The afternoon sun spilled over the rooftops of Mesonia, casting long golden shadows through the narrow alleys. Inside a modest stone house on the city's edge, a boy with thick black hair hunched over a table cluttered with herbs, pebbles, and crushed leaves.
"Ugh... again?" Eldric groaned, flicking away a useless, fizzing concoction. "No matter how many times I try, I still can't make a real potion."
From the kitchen, his mother called out with a mix of exasperation and affection.
"Eldric, for the hundredth time, you can't make potions with vegetables and garden stones! They need rare, ancient ingredients things you don't just find lying around the house."
Eldric leaned back in his chair, sighing. "Then I'll go find them."
"You just had lunch!" she replied, misunderstanding.
"No, not the ingredients the real potions!" Eldric stood, suddenly fired up. "I'm going to Serino City. I'll find one there myself."
"Serino?" Her voice tensed. "Eldric, no. You can't just wander off to a strange city chasing fairy tales."
Eldric grabbed a small satchel, stuffing it with a few slices of bread and a flask of water. "We're poor, Mom. If I find even one real potion, we could change our lives."
She came into the room, her face softening. "Son… potions aren't just rare. They're dangerous. People lose their minds over them."
Eldric slung the bag over his shoulder. "Maybe. But someone's gotta take the risk, right?" He flashed a cheeky grin, trying to mask his own nerves.
His mother didn't stop him. She simply watched him go, eyes filled with quiet fear not because she didn't believe in him, but because she wasn't sure he'd return.
Eldric stepped into the afternoon haze, the dirt road stretching ahead like a path to another life. His heart thudded with a mixture of excitement and fear.
"I think Serino's about five kilometers from here…" he muttered to himself.
Just then, he accidentally bumped into a boy with striking purple hair, who had been walking in the opposite direction.
"Ah! Sorry!" Eldric said quickly.
"No problem!" the boy replied with a smile, then continued on his way.
Eldric pressed on, kicking up dust with every determined step. The world was changing around him more trees, fewer houses, and an eerie quietness that came with the countryside.
Soon, he spotted a hunched figure sitting by the roadside an old man, draped in a faded green cloak, eyes half-closed in the sun.
"Hey, old man," Eldric called out. "Which way to Serino?"
The man lifted his head, his eyes sharper than expected. "Straight ahead. About an hour's walk."
"Thanks!" Eldric started walking again, but then paused. "Hey, are you… a potion brewer?"
The old man chuckled softly. "No. But I know a thing or two."
Eldric's eyes lit up. "Like what?"
The man leaned forward, voice lowering slightly. "Potions aren't just drinks, boy. Some carry power. Some carry madness. And some…" He tapped his finger to Eldric's chest. "Carry a will."
Eldric blinked. "A will? You mean the potion chooses the person?"
"Sometimes. Or the person unlocks something the potion remembers." He smiled cryptically. "So be careful what you drink."
Eldric grinned. "I'll remember that. Thanks!"
He waved and started off again. The old man watched him until he vanished over the next hill, a faint smile still on his lips.
Far beneath the surface of Serino City, in a tunnel lit by flickering torches, a man in a black robe stood before five others.
"In two days," he said in a cold, commanding voice, "the Serino Festival begins. Be ready. We move at nightfall."
The five nodded in silence, their eyes fixed on the shadows behind him.
Back above ground, the sky had begun to darken. Eldric climbed one final hill and paused at the top.
There it was.
Shrouded in mist, towers rising like jagged teeth from the earth, the city of Serino awaited him.
Eldric stared in awe. "I need to reach it before night…"
He tightened his grip on his satchel and began the final descent, unaware that his journey was about to change everything not just for him, but for the forgotten world that slept beneath the surface.