The Virene Seas
Azure
Throughout the trip, to calm myself from the constant noise my dorm mate makes, I often take wakes around the ship, exploring the place. They bring food, routinely, the quality depends on the dorm you stay at. Today was stale bread with a glass of water. I can't complain.
I'm starting to get used to the strong smell of the ocean.
While my dorm mate, whom I still don't know the name of, practices martial arts, I meditate, and focus on the energy around us.
Humans have the power to manipulate mana around them at their will, making spells of fire, water, and other elements.
Even as a half mix of demon and human, I can still, thankfully, use magic. I can still sense the mana particles around me.
I close my eyes and feel the cold, dark touch of mana. Everyone reacts differently to magic. Some feel burning warmth, some feel ice cold, and I believe it depends on which type of magic your soul resonates with the most. I try to gather the mana particles in, slowly letting them fill up my heart and my bloodstream with this rich substance. It sends shivers down my spine.
Strangely, even though demons aren't compatible with mana, as their blood is black and lifeless, I am still able to use magic. Maybe because I have a human heart and a small amount of human blood. I continue meditating for the rest of the trip. I wish I knew more about magic, but there was nowhere I could go to learn it. I don't know how to use mana, or if I'm even supposed to be collecting it. But it just feels right. Or at least it doesn't feel wrong. I think.
The days fly by too quickly, escaping from my grasp.
----------------------------------------
The days finally pass, and the ship docks into Latelle.
The horns blow and the winds blast.
We finally make it. All the passengers on board head up, some of them, including me, gape our mouths in awe at this incredible new sight. It's the sight of wonderful, beautifully strange, different architecture with hanging roofs, silky clothes, and flags. Structures made from stone, tiles, and bricks, painted in bright and warm colors.
It's like a different world completely. Amazing.
I walk off the ship and into the port, where I search to find a job and a place to stay. That's the most important thing right now.
The farther I walk down into the city, the less humans I see. Instead, there are many different kinds of demons, including blood, love, undead, and spider demons, just to name a few. I see a variety of different creatures used as stallions, large, fat, fluffy, mammals that can carry large bags strapped on their backs.
As I gravel in the sight, I'm lost in thought.
I finally did it. I made it to the moderately sized port city of Hun, Latelle.
This is what I wanted. With this, I can make a living, and not live my life in hate and discrimination. Yes! After a lifetime of saving money, too.
As my excitement boils down, I feel the loneliness finally hitting me. Even with all the suffering I had to go through in Virene, I still feel a sting of homesickness. Although I've been alone all my life, I feel truly alone here, soul-crushing unfamiliarity hitting me. This will take some time to get used to.
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
I ask around, hoping for someone who knows where I can get a job, and a passerby points me in the direction of a hiring board. I walk a few meters, and turn left, until I see a board with countless sheets of paper pinned to the board.
I look at the jobs available.
> [Carpenter Needed: 2 Copper a Day - 37 Renvo Street]
>
> [Looking for Soldier: 4 Copper a Day - 92 Canel Road]
>
> [Alchemist Apprentice: 7 Copper a Day + Benefits - 44 Tem Square]
There are countless, but not much I can do. I can do alchemy, carpentry, or the like. I don't have much skills, except mining, but that doesn't pay much. Instead, I keep looking on looking.
Hmm... I guess... Maybe a soldier? I see that there's training included, so no prior experience is needed. And they pay me even for training hours.
Or an adventure's porter. But that doesn't pay much, and I feel as if I'll probably have a high chance of dying, especially since it'll be difficult to defend myself against anything when I'm carrying a large heavy bag of loot.
I guess I'll be a Lanettian soldier. Maybe if I do well, I can go up the ranks and get paid really well.
I try my best to memorize the location on the paper, 92 Canel Road, and try my best to navigate the streets, roads, and signs. After a lot of kind help from strangers, and a bit of guessing, I finally make it. It's a large building, some sort of training ground I presume, and pays fairly well. It'll probably be a lot of work though.
Maybe if I get stronger, physically, it'll help me get the freedom I need to be able to search for my parents, and find myself. Who am I? What am I? What kind of demon am I? I don't know.
I walk into the building, and a friendly lady greets me.
I ask her where I can apply for a position as a soldier, and she leads me through stretching hallways until we arrive at a small room. There's a flow of magic coming from the room, something coming off of the three devices in the room.
She tells me to punch the steel plate, held up by magical chains and circles. I give it my best punch, and I quickly do the others ones, regarding durability, and stamina.
As someone who's been working laborious jobs all my life, surely I can pass the test right? But I also heard that the recruitment for soldiers in Latelle are very strict.
She writes down something, and asks for my name.
"Azure." I say. "It's nice to meet you. Did I do well?"
"Yes, you have good physical strength!" She says with a chuckle. "Your in."
She leads me to a room, and gestures for me to open the door. Then she leaves.
What's this? A dorm? I didn't know I got a place to stay. Well, I'll take it.
I push the heavy door open, and it makes no sound at all. Slowly, the interior is revealed, a bunch of soldiers, lying on the ten or so bunk beds there.
"Hey, you're the new one right? Welcome." A soldier, standing beside the post of the bed, says.
"Hope you behave." Another soldier, lying in the bed, reading a book, says. "Put your stuff on any empty bunk bed."
I walk onto my bed, gather some mana, and head to sleep soon after.
Soldiers wake me up at 5 am, and I am forced to learn and go through their training routine. It takes a while for me to get familiar, but soon I can remember when and where to go. Soon, three days already pass.
"Azure, lets go!" Dan cheerily says. The first friend I made here is the most outgoing one.
"Going!" I begin to get familiar with everyone, and learn valuable skills too.
How to hunt, kill, survive, defend. All the essentials. Swordsmanship, magic, and martial arts too.
Although all the other soldiers are far more experienced than me, I still manage to keep there pace.
Finally, we it's time to go to magic class. This is what I look forward to after a day of literal torture. I've always been curious on magic, and how it works. On the first few days I was taught the basics.
How to manipulate mana, different types of magic and what type of magic I wield. I learn I can manipulate light magic! Awesome.
Our skilled commander teaches us most of our classes, including magic.
On the way to magic class, I ask Dan what element he uses.
"Oh, yeah, I align with Wind magic." Dan says.
"Awesome, that means you can fan me when it gets hot." I joke.
Dan lightly punches me on the shoulder, cringing. I almost cringe at myself too.
Dan teaches me the ins and outs of everything here, and helps me catch up with the other soldiers. It turns out I was a week late but they still had missing positions so they kept the soldier recruitment papers up.
At magic training, I work on emitting light magic. I can take away light, blinding someone, or create light, flash banging them. Mainly, the commander teaches me how to make my surroundings darker, so that I can camouflage in the darkness and attack like an assassin.
I've begun to find a flow in my life, finally able to live like a normal person. I feel relieved. But... Something inside of me isn't content with just this. Like I want more...
Tomorrow is the first real battle. We will set out at sunrise and investigate the missing people concerns in northern Hun.