The two suns loomed above the cloudless skies. The blue one was the smaller one as a half of it hid behind the one glowing in an angry red.
Levi's breath grew shallow as he walked over to the window, putting his hands on the cold glass. His hand was smaller, and it was much paler than before. Not a sickly kind of pale, but the milky kind of white. It was very unnatural, it looked as if his skin had been stripped of its color.
He looked around the room, taking in what was around him. The floor was a dark color of brown, made out of wood. There was a bed in the corner and a desk next to it. The shelf was on the other side of the room.
The decorative patterns of these furniture seemed extremely exaggerated like the ones that was designed in the past.
And then finally Levi caught himself in the mirror, his eyes widened at the sight in front of him.
He still looked like himself, but... he had regressed in age. He looked like he was thirteen again! Additionally now he looked like a walking corpse with that skin tone! He was wearing an old type of clothing called a tunic and some dark pants.
Levi pinched himself a couple times, to see if this was a dream or not. It was a lot to take in honestly, he was just with the girls in the lighthouse, but now he is in a house he in unfamiliar with.
And there are two suns in the sky! Where was he? In Alpha Centauri solar system?
'No.. that one had three suns..'
And at that moment he heard two sets of footsteps outside his room, then.. two distinct girlish screams.
"Get away from me!!!"
"Who even are you??"
Levi immediately picked up something that looked like a broken leg of a table. He had no idea why this was in a bedroom, but nothing right now even made sense.
He looked at the window, then back at the door. Escaping through the window sounded like a good idea, but it was not a good idea if one thought carefully. He was in an unfamiliar planet, who knew if the suns would scorch him alive if he got out?
The voices both sounded female, and both sounded equally confused. But it could also be a trap!
Levi did not even know how he was coming to these conclusions in such a short amount of time. Hiding from 'her' turned out to be helpful it seems.
'Fuck it..'
Levi stormed out of the room with the wooden table's leg in his hand, it was raised and ready to strike.
What awaited him there were screams again.
'So loud!'
He quickly examined what was in front of him. The room seemed to be wide, there were bookshelves on every side of the room and a door, which Levi had come out of one. There was a door which he thought to be the exit.
As for the other women...
They looked eerily familiar.
One had brown short hair, wearing her own tunic. She seemed to be the same age as him, physically. There was a terrified expression on her face as her gaze shifted between Levi and the other woman.
The other woman had light brown hair that cascaded down her shoulders. She looked around their age and she looked calmer than the other girl.
'Wait...'
"Mattie? Saranda?"
A silence enveloped the whole room. The three 'teenagers' shifted their widened eyes between each other.
"Levi..?"
***
After things had calmed down slightly, they were sitting in a circle, facing each other. Although none of them were looking at each other, all occupied in their own thoughts. Mattie looked down on the ground, hugging her knees close to herself as she forced herself not to cry.
Saranda sat next to Mattie, her hand placed on her head, caressing it gently. She herself was in deep thought, worry coating her eyes.
The only one who looked expressionless was Levi, as always. But that did not mean he was nonchalant all about this, he was worried too. What had happened to them, where were they?
If this was a dream, what was happening in the real world?
"What do you think?" Saranda asked quietly to Levi.
"I have no logical ideas. Only that we are in another world... but the question is, how?"
"How indeed..."
"Did you see the suns?" Levi pointed at the window.
"Yeah... it would have looked beautiful if not for the fact that we don't know what is happening."
As Levi looked at the coffee table next to him, he saw a book laying on it peacefully.
He picked it up, then brushed the dust away from the cover.
[Where are you?]
His eyes narrowed as he read the title. 'Indeed. Where am I, oh great book?'
Levi realized that his hands were shaky as he held the book. This was a normal occurrence for him back in his own world as he had dealt with stress a lot.
But now he was in a thirteen year old body.
Which would mean he is scared.
Levi sighed, forcing himself to calm down. No matter how he showed himself to be invulnerable, he was unsure on how to feel about their current situation.
So he flipped the book onto the first page, his eyes widened slightly.
[Greetings, traveler. Welcome to the Realm of Origin.]
Levi immediately flipped to the next page.
[I am, The Traveler. If you have appeared in this place, then that must mean you have used one of my gateways.]
[The Traveler must say that you have visited one of the most harrowing places ever known to existence.]
[I would have advised for you to leave this place as soon as possible. But even I could never accomplish that.]
[The Traveler was originally from a planet called #!?#..]
The name of the planet looked distorted, but Levi did not care at the moment. He continued to read.
[I was originally a powerless human, however after I came here, I was considered a 'god'.]
[The god of adventure, exploration and travel.]
[It hurts my pride as a god to say this, however by the time you will be reading this, I am dead.]
[As the one who is guilty for your appearance in here, I have decided to help you. Those shelves you see on the walls contain simple knowledge, unfortunately I could not write anything important. But this information will help you.]
[I am sorry that you are here.]
***
"So you are telling me... we are here because of a literal god?"
"Its what the book says." Levi said as he put it aside.
"But... this is all hard to believe! What if it is all a prank?" Mattie said as she sat up properly, she had recovered from her shock, but was still moved by the new information.
"Does this look like a prank to you, Mattie?" Saranda replied rather sternly.
Currently, what they were experiencing was pretty much real.
They were in another world.
Levi also noticed that there was a deeper glint into Mattie's brown eyes. It was as if they had grown deeper than before.
"By the way, Levi... your presence feels weird. You have become very pale too."
Levi got up to his feet with a sigh. He had noticed the change in his skin color, but the presence was new.
'I am going to get a headache.'
He walked over to the nearest bookshelf and looked at the names written on the corners of the books. Once he saw the book named [Realm of Origin], he picked it up and walked over to the girls and sat down.
Then it hit him...
These books were written in English...
If they were in another world.. then how did their god know English?
Shaking his head out of these thoughts, Levi opened the book and started reading.
[This world is infected by a phenomenon called mana. When it first arrived, many living beings evolved into other kinds of species. Humans did too, from them was born elves, fae's and many other species. It was nothing dangerous at first, but after that, mana started showing its true colors.]
[Landscapes were terraformed in unnatural ways, some new species were born, which were hostile towards human beings. And so, the apocalypse began.]
[Humans and other species were on the danger of extinction, until some learned how to control mana to their own will's. At that time, gods were born. I came here around that time too.]
[We gods created safe havens for the weak to live in, and protected them. We shared the knowledge of how to manipulate mana with them so that they can protect themselves.]
[But after our generation, no god was born. And now, we are dying.]
The book ended here. The Traveler revealed so much, yet it was so little.
"So we are in a magical world..?" Mattie asked.
"Well.. not the silly one it seems." Saranda muttered.
***
Eventually they read a few more books that explained mana to them.
Mana manipulation had three types to it. Elemental, body and mind. Each had their own uses.
Unfortunately, you could not learn all of them, you needed to have an innate to learn one.
Innate was something you were more prone to learning. For example someone with a body innate would learn it faster than someone who did not have the body innate.
There was something called 'Mana Techniques' and 'Ideas', but The Traveler never delved deep into them.
To get stronger, there was something called The Ten Power Ladders. Currently it seemed all three of them were on the very early beginning of the first ladder.
To progress further, one could mediate, absorb mana shards or murder other mages. Unfortunately as you climbed higher in the ladder, there was a chance of falling into profanity and becoming an infected.
The Infected were living beings who once controlled mana, but it got out of control and turned them into a mindless beast.
And now, the three youths were gathered around a book named [Profile].
Eventually this [Profile] would reveal their innates.
"Saranda you go first!" Mattie clapped her hands together. The earlier terror on her face when she arrived to this realm was now nowhere to be seen.
Saranda muttered something under her breath, about not wanting to be first. But she obliged anyways.
Once she touched the empty page, suddenly ink started appearing on the surface.
[Innates: Elemental, Body.]
[Elemental: Water.]
[Body: Agility, Sight, Precision.]
[Race: Pure Human.]
[Racial Abilities: Will.]
"Indominable human spirit Saranda!!" Mattie said as she read her racial abilities.
Saranda did not reply to Mattie's sarcasm, instead stayed silent.
"Water had a lot of sub-elements, and you have three body talents. I would say you have a good start."
"Thanks."
Next to touch the paper was Levi.
[Innates: Body, Mind.]
[Body: Presence (Eerie).]
[Mind: Brainwash.]
[Race: Fae.]
[Racial Abilities: Fae Cloak.]
"Well, I suppose that explains your weird aura, and new skin color." Saranda said as she examined Levi, who was looking at the paper with narrowed eyes.
'So.. I am not human anymore.'
Mind was the weakest innate in the earlier ladders, because it took a lot of mana and focus. Focus that a first ladder could not accomplish.
His body innate was trash too, perhaps would only work on cowards. The only decent thing he had gotten was his race and its abilities.
Fae's were 'fairies'.
Unlike children tales, they are not glittery, small, winged humans who help you. They are unsettling and eerie even when they are not trying to hurt you.
According to the Traveler, they were guides that lead humans through dangerous zones without any problems.
As for the Fae Cloak ability, it was an all around augmentation ability.
It was soon time for Mattie to put her hand on the paper. Once she did, the empty paper was covered in ink once again.
[Innates: Elemental, Body, Mind.]
[Elemental: Light.]
[Body: All-Around empowerment.]
[Mind: Forced truth.]
[Race: God Blooded Human.]
[Racial Abilities: Increased Humane abilities, bigger mana pool, faster mana regeneration.]
The trio stared at the black ink in front of them. Until suddenly Mattie got up to celebrate herself very proudly while the other two stared at the paper in disbelief.
Light was a rather weak element from what The Traveler had written, it was only a glittery thing.
But Mattie's other abilities were no joke...