Jack Riven-
Atop an utterly desecrated and molten plane floating in the air was a young boy with dark hair tied back in a high bun, with the excess flowing down. His enchanted black earring in his left ear shimmered with the heat still radiating off the ground. His blue eyes, radiating power, stared into the rising smoke.
'surely that had to have done some damage''I know it connected, so where is he?'
Suddenly, I felt a cold shiver run through me—like all my senses were warning me to be alert.
The rising smoke dissipated in an instant, and what could only be described as a dark sun lay near the ground, just as wide as the explosion itself. This sphere of pure darkness moved and flowed as if it were alive.
'how... how didn't I sense that?'
Without even a moment to ponder the answer to my own question, the darkness surged, taking the form of countless weapons, chains, arms. Possibly most horrifying of all, at the very center, a massive mouth seemed to open in the darkness.
On pure instinct alone, I teleported away and kept moving, as far as I could, yet the surging darkness kept reaching out toward me as if trying to consume my very being. I was just a speck compared to the size of that monumental thing. Construct? Being?
I spread my arms out and began warping space, attracting the very fabric of it into two singularities. If the darkness wanted to come at me, then I'd tear it apart on either side before it could.
The tendrils and weapons were pulled toward the points in space. Yet the open maw seemed unfazed.
'he must be inside of it'
With both hands occupied holding the black holes, I had no choice but to try forming an extra limb made of pure mana—like I'd seen Grandad do so many times with darkness. The purple arm slowly spread out from my shoulder, taking form, hardening, and becoming something tangible. With it, I began forming another repelling blast to aim into the maw and blow that thing apart from the inside out.
It was taking nearly all my focus to hold so many different points and techniques in place at once. My family often pointed out how my techniques, on their own, were already far beyond the mental ability of even the best to pull off safely. Yet this was my only way out.
I had to push further. I needed to.
As the purple sphere formed in my mana hand and I began to aim it, I suddenly ground to a halt. My rapid movement away from that darkness had been stopped by an immovable object.
It took me a moment to process—even with my abilities—to recognize what had evaded my perception.
That very same moment, the immovable object blocking my way held a spear across my neck. I didn't need to turn around to know who was holding it.
I had lost. Not just lost—but completely overwhelmed in a way I couldn't even comprehend.
'how did he get behind me? and when?'
As if to rub it in more, the old man had even shown me something I had no hope against—then loosened his hold on it just to trick me into thinking I could rip it apart.
"My win again, little man," my grandad said, while the spear across my throat dissolved in front of my eyes along with the rest of the darkness in the area.
"Now, I need a whiskey and to brag to those two old geezers about how well you did. Come. I'll take you to your parents."
I couldn't help but admire my grandad. As much as it frustrated me, that man was terrifyingly strong. So strong I couldn't even grasp an ounce of it. That didn't mean I was happy about losing though.
After grinding my teeth, I held his tight, protective hand, and we began the walk back to the castle. We could've flown or run—but why bother? It was moments like this I enjoyed most: spending time with my loved ones and doing the simple things, like the rest of humanity.
Those mundane people who couldn't even sense mana—never mind comprehend what we can do. Those that live outside our domains, our nation of Velmira. The people I'm told we need to protect in secret from the horrors that slip through the gaps in space from the other realm.
Humanity doesn't even know the secrets of the world. They just think we're an isolated, self-sufficient nation. That's what they know—because that's all we allow them to know. It's for their own good that they don't fear things and beings beyond their comprehension. That's why our nation hid away all those years ago and erased our existence into myths and legends.
Humanity needed protection from that which they couldn't possibly hope to stop. They lived simple lives, yet some found pleasure in destroying each other over the years. That wasn't our problem. But I do quite enjoy some of their customs—and their affection for each other.
So as the sun began to set in our nation—hidden behind mana barriers from the world, veiling our true nature and customs—
I walked across the fields of the great clan Riven's homeland, hand in hand with my grandad.