Vira was a pretty big village, stretching from Lor forest in the south to the hills in the north. People lived their lives peacefully and, even though Vira was not a poor village, the current situation was bad due to the crops failing and animals not multiplying fast enough.

Things used to be different in the past. The noble family, Hind, were really loved by the people of the village and so their departure to the capital left everyone in an administrative disorder. During that time, Noel took the place of coordinator.

He was young and determined, also loved by everyone for his honest and kind character. The villagers listened to his indications : where to plant the crops, what to plant, advised the elders, made the decision to reopen the old mine and many other helpful recommendations that everyone happily followed. Like all things that are passing in the flow of life, Noel's popularity suffered major damage... after he found that dark-eyed kid.

One evening, when looking for more farmable land, Noel found an abandoned boy on a bridge nearby Vira. He was initially shocked by the child's attitude. ~How could a child even posses a character, that's insane you fool.~ he told himself to relive stress but it was futile. The baby had a certain aura to him that made the farmer uncomfortable. He then fixed his eyes on the boy's gaze. The kid looked up at the sky with the blackest irises Noel had ever seen. That gaze calmed him immediately. He knew those eyes were dangerous but...

> One's past and origins are irrelevant to what that individual can become in the future.

~Isn't that so, father?~

And so that day Noel saw in the kid that appeared before him, a bright future behind the darkest eyes.

The kindhearted farmer couldn't have possibly known the future though, so soon the villagers started noticing bizarre phenomena revolving around the child. The crops were poor, the animals were aggressive and wouldn't mate, the weather itself had worsened.

People started associating the kid with a bad omen but they were kept under check by the village elders at Noel's request. That didn't hold for long, for after a few years he left to serve in the army, as a debt he had to repay in his father's stead.

Sami saw in that boy many things... things she needed but also great deeds. And so, she defended him in front of each and everyone who would dare accuse the innocent boy of anything. She named him Levan, after her alchemist uncle whom she respected and her deceased daughter whose name would have been -Leva-.

However everyone else thought so differently. They called him "Novak" , which meant " of shade " in the language of the Derjiarii , referring to how Levan was found in penumbra and associated him with the Stone of Cataclysm from which the Derjiarii originated from.

Novak accepted that nickname with the passing of time. The villagers treated him with a cold attitude in the first half of his life. He grew up to be a determined, harsh but not an unapproachable person that almost everyone learned to trust, mostly because of the fact that with years passing by, the news of other weird events around the kingdom started emerging, diminishing the urban myth around Levan.

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Going around the market and following through the road leading north, Levan was reevaluating his plan for the 10000th time in the last month.

Calculating the resources he had used, the debt he had yet to pay, what Ber had discovered, what Sami would think about this ~What matters? She has nothing to do with this.~ and what he would do if it wouldn't work.

Walking without rushing anywhere and maintaining an upright figure while in his clean clothes, Levan couldn't be ignored. His wild look contrasted with his calm, neutral face and long dark hair that he liked to keep in a manbun. Noel could've sworn seeing him grow up that he had noble blood coursing through his veins.

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Sami's orchard wasn't that far from the village, about 10 minutes walk or approximately 1 neon*.

Levan got his thoughts interrupted by none other that his lovely friend Max.

"Well I be damned! This world's true cataclysm is back!"

"I bet you find yourself pretty funny standing on that rock with your buddies Max."

"Oh come on Novak! There is nothing to laugh at! It's simply the truth!"

The laughs of Max's friends started by that idiot's jokes always made Levan want to throw them in a river infested by Derjiarii. He simply hated them all. Max's father used to beat him up when he was little and he had no way of fighting back. Still, he payed back the damage times over. He stopped retaliating however due to the increasing number he had already pummeled them in the past and, of course, at Noel's request.

"What do you want Max?"

"I came to give my greeting of course!" ~This guy's resemblance to a snake makes me puke!~ "There is nothing to be worried about. We are all friends here."

"Right... anything else?"

"Absolutely nothing! You be on your way-"

"Yes! Do your thing and we'll just be around here enjoying these peaches and that's it!" intervened one of Max's friends before getting punched in the face by the one next to him.

"You moron!" whispered Max aggressively.

Levan had stopped walking towards Sami's. It was as if he was frozen in place.

"Peaches? What peaches, my dear friends?"

The silence gave him his answer. ~These thieves!~

They all jumped down from their rock and started running everywhere.

Novak caught up to Max, grabbed his neck from behind and threw him sky-high then kicked him when his body approached the ground again into the river nearby.

Damian who thought he had escaped with the peaches kept regretting his weak judgement... but it was to late to do that for Novak somehow landed with his knees on his shoulders and struck his head with his elbow. Damian was out for the count.

Levan picked up the peaches after feeling pleased with the outcome. ~Those other assholes deserve a couple of hits but I don't have time for that now.~

He followed through the road leading to Sami's.

The orchard wasn't doing so good. While moving towards the house he kept looking at it asking himself ~ Could I really be... the cause to all this? But why?~

He stopped and kept reflecting on the cause but got interrupted abruptly.

"What are you staying around there for? Come on I made lunch!"

Sami came out of the house and called him from the veranda. She always made him happy.

"Coming right now!"

Levan followed Sami into the house and sat at the table.

"Noel told me you have news from Ber."

Sami couldn't help but let out a sigh.

"Always rushing for your goals aren't you? You could at least eat before we talk."

"I will, but I have to know."

"Well there isn't much to it. Ber said he found the crystal and a mine of litrine*.

"That is a lot! It is everything that is needed!"

"Yes, yes it is. Now eat your stew."

Sami sat at the table herself and started analyzing Levan. She waited for him to finish.

"So? What happened?"

"I dug the hillside for about 3 days. I found many crystals and some iron but no sign of the crystal I need. It was useless."

"Don't say it was useless! Everything you do for your dream-"

"Must have a sense, I know."

"Interrupting people is pretty useless still!'

"Sorry."

Sami started laughing the way Levan always thought of her, cheerful and beautiful.

"What's happened Levan? Are you down today? You almost never apologize!"

"I'm fine!"

"Did you put some of my peaches in that bag?" Sami looked at the satchel filled with peaches on the chair next to Levan.

"You can forget about that."

Indeed Sami noticed Levan's look was pretty sad, and if not sad, then definitely pensive.

"Come on tell me! What's wrong? You know you can't hide things from me."

Sami was like a mother to him and, like any mother, she could always notice when something was off. Her kind tone that Levan knew so well relaxed him.

"Do you think there could be a chance I really have a bad effect on... everything?"

Sami knew better than anyone that when the unrelenting and unbreakable Levan started speaking with uncertainty he needed a little encouragement so set him back on his tracks.

"Kid you get dumber and dumber everyday."

"What sort of answer is that!"

"I thought you stopped asking those questions years ago! What is happening is something whose effect spans the entire kingdom. You have helped people with work and you helped others with building their homes after storms or earthquakes. You take care of Noel's crops and stop any bandits that get too close to the village. Everything you do is nowhere near evil!"

"I know that! But how could you actually be certain that I am not a bad omen?"

"All I know is that you are doing good things!"

Sami grabbed Levan's hands and put them together the same way she did when he was little and asked him to confess his thefts or brawls. It was a symbol of trust to both of them.

"Even if what is happening is somehow connected to you, you spent all your life doing precisely the opposite of what you accuse yourself of. Your own nature stands against what you fear. Don't forget that."

Levan took a deep breath ~Damn. I just can't help but trust her. I owe so much to her.~

"Thank you, Sami. I will remember!"

Sami was happy to see him smile. For Levan that was a rare sight.

"So you are going to Ber now? I wish you could stay around more."

"Me too but he's waiting. That's right... where do I have to meet him?"

"Riverclaw."

"Thanks Sami! For everything!"

The two said their goodbyes and then Levan parted for Riverclaw.