1 Chapter One: That Strange Man

The year is 2190 A.D. The last few weeks of winter in a country called Omnia. In a town called Farnhardt on the outskirts of this country. The farthest town from the capital town of Omnia, The Omnium Guild. A man wearing The Ly'Lum military officer uniform was walking through town square. Judging from the expression he was giving off, one of relief, he had just gotten done with his work hours from his base. This man's name is Alex. He is a tall, moderately muscular but a generally kind man. Almost as if he were everyones' older brother in some sort of way. He turned down the street and made his way towards the local tavern. Taverns were rare in this age, but this tavern was particularly welcoming of its patrons. After turning down this street, he noticed another man with a ragged cloak walking into the tavern. His clothes looked poor and tattered, but the amount of skin and hair that he showed looked clean and well kept. As strange as that seemed though, something else was on Alex's mind about this individual.

"Strange" he said quietly to himself, "that kid can't possibly be old enough to drink. What does he want there?"

Alex goes inside, trying not to let it bother him and goes up to the bar. He didn't see that man quite yet, so he put the situation out of his mind and focused on cutting loose for the day.

"Ya finally off duty fer the day, are ya?" The bartender said with warm smile.

"Yeah, about damn time too" Alex responds sounding very relieved, "I was beginning to think time itself would pause and I would never get to leave!"

Alex and the bartender share a short chuckle and then the bartender asks "So what'll it be today?"

"I'll just take some honey whiskey and bottle of something fizzy" Alex says "anything really. I'm not really looking to get hammered, I'm just looking to take the edge off"

"Is that yer way of making time speed up for ya?" The bartender asks, "because life is what you make it, ya know? If you keep speeding things up so much, you'll lose control and before ya know it, yer dead!"

"Heh- that'll be the day" an unfamiliar voice says right next to Alex.

Alex looks over, and sure enough, that ragged man is sitting next to him. That man, with short dark blonde hair, clean shaven face and a skinny physique that Alex had seen entering the bar. The man looks up from the bar counter and directly at the bartender and says "I'll have what he's having. Life couldn't possibly speed up enough". There was a subtle sorrow yet honesty in his voice. Alex looks at the bartender, then at the man, then back at the bartender.

"He can't possibly be old enough, can he?" Alex asks. "He looks too young. I mean, maybe he's just a year too young, because he doesn't seem like a teenager, but still!-"

"I'm old enough" the man interrupts. "You can check my ID"

"Everything checks out" the bartender says. "Ya sure ya aren't still completely on edge from work, Alex?"

"I'm fine" he says with his head down almost like he's embarrassed. "I guess it's just been a longer day than even I had thought".

Alex and the bartender talked for a while and the man just sat there next to Alex, drinking and seeming uninterested in everything around him. Eventually the bartender says to the man "So yer a new face around here. Are ya a traveler? Where are you to go when yer all done here? Sorry if I'm prying, I'm just curious about my new patrons"

"Nowhere" the man responds.

"Nowhere?" The bartender asks, "ya have nowhere to go? Or is it jus' a secret?"

"I assure you, it's just nowhere" he says while drinking. "I have nowhere to be, yet nowhere to call me back and stop me from going wherever I want".

"Long story short" Alex says, sips from a mug, then continues "you're homeless".

"Well, when you break it down like that, it sounds worse than it actually is" the man says.

"And what, pray-tell" Alex says in an almost humored tone of voice, "is possibly not so bad about it?"

"Well... that's the hard part to explain" he says back.

"I'd love ta help ya" the bartender says, "but I can't afford ta look after myself most of the time these days. Why don't ya help him, Alex? Yer a capable man. Maybe ya can find him work!"

"B-but!" Alex raises his voice almost panicked by this proposal "why am I the first guy that comes to mind when it comes to helping someone?"

"Yer the most trustworthy guy I know" the bartender says. "Most of my patrons have had at least some sorta problem, big er small, helped or solved by ya"

Alex let's out a big sigh and looks at the man who was previously sipping out of his mug and now looking at Alex. "Don't I get a say in this?" The man responds. "I'd be grateful to not sleep outside and stuff, but I don't know about-"

"Yeah, I'll help" Alex interrupts.

"But I-" the man tries to say.

"Thanks" the bartender says.

"But this is the last time I help random patrons for you" Alex says with a warm smile.

"But g-guys!" The man tries to intervene.

"Dependable as always" the bartender says.

"So how about it?" Alex says as he looks over at the man.

"You know what?" The man says looking defeated. "FINE, I'll go with you! You happy?"

Alex smiles and thinks to himself 'this'll give me a chance to learn about this guy. I'm sure there's something fishy about him. Everything about him is strange!'

After a few more drinks, they both leave the bar. The man following a short distance behind Alex as if to keep his distance from him, but not to stay too far away.

"By the way" Alex says over his shoulder, "I never asked your name. I'm Alex, and you are?"

"Siran..." he says.

"Never heard a name like that before" Alex exclaims, "where are you from?"

"... Hard to answer" Siran says softly.

"What?" Alex gets very confused. "How the hell is that a hard question to answer!?"

"Let's just say that's personal. A little too personal" Siran says.

"How about where you were going?" Alex asks.

"Secret" Siran says.

"Oh.... 'Kay, how about... friends? Family? Anything?" Alex asks getting a little frustrated.

"... couldn't tell you that if I tried" Siran says.

"Listen here you little shit!" Alex gets very frustrated and turns around. "What exactly is your major malfunction!? I'm just trying to help! What's wrong with you?"

Siran looks down and looks back up at Alex. "I guess..." he says quietly, "you could say I'm cursed?"

"Cursed how?" Alex exclaims.

"You and I would both be in trouble if I told you that" Siran says. Alex didn't know how to respond to that. His confusion has left him frozen in place. Alex had to change the subject to learn more about him. He wanted to know why this "trouble" would be caused but he didn't want to ask directly. He didn't want to arouse any unnecessary trouble.

"So how about magic?" Alex asks. "You know any magic at all?"

"Yeah, actually" Siran responds almost excitedly. "Actually a ton of it. I'm really good at magic. Probably the only person around that can cast without requiring charms to channel magic!" This subject definitely interested Siran. Alex felt he had finally found a way to learn about Siran.

"Without a charm?" Alex says skeptically, "that's impossible. No one can do that!"

"Of course I can" Siran says while rolling up his sleeve to expose his clean, bare arm. "See?" And he snaps his fingers and created fire. He then forms a finger gun with his hand and shoots the fire several meters forward and then brings the fire back to his hand without burning anything including his own hand.

Alex was dumbfounded. "Amazing..." was the only thing that could escape his mouth.

"You should totally work for The Ly'Lum then!" Alex exclaims excitedly. "We could use someone of your talent!"

"I'm sorry" Siran says as his arms droop to his sides seemingly losing all his previous excitement. "I can't. Anywhere but there"

"Did... did you work there beforehand and get fired or something?" Alex asks.

"No" Siran says "but I also can't tell you that story either. I'm sorry"

The night goes on as the two make their way towards Alex's home. The two walk inside without saying anything else to each other on the way there. Siran felt as if he had disappointed Alex and Alex felt as if he couldn't find any subject to talk about without the conversation ending the same way. Alex lays out a blanket on the sofa and tells Siran he can sleep there if he would like to. The two go to bed but neither of them are able to find sleep. Alex continues to plan ways to learn about this strange man named Siran and Siran simply stares at the ceiling thinking to himself.

"Why?" Siran whispers to himself, "Why, out of all the people I get stuck with for help, why's he got to be someone from the Ly'Lum?"