“...”

Kassadin stood in his chambers silently. The ink from his fingers further staining the floor where Roan once stood. He looked down at the There was nothing to be said… Roan was gone. And all that remained was the letter of resignation that he’d just handed in.

“Alliance Chief! What just happened?! Wait, where did the Magic God go?”

While Kassadin was still unable to comprehend what happened, his female secretary rushed into the room. She was surprised that her boss was standing like a fool in the middle of his room. But later on, she noticed that the Magic God, who was supposed to be in a meeting with Kassadin, was nowhere to be found.

“The Magic God has resigned.”

“W-What?”

“That fucking asshole… Roan, don’t think that you can do whatever you want just because you’re the Magic God...” Kassadin slammed his fists onto the remaining letter, and a burst of green light smashed it into smithereens.

“I’ll find you and bring you back, even if I have to drag you on your knees!!!”

❖❖❖

Ten thousand kilometres away from the frontier.

While Kassadin was in the midst of his maniac rage, a magic circle in the distant woods lit up with mana. From the depths of the magic circle, a figure emerged, and it soon took the form of a young, tall man. All activity within the vicinity ceased as everything froze up.

At that moment, it seemed like time had stood still. The morning sun was yet to reach its apex and the cold of the night had yet to settle. Once the young man emerged, it was as if the world had been plunged into a realm of infinite warmth. His presence alone made the trees bend down as if they were welcoming their emperor and the mana which seeped out from his pores terrified every living soul in the vicinity.

“Finally free...” Roan muttered softly.

The Magic God didn’t care about the overwhelming power that was flowing out from his body. He stretched his body, pulling the clenched muscles within his body. Although his plan was executed to perfection, Roan still just narrowly escaped Kassadin’s office. Just like Roan, Kassadin was ranked on the Heaven’s Listing.

Fourth in the Heaven’s Listing, Kassadin Bromm was the strongest Aura Emperor that the humans had. Unlike spellcasters like Roan, Aura users directly converted mana into abilities that could strengthen their body and physical abilities. Naturally, if they fought in a real battle, Roan would definitely triumph, but in a close-quarters, Kassadin held the advantage.

Though, that didn’t matter now. With his escape successful, Roan won’t need to bother with Kassadin or the other old fogeys of the Alliance anymore.

“Free… Free… I’M FUCKING FREE!!!”

Squeals of delight burst out from the Magic God’s mouth, uncharacteristic of the world’s most powerful magician. He bounced up and down like a kid who had just received his sweets, not caring in the slightest about his image. Fortunately, no one was there to witness his childish outpour of emotion; otherwise, the reporters of the Alliance would have a field day.

“Arghhhh!!! Twenty years… I’ve been stuck in that place for twenty years! I’d never thought that I would see this day...”

Roan gazed up at the twilight sky. It was dark now, but from the edge of the horizon, Roan could see a distant orange light rising up. The air was the same as always. The sky didn’t change in the slightest. The world never stopped spinning. But at that moment… Roan felt as if his universe had been changed.

“Freedom smells so nice! If I had known this, I would have left the Alliance ages ago!!!” The Magic God mused. “Hehe, I bet Kassadin is going nuts by now. Not that it’s my problem anymore!”

“Ah, speaking of Kassadin… I’m certain that he’s going to call the councillors in to chase me. I should change my appearance just in case.”

After being with Kassadin for twenty years, Roan knew a lot about his personality. There was no way that Kassadin would leave Roan alone to do whatever he pleased. Roan may have escaped for now, but the Alliance would send people to bring him back.

Thinking of something, Roan snapped his fingers. A whirlpool of mana erupted out from the top of his head. To the average person's eyes, it looked like a galaxy had been summoned out from the rift, taking the form of a portal to another dimension. An ornate full-body mirror then dropped down from the portal and Roan’s entire image was now in full view.

It was a surreal sight, even for the most seasoned magicians. Roan, however, was not fazed in the slightest by the sudden phenomenon.

“It’s a shame to change my face though...”

Roan frowned as he looked at the man in the mirror. Standing at about 1.85 metres, Roan was taller than the average man. He had straight black hair, which was thick and lustrous. His deep hazel eyes oozed with life sparkled under the little sunshine that the forest provided. Roan’s face was thin and well-defined, making him look like a man carved out from marble.

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Even though Roan was a spellcaster first and foremost, he’d never slouched on his physical training either, and it showed. Broad-shouldered, there wasn’t much fat to be seen on his upper torso. Yes, he was covered in baggy wizard garbs, but Roan knew that he was considered athletic by a spellcaster’s standard.

And most importantly, Roan really liked his friendly look. With a perfectly symmetrical smile that would light up an entire room, Roan possessed the ideal face for a first impression.

“Fuck... I’m so handsome! Tsk, too bad I can’t use this face to meet my new disciples. They would have fallen for me instantly!”

Oh, and due to his superior physical characteristics, Roan was quite the narcissist.

“Hah… Let’s change some things then.”

While the Magic God felt a wave of melancholy hit his inner soul, he still cast his next spell. Waving his fingers in the air, Roan restructured his height first, decreasing it by ten centimetres. Following that, he changed his face and hair.

“Since I’m going to find new disciples, maybe a friendlier look should be better? Yes, if I were too handsome, they would run away instantly. Ah! Maybe age myself by ten years? Great! This should do it!”

In the end, Roan changed into an average brown-haired man in his mid-thirties. In his disguise, Roan wasn’t going to stand out in crowds, but neither was he going to be ridiculed for his bad looks. Once again, Roan stared into the mirror, confirming the new look that he’d transformed to.

“Perfect! Looks like my transformation magic hasn’t gotten rusty yet!” The Magic God breathed happily. “Next is...”

Roan held out his right hand and raised it parallel to the ground. On his index finger, a simple wooden ring that seemed innocuous started beaming out a radiant light, one that could fill the entire forest with its life force. Once the ring was unable to hold back the mana, it burst out into several balls of light and quickly morphed into an elongated staff.

Almost two metres in length, Roan’s favoured magic staff was summoned back into the world. Twisted with wood and light, the magic weapon was brimming with natural power, equivalent to that of a Dragon’s life force. No, in many aspects, Roan’s magic staff surpassed that of the Dragons. After all, it was one of the three most powerful magic staffs in the world.

“...”

The magic staff buzzed in a low frequency and was so soft that not even a dog could pick up on its sound. But Roan could feel it’s joy vibration within the palm of his hand.

“Serenity… It’s been a while since I’ve brought you out, huh?”

“...”

“Yeah, I know. I know. You were bored of collecting dust. Don’t worry, I was too! Hehe, but now that we’re out of that boring place, I’m sure that you’ll find more use!”

“...”

“Hehe, good that you’re feeling the same excitement as I am!”

The magic staff remained silent, but its intense vibrations showed its emotions. Although Serenity lacked a soul, Roan never treated the magic staff like a tool. Instead, he felt that it was an essential partner that he could rely on through thick and thin.

And the best way to honour Roan’s bored partner was to bring it out on a new adventure!

A new magic circle appeared underneath Roan’s feet. Unlike before, the speed of invocation was sped up tenfold and the time taken from converting Roan’s mana to forming the magic circle was less than a nanosecond. Just like that, Roan’s spell was completed faster than his thoughts could register.

“Fly,” Roan commanded.

The Magic God’s body rose from the ground as if gravity never existed. Free from the limitations put on man, Roan continued to ascend higher and higher, until he was above the canopy of the forest itself!

The morning sun was now directly above the horizon, and the sky had turned from dark blue to an orange-blue. Roan could now peer into the distance without the help of spells or aura. An ocean of trees and an array of hills stood all around Roan.

It was a common sight, but Roan felt the weight of his heart being lifted. It was the first time that the Magic God had seen a scenery that wasn’t infested with Demons or Magicians. It was the first time that Roan felt that a simple background could be… so peaceful.

But Roan couldn’t slack off for too long. He had an objective to accomplish. An objective that drove him to leave the Alliance.

Flashing a radiant smile where his set of perfect teeth, Roan declared with a glow of pure bliss in his heart.

“Now… time to search for my first disciple!”

❖❖❖

Ebony Village. A rural village in the south of Eusora.

Ebony Village was like most other human settlements in the area. Unlike the city-folk or the magicians that lived in their lofty Magic Towers, Ebony Village was a rural, homely place where farming was the rule of the land. Most of the villagers lived off producing wheat and fruits.

Trained magicians were rare in this area, and some of the villagers living in Ebony Village even frowned upon magicians. They were hard workers that lived off their harvests, and that was sufficient for them. So naturally, the villagers of Ebony Village rarely interacted with the outside world that glorifies magicians and looks down upon their hard work.

But sometimes, disdaining something would only lead to dangerous ignorance…

“Hey, did you hear? The cursed child is acting up again!”

“That’s the fourth time this month, right? Damn, she’s really getting on my nerves!”

“That fucking kid… Does she know how hard we have to work to fix the damage that she causes?! Why doesn’t the village chief hang her already? We kept her alive since she was just a child, but she’s already fifteen, right? She’s almost a fully grown woman!”

“That was the reason why the village chief kept her around. Ignoring her curse, that child is quite the beauty. We wanted to sell her to another village or to some horny merchant, but no one would take her after learning about her curse!”

“If we can’t find an adjacent village that wants to marry her, we should just execute her! Isolating her doesn’t work anymore! If she continues at this rate, we won’t have any crops to harvest!”

The two villagers continued their rant, unaware of the shadowy hooded person that was hiding a few metres away behind their hut. After a minute or two of eavesdropping, the person couldn’t handle the talk anymore and slowly walked away.

Fifteen minutes later, the person reached a remote part of the village, a place where it called home. It was odd to call someplace remote in this rural village, but the stone hut was at least a kilometre away from the next human house. And it was even further to the core of the villagers’ settlement.

And… to call the stone hut a livable home would be an overstatement.

The roof of the stone hut had been partially destroyed, with numerous holes littered all over. At the far right-hand side, its entire brick wall had been blasted off, and remnants of a kitchen laid bare on the floor. Dirt and dust accumulated after months of neglect. It wasn’t obvious at first glance, but there were traces of cockroach and rat infestation.

It was hardly a place where anyone could live in… but it was the place that person called home.

Removing her hood, the person revealed her overly thin face. Her tousled long white hair was in a mess, with strands of hay stuck between its gaps. Her blue eyes betrayed hints of despondency as they had gone sore red. Her complexion was pale and her lips chapped. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that she looked on the verge of death.

The young girl raised her basket, which should have contained her week’s rations. Once a week, the girl would enter the village to collect some food. Before, no matter how much the villagers mocked and cursed her, they would still provide some basic necessities for her to live.

However, after her recent outburst… the basket which should have been full was now empty.

“No food for the rest of the week… Looks like the villagers have made up their mind to kill me.”

The girl hugged her knees and covered herself in the hay blanket that she’d made. Her belly ached, but there was nothing she could do. The girl sat in the silence, watching the sky from the holes in her roof.

No food, no love, no warmth. There was nothing in the girl’s life. There was nothing… in the girl’s life.

So why?

“Why… Why was I born?”