Chapter 1

Rain falls on the packed street of the shopping district in Hermathera. Lightning strikes a nearby tree and the people scatter. A young boy around 10 years old is seen near the tree that was split open.

“What the hell happened?”

“Is someone using magic inside the town?!”

“That tree just got struck by lightning!”

“Is that boy fine, he was really close to it”

The boy who just appeared then passes out and falls to the floor. A woman from the crowd runs to boy and makes him drink a healing potion. The boy looked completely fine just asleep. The lady then picks the boy up and goes to the church of Lumia.

“I can only take you so far. Goodluck little boy”

The woman sighed and put an overcoat on him and left the boy at the doorstep of the church. The church door opens and a priest comes out and sees the boy. He brings him inside and lets him sleep in a spare room for the night.

The next day as the priest enters the room of the boy, he notices a sound of crying. The boy was hiding under a dressing table, sobbing. The priest goes to the boy and asks him:

“What is wrong child? Why do you cry?”

The boy was clearly distraught and replies:

“@$%^* $#^% @#$%^*”

The priest cannot understand the language the boy is speaking. The most common language of Hermathera is Hermat which is taught in every school and house since birth. The priest thought that the boy was a refugee from the war happening between the neighboring countries of Gustak and the Beastmen country of Ilvies.

The priest called over a resident of Gustak who was an interpreter for the Pope of the Church of Lumia. The interpreter also couldn’t understand the boy’s words. The priest was confused about the origins of the boy but he then decided to adopt the little boy and teach him to the ways of the world and raise him into a strong person. The boy was already 10 so the priest was worried if he could grasp the new language and culture but he would try nonetheless.

The priest spent the night thinking of how he would make this child adapt to his new environment.

“Amazing, this boy is a genius. Herm is 34-character language and it took him less than 2 weeks to speak it fluently”, he thought

“How are you doing today?”

The boy understood what the priest said this time and replied:

“I’m hungry”

The priest laughed and took the boy to the kitchen. The church of Lumia was nearly a self-sustaining fortress where priests divided their duties to live a stable and worry-free life while worshipping the goddess of light, Lumia. The kitchen was nothing fancy compared to the noble mansions and restaurants but was stocked with their own produce and some external commodities.

“What would you like to eat?”

“Do you have any cake?”

“What is the ca-ke, you speak of?”

“Hmm”

“Alright I will make you a Herman style sandwich”

The priest goes on to make a meal while the boy strolls around the kitchen seeing the various wares that are kept in storage. The boy could not recognize anything from his memory. The priest finished making the sandwich and handed it to the boy.

“Here, I’m not a great chef but this sandwich of mine is pretty good. Try it out.”

The boy ate the sandwich slowly while savoring the new taste he was experiencing. While he was busy eating another man came into the kitchen and made himself a meal too. He sat next to the priest and was talking to him about somethings.

The boy finished his meal and was about to go outside and explore his new home.

“Hey kid, where are you going?”, the man asked

The boy did not respond and told the priest that he wanted to go out for a walk. The priest nodded as the boy left the kitchen.

“So, who is this kid? Did he tell you where he is from yet?”

“No, he seems to be a foreigner that couldn’t understand Herm or Stakish(the language of Gustak) when we first found him at our doors”

“That leaves only Ilvies on this continent but they are all beastmen and the kid doesn’t have any animalistic traits”

“Yes, this has been bothering me for a while but the boy doesn’t seem to recall much of his hometown”