1 1.The Beginning

Fire! wherever his vision went he could only see fire! The village where he lived, the friends he played with, the little brother who he adored and the woman who he loved the most in the world, the woman who he respected and cared for the most and the woman who he promised to protect with his life to his father… the woman who he called 'mother'… Gone! burned to ashes! Everyone he cared about killed before his own eyes!… He cried, cursed and even begged the gods to help him, to stop this nightmare but no! no one listened to his prayers. Were the gods so cruel that they were fine watching the innocent burn? watching his 2-year-old brother who he adored die? and where was their so-called 'guardian spirit: the great crystal dragon king "cryptoraz"' that his mother worshipped? nowhere! they were nowhere! when they needed their help, their protection they were nowhere.

he cried, he cried tears of blood but still, no one came to help him. his legs were burnt, turned to ashes but he didn't mind the pain, why? because the only thing he was feeling right now was hatred! intense hatred! hatred towards the gods that let his brothers die, hatred towards cryptoraz who did not protect his mother. but the one he felt the most hatred towards, was the one stole everything away from him, destroyed everything he cared about, killed the little 2-year-old brother he adored and his 'mother.' The one he hated the most was the giant black dragon flying in the sky burning everything down, 'the dragon of the apocalypse: "Acnologia!"'

"I swear! I swear on my blood that I will kill you Acnologia! I will give you the worst death one could imagine! Mark my words, I will have my revenge one day!" that was the promise he made before passing out from excess blood loss.

[Scene Break]

[ MC's POV]

Waking up in a room filled with books to the brim, I was ecstatic. I knew it was all just a bad dream, a nightmare! Happy with the fact it was all just a dream I was about to jump from the bed when I saw my bandaged legs and the realization hit me, and it hit me hard. I was not in my room, not in my house. This place was not my own, when the realization hit me, I felt my entire world crumbling down. It was not a dream, it was real! All real! My village, my friends, my brother and my mother, all gone! I lost them all. But here I was, alive and without a clue where I was or how I survived. My mind was a mess right now, I had no clue what to do? I looked around the room from the bed but found nothing wrong other than all the books the filled more than half of it. But when I was looking towards the books the door to the room suddenly opened and I saw an elderly woman coming inside. 

[3rd person POV]

"Hoo~ Finally awake, eh?" she said, but he didn't reply. Still unsure of what was going on.

"I was worried that you might not have woken up for another month but looks like it was not the case. Well, you might be confused, and you should be, after all, a child going through all that is not something one would imagine. But don't worry I have already healed your legs; it was not easy, but I think it turned out just fine. Do you feel uncomfortable somewhere? If you do, feel free to tell me and I will cure you." she said with genuine concern and turned to pick up the herbs kept on the table. He looked surprised, why was this old woman whom he had never met before worried about him? Even when the gods abandoned him why did she look so bothered by his poor state? He was quite shocked. But after a few minutes, he pushed those thoughts aside.

"How long?" He asked.

"Eh?" She turned towards him not hearing what he said.

"I asked how long I was unconscious for?" He asked her curiously.

"Seven months. You were unconscious for seven months. But considering the damage you suffered, it was not that shocking." she replied.

Surprised by her answer he looked confused. Confused by the fact that his burnt legs were healed, confused by the fact that he survived and confused as to how or why this old lady saved him.

"Why did you save me?" he asked looking at her suspiciously.

"Why? I don't need a reason to save someone, child. But if you meant how I found you it was because I was looking for some rare herbs seven months ago. I heard that there were 'Chimera-Tear Herbs' in 'Crystal Rain Village' so I went to your village in the hopes of finding some. But unfortunately, the only thing I found was a burnt village. I was surprised to find you. I didn't think there were any survivors, but I was wrong. Despite having your legs turned to ashes and all those wounds covering your body, you were still breathing. Very slowly, but breathing, nonetheless. I searched for survivors but found none. You were the only lucky one or unlucky, after all, you did lose everyone else. After that, I brought you to my home and healed your legs but mind you, reconstruction of limbs is not an easy task. It took me 3 weeks to reconstruct your legs completely. But in the end, they turned out just fine." She answered him without looking away from his eyes. He eyed her curiously, looking for any deceit but found none. And it was true that their village had the rare 'Chimera-Tear herb' which many mages used in potions.

"I see." that's all he said before both of them fell into silence.

After what felt like a few minutes, the woman asked.

"What is your name child?" in a low yet caring tone. The boy looked at the old woman who seemed to be in her seventies with wrinkles covering her face and grey hair in her head for some time before answering.

"Alexander. Alexander Necros, that is the name my mother gave me." he answered without looking away from her.

"Alexander, that is a good name. The name carries power. Do you know what your name means?" she asked him with a gentle smile on her face.

"Defender, that's what my name means. But that is just a name, it means nothing in real life. I was unable to protect anyone from that monster. So, the name means nothing!" he said with tears forming in the corner of his eyes. 

The old lady smiled at him and said, "You are correct little Alexander, your name means to defend, to protect. But it doesn't only mean protecting others, it also means protecting yourself. Defending yourself from doubts, from sadness and from pain. What happened seven months ago was not your fault, there was nothing you could have done, but that doesn't mean that you cannot do anything in the future. You can protect others, but to do that you have to grow stronger. Stronger not just physically but mentally and emotionally as well. Only then you will be able to prevent such a tragedy from occurring again. Rest now, you are still not fully healed. Take some rest and think about what I said." saying this the lady started walking out of the room with a gentle smile on her face.

"What is your name ma'am?" Alexander asked. 

Without turning around the old lady answered, "Bertha, my name is Bertha." she said and walked away from the room. Leaving Alexander to think about what she said before.

[Scene Break]

It has been two months since Alexander woke up and what he found out within these two weeks was that Bertha was a mage and an alchemist. He already figured out that she was a mage when she told him that she healed his legs. No one without magic can just grow legs out of nowhere. But when she told him that she was an alchemist, he was truly surprised. Alchemists are rare, they are far rarer than 'potion-masters' or even many lost magic users. The reason for this is because many believe that alchemy is not a necessary subject in today's time. What alchemist could do many others could do better, potion-making was done by potion-masters, rune-making was done by rune-masters and even element-crafting and researching was done was various researchers. When Bertha explained about alchemy to Alexander, she was furious, furious at the idiots (that is what she called the councilmen)who decided to remove the alchemy subject from many institutes. She told Alexander that without alchemy, magic could never have improved so much. Alchemy was not just about searching for ways to turn any metal into gold or making the so-called elixir of life. 

Alchemy was about understanding the ways of the universe, how it works, the principles it follows and the rules that keep them in check. Alchemy focuses on everything from the basic structure of an ice-cube to the principles on which life revolves. So now here he was, in the library, going through all the books about alchemy. Bertha told him to read about alchemy and judge it after reading a bit about it. And he was pleasantly surprised at what he found. Bertha was correct, alchemy was not so simple. The books that he read explained about almost everything in the universe that exists in detail and even about those that don't exist. Now he was hooked to learning about alchemy. He spent most of his time in the library. 

"Alex, dinner is ready. Come to the dining hall." Said Bertha from the hall.

Closing the book Alexander went towards the dining hall. Bertha was putting the plates on the table, when she saw Alexander and said, "I know that alchemy is interesting, but you should also play outside and not just keep reading. You are a kid, and kids should play outside not keep reading books in the library."

"But you are the one that told me not to practice alchemy, so I spend my time reading about it." He said.

"You know very well why I forbid you to practice alchemy Alex. Alchemy is very dangerous, and it is not something to play with. You are only 7 years old and I promised you that I will start teaching you about alchemy after your birthday which is after a week. You just need to have patience kid." She said with a sigh.

"*Sigh* Okay Grandma, I will wait till next week. So, what's for dinner tonight?" He asked her after agreeing to wait for a week.

Hearing his question Bertha replied with a smile, "Crimson Rabbit Stew with Sylph fruit and your favourite Sweet Berry Pudding." Hearing this Alexander started drooling. Looking at her drooling 'Grandson's' face Bertha started laughing.  "Go wash your hands and then will we eat." She said and Alexander jumped from his place and rushed to wash his hands. Looking at his rush Bertha thought 'He is such a good child, sometimes I wonder why all the good people have to suffer so much. But if the incident didn't occur, I would have never met him but then again this is just an old woman's selfish desire. He has opened up so much in such a short time, I just hope that he always keeps smiling." Shaking her head, she started playing again.

It was true, after waking up Alexander was quite distant but after a while, he started opening-up to Bertha and started calling her Grandma which she loved to hear. Alexander still cried at night because of that incident but Bertha was always able to calm him down. In just two months she started loving him like her own grandson. In the last two months, she figured out that Alexander was unlike any boy his age. He was far smarter than any other seven years old. The books that took many mages months to understand took only a couple of hours for Alexander. He soaked the knowledge like sponge and Bertha was very pleased with this. She wanted to pass everything she knew about alchemy to Alexander, and when he will be ready, she will teach him 'her magic.'

[Scene Break]

Alexander was very happy today; he was happy not because it was his birthday but the reason for his happiness was that he will be starting his alchemy training from today. He rushed to Bertha's room directly after waking up but much to his disappointment she was not in her room. He searched for her everywhere but didn't find her. He became sad, 'maybe she forgot about his birthday? Maybe she had something more important to do than attending his birthday?' Those were the thoughts that were going on in his head. But after half an hour Bertha returned with a large basket in her hand. Alexander was ecstatic, he rushed towards her and hugged her. Seeing this Bertha laughed.

"Happy Birthday little Alexander." She said kissing his forehead.

"Thank you, Grandma! Now let's started practising alchemy!!" He said in an eager tone with stars in his 'Emerald-Green' eyes. Looking at her impatient grandson, Bertha burst out laughing. 

"Patience, my dear patience. First, let's cut your birthday cake after that we will start your training. Or do you not want to eat the chocolate cake that I made?" Said faking sadness.

"I want to eat the cake!" Alexander replied almost instantly. 

"Very well then, let's cut the cake," said Bertha.

[2 hours later]

"So little Alexander, do you know what the most important thing in alchemy is?" Bertha asked.

"Yes, it is observation," Alexander answered.

"Yes, it is indeed observation. Now look at the stone in front of you, what do you see?" Bertha asked pointing towards the big ruby in front of them.

"I see a ruby?" He said unsure of what answer Bertha wanted. Hearing his answer Bertha nodded.

"Indeed, it is a ruby, but what is a ruby?" Bertha asked Alexander while keeping her eyes closed. At first, Alexander was confused but after a while, he answered.

"A ruby a solid gemstone. It is very tough and valuable," he said. Happy with the answer she replied.

"Good, a ruby is solid. It is made up of densely packed particles called atoms. But these atoms are of various kinds, many different kinds of atoms coming together constitute a ruby. Now observe very carefully." Bertha said and placed her hand on the ruby. Within an instant, the ruby turned into red liquid. Seeing this Alexander was beyond shocked. The solid in front of him turned into liquid almost in the blink of an eye. 

"This little Alexander is alchemy. We study the constitution of elements and change them according to our desires. Simply put Alchemy is 'Matter-Manipulation Magic.'