Chapter 3: Chapter 3 – Cause & Effect

Luke stared at the old man. He was thinking about which questions to ask first.

“First of all, I would like to know where I am.”

The old man sighed and closed his eyes for a second. He opened his eyes shortly after, and made eye contact with Luke. Luke got a bad premonition from that sharp stare.

“You are in the forest of N’Gool, one of the monster overlords. This is one of the forbidden areas of the Exul Empire.”

Luke was now completely certain that he is no longer on Earth.

‘A monster overlord? Exul Empire? Is this some type of a fantasy setting, like in the movies I watched back when I was little? Well, I cannot afford to worry about that right now, I have more urgent questions to ask first…’

“Who are you?”

The old man scoffed and crossed his arms.

“Why is that of any concern to you?”

“Well, first of all, you beat three of those monsters in no time at all earlier, and bare-handed at that! That is simply impossible!”

The old man tilted his head, as if he was starting to get amused.

“You also called yourself a lord earlier, yet you live in this tiny house in the middle of a forest filled with monsters. Were you bluffing?”

The old man sat straight up, raised his hands up and grinned.

“Guess you caught me.”

The old man put his hands back on the table and said in a serious tone:

“My name is ▯▯▯▯. I am the holder of the ▯▯▯▯ elemental, as well as the wind elemental. But I guess you can’t even comprehend some of what I’ve told you yet.”

He was right. Luke couldn’t understand some of the words that the old man uttered, most importantly his name. He could hear the words that he said, yet it was as if the old man suddenly spoke in a different language and then switched back to English.

‘Wait… If this is not Earth, how could this old man even understand English in the first place?’

“Old man… What language are we talking in right now?”

The old man suspiciously looked at Luke, as if caught off guard. He did promise to answer any questions that Luke had. Even questions like these, their answers being common sense.

“Well, the language itself doesn’t matter. We’re under the effect of the linguistic elemental anyways, same as all other humans. Whatever language we speak in, we will understand each other. With the exception of a few forbidden words that will not be understood no matter what, at least not through the elemental.”

Luke put a finger on his chin, contemplating about something.

‘There’s that word again. “Elemental”. It has to be important if he’s talking about them to this extent.’

“What are these “elementals” that you keep mentioning?”

The old man replied as if it was bothersome.

“They are simply amalgamations of untapped energy, usually referenced to as “mana”. Elementals are used as channels to access the mana that’s all around us. There are various types of elementals, but the most important ones are fire, water, wind, earth and metal elementals, as they’re the ones most often seen and used among humans. There are also various rare elementals, such as thunder, magma and sand, to name a few. There’s the unique elementals as well, which have a will of their own, and are almost impossible to find, let alone to obtain as your own.”

The old man smirked.

“You should consider yourself lucky kid. Not only have you run into a person with a unique elemental, but you will also obtain it as your own. As soon as you kill me that is.”

The mood instantly darkened. Luke was paying attention to every single word the old man said. The old man then stood up.

“Alright, time’s up.”

Dismayed, Luke looked up at the old man and said:

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“What do you mean “time’s up”? You said you’d answer all of my questions!”

The old man glared at Luke.

“I changed my mind. You should be grateful that you’re still alive in the first place. If the ▯▯▯▯ elemental hadn’t chosen you, I wouldn’t have even bothered saving you.”

Trying to keep his calm, Luke tried questioning the old man.

“An elemental chose me? What does that mean?”

The old man sighed heavily.

“The only way to transfer the unique elemental and its accumulated power is for its holder to die at the hands of someone who the elemental chose as a suitable holder. Transferring other types of elementals is not possible. Besides, I want to get rid of this accursed elemental even if it means that I have to die at your hands.”

Luke was very confused.

‘But what’s the point of getting rid of the elemental if you just end up dead?’

He would soon find out. The old man reached for his pocket, and took a glass vial out. The glass vial contained a green liquid. He then placed the vial on the table and looked at Luke.

“This is a very potent poison. You are going to pour the contents of this vial into my mouth, and thus end my life.”

The old man smiled bitterly, his blue eyes containing an unknown depth. Luke stood up and looked into those deep eyes. As if in a trance, he grasped the glass vial, and began walking towards the other side of the wooden table.

He was very nervous and was already getting sweaty.

‘Do I really have to do this?’

As if the old man read his mind, he said:

“You must uphold your end of the bargain.”

Luke thought that this statement was hypocritical, seeing as the old man only answered a couple of his questions, and not all of them.

‘Maybe this is for the best…’

Luke was now standing next to the old man.

“Go ahead.”

The old man opened his mouth, waiting for Luke to pour the poison in.

Luke slowly uncorked the glass vial. It was time. He could still turn back, but he’d end up dying in that case.

‘I have to do this.’

Luke mustered up his resolve and started emptying the contents of the vial into the old man’s mouth. After Luke emptied the whole vial, he started feeling nauseous, as if his innards were mixed up and out of place. The old man grinned at Luke.

“Thank you. I am finally free of this curse. It is yours to bear now, young man.”

‘A curse?’

Luke’s heart started beating faster and faster. The old man soon collapsed and started foaming at his mouth.

It was at this moment that two balls of strange energy started swirling from the old man’s chest area. A silver light, no bigger than a child’s fist, floated above the old man with a blue hue. It looked sharp yet warm. A little pure white light also floated up next to it, but slowly dispersed into the surroundings. The silver light started making its way toward Luke’s chest. As if mesmerized, Luke stared at the light entering his body.

Luke would later understand, that it was at this point in time that his misery had truly begun.

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