I sat in my room, looking down at the empty pizza box, the fat and some leftover topping still stuck to the bottom of it. From behind, I could hear sobbing. I turned around on my office chair and looked at the naked woman laying on the floor between black garbage bags with a collar around her neck that was connected to the heater next to her.

My hands, no my entire body was shaking as I looked at the poor woman, barely twenty years old, on the floor of my small apartment.

I'm sorry . . . I wish I could tell you it gets better but . . .

Before I could finish my thoughts I heard the door in the other room fly open and hit against the wall with a loud bang. Three people came into the room, dressed in black leather pants, white shirts and leather jackets with spikes on the shoulder pads. Two men, one of which, the one with long blond hair he wore in a ponytail, had a cigarette in his mouth while the other, the one with short brown hair, had a gun hidden on the inside of his jacket. The third person was a woman with long blond hair and a choker decorated with silver spikes around her neck. She looked at me through her sunglasses. I could feel her eyes piercing through me without even seeing them. The room was only filled with the sound of breathing, the sound of chewing gum coming from the dressed woman and the sobs coming from the naked one.

"I see that you kept the merchandise as clean as you could," the blond-haired man said as he blew out some smoke in my direction. "Martin go and get her out of here. Helena, would you give our sweet little Ethan his reward?" A smirk crept across the blond man's face while the woman, Helena, put on the sweetest smile she could muster.

"Of course baby," Helena said, taking off her sunglasses to reveal two blue eyes, winking to the blond man.

Helena approached me, her heels making a clack sound with every step she took. When she reached me she leaned down. "You know the drill," she said with such a fake sweet voice that it almost made me throw up.

I gave her a hesitant nod and slowly spread my legs and gripped the armrests of my chair before she suddenly stepped on my privates with her heels, making me squirm in pain, and spit her gum in my face. She then smiled at me and said, "You can keep that."

The three of them left shortly after, Martin had the naked woman slung over his shoulders like a rice sack as they left. The blond-haired man looked back at me. "Thanks, we'll use your services again." Martin and Helena began laughing.

When they left I hit on the armrests of my chair with both my fists, got up and peeled the chewed and sticky gum from my face and threw it into the bin in the corner of my room.

What am I even doing with my life? I should just kill myself.

Like so many times I went over to my window but it was locked and metal bars had been installed in front of them so even if I could shatter the glass there was no way out. Even if I tried to starve myself, they would send someone every three days to check on me and even force-feed me in case I was about to die from dehydration. They had full control over my life as if I was just some kind of toy.

I slowly dragged myself over to the bed and threw myself on it.

I slowly opened my eyes, fearing for the worst, fearing I would wake up to see the same old ceiling I had seen for more than ten years, fearing I would smell my dirty room but instead I smelled meat. The ceiling wasn't cracked and mouldy, it was made of beautiful wood and warm sunlight was shining into my room through the open window above my bed. Relief spread through my body in an instant.

I jumped out of my bed, filled with energy and picked up the clothes my mother had prepared for me. A white shirt and dark green shorts. I walked out of my room and towards the kitchen where the smell was coming from. My new body was still a bit strange and I often had trouble dealing with the difference in height but over now a bit more than five years I had gotten used to it.

My birthday had passed in an instant since I was excited to finally start school in this new world, to finally learn about magic and how it worked in this world. And now I was on my way to eat breakfast on my first day of school.

As soon as I entered the kitchen my mother gave me a bright smile and hugged me, letting me feel the warmth of her body.

"We're so proud of you Alt," she said as she pulled me even closer. "You're the youngest person to ever enrol into the school in our village."

"Mom, you're making me embarrassed," I said, trying to sound as childish as possible.

"Make sure you only show 'em your mature side," my father said, scanning me with his brown eyes as if I was some kind of criminal and he a policeman, but then he began smiling, having that same proud expression he had when I had my mana awakening.

Over the past few days, I had often looked at the magic mark I had obtained. It consisted of fine, squiggly lines that ran down along my spine, some branching off towards my shoulders but overall it didn't look like much. But that didn't matter to me. It was my first magic mark, whatever that meant. I still had no clue how magic actually worked in this world. My knowledge from novels and shows had helped me to draw in mana when the elder told me to do so but I had no real clue what to do beyond that. I didn't know how to activate my mark or if I even needed to do that in order to learn magic. And every time I asked my parents would just tell me to wait until I can go to school.

I sat down at the kitchen table and waited for my mother to bring the food. She had prepared deer meat with some herbs that I didn't recognize but they tasted amazing in combination with the meat. Once I was done my parents and I left the house and walked along the dirt path that led through our village. It was a warm summer morning, the sun shone down on the market stalls and the people strolling through the market or going to work. Butterflies flew through the air in all their colourful beauty and birds sang high above us somewhere in the branches of the massive trees of the Ilvaldira Forest we lived in.

After a short while my father said his goodbyes and went towards the hunters guild, or rather the large hall where all the hunters prepared for the hunts but everyone just called it the hunters guild. My mother and I reached the school, which was more or less just an open space outside of the village hall with a board made completely out of wood and a few tables and chairs. As we approached I could already see many other children, aged between ten and twelve sitting at the tables and chatting with one another.

Can I even fit in? I mean they're all older than me but probably less mature . . . God this might be awful. A bunch of kids looking down on me for being younger even tho I'm . . .

My heart suddenly began aching and I fell on my knees grabbing my chest with my free hand and squeezing it, hoping it might do something to lessen the pain even though I knew it wouldn't. I saw images of my past life flickering before me. Images of me getting kicked to the ground, images of them burning my skin with cigarettes and lighters.

"Are you alright?" my mother asked with her concerned, motherly voice as she kneeled down beside me, holding me close to her. "Are you scared? We can wait a few years you don't have to"

"It's alright," I said, getting back up. "Just a little too excited." I gave her a bright smile that was only half forced.

My mother let out a relieved sigh and we continued walking until we reached the area where the school was. She gave me a last hug and a kiss on my forehead before waving me goodbye. As soon as I turned around I could see almost all of the kids staring at me, some confused and others looking slightly amused.

"Ah, you must be . . . Altair, Altair Lyrius. Is that right?" The teacher, a man around his thirties, which meant he was probably around two or maybe three hundred years old, looked at me with his kind blue eyes. He had large dark antlers like all the other adults that complimented the grey long hair he had tied together at the base of his neck. "Please, take a seat over there," he said, pointing to an empty chair on a table with only a girl and a boy, both looking younger than the others, maybe eight or nine, sitting at it.

I nodded respectfully and made my way over to the table where the two kids sitting there were already waving to me. I felt a few of the children piercing me with their eyes as I walked past them but I didn't think much about it. When I sat down they immediately bombarded me with questions.

"How old are you?" the boy asked. He had short teal hair and golden eyes.

"When did you awaken?" the girl asked. She had long teal hair and golden eyes, like the boy.

Maybe they're siblings?

"Have you already gotten your mark?"

"Have you already used your mark?"

My head began to spin when the teacher coughed loudly, drawing the attention of everyone.

"Well then, now that everyone is here we might as well begin a bit early. All of you have had their mana awakening recently and some of you have already gotten their marks, depending on your family status," our teacher said.

Depending on family status? Is my family special? Maybe that's why they looked at me? No, that's probably because I'm a five-year-old.

"My name is Albil Elster Woldas, just call me mister Elster or mister Woldas." Our teacher turned around and pointed to the wooden board behind him with a wooden stick that had a green gem at one end. His long blue robe swirled as he turned. He tapped once on the board and the outline of a humanoid figure appeared on it as if it had been drawn on it from the beginning.

"Let's begin with the very basics: mana pores, mana veins and the mana organ. Can anyone tell me what these three things are?" mister Elster looked around and saw one student, a tall girl raising her hand.

"Miss . . . Vilsa yes!"

"Mana pores are little openings all over your skin that are connected to your mana veins and those mana veins are connected to your mana organ. And then there are more mana veins that connect the mana organ with your back where your magic mark is," the student, whose last name was Vilsa explained. Although it was a fairly unprofessional explanation it still gave me a fairly good idea of how drawing in mana actually worked.

"That is correct miss Vilsa," our teacher said, making the girl blush and sit down again before she started giggling with her friends.

"As miss Vilsa explained there are mana pores all over our skin. These allow us to draw in ambient mana when we concentrate on it. Connected with the mana pores are mana veins, more specifically intake mana veins. These special mana veins allow mana to travel from our mana pores to our mana organ which is located below our navel button." Mister Elster pointed to his stomach around the area his navel button would be was it not hidden by his robe. He then pointed back to the board with his stick and a circle appeared on the humanoid figure around the area the navel button was along with a few lines that led from the circle to the skin. A picture of the zoomed-in skin with small dots all over appeared next to the figure.

"Those of you that had their magic mark awoken already will know how to draw in mana, can anyone tell me how exactly it might work and how it feels to do it?" mister Elster asked, looking from student to student.

While I thought about an answer I noticed that no one was lifting their hand so I did it.

"Ah, mister Lyrius!"

I stood up when he called on me.

"To draw in mana you need to concentrate, maybe even meditate if that helps, and imagine your skin sucking in something. When you do it it feels like your entire body is filled with energy," I explained, using what I had felt not only during my magic mark awakening but also what I had learned and felt the few times I tried it before actually being able to go to school.

"That is correct!" Our teacher smiled at me and I sat back down.

In the corner of my eye, I saw the boy at my table nodding as if I had just opened his mind to something new. Mister Elster pointed once again to the board with his stick and arrows appeared around the humanoid figure and along the lines representing the mana veins.

"As mister Lyrius just explained when one wants to draw in ambient mana it is good to concentrate and even meditate, especially as a beginner. And it can also help when you actually imagine your skin sucking something in." He took a short break to breathe.

"Once ambient mana went through your intake mana veins and into your mana organ it is changed into internal mana, which is basically your own mana. Now, remember: when you use up your internal mana you will first need to draw in new ambient mana and convert it before using magic again since your internal mana doesn't naturally regenerate. But if you train enough then something like drawing in mana will become second nature and you will do it at all times, even during a fight. We call that the passive mana drawing while meditating to draw in mana is called active drawing. Now, before we talk about anything else I want everyone to try drawing in mana!"

At our teacher's words everyone began concentrating, some students, like the two at my table, actually sat down on the ground and crossed their legs. I began concentrating as well, looking for that slightly familiar sensation of mana making its way through my mana pores and to my mana organ. At this point, I didn't even need to imagine anything. After a few seconds, I felt energy streaming into my body as I began filling my mana organ with ambient mana which was quickly turned into my own, internal mana. It felt a bit like something was swirling around in my stomach for a moment.

I heard the footsteps of mister Elster walking in between the students. When he reached me he stopped for a few seconds.

"I guess they really didn't lie about you," he mumbled.

I opened one eye and looked at him. I noticed a few strange lines on his neck that weren't there before.

"What?" I asked.

"Oh nothing, continue. You're doing very well," mister Elster said before turning around to some other students who were chattering amongst themselves. "Which I can't say about some of your classmates!" His voice was suddenly a lot louder than before.

Maybe he has some kind of sound magic? But can you even have two types of magic?

After a little longer mister Elster told us to stop and everyone got back to their seats and looked to the board.

"Well, all that's left is to talk about our channelling mana veins," mister Elster said. "Can anyone tell me what they are and what they are used for?"

The same tall girl that had answered earlier once gain lifted her hand and was called on.

"Yes, miss Vilsa!"

"The channelling mana veins are the specific veins responsible for transporting mana from your mana organ to your magic mark," she explained.

Mister Elster nodded and pointed to the board where a side view of the same humanoid figure appeared, this time the lines pointed from the circle, representing the mana organ, to the back of the figure with arrows going along the lines.

"That is correct," he said. "Remember that ambient mana cannot travel through your channelling mana veins, only your internal mana can do that. Once mana reaches from your mana organ to your magic mark it will spread all over your skin from your back. Only when your magic mark has covered your entire body can you use the magic held within to its full potential. There are also some people that have multiple magic marks, like me for example. I not only have the magic of our people but also another type which I will reveal in due time." He looked over to the students that had already raised their hands but were now lowering them.

"Now then, since some of you have yet to awaken their magic mark not everyone can participate in our last exercise for today but we will do this and what we did earlier every day so you won't miss out on too much. I want you to channel your mana through your channelling mana veins and to your magic marks if you have it already. For that, you will need to concentrate on moving the mana through your body."

I once again closed my eyes and began concentrating while the two at my table sat back down on the ground with their legs crossed. Inside my mana organ, I could feel something that felt . . .warm.

That must be my mana.

I began to concentrate on moving the mana from my mana organ into the mana veins that led to my back where my magic mark was. It took me a few minutes before anything happened but when something happened it felt good, refreshing even. I felt the warm feeling I had in my mana organ travel to my back and when it reached where my magic mark was I felt a tingling sensation on my skin, first only on my back but it slowly spread through my entire body until it covered every centimetre of my body.

I heard loud clapping and opened my eyes. Most of the students were staring at me while our teacher was clapping. Only a few students had actually succeeded in what they were trying to do. I could see some dark markings on their necks and parts of their arms that weren't there before.

"Great, I assume this is the first time you have done this?"

"It is," I answered, slightly uncomfortable since everyone was staring at me like some hungry hyena.

"The esteemed elder truly didn't lie when she mentioned that she had never seen such an intricate mark on a freshly awoken."

At my confused expression, he pointed to the board with his stick, making it turn around and reveal a mirror in which I could see myself. I didn't look much different from before, except for the fine lines that were all over my body, interconnected with each other. A few were on my face, going over my eyes and forehead where they ran into the bumps my antlers would one day grow out of.

A loud whistle drew my attention to the two kids that were at my table, both of them were also covered in lines, although they were much straighter than mine and less interconnected.

"Looks like the little one has us beat in almost everything sis," the boy said with a smile on his face.

"So it would seem," the girl, which looked about eight or maybe even younger now that I took a closer look, said.

"Alright class, we should end here for today and I'm supposed to tell you that you can get your mark awakened today. Just go to the elder with your parents around three in the afternoon," our teacher said before bowing and saying his goodbyes.

All of the students also bowed respectfully and then slowly left the area where the tables had been set up, some talking amongst themselves while others just sprinted away, presumably to get to their parents so their magic mark could be awoken.

As I was about to leave I was stopped by one of the older looking boys. He looked to be about eleven, close to twelve, had short black hair and green eyes that pierced me. His hand was firmly placed on my shoulder and he was about two or three heads taller than me.

"Can I help you?" I asked, trying to sound as respectful as I could.

"Who do you think you are?" the boy asked me, tightening his grip around my shoulder.

It was beginning to become painful and I noticed my breathing becoming faster and images of my past life began flashing before me yet again. Images of me getting hit.

"I-I . . . don't know what you mean," I said, still trying to sound respectful while my head began spinning.

"Are you stupid or something?" The boy began laughing a bit. "You think I wouldn't notice when you showed off your ability to use that mark of yours?"

"W-What?" I asked, almost whispering it.

"Hey, leave him alone," someone said from behind the boy.

"Huh? What do you want? Oh, it's the other prodigy . . . aren't you jealous? This boy had his mana awakening three years earlier than you! C'mon, let's show him who he should show respect to!"

"You're trying to get respect by beating up a five-year-old?" the girl that had sat with me at a table asked.

"Oh, so you wanna make fun of me now?"

I suddenly noticed my vision fading and the last thing I remembered was falling to the ground. When I woke up my head rested on something soft. I looked up only to see my mother look down at me with a relieved look on her face.

"You're awake sweety," she said. "What happened?"

"I . . . I'm not sure," I responded, trying to remember what happened. And when I did my body began shaking.

"It's fine now," my mother said, stroking my hair. "Your friends brought you over."

"Friends?" I asked.

"Yeah, those two kids. I assumed they are your classmates."

So they brought me here. I'll have to thank them next time I see them.