Awakening Part 1

Year X769~

A light breeze whisked through the air, and the sun beamed brightly in the sky, only a few clouds being present to block its rays.The villagers rise early in the morning. They feed their cattle and clean their sheds. They have their deficient breakfast and move out towards their fields and pastures. Young boys and girls smiling and shouting also move out with their cows, goat, calves and buffaloes.The elder ones singing and laughing gently walk to their fields with their ploughs and oxen. The soothing rays of the sun beautify the green leaves of trees. Birds chirp from tree to tree.

Women folk throng at the well with their pitchers. Wearing colorful dresses they draw water and come back in batches with their pitchers on their head.Just a normal day in the life of the residents of Sphinx village.But this serenity does not remain for long as a grown man can be seen running from the entrance of the village shouting loudly,"HE DID IT!!! HE DID IT!!HE REALLY CAUGHT THE MASTER OF THE FOREST!...."He panted as he ran;sweat covering his face as he held a spear in his hand.

His incessant shouting attracted the attention of some curious villagers. But when they heard him clearly they couldn't believe there ears!

"No way." "Is this a joke!" " But it's 'him' we are talking about you know!?" "Yeah! but still this is insane." "You're right! How old is 'he'?...4 ? ...5?! This is ridiculous."Excited murmurs sounded out from every direction as the villagers expressed thier disbelief and awe.They of course new about whom The grown man was talking about.This was a small village with barely 400 people.Word travelled extremely fast here.The villagers once used to live an extremely boring life but that all changed since 'his' arrival.There wasn't a single person in This village who didn't know 'him'.Infact 'his' legendary feats were spread as far as the neighbouring towns and villages.'He' flung his wet nurse across the room when he was just an infant. By age two, 'he' could catch rabbits with his bare hands, and at age three 'he' killed a bear by throwing a boulder at it.And now 'he' was 4 years old and had gone to the depths of the forest of Tobb to face the 'Master of the forest'.But the thing was that the 'master of the forest' was no ordinary beast.In fact it was magical creature and a strong one at that.There is just no comparison between an ordinary beast and a magical creature.

The grown man without so much as batting an eye in their direction ran straight towards the centre of the village where a big two storied house stood towering over the surrounding houses.It was where the village chief lived with his wife and daughter in-law.The man kept shouting as he came to the door attracting attention of a large crowd.They flocked towards him as they gathered up infront of the chief's house talking among themselves intent on being the first one's to get to the bottom of this."Hey Gary! is what you said the truth?Did he really catch it" "Hey answer the question! You aren't lying are you!?"

The grown man now revealed to be named Gary ignored all their inquiries as he frantically knocked on the village chief's door.

*knock* *knock* *knock* *knock*

The front door abruptly opened as a loud shout was heard "WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!!! WHAT'S WITH ALL THIS NOISE!" Gary not expecting such an entrance;fell on his butt due to suprise dropping his spear to the ground.

"HUH! What is up with this crowd.What are all of you doing here ? Don't you have anything better to do!?Why are all of you here bothering me this early in the morning!?" The surroundings turned pin drop silent as the gathered crowd all turned their eyes toward Gary.Finally noticing someone sitting at his feet the village chief turned towards Gary with puzzled face."Gary!! what are you doing sitting in front of my house!?Aren't you on guard duty today? What are you doing all the way here?And what's up with all the commotion.Explain.Now!"He said sternly.

*gulp*

Gary swallowed nervously as he gazed at the village chief.The Village Chief had dark muscular skin and a face full of wrinkles making him look more than forty years old. He had a robust body forged through heavy manual labor and long experience during his life as a wizard,it can be seen that half his hair was already white.This was a no nonsense man.Gary gathered up his courage and stuttered "...Ch..chief ..its Z..Zac...Zack. Zack caught the 'Master of the Forest'!!! "

The chief's angry face instantly turned into one of disbelief as he breathed out, "Impossible!!!"

The crowd that had remained silent till now could no longer hold themselves back anymore as they all gasped collectively at the shocking news and started excitedly chattering among themselves.In the mean time the chief's wife and daughter in-law who had also exited the house to check upon all the commotion heard the news and were similarly shocked." Oh my!!" the chief's wife said as she held up a hand to cover her open mouth.The chief upon hearing his wife's voice woke up from his stupor and yelled at the noisy crowd

"SILENCE!!!" The chattering villagers instantly turned silent upon hearing their chief shout,afraid of incurring his wrath.

The chief then turned his now solemn face towards Gary and asked in his deep grating voice "Tell the truth now Gary. Are you really sure it was the 'Master of the Forest' and not some large animal."

"I swear!!!I saw it with my own eyes.It was definitely the 'master of the forest'

It fit perfectly with the description of its appearance! I am sure of it.I was just hanging out on the village wall when I saw Zack carrying the large creature back to the village! Infact he should be here any minute now!..."

Suddenly heavy footsteps sounded from the back of the crowd as a large silhouette blocked the sunlight casting its shadows on the villagers.They turned their heads to see the source but were left gobsmacked by what they saw.It was a little boy no older than four.He had peach white skin, wavy blonde hair and mesmerising blue eyes.His adorable little face was still rich in baby fat.He was without a doubt the cutest kid they had ever seen.His cuteness could melt the hearts of even the strictest of adults. But he wasn't the focus of the villagers stares rather it was the thing he was

carrying on top of his head that had all their attention.Big was an understatement as that thing was massive.It looked similar to a boar but it had purple skin and there was a big fin located on its upper back.It had giant tusks, one of which was broken in half.The creature was covered in various injuries.It's legs were broken and there was huge bump on its head.It was easily eight meters long and nearly five meters tall.It dwarfed the little boy.The contrast between their sizes making this scene appear all the more ridiculous.

Silence had befallen the surrounding area as the scared villagers refused to even breathe loudly in fear of awakening this monster.The silence stretched out for a few seconds before the chief who had regained his bearings addressed the young boy "Zack...! you have been missing for three days and now you comeback with 'the master of the forest'. What is the meaning of this?" The atmosphere becomes tense as the villagers watch on with baited breaths."Ohh!..Don't tell me you have already forgotten ? You said that If I can capture the 'master of the forest' you will teach me how to use magic! Here it is!"the little boy Zack said, throwing the gigantic creature to his side *rumble* shaking the whole ground in the process causing some of the villagers to loose footing. " I have fulfilled my task.Now it's your turn."

The village chief turned silent staring intensely at the boy for a few seconds before he finally relented saying "Tomorrow morning;7.a.m, don't be late!" He turned around and disappeared into his house.

Before the stunned villagers could make head or tails of the situation the little boy also left as quickly as he had arrived but not before they heard him mutter,"Finally!! ...You stubborn old geezer!"

The villagers were left there standing unsure of what to do. Thankfully the village chief's wife was there to save the day as she quickly took command of the situation and instructed the villagers. The villagers broke out of their reverie and followed her instructions.Twenty of the abled men quickly moved the carcass of the gigantic boar while the other's returned to what they were doing.Gary also returned to his duty and everything seemed to return to normal but the villagers who had seen what transpired here today would remember the image of a four year old boy carrying a gigantic beast on top of his head like it weighed nothing for the rest of their lives.This image was carved into their memories. The word quickly spread throughout the village causing an uproar.This story turned into a legend as The legend of the wonder boy would spread far and wide in the coming years with many different and exaggerated versions of this story told in the bars and taverns across the entirety of Fiore and beyond whereas the cracked skull of the beast as the first exploit of the many that would follow it in his legendary journey would become an important tourist attraction for the enthusiasts; And people from all over the world would visit the then Sphinx city to see it but that was far into the future.

Right now,our wonder boy was going deeper into the forest Tobb neighbouring the village unaware of all this as he was shouting in joy while jumping from branch to branch with unnatural agility and precision."Yes!!! Finally I am going to learn magic. It was so hard convincing that old geezer.He thought that I wouldn't be able to defeat that stupid boar without magic but heh joke's on him.I did it! He's been rejecting me and giving flimsy excuses for the past four months,telling me to do this and do that but now he finally cracked.Hahaha.Now I can get all the answers I have been waiting for,I just have to wait for Tomorrow....ughh this is going to be difficult.I won't be able to sleep tonight that's for sure I am too excited."The boy muttered to himself all the while going deeper into the forest. Finally after a few minutes he arrived at large tree with a clumsily made tree house.This was his secret base.He had made it two months ago.The boy arrived at the base of the tree before quickly climbing the tree and entering the small house.There was just one room with a mattress lying in a corner and some blankets.There was basket full of different fruits and berries that he had collected during his time roaming the forest.The boy went to a makeshift window and looked outside.This tree was one of the tallest in the forest located on small hill.He could clearly see the whole forest and even the village surrounded by a big wooden wall in the distance.The boy took in all the scenery as he looked up at the sun.

"It's still so early...sigh this is going to be a long day"

The boy left the window and laid down on the mattress deep in thought.

'Hmm ...I wonder what all those dreams were about...I can finally get to the bottom of this'

For as long as Zack could remember every night that he slept he would wake up in a different body.He could feel everything,see everything and hear everything that was happening around him but couldn't respond.The body moved on it's own.It responded on it's own.It was like he was trapped inside someone else.He was just a spectator.This started happening to him when he was about two years old.He couldn't remember clearly but the matron of the orphanage told him that he would wake up late at night crying and start shouting "I can't move! I can't move!".These nightmares never stopped. It was like he was living two lives at the same time.When he was awake he would be Zack Newgate but when he was asleep he would become Takeshi Sendo.This helped him mature way earlier than his peers.But the problem was the time difference.As days passed by his dreams started to get longer and longer.He could no longer distinguish between what was real and what was a dream.Was he Zack Newgate or Takeshi Sendo? Was he both? or none of them? was this all a nightmare ?He was scared.This frustrated him so much that he would remain grumpy all the time snapping at almost anything. This wouldn't be such a problem since there were plenty of grumpy children and one more addition wouldn't change anything but the problem was that he was no ordinary child.He was born with freakish strength.He could lift boulders weighing a ton when he was just about 3 years old.The mixture of short temper and monstrous strength resulted in the villagers becoming afraid of him.They wouldn't let their kids anywhere near him in fear of what he could do to them if he became angry.This led to him leaving the orphanage despite the kind matron's protests and start coming to this forest more often as there were plenty of animals that he could paly with without the fear of accidentally hurting them.The animals were inherently far more tougher than normal humans.

He had ofcourse consulted with the chief about this as he was considered to be the most knowledgeable person in the village having been a wizard in the past who had travelled all over the world.And Zack wasn't disappointed since the chief although not comletely sure said it could have something to do with his abnormal levels of magic power.It was the first lead he had got to solve his problems.He had of course heard of magic.The teacher at the local village school had mentioned it before.Apparently it was pretty common in the outside world but due to the isolated location of the village not many people used it here .Even things like Magic lacrimas and stuff were only used in the village chief's house.This village was too poor.According to the teacher this village is located in the northern mountains of the Kingdom of Fiore near the border of Seven and Bosco.The kingdom of Fiore is a neutral country with a population of about seventeen million people.It is a world of magic. Magic is bought and sold there everyday. It is an integral part of people's lives.And then there are those who use magic as their occupation.Those people are referred to as wizards.The wizards belong to various guilds and perform jobs on commission.And there are a large number of guilds in this country.

He still remembered the awe and disbelief he felt when he heard this information for the first time.This world was so big.With so many other kingdoms. His dream was to one day become a wizard and explore the whole world.Meet different people and experience different magics.But first he had to solve his problem.He couldn't be sure of how much longer he could remain sane if these dreams continued.And awakening his magic was the only solution he had.It will all depend on what happens Tommorow. He had to know what all this was about.Who was this Takeshi Sendo? Who were those kind elders? What did it all have to do with him? Learning magic was his final hope at solving these mysteries.