Dawn- An age of Darkness

Evening came with utter cold. It was definitely colder than last night. Even with the fire, life wasn't easy.

The wood crackling was quite amusing. It made me feel alive.

"How's your wounds?" he asked.

"Better than before." They were better but I still couldn't move.

The old man made stew of those bunnies. Rabbits were my most favorite animals. So I kind of felt guilty to drink the stew and eat the skewered meat. It was also the only reason why I hadn't eaten the meat last night.

But it was either that or the large insects the old man fried by the fire. Looking at the insects was mortifying in its own right. So, in the end, I was reduced to eating my most favorite animal instead. At least it tasted good.

"Now then, I assume you owe me a lot of things. Why don't we begin with an explanation?" The old man had an anticipated look on his face.

I sighed. He was right. And so I tried explaining stuff. "I'm not from this world. I was summoned by the demon emperor and stuff happened…. But back then when I talked with Trerorta he said…"

I'd finished explaining and the old man nodded in response. He didn't really say much. I didn't want him to say anything either.

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Finally, he sighed. "Well looks like your shit was pretty shitty to begin with."

"You got that right." I stared at the sky. It was cloudless and rather pretty. And yes, there was no moon.

"Well, at least now we know why your eye healed like that…" The old man threw in a curveball.

My eye's healed? It should have been obvious as my vision wasn't obstructed in any way. But it was still a little hard to believe. Perhaps it was the curse, perhaps it was the cursed god of the sea….

The night ended without any complexity: the old man didn't bother to ask needless questions. I really liked his considerate attitude. If only he was like that all the time.

The next morning, I took a good look at my wounds. They were healing but I was definitely out of commission for the next few days. The old man tried his best to search for food, scout new regions, and even look out for ships that would pass by, on his own. But no ships came and six days ended, just like that. I was fully healed thanks to the old man's excellent knowledge of herbs.

"Move your left foot back. Raise your shoulder a little more and strike this tree through."

We were practicing near the beach by some coconut trees. The waves crashed against the shore and made noise. I didn't like it. I was sick of this island already.

I did what the old man said. I couldn't even cut one-tenth of the tree let alone cleave it in half. The sword in my hands was not the mystic sword. This sword was something that the old man found in the shipwreck a little north from there: he told me it crashed here more than five years ago and there weren't any survivors. He also found some clothes and medicine. The medicine was all unusable though. The clothes however were made from resistant materials. They looked pretty good too. However, given how many years it'd been, I had to be careful otherwise they'd tear.

"Sigh* if that's the state of your skills then I really am surprised how you survived till now and convinced the world serpent," he said. It was as though he pitied me. I didn't mind it, but I just hoped he'd stop belittling me every chance he got.

The sword was pretty rusty but the old man sharpened it and it was… usable.

"World serpent? So he goes by that name too?" Just how many names did that snake have in the first place? I was actually getting confused.

"What? He didn't tell you? Well, I shouldn't be surprised if he didn't. You see he is the creator of healing magic and light. Before his gifts, this world was only covered with darkness." The old man knew a lot more than I thought.

"I'd rather not imagine that." I most certainly didn't want to. Who'd want to live in a world of darkness for no reason at all?

"Ha ha ha. I don't want to either."

"So, why is he called that? And why is he a snake? Isn't he a god?" Those were the questions that I wanted to ask the god himself but too scared to ask. So I had to try my luck with the old man.

"He was one. Until he killed all the rest of them that is," he said. He was nonchalant about it. Like seriously, he killed them all?

"He killed them? All of them!?" Actually, that kind of made sense. Since the gods were already dead, they won't be able to listen to any requests let alone save anyone from dangers. But just because something made sense, didn't make it a good thing.

"Indeed. He was betrayed by men. And that betrayal happened because the god of underworld ignited the greed of men and they stole half of his soul. Since men are weak, they were easily deceived. Then they used the souls to forge weapons: we call them mystic equipment these days."

"But then-"

"Well, enraged Trerorta ate the forbidden fruit of power in heaven and slaughtered everyone and also cursed the lands. He needed the fruit's power to transform into the snake in order to destroy everything. After all, although he was the most powerful, he wouldn't be able to defeat everyone with only half of his powers." The old man gave me a weird smirk. I gulped. "The reason this world is so fucked up is because of that. But some half gods or rather demi gods were still left alive so, now they're the ones who are running the show. But I was really surprised when you told me that you spoke with him and convinced him too."

"But why would people still worship them? This doesn't make sense. And how do you know these things?" It really didn't make sense. Milai had said something about the leaders of the gods disappearing. But she never told me everyone was dead to begin with.

"No more questions. Get busy!"

I continued on. The old man intentionally avoided it. Although it was shocking news, I wasn't concerned with the world history. All I was concerned was getting stronger and going home.

We kept at the training for days and eventually it became harder and harder. From doing pushups with just fingers to running around for miles into the monster territory and coming back unharmed from the monsters without any equipment. At one point I started to curse the old man and his cruel training methods. At first it was relatively easy but soon became close to hell. But I was making progress if nothing else. And since I was the one who begged him, I didn't have the right to complain. And being a shut in nerd didn't really help.

"Today I want you to go and stay the night in the third region of this island."

"You mean that place with the undead? But it's already evening!"

He might have said something incredible. So much so that, my eyes twitched in disbelief. "Yup. And guess what…" His awfully evil grin was back. I hated that look.

"I'm not allowed my sword or the knife." There wasn't even the slightest enthusiasm in my voice. I knew very well what it meant to be in a place with undead in the dead of night and without weapons no less. Did this guy really want me to re-enjoy my awesome time from the first night? I certainly didn't want to.

"He he. Instead of a sword use this stick. It's perfect for Imbuitian."

I sighed. The guy really knew how to trample over my good will. "Imbuitian?"

"You saw me cutting the Siren in half right? Well, I cheated a little. I imbued my sword with a little magic and there it was! The blade got intensified with my wind and its reach and sharpness increased. It takes very little practice and magic to accomplish that. I call this process imbuitian," he giggled.

So that's not even a real word. But that does makes sense. He was covered in wind at the time no less. But wait: don't the holy knights use the same thing? So how the hell is that even a thing?

I sighed again. "But I can't use magic!"

It was a stupid protest. If holy knights could do it without being able to use magic, then I should have been able to use it too. But I was too skeptical.

"Didn't I tell you? It comes to you when you are in trouble. At least I think it does."

He wasn't convincing anyone with that. But if human beings could use healing magic then it wouldn't have been impossible to learn other magic as well. After all, magic was magic. There wasn't any extensive research done on the subject, at least not in the case of men. Unlike all the rest of the species, humans lived a short life after all.

"What if I can't?"

"Then I suppose, you'll just have to give up and become their food."

Shouldn't you try to be a little more inspiring than that?

I glared at him. He was smiling very intently. I bet, he wanted me dead, so he could have that sword all for himself. But I wasn't going to let that happen.

"Have it your way geezer. I ain't backing down now." I picked up the damn stick and ran like hell. The stick was a bamboo stick: perfectly balanced for carrying around like an idiot.. The direction I was heading was south of the campsite.