Chapter 2: The Dark Shadows of Doomera

Nurturing the boy wasn't easy, Lady Golo had to deal with the fact the boy did not like the unknown lands one bit, along with the fact he was also treated as a threat by most of the community of the island. Lady Golo only had much trouble dealing with his quiet personality, he wasn't rowdy as he was more untrusting, it did take quite a time for the boy to finally begin eating the food by Lady Golo, most of the time he kept himself hidden in the corners of Lady Golos hut. Roran did come time from time to check up but the boy would rather look at him with disdain and give him dirty glances, seems he remembered the fight quite clearly, even though Roran did try to apologize multiple times for the fact he did start the fight… the boy did not like most of the excuses.

"You are eating well aren't you boy?" Lady Golo said, watching as the boy fully devoured a bowl of brown rice, eating it out of a wooden bowl with a wooden spoon. Lady Golo reached out with her fragile hand, ready to warn the boy to not eat too fast as he could choke… yet it was too late as the boy quickly realized some rice was stuck in his throat. Lady Golo sighed as she quickly slid a wooden cup with water over to him, the boy quickly grabbed a cup and put it up to his mouth before quickly chugging it down. The boy breathed a fresh breath as he put the wooden cup onto the table with a clack, Lady Golo glanced at him before she quickly spoke in her raspy voice "See boy? That is what you get for not listening to your granny… now eat slowly, I know you must be hungry as the high heavens of this world, but you still have your body limits" Lady Golo said with a chuckle, it was like scolding her grandchild, even though the boy wasn't her actual grandchild, it was nice to think of him like that, she did always want a grandchild after all. The boy started to eat more slowly, learning his lesson from earlier as he continued to eat the brown rice slowly, flavoring its good taste mixed in with many boiled vegetables. As dinner slowly ended, Lady Golo got up from her chair, her staff in hand as its bell jingled as he slowly moved into the darkness which wasn't lit by the burning candle on the table, she slowly spoke out "Boy, be sure to not stay up too late… you need your sleep after all." She let the words hang off before she disappeared into the darkness.

The boy was left alone on the wooden table, the empty wooden bowl placed close to him as he read over a book, flipping through the hard pages, as he learned more and more about the lands. Soon the name of the lands appeared on the pages… "Doomera… a medium-sized island that is found in the first sea… first sea..? There are… more?" The boy questions himself. He continued to flip through the pages, slowly continuing his nightly read as he slowly muttered to himself… "People… decedents of one of the only humans left… after the Dark Withering..?" The boy kept reading, suddenly he felt something… a pull to the outside. Slowly closing the book, the boy got up from his chair before taking the candle with him, slowly walking to the door as he slowly opened it. He walked out into the night, the moon shining its faint light onto the lands, the wind gently blowing against the candle flame, the flame flickering due to the gentle wind blowing slowly against it. The boy kept walking, his feet slowly crunching against the leaves of the ground, he didn't know the directions, he simply felt the pull of something dark. He did not know why he felt his pull, the boy simply followed it, like it was his instincts, he always followed his instincts after all. Yet he felt something was wrong this time, it was like a feeling that constantly nagged him, that it wasn't safe traversing in these nightly shadows, it wasn't worth to see what this pull was. Yet he kept walking, his feet making crunching sounds against the dry leaves on the ground, the gentle wind getting ever so close to blowing out the small flame of the candle. He kept walking and walking until he finally encountered an entrance, and entrance to a large cave, the cave felt too deep, way too deep for normal. Yet the boy, holding his hand around the small flame of his candle, slowly started to walk in, his footsteps fading as he finally entered the shadows.

Not even a few minutes after walking into the cave, the boy heard a voice, one as raspy and rocky as the texture of the floor, as deep and dark as the shadows of the deep cave itself… "Foreign one, brave to come into these caverns, yet so foolish to directly walk prey into the predator… tell me your name, at least I shall remember you as one of the brave preys that came here on their own will…". Its eyes slowly opened, showing its deep purple pupils, the rest of his eyes as dark as the shadows, yet the boy felt no need to run, he simply took one forward before a rock near him was whipped into pieces by a dark-like whip. "You still move forward…? Quite brave, and foolish." The thing spoke again but before it could speak another word the boy dashed forward at his top speed as the candle in his hands quickly extinguished, and his footsteps were quickly heard. The figure was surprised by this, yet he quickly launched more of those shadowy whip-like strikes, yet the boy dodged each one, one from the left, the boy quickly shuffled right, one from downward the boy barely avoided by stopping in his tracks before starting his dash again. The thing was confused at the fact the boy was able to just dodge his strikes, yet the flame of his candle extinguished the second he started dashing towards him. Yet it was too late before the thing realized, he saw that the boy was able to see his strikes through the thing's purple eyes that shined brightly, yet he couldn't think much about it before he was struck quickly by the rim of the candle holder right in the face. The Thing was pushed back as he groaned in pain, yet the boy didn't let off there, quickly dashing forward with his arm reeled back, ready to bash the rim again, yet as he struck with it he felt it hit something hard, as he slowly looked closer, it looked like he hit a… staff? Yet not having much time to think about it before suddenly its tip glowed its purple light brightly, showing the fact a gem was shining before the boy felt like something heavy pushed him down before he was quickly slammed to his knees. The thing finally spoke again "Feral you are Foreigner, being able to dodge my strikes and hit me…? That hasn't happened in a while, yet you will suffer greatly for daring to even graze the Great Chief, Marua!" The man said with a booming voice, yet the boy finally saw the outline of his figure, covered in a dark ragged cloak, with a strange headpiece on his head, yet his face was not visible, hidden deep in its own shadow as only his bright purple eyes were visible. Yet the boy, even if he felt such a heavy force pushing him down on his knees, his mind ran through many thoughts, trying to find a way out of this pressure zone. The boy looked down again, feeling his hands graze against the rough rock surface of the cave, yet in the deep shadows of the cave, he found something.

A dark-like circle, having two thin layers surrounding its epicenter, along with many unknown runes circling the gap between the layers. In its center was a sharp spiral, sharper than rounded, it resembled something, something he saw from the book… Shadow magic. Yet he realized this was a magic spell that kept holding him down, granting more power through the Dark Staff, the boy reached out with his hand, yet Marua only looked down at him, simply scoffing at the fact the boy was trying to do something in this helpless situation. The boy's hand outstretched as far as it could, grabbing the ragged dark cloak of Marua, pulling it with as much strength his body could muster up as it put Marua in an unbalanced state, this, even for a single split second, allowed the magical spell of Marua to be aimed off the boy, yet the boy pulled himself quickly up Marua, lifting his arm again. Yet he did not aim with his fist, he aimed with his elbow, the boy with all the force he could muster from the momentum of his movement up Marua and the strength of his arm, struck down in a brutal elbow strike straight down at Maruas face, slamming him down hard onto the cave floor with a loud thud. The boy fell on top of Marua, the magical spell seemingly deactivated now due to the hard elbow strike, yet it wasn't enough to put him down for good. A magical circle formed around the boy's neck, yet in a much smaller form, suddenly a ring formed from shadows quickly closed in on the boy's throat, lifting him in the air with ease. It slowly started to close around his throat even tighter now, the boy could slowly feel his windpipe getting crushed closed, gasping for air. Marua slowly rose, holding the staff with its purple gem shining brightly as it fueled the magical spell now, Marua slowly spoke with his raspy and dark voice, clearly affected the by elbow strike to his face "Listen here you Foreigner, you DARE to strike me with such a dirty cheap trick?! You will pay… you will pay with your wretched soul foreigner…" Marua spoke with clear hatred in his voice, slowly coming closer and closer. The boy slowly felt himself slip into unconsciousness due to the lack of air going into his body, yet in a desperate attempt he tried to inhale with his nose, yet what he inhaled wasn't air, but bits of the shadowy ring around his neck. Yet when those bits slowly entered his system, it awakened something, slowly his dark and chained up soul, one of its chains slowly cracked as the boy felt something surge up in his body. The boy, still gasping for air, slowly lifted his right towards Marua, pointing it at him… yet suddenly a small magical circle formed around the boy's hand, it shined with a light blue color, and with something representing… a lightning strike in its epicenter, placed just like the sharp spiral of Maruas Magic. Yet not much thought could be placed onto it as Marua was suddenly struck with a blinding light that launched him backward straight into the wall of the caverns, he was just hit by a lightning strike. Marua was appalled… lighting magic? He hadn't seen in years, years trapped in these caverns because of the fact he decided to use the Dark Staff that washed up on Doomera, yet the people HE led himself banished him, fearing his new shadow magic.

The boy was left gasping for air after the shadowy ring finally dispersed from his neck, his right palm having its cloth charred from the heat of the lightning strike, slowly he lifted his right palm again, his body shaking due to its exhaustion. Marua slowly started to lift himself from the crack of the cave holding his Dark Staff again, yet the bright purple gem seemingly had a crack, caused by the lightning strike earlier… "You will pay for this… you little wretched foreigner, suddenly you have lighting magic?! And dare to even damage my Dark staff?! YOU WILL PA-!" Yet not even before Marua could finish his sentence, a Thunder roar echoed through the cavern walls as another Lighting bolt crackled at blinding speeds against him. It struck him, lighting up the cave as it sent him flying against the wall again, yet another, and another, Lighting bolts kept on coming, completely decimating Marua, no time to recover. It wasn't soon before he was struck one final time, his body fried as steam came from it, slumping down as the cavern wall behind him was cratered, his staff having its base charred and its gem broken, having no color now. The boy's right hand was smoking due to the charred cloth that was burnt even more by the multitude of lighting strikes, slowly the magical circle from his palm faded away, and Marua was seemingly now, dead.

The boy felt lost now since the pull was gone, seemingly caused by Marua's magical core, he was completely lost in the forest now. Carrying the charred Dark Staff and the broken gem in his other hand, he continued to walk through the dark forest, his feet sore from all the walking he had done earlier, yet this time he felt it more roughly as the exhaustion in his body was clear. Yet he kept on walking, ignoring the pain as he always had done up until now, just wishing for the best to not get lost in these dense forests of Doomera, it was strange for this much growth on an old island like Doomera. Yet the boy kept walking, still holding the charred staff and the broken gem in his cloth-wrapped hands, yet he still felt the slight burn from his right palm, which already had the burnt cloth on his palms from the lightning strikes, while also holding the charred staff which was pretty... hot. It was a stinging sensation that felt like being poked with needles in his right hand, it was more annoying than painful, yet he still had to keep walking. Yet even if his eyes had adjusted to the night, it was still hard to see at this level of darkness, he could blame the dense trees for blocking out any sort of moonlight, yet he was soon proven wrong. 

Suddenly, he felt something warm hit his back, it was a rather comforting feeling, like his soul was being introduced to the warmth of the sun again, but he quickly turned around as he was confused about where this warmth was coming from. He was only met with blinding light to his eyes, as he slowly rubbed them, he finally noticed the bright sun rays slowly piercing through the dense woods and leaves... it was already daytime by now. This surprised the boy, it was so dark earlier yet suddenly the the piercing sun rays slowly lit up the forest warmly, it felt nice for the boy's exhausted body. Yet his eyes didn't immediately adapt to the light now, forcing him to squint his eyes as he rubbed them with the back of his hand, as he was still holding the broken gems in his left hand. It was soon as he slowly adjusted to the bright rays of the sun, that he finally stopped squinting his eyes which were already draining him of his already exhausted energy, but he slowly heard shuffling footsteps, as he could hear the quick footsteps.

"Found ya brat!" The voice called out as the person dashed through the bushes it was seen to be Roran, he looked like he was sweating and seemed to have been running around for some time. Roran slowly spoke again, stopping as he tried to catch his breath while still talking to the boy "For god's sake... where the hell did you go... I swear you will be so don-" yet Roran couldn't finish his sentence as he slowly notices the charred staff in the right boys hand, the gem missing. Roran looked confused as he finally caught his breath, slowly walking over to the boy, still looking at the charred staff in his hand, the only thing that was heard at that moment was the soft shuffling of the grass as Roran's boots stomped on them. "Why... do you have the Dark Staff...?" Roran slowly spoke, his hand grabbing the clothed hand of the boy, slowly lifting the boy's hand to get a better view of the charred Dark Staff. "Where, and how did you get this foreigner? There is no way you just found it... just look at its state for Zeus's sake, there is no way Marua escaped... right?".

Yet the boy decided to speak, his rather soft tone and gentle words seemed to be as soft as the gentle winds that blew on those two, "Marua...? I-I think... I killed him... I don't know if you will believe me, but he slowly lured me into some cave... a-and-" before the boy could finish the short telling, Roran just sighed looking at him with a small smirk before speaking, "Welp, I knew something was wrong when suddenly it felt like Marua's Aura was gone, yet looks like the foreigner killed him, quite the tough kid are ya?" Roran said patting the boy's shoulder like a proud older brother. "You quite surprising, but guess what now kid, you shall be getting a small ceremony, I mean you took out a threat all by yourself!" Roran said with a chuckle as he slowly let go of the boy's right hand, before starting to walk off along waving his hand for the boy to come along.

"Oh also, since you seem to have no name, Lady Golo will probably choose one for ya, be proud will ya?" Roran said, seeing the boy's eyes immediately light up just by his words for the chance to get a name, yet he also felt threatened, there was a reason why he treated Maura's death like no big problem...