Another autumn morning left its dry leaves scattered on the ground. However, Theo was five years old at that time.
Recently, Midian had been declared by Duke Ethan himself as a district of Loureto's capital and the main farm in the region. With the increasingly intense technological advancement on the continent, the replacement of human labor by machines had become the greatest reality in the Lawrence Duchy.
Ethan invested all his resources in the use of machines to increase production efficiency, especially in agriculture.
Struggling to control a harvesting machine, Michel tried to keep it in a straight line.
A mana crystal, beneath the iron platform where Michel's cabin was, sustained the entire machine, acting as the engine in a vehicle.
The cutting bar was the only part of the machine in brief contact with the ground: the rear, where the crystal and cabin were, was levitating thanks to the sound and energy waves emitted by the mana crystal.
"He's still getting used to it, huh?" With his arms crossed, Duke Ethan commented, laughing beside Anton.
"Yeah. He can barely keep the machine in a straight line."
Ethan couldn't keep a straight face.
"He's like: this damn machine... It would be better to harvest by hand."
Anton laughed along with the Duke.
"Definitely," said Anton, wiping a tear from laughing.
Looking to the side, Ethan had his attention drawn to a warehouse at the edge of the plantation.
"Tell Michel I'll be right back..." Ethan said, turning away.
"Where are you going, Lord Lawrence?"
"To the warehouse."
☽✪☾
In a stream within the woods, Theo, alongside Agnes and Magnum, sat and chatted on the riverbed. Hanging from an apple tree, Theo searched for the best fruit while debating with his friends.
"Theo, you know that mud rock you threw at me hurt, right?"
Agnes slapped her own forehead.
"It's a stone. And the correct way to say it would be 'you.'"
"Aaah, Miss Blah, Blah, Blah. Why don't you become a teacher?"
An apple was thrown from the top of the tree and hit Magnum on the back of the head. Subsequently, Theo jumped to the ground with a few more fruits.
"You really should, Agnes. And you, Magnum, should join my mother's training to stop being illiterate."
Magnum gritted his teeth.
"It's free, all it will cost is those hours you spend messing with the farmers' work. So, maybe you should try..."
Exploding in a fit of rage, Magnum threw the apple back at Theo. However, the Young Master ended up catching it easily with his hands.
"You geniuses think it's easy?! How do you expect me to learn to read at four years old, huh?!"
"Well... By learning..." said Theo, unable to come up with a better response at that moment.
Truly, comparing Magnum to the two of them was unfair. While the two were considered geniuses and newly awakened deviants, Magnum was just a low-class peasant with no family encouragement for studying.
In reality, that entire society did not encourage peasants to learn to read and write, monopolizing knowledge in the hands of the nobility from the beginning.
Magnum only had opportunities thanks to Duchess Camille, the current secretary of education in the Lawrence Duchy.
"You geniuses act dumb, huh?"
"Dumb. If you're referring to people, in the plural, every sentence should be..."
"Aaah, fuck it!"
"Hey! Are you going to curse at me now?!"
Theo laughed silently while the two argued. The Young Master washed the apples in the running water, listening to his friends hurl insults into the wind.
However, an irrational line of mana caught his attention. A vaporized energy, in blue tones, called out to Theo and begged the boy to follow.
"There will be moments when mana will speak to you, but not with words..."
The message Ethan had passed on to his children returned to Theo's mind.
"It will catch your attention and seduce you, just like a nymph would. That's exactly why the Nymph Forest has that name... Mana attracts its invaders and leads them to the beasts' prey. So, no matter what's happening, whether it's a peaceful day or not..."
"Hey, where's Theo?" Magnum asked, looking at the apples scattered on the riverbed.
Agnes turned quickly.
"Resist that enchantment."
"That fog..." Theo thought, completely enveloped by the solitude of the death zone.
It was so dense that it would be fair to call it solid, like a curtain of wind pushing the boy from side to side at every moment.
A majestic glow buzzed in the middle of the fog, breaking the imperfect sense of danger.
With each step Theo took into the forest, a familiar sensation touched the back of his neck. A sensation from another life...
Every branch he stepped on gave him the same feeling Liam Mason hated... The uncertainty of the future. Not knowing what would happen, unable to see even a few meters ahead.
Only the wind was leading the boy to the end.
Guiding him to the face of despair and death itself.
Swept by a gust of wind, the fog opened intensely, creating a small clearing in the middle of the woods.
The neighing of a horse pierced Theo's eardrums.
Scanning the new limit of his vision, the boy tried to find the source of that noise... But, beyond the lower creatures running around and birds fleeing the trees, he found nothing.
Until the fog revealed a new boundary: opening the passage and the view to a small hill of stones.
A black horse, covered in a shadowy steel armor, appeared above the Young Master's head. Its white eyes met the most beautiful amber that colored Theo's eyes, drowning him in fear.
The knight mounted on his most merciless beast wore the same black steel, with a metal spear wielded in his left hand. However, there was no head in the right place.
A white cloud, therefore, emerged from the neck cavity and dissipated a few centimeters in the air.
Theo's body was already paralyzed. But when he met the eyes of that being, his soul froze...
When the knight turned to the side, his head was being held by his right hand; a pale and dry face, as dead as a decomposing corpse. The empty, black eyes seemed like the abyss itself.
His dry lips moved to release his imposing, hoarse voice.
'Michel Hansen, Anton, Ramires, Frans...'
Those names stabbed Theo's chest, causing pain and pressure that forced the boy to spit blood.
His eyes darted as he recalled a scene from another life: a knight mounted on a yellow horse thrusting his sword into Liam Mason's chest.
The former General Mason spat blood just like the Young Master Lawrence.
Weakness took over Theo's body, as did the paralysis of his eyes.
The knight continued pronouncing the names of Midian's residents, without missing a single word.
Although Theo was the only one before the knight, his name wasn't even considered. That was a relief for him.
The moment of tension between the spirit and the boy was broken by an explosion accompanied by intermittent tremors.
Theo returned to reality and, when he felt the blood running down his mouth, he wiped his lips and ran back.
His vision oscillated between the past and the present; after being attacked by the knight on the yellow horse, Liam Mason walked through the forest, clinging to the trees along the way and losing his strength with each step.
Running through the forest, Theo had no idea where he would end up or what he would find in that fog. It was then that another explosion occurred...
Liam, however, stumbled from his own weakness and crawled through the forest, dragging his open wound across the branches and leaves on the path. His regrets were not fading.
Yet, Theo's regrets hit with every step.
On his deathbed, Liam found a stone in the middle of a clearing and tried to lean on it. With his last strength, he managed to stand one final time.
The clouds released the crimson glow of the blood moon so Liam could glimpse nature.
However... When he emerged from the fog and looked at the sky, instead of clear clouds and a beautiful sky, Theo found clouds of smoke covering the horizon.
"Theo!" shouted Agnes.
Running and fighting against the strength of the current, Theo extended his hands to Agnes...
While Liam, feeling the pain in his empty chest, reached out to the blood moon that bathed him one last time.
"Theo..." said Agnes, stopping him by the shoulders. "What happened?"
"It doesn't matter. Let's get out of here..."
Theo looked back with a sense of regret. However, before he could sink into the bitter feeling, another explosion caught his attention.
Subsequently, countless explosions took over the wheat fields.
The three children ran along the trail, overwhelmed by a cloud of smoke that was impregnating their noses.
The tremors became more intense with each step...
"What's..." The sunlight took Theo's eyes, announcing the transition between the woods and the plantation area. "Happening..."
His eyes widened, and his small body froze. The vast fields that seemed like a sea of flames under the sunlight were now a dead place dominated by chaos.
Towers of smoke cut through the skies, replacing the celestial blue with the gloom of chaos. The smell of despair, which Liam Mason was already familiar with, made itself present to Theo.
The indomitable destiny once again brought the sensation of death...
In the form of a black cataclysm.