Trevor and his friends were on the ground rolling and twisting in pain. I stood there dumbfounded. I’ve never witnessed a form of magic so powerful that it would cause people to experience pain immediately.

“Trevor, how many times will I have to say this? The rules of Golden Sierra strictly forbids unregistered duels between students of any kind. I’m starting to think your brain is as dense as your muscles. On top of that, you even stoop as low as using your gang to try and beat a single individual.”

I looked up to see a guy slowly making his way towards me. He was so concentrated on Trevor, he didn’t acknowledge my presence.

“This is only your second day here, and this is the fifth fight I’ve had to break up.” He turned to face me. “I apologize deeply for this idio-”

The boy’s voice died in his throat when he made eye contact with me. His eyes grew as big as melons. Great, I thought. Another person who is going to fear me.

The boy had spiky black hair, with the front being dyed white. His eyes radiated two colors. His right eye was an icy blue color that seemed to cut right into your soul, while the left one was black, like the night. But that wasn’t the most unsettling thing about him. His entire left arm was covered in scars, but they were all black scars. The left side of his neck and those scars as well. Every single scar was black, instead of the pale color scars usually have. They radiated magic, powerful and deadly magic. I could almost feel the magic pulsing from his scars.

His head snapped back and forth between Trevor and me, like he was trying to understand what was going on. Finally, he started grinning like an absolute madman, laughing.

“My goodness Trevor, I knew you were dense but not this dense! How desperate must you be? Attacking low ranked people is one thing, but immediately attacking S ranked Elenore Magnus is something else.”

“Shut it you ass. I could’ve taken her down if you hadn’t intervened.” Trevor grunted.

The boy snorted. “That would be very unlikely. Even if you did, you wouldn’t move rank, as once again this was an illegal duel.”

The boy fixated his misshaped, or I guess discolored eyes on me.

“Please have a little stroll with me, Miss. Elenore.”

“What about them?” I asked jabbing a finger at Trevor and his gang.

“Don’t worry about them; I’ll have the magic dissipate once we’re further away, so they can’t bother us.” He replied. “Now please follow me.”

He made it sound like he was asking me to walk with him, but it was more like he nicely ordered me to follow him. I really didn’t have a choice, as he wasn’t going to take no for an answer, so I accepted.

For a while, we walked in the garden of the school. Roses, violets, tulips and other beautiful flowers bloomed. None of us really spoke to each other. Not a single word was uttered. I kept glancing at him. I didn’t really trust him. Sure, he prevented those guys back there, but a single action isn’t much.

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“Who are you?” I finally decided to ask, breaking the silence.

We stopped by a cliff which overlooked the Golden Sea. Its name came from the fact that no matter the time of day or night, the sea always had a golden hue. Along, with the setting of the sun, that filled the sky with a beautiful orange, the sea was shining. The school took the name of the sea when it was constructed: Golden Sierra Mana academy.

“I always come here at this time of the day. It gives the sea a truly magnificent view. Beautiful, don’t you think?” he finally replied, dodging the question.

“Yeah, sure the views amazing, but that wasn’t the question buddy.”

He stayed fixated at the sea, looking at the sun as it set across the horizon.

“There is life and beauty everywhere. Even in the darkest, gloomiest reaches of the universe, life and beauty will find a way to bloom. The human soul is an example of beauty. It is also what crushes us, our biggest weakness, but it is also our biggest strength. A tortured man can always strive for tomorrow if his soul lives.”

“Enough with the speeches bud answer that goddam question or I’m leaving.”

“Very well, I apologize for evading your question. To answer your question, my name is Atlas Ryder. I am a second year at Golden Sierra. I am also the second strongest person at the academy with a rank of S of course.” He shook my hand. “It is truly an honor to meet the daughter of Grimoire Scarlet.”

I was taken back. “How do you know my mother?”

“That’s because I owe my entire life to her.” Atlas bluntly put.

“What the hell do you mean you owe your life to her? Explain yourself!”

He sighed. “Of course. As you know your mother, Grimoire Scarlet, was a scientist that studied Mana and in turn magic.”

I nodded in agreement. My mother was born without any Stigma, she couldn’t become a Prophet, and she couldn’t wield magic. But that made her only fascinated by Mana and magic. She became a scientist to find ways of finding entirely new kinds of magic arts. She also led a division of scientists that attempted to create artificial Stigma, so people born without them could become Prophets. Wait… artificial. That couldn’t possibly mean…

Atlas gave me a weak smile, as the answer slapped me right in the face.

“Judging by that look on your face, you’ve figured it out. Figuratively speaking, I’m an artificial Prophet. I was born with five real Stigmas in my body, but I was born with a magic art that was too powerful and required more than five. It was slowly killing me as I grew up. My older sister tried everything to find help. Your mother caught wind about me, and I became her first and only subject.”

“Oh wow, that’s, that’s painful,” I replied.

“Three man-made Stigmas, your mother’s entire life research were placed inside me. Thankfully, my body and my magic accepted them. The only side effects are these scars that cover the left side of my body.” Atlas finished.

Suddenly, memories came flooding back at me. Ever since I was a young, my mother would arrive home later than usual, exhausted and shaken up. She barely spent any time with the family. Sometimes I would hear her mutter things to herself.

“The compatibility rate isn’t high enough.” She would say. “He fell unconscious again today.”

“All that time she spent at work, overworking herself to death.” I started. “It was to save your life?”

Atlas’ eyes seemed to tear up a bit, but he kept himself under control.

“She died to save my life. Sacrificing herself for the sake of a child. But her research was a resounding success. The government took notice and sponsored it. I was shaken up when I heard of her passing. I do owe her my life.” He stated.

Atlas stole one last glance at the sea, before announcing that he said all he wanted and started to make his way to the boy’s dormitory.

“Wait!” I called out. “What magic art do you even use?”

He stopped in his tracks.

“I use a recently found magic, which will be classified as a grade 1. It’s called Soulpurge. I’ll be taking my leave now, you should too Elenore. You’ll have classes in the morning.”

He continued walking until eventually I was left alone.