Monchin City
The sunlight filtered through the tall windows of Haland College, casting golden streaks across the ancient stone walls of the classroom.
"The Long Night," she said, gesturing towards the holo board. The class was quiet, save for the professor's booming voice.
"And thus," Lyanna intoned, her small hand pointing to the projection, "the Long Night ended with the sacrifice of Halzora, the most powerful mage in recorded history. His act of bravery saved humanity, but it left behind scars that persist to this day, the rifts or wormholes as some may call it, that we still guard against. It is a tale of sacrifice and the dangers of forbidden magic. Now, who can tell me what lesson this history teaches us, other than the aforementioned?"
The class shifted uneasily, some staring blankly at the glowing image, others pretending to jot down notes. At the back of the room, Roni sat with his arms crossed and his jaw tight. His dark eyes flicked toward Mirael, who sat beside him, her head bent over her notebook. She was effortlessly beautiful, her chestnut hair catching the light as she jotted down notes with full focus. She never looked up, never wavered, completely stuck in the lecture.
Despite himself, Roni raised his hand.
"Yes, Roni?" Lyanna asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Can the Long Night return?" Roni asked, though he could already hear the snickering spreading through the room.
The laughter began softly, but it grew louder.
"Ha, his asking questions now!?" one boy sneered from the front row. "Like he could stop it if it did!"
"Yeah, what would you do, Roni? Throw rocks at the demons?" another asked.
The room erupted in laughter.
Roni felt embarrassed and belittled. He got angry, but he couldn't do anything about it, he just has to stay calm, He couldn't lose his temper front of the professor and most importantly not in front of his little crush, Mirael. He glanced sideways at her, hoping for even a flicker of acknowledgment. But she didn't even look at him.
"That's enough!" Professor Lyanna's voice cut through the noise, silencing the room. "Mockery has no place in my classroom. Roni's question is valid. The Long Night may be history, but its lessons are eternal. And the threat of its return..." she paused, letting her words hang in the air, "...is one we must never forget."
The room grew quiet again, but Roni still felt the sting of their laughter. He slumped back in his seat, staring at the glowing image of Hoaltin City.
Roni, unlike many others in Eldoria, was born without a single trace of magic flowing through his veins, not to talk of having an ability system because without magic there's no way you can learn an ability.
But Growing up, Roni had watched magic shape families and also destroyed families — his own included. When he was just a boy, he lost both his parents during a violent clash between powerful sorcerers and demons a conflict he could neither understand nor defend against.
"It's all about magic," Roni whispered within himself. "Magic was what brought suffering."
The bell rang. Professor Lyanna gathered her materials.
"Essays on the Long Night are due next week. No excuses," she said curtly as she left the classroom.
The classroom slowly filled with the scrape of chairs and low chatter as students packed their things. Roni didn't move right away, his eyes still fixed on the desk. He knew the peace wouldn't last.
"Roni the genius," Mobu said out loud.
The group of boys advanced towards Roni's seat. Mobu, who seemed to be their leader, knocked Roni's pen off his hands.
"Hey, loser," he said mockingly.
"I don't want any trouble, you guys should just leave me alone," Roni protested. (He doesn't want to get into trouble with an high-class citizen, Hoaltin college was filled with high-class students Roni was there on scholarships based on his academic performance).
"What are you gonna do, boy? You going to beat me?
Ooh, I forgot," Mobu snapped his fingers, "he doesn't have a system, I bet your father wasn't potent enough," he said as they all burst into laughter.
Roni's jaw tightened, but he stayed seated. He was already losing it,
"Say that again," he demanded, his voice low and dangerous.
Mobu smirked. "What? You gonna cry to your Granny?"
Before Mobu could react, Roni's fist came unexpectedly at his face. The thud echoed in the room as Mobu fell flat on the floor.
The class gasped. For a split second, no one moved.(They were surprised, because Roni had never fought once in his life). Mobu held his broken nose, groaning.
"What the fuck are you looking at! Get him!!" he exclaimed at his crew, as they surged towards Roni.
Roni realized that he had made a mistake and he was outnumbered. All he had to do was run. He turned and bolted for the door. Chairs clattered as the group ran after him.
One held his shirt.
"Where do you think you're going, you little brat?" he tried to pull him back, but Roni somehow maneuvered his way out.
He ran down the hallway, his heart pounding, until he burst into the school museum.
"There! He went that way!" screamed one of the boys in the group as they all ran after him.
Panting heavily, Roni's eyes quickly searched the room, looking for somewhere to hide. His glance caught the university flag hanging at the side of the wall there was a gap there and he thought of it as a perfect place to hide, so he ran behind it and hid there in silence for a while.
"Nowhere to run, we know you're in there," Mobu's voice broke the silence.
Roni panicked. His breathing became heavy. He knew if those boys got to him, it was not going to be good for him. He leaned back at the wall, his heart beating faster, as he could see the shadows of Mobu and his crew stretched closer across the museum floor. He shut his eyes for a second, wishing they'd just pass him by.
That's when he felt it—a soft click under his palm.
He froze, eyes darting around. Before he could even process it the wall beneath his hands sanked inward. He gasped in surprise as the wall behind him opened and he fell inside with the wall closing immediately after.
"What is this place?" he whispered, Roni turned glancing at the towered artifacts and armory arranged accordingly in the room. The air in the room was thick with the scent of old wood and metals, dusty as if it hadn't been opened for centuries.
"These were the weapons used in the First War," he muttered softly to himself as he explored every single item in the room. He went us clinking through everything from weapons to magical orbs, thought to be lost to time, were all present in the room, it was an unbelievable sight almost feels like a dream, he gasped for a moment, covering his mouth with his hands in excitement.
"Wow, is that Ceyra Blade of Horror?"
A blade known to cut through anything.
He rushed towards the sword, ready to feel the magnificent weapon in his hands, but was stopped in his tracks by something just right above the sword — a name.
"Halzora," he whispered, his mind reflecting back to history class. The name was written on a glass housing a hand glove.
"Halzora the hero of the mages. Well, your heroism has placed the universe in a mess, and my parents paid their lives for that mess," Roni said softly as he tugged the glass frame with his fingers, relieving himself of the pain that was buried deep down in his heart.
His eyes couldn't get off the reflection of light coming from a tiny crystal on the glove.
"What do we have here?" he reached out to the glove, trying to pull out the tiny crystal that was stuck on it.
Few minutes still trying to get the crystal out of it, Roni was exhausted; he couldn't get it out.
"This would have cost a fortune," he sighed in frustration.
He sat back for a moment, catching his breath, but his eyes wouldn't leave the glove. The longer he stared, the more he felt it wasn't the crystal that mattered, but the glove itself — the strange design, the faint glow, almost like it was waiting for someone.
But what was more tempting was how soft the inner layer of the glove was. It was made of cotton — soft and really soothing.
Roni slotted his hand inside.
"Wow, this is really soft," he muttered.
He raised his hand admiring the glove.
"And it fits just perfectly," Roni said with a small smile. For a moment, it felt like it was truly his, like it had been made for him.
Then, without warning, the glove twitched. A faint hum ran through it, and before Roni could react, it began to shake violently against his skin.
"Shit, what's going on?" Roni exclaimed, trying to pull off the glove.
But each time he touched it, he kept seeing vivid images of wars flashing through his eyes — short clips of lightning and fires. He was terrified.
He kept yelling from the sharp pain that surged through his head.
"Arghhhhhhh, I can't take it anymore, please just stop," Roni groaned in pain.
You could see the thick sweats rolling down his cheek, his hands shaking; he was going through severe pain.
After a while of struggling, everything stopped. There was peace and the pain ceased. Then came a voice from his head:
"Synchronization complete. Analyzing stats. Combat skills: 0. Mana level: 0. Strength: 3.
What a weak vessel. I will be taking control for now."