’t be too difficult, but it will be good practice for the expedition in two weeks”, the woman said as she checked her pack to make sure they had all the appropriate potions.
“Got it. We should get moving then”, said Alus as he hefted the bag over his shoulder. Before he could turn to leave the woman grabbed his hand. “I heard you shout back in your room. Are you okay?”, the woman asked concernedly. “Mia, I’m fine. Just had a little nightmare is all”, Alus said unconvincingly. “Okay. Just know, that you can always come to me. I’m there for you”, Mia said earnestly. “Thanks, Mia. That means a lot to me”, Alus said gratefully. “Then let’s get moving. We aren’t going to get paid just standing around here”, Mia said enthusiastically. “Yes mam”, said Alus as they began the short trek up north.
Forty-five minutes later, they were preparing to fight in the fields near the farms. The pair set down their packs and began taking out their equipment. Alus took out a couple of scrolls, while Mia took out a jar filled with some muddy mixture of herbs. Mia set the jar down on the ground and opened it. The area filled with a foul smell that was similar to rotting meat. “Okay, the ogre-bait is set.”, shouted Mia. “Then we shouldn’t have to wait long”, said Alus as he clutched the glass stone in his pocket. As if on cue, a hulking beast around fifteen feet tall, greenish skin, and a face that looked like a mix of a boar and a man, came stomping through the woods towards them, wielding a giant ten-foot club. Alus immediately began gesturing to cast a spell, while Mia readied herself for the oncoming monster. The ogre swung its club towards Mia at an alarming speed. Mia spread her feet, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath.
*Crack!*
With a single punch, Mia shattered the club into splinters. Immediately afterward, she launched herself towards the ogre, but with surprisingly fast reflexes the ogre smacked Mia out of the air. Mia flew several meters away but acrobatically twisted mid-air and landed on her feet. The ogre tried to move towards her but was blasted back by a giant fireball. The ogre roared out in pain as it quickly rolled out the flames roasting its surprisingly resilient skin. By the time the ogre had gotten up, a volley of magical missiles were already on their way. The missiles hit the ogre in quick succession causing it to stagger. But it seemed even after all that, the ogre only seemed a little fatigued. Screw it. This is going to take too long, Alus thought as he opened one of his scrolls. He focused his mana into the parchment and an intricate magic circle began to glow a vibrant orange on the paper. “Mia get out of the way”, Alus shouted as he aimed at the ogre that was trying to hit Mia with little success. Mia leaped onto the ogre’s face and used it as a launching pad to jump away from the ogre. Not a second later did Alus shoot the spell, releasing a giant spike of some kind of black metal from the parchment. The spike flew at lightning speed, piercing straight through the ogre’s chest. The ogre fell to the ground with a heavy thud as the life faded from its eyes. The metal spike disintegrated into dust shortly afterward.
“Damn those things hit hard”, Mia said as she walked up beside Alus, “But did you have to use one of the scroll? Those things aren’t exactly easy to co-.”
*BOOM!*
A distant rumble interrupted Mia. “What the hell was that?”, Alus asked as he cut out the ogre’s tusks. “I don’t know. It sounded it like it came from the mountains”, Mia said as she squinted at the distant mountains,”Well, I don’t see anything, but I don’t think we want to deal with anything that could cause a noise like that, so let’s get back to Chrona.”
Alus continued staring at the mountain in the distance and instinctively grasped the glass stone from his pocket. “You coming?”,shouted Mia as she walked south towards the city. “Yeah sorry! Just got a little distracted”, Alus shouted in response as he placed the stone back in his pocket. Unbeknownst to the young man, a minuscule spark, imperceptible to the naked eye, had formed in the stone.