As I slowly opened my eyes I could already feel my sore body aching in some parts. I tried to move but I couldn't, I gave up on it and stayed laying down. I fully opened my eyes and looked around.

The first thing that stood out to me was. . . A horse? A horse's butt to be precise. It was just standing there and so I watched as its tail swung from left to right.

Wait, is it going to poop on me?

Ohh no?

At this thought of mine, I forced my body away from it.

"Ahh." I groaned as I tried to move.

"Ohh, you're finally awake." A soft feminine voice said from behind me.

Huh?

I looked back and what I saw left me speechless. It was a woman wearing armor but her lower body was that of a horse.

This is beyond weird.

My face must have given away my thoughts as she started giggling.

"You've never seen my kind before?" She asked.

"N-No." I answered. I tried getting up but I fell over.

"Be careful you were in bad shape when we found you." she said.

I used healing magic to heal myself as much as I could. And then I was able to stand up.

"We?" I asked.

"Yup." she said moving out of the way revealing two others just like her both males.

"Hello." one of them said. "My name is Asonius. What's yours?" he asked.

"I'm Arata. Uh. . . Nice to meet you." I said awkwardly.

"Yes likewise. This here is Dominic." he said signaling at the other male next to him. "And that is Deleina." he said pointing at the female one. "We are what you call a Centaur."

Centaur I've heard of them before. I think.

"We found you floating on top of a log on the great lake. Once we pulled you to the shore we found you beaten and mana depleted. You were out for two days while in our care. What happened to you?" the centaur named Dominic asked.

"Orcs, a whole army of them including crimson orcs attacked me and my party. I fell off a cliff and lost consciousness." I said.

"Orcs huh? They're easy to take care of. But a squad of crimson ones are troubling." Dominic said. "What are you going to do now?"

"Well, I need to get back. Do you guys know where the closest human city is?" I asked.

"Follow the river to the south. On foot, you should be there in five or six months." Deleina said.

"Five or six months. How far did stray off?" I said in shock.

"I don't know where you were last, but that over there is the Great Canavar Lake." Asonius said pointing at a huge body of water close to us.

"W-What? N-No way." I said trying to prove to myself that what they were saying was a lie.

The Great Canavar Lake. Others call it The Heart Of Canavar. This is where most monsters settle.

"You can leave on your own or you can come with us. We are on a mission right now. But once we're finished and we go back to our village, I can set up an escort squad for you." Asonius said. "That is, if you want."

My face lit up immediately but then fell.

Why would he go that far for me?

"I don't mean to offend you or reject your offer. But do you really have the authority to make that kind of decision?" I asked.

Deleina and Dominic chuckled at my question.

"Yes, I can guarantee it." He said.

"Why would you go so far for me?" I asked.

"You're a child in a land full of deadly monsters." He said. "Is that a good enough reason?"

"Fine, I accept your offer." I said then bowed. "Thank you, I'm truly grateful."

"Well, we were just about to keep moving. So get on my back I'll carry you." Deleina said.

"I can walk." I said.

"Doesn't matter, you're still injured. You need to rest more." she said then picked me up and put me on her back.

"Okay." I said.

Once I was on her back I noticed she was carrying a bow. I looked beyond her to the other two Centaurs. Both of them had swords big enough for me to lay on top of.

"Well, let's go." Said Asonius.

"Hold on tight." Deleina said.

I clung tightly to her robes. Then all of them started running.

Fast.

I thought as I clung on harder.

Three days later my mana is almost completely recovered and so is my body. Deleina prohibited me from fighting until I got better. Throughout my travels, with the centaurs, I found out that they were extremely strong. Also, they are very honest and righteous, that's probably why they decided to help me. The three of them could easily wipe out Leon's party.

If they're still alive. I'm still clinging to the hope that they all made it out safely. I wanted to return immediately once I awoke. But then I found out that several days passed, so either they successfully escaped or died.

I can't believe I'm saying this but I really miss Leon.

I still think about the way he desperately tried to save me. Anytime I got scared I always clung to him. He didn't need to say anything, just being there was enough to put my mind at ease. I hope he doesn't blame himself.

I hope you're okay, Leon.

I'm coming home soon. Just wait.

Asonius told me about their mission. Some time ago in their village, a human and a demon came to them seeking for their allegiance and in return, they would be granted power.

They said they were under the orders of a demon lord to gather a strong force and kidnap 'the beings of pure mana.'

Whatever they were.

Centaurs being a righteous race rejected their proposal and asked them to leave. But to their surprise, one of the centaurs actually left the village to go with them. Asonius and the others were ordered to bring him back and if he resisted they had to kill him.

They were ordered by Asonius's Father the chief of their village.

Right now we were following their tracks North West. Then we suddenly stopped.

"Get ready there are enemies up ahead." Dominic said.

Everyone got ready.

"Deleina, can I help now?" I asked. "I'm a lot better than before."

"Fine, but don't overdo it." She said.

I nodded happily.

Finally, I can stretch my legs.

I Unsheath my sword.

"Are you sure you can kill something with that tiny sword?" Dominic asked.

"Depends what we're fighting." I responded.

"Hmm. Very well, be careful, kid." he said.

They probably don't expect too much out of me.

I'll prove them wrong.

A figure came into view. It looked like a bear, except it stood on two legs and had four arms. Then a whole bunch of them appeared behind it.

"Those are Yogs." Dominic said.

The Yog at the front growled loudly and ran at us and the rest of the pack followed.

"Charge." Dominic said.

Both he and Asonius charged while Deleina pulled out her bow and shot from behind. I also ran forward. Several Yogs made their way to me, probably thinking that I'd be an easy kill. They all jumped at me at the same time.

Idiots.

Discharge.

Dark blue lightning exploded all around me paralyzing the Yogs. And now Hell's Wrath. All the Yogs around me were crushed to death.

Hmm?

I feel like my magic has gotten stronger.

Maybe it's due to being pushed over my limit.

I looked around and saw that the other guys took care of the majority of them and the few remaining ones ran away.

"Huh? That's it?" I said.

"Yes. Don't be fooled by their looks. Yogs are very cowardly." Dominic said then looked at me with a smile. "You're pretty strong. I guess I got fooled by your looks."

"He's right. I didn't think you had that much power." Asonius said.

"I even stayed close to you thinking you needed help. I guess not." Deleina added.

"Well thank you very much." I responded.

"Okay, get up on my back we're moving out." Deleina said.

I nodded and climbed my way up there.

Two weeks later we came across a cave. Dominic called it a ruin. It was wide enough for the Centaurs to fit in. Inside was a bricked room, the walls deteriorating, and written on them were weird drawings and characters. The room was trashed as if someone went insane and destroyed everything.

The only thing that was intact was a pedestal. Sitting on top of it was a chisel with characters engraved on it.

At the back center of the room, there was a big door with two connected symbols engraved in it. Although those symbols looked incomplete somehow.

"Hmm? The ancient language." Asonius said passing his hand over the characters on the walls.

"You think they're here?" Deleina asked.

"No, they probably camped here and then kept going." responded Dominic. "I don't think they were able to get through the door. The rune on it is incomplete, who knows what it could be?"

I went up to the door and tried forcing it open with gravity magic. The room started shaking with how much force I was pushing it with, But the door wouldn't budge. Not only that, it felt like my magic was getting nullified by it.

Figured it wouldn't be easy.

"Nice try, but there's no way you'll be able to open that door unless you engrave the missing rune and finish the sigil." Dominic said pointing at where the two symbols lost their connection to a third one.

Now that I look closely at it, it looks almost like a triangle. There are three circles at every corner of the triangle with a rune. Or there are supposed to be, one is missing.

I grabbed the chisel and tried to engrave the missing corner. But it wouldn't work.

How do I make this work?

"You have to put mana on the chisel." Dominic said.

I infused the chisel with my mana. Once I did that the symbols in the pommel started glowing. Then I pressed it against the door and the sigil on it started to glow too.

"Wow." I said aloud.

I finished the missing corner of the triangle with the corner of it being a circle.

Nothing happened of course. I still need the missing rune.

"Maybe this will help." Asonius said pointing at one of the many drawings on the wall.

On the walls, there were six drawings. In each of them there where a group of people looking at a star in the night sky. The star looked like a distant light with six points and right in the middle of it was the missing rune.

But there are six of them. Taking off the two that are already carved on the door, that leaves four. I can only engrave one because once it's carved I don't think I can erase it.

But which one is it?

The drawings are arranged in a circle. Maybe that has something to do with it?

If I look at the two that are engraved on the door, they are on opposite sides that make up the circle.

Hmm? What if. . .

I traced an imaginary line across the two drawings connecting them. Then I moved my fingers diagonally up toward each other, like the triangle that was carved in the door, and below the point where my fingers touched was one of the runes.

Is this one the one?

Well, there's only one way to find out.

Once I engraved the missing rune the door made a humming noise.

We all gasped in shock but then. . .

That's it? Is it not going to open?

"Hey, Arata do you how to use rune magic?" Deleina asked.

"I don't even know what that is." I responded.

"It's when you connect a bunch of runes to create a sigil. Once you put magic on the completed sigil it will have a certain effect. It is also one of the few pieces of knowledge created by an ancient civilization. We still use it to this day. Rune experts dive in ruins like this and decipher them to see what old civilizations were like or what they hide." she said. "But if you don't know how to use it then it's unlikely that you'll be able to complete the sigil."

"Do you know how to use it?" I asked.

"No." she responded.

"Well, I guess this is it, then." I said walking away.

As we were about to leave I looked back one last time and. . .

"Hey, are you coming?" Dominic asked.

"Wait." That was the only thing I said as I ran back towards the sealed door.

I looked closely at the door and I then turned back to look at the drawings. Turning my head back and forth between them.

Six drawings.

Six runes.

But only three on the door.

Maybe what's on the door is not a triangle.

I went to the drawings on the wall and connected the remaining three stars that represented the runes to one another, creating another triangle. But this triangle was upside down and it overlapped with the previous one. I then realized that the overall shape made up a six-pointed star.

I grabbed the chisel and finished the other three points that remained, creating a hexagram. Engraving the runes that represented each corner onto the empty circles at the tip of each point.

The door again hummed. The sound of locks being opened resonated throughout the room. Then the door creaked open.

We all just started at it in silence.

"So, you going in? Or what?" Deleina said breaking the silence.

"You guys are not coming?" I asked.

"You figured out how to open it so you should be the one to go down and get whatever was left behind." Asonius said.

Dominic nodded.

"Well, I'll be going now." I said walking through the now opened door.

As I walked through the dark Hallway it soon turned into a stairway that went down. As I was now making my way down I saw an opening at the bottom.

Through the opening there was a small empty room at the center was a pedestal with a scroll floating at the top.

I grabbed it and opened it. Once I opened it there was the same hexagram with the runes circled at each tip. Right after I opened it my mana was drawn to it. I let it flow through for a while, and then the symbol started glowing. Then I felt pressure on the palm of my hand.

"Ahh." I let out a pained groan as my hand felt like it was burning.

After a short while, it stopped. I looked at the scroll to find that it was now empty as if nothing was ever drawn on it and then it crumbled.

I looked at my palm which still lingered with a feeling of pain and noticed that I had a black symbol engraved in it almost like a tattoo. It was the same, a six-pointed star.

But it looked different. Not like a geometric shape but like a literal star shape. Just like the many stars that shined in the night sky. A bright light that shined on an infinite void of black.

Right at the center of the star was a rune that for some reason I knew.

"Distortion." I said as I started at it.

Sigil of distortion to be specific. It was now engraved in my hand.

I guess I need to focus my mana on it to activate it.

I let out a deep breath and made my way back up.

"so what did you find." Deleina asked when I made it back up.

"This." I said extending my right hand and showing my palm.

"Ohh, you got a sigil engraved in your hand." Asonius said. "That will be very helpful to you on your future journeys."

"Indeed." Added Deleina.

"Well, are we ready to go now?" Dominic said. "We don't want to waste any more time."

"Wait you all were waiting on me to complete the sigil?" I asked.

"Yeah, you looked interested so we stayed until you were satisfied." Dominic answered. "Good thing it didn't take you any longer."

"Well, it wasn't that hard to figure out." I said. "I'm surprised no one else has come here to claim it before me."

"We are familiar with these lands and I don't recall there being a ruin here. That's why we came down here in the first place. So either the group we are looking for found it or the entrance caved it." Dominic said. "Well, whatever the case is. Now we can keep going."

I nodded.

We exited the cave. I climbed up to Deleinas back and continued on our way.

About an hour later into our journey we stopped as there were enemies in front of us.

"Hmm?" Dominic hummed as he started up into the giant trees. "We walked right into their den."

Then we all looked up.

There were several black monsters wrapped up and hanging upside down on the branches of the trees. I then sensed a cluster of mana behind me.

A projectile?

I extended my hand and used gravity to stop it and keep it afloat. There was a liquid green blob in front of me. Once I let it drop it melted the ground before evaporating.

After that, a giant bat peeked out of a tree and hissed at us as it came closer. The ones hanging in the trees opened their wings and flew down to surround the group.

"What are those?" I asked in a panic.

"They're called Igors. They're weak, but be cautious of their poison." Dominic said.

I nodded as I got down from deleinas back.

This is the perfect time to test out Distortion.

As the Igor threw another green blob of poison. I extended my palm so that it faced the poison ball. Then focused mana on my palm. The sigil began to emit a golden glow.

Then I felt it.

The small mana particles that intertwined with the poison. With the sigil, I was able to throw them out of balance. Not the poison itself because it wasn't made from magic. But the mana that made the poison stronger.

The green blob exploded in midair. The liquid that landed on the ground got dried up in the soil instead of evaporating as it did before.

Aha, this is kind of fun.

The Igor again threw poison at me only for it to burst in the air before it even reached me. I jumped in the air to strike it but it blew me away with the flap of its wings. With gravity, I reoriented myself safely to the ground.

Its wings are the problem.

I jumped up again and right when it was about to flap its wings I forcibly kept them open using gravity. The creature then tried to move its main body away from me. But I wasn't aiming for the main body. I sliced down with my lightning-infused blade and shot it out. Lightning slash. The slash sliced all the way down cutting off the Igor's wing.

It let out a loud pained screech as it fell to the ground. Once it crashed on the ground it picked up its head and looked around for me. But It was already too late as I was on top of it and drove my blade straight through its head. Then the beast fell over dead, and I moved on to my next target.

There weren't that many plus the Centaurs are strong and they are taking care of most of them. So I joined the trio which was getting bombarded with poison. I activated distortion and blew up the green orbs. Then with gravity, I slammed one of them to the ground. It was strong enough to not get crushed under the pressure but I had it pinned down which is what I wanted.

I jumped to it in order to kill it, but at the last second, it broke out of my control and swung its wings causing me to get blown away. With gravity, I keep myself afloat and the Igor flew at me with its mouth open as if to eat me. Lightning bolt. Purple lightning ran through the air and I hit it on the face. The beast yelled loudly while it twitched in the air.

The beast stopped flapping its wings but kept its momentum as it was flying up. The paralyzed beast flipped in the air close to me and ended up slamming me with its tail causing me to fall from the air. With gravity, I slowed my fall and landed safely on the ground. I infused my legs with mana and ran full speed at the Igor that I had paralyzed.

Again, before I struck it, it started moving. But not fast enough, I sliced down on its main body. Before it could do anything else I quickly moved to the side and sliced off its wing. I repositioned myself and was now standing in front of it face to face. With its remaining wing, it was about to attack me. With the beast now being weaker, I pinned it down with gravity.

There was a weird gargle in its throat. After that, the Igor shot its poison at me, I quickly caught it. Instead of breaking it apart with distortion, I decided to pour it on its head. Once I did, the beast's head melted apart, with a sizzling sound and an awful stench the beast was now dead.

"Well, that was brutal." Asonius said.

I turned to look at him along with the other two and found that all the other Igors were now dead.

"Come on let's continue on our way." Said Dominic.

I nodded.

I walked in front of Deleina and raised my arms like a baby that wanted to be carried by its parents.

"Hehe." she giggled. "I forget that you're still a little boy with how violent you are."

"Heh. Sorry." I said as she picked me up and put me on her back.

"What are you sorry for?" she said still giggling. "Being violent toward those wild beasts is not a bad thing. After all, the only way to defeat a monster is to become one yourself." she paused. "When fighting monsters it's okay to be violent, it's okay to be cruel, and it's okay to be inhumane at times. But always remember who you are, do not get lost within yourself, and become a real monster. That path only leads to lonesome life of misery and despair."

She reached back and tousled my hair. "You got that."

"Yes. I'll keep that in mind." I responded.

She smiled back at me as a response.

Then after a short break, we kept moving.