"Look, he opened his eyes, Poul!" a woman said.
"Isn't he supposed to be crying?" Poul asked, filled with doubt.
"Maybe not all babies cry at birth, honey."
"Yeah, maybe you're right. Oh, and by the way, I'm going to go buy the supplies now." With that, he left the room to go to the store.
What is he going to buy, I wonder? I hope it's food. Well, it doesn't matter. I'm going to enjoy the best phase of life, the phase where I don't have to do anything, Gabriel thought.
"Well, I wanted Poul and me to choose your name, but since he's not here, your name is going to be Hyou Jay."
Hyou Jay?! That's my name? Well, at least it's kind of nice.
Maria picked up Jay and held him, letting him see a part of the outside world. Am I in the middle of some continent? Jay wondered.
She lowered him and gave her beloved son a hug. A few days passed since his birth, and he was happy with his new family, until, at one year old, Jay began to notice strange things happening that no one seemed to care about. One day, the children would have a cut or a bruise, and the next day, the injury would be gone. It was as if that fall had never happened.
Could this be healing magic?! If so, I'm in a magical world, Jay thought while in his mother's lap. He was being lulled to sleep, and next to them was a bookshelf. Jay stretched out his arms to grab a book and began to babble. Maria noticed, put her baby in a chair, and asked him:
"What is it, Jay? Why are you babbling?"
He pointed his tiny finger at the bookshelf.
"You want books, Jay?" Maria asked, impressed by her child.
He nodded his head.
"Alright, I'll get your 'book,' Jay." So, she picked up a book about the history of the world, brought it to her son, sat down in the chair, and began to read to him. He was looking at her with eyes that sparkled like a star, full of expectation.
How can a baby have so many expectations for a book? Maria thought.
Maria sighed before opening the book.
"Before the world even existed, there was darkness, until one day one of the gods, bored of seeing only darkness, decided to create various things, and he created the earth, the sun, the moon, and many other things. He received the name of the God of Creation. But the earth was made only of rocks, until the Goddess of Life saw that pile of rocks and decided to create life. She said: 'Let there be water.' Water emerged from the earth. And she spoke various other things until the world existed. She created the animals, humans, dwarves, and elves..."
When Jay heard "dwarves and elves," he was impressed that he had been reincarnated into a fantasy world. She continued reading.
"But the Goddess of Life noticed something: balance didn't exist among the races. So, together with the God of Creation and the God of Chaos, they created magic, giants, and dragons. As the years passed, the species spread across the continents, and at the same time, hybrids of these species began to emerge... The God of Spirits created the magical spirits. Years passed until, at a point in history, rebellions of the elemental spirits against the gods arose. As a result, the elemental spirits were sealed among humans and giants. For humans, they were sealed in the families 'Hyou, Hi, Kaze, Chikyū, and Mizu.' These are the families where the spirits were sealed. At birth, a spirit will be automatically sealed. For giants, they were sealed randomly, and when a giant is born, he can receive an elemental spirit. Every 10 years, 4 elemental giants emerge. This is a curse for the giants and for the spirits." She closed the book, looking at Jay. "That's enough for today; it's time for you to nap, come on, Jay."
She picked up Jay, who made a sour face, but after she sang a lullaby, he couldn't resist and fell asleep like a rock.
Time passed, and his mother read more and more from the book. He gained more information, one of which was that humans glorify the God of Creation and the Goddess of Life, the elves fear the Goddess of Life, and the dwarves, on the other hand, fear the God of Chaos.
Jay also discovered that his elemental power could only awaken after the minimum age of 3, and the maximum age of awakening is 8 to 9 years old.
"The Hyou family will be responsible for the ice-type elemental spirits for all eternity," said the God of Spirits.
"Understood. It is an honor for this duty to fall to my family's favor," said the Hyou family head.
Poul closes his eyes and the book. "And that's how the Hyou clan received the elementals."
"That's so interesting, Dad!"
"Isn't it?!"
"Dad, can you create something with your power?"
"Hmm, I don't think so."
Jay was disappointed that his father wouldn't do it.
"Well, but there's one thing you have to do, which is a rule of our family: don't hurt anyone, Jay." He smiled at Jay and continued speaking. "Do you understand?"
"Yes, I won't hurt anyone."
Why would I hurt or even kill someone, Jay thought with such an innocent thought.
"Perfect, now let's eat. You can read later, Jay."
Jay nodded his head.
He ate his food calmly. After eating, he went to a tree with his father, near his house. He leaned against the tree, opened his book, and began to read with his father, a book about the good and evil gods. His interest in this world was immense.
"Well, these walls are necessary to prevent them from attacking us and to seal the worst types of giants. Did you know, Jay, that the reason our city is named the City of the Wall is because of this?"
"No, I didn't know that." Jay, curious, decided to ask the reason why they were sealed. "Why were they sealed, Dad?"
"Not all of the giants were, Jay, but a portion of them. The name of our city is based on a gigantic wall that was built to trap a portion of the most powerful giants, and in that effort, all races went against the giants and we managed to seal them. But not all of the giants were sealed; a part wasn't, and they split up. This city was built to watch the giants' movements."
"That's so interesting!" His eyes shone like a star.
"And that's why we'll be leaving here soon. This place is very dangerous. It's home to giants, so it's better for us to leave. Right, Jay?!"
Jay nodded his head.
Poul gave a proud smile. "That's my boy."
Jay and Poul read so much that they didn't even notice the night falling. They quickly went home, had dinner, and went to sleep.
Jay, already in his bed, said goodnight to his mother and went to sleep. He closed his eyes and began to fall asleep until he heard a feminine voice saying:
"I love you, you are my love. Your melancholy is so delicious; that's what made me fall in love with you. I hope we meet soon, my love."
Upon hearing this, he sat straight up.
Am I hearing things?! That was a woman's voice, right? This is so bizarre! Jay thought, scared and surprised.
He couldn't sleep very well. He was so thoughtful about the voice he had heard the night before that he was like that all day long. His parents noticed and asked why he was so pensive, but he didn't want to say.
After that day, days and months passed, and he never heard that mysterious voice again. Even worried about the voice, he put it aside for a while. During that time, he studied and in a book about 'the difference between humans and other races' it said: "Elves are a beautiful and powerful race. They are the masters of all wind magic and special magic or other elements like water, earth, etc... there is a rare chance that an elf is born without wind magic, but with fire magic for example, the elves will abandon him or even sacrifice him to the gods. Etc...".
After reading some things about elves, he realized that elves were arrogant and considered humans an extremely weak race.
These elves think they're superior just because they can use magic. Jay sighed and closed the book. Some humans can use magic, even if it's only two, healing or shadow magic, but it's still magic. After another sigh, a call interrupted his thoughts. It was his mother calling him for dinner.
"JAY, COME EAT LUNCH!" Maria yelled.
Jay got up and went to his house, which was nearby. As he reached his front door, a city-wide announcement began.
"CITIZENS, EVACUATE NOW! SOME GIANTS ARE APPROACHING."
Upon hearing that announcement, all the citizens began to grab their most important things and head for the boats, until another announcement came.
"ALL CITIZENS, OUR VICTORY HAS TURNED INTO... DEFEAT."
After hearing that, the entire population, desperate to survive, went running for the boats. Poul, Maria, and Jay grabbed their things and began their long journey to the boats.
When they got halfway there, the wall fell to the giants, being destroyed by a single giant. Poul stood still, staring at that giant, who began to walk slowly toward the wall. While he walked slowly, other giants appeared and entered.
Poul grabbed Maria's arm, who did the same with Jay. They began to run until they saw the boat. Suddenly, they heard a tremor. Jay looked back and saw a giant coming in their direction. With every step it took, it got closer.
"A giant is coming our way!" Jay said desperately.
The giant quickened its pace, and the desperation grew. The giant got even closer to them.
Maria, in an act to defend her son, pulled him forward and pushed him, being hit by the giant's punch. Before being hit, she said:
"I love you both."
As she was hit, she felt her arm almost split in two and the bones of her ribs pierce her organs. She was thrown with an absurd force against the wall. Almost dead, she looked at Poul and her beloved son and said in a weak voice:
"Go and... survive for me-" She died before she could finish her last words.
Poul became furious, consumed by rage. He was almost convinced to face the giant, but his son grabbed his hand.
"Dad, let's go to the boat."
Poul looked at his son with tears in his eyes and turned his gaze back to the giant, who was staring deep into his eyes.
"Go, Jay, go to the boat and save your life."
"Dad, I don't want to lose you too."
Poul laughed and turned his attention to the giant in front of him. He prepared to fight.
Jay was in doubt, how would his father fight against a giant? When his father took a step forward, the giant suddenly turned and made a horizontal cut. When his sword broke, his arm was pierced.
Poul was scared, he couldn't hear clearly, his ears were "ringing," and the giant's blood was on his face. He looked to both sides, and on one of them, a cannon was pointed. He quickly grabbed his son and ran to the ship, which was about to leave. He ran and ran until he arrived just in time. When he got there, he knelt down and began to cry, a cry mixed with a melancholic smile.
Jay couldn't hold back and started to cry. The mysterious voice began to comfort him, saying:
"It's going to be okay, my love, it's okay. She's with the gods, don't worry, she's happy that you're safe."
While she said these things, she hugged him tenderly. He accepted her comfort and began to cry. His father, even dejected, hugged him.
"It was my fault, not yours. I was weak, forgive your father! If I were stronger, I could have protected your mother. Damn it, why am I so weak that I can't protect my wife?!"
The ship began to move farther and farther away. The King of the Wall just watched it, dodging all the ant-giant bullets. It was a bore for the king until he felt a strong aura from a long distance. Even though it was quite weak, he could feel it. He looked in the direction of that aura and began to walk toward it. After walking a bit, he started to run toward that strange aura.
As he approached the gate of the wall, he no longer felt a suppression, so he jumped outside. When he left, he began to run while listening to the sounds of the battle inside what used to be the City of the Wall before he destroyed it.
Jay, after crying so much, heard his father, still hugging him, say:
"I'm going to get revenge on that giant." He sighed. "No, he's not just a giant, he's the King of the Wall. I'm going to get revenge on him. If it wasn't for him, Maria wouldn't have died."
Jay watched his father say those words. He looked at Jay.
"You're going to avenge your mother too, aren't you, Jay?"
"I will, Dad, I will avenge Mom too."
While a small village of giants was in chaos, a being inhabited that place. It was the king of the giants, his name was Cobel. He was alone, fishing in a river near his home, when he began to hear a strange noise. He quickly drew his sword. The King of the Wall appeared.
"Look, a savage giant, how interesting." Cobel said, looking at the King of the Wall.
A silence fell, then the King of the Wall attacked Cobel, who defended himself, surprised by the speed of the giant he had underestimated.
Cobel counter-attacked, giving a kick that the King of the Wall defended with difficulty. The two stared at each other before the real fight began.
"My bad, maybe I underestimated you, King of the Wall." Cobel said with an excited look.