Chapter 2: Chapter 2 – A New Beginning

I heard the sound of a baby crying out loud. It made me open my eyes, and I’m seeing a face with the warmest expression I’ve seen in whole my life. I’m in the embrace of this person.

“Shhh. Shhh.”

I’m being shaken. Lightly, gently. It’s a woman. A middle-aged woman with a face half-charred by a burn wound. I would’ve told her to buy a shampoo for that mess of a hair, but she suddenly sang me a lullaby.

“Mo-Moon… hrm,” swallowing her saliva, she clears her throat, “Moonlight in the sky~ shedding light… We are part of the night~ We stay alive…”

That baby stopped crying and her voice becomes clearer with each word spoken.

“You are the moonlight in my eyes~ You are… You are my only son~ You stay alive…”

It wasn’t long before I realized that the baby was me all along. The warmth of this woman, wrapped me like blanket. My mother. As she fed me, she sang the lullaby repeatedly with the same rhythm and tune until I fall asleep.

*BAM*

We were awakened by a loud banging noise coming from a metal door. It looks to be the same door where I used to live most of my life behind. An obese man wearing a fancy medieval outfit walked in with a few men in steel armor on his back.

“Heh, you actually gave birth despite even after all of that, heh.”

My mother quickly brought me in her arms as she stays in the corner of this tight… prison. When the man approached her, I can feel her body tremble. He leaned down to see me before giving his full attention to my mother. His face is full of freckles and his mustaches stick out like a sore thumb. But his appearance is proper.

“Sad. I had hoped you’d at least accept my flowers back then. And of course, I didn’t kill him just because he’s you know. Coincidentally, the capital deemed him to be a dangerous man that we can’t let roaming around freely, so…”

My mother bit her lips as tears fall.

The man stood, “We found you to be unrelated to his crimes so you’re free to go. Except, because of how you disrupted the public at the criminal’s execution, your citizenship to Lipostia has been removed and all of your belongings have been confiscated. Shouldn’t have sided with the criminal but you did anyway. What a shame.”

“…”

She holds me tightly still.

“Take her away. I want her off of the capital’s grounds as soon as possible.”

“Yes, sir.”

They roughly dragged her from the cell and away from the barracks. But upon leaving, they never went rough on her again. Even until the time they drop us far off of the kingdom’s wall. One of them stares at us for a moment - pity - before leaving us with nothing but our clothes.

“Shhh, shhh.”

Gently, she kissed my forehead.

“We’ll be okay. We’ll be okay.”

Her words bring me comfort. If only I could at least nod. I want her to at least know that I understand but I have to wait until I can say it.

A mother. I used to think that word is a joke. Never have I been in one’s embrace before nor do I understand why people even glorified it, but now I can see it. I’ve seen what a mother figure is and what they do for their children. For me.

My mother, she has faced many dangers. I’ve seen part of her neck bitten by a wolf as she wrestles another three of them only to make me a blanket out of their skin. I’ve seen her being poisoned by venomous spiders as large as a dog, and I even saw her almost losing her life because of the arrows fired by those small green creatures I know of as goblins. She is not a superhero or a powerful being who can summons fire out of thin air. She is just someone who wants to survive.

Even in her ragged state where the majority of her hair was burned, in her injured state, when I cry against my own will, she stopped whatever she was doing and fed me.

One night, she came back to our hiding spot missing an arm. She smile as she saw me. Patting my head as she lightly muttered, “That’s my boy. Still not crying despite being awake. I’ll be back soon, okay?”

Seeing her leave once again without one of her arms, boils my blood. I can feel rage and frustration that I was once familiar with but in greater pain, and yet, I couldn’t do anything to help her. She was hunting a bear, and its fur was the only way she can think of to protect us when the snow of the winter came. It was cold, but her warmth outweighs it.

Our journey continues. At every opportunity when her hair started hindering her eyesight, she cuts them with a makeshift stone knife, and she cuts her hair all the way to the base. I can see her burn marks extend not only to her face but all the way to the back of her head. Fortunately, it’s only one side because I can still see… her beautiful eye shaded in silver.

Eventually, we arrived at a remote village surrounded by high mountains. My mother talked with the village chief to stay and even offered to give him all of the unused materials she got along the way, but the chief refused the offer and let her stay anyway. I was taken care of by her wife while my mother went to build a house for us. We came a long way. She did.

12 years have passed since then.

“Illidac, catch!”

That’s my name, but more importantly, my lunch is being thrown in the air. Swiftly, I climbed a tree and jumped towards the trajectory of where it’s gonna land, and I caught it. Panicked, afraid of it getting crushed by the impact, I went to check, and it was mostly fine. It’s a bread filled with chicken meat and roasted beans wrapped in leaves.

“Oh wow, you actually caught it!”

That girl with the ponytail is the chief’s daughter, “Penia,” my dearest friend, “You idiot! If anything happens to mom’s cooking, I’ll cook you alive!”

“Bwahahaha!”

Although I said that, I haven’t managed to conjure the same power as I once had. Mostly because this body cannot handle it. Meanwhile, the girl in front of me can do many things. Born a few months before me, she has awakened her power and has been practicing it.

We ate our lunch as we gaze upon the mountains under the shade of a tree, “It’s today, huh,” she said, “Illy, what kind of power do you want?”

“Don’t call me that, you made it sound like I’m a girl.”

“Hehe, you look like one though.”

“Shut up.”

Silent for a moment. It’s obvious what kind of power I want, “The most powerful kind. So, I can protect my mom.”

“Hohoho, I mean of course. Everyone wants one like those heroes in the past,” her bright smile faded, “But really, not everyone can have it.”

Looking at her feeling down, I tapped her back, “Heh, I bet those heroes can’t lift rocks without touching them or splitting one open from afar.”

She glanced at me. I lifted the back of her hair to reveal a surging glowing tattoo caused by her awakening. A crescent moon sending and receiving stars from and to the earth.

“Your power is one of the greatest, Penia. I know it.”

Seeing her smile lightened the load in my heart. In this world, magic exists to the extent that everyone can use it as long as they have the capacity and understanding of them. But what determines how far one can do is their magical capacity and their magical compatibility.

There are 3 types of capacities and they are divided into 9 ranks. The first to the third (1-3) is called [Lesser] while the fourth to the eighth (4-8) is called [Greater], and the ninth is [Pure]. The higher the ranks, the larger one’s magical capacity. And they are dictated by how many lines and stars within one’s marks. Penia has 5 lines of drawing; the crescent moon, the earth, the two lines connecting them made by the fallen stars, and the circle that enclosed everything. Means, she’s closing in to the mid Greater Magical Capacity.

But there is also different type of compatibilities and this is dictated by the shape of the [Mark] themselves. Learning to use the most compatible power would result in greater yield than learning other things. In this case, Penia’s most compatible type of power is [Telekinesis].

However, Penia doesn’t know how to become stronger with it. No one is able to teach her how to use her power, so instead, she has been learning other things.

Each year, a priest from the local town comes to visit and helps anyone who just turned 13 years old to awaken their powers if they haven’t yet, and I believe I’m one of them.

“Hey, I have something to show you,” said Penia.

“Oh?” Intrigued, I followed her away from the village. Just behind a large bush, she stood with arms raised and her palms facing the fronts.

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“Hraaaaaaaaaa…” magical energy formed and started wrapping her arms but it slowly went to her palms, with it she creates a ball of fire, “HA!”

*Bwoosh*

It shoots in a straight line before going down after passing 15 meters. It awed me, “Penia, that’s… Heh, you did it. You actually did it.”

“I did it!”

“That you did!”

A genius. I only told her about the process and how I would create it but she managed to convert what I’ve done through my old methods with the rules of this world. And it’s much faster than how I used to learn it too. This means she can explore more possibilities in her lifetime. I yearn for the same thing, but right now, the only important thing to me… is my mother.

After we messed around with her newly obtained spell doing target practice, I went back to the village.

“Oh yeah, Illy, Tinya said she’ll be visiting tonight.”

“Urgh,” that woman, the village’s alchemist, “Tonight? Why?”

“I don’t know, she just said she will.”

“Urgh, fine.” My day was ruined much quicker than I thought. I waved Penia goodbye and proceed to talk home. On the way, the villagers are going about their business as usual. One of them approached me, handing me a sack of wheat, “Illy, take this with you.”

“A-Aunt Bern, you shouldn’t have.”

Shrugging off, “Argh, just take it. Your mom must’ve been tired hunting all day. There’s been less and less of those beasts ever since she started sweeping them out. You tell her I happen to have more harvest this month, she can have it.”

“I-I will!”

She pats my head, “Good girl.”

“Nuh?!”

The people here are kind. I haven’t walked 10 feet and I’m already holding another sack, “Th-Thanks, Aunt Hjill.”

She also pats my head, and while giggling she said, “Good girl.”

"Nuhuh?!"

Then, another bag of meat, and another bag of vegetables.

“Illy, don’t forget to tell your mother…”

“Yes, Aunt Silba. I will!”

“You are so skinny, have you eaten anything…”

“I most definitely have.”

“Kid, I got you some firewood, go tell your mom to pick them up at the chief’s house.”

“Yes, Uncle Baek.”

I thanked them all one by one. Fortunately, I arrived at the house with all my limbs intact. I put the goods as soon as I got in and wipe the sweat dripping from my forehead, “Phew.”

‘That’s a lot more than I thought. Maybe I should’ve sneaked around but…’ glancing around at the tight yet organized place we have, sure, it’s not an extravagant mansion or a tall apartment, but my mother built this house by herself.

Where is she, I wonder.

“Mom?!”

“Back here, sweetie.”

“Are you cleaning the bathroom?”

“No, just come in.”

Still reluctant to do it, especially because on the inside I am not so young. Although it’s true that I’ve been greeted by my mother’s naked backside more often than I would like to, there’s no chance for me to blush as what I’m seeing is terror and bad memories. The many scars on her body and the missing right arm.

Then I noticed a hair falling, “Buh?! M-Mom, why are you cutting your hair again?!”

“Haha, I’ve been so used to it now, Illy. It feels odd to even have it.”

“But…”

Her burn marks have lessened, if I can get a high-quality potion, it might cleanse it completely. But oh well, it’s a shame that she wants to cut her hair. Gently, I helped her with it. The knife is made of iron and it’s sharp, I have to be careful with it.

“You’ve turned 13 now. Which means you’re on your way to becoming an adult. Rather than waiting for the priest to come here, why don’t we try to awaken your power ourselves?”

“You can do that?”

“You can. The priest merely guides us to obtain it personally, but your mom remembers every part of the process like the back of her hand.”

“Really?!”

“Fufu, of course. But can you promise me something?”

“Anything, mom.”

“No matter the circumstances, you will not use your power for bad things.”

“I would never—”

“Don’t bully others who are less capable than you, don’t cause mischief, or misuse your power to commit any wrongdoings. Can you promise me that?”

I don’t think she will have to worry about it, but if she insists on it.

“Yes, mom. I promise.”

She stood to turn around and hug me, “That’s my boy,” she said.

Muffled, “Mum! I cawn’t bweathe!” my head sunk deep in between her milk containers.

Thinking back, I wonder if she asked me that – to make a promise – so that I won’t take revenge on that fat ass for what he did to her? On the off chance, a choice came to fall into my lap where I’m able to meet him, I’ll burn him alive in a heartbeat.

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