When Kori looked out the window, it was dark. But there was a bit of light shining through. It was probably almost dawn. He went out into the living room for some leftovers. He felt as if he hadn’t eaten in days.
As he approached the living room, he saw his father sitting in the couch. He could’ve sworn he saw a dark and grim look on his face, but it disappeared before he could take a good look when he saw Kori. “Ah Kori! You’ve awakened. Glad you’re okay. Your brother was so worried he couldn’t stop pacing till he fell asleep.”
Kori’s father was always up before dawn, ready to go hunting for our breakfast, lunch, and dinner in the Forbidden Forest. Dawn is when the nocturnal Demon Beasts are tired, and few non-nocturnal Demon Beasts are awake.
Kori smiled at that. His brother usually wouldn’t care less about him. “Thanks dad.”
“My hunter group saw you and Elizabeth passed out in the middle of a clearing and so I rushed over there. What happened?”
“A Demon Beast attacked us.”
“Obviously. But I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about the ice.” Kori did recall the Demon Beast being completely frozen before he lost consciousness.
His father grunted. “The Demon Beast was frozen all the way through. Even though it’s the middle of summer, I didn’t find any traces that the ice had melted. It even had this blackish color to it. Can you explain this?”
Kori was as confused as his father. The mysterious ice hadn’t even melted? “Father, I swear to the gods I don’t know what that ice is. I closed my eyes and when I opened them, it was frozen. Then I passed out.”
His father murmured something Kori couldn’t hear then said, “Fine. Anyway, I’ll let you go outside, but I’m going to have your brother watch you while you play.” This was unexpected. He thought he would never see Elizabeth again. He almost got them both killed because of the stunt he pulled. Beaming and his eyes glittering like the starry night, he embraced his father.
“Thanks dad!” His father smiled and pushed him back. Then his face went stern.
“You’re still getting a lecture though.” Kori had an uneasy smile as he prepared for the inevitable.
After freshening up and helping himself with last night’s leftovers of a stew of Horned Rabbit, a class F Demon Beast, along with purified Poisoned Apples, Kori was his way to Elizabeth’s house.
As he was making his way there with his brother Percy in tow, Percy said, “Hey Kori! I heard you went into the Forbidden Forest. Oh, you are in so much trouble! Sucks to be you!”
Kori responded, “Shut up. That was an accident. I heard you were so worried that you couldn’t stop pacing until you fell asleep.”
“I did not!”
“And father says you have to watch me play now.”
“What!? Father why must you do this do me!?” Kori was laughing as they arrived at Elizabeth’s house.
Elizabeth’s house was huge, glamorous, and expensive. Her father was a well-known doctor and kept our small town safe from regular and magical diseases and illnesses.
Kori approached the front door and knocked. Kori heard a faint shout, then another, this one more clear. “Coming!” It was Elizabeth’s voice. Kori was relieved. As the door opened, Kori saw a beaming smile as Elizabeth exclaimed, “Kori! You’re okay! Oh, you have no idea how worried I was!”
Kori responded, “It wasn’t that big of a deal. I mean, I just fainted was all.”
“For 2 days.”
“What?”
“You were asleep for 2 days.”
“How?”
“My father told me you had no Mana. You were asleep because of Mana Depletion.” Mana. The very essence of magic and energy. It’s used in spells and all kinds of things. Even regular non-magic activities like walking use Mana and because of this, when someone runs out of Mana, they faint, due to the lack of energy.
But Kori doesn't remember using any spells or running too much. The only explanation would be that he was the one who froze the Demon Beast, but that would be impossible. Kori wasn’t trained in any magics, he was no prodigy, and he’s never used any magic in his life in the first place! So how..?
“..ri. ori. Kori!” Kori snapped back to reality upon hearing Elizabeth’s voice.
“Huh? What?”
“Are you okay? You seemed kind of out of it. You’re face was really pale. Are you sure you’re not sick?”
“I’m fine. I'm fine.” As Kori said this, he felt a pinging headache. It felt like someone was trying to crack his skull open with a sledgehammer over and over and over.
Kori put a hand on his forehead. It was freezing cold. Shouldn’t fevers make your forehead hot? Kori couldn’t keep his balance and put his hand on a nearby pillar for support. It instantly froze completely with a blackish color.
Elizabeth yelped. Percy, who had been watching from a distance, face paled and said, “I'll go tell dad…” before running off to their house.
Dr. Hamilton, Elizabeth’s father, was suddenly at the door frame and said, “What happened? Wha-" He saw the frozen pillar and tried looking for the culprit. “Who did this?” Keeping it a secret from him wouldn’t help. Percy already saw it and was telling dad. He’d find out sooner or later.
“Dad-" Before Elizabeth could start, Kori responded.
“I did.” Dr. Hamilton had a surprised look in his face.
“What?”
“I-I don’t know. I just had this terrible headache and I put my hand on the pillar for support and i-it just… froze.”
“You really did this? Unintentionally?”
“Yes, I’m incredibly sorry-"
“No, don’t worry about that. I can replace the pillar. What’s worrying me is you. What you probably did was magic. But considering how you unintentionally froze it, this is probably a spell cast on you – someone else’s intention. Whether curse or blessing, I don’t know yet. There is no record of magic unintentionally firing off. Maybe there have been records of magic being uncontrollable, but the magic was intended.”
Kori was either cursed or blessed. Kori wanted none of it. Whatever it was hurting him and others around him. The most Kori could do was hope for the latter.
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