A Dream Of Love & Death

Singapore, Kenneth's Room, 2019

The smell of blood feels the air, sounds of screams and weapons crashing could be heard. Kenneth was holding a Bō staff, both hands on it, blocking a sword about to slice him apart. He unholds his right hand and instantly gathers his magic in his palms, facing the assailant in front of him, he unleashes an intense ray of light, that shoots through his chest. When the light dissipates, a gaping hole could be seen through the assailant's chest, the sides of the hole were burned to a deep dark red, his eyes were wide opened, looking at him in shock, as he quickly falls to the ground, lying dead.

Kenneth doesn't have the luxury of caring about the murder he had just committed, neither does he want to care, the assailant deserves it, all the enemies do. He continues to fight his way through the enemies, till he reached the one he wants to find. The blood on his hands, clothes and hair, sweat all over his body, he was tired, but he knows he can't stop now. Suddenly, swarms of enemies surround him, he gathered and circulated his magic through every inch of his body, flowing faster and faster, he started glowing, getting brighter. In a burst of anger, the light exploded out of him, unleashing his magic everywhere and knocking everyone out instantly.

Then, right in front of him, stood the man he wants to find, his eyes and hair red like fire, wearing the dark blue robe of Libertas. He charged at him, only to find himself falling to the ground seconds later. He had not yet process what had happened. At the instant Kenneth charges at the mysterious man screaming, he had already fired his magic at that instant towards Kenneth's head, the thin needle-shaped fire passes through Kenneth's head and dissipates.

"KEN, NO!" An unfamiliar voice screamed. Flashes of blurred images appeared on his head, from his blurred image, he can see a blurred figure with what seems to be wings slowly floating.

"Kenneth.....Please...Come back to me...." Again, another unfamiliar female voice said. She seems to be crying as he can feel tears dripping on his cheeks. This time, he sees another blurred image in, a girl's face, she was crying and seems to be telling him something, but he can no longer make out what it is.

"I...Love...You...." Kenneth said, as his eyes shut and lay dead in the arms of an unfamiliar girl.

"NOOOOO!" Kenneth screams as he jerks awake from his sleep. He tears can't stop flowing but he doesn't know why. He sat up in his bed, trying to make sense of what is happening. Ah, it was just a dream. What a weird dream. Kenneth thought.

"What's wrong, why are you crying?" Megan, his sister, stood by the door to his bedroom, looking worried and at the same time, weirded out by what she was, seeing, her brother, crying, it's been years since she saw her brother crying.

"I don't know. It was this really weird dream that-"

"You know what, nevermind, don't wanna know what kinda weird dream you were having," Megan said, cutting her brother before he finishes what he was saying. "Mom wants me to wake you up, she made breakfast, eat it before you go to school." Then she disappeared out of Kenneth's sight.

He continued about his day, it was eight in the morning. He showered. brush his teeth and changed, then went to eat breakfast.

Something feels different today, he felt much more energetic, less depressed and tired, he hasn't felt this way in years, but he still couldn't get the dream out of his mind. Kenneth remembers the dream vividly, the metallic smell of blood in the air, the sounds of weapons clashing, weird light shooting out from him, weird unexplainable things occurring all around him. What disturbed him though, was the thought that at the moment of his death in his dreams, he felt incredibly sad, not the thought of death but the thought of leaving that mysterious girl and boy behind. They were unfamiliar to him, though he couldn't remember their faces, he doesn't recognise their voices at all, yet in his heart, they were precious to him.

Kenneth decided to not think too much about it.

While eating breakfast, Kenneth's dad came out of the room, just awoken from his sleep. The moment his eyes laid on Kenneth, he was completely awake.

"Kenneth, did something happened yesterday?" His dad, Yong Ming said. Yong Ming could feel something different about him, his magic was awakening, this shouldn't have happened, not after the seal was placed on him to prevent exactly this.

Kenneth knew he couldn't lie to his dad, strangely, his dad always seemed to be able to tell when he is lying, not only him but anyone who lies, somehow, his dad would know. He asked his dad about it before, his dad would always say, he could feel it in his bones. Megan, his sister, seemed to have inherited this trait from him, she said that she feels some tingling sensation when someone lies.

"Why? Is something wrong?" Kenneth replied. He deliberately not answered his question but changed the topic around. After years of living with his father and sister, he became really skilled at deflecting questions and changing topics that it frustrates both of them to no end. He's not that stupid to not find a way around their strange ability.

Yong Ming didn't know what to say, after all, he's been told not to reveal anything about magic to Kenneth, to protect him, that's the reason why the seal was placed.

"It's nothing. Never mind." Yong Ming said. This is strange, Kenneth's dad is not a person to back down from a challenge, whenever he notices his son was trying to throw him off his game, he would always try to probe further, although this has been proven ineffective against his son for the past few years.

Kenneth feels his father is weird today. He ate the egg sandwich his mom made for him before she left the house for work. Gradually, his sister left for school while he left for his lecture.

Singapore, Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park, 2019

William and Wilson were back at the park they were at yesterday. Wilson followed behind William as they continued on their way to the spot they found before.

The grass patch was already back to its original length after the magic has dissipated, though they could still sense a trace amount of it.

"You said you sense something yesterday, where is it?" William asked.

"I'm not sure, it was just a hunch, give me a moment, let me summon a Hellhound," Wilson replied enthusiastically, finally able to do something fun for the first time in a while.

While William back off a little and let Wilson carry on with is spell crafting. Wilson took a knife out from his bag and cuts his hand lightly, letting a few drops of blood drip on the ground in front of him, then started chanting his spell.

"O'Mighty Cerberus, The Hellhound, The Guard Of Hell, Keeper of Secrets And The Dead, heed my call, for your assistance is required." Wilson chanted, as both his hands were stretched out towards the ground, palms facing the grass patch in front of him. As he chanted, he continued to channel his magic, imagining a magic circle in front of him.

Wilson's magical talent was in summoning, he has various contracts with several spirit beasts. When he was first awakened, he unconsciously summoned a Will-O'-The-Wisps, indicating his magical talent in summoning. Different from other Magus', he doesn't need to draw a magic circle as a guide, he just needs a few drops of blood if he is summoning a spirit beast, if summoning an animal, not even a drop of blood is needed.

"WHO DARES SUMMON ME!" A voice loudly exclaimed as the blood on the ground spread. Suddenly, it burst into blue flames rising about a metre into the air, until it slowly dies down. Amidst the flames, a large three-headed dog appeared, it had a coat so black that William thought that is it the darkest thing he had ever seen. Its eyes were fierce and completely black, no pupils in it.

"Hi Cerberus, did you miss me?" Wilson smiled and said playfully.

"Oh. It's just you." Cerberus said apathetically and with scorn. The harshness of his voice was gone, replaced it was the voice of a normal man in his forties. "So what did you need me for?"

"I need you to help me track a Nine-Tailed Fox."

"Seriously? Couldn't you have just summoned some Will-O'-The-Wisps or something?" Cerberus replied annoyingly.

"There's only a trace amount of its magic left, the Will-O'-The-Wisps can only roughly track with a large amount of magic. You're the best at the job!" Wilson replied happily. Though Cerberus was still annoyed, but not as much as before, he was still reluctant to do it. " Come on, pleeeaase?"

" This better be worth it, Nine-Tailed Foxes are not the best bunch to offend," Cerberus replied.

William was quite appalled at how they converse with each other like close friends who knew each other for years. He was sure that if other Magus' had summoned Cerberus, there's a risk that they would be burned right down to their souls with hellfire or gobbled up.

Cerberus walked over to the grass patch where the fox might have once been. The slowly, he sniffed the ground and slowly walked away from the grass patch and towards the trees. Wilson and William followed closely behind.

"I sense strong unfamiliar magic cloaking the fox's magic." Cerberus as he tracked the magic towards the back of a tree.

"Can you track further? The location it might be at?" William asked.

"The magic is strong but unawakened, not nearly enough for me to completely track their loca-"

"Eyyyy, how useless," Wilson said as he waved his right hand out, cutting off Cerberus.

"You basta-" Before Cerberus furiously finishes what he was saying, he disappeared in a flash of Hellfire. Wilson had cut off the summoning unexpectedly.

William was quite amused at the insolence Wilson have for the Hellhound, he was starting to like Wilson a little more.

"Look, it's a book." Wilson squatted down and picked up a book that was lying in the ground. "Ngee Ann Polytechnic, School Of Life Sciences & Chemical Technology. Name, Kenneth Lee. Would you look at that, a lead."

William took the book from Wilson and took a look at it. "Now we know where to go."

Singapore, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, 2019

Why am I seeing weird things today? What are those tiny shiny things?

Ever since Kenneth left the house, he's been seeing all the Mana in the air, it resembles tiny shiny blue balls of light, less than a millimetre. It is everywhere, emanating from trees, from humans, the air around and even from the ground, but it was blur as if he's seeing double images, the real world and the supernatural.

He has also seen some humans, emanating much more Mana, but it was also unusual due to its pale golden colour. Kenneth thought he was losing his mind. This time, he saw someone from his course, Ethan emanating the same pale golden Mana.

Ethan was sitting all the way at the back row of tables in the lecture theatre. He has noticed Kenneth kept staring at him. Kenneth feels different today, he had always sensed it before and never took it to mind, but this time, it was different, he was emanating much more magic, it was strong yet unawakened, this was unprecedented. Ethan also noticed the way Kenneth kept looking at him. What exactly happened to Kenneth?

Throughout the whole lecture, Kenneth stayed awake the whole time, which is probably the rarest thing that ever happened since he started school. He stared and observed all the Mana in the air, how it moved, how it spread, how it dissipates.

Kenneth never noticed that some of his friends were talking and whispering about him.

"Wow, how weird, Ken's awake." Whispered John, who was sitting in the row behind him.

"Why he keep looking around huh? And he kept staring at Ethan." Said Yi Heng, sorted beside John.

"Maybe he has a crush on Ethan. We've never seen him dated anyone before. Maybe he's gay and doesn't want anyone to know." Replied John.

"Hey, don't joke about stuff like that. You know it's rude. Just concentrate on the lecture." Whispered Zane seriously.

"Okay okay. So serious for what sia...." Replied Yi Heng.

The lecture went on with Kenneth not concentrating on it. He was weirded out and at the same time fascinated by all the Mana floating around, he thought he was losing his mind. Kenneth decided to approach Ethan after the lecture to question him about what he knew, after all, he is different from the others.

After the lecture ended, Ethan immediately left the lecture theatre, Kenneth followed behind after waiting for a few seconds.

"Look, he's chasing after Ethan. Maybe he's gonna confess!" Said John

"Seriously, shut up." Replied Zane.

Kenneth looked around the corridor along the lecture theatre outside, Ethan was nowhere to be found.

Maybe he's outside? Kenneth walked up the corridor, when he's near the lift, he felt a tap on his shoulders.

He turned around to find Ethan behind him, right by the lift.

"I knew you were gonna come find me. You feel different today." Ethan nonchalantly said.

"What do you mean?" Kenneth asked suspiciously, though Kenneth had a hunch he knew what Ethan was talking about, he wanted to find out more about Ethan before he actually revealed anything.

"Don't you feel it? The magic around, that's why you were distracted during the lecture and kept looking at me, right?"

"Feel it? I don't only feel it, I see it, everywhere, the air, the trees, from everyone, you were the only few different from everyone else!" Kenneth replied frustratingly, he couldn't take it anymore, this is all very frightening for him.

"What do you mean you see it?" Ethan asked curiously.

"You know, the super tiny blue balls of light floating all around. Yours were golden."

"What?" Ethan was shocked.

"What? You don't see it?"

"Do you know what this means? You have the Eyes Of Truth, YOU ARE THE HEIR OF LIGHT." Ethan said, in a grave voice. He grabbed onto Kenneth's hands, "You need to come back with me to the bureau, the federation's been searching for the Heir Of Light for decades."

"I'm not going anywhere with you." Kenneth pushed Ethan's hands off from his. This was all too much, the fox, the Mana and now this Heir Of Light bullshit, he can't take this much information in a single day.

Ethan knew that Kenneth was frightened by everything that's happening, he knew it wasn't going to be easy for him to accept everything. "Okay okay, fine, just chill okay? Just, meet me tomorrow at the Library, I will book a room, tell you everything you want to know, just relax, everything's going to be fine." Ethan tries to calm Kenneth down and it worked.

When Kenneth pushed away Ethan's hands, Ethan felt the magical energy raging from Kenneth, he was very close to going berserk, the magical energy was enormous, large enough to destroy the whole building should it burst, but the magical energy calmed down along with Kenneth

"What time?" Kenneth asked, he was in doubt, but still want to find out everything he can.

"Four, after the lecture. I'll see you tomorrow." Then Ethan left.

Kenneth was suspicious of Ethan's intentions but decides to listen to what he has to say first before making any decisions. But what the hell is the Eye Of Truth? The Heir Of Light? This is starting to become something that came out of a manga.

Whatever, I'll just find out everything tomorrow.

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