We're finally moving to the main part of the story.
If I'm being honest with myself, ch. 1 - 3 could be considered part of the "prologue" as well.
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The next morning Thanatos left for town.
He glanced at his left hand. The black rune was too apparent against his skin.
'I need a glove. A fingerless one to make it easier to use mystic shot.'
Thanatos passed by the stalls, giving them only quick glances.
Mostly there were only odd trinkets and low grade materials.
A bright reddish-orange feather grabbed his attention. It was one of the items being sold in the stalls.
It was beautiful, but Thanatos didn't want to spend too much time staring at an object he had no intention of buying.
Especially with the shopkeeper keeping a close eye on anyone who approached his stall.
An armor and clothing store was further down beyond the stalls.
He heard the light ringing of a bell as he entered through the door. Normally he avoided entering stores on his own, but he couldn't tell Mia to accompany him. He was only here in order to keep the secret he made with his father.
There were racks of strangely-shaped armor plates. Many of them were for daemons who had alternate forms.
Thanatos moved through the room quietly. From what he could see, he was the only one in the store.
His eyes scanned the shelves for a simple pair of black gloves.
He found a standard pair easily; they even added a small amount of physical defense.
As he went to the counter a young woman greeted him.
“Hello, little one. Are you going to buy?”
Though he normally disliked being treated like a child, he felt less anxious because of it at the same time. It made interacting with kindly strangers easier.
“Dad told me to get gloves.”
He adopted a soft and shy tone as he dropped the gloves onto the counter.
“Oh? You did well coming all this way. It'll be one white jul.”
Thanatos knew that the price was supposed to be 3 white juls. Being a child did have its benefits.
“Really? I have that much. Here, onee-chan.”
She laughed, apparently quite pleased with him.
“Make sure to get home safe. Don't forget to give thanks for the summoning.”
“...? Summoning?”
The young woman seemed surprised for a moment.
“Hm? You haven't heard of it? Today the daemon elder clans summoned the continental warriors, the Magorum.”
Thanatos was stunned. Continental warriors? Magorum?
He was unfamiliar with the terms, but he wasn't dense enough not to understand the implications.
'But that's impossible … "Summoning"? But isn't that ... If it's true, then what exactly am I?'
He shook his head, pushing the thoughts out of his mind.
Thanatos mentally struggled with himself.
It was too soon to make wild assumptions.
The summoning could easily be some historical event that took place on «Labyrinthus». He hadn't bothered much with the story plot of «Magica Artis», after all.
“Little one?”
“Ah? Ahh … Thank you. I'm going to go show my dad now.”
“Alright. Please come again.”
Thanatos rushed out of the store, while his heart beat uncomfortably.
He had to keep reminding himself that it was just an assumption.
“Thanatos?”
He twisted his head to see a white figure waving to him. It was Troph.
“Who is this kid, Troph?”
A boy with pallid gray skin pointed at Thanatos. He appeared Valkein's age, at around seven years. It was hard to determine with some daemon races.
'Is he a wight daemon?'
He made the assumption based on his skin color and substandard movements.
“He's Thanatos. He's a friend of mine.”
“Could he help?”
At his question, Thanatos recalled what Troph had told Baramuh yesterday about helping one of the orphanage kids with shopping. He must have returned home too late last night.
'I guess he wasn't lying.'
Thanatos had thought that it was a hastily conceived lie to convince Baramuh.
“Haa … Thanatos, you haven't happened to have seen a phoenix feather, have you?”
“Phoenix feather?”
He quickly recalled the brightly colored feather he'd seen in one of the stalls.
“It's the feather of a beast species, the phoenix, a rare deviant of the bird race. It's really brightly colored. Sometimes it's red and sometimes it's yellow. There are also orange ones.”
Thanatos' ears perked at the phrase “rare deviant”. It had been on his status window.
'So it's like an alternate version? Phantom must be the rare deviant of another daemon race …'
“I saw one a few weeks ago, but I didn't have the money … I saved some from doing chores around the orphanage, but I can't find it anymore ...”
“I saw it. It's in one of the stalls further down there.”
Thanatos pointed in the direction he had came from.
“Really?!”
The wight child hobbled off with Troph trailing behind him.
“Let's go, Thanatos.”
Troph turned around and let loose a gentle smile while beckoned him to follow.
Between his three childhood friends, Thanatos found Troph the most difficult one to rebuff.
“I like your new overcoat, Thanatos. It has a mysterious and cool style that really suits you.”
Thanatos looked speechless for a moment. He truly didn't know how to respond to such honest compliments.
“ … Nn, thanks.”
“Did you get it from your dad?”
Thanatos' face darkened at the mention of his father.
“No, I got it from my mother.”
Though he'd waited, as promised, his father hadn't returned home that night.
He tried not to put too much thought into it, but he'd been honestly disappointed.
He asked his mother about Fyre's whereabouts, only to have the conversation diverted.
Thanatos was much more perceptive than other four-year-old children; naturally, he knew that she was trying to keep it a secret from him.
Had something gone wrong? But why hadn't they told him.
“What's the matter?”
“It's nothing ...”
Thanatos did like Troph, but he wasn't willing to share all his thoughts with him just yet.
“I found it!”
The wight shouted as he asked for the old shopkeeper to sell it to him.
The old man seemed to have a lot to say about the feather, to the boy's delight.
He listened with open ears, taking of what the old man told him.
Apparently he had history with the feather.
'But then why would he sell it?'
Thanatos couldn't understand the old man's reasoning. But as long as the boy got what he was looking for, it didn't really matter.
After using all the savings he brought, he stumbled over to Troph and Thanatos.
“Thank you! I finally found it!”
“Why are you so excited about a feather?”
Thanatos asked him as he glanced at the flame colored feather.
The young boy smiled weakly.
Thanatos could sense that it wasn't for the shallow reason of: it looked really nice.
“My dormancy began 20 years ago.”
Wights were peculiar existences, even amongst daemons.
They were creatures that didn't have births. Classified as the undead, they were born of daemon corpses that possessed strong affinity with magic.
Their “dormancy” referred to the amount of time they remained dead before reanimating. After reanimating, their body's growth would reverse until they were completely reverted to a child-like form.
The differences they had with zombies besides their dormancy were that their bodies did not decompose, due to their magic prowess, and that they had intelligence of their own.
“After I was re-animated, a phoenix saved me.”
Wights were also unlucky existences. They were only born where the corpses remained, thus many were born in inconvenient places and revived only to die a second death.
Thanatos felt a shred of sympathy for the boy.
“The feathers are the only clue I have for finding the phoenix that saved me … Can you help me find the others?”
Brring!
Available chain questGather the Phoenix FeathersGradeACompletion requirementsFind all 20 feathers and return them to the Wight boy.RewardsEXP, title reward, & a rare accessory.
'What the hell ..!'
Grade B quests and higher were considered very rare and very difficult. Suddenly given a high grade quest, Thanatos didn't know how to react. Even more so when it was a chain quest.
Chain quest rewards grew exponentially with each quest, as did their level of difficulty.
“Please!”
Repercussions associated with failing high grade quests were abnormally high but, as someone who lived in «Magica Artis» – not as a game, many of the consequences were invalidated.
“I won't make any promises … But I'll try.”
Quest has been accepted.
Due to the passive nature of the quest, Thanatos didn't see too much reason to refuse.
Even if he did fail, the consequences a young orphan wight child could impose on him would undoubtedly be small.
“Thank you, Thanatos! I'll introduce myself. I'm Diux.”
After suppressing a sigh, Thanatos gave the boy a short nod as he acknowledged his introduction.
“Shall we go back?”
Troph asked, seemingly pleased with the new turn of events.
“I'll help you with Diux's quest, Thanatos. We'll find all the feathers together.”
The three daemon children heard an excited shout come from the armor shop Thanatos had bought the gloves from.
“We're the first ones here! Lucky~”
“Stop being so loud, you idiot. It's embarrassing.”
Two men left the building.
The first one was a large man who had light plate-mail made of cheap metal. He had a long broadsword across his back, but no sheathe for it.
The second man was robed with a shabby tunic and old cloak. He also held a simple wooden wand that did not appear much different from a thick makeshift walking stick.
They had low quality equipment, but that wasn't the mention worthy fact about them.
They were humans.
“Don't be such a spoilsport. Aren't you glad that we found this town?”
“You're getting too excited. This isn't a starter town. There aren't very many low level monster areas around here.”
“Come on! You saw the announcement board. There's an event boss here! If you're the first to kill it, you get a blue rune.”
“As if it's going to be that easy. We'll have to at least be level 100 to even compete with that event boss. Even if you play the game for 10 hours a day for two years, that's difficult to do. The leveling system on «Magica Artis Online» is the bane for all grinders.”
“Well, then the least we could do is get some information about him.”
“We've already been doing that haven't we?”
“There's got to be some people we haven't asked yet ...”
The man scanned around, looking for unfamiliar faces.
“Look, lets ask the kids over there. Hey! You three! I've got a question.”
The larger man approached them. Despite his intimidating physique, it was clear that he was a sociable man.
“Are there any really strong NPCs around here?”
“Idiot. As if they'll understand that. What he means is: do you know of any influential daemons around here? He'd probably be really strong. Perhaps the head of a clan or family?”
The second man followed. Unlike the first one, he seemed to have an easily irritated personality.
Since their appearance, Diux's expression had became vacant, as though most of his emotions had been stripped of him.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
“There was a rumor about a treacherous noble who became the head of his family through violence. After usurping the head position from his father, he began to kill off all those who opposed him. He grew his lands in search of power and became the most feared daemon in the north side of the continent. Because of his treatment, there have been many rebellions. But they were instantly quashed.”
Diux made slow movements, as if his body had grown decades older in an instant. He scratched his face, seeming to scratch a nonexistent beard.
Even Troph seemed taken aback by his friend's reaction. He sent Diux a confused look, but the boy ignored Troph perfectly.
“It has been a while since I'd last heard of him. Many decades, in fact.”
The two humans glanced at each other, they also had become confused by his wording. He appeared to be a child, but his words said otherwise.
The mage shrugged.
“It's very difficult to tell the true ages of some daemons.”
Diux didn't seem to pay much attention to their confused looks and continued.
“He had a fortress north of this town. Though I can no longer say if he remains there to this day. Now, his cousin is the head of his daemon clan. He temporarily took over once the evil daemon had gone missing. If you are going to question him, be wary. There have also been rumors that his cousin, too, was involved in the coup.”
The wight boy turned his head towards the north.
“Many companies of daemons still search for him, despite how many decades it has been since he'd last been seen. I seek your aid, magorum. Would you help join the search for the vile tyrant?”
Brring!
Available event chain questFind the Evil DaemonGradeACompletion requirementsDiscover the whereabouts of the noble.RewardsEXP, 50 red juls, completion requirement for event quest.
“Haha, bingo. We hit the jackpot, Salmon-san.”
“My username is Si-mon! And even if we find the boss, we still won't be able to kill him.”
“This is the first part though. It's a chain quest. If we find him first, we can worry about leveling afterword!”
“Alright, whatever. We'll go look for him. Do any of you know anything else about this evil noble?”
They moved their glances from Diux to Troph until they finally landed on Thanatos.
His face had become incredibly pale and his breathing shallow.
His fists and jaw were clenched tight, as though he was desperately trying to keep something in.
The two men didn't seem to have taken notice of his rising panic.
“Woah! This kid is really attractive!”
Si-mon immediately gave his comrade a look of utter disgust.
“Oi! Don't take it the wrong way! I didn't mean it like that!”
Thanatos took a step back.
“Shut up, pedophile. It's your fault that he's scared of us. I don't want to be paired with some child molester. They'll think I'm like you.”
The second man had misinterpreted Thanatos' reaction.
“I'm telling you, it's not like that! And he's a boy! I like women!”
His last shout echoed awkwardly.
Everyone froze, unsure of how to respond.
Thanatos was the first to move. Once both players were distracted, he bolted off in the opposite direction.
Their conversation about him had fallen on deaf ears. Though he'd heard their words, his mind had already become blank.
“Ah! Hey, wait!”
“Tch. Disgusting.”
“Si-mon-san, I beg you! Please stop! False rumors about me are going to spread at this rate ..!”
Their voices faded off as Thanatos ran further and further away.
There was no doubt about it. They were players. People who played «Magica Artis» as a game. People from his old world.
He found his resurrection difficult to believe, but he eventually accepted it. He could accept it because he existed as Thanatos. He took on a new identity. He was no longer Tsuchiya Sora.
But was Thanatos real?
«Magica Artis» had become his world. But was it just a mass of pixels and data that could be deleted or altered with a click of a mouse?
'Am I just data?'
When Thanatos asked himself this, he felt his body grow colder.
His body became rigid, causing him to trip over himself. He landed onto the ground in a big heap before curling up.
He was terrified.
“Why do I have memories as Tsuchiya Sora? Is it because I was Tsuchiya Sora? Was I made to have his memories? What if I am Sora? What about Thanatos? Am I not Thanatos? Thanatos might not even be real. I don't even know if Tsuchiya Sora was real. This world might not even be real! Are neither of the worlds real?! Just what is “reality” anyway?!”
His whisper became an agonized cry.
He shook his head furiously, not caring that his face was being stained by the dirt on the ground.
“... Stop!”
It was as though a dam had broken. The questions and uncertainties he could not share with anyone of this world, that had been built up for four years, had finally burst through.
He didn't know the answer to any of his questions. He couldn't stop himself from asking. He couldn't even stop the questions from multiplying like a malicious cancer.
“What am I? … Who am I?!”
His vision blurred just from his sheer panic. The system couldn't even classify the state he was in or the emotions that were spilling out from him.
Brring!
You are now in the state of panic.
You are now paralyzed.
You are now petrified.
You are no … w #%`}_?.
“Calm down, you dork. It's not that hard. You're Sora, but you're Thanatos too.”
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Thanatos' eyes shot open.
He was lying in his bed.
“Thanatos!”
A familiar woman pulled him into a warm embrace. It was Mia.
“Are you alright?!”
She pulled his face up, watching for any odd symptoms.
He gave her a quizzical look. How had he been brought here?
Mia seemed to understand the question his eyes were asking.
“I found you in front of the door. You were unconscious. I couldn't tell what was wrong with you.”
She wrapped her arms around him again.
“I was so worried! Thanatos … did something happen?”
Thanatos flinched, his mind reeling back into an extreme state of panic.
Without realizing it, his breathing had become hitched.
He reflexively shoved his mother away from him and struggled against her embrace.
In that moment of time, he didn't even remember what he'd been frightened about. But that unseen fear began to eat away at his mind.
“No! … No!”
Mia watched in bewilderment at Thanatos' reaction, but quickly composed herself.
At her child's hysterical reaction, her expression changed into one of determination.
Even against his will, Mia held her son.
She didn't know if it would work, but she wanted to reach him.
“You're alright.”
“You're okay.”
“I'm here for you.”
“You're my brave boy.”
“Nothing here will hurt you.”
Again and again, she repeated words of comfort: words she wanted him to know were nothing but true.
Eventually his struggling stopped.
His violent shaking continued, but Mia was glad that he wasn't trying to push her away.
“I'm right here.”
She brought his head to her bosom, letting him find comfort in her heartbeat.
Mia wasn't sure when it had begun or what triggered it, but soon Thanatos was sobbing.
He clung onto her desperately, as though he thought she would disappear at any moment.
He cried until his voice grew hoarse and his tears had run dry.
By the time he was finished a throbbing headache had formed, leaving him completely exhausted.
In the comfort of his mother's arms, he fell asleep again.
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By the time he had re-awoken, it was past midnight.
His mother, though her face showed signs of exhaustion, brightened the moment she realized he was awake.
“Ara, ara. That was the first time I've heard you cry so hard, Thanatos.”
Her voice was light and heartening.
Thanatos lowered his head in embarrassment.
He'd never cried so loudly before. Not even as Sora had he cried with such abandon.
“I'm sorry.”
His voice croaked, still raspy from earlier.
“Don't be. I know it may seem strange but … I'm really happy that you did.”
She laughed easily, honestly telling him her thoughts.
He could understand why she thought like this. He was a boy who rarely displayed emotions. Finally witnessing her child act as one might their own age, she was glad.
“I don't know how I got in front of the house ...”
Though he was talking to himself more than he was talking to Mia, she reacted instantly.
“You had this in your hand when I found you.”
She handed him an object that had been lying on the table.
Brring!
You've discovered a Phoenix Feather.
2/20
“...?!”
It was a feather for the quest. He knew that it wasn't the first feather. It was a second one.
As he scanned his memories he remembered a hearing voice. A comforting voice, but the words were lost to him.
“There was no one there besides me?”
“No, it was just you. Do you know who brought you here?”
Thanatos shook his head.
Was this affiliated with the quest? He did not know.
As though to interrupt his thoughts, the front door of the house opened and shut again.
Thanatos' eyes shot up, and he tried to pull himself out of bed.
“No. You stay right there. You still need some rest. I'll go see your father.”
Mia got up and strode out of the room.
Though he could not hear what she was saying, he knew that she was hissing at his father.
Another five minutes later, Fyre entered Thanatos' bedroom.
He didn't make an excuse for himself, but Thanatos didn't care. The entire night Fyre hadn't returned, Thanatos had a horrible premonition.
It could say in confidence that he was just glad that his father was fine.
Another minute passed with the two silently watching the other.
Fyre was the first to speak.
“Tomorrow I will be returning home. I'll have you come with me.”
Thanatos blinked, obviously confused.
'Home? This is already home.'
But like Mia, Fyre was able to read Thanatos' unasked question with ease.
“By that, I don't mean here. You will see once we arrive. There, you will learn more about magus.”
Fyre clarified himself slowly.
“We aren't going to be staying there for a simple day. It'll be at least four years.”
Thanatos stifled a gasp.
Four years? That was no short amount of time. Why were they leaving for that long?
“Obviously, you have questions. But this isn't a request, Thanatos. Magus isn't the only thing you will be learning.”
Thanatos was slowly beginning to understand his father.
It was training.
He was going with Fyre to train.
Thanatos had always wondered why Fyre had put so much effort into making him stronger, but his father was never keen on answering him.
“Why?”
Fyre gazed at him with powerful eyes.
“To make sure you're ready.”