It was around noon. The sun shone strongly in the sky whilst the wind gently moved like a breeze amidst the trees and verdant hills filled with short grass blades that hid all sorts of bugs and critters. It was around this time that a teen sat cross-legged on a small hill near the forest outside the village, from where he stood, it was easy to overlook the whole village with only a mere glance.

The place was amongst the smallest of the region, but it still had it's own protection as it was surrounded by large walls of grey stone, making it look like a fort from afar. If it was all for intimidation or posturing or if these walls truly had a defensive purpose, the teen did not know, but the fact remained that those walls seemed sturdy considering that they were two meters thick, and to match those mighty walls, at the four cardinal directions there were four matching enormous two meter thick wooden gates reinforced with iron that allowed access to the village.

His eyes were closed as he sat seemingly in deep meditation. He wore a blue sleeveless shirt and some dirty white pants that seemed really worn out and also quite big for him. The boy seemed to be around fourteen years old. His nose and lips would move slightly as he breathed in and out while meditating.

He was quite thin for his age but that didn't mean he was malnourished, in fact, his body was actually quite lean and defined, his muscles, light scars all over his body and calluses showed that he certainly was a fighter, even if a novice one. His hair was short and messy as if he had just gotten out of bed that looked quite good with its light brown coloration, though, were it not for the fact that he was quite clean, one could easily mistake him for an orphan or a beggar of some sort due to his oversized worn out clothes.

His meditation was steady and tranquil, at times he seemed to merge with nature and become one with his surroundings, his figure flickering with faint nigh-invisible light. As his practice continued the wind around him would ever so slightly bend and sway towards his position for a few instants and then resume its normal course without ever actually touching him, seemingly preferring instead to just slightly revolve around him. As the wind flowed close to the boy, if one paid full attention they could notice that the wind brought along with it small sparks, or rather, minutes particles of light that would be pulled into the boy's body once they got close.

"Haaah..." The boy exhaled a breath of hot white air.

"Although dad explained to me how to circulate my inner mana and use that to boost my physical performance, how to sense mana outside my body and also how to recharge my mana reserves with world mana, I can't sense the elemental mana at all!" He grumbled.

The boy was currently training to discover which element he had the most affinity with. But he couldn't determine his primary affinity even though he spent about four hours in meditation to try and sense which element he could connect with the easiest. He finally grew bored of this activity and decided to head home and consult with his father about this.

At this time he figured that his parents and his sister most likely for the traditional family lunch before they each returned to their respective activities, be it work, homecare or studying.

These thoughts made him drift through his memories and smile as he remembered his family. His father was a tall man standing at 1.9 meters in height, he had a defined muscly body much like his own that was lean and strong instead of the usual strongman’s bulky and cumbersome muscle filled structure, he had a good nature as he was a kind and wise man that would train the boy and teach him things about life and how he should live properly once he grew.

The man was a present father figure despite working every day till late at night, no matter what he was doing in the village he would always be home for every meal and would make sure that he always took the weekends off so that he could spend time with his family and practice his hobbies. The boy was proud of his father and especially proud that, at least when it came to looks, he was the spitting image of the man he respected, loved and admired.

Then his thoughts drifted towards his mother. For all he knew the woman was the image of perfection itself, he did not have a great sample to compare, but in his perception, she was a beauty that no one could hope to compare. She had light brown eyes that resembled amber when under the sun’s light, her hair was somewhat long as it reached her waist, it was well cared for as it was smooth and lustrous and naturally wavy and light brown approaching blonde in color. Her skin fair and so soft it seemed like she was a moving statue made of marble, and to top it all off, she had a curvaceously proportionate body that made many men lust after her and many women envy her beauty.

But even with all those attributes in her favor, the thing that made her well known in the village and truly loved by her children was her kind soul. She had a one of a kind personality that was loving, caring and merciful at all times. She would often find herself busy with aiding the village in various task as well as making food from time to time for the poor and sewing their clothes all for free, and since it was genuine charity, many would kindly offer help in the process which made the overall population of the village all the more friendly.

And lastly, his mind flashed with images of his younger sister. She was a sweet little girl that was growing to be just like their mother, however, she was unlike the boy. Instead of being a small replica of her parent like he was, she inherited the kindness and care that her mother had. In looks she was a mix bred of the pair, she had deep green eyes just like their father and wavy brown hair like their mother, her skin was fair like their mother but she showed traces of having lean defined muscles despite no effort like their father. She was sweet and was only ten years old, the boy’s face shone with an especially meaningful smile when he recalled her.

For as long as he can remember they were his everything. He didn’t have many desires apart from one day grow and have a family of his own that could make him easily say that it was a family that could rival his, it was a happy thought that gave him a somewhat clear objective of his prospects towards the future.

His father, on the other hand, had different plans. He always spoke to him about the wide world and how much more there was to see, about the many wonders and dangers and that he should not be content in merely building a family in a quiet village like this. The man would always tell him stories of mighty beasts and battles that shook the earth, especially of a single being that ruled over all, “Kingun”.

That was the name given to the most powerful being on the planet. None could stand in his path and he was only known by that single title, although all feared his might and knew of his prowess, there was not a single soul that actually knew his name.

He was just called that, Kingun. Or as it was known in the ancient language of this world, “Supreme King”.

The boy had to admit that every time he heard those tales he would get hyped and would immediately want to train and become powerful. But when he calmed down he knew that it was an objective far too grand for a simple kid like himself. He had barely entered the world of fighters with his father’s daily trainings and teachings about the nature of mana, he was far too weak and far too young to actually talk about power.

And as one would expect from such a caring kind soul like hers, his mother actually thought that he should just live a fulfilling happy life instead of one fraught with combat, dangers and bloodshed. Every time his father brought this matter up, she would instantly shoot it down with her more pacifist positioning and idealism.

All in all, this family was what one could call a happy one. And as if fate itself didn’t allow for such a thing, too much happiness would often beget tragedy.

As his thoughts settled in his mind he suddenly noticed a strong burnt smell of ash in the air and frowned. He opened his eyes and looked straight at the direction the smell came from. When his eyes focused on the spot, he saw that within the gates of the village, specifically in the northern part of the village, rose a huge cloud of greyish black smoke towards the clouds.

He immediately shot up from his spot as his heart raced. He was all too familiar with that certain spot. He could not let another second go to waste! But just as he prepared to dash away to the village his body felt light and he couldn't help but step back a few times trying to recover his balance.

After an instant of breathing deeply to shake away the dizziness that hit his brain due to standing up too quickly, he raced downhill towards the village. As he frantically ran his face was tense, his amber colored eyes easily revealed his worry as his pupils had shrunken to the size of pinholes.

The boy was quite fast. In mere minutes he crossed the distance between the hill and the village and arrived at the east gate where two guards stood holding simple lances in their hands, they wore light iron suits of armor composed of simples iron helmets, gauntlets, boots and crude chestplates that looked more like they had attached iron boards on the chest of the guards.

They long saw the boy running towards them and placed the lances in between them as to signal that entry was forbidden and that he should stop.

"HALT!"- they shouted.

The boy looked up and glared at the guards, his once worrisome eyes turned ferocious. He had no time for this! He had to reach the spot and see for himself what that smoke was all about, he could not waste time and stop to deal with them.

The guards saw that the boy had no intention of stopping and, albeit reluctantly since they didn't want to cause harm to a kid, pointed their lances towards the boy's head intending to make him stop through intimidation.

The next few seconds would leave those guards stunned for quite a while.

The boy was but a few meters away from the lance tips, in three large steps, his eyes were in range to crash straight into the tips and kill him in one move with but a single step more.

The boy's eyes glowed with a mysterious light and time seemed to slow down.

His body abruptly sped up and he somersaulted, his body spun in mid-air and landed in the spears shafts, he then kicked hard at them and jumped, in the next instant he landed he immediately dashed towards the village.

Time's flow the return to normal. Although well described in the boy's perspective, in the guard's, it was more like a blur that had just passed through them.

When the guards finally reacted they noticed their spears were shoved in the ground at an angle, they desperately looked behind them and saw the faint silhouette of the boy turning a corner and disappearing.

Although the village had quite imposing walls of stone, inside it everything was different. All the houses were purely made out of wood, straw, and clay. The structure was made out of wooden logs and the ceiling was covered in clay and straws to protect against the rain.

The streets inside the village were laid down with cobblestone, on the sidewalks, there were various merchants and pedestrians. On the streets, horses and carriages normally strutted about calmly. Today, however, you could see several carriages riding fast towards the northern part of the village where massive amounts of smoke rose into the air.

The boy ran after the carriages, his body was constantly emitting a faint glow making the wind flow around him and improve his speed by boosting his aerodynamic. The boy, however, was oblivious to this effect as his heart raced.

After a few minutes, his body came to a screeching halt as he stumbled and fell.

"Sh*t!"

His body hit the ground hard scraping his knees, elbows, and hands as he stopped himself from crashing headfirst into the cobblestone ground. He recalled the events during his fall and noticed that as he fell he saw two figures running away from the burning scene. He tried his best to burn their silhouette to his memory, but he found himself currently unable as the waves of pain hit him at full force making him wince and all he could brand in his mind was a symbol that was sewed in the clothes of the fleeing figures. It was a heart of many colors with a black dagger piercing it, but as his mind flickered in pain, the boy could not really think about the matter as much as he’d like.

He slowly turned his gaze upwards and straight into the smoke-filled building in front of him, and just one glance was enough to tell him that what he feared most became reality. His face lost all color as horror filled his mind.

In front of him was the ruins of a common house. The collapsed ceiling and the fragments of the former structure were all around the place, inside the rubble one could see three burnt corpses beyond recognition, their skin was charred black but one could clearly see they died hugging each other.

"no...no...no...no..NOOOOO!!!!!!"

He screamed as he punched the ground hard. Tears flowed down his eyes and blood flowed from his wounds as he repeatedly punched the ground in pure furious grief. The bystanders looked at his direction due to his shouts and immediately understood why he grieved.

That boy was the sole survivor of this disaster, he was the single remaining member of this family that was consumed by flames. However, they grew scared, the boy emitted an immense ominous aura from his body as his eyes glowed with fury, but when the next sentence came out of his mouth in a cold, murderous voice, they were truly frightened:

"I. Will. Destroy. Who. Did. This!"

But in the next second the boy heard a voice behind him.

"Okay okay killer, cool your jets why don't ya?"

The boy turned his head around fiercely and shouted:

"WHO...?!"

But before he could finish his sentence and recognize who spoke to him, he felt a great pain in his neck. His consciousness grew increasingly blurry and eventually, everything turned black as he fainted.