God or luck...

A loud gasp came out of my mouth, wet mouth properly hydrated. Light punctured my freshly opened eyes and I was already sitting with my arms helping me. I wiped sleepers from my eyes with my hands right after and looked around myself. It was nice and hot all around. I heard a fire burning somewhere, I heard it but have not seen it. A man was sitting beside me, he had a long white beard and wore something of a robe. A white robe with purple laces. He also had a staff that he was leaning against.

"Oh, you woke up, you are quite a vigorous fella aren't you?" He said with an elderly voice, sagelike, it echoed in the room made from logs of wood. Several candles scattered throughout the room, a single window next to the bed I was on.

"Where am I?" Behind the window, there was a burst of beautiful sunshine coming inside. It was nice and warm, yellow. It was weather worth living for, something I both don't remember, nor have seen for a long time. A beautiful place… After such a long time, the warmth and smell of a house.

"Where do you think you are? In heaven? You are in my cabin." He answered and stood up, there was a large bookshelf in the room with many books. I then laid back in the bed to relax from all the stress I've been through. Still, I feel bad about myself. They sacrificed and now I have to bear that burden.

"Why did you do it?" A pointless question, but at this point… Everything is pointless, Estel is dead, Marcus is dead, Matthew is dead. Everyone I knew died because of me, they made a sacrifice to make me survive all of those painful memories. Make me survive anything I had to do to survive, they helped me with it. They are all gone now, I am all alone in this world. I gasped loudly, once again knowing that if I died it would end the suffering, I now have to live and do what I am destined to do.

"What? Saved you? I could've left you there indeed, but what kind of 'hero' would I be haha." He laughed loudly, his laugh was strong just like his voice. He didn't even try to hide anything behind it, a pure laugh.

"You could, thank you, I still haven't introduced myself. My name is…"

"Hayden, I already know." He cut me off short and quick. He didn't even bother to listen to me fully, he just stopped me right at the end. He looked at me while doing something in front of a desk, there were several plants in there that I didn't even know existed. Weird colors, a really bright pink, weird green, I don't even know how to describe those colors.

"How did you know?" I did not feel fear, I don't have that anymore. Actually… All of my emotions were taken away from me when I lost my brothers, anger, fear, joy… It's all gone now, it's a part of the past at this point. Now I am just an empty shell, completely dark, there is nothing inside, like a vase with no flowers. Just like the one I had on the window in my room…

"I know a lot of things I don't need to know, and many that I shouldn't are also in my comprehension young man." While saying it an aroma scattered through the room, it ignited some energy inside of me. It gave me enough strength to lean against the wall of the bad. On the wall, I looked at him. He was facing me with his back, looking at his long white hair going down.

"I am tired…" I quietly murmured under my nose, but still, it wasn't something he wouldn't hear. He made a sign with his hand while walking to me with a bowl in his hand, a blue glow shining from the inside.

"I know, drink this." He handed me the bowl with something weird inside it. A blue substance in a dark bowl, I smelled it. There was no scent. "Don't worry it won't bite you." He added and then I pushed the mixture inside. I felt something like an explosion inside of my body, but it was a good explosion. It gave me energy, I didn't feel pain, I don't feel it at all anymore. I endured enough not to feel anything, but the thing I still feel is the taste. It then became extremely bitter, it was disgusting. Never have I drunk something like that.

"Ugh, what is this? It's so bitter." When I asked only a small smile appeared on his face. He took the bowl and put it down on the floor.

"It's a potion, I created it just now to help you get back some energy. A good medicine tastes bad, don't worry it's not a poison, really."

"Why are you doing this?" Another question left my mouth with the bitter taste still on my tongue.

"Is it wrong to save a young man who just escapes hell? Why are you asking me that, do you take for some kind of a monster or something. Ah, kids these days, so insecure." I laid down on the bed once again, not tired anymore but… I don't even know myself, I don't have any motivation to move.

"It's not, do you know where I was?"

"I do."

"How?"

"You don't need to know." What does he even mean by that? I don't know what to think about that actually, what should I even make it out into. I don't even know if living is a thing I want to do now, somehow it feels so empty. I know that they did that all for me to change everything, but it still is something weird. Something… Wrong.

"So… You know how many bad things I've seen?" I need to know for a certainty, trust… I want to trust him, but it's just hard to trust someone you just met. Everything he says, the tone of his voice is just slightly off, I don't know why. I don't know anything actually… I feel just completely empty.

"Indeed, I despise that place. I thought about destroying it myself because I just don't want to show myself. Just like you, I am already long forgotten." Did something like this happen to him? Or is he just so old… I honestly can't say what he has on his mind right now.

"God and my friends helped me escape that place." When I said that he started laughing loudly, I don't know why he was doing it. Is it so weird to say something about God? Or is he someone who has no god in his life at all, what a weird man… A weird and old man.

"Aaa… You are such a funny young man." When saying that he just went to a room next to me. I then got some more energy to find what he was actually doing. I had no idea why he was laughing about what I said therefore it's time for me to wake up. I also stood up, I looked around the room, a table, a shelf with books. The books were interesting, I approached it and looked at the many books and their titles. There were no real titles though… There were only signs, stars, or some runes looking words. And normal words as well but they didn't seem to mean anything. They were like clumps of completely random letters. I took one of them, the title seemed weird but at least readable. "ZOIDJH" Once I opened the book, a bright and blue shine started blinding me but I was unable to take my gaze from it. The man closed the book without me even noticing him. "Don't touch those books." He said aggressively. He was looking at me for a short while and then backed to his regular stance but still annoyed or even angry.

"What are those books?" Looking at them once again they seemed weird. They are completely out of place, not organized, and feel very weird even in touch. The colors, all of them have different colors. There are maybe a hundred books or even more on there.

"If I told you, you would get into a world you probably don't want to go into." He answered my question without hesitation and instantly. His tone changed midway as well to something very serious, he put the book back on the shelf. I am not sure what I can actually touch here. Even a book could do something like this to me.

"What are you talking about?" When I asked him about it, he somehow forgot about being so serious just now and smiled.

"Are you sure you want to hear it? I warned you just now."

"I am sure, tell me." His smile got even larger than before. It was just large, opened, and somewhat demonic as well. His eyes shone in blue light color.

"Have you ever heard of mana?"