Chapter 1: The Lost Ruins

Deep within an ancient forest stood a doorway. Not connecting to anything. With no purpose. No reason for being. Just standing there among the thicket of the trees. Fading into obscurity. Well that's how it looked to Aaron. Though, he would more likely call it an archway, since there was no door. Being composed of flat rocks that could topple over at any time, It stood there strongly with hundreds of branches woven around it's slim frame. Not what he expected to find while searching for the lost ruins of the so-and-so. Wait, that wasn't right. He remembered reading it's name was Sozopolis. As well as, the coordinates saying it was right here. Aaron let his legs sink down onto the ground. Three months. He has been searching for three months. But, in the end the ruins were eaten by the forest. Another waste of time.

He punched the ground. "Blasted it."

Not a single lead had led him anywhere. Why? He knew it had been 3 years since his brother…, but they were already decades old when Aleifr was researching them. The leads could not now become cold. Unless they never existed in the first place. No. He shook his head. He couldn't believe it. He refused to believe it was an accident. The truth was out there and he would find it.

For now there was nothing he could do. He shifted his legs into a comfortable sitting position and pulled down his hood. Taking out his notebook he laid out a list of locations. Finding the name Sozopolis he crossed it off his notes. He had already crossed off a dozen or so other locations, but still many remained. Any one of them could hold the answers to his questions. Right, he just needed to stay patient.

Reading he fiddled with his pierced right ear.

The dragon's fire earring.

The symbol of the Varangian Guard. After spending 2 years of training, he finally did it. Gaining the Varangian Guard's authority. And if it wasn't for the guard's authority it would be impossible to go near these locations. Much less be able to explore them without raising any suspicions of his actions.

Finishing scanning over his notes, he pulled out his brother's journal. The cover once a brilliant green had faded to murky brown. He flipped to a page and paused. He still couldn’t help but be amazed. Each location recorded by his brother was stuff of legends. Any adventurer dreamed of being able to explore at least one of them in their lifetime. And yet here, his brother had not only gone to, but also carefully researched all of them. A small smile fell on his face. He traced his hand across his brother's handwriting. Most of it had been water damaged to the point of illegibility. But, he could still make out Aleifr's neat and straight letters. He remembered how annoyed Aleifr used to get whenever Sara and he made fun of it. Saying it looked more like it was made by a printed press then by hand. His eyes began to burn. No, he needed to stop thinking about it. He flipped to the next page to plan his next course of action.

After picking out his next location to visit, he put away his book and closed his eyes to rest. Letting his head sink, he sat there soaking in the forest’s soft filter sunshine. He soaked in the world's mana as he listened to the soothing breeze pass by.

His ears twitched. Quietness. Despite being in the middle of the day the whole forest was silent. No bird singing or fox scurrying about. Something was not right. In an instant he put up his guard scanning the trees. A glimpse within the shadow revealed a movement. Then another. More he searched, the more movements he saw. An entrapment. Without hesitating he grabbed his pendant, gathering his mana within it.

“Quickly,” an unknown voice shouted, “Don’t let him finish his spell. We can't let him escape!” several shadows jumped out of the trees charging toward Aaron.

“Not going to make this easy.”

Aaron dispersed his mana. Pulling his hood up he scanned the approaching masked enemies.

“Who are you guys? A mercenary group? Bandits? Isn’t this ambush a little too much for a single person?”

The masked men didn't respond, instead moved forward to pin him. Aaron backed up to put distance between them, but in a flash, hands appeared around him. He jerked maneuvering through any attempt to grab him.

“Seriously? What are your all's problems? Hello, I know at least one of you isn’t a mute.”

He side-stepped in front of the shortest man and bowed.

“Come on, good sirs. Is it at least proper manners to tell me what's your business on this fine day?”

He laughed to himself as a hand appeared to his right and he ducked to the left. Gaining more distance from his assaulters, he searched in the corner of his eye.

No.

Not that one.

There.

He spotted one of the masked men standing on the side watching him. The more he invaded, the more this mask man clenched his jaw.

“Buffoons, how hard is it to catch one person?” The mask man scolded his troops.

“So, you must be the leader.” Aaron appeared behind him.

The leader visibly stiffened. His eyes widened as he turned to see Aaron standing next to him. Aaron flashed a small wave as a greeting. The leader, without missing a beat, sent a punch straight to Aaron’s face.

Aaron grabbed his arm, stopping his motion. “Okay, calm down. Can't we talk like civilized people?”

Instead of breaking free, the leader with his chin motioned his men. Swiftly a masked man sent a kick flying towards Aaron’s head.

“Fine, have your way.” Aaron released his grip, rolling out the way.

He rolled back onto his feet when the leader shouted, “We have him! Knock him out!”

Another kick flashed toward Aaron faster than he expected. Aaron moved to dodge but a heavy force smacked straight into his stomach. All the air rushed out of his lungs as he tumbled backwards, tripping on the wet grass crashing into the ruin doorway. Aaron last heard “Not Good!” from the masked man as he vanished through its slim frame.

The setting blurred. He crashed into a dim blue lit hallway as the momentum slammed him onto the ground knocking him into a coughing fit. His whole body shivered. Compared to the soft warm forest it was frigid. His body wanted to curl up in the ball as he coughed uncontrollably , but he knew he could not stay on the ground. If he could pass through the door, then why not his pursuers. Despite choking on his coughs he forced his body to stand. He regained his balance and sprinted in as far as possible.

He ran through several hallways before dashing into a small room. Collapsing onto the floor, his throat and lung screamed at him. The burning sensation reminded him he was still a novice at controlling his body. He already could see his teacher, Phaedrus, scolding him at his lack of discipline. Yeah, he was definitely not going to tell anyone about the encounter.

Taking a moment to rest he rolled onto his stomach taking in his environment. The air was damp and smelled like old dusty books. Runes curved the walls resembling a circuit board. Mana flowed through them producing a blue glow. His eyes widened in wonder. The ruin's door truly had led him into another place.

How strange?

Sozopolis was a human city. Only creatures of ether, Faileas, had the ability to set up such an artifact. He knew for a fact the humans at that time refused to interact with the Faileas. So how could Sozopolis’s ruins have a transporter? Aaron clenched his hands. This was it. A mystery he could explore. He took one more controlled breath and stood.

Peering out of the room he saw no one. Good, he lost his pursuers. He left the room heading deeper into the ruins. After searching several rooms he could not find anything useful. Void of any papers, artifacts, furniture, and even doors the ruins was eerily empty. The only thing noteworthy was the runes covering the walls. Stopping, he pulled down his hood and peered at them. They glowed a vibrant blue. Several different runes overlapping each other but appearing to be one whole schematic. The complexity far exceeded his understanding. He had never seen anything like it before. Which was rare. He had studied the majority of all known forms of rune crafting.

Curious about the nature of the runes he traced his hand across, letting the mana sinked into his fingertips. A sharp bitter cold sunk into his hand. He yanked his hand away from the wall. This was not right. Mana was energy. It should be hot and exciting like lighting. Not frigid and almost still. Unless this was the unknown magic of ether? His heartbeat speeded up at the thought of it. Then he shook his head. If it was ether then he should not be able to sense it. It was most likely impure mana. Since more pure mana was, warmer and more powerful it became. So the opposite end of the spectrum should be true.

Testing Aaron reached out to touch the runes once again. Closing his eyes, he tried to make out the mana nature. Aaron shook. No, he was wrong. The mana was the purest he had ever felt. Deep, old, stretching far into an abyss. Endless but worn thin. It stretched thinner and thinner into the deep darkness, pulling him down with it. Deeper and deeper into the nothingness. He opened his eyes in a panic. Grasping, he forced himself away from the wall. Losing all his energy to stand he collapsed onto the floor. His mind spiraled into total chaos. His breathing became a mess. The Mana was draining his own. Like a starving predator that found its first meal in years. He never felt magic so pure, so alive, and so much dead. What were these runes? What was even this place? Ruins so ancient even the dragons cannot tell you who made them. An ambush waiting right at its front door. The secrets it hold terrified but excited Aaron. He grabbed his pendant, calming his heart.

“Yo, are you alright?”

“Eek” Aaron stiffen.

“Good. If you can make such a loud sound you should be fine.”

Aaron turned to the direction of a listless voice. A tall man was rubbing his blond disheveled hair as he peered at Aaron.

“Who are—”

“Well, see ya.”

The man weakly waved and stepped past him.

“Wait,”

The man ignored Aaron and exited the room. Aaron jumped onto his feet to chase after him. He didn't know who the man was, but he wouldn't be in a desolate ruin for no reason.

“Hey mister, hold on for a moment.”

Aaron dashed in front of his way.

“Move it, kid.”

The man tried to shove him to the side, but he stood his ground.

“I won't take a lot of your time. I simply want to ask some questions.”

Aaron tried to look as much as an innocent young scholar as possible. The man's face cringed.

“Nope. Too much of a pain, goodbye.”

“Please, wait.”

The man picked up his pace.

“Um, no, please.”

Aaron's mind went blank. He needed to get the man to talk, but did not know what to say to keep him here. The man strolled father and father away. Aaron clenched his jaw.

“JOSHUA”

Aaron flinched.

“Whoa, Alaina.”

A little girl about 8 years old ran out of a side room jumping onto the man’s back.

“Joshua, what did I say about being sociable?”

“It's too much of a pain. Whoa, Alaina stop, I'm trying to walk.”

The girl, Alaina, had covered Joshua’s eyes with her hands.

“Joshua.”

“Okay, okay. I will hear him out.”

“Good.”

Alaina jumped off his back walking straight to Aaron. She stopped in front of him standing up tall.

“Hello. My name is Alaina and this rude bum is Joshua. Are you a knight?”

Her eyes sparkled at his sword.

"No, just a researcher." He grabbed his sword hilt. "This old thing is for self defense."

"Oh really. How disappointing. " Her shoulder sank.

Aaron bended down to meet her eyes.

" Hey what with that face, I'm as cool as any Knight."

" No way, Knights are heroes. They slay beasts, rescue innocents, and defeat bad guys."

" And Knights can't do any of it without information. Which is where researchers come in."

" If you say so."

“Not convinced are you. Well it's okay. Alaina, Joshua, nice to meet you. I’m Aaron. Will it be okay if I ask some questions.”

“Sure good ahead." Alaina nodded in high spirits.

“Yeah, yeah. Have fun talking, I'm going to sleep. ” Joshua laid down.

“Hey.” Alaina puffed out her cheeks.

Aaron chuckled. They were a strange pair.

“Then why are you here in these ruins? Do you know anything about Sozopolis?”

Alaina grabbed her chin in thought.

“Nope I don't know anything about Sozo- what you say, but we are here to meet Lili—” She stared toward Aaron. “No way.”

“Yes?”

“Your eyes. They are purple like mine. So cool.”

" What did you say?" Joshua jolted up.

" Is there something weird with my eyes?"

" No, nothing. It's rare to see." Joshua waved his hand and laid back down to sleep.

"Okay?" What were they going on about? "So, who is Lili?"

"Right. She is a great sage. Joshua is taking me to see."

"And she is here?"

"Yes." Alaina's hair bounced as she nodded.

A great sage here? All the sages he knew lived in the great empires of the east. Even if they were on vacation, one visiting such backwoods would have been big news. Yet he had heard no news of a sage traveling to the north western part of the continent.

Aaron smiled.

Interesting.

"Would it be all right if I come along to meet her?"

" Sure. The more the merrier." She skipped around Aaron grabbing his hand.

" Alaina, No." Joshua scowling stood up and pulled her away.

"Why not?" Alaina mimicked his scowl.

He ignored her.

"I'm sorry, Aaron. We can't bring an unknown person to Sage Lili. Come along, Alaina."

"No fun. He has my eyes." She stuck her tongue out.

"No hold on, I'm not suspicious." Aaron swung his bag off his back and rummaged through it. "I'm from the Varangian Guard, here's my identification."

"See, he can come." Alaina made a motion to move to him, but Joshua grabbed her.

He rushed her behind himself pulling out his spear. Aaron took a step back, eyeing him. He pointed his spear towards the end of the corridor.

"Aaron, are you with those men?"

Aaron turned his head. He cursed. They had found him.

"Well, well, well. what do we have here?" The leader strolled down the hallway with his men behind him. "Playtime is over, kid. Come with us and you won't be hurt."

Aaron saw in the corner of his eyes Joshua tightening his grip on his spear. His mana shifted into an Arts cloaking him with an golden aura.

"Alaina, will not be going anywhere."

The leader tilted his head.

"Who? We are here for the boy. Get lost. "

Joshua turned his head to Aaron. Aaron froze for a second. Weighing his options, he decided he could trust Joshua. He ducked behind him and pulled up his hood. Joshua peered at him for a moment then nodded. Turning back to the masked men he shouted,

"You dirtbags, targeting a child." His aura strengthened.

Aaron flinched. He didn't expect Joshua to get so angry. Alaina also started patting him.

"There there, Aaron. Joshua is super strong. He will protect you."

Their actions baffled him. There seemed to be a misunderstanding, but since he no longer needed to fight he didn't care.

"Hey, Aaron. Grab Alaina and run to a safe place. I will chase these thugs away."

"Sure, no problem. Alaina, let's leave it to him."

He grabbed her sprinting down the hallway.

" Bye, Bye Joshua." Alaina waved.

" Hey, wait. Aren't you abandoning me way too fast?"

"But you said you got this, right Alaina."

"Right. Joshua is super strong." She punched into the air.

Aaron swung the giggling Alaina onto his back and copied her cheer.

" Super Strong. You can do this Joshua."

"Men, don't let him escape."

The masked men all charged pulling out their weapons.

" What a pain." Joshua swung his spear. The spear cut through the air knocking down the closest masked men.

"Who told you could pass by me?"

Joshua's slouching appearance disappeared, replaced by a looming figure.

Aaron ran around the corner removing the fight out of his sight.

"Alaina, what warrior rank is Joshua?"

" Super. I said it before."

"Super isn't a rank, Alaina. "

Aaron looked back to the corner. By the strength of his Arts, he was a high level warrior. He regretted not being able to watch Joshua fight. His fight would have been fun to watch. Yet Aaron made Joshua cover for him, so he should at least follow his orders.

Aaron carrying Alaina ran out of the corridor emerging on top of a staircase. He halted. An enormous indoor courtyard appeared before their eyes. Even with dust remaining in the old fountains and dirt where once a spectacular garden grew, it could not hide the majesty of the ancient courtyard. Here the runes were on a grander scale than before. Covering the column, balustrade, and even lining the water channels they shone brilliantly. The sheer beauty of the schematic mystified Aaron.

" Aaron, Aaron. This place is beautiful." Alaina wiggled on his back to get a better view.

"Whoa, Alaina calm down. You're going to fall."

"Aw, what a pity. The water no longer flowed. It would have looked so pretty."

Aaron agreed with her about the beauty of the courtyard, but they weren't on a sightseeing tour.

"We can look at it later. We need to go."

He dashed down the stairs heading to the other side of the courtyard. No longer paying attention to his surroundings he stepped onto the center pattern on the floor. The floor burst into a blue light. In an instant all his strength left his body.

“Not good” he jumped into the ancient dirt patch and dropped to his knees. The blue light faded.

"Aaron!" Alaina jumped off his back.

"I'm fine."

Aaron smiled to reassure her. He tried standing but his legs stumbled.

" Aaron." Alaina went under his arm and steady him.

"Sorry."

Aaron frowned. Having his magic forcibly drained was exhausting. He had only walked forward yet he felt like he had been through a major battle.

"Are you alright?"

“I'm not too bad. At least we're not dealing with more forceful traps.”

As soon as he said this, the floor shook, knocking him off balance. Looking up to where he once stood his face ashen. There emerged from the ruins a huge blocky metal golem. Aaron laughed. The world was truly humorous.

" Don't laugh. " she clung to his shoulder. " You jinxed us."

Aaron glanced at the golem. He had to admit it looked to be a marvelous piece of machinery.

" Don't worry, Alaina. Hopefully it's the move the boxes type and not the safety protocol kind."

[ XENOLANE LEAVE AT ONCE. YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE.]

Aaron covered his ears from the deafening sound.

"Stop jinxing us. " Alaina also shielded her ears with her hand.

The golem's voice reverberated the dust into the air. His eardrums rang with pain. He missed most of what it said since he didn’t expect it to talk and much less at that volume. Still he could tell it did not like him being here. Yet, if the golem thought even for a moment he was going to simply leave, it was going to be in for a big surprise. This was his first discovery since he started his search. He couldn’t afford to ignore it.

“What if I said No, Mister Metal Golem.”

The Metal Golem leered toward his direction. A shiver went down Aaron’s spine. The look alone answered his question.

"Aaron, please don't anger the scary golem." Alaina pulled at his shirt.

Aaron looked at the little girl's face. Tears had formed in her eyes. He sighed.

" We can go back. Joshua should have finished fighting by now."

He dusted his knees and helped Alaina back onto her feet. But then Joshua dashed down from the stairs.

"Aaron, Alaina. We need to move."

He grabbed Alaina and headed to the other side of the courtyard. Aaron glanced over to the golem, but shook his head and chased after Joshua.

" What's wrong?" Aaron matched his speed.

" It was a pain. Corridors do not make a good place to fight with a spear. I managed to chase them away, but they will be back."

Sweat dripped off Joshua's forehead. Fighting alone would not have been easy.

"I'm sorry." Aaron lowered his head.

"What for?"

Aaron didn't answer, but slowed down to run behind him.

Joshua, not paying him any attention, glanced at the metal golem. He studied it for a moment, but he rushed past it not giving it a second glance. Then Aaron stepped past it.

[DON'T TAKE ANOTHER STEP.]

He jumped backwards.

"Aaron?" Joshua halted.

" No, keep going. It seemed to only take up issues with me."

"But, the bad men." Alaina called out.

"I'm fine. I can avoid them now since Joshua scared them away." Aaron smiled. "Don't you have to visit the sage?"

"But," Alaina looked back at Joshua.

Joshua studied Aaron's face and sighed.

" Too much of a pain. You better not get hurt. Alaina, we are leaving."

"Good bye, It was nice meeting you." Alaina waved.

Aaron waved back to them until they passed through the door and out of sight.

Aaron dropped to his knees. How tiring. He turned his head to the golem as annoyance filled his voice.

" Now that we're alone I can stop playing nice.” A large playful grin grew on the boy's face. It had been a long time since he could fight without restrictions.

"You know stupid machine." He brought his hands closer to his eyes. "You really should not have told me to piss off."

As if his hands were a circuit board, he constructed a program with his mana. Lines begin to form shifting from colorless into a red glow. Aaron clicked his tongue. He lost a lot more mana than he realized. Nothing he could do about it now, he stood casting his spell. The golem burst into flames swallowing it whole. As the fire died down the golem was still. Not a scratch on it.

“Of course, it wouldn’t be easy,” Aaron shrugged. “What spell to use next?” His demeanor relaxed as if it was a summer picnic.

He constructed another program, but in a flash the golem appeared in front of him. Aaron's eyes widened. Its arm raised, aiming toward his spot. With no time to think he halted his spell. In a reflex, he raised his arms allowing his mana to cover his whole body. The golem's large arm slammed into him. The translucent runes covering him turned into white lines as it absorbed the impact. The force sent him back crashing into one of the old fountains.

Pain shot up his whole body as the fountain collapsed on him. The white lines faded away as he pushed off the debris. Fighting the pain, he tried to stand. Instead his body shook making him cough up blood.

His heart tightened. Even if he only had his emergency mana armor protecting him, he shouldn't have been this injured. If he hadn’t reacted in that split second, he would have been killed. He should have formed his armor first before Fire Burst.

A mistake!

A huge mistake that almost cost him. He stared with a newfound fear at the motionless golem.

Wait, why was it motionless? It made one attack then stopped. His heart beated faster. For some reason, this made Aaron more afraid of the machine

In the silence the fountain’s debris crashed onto the floor. The loud noise made him flinch. For a moment the chamber became quiet. Then he burst into laughter. How tense was he?

"Who I'm I?" He reminded himself. "I'm the one and only apprentice to Phaedrus and the younger brother to Aleifr. This hunk of metal is no real threat." He laughed at his own foolishness.

He was simply careless. If he had his proper armor up, the hit would have been nothing more than a scratch. Since it was not moving right now, he had time to recollect his thoughts. Time to do things properly.

He circled his mana. Translucent rune raced across his body. His mana formed into an Arts. He allowed the Arts to wrap around to form his mana armor.

Steadying himself he examined the metal golem. It moved only when he attacked it, so maybe if he ignored it he could move on. Veering around in a circle Aaron headed to the other side of the courtyard. As soon as he passed the side of the metal golem, it rushed forward toward him at a speed that should not be possible for such heavy machinery. Yet, this time Aaron was ready. He stepped back right before it hit him. The golem arm missed by a few inches. The golem, without missing a beat, swung its body toward Aaron.

“Fast” Aaron jumped away. This time he went farther back than before.

“So, I ran out of warnings. It's agile, but in the end it's still a piece of metal. Annoying, but I can work with this.”

Aaron's playful smile returned as he formulated his next move.

The black metal shone into Aaron’s eye, making it know its hardness. With so little magic and no options left, Aaron begrudgingly pulled out his sword. A dark blade emerged out of a plain tan sheath. However, unlike the golem it didn’t shine, instead it absorbed all light like a pitch-dark forest. Aaron steadied his stance. Gauging the distance, translucent lines appeared on him.

Pushing against the floor, he rushed straight to the golem. The golem sent out a punch to collide with Aaron. Right in front of the golem with alarming speed Aaron willed his mana into his leg to once again push against the floor. He swung his sword as his figure blurred. He appeared behind the golem.

Then Stillness.

Sheathing his sword, he moved past the courtyard.

* * *

A few moments later the top half of the golem slid off crashing onto the ground. As the dust cloud dispensed, figures appeared in the shadows.

“I don’t believe my eyes”

“This is insane!”

“What with that sword?”

“Captain, can we even capture that kid?”

“Someone pinch me I must be dre…”

“EVERYONE SHUT UP! I NEED TO THINK!” Captain Muller bellowed out. Muller bit the tip of his thumb. He was reaching his breaking point. This was supposed to be an easy mission for his mercenary squad. Capture a young scholarly mage for an award. The client never mentioned anything about the boy knowing how to fight. Not only knowing but proficient at it too. Plus, that sword. How sharp was it to be able to cut that hunk of metal? There was no way the boy was a farm boy from a remote village. He must be a prince or something like that to have such an expensive relic. Then what was up with the crazy strong warrior from earlier. Did the boy hire him as a bodyguard? Blasted it. he should have demanded a higher upfront payout.

“Captain, what should we do?” one of his men whimpered.

“What else? You bunch of cowards. He is still one boy. After him, I want that sword!” he ordered.

“Yes sir!” The men hastily moved fearing their captain's wrath.