Clockworker Chronicles : The Prologue

Author Note : I have a few thing to say before starting this series. I am NOT a professional writer nor is english my birth language. I am just a teen trying something with a concept I had in mind for a few years. If anything I will need your help and ideas.

Just to clarify something, the main charather's name come from a video game/anime mc (=main character). Devil Survivor 2 Record Breaker. Again, please help me making this series the best as possible within its potential.

Fighting scenes are, I think, my biggest flaw. Ecchi scenes...we'll talk about it. And again, please be indulgent.

My name is TOBY (=That One Boy Ya) for short. I'll leave you with the prologue, which will probably not be long, like the rest of the chapters.

Oh, and if you want maximum experience : Jazz for Chill OST and Argent Metal in fighting scenes. (Maybe a little bit of Lofi).

With that, I'll leave you with the prologue. Later👋

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Prologue*

Ah, the world of magic called Fantasia by it's inhabitants, truly a marvelous landscapes made by our dear gods...

Such bullshit.

This world is flawed as it is, the humanoids destroyed it and a threat they tried to keep the truth from each other.

And all those negative feelings, they feed them...

But this isn't my story, mine stopped long ago, no matter how you twist it.

The story is about this boy right here, about to wake up.

____________________________________________

*Main Character's POV*

I woke up in a crystal. The surronding were filled with life as magical beasts fed themselves with the fruits of the trees inside the cave. Some ever drank in the waterfall's water. One approched me and licked the crystal. Light fell down on the crystal thanks to a hole in the ceiling of the cave.

The place felt like heaven. Made I could just relax and let go while my body will slowly rot inside. But no, I had to get out of here.

As I thought about solution, a black-haired man came with some people, whom I assume to be his teammates. But they definitely weren't adventurers. The impression they gave me wasn't reassuring.

"So there nothing inside there expect that big ass crystal... Great..." I heard someone say ?

Bitch, who I am ?

"Wait...THERE'S A KID INSIDE !?" Thank you !

"Wait, for real ?" Someone else said.

One his teammates shrinked his eyes to see me better.

"Yep. There really is one. He isn't f****** with us." The redhead said.

"WHAT ARE Y'ALL WAITING FOR !? GO, GO, GO !" The black-haired man said.

After the black haired man screamed at his teammates, the man with strong arms, the redhead, started punching.

A few hours later, the group managed to break the entire crystal. After that, they all looked exhausted as they gluped down several tubes with a green liquid inside. They probably were drinking some sort of endurance potion.

"Thank you all for your help." I said sincerely said.

I bowed infront of them. They all looked at me with a warm smile.

"No problem, kid." He ssid with a warn and chill tone. "Now then..."

The man reajusted his position and said with a serious tone : "What are you ?"

I looked at him with caution, as I felt his glare totally changed the atmosphere of the cave. I am not someone showing a lot of emotions, but honestly, I was really scared.

Seeing this, a green haired man came behind him and grabbed his shoulder and said : "Maybe you should let him rest, then ask him questions" in a slightly menacing tone.

The black haired man sighed and said : "Alright then." then followed by : "What's your name kid ?"

"Hibiki. Hibiki Kuze." I responded with a calm tone.

"Oh ohh ?" The man somehow seemed interested. "So you are from the Thunder Country ?"

"No" I answered bluntly. In fact, where in the hell is that country ?

"Too bad" the black haired man said, looking disappointed, almost whimpering "I thought we were country buddies, but I was wrong".

I stared at the black haired man, confused. Now, how the heck someone changes personality that fast !? A second he's a cold, terrifying individual, the other he's a oddball, crying at the fact that a 7 years old is not from the same country as him.

As I thought about this, the green haired man patted my head and said : -"Don't worry about him" I turned around to look at his face. "He's quite the wierd fellow, but when you learn about him, he's a good friend."

Ah yes, the calm and collected one. "By the way, I like your hair, silky and fluffy. My wife an daughter would love to have you around. They like cute kids." Now I am on guard.

"Welp. Time to go." The black haired man said while getting up him from the rock he was seating in and clapping "Everyone, we already killed the boss, all we have to do now is to take the little one with us !" He screamed. His teammates screamed back "HAI !!!"

I screamed too, but for a different reason.

__________________________________________________

A few hours later, Akira, the black-haired man, and Yuri, the cyan-haired man along with their team managed to defeat magic beasts on the way. They are impressive. And I couldn't do anything. Like back then...

Then when ?

Yuri got closer to me while we were walking and said : "Why are you looking so down, kiddo ?" with a concerned frown on his face.

I answered : "The two of you are so strong..." a frustrated growl could slowly be heard from me.

"And I could do anything when it really mattered". I balled my fist in frustration, and I eventually started bleeding. Yuri was about to say something but Akira cut him off by saying :

"You're not the only one who suffered here, boy". I looked at him with a questioning look on my face. Yuri then said :

"We all here with different situation, but we all have a objective in common" I raised a eyebrow at his statement. "We all want to run away from something"

Then I nodded in understanding. Everyone here wanted to hide, or was forced to hide from whatever is scaring them away.

While I was lost in my thoughts, Akira slapped me right in the back of my neck. When I looked at him with deadpan expression, he pointed something with his fingers. I sighed and looked at whatever he was pointing at, and to say that was surprised is a understatement.

In front of us, there is a rift. A literal rift in space. It looked like glass scattered then was locked in time. It's beautiful. If I had to describe the view, purple, blue and green are dancing on floating plateforms of crystal made of space, with a vertical slash as if someone wanted to cut it in half.

"It's beautiful" I said in amazement. Akira smirked and said : " I know right ?". Then he perked up, as if something got his attention before closing his eyes and sighing is disappoinment. "Too bad we can't enjoy it longer".

I wondered about what he was talking about. It wasn't long before a few roots attacked me from behind my back at high speed. I wanted to dodge them but Yuri already got me out of the way.

"Stay here and watch us do the work" he said, before turning around and face the Treant, who appeared out a tree. Yuri and Akira started running to it. The team conjured multiples fire spells and fired them at the Treant, who couldn't be less bothered, and fired fire spells itself. It seems like it somehow developped a fire affinity.

The attack almost got to them but someone, who was probably a knight, casted a spell and made a shield out of the dirt on the ground that blocked the flames. The dirt shield crumbled and at the same time, two mages touched the ground. When they touched the ground, six rock pillars emerged from the ground, heading straight to the Treant.

The Treant tried to block them with thick wines, but Akira and Yuri stopped it from doing so. Yuri freezed the wine on his side then kicked them, breaking the

wine and getting him closer to the Treant. Akira just was just spinning around the wine while having his katana planted right into it, lacerating it.

When they got close enough, they leaped and slashed the Treant's "arms" then jumped back on the earth pillars. When the pillars pierced the Treant pretty much everywhere except his "head", they jumped off them, preparing for the final.

Yuri jumped and joined his hands while his daggers were still inside them.

[Combo Spell :....]

Yuri made a huge ice-made spear and threw it at the Treant. He planted it right in the "torso", making the Treant scream in agony. Then Yuri screamed : "Your turn, Akira !" Akira screamed back : "No need to tell me twice !" Then he jumped into the airs.

But the Treant wasn't just a training dummy. He screamed, in rage this time, and went on a outburst. It launched several arm shaped wine at Akira. But the knight from earlier threw a rock platform in the air on which Akira landed before leaping in direction of the Treant, breaking the platform from the sheer force in the process.

He dodged the wine hand by turning in the air. Then something happened. He threw dark tendrils at the spear and, by drawing himself to it, went even faster to it.

And when his fist was ready...

[Combo Spell : Dark Ice Hell Piercing Spear]

He punched the Ice Spear. But when he did it, the dark aura around his fist went into the Spear, and made it explode. The Dark Ice got all over the Treant, killing it. I was in awe.

It was the first time I saw someone fight for real.

__________________________________________________

Yuri's POV :

"So, how were we ?" I asked as I appeared behind him. The young Kuze made a bright smile that could make any girl blush and said : "That was awesome !"

Then he started happily jumping around, making everyone smile again. A child's innocence is, sometime, the world's greatest treasure.

Akira grabbed him right under his arms and told us : "That was cute and all, but we have to dismantle the beast." Everyone answered with a motivated "Right." Every one slowly got up, but Akira stopped the Knight from earlier and said : "Not you, bro. Keep the kid safe, please." he asked. The man sat back down and shrugged while saying : "Yea, sure".

__________________________________________________

Hibiki's POV :

*A few minutes later*

The team said it would take a while before they finished dismantling it. So me and Rowdy waited on the side.

"Sooo, how is being a tank ?" I asked. He put his hand in his thick beard and answered : "It's nothing but pain. Even though I have high Vitality and a skill reducing pain"

When he talked about it, I got lost. Rowdy probably got suspicious and said :

"You don't know what stats are ?" I shaked my head sideways.

"Wierd. Usually, kids try summoning their panels as soon as they are born..."

He pondered this situation a few seconds, making me anxious, then blurted out :

"Let's find out, then ! Try thinking about your body, then about a laptop infront of you."

I made a complicated face, but closed my eyes and tried it. Imagining a laptop. A few seconds later, when I opened my eyes again, a 30x50 screen appeared in front of me. The grading system was made of letters, but I couldn't make any sense out of it.

"I see you're struggling." Rowdy said.

"Just imagine making it visible. That's [Reveal : Stats]. Go on, try it now". I did exactly what he told me to do. Once my stats were visible, he analysed them woth great interest.

{ Stats }

Strength : C-

Vitality : B+ [???]

Stamina: B+

Magic Aptitude : B- Average Rank : B+

Mana Pool : A+ [???]

Defense : B

Agility : C+

Sense : A

Luck : SSS

??? : D

"Hmmm" As Rowdy kept inspecting my stats, I stressed. I wondered if my stats are THAT bad. I asked : "They are bad ?". Rowdy stared at the sky, and when he wanted to say something, Akira interrupted him.

He appeared behind me, took a quick look at my panel. "Pretty good stats, if you ask me. Even for a 15 years old noble" Rowdy followed with :  "Yeah, the kid's pretty good".

"Hey, something interesting over there ?" Yuri asked, seemingly irritated by the fact Akira suddenly stopped working. Akira responded with : "Yeah, the kid's stat panel." Yuri frowned, then got closer, seemingly interested by my stats. He sat on my right side and looked at my stat too. "The average is B+. That mana pool is great and that luck is a fucking joke." Yuri seemed a bit mad when it came to my luck, but he quickly calmed down.

Then he asked : "Do you know the formula to find the average rank ? Or even the ranking system ?"

"No."

"Then allow me to explain. -" Yuri coughed two times to prepare his voice then started. "The ranking system is simple. The rating goes like this :E,D,C,B,A,S,SS,SSS,X and EX, E being the lowest and EX being the biggest. When you see + or - it means a little more than or bit less than."

He paused to see if I was following then continued. "For the formula, you replace the lettes with numbers, 1 being E and 10 being EX. When there's a +, you add 0,25. When there's a -, however, you substract 0,25. You add the values then divide it by 10, the number of stats."

"And PLEASE always keep in mind that THIS is not a complete review of the capabilities of and individual. It's just a representation of someone's power as it is easier to keep in mind." Yuri finished with this.

*Few hours later*

The team finally finished dismantling the Treant.

"Let's just get the fuck outta here." Akira said, with a tired face. Everyone silently nodded.

Then it was time for us to get throught the rift.

I was anxious but everyone assured me it would be okay.

Then I walked right in the rift. My life started 7 years ago, but I lived for the first time only today.

Prologue : End

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

With that, the Prologue finally ended.

I think it does have a pretty good length. However, I can take critism, that's why invite you to do a quick review and give me some writing tips.

On the long run, it will only make it easier for me to write and give you a more appreciable read.

Question #1 : Who's your waifu ?

Question #2 : Can you help me with the lore ?

With that guys, it's time to say goodbye.

Peace✌️

TOBY