The queen of the Juma relished the stories that Simon began telling. After a few days, even Jubaic started to listen to him too.

His training was not going smoothly though, the boy struggled as the curse was uncontrollable and would often affect him on the most impeccable timing. It was actually getting worse as if it could tell that the boy had already found a loophole against it.

And it was another day, though the denizens didn’t understand neither it was already morning or night. Time was already a blurred concept to them.

“Simon, keep the magic steady… it's flickering… your magic is your own! Own it!” Jubaic said. He was a disheveled man with white hair. He had been coaching the boy whenever he wasn’t researching. He was standing in front of the boy and the woman.

A woman was holding onto the boy’s back, continuously transferring magic. The boy’s practice was simple. It was to refine the magic that was going inside of him while he was on a continuous state of magic edge throughout his whole body. The goal was to make this process the same as human breathing.

“He found me again!” Simon muttered as blood began flowing from his nose.

This has been their problem, the curse kept on disrupting the practice and it was defeating the purpose of it.

This is where Diamelle comes in. Diamelle came from a race that had a very good concept of controlling magic. In their lands, magic was some sort of a life force and it has been engraved to them to use every ounce of it properly.

Unlike before, when the first time they tried Jubaic’s theory, his magic was instantly sucked out of him from the hands where he transferred magic to the back of the boy.

“Feel my magic… copy its state… trust your instinct,” this time it was Diamelle who was speaking. She puckered her lips, the curse was trying but it was to no avail.

The boy opened his eyes as he felt it. The woman was not only pretty, she was also amazing.

“Simon! You like her don’t you?!” Jubaic who noticed the subtle change in the boy’s magic said.

“Yeah… she is really amazing~!” the boy, Simon said smiling. He then again closed his eyes.

Following the instruction from Diamelle, Simon steadied his breath. Breathing in took in the magic, breathing out purified it. The disruption of the curse whenever it found his magic. “I won’t let you take it!” Simon muttered in a low voice.

Jubaic and Diamelle who was watching closely immediately felt the sudden change in the property of Simon’s magic.

“Simon… try moving… stand up!” Jubaic said, urging the boy.

“I can’t-” the boy said. It was taking his all just to maintain the state of his magic. Processing magic, putting it on the container, using magic edge through his whole body then solidifying his magic from the curse.

“~YOU CAN’T DO THIS!!!~” a voice resounded from the bottom of Simon’s mind.

Blood began flowing out of his ears a pain that was surging through even making him unable to speak. Now his nose and eyes were bleeding too.

“Simon!” Diamelle worryingly muttered and she immediately tried to contain the curse but.

“Stop… please… let me… let me stay this way!” Simon muttered. Pain and suffering were clearly echoed through his voice. It stopped Diamelle from moving.

Simon was sitting in an Indian position with the tumbler in his two hands.

“Diamelle, let’s leave him be, he is an immortal too!” Jubaic said stepping in and gallantly reaching his hands to pull the beautiful woman to stand up.

“... Okay… be careful Simon,” Diamelle said removing her hands from the boy’s back. “You still have to tell me more stories okay?!” the woman said as she grabbed Jubaic’s hands.

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“Don’t worry about him! How about we discuss some magic theories? I would love to know more about Jumas!” Jubaic said unfazed by how he looked vs. The beautiful woman in front of him.

“Of course! Tell me some of your stories too!” Diamelle smiled kindly.

Simon heard the two. His whole body was shaking, but it was the only way to move forward. He has to master his own magic.

<--->

The Guardians as the name itself were guardians of the Inferno Gate. The Inferno Gate that was under the Deep Roads was a gate that held back a Great Demon. This fire demon has sought after the lands of Mirriam, threatening to destroy it.

Not only did they protect the gate from anyone, but they also protected a secret pass into the Deep Roads. In one sense they were also a defender of the lands known to men.

But the Guardians were a long-forgotten entity. The humans that they used to live with and protect have forgotten their vows. Still, the Guardians persisted.

The ancient martial arts and knowledge of magic were still passed down to them through countless generations. The Guardians were a long-lived race and incredibly powerful beings, part human and part elf. They built a village on one side of the mountains near the secret pass.

Although they were really strong, there were some enemies they could not defeat. Sealing them was sometimes the only way, either letting them rot or trapping them if they were immortal. This abyss was located in the bottom of the mountain they called Uraga.

This was the reason the guardians called it the Immortal’s Abyss.

The warriors and magicians were always divided into two duties. One was to keep watch of the Inferno Gate and one was to keep watch of the Immortal’s Abyss.

The Guardians of the Inferno Gate monitored it, while the Watchers of the Immortal Abyss maintained a magic gate. This magic gate had been used by the Guardians to send enemies into the abyss.

It was another day for the guardians for their daily routines.

An Abyss Watch was usually done in a pair. They would change their watch every day at noon. During the Abyss Watch, they would live in an underground dwelling. The time to travel from their village to their watch was almost a day.

They already had magic equipment there to be used in case of emergency or when they wanted to communicate.

“Something is happening,” a guardian who just has traded a shift commented as he took a look at the Sentinel Orb. This ball encompassed the totality of the Immortal’s Abyss where the dots represented the denizens and their colors marked what type of denizens it was.

It had been 3 months since the Chimera Queen was defeated (Chimera Queen = Spike Queen, they call them differently) they had lost men, elite men too.

“What happened?” the partner approached and also looked at the Sentinel Orb. The guardian who commented first began manipulating the Ball. It had zoom-in functions.

“The immortals are gathering in one place… this has never happened before, we should report this!” he said while looking at the reaction of his partner.

“I understand, I will be reporting it.” his partner said and went back to their dwelling.

Upon entering he immediately went into the communication room. He checked it out and checked the logs. It seemed that the last pair used it to communicate with their family.

“Still have to wait for a while,” the guardian who entered the dwelling muttered seeing that the magic battery was still charging. It would take half a day before the charging was finished. He decided to walk back outside.

“It's still charging,” he reported.

The guardian who was keeping watch of the ball sighed. There was nothing that they could do. It was a mandate not to leave their watch until they were relieved.

<--->

A month had passed again… the boy had clearly become accustomed to the process. Although his body was in pain, his mind was already far exhausted he began standing up.

Diamelle and Jubaic who were drawing magic circles and such felt the movement of Simon and they were really happy seeing him standing up. The two clapped as the boy began his first steps.

“Urgh…” each step, the boy disgruntled in pain. His feet, against the hard stone, were pushing the magic edge into his feet deeper, the curse kept on activating as blood escaped his toes. It seemed that as he progressed the curse also did. “Stabilize!” he muttered forcing the magic that was under his control to follow his command and ego.

It was a relief… finally, the pain was gone.

“Simon! My boy! You are standing and walking now!” Jubaic humorously said as he walked closer to Simon.

Diamelle didn’t utter a word. For her, Simon’s existence was actually a miracle. She had seen many strange cases but not one as hopeless as what the boy had.

“So… I’m going to walk around for a month then,” Simon said, looking forward to the next thing he had to master. He had never thought even once that walking would be hard.

“I like your determination boy!” Jubaic said then tapped Simon’s back which caused him to fall down.

The boy was not ready and the magic edge that was on his body hit the ground causing the magic edge to move and press into Simon’s body activating the curse.

“Aaaaaargh!!!” the boy screamed his heart out and glared with his bloody eyes at Jubaic.

“Shit… sorry boy… sorry!” Jubaic apologized sincerely or not for his actions but he did try to pick up Simon.

“No! It hurts!” Simon muttered as Jubaic carelessly grabbed his shoulders and then let him go. “Aaargh!” and pain spread to the boy’s body.

“Jubaic you asshole!” Diamelle who was not a good slur said as she ran to stop the madman.

“Please… just leave me alone!” Simon begged as he gasped for air. Blood was puncturing his lungs.

“Sorry!” Jubaic apologized again.