Nova Mondo

It was a Monday, and our class time-table was pretty hectic than usual. I was sitting on the last bench, which was by the window, taking the last class of the day. Life was the same everyday, and like those average and regular high schoolers, I, too, was bored with my everyday life. At 3 pm, the final bell rang, and the teacher left the classroom. Sighs of relief and gossips immediately filled the class. Some students left for home while some remained in the school for afterschool activities. I was among the latter half. Though I was not a particularly genius kid, I had a little interest in chemistry and other sciences. So, I used to spend the afternoons in our school library reading books.

I packed my bag and stood up to leave the classroom. But then, like a ray of light in my mundane life, it suddenly occurred, a tiny ball of light floating in the air at the centre of the classroom emitting otherworldly light in every direction. Then, in a split second, it expanded into a whirlpool of swirling red, blue and purple light and enveloped everything. I didn't get any chance to make a reaction, and my vision went white.

The next thing I remember is that, I was floating, and...I was not breathing. Something was seeping into my body through my skin and my other orifices, and it felt like I was breathing through my skin like a frog. My stomach was getting filled as if I was drinking water. No, it was not water; it was like alcohol. It was pretty refreshing and...I was getting drunk. I knew that it was not a typical situation, as my head was not panic-stricken. It was as clear as distilled water like I had just woken up from a good night's sleep. But no matter how much I tried, I couldn't open my eyes, as if my eyelids were stuck with gum; and the rest of my body was stiff as a corpse with rigor mortis.

Then I felt my back touching solid ground. It seemed like I was at the floor of the water body in which I was drowning. The drunkenness started showing its effects, and as some time passed, my consciousness slowly slipped out.

----

My name is Kenny, and I am currently reading a book on geography in one of the studies of this newly discovered ruin called The High Gardens. As you might have guessed, I am now in a different world called Eden. This world seems to be bigger than the Earth, and it is filled with some form of mysterious energy called Astral Energy which exists in everything. The source of it is the star of this planetary system. Technically, I am not even sure if this star is in the Milky way or in the same universe that I know of. Because the physics here seems to work in some different ways than the Earth and things, like converting this energy to matter and then back to energy, can be done quickly; which results in something called magic; which existed only in the supernatural domain back in Earth. Overall, science seems to have evolved differently here. And everything is possible to some extent by controlling the Astral Energy, its flow and its conversions.

The geography book that I am currently reading is a little outdated. So it doesn't provide the full map of the world, or so I thought, but this world still has many unexplored regions and empty places in the maps. Well honestly, this map is very poor, it has only the full boundaries of this western continent called Wisteria, its essential cities and some important cities of the southern continent. It also has some rough drawings of other continents with Elven cities and the kingdoms of the demi-human races. Yes, you heard it correct, there are elves and demi-humans in this world like those fantasy stories. There are numerous other races also. But there is no adequate information on many of them. And, as a matter of fact, the person who found me is also a high Elf, Prof. Agusthus Agrimony. The races with 'High' prefixes before them are the stronger counterparts of their parent races and with strong racial instincts.

Prof. Agusthus was the captain of the expedition party which came to these ruins for research purposes. But, due to a natural disaster, all of his party members left and currently he is the only one who is staying here with his maid.

The High Gardens was some kind of research facility back when it was constructed. It also houses a library with rare books, although most of them have been damaged with time. There is also a botanical garden surrounding it, containing rare plants, which is also in a state of a complete mess because of little maintenance. The ruins are situated in the middle of the Red forest near the lakeside city of Alison. But the most exciting part of these ruins are the natural caves which lie underneath these ruins, with the main entrance in the basement. And this is where Sir Augustus found me.

----

It was a stormy summer night, and the Prof. was planning to go to bed early. Just then, he felt the same nauseating feeling he felt about a year ago when the Dawnfall struck Alison. He hurriedly went to his balcony with his staff in his hand to have a clear picture of the situation. But he didn't see anything unusual outside.

But as he was about to return, he saw the bluish white light coming out from the basement's door instead. He rushed to his room, wore his cloak, attached the protective gears in his arms and legs and hurried downstairs. Although he was nervous, he slowly opened the doors of the basement and saw strong streaks of light coming from the caves. This time he was confident that there was something unusual happening down there. He proceeded following the rays of light, and after some time, he finally arrived at the source. It was a typical wall of the cave, but it looked like it was a paper thin membrane and there was a potent source of light within.

His mind was telling him to retreat, but his curiosity got the better of him, and so he decided to investigate. He created three arrows of the earth with magic and fired them at the wall. The arrows struct a small region on the wall and simultaneously, the wall crumbled. Strong blinding light seeped out, and after some time the whole wall broke down. He immediately constructed a barrier out of reflex and hid behind it. It took quite some time for the light to fade and he considers himself lucky to come out of that unharmed.

When the light faded, he entered what seemed to be a hidden room inside the cave. What he saw there was a beautiful underground garden. The soil appeared to be high in Ynni content, the natural Astral energy, as it was seeping out in large amounts from here and there. He proceeded further, amidst the beautiful bluish glowing white flowers which were blooming in abundance in the garden, towards that mysterious energy source.

There he discovered the legendary fountain of holy water which was the source of that blinding light. Holy water is nothing but water with dissolved Astral Energy. It concentration decides its purity. But all his senses were telling him that the fountain before him was the purest of the purest any explorer like him has ever seen. But there was something strange. The level of the water in the fountain was decreasing slowly. He stood there bewildered for some time looking for any possible clues. Then a human-like figure with glowing white skin, which was lying at the bottom of the fountain, came into view.

----

Of course, that was me sleeping peacefully, after getting terribly drunk for the first time in my life. He retrieved me from the cave and took care of me until I regained consciousness. And now you ask, how the hell was I alive after such an ordeal?

Well, honestly, I don't seem to be completely alive right now as there are no heartbeats in my chest and I am still not breathing. However, I do have to take in air to talk. As for the pulses, looks like I will have to dissect my body someday.

Hmm, I think its Mimosa. I feel her approaching the study. My senses are unusually sharp now. If I concentrate on my hearing, I can hear the faintest of sounds. The resolving power of my eyes have improved, and my reflexes are surprisingly fast.

"Kenny, lunch is ready," Mimosa announced cheerfully but solemnly as she came in. "Hmm...looks like you are doing something important. Shall I come in later?".

"No no, I was just reading the books which the prof. bought for me." I said. "I will go down in a minute. You can set the table, Mimosa."

"Okay, Kenny. Also, bring the professor with you to the dining hall. He didn't come down for breakfast and had stubbornly holed up in his study." she requested.

"Ah, that professor!" I wonder what he might be onto this time. "Don't worry about Mimosa. I will definitely bring him down."

"I shall prepare the food then. Just don't be late Kenny." Saying so, she went downstairs. I closed my book and stood up to leave the study.

It has almost been 3 weeks now, living in The High Gardens and I have grown a little accustomed to the tranquil life here. By the way, a year has 13 months here, with 30 days in each divided into 5 weeks.

Now as I look back, everything was new and surprising for me back then...