The alarm rings. It is six o'clock. Theodoro gets up and gets ready, listlessly, to go to the doctor. It was a routine check-up, and the doctor had requested some extra exams, as he suspected something.
He shows little enthusiasm as he looks at the exam results, downcast.
The secretary calls him, and he goes to the doctor's office. After analyzing the results, the doctor confirms what had left him so dejected: a brain tumor, already beginning to enter an advanced stage.
The doctor says he should undergo treatment but clarifies that the chances are not high.
Theodoro starts the treatment and, thus, begins his fight to survive.
His family was from the countryside and only his sister could accompany him. His treatment was not going very well, and he had to be hospitalized.
After a few weeks, he could no longer bear the treatments and had to be moved to the ICU.
"What a miserable life!" he thinks to himself, "I did everything to get well and be stable, and just when I had found a great job, this disaster strikes me. I was a fool for not enjoying life!"
He closes his eyes and enters a deep darkness. When a light appears, he opens his eyes and hears:
"Zeno... Zeno, wake up. It's time to get up."
Theodoro looks around, startled. When he looks at himself, he realizes he is in the body of a child. With him is a woman, inside a hut. She says:
"You must have had another nightmare. Later we will take you to the elder, so he can pray for you."
A man enters the hut, kisses the woman, and then greets Theodoro:
"Did you sleep well, my son?"
The man was his father, Marduk. He had blond hair and a short beard and appeared to be about one meter eighty tall and around forty years old. And the woman's name, his mother, was Semiramis. She had long blond hair and blue eyes. She appeared to be approximately thirty years old and one meter seventy tall.
At this moment, Theodoro understands that he is in another body. He leaves the hut and finds a tribe living in a settlement. He notices that everyone is blond. But what impresses him most is seeing water emerge from people's outstretched hands. Could that be magic? He suspects he is in another dimension, like in some stories he had read in his old world.
"Come, Zeno!" says his mother, calling him to come out and holding his hand.
Theodoro observes everything around him. He concludes, from the lack of more developed tools, that there is no technology in this place, unlike the world he knew.
He spends the day with the other children—not getting too involved, just observing. He looks at their hair, their tunics, their magic... But one thing is familiar to him: their appearance, which was that of a common human from his old world.
He understands the words people say and has memories of having been with them for some time. Gradually, the memories of his childhood as Zeno merge with those of Theodoro.
His age is now 4, and he already knows who his people are. They were called the Níbiras, a nomadic people from the continent of Epíria. They had to live as nomads because the rulers of this land hunted and enslaved them.
Zeno remembers people calling him "God's Gift." Placing a hand on his hair, he murmurs:
"My hair is gray, unlike theirs."
He moves away from the children to observe them better and try to remember more about this place.
There are many huts in the settlement—Zeno deduces there are over a thousand people there. He walks among them, trying to better understand this new world.
He stopped to look at a huge hut, used as a dining hall for hunters and warriors, but there was no one there at the moment. And behind the hut, a group of teenagers were having lessons, he noticed.
The instructor was saying:
"Your generation will be the one that has a great opportunity to free us from the misfortune of wandering this land as vagrants. Remember that we have something in our tribe that none before has had: the ability to generate a star. Therefore, strive and fight with grit and bravery for our people."
A student raises his hand and asks:
"Teacher, is Zeno really that special? He hasn't performed any light magic yet. I thought he would come with extraordinary abilities."
"All in good time, Baltar," the man replied. "That is just a small detail in the journey of a Light mage. His time will come."
"That's right, I must fight for my people," Zeno says to himself, recalling the words of his parents and the others in the tribe. "Can I do it?" he wonders.
Further ahead, Zeno finds a woman, an elderly lady with hair still blond, not white—which would be common for someone of that age in his old world. She was drying cloths with winds that came from a circle with geometric symbols near her outstretched hands.
Zeno approaches her and says:
"Hello, ma'am."
"Well, if it isn't our dear Zeno! How can I help you?"
"How do you use magic? I wanted to know, so I can try to perform some too."
"Look, that is the tutors' responsibility. But, since you're asking me, I'll say only this: we visualize the magic formula and say its name to activate it."
Then, Zeno remembers his father trying to teach him some formulas and that he had tried before. He thanks her: "Oh, okay! Thank you!" and says goodbye.
Returning to where the children were, Zeno sees some of them using wind magic. A small ball of wind forms in the little ones' hands, while those who have not yet learned to use magic look on in admiration, asking those having fun with magic how they do it. Some try, but not all succeed. Zeno watches, thinking, "My time will come, I'm sure of it."
It is already getting dark when Zeno returns to his hut with his parents. His mother gives him a bath using magic, as a way to purify him before putting him to sleep.
His father calls Zeno and his wife for prayer and says:
"Son, I want you to know that I will always be here to give you strength. As an envoy of Eassed, you need to be focused on defeating all who are disciples of Dev-rah."
"Disciples of Dev-rah... you mean the rulers, right?" Zeno begins to remember that, according to his people's religion, there is a god of light, Eassed, and a god of darkness, Dev-rah.
"Yes. Gradually, you will learn more important things. But you are still young. So, focus on being able to perform magic, alright?"
"Yes, I'll do my best."
Next, Marduk says his prayer:
"Eassed, bearer of light and creator. Dispel all the darkness that plagues your creation. May the people chosen by you, the Níbiras, never lose your light. May the arrival of your salvation be swift, he who will redeem the pains caused by Dev-rah. Many are those who persecute us, but we shall be blessed through your power. Dev-rah will no longer spread his darkness and destruction. We will exalt the victory of Eassed and the fall of Dev-rah."
After the prayer, Marduk pats his son's shoulders and says proudly:
"We believe in you, Zeno."
The days pass, and Zeno still cannot use magic. People comment among themselves, wondering what could be happening to him and suspecting he might be a mana-less person.
He begins to wonder why he cannot use magic:
"Am I by chance a mana-less person? Those are the ones born in this world without mana and, therefore, without the ability to perform magic. Maybe I can't visualize the magic? Could it be that because I have reincarnated, I don't have the ability to perform magic?"
Then, he decides:
"It's too early for me to give up. I'll keep trying! Maybe the memories of the other world are getting in the way. I must try to fit my mind into this universe I'm in."
With each passing day, Zeno observes people using magic and focuses on the magic circle that appears before them. As it is difficult to obtain scrolls, he sometimes draws the symbols on the ground and tries to imagine them.
Visualizing the magic is essential for it to be performed. And, day after day, Zeno meditates, creating images of the symbols in his mind. But, when it comes time to perform them, nothing happens.
"Something is wrong," he concludes. "Maybe I'm using the wrong magic. If I could read something about magic, it would be better."
After years without success, Zeno is finally old enough, at seven years of age, to receive instruction from the tribe's tutors.
Just like his hair, the fact that Zeno could not perform magic was something no one understood. The chances of a Níbira being born mana-less were low, even lower than for an Epírian.
One day, Zeno goes to the hut of the tribe's leader, Bell, a man with a long, blond beard and hair who walked with a cane—an artifact indicating he was the elder leader of the tribe. Zeno had learned that his parents had been summoned for a meeting. The leader's hut stands out among the others: a huge construction made of noble materials, from the wood to the cloth that covers it. His parents, the elder Bell, and the most excellent mages of the tribe are there.
Zeno stays behind the hut to avoid being discovered by anyone.
"Marduk, regarding your son, we are concerned. It is rare for someone to reach the age of seven without performing magic. All the children his age are ready for the classes that will begin soon, but your son will not be able to participate if he has not yet awakened his magical power. I hope you understand," the tribe's leader says with regret.
"I know, I will not demand that Zeno be accepted into the class. But I have not given up on him yet, and neither has my wife. He must be special even in this regard. Perhaps he should not be treated like any other child. I ask, if you would be so gracious, that you place a little more trust in my son's ability. I know that Eassed did this for a purpose, let's not give up yet," Marduk defends his son firmly.
"Very well! We will do what is possible, but let us not linger on this matter. There are other things to be done, and we cannot waste time. So, do not get your hopes up too high. If you must wait, let it be for your son to awaken as soon as possible."
"Thank you for your consideration," Marduk thanks Bell, a little more relieved.
After hearing a bit of the conversation, Zeno goes to his hut, kneels, and prays to Eassed, asking him to meet his tribe's expectations and grant him the power to face his enemies.
At the beginning of the classes, Zeno will be trained a bit more to be able to perform magic.
His mother advises him:
"Son, I know it's been difficult for you to deal with people's comments about you not being able to use magic yet, but I am praying for Eassed to bless you. I believe that, in the end, everything will be all right."
"Mother, don't worry. I will try very hard and succeed in using magic. If I train enough, it will work out. I will try every last resort before giving up."
Zeno's classes begin, and he is prepared to hear the students' comments and even the instructor's disbelief. But none of this breaks his focus. Zeno goes to class determined: he will succeed in using magic.