The Start of a New Beginning Arc

Kyran suddenly wakes up gasping desperately as his blurry vision gets clearer to see his surroundings. He is greeted by the calm sight of his apartment bedroom as he sees he's wearing his pajamas of checkered pants and a red shirt and sees his usual cupboard, chair and computer table with his comics and laptop. He notices that his head feels perfectly fine as he gets up and starts checking if everything is real. He heads towards the bathroom in which he washes his face and takes a look at the mirror. He quickly notices the scar on the left side of his neck which ensures him that the past events were real but does not see any symbols on his body. He attempts to remember as much as he can till, he suddenly shouts and jumps backward to the sight of the box.

"Kyran! Are you okay!?" he hears a familiar woman's voice which he instantly recognizes as his mother. She quickly enters and attends to him for any new injury which she sees none of but continues to check. She has a lighter skin tone compared to her children, silky long dark hair, is about the same height as Kyra and has beautiful facial features which would make most people not to believe that she's a mother of 3 yet she's in her early 40s. She is wearing a black and red formal female suit with a dark blue watch and black slingback shoes, which shows her having recently arrived home.

"Mom I'm fine just startled a bit is all." he says trying to ease her worries.

"Are you sure, you just came home yesterday after being discharged?" she says worryingly yet her voice was enough to calm him down.

"Discharged?" he says shockingly "You mean I was in a hospital, for how long."

"Uh," she says trying to hide the information but knows she can't from him "for 3 days"

"I missed 3 days of school," he says holding his head "Ms. Travers is going to kill me."

"Don't worry I already informed your schools." she replies as he takes a brief sigh of relief till, he jolts again and holds her shoulders.

"Kiana where is she? How is she?" he asks with great concern showing from his eyes which she can clearly see but can't say the right words.

"Get dressed properly," she sighs "I'll show you."

He dresses in a plain red shirt, black jeans and shoes as he heads out of the apartment building with her. His mother takes him to the hospital which is a giant white building near the center of the city in her white hatchback car. They proceed to wait in the waiting area till they're called by one of the nurses to the patient's room 38 on the 3rd floor. They enter the room and see Kiana dressed in white hospital patient attire, resting on a hospital bed with a heart rate monitor beside the bed.

"The doctors were able to save her because there was a healer amongst you." his mother says.

"What about the wound she got?" he asks.

"They said that the cut wasn't deep enough to hit anything vital so it was easy to treat along with your neck injury." she says but notices his growing concern "she's fine you should expect her full recovery in about a week."

A short light breeze blows in the room as Kyran notices a slight shimmer come from Kiana's abdomen. He checks on it and notices a tiny clear crystal slightly above her navel.

"What is that?" he says pointing at it.

"Oh that," his mother replies as she hesitates for a bit "the doctors weren't able to fully understand what it is, they believe it's what is stabilizing her because the best mages didn't find any harmful traces"

"That's a relief." he says as he calms down.

He begins to grow anxious due to past events and decides to slightly touch the crystal causing another box to appear in his vision as he quickly removes his hand causing it to disappear.

"What's wrong?" his mother asks with growing concern due to his odd behavior.

"Nothing," he replies but still sees his mother's concerned look "I'm fine"

"Madam," one of the doctors says as she enters "unfortunately visiting hours have ended."

"Okay we understand." Kyran's mother says as she looks at him "Let's go home."

Kyran takes one last look at his hospitalized sister before he exits the room and heads towards the car.

At home after having his supper he lies in his room on his bed trying various different ways to recall the box. He tries different hand movements and phrases but unfortunately none of them work. He tries to remember anything that could help him till he recalls seeing 'System Authentication failure' just before he blacked out.

"System," he says but nothing happens "System Call" he says as the box he expected did not appear, but he saw bright blue text at the top left side of his vision with three small circles vertically below it. He pays closer attention and notices that his name is in the bright blue letters as the letters N, P and A were next to the circles respectively. He moves his head around and sees that the information stays within his vision as he notices that the circle 'N' has glowing borders. He proceeds to call out various words which start with N till one works.

"Okay let me try this. Notifications." he calls out as the box from earlier appears displaying 3 sets of information with bright blue rectangular borders and the heading [ Notifications]. The information displayed by the sets have time stamps on them with the first being the most recent.

"Kyran are you okay you sound like you're going mad?" his mother says as she opens the door slightly.

"I'm fine just reciting something." he says as she closes and leaves "Okay let me see here." He tries commands to access the oldest one to know what happens first.

"Three." he says but it doesn't work.

"That one." he says and fails.

"Third." he says as the third set is the only one with the borders.

"Now to see what you have. See." he says as the command fails.

"Open." he says and fails.

"View." he says as the set fills the box and displays its information.

[ System Authentication Failure.] the title displayed as he began to read the information.

[ System has failed to authenticate Catalyst. Unable to restart.] it displayed as he is unable to understand what it meant. The set automatically closes once he finishes reading as it disappears from the notifications box and is unable to see it again.

"Okay then. Second. View" he says as the second set opens and displays its information.

[ Recall] the title displayed.

[Recall events when Catalyst was unconscious] he read as he saw two words at the bottom, fairly spaced apart with the text [ Accept] and [ Decline].

He hesitates for a bit till he comes to his decision "Accept." he says as his vision suddenly goes dark as he tries to panic but realizes that he is unable to move.

[ Video and Audio complete]

He later sees his blurry memory but clearly as he sees the portal's hallway again but doesn't panic because it is only past events.

"Hurry everyone out!" he hears Simon's voice as the visual turns to Kyra in the distance stabbing her sword into the ground followed by a raging inferno into the Beast's room.

"It's futile to flee." he hears the ogre Beast's voice "Once she comes of age, we'll see each other again and as soon as the ritual is complete, my Catalyst will obey my every command. They'll surely be pleased by that."

The visual later shows Kyran's viewpoint of him exiting the portal and desperately being rushed to the hospital in Kyra's car. It later cuts to Kyra desperately using as much money as she can to pay the hospital as he can hear the cries of his mother in the background. It shows his mother's hand surging with electricity as she slaps Kyra across the face then proceeds to hug her. He later sees the bright light of a bulb then the visual suddenly goes dark again.

[ Recall has ended]

He suddenly opens his eyes as he returns and notices that he can move again. A new notification suddenly appears replacing the last one as first.

[ Emergency Task] it shows as it confuses him.

"Emergency task? Okay then. First. View." he says as the set opens.

[ Select permanent Aptitude/Focus] it displayed as 3 rectangular card like options with question marks are displayed below the title. He doesn't really question what it means as he takes it by faith that it has no harm and quickly comes to his decision.

"Second." he says as the second option's borders glow.

"View." he says as it displays its information.

[ Permanent Aptitude/Focus: Reaper's Copy]

[ Description: Allows Catalyst to copy another's specific Aptitude/Focus and use it.]

[ Pros: Aptitude/Focus can be enhanced when specific requirements are met. System does as it pleases.]

[ Cons: When Aptitude/Focus is replaced by another, it can only be regained when copied from the one it came from. Specific state of mind must be met in order to copy. System does as it pleases.]

[ Restriction: Maximum number of Aptitudes/Focus that can be copied- 5]

As soon as he finished reading the set closes and is no longer in notifications. He sees the last notification remaining which has the title [ Return.]

"First. View." he says as the notification opens and displays what is like a timer counting down and information below it.

[ Time remaining: XXX Years]

[ Description: Time remaining for Baron to be summoned to subject of ritual. Unknown data due to failed authentication.]

[Close]

He finishes reading the notification, but it doesn't automatically go like he expected as it remains which surprises him. He looks at the bottom right and notices the option 'Close'.

"Close." he says as the set closes but remains in the notification box. He repeats the phrase twice more as the notifications box and the information at the top left corner of his vision closes.

He thinks carefully about what he has just witnessed, trying to connect all the dots so he can understand the best he can as he worries for himself and Kiana.

"So, I'm the Catalyst and Kiana is most likely the Subject." he thinks to himself. "He said that I would be following his every command once I've woken up but, I feel normal, I guess. Does that mean that that chalice breaking, and this scar disturbed the process? That could somehow explain the authentication failure. That timer, Baron, so he'll be back in I don't know how many years. He's a Baron? Does that mean there are more who are stronger than him? Judging by how hard it was for us to escape even with Kyra the Gold Tier Sealer's help I doubt they or she'll be able to do anything against the others like him."

He thinks carefully about the focus that the system gave him and comes to a conclusion.

"I have a focus to copy and enhance," he thinks "basically a gift. If it wasn't for the authentication failure who knows what I could've done? Years huh, I don't know how much time I have but I know that I can't just do nothing. I might end up fighting him." He sighs as he processes all the events that took place and says "Kyra you arrogant fool."