Apparently, Derb had been in a coma for eight days... All because someone smacked him on the head with a stick. If that wasn’t enough to make him feel small and insignificant then who knew what would. The girl left him soon after she dropped the news. She was probably going to get help, but she was probably just trying to escape the tension.

That left Derb to sulk quietly on the bed. He'd presumably been unconscious for quite a while. Derb was taking it all quite difficultly. The idea of death seemed so distant that most never thought about the concept. Not until it came for them. It was obviously new to Derb as well, he'd never come so close to death before.

This was when he realized something. He was terribly weak. His nightmares were usually filled with hellish concepts that made him feel small and useless but this was different. When he died in those dreams, he knew death was certain. There was no saving him in those dreams so he could accept his end. Despite that, it wasn't permanent. He thought the daily terrors numbed his view of death, but it was nowhere near as traumatizing as the real thing. At least he was given another chance in the real world…

He looked up at the ceiling, something that he should have been familiar with by now. A terrible feeling welled up in his heart. He knew one thing, he was extremely weak compared to everyone here. If he didn’t change that there’d be little chance for him to ever become truly independent. Derb wanted to regain the things he lost before he was sent here. The things that gave his life meaning.

In this environment, he started at the bottom of the food chain. The bar was set high, but there was more potential to grow than in his old world. Back then all he had to do was make as many friends in high places as he could. It was an amazing and easy life, but Derb knew there was a chance he could never come back to it. To do that he knew he’d have to be able to do things that no human could ever do. Fortunately, this place he was thrown in seemed like just the place to do it. Now all he had to was learn what "it" was.

While he was lost in thought, the old man from before came in. “Child, you're up.” Exclaimed the man he now knew was named Gerald. “It seems you’ve gone through... quite an awakening.” the old man smiled, double entendre not lost on Derb. The moment he woke up he felt better, even before the head trauma. He narrowed his eyes suspiciously. Had something happened to him in my sleep? Was that why he felt stronger? He could have asked the old man but he felt any question he'd throw at him would be used against him.

Every question he’d had answered did nothing much but confuse him. It was to the point that it left him annoyed. Derb looked towards… Hannah was her name, respectfully hiding behind her teacher as if he would lunge at her at any moment. Why was she even here anyways? Before Derb even started asking any questions he was answered by the cryptic old man. “She knows not of your condition boy, neither do I. Your mana control has become impeccable, yet your reserves are rarely anything.

The old man stepped forward, looming over Derb who was still sitting down. "You will explain everything at once, or else I’ll have to consider you a threat.” He was shocked at the order, looking at Hannah and her glowing eyes. Ah, he guessed that was what the little brat was for. He’d have to step carefully over this minefield of a question. After a minute of deliberation he spoke. “I… am from extremely far away, a place that you’d have no recollection of. There we didn’t rely on magic, only on the tools we created. I was sent here against my will and I don’t know why. All I know is that… um, that I’ll probably never be able to return.”

Derb looked anxiously at Hannah, who looked as if she stepped in some excrement. “He’s telling the truth, but I can tell he’s hiding something.” The old man looked surprised at her scorn, then laughed raucously at the accusation. “We all have something to hide my student, if we didn't there wouldn't be fun!" Hannah frowned at her teacher, distraught over how careless he was being. "Now, tell me boy… will having you here cause any harm to this area? Are you being tracked?” Derb was surprised at the question, why would he be hunted?

He looked into Gerald's eyes, his wrinkled face now grim and full of worry. He seemed to truly care for everyone in this village. His eyes looked determined, as if he'd give his life for this place if need be. that was an admirable trait, one that Derb didn't have. If it was him in their shoes he’d already been long gone the moment he heard danger would appear.

Derb realized he'd been quiet too long, adding tension tot he point it became unbearable. He quickly shook his head. “Absolutely not, no one would care to attack someone like me, and I would never cause your village harm. Even if I actively tried, you should know how hard I hit, Gerald.” Gerald frowned for a second, causing Derb to grin in victory. The old man rubbed his temples and sighed. “Did the girl give you my name?” he asked, exasperated. “Tiffany.” Derb corrected. "She was very helpful when I woke up."

“I’m going to have to reprimand that child, she always has a habit of ruining my moments.” the old man exasperatedly said. Ooh, so he was just being dramatic, huh? Seemed like Derb would be able to get along with him. The old man snapped his finger, ordering Hannah turn on the weird spell. “Enough of this tirade, boy. You say you don’t use magic where you lived?” I nodded. It wasn't technically a lie. “I think it was more like it was impossible. There wasn’t any ‘magic’ in the air, so we couldn’t do anything about it.”

This left the elder in shock. “Wait… boy, are you from the savage lands?” Derb shook his head no. "What's that? I'm sorry if I don't know much about your terms." The old man patiently answered. “It makes up about 20% of the world. its almosy completely devoid of mana due to the monsters that siphon the energy there. Areas like that are extremely dangerous and you mean to tell me that you lived in a similar area to that? Do you think me daft?”

Derb hurriedly shook my head no “I just said I lived near somewhere similar to that situation. I have no reason to think that was where I lived. There were also no monsters where I lived...” this led to a pause in the conversation, tension building between the two. Both of them weren't willing to back down. One was telling as much truth as he could without giving away his situation while the other one knew they were obscuring the truth. In the end it was the old man who gave in.

With a sigh, Gerald waved his hand in defeat… “There is no need for you to tell me more, I got carried away due to my curiosity. As long as the village is safe there’s no problem in letting you stay.” Finally Derb was free from interrogation. With a sigh of relief and a weight lifted off his shoulder he slump back onto the chair. “Thank you, Gerald. I’m grateful you’d let someone as suspicious as me into your town.”

This earned a chuckle from the man. “You won’t be grateful for long, boy. Staying here definitely isn’t free. Fortunately for you, I’ve been looking for an extra hand around the house.” Derb seemed confused, He did expect to have to work in this place but a maid wasn't the first job on his mind. “What work do you have in mind?” The old man seemed amused by Der's anxious response. "I doubt you’d be able to handle anything too hard with how weak your body is right now. The only thing keeping you going is all the mana suppressing your nerves and strengthening your body."

The old man shook his head. "Really, you are just like a child in that sense. The way you soak up the surrounding mana like a sponge is outright grotesque. What you’ll be doing is learning under me as a student. You say you have no experience in magic, correct?”

Ah, he guessed the energy he had was temporary, at least he wasn't being delirious. Wait a minute… “I’ll be learning your magic?! Like the things the blonde did?” At the mention of her friend being referred to as the “blonde” Hannah frowned. “I also know how to use ‘holy sleep’, we’re both learning from him.” The idea of Tiffany being the representation of her teacher's lessons upset her, Hannah was older after all. Derb didn’t even spare her a glance, however. He was too excited about the prospect of gaining that type of power.

Unfortunately, the old man shut him down. “You don’t have the aptitude to learn anything those children know. You almost definitely won’t be able to heal anyone in your lifetime either.”

Derb felt like he got slapped in the face, why did he word it that way then? “so you were just messing with me? I get it, you think I can be pushed around-” Before Derb could finish, the old man's voice shook his core. “Boy!” The noise reverberated around the room, sending Derb to the ground. “I would never toy with my student, you merely aren’t suited to the divine arts. I can make you more, however… you hold an offensive attribute, darkness. You might hold more too, but I can’t figure that out without a crystal.”

Derb didn’t know how to respond, especially since the old man already seemed to consider him his student. “I apologize for misunderstanding, sir.” Derb, who was still on the floor, kneeled on one leg in respect. He couldn’t lose this opportunity. “I'd definitely love to learn from you if you would allow it.” the old man… his teacher, seemed to accept this. “No need to kneel boy, just know that I’ll never seek to mock you. The path will be hard and painful, however, and I cannot promise your safety… or your success.” Derb, who was still kneeling, felt the arms of his teacher trying to raise him. He did just that. “You will be my student, and that means you have my protection, however.”

Gerald patted him on the back, acting friendlier than before. “Come, let us begin your inspection. If you feel better now, of course.” Derb nodded enthusiastically. Although he was hungry he didn’t want to waste important time learning with unnecessary things like eating. Another plus to this was he finally got to see what the outside looked like, and where he was. “In the meanwhile, you can tell me all about your primitive, magicless society.” Derb gave a wry smile to the accusation. He certainly wasn’t going to tell these people about anything as dangerous as nuclear bombs or, heavens forbid, the computer.