Author's note: Hey guys!! Welcome to my book. This will be a long journey together, so I very much welcome the support! This is the prologue, I do recommend you give it a read. I won't be delving into action immediately; I plan to do some world-building beforehand. Thank you for reading, and I do hope you enjoy this adventure!
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There was no thought at first, only a pulse.
A humming warmth bloomed out of the unknowing. Suspended in a cradle of green, hovering above an entwined pedestal, lay a boy with ashen hair and skin the colour of warm caramel bathed in fractured sunlight.
Then came a hum.
Low at first, then fading, fading…
Swooo…
The green light surrounding his motionless body softened. The pedestal split into six smooth segments, opening like petals to reveal a cushion of wool-textured leaves.
*Yawn.*
The boy stretched, as if waking from a dream that was too gentle to remember. He inhaled, and a warm fragrance settled into his chest. A butterfly, its wings bright as a miniature sun, fluttered past. He rubbed his eyes, unsteady, and looked around.
It was a sight to behold. Light refracting on flowers featuring a plethora of colours, a stream flowing so still, it doesn't even seem to be moving. The air is warm and welcoming as the sky shimmers a vibrant blue and gold, signalling dawn.
The boy rises, soil shifting beneath fingers that didn't yet understand they were fingers. Stabilising himself with instinctive efficiency. Instantly the environment comes alive and the wind bellows, inviting cooling calm. For some reason his perception has shifted; the air felt volatile, both warm and cool. The space was now shining with an energy so thick it could be perceived as fog. This was...Mana.
Instantly, he felt something. Something "wilting" nearby. It was a flower, drooping on the brink of collapse. Petals drying, stem cracking. A pull answering from within, instinctive, silent. As its last breath of energy began to slip from faded leaves. The boy reached.
A chiming whirl split the air. Something appeared above the drooping flora; it aspected the abyss, yet there was light gleaming from within it. The last of the flowers' mana began to be engulfed, its physical form also being utterly devoured, warped to energy, and eaten. Then it disappeared.
Then something whirred.
[Beginning the analysis of this entity.]
The voice is sudden, rough, aged, and masculine. Blooming directly inside his mind.
The boy, puzzled by the sudden vocalisation, chose to ignore it and press away, as if he didn't even realise what just happened. And then something flared. His head rattled and his chest heaved. He became hyper aware of the energy converging around him, but it was…too much. Then he felt something, a space devoid of the volatility, and he ran to it.
[You have acquired Self Regeneration.]
Speeding through canopies of green, he ran straight into a building, engrossed in stone and ethereal flora. Here, those energies were not present, and he breathed.
After calming his already strained consciousness. He takes a look around. Books laden the walls, the air glowed purple, and the walls glowed a mysterious magenta. And there it was again. The pull. He instinctively reached once more, with the will to simply hold the object. And there it came again. The abyss, which favoured nebulae.
It whirred in the air for just a moment. Then, SWOOSH. Books lunged from the shelves, scrolls spun upward, and crystals tore free and spiralled toward the void.
PINGGGGGG. A sound grew in the boy's head. Ringing, blaring, tearing at his very understanding. It was as if something was forcing itself inside his head.
[Preparing to analyse and integrate data.]