Aiden opened his eyes and then immediately regretted it. He reclosed his eyes as pain wracked through his head.

Pain was good though. Pain meant he existed. He didn’t know why he had that thought, but it seemed important. So long as he experienced pain he knew it was worth trying to find a way to relieve his pain. There was reason for his existence. That made him happy.

He smiled. But it felt weird. He smiled bigger. That felt weirder. Then he was laughing. He laughed until he hurt. But that made him laugh more. Well…until it didn’t. Eventually laughing hurt to the point he had to stop. Gasping for breath and holding his sides he rolled until he was on his hands and knees.

Too much pain made him stop laughing. That was sad. He kind of missed laughing. Why would he have to stop such a wonderful thing just because of pain?

A sudden burst of sadness overcame him. Soon he was sobbing uncontrollably. Tears poured out of his eyes and his mouth contorted in ways he couldn’t control. His mind raced while he blubbered.

Why did doing happy things like laughing make him hurt? Shouldn’t happy things only bring comfort? Comfort…

Was comfort the opposite of pain the same way happy was the opposite of sad? He seemed to know this intrinsically, but he had never experience the things he was now. The experience was new even if he had a certain understanding of what was going on.

He slowly brought his emotions under control with his thoughts. He didn’t know why he thought so deeply about these things, but it was his first time experiencing them. He might as well learn all he could about them.

So relieving pain was to seek comfort. Or was feeling pain the absence of comfort like how darkness was the absence of light or cold the absence of heat? Maybe comfort was the absence of pain?

He shook his head, to clear his thoughts. That felt really funny. That led him to another bout of laughter. Which led him to another bout of pain. Which led him to feeling sad again. Which led him to seeking comfort. This loop was really going to get exhausting…

He really liked feeling happy, but being too happy seemed to hurt him. He couldn’t stop laughing when he was too happy. So maybe he had to be somewhat happy, but not happy enough that he felt pain. He supposed he needed to find a balance between happy and sad.

Would he also need to find a balance between pain and comfort? For a moment he didn’t know. Comfort sure seemed nice. Then as though it slapped him across the face, he knew for sure that too much comfort could be a bad thing as well. Just as too much happy led to pain, too much comfy led to sad and boring.

Huh, boring was a new one…

He seemed to remember being in space and coming to that decision, but his memories were all fuzzy. He decided that he would try to find a balance between all of his emotions and take in his surroundings.

Emotional balance was hard to do. He opened his eyes and was flooded with so much information and emotions. Pain hit him again. It made him feel alive, but also sad. Seeing the area around him made him feel excited and happy, but the pain made him want to close his eyes. When he closed his eyes to seek comfort he felt loss for what he had seen. He wanted to see more, but to see more he would have to feel pain. That made him sad.

Tears rolled down his cheeks again. Why was existing so exhausting? He had to seek a balance or he was not going to be able to do anything ever. If he just stayed comfy he would never get what he wanted. That thought made him sad. Sad enough that it hurt him on the inside.

What in the world?! He thought.

How did being too happy and too sad both cause pain? And how did being too comfy make him sad enough to hurt. Life really didn’t make sense. But he was alive, and that made him happy for some reason.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

He giggled a little, but stopped himself before he went too far. Fear of feeling too much pain helped.

Huh, fear was useful he supposed. Yet if he feared opening his eyes for too long he would feel hopeless and sad again. Did he just discover he was afraid of what his own fear would do to him?

Goodness…maybe thinking less was the best thing to do. Maybe if he just went with the flow of it all he would gain a grasp faster.

Determined to continue on with some form of balance he decided to opened up one eye. That should be a good balance between-

“Ouch!” He yelped and closed the one eye.

Whoa! Talking was a funny feeling too. He tried to stop his laughing before it hurt, but couldn’t. A short moment later he was wiping his tears and resetting his determination to see the area around him.

Maybe he could seek balance in a different way. This time he tried opening both eyes, but only half way, like in a squint. It hurt, but he was able to see without too much pain. He saw a world that was green and lush and full of life all around him. It was too much. Too amazing and too overwhelming all at once. He felt his cheeks burn at how wide his smile was and yet tears were coming to his eyes.

He decided to stop looking around for a moment him and just focus on one blade of grass below him while he figure himself out. That one blade of grass made him feel giddy enough to start laughing again, but his ribs protested at the slightest chuckle now.

The pain was still there in his eyes, but it wasn’t too bad. He found a balance between his desire to see more and his need to seek relief from the pain.

Wait, when did desire factor into all of this? Why did he have so many emotions?! Maybe desire had an opposite. Something like…numb? Or maybe complacency? He could see how having too much of either of those would also lead to bad things. He would have to find a balance between those as well.

Seriously, this is so exhausting. Maybe I should just give up.

Wait! That thought was a numbing thought. That might give him comfort when he was hurting from too much desire, but right now that desire was helping him discover what was around him. That was just too cool to give up right now.

Maybe he’d numb his desire to understand his thoughts for now and spike his desire to see the world around him? He tried that. Yep, that feels comfy.

He moved his eyes away from the blade of grass to look at the many blades next to it. He knew grass well. He had seen it evolve many times.

Wait what? Oh right, stop thinking. He told himself.

He moved his gaze up from the grass and soon saw the base of a tree. He got super excited and desired to see more. That made him lift his head higher and open his eyes. Which led to a whole lot more pain. Which led to closing his eyes to seek comfort. Which made him feel loss at seeing the forest. Which made him feel sad. Which made him seek numbness.

Numbness felt better, but it also seemed like a trap. It was the part of comfort that he knew he didn’t like. But his desire led to pain…He supposed it was desire that also made him seek balance as well. He would just try to desire balance more than he desired other things.

Now I have to focus on what I am desiring?! This is too much! He thought, before remembering to shut down his thoughts.

He squinted his eyes again and slowly brought himself to a fully kneeling position. He could see the world around him. The harsh light seemed to have dimmed a bit for him, like the sun had dipped behind a tree branch. A hazy beam of light shown through the trees. Motes of dust danced in the light, reminding him of mana. Low hanging tree branches rustled from a gentle breeze, bringing an amazing sound to his ears.

it made him feel so happy. Not a giddy kind of happy though. He didn’t want to laugh per se.

He felt…peace.

That was the feeling he liked most. Peace was…balance.

Peace lasted about as long as a mote of dust stood still. Before long he was laughing at the feeling, then feeling hurt, and soon going through the whole cycle again.

His desires changed. He no longer lived to relieve pain, his reason for existing was to find peace again.

Unfortunately, by the time he righted himself again and looked out at the forest there was a new surprise before his eyes. Something he thought should be alarming, but to him it brought him another measure of peace.

In front of his eyes were glowing white words that hovering in mid-air made out of what he knew to be mana. He read quickly.

Denizens of Earth.

Your planet has been selected as next to be joined in with the Mana System which covers most of your universe and beyond.

You will be given one hour to read over the information in the menu provided to you. Then Mana will envelope your world and you will be joined to the Mana System.

Good Luck,

DEO