Chapter 2: The Voices Within Me
Arthur Leywin POV
I never believed in the whole "light at the end of the tunnel" folly where people, after experiencing near-death experiences, would startle awake in a cold sweat exclaiming, "I saw the light!"
But here I am currently at this so-called "tunnel" facing a glaring light when the last thing I remember was sleeping in my room
Did I die? If so, how? Was I assassinated?
I don't remember wronging anyone, but then again, being a powerful public figure gave others all sorts of reasons to want me dead.
Anyway...
Since it didn't seem like I was going to wake up anytime soon, while I slowly gravitated towards this bright light, I might as well go along with it.
The journey seemed to take an eternity; I half expected a choir of children to be singing an angelic hymn, beckoning me towards what I hoped would be heaven.
Instead, my vision of everything around me turned into a blur of bright red as sounds assaulted my ears. When I tried to say something, the only sound that came out seemed to be a cry.
The muffled voices became clearer and I made out a: "Congratulations Sir and Madam, he's a healthy boy."
...Wait
I guess normally, I should be thinking along the lines of "Shit, was I just born? Am I a baby now?"
But strangely, the only thought that seemed to pop up in my mind was, 'So the bright light at the end of the tunnel is the light coming through into the female vag...'
Haha... let's not think about it anymore.
Assessing my situation in a rational king-like manner, I noticed, first of all, that wherever this place was, I understood the language. That's always a good sign.
Next, after slowly and painfully opened my eyes, my retinas were bombarded with different colors and figures. It took a bit of time for my infant's eyes to get used to the light. The doctor, or so it seemed, in front of me had a not-so-appealing face with long, greying hair on both head and chin. I swear his glasses were thick enough to be bulletproof. The strange thing was, he wasn't wearing a doctor's gown nor were we even in a hospital room.
I seemed to have been born from some satanic summoning ritual because this room was lit only by a couple of candles and we were on the floor over a bed of straw.
I looked around and saw the female who pushed me out of her tunnel. Calling her mother should be fair. Taking a few more seconds to see what she looked like, I'd have to admit she's a beauty, but that might have been caused by my half blurry eyes. Rather than a glamorous beauty, I would better describe her as lovely, in a very kind and gentle sense, with distinct auburn hair and brown eyes. I couldn't help but notice her long eyelashes and perky nose that made me want to just cling to her. She just permeated this motherly feel. Is this why babies were attracted to their mothers?
I peeled my face away and turned right to barely make out the person who I assumed was my father by the idiotic grin and teary eyes he gazed at me with. Immediately he said, "Hi little Art, I'm your daddy, can you say dada?" I glanced around to see both my mother and the house doctor , roll their eyes as my mother managed to scoff, "Honey, he was just born."
I took a closer look at my father and I can see why my lovely mother was attracted to him. Besides the few loose screws, he seemed to have by expecting a newborn to articulate a two-syllable word.
"Well you did come from a different world maybe the babies are different here," Someone's voice said inside me
"Who are you, where are you," I thought looking around my surroundings
"Calm down child I'm inside your mind," The voice said
"Huh, I have a voice inside my head, or are you the original owner of the body?" I asked
The man laughed at me, but a different voice answered
"Boy what kind of baby that you know would be able to speak, no not even speak but to have thoughts like this, " The other voice said with a deeper voice
"Again who are you two?" I asked
"For now just rest boy, your physical body is already exhausted there." He said
"How should I call you?" I asked my consciousness starting to shut down
"Call me Sung Jin-Woo or Jin-Woo for short," The first voice said
"Call me Ashborn or Ash for short" The second voice said
I wanted to keep talking to them, but my fatigue took over, and I then fell asleep. Hours have passed, and I woke up not in bed, but I was in a dark cave with eight tall pillars in the center. But as I look down I wasn't a baby anymore, I was Grey. Looking back to the eight pillars two of the pillars were occupied by two people one was human, I was sure about that, while the other was a huge, muscular shadow with glowing flame-like purple hair, glowing purple eyes, two curved black horns, and sharp claws. He also wore jet-black armor and a long smoky black cloak.
"Welcome to our humble abode," Jin-Woo said
"Where are we?" I asked taking a stance
"Welcome to the void," Ashborn said
"Sorry for the confusion, since I couldn't bring your physical body here, I decided to bring your soul here instead. Since if your parents were to find out you suddenly disappear it could've caused trouble" Jin-woo chuckled
"Please take a seat" Ashborn snapped his finger, and suddenly I was on top of the pilar beside Jin-woo
"Who are you people," I asked again
"For now we can't tell you that. But if I were you I would be more curious about yourself, how did you get reincarnated" Jin-woo said
For a moment I just sat there quiet also asking myself the same question, but as I was about to open my mouth and say something, my body became transparent, and I was slowly fading.
"Looks like our time is up, your physical body is slowly waking up," Jin-woo said as I opened my eyes again I saw my mother's face
"Look dear Arthur's awake" I heard my mother's voice say
"Hello Art you still look tired, how about we play for a little," My father said carrying me up, and started spinning making my head dizzy
"Seriously are babies in this world made out of metal for someone to be this careless holding a baby." I heard Ashborn's voice say
His answer was soon answered as my mother slapped my father, took me into her embrace, and then yelled at my father to be more careful while placing me back in my crib. She then proceed to pull my father in the ear, and left my room still scolding my father.
"Even you seemed more mature than your father" I heard Jin-Woo laugh
"For now how about I teach you the basics in the world since you are stuck inside your crib little man," Jin-Woo said in a teasing tone
"I'd rather be beaten than called a little man," I said
"Oh we'll get to beatings later since I'll be beating your soul, not your physical body so you can't even call it child abuse," Jin-Woo said
"All right let's get started The continent we are in right now is Dicathen. The continent of Dicathen had Kingdoms, each ruled by a king and his royal family. The king was chosen based on lineage; the title was passed down from the son of the King to his son and so on.
(A/N: I'll spare you the explanation. Jin-woo just explains everything Arthur read when he first came into the world from the books about Dicathen's history they had, and common knowledge from the light novel)
"So there is three race. Human, Dwarves, and elves" I asked
"Correct" Jin-Woo replied
"There are three kingdoms, which are Sapin that are ruled by humans, Darv by the dwarves, and Elshair by the Elves," I said
"Correct" Jin-woo replied
We then kept on our history lessons, and finally, I started to feel my physical body getting tired, so I decided to sleep. When I opened my eyes again I was back inside The Void as Ash calls it, sitting in the same pillar I was before.
"In here I'm just going to teach you mana, and how to form your mana core. For sword fight I think you have enough of that by now King Grey" Ashborn said
(A/N: I'll spare you the explanation. Ashborn just explains everything Arthur read when he first came into the world from the books they had about mana manipulation and common knowledge from the light novel)
After a few hours, I was finally able to unleash a pulse of pure mana out of my hand. Ashborn then made a few stone boulders and told me to try and destroy them. I stared at him wondering what this man was thinking making a total beginner destroy a huge boulder while I had trouble even trying to launch raw mana out of my hand.
"Don't be a wuss you won't get hurt in the Void, although pain is still a thing" Ashborn said as he hit the back of my head
I rolled my eyes and began gathering mana, and focusing them on the tip of my index finger that was pointing the boulder, and as I felt my hand was nearly going to explode I released the mana from my finger, and the mana shot towards the boulder, although it didn't destroy the boulder it created a hole around 6 cm in diameter which managed to go through the whole boulder. I then fell to the ground because of exhaustion, even though I didn't manage to destroy it I still felt a sense of achievement, while Ashborn just stood there inspecting the hole.
"Your control in mana is splendid to be able to condense mana into a concentrated form rather than just unleashing a wave of unstable, and unbalanced mana," Ashborn said while offering his hand to help me get up
I accepted his hand, and jumped up while inspecting the room I asked him "Where is Jin-Woo?"
"I'm afraid that even I wouldn't know where he is," Ashborn said as he shook his head
Jin-Woo POV
I left the two of them to train, while I came back to the physical world, and started to travel around the continent, learning more things needed to know about this new world. I traveled around two hours before I decided to return. As I returned to the Void I saw that both Ashborn and Arthur were still in their training session. While I've never seen this side of Ashborn it was good to see him more alive than before. I approached them and asked if their training was going well, which then Arthur answered "It's going good" But before we could converse further Arthur's body started to fade, and he disappeared from the Void.
"You've changed," I said to Ashborn
"That child posses talent in mana" He simply answered
"But because of that I'm afraid of his fate, and what part he would be playing in this world" He added
"If its fate even we would have a hard time changing it," I said to him, I then shared the information I gathered while I was outside.
Time passed by pretty quickly, and Arthur already formed his mana core at the age of two years old. Remembering Ashborn's words "But because of that I'm afraid of his fate, and what part he would be playing in this world" I was also afraid for Arthur of what would happen to him. Two years passed by, and I was listening to their parents arguing about whether they should send Arthur to Xyrus or not.
"You should accept," I said to him
"I have no saying in this I'm only four" Arthur answered to me
I also soon realized that maybe having a four-year-old decide on life-changing decisions wouldn't be the brightest idea but then that's when Reynold turned to Arthur and said "Art, this is concerning you, so you have a say in this as well. How would you feel about going to a big city and having a teacher?" I facepalmed at his words, but I was still thankful that Arthur wasn't actually four.
Arthur POV
Fantastic...
I applauded the effort for trying to make this fair, but I don't think he realized that he was trying to ask a four-year-old to make a decision that would ultimately change his life... As I heard both Jin-Woo, and Ashborn both laughing loudly in my head.
Trying to conclude this little argument, I suggested, "Can I at least try meeting some mentors and have them see if I need to be tutored or not?"
"Nice answer," Jin-Woo said still trying to hold his laugh
But then I realized that the room got quiet as I looked at my father, and mother Did I step on a landmine? Was I not supposed to be this articulate in my sentences at my current age? Are they mad because I didn't choose a side?
Having no confidence in keeping a poker face, I looked down and waited for their response.
Thankfully, none of my fears were on their minds. My mother finally spoke, quietly she muttered, "We'll at least formally have his mana core and channels tested. We can figure out what to do from there."
As my father nodded in agreement, we began making preparations the next day. When I said what I did last night, I assumed that we'd be going to a nearby town or a city, maximum a day's worth of travel away, to have me tested by a qualified mage but boy was I wrong.
We were making preparations for a three-week-long journey. A journey via horse-drawn carriage through the Grand Mountains to something called a teleportation gate which will get us into a city called Xyrus.
Mother then started to pack our stuff because dad insisted we started traveling now because their ex-party members were currently stopping by. As I packed my stuff I asked Jin-Woo "Do you know anything about Xyrus?"
"It's a floating city where most influential families live, and popular academies are built" Jin-Woo answered
As We headed to the place the Twin Horns as my father introduced their ex-party name, My father explained the people who were in the Twin Horns and their personalities.
We reached the inn they were staying at in Ashber and saw them out in front, near the stables.
My father, after hugging his ex-party members, exclaimed, "Fellas, I want you guys to meet my son, Arthur! Go on Art, introduce yourself."
Giving a slight half bow while looking up at them, I introduced myself.
"Hello. My father has told me great things about his fellow Twin Horns members. Thank you for traveling with us to Xyrus. We'll be in your hands."
"HAHAHA, what is this? Such manners! Are you sure he's your son, Rey?"
I just giggled, but I heard Jin-Woo and Ashborn dying of laughter inside my mind which I cursed at them.
"He's still my father" I said to them
"Yea whatever let's you sleep at night" Jin-Woo replied
The one to respond was the Spear wielder, Adam. Taking a closer look at him, he seemed like the energetic, talkative type. While fairly good-looking, he had bright red hair tied in a messy poof at the end, almost like a flame, and a couple of bangs escaping from the hair tie, he reminded me of some sort of vagabond. His eyes were bright and almost seemed like they were always laughing. The first thing I noticed though, was the scar across his nose, reaching both cheeks.
I felt myself getting picked up.
"Awww...Isn't he just too precious? You should be glad that he doesn't look like you, Reynolds." Earning another laugh from both Jin-Woo, and Ashborn
"Is this roasting Reynolds day?" I asked to myself
Peeling my face away from what felt like a memory foam deathtrap before she suffocated me in those gigantic breasts, I took a good look at the woman who was trying to kill me. Boy was she pretty. I mean, while not as pretty as my mother, she gave off the whole "royal princess" vibe with her long blond hair that came to a curl at the ends and radiant green eyes that drooped slightly.
"I'm curious what world are you from, calling that a death trap, did they do that in your world to torture or kill people?" Ashborn asked curiously
"No they don't but there was something similar though, but still they don't use breasts," I answered
"Oh because if they did do that I'm more afraid that you'll become a womanizer at an early age" He replied flatly
Jin-Woo's laugh rang inside my head as he sturggled to say something "Ashborn you shouldn't say that to four year old" He said still laughing
Meanwhile I was slowly losing consciousness. Just as my hands were about to give out and my face about to enter the twin abyssal hills, a strong pair of hands grabbed me by the knapsack strapped to my back, whisking me away from the well-endowed woman.
"Angela, you're hurting him," a deep voice grunted.
"Wow that man is huge" Ashborn said
There I hung, like a kitten being carried by his mother by the scruff of his neck, unable to move.
My eyes stared fixedly at the giant.
Easily passing two meters in height with a staff strapped to his back, the giant carefully lowered me back onto the ground and tidied my clothes gently.
How gentle.
I imaged riding on his shoulders like a mighty steed the whole way. I looked up at him, my eyes getting bigger as I pondered.
He had very narrow eyes and eyebrows that slanted down, giving him an almost innocent face, compared to his enormous body that stretched past two meters. The short, scruffy black hair on his head completed the shaggy dog image on him.
Dusting my clothes off, I turned to face the woman that looked slightly younger than everyone else. Straight black hair that was half-tied at the back with a ribbon complementing her red, half-open eyes and curt-looking lips, making her seem very brusque.
"Mhm," she slightly nods and then turns away.
Ah... a woman of few words. How charming.
"Arthur control your inner desires you're still four" Jin-Woo chough as I realized what he meant I felt my face getting got
Which made my parents worry and asked "Are you okay" My mother asked
"Uh yea I'm fine just a little tired that's all, and it's also hot out here" I said
My eyes fixed on her as she walked away towards the stable, I spotted two short daggers strapped to her lower back, just above the hips.
The last member of the Twin Horns was Helen Shard. She patted my head lightly and flashed a charming smile at me. The word that I would use to describe Miss Helen would be sharp. Sharp eyes, sharp, perky nose, thin red lips, and a flat chest, almost boyish with her shoulder-length hair tied tightly at the back. I can't help but be charmed by her charismatic ambiance. She seemed to exude this 'we-can-do anything-if-we-believe' atmosphere from her pores that made her practically glow. Clothed in light leather armor covering her chest- I mean... breasts, with her bow and quiver strapped to her back, I couldn't help but compare her to an elf, but quickly abandoned that thought after I saw her rounded ears.
I hopped onto the carriage furthest back with the help of a little mana reinforcing my legs. Lately, I'd gotten the hang of using my mana to reinforce my body. I had yet to fully test what I was capable of, for fear of giving my parents a heart attack by showing off too much, but it was getting a bit more natural to direct my mana from my core through my mana channels.
After our party finished loading in all of our travel necessities into the two carriages we were taking, we strapped in what I thought would be horses. It turned out, this world had domesticated mana beasts called Skitters for transportation. These giant lizards, with spikes across their backs and powerful claws, were D-class monsters that were a lot more efficient to use, albeit more expensive, than horses when traveling mountain terrain.
Let the journey begin!
A/N: I tried ok I tried to make Ashborn more socializable which sometimes I think is impossible to do considering his original self in the LN tell me if you like them being like this or nor if a lot of people would like the old Ashborn I'll prob edit this later
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