What is a homeland? Is it blood? Friends? The city? Or is it merely an illusion?
Every day, I wake up and look into the partially broken mirror fixed near my closet to see myself, but all I see is nothingness. I am not what I want to be, and I cannot become what I want to be. Not because I haven't tried, but because I am unable.
My friends used to call me Donny when I had them. Now, no one calls me that. But the old man truly loves to annoy me and remind me of my strange name: Don Al-Dajun.
My father is the only person who was present when I first opened my eyes. As for my mother, I know nothing about her; is she alive or dead? The old man doesn't talk much; he loves to play the role of the sage, yet he is just a vegetable vendor, quick to anger and quick to talk.
But for some reason, everyone loves him. No one hates that foolish old man, not even the King and Queen of this continent, the Magenda Continent. I don't know the reason for the name yet, as I have never been allowed to study the history of the Magenda Royal Family and how they came to rule an entire continent that makes up 60% of the planet, Sovret Planet.
Because the old man always tells me: "You are my son, why learn? You will own everything in the end, and the end is inevitable, boy." Over time, I got used to this kind of talk. The old man doesn't like talking to me, but when he starts, he truly becomes insane. I trust him, but even with this trust, his words are like throwing a stone into water and waiting for the stone to float.
Currently, the Royal Family's guards, along with the two princes, come every week to request the old man's goods. But when everyone looks at me, all I see is nothing. No hatred, no love, I see nothing, except for a glimpse of fear that vanishes in a second when our eyes meet, as if they were afraid of me and then forgot it.
And this is part of the strangeness of this city, Al-Farid City, the Royal Capital of the Magenda Continent. And here the strangeness becomes cursed, because I believe the King has also gone mad. Because when I asked the old man: "Why is the name of the Royal Capital the same as your name?" He told me, in the middle of the market for everyone to hear: "Because it is an honor for them, boy!" And the strange thing is, nothing happened! No guards arrested the old man, and no people silenced him. Everyone… everyone acted as if they hadn't heard anything. The market moved on as if the old man hadn't said a word. Even on that day, I admitted that this world I live in is insane.
Life continued this way until I turned eleven. Finally, I was strong, and finally, I could learn magic! I trained and trained and trained, but I couldn't touch The Source—the damned thing—because there is a restriction placed on my body by the Royal Family's sorceresses. The reason? My cursed red hair! They believe my mother was a demon, or that I was tainted by demon blood while in her womb.
And the demons of this world truly love their mothers, because they eat them when they are born! They are forbidden from The Source and cannot use magic, which is why they kidnap human females, implanting demon seeds and blood within them. When the child is born, it eats its mother, who is unable to move, and can then sneak into The Source. Mutants! They are all mutants!
Now, everyone thinks I am a mutant like them, but they haven't killed me because of the old man. I don't know what he did to them, but everyone seems unable to refuse his requests. He is weak, ancient, and I have never seen him do anything important: from the market in the suburbs for his work, then home to drink until he sleeps, then he repeats it all again. I have never seen him interested in magic, dueling, or anything else. A boring old man.
But the days pass, and the day before my twelfth birthday, I sit in my room, looking into the mirror once more. This day, everything changed.
"Hahahahaha… Hahahaha…"
Laughter was heard across the entire planet.
"Hahaha… Finally… I see you."