Edward: Why do we have to leave? It's not fair! I want to stay with my friends and play in the city!

Marie: I’m so sorry little Edward, since Will awakened, he has a stronger aura and a stronger aura when someone is young can attract more frequent attacks from Manifestations. We need to move to a more isolated location so that any emotional outburst won’t attract any strong manifestations.

Edward: It's not fair, why can’t he just move and I can stay here? You and dad always treated him better than me! I awakened and nothing happened. It's always about the precious prodigal son isn’t it?

Ivan: Silence! The decision has been made and you cannot change it. Pack your things and get ready to leave in 3 days.

Marie: Ivan, honey, should we tell little Edward the truth? We are moving because he is the one that awakened with a stronger aura capacity then average. Will told us we can blame him since Ed still doesn’t want to fight in the battle against the manifestations. If we can get over his adolescence without letting people know that he is talented then he can do whatever he wants with his life. If word gets out that his aura is above average, he will surely be conscripted.

Ivan: No! You think that brat can keep a secret like that? I wouldn’t be surprised if he starts bragging to his friends when he finds out. He awakened with above average aura at 11! That easily puts him in the top 1 percentile of the entire federation. Anyways, the best secrets are the one no one knows about. We will blame our relocation on Will as planned.

---------- a month later

Marie: Me and Ivan will be heading back into the city for an important meeting. Do you two need anything before we leave?

Edward: It's not fair, why can’t you take me with you, I haven’t seen my friends in a month!

Will: Edward, you know they aren’t going into the city for fun. Father and Mother are B-Class Hunters and need to participate in the monthly meetings about the city's defenses.

Ivan: That's right Edward, don’t whine. You should be better than that. Now, without us here, don't go out unnecessarily. There haven't been any sightings of manifestations in this forest for years so it's not dangerous but you shouldn’t risk it. The cabin has automatic defenses that can take care of you. In the meantime, Will will be in charge. He was just promoted to a D-Class Hunter and can handle the average manifestation.

----------a few hours later

Edward: Why are you going outside? I thought we were supposed to stay in the house?

Will: It's fine, I'm just going out for my daily training. Just stay in the house, I can defend myself. You haven’t been training so even an F-Class manifestation can hurt you.

Edward: Are you insulting me? Even an average person without aura can defeat an F-Class manny and I awakened my aura already. I’m what you would say, a bit of a genius.

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Will: Just stay in, I'll be back in 30 minutes.

Will then proceeded to exit the cabin and started his run. Unknown to him, Edward escaped and was following him. A few minutes into the run Will noticed someone following him so he immediately took cover and began circling the terrain to confront his follower. Edward immediately lost sight of him and stopped to look around. With a snap of a branch he turned around only to see will right behind him.

Will: What are you doing?! Don’t you know it's dangerous out here?

Edward: Shut up! If you can come out, then so can I?

Will: *sigh* C’mon Edward, we need to get back to the cabin. We are in danger.

Edward: No! You’re in danger, you’re the reason we had to move. I hate you!

Noticing the outburst of emotion from Edward, Will began panicking since strong emotions can attract manifestations. Especially the tantrums of a child with a strong aura.

Will: Please, Edward, calm down.

Edward: No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A chilling sensation soon permeated the surrounding area. An eagle-like manifestation flew right above the boys.

Will: Edward, be quiet and don’t panic. I need you to follow my directions. Can you do that?

Edward slowly nodded. For an 11 year old who has never trained nor steeled his resolve in near death scenarios like this, he was unable to think properly and could only blankly respond to Will.

Will: Good, now don’t panic but the manifestation is after you. I will attract its attention and I need you to run back to the cabin as fast as you can. Follow the river, if it ever gets close to you, just jump in.

Will immediately summoned his long sword from his artifact and was getting ready to fight off the eagle. But before he could even tell Edward to run, the eagle flew down and ripped the arm that was holding his sword right off. A brief burst of blood showered the surrounding area. Some drops flew onto Edward’s face and shirt. Will grunted in pain but he still kept his consciousness.

Will: Sorry little bro, guess I can’t buy you enough time to get back to the cabin.

Edward was still petrified from his current situation, even more so after Will’s arm was ripped off.

Will: Edward, take a deep breath for me.

It took Edward a second to react but he followed his brother’s instruction and took a deep breath. Will had pushed Edward into the river in an attempt to save him.

Will: Enjoy your life like usual brother.

Edward’s last sight of his brother as he was falling into the river was the eagle’s talons stabbing into Will. Once in the water, he held his breath for as long as possible before surfacing and taking another breath, hoping the river would take him away from what had just happened.

Edward was soon dragged into a small whirlpool caused by a hole in the river. He entered a series of quick rapids before the water slowed down and he entered a cave. The traumatic experience and the rapids had taken a toll on him. As soon as he got out of the water, he collapsed and lost consciousness.

When Edward woke up, he didn’t get up hoping that everything that happened was a dream. He began to go over what had happened. Why did Will say the eagle was after him? Wasn’t Will the one at risk for being talented?

Then it dawned on Edward, if Will is praised as being talented for awakening at 12, wasn’t he who awakened at 11 even more talented? He was the reason they moved…..he was the reason the manny showed up…...he was the reason Will had died.

As those thoughts permeated his mind, his emotions swelled. He felt grief and guilt at first, then anger at his parents for not telling him. His emotion rose and faded as his anger transition moved to the next thing he could blame. He was then angry at himself for being so stupid, then anger at the manifestation, then anger at all manifestations.

Once his emotions reached the apex, his anger, grief, fear, and guilt merged and became his resolve. Today was the day Will Li died, it is also the day Edward Li died. After today, he will just be Ed since he no longer felt worthy of his name. Today, Ed had vowed to avenge Will and eradicate all manifestations.

As he resolved himself to his new life’s goal, Ed got up and started exploring the cave. He soon found a body in an adjacent cave. There were words inscribed on the wall.

“To the one who will find this, please take my artifact. If you are a warrior then take it for yourself and continue the fight. If you are not, then I humbly request for you to give the artifact to the guild so that a new warrior can be born” Wilhelm.

Edward reached out and grabbed the artifact next to the body and a blinding light shot out as the artifact absorbed Edward’s aura and began morphing.