The last Dream

Edward and I sat down in front of our mother and father. Everyone looked incredibly tense. Then, in a nervous voice, my mother spoke:

"Emilia, from what we expect, there will be people aiming to kill you. This applies to you too, Edward," she said, lowering her voice a little.

couldn't quite grasp what they were talking about, but it seemed better than what I had initially feared. I always expect the worst—what a bad habit.

"You should explain more. It doesn't seem like they understand anything," my father said, his calm voice laced with worry.

"Do you really want to explain everything to them? It doesn't make much sense, but I suppose it's the only choice. Even though they're far too young to know," my mother replied.

"They can't be cautious about something they don't know, right? Am I wrong?" my father asked.

"No, you're not wrong, it's just that we shouldn't—"

"I don't care if we break tradition this one time. It's for the sake of protecting Emilia and Edward. Besides, both of them are smarter than their age would suggest. I don't think they'll have any trouble understanding," my father said firmly.

"Alright, I'll explain everything now," my mother replied, her tone giving off a sense of resignation. Even in serious discussions, her original personality doesn't seem to change.

I couldn't make sense of the discussion between my parents, and it seemed that my brother didn't either, judging by the worried look on his face. Then, my mother finally spoke:

"Don't worry. All I'm going to explain is how the world works. But there's a tradition that this shouldn't be explained until you're at least ten years old."

I felt a little relieved, but not entirely. All the bad possibilities I had imagined were still lingering in my mind. However, my brother seemed completely relaxed by what she said. I don't understand how my father thinks he's smart; he's still so simple-minded.

"I need both of you to pay attention to everything I'm about to say. Magic is the ultimate power and is divided into four basic types: healing magic, technique magic, nature magic, and reinforcement magic. All of these use Mana, which I'll explain in more detail later. Healing magic is used to heal people or yourself. There's nothing too extraordinary about it—it just heals more the better the magic is. However, it can never cure diseases. It can heal wounds and neutralize poisons, and it also serves as a painkiller," my mother explained clearly.

Healing magic sounds extremely useful. I think I'll need to learn it. Actually, it seems like all the basic types are important, and since she said "basic," there must be subtypes as well.

"Then there's reinforcement magic, which transfers Mana to your muscles and organs—even your eyes. It allows you to move at incredible speeds and possess destructive strength. The amount of speed and power depends on how much Mana you use. You can also transfer Mana to weapons, like swords and bows. As for nature magic, it allows you to control the elements of nature: fire, water, earth, and so on. There are many elements, and the element you can control is determined at birth, though some people are born with more than one element—though that's very rare. This magic lets you create and manipulate the element you were born with, or control it if it's already present in nature. Controlling it from nature consumes less Mana. And lastly, there's technique magic, which includes all the techniques that don't fall under the other types, like flying. It also includes some other kinds of magic, though they're not significant enough to be grouped with the others, like barriers and summoning," she continued.

Just as I expected, all the types of magic are important. Even barrier and summoning magic seem incredibly useful.

"Now, I'll explain Mana. Mana is simply energy. Everyone is born with a set amount of Mana, which can't be exceeded. To simplify it, every person is born with a specific amount of Mana that differs from one person to another. It's dormant when you're born, but it usually awakens around the age of eight, though this can vary from person to person. You can use all the Mana in your body once you reach adulthood. Every magic in history relies on Mana. Mana depletes when a person uses too much magic or becomes extremely exhausted since it's their energy. Mana is measured in Hendo, which represents how much Mana you possess. The average person has around 200 Hendo, but to measure Mana more precisely, there's Rendo. One Hendo equals 10,000 Rendo," my mother explained.

This was all very complicated, but I understood the important points, so I think I'm fine.

"When it comes to combat, everyone chooses a specific style. The most popular and effective methods are either with swords, hand-to-hand combat, or archery. Each has its own techniques. For example, I use a sword and practice the hydro style of swordsmanship. Anyone can learn a style, or even more than one. Now, let's talk about the ranks: there are five of them—Beginner, Professional, Commander, Master, and finally, the highest level Zero. Everything used in combat falls into one of these ranks. For example, flight magic is ranked as Strong, while nature magic depends on how well you can control it. The same applies to reinforcement magic. When you combine all the techniques you have, you're classified into one of the ranks, and you can advance as well. However, reaching the highest rank is nearly impossible. Currently, only five people in the world have achieved the level named Zero."

Given how important combat seems to be, I need to get stronger as soon as possible, and why not become in that level named zero?

My mother continued her explanation while Edward and I listened carefully:

"Now that we've covered magic, I'll explain a few other things. There are three main races in this world: humans, beasts, and demons. We, as humans, are considered to have the most balanced power. We're sentient beings, capable of thinking and reasoning, and our average lifespan is around 80 or 90 years. As for the beasts, they're all the non- sentient creatures, like animals, goblins, and dwarves. They act purely on instinct. You've likely seen many animals before, so you should have a basic understanding of them. What's unique about the beasts is that they come in hundreds of species, ranging from weak to extraordinarily powerful. Some are even nearly immortal. Each of the eleven continents has its own unique types of beasts. Lastly, there are the demons. They're the worst of the lot. Though they're technically a type of beast, they possess intelligence, making them incredibly dangerous. They relentlessly hunt humans and feed on their mana, though they don't need it to survive—it just makes them stronger. They're incredibly powerful, and even the weakest of them requires someone at the Commander level just to stand a chance against them. To make matters worse, they reproduce faster than humans and live for about 200 years."

I was learning so much valuable information about beasts, demons, and the world itself. I also discovered that this world has eleven continents. I wondered what other crucial information I would learn by the end of this explanation. And yet, my mother still hadn't addressed why I was in danger:

"Each race has its own lord, and these lords are terrifyingly powerful. It's very likely that they're among the five individuals who've reached The Zero level, but that's not confirmed. As for the danger I mentioned earlier, it's the demons. Demons have a habit of targeting and abducting human children with great potential, preventing them from becoming a future threat. Both of you are considered prodigies, with the potential to amass an incredible amount of mana. Thankfully, our village has a barrier around it that prevents demons and most beasts from entering. However, we still wanted to warn you because demonic activity in this region has increased recently. You two are probably the reason for that. Oh, I almost forgot to

mention: within each race, there are exceptional individuals with unique traits. For example, some humans live for hundreds of years, while others can take on animal-like features and even transform into them. But those cases are extremely rare."

his information was quite overwhelming. I wondered if Edward could even keep up with it all. I doubted he understood everything. But one question still lingered in my mind, so I asked:

"Mother, why didn't you want to tell us all this before? And why did you and Father always avoid discussing these things in front of us?"

I had noticed how, every time I encountered Father, he would start whispering things to Mother. For a while, I assumed it was marital stuff, but this explanation made a lot more sense now. Then, out

of nowhere, Mother began laughing loudly before saying:

"As I thought, you're someone truly special! You noticed that! I can't believe you're still this young. The simple answer is that there's a tradition not to tell children or give them any information about what I've just explained until they turn ten. Also, Louis, could you do that thing?"

My father nodded, and in that instant, I felt an overwhelming drowsiness. My body grew heavy, and before I knew it, I fell into a deep sleep.