I woke up to some burning sensation on my left arm, the pain was bearable, more of an annoyance than anything. Now that I'm up I might as well get some food. I checked the clock on the wall, it was 4 am. I went into the kitchen to get some midnight snacks when my mother came around the corner. “Hey, Orion why are you up?” She asked, her voice was soft with a bit of concern.

She had pitch black hair in a messy bun and piercing crimson red eyes, she smiled like how all mothers smiled at their children. “Nothing just got a bit hungry. What are you doing up.” I asked her.

“Nothing just a bit restless after getting home from work.” She answered.

“Are people still unhappy that you married father?” I asked closing the fridge after finding nothing to eat.

“Yeah, it keeps getting worse.” She answered, she sounded upset but didn’t want to show it.

“Why don’t we just move. We can build a house out in the mountains and get away from these racist bastards.?” I told her louder than I wanted to.

“Because me and your father grew up in this village. I can’t leave these precious memories behind.” She looked around the house.

“I thought this was a demon village and dad is an angel. Isn’t that forbidden or something?”

“Yeah, well he dyed his hair black and put on fake horns, learned a bit of fire magic that I taught him.” She laughed. “I remember the times our cover was almost blown.”

I couldn’t help but smile at how happy she was. It's been a while since I’ve seen her smile like that. Ever since the chief passed away and another was elected, people have been getting worse. They’ve been throwing things like rocks and bricks through our windows. “I should probably get to bed, goodnight, Orion. Love you.” she said walking out of the kitchen.

“Love you too mom.” I said before heading into the bathroom.

I looked into the mirror and saw my face. I had short ash black hair with white highlights that was long enough to cover my eyes, and light blue eyes. “Damn I'm sexy.” I said to my reflection.

I washed my face with some water and soap. I went to my room to get dressed and I threw on a simple black and white hoodie and a white shirt and headed out the front door. I walked down along the dirt path from my house to the center of the village. It was a long walk since we lived on the outskirts of the village

.

I walked alone, it was nice and peaceful out at this time of night. The breeze was a cool late summer wind, it was warm as I walked in the woods. I went to the normal spot I would go to at times like these. I climbed the giant Akai tree with the help of the low hanging branches. Every night at this time the tree flowers would blossom and with the help of a little mana it would bloom a pinkish red.

It was a beautiful sight, it always blows me away no matter how many times I see it. If we do end up moving away, I would miss this sight. Every time I come here to keep my mind off things, I would read an old notebook from an adventurer back in the times when dragons would walk around Caldera. I found this notebook in a crevice between the roots.

Note book entry 100:

The date is currently 07/15/445. I saw a few different monsters in the danger zone, but some beauty came to my rescue she used some sort of weird ice art or something because when she came everything became cold and ice started to sprout from the ground then fire came after.

She has crimson red hair and had a bored expression when she was fighting the monster, it was magnificent. It was like I was in a dream the way ice and fire just appear from thin air. I've never seen anything like it.

I didn’t get her name before she left but I hope I see her again.

Notebook entry 101:

It’s been a few days since I saw that girl and every time, I talk about her no one seems to believe me. “You were probably drunk.” or “Quit dreaming nothing like that can happen.” were what the people around me were saying when I mentioned her. 

Notebook entry 102:

I didn’t stop my search for the girl, but I did, however, continue my adventure across Caldera I found multiple plants with poisonous properties, and other monsters or beasts. I came up with a system to classify different strengths of the beasts. I would try and kill them if I couldn’t they were above my rank. I consider myself somewhat strong so maybe around B rank. I made a total of 8 different ranks F-SS+, the ranks go something like this. F, E, D, C, B, A, AA, S, SS, SS+. There are multiple things wrong with this system.

So far, I haven't found anything over A rank yet which I’m glad because I can barely kill one. Hell, I don’t even know if there is anything above A those ranks were just in case.

Notebook entry 103:

I haven’t written in a while, it's been about a month since I saw that girl, she keeps showing up in my dreams. It's been 5 years since I started my adventure, I love finding new things. Today when I was walking in the forest of the south part of Caldera, I found a weird footprint. It was massive, maybe around the size of a small house. The foot shape was that of a reptile, maybe it was a dragon.

It would be cool if I could see a dragon. What rank would a dragon be? S SS? Who knows?

At this point the tree stopped glowing when the sun was rising. It took a lot of time to read the entries because the pages were either burnt or the handwriting was really sloppy. I'd been reading for a while before the sun came up. “Look who it is.” A familiar annoying voice sounded from below me. “What are you reading your diary”

I looked below me to find the new chiefs son and his little group of friends. “How did you find me?” I asked annoyed.

“Well, we were on our way to throw some things at your house when we saw you leave so we threw some stuff at your house then followed you here.” He laughed. “You should’ve been there we broke a few windows and lamps.”

“Get out of here before I beat you to a pulp.” I snapped at him letting out some killing intent.

This made them all take a step back. “If you do anything, my father will---.”

“Will you shut up about your daddy. It's always daddy this, or daddy that. Why don’t you grow some balls and actually do something.” I hopped down from the branch I was sitting on.

I landed on the ground after a few seconds. They all jumped into defensive positions. Farith the chief's son ignited his hand in flames. “You b-better back off before I k-kill you.” He managed to get out.

The others followed they ignited their hands with flames. The light was bright enough for me to have to shield my eyes. “HA see behold my power” he laughed when I covered my eyes.

Farith charged me with his fist in the air. I brought up my elbow and it hit him square in the nose breaking. Blood started pouring out of his nose and he started to cough up blood. “You’ll pay for this.” he said grabbing at his nose. His voice sounded weird because his nose was broken. “My father--”

“Your father what?” I cut him off. “What is he going to do that already hasn’t happened?”

“tch” he walked way.

I looked at his goons. “You guys want some? Or are you going to run away like Mr. Bitch-boy over there.”

This annoyed them, the two looked at each other before firing some flames at me. Their flames were a crimson red and weren't as bright at Fariths. I took the flames and redirected them at their owners. The dodged the flames. But I dashed behind the flames and brought my fist into one of their stomachs. The other one brought up his knee to my chest, but I blocked it with my free hand.

I threw Jerrod to the ground and kicked him at his brother. They were good fighters for their age we probably would’ve been training buddies if it wasn’t for them harassing my family. I waited for them to gained ground and they dashed at me. They were in sync with their punches as I dodged and counter attack each chance I got. “Why do you follow that bastard around, you both are stronger than him?” I asked.

“Because if we do anything that bastard will rat on us to his dad.” Jerrod said dodging one of my punches. “And plus, we get to punish some Angel bastards--”

I punched him in the side of the jaw, making him fade in and out of consciousness. “Don’t talk bad about my family.” I said dodging his brothers ignited fist.

I brought my knee up and hit him in the chin making him stagger back. He was the older of the two brother so I didn’t expect him to be out of the fight. He tried to hit a straight kick to my chest, but I moved to the right and kicked his ankle making him stagger forward and yet again I jumped up and kneed him in the nose.

Not letting him recover I kicked him in the chest where his core was causing him to cough up blood. After he bent down, I brought my elbow down on his solar plexus and knocking him unconscious. 

I climbed back up the tree to put the book back into the crevice I found it in.

I walked back home. Shiro should be awake by now. I thought to myself.

***

I knocked on her door. “Shiro, you up? Time to get to training.”

“No, I don’t want to.” She said. “It’s not like I can change anything by training.”

“It’s better than sitting around waiting for an ability to appear.” I said. “Now come on. If you just sit idly nothing is going to happen.”

She opened the door and walked out. She has snow white hair with pitch black highlights, her eyes much like our father's was a pale cyan. I patted her head. “Hey everything will work out I promise. Now let's go.”

She gave me a smile before shutting the door to get changed. After a few minutes she came out we left to go to our little training spot. It was that same tree that I like to read in.

***

By the time we got there the brothers were gone and we stood in front of the Akai tree. “Okay Shiro get into a comfortable position because we will be here for a while.” I told Shiro.

She sat with her legs crossed and her hands in her lap. “Okay now do as instructed.” I stood behind her. "First you need to close your eyes and concentrate, second you need to know where your core is, and third imagine tunnels throughout your body.”

“How do I do that?” She asked

“Close your eyes and find you core.”

“Ok.” She closed her eyes and after a few minutes she opened her eyes. “I found it, it is near my sternum.”

“Ok now focus on your core, and then imagine it filling up with something.”

“Ok but what?”

“I don’t know water or something.”

“Ok now what?”

“Ok now imagine your core is a dam and I want you to slowly open the dam walls and let the water flow.”

Shiro closes her eyes once more and after a minute or two, she opens her eyes and sighs. “What happened?” I asked.

“Nothing.” She answered

“Don’t give me that.” I poked her forehead.

“Ow- no literally nothing happened. I can't feel mana or control it, I'm worthless in this world.” She snapped.

I hit the top of her head. “Don’t give me that shit, who was the one that nursed me back to health when I was sick. Who was the one that cheered me up when I had my first break up. Who is the one that keeps me sane when people are throwing shit at our house.” I snapped back at her. “Shiro you may not be able to use mana, but you're not useless you are my little sister, and I don’t give a shit what people say. You are the light of my life in this shit hole.”

She was silent. “What about mom and dad?” sha finally asked.

I pulled her into a hug. “Of course, they helped me too, but you did most of the work.”

We stayed like that for a while. Before I finally let go. “Ok Shiro practice a bit I'm gonna take a nap. Wake me up if you make any progress.

***

I woke up to the smell of something burning and when I opened my eye Shiro was nowhere to be found. I panicked then I saw smoke from over the trees from the direction of our house. I took off in the direction of the smoke.

I must have been running for ages, My chest started to hurt with each step but I felt like I was only half way down the mountain. It felt weird I was running for around 10 minutes now and it only takes me 15 minutes to walk up here. What is going on? I thought when suddenly I saw a giant ball of flame headed towards me. I jumped out of the way in time for massive explosion to go off behind me. “What are you doing Jerrod?” I asked. “Didn’t I already teach you a lesson?”

“HA like that would keep me from beating you.” he laughed. “The chief told me to keep you occupied for the time being.”

“Hey dip shit can you not see the flames in the distance.” I snapped at him.

“The chief will handle that.” He said pulling something out of his pocket. “This is an artifact keeps the target in a barrier, and slowly depletes their mana.”

“So I can just get out if I break that?” I asked dumbfounded at what he just told me.

“No” he answered immediately flustered that I figured it out so fast.

He quickly put it back into his pocket and charged at me with his fist ignited in a blue flame. Looks like he has a mana amplifier artifact. I moved out of the way to barely dodge his fist. I punched him in square in the face sending him flying into a tree.

I walked up to him and grabbed the artifact and crushed it in my hand before taking off in the direction of my house.

I got there in a few minutes to see my house covered in flames.