--- Maximilian View of the events

The mage was very surprised by the news and quickly reached the house where the boy was resting.

When he entered the room he saw the strange boy on the bed. The shirt had a deep black color like hardly any fabric would get and a very peculiar design and material.

The boy had brown messy hair, his eyes were dark blue.

‘Sharp eyes, a sign of an inquisitive mind… his skin and his frame, he shows all the signs of someone of noble birth. And judging by the color of his hair and eyes, he must be from the far east, perhaps the islands or even the north’

"Bhalrom, what did the soldiers report?" asked the old man to the knight.

"They found the boy as you see here, with nothing to show for himself. He was unconscious near the edge of the dead forest. But to be honest, I was hoping you could help us to understand his situation"

"Very well" Said the mage approaching the boy.

"I'm Maximilian, what’s your name?" The mage tried to introduce himself with easy words. Most nobles around the world could understand the common tongue, especially simple introductions like that.

But the boy showed an awkward smile, he clearly did not understand a single word and proceeded to speak something on his own tongue. To which the mage also found it curious.

‘I don’t recognize this tongue... it seems he is not from the north nor the Islands after all. Very intriguing.’

Maximilian stepped back and thought to himself ‘This asks for a more direct approach,’ He showed his hand to the boy, trying to tell him to hold on, “I need to get something, I will be right back Bhalrom” and so he rushed to his tent to search amongst his belongings.

He was looking for an old necklace that contained elven magic that allowed the user to understand the common tongue.

Once he found it he quickly returned to the boy.

Back to the room, he infused the rune with mana and purposely showed it to the strange boy before putting it on his hand "Let's try again.... my name is Maximilian, what is yours?"

The amazement the mage could see on the boy was rather strange. It was as if the boy had never seen magic before. Well, the necklace was not a common item, but the knowledge of its existence was very much known by all. And the boy was toot surprised by it, to the point of being skeptical of it.

He dropped it and looked at the mage as if he was being fooled.

‘I see… you don’t believe on it’s effects, let’s see if you are a smart boy’

He turns to the knight “My friend knight, can you nod when the boy picks the necklace again?” The knight nodded and the mage turned.

“Good, now do you understand now the purpose of this magical device?”

The boy seemed convinced now, the mage watched as he desperately seemed to try to analyze it, as if searching for something hidden within the pendant.

‘What is he doing?’ Maximilian pondered while observing the intrigued boy.

"This is amazing" finally said with astonishment, it was as if he was really seeing magic for the first time in his life.

The mage laughed at the honest reaction.

‘Such an honest response… As a child discovering the wonders of the world for the first time, even a commoner wouldn’t be this impressed’ Thought the mage with a smile.

“What’s your name, child?”

"My name is..." said the boy before abruptly stopping , he was clearly thinking on what to say, a very unusual attitude for a young man like him "Riou... my name is Riou."

‘What's with this boy?’ The mage was intrigued now, ‘Anyone can tell he is lying… but why would he try to hide his name like this?’

"Riou hum? Right, my boy, can you tell us where are you from? And what were you doing in these parts?"

The boy flinched, as if caught red handed. Concern began to rise in the mage’s mind.

"I don't know... but by the language you speak and looks of this place…” he glanced at the knight in armor “I think I'm really far away from home."

‘This is not an answer, this is a deflection… which is very concerning for someone in his situation. What’s going on here’

The mage was suspicious “What’s the last thing you remember?”

After a moment in silence, the boy continued “To fall down from a high place... and then I woke here"

‘What a preposterous story… Why do I feel as if he is measuring his words? He is just a boy. This is far too elaborate for a 15 year old, even a noble with the best study would not be so quick in his wit, especially after being rescued’ The mage pondered while observing him.

Maximilian pondered for a moment and looked straight at the boy "Very interesting" he moved towards the door and addressed the boy.

‘In any case, I need to be certain, this might be a ruse. Argos magicians are known to be able to morph their bodies to extremes, maybe he is not what we think… I need to test him to be sure’

"Can you walk? I want you to see something, if you don't mind"

The boy moved with difficulty as if he was very hurt all over. He rambled something about becoming rich with the necklace, but the mage paid no mind to it.

Slowly both of them went outside and the mage guided him to the edge of the village. He wished to measure his reactions.

You were found near that forest” He said pointing at the famous and mysterious forest that everyone knew about.

The mage intentions were to measure the boy’s reactions, someone lost would be surprised or even amazed by seeing it. A Reaction that is hard to fake.

"I don't think so, it’s a lot different than the one I was yesterday. There wasn’t any fog or those darker trees" the boy didn’t seem to recognize the place. A forest that was legend for centuries, in all books and stories. How could he not know about it?

The mage wasn’t expecting that kind of reaction “Do you recognize this forest before you?”

Once again the boy paid no mind to it, for him it was just some forest.

“Don’t you recognize the Mythical Endher forest?” insisted the mage, to try to get anything out of him.

But the boy remained unimpressed, “I never heard of it, what a strange name Mythical Endher forest… which country is this?” The mage could tell it was the truth, such disinterest could not be faked.

And yet the mage insisted “No, the name is just Endher, it’s elven… meaning end of the line or gateway. Don’t you know about it? There is only one kingdom that this forest can be in.”

“Elven? Are you guys some strange cult? I read about some folks that despise technology, but this is something else. I confess that I was afraid to say anything in front of the other guy before. But really, where am I?”

The mage just couldn’t understand how he could not know about the forest. But that took them nowhere. “Let’s take a step back… tell me about what you remember, how was this other forest that you remember?”

The boy seemed to really be thinking back."It was day, constantly. And there was a strange silence, as if there was nothing there beside me and the trees"

Instead of answers, the mage was even more puzzled now than before. He was expecting everything but that.

‘No… this is not possible. He could not have been there, he would not have survived. Unless… unless he is an argonian mage, I always suspected they were able to walk through the the traverse”

He looked at the boy once more… ‘or he is just confused. Telling stories of legend as if his own. Maybe his mind is not sane anymore after so long roaming alone”

In the legends, the forest was said to be the limit between worlds, a gateway between them, and that description the boy told, was well known by all. Except that Maximilian knew it did not belong to the Forst of Endher. It belonged to something else.

The mage needed to be sure and decided to go to his tent so he could test the boy and end the charade once and for all. “Follow me” he said.

The boy then continued while following the mage "So this is really some medieval fair? Or are you guys some cult?" he asked again trying to understand it.

"Medieval fair? I don’t know what that is, but this is an army that came to investigate what happened, didn’t you feel the earth shake violently a while back," said Maximilian while looking curiously at the boy, clearly expecting his answer. His question could have any response, for that day or even for the week before, certainly the boy must have known about it.

"An earthquake? I haven’t felt anything like that" He answered casually.

The mage froze, he was more than surprised by what he heard.

The implication of the boy’s answer was deep and caused reason for a grave concern to the great Magus.

Earthquake was a terminology only used in the most advanced books of magic, very rare and very hard to find. Books that involved complicated concepts that even eluded the great Maximilian himself. Books of old mages that took him decades to find. Such a term was never known by the great public, even amongst the mages it would be a heavily guarded secret. So how come the boy knew about it?

Then the boy seemed angered by something "Also... why do you keep calling me boy, do I look like a child? I’m not as old as you, but I’m past my 26"

‘This may be worse than I thought, maybe the spell to morph his body has gone wrong and affected this mage’s mind. But even so, 26 is far too young for a mage to have such knowledge. Something is definitely wrong here… nothing makes sense’

The mage’s mind was rushing, trying to find an answer. But in any way he thought about it, it wasn’t looking good to that young man.

The mage continued to analyze him, his concern and apprehension couldn’t be hidden anymore.

‘He is too collected, too calm to be just a simple boy. There is no doubt that he is older and knows far too much. He is altering too much between knowing and not knowing, even a damaged morph spell should at least allow the mage to keep his story consistent. But that reaction to the necklace… Dammit, I have no other choice but to put him through the Yellow crystal, then I will know for sure. Until then, he must not suspect anything.’

"I'm sorry... Riou was it? It's a force of habit. I will mind my words from now on, but please, do come with me, there is something I wish to show you." He said while walking towards a medium size tent.

The mage could see in the boy’s eyes, the mage could feel in his guts that he was not able to trick the boy. He was onto him.

‘He is far too smart to be a 15 year boy, he might be very is dangerous and already aware of what I’m planning, I must be ready for anything’

The mage touches his shoulder without the boy seeing, activating a rune embroidered within it.

The old mage was not sure of anything anymore, he was treating the boy as the ultmost danger. He was taking every precaution he could against him, while trying not to let him see him doing it.

And once again, for his surprise. The boy seemed to not even suspect what he was doing, a behavior which no mage in sane mind would do.

‘Facts, let’s keep this simple. I have everything ready, all I need to do now to be certain is to get him to hold the manatrine... if he is using magic to morph or conceal his real body, the manatrine will disrupt it. So if he refuses to hold it, I will end him at that same moment’

They entered the tent and the boy sat down at a stool as the mage instructed.

Maximilian then took the manatrine from his belongings and something else, hidden from the eyes of the boy. A very dangerous magic infused stone, that he quickly stored in his shirt pocket without the boy realizing it.

Once again, the boy didn’t seem prone to even watch his movements. It made no sense to the old mage.

"Do you have any magical knowledge?” asked the mage seriously looking at him, ready to unleash his spells at the smaller sign of the enemy.

The boy stupidly looked at the necklace. The mage resisted to sigh given the situation he was in.

“I mean, aside from the necklace, I know it’s a rather rare artifact to be seen, but it’s fairly well known all around the world, there is nothing special about it.”

Riou squinted his eyes “Around the world? I never seen this before in my life, nor any kind of magic”

“That’s hard to believe… Also, I do have a feeling that you do know more than what you are telling me" Maximilian pulled the manatrine and put it on top of the table right in front of Riou. He looked at the boy expecting a big reaction.

But the boy looked at it as if it was a pebble, and continued on his rant “But it’s true, I don't know magic, I mean, I know the idea... as a fictional concept, you know? But it was really my first time seeing something like this" He pointed to the necklace, “All rest is fiction and illusions”

"That’s quite a strange thing to say" Said Maximilian calmly analyzing him, the lack of response was bothering him, any mage caught like him that saw a manatrine would be drenched in cold sweat. So he once again insisted on trying to get some reaction"But well, lets see for ourselves. Do you recognize what this is?” he pointed to the crystal in the table

And yet, the strange boy seemed unfazed by the sight of the manatrine and casually shook his head. ‘Does he not know about it? In any case my spell is ready... if he refuse to take it, I will strike’

“This is a yellow crystal, also known as manatrine. It can be used to measure magic capabilities within a person. It does it by absorbing any magic, especially if it is outside and around a

Person.”

Once again, nothing, even after his explanation. The boy just nodded as if he understood what it was.

Maximilian continued, “So if you could hold it with both hands and concentrate on it." Maximilian explained while promptly picking up the crystal and extending it to Riou so he could grab it.

Riou immediately put his palm up ready to pick it up.

The mage prepared all his spells, it was the decisive moment.

*BLAST*

The reaction was so severe that the crystal exploded by just touching the boy’s hand.

With the surprise, the mage almost unleashed the spells. But when he looked at the boy again, he was unaltered.

And the blast could only mean one thing, that the crystal couldn’t withstand the mana. The boy must have a vast mana pool for that to happen. So big that a mere contact with the crystal charged it with causing a violent reaction.

That was not a common thing to happen, at least not in this proportions.

The Magus was no longer concerned about the boy’s identity, all he wanted now was to understand how that could happen. He had to try and measure him up and grasp the boy’s capabilities.

For that he needed a bigger crystal, something that was able to hold much more mana and could provide a better understanding of the boy’s mana capabilities..

*BLAST*

An even bigger explosion. The mage was intrigued.

‘Could it be that something happened to the crystals? A crack perhaps? But I never heard of a cracked crystal doing that… besides no human should have mana to cause this kind of reaction, especially by just touching a manatrine as large as this one.’ He rushed to get a Dragonite crystal.

Extremely rare, the Dragonite was nothing less than a manatrine infused with a dragon's blood, it was used to channel mana of a very large group of mages. Especially designed to sustain the more powerful spells and rituals.

The crystal size was huge and with it, the mage was sure to be able to evaluate the boy’s mana.

In any case, it was better to test it beforehand. Focusing on the crystal, he was able to make the whole thing shine with blue light after a few moments. The mage felt proud of his achievement, after all, very few mages in the world could achieve such results just by themselves.

Now that he was sure the crystal was working, he finally handed it to the boy.

*BA-DOOM!*

The old mage could not believe it.

With the desire to understand, not even a crystal of that size infused with dragon’s blood could take his mana? That was unheard of.

The mage was even more determined. He needed to know what was going on, but as he looked at the boy, he seemed even more confused than he was.

So the mage recollected himself "Well, that was unexpected. Let's try something different. Please sit straight and relax" the Mage stepped behind him.

"Stay very still and try to not think about anything, just relax. I will try an older method of measurement” The mage extended his hand above the young man’s head.

He extended his hand and began.

The old mage could feel that the power within the young man was very still, calm like the waters of a lake.

It was all going well, he established a link. Now, all the mage needed to do was to use his mana to measure that pool, just enough so he could estimate its size and density.

The mana pool had a direct relation to the person’s knowledge and understanding of things.

For the boy to have a mana pool that was able to destroy a dragonite like that, it meant that he had an astonishing level of knowledge. Something that someone in a single lifetime could not even dream to achieve. And that was driving the old mage crazy.

But even if the boy had more mana than him, he’d be able to seize it, he just had to use a bit of his mana to identify it’s borders and then it’s depth. That way he would be able to calculate it even having less mana than his target.

And as Great Magus tried to do it. He was forced into a dreaded realization. His mana wasn’t even enough to locate any of the boy’s borders.

The calm lake within the boy was in fact a vast ocean. No matter the direction he tried to take his mana to, he was unable to find any trace of the land.

Nonetheless he insisted, maintaining the effort for more than he should. Which was proving to be a challenge to his stamina.

The mage was straining himself at every passing moment as all his mana was being used just to try to measure the surface of the boy’s mana pool and then its depth.

He couldn't believe that such a being existed. There was no end to his mana, no matter wich direction he took.

With little mana left, he finally decided to stop.

Stop, but not give up.

Since the boy was showing no signs of resisting his mana and was very calm taking the test, none of his mental barriers seemed to be up. The mage decided to take a big risk.

Maximilian decided to establish a direct mind connection to the boy, so he could have a glimpse at the boy’s mind and knowledge. That way he hoped to understand how that mana pool was even possible.

He prepared the spell in his hand without the boy realizing it and with great effort he established a brief connection to his open mind.

But not even the great magus expected what followed, the surge of information was too fast. The boy’s mind worked at a speed he could not quite comprehend.

Their minds were just too different from each other, something inhuman.

The connection lasted for a brief moment, that was all the magus could withstand. In that timeframe that he peeked into the boy’s mind, the mage was completely overwhelmed with information.

The great speed of the boy’s inner thoughts and the extension that he seemed to be able to reach with his knowledge was absurd. It was vastly superior to his own. He couldn’t understand how, but he could feel from the boy’s mind that he could understand and even explain to great detail subjects that ranged from the lights above in the sky to the smallest of things that composed everything, he could see that the boy could connect them all in a way he could not fathom.

But what caused even more surprise to the mage was his Magical knowledge, it was something that couldn’t even be quantified, theories upon theories that he had never even heard of.

It was simply too much and too fast, he was desperately trying to cease the connection realizing the mistake he had made. His mind could not take it much longer and would crumble under the pressure coming from the connection.

And as he tried to do it, he saw something that turned his blood cold.

Bombarded with random images, sounds and memories that were completely inexplicable for him.

There was so much destruction and carnage. It was a war without end. Deaths of all kinds, blood and gore that could make rivers flow red. And what was worse, the boy seemed to somehow be in all of them, not as himself but his mind was there, killing and being killed with some disturbed sense of alienation to it.

The mage saw more than he had bargained for. A glimpse of what resided within the boy’s mind was just too much for him.

But luckily, the boy moved and the connection ceased, liberating the mage that was instants to have his mind crushed.

Still in shock the mage tried to process what he experienced in vain. He was in disarray. The only thing he could feel was that the boy was an entity of its own, like a god of death. His hand once again began to reach for his magic stone in his pocket. He was ready to fight to death if necessary.

But the mage was barely able to hold himself, exhausted and with his mind recovering from the damage it suffered, he was in no condition to fight.

So he looked at the boy once again, expecting to see the monster he just experienced.

But the young man was just sitting there, gazing around as if completely lost on what to do and completely oblivious to anything that just had happened.

The mage somehow understood, those images he saw was not an attack at him.

That boy was just an existence outside of his realm of knowledge. To call him a monster after forcing himself into his mind would not be fair to him. Nonetheless it would be best to not provoke him.

Calming down the mage realized that this boy story must’ve been true. Someone like him could walk through the traverse and survive. Which also meant that he was most likely from another realm.

Slowly coming to his senses, the mage finally noticed the tent was completely gone and a figure approached.

“What happened to the tent?” asked the knight captain.

-------- back to normal view

The mage was still a bit shaken and did not respond to the knight immediately.

He took a few moments to recover before finally acknowledging the knight’s request and nodding towards him.

"Magus, we received news from a messenger, the king grows impatient and requested us to return” Informed the knight finding strange that the mage was not quite himself.

“Did you discover anything about the boy’s origin?" asked the knight glancing at the boy.

The mage jumped in and quickly rebutted the knight captain.

"Don't call him boy, he dislikes it" he then promptly turned to Riou "Is young man more to your liking?" asked the mage

Riou just nodded confused as to what happened to the old man “Sure, I guess... I don’t mind it”