"Why did you save me??" the man uttered, each sound leaving his lips filled with pain and disbelief as he slowly raised his ash-covered face.

Each gasping breath, a piercing needle through his heart. "How can it hurt so much, yet I live? For what??"

The warm wind howled around him.

"Why???" he demanded as the tears rolled out and drew a clear line across his cheek. "When I lost, when I lost everything."

"Is it just... to make me suffer?" Another sob escaped his chest and for a second, only for a second, he glanced at the valley down below, almost underneath his feet.

His family estate burning hot, olive and orange trees burning together with the building, smoke clouding the sun that had not yet risen above the horizon, the thick curtain of death made thicker by the scorched town that lay ravaged a mile away. The town his family built, the home to thousands of families. Now all gone.

He could watch it not.

The sounds, distant yet unambiguous, he could not escape from, reached him. The screams of those who were still alive, those who were soon to die at the hands of his enemies.

"Why, why do I live?"

He was still kneeling on the cliff, his favorite place in the whole known universe. He looked toward the ice-capped mountain top to his back, the dormant volcano sleeping soundly while the whole world burned around. He gazed toward the calm turquoise sea that rested there in the distance as if nothing bad had happened last night. Looking indifferent to all his trouble. Just looking... not so pretty anymore.

The sight that used to bring him so much pleasure every time he climbed the mountain to this very spot now brought only more iron splinters into his heart. He could take it not, not anymore.

Drained of energy, his lips shivered. Drained of mana, his whole body quivered.

To hell with Energy and Mana!

None of it proved sufficient anyway.

So foolish, so weak, so... he felt so useless. “Why, oh, why did this happen???”

The tremble of his old father's voice ringing and echoing inside his ears still, “Run, run, and save yourself!”

He did not run. He stayed. And fought. And gave it all. And came short. And if not for the wind that picked him up and carried him out of the mayhem, up away from certain death, up to this cliff, he would be burning together with the rest of them.

“Why...? To watch how I failed? To watch my mother being burned alive???”

"If you don't want to, just take a step... and it could be all over for you," the wind suddenly answered, wrapping itself around him, growing somehow colder and dimmer.

"I am a fighter. Should have died fighting," the man protested.

"But if you're a fighter, you will continue fighting."

"What, what do you mean?"

"You became a Warden, a Warden of Light, a Warden of Time, A Warden of Eternity... have you forgotten your vows so fast? It's been a mere ten years since you accepted our offer. Has your memory been so tainted by all the troubles?"

"I have not forgotten."

"Then fight."

"But how? I gave it all. I know I did. And I have nothing left in me," he uttered almost unable to hear himself, his chest raising heavily, tears ready to roll down again.

"You speak those words with such certainty as if you know it all. You're a mere Level 20 and you think you've got the knowledge of immortals?"

The man looked at the wind, his face frowning, anger amassing. "Why, why didn't you help? You could have!!"

"Why didn't you? You said you could not but assume right away that I could, that we could? But then, if we could, why should you even exist? If we do all your work, why would you ever feel a need to grow, to become stronger, to- "

"I hate you!"

"No, no, you don't!" The wind corrected him right away with vigor, then added in a softer tone. "You have no bone inside of you dedicated to hate. Not even to those who killed your family. I see you. I know you. You understand. And, yes, that's the answer to your question. That's why I saved you. So, stop behaving like a child. This what lays in front of your eyes... it is a mirror. If you do not like what you see, change it. Grow and become stronger."

The man did not understand. How did the wind think that he did not hate? Vermal and his forces of darkness who took everything he ever loved away from him and put it all to the flames. He'd like nothing better, nothing better at all if he could just destroy them all, take out all their energy, turn them to dust, and shatter their spirits up to pieces from which they could never emerge again. Even if it was the last thing he would ever do and cost him his existence.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

He would be so ready to pay the price. So, yeah, the wind was wrong. But what... what was the use in telling it that? So, the man smirked, pulled his tears in, and got up from kneeling on the ground. "How? Tell me how, and I'll do it!"

But the answer did not come straight up. The man waited and then had to take a deep breath, the wind waiting for him to take another, to relax a bit, to hear his words right. "You're right. The Force of Darkness has won. But, you cannot stop fighting."

"I will fight him,” he said, suddenly summoning the bits of energy that started to return to him. His mana already traveling up his arms, enough that he could feel a spark in the palm of his hand.

They spotted him then, one of the dark figures riding a horse that came out of the smoke to stand at the trail leading up the mountain, one of the lieutenants of Vermal. It raised its hand, pointing at him, and a swarm of nearby soldiers started to run toward the trail, to climb it.

“I will fight them all,” the man said, calling on his Balance and reading the numbers displayed in his vision.

They said,

[Energy Supply: 7 units of 2000 max

Mana Supply: 3 units of 100 max]

Low numbers. Maybe in a minute when his attackers make it to him, they would notch a bit higher. Still very low. Not enough to even induce a small paralyzing current.

"Doesn't matter," he growled determinately, his fist clinging to the sword's handle to the point his knuckles went all white, "The blade then it is. And the blade then will have to do."

“No!" the wind howled harder, interrupting him. "Not here and not now! This place is theirs now. This is not your home any longer!"

“I will fight them!”

"And you will lose again. Besides, Vermal is not here any more. His masters had sent him to another world, to do there what he has so well done here."

"But I want to fight him!"

"No! What you want is to defeat him. That is your mission. But to do that, you need to grow and raise your power and strength, to become smarter, to become all you can be, and then some. To raise yourself up to levels you cannot even fathom yet."

"How?"

"You will follow him. And in that world, you will grow stronger. And... You will take an apprentice."

"What?"

"A human, a being of your kind. She's of the world that desperately needs a messiah, just like yours did. "

"But. am I ready to teach? I could not even protect those I love. How can I ever -"

"That self-pity ends now!" the thunder from the sky made the mountain cry, its stones quiver with fear.

The wind raged for a while, tossing stones down, making them rain on the black soldiers that made it halfway to the man. But it did not stop there. The man felt its power, felt how easy it was lifting him up, then spinning him around, as if it was deliberating with itself if it should drift him forward, nudge him a few steps over the cliff, then release him in thin air toward the hard rocks that would meet him hundreds of feet underneath, toward the end of his life and oblivion.

But the man suddenly fought it, using all the units of energy and mana that he accumulated since he was brought there without his wish, he fought to put the ground under his feet, to move away from the edge and lean against the rock.

"I will do it!!!" he screamed as the wind was not letting him go. "I will do it!!!!"

The howling stopped and the man felt the cold stone pressing his back.

"She's young," the wind suddenly said, becoming a warm, caressing breeze again. Then with a new vigor, it continued, "She's an old entity, but with a clean and untarnished soul. Pure as a little kitten. So... Train her. Protect her. From evil that takes all shapes and forms. Let her become fierce. And just. Giving and commanding. With compassion and insight into the knowledge of infinity and stars. Lead her to grow and to remember who she once was... who she forgot she could become. And who knows? Maybe by teaching her, you will realize all the fallacies of your own. Maybe then you will learn... what you have not so far."

"I accept. I'll do it."

That pleased the wind, and now it patted his head as if he was but a child. "The note of caution, the world you're being sent to is veiled in darkness. A few allies you will find there. There is a dungeon there we took ownership of, but it has a manager we still do not know how he will roll. He may yet turn to darkness, so little help you can expect from it."

"Okay..." the man said, not fully acquainted with all the powers of dungeons to know what that might imply, but not ready to admit it either.

"There is also another warden there. A woman fighter. She's fierce, more so than you. With the hair that burn hotter than the flames. A lot of anger in her. It limits her."

"I see."

"Find them. Who knows... they may help you. And... who knows? Maybe you will find someone else on your road worth saving, worth your and our time, and energy. So... I give you that power. The power of Insight. The basic one. But, you will be able to see and judge better."

A sudden bolt of energy hit him hard, paralyzing him for a second, then it melted away in a sweet sensation as if he slept next to Trina and the whole life was in front of him.

Trina... Another chisel through his heart. Gone already a year, yet it still hurt as if it happened yesterday.

No self-pity. Keep the pain. Accept it. Let it motivate you. Remember. And use it. With a head cool. And a arm steady. "Yes. I will do it. Anything else I should know?"

“This will be your first transference. Calm down and compose yourself. Give yourself enough time to tune in all your senses.”

“Will the new world be humanoid?”

“Mostly. But not exclusively. It's a multi-specie world. Be ready not to be shocked. Your apprentice will also need to deal with that. Also... technology-wise, your world is a few hundred years ahead of them. Understand well the Contract of Transference before you start interacting with locals, so you know what is permitted and not. I'd hate for you to be summoned to a Tribunal and pay the price for some transgressions you could avoid.”

“Okay. I understand.”

“You will also realize that your apprentice comes from a world that is technology way ahead of yours. Her adjustment might be even more difficult. Help her absorb that shock. Sometimes people lose their minds because they cannot accept it. She is judged more than capable of adjusting than you, actually, but we can never be sure.”

“I see.”

"So, yes. Try to build a team around yourself. You know, we're so few. Don't want to lose you. So, don't fall for their treacheries. And don't give up. And don't... Listen to me, don't listen to me. Find your own way. And I hope to see you soon."

"When?"

"Break the Darkness out of that place, and we will be able to talk again then."

“Will I ever be able to come back?”

“You gain power, you raise your level, become Master of Space and Time, and there is no limit to where you can go. But it is for you to walk this path. You are your own limit. I've already said too much...”

The eagerness, the possibilities, the new energy jolted the man. "When do I go?"

"But... You... Have already left."