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CHAPTER START---
---Fiore, Monday, June 20th, X769...
The day the ants realized exactly where they stand in the grand scheme of this world.
Oberon Alkawn was sleeping heavily in his bed. His exhaustion from a night of overthinking led to a peaceful sleep, even with the Dragon Lacrima in the mines gnawing at his senses.
The entire village by now had already gotten used to the Magic Energy seeping out of the mines, which were closed for the day.
But he could only feel a sense of primal fear.
So everyone had simply gathered around in small groups to catch up and socialize.
Only the small school in the village was active as usual, with Oberon's sister enjoying classes and playing with her friends in a way he never did.
Oberon's mom was at the administration building close to the mine entrance, a massive spiraling hole leading into the mountain.
Enchanted to keep the rain, or in this case, snow, out of the mines.
Looking out of her second story office, she could see her husband waiting at the train platform for the other Rune Knights, arms crossed and impatiently tapping his foot.
She couldn't help but smile, even as she looked across the village to her home, perched above the others.
Back in his room, however, Oberon's eyes shot awake as a sickening feeling struck him.
He rolled out of bed and fell to the floor with a scream.
Pure terror wracking his being.
His father felt the same thing, and his mother saw it.
The man she loved turned around. Magic Circle below his feet as both his hands glow golden, ready to strike at... something.
Then even the non-mages felt it.
A wave of pure magic and primal dread like they couldn't imagine.
And then they heard it, a mighty roar that they felt could split the heavens.
Everyone in the village covered their ears. Oberon, who was on his way to the door of his room, collapsed and curled into a ball, covered in sweat and covering his ears.
His father felt the same, but pushed through it and was the only person with the willpower and determination to move.
By the time the roar subsided, Oberon was at his front door.
It was close enough for them to hear the wings, and then the screaming began.
Oberon tripped over his own feet as the entire mountain shook.
The windows of his home and every building in the village shattered, foundations cracked under the trembling of a terrified mountain.
A feral growl echoed through the village and into their very hearts.
Before he knew it, Oberon was crying, feeling crippled by the unimaginable depth of terror ahead of him.
Like a malevolent spirit, as if beyond the door was death itself.
But there was also life, his life, everyone and everything he loved.
So despite the trembling in his bones, the tears in his eyes and the fear gripping his heart.
He gets up, rushes forward on shaky legs, pushes open the door.
And bears witness.
To the one true absolute power of this world.
To a king descended to Fiore, to his unfortunate village.
To a gargantuan black dragon, adorned with blue markings, standing in the middle of the village.
40m -130ft- tall at the shoulders while down on all fours. Wings spread, imposing his shadow over the village. Looking around as if hunting his prey, but all the humans here could tell from his disinterested gaze.
He didn't care about them. They were unworthy of being his prey.
Acnologia sniffed the air a few times, all while fear froze the humans.
Oberon crumpled to his knees. The realization crushed him.
The building the dragon landed on, the administration building, his mom's office.
It was entirely gone.
Moments later, the dragon turned away from them and toward the mine, and prepared to flap its massive wings.
"Oberon!" he hears his father's voice.
Out of the corner of his eye, he sees a blur of golden light darting through the village, through the screaming masses that were running around frantically.
His father was holding his sister and rushing toward him, with her cradled in his arms, crying.
The man was crying too. He didn't have any serious training. He was just a convenience, so no real Rune Knights would have to be stationed here.
But now his legs were glowing with golden light as he runs as fast as his terrified body will take him.
Not a Rune Knight or a warrior of any kind, just a terrified man trying to save his children.
Oberon's fear petrified him. He only realized what was happening when it was too late.
FWOOOM!
Acnologia's wings beat against the air.
The winds crash against the houses and people harder than any hurricane.
Hundreds of voices overpowered by raging wings and shattered homes.
Oberon's father turned around just in time to cast Light Shield, pouring every ounce of his Magic Energy and life force into it.
But it wasn't enough, and the dome easily shattered.
Oberon, who was much farther away, at the furthest point from the dragon, was cursed to witness it all.
To witness his father's life and Magic shatter as if it were nothing, to watch the winds and debris tear his father and sister apart and scatter them as red mist.
Making them impossible to identify among the other villagers.
"SHIELD!" Oberon screams out, a second too late, barely placing enough Magic Energy into his spherical Gravity Magic before the winds reach him and slam him through his family home.
Before his eyes, an explosion blows the entire building apart. Then rubble soars heavenward before raining down on his shield.
"Argh!" Oberon, even while crying, pushes more energy into the shield and blasts the rubble off of him.
Then he sees it, and the truth sinks in.
Acnologia did all of that, but none of it was because they were there.
The dragon simply wanted to fly, so he beat his wings.
And now he was flying above the mine, taking in a deep breath and gathering more Magic Power than Oberon knew could exist.
"The Lacrima," Oberon mutters, his spirit dying along with any hope of surviving. "It didn't even notice us, it just wanted to destroy the Lacrima. We were... nothing."
The dragon adjusts itself in the air, turning its back to Oberon, and the glow of its magical breath attack becomes visible even from where he is.
Looking back, he sees the mountain below him, the edge of the plateau only a few hundred meters away.
And before he can muster the courage to get up and run.
Boom.
A condensation of magical energy so intense that 'world-breaking' was unfit to call it such. That sounded small, almost peaceful in comparison.
Then there was only a ringing in his ear, his senses drowned in stimuli.
In the fraction of a moment he had, Oberon poured everything he had into his magic.
Into his full Magic.
Beneath him, a large Magic Circle appeared, almost as large as his house, spinning like a galaxy, as if a picture of the cosmos were mapped onto the earth.
"COSMIC SHIELD!" he cries out with his entire being.
The dome shield forms and he feels pain wracking his body instantly.
For the first time in his life, he runs out of Magic Energy.
For all of his supposed talent and luck in might and magic.
He wasn't even a big enough ant to warrant a single glance from the dragon.
It would be another five hours before he awoke.
And eventually, Oberon opened his eyes to the evening sun, feeling more pain than he'd ever felt before in his body.
He tries to get up, only to cry out when he moves his arms.
They'd been thrusted forward to maintain his shield, the shield that the back draft of the dragon's roar shattered.
Looking at his sides, his arms were bruised, battered, and broken, bleeding from many minor cuts as well.
He only had one eye open, the other covered in his dried blood and sealed shut for now.
Most of his clothes were completely gone, and by the time he sits up, arms hanging limp at his sides, his legs were begging him not to stand.
But from here, he was numb to the pain. His mind, body, and spirit were so broken that there weren't any more tears to shed.
There weren't any more emotions to get out.
There was no more hope to lose.
So the 8-year-old boy simply got up, arms hanging at his sides, and looked around.
Only a few meters behind him was the drop off down the mountain, and ahead of him was where his village once was.
So, like any shocked child, he walks toward home.
He walks, and walks, and walks.
Bare feet in the snow and stone as fresh powder falls, the evening become more cool after the dragon's magic warped the atmosphere.
He could still taste dragon's presence in the air, overwhelming his other senses, making it difficult to focus, and entirely impossible to even think of using magic.
And eventually, he reached it, home.
He found himself at a sheer cliff, a dozen meters ahead of where his village was.
Looking down, he could see all the way to the base of the mountain and the flatlands in the valley below.
Half the small mountain was simply gone, and there was nothing to show of what once was.
All but one survivor, who fell to his knees at the realization.
And for hours he looks down into the abyss and considered it, here at the edge.
All it would take is to lean forward, let gravity do the rest, and he'd see his family again.
It would be so easy, almost too easy.
He, the one survivor, not because of anything virtuous, but because he was so weak that the dragon didn't even notice him, didn't think he was worth killing.
Because the force of that breath attack being released and the magic that came with it was enough to completely overwhelm him. Knocking him hundreds of meters away, before the actual attack even hit.
Because he was just an ant, and nobody cares about every ant they stepped on.
And with that thought, he abandoned it all, and at 8 years old
Oberon Alkwan, decided life wasn't worth living.
Closed his eyes and leaned forward into the abyss, just wanting to see his family one last time.
Feeling gravity embrace him and pull him forward, Oberon let go, and for a moment, was happy and hopeful again.
Until a hand grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back, laying him flat on his back.
"Hey kid, are you ok? Can you talk? What happened here?"
He opens his eyes to see a worried Rune Knight kneeling beside him, already preparing some bandages as others gathered around.
"Stay with me! Stay awake!" the man says as Oberon feels hands all over his body and the sensation of warm water flowing over him.
And so he decided. Fate took everything he loved, and everything he was.
Fate wouldn't let him die.
So this, this was a new beginning, and he knew exactly what it was meant to be used on.
"I," his cracked voice came out as a trembling whisper.
"That's right, keep talking," the Rune Knight says, getting closer to encourage the child. "Stay awake and tell me what you need, c'mon, you can do this."
Oberon takes a deep, painful breath, "I... need..."
The man gets closer, nodding along, expecting some delirious nonsense, but anything that kept the child alive was good.
"Makarov... Dreyar..." and with those words, the last of Oberon's energy was spent, and his vision went black once more...
END CHAPTER---
Discord: discord .gg /eHuxNeZfyS [Come chat with me]
pat.reon: Keanu_Eugene [Read ahead & support me]
You.tube: @KeanuEugene [Giving away all my writing knowledge]