Eclipse

An infinite space devoid of any structures throughout its expanse.

"…"

Within it drifted a newborn baby whose scalp was graced with threads of shimmering silver hair.

Floating and sleeping, at least that's what the newborn baby thought he was doing.

He couldn't see, couldn't comprehend, yet a faint awareness flickered within him.

He felt presences, whispers echoing across the void.

"What are you doing, you mongrel of a mortal?" A calm and mystical voice spread throughout the vicinity, but the baby couldn't make any sense of it. He was currently relishing the soft and comforting sensation above his head.

He tasted the sensation of pure mana for the first time, even though he was born just a few minutes ago.

"I don't know!" Another voice, yelling, was heard.

"Do you wish to be cursed for going against someone like me?" The mystical voice asked out, hurling the infant that was quickly caught by another presence in this floating world.

Desperate words were given life off from the lips of the being who yelled earlier, "I don't care, at least the baby's safety…" 

"Fine then, may you do your best to assist the one." 

Instantly, throughout the breaking space of infinity and limitlessness, even the baby ignorant and unbeknown of everything, felt the pure mana disappearing and being thwarted away from his grasp...

***

"Gasp— Huff, huff…" 

Within a small room of a small house in an average town, a boy jolted awake.

'Again, it was that dream…' Cole was heaving as he let out shuddering breaths, taken over by sweat in the middle of the sleep that had been disturbed by that dream.

"Just what exactly does it mean…?" He thought out loud to himself, recalling if he had done anything bad that this replaying dream was indicating towards to.

"Nothing comes to mind." He shrugged, standing from his bed and starting towards the exit of his room.

Creeeak!

The wooden gate of his room creaked as he groggily pushed it forward, making his way towards the kitchen to fill up a cup of water for his parched throat.

"It's making me feel bad… Everything within that dream feels so gibberish and the most I can visualize are some blurred silhouettes. As for the rest, I can't make out anything useful out of it." He began writing in his journal so he wouldn't forget the dream once he went back to sleep.

It had become a cycle.

The same dream repeats during his sleep, and that very same dream is forgotten about once he wakes up in the morning and goes on about his day.

{Note written by Cole Deimos at 2:04 in the morning.} 

He wrote that last sentence in it for the night and quickly hopped onto the bed again, his thoughts wandering if he had woken up his mother from her sleep.

'Meh, she'll fall asleep just as quickly again, just like me…' Without any delay, his already darkened vision was overtaken by the sweet mercy of sleep.

***

Chirp, chirp, chirp.

"Yawn!" 

With a big, wide stretch, Cole woke up from his bed once again in the clear morning, the sun rays filtering through the windows and curtains of his room, making even a battered place such as this into a sight to witness.

"Except for the bed I have to make, the clothes I have spread out everywhere, the closet that is almost falling down in on itself, and the whole room that is made out of wooden planks beside the main walls that are built with concrete." Cole quickly readied himself to go on about his day in the early morning.

He opened the door of his room, the melodious creak that was always heard when he did so was already part of his routine.

Without eating breakfast and waking his mother, Cole Deimos left his small house akin to a luxurious cottage.

Step, step, step.

He smoothly walked on top of the cobblestone streets, the people he came across avoiding him.

Their eyes immediately jumped around to the other side once they made contact with the unusually blue-white eyes of the seventeen-year-old, Cole.

'Am I really the weird one here for having distinct features compared to the others?' He questioned within himself as he usually made his way towards the adventurers' guild.

Ding, dong.

As he opened the door, a slight bell rang to notify the guild staff that someone was there.

"You again?" A woman with an enticing figure and attractive face frowned as she took in the sight of Cole entering the guild.

"Anything wrong with it, Miss Receptionist?" Cole unconsciously raised his right brow.

"Yes, so many things wrong with it!" She sighed out exasperatedly.

"Might you remind me again?" Cole feigned ignorance playfully, even though his expression was one of dead seriousness, making the receptionist think he was truly a dunce to not remember.

"You're not awakened. You cannot use magic, nor can more than five people in this town use it. You're not special just because you can swing a sword a bit."

Five people among five hundred.

That was the ratio of the awakened people. 

One in a hundred.

"What if I just awaken once faced with a life-or-death situation?" Cole asked the same question he had been asking the guild staff over and over since he first began coming here a few months ago.

"We're not interested in sending people to death. Try to register again once you awaken your powers." 

Quickly, Cole was shooed away from the guild, stepping out on the cobblestone streets of the town that were now beginning to bustle from the morning's rush hour.

"Just what must I do to get trialed in this guild?!" Cole yelled to himself in annoyance as he began the second part of his daily routine. 

Walking towards the forest outside of the town of Elyndor where he usually trained every day and hunted to bring home food.

"I don't understand what's wrong with me…?" He asked out loud in pure honesty, clueless as to why he was mistreated so badly by everyone else besides his mother.

"It's definitely the hair and eyes… Hmph—!" He breathed out as he swung the sword he had rented for two weeks with whatever coins he could save from helping people in return for money.

Those jobs consisted such as finding lost stuff, taking care of livestock, cleaning the streets, etcetera. Even those mini-quests were something he landed by begging to help at a cheaper cost.

Swing.

Slash.

As he trained, Cole went through the steps he had ingrained into his body over and over throughout the years.

'First, position your legs properly, and widen them a little so you can have more flexibility.'

'Second, broaden your shoulders so you can have better control of your arms when you lift them up and down.'

'Third, aim with the tip of the blade, if the tip of it is controlled properly the whole body will also work neatly as wished.' 

'Fourth, lift your arms up with widened elbows too, you don't want to hit your own scalp or stomach and inflict damage on yourself.'

'Fifth, harden your biceps and strongly hold the hilt. Don't push too much force through your wrists, you don't want your slashes to be stiff after all. Push down enough force so you'll be precise and unmatched.'

'Sixth, cut down with the intent to kill.'

Swish.

"Kirry—!" The severed rabbit couldn't even finish its screech when matched with Cole's forged movements even without the aid of mana.

"They should really test me out," Cole pouted as he finished training for the day, returning to his house.

"Although, no one would want to test out an abandoned kid from his own family for something as important as adventurers' quests." He trailed off as he smoothly walked, recalling how his mother told him in detail a few months ago about the story of his father and how he had just up and left the two alone when he was but a two-year-old.

'Screw that piece of crap!'

Cursing in his mind, he noticed that something was weird upon his return to Elyndor.

"It's too quiet, it's making me uneasy."

Used to the shadows cast upon him by the trees within the forest, Cole hadn't noticed that the sky was comparatively dark compared to how it was supposed to be in the middle of the day.

"Huh?" Reaching the plaza of the town, where it was most definitively always bustling with people and activities, the sight that greeted him was rather shocking.

"Why is everyone— bowing?" Being the sole person sticking out like a sore thumb throughout dozens of people crouched, petrified in fear as their teeth cracked.

Fwoom~

Stunned in place, the only thing moving were the eyes within his sockets which darted to the center of the decorative water fountain.

'There's no… shadows.' Instinctually, he raised his head towards the sun.

What he witnessed, though, was much more disturbing.

Terror, primal and raw, flooded Cole's veins.

'This isn't a dream... Is it?'

This was real.

He stumbled back, his heart hammering against his ribs.

'What is happening?' He thought to himself once again.

And what felt like an eternal struggle, he managed to part his lips... "Oh, great heavens."

Those were the only words he could mutter in shock as the puny and powerless human he was compared to the sun taken over by dark-red boiling blood.