Chapter 2 - Rebirth

Toshi was going through the tour as Zoran walked dejectedly behind him. He was shown around to the cafeteria, rec room, practice ground outside, and finally his dorm. Toshi unlocks the door and says, “Welcome to your temporary home as we figure out your…situation.” Zoran steps inside as Toshi closes the door behind him. The room was messy with clothes strewn on the floor as journals were littering the desk and the extra bed where Zoran was assigned. Toshi groans and mutters under his breath, “Naiko…” Zoran put’s whatever left of his belongings down on the bed as he swatted the clothes away and Toshi sits down on the other bed and says, “Let me make this clear. You are not living here for free, you’ll be a temporary Aspect Hunter for the time being. You’ll also be sharing a room with someone you’ll meet tomorrow, their name is Naiko. I hope you two get along. Finally, I am sorry for what happened to you. That is a very hard thing to go through at your age. I hope we can find who caused it and what actually happened but in due time, enjoy your stay here at the Aspect Hunter’s headquarters.” Toshi gets up and soothes his suit as he leaves through the door leaving Zoran completely and utterly alone. Zoran looks outside the window to see the streetlights illuminating the city as people are arguing over pointless crap. He felt his hands shake…why are they shaking. Tears flow down his cheeks as more tears rain down. He put his hands on his face as he kept crying and crying until he was gasping for breath. Slamming his forehead into a pillow multiple times as his hands shook violently and punched the wall with great force. Glancing at his knuckles he notices they were bleeding and mutters to himself, “Why did I have to live…I…don’t know what to do anymore.” Feeling his breath grow shaky he looks back outside to see the city of Van Holiz. The city he has always yearned to visit in his life. He couldn’t help but feel a sense of bitterness as it wasn’t with his parents like they promised. He was alone. There was no one around to hear his bitter crying and the feeling of his heart being ripped into multiple pieces as he tries to grasp on any piece of meaning in this dismal life. Weakly standing up he stumbled to the bathroom and took a good look at his face. His hair was messy and seemed greasy from everything that happened, his eyes were now green instead of his dad’s hazel eyes. His hands were bloodied and there was ash covering his outfit. It is as if he seemed like someone he couldn’t recognize anymore. Someone who was a stranger. Stumbling his way to his bed he collapses as he mutters to himself, “I need to find out what happened with my friends and family…I need to find out what happened to them.” Feeling his fists tighten he tries to muster whatever remained of his dwindling willpower. Before he knew it, he imagined his parents coddling him like he was coddled when he was a child. As if he could feel their spirits tucking him into bed, he felt his eyes close heavily and the drowsiness consumed his mind.

“What the fuck were you planning to do useless Asta.” Zoran felt himself be jolted awake by the sound of an argument outside his door. Standing up he weakly stumbled outside wearing nothing but the rags of his clothing that he was wearing the previous night. Opening the door he was greeted with the sight of a young woman who seemed around his age with fiery purple hair and tattoos strewn across her arm. She was wearing a tattered uniform with burn marks all over it and she was wearing a constantly pissed off expression. Some would consider her unruly or a mess but Zoran didn’t have it in him to care. The girl’s hair was covered with water as Asta was wearing a smirk on his face. She looks at Zoran with her purple eyes and says, “Who the hell is this kid? It’s not the nerd that lives next door…he seems different.” Asta sighed and said, “This is the final piece of the puzzle for the little…plan I had in mind. His name is Zoran.” Zoran looks down at the second water bucket next to Asta’s legs and he mutters, “Were you planning to pour that bucket of water on my head.” Asta looked scared as he waved him off saying, “D-Don’t worry…this one wasn’t…ah nevermind. This was how I was planning to wake you up today.” Suddenly the girl grabs Zoran’s hand and says, “You don’t seem all that powerful…whatever, you might be an Aspect User. My name is Amaia Nouvel, and I challenge you to a mock battle!” Zoran steps back and says, “I don’t have an Aspect…and any combat training as well. I don’t really expect you to get any entertainment from fighting me.” Asta then walks up to Zoran with a cheeky smile and says, “I wanna change that actually. I believe you might have a potential to have an Aspect as we traced some amount of Aspect Energy residing in your body. We don’t have any records on who your parents are and there was no test done to see if you have any Aspect.” Zoran looks down dejected and says, “You’d be disappointed as those tests were already done a while ago. I was told that I have 0 Aspect Energy in my body and that I completely lacked some. Although, my parents used to reside here…” Asta looked down in confusion and muttered, “Everything about your situation is odd…your parents never had files. We checked underneath your last name and found no records of Ashura serving Van Holiz or the Aspect Hunters.” Zoran looks down in confusion and says, “That…must be wrong. They told me stories on how they served back then. I-I don’t know anything more.” Millions of thoughts race through his head, was his parents lying or is there something more at play here. Amaia interrupted and said, “Can we quit this boring talk…let’s fight.” Asta looks at her with an annoyed face and says, “Pester Naiko about it.” Amaia waves him off and says, “That was my original plan but then I learned the little wimp left yesterday. What a joke…” Zoran looks at Amaia and says, “Sorry I forgot to introduce myself, my name is Zoran Ashura.” Amaia takes his hand and hesitantly shakes it as she says, “Nice to meet you. When you do get a chance we should spar.” Suddenly there was more commotion happening and a boy with black hair steps out of the stairwell looking worn out. His uniform was tattered and there were blood splotches on the sleeves. He had glasses on and had blue eyes. He looked rather plain in comparison to Amaia and there was nothing really remarkable about him aside from the journal that was latched on his belt and dagger sheath. He looks at Amaia first with fear and then looks at Zoran and Asta with his expression calming. He steps up to Asta and says, “So who is this…what is your name.” Zoran reached out his hand to the boy and said, “My name is Zoran Ashura. I’ll…be your new roommate apparently.” Naiko’s face drains of color and then quickly responds, “I apologize for the mess in my room…I should’ve been up to cleaning it. My name is Naiko…no last name. Asta is actually my dad…well adopted more or less.” Asta roughly pats his head and says, “I know I know…I don’t look old enough to adopt a kid but he was given to me to take care of. He is abit of a nuisance as he doesn’t like being associated with me.” Asta looks away and says, “It’s not that…I’d rather not be known as the Aspect Hunter’s Director’s son.” Zoran looks confused and says, “You…are the leader of this place. You don’t act like one.” Asta waved him off and said, “It’s by virtue I am one of the strongest Aspect User’s in this world actually. Some would argue that I am the number one strongest.” Amaia scoffed and said, “Don’t kid yourself…” Asta looks down at her and says, “Wanna test out my strength Ms. Battlefreak.” Amaia backed off and took out a glaive she was hiding on the apartment door and wielded it as flames began flickering around her and she mutters, “I am always DELIGHTED to battle.” A mad smirk adorns her face and Asta sighs saying, “Can we postpone this. I have to deal with Zoran first. Go battle Naiko or something.” Naiko’s face freezes as he says, “Wait Asta…don’t do this to me. Don’t make me battle her.” Asta leans over to Zoran’s ear and says, “We should get going before it gets messy.” Asta leads Zoran away as he watches Amaia say, “Meet me in the training arena. Right now.” Naiko panics as he tries to run off and Amaia chases him off.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Asta takes Zoran to a room with a desk and a chair for him to sit and Asta gestures over to the chair and says, “Go take a seat. We will be having a talk about your situation.” Zoran takes a seat as Asta looks out the window and says, “I am sorry to hear what happened to you. That was my first point of this meeting.” Zoran looks down with a tinge of sadness and says, “It’s alright…I am just trying to process it.” Asta then goes to the back of the meeting room and pulls out a large container and puts it down on the table. He looks at Zoran and says, “In order to pay off for your stay here, we are looking to accept you to the Aspect Hunters. You would need to pay off your debt to the Aspect Hunters by working here by slaying the Malformed Aspects. Do you remember the monster we saw on the way here? He was a Malformed Aspect. Malformed Aspects are plagues to this world that we work tirelessly to eliminate.” Asta looks out of the window with a face that has a hint of sorrow painted over it and he looks over at Zoran and says, “Open the chest.” Zoran opens the chest as he commands and finds a pristine uniform with a spear to the side of the uniform. Asta walks over to the chest and says, “The uniform is included in your debt to the Aspect Hunters. It has special properties where it can numb pain to a certain extent and heals minor wounds. It also has enhanced durability, thanks to the Tailor Aspect and the Morph Aspect that we commission to make these uniforms. Put it on. See if it fits.” Zoran takes out the uniform and puts it on. The uniform was made with leather and silk with a side cape with the color of green. Asta looks at him and says, “Looking good Zoran!” Zoran then asks, “What is the deal with the side cape…” Asta responded with, “Well it was my idea and it helps designate your rank among the Aspect Hunters. Let me give you the list of the ranks and colors” He unfolds a piece of paper in his pouch and hands it to him to read.

Green - D

Yellow - C

Blue - B

Gray/Platinum - A

Red - S

Zoran finishes reading and he says, “What rank is Naiko and Amaia…” Asta looks out the window to see them mock fighting and says, “Naiko is a C-Rank and Amaia despite her claims she is a C-Rank as well. Regardless, I wanted to do something with you today. We will be going on a test run to gauge your combat abilities.” Zoran picks up the spear and is surprised with the weight and says, “I am not really used to combat…I never was that adept at fighting.” Asta smiled and said, “The test wasn’t your skill with a spear, rather it’s how you fare in a battle and under pressure. And there is one thing I wanna test…but I won’t tell you. Follow me.”

Asta leads Zoran deeper inside the Aspect Hunter’s Headquarters. He is going down a set of stairs into the basement and Asta was silent throughout the entire trip. The stairs descending down begin to get dimmer until they reach a hallway and Asta says, “I kept one Malformed Aspect I met last night with Naiko and we contained it to test you. Go through the door. I’ll be monitoring this test through a different room.” Zoran looks down in fear but he swallows it as he goes through the door. The room was quiet and was only illuminated by candle light, the floor was smooth stone and one wall was lined with glass and Asta was watching through the glass sitting down. Asta spoke, “Today I will monitor this test. Your commission is the Apple Aspect, which turned Malformed yesterday at 9:27 P.M. last night. The user of the Aspect was known as Dougly Caliso, he owned a fruit stand before he was swiftly murdered by an unknown source. His discarded corpse was transformed into an abomination that needs to be discarded for the safety of the Van Holiz people. Zoran Ashura, D-Rank Temporary Aspect User will be responsible for the hunt of this abomination. Commence the commission, now.” Asta pulls a lever as sirens blare as the door on the other side of the room opens up. Zoran grips his spears as he narrows his eyes. Sweat covers his palm as fear grips his heart yet he swallows it down. Out from the door came a corpse that was covered in roots and branches jutting out of a rotting corpse. On the branches had decayed leaves and apples that seemed rotten hang on the branches. The corpse limps out as the only thing that can be heard is a raspy breath that didn’t seem human. This didn’t seem human, it was a monstrosity are the thoughts that ran through Zoran’s head as he grips his spear and rushes the monstrosity down with flimsy determination. Inside his office, Asta takes note as the scene was occurring in front of him. Zoran thrusts the spear in the corpse with all of his strength and pulls it out as he falls backwards. The corpse cries out in pain as green blood oozes from the corpse. Zoran feels his heart thump in his chest. “Thump Thump” He backs up and tries to go for another piece but the monstrosity throws an apple that hits Zoran square in the head. It hurted alot more than he was expecting, in fact it was stinging pain. He was launched back and he drops his spear as he grasps his head in pain. Blood was trickling down his forehead, this was the first time he saw blood flow that wasn’t from an animal. He forces himself back up and grabs his spear as the blood drips down on the ground. The room was silent except for the dripping of blood and the beating of his heart. He screamed and launched himself at the monster. The monster slung apples at rapid rates but he deflects the apples with his fear. There was the straining of wood as his spear snapped but that didn’t deter him, he launched himself at the monstrosity and pierced it with his spear head but it slung another apple straight into his stomach. The air was knocked out of his lungs as he was launched back again. The pain was indescribable, he felt crumbling like soggy paper. He looked at the apple and put his hand over it. Suddenly something in him changed, he looked down at his enemy. Spear was lodged in its head as the other end was broken on the floor. His heart slowed and the blood pools underneath him. Closing his eyes he tries to envision a motivation, a motivation to keep going. Did he want to seek out an endless quest for revenge? Did he want to find the truth about what happened to his parents and friends? Did he want to pursue a dream that he may not have yet? Zoran muttered to himself, “No…I want to…live.” His motivation was clear and he felt something awaken deep into his soul. Before he knew it, the apple was now ash and in hand was a blade made of green crystals. He couldn’t grasp on what he did but he grips the sword. Asta’s eyes widen and he whispers under his breath, “He…does have an aspect.” Zoran rushed down the monster with reinvigorated speed and slashed the hand it was slinging the apples with. He felt himself feel lighter, his heart was now beating faster with adrenaline as he slashed the monster's head clean off. He envisions a spear and before he knew it, his sword transformed into a miniature spear and he pierced the head with a spear. His breath was heavy as he looked at Asta who was stunned and said, “Did I…pass.” Suddenly the pain overtook his pain and he collapsed on the ground. Asta walks over to Zoran’s unconscious body and says, “Maybe my idea will work…”

The lights were blinding and he felt his body become overwhelmed with heaviness. Opening his eyes he finds himself staring at a different ceiling. Asta was at his side writing in a journal and his eyes widened when Zoran woke up. Gently putting down the journal he begins saying, “You passed the test. Although, there are some improvements. That is why I am assigning you with Naiko, Amaia, and a new recruit who is joining tomorrow. You’ll be taught how to fight properly and use a weapon. Zoran looks out of the window and says, “I am still trying to get a grasp on what my life is gonna be for now on. I hope this can help me find it…” Asta looks at him and says, “Well get some rest. I hope you enjoy your stay here…and please consider actually joining the Aspect Hunter’s when the time comes and you are presented with a choice. We will give you all of this month to decide if you want to join.” Zoran was left alone as the room was quiet. He grips his fist and under his breath he says, “I’ll live for them…”