1 Chapter 1: Coincidence or Fate?

June 7 Year 30,765

Have you experienced a time where you thought everything would come to an end, including your life but was suddenly given a surprise by fate or maybe just a pleasant coincidence?

Fate or coincidence, Cairo doesn't care.

Blood Sand Town

Almost everyone in Blood Sand Town lived their lives not knowing whether they can survive for another day or not

Cairo is not an exemption of that. The town was hell for all its residence. Everywhere one look at, they will see endless sand and some of them are red in color

The red color of some sand was not what mother nature designed and chose as their color. Just like what the Town's name implies, those sands have blood in them

The town has almost no place suitable for farming and breeding livestock. The food supply was not enough for even just half of the town's populations

Thus, killing becomes rampant. All sorts of crimes were everywhere. Seeing a dead body just laying in the ground was not a rare sight for the townsmen

Humans have a short life expectancy in that town as most of them will die early from starvation and dehydration. Even those that survived until pass their prime wondered if staying alive was worth it

They lived their whole lives racking their brains on where to find food. They worked their minds hard yet securing food was still not that easy

Cairo is a fourteen years old youth. Just like most of the townsmen, he was severely starved and dehydrated. He looks almost like skin and bones

His eyes are hollow and his face is dry. Cairo's lips also have several cracks in them and look as if moisture eluded them

Cairo does not have any food for a few days now and he can feel himself slowly dying. Dying in a painful and pitiful way

His eyes already lose spirit. The image of his dead parents flashed on his mind while he is slowly losing consciousness

"Mother, Father, I'm sorry, I failed to stay alive" Cairo thought on his head

His parents died years ago. As for the reason? They simply found food. Truly a head-shaking reason to die

The two tried their best to hide and give the food to their son but ultimately failed. The worst part is that they failed with their son watching them

Their family is poor from the start. They had Cairo hide in a trashcan and when they arrived with food, some random men stabbed them on the back and snatched away their food

Cairo literally watched his parents slowly die using the holes made on the trashcan. At that time, he was completely terrified to utter even a single sound while silent tears slowly fell from his eyes

Dying because of having food .... Cairo felt that it was absurd but it was real and a common scenario in Blood Sand Town

Cairo used his remaining strength and raised his head to look at the sky while shivering. The town is hot in the afternoon but cold in the evening

Cairo even wondered how he can survive until now. "Why is life so unfair? The townsmen have no food but I saw the Town Head before and he's too fat! I want to be a mage like him and lived a good life. I want to have everything I want without anyone hurting me" Cairo said to himself on his mind

As if the world wants to answer his prayers, Cairo saw a portal-like thing that appeared in the sky and a human figure fell from it. His blurry eyes turned clear for a moment and stared at the man that fell in front of him

It was an old man with a bloody body. The old man was wearing armor but most of it was already destroyed and he was even missing an arm

A mouthful of blood exited the old man's mouth that made the sand redder

The moment of clarity vanished and Cairo's vision turned blurrier than before. Any moment now, he would lose consciousness and might not wake ever wake up

The bloody old man looked at the starved youth before coughing blood. The youth reminded him of himself when he was younger

He was just like that before, hungry, lifeless, and already lose all hope. It was like he is looking at his younger self

"I don't know if this is fate or what, but you sure are lucky" The old man said before pointing his hand towards Cairo

The old man's hand made blue specks of light and they all went to Cairo before they were absorbed inside his body

Cairo stopped losing his consciousness and his mind felt clearer than before. He can feel a warm stream of energy traveling on every inch of his body. The energy was so mystical, although Cairo is still hungry but he at least gained some ability to move and speak

"Who are you? Are you a mage?" Cairo asked without knowing what he should feel at this situation

Instead of answering, the old man asked a question too. "Do you want to have an agreement with me?"

Cairo knitted his brows. What does this dying old man mean? But since he helped Cairo by making him feel some comfort in his body, the youth nodded his head. Not knowing that it will change his life forever

The old man nodded his head and his shaking hands removed a normal looking ring on his finger. "I don't have time, take this" the old man said and threw the ring towards the kid he didn't even know

Cairo caught the ring with his hand while staring at the old man that slowly inched closer to him. The old man then placed his hand on Cairo's head and it glowed with a black light

"What did you do?" Cairo asked in confusion as he can't feel anything on his body

Just like before, the old man didn't answer. "Kid, you have an interesting past life, too bad that I can't help you remember all of it in my current state. Become a mage and you will see another gift from me inside your consciousness sea" after the old man said that, Cairo felt something around him moved and was controlled by the old man

The next thing Cairo knew was that the bloody old man was already high above him. The old man gave him one last glance before his figure cut the air and flew in a speed unimaginable to Cairo

"Is that what a mage can do?" Cairo asked while clenching his fist. He already saw a lot of people using magic but they paled in comparison in front of that old man's power

The Town Head is a fatty that never runs out of food. That old man can do unimaginable things like flying. Both of them are mages

Cairo's eyes glowed with determination. Maybe with the ring and gift that the old man left to him, he could be a mage too. If Cairo was given a chance to be a mage he will make sure to do his best and become as strong as he can be

Cairo turned his attention to the ring on his hand. He tried what the old man said to him and imagined that his mind entered the ring

Soon, Cairo finds his mind in a strange place. He judges that the ring has several kilometers of space filled with various things while beyond that kilometers looks endless with messy fogs and Cairo cannot see anything on it

Almost all of the things inside the ring are something that Cairo cannot recognize. The only things that Cairo is familiar with were clothes and food. Seeing those foods, Cairo's eyes brightened

"C-Can I have those foods? W-wait! I-I's this a spatial ring?!"

Although Cairo is not a mage but he still knew some things about them like how they can perform supernatural things. The mages have famous items too and one of them is a spatial ring that can contain any non-living things inside

Cairo was excited at the prospect of having a spatial ring filled with food but then remember where he was. Fortunately, there is no one around him

As the death rate is high, a lot of areas in the town are devoid of people. Cairo is in a place like that but he still needs to be cautious

Cairo went to an even more secluded corner before trying the Magic Ring again. He willed a piece of the most delicious looking bread he has seen in his whole life to appear in reality

To Cairo's fortune, the bread really appeared on his palm. However, the delicious smell coming from it turned his face pale and he immediately devoured it

If others know that he has food, he would surely have a bad ending similar to the one that his parents had

The youth almost choked by his actions because his throat was still dry. Cairo immediately took water from the ring and drank it to help him swallow the food

Cairo is like a dry sponge absorbing water. The sensation of finally drinking clean water earned a moan from him. It was just simple water but it was more than enough to make the youth extremely happy

Cairo realized his mistake and looked at the remaining foods inside the ring. He shouldn't have eaten a full bread, who knows when he will get another food again?

The youth shook his head at how stupid he is before surveying the other items inside the ring. He saw hundreds or even thousands of books inside arranged on different bookshelves

Cairo noticed the shelves have numbers on them and he went to the shelf that has the number 1 and willed the first book on it to appear in his hand

A thick book appeared on top of Cairo's palm and he can feel how heavy it was due to its numerous pages

"Introduction to Magic" Cairo read the book's cover. Fortunately, his parents knew how to read and write. They taught him with the hopes that he can use it in the future

Turns out that their decision was right. "M-magic" Cairo exclaimed in shock and even his fingers trembled

Magic .... that is exactly the thing he yearned for! If the other books on those shelves are also books about magic then he struck a goldmine!

Cairo excitedly flipped the book's cover and read it excitedly. After a few minutes of reading, the youth's imagination run wild and his yearning for being a mage grew

"Magic is the application of magical theories and was fueled by mana. The mages dreamt to learn the truths in the world and how everything works. Although knowing everything sounds like a dream, mages can still slowly learn bits of information on the world. And with the help of mana, they can do supernatural feats. Mana and Magic, how amazing! "

The more time that passed, the more Cairo becomes amazed. The book states that mages can do everything they want as long as they have enough knowledge and mana

Everything .... Cairo started thinking about his parents. If magic can do everything, can magic return his parents back to him?

Cairo clenched his teeth on that possibility. He hopes that magic is as mystical as what the books describe it to be

After learning some general knowledge, Cairo searched for an item inside the ring. It didn't take long for him to find a clear crystal ball just near the bookshelves

Just like the book, the crystal ball appeared in reality and Cairo stared at it with burning eyes

The youth placed his skinny and shaking hand on top of that ball and soon, the clear crystal ball did its wonder

Cairo's mouth was literally wide open while staring at the colors swirling inside on the object he was holding

Soon, those lights formed four different images. One is a ball of sand, one is a drop of blood, one is a human's fist, and the last one was a humanoid shadow

"T-these are my attributes?" Cairo asked himself in surprise before flipping the book's pages and searched for the type of magic those images represent

Just like what the images look like, Cairo learned the four attributes he has the greatest affinity for. They are sand, blood, body strengthening, and shadows