Apparently, Elliot had been in a coma. For eight days. Because someone smacked him upside the head with a stick. If that wasn’t enough to make him feel small and insignificant then who knew what would. The girl left him soon after the bombshell she dropped. She was probably going to get help, but it was more than likely she was trying to escape the tension she had created.

That left a very depressed Elliot sitting on the bed which had presumably been his companion for an unnerving amount of time. Elliot was taking it with some difficulty, of course. The idea of death had always seemed so distant, something that most never thought about it until it came for them.

He had always experienced death in his dreams, yeah, but those had been gone with a thought, with time… They were easy to gloss over and pretend to never happen.

This?

This was when he realized something. He just… didn’t know how to take this. It was different than when he died in his dreams, there he knew death was certain, but also not permanent. He thought those constant nightmares toughened him up, but it was nowhere near as traumatizing as the real thing.

He had almost died. Any more time in a coma in this backwards world and…

At least he was given a chance in the real world… He looked up at the ceiling, and realized it was something that he was supposed to be familiar with by now.

A chill went up his spine.

Elliot knew one thing, he was extremely weak compared to everyone here, and if he didn’t change that there’d be little chance for him to become independent. As much as he loved the idea of being unseen and unknown, he knew he had to make a stand.

Elliot wanted to regain the things he lost before he was sent here, all humans were greedy this way and he was no exception. In this environment, he started at the bottom of the food chain, but there was way more potential to grow than in his old world.

Back when all he had to do was make as many friends in high places as he could, but he would never truly grow. To do that he knew he’d have to be able to do things that no science could ever do. Fortunately, this place he was thrown in seemed like just the place for that.

Now?

All he had to do was learn how the others did it.

“Child” He jumped, as the voice resounded across the room. He turned to the voice and sighed in relief. It was the old man, Gerald. “It seems you’ve gone through... quite an awakening.” The double entendre was not lost on Elliot, who narrowed his eyes and started to think. ‘Had something happened to me in my sleep? Was that why I felt stronger?’

He could have asked the old man but every question he’d thrown at him till this point left him more annoyed than before. Elliot looked towards… Hannah was her name, respectfully hiding behind her teacher as if he would lunge at her at any moment. Why was she even here anyways?

Before Elliot even started asking any questions he was answered by the cryptic old man. “She knows not of your condition, neither do I. Your mana control has become impeccable, at the cost of your reserves. You will explain everything at once, or else I’ll have to consider you a threat.” Ah, he guessed that was what the little brat was for. He’d have to step carefully over this minefield of a question.

“I… am from somewhere extremely far away, an area that you’d have no recollection of even in the oldest books.” That was not technically a lie, right? “There we didn’t rely on magic, only on the tools we created. I was sent here against my will and I don’t know why. All I know is that… um, that I’ll probably never be able to return.”

Elliot anxiously looked over to Hannah, who was looking as if she stepped in something offensive. “He’s telling the truth, but I can tell he’s hiding something” to which the old man laughed at raucously. “We all have something to hide my poor disciple! Now tell me… will having you here cause any harm to this area? Are you being tracked?” Ah, this old man truly cared for everyone in this village. If it was Elliot in his shoes he’d already been long gone the moment he heard that danger would appear.

“Absolutely not, no one would care to attack someone like me, and I doubt I’d be able to cause your village harm even if I actively tried, you should know how hard I hit, Gerald.” He smirked, and a sense of satisfaction washed over him as the words finally caused the old man to frown, albeit for a split second.

Gerald rubbed his eyes and sighed, placing a hand on his student’s head. “Did the girl give you my name?” He asked, exasperated. “Tiffany” Elliot replied, with his winning smile. “Girl couldn’t stop talking about you. Must be a real good teacher, huh?”

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The old man sighed, placing a hand to his face in a dramatic way. “I’m going to have to reprimand that child, she always has a habit of ruining my moments.” Ooh, so he was just being a petty old man, wasn’t he? Elliot would probably be able to get along well with him, then.

The old man scratched his chin, no longer quite as amused.

“Enough of this charade, you say you don’t use magic where you lived? Explain.” Elliot replied happily, now that he knew how the girl’s strange eyes worked. “I think it was more like it was impossible, there wasn’t any ‘magic’ in the air, so we couldn’t do anything about it.” This left the elder in shock.

“Wait… No, it can’t be… Are you aware of the savage lands?” Elliot shook his head no, no reason to lie at this point. “It makes up about 20% of the world, completely void of mana due to the monsters that siphon the energy from there. Do you mean to tell me that people can live in such an area? Do you think me daft? ” Elliot hurriedly shook my head no.

“I just said that was an area somewhat similar to that situation, I have no reason to think it a place I lived in. There were no monsters where I lived, either...” He noticed the two suddenly freeze up, and he wondered what he said wrong…

This led to a pause in conversation, Neither Elliot nor Gerald willing to back down. One was telling as much truth as he could without giving away his situation while the other one knew the other was obscuring the truth.

In the end, it was the old man who gave in. With a sigh he waved his hand in mock defeat at the kid in front of him… “Fine. There is no need for you to tell me more, I got carried away due to my curiosity, but... As long as the village is safe there’s no worry in letting you stay.”

Finally, Elliot was allowed a place of recess after so much stress. With a sigh of relief and a weight lifted off his shoulder he politely responded. “Thank you, Gerald. I’m grateful you’d let someone like me into your town.”

This earned a mocking chuckle from the man. “You won’t be grateful for long, boy, staying here definitely isn’t free. Fortunately for you, I’ve been looking for an extra hand around the house.” Elliot seemed confused, he did expect to have to work in this place but he didn’t expect to be a maid.

“What work, may I ask, do you have in mind?” The old man seemed amused by the question. “Already talking about work? I doubt you’d be able to handle anything with the way your body is right now, the only thing keeping you going is all the mana suppressing your nerves and strengthening your body.”

The old man chuckled, and the girl beside him smiled as well.

“Really, you are like a child, the way you soak up the surrounding area like a sponge is outright grotesque.”

Sponge? Elliot looked at himself, and then at the air around him, wondering what that even meant. Nothing was happening around him…

“No. What you’ll be doing is learning under me, you say you have no experience in sorceries, correct?” ah, he guessed the energy he had was temporary, at least it wasn’t all in his head though. Wait a minute… “I’ll be learning your magic?! Like the thing the blondie did?” At the mention of her friend being referred to as the “blonde”, Hannah frowned.

“I also know how to use ‘holy sleep’, you dolt. We’re both learning from him, after all.” The idea of Tiffany surpassing her in his mind upset her, Hannah was older after all. Elliot didn’t even spare her a glance, however, as he was too excited about the prospect of gaining that power. Unfortunately, the old man shut him down. “You don’t have the aptitude to learn anything those children know. You almost definitely won’t be able to heal anyone in your lifetime either.”

Elliot felt shocked, and then a bit pissed, He crossed his arms and scowled, a bad habit with his scary face. “So you were just messing with me? I get it, you think I can be pushed arou-” “Boy” The noise reverberated around the room, sending Elliot to the ground. “No need for your pettiness. I would never toy with my student, you merely aren’t suited to the divine arts. I can make you more, however… you hold a more offensive attribute.”

Elliot was hardly listening, too razzled by the sudden earthquake that had come from the man’s voice.

“Darkness, that attribute lies within you. You might hold more as well, but I can’t figure that out without a crystal.” Elliot didn’t know how to respond, especially since the old man already seemed to consider him his student.

“I apologize for misunderstanding you, sir.” Elliot, who was still on the floor, kneeled on one leg in respect. Even with his mind in shambles, he knew just what this opportunity meant. He couldn’t lose this, not now. “I would definitely join under you if you would allow it.”

The old man… No, his teacher, seemed to accept this. “No need to kneel, Elliot, just know that I’ll never seek to hurt you. The path will be hard and painful, however, and I cannot promise your safety… or your success” Elliot, who was still kneeling, felt the arms of his teacher trying to raise him, and he dutifully followed. “You will be my student, and that means you have my protection, however.”

He nodded, and stood.

“Come let us begin your inspection, if you feel better now, of course.” Elliot nodded enthusiastically, he didn’t want to spend important time doing fancy magic with unnecessary things like eating or sleeping. Another plus to this was he finally got to see what the outside looked like, and where he was.

“In the meanwhile, you can tell me all about your primitive, magicless society.” Elliot gave a wry smile to the accusation. He certainly wasn’t going to tell these people about anything as dangerous as nuclear bombs or, heavens forbid, the computer.