Plip.
A drop of water hit the ground.
Plip.
A young boy lay on the ground in a fetal position.
It was dark and cold - so very cold.
Plip.
His eyelids twitched. He yawned and stretched.
Then he opened his eyes, staring at the ceiling of a small cave.
Plip.
Plip.
His mind was empty.
Who was he?
Where was he?
Why was it so cold?
And most importantly what was that sound he kept hearing?
Plip.
Annoyed the boy looked around. A small ray of light fell through an opening in the wall, barely illuminating the cave.
Strange carvings stretched across the walls, nearly covering them entirely.
They might have meant something once but had become illegible after centuries of the assault of time. Some even looked as if they had been willfully erased, destroyed by an unknown visitor.
Plip.
The boy, however, paid no attention to the carvings at all.
He had finally identified the cause of his torment.
Clumsily he got up on his four limbs and crawled over to the point where the annoying sound originated from.
Plip.
He frowned.
He had found the problem, but what could he do against it?
It fell from the ceiling and hit the ground without him doing anything, so how could he change it?
Plip.
An idea came to his mind.
Slowly he stretched out one of his limbs and put it between the spiky stones that had grown from the floor and the ceiling.
Another drop fell and...
Sucess!
Finally, there was no noise anymore!
But now his limb felt weird, it was wet and cold.
He didn't like that, not at all.
Slowly, he retracted his appendage and shook off the wetness.
Plip.
Damn it.
Plip.
The boy had had enough.
Looking around again, he noticed the light that came from somewhere else.
The boy didn't mind the darkness, but maybe the noise would stop if he got further away from it.
It was worth a try.
Slowly he followed the light on all fours.
Plip.
This was too slow. Couldn't he get there faster?
Following an instinct, he pushed the limbs that were closest to his eyes off the ground and continued moving without using them.
'Useless things.' He thought looking at them. How was he faster now that they were hanging beside him without doing anything?
Shortly after, he found a use for them.
Suddenly, he was blind; light was blocking everything.
Trying to shield himself, he raised his arms.
After a few moments, he could see again and he dropped them again.
Still looking at the sun, he frowned.
'Why would you do that?' He asked Sol. 'It hurts!'
'But who is Sol? That's just the sun, silly.'
Small fragments of knowledge kept falling into his mind, but everything felt as if it was shrouded in a vast mantle of impenetrable fog.
Dismissing those thoughts, he looked down.
Below him there was a beautiful forest, hugging the legs of the tall mountain he was standing on.
He could see creatures of all forms and sizes fighting their battle of what must be called life. Some of them felt familiar, others did not, some were dangerous, and some were friendly.
Mesmerized by the beautiful, foreign sight, the boy fell into a trance.
*****
'Cold, why is it so cold?'
And why couldn't he see anything?
The boy blinked.
Night had fallen and Luna was hiding behind the clouds.
Slowly he moved his rigid limbs.
He was going to search for a warmer place.
*****
A few days had passed and the boy had learned many new things from the inhabitants of the forest.
He had wandered around and watched them, learning from them and imitating them.
By observing them, he had learned how only those who were stronger, smarter, or faster would survive.
He had learned about eating and drinking. And although he didn't like doing those things, he soon discovered they could fill a hole in his stomach he didn't even know he had.
He was stuffing his face with weak prey, which couldn't escape him because it was too small and slower than him, when he suddenly heard faint, strange-sounding noises.
At first, he didn't pay them any attention, but after a few minutes, his curiosity took over.
Intrigued, he followed the new noise.
The more he thought about it, the more familiar it sounded, yet it was unlike anything he had ever heard.
It was rhythmic and strangely soothing to his mind.
He got closer and closer, and as he did the melody got clearer and clearer until he noticed something peculiar.
Hiding behind a small bush, he looked at the creature in front of him.
It was taller and looked weak and old, but what shocked him was that it seemed to be the same kind of creature that he was!
It had strange fur that looked nothing like anything he had ever seen and its head was full of grey grass, yet it was undeniable!
Snap!
Without noticing it, he had taken a step forward, crushing a small stick beneath his feet.
The Creature flinched and turned to look at him.
Then it moved its feeding hole, producing strange sounds the boy didn't understand. "By Sol! What are you doing here little one?"
'Sol?' The boy thought, had she just said Sol?
He raised his arm and then pointed at the sun.
'That's Sol.' He thought.
The old woman studied him for a short moment then looked toward where he was pointing.
Then she chuckled, producing a strange sound that somehow warmed the boy's heart.
"Yes that's right, that is Sol. But tell me little one, what are you doing here all alone in the woods?"
The boy stared at her with a dazed expression.
What did she want from him?
He took a step toward her, out of the cover of the bush.
"By the gods, why are there no clothes on you? Where are your parents little one? I'm going to have a serious talk with them!"
He continued staring.
"Do you not understand me little one? That's going to make this harder."
She put down her basket full of herbs and pulled out a small piece of sugar. Getting on her knees, she offered the sweet to him.
The boy's nose twitched.
'That smells good.'
Slightly drooling he snatched the snack, devouring it instantly.
'You're supposed to chew it!" The woman said horrified.
The boy didn't care, however. He wouldn't have cared even if he could understand what she was saying. That was the tastiest thing he had eaten so far! He could finally see the appeal of eating!
He stretched out his hand, asking for another sweet silently.
"Oh my, this is going to get expensive... What's your name little one?"
Name? That word felt familiar.
Following an instinct he opened his mouth.
"Borous." He said with a dry and unpracticed voice.
"Alright then, Borous." The woman said, taking his hand. "You can call me Elaine. Now let's get you some clothes and a bath, you reek."
*****
2 years later, Borous left the small hut he called home.
He had learned many new things in the 2 years he had spent living with Elaine.
He could understand her language now and even talk in it quite fluently, although some of the villagers still looked at him oddly.
He had even learned how to write a little! Although he had to practice using a stick and wet mud, he was still making progress.
Paper was expensive and Elaine was too old to make much money. A comment he had earned a slight slap for from her, which he still didn't quite understand.
According to Elaine, he was now 10 years old.
In the previous year, they had decided they would celebrate his birthday on the day she had found him in the forest, after Borous had noticed everyone else was celebrating their birthday and he couldn't.
Of course, he wasn't just disappointed because he wanted to get presents like everyone else. Yeah, totally.
Speaking of which, he was currently chewing on a piece of sweet tree sap, one of his favorite snacks to this day.
He would have rather just swallowed it instantly like all those months ago, but Elaine had threatened him.
She had said, she would stop getting them if he didn't chew them. That wasn't something he was willing to risk.
"Hey Boro, get over here! The wandering magician is at the town hall!" Billy, one of his friends, shouted, running down the street on his way to tell all the kids the news.
'Screw it.' Borous thought and swallowed the candy.
"On my way Billy!" He shouted back and started running. He didn't want to miss this!
He arrived at the town hall shortly after, where a small crowd had gathered.
Villagers of all ages had come together, it wasn't often one saw a real magician after all.
Actually, now that he thought about it, this would be the first time Borous would see a magician.
'Exciting!'
The idea of magic sounded very enticing to him. If he could bring his imagination to this world, he could have an infinite amount of candy, he was sure of it!
There was no way around it, he would have to learn magic.
Luckily, from what he had heard, the magician was here to seek out talented kids who would be able to become magicians themselves in the future.
Barely containing his excitement, Borous slid his hand into one of the pockets of his coat, pulling out another piece of candy. Sliding it into his mouth and munching happily, he joined the crowd and looked for his friends.
Finding them was not difficult; all he had to do was look for loud little gremlins, as his Nana called them.
He found the term to be quite fitting, especially if they were stealing his candy from him. Something they called 'sharing'.
Horrible concept, 0/10 he wouldn't recommend.
It was his candy after all!
It didn't take him long to locate his gremlin friends and he joined them hastily. They had claimed the first row for themselves and some had even brought pillows to rest on.
Quickly he sat down next to his best friend Arthur, the youngest son of the baron who supposedly ruled this part of the land.
Borous personally thought he didn't do all that much, mostly sitting on his butt and eating candy all day.
That was something he could do too!
Maybe he should become a baron in the future.
Yes, that sounded like a good plan.
"Hey there Artie." Borous greeted his friend.
"Pshhh, they're about to start!" Arthur replied, shoving a small bag into Borou's hands. He knew how much Borous loved his snacks so he always brought extras for him.
Intrigued, Borous inhaled the new aroma.
It smelled sweet, almost too sweet.
But no! There was no such thing as too sweet in this entire world, he was sure of it!
He shrugged, he would just have to find out.
He opened his mouth and...
Bit into the bag heartily, earning himself a light slap on the forehead and a pair of rolling eyes from Arthur.
By now Arthur was used to his quirks and showed him how to open the bag and how to properly devour its contents.
Amazed, Borous took out one of the small snacks, looking at it with curiosity.
"What is this? It looks strange." He whispered to Arthur.
"It's called popcorn, just try it. You'll like it." Arthur replied without turning.
Eyeing the snack with suspicion, Borous considered his choices for a short moment but got overwhelmed by the intoxicating sweet smell.
Carefully he placed it on his tongue.
An explosion of taste flooded his mind.
It was incredibly sweet, even sweeter than his sap candies, and there was a slightly burned taste to it as well which added a tasty contrast to the sweetness but didn't take away from it at all!
In short, it was delicious.
Greedily he stuffed his mouth.
"Pho goofh." He said with a full mouth.
"Don't talk with a full mouth," Arthur replied, barely containing his laughter. It was always nice to see how easily his friend was pleased.
Then something imperceptible changed.
The air grew slightly colder, time seemed to slow down for a moment and the world was silent.
The magician had arrived.