Dawn- An age of Darkness

This particular Siren was very impatient. Without wasting time, it came straight for me: maybe living flesh tasted much better.

I couldn't do anything to it, with the stick. I couldn't even block. All I could do was, dodge. If the stick broke down, all my hopes would do down as well. But dodging wasn't easy either. Although it was slower than an ordinary Siren, it was definitely not slow when it came to cleaving everything in sight.

All this time I was under the impression that undead only feasted upon the living because they were jealous of the living, but in the end, they too felt hunger. Then how were they different from ordinary humans eating other living things to survive? What is up with this world?

As I dodged more and more, I got scratches all over my body. The herbs were falling off one by one, leaving my wounds exposed. I was in a very bad situation. But there weren't any signs of magic. What was magic anyway?

With every passing minute, my body became heavier and heavier, my heart beat faster and faster, my soul cried out louder and louder.

It wasn't letting me go. Does it never get tired?

I was already breathing rapidly. My vision narrowed even more than usual. I knew this was it. I'd faint soon. At least I made it this far. If I die now, I'll haunt you old man….

"Don't give up…" A feminine voice echoed: it was too faint to comprehend but I could still hear it.

"Who's there?'

The siren seemed confused. It looked at me, made weird sounds, and charged straight at me. This time I couldn't dodge. My left hand was broken by the impact.

"Ahhh!!!"

I screamed. It hurt more than anything else till this point. Calling it excruciating would be an understatement. It was literally broken and my cries must have even reached the empty heavens: probably not.

Drops of liquid jumped off from my eyes and fell on the ground. They were tears. I was prepared to die but I didn't want to die here.

"That's right don't give up. Use your soul. The very soul that gives you life also grants you magic." There it was again. I could swear I had heard that voice before but I couldn't remember.

I held the stick with my right hand and looked sharp. The undead Siren was looking rather happy. I was grinding my teeth and my body was burning like a stove. But I didn't charge. There weren't any means for me to attack. The only option left was to draw the battle out and wait till dawn, no matter how long it took. No matter how much you glare, you ain't getting any meat from me.

It charged again and I dodged it. With a broken arm that was anything but easy. Even moving a little was enough to make a grown man cry. And I was definitely shedding blood and tears if nothing else.

And then in a moment of silence, there was a faint glow on my stick, barely visible.

"That's it…. Use the willpower of your soul to survive. Use it to wield magic. Use it to see the light of day. For dawn- the dawn of a new age!" The voice completely disappeared and I knew what to do. So, this is magic….

As I focused my thoughts, my desires and my very will to survive the faint glow became bright and then brighter. The siren seemed weary of the glow. As I moved forward it moved backward. Before long I was running. My pain was my strength. I used every ounce of my consciousness for the desire to survive, and manifesting magic was definitely the only way to achieve that.

With the glowing stick I plunged it straight through the Siren's chest: surprisingly it went straight through with ease, almost like a rapier. For a moment its eyes looked normal and watery. "Thank you…." the Siren uttered in an eerie voice and vanished. It wasn't the voice I'd heard just moments ago. This one was different.

So you were in pain too? It was a brand new discovery. Up until now I never considered that undead could have feelings. I had only dismissed them as mere monsters. But now, things were different. So, how are we different from each other? Humans killed monsters, animals to survive. The monsters and the undead did the same. Maybe it was unfair to them, to even think that they were doing this for fun.

The glow from my stick faded.

Without a doubt I had accomplished the impossible. But that wasn't the end of it, as I fainted soon afterwards.

During the night I could hear faint words.

"I can't believe you actually did it. Well done lad. But lying down there like that while the little rabbits were eating you wasn't a good idea." Most of it was like muffled talking. I couldn't make sense of the words but I was at ease as the voice belonged to the old man.

The next morning I opened my eyes and I was back at the campsite. The old man was skinning my love, the bunnies.

I didn't like the sound of crashing water, but I was glad for once. I didn't want to spend the rest of my life in this place, but honestly I was glad I didn't end up becoming an undead. "When did you-"

"Did you think I'd be able to sleep if you ended up dead there?" he said.

"Old man…. So you were there the whole time?" I had a feeling like that. I mean, the old man was obnoxious, but he had a good heart.

"Oh hell no! Why would I be there? And don't get the wrong idea. I only did that because my humanity begged me to. Not because…." He grinded his teeth. He didn't finish. But I got the point that he cared about me.

Yet again I was covered in all sorts of wound. I couldn't even move this time. I wonder how long this'll take to heal.

The old man focused his attention on skinning my loves. "You're lucky your shoulder got dislocated."

"You mean it's not broken!" If I wasn't surprised before, I was surprised now. I tried moving it around and it hurt like hell, but not as much as last night. Seriously, it wasn't broken?

"Don't start moving you brat! You might end up breaking it for real this time!" He didn't usually get mad. But just this once, I saw how agitated he was. Oh boy, he might have actually snapped this time. SO I just kept quiet. "Ya better stay down for the next couple of days," he said.

He calmed down a little. His accent slipped from time to time. I couldn't tell if it was intentional or not.

"By the way, I can use Imbuitian now." I still hated the word, but I learned a lot last night. And hopefully, I'd be able to use it.

"Yeah, I saw. But don't get carried away now. You could only use it under dire circumstances. Once you get better practice non-stop. And keep it hidden."

"Why?"

"Do I have to spell it for you? Unlike me, your magic is visible and humans with magic aren't treated well in this world unless you possess healing magic. But even so, you're magic might actually turn out to be rare. It's been a long while since I last saw some holy magic. Unlike those fake holy knight brats, yours might be quite effective."

"Wait, what?" Fake? Last time I checked, Gorgan's powers were pretty real.

"Shut yar trap and stay down."

I had started to sit down when the old man forced me to lie down and left. He was definitely not the friendly type at certain times.. But at least he was upfront about it.

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