1 The beginning

"Trust not what shall come after these words for these are thoughts of mine"

Enki - 1032 BF - On the subject of Abraxas

The morning dew was starting to fade away with the apparition of rays of sun piercing the valley. With his hands behinds his back, Alix was walking in a circle, eyes closed and his head slightly looking upward. Some lights were touching his front as if coaling around his pretty face. With a gait looking a lot like his father's, strong-willed but with a touch of graciousness, he was circling this small valley like it was a rigorous training, giving, at the same time, the feeling that he was appreciating it.

Someone who had known his father could, without doubt, remember this same look on his face, musing and appreciating at the same time these questions that sometimes life put ahead of you without the answers.

The grass was slowly lit up by this morning-light, emerging from its night's slumber and developing its little lanceolate leaves trying to impeach the naked feet of the young man. Alix, face as white as the snow sometimes falling in this remote place wasn't particularly taking attention to what was taking place around him. He was hard thinking, in fact, he thought through the entire night about his soon to be graduation. He never really invest a lot of time in this particular aspect of his small village, but here it goes, he must pass it with flamboyant colors if in any form. In reality, this test wasn't that important, it was just a meeting between the twenty villages that inhabited the region. All the fifteen years olds had to compete in a fair competition with races, fights, and strategy.

This competition would normally be a big thing, all trying to do there best, training for months, even years to best the other because the repartitions of territory and hunt-places were decided by this test. The young men and women where thereafter considerate graduate and could go wherever they wanted to, even leave definitely the village.

But for Ol'Trees village, the one where Alix was born, it held little importance, they never won a test and were content with the lot they have, never wanting more, just enjoying their times. "That was what was good about being literally at the bottom of the social scale, nobody paid any attention to you, happy about not being the last one and paying attention as to not change this situation." Alix was thinking, not really expecting anything.

What bothered him a great deal on the other side was that he was good at all these tests, in fact, he was so good he could probably win every single test that would be held today. He wanted to maintain, however, a low profile as to not deregulate the situation and put the village in a complex situation, being at the center of the attention but without the strength nor the will to maintain it.

Elders of the village warned him to not think too much about it, to enjoy his teenage years and let the village be in charge of the problems which could surface. Alix was stubborn and didn't want to incriminate his friends and village, especially now where the village was rebuilt little by little after the big catastrophic event fifteen years ago.

He could be considered a genius of his time, at least in this little region which was situated in a much bigger microcosm. He didn't really want to be seen as outstanding at this moment, nor create problems for his must cherish village but the first, second and third place were rewarded with special tools which could come in a handy if he wanted to leave this place. "Yeah... If only I could go explore the world, see all these places certain elders spoke of... But I have to win at least the hiding mantle saved for the third place if I want to travel across the mountain, I can't I risk losing my poor little life as soon as my foot touches the ground..."

This mantle was the worst of the three rewards but was able to hide the scent and the heat emitted by the body, decreasing the odds to be seen. The mountains which were situated around the village were populated by several strange life in which vicious beasts were not at the apex of the food chains. Lots of bizarre plants, bodies of water, even humans who adapted to these lands could be seen, at least before you die.

The sun was beginning to heat the air around Alix, awakening him from his thoughts. It should be around 7 o'clock, he had to return to the village, they would soon depart for the ground where the graduation takes place. "Ah, well, I will see depending on the situation, perhaps an opportunity will open for me..." That was the sort of lazy thoughts that were going in his mind as he walked towards the smoke that could be seen a little ahead, slowly undulating with the morning breeze.

He was a little self-centered, except for his friends, he saw him above all others, but for people who tend to succeed in anything they tried, laziness and procrastination were often in their bones, hard to destroy to really realize all our potential. Alix was this type of young man, dashing and you could say it even if he was not an adult yet, he was a beautiful man, hair as black as the raven that sometimes flies above the village, bronze eyes like his mom. Particularly tall, with broad shoulders and beautiful hands.

They were a little bit feminine, with long graceful fingers, you wouldn't say he was a fighter. But in a village lost in the wilderness, all people learned martial arts and he was really good at it, the best of his generation you could say. He loves to fight with his friend, often with adults to learned new Kata, position or leg movement. He was often seen dancing out in the clearing where he was right now as if a nature spirit moving with the wind, the leaves movement and enjoying it, a small smile on his beautiful face.

Walking toward the village he could remember last year with a tinge of guilt, when all his friend and villager of the same generation where busy training, learning, he just spend his time enjoying his Kata under the refreshing shadow of the trees, unaware of the difficulty of others, or perhaps aware but trying to not think about it. Will he be good enough for the competition, all of a sudden he wasn't this sure about it. What if he fails, all his time spend to think about what to do when he will win will haunt him, as a ridiculous farce that he had down. It was time to change this attitude of him but... "Oh well, never before did I lose, why would I lose now ?"

He was perhaps too far from redemption. Dressed as all the villager dressed, he walks with his black pants and his black shirt, swelling with the little morning breeze, toward his village for which some emotion profoundly buried in his heart begin to emerge.

He will quit this village for a month normally, and when he will return, it should be to quit it again and this time for a long time, perhaps definitely. He wanted to explore, to know more, a thirst for knowledge, and at the same time a little reluctance to go at a hundred percent for fear of not being this much of a genius. Work, especially in a little place like this didn't really make him dream, he wanted to be an explorer, an adventurer, he didn't really know but for sure it was not in this little village, even for all the love he had for it.

Lost again in his thought, he awake at the perspective of being at a great turn of his life, this event will determine a lot of his future. For once, trepidation could be seen in his gaze, making him more of a young man like others with its fears of what he will become.

Beginning to run for fear of the whole group leaving without him due to his delay, Alix was gliding on the green grass, elegant with the bare minimum of movement resulting in his daily Kata practicing. It was not really boring for him, he didn't know why, but he took great joy in repeating the same movement again and again, lost in his foot. It was one of the reasons that he was considered this good in racing, fighting, climbing and lots of other tasks.

"Well I'm not really good at strategies and tactics but fortunately there is Eline for this!" He was really a free element, like a leave dancing in the wind without a care in the world, just going where he wants. "Except for this sh*tty situation, I don't want to implicate the whole village just for an object and a competition result.."

A little while later, he could see his friends and family waiting in a small group at the village's entrance, restlessness in the eyes of the young, forbearance and comprehension in those of the adults that were among them.

Some families were saying goodbye to each other, the Elders responsible for the trip were organizing the wall mess, trying to put out the parent and make the fifteen years old men and women in a semblance of a group. When seeing Alix, one of the Elder looks to him with a sigh "Finally, the group is whole, Alix is the last one, as always...We could go! Hush, take place with your little group of friends and don't wander !"

Alix indifferent faces say it all, superbly ignoring the sarcastic remark of the Elder, used to it and knowing it didn't have any bad meaning, just probably tired of him and his delay. "Fortunately they never see through my poker face, if they even know just a little that I was a little anxious, they would make my life terrible for it. They really are terrible people, it was just little prank from a little boy..."

If the Elders could know what he was thinking right now, they probably would pursue him with a stick trying to make common sense enter his head, screaming "How come making a firefox enter the whole chicken house just to mess with the one keeping them is a little prank? We didn't have chicken to eat for a whole year! And what of the multiple burning houses just for your little experiment with your friend??". Yeah well, really they where terrible people...

Catching in the group the shape of his two friends, Alix let his thoughts disappear in the wind.