The Beginning?

(Author- Hey guys I hope you all enjoy my story! If you do feed me power stones and support me at PayPal.Me/YugiohGod)

"Hello there, Eren, how you doing buddy?" Han Merrick, a tall boy that stands around six foot and two inches, with short brown hair, a powerful build, and the face of a prince, asks as he wraps his arm around my neck.

While I may not look as amazing as Han, I am by no means ugly, I am around five foot and eleven inches, have short dirty blond hair, a very masculine face with a strong jaw, and have a very lean but fit build.

I shake my head in exasperation, "You should be more worried with yourself, after all, your the pride of this village, if you don't get a good classification than no one will." I chuckle.

He shakes his head, "Tis such a heavy burden that I fear I may be crushed by the weight of it, my feeble knees shake and buckle under the immense pressure." His sarcastic tone is quite obvious.

I chuckle for a few moments at his response as we have now finally reached a beautiful blue lake that is surrounded by towering oak trees and lush grass.

We both sit down at the base of the tallest oak tree and stare at the lake. Sun light dances on the surface of the lake causing each and every ripple to display beauty which even the most masterful of artists would fail to recreate.

Han then turns to me, "In all seriousness, tomorrow is our coming of age ceremony, aren't you the least bit nervous? After all, I am guaranteed to at least have access to Ki thanks to my bloodline, but you, you know being adopted and all..."

I nod my head solemnly, "Yah I know, we have absolutely no clue what I could be. Hell, I could be a normal person."

"Yah." Is all he could respond with. "You know, no matter what happens you will always be my brother, and with your skill in martial arts you could probably still become a low rank adventurer."

Back when I was five years old I was adopted by the Merrick family after I became friends with Han. The Merrick family is extremely well respected in our town thanks to them all being able to wield Ki.

They took up residence in this town after discovering a magic cave. Magic caves are found all over the world. They are what either unlocks one innate Magic or Ki. Without the caves, it would be impossible to awaken either. Sadly, some people have neither and just remain normal humans.

"Yah." Is all I can say in response. I have been trying to keep an upbeat attitude, but honestly, I am terrified of just staying a nobody who was adopted by good family. While of course I hold absolutely no ill-will towards the Marrick family, in fact I love them as if they were my own, I still wish to make a name for myself.

Seeing my distant attitude, Han stands up, "The Coming of age ceremony is only a few hours away, so why don't we warm up?" With that, he reaches down and grabs the collar of my shirt, "What the!" Is all I can manage to shout as he full on hammer throws me into the lake.

I crash into the water causing waves to form from the splash. The water invades my lungs as I raise to the surface. After getting out of the water I glare at Han as he mockingly boasts, "Oh? Dose my little brother not like being tossed into the water?"

"You piece of!" I shut as I launch myself at him.

[A few hour later]

My brother and I are sitting acrossed the couch in a room. The house is made out of stone, the room we are is neatly decorated with a beautiful royal red carpet and furniture. and from our mother who has long black raven hair, emerald green eyes, and the fairest of fair skin. "Listen, this won't be easy for us, both of our boys leaving the home at the same time, but in honor of your coming of age ceremony, we have a few gifts for you."

Just then, the large dark wood doors open and in walks my father and fourteen year old little sister Amelia. He has hair nearly identical to Han's except his had a reddish tint to it. He has a nicely trimmed beard, broad shoulders, extremely tall standing around six foot six inches, and was the definition of a soldier.

Amelia then turns to father, "May I please give them my gifts first? He smiles and gestures for her to begin.

She turns to Han first, "For you." She then pulls a dummy from the other room. It was adorned with impressive steel chainmail and plated armor with gold finish and a gold colored spartan helmet. It was mostly plated armor except for areas like the joint which were mail.

This allowed for more maneuverability while still being well defended. Leaning next to it was a large round gold shield which had the family crest on it, which was a Spartan Helmet with two bastard swords stabbed through it forming an X. There was also a impressive one handed bastard sword. All of these items had a small emblem of burning coal surrounded by axe's. This was Amelia's blacksmith insignia. It proved that they were her work so the credit couldn't be stolen.

The edge of the shield and the flat of the sword were inscribed with magical runes. This was proof that they were magical gear. Magical gear is renowned acrossed the land for being incredibly hard to create. Some smiths would spend their entire lives and never succeed in crafting gear well enough to be enchanted. Because of this even the lowest rank F magical items are still extremely valuable.

Han stands up and walks over to the armor and admires the beautiful craftsmanship. He then picks up the sword and shield and stands their mouth agape, "Are these magic weapons?" He asks almost unable to believe it.

Amelia smirks, "Yes indeed it is! I spent almost two years creating that sword and shield, after I finished we took it to the enchantress in the capital city and they were actually good enough to receive E-rank enchantment! The sword has E-rank sharpness, and the Shield has E-rank protection and E rank durability." She explains while beaming in excitement.

To our mothers exasperation, Amelia turned out to be a prodigy in the art of smithing. Not only was she a prodigy, but she fell in love with it. While still a beauty in her own right, Amelia has black coal like hair, slightly tanned skin, and a very athletic body. She has the same beautiful face as her mother, but instead of looking like a fair maiden, she looks more like a beautiful warrior.

Han then smiles and bows his head, "Thank you all so much for these incredible gifts, I will cherish them, and with the, bring honor to the family and your name."

She then turns to me, "Eren, for you I have this." She then turns around and pulls another dummy into the room, this dummy wore a very impressive set of leather armor. The leather armor was pitch black with gold accents, on its right shoulder it had a gold colored steel shoulder guard. It also had gold colored steel shin guards.

However, what really caught my attention was the Forearm guards and a steel bostaff leaning next to it. The reason for this was that both were inscribed with runes. "Incredible!" I gasp and walk over to the armor.

She smiles with a look of relief, "I am glad you like it, leather curing isn't my strong suit so I was worried I may have messed it up. As for the enchantments, the forearm guards were E-rank, but to make them more useful I decided to ask her for a custom enchantment.

You see, they still have F-rank protection, but they also have an unique E-rank enchantment. When you will it to, you can either have a blade appear from the bottom or top of the guard. The longest the blade can reach is eight inches, but I think it should be enough. As for the staff.."

Her smile grows as she goes on to explain the staff, "It is probably my best creation so far! It was so well made, that it actually managed to reach D-rank!" Hearing this I can't help but gape a little, a D-rank magic item? That's incredible!

She then continues explaining, "As for what it does, it has F-rank weight reduction, E-rank size manipulation, and E-rank durability!"

I stare at her shocked, "What's the range of the size manipulation?"

She then smirks, "Five to Eight feet."

I then immediately bow my head, "Thank you for these incredible gifts, I will ensure that I do not sully your name by misusing them.

She then nods her head, "That's all from me."

Father then smiles, "My gift is simple enough, but it should be helpful to you." He then pulls out two identical silver rings with runes on them. "These are F-rank storage rings, they can store anything non living in them and has a space of 5x5 feet. I hope you find them useful." He then hands one to each of us.

We both bow in unison, "Thank you father." He shakes his head and chuckles.

Our mother than walks up to us. "This is my gift." She then hands us each a gold ring with an engraving on it. "This is a E-rank ring that I bought from store. It has a spell of mine stored inside of it. Every six hours you can cast it on yourself or someone touching the ring. It is my healing spell Healing Touch. It should be able to heal things like basic cuts and a broken bone or two."

We both bow as we accept the rings, "Thank you mother." She gently strokes our cheeks, "Just be safe you two." We both nod and stand their for a moment before our father breaks the silence. "You two get changed into your new gifts and grab your bags, we'll meet at the cave entrance.

We both just nod as they turn to leave. We sit there in silence for a few minutes before we begin speaking, "I can't believe we actually have magic gear."

He nods, "Yah, our little sister is incredible."

I chuckle, "She's making us look bad!"

With that we burst out laughing before Han groes serious, "You know she's already getting offers from all over the kingdom asking for her marriage. Our parents are turning them down but you know how nobles and royalty can get."

I nod, "Yah." We sit there in silence watching the wood in the fireplace crackle and slowly turn black from the charring. "If they dare touch her."

The then finishes my sentence, "We drop everything and hunt them down."

With that we both smile at each other evilly. "Lets get changed."

[A few minutes later]

*Click Clack*

*Click Clack*

*Click Clack*

The sound of hooves galloping on a stone path can be heard as we ride through the town heading towards the cave that's a little ways south of the village. The village is a very nicely kept place, it has a population of around 3,000 people. The homes are made mostly out of stone or wood with either tightly weaved straw or lumber.

The town is surrounded by a twelve foot wall with Three different entrances. One at the east, west, and south. The three paths from the entrances meet in the market and the final path leads to our family mansion that is in the north district of the village.

I am riding a lean but muscular black horse named Switch, while Han rides a large white muscular battle horse named Zorro.

After we finally reach the cave we see it surrounded by hundreds of children wearing adventuring gear, hoping to be given a ability that would allow them to have a chance of a more exciting life. In the world there is only a few hundred family's like the Merrick's who have a guaranteed ability.

My nerves are driving me insane, the fear that I might not even have an ability is overwhelming every other sense I have. As we dismount we walk over to our parents and tie our horses to a tree before going and joining the group of other children.

Seeing our gear we hear people around us muttering in admiration, and a few in jealousy. The wind blows through the trees causing the leaves to rustle and my hair to blow in the wind, light glows through the leaves and bounce off all the weapons and armor in the crowd.

A few moments later, our father walks into the front of the group, "Welcome everyone to our yearly coming of age festival!" Clapping erupts from the crowd. "You all know I may be your lord, but I'm a simple man and I like to keep things quick and easy. So lets get this underway! When I call your name please step foreword?"

Another round of applause erupts from the crowd. Then, one by one a child entered the cave and became an adult. Some came out relieved, others in tears. Then, finally, its only me and my brother left.

My father then announces, "Finally, it's time for my two sons. Please, would Han Merrick step forward?"

Han begins to step forward, but I grab his shoulder, "Hey, good luck brother." He nods, before turning and entering the cave. A few moments later, he comes out grinning, he raises his fist and it ignites on fire! Then, whispers spread through the crowd, "Is that magic?"

"No that's not magic, magic would have a magic energy circle first, that's elemental fire Ki!"

"Elemental Ki? Isn't that extremely rare!"

"Yah it is! With Ki like that he defiantly has a shot at the National Tournament!"

I smile while shaking my head, I shouldn't have doubted him.

He then walks over to me with a excited look on his face, "I shouldn't have expected anything less." I chuckle.

He then places his hand on my shoulder, "Don't worry Eren, you'll be fine." I nod as my fathers voice echoes out, "Eren Merrick, please enter the cave."

I take a deep breath before taking step after step into the cave. As soon as I enter the room turns cold, mist rises the around me everywhere except a singe path that is guiding me deeper into the cave.

I slowly follow the path, in twists and turns for what seems like hours, water drips from the roof of the mist dark cave. Finally, the path comes to an end and I find myself in a large room. The room seems to be pitch black, except for a single golden orb in front of me.

An orb? It's quite large, maybe slightly larger than my head, and it's emitting a powerful light.

I slowly follow the lit path and walk over to the orb and kneel next to it. As if I just instinctively know what to do, I reach out my hand out and I place it on the orb.

I then slowly imagine an invisible energy from my soul and reach out into the orb. Suddenly, I feel a warm sensation suddenly spread throughout my entire body. I feel pure unwavering joy. Then, the orb begins to slowly drain away.

Slowly, I feel the energy from the orb slowly become absorbed into me until it completely disappears. Suddenly, an incredible amount of pain overwhelms me. I feel as if my soul is breaking. I lay there withering in pain and screaming for what seems like hours before it finally fades away. I suddenly feel as if I am a completely different person. It feels as if I am reborn.

Upon receiving this feeling I suddenly am able to sense the life force of everything around me. "What the.." I mutter in shock. Closing my eyes I can still feel this invisible energy, it feels as if all the life of the world around me is just floating around me. 'Incredible.' I think in my mind.

I then attempt to reach out with my soul and attempt to absorb the energy, just as I had with the egg. Slowly, but surely I can feel myself absorbing the energy. As I absorb it, it feels as if I am filling in a giant swimming pool with a hose. The more I absorb, the stronger I feel. I then open my eyes and stand up before looking around.

Suddenly, before I can do anything, the world around me begins to shift, as the darkness disappears and I find myself at the entrance of the cave.

Breathing out in relief I slowly exit the cave. As I exit the cave, I see the crowd all looking on in excitement, and my family in nervousness. I then, raise my Bo-staff above my head, and attempt to draw out all the power of my new energy and display it.

I then look up confidently as a visible white energy surrounds me. My hair blows around as the energy begins releasing a pressure. While using the energy like this I feel even lighter than before.

Some of the people who had weak abilities from the cave or had weak wills in general fell to their knees, others stared on in shock. My brother on the other hand just stands their smirking. My father, mother, and sister all have a look of pride in their eyes as they stare at me.

Father then walks up to me and asks, "What is that energy? It defiantly isn't magic, and Ki wouldn't have that effect."

I shake my head and reply while smiling excitedly, "I don't know, but I can almost feel the life force of everything around me." I am giddy with excitement, I mean who wouldn't be? I have never even heard of a strange energy like this!

Amelia smiles. Father and Mother look at me proudly as I feel a hand grab my shoulder from behind.

"I knew I shouldn't have doubted you, look at you pulling one over my head." Han shakes his head disappointedly, "Just when I thought I had gotten an advantage with my elemental Ki you pull out something like this!"

I shake my head amused at my brothers antics. Before we can continue our banter our father announces, "With that our yearly coming of age festival comes to an end! Please bid farewell to those who are leaving, and for everyone else, prepare to return home!"

With that father than walks over to me. "About what you told me about your energy, I heard of a group of monks who practice something similar to that over at the Draken Mountain, on the Kingdoms border. Perhaps you will find something there.

I turn and nod, "Thanks."

As I turn around and begin walking away, I hear, "DAM YOU!!!!"

I turn and see one of the kids who didn't receive anything special diving towards me his knife in hand.

"What the!" Before I can finish, the knife slits my neck. Suddenly, my vision turns red and then black, and then.... nothing.

THE END!