[Author's note: these chapters are rough draft unless indicated otherwise. A newer and revised versions of the chapters will slowly be added at my site if anyone wish to read from there. It supports mobile as well]
Chapter 1: Teo Char
Within a mysterious realm, a simple and quiet cottage stood. A middle-aged man sat on the front porch of the cottage while holding a small white cup. He had long crimson red hair with blonde streaks. A solemn air was around him as his eyes were gazing out towards the world.
While taking a small sip from his cup a silhouette appeared from the entrance of the cottage. This figure was of a male that looks about 30 years old. His short azure blue hair drifted slightly by a light breeze that flowed by.
“Second brother, do you know where big brother went? I have been searching for him for a while now but I couldn't find him”
The middle aged man who sat on the porch averted his gaze for a brief moment and turned towards the azure blue haired man. His crimson eyebrows relaxed and a calm smile appeared.
“Third brother, big brother told me that he will be out for a while. He went down to play with the mortals”
After replying he continued on gazing his eyes to the distance.
“Big brother sure has weird hobbies”, the third brother said.
….
Yuran Plane
A plane filled with mortal beings. In the Western side of the continent placed small yet prosperous Empire, Avanald Empire.
Within the Avanald Empire, a small town village called Char Village.
The village was situated in a grassy and fertile plain that was close to a small forest. The town was a farmland village, that grew crops and herded animals.
On a peaceful day where the sky was blue and the clouds were high. A group of people was standing around the entrance of one wooden house, looking towards the door. Some praying to the gods while others softly gossiping of the event.
“AHHH!”
A scream coming from the inside, the voice was so loud that it could be heard from the outside.
Within a room in the house, an anxious father was staring at his wife as he held her hand. The village doctor and a hired midwife were busy delivering the baby that was coming out.
“AHHH!!”
After many grunts and screams from the mother, a loud cry could finally be heard.
A baby was born!
The exhausted mother finally relaxed as she heard the cries of her child. Her grip on her husband's hand loosen and she looked towards the baby that was being cleaned and wiped.
The midwife took the clean baby and handed it to the father's
“Look Fei, it's our son!”
The husband was ecstatic although he was just anxious and frighten a few moments before, it was instantly replaced with joy and glee as he held his son.
The exhausted wife smile and took her son and held him gently.
“What should we name him Talwin?” she asked
“Let's name him.. Teo”
….
2 years later
A black haired kid ran out of the house, jumping around with his bag as he turned towards the entrance of the house.
“Uncle let's hurry”
“Hold on Aran, hold on” A tall dark skinned man smiled at the eager youth as he exited the house. He turned behind him and Talwin and Fei came out following them.
“Brother Ishwin, please take care of Aran with his divination rite”
“Ha ha, don't worry and leave everything to me”
Fei walked towards the eager youth and hugged him tightly.
“I can't believe you are already 10, mother will miss you very much”
Aran hugged his mother as well and gave her a kiss on the cheeks
“I will miss mom too”
Talwin approached Aran as well and rubbed his head
“Focus on your studies.” he said
“Don't worry, He's a smart boy”, Ishwin said.
“We'll head to the town hall first so he can take his divination rite, then we'll head directly to the academy” Ishwin continued
A little girl carrying the 2-year-old Teo came out of the house as well.
“Big brother, do your best!” she said
“Don't worry little sister Rowen, I will”
Both Ishwin and Aran started walking towards the town hall.
…
Another 3 years passed
The little baby Teo was now 5 years old.
He sat on the floor as he held a small book open. It was a children's book that Talwin recently bought for him. As a child, his parents would often read to him and would teach him how to read as well. Both his older siblings, Aran and Rowen, were all literate as well.
Teo became enamored with reading his favorite story about a turtle and a tiger. He loved the story so much that he read the story over and over. He would never get tired of reading such stories.
Teo did not grow up like the other children in the village. He would prefer to stay inside the house and read books, instead of going outside to play. He would read the books his father bought him, and even the old books that his older siblings used. The only person he would go out and play with was his elder sister Rowen, but last year she also had to take her divination rite.
The divination rite was taken yearly by children who turned 10. After taking it, they would be sent off to study at the closest city's academy for 10 years. They could not return until they were 20.
With his siblings gone, when his parents went out to work, he could only stay home alone by himself. Sometimes the neighbors would check in on him but would spend most of his time reading.
Teo's family was not poor but was also not rich. His father, Talwin, worked as a clerk for a village merchant. His mother, Fei, worked as an assistant to the village's apothecarist
Talwin and Fei initially accepted Teo's interest in reading. In fact, they even encouraged him at the start, but they grew concerned with his lack of interest to go out and play. Children who played outside were always seen as healthy kids and the kids that stayed indoors were usually very sickly.
They planned on motivating Teo to play outside with the others by getting him adventure books; stories of battles, treasures, and legendary adventures.
The plan failed quite miserably and made Teo stay inside even more. With the new books he got, he read and re-read as if he could never get bored of it. He would even read documents and books that were not meant for someone as young as he was.
When Teo turned 7, his parents finally gave up their plan and looked for Ishwin to help. Ishwin was concerned for his nephew and decided to help.
Ishwin was one of the village guards that was responsible for maintaining the security of the town. He took Teo to live within the town's dojo for 2 years.
Although Teo had to live in the dojo, as the village was relatively small, it was fairly close to his house. The dojo was the place where the village guards practiced and exercised. Ishwin hoped that the environment would help Teo to become more active. He would often give Teo orders and Teo would obediently follow them.
The exercises Teo had to do was relatively simple and was appropriate for his age. When his uncle left the dojo to do his duties and patrol the town, Teo would often sneak into a room within the dojo that contained different kids' of books.
The books varied in topics; from martial arts, exercises, basic stances and poses, medical treatment and many others.
Teo finally returned back home when he turned 9. Compared to before, he was healthier than the average kids in the village but given a choice, he would still prefer to stay indoors.
Noticing this, Talwin locked up all the books in the house. He only allowed Teo to be able to read these books only if Teo spends at least 2 hours outside. Besides being healthy, it was good for Teo to learn how to socialize with the other kids.
The area around the village was relatively safe. Although there was a small forest nearby, no dangerous animals were ever found there throughout many years.
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
….
Teo went outside the very next day.
As he walked along the road, he saw other kids playing together but Teo did not get close.
“Look it's that kid Teo”, said a girl within the group
“Teo?”, another asked
They heard of Teo, and some even met him once, but never really played with him before.
Teo continued walking and ignored the other kids. All he wanted to do was explore around the edge of town as 2 hours expired.
He found himself near the mouth of the small forest. There were many flat rocks nearby and it was a new place for him. He sat down on one of the larger rocks and picked up a dried tree branch and drew on the ground.
His thoughts led to his sister Rowen
Besides his parents and uncle, she was the only one close to Teo. As for his brother Aran, he couldn't even remember him.
His parents often received letters from his older brother. From those letters, he heard some stories about the academy. Apparently, the academy had a building called the library, which was filled with many different books.
As a kid, he had one simple dream. To read all the books in that library.
Since he kept reading the books at home repeatedly, he eventually memorized all of them. They were mostly children's books but even so, because of this his reading speed was abnormally faster than other kids.
The stories he read gave him joy and other instructional books piqued his interest
….
The clouds were high and the winds blew strong. The 2 hours was almost up.
Teo got up and started walking back but noticed an old well among the scattered rocks.
His curiosity grew and walked along a path that interested near the old well.
Teo peeked inside the old well and saw that it was filled with rocks and old wood. The bottom of the well could no longer be seen as but Teo noticed a very thick book underneath a rock.
The book looked old and a lot of dust covered its cover.
Seeing the book, Teo climbed down the well. The depth was not too deep as the old well was filled with many large rocks so Teo easily climbed down.
He tried to push the rock off the book but it was very heavy.
As he was pushing the rock suddenly moved.
A snake head-like figure came out of one of the holes of the rock. Four feet also popped underneath and a tiny tail also appeared from behind it.
Teo's eyes turned wide. It was a turtle!
It was the first time he saw an actual turtle.
Within the village, there were man animals but most of them were domesticated or farmed.
Dogs were domesticated and trained to guard, herd or hunt. Different breeds of birds were used to send messages for long distance communication. Chickens, pigs, and cows were farmed for food.
Turtles were rarely seen in town.
Teo suddenly grabbed the turtle and petted its head.
He truly liked turtles because his favorite story was about a turtle and a tiger.
The turtle stared directly at Teo as it was being petted
A voice came out from an unknown source “Kid, can you stop that”
Teo looked around but did not see anyone. He then turned and stared at the turtle
“You can talk?” Teo asked
“Of course I can, now stop petting me”
Teo stopped and sat right in front of the turtle
“I didn't know animals can talk” Teo's eyes were full of curiosity
“They can't. I'm no ordinary turtle though”
He looked proud but also looked very drowsy
“I was taking a nap and you woke me, I assume it's because of my book” the turtle continued
“Can I borrow it?” Teo was looking at the dusty old book. It looked like it hasn't been opened for a very long time.
“Do you even know what this book is about? I doubt you can even understand it even if you read it”
“Of course I can understand it” Teo proudly declared
Teo was very proud of the fact that he could read books other children his own age could not. He would often read books and when he did not understand something, he would read it repeatedly and try to understand it on his own. If he couldn't understand it, he would ask other people to explain it, but eventually, he would understand it
“Hmm...” The turtle was filled with skepticism
“Well then, let's make a bet. I'll let you read the first 10 pages, if you can understand a bit of it, I'll lend it to you for a bit”
Teo took the book and started reading. The book was fairly thick and dusty but although it looked old, the pages inside were in perfect condition.
The contents of the first 10 pages briefly talked about various shapes and symbols, then after that, it talked about linking the symbols together through other patterns. This was the basic introductions of the book.
Teo kept read these 10 pages over and over again and after a while he turned towards the turtle and said:
“Can I read more?”
“Do you understand it?”
“A bit, it's about drawing shapes” Teo replied
The turtle showed a disappointed look but continued to ask “Anything else?”
Although the answer was not wrong, it was the very basic and did not show any understanding of the pages
“Umm..”
Teo started thinking. He knew that the turtle wouldn't let him continue reading with just the answer he recently gave.
He became desperate, it was the thickest book he had ever seen. He kept thinking hard, trying to analyze if there was any deeper meaning within the first 10 pages.
Then a sudden inspiration came to him!
He recalled one of the books within the dojo. The book contained different forms, stances, and patterns of attack. According to the book, each form and stance allowed different kinds of paths that energy could flow through. Although he remembered what it said, he didn't actually know what flow of energy it was talking about, but it had some similarities with the shapes and symbols mentioned on the first 10 pages.
“The shapes and symbols are for different flow of energy” Teo declared
Although he sounded confident, in reality, he was merely guessing
An astonished look appeared on the turtle's face. It was indeed about the flow of energy! Or to be precise, the book was about arrays which manipulated the flow of energies
How could a 9-year-old child extract that from the first 10 pages? It was even difficult for an older youth to deduce that with just 10 pages!
'Could this youth have such talent?' the turtle pondered
“You are pretty bright aren't you?” the turtle smiled
“Okay, I'll let you read it, but you can't take it with you. You have to come here to read it”
Teo became excited and quickly started reading it again from the first page. The turtle watched him for a few minutes then receded back into its shell.
….
Time passed and it was already dark. Teo had never been out this long and Talwin and Fei became worried.
It became too dark within the well and soon Teo could no longer continue reading.
He decided to stop and head home
“Mr turtle, I'll come back again”
“The names not 'Mr. turtle', its 'Cien'”
“Okay Mister Cien, I'll see you tomorrow”
Teo climbed back up from the well and rushed home
When he arrived, Talwin and Fei was finally relieved. They thought that something happened to Teo but fortunately, he was just fine.
Although they were curious as to why he was so late, they did not question him. They were happy that he was out of the house. Children needed to play outside to become healthy.
[Authors Note: Second Revision, added more detail and some corrections. Please tell me if you find anything wrong with the grammar, spelling, logic. Thanks in advance]