Chapter 2:
The Coming-of-Age Ceremony
I WOKE UP EARLY the next morning and quickly washed my face, drank a cup of water, and got ready to leave. I didn’t have the appetite for breakfast. Too nervous.
To my surprise, my sister was waiting for me at the door. She didn’t say anything and simply handed me a small vial.
Oria Ruud was her name, second child of the Ruud family and my older sister. She was absolutely beautiful, with dark-brown hair that came down to her chest when not tied back. She wasn’t afraid to look anyone straight in the eyes, either, which sent men’s hearts racing—her eyes were as stunning as everything else about her.
The vial she handed me contained a clear, sparkling liquid. Just one look and I knew full well how valuable this item was. “Oria…” What could I even say? “For me?”
“Yes, for you. Let me be very clear: if you get hurt, you are to drink this and immediately run away. Do you understand?!” She made no attempt to hide her worry.
The vial was a healing potion, a special kind of mixture that couldn’t be made by a mere pharmacist. Only the healing magic of a saint could create such a thing, and saints were few and far between. A saint only had enough magic to make a few healing potions a day…so my sister must have paid an exorbitant amount of money for this.
“Healing potions aren’t perfect,” she continued. “It won’t heal serious injuries or lost limbs, so don’t let it make you reckless. Better to avoid getting hurt at all, okay? You hear me?!”
“Oria…thank you.” I took her hand in mine, grasping the vial. Her hands were calloused. Knight’s hands, proof that she’d devoted herself to protecting the people. But despite all that, she still found time to care about me.
I swore to myself I would repay her kindness in full by bringing home the largest magic stone I could.
“Fia, you’re getting that odd look in your eyes, and I know you’re thinking something outrageous, so listen up: a magic stone is a magic stone, no matter the size. Bring back the smallest one you can!”
I swore to myself I would repay her bluntness in full by bringing home the smallest magic stone I could.
That being said, the odds of encountering any monsters at all weren’t high. Adventurers regularly cleared the areas near towns and villages of monsters, after all. If you wanted to find one, you had to venture deep into the forest.
For starters, I’d take a look around the forest of my family’s domain. Let’s see…there were certainly a lot of bugs around, a few rabbits or foxes, but no monsters.
A One-Eyed Rat would be the best monster to target—small and weak, I thought to myself. Perhaps I can find one alone, looking for food. Maybe in a cave somewhere? There should be a cave in the eastern part of the woods.
Surprised by my own calmness, I found myself heading east through the forest. Perhaps I could do this. I’d trained with the sword on a daily basis, after all; one of my friends even said I’d improved a lot this past year. Surely I could handle just one monster by now.
I’ve got to have confidence. I can do this. I can do this! I carefully monitored my surroundings, repeating those little affirmations in my head all the while.
I must’ve walked for an hour or so before I finally noticed something was off. The forest was quiet. Much too quiet. When had I last seen an animal? When had I last heard an animal?
A full-body shiver ran through me like a winter wind. Something wasn’t right. I took a step back, ready to flee…
And a small whine reached my ears.
I should leave. That would be the wise thing, wouldn’t it? Knowing that in my bones, I still found myself drawing closer to the source of that miserable whine—a bloodied chick at the base of a tree.
It couldn’t have been more than a few days old. Its small, black, curled-up body bled onto the dirt, and it took shallow, pained breaths with its tiny eyes clamped shut. It wouldn’t last half a day, for sure. And yet, for some strange reason, that lingering chill from before vanished without a trace the moment I laid eyes on it.
Was there something special about this chick? Should I save it? Should I run?
The chick opened its eyes slightly. Those blue eyes, boundless like the clear sky, seemed to plead to me.
My hands moved without thinking. I fed it the healing potion my sister gave me. I stroked its body as I whispered to it, telling it that it would be okay. Just when I thought it had stabilized, it gave a loud shriek.
It must’ve been in pain—yes, that was it! Healing potions forcibly speed up the user’s natural recovery, and the pain from that is intense.
“It’ll be—” Okay is what I started to say when the chick began to grow before my eyes.
And grow. And grow still more till it was many times my size. It bellowed.
Then, effortlessly, it sank its teeth into me.
And it tore out my shoulder.
Oh…of course. My consciousness was fading, and all I could do was feel like a fool. There were no birds in this world with black feathers. The only black winged creature was the legendary and dangerous black dragon, said to be stronger than a hundred knights. It had to have been fatally injured.
The black dragon must’ve transformed itself into an infant to trick me, and I’d fallen for it—I healed it, and now…
Now everything dimmed. I could feel my blood pouring out. The black dragon opened its mouth again.
This is it, I thought. All my training was pointless. I was never more than a frog trapped in a well, its whole world a few stone walls.
They say your life flashes before your eyes when you die.
Fifteen years, huh? I thought. It’s a bit on the short side, but I guess…when your time’s up, it’s up. I wonder what’s going to flash before my eyes? What will I remember? What will I…I…huh? Wh—?
The black dragon bit into my side. My vision went red from the tearing pain.
That was when the strangest thing occurred. Memories of a life other than mine surfaced to my mind—memories of my previous life as the Great Saint, with power that far surpassed even the wildest nursery tales.
“This is insane, this can’t be true…” I coughed up blood as I cried out. “This kind of power…it would turn the world upside down…”
Bleeding out, the dragon’s teeth sinking into my side, the memories of my past life came flooding back.