7 The Beginning After The End

Darkness is the last thing I remember before I passed out. I feel pathetic.

I told myself and everyone else that I will pass the test this year but, I was wrong. I just had to be paired with the most undesirable opponent.

Talk about bad luck haunting me. I just want to kill myself, my overconfidence got the best of me. How can I even think of defeating a Prime Mage with my lousy skills?

All I can brag about is how I am able to understand each skill easily. And that is not even thanks to my genius but my knowledge that I have kept after reincarnating.

While looking down on myself. I started to feel like I am being dragged out of the endless darkness and to the light that just appeared.

GASP!

"Huff! Huff!" I'm back in my room. The same room I see. "Huff! What the hell? Why is my heart throbbing so hard?" I remembered the injuries I got from fighting with Andre and immediately lift my shirt.

There was nothing, not a scar nor a single trace of the injuries. I imagined them to be severe. I guess my mother's healing spells are far superior than the injuries.

"Hah! What do I do now." I asked myself.

It was the only question that I want to be answered.

I have spent my entire time training myself. There was nothing else I can do besides train. My father takes care of the fields and mostly all the heavy work while my mother takes care of us and does all of the housework.

"Hayst! I'll just have to figure it out later." I thought to myself. I turned to the table and there, I saw an envelope. It doesn't look like it's been opened yet and seeing that it's sitting on my table means it was intended for me to read.

Our house is silent as if there are no other people besides me. I reached out to the envelope and just as I suspected, the drawback of using a cluster of the same spell still lingers.

My arms and legs felt like they are being grinded, the pain seeps right down to my bones. "Damn it! Freaking useless body!" I grind my teeth in both pain and anger.

My curiosity about the contents of the letter is the only thing that keeps me from groaning in pain.

It is most likely the result of the test since I was not awake when it ended.

After a few minutes of painstaking effort, I managed to grab the envelope. "I went through a lot of pain knowing that I will just be disappointed. It's fine, William. You know this day would happen. There is no turning back now."

I stare at the envelope for a few moments. "Should I open this now or not?" I asked myself that question. I know that I am curious as to what they have to say to me but, the thought of my feelings getting hurt scares me.

After gathering my thoughts for a moment, I opened the envelope and the contents did not disappoint my expectations. "You failed to pass the test this year. Though you showed unexpected things for a Void Mage, a Void Mage is still a Void Mage. At the end of the day,  we need people that can take on Magical Beasts and the threat they bring. Thank you very much for partaking in the test-"

After reading that far, I calmly put down the letter and sat comfortably on my bed. The pain that I felt earlier disappeared as if there was nothing in the first place.

It was expected, that my kind of mage is not wanted nor needed. I am still like any other ordinary citizen. My heart is broken. All those years of training just for nothing.

"I guess this is the end of my journey, huh? " I said to myself. Without anyone in our house,  I raced myself to the fields where the lonely tree stood.

It all started there. I trained and get beaten up by my spell under the shade of this tree. I will end everything where it all started.

"You remember the promise I made that I will be a mage? That plan went to shit." I touch the tree's trunk and sat on the ground drowning in my grief.

The thoughts of making a difference even after being a mage flood my mind, "Will I make a difference?"

"What if I die during a mission unknowingly? Will that life be great or is it full of regrets?"

Tears run down my face as I continue to ponder over these things. Things that I will not be able to reach even if I spent my entire life training with this defective body.

I am filled with sorrow and regret. The only thing that I have faith in right now, is in my parents. "I will mark this day as the day that William stops pursuing his dreams." I bitterly said to myself knowing that I will not be able to let that dream go as long as I live.

PSH!  PSH! PSH! PSH!

While I was drowning in my sorrow, I heard a constant drop of fluid. I looked around to look for the source of the sound as it is interrupting my emotional moment. The sound is quite annoying and deafening at the same time,  it's as if it was there to catch my attention in the first place.

The longer it took for me to find it,  the louder it has become.

PSH! PSH! PSH! PSH!

I looked behind the tree, and there I found it,  the source. The fluid has a pale blue color and as it falls on the ground, the sound of an extinguished fire is made.

PSH! PSH! PSH! PSH!

The fluid instantly evaporates upon contact with the ground. It was something that I am seeing like that for the first time. I am amazed. The sight of the falling fluid enthralled me that I did not even wonder about its origins or where it comes from.

"It must have not come from the tree right?" I thought to myself as I look up and inspect the leaves, that is where I saw something, a feathered creature.

It looked like some kind of a fowl. Birds of all kinds that I have seen before have one thing in common, they don't have as much as extravagant feathers. And there is something peculiar about this particular fowl.

"I'm getting nervous all of the sudden. There is no way a bird can give off this much aura, right?" as I was looking for a stick to poke it with, I remembered what I just told myself. "Wait, that's it!"

It horrified me, the creature just fell at the same time when an updraft came.

THUD!

"Beautiful," I muttered in shock and confusion. It's mesmerizing, its beauty is out of this world. Just as I am adoring the beauty of the bird, I slowly realized something, it has passed away

The life in its eyes disappeared, it has become blank. And its feathers, are slowly melting like ice under the intense heat. "It's a magical beast." I figured.

From the extravagant feathers as well as the aura that it gives off, it was clear from the beginning.

"How in the world did a magical creature like this get here?" I thought to myself as I look up for the second time only to be met with something so unexpected.

The fluid that kept falling was the beast's blood, and the last drop that was hanging from a leaf fell right on my lips.

PSH!

"Pwe! Argh!"

The iron taste of blood and the strong unpleasant smell that I did not notice before made me want to vomit.

I felt chills running down my entire body. I immediately felt cold I embraced myself. "What the fuck was that?" I tried wiping the blood from my lips but it was already gone.

 It evaporated like what happens when it meets the ground.

I felt sick for a moment, I also feel lightheaded, was this the result of getting exposed to the magical beast's blood?

I fell to my knees again. And this time, my head felt like I was submerged in the waters of the Arctic. The chill slowly crept to the rest of my body, and I passed out again.

"Fucking hell. How many times do I have to pass ou-!"

I cursed myself as I slowly drift into the chilly abyss.

THUD!

I hope it ended everything for good. The cold is so intense that I felt like I immediately got frostbitten after that contact, and what's worse is that my head is the first one to get contacted with the blood of the magical beast.

I can't imagine what it would end like. Will my face end up like those in the photos?

The answer to that question is given to me the moment I woke up a few minutes later after I passed out, or at least that's what I thought.

It was already dark, and I can smell the tasty dinner that my mother is making and I can hear my father calling out to me from a distance.

"William! It's time to eat!"

"What the hell happened?" I thought to myself as I got up, I nearly forgot about the magical beast and turns to where it should be.

I can't see its feather due to the lack of sunlight but I can tell that its amazing color disappeared. It has now become a common fowl. "To think that its beauty disappeared."

Seeing as it is still a bird, I tried grabbing it and taking it home but what happens next surprised me, it crumbles to dust upon contact with my fingers.

".... Damn," I said to myself and proceed to walk away thinking that everything is a dream and to my surprise, I nearly slip.

That never happens when trying to stand on plain ground. I looked down and realized something happened without my knowledge.

"...…. Kekekeke! Fuck! Right when I was giving up and this happens?! Kuhahahah!" I laughed like I was out of my mind, because it's true.

I could not contain my excitement and confusion as I continue to stare at the frozen ground below me. "Shit just got interesting."