In the begining

Inside a forest at the edge of the kingdom of Dragnof, a young man had just awoken and was dazedly looking around himself. He had black messy hair that was long enough to hide his eyes and streaks of red along the sides of his face. He had sharp eyes with a face that gave off a feeling of a handsome thug.

Awakened from his dazed state the young man though out loud, "Where am i??, how did i get here?? Did i get drunk again, but even if i did, how the hell did i end up in a fucking forest!!". And so after looking around without finding any clues to where he might be, he looked to the sky and followed the position of the sun. "Based on the sun its probably around midday and from how it looks North should probably be...this way", saying out loud, he turned to his right and simply went in what he could guess was north.

After half and hour of walking he found a small stream flowing beside a small open area. He was amazed at the beauty and tranquility of the forest he was in and realised he was nowhere near his city and this made alarm bells ring in his mind.

"Did i get kidnapped and made into a game to hunt for rich people like in those weird murder mysteries, or maybe i'm in one of those secret experiments the government is conducting and i'm an unlucky test subject!?", his mind was thinking up some weird amd crazy ideas about his situation and after a while simply decided to rest near the stream.

After drinking a few handful of water and calming himself, he decided to think about his situation rationally and come up with a plan.

"Ok, whatever shitty luck got me into this situation, its already happened so i need to make the best of what i've got. I mean it's what i've been doin my whole life. When my mother was transferred from her job to another city and we had to sell our house and live in a small apartment in a bad neighbourhood just so a corrupt politician's relative could be put in her place, we made do with what we had, we struggled but be adapted. When my sister was rejected for a job cause some rich people bribed the executives to pick their son instead, we made do, even though we invested a lot of money into her getting the job. When i was rejected in an interview even though i had the highest score in the exam just so the executives could kiss the ass of a politician, we made do. I'm a survivor, my parents taught me to be tough and to adapt to any situation life throws at me. This is no different! I'm going to adapt and make do with whatever comes!".

Resolving himself he went on further north, and after 2 hours of walking he could finally see the edge of the forest just on the horizon. As he got closer, he could make out a small wooden house at the edge of the forest with smoke coming out of the chimney, he hurriedly went towards it and after reaching the door he momentarily hesitated but ultimately knocked on the door.

~Knock Knock Knock~

After waiting for a few moments, he heard soft creaking and watched as the door slowly opened to reveal a tall muscular old man?. He looked taller than himself and he was quite tall himself standing at 6'2" but the old man before him seemed to be a few inches taller about 6'5", looking up at the old man, he secretly tensed up and got ready to bolt or fight for his life.

Although he wasn't a fighter per se, he fought quite a bit during his childhood and teenage years and had basic training in both myuai thai and boxing so he could handle himself pretty well. Just as he was about to get into a fighting stance he heard the old man speak and got out of his hyper thinking state.

"Hello young man, how can this old man help you?", the deep voice of the old man amazed him as there was no indication of his age in the voice and seemed more like the voice of someone who was at the prime of their lives, but clearly the person before him was old as he had a long white beard and the wrinkles on his face clearly showed that he was in his later years.

After thinking this he simply went with the flow and introduced himself,"Hello sir!, you see i suddenly woke up inside the forest and didn't know how i got here so i was hoping of you happened to have a phone i could use or if you help me contact the police in anyway?".

After the young man told him of his situation and asked for his help, the old man's face became confused and puzzled and asked,"I'm sorry my boy but i don't know what this 'phone' is. Is it a new magical device, and i certainly dont know any guild you called 'police' are they a new guild, you see i haven't had much contact with the city and i am terribly out dated in my knowledge of what's happening there", he said in an apologetic tone and a wry smile.

After hearing the old man's answer the young man froze and then suddenly had a bad premonition but decided to ask anyway, "Sir uh....what's the name of the nearest city and what year is it?"

The old man was surprised but still decided to answer his question, "The nearest city would be the capital Dragnof as this forest is relatively close to it and the year is X390, maybe you should come in and have some tea young man, it appears you might have been robbed by bandit's or something. You may have been affected by some sort of mind magic".

Hearing the name Dragnof, the young man thought it sounded familiar but didn't know from where, but the moment he heard magic his heart beat quickend and his mind went into overdrive, outwardly he robotically nodded and went inside the house, but his mind was somewhere else.

"Could it be, have i transmigrated like all those novels and fanfictions i've read. He said magic so what type of world could i be in, wait, Dragnof, thats the kingdom that Irene from the fairy tail story used to rule! Could it really be?".

While he was thinking to himself the old man went inside his kitchen and came back with a pot of steaming tea and two cups. After pouring the drink and sipping his own cup, he saw that the strange young man had come out of his thoughts and heard him ask a question, "Excuse me sir, i have been terribly rude and haven't introduced myself, my name is Blake....uhh....i can't seem to remember my last name and thank you for helping me, but i just have to make sure, who is the current king??".

The old man was surprised at first but then had a look of understanding as getting affected by mind magic can lead to various side effects and the young man before him probably lost a chunk of his memory and was probably confused at the moment. So he decided to be patient with him and help him all he can and answer all his questions, perhaps that will help his memories, he thought to himself.

"A pleasure to meet you young Blake, please call me Ed or grandpa because you look about my granddaughters age and i terribly miss her so you calling me grandpa would make this old man feel a bit more happier, as for the current king, its King Edmund II", The old man now named grandpa Ed said with a smile.

Blake was suprised by the ol- grandpa Ed's friendly atmosphere but felt happy inside as he never thought someone would be so kind to a total stanger they met a few moments ago. But hearing the name of the king puzzled him, was it before Irene became the queen? has the Dragon war started? so many questions. But all that could be saved for later as he has more pressing matters to address.

Smiling widely Blake said,"Thank you, grandpa". Hearing Blake call him grandpa, Ed had a watery smile and felt really happy about it. He couldn't understand why but the young man seemed like a good guy and also there was something about him that made him feel connected, maybe his magic? wait, his magic!! he couldn't feel his magic, he looked to be in about 18 but hadn't even awakened his magic? Where exactly did he come from? He seems to be genuinely confused about his situation so what happened to him?".

As Ed was thinking these things he decided to simply ask Blake,"So Blake, it seems you haven't awoken your magic yet, usually people awaken their magic at age 10 and thus find out whether they are able to become mages or not, so i'm quite curious why you haven't yours?".

After Blake heard this question he nervously said," Well, you see ...." After explaining that where he came from they didn't even know magic existed Ed was amazed and dumfounded that there could be people who didn't even know magic and when Blake explained about how they developed technology without the use of magic he was even more amazed.

After a couple of hours of back and forth between the two, the sun began to set and the coming darkness alerted the two about the time and so Ed said that they could continue after dinner and they both went to the kitchen and Blake helped making their supper.

After a hearty meal they both felt pretty worn out so agreed to continue their conversation tomorrow.

Blake was shown to the guestroom, which had a bed and a chair and a drawer. After saying goodnight and closing the door he immediately dropped to the bed and almost instantly fell asleep.

The next morning Blake woke up to the sunlight coming from the window hitting his face. Reluctantly waking up he washed his face with the water he found in the jug placed beside a wooden bucket that Ed told him last night was for his use.

After cleaning himself he went inside the kitchen and saw Ed already up and making them breakfast. After a goodmorning greeting and eating breakfast Ed decided to speak first.

"So Blake since you haven't awakened your magic do you want me to open it for you?", Ed asked.

After hearing this Blake was really excited and said, "That would be great! I wonder i would awaken any magic, hey grandpa what kind of magic do use, your a mage right, you have to be from the way you could tell i haven't awoken my magic and from your stories last night you were probably a strong mage because only a strong mage could have traveled to some of the places you described", he said with a sly smile at the end. Blake didn't know why but from their first interaction he simply felt a connection to Ed and although simply calling someone grandpa after they just met would normally be weird, this time it just felt natural. Like he was the grandfather he never had because his grandfather died of brain tumor before he even knew him.

After hearing Blake's answer Ed just laughed heartily and said,"Ho ho ho, cheeky little brat, your quite perceptive aren't ya!, alright after i awaken your magic, if you have any aptitude to become a mage, i will teach you my personalised magic. But just a warning, even if you don't have the aptitude, there is nothing wrong with it and you can just help me around the house and i'll show you how to hunt and gather food.", he added with a sof smile at the end.

Blake was excited by the first half of the answer but was shocked a bit by the second and then simply nodded at the end. "Whoever sent me here would at least make me a mage, i hope?", Blake thought to himself.

They went outside where Blake sat down cross-legged on the ground and Ed gently put both his palms against his back, after which he sent a stream of magic into Blake's body an into the origin, the so called container present in everyone that determined the capacity of how much magic one can hold inside them.

After a few minutes Blake could feel something warm coursing through his body, it started near his heart and quickly went through his whole body, he felt like something he didn't know he had was suddenly there, although it felt new, it also flet like it was there the whole time. A truly contradictory feeling.

After he had awakened his magic he was about to ask Ed if he was capable of being a mage when he heard Ed's serious voice say,"You magic is incredible for someone you has just awakened their magic, its about the size of C-rank mage!", Ed was very surprised about this revelation, as this means that if Blake trained his magic he could easily become S-rank in less then 2 years as someone who had large pools of inborn magic also had fast growth rates.

"Maybe he will be able to accompany Irene after all", Ed thought with a fond smile on his face thinking about how they would interact with each other.

While Ed was lost in his thoughts, Blake was also having a discovery about his newly awakened magic.