After the invasion of Vyndra, things for Leuel were somewhat complicated.
His friends died during the confrontation.
One could say that like any of the children who were affected by this event, something would also brew in him.
He developed a strong dislike for the invaders, and despite the strong mental shock he had received, the sadness and nightmares plagued him. It did not stop him from investigating the conflict, but instead drove him to learn more about the war, in fact until that day, even though he knew they were at war, and he thought it was a way for the adults to scare him.
That day he discovered that there were gifted on the side of the invaders. And beyond that, there was not much information about the enemy.
At least there was no information he was allowed to access. The age restriction and permissions only allowed him to see superficial things.
The conflict appeared 1000 years after the arrival of humans on Vyndra. An army fleet was doing exercises in the space where the colonising fleet was known to enter, detected the illegal ships' entry, and fought them off.
All the reports about this first encounter did not specify further details, not even what kind of species the enemy was. When he asked his parents if they knew anything about this, they repeated what he had read moments before. They had no further knowledge about this. The only thing they could tell him was that it was information that would be available if he joined the military. They decided that the non-combatant population should not have access to such data at some point in history.
After receiving a direct attack on the planet, there were no details about the enemy at war within the enlistment messages. His parents did not question this even on the street when he went for a walk and paid attention to people's conversation. He never heard that kind of questioning.
After he could no longer find answers to questions that seemed obvious, he focused on other things.
Days passed, and he was assigned to a school in the western part of the city. He had not joined any team. Lazy as a replacement, he could not and would not find teammates.
He still remembered very vividly how his friends died. Every time a teacher introduced him to a team, nausea and the feeling of betrayal towards his teammates flooded him.
At first, it was hard to deal with. As the months went by, he could bear it. Finally, he was offered the chance to be a practice opponent because of his skills.
In that tournament wherein the semi-final he faced Tom's team and lost. Anyone who knows his strength and those of his friends at the time can attest that they lost thanks to the addition of the creatures.
Still, despite the sadness, he felt he did not stop training.
It was not uncommon to see a child capable, and maybe most gifted receive training bordered on the military. It was expected and not uncommon to see some reluctance in boys his age regarding their education. Still, Leuel was immersed in it because of his eagerness to become stronger.
The tournament in which they were pitted against each other served as an incentive to filter out the top performers.
Before the arrival of the creatures to the physical world, in the records of the directors of the centre from which Leuel came, it could be read that they wanted him to be promoted to intense training after drinking the cocktail.
Seeing the progress, he was making, despite his psychological state. It was decided to present him to receive a cocktail as an exception.
The centres had the possibility to target an outstanding student after the tournament once a year.
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It was also decided that since he would most likely be accepted, he would start taking the classes for those who received the awakening despite not taking the cocktail.
When he received the news that he was selected, Leuel could not understand what was going on, except the different cocktail was something only the directors knew about. Still, he finally understood why he was taking those classes.
Euphoria and regret mixed inside him.
Thanks to how his family received the news, he could calm the helplessness he felt, remembering that he made it without his friends.
Besides, considering his situation, they also gave him a bracelet to choose a child. They also allowed him to be part of a new experimental program.
This program comprised developing units to infiltrate the enemy camp. Therefore, they selected gifted people with exceptional talent, especially those who had trouble integrating into a team.
He accepted without hesitation when they informed him what he would become. Whether or not he wanted to, he had no chance to refuse.
Like all the gifted, he was ordered to go to the world of creatures during the vacations and, if possible, adopt one.
When all this happened, it was two months before the end of the school year.
He only had a basic introduction and about what he would be expected to accomplish. He would officially start the schedule the following year.
During this time, he experienced the new world that opened up to him after taking the cocktail. As he already possessed the basic knowledge for handling the physical phenomena he could now influence, he could experiment quite a bit.
He was not conscious, but his family saw him having fun and smiling as he practised. They decided never to mention this because they knew he was too aware of the things he was getting now that his deceased friends would never have
It could be said that there was a section in the upper echelons of Vyndra that consider this new world just a playground.
Despite not being very interested in creatures, he understood that it was now necessary. So he researched and looked for any with characteristics that could help him.
He particularly liked hand-to-hand combat. This was because of his situation in which it was difficult for him to access suitable elements to train his gift.
While overtime at the centre, he learned the basics, he couldn't help but develop a particular attachment. So he decided that he would look for a creature that fought at medium and long-range.
At this point, he only saw these creatures as tools.
In the catalogue, he found several that fit what he was looking for. But it was complicated to choose and having to breed one to be useful would take quite some time. Finally, he decided that when he went to that world, he would take the opportunity to look for a more developed one there.
Since it seemed like it would annoy to have to deal with adopting some adult one that had been abandoned before, this was what his older brother advised him.
After a few weeks of familiarising himself with all the information available about that world and preparing thoroughly, it was time to leave. After meeting with the teacher who would be in charge of their "group", they set off.
He could not help but be surprised when they crossed the portal. The first time he had ever left Vyndra when he saw the vegetation surrounding them, he couldn't help but remember his friend Marco. He had quite an obsession with the mother planet of humanity, and whenever they toured the city, he couldn't help but mention that he was initially from planet earth and whatnot.
Therefore, his first impression of this world left a mark in his unconscious that would later be important for his life.
A few days after touring this new world, the teacher ordered him to move away from his group. As part of the program in which they enlisted him, his training would differ from the rest. His destination would coincide with that of the team he arrived with, but he would be alone the rest of the way until the end of the journey.
Two days after parting, he worried about how he would get a creature. He was aware from the moment he arrived that what he was looking for was not to be found in this area if he wanted to see creatures that fit his criteria he would have to deviate from the path the other team had planned.
To his surprise, she encouraged him to do as he planned as long as he arrived at the destination on the agreed day.
When he asked him about the surveillance, he replied that he shouldn't worry about it. Despite feeling somewhat puzzled, he finally changed his course and started heading towards where he thought he would find one of his targets.
During the journey, he could not help but notice and recognise many things that Marco always talked about; it was not only the vegetation, although he could find plants native to Vyndra. He also recognised animals and fish that had arrived with the human colonies.
It was the first time he had spent so much time alone, although he had learned how to handle himself in this kind of situation, explicitly talking about living in the wild. He never expected that his mind would wander so much despite the preparation...
He was supposed to be controlled, but since he didn't know who or how close they were. Little by little, he was intruding on his memories.