11 No pain, no gain - Origin

A large crater in a form of a hand print was formed at the center of town.

There were crying, screaming, people in chaos. All sorts of rubble lay everywhere. Houses destroyed. Rooftops gone and some were even burning. Items scattered, unable to be identified at a single glance. Even from afar, I already feel unsafe.

I could even see a chicken panicking before being picked up by a sneering bald man with a few scratches all over his body.

My parents told me to stay put, but I couldn't help but be curious.

A scene of utter devastation.

The gates and outer walls that was supposed to protect the city were flattened, and an uncountable number of different kinds of soiled footprint tracks scattered. There were a few corpses here and there, and seeing how they looked like rotten meat... I felt nauseous.

It's not my first time seeing a dead body, but it was the first time I've seen a mangled corpse.

There was dread everywhere upon reaching this place.

Seeing this, the driver told us to just sit as we go on a different place instead.

But before we could even go...

*screeeeech*

The carriage was unsettled and we toppled inside like marbles on a tilted flat surface. I was somehow caught by Mom and she got out of the carriage. Seeing that, I also saw Dad already outside. Just when did he got out?

"El, let's run." Mom turned to Dad and nodded at each other, then they both ran towards the dense forest.

Mom threw me towards Dad like I was volleyball, but I was caught by him without feeling bad. I'm starting to suspect my dad as some kind of expert, but with the current situation, I couldn't really do so.

Behind us, there were a few unknown beasts that had four legs, green fur, head like a wolf's, but with a body of a bear; gnawing the people that were left behind. Seeing human meat being torn almost made me vomit and gave me a strange headache, but I resisted the urge to. I instead closed my eyes and hoped that we would be okay.

They were people we were just talking to not too long ago, and seeing them being killed in that way was very disturbing.

There were also flying beasts with purple wings and beaks, and on their belly was a lot of blood still dripping, and slightly above the red portion was already dried blood. I'm not sure what sort of clue that is, but I know that they're slaughtering the people they see and it had lasted for a time already.

The said flying beasts chased us, and I saw Dad hurl a piece of rock towards one and hit its eye, and made it tumble on air and even bring down the other one and crashed on the ground. I'm sure it would hurt but they rose immediately and continued to pursue us.

Seeing that, Dad clicked his tongue, and threw another stone again in a flicker. It didn't hit a single beast as they evaded the rock, and with that, my parents only increased their speed further.

Just what is happening? Was the town raided? That much? These low level beasts wouldn't be able to do it by themselves if I asked myself, so there must be some kind of planning done here. Or there was a beast wave, but it wouldn't be possible to have survivors by luck.

Anyway, what matters right now is to escape this situation.

***

It took my parents about fifteen minutes before our pursuers quit the chase as the trees became denser and we lost sight of them, and probably headed back in the town's direction based from their screeching. Hearing and making sure of that made them slow their pace, until they found big rock where we hid behind and rested for a while.

They were quiet for a while before Dad let out a painful groan.

"Dad? Where does it hurt?"

"Dad is fine... It's just that it was his hometown that just got destroyed."

"What!?"

"Shush. I don't know what happened, but I have to check later if my relatives there are still alive."

With a change in demeanor, Dad stood and stared at the afternoon skies for a long time.

My mom told me to get a few sticks so that we could make a fire, and so I did.

***

It was almost night when I finished gathered the lot of dry sticks laying around. I returned to them and saw that they setup the tent, and Mom wasn't anywhere. I guess she went hunting.

The night was awfully quiet.

We had dinner by the campfire, and I was getting worried by the moment because we might get noticed by other beasts because of the fire, and it made me wonder if that fact is true. I mean, it was mentioned in a lot of stories that fire eventually attracts a few dangerous wild animals, and with my meager being, I can't even help my parents defend ourselves.

Now I feel like a heavy load to them.

"Dad, do you know some martial arts?"

He chuckled and said that it was a funny question. Then he laughed a bit more before stopping. Strangely after, he gave me thanks.

I'm not overly stupid but it's probably because I distracted him from thinking about depressing thoughts about his relatives.

"I do know some, but I'm still not at full health. I can only teach you so much though, and it's night already."

"Why are you asking Dad? Why not ask me?" Mom interjected and pinched my helpless pitiful face.

The night was luckily peaceful. Dad put out the fire, and we went inside the makeshift tent to sleep.

Since it wasn't really a proper tent compared to the one we used while travelling, my parents squished me on the middle but I didn't mind. They were married, I'm their son and there's no really malice. I love them both, as I don't even know who were my real parents in my previous life.

I don't want to jinx anything, but I hope that they may see me grow up and have grandkids, and be proud and happy later on in life.

I feel so relaxed right now that I remembered what happened when the Vates did a different circulation on me.

I'm not overly stupid to not notice that something special might have happened on my body.

After that event, I tried to imagine that vortex every night, and it was true that it felt cool. I just don't feel anything in my body that seems to improve besides my body slowly getting lighter as if floating, but when I stop, I go snap back to reality.

It's quite hard to concentrate on, as if I'm always dreaming and then forgetting a very important thing.

But right now since I feel relaxed and loved, I tried to project the image of that blue vortex inside me this time. I recognized and tried to feel my whole body from the top until bottom. I feel my parents' breathing on my hair, the breeze reaching my face. My neck, shoulders, arms, then towards the hands, until the end of each finger.

I tried not to imagine, but just felt my whole body, as if checking if my nerves were existing and feeling from the skin until the insides.

Of course I couldn't feel all of my insides, but with the help of silence of this night, and the sound of consistent breathing, I felt like being in a trance from a mantra.

My chest, ribs, belly, back, and my lower back; they feel warm and cool right now. Of course I included my genitals, and my butt, and even the hole. It's crazy to think that I'm still doing this, but I just felt like finishing this sensation will bring something good.

Going down the legs, knees, lower legs, ankles, side of feet, until the end of my feet; they all feel warm and cool.

Then I did that for a few more times-----until my vision went from black to blue, and from blue to white.

I once again found myself on that empty space where I could feel free. I don't feel my body anymore.

An azure vortex appeared in front of me, and it was a bit slightly larger than before. So it wasn't really blue, but azure?

But wait...

On the center lie a different vortex of gold, with a hint of red inside it. Was the core in a different color before? I thought it was blue, or did I remember wrong since it was a long time ago?

I tried and tried to go inside this space but now that I'm here... What to do?

Thinking about it, what if I could help my parents tomorrow? Go fire my magic, blast open those beasts, save the town, become a hero, etc. Sounds like a good story for a novel, but I can't even feel any kind of mana or power flowing within my body during the time I was awake.

Ah, I can move now?

Let's go touch that vortex.

I move my body using my mind... But now I can't stop it. I keep going close, not slowing down. Oh my, will I be absorbed by my own power? I thought it was as big as my arm, but I realized just now that it was only far.

It's increasing in size as I move towards it, until it was about three times larger than me. I saw the red vortex as little as the gold one earlier now that I'm about to touch the largest azure one.

Upon contact, I felt a flow of energy that traveled from my fingers and rushed towards my chest...or my heart.

"Kkk...khaaggkk...!!"

WHY DOES IT HURT SO MUCH!?

***

Inside the white space inside his mind, Kaff moved slowly but surely towards the vortex. He was just a meter far before while touching the azure vortex.

His whole body projection froze as he felt intense pain in his heart, then extended to his chest, and then to his whole body.

If he could move as he could in reality, he thought he must be spasming right now and shivering in pain.

From his heart, chest area, arms, hands, fingers; legs, knees, ankles, feet, toes... He was able to tolerate the pain.

On another hand, his vitals and vulnerable parts of his body, lungs, stomach, genitals, femur, every sensory organ in the face, and then the brain... there was excruciating pain that he almost wanted to end his life, and if possible to be reborn again.

Yet his expectations did not meet the reality that he was currently facing. He was experiencing pain all throughout his body while conscious. If this was the pain for acquiring magic, he wouldn't have tried to acquire it if he knew this would happen. Words wouldn't be able to explain what he was currently experiencing, but if there was hell inside his body, that pain would probably fulfill the definition.

He wanted to pass out, but couldn't do so.

He wanted to get out of that white empty world, but with the pain he was experiencing, he even forgot that there were two more vortexes of different colors that were waiting for him.

He wanted a knife, a sword, a gun, or anything that could end his life so that he could end the pain.

Then he suddenly remembered his previous world, and then his current world and contemplated amid the pain.

He then remembered the flushing of toilet, willingly yet barely distracting himself from the torment he's in. Tried again and again, until he got to dull his senses for even just a little bit and resist.

After that the azure vortex stopped spinning in a spiral, and formed into a solid core. It shoot directly towards his chest, and his ethereal body glowed a transparent azure, before all the pain disappeared thereafter.

If he could let out tears inside the white space, his surroundings would have been wet along with excessive sweat.

Feeling some sort of trauma, he relaxed for a bit and unknowingly left that white space, and deeply fell asleep outside.

***

Next day---

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHH------"

"WHAT!?"

I woke up and I saw Mom from the unzipped part of the tent, her head popping in to check me out with a worried expression.

"A nightmare, Kaff? Don't scare him, the beasts must've startled his good dream."

"Oh... Oh yeah, forgot about that. I'm hungry, still not done cooking?"

Instead of comforting me, Mom went back to her log seat and pouted at Dad as the food wasn't cooked yet.

My body... I'm alive? I'm...

I feel a sensation I can't explain, as I haven't experienced it in my whole life.

The air was unexplainably circling around me. There's a detail to it that I can't explain that, if there was a meme to it, it would be 'Mindblown!'

Is this mana? Is this source spirit?

As if I had a hand formed out of air, my mind can seem to move this visible thing.

"Um.. Psychic... Telekinesis? I'm not sure..."

"Kaff, food's ready!"

Mom woke me up from analyzing this new thingy that's happened to me, and put it aside for now. From that previous sense of pain, and from the look of this circulating wind, it doesn't seem that it would disappear anytime.

Let's claim it, it's gonna be my own power.

Hopefully, that works.

I should give it a name.

From the small blue box that I swallowed... Inside it was the Origin Fruit. Source power? Chi? Mana? I don't need any of those then.

To honor the fruit that also probably got absorbed in my body, I'll call it Origin.

"Properly chew and swallow. Still dreaming?"

"Am I dreaming Mom?"

She held one of my sideburns and lifted me up. That pain couldn't be any more real.

Was that 'pain before gain' that just happened to me?

Instead of feeling agitated, I instead felt ecstatic.

I let out a loud howl like a wolf, then Dad quickly covered my mouth.

"What's wrong with him?"

"Looks like he had a good dream?"