That night at the castle, I had finally gotten some time to rest up. My entire body was aching, from head to toe. Most of my wounds had closed, but the damage was still there. I was lying down, collapsed, in the main lounge, just outside of the throne room.

Lydia came up to me and asked, "May I get you anything, sir?"

"Some ice would help." I said to her, still battered and bruised.

"Understood, I’ll be just a moment."

"You’re a lifesaver."

So as I was collapsed in the castle lounge, practically dying of pain, I decided to continue reading the strange old book from before. I was determined to crack the secrets of this scripture.

Since it was so old, there were various things that were indecipherable. One example of this was near the beginning of the book, where it just sounded like a bunch of gibberish to me.

I read one of the early pages in the book, “These new ‘Neptarians’ have grown too reliant on their brute strength and energy cores. Ignians must converse with and guide the flame spirits to cast the true flames; thus, is as Lady Ignis intended.”

“What the hell are flame spirits!? And what does the goddess have to do with any of this?!” It was like I was banging my head against a wall here. “I mean… I think I remember something about Neptarians being called a different name in the past from history studies, but what does that have to do with fighting? I don't get it!”

"Here’s the ice you requested, sir." Lydia said to me as she handed me a small bucket.

"Oh… thanks, this will really help." I said to her, "By the way, Lydia. Do you know anything about this book here? Some of the words are quite hard to decipher, but I’m sure you’d be able to."

And instantly, she became silent and wouldn’t respond to me for a few seconds.

"Lydia?" I tried to get her attention.

"How did you obtain this?" she asked me with a serious tone of voice.

"I got it from Sigil’s shop. It was a special delivery for me." I said to her.

"I-I’m sorry… I would suggest asking your grandfather about this." She said to me, "Please excuse me for a moment." She said in a hurry.

“Well, that was strange." I whispered.

Lydia wasn’t the type of person to just lose her cool like that; something had to have been up with the book. She was always calm and collected, no matter the circumstance.

"Welp, I might as well go get some sleep." I said to myself, "Oww… That’s if I don’t die on the way there."

As I stood up, all of the bones in my back cracked, and a huge surge of pain radiated throughout my whole body. I grabbed my book and the bucket of ice, then limped over to my room, where I passed out as soon as I hit the bed.

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As the sun rose the next morning, I got up out of bed feeling refreshed. I changed my clothes and began to head out into the castle courtyard.

"Late as usual, I see," my grandfather said to me as I arrived.

"Oh, give me a break; I nearly died yesterday." I responded.

"Nevermind that, let’s gauge your current power, shall we?" My grandfather said to me, "Go ahead and attack me with all the strength you can muster."

"Eh?" I remained still.

"Well?" he asked. "What are you waiting for?"

"Alright then, if you insist." I said to him, I commenced my attack by blasting a small ball of fire towards him, which I used as a distraction to move off to the side and attack him. You know… I would go into further detail... but, to sum it up quickly, I ended up losing within the first few seconds. I won’t explain much about this part so as not to embarrass myself even further.

Who knew that a simple kick to the leg could flip a person completely upside down?

So anyways… I later found myself face down on the other side of the courtyard. The fight had ended in an instant; I never even stood a chance.

I looked up and found Lydia trying to hide her laughter. She was standing off to the side observing the 'training'. Since it was her job to look after me, she always had to be in close proximity whenever I was at the castle.

"Interesting approach," my grandfather said to me.

"Was that a sufficient enough display?" I mocked him.

"Indeed it was." He replied. "Let’s see now…” he pondered for a moment, “What shall we focus on for today?”

"Actually!" I cut him off. “If you could… would you teach me more about abnormalities?”

“I see, so it’s come to this.” my grandfather had a serious look on his face as he continued pondering.

“I’m sure you know about it don’t you?” I asked him, “I have an abnormality don’t I?”

“It’s… complicated. I avoided this subject for quite some time, since it seemed to be a minor issue.” he spoke out to me, “I’m not fully sure what it is, I’ve only ever managed to catch glimpses of it. But I believe it may be safe to say that what you possess could be considered an abnormality of sorts.”

“If that's the case, then I’d like to learn how to control it,” I responded.

My grandfather sighed, “Learning how to use one’s own abnormality is exceedingly difficult and much more so is teaching one to. Each abnormality essentially has a mind of its own, and even two people with the same abnormality can even have a completely different set of rules and restrictions.” He began to explain, “There is no set way for one to obtain an abnormality, as far as we know they’re completely random, however, there are certain things we do know about them. One thing that may help determine what type of abnormality you may obtain should you obtain one is genetics. Studies have shown that abnormals are much more likely to have inherited one of their parent’s abnormalities, however as it goes with anything regarding them it’s not guaranteed.”

Considering my grandfather didn’t seem to know anything about my abnormality, if I could even call it that, it was safe to assume it didn’t come from him or either of my late parents.

“Second, is that not every abnormality is a positive. Do not forget this. There are massive archives within the castle library as well as across every planet in the galaxy detailing most abnormalities. This is the reason we are able to contain and keep any catastrophes from occurring, we are able to quickly identify what abnormality has awakened within someone and take the correct precautions.”

“Is there really no way to obtain one?” I asked him

“There are theories and speculations, though they’re based on very little research so it hasn’t been proven. But the most agreed upon theory is that abnormalities are somehow triggered when under extreme stress. Near death scenarios, even trauma can somehow trigger a reaction within an individual. Obviously testing such a theory would go into the realm of psychopaths, so experiments such as those have been banned.”

Trauma huh?

My grandfather cleared his throat before switching topics. “Well, enough of that. I can’t guarantee that I’ll be able to fully teach you how to control this power of yours, but I may be able to guide you in the right direction. Now, please explain to me everything you know about this abnormality.”

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

"I can’t fully describe it, but it feels like my body somehow becomes stronger. This has apparently happened to me a few times throughout the years, but I never noticed it until recently." I began to explain, "When I was fighting the Grewk, the power activated and my energy had exploded within me, and I was able to match the Grewk’s strength for a short while.”

“Try to think back to that moment, was there anything that could have possibly triggered it?” my grandfather asked me.

“I mean… I was fighting the Grewk. Blade and I would have both died at that moment if it wasn't for the power just suddenly activating. Could it have been that?”

“Perhaps, though you’ve mentioned this wasn’t the first time it’s happened.”

“I guess my mind was under a lot of stress, my thoughts were running rampant and at the end of it all it ended with…” I went silent.

“Seems you’ve arrived at the conclusion all on your own.” my grandfather said to me.

I clenched my fist before letting out a sigh of defeat, “You were right when you said this has to do with trauma, huh?”

I once again felt my heart rate speed up, Hope really was the answer wasn’t she?

I suddenly felt a chill come down my spine, and as I turned around to face my grandfather I quickly took a step backwards and managed to dodge an incoming attack.

“Look at you.” he laughed, “I didn’t even hold back as much as I normally would on that one and you still dodged that attack without any issues whatsoever.”

“I…”

"Let’s put this to the test then, it seems you haven't caught on just yet. Begin with something simple." He said to me, "Give me twenty laps around the courtyard."

"W-what?" I was confused. "Is...that it?" I asked him

"Just trust me on this one."

"Whatever you say." I started off with a light jog. "Is this fine?" I asked him

"Try to go faster," he responded.

I picked up the pace and began to run.

"Come on, it’s like you’re not even trying. I need you to use all the strength you have to run around the courtyard," he said to me.

"Alright, alright, I get it." I increased my speed as much as I could, and after a while, I had finished the twenty laps. "There, that’s twenty; what is this supposed to prove?" I asked my grandfather.

"Well, why don’t you take a look for yourself?" he said to me.

I looked around, but I couldn’t find anything significant.

"I still don’t understand." I said to him.

A few moments later, I looked over to Lydia, who was staring at me in awe.

"What’s the matter?" I asked her

"Mistery." my grandfather looked at me, "how long do you think it took you to run those twenty laps?" He asked me

"I don’t know." I stopped to think "A few minutes, I guess."

My grandfather had laughed.

"What’s so funny?" I asked him.

"Mistery, You managed to finish those laps in just a few seconds," he said to me. "Not to mention the fact that most normal people would be at least a little bit winded after such a long run."

"Y-you’re kidding." I said to him.

"It seems that it’s not just your strength that's increased, but your reflexes and speed as well," he explained to me.

"So basically, I can run really fast." I said to him.

"Well to put it simply, yes," he responded. "However, I believe there’s still a lot more to this ability than meets the eye."

"Hmm, now that I think about it, that might’ve been what happened during the Grewk attack." I became excited, and with this knowledge at hand, I was eager to continue on with the training. "So what are we gonna do ne…" I suddenly fell towards the ground, gripping my chest as a sharp pain radiated throughout my body.

“Mistery!?” my grandfather ran up to me as I lost consciousness. “MISTERY……!!”

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“Looks like you’re finally coming to,” I heard a familiar voice call out to me.

“Lydia? What happened?” I was lying in one of the castle lounge rooms.

“You collapsed while training, Lord Zant said it was due to the overuse of your abnormality.”

“My grandfather did? Where is he at?” I asked her

“Your grandfather had to step out. He stayed around nearly all day waiting for you to wake up. He was very worried about you, he almost called off all meetings he had for the day.”

“I see…” my head was still pounding. “I think I need to get some fresh air.”

"Understood. Would you like me to get you a change of clothes first?" she asked me

"Uhh… Yeah, that would help." I said to her, looking at my ragged and torn clothing.

Shortly after that, I decided to take a nice, leisurely stroll throughout the town in order to clear my head. It was extremely lively during that time of day so I was headed towards the marketplace.

“I don’t think my grandfather understood just what kind of ability I have.” I spoke out to myself.

What I had managed to show off to him compared to what I did during the Grewk invasion or even during training were on two completely different levels. The other times were much more violent and powerful, it was like my body had a mind of its own.

While I was busy pondering to myself I ended up stumbling upon a new booth being opened up and the moment I took a closer look, I was instantly greeted by the owner of the place.

"Please, won’t you take a look at my wares?" The man called out to me, From the way he was eyeing me up and down, I knew there was something off about him.

"S-sure…" curse my lack of spatial awareness

I hesitated, for a moment but ended up taking the man up on his offer and as soon as I took a step inside, he became very excited and jittery. You know, now that I think about it, this is probably how people get killed.

"D-do you have any combat books?" I asked him, since that was the only thing I was really interested in.

He became still for a moment and started to shiver.

"Uhh...give me a quick second," he said to me. The man frantically went to look under the stalls, and once he popped his head back up, he looked nervous. "This is the only one I have," he said to me in a depressed tone of voice. I took a quick glance at it, but I could already tell I had one just like it back home.

"I’m sorry, but I already have this one." I said to him, I took a quick glance at some of the shelves and finally saw something that caught my attention. "What is this used for?" I asked him.

I held up a small black tablet. As soon as I picked it up it began to vibrate.

The man became very serious and attentive. "That right there is an ancient artifact, dating back to the pre-neptar era." He began to explain to me, "Legend has it that this artifact was used to seal away demonic forces long ago."

"AND YOU’RE JUST SELLING IT!?" I shouted at him.

"Hey, a man needs to make a living somehow," he chuckled. "However, I think I can entrust it in the hands of someone as capable as you, isn’t that right, young prince?" he smirked at me.

"So you knew all along?" I said under my breath as I took off my hood; a disguise I would normally wear when I went out into the town.

"Of course, only a fool would let greatness such as yours go unnoticed." He praised me.

"Yeah… you can drop it at that." I tried to be humble. "How much do you want for it?" I asked him.

"How about you just take it?" he said to me. I nearly collapsed on the floor.

"You know you really should be more careful who you give these artifacts out to; especially for something you claim to be ancient." I said to him.

"Oh, This price is specifically for you young prince, I wouldn’t sell this artifact to just anyone, call it an old man’s intuition." he let out a creepy laugh.

"A-alright, I’ll take it." I examined the case; it was very thin and had a jet black color though there didn’t seem to be anything particularly special about it besides being made of a ridiculously tough material. Knowing my luck, it was probably just a piece of metal.

“You hang on to that thing, you hear me? You shall find a use for it in due time.” the old man spoke out to me and I felt a chill come down my spine as I headed for the exit.

What could’ve been so special about this I thought to myself. I mean I heard his explanation, but these sort of shopkeepers always make up random stories in order to sell their goods. Why was it that I even became attracted to it in the first place though? I mean it was a really nice black color but could that have really been it? No. It was as if this artifact was calling to me, holding it in my hand felt almost comforting in a way, it felt as if we were connected somehow.

For the next few moments, I became too focused on the tablet and ended up bumping into a girl, which made me drop it.

"Oh, my apologies." I said to her.

She looked at me in silence.

She then knelt down to pick the tablet off the floor and handed it to me.

"Oh, uh..thanks. Once again, I'm sorry for running into you like that. I should’ve been paying more attention to where I was going." I laughed nervously as I held my hand out to help her up.

"It’s alright," she said to me in a quiet voice, taking hold of my hand.

Some time had passed, and we both continued to stare at each other blankly. I wanted to break the awkward silence somehow but she wouldn't seem to take her eyes off me. Not to mention it was quite dark out so I couldn't even make out what she looked like.

"It sure is getting late, huh?" I said to her in hopes of starting up a quick conversation.

"It is," she replied.

"Sorry, I should introduce myself. My name is…"

"Mistery," she interrupted me.

"Oh…" I became still for a moment. "So you knew as well?" I asked as I realized my hood was still off.

She nodded her head.

"So then, what’s your name?" I asked her.

She remained silent, her gaze locked firmly onto me.

"Is everything alright?" I tried to get through to her, but she seemed lost in thought.

After a few moments went by a bright light very briefly shone towards us, giving me a good look at the girl.

Long black hair and shining silver eyes. I saw her wearing a very familiar black scarf, one that I… had made.

"Hope," she whispered.