Ch.2 Exciled House

The emerald eyes slowly opened. The sunshine came in through the open wooden window. The lively chirping of birds could be heard behind the wooden wall.

Seraiah was silent, still lying on the bed for a while. His eyes stared blankly at the ceiling of the room with some dust on it. If I remember correctly, this was where he lived a few years ago in his previous life.

This simple yet beautiful wooden house is a place for exile. Yes, exile. When he was seventeen years old, he was expelled from the capital and exiled in the Forest of Illusion.

As the name says, the Forest of Illusions gives illusions to anyone who enters it. Many people without magical skills entered and were trapped inside, and could not get out. And he was one of them. The difference is, he was forced to enter as a punishment by the King of Endora Kingdom.

He was accused of physically abusing his step-sister, Calia Achlys. At first he was simply going to be dismissed from his academics. Unfortunately, the second prince and the third prince couldn't accept it. As people who liked Calia, both of them did anything to please the girl, including making the King to interfere in his punishment.

With the excuse that Calia was the future high priestess of the kingdom, the King gave him a sentence of exile. And the time given was limitless. As long as there was someone who intended and wanted to take him out, then he could get out.

This was because the King knew that ordinary people would not want to enter the Forest of Illusion. And only people with mana and magic abilities can enter and exit freely. But, so what? Who would be willing to risk their lives to helping stranger to leave the forest and put themselves in danger.

Even though there are not many dangerous animals or mosnter, there are many poisonous plants in the Forest of Illusion. There are even plants that are larger than human body and eat humans as their food. Moreover, they were very fierce.

And as expected, he was trapped for more than two years in Forest of Illusion. The wooden house in the middle of the forest made it even more difficult for Seraiah to get out. Not to mention that he could not use magic, even if he had mana.

Mana is a magical energy that comes from humans or nature. But it is very rare for anyone to be able to take mana from nature and make it their own. Usually, mana will awaken when a person is fifteen years old. If at that age, a person cannot awaken mana, then he can try until the age of twenty. However, if it is more than twenty years old and cannot awaken mana, he will become an ordinary person.

His body is too unusual. Generally, a person with mana would certainly be able to use magic. But not with him. He had a large amount of mana, but could not release it so he could not cast spells to create magic. People said it was no different from an ordinary person without mana.

And finally, he was here for two years. Unable to go out and just going around in the forest. Even when he walked straight without turning, he would still return to his simple wooden house. Without being able to cast mana and form a Magic Illusion Barrier, he wouldn't be able to get out of here.

In his previous life, the reason he was able to get out was because he accidentally helped a group of hunters who were being bothered by poisonous plants. He, who was already familiar with those plants, easily dealt with them. Moreover, with the help of many books about unique and strange plants in the library of his small house.

He had no idea who had put them there. But thanks to those books, he was able to help make an antidote for the poison that attacked the hunting group. As a show of gratitude from the hunting party, they were willing to take Seraiah out of the forest.

They even wondered why the beautiful young man could live alone in there.

Now, the beautiful young man just stood still and stared at the ceiling in disbelief. He could feel the hard mattress under his body and the fresh air from the forest outside. Even the chirping of birds and rustling of leaves in the wind could be heard.

Unconsciously, both of his eyes turned red and tears gathered and fell and soaked into the pillow. A small river flowed endlessly from his eyes. Sometimes a sob could be heard.

"Am I still alive?" he whispered. Slowly, he sat up and lowered his feet onto the floor. Barefoot, he walked to the large full-length mirror in the corner of the room.

The image of a teenage boy with emerald eyes stared back at him. He closed his mouth that was about to scream and took a deep breath. Teardrops still flowed down his pale cheeks and fell on his chin.

"I really came back to life, didn't I?" he looked back at his reflection in the mirror. It was his seventeen-year-old form, not long after he was expelled from school and exiled to the forest of illusions.

In his mind, he was grateful that his wish was heard by God and granted. He could live again. His little head was already thinking of the many things he would do.

Unlike in his previous life where he tried and almost desperately tried to get out of the forest of illusion, he now thought that it would not be bad to live in the forest all his life. He didn't have to deal with people who were malicious to him. He could live quietly and peacefully here.

'I'm sorry for being useless'.

Suddenly, a man's voice rang in his mind. He remember it was the person who embraced him during his last moments in his previous life.

Seraiah had a dilemma. He wants to stay in his small house and live peacefully without having to meet people, but he also wants to meet that man. Although he did not know who it was, he still wanted to meet him.

Seraiah looked down at his right hand. He was trying to remember the feeling left by the object attached to the man's body. If he was not mistaken, it was a brooch. But he didn't really remember its shape. Only a glimpse of the dark purple color he remembered.

"I wish my hands could feel what that brooch looks like. It would be easier to find it," he said.

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The emerald eyes were wide open. Cold sweat soaked his forehead and neck. His back was also soaked with sweat. He looked around his dark surroundings cautiously, as if some terrifying creature was about to rush in.

His breathing was panting and unsteady. After confirming where he was, he caught his breath. The room, which was only illuminated by a little moonlight, was dim. it was difficult to see the inside.

"Hah," he sighed as he covered his face. The beautiful young man let out a rough breath. "That dream-"

He did not continue his words. He was afraid that if he continued, what he dreamed would turn into reality and he would once again suffer the fate of being burned alive. Even with his sweaty body, he could feel the heat of the blood fire on his body. It was slowly burning that thin body.

"No, it can't happen again. If it does, they're the ones who will experience it, not me," he muttered as he stood up and stared out the window.

Outside, a gentle breeze made a soothing sound among the leaves. Fearlessly, the beautiful young man opened the window and instantly a strong breeze blew his face.

In a split second, he made a decision. He would leave this forest and make his new destiny. He would not return to his father's house, Count AAA. Instead, he would go as far away from those people as possible.

The thought of revenge came to him. But, what can he do? Even mana cannot be controlled and magic cannot be used even if the mana in the body is too much. Let alone revenge, he wouldn't even think of challenging the girl who caused the misfortune for him.

For now, it was better to avoid and find a way to survive after coming out of the forest of illusion and make use of the advantage of being reborn to get as far away from those people as possible.

Grukk

"Ah, I'm hungry."

He stepped away from the window and looked around. It was too dark to do any work without the help of light. Seraiah went outside and grabbed the stored firewood behind the house and brought it inside.

He did this several times and on the fifth time, he heard a faintly strange sound. It was not the kind of noise made by the wind, but rather something moving and rubbing against a branch or bush.

Crackle

Crackle

The sound was getting clearer. And it seemed to be approaching where he stood.

"Monster?" his voice disappeared along with a strong breeze. His body felt stiff and hard to move. Even to turn his head, he could not. Too scared to see what was behind him.

Crackle

Crackle

Tap

Tap

Apparently, the thing had come out from behind the bush and was walking on the grass and its purpose was clear, the beautiful young man.

Deg

Deg

His heartbeat quickened. His breathing became fast and irregular. Even his back, which had changed clothes due to the cold sweat earlier, was wet again.

"Wh-who?" his voice was hoarse, almost not even coming out.

Tap

Tap

Its footsteps continued and got closer. The dark and silent atmosphere made it seem as if the creature was already standing behind him and did nothing.

Bruk

"Hikk," Seraiah's scream sounded as his shoulders felt a heavy weight. He had no idea what it was but instinctively, he ran as fast as he could, leaving behind the firewood that had slipped from his grasp.

He did not look twice until the back door of his house closed. Both his legs were too weak to hold his weight and his slender body fell to the ground.

"Hah... Hah... Hah... W-what was that?" he closed his eyes and imagined the creature on his shoulders again. Due to the darkness, he can only see the slightly curly black fur but not the rest.

Seraiah thought again, since he came and lived here, there were no monsters that came and approached him around his small house. He had no idea why, but thanks to that, for the past two years of his life, he was safe without being bothered by monsters of the forest of illusion.

But why, just a day after he was rebirth, there already monsters coming and getting close to his little house? Was this related to her rebirth?

He stood up and looked for anything that could be used to block the door. He also checked the windows and closed them all. Even the hunger in his stomach was gone. All he felt was fear of the unknown creatures out there.

He went to his room and locked himself in. Passing by the mirror in the corner, he noticed something on the back of his shirt. He got closer to the mirror and saw clearly what was on the back of his shirt.

"What is this? Red? Blood?!" he immediately took off his clothes and smelled it. The thick smell of rust entered his nose and made his head dizzy. "It's really blood."

He held his shoulder and there wasn't any scar there. So where did this blood come from? The only thing he could think of, was from the creature out there. Other than that creature, Seraiah had not come into contact with any other.

"Is it hurt?" his heart made the beautiful young man want to leave the room and see the creature outside. But before that, his common sense still refused to leave the room.

Injured or not, it was none of his business. The most important thing was that he was safe inside the house. What if it was a trick from the creatures outside to make him come out again and prey on him while he was careless? It was better to be safe inside than to sacrifice his life.

Seraiah picked up a new piece of clothing, a plain white knee-length overalls. He lay down and closed his eyes, trying to take his mind off what had happened moments ago.

" I hope it's gone by tomorrow," he whispered before falling asleep and go into a dreamland.

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The sun was shining brightly, piercing through the leaves and shining down on the little house in the middle of the forest.

The situation inside the house was much different than outside. There wasn't even any sunlight coming through the windows. The plain curtains were closed tightly and the door was locked and blocked with a table.

The dark house was a complete contrast to the outside. Seraiah, the beautiful young man opened his eyes and looked at his dark surroundings.

He blinked his eyes a few times before remembering what had happened last night and immediately sat up. Hurriedly, he pulled back the curtains and the sunlight burst into his room.

Outside was still calm and peaceful as usual, it didn't seem like anything suspicious had happened. The beautiful young man walked out of his room and stopped at the small window at the back door. He peeked through the gap in the curtains and looked out.

"Ah!"

A surprised scream escaped his mouth and was immediately covered with both hands. There, he clearly saw what the creature from last night behind him and left blood marks on his clothes. He stared in disbelief with both mouths covered by his hands.

'No way, how can it be here?'