Thank the heavens I finally got my first power in this world,and it was amazing,too! Sure,nearly died to get it,but we don't talk about that...
Good news-I finally have something that I can use to actively defend myself against whatever monsters that the world has. Bad news-My body still wasn't built for the sheer scale of the attack I'd used. I was on the floor the instant the fire on my sword died out,constantly drifting into and out of consciousness.
'Damn...a little overboard there.'
I tried grabbing the pendant on my neck,but the moment my fingers touched it,the bright red stone just evaporated. Not turned to dust or some pretty red sparkles. Outright evaporation.
'Well...that's done for...'
I just lay there for a moment,letting my body rest,but staying alert in case another one of those things decided to come at me.
'A little nap wouldn't hurt...'
I managed to drag myself to a rubble pile that was conveniently placed right next to me and put myself in a comfy position.
'I'll just sleep for five minutes...'
---------
Two knights walked through the dense forest cover, occasionally throwing some rocks at tree barks just to see if they could get it in the hollow of that tree.
One of them had dark brown hair and a bit of a scarred face. His armour was built for more of a tank-build,covering nearly his entire body except his face. He had a huge battle-axe that had a red blade,its hilt made from a dark wood.
The other had jet-black hair and matching dark eyes. He had a lean build,and his armour was similar to that of a Fencer. In his right hand,he held a long spear,its blade lightly tapping the ground as he walked.
"Why did the higher ups send us for this stupid mission again?" The tank asked his comrade.
"If you weren't so dense,you'd have actually paid attention during the briefings," the lancer replied,"we were sent here to investigate the sudden burst of magic energy,remember? Took out a good section of the forest."
"What if it was just some people randomly practicing magic or something?" The tank told him,"remember what happened with Fitzroy?"
"We don't talk about Fitzroy,and that was just his case. Remember what happened three years ago?"
"..."
"That's what I thought. Now,stop being so useless and actually try to sense whatever might have unleashed that magic."
"You're mean,Al."
"Oh,piss off,Doug. You're-"
Al,the lancer,stopped when Doug suddenly raised his hand to signal them to stop. He knelt on one knee and examined the ground closely. Al understood immediately.
"What kind of monster tracks?" Al asked him.
"Dracanae. Wasn't an adult,just in its early stages,but still very big. The tracks were made here not so long ago,about a day at most."
"So it could still be nearby..."
"Exactly."
Doug stood up and got his battle-axe from it's lock on the back of his armour,his grip on it tightening.
"You think it could be the reason for that huge magic burst?" Al asked him.
"No. Dracanae can't use magic of any kind,but they make up for that with their insane physicality and their complete immunity to fire and earth type magic."
Doug was the more knowledgeable when it came to nature and monsters. Despite his dense exterior,he knew his stuff.
Al sighed as he examined the direction the tracks went towards.
"Well," Al started,"might as well kill it before it gets too close to the empire to become a nuisance."
"I like that idea."
They ran in the direction of the tracks,quickly passing the trees there and following them until they finally got to a clearing in the heart of the forest. The first thing they noticed was the huge crater on the ground on the far edge,smoke and embers still rising from the inside. Then they noticed the marks on the ground.
"It was here," Al said,his eyes scanning the area,"looks like there was a struggle."
"No shit," Doug replied,"it died here."
Al's eyes noticed the rubble at the centre of the clearing,then he shifted his focus to the crater again.
"You said it was completely immune to fire,right?"
"Normal fire,yes," Doug told him"only tickles the bastards."
Al went closer to the crater and held his left arm out. From his palm,a white circle gradually formed a few inches away from it,it's edges inscribes with green runes. The circle grew and covered the whole clearing,slowly rising and spinning in an anticlockwise manner.
"Mnemosyne magic?" Doug asked him.
"Exactly," Al told him,"I need to see just what killed the thing."
Both of them went and stood next to a conveniently placed rubble pile and watched at the magic replayed the events that led up to the thing's death. From the east side of the forest,they saw a small humanoid come towards the rubble and move towards the trapdoor that was near them.
"..."
They were looking at the crossbreed of a Shai and a kitsune...a demon...
"Weren't they killed three years ago by the Shai? Anything with demon blood in a one hundred mile radius?" Doug asked.
"Tell that to the circle," Al answered,"let's keep watching."
He looked no older than 5 years old. They saw as he took and wore a red pendant and took a sword hilt. Al recognized the pendant immediately.
"That's from Sylvara,the land of the Shai..."
Then,they watched at the Dracanae easily thrashed the boy around. Still,he held on and was even able to confuse the thing for a bit. For a child,he was good at surviving.
Both Al's and Doug's eyes widened as they saw the kid very obviously using fire magic and causing the huge explosion-the very one that they were sent to investigate.
"W-what? How did he kill it using fire magic?!"
Doug asked.
"Heck,how did he use fire magic at all?! Much less one of such a scale?!"
Apparently,this five-year old kid was the one who made the burst of energy strong enough to alert the empire's knight association...
It was starting to be very clear that the crossbreeds between the demon and the Shai weren't killed only for the reason that they were tabboo.
"It's still going," Doug told him.
The kid slowly walked towards the rubble pile,the very one behind them,placed himself in a conveniently hidden position and slept.
Slowly,Doug and Al turned towards the pile of debris behind them as the magic circle above them vanished. They looked at each other, then at the rubble pile,then at each other again.
"So, he's in here?" Doug asked him,pointing at the rubble pile.
"It ended there,so it's obvious he didn't get out."
Slowly,Doug reached into the pile of rubble,carefully taking the child out. He had dark hair and a pale-ish skin complexion. His elven ears were more horizontal than vertical,and his fox tail was covered in orange fur but had white fur at its tip.
"Well...what are we going to do with him?" Doug asked Al.
"Don't know," Al replied,"we could just sell him or something. Take him to an orphanage-"
"No way!" Doug told him,"he's just a kid. Even if he's a...umm...very powerful kid."
"And how are two people who work damn near full-time going to take care of a child?" Al asked him.
"I don't know," Doug admitted,"but we'll find a way. No selling,no abandoning,no orphanage."
Al just looked at him and sighed.
"I'm going to regret this..."
"Stop being so pessimistic!"
With the child in Doug's arms,they both walked towards the empire again.
"And what's our excuse?" Doug asked Al.
"You didn't even have an excuse ?" Al asked. When Doug nodded,he made an exaggerated sigh.
"Magic training accident."
---------
"Well,the Dracanae failed terribly..."
"More like failed successfully for me. You've made him able to start using his power."
"Damn you, Raksha. Why do you defend him. Do you intend to use his body?"
"Maybe. I don't know,haven't made up my mind yet."
"You're nothing short of insane."
"Fits my power type,doesn't it?"
"..."
"That's what I thought. Thanks for speeding up his awakening!"
"I'll make sure to kill the descender."
"You can try. I wanna see how far you'll go."