||Hollowed||

'Some would have gone insane with the information, reborn, rebirth, parallel, another world, etc. There's so many possibilities of where I am.' Zion thought as his hired teacher explained a complex yet doable formula on the board.

'One thing for sure, my old world didn't have supernatural abilities, magic and more.' He hummed in thought as the teacher grew a small seed instantly in the palm of his hand.

It seemed that this world Zion was now in, was compact with ability and talents out of normal human understanding.

Individuals here were even of the fantasy and game like genre's. Dragons, demons, angels, monters, vampires etc. All with their own dangerous contributions to humankind.

"That will be all young Zion" He spoke, as he wiped off board and packed away. Even though this man practiced a lazy man's dream power. His body was built to take on true challenges-

"Will you not be staying for dinner this evening?" His Mother chimed in at the doorway to the hall.

'True challenges, indeed' Zion rolled his eyes at his Mothers antics to win over this man.

It seemed in this life, Zion's Mother was a bit of a harlot. Although he couldn't blame her, her beauty was what got a house over their head at all.

However, he kinda hoped this was the 'test' everyone went through. He kinda- no- hoped he hadn't died. But no matter how much he experimented on things around him, even himself. It was clear that this was real, not an illusion, not a dream.

'Could one say this was a fate worse than death?' He wondered as he walked down the hall and looked out a window.

He thought back to when he could form proper sentences to make sense of the world.

"My father, what kind of man is he?"

It made sense to ask all questions in aligned with a new surrounding at the time.

But his mother's lash out was not one of them he expected. She threw cups and plates around screaming and yelling at Zion, who at the time was only 5.

Her maid quickly grabbed Zion and pulled him out, begging that he never ask about his father.

'Apparently, my mother has quite a tragic history' he snapped out of thought as the sound of heavy machinery could be heard.

Yes, in this world of magic and the unknown, technological advances he'd never seen in his old life flourished.

Magi mechas marched just outside their outskirts. Even though relatively far away, the whole house shook with the gravity of pulsing beneath.

One would never think humanity could advance so far yet learn so little. The magi mechas, drones, combatants and soul argumentations were for war of course.

'They couldn't just create something cool for the hell of it, could they?'.

"Zion! Dinner is served" came the old maid who was called Jullia but he referred to her as nanny.

Eating was uneventful as silence filled the air, he wondered why they ate together at all. Sure he loved his mother in this life but she was clearly suffering from some mental illness.

"Dear, I've been thinking, wouldn't be advantageous to send Zion to the academy?" Spoke up Jullia, as Zion's Mother froze.

"Ridiculous, where would we get the funds?" She stated a foreseeable issue, the academy is usually only for nobles and branched off families. Sure a few can get scholarships but those were given sparely to talented individuals.

Last time Zion checked, he did not tick off any of those boxes.

"As you know, I have a friend, Marcus, you remember him?" Marcus, that name came with history. You could tell by the way his mother clenched her fork in hand. "He's willing to sponsor Zion, should he show talent."

Suddenly a fork went flying past Jullia's face and Zion stiffened at the sudden act. Sure, her worst outbursts came from when his father was mentioned. But that was still a rapid response of hatred.

"He can't stay here, you know they will come looking" jullia continued. As Zion was merely a fly on the wall with this conversation.

It was no secret that there was alot he didn't know. But the mental toll it took upon his mother was evident.

"You expect me to believe that trator!?" She howled as Jullia stayed composed. "After all this time he thinks he can play an arched savour!?"

"Zion, please excuse yourself" said Jullia and without argument he did just that. His Mother was too spirited at times, he wanted to avoid those particular instances.

But the academy? He'd never thought about it, purely because they were just before the poverty line. That and he still didn't want to accept this reality.

He'd tried many methods to 'supposedly' send him back to his world. But everything failed and ungracefully at that, at this point he was surprised his nanny hadn't thought he'd inherited his mother's illness.

'Although hanging myself was rather overboard. Not that I went through with it-' He laughed at his stupidity as he sat at his desk in his bedroom looking at the many 'plans' he'd devised.

From stabbing, cutting, drowning, jumping off tall structures, causing trouble to be beaten half to death, burning, freezing and more.

The 'resolutions' were prominent on his body, it kind of looked like he'd been in battles already.

Maybe nanny thought his mother's 'habits' were imprinting this behaviour? It would have made sense in theory had he not been from somewhere else.

'Max' He leaned back, looking at the ceiling. 'I never got to tell her I loved her. She was an idiot but she was perfect that way'. Closing his eyes, he thought back to that weird voice.

[ERROR]

'What did that even mean?' He opened his eyes and looked out his window. 'What even was that to begin with?'

-----

Looking out a carriage window, it had turned out that Marcus was the God father of his Mother Willow Linux. Apparently, Marcus is a renowned sorcery who accumulated a lot of wealth from service before retirement. He claimed the nobility title instead of being born into it.

According to nanny, she had hoped for help considering that Marcus owed a debt to his mothers father.

"Are you nervous" jullia asked, as Zion looked at what they were both wearing in comparison to the carriage.

It wasn't an old timey carriage either. It was a sentinel carriage, transported by Zino pilots. This consisted of soul argumentations. Zinos were usually classified as Combatants but not all were trained. Zinos usually would resemble animals with high tech machinery integration, as a pilot would sit inside like that of a motorbike but with legs.

Soul argumentations just meant that a Zino would have to be compatible to a pilot. Otherwise there was no point, in this case, he was certain the Zino's attached to the high tech carriage were trained.

'My Sunday best pales in comparison' He thought as the journey was smooth and fast.

Zinos were used as scouts in war, their speed and abilities such as invisibility, night vision and more were a tactical advantage. Not to forget, the speeds like 180km/ph they could/can achieve depending on model and pilot.

A great pilot could even push past those speeds. Magic ability and concentration make for a hideous combination. A scary thing to see on the battlefield.

'To think that's not even the only type of combatants there are.'