Hi there this is my first fanfic and english isn't my native language, so expect some errors in grammar or in the storytelling. If you found any ill be glad if you let me know so i can fix them and improve.

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Have you ever been in a dream so real, that you cannot tell it is a dream? And have you ever experienced something so unreal, that you think it is a dream? If so then, how can you tell that you are awake and not dreaming? It’s because your brain tells you that you're awake?

But what if you can no longer think that your brain can tell the difference? Would you not be afraid to go to sleep? In the forest of the Province of Surka, one of the seven provinces of the Moonlight Empire, there was a young man that wasn’t sleeping for that reason.

His name is Aaron Pierce, and he was trapped in another dimension, for nearly a thousand years. In that place he couldn’t age, or be hungry, but he could sleep. And when you sleep, you dream.

All he could to not lose his sanity, was don’t let go of those memories and dreams. Dreams of things that happened, things that could have happened. But most of all, dreams of freedom, freedom to get his revenge.

It was already late perhaps one in the morning, thinking that he couldn’t continue like this, as he had to sleep some time otherwise he would die. Aaron closed his eyes and dreamt.

In the dream, he could see a woman with her back facing him. Saying “Sorry Aaron, I’m sorry, but we have to do this” over and over again. While trying to get to her, and turn her around, so he could see her face, the dream ended in darkness.

Waking up and looking around, the first that he recognized was the snore that was coming from Alex, the young man that freed him. Laughing out loud at how easy he had adjusted to this new world thanks to the silliness of Alex. He got up and using a spell to solidify the air in the distance, and shaping it like his hand, he slapped Alex in the face real hard.

- Wake up Alex! Time to get moving.

- Couldn’t you just wake me up like normal people do? – Alex was rubbing his red cheek, looking at Aaron with murderous eyes.

- I could, but it’s so much fun this way – Answered Aaron.

Alex didn’t complained much, as he was eager to learn magic and have his payback. The sun was coming up so the two started running to the near village.

Aaron and Alex arrived at the village sooner than expected, in the village they asked directions to find the closest city from there. Using the teleportation spell, by noon they were already in the outskirts of the City of Bret.

It was then that Aaron started training Alex.

- Listen Alex this is what we are going to do, for the next month or so, I’m going to teach the five basic things you need to know when you travel. Which are: how to fight, steal, hunt, cook and how to find water, we’ll be focusing more on how to fight.

- And what about magic?

- We’ll get to that later, first you need to be ready to survive in case we separate us somehow. About money obviously I don’t have it, do you have any? – Asked Aaron.

- Yeah, I always keep 2 gold coins in a secret pocket in my shirt, in case of emergencies – Answered Alex.

- And that’s a lot? – Aaron was in the dark about the current currency of this time.

- Mm let’s see a hundred bronze coins makes one silver, and one hundred silver coins makes one gold. Most food cost about thirteen to twenty-five bronze coins, so at least we won’t starve to death - Alex’s secret money was in case he got robbed, he could buy some food.

- Well, that’s good Alex. Now I want you to go to the city and buy a tent and food to last us at least seven days. We’ll camp somewhere near the river but far away from the city, in a place where we won’t be disturbed.

Aaron waited for Alex to comeback before going to find a secluded place where they could train. By the time they found a place that meets those conditions it was already night, so they built the camp and went to sleep till the next day.

For the next month Aaron taught different things to Alex, following a schedule. On the day, he made Alex do exercises that would put him in a better physical shape. He made him do it to the point of exhaustion, then he would heal him with magic, so Alex could start all over again.

Then came the fighting lessons that went from how to fight barehanded, to sword fighting. They sparred as often as they could, of course Aaron went easy on the fights and after some time Alex was improving.

The hunting lessons were on the day and night. He taught him how to track and hunt animals, how important it was to know where you can find drinking water, and which plants were edible and which were poisonous. After the food ran out, they survived by hunting and cooking from small animals too deer’s.

On the night they went to the city, there he taught Alex how to move with stealth, how to blend with the crowd and to steal from people. Aaron’s policy was to never steal from poor people, he thought that stealing was to be done only to gather information or as a last resort when you were out of money, so he never stole from people with scarce resources.

One rule that Aaron had was to always stay clean. To take a bath every day, or at least as often as one could. This was because he couldn’t stand being dirty and smelling bad, he picked up this habit in his travels across the continent. Of course when he was traveling there wasn’t always an opportunity to take a bath, but if he had the chance to clean himself, he would take it.

As a matter of fact the first thing Aaron did after finding the place to train, was to go to the river and take a bath. He even taught Alex that the very first thing to do when you got to a town, was to go to an Inn and take a bath, he even said that stealing to pay for it was ok. As Alex was a noble he had no trouble accepting this rule. He even agreed with Aaron.

Then it came the time to teach Alex about magic. The reason Aaron was delaying this, it was because he was thinking of an appropriate way to teach him about magic. At the end he decided to try to see if Aaron could be taught the same way as the others.

- Listen up Alex, now that your physical condition has improved, you’re more prepared to learn magic.

- And why is that? – Asked Alex.

- Because you can use magic to enhance your body when you fight, to move faster or to hit harder. But you are limited to the amount of recoil that your muscles can sustain, that’s why it’s always better to have a top physical condition – Answered Aaron.

- That’s what you did back in the cave? – Alex was wondering about the incredible speed that Aaron performed back then.

- No that was my normal speed, I didn’t needed to enhance my body with magic because… you are slow compared to me. Anyways back to the point, since you already know the ancient language, learning magic will be rather easy for you – Aaron took a break to sit down.

- How many races are there Alex?

- Four: humans, elves, dwarves and the raks – Answered Alex.

- And what do you know about them?

- Let’s see… the elves are agile and talented in magic, they live in the east of the Empire. The dwarves can’t use magic but they are so intelligent they don’t need it, because they can create powerful artifacts, they live in the deep in the mountains at the south. The raks are physically strong and not many of their race can use magic, but what makes them so especial is their natural immunity to magic, weak spells just tickles them so you need some powerful magic to kill them. That’s why the ones that know magic are very powerful and cannot be killed easily, they live in the north – Alex knowledge about the other races was just like any other citizen of the empire.

But Aaron of course was an exception, many things had changed since his imprisonment. And that included the humans, elves and the rest of the races.

Back when he was born, no race but one, could use magic. And there was only one of them, the last of his kind. In the present it seemed that everyone could. That was the reason he was betrayed, so everyone could use magic. But that came with its cost, which was at best the slavery, and at worst the extermination of humanity. Now the reason why someone would want him out of the crystal after all those years, was starting to make sense to him. It was so he could finish what he started all those years ago.

Aaron knew that the one they called ‘The First Emperor’ had freed some of the power, of the one that was trapped inside the other crystal he had found back then. That’s why he had the crescent moon mark, and that’s why everybody could use magic now. But that meant that the crystal was cracking, and sooner or later the one trapped inside of it, would be free.

And if he managed to get out, his rage against those that put him in there would be unstoppable. Humanity would suffer for that reason.

But things are never so simple, with the other races being capable of using magic. He didn’t believed that the dwarves would be unable to use magic, seeing as the raks could. He was now the enemy of all of them because they would not give up his magic so easily, that was highly unlikely.

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- What is your last name Alex?

- It’s Avery, my full name is Alexander Avery Everton. I'm the next in line for the title of Duke of Avery.

- And you ancestor was Marx Avery, I’m I right? – “So it was he who sealed me. It makes sense as he was the weakest of the seven, sealing me would have given him power over the rest” Aaron thought.

- That’s right, my father rules one of the seven provinces of the empire. The Province of Esker on the south. The Central Province where the capital lies, is ruled by the Emperor – Answered Alex.

- So the legend your grandfather told you, it must the story that is passed from father to son about what happened all those years ago. After all this time the story became a legend, but why did your grandfather told you this and not your father? - Aaron was beginning to suspect of Alex’s grandfather.

- Probably because my father hates me since I’m weak – Answered Alex.

- Well you won’t be so weak much longer – “After I found out about something, I discover there are four more things that are unknown to me” Aaron thought.

He was reluctant to tell Alex all his past, so instead he choose to tell him only the parts that would be of use in learning magic. The rest was a conversation for another time.

- Listen Alex, magic is everywhere, in the air, in the ground, the plants, inside of you everywhere. You can only use the magic that’s inside of you, aka your ‘Magical Power’, but you can replenish it by absorbing the magic that’s around you.

Everyone can perform magic, it’s just that not everyone is talented at it. To use it, you only need to understand how things work. If for example you want to use a fire spell, you have to know how fire is created, and that’s with three things: fuel, oxygen and heat. So you replace the fuel and the oxygen with your magical power, and you create heat by the friction of those two.

The bigger and more complicated the spell, the more magic it requires. For example if your ‘magical power’ can be measured by the amount of ten, and to make a fire the size of your hand you need three, that means you can make three fires the size of your hand at the same time. But to explode an acre of the forest like I did back then, you need one-hundred of magical power, it means you can only explode a tenth of an acre.

Of course that with meditating you can increase the amount of your magical power, but like I said not everyone can have a talent at that.

The reason why before you could not perform magic, is because thousands of years ago there used to be a race of ancient beings. The name of their race remains a mystery, but they were the first ones to discover the concept of magic. They believed that magic was a substance that you couldn’t see or touch, but you could feel it.

They named that substance as ‘mana’. With that belief they performed a powerful spell to bind the so called ‘mana’, to their language. The one you know as ‘ancient language’, the spell worked and they succeed in binding the magic to their language. After that, if you wanted to perform magic, you not only needed to know all the things that I told you, you also needed to know their language.

That race of ancient beings were powerful, yet they almost became extinct. In fact only one survived, the one called ‘god’ in the story your grandfather told you about.

Back then, I had to discover their language from the ruins of the civilization of ancient beings. To do that I traveled from what it’s now the Moonlight Empire to the territory of the elves, and from there to the territory of the dwarves and the raks.

So now that you now the ancient language, you only need to learn how to control your magical power. So when you speak the language and use your magical power at the same time, you’ll be capable of performing powerful magic.

What I just told you is the work that took me years of my life, thirteen actually, from when I was eight years old till I was twenty-one. In that time I learned the things I taught you: how to fight, steal, hunt, cook and how to find drinkable water. So do you have any questions? – Aaron managed to explain all that to Alex, taking a few breaks.

- Yeah… can you repeat to me the part about how to use magic? – Alex’s brain couldn’t take all the sudden information, that Aaron told him.

- Sigh… it’s best if I show how it’s done first, and then I’ll repeat it – Answered Aaron.

After that Aaron showed Alex how to manifest his magical your magical power, and how to meditate to absorb and increase the amount of magical power he could have.

………

Two days later, Aaron left Alex in the camp so he could to train, and went to the city, but it was the first time he was going there by the day.

The reason was because he was tired of repeating the same things over and over again, and he needed a mirror and a razor so he could shave. He was planning to buy or steal the things, so he went with his hood up.

Because it was the first time he was using the city doors, the guards stooped him. At night, he only needed to climb the walls to enter to the city.

- Hold it right there, state your name and your reason for coming to this city – Asked one of the guards.

- My name is Aaron, and I just want to buy a few things here on my way to the University of Magic.

After lifting his hood, the guards opened the doors and allowed him to enter the city. Inside it took Aaron about half an hour to get the items, after a quick visit to the tavern, he was ready to leave the city.

When Aaron was approaching the city gates, he heard the guards having a discussion with three hooded figures.

- Like a told you before, by the lord's orders, if you don’t lift your hood up, you cannot enter the city! – It was the same guard that Aaron encountered the first time, when he came to the city doors.

- We just want to go into town to resupply our things for our journey, will not take us more than an hour, and then we'll go – Replied one of the hooded figures, judging by the voice, it was a man.

- Raise your hoods now! – The guard said, as he drew his sword.

It seemed that things were going to get bloody, as the ones that had hoods also drew their swords. In that moment Aaron felt something strange about them, there was a weird magical aura around them. He couldn’t figure what kind of magic was, so it intrigued him.

Aaron chose to intervene at that moment.

- Hey guys, there you are! I have been waiting for you guys, for the past hour.

The guard looked at Aaron and said:

- You are the kid from before, do you know them?

- Of course, we came from the same Province. We are all going to take the entrance exam to the University of Magic, so we were travelling together. It’s just that I went ahead of them and got to the city faster – Answered Aaron.

- And why they don’t want to lift their hoods?

- That’s why they are very shy, so usually I’m the one that does the talking. So, can you let them in? We'll be gone within the hour.

The guard looked at Aaron for a while, before turning to the other three and say:

- Fine, you guys can enter the city, but I want you all gone within the hour understood?

After thanking the guard, Aaron took the three of them inside the city. He guided them to an alley, so they coudl talk without being heard by the anyone. Suddenly the same one that was talking to the guard before, took out his sword and said to him:

- Who are you? And how did you know we were going to the University of Magic?

- Me? I’m Aaron, and I didn’t know you were going there too. I said that, because I am going to the University of Magic and the city guard knew, since they asked me to tell them when I came to the city - Answered Aaron.

- And why did you helped us?

- Because it looked like you didn’t want to reveal your identity, and that guard did the same thing to me until I lifted my hood.

- You are lying! Who are you?! And how did you know where we were going?!

- Like I told you my name is Aaron, and I didn't know that...

Aaron couldn’t finish his sentence, because the man brought down his sword at him at an incredible speed. By reflex he dodged the man’s sword by jumping back, a thing that surprised not only the man, but also their companions.

After that, it was one of their companions, that said:

- Amdír Wait, let me speak.

It was Aaron's turn to be surprised, not by the fact that the one that spoke was a woman, but by the fact that Amdír was an elven name. Now he knew the thing that intrigued him about them, it was because they were elves.

- I’m sorry for the behavior of my companion, but we have to know. Who are you? And why did you helped us?

“I have a shitty luck” Aaron thought.

He had met with the elves earlier than he thought. Things were about to get interesting.