Nightmare

"Wake up, Ron!" Morgans voice shouted.

𝘚𝘮𝘢𝘤𝘬!

A pillow hit my face as I was sitting up,

"What the hell?!"

I looked to see who it was, and standing there with that stupid grin on her face holding the pillow was Jason.

"What?" My little brother said in a condescending tone while bobbing his head.

"Why did you -"

𝘚𝘮𝘢𝘤𝘬!

He did it again.

"You little shit!" I said, grabbing my pillow while getting out of bed.

"Morgan help! He's gonna get me!"

"Both of you cut it out. Today is the first day of summer break, and dad wants us to grab some ice at the store, and he said we can each get one or two things for ourselves."

We followed Morgan out my room and downstairs to the kitchen where mom and dad were. Dad was sitting down reading something, probably the news on his phone, but I didn't see mom, I guess she was doing something elsewhere.

"Are you going?" My dad asked.

"Yeah, I just got Ron up, we're headed out now."

"Alright be safe."

I put my shoes on, and we headed out the door. Luckily, there is a small shop on the corner of this street, so I've always been able to get snacks from time to time when there weren't any in the house.

It was hot today, I could already feel the cloth of my shirt starting to stick to my skin, so when we entered the air conditioned store it was like a refreshing drink of water when you're thirsty.

I followed Morgan to the back where the freezers kept the ice cream, and while doing so, I noticed that Jason went off into another aisle.

He probably is going to grab more than one or two things.

"Which one?" Morgan asked.

I looked at the options, vanilla, strawberry, mint..

"Let's just go with vanilla and strawberry. Since most of us like vanilla except for Jason, and he would probably complain if we didn't get something else."

Morgan nodded with a smile on his face as he opened the freezer and grabbed the ice cream flavors out.

"Hey after this we should go to court, maybe pass the ball around play a little game?"

I nodded, "Sounds good."

As we headed to the counter to pay, Jason suddenly came out from one of the aisles with five snacks.

I literally called it.

"Nope, put it back. Dad said one or two, this is ridiculous." I said while motioning my hands for her to put them back.

"Shut up. It's the first day of summer. "

I turned to Morgan who was already at the counter.

"Morgan, look! He's trying to get all of that!"

He raised one of his eyebrows while glancing at her arms and said, "Two I get, but five?"

"Please, come on Morgs its for the week," 

"Won't work, and calling me Morgs doesn't make it better. Choose between two bags and leave three."

Unwilling to argue with him, with a huff Jason did as he said.

"So you listen to him without a word, but when it comes to me, you -"

"Blah blah blaaaa," He said, cutting me off while bobbing his head as he strolled down the chip aisle.

At first, I was a little annoyed, but whenever he bobbed his head like that, it made me laugh for some reason.

So, while sighing, I just smiled and let it go.

After a while, our turn next in line to pay came.

"Thank you." Morgan regarded the cashier after paying.

As we were headed out the store and the automatic doors opened, I noticed that for some reason, it was night.

'What the.' I said to myself.

"R-Ron, I'm s-sorry-" Jason said in a trembling voice.

"Huh? What's wrong?"

I turned to look at him, and to my shock and horror, he was crying with his eyes wide with fear.

"wh-what's happening.." I said as my breathing began getting heavier and shorter.

It felt like something really bad was about to happen, but I couldn't tell what.

And that's when all of the sudden, out of the dark night in front of us, a black scaly, claw like hand slowly reached out towards her forehead.

"Wait..this is.."

That's when I remembered.

"No, not again! Morgan, where are you -"

I looked around, and he was nowhere to be seen. I looked into the store behind us, the cashier, the customers, the aisles, it was empty, only the lights remained.

My perception of time felt like it was slowed down, I watched as the hand slowly got into a flicking position.

"No, stop, not again. STOP!"

I yelled, but nothing happened. The hand didn't stop, and the fingers began slowly starting to flick toward her forehead.

My heart was pounding, and I could hear it drumming in my ears. My breathing began speeding up, and I started to have a panic attack.

"Ron-, help," his voice echoed around and around in my head loudly.

I watched as the claw like fingers made contact.

"NO!!"

I screamed to the top of my lungs, but before I could see the result of the flick,

I opened my eyes.

It was dark, my hand was outstretched, and I was sitting up. Warm tears were building up in my eyes, and I could feel the dried up tears on my cheeks.

Just how long was I crying for? I thought to myself as I let what had built up in my eyes fall down my face.

"Cain, what's wrong!" A woman's face said as I was embraced.

"Wh-who is this?"

"Your mother, what's wrong, why were you screaming?"

"My mother?"

She turned to face me and grabbed my face,

"Yes, Cain, your mother."

"Oh.. that's right, Milu- I mean mother."

I knew that this woman was not my real mother, but for some reason my body felt so warm in her arms, I felt as if I was safe, like I could open up and release all of my emotions. I assured myself that it is probably because I was born into this body which is from this woman, so it is attached to her as any mother son bond would have it. Only my mind and soul were different.

"Are you alright?" She asked, concerned.

"Yes, it was just a nightmare, although now I can't remember it."

It wasn't the truth, I always remember these nightmares. They happen constantly, and usually end in the same way with me waking up crying, but it is rare this time because I was screaming in my sleep according to her.

***

"I'm going to the main village," I said to Milura and Cale as I was walking off.

"Again? You really are different from most children."

The main village is in the middle of the island, it is filled with wooden structures, houses, stores, markets, and even places to eat and drinks such as bars. What I really like most about the main village are two things, the layout and formation of the village itself, and the drinks.

The village market and everything else are in wooden structures built up in the trees, and everything is connected with a string of surprisingly sturdy, wide and strong bridges. For each wooden structure, there is a sign above the entrance stating what is inside in this worlds language, which, for some reason, I am able to read and understand naturally.

I usually go to a little shop that has drinks to offer for kids. Usually in the form of some fruit juice from the fruits that grow here.

I come here most days, I find a spot to sit and think of ways to get stronger before I am able to awaken my mana heart. The problem is I need someone to teach me, I never took martial arts classes in my past life, and due to my current circumstances, that is the only skill that I think I am able to work on before I am able to use magic.

Unfortunately, neither Cale nor Milura know martial arts, just hunting techniques, and in Gilya culture, children who decide to choose the path of magic and strength are permitted to leave the island if they are able to awaken their mana heart.

As I passed the entrance to the main village, I looked around for a ladder on a tree. This is how I make my way up into the "tree city."

After climbing the ladder, I looked around for a the wooden hut that was the juice shop.

"There," I said to myself as I began crossing the bridges to get to the bar.

The "Tree City" is filled with people as usual, and to be honest if I wasn't so focused on ways to getting stronger and revenge, I probably would have revered in its beauty.

I made my way up to the entrance of shop. There are no doors to any of these places, just entrances with long leaves covering the entrance.

"Well look here my favorite customer." Teek, the owner of this place, asked with a laugh. Teek was a middle-aged bald man with a brown beard. He was wearing the same beast skin get-up that everyone else is.

"Yeah, yeah." I said as he gave me the cup, and I headed towards the outside deck, where it overlooked the forest.

'Right now, the things that I know are that when I start puberty, I will be able to awaken my mana heart. Unfortunately, I'm only six years old, so that will be years from now.

What I can do now is train my body and muscles, which I have been doing while hunting.

However, what I want the most right now is to learn martial arts, or maybe the sword, spear, or whatever this world's main weapon of choice is. But there is nobody on this dam island that knows how to do any of those things.' I thought to myself hopelessly.

"Then I put my sword to the tip of his throat, and a little blood trickled down. Ha! his face looked like a small beast about to piss itself!" A man's voice exclaimed from inside the bar as a group of people and some kids listened in awe.

At first, I ignored them, but then something occurred to me.

"Wait, he said he put his "sword" to his throat. Does that mean?!"

I got up from my seat and ran inside the bar.

"Who said they have a sword?!" I shouted so that everyone could hear me.

"Hey! keep your voice down kid!"

"Wait I wanna hear this." A blonde haired man with a stubble beard and green eyes with dark skin said as he stood up.

"Alright, so.. uh, what was it again?" He asked looking towards me.

"Cai-"

"Cain! Yes, that was it, Cain. Are you perhaps looking for me?"

I studied him. He was a lean, muscular man wearing a white tunic with brown trousers and boots.

But what stood out to me the most was the black sheathed sword that lay at the side of the his waist.

"Yes, I am," I said sternly.

"Well on with it boy, what do you want?"

I went up to the man, grabbed his sword looked up at his him.

"Teach me how to use this."