Gifts

- Unknown mountain range

The overly rich mana surrounding the mountains began to collect in a single place near the top of the highest peak. As the energy collected, it slowly began to become visible to the naked eye. All the while, shockwaves could be felt for hundreds of kilometers by those that had the slightest sensitivity to mana.

Ka-boom.

With a final enormous explosion, the energy took the form of a small child. While the child came to rest on the stony ground, magic users all over the continent were rushing around in a panic. Some thought that an ancient monster had been unsealed, while others believed that a cataclysm was upon them.

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Jurren moaned quietly as he woke up. He felt a cool breeze pass over him but, oddly enough, he didn't feel cold.

As he sat up slowly to look around, the first thing that he noticed was that he was sitting completely naked on the rocky ground. The second thing was that his body was a good deal smaller than he remembered it. His hands were soft and slender. His limbs were somewhere between those of a child's and an adult's.

"This is what I get for giving that god free reign," Jurren muttered to himself as he stood up. 'I should probably figure out where I am and then find somewhere to stay for the night.'

Exploring his surroundings carefully, Jurren found that he was on a tail leading to a cave near the top of the mountain. Farren had explained a bit about some of the geography of the more populated parts of the world, but this didn't look like anything what he had described.

Noticing the setting sun, he made for the cave to at least have some shelter for the night. The cave had a slightly unnatural look about it. Almost as if it had been carved by some great force in the distant past.

'And who be ye?' something asked a question within his mind.

"What? Who's there?" Jurren asked in surprise.

A bit deeper in the cave, he found something shining, suspended in the air.

'Hmm, I believe that you will do,' the voice said. 'Yes, unformed, but much potential. Right, let's get to work.'

"Work?"

Instantly, Jurren's sight was blinded as the floating object blazed with a brilliant light. Shielding his eyes, he felt something stab into his chest and he was overwhelmed by pain radiating throughout his newly created body. Unable to withstand it any longer, he fell unconscious.

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Slowly regaining consciousness, Jurren was surprised to find himself lying in a soft bed under some comfy covers. The room had stone walls, while the floor was covered in a number of soft carpets. Through the window next to his bed, Jurren could see that the sun had just begun to rise.

"Where am I?" Jurren mumbled to himself.

"This would be my tower," answered an old man as he entered through the solid wood door. "I found you unconscious on the mountain and brought you here."

"Oh, well thank you kindly," Jurren responded, surprised that his question was responded to so promptly.

"You are very welcome," the man said with a kindly smile. "Now, might I ask who you are and how you managed to find yourself on this mountain, naked of all things?"

"I don't really remember very much aside from my name," Jurren answered, deciding that it would be somewhat awkward to explain that the god of reincarnation and rebirth had placed his newly created body on the top of a mountain. "I'm called Jurren."

"Hmm," the old man stood pondering the boy for a few moments as if deciding whether or not to believe his story. "My name is Melstron, I'm an Elvin mage that has been studying this odd mountain for some time now."

"Odd?" Jurren questioned. He had figured that this mountain was far removed from most countries, but he hadn't realized that their was anything strange about it. Aside from himself that is.

"Yes, odd," Melstron said, he eyes filled with excitement. "The mountain has one of the densest concentrations of mana on the entire continent. And that is not all. I have also found records of an ancient civilization that can't be found in any of the historical writings that we currently have."

Melstron continued to describe his various findings and the research that he conducted in his mountain hideaway. Eventually, he remembered that Jurren was still a fairly young boy and was lacking in both clothing and nourishment. Showing Jurren the wardrobe, he quickly left to prepare a meal for the both of them.