In an old village near the city of Reius, at a house that refused to fall after hundreds of seasons, yet it couldn't refuse for much longer, a twelve year old boy was passing through the pages of an old book. He wasn't reading it, that would be pointless, he already knew everything on it after the first thousand times. *Crack* He quickly raised his head and stood up.

"Aaagh..." An old woman wailed as she fell down. She had tried her best to support herself on the table, but failed to do so.

"Grandma!" He ran toward her. The rotten wood floor broke... again. Her leg seemed fine, at least there was no blood.

"Who are you?!" She pushed him away. "Are you trying to take my canary away? I will not let you!!" She glared at him.

"Grandma..." He sighed. It was a waste of time to argue with her. She lived in pain and delusions, after years she grew accustomed to her pain, and he to her delusions. Luckily, she was fine.

"Wait..." She looked around. "Where is my canary?! What have you done to little Timmy?! Give him back! You monster."

Well... what could be called fine. He went back and put away the book he was reading. Herbalism Compendium volume 2. One of the two books on the house. The other one being Herbalism Compendium volume 3. He saw the first volume in the city, but it was too expensive for him to buy it. Those two books were found by his father long ago.

"Grandma, I'm leaving."

"Go, go. There is no time to lose. Those damn miners believe that they got me, but I'm not going to fall alone, they are going to fall with me!" She was resolved to die so long as she could accomplish her goal. Sadly, there were no miners on the village.

"Yeah..." He made sure to step on the good parts of the floor. He took his knife and pouch and headed to the forest.

The street was empty. There was hardly any people left at the village. Anyone with a brain went to the city decades ago, leaving the old and dead behind. Footsteps sounded from his left. He turned, knowing full well who it was.

"Rayen!" A kid taller than him said. He had a sword on his shoulder and a big smile, almost as big as the scar on his face, yet, not even that smile could hide his sorrow.

"Hi, Takuya." As expected, it was Takuya, his friend and neighbor. As the only two kids in the village, they were fated to be friends. "Going to hunt?" They walked to the forest together.

"Of course! Where else will I be going? Do you want to spar with me? Heh heh. I will give you a good beating."

"Hah. Keep dreaming, I will beat you, just like last time."

"That was a fluke, this time is going to be different!" Takuya left the sword on a tree and took a thick stick, throwing another to Rayen. "Fight!"

Rayen readied himself and jumped backwards. *Fuuu* The wind of Takuya's slash moved his hair up. He closed in to counter-attack, but Takuya sidestepped and evaded it easily.

"Heh, predictable as always." Takuya sneered.

"Just like yourself."

The two of them fought countless times. They already knew each other's techniques very well.

'Now comes a downward cut.' Rayen thought.

Takuya approached fast and raised his stick. Rayen attacked to interrupt him, but Takuya smiled and changed his direction.

'A feint!' Rayen staggered.

Taking advantage of your own predictability was fundamental for feinting. Takuya knew it full well. *Slam slam* He used his advantage to get two hits in, but Rayen evaded the third.

Rayen stared at Takuya. His breathing slowed. On his mind, the world around him vanished, leaving only Takuya behind.

"It looks like you are going down this time." Takuya sneered. Seeing that Rayen wasn't moving, he attacked once more.

He could clearly see each and every movement that Takuya made. It was as if time had almost stopped, but only for Rayen. From Takuya's perspective, Rayen just stopped moving. Then, when the stick almost touched him, he slightly moved to the side, evading it completely. He attacked once again... and again, and again. The result was the same. He missed each time, always by the smallest movement necessary.

"There!" Rayen saw it, an opening. He used all his strength to smash Takuya's hand, making his stick fly away. Without pause, he continued, smoothly stopping in front of Takuya's neck.

A chill passed through Takuya's body. If this was a real battle, with real swords, he would have lost his head.

"I win!" Rayen announced, striking a victory pose.

Takuya took the stick from the ground and pointed it at Rayen. "The best of three!"

Rayen shook his head. "Sorry, I can't play around. Grandma is getting worse lately." A single duel wasn't much, but there was no time for another.

"Oh." Takuya dropped the stick and put his sword on his shoulder once again, this time his usual smile disappeared. "I will go see her later. I hope she is alright..."

"Don't worry about it. It will be fine once I get her a stronger medicine." There was a medicine in Reius that could help her, at least temporarily, but it was too expensive for him.

"Let's go. I will protect you. You may have beaten me, but I still have the sword." Takuya smiled once again while pointing at himself.

Rayen nodded and the two of them went deeper into the forest.

"Here is fine." Rayen took out a knife and picked up herbs, while Takuya looked for animals to hunt. 'Takuya hasn't improved in the last two years. He used to beat me all the time. He still must be sad he couldn't become a mage. With only average talent and no money, no academy will accept him. His only hope is to awaken, and double or triple his capability. Yet, awakening is such a cruel thing. People with a capability of 0 or 1 have a very high chance of awakening, but the result is just their capability increasing to 2 or 3. For someone with a capability of 2 awakening is rare and it is too late by the time they get it, the years missed mean that they will always be behind. Only in legends have people with a 4 or 5 awoke. And for 6 and higher awakening is an absurdity, not even the legends would be that unreal. The only ones for which awakening is useful and possible are those with a capability of 3, just like Takuya, but it is almost impossible for them to get it. The people who need it the most live their lives hoping to see the mysterious red light that appears when you awaken, something that will never occur to them.'

"Have you heard?" Takuya said. "The mage initiation test has just started. Are you going?"

Rayen shook his head. "I won't go, I have to help grandma. I don't want to abandon her and let her die."

"This isn't what she wants, she wants you to be strong and live for yourself, not to waste your life away."

"All she wants is a canary. And it's not wasting my life away. She is the only family I have left."

"What about your uncle?"

"He disappeared a long time ago. I don't remember anything about him. He might have died for all I know."

"You shouldn't give up your chance. Unlike me, you have a chance. I can only become a knight."

"You could become a merchant, like your mother wants you to."

"No way. The world is only for the strong, while the weak die at the hands of the strong. You should know it. We live it day by day." Takuya swung his sword and a rabbit's head flew. "A rabbit may struggle, but in the end it will die to a hunter. A hunter may struggle, but in the end, he will die to a beast, and a beast may struggle, but it will die to a mage. The only way to escape this, is to become the strongest. That way, no one will ever be able to kill you, and you will be able to protect everybody who is important to you."

"That's not true. We are weak, yet we struggle and survive. People at the cities are also weak, yet they join together and fight back. If what you said was true, we will all be dead, but we aren't."

"What about our parents? Our family? They are all dead. We are the only survivors, but for how long? If we don't gain power soon, we will die too."

"..." Rayen looked at the distance. "My magic capability may be weak anyway. And I'm poor, I don't have money to spend on an academy."

"You don't know it until you try it. Don't give up so quickly! Also, if your capability is good enough, the academies will lower their prices, sometimes even teach you for free."

"I'm not giving up. I will go later, when grandma gets better."

"You know she won't get any better..."

"Yes, she will! The medicine will work out, and she will be fine. I won't lose her."

"Rayen..."

"You can go to the test, I will find a way to awaken you. This time for real."

"It's too late for me. I missed the best years to practice."

Rayen was absorbed in his thoughts. "Near dead experiences didn't work." He pondered about it. "Maybe I can try some herb compounds. Some plants are poisonous if eaten alone, but beneficial when in a compound. I could add some minerals for extra effect. Even if it doesn't awaken you, it might increase you capability."

Takuya touched his scar. "Heh heh... I'm fine like this, really..."

Rayen put another herb in the bag and got up. "My next experiment will succeed, don't worry!"

Takuya shivered. "Eh... I think I will just become a knight. Really..."

"It's like you said. You don't know it until you try it. Don't give up so quickly! You will awaken, then they may teach you for free and all."

The pair proceeded deeper and deeper into the forest as hours passed.

"I think this is enough." Takuya took another rabbit. "I can't carry more."

"I wanted to gather more, but it's okay." Rayen nodded, his bag was also full, even if he wanted more.

*Bzzzt* The air distorted near them. *Crash* A tree fell. Animals ran away in all directions. On the sky, dozens of those distortions appeared. As soon as one ended, another will appear. A buzz resounded across the forest.

"What's happening?" Takuya's breathing accelerated as he looked everywhere.

"Let's run back and inform the Elder."

Takuya nodded, dropping a few rabbits to move faster. He had catched more than enough anyway.

After running for a couple minutes, the distortions and the sound stopped. Everything went back to normal.

"I will tell the Elder." Rayen said once they reached the village. "You can go back."

"Okay, mom must be worried." Takuya went to his home. Rayen was the one that got along better with the Elder and they didn't need to go together. "See you tomorrow."

"Bye." Rayen waved at Takuya and walked to a run-down shop. An old man received him.

"Welcome, Rayen. Let me see what you've got today."

Rayen set aside some of the herbs, then he put the rest on the table, for him to examine. "I got these."

"Oh, more than usual. Let me see..." He checked the herbs one by one. "I can buy them all for 13 small crystals."

"Only that?" Rayen was nervous. It wasn't enough. The medicine he needed was sold at 500 small crystals at the city. So far he had saved around 40 small crystals, but at this rate it will take him forever to get it.

"That's the best price I can give. You know I'm not making any money out of it."

Rayen knew it was true, if he were to sell it at the city, he may not even get 8 small crystals.

"Fine..."

The old man smiled and picked a small green bottle. The paper below it said 20. He put it on the table alongside 3 tiny crystals that emitted a green light.

"I hope your grandma gets better soon."

'She won't with this medicine...' Rayen thought, but he didn't say it. It wasn't the old man's fault that they were poor, he was too kind already. This medicine helped with the pain and the delusions, but it will never cure her. "Thanks." He picked everything and left.

'I need to find rare herbs, with common herbs I will never make more than a dozen crystals.' Just when Rayen was about to knock on the Elder's hut. A muscular man that appeared to be in his late thirties opened the door. It was the Elder. Rumors said that he was the oldest person on the village, but it was hard to believe, he looked the youngest aside from the kids.

"Hello Rayen. Enter."

The hut was small, one of the smallest buildings on the whole village. It wasn't fit for someone holding the title of Elder. It was filled with piles of books and random items, with barely enough space for one person to sleep.

"What are you looking for?"

"Elder, today in the forest, there was a strange sound and the sky twisted. Hundreds of those spirals appeared. That twisting broke a tree too."

The Elder sighed. "I know, I have noticed it too."

"Do you know what it is?" Rayen stared attentively at the Elder.

"...Yes."

If he had said no, Rayen would've known that he was lying.

"Is it... the Rakuyas?" Rayen heard of them before, but never saw one. They were a race that rarely appeared outside, but they were common enough that people will sometimes see one of them. What no ordinary person saw, though, was their home, the Rakuya Forest. Hearsay was that one of those mythical forests was on the village's forest protecting the village.

"Who else will it be?"

Rayen grew excited. "Can I look at the books?"

"Planning to enter?" The Elder smiled. "How to enter is not in the books. The books only have a general description of their race. You shouldn't disturb them."

"Please, tell me how to enter. I only want to check and grab a few herbs. They must have rare herbs... They won't even notice."

"It's too dangerous, Rayen. The distortions from today must mean something bad happened there."

"That's a reason to go. We must check it to see if everything is alright. If something happens to them, it will affect us."

"It's something for adults to handle, you are just a kid, you don't need to be concerned about it. The mage initiation test started, go there and become a mage."

"Takuya said the same. I cannot leave my grandma alone. If I were to find some good herbs there, I may save her, or I could sell them and then buy the medicine. Once she is fine, I can go there. So please, tell me how to enter the forest."

"There is no point in begging me. You know I cannot tell you."

"Fine." Rayen left.

After that, Rayen appeared in front of Takuya's house.

"Takuya!"

The door opened, it was Takuya's mother, Lena. "What do you want?" She looked with scorn at Rayen.

"I need to talk with Takuya."

"He doesn't have the time to waste with you." She slammed the door.

"Tsk." Takuya said from a nearby window. "What happened Rayen? What did the Elder say?"

"Meet me up first thing in the morning, we will go to the Rakuya Forest. Get ready."