LEGENDARY ASCENSION

NICO REBORN

The clouds gathered once more concealing the bright shine of the moon. Thunder rumbled violently and rain began to pour. The rain poured with violent force and at intervals, the sky would get lightened up by lightning.

Nico found himself in a transparent world. Past. Present. Future.

Everything was within range. The memories of his mother and sister. The happy times. Everything was replaying over and over.

"No this isn't true." Nico shivered and bent down, wrapping himself around with both arms. He let out silent sobs.

"WAKE!" A voice proclaimed from behind.

But before Nico could turn back, there was a flash of white light which knocked him unconscious in this transparent world.

His fingers flinched. 

Nico slowly rose up. His aura was different– deafening and raw. His heart slowly repaired itself and blood circulation began. He was slowly lifted into the sky by his Aura.

Nico's blood circulation was now refined and an off-white orb glowed just below his solar plexus. A mana core. His once black eyes now glowed pale blue. 

A shield of mana covered him from head to toe. His body sizzled at intervals. 

Nico had awakened. 

He slowly turned his head towards his mother's lifeless headless body. He took a step and was instantly teleported to her location. 

Her eyes were still open and her smile was still there. Nico let out a guttural roar, holding his mother's arm tightly as he screamed out his lungs. 

His scream was so strong it almost caused a hurricane. 

Then he stopped. It was futile anyway. She was dead. 

He began to search. Using any force he could muster to push aside every dead body. She had to be somewhere.

"Eleanor!!!!" Nico shouted. 

The only thing he got was the echo of his voice. There was not a single thing alive. The words of the man in the straw hat came to him again. 

 'clean up the bodies before the council is alerted.'

Who was he referring to? Was he talking to the rogue spirit beasts or was he talking to a subordinate? And why were the bodies still intact? Did they forget to carry out his instructions?

Nico pondered over these questions as he flipped the bodies one after the other. After flipping bodies over and over, he stopped abruptly, a dead body in his hand. 

His face was nonchalant. He flung the body aside and began to walk towards the village's exit.

"Whatever." He said coldly. The indifference in his face obvious.

"She's dead–" his foot steps slow, "they all are." 

"I'll just walk–" he'd barely completed his sentence before the mana shield covering him sizzled off. 

Nico fell straight to the ground, instantly losing consciousness.

The mana shield had completed its work restarting Nico's heart and giving him momentary strength. It would have lasted another hour but Nico had exhausted its output.

Not like he wanted to live anymore. 

______________

Strawberry, cinnamon rolls, bread, grapefruit, incense, animals, noise.

Someone.

Nico instantly sat up. His arms outstretched, one leg off the bed. He was in a room. The room had a lot of animal skins hung on the ceiling. The bed was soft and comfy and the pillows were made of animal skin. 

The room reeked of old age.

What was this sense of perception! Nico's head rang loudly as he began to assess his surroundings. The floor was wooden– the whole house was wooden. 

Nico slowly dropped his arm and joined his feet together to stand up. He admired his palm slowly whilst looking around for any familiarity. 

Heart. Nico remembered where the sword had passed through. 

He quickly scrambled his black shirt open. The scar was there but it was healed. This also wasn't the cloth he was wearing. 

He walked silently towards the wooden door and pushed it slightly open, peeking around. There was an old man, making fire.

From Nico's field of view, they were high up in a rocky mountain. The old man seemed to not know he was awake. A perfect time to sneak out of this place. 

"If you're awake, come help me out here." The man's old nonchalant voice startled Nico.

He'd been found out. 

Nico pushed the door and walked out. He approached the old man and bent down beside him. Nico could tell the size difference. Despite the man's age, he was still buff– with huge biceps and large arms.

"What's your name, kid?" His tone was direct. No iota of sentiment.

"Nico. Nico Baldwin." Nico replied. The man paused and admired Nico for a while before continuing to strike the stones together.

"Torvald." The old man said and struck the stones successfully. 

The flames began to burn the dried twigs first. Nico assumed that was his name. The man adjusted the sticks and stood upright. Nico followed suit. 

"My village–" Nico began but Torvald cut him with a raised arm and proceeded into the house. He came out with the feet of a deer and dropped it beside the fire. 

He began to set the roasting grill made of hard wood. Nico watched with glee as the man properly dressed the meat and prepared it for roasting.

He didn't seem too interested in Nico's story.

Nico also knew he wasn't in the comfort of his home anymore. He slowly walked towards Torvald to get a better view of what the man was doing. 

"Make sure the wooden grill is not too close to the flames." Torvald said, still not looking at the kid. 

"That way you don't burn the wood and the meat." He said as the flames flickered gently. The evening slowly crawled into night.

Torvald and Nico were at alert, making sure to turn the meat from side to side to avoid getting burnt on one side. The night became quiet. 

Torvald removed the meat from the grill, ignoring the heat the meat emitted. He grabbed the butcher knife lying at the doormat and began chopping at the joint, cutting the meat in two equal halves. 

He threw one half to Nico who caught it and instantly began to gobble it. Nico didn't realize how hungry he was until he tasted the food. 

Torvald rested his back on the walls of the wooden cabin as he watched the kid eat with so much gluttony. 

The fire instantly went out.

Nico stopped eating. That eerie feeling of deja Vu lurked. None of them moved. 

"They're below us." Torvald's voice was oddly calm and he didn't move from his spot. 

Nico stood up and walked to the end of the mountain to confirm if they were there. Although he couldn't truly see them, he could hear their stampeding steps. 

"They're coming here?!" Nico yelled at Torvald who didn't seem to care. The only illumination they had was the moonlight.

Nico turned to head into the cabin but he came face to face with the throat of a sand dragon. A spirit beast. From his field of view, he could count the total number of teeth the animal had. He was about to be devoured.

When did the beasts climb here? When did it get so close to him? How did he not notice? 

Many questions raced through Nico's little mind. 

Even after taking everything from him, the beasts still wanted him dead. 

This was it.