Standing up and stretching, the short meditation felt like it had lasted three months with the time it took me to regain my mana...

Probably just nerves, since this is the first time I've been outside the house, in a magical world, full of danger, monsters, and magic. Whatever! I'm strong, and most importantly, protected!

With Hitbox I should be fine against most sneak attacks, and I can fry most animals. Surely it's just nerves.

Standing up, I hover a few inches off the ground and take off toward the forest. Silencing footsteps and all that. After I'm decently far from the house, I burn a small mark into a nearby tree, adding an 'HS' beneath it for 'House Southward'. Man, I'm smart.

Floating upward to get a better vantage and darting my eyes around, three things happen near instantly.

First, a burning pain shoots through my body, causing me to nearly instantly plummet to the forest floor, but not before I notice the huge crack in Hitbox, and most frighteningly the arrow lodged halfway through my barrier.

As I crash to the forest floor, another wave of pain washes over my body as Hitbox shatters from the impact of a second arrow.

What the fuck! I thought this place was supposed to be safe! My head is pounding, yet turning to my right, I can see them.

"Seems the little rat had a barrier item on em." A lanky-looking man, holding a curved sword says, sheathing it.

"He's a noble's kid, of course his parents put somethin like that on the lil git." A larger, pudgy man wielding a bow said, walking alongside President Lanky.

"Stupid of em to have it rely on 'is magical energy, little guy can't move after two'a piggies shots." The third and final member of the trio said. A woman with silvery laughter and equally silver hair.

Bending over and looking me in the eye, the Lanky began talking directly to me.

"We've been waitin' for the right time to get ya, but we'd thought it take at least a few years! Thanks fer bein so dumb. A kid with yer talent'll let us retire." Long Arm Lenny said, gently caressing my face before standing back up. "Piggie, knock em out n pick em up. Elise, start castin ya warp. Let's not spit on Lady Luck."

Expelling all the mana I could, I tried to launch myself backward, but somehow, the fat fist matched my speed, hitting me directly in the head.

"The little brat still had somethin' in the tank!" Was the last words that passed through my ears, as I felt my consciousness fade.

--- Point of View: ??? ---

"No no no. That won't do at all." A deep, smooth voice said, coming from Aeron's Mouth.

"Wha-?" The tubby man was unable to finish his sentence, before a small beam of pure blue light erupted from Aeron's small finger, firing through the man's mouth and blowing out the back of his neck.

"Apologies my dear friends, but I can't quite let you have this one. Consider that fellow's death payment for the mental damage you've done to my vessel." The voice said, standing up and dusting himself off before giving the shocked and confused bandits a small bow.

The silence was short-lived, as in the span of three seconds, Elise began to scream and the long-armed man dashed and near-instantly appeared in front of Aeron, slashing with the blunt end of his sword.

"Ah. Vitality Enhancers huh." The voice said calmly, summoning a thick barrier directly in the path of the sword, holding strong as the sword slammed into the barrier.

"What are you?!" The man yelled, picking up the speed and swinging faster and faster. Thankfully, the voice controlling Aeron's wasn't dumb enough to stand and take it, instead launching himself into the air and looking down on the swinging bandit.

"Willing to talk now are we?" The voice said as Elise ran up to Piggie, quickly attempting to cast a healing spell on him.

The man simply yelled, leaping off the ground and instantly reaching the floating Aeron, as a dance of him slashing viscously and Aeron dodging gracefully began. Unfortunately for the lanky swordsman, Aeron was a smaller and a better dodger than most.

"Slow. Sloppy. Sad." The deep voice said with a dejected sigh. "Can't you try to make this even a little fun?" He said, putting Aeron's palm out and blasting the man backward with a blast of air magic.

"Just who are you?!" The man yelled, his eyes darting between the monstrous boy and his two teammates, one of which was failing to heal the other.

"Oh, so you do speak. My name is Drakoleth Von Aurelius the Second, but your previous question was much more accurate." Drakoleth said with an ever-widening grin. An eerie green mist began to spill out of Aeron's body, forming deep green misty wings and a thick pointed tail. "What indeed."

Taking the initiative and a moment of surprise, Drakoleth dashed forward.

"The boy uses his gifts so wrong." He said calmly, coating his fist in a thick barrier before propelling his arm with wind magic into a right rook. "A gift that allows one to make barriers of insane density, and a blessing of wind magic? Why bother blocking and standing stationary like the rest of the tools."

Alas, the abnormally fast strike was not strong enough to knock out the Enhancer, as he responded with a slash, cutting inches into Drakoleth's left arm, stopping only by hitting bone.

Yet, the retaliation did not stop the demon, as the ball meant to knock out the lanky bandit turned into a spike, and the fist originally meant to incapacitate was swung with enough force to jam it into and through his jaw. However, turning his attention towards the corpse and supposed healer only allowed him to see her disappear in a flash of purple light.

Well, that ended better than expected.

As Drakoleth plummeted to the floor, he flooded the wound with healing magic, making sure that it was closed before allowing the lack of mana and abuse on Aeron's body to steal his consciousness, removing him from the control of the boy and allowing the body to pass out on the forest floor.