Book 1: Chapter 7

After Cyil and Baccaus finished a simple meal of bread and cheese, Baccuas gave Cyil an introductory course on magic.

“Magic is borrowing the elemental energy surrounding you by using your body as a medium to absorb and manipulate the energy. The higher your grade of elemental body the faster you can absorb your respective element from the atmosphere and the stronger your attacks will be. There are also other benefits to having a high-grade elemental body but you will not need to know of that for now because you have a saint body!”

“You actually have three saint attributes,” Baccaus repeated again, more for himself than for Cyil.

“That’s really cool Grandpa Baccaus!”

“Cool? Cyil, did you not hear how insane saint attributes are?! People would call you a saint if you had a saint attribute much less three! They would probably simply address you as a god!”

Cyil scratched his head. “Yes, Grandpa, I kind of understand but I am happy as long as I can use magic and become strong enough to protect my mom and the villagers. I also want to find a doctor for you so they can fix your arm.”

Baccaus could only smile at Cyil’s answer. “Silly boy, my arm is gone. Do not worry about it. I am glad it could save you.”

Cyil did not say anything and only nodded, but deep down he already promised to do everything he could to repay his Grandpa.

“Your three saint attributes are Space, Time, and…. Death!” Baccaus sighed as he listed out the last saint attribute.

“Grandpa! Isn’t the Death attribute really bad? Will people not like me anymore and avoid me? What if I accidentally kill someone?” Cyil immediately became riddled with concerns even though his understanding of what a Death Saint is was limited.

“Don’t worry,” Baccaus assured, his voice a pillar of support that calmed Cyil down. “ I will teach you to control your powers. I used to know someone who had a Saint attribute so I am sure I can guide you to properly use your powers. It is not too different from a mage’s training. Now focus and feel the three type of laws around you. Close your eyes and empty your mind of thoughts.”

Cyil closed his eyes and sat cross legged as still as a statue. Soon his breathing slowed and he could ‘see’ a world full of bright colours: red, green, yellow, blue, blinding white, and black. Then all those colours trembled and vanished. They disappeared in a blink of an eye but the blink also seem to last for a long time.

Cyil was excited because of the bright colors and opened his eyes to tell his grandpa but as he opened his eyes what greeted him was perpetual darkness. Cyil rubbed his eyes and stood up to look around.

“Did Grandpa Baccaus blow out all the candles?” Cyil thought to himself.

“Grandpa! Where did you go? I saw a lot of lights. Could those be elemental particles?”

Not hearing a reply he began to grow worried.

“Grandpa, are you here? Is this a prank?”

Just as Cyil took a step forward he felt himself become weightless and float. Shocked at the sudden development, Cyil grasp at the air around him. With that not working he could only try to stay upright by adjusting his center of gravity.

“Grandpa!” Cyil repeated for a long while. But he received no response.

Cyil tried closing his eyes and reopening them but he was still stuck in that darkness.

After what seemed like a long time Cyil could see an eerie grey mist approaching him.

“What’s that?” Curious and left without choice, Cyil drifted towards the grey mist.

The gray mist gradually grew larger and swallowed Cyil. As he entered the mist, Cyil felt a cold chill seep into all of his pores. At first, it did not bother him but as the gray mist grew heavier Cyil felt drowsy, constantly slipping in and out of consciousness. Soon Cyil could hear a whisper beckoning him forwards. The whisper began with one then gradually became a chorus pounding his very soul into submission.

“Come,” said the voices. “Sleep with us for eternity. Here, you’ll be free. No more worries. No more lies. This is true paradise.”

As they repeated themselves over and over again Cyil began to think their offer was reasonable.

“Maybe, I should,” Cyil slowly closed his eyes and eased up. “I just want to see mom again…”

“Mom…” Cyil murmured. “Mom!” He shouted.

Cyil’s eyes shot open and the gray mist exploded outwards, denigrating instantly.

“I can’t see mom again if I sleep. That. That was death! I still need to find mom and tell her I’m okay and protect her. I can’t die!”

As Cyil awoke and dispersed the gray mist, an ethereal golden figure from afar smiled and disappeared.

Cyil did not see the figure but he found that he was no longer floating and could stand. All around him was still the empty darkness, but he felt that the darkness was not so scary anymore.

He did not know where he was going but he continued walking. After a long while Cyil could see a shining object far off into the distance. Excited and a bit cautious because of his experience with the gray mist, Cyil move towards the object.

With each step the object grew exponentially larger until he could see a mostly blue spherical object with two large patches of greenish gray each on opposite ends. Cyil marveled at it’s beauty for a bit, then decided to continue walking towards the object.

“Something so pretty shouldn’t be dangerous,” he thought.

Taking the first few steps forward, a pulling force propelled Cyil towards the object at an incredible speed. Cyil had to close his eyes but he caught a glimpse of the direction he was speeding towards-the southwest area of one of the grey patch.

Bracing for the impact that never came, Cyil opened his eyes when the pulling force ended.

“Cyil? How was it? Could you sense any of the saint attributes?” A familiar old voice rang out.

Cyil saw Baccaus still sitting in the same spot and jumped up to touch him.

“Grandpa Grandpa! I feel like I haven't seen you in ages!” Cyil felt the face of the shocked Baccaus.

“Child, you closed your eyes for only a few seconds and opened them again just as soon. Do you miss me that much?” Baccaus laughed at his own popularity.

Cyil shook his head vigorously, “No Grandpa, it felt like a really long time, and yet it felt short, too. I don’t know how to explain it but here’s what happened…”

As Cyil recounted his experience in the darkspace, Baccaus listened intently.

Baccaus remained silent until Cyil mentioned the gray mist and what it had done to him.

“Death aura! As expected, you really do have the Death aura. But why did it try to devour you?” Baccaus frowned, deep in thought.

“Grandpa what is the Death aura?” Cyil sensed that it must be something serious because his grandpa never looked this serious before in the few hours that Cyil’s known him.

“The Death aura is a curse…” Baccaus replied bleakly.