Prologue: The Encounter

"Shit! I'm gonna be late! That hell of a teacher won't spare me if

that happens! She'll skin me alive!"

Running at full speed, Mino tried his level best to accelerate

even further. He might not be a good sports player...he might

not exercise regularly, but he could run well.

Running through the relatively less busy streets of a

metropolitan city named Aomuri, Mino was struggling to go

school.

As the saying goes, haste makes waste, the same happened

with Mino too. In his desperate attempt to make himself faster,

he lost control.

Courtesy to a random irresponsible stranger who had tossed a

can near the rubbish bin, Mino tripped over it. Yeah, his luck

was supremely bad, throughout his life. Even though he was

talented, he wasn't recognized. Even though he didn't deserve

it, he got bullied. This time, it was even worse.

Losing his footing, Mino was sent flying...into a lamp post.

His head struck the wall smack dab.

"Thannnnnnggggggggg" A metallic sound echoed.

His vision got cloudy, his nose hurt and he could feel his ears ringing. His senses were in disarray,ruining his balance. Unable to take anymore punishment,his body gave up and he fell flat on his back,eyes facing the blurred blue sky.

"That was too careless of me. Aaah Shit,this won't be just over with an aching head!" he frowned.

Just about that time a stinging pain assaulted his forehead,accompanied by a slimy feeling slowly spreading down his temples in a linear motion.

"Huh? Wh..What's that?" Mino brought his fingers upto his temple and felt something warm and wet. Looking at his fingers,he went 'Ah'. Even his blurred vision was able to discern the sight.

His forehead was bleeding. His nose was bleeding too. The intense pain perhaps indicated broken skull bones. He couldn't even breathe properly, let alone standing up.

"Guh...I..I can't even...."

As his consciousness was fading away, he heard someone make a clicking noise,with their tongue probably.

"Good Grief. The people here don't know how to take their time. Huffffhhh....."

An extremely long and tired sigh. As he looked at the source of the voice, he saw a figure standing just at the entrance of the alleyway. That person was not there until now.

"When did he appear? And...why is the person giving off such a... strange vibe?" Mino couldn't help but wonder.

The figure started walking towards him in an overly exaggerated dramatic manner.

"Wait lad,don't move." The figure instructed. Mino couldn't discern the gender of the speaker,probably owning to the fact that he was suffering from a concussion.

The figure disappeared ------ to instantly reappear infront of Mino. Mino forehead was touched tenderly. He leaked out a pained breath "ugh", and heard a boyish voice. It was acompanied by a surprisingly warm and gentle feeling on his forehead. But the pain somehow worsened before his consciousness faded into darkness.

"This should be enough ------ [Light Conjuration] <Heal>."

====================================

A few hours later....

Opening his eyes, Mino saw a white ceiling. Slowly rubbing his eyes, he looked around. A familiar sight greeted him. There was a mirror right across him, where he saw a boy with hazel eyes and soot black hair. The boy had wheatish skin, and was wearing his school uniform. The moss green collar was dyed red.

"Is the red colour...of my blood?"

Mino thought while feeling his forehead, clearly not being able to remember what happened a few hours ago.

"Ah, Mr. Clair you are awake."

Hearing a familiar voice, he turned his head in that direction. There was Dr. Reinard standing, their school's doctor who was on charge of the infirmary, where Mino currently was.

"Oh, Sir Doc, Good...mmm" Mino wondered what time of the day it was....

"Afternoon." Reinard finished Nino's sentence for him as he smiled lightly.

"It's afternoon already?"

"Yeah, and I want to know something. Did you meet any person before getting injured in your head?" he queried.

As soon as he said that, Mino felt as if a blockade burst and memories came flowing in. Yet he couldn't remember anything which could be related to Reinard's question.

"Well, no problem if you don't, but there's something very important I need to tell you. And on one condition. After I tell it to you, DON'T. REPEAT. IT. TO. ANYBODY.

I MEAN IT." There was an adamant tone which Mino had never found on Reinard.

He was generally a calm and level minded person.

Mino gulped, sweat trailing down his forehead. He didn't know when he had started sweating. Shaking his nervousness off, he nodded and said, "Fine, I won't."

"Good. Now first tell me what happened to you."

"I got injured by slamming into a lamp post. The injury I believe was severe."

Reinard nodded, and said, "Yeah. Ashu brought you here."

Ashu was Mino's best friend. Mino felt good when his name was mentioned.

"But the thing is, you should've died." Reinard declared these unbelievable words.

Mino was clearly confused. Just what did Sir Doc mean? Then how is he sitting here just fine?

Reinard waved his hand and continued, as if he had understood what Mino was wondering.

"There was blood all over face and head... you had bled a lot..."

Mino was running out of patience. He climbed down from the bed and demanded, "What do you exactly want to say? Don't beat around the bush!!"

The glow in Reinard's grassy green eyes brightened as he said, "Don't you understand! Something supernatural happened! You are living even though you should have been dead! Someone magically healed you!"

Mino widened his eyes. It was straight out of a fantasy book. No way he was going to believe that.

Shaking his head, he stated, "Sorry Sir Doc, you may be my mentor, but I can't believe you this time..."

Reinard smiled before turning around.

"Believe whatever you want to. But I am not finished yet."

He walked to his desk and took his seat. Pointing towards the other chair, he signalled Mino to take the other. He gingerly did as instructed.