A young man flies into a wall, hitting the wall back first. He lets out a grunt as his body falls to the cold tiled floor. His white shirt stained with dirt and his face slightly bruised. As he struggles to get up, he is approached by an old man dressed in black priest attire.
"You fail to convert your raw magic fast enough Jeremiah. Efficiency will always win over abundance. It doesn't matter how large your magic reserves are if you fail to convert the magic into something of use. Now get up, our session isn't over yet." The priest said as he looked at the young man with a gentle smile.
Jeremiah got up and took a deep breath before taking a fighting stance, he parted his legs a bit and lifted his fists to block his jaw, similar to a boxing stance. The two just stood there waiting for the other to move. Jeremiah threw a punch, as the fist travelled to its destination, it ignited, fire engulfed the fist as Jeremiah aimed at the priest's chest. The priest simply raised his hand as shield of blue light formed, blocking the punch. The priest then made a pushing motion with his hand, the shield accelerated towards Jeremiah until it pinned him against the wall.
"The flaming fist is too predictable Jeremiah. You must use more techniques. You rely too much on the fire fist." the priest said as he released his technique letting Jeremiah fall to the ground.
"You're too predictable. This session is done for now." the priest said as he walked away from Jeremiah who just sat down on the floor, his fist clenched and faced grunted as his frustration caused pure magic to seep out of his body.
Meanwhile....
On the other side of the city a boy dressed in a black and red hooded leather jacket, leather pants and black boots ran atop rooftops, jumping from one roof to the other with crazy speed. He was being pursued by a couple of men who ran along the buildings on the road.
"Thief! Stop!" one of the men shouted as he gave chase. As the boy approached the edge of building near the main road, the men thought there was no way the boy could make a 100 meter jump. The young man glanced at the men and smiled before running faster towards the building edge, the step near the edge his muscles tightened, he then jumped over the entire 100 meter distance. The men stood there in disbelief as the boy disappeared onto the rooftop.
The boy made his way off the building's roof and removed the hood to show his white, grey hair. The boy walked down the busy market street as he checked out the golden scarab item he stole from the men, it looked valuable.
'I wonder how much I make off this thing. Maybe Mr. Forrest will take it.' the boy thought to himself as he approached a merchant who sold antiques.
"Elliot, wonder what you've brought me today." The man said. The man was fat with most bizarre green bushy beard. His entire vibe was off but he bought things Elliot brought without questions.
"I got this." Elliot said as he gave Mr. Forrest the golden scarab. Mr. Forrest began inspecting it as a grim, afraid expression overcame his face.
"Oh my boy, you've done it now. This belongs to the astronomer's guild. They'll kill you and everyone you care for, go to the forest and dispose of this now." the man said with the utmost seriousness.
Elliot sighed and turned away, he had no reason to argue with the man who bought everything. These people had to be dangerous. As he exited the market area only one thought lingered in his mind.
'Wonder what Jeremiah is up to.'
Jeremiah and Elliot were adoptive brothers, both orphaned at very young ages. As children were adopted from the orphanage, Jeremiah and Elliot remained. The two were rejects, Jeremiah had little magic promise as Elliot showed no signs of magic as if the boy was born with extremely little to no magic energy in his body. When the two turned seven they were adopted by Madame Zarnia, a great sorceress who retired in the small town of Olissea. The two boys were inseparable until age fourteen when Jeremiah was taken under the wing of the local priest of the town church. The boys grew apart as Elliot fell into a lifestyle of thievery instead. Zarnia was the only thing that kept the two boys tethered.
Jeremiah relentlessly threw punches threw punches against a wall. The punches were consecutive, lack any hesitation as if they young man felt no pain, they were automatic. His face was focused and lack any form of emotion. The wall was stained crimson with the blood from the young man's knuckles. The sound of the boy's fist hitting cold concrete was repetitive like the sound of seconds as a clock ticks. Jeremiah's rate of punching the wall increased as he began thinking of the rejection he and Elliot faced growing up, word like weak, useless and hopeless ringed in his head, but what ignited his anger most was how his brother wore a smile all those years and his smile disappeared the day Jeremiah was chosen by the priest.
"I'm not useless!" Jeremiah shouted as he winded back a punch, he then threw a haymaker that left a dent and multiple cracks on the wall.
"Elliot, I'm sorry I can't sit with you at the bottom brother. One of us must ascend to great heights." Jeremiah said as he stared at his bloody hands.
Beside a quiet and tranquil lake sat Elliot. He sat on the green luscious grass and enjoyed the calm fresh air. He watched as the fish swam around and the birds flew about singing their delicate song. He held the scarab in his hand, the light of the sun reflecting off it giving it a glimmering shine.
"Beautiful thing aren't you." Elliot said as he looked at the artifact.
"It's quite beautiful friend." a gentle yet firm voice said behind Elliot.
Elliot turned to see two men. One of the men was huge, he wore a brown short sleeved tunic and leather pants with boots. His dark skin was foreign to Elliot, he had a huge buster sword on his back and a tattoo of diamond with runes showing he is a slave or at least was. The other man was tall and thin, he wore a magenta robe that covered him from the neck down. He had long turquoise hair and short sharp ears, showing he was part elf.
"Now I'd appreciate if you'd hand that over." the tall man said with a smile. Elliot simply stared as he got up and reached for his dagger.
"Don't." the large man urged the boy, his voice spoke with a deep roughness that ached bones. Elliot simply smiled and let out a chuckle.
"I'm fucked aren't I. Let me die fighting at least." the young man said as he drew his dagger.
"I hear you but can you put down the artifact?" the tall man said.
Elliot put down the scarab and got into a fighting stance but as soon as he put it down the tall man raised his hand and smiled, he then activated a gale force spell that blew Elliot hundred of feet up in the air. The two then received the artifact.
Elliot panicked as he was falling hundreds of feet as alarming speed. Before the boy could have a single thought he hit something. A sharp pain ran through his body, originating from his chest. He opened his to see had landed on a rock and was now impaled. Blood dripped down the rock as he lost consciousness. The last thing he saw before everything went dark was, the rock glowing red.