A boy's dream

The world around us is vast, complex, and cruel.

This is a fact that even the wisest men are unable to comprehend.

To this day, many question its origin and the reason behind its creation.

"Why do we exist?"

"Why is there mana around us, and where does it come from?"

"At what point did everything begin?"

"Will there be an end?"

[Vast]

Yet, no one has ever reached a satisfactory conclusion.

Some pray to "god" in this same world, while others act indifferent toward it.

Some others dream big, only to be crushed by a society where power means everything.

[Complex]

A world where magic rules supreme.

Where the weak kneel to the strong.

Where the common folk serves the noblemen.

[And Cruel]

These were unwritten rules that every mortal followed very carefully. Rules that were naturally imposed by this very same, incomprehensible world.

[!@#$.....error!]

But...

Rules meant for mortals...

Can always be broken.

....

A boy was looking out of the window in his bedroom. It was positioned right next to his bed, so the boy didn't need to stand up to look through it, but just sit on the bed and turn to his left. His room was dark since it was very late at night and his parents were already sleeping in the bedroom next door.

The boy kept looking at the night sky, flabbergasted by its greatness, which made his golden eyes shine with amazement.

Every night, before sleeping the boy would listen to a story from his mother.

Then, the boy would pretend to fall asleep, wait for her to give him a good night kiss, and wait for her to leave the room.

Then, he would sneak under his bedsheets and kneel facing the window.

It was like a ritual that he would follow every night.

He felt a void in his heart being filled with ease every time he repeated this action.

There was a hard-to-explain connection between the boy and that view that made him feel comfortable in his soul.

While contemplating the sky, the boy, being curious, would ask himself many questions while lost in its beauty.

He would spend hours lost in thought, thinking about the reasons behind every phenomenon imaginable.

"What are those dots on the sky?", was the first of many questions that the boy asked himself when he was barely four.

To this question, he got an immediate answer from his mother.

She said, that these dots in the sky were "stars", and that when we leave this world behind, we become immortalized as one of them.

This explanation did not convince the boy a lot, for some reason, but he kept this piece of information ingrained in his infant's brain.

" What are those 6 big stars?"

This time, when this question came to his mind, he decided to ask his father.

The man went on to tell him a story that to this day had marked the boy deeply.

Based on his story, the Great Six Apostles that defeated the Dark Deity a thousand years ago, passed on and became these six big stars.

"Just how cool did you have to be to become such a huge and bright star?!" Asked the boy to his father, who chuckled in delight at his son's antics.

"The Apostles were great people who were unrivaled at their time, stronger than anyone has ever been. They could break mountains with their bare hands or split the sea in half as they walked across it. They could even fly high in the sky for hours as if they had an infinite amount of mana.

They were earthly gods.

Beings are said to have ascended to godhood many centuries ago. Though these are just theories people made to get an answer to their sudden disappearance."

After hearing this, something awakened in the boy's heart.

That's what he wanted!

To become someone like the apostles, someone who could split the seas and fly the skies that were so dear to him.

Who knows? Maybe one day he would reach the stars and confirm if what his mother said was true.

An existence unparalleled to any other, one that could defeat the evilest beings to protect his loved ones.

A pillar of light for common people, like him and his family.

....

Tonight, the boy felt a bit different as he looked through the only window in his humble room.

He felt nervous, and the reason behind this had to do with an event that would take place in a few hours the next morning.

Tomorrow was the last day of the year, which for the human race was a holiday in which they paid their respect to the god of creation and the six apostles to receive their blessings.

This event was also part of a ceremony that would take place each year on the same day and time. The "Awakening Ceremony".

In this ceremony, ten-year-old human children would pray to the holy beings in their local churches, at the same time in which they would receive the gift of sensing and controlling mana.

In other words, they would "awake".

Royals and nobles had a higher chance of awakening than commoners.

It was believed that many thousands of years ago the founders of society were beings loved by God, and therefore they had a strong mana affinity.

Since these individuals were the ancestors of the majority of nobles that live today this affinity was passed down.

When it came to commoners, luck was the defining factor.

It wasn't odd to see commoners handling mana, nor it was hard to see them enroll in academies for "Magis". But it was a very established fact that nobles had way more chances at accomplishing this feat than common people.

The boy knew about this fact and considering that he was from a commoner family with no Magis, he couldn't help but worry.

The boy loved his parents dearly, so he could not possibly blame them, but the chances were clearly against him because of this.

After taking a deep breath, the ten-year-old lay down and closed his eyes, hoping that luck would be on his side the next day.

"Worrying won't change anything." He thought, before falling asleep.

....

In a rectangular shaped table ten meters in length, six individuals were sitting looking at each other.

Three were on one side of the table facing the other three individuals on the other side. There was a big throne-looking chair with no one sitting on it, positioned at the furthest end of the table.

The person who was to sit there would be facing other the six individuals.

The chairs in which these individuals were sitting were not as magnificent but they still looked like pieces of art sculpted by God himself.

"It's about time".

A strong voice resonated within the room. The strength behind this voice could send chills down the spine of the bravest men.

A bulky figure of a man with a height of about three meters leaned forward as he said this.

He had tanned skin, short dark hair, and red eyes. These eyes were so intimidating that they could pierce through the souls of those who stared at them. He had three horns on his head, one being a few inches above his forehead while the others were positioned at each side of the latter.

"..."

The other individuals did not look shaken by this beast-looking man at all. They just looked at each other with a neutral gaze.

Then, another individual on the table, whose only visible feature was a frighting grin, as if whispering, said in a low voice,

"Soon, I'll be freed".