END Initiated...

"Noooooo…"

Waking up with a loud scream, Kiel found himself in a familiar yet unfamiliar environment. His mind seemed to be blank for a moment, after which it started to be processing out the various memories of him until Kiel remembered everything that happened till now. 

'Phew… for a moment I thought I was having an identity crisis. Good to be back!'

"Wait... that's not what I should be thinking about presently. I remember the odd blow from that unidentified old man whacking me down, accompanied by the crunching of my bones… eww, that was harsh…anyway wasn't I recruited by him? How come I'm here! And most importantly where am I??"

As his head started becoming cramped with all the confusing thoughts, the previous incidents flashed by his eyes. Even the death of his father became so prominent that the similar tinge of pain in his heart appeared again, but this time it was accompanied by a deep sadness, unlike the previous hollowness.

"Wait I can be sad? How come?" 

Kiel grew more confused because of the previous day's incidents and wanted to get up to freshen himself, but he was soon stopped by an assault of a stinging sense of pain in both his head and eyes.

"Ahhh! Dammit, what is happening now?"

Kiel's eyes and head felt like they were on fire, burning him again and again. He didn't even get enough time to know what he was feeling when the door of the room opened and a familiar figure came running inside.

"Kiel baby you woke up!" 

But the surprised face of his aunt soon turned into that of dismay, when she was presented with the painful m.o.a.ns of the little kid.

"Kiel Kiel! What's wrong?" 

Feeling the soothing voice of his aunt, Kiel remembered it to be the last thing that entered inside his mind before falling unconscious again.

The little boy didn't know how long he slept after that. Opening his eyes slowly, he still felt a little light-headed. So he searched around only to find himself lying on a bed in the same room as before. However, to his side was now a beautiful lady sleeping on a chair, using the same bed as her pillow. Kiel seems to recall her. She was his aunt Ena. 'Well it seems like I'm still here'

Finding himself in a better condition than before without any headache, Kiel started to contemplate about what really happened to him before. He remembered hearing about his father and then running away in confusion and rage, and the various things that followed. Although it was a little vague, Kiel could remember being in a strange state where he was met with a very cliche situation. But he couldn't get his head around all this stuff. 

Turning around to feel his body as he became a lot clear-headed, Kiel felt a different sensation than what he expected to feel. There was no pain or aches all over his body or any such bruises which would indicate him getting struck; only a little numbness because of being in bed for a long time and a headache. 

He thought that he would be in pain all over and even if not real pain, a little side aches. But there was none. His body was just like before.

Feeling himself all numbed up, Kiel wanted to get up. But then decided to stay a little like that because of his aunt. A little stretching then led to a loud growl arising from his stomach, which awakened not only him completely but also the one sleeping by his side.

 'Oh, looks like I'm hungry!'

 Waking up Awenasa found her nephew staring at her without blinking. For a little while, she also returned the gaze without thinking much. But soon she realised that her little nephew had woken up; she was thrilled. The m.a.t.u.r.e lady forgot her manners and became so excited to see him awake once more that she hugged him tightly at once.

"Kiel thank God you are awake? What happened to you?  You walked out of the inn and fell unconscious a little distance away. Do you know how worried I was seeing you like that? My heart literally came out."

"There there Aunt, I am fine. I guess I was a little stressed out. " Kiel patted the back of his aunt while consoling her. 

"Hmm. Ok. But you have to promise me that you will not worry me like that in the future."

"Promise!"

"Oh! You have woken up. You must be starving from all the stomach sounds earlier. I'll go prepare something to eat. Just rest ok?"

Saying so she ran off the room like a happy bird singing off, satisfied with the answer.

Kiel didn't want to say anything. Ascertaining himself to be all alone again, Kiel started his self-reflection. Commencing from the events of spending time in the library to his conclusion of the mysterious people. Kiel started his visualization from start to finish. 

'Hmm. I remember coming to the inn then hearing about Papa's demise, which left me in a state of confusion and rage. After that strange state, I was in, which was vaguely close to the Tranquil State. But it felt totally different from my tranquil state. Hmm… I still can't remember the finer details, but still, I can remember that my eyes were crimson red where all I wanted was to kill. Then it was those two cliche idiot pairs who attacked me without a reason, idiots! Do you think I'm a snake coiling around you? Anyway, that situation was quite strange in itself. And why don't I have any injuries after that?'

"Considering those novels in the equation, I can hold the assumption that those two may have used some miraculous pill to heal me and then left me here, but that still leaves out a variable, why do they need to leave me without telling the truth and the biggest thing, why do I know their conversation before I was even there?"

Feeling the mystery of what really happened, Kiel felt his old curiosity returning. 

"Interesting...Something really interesting happened to me. And this seems way too fascinating. I really need to get to the roots of what was actually going on to plan what measures can I take. Well, guess I have to ask Aunt Ena about the details of what happened before I was sleeping comfortably to plan ahead. "

Kiel by no means was a detective, but so many mathematical deductions and staging formulas from scratches over the years had honed his inferring ability to an all-new high, and also led him to develop a feeling to figure out if something was going in the wrong direction. Now he just had to figure out a general equation and if every variable then fit the bill, his deductions are correct, otherwise, start again. Well, that's math for you.

"Wait… Something is really odd here, which is strange"

As Kiel went over the situation for a few times, he found out something felt out of place. He had been doing deductions for ages for everything and knew this feeling. 

"That's it. Why do I remember that my eyes were crimson at that time? How can I have both the first person and 3rd person view at the same time?  It is strange. And those two mysterious idiots too. I remember what they did even after I fell unconscious. How is that possible? Logically even in a magical world, it is not possible so early. And I felt a great headache before too. Even with a legendary pill, it would not have been possible. Hmmm… That crosses out my first assumption of use of the miraculous magic pill, leaving the next assumption i.e Illusion"

Kiel had a hand on his chin as he was lost in his own thoughts assuming one thing, then ruling out another and then continuing on. The only thing that seemed missing out now was a paper and pen to exhibit his PhD trait.

As Kiel was busy in his thoughts, a delicious aroma drifted into his nose, followed by arrival timely arrival of Awenasa. 

"Dinner's ready"

Wolfing down the sumptuous meal that was freshly prepared by Awenasa, Kiel felt a lot better. But he felt his interest solemnly piqued by all the abrupt events.

Kiel felt the need to know more about what really happened or he would go mad from all the unsettling feelings building up inside him. Looking at his aunt Kiel decided to ask a question which was the reason for the start of everything. 

Feeling his gaze at her, Awenasa too looked at her and raised her brows a little to ask what's up.

"Aunt, Is father dead?" Kiel had a nonchalant gaze while patting his tummy full of satisfaction.

Hearing the casual rhythm of his speaking, Awenasa didn't respond at once. But as her mind processed the words, Awenasa's eyes enlarged and her hands began to shake. 

"Kiel, how… how did you know that? Wait that's why the receptionist lady saw you walking out quietly?"

"Aunt!"

"..."

"Fine, I think it is time to tell you. Sigh! Well now that you heard it, I think it is better to tell you what happened. It was a week ago. We suddenly got the news that Derek committed suicide by burning himself in flames. They said that he was ashamed by his behaviour and couldn't stand the daily ridicules. So he committed suicide by his own magic. And when we asked for the body, the guards only gave us some ashes and said it was all that was left behind by the man. "

"Didn't you try to investigate further?"

"Hmm… we did try. We even queried how could someone use magic when the prison has anti-mana runes inbuilt in them. Derek should not have the ability to gather any mana. But it was too sudden, and the government didn't give us any leeway with the investigation. We tried but there is not much we can do anything against the government."

"..."

"But don't lose hope. Although he is gone, I will take care of you like my son. Well anyway, you rest well. You are the only pillar of your family now. So stay strong."

"Hmmm. Aunt, I'm feeling sleepy"

Awenasa was walking out of the room when she suddenly remembered something.

" Oh ya, the mana education will start in four days. You have been asleep for two days now. Now that you are better, don't miss out on the chance."

"Ok. Got it."

Kiel waved his hands and slept down. He had a lot of catching up to do. And now that he had a little bit of information about his father, Kiel could sense something else in it. 

"Hmm… tomorrow I should ask around to see if there is any time delay about finding him unconscious to find some clues."

'Wait... my eye!! How come I remember it was crimson at that time?'

Kiel ran to the mirror with little expectations and started staring at himself. Looking closely at his eyes, although it had returned to his former cyan beauty, Kiel could still find traces of some blood like redness in his sclera! 

'So It was true!'

For the following days, Kiel spent exploring for clues wherever he could. Asking the customers and other proprietors about his rescue in details. How they found him unconscious. How he was behaving before that and so on. He even visited the library to look for clues but didn't have much luck. Though he spent some time reading to a squire some knowledge too. 

At last without much traces, Kiel thought about visiting the road on which he was seemingly beaten black and blue.

"Now which street was it?" 

Kiel looked around for all the nearby streets which had bends, and we're mostly empty. But he never found a similar street even after spending so many days on the lookout.

'All the nearby streets have been explored. The familiar street doesn't even seem to exist. I couldn't have gone too far, as the time they found me and the time I left the library we're not that far apart. So that rules out the possibility of the event occurring. After all, it's not possible for an event to have no time delay to the environment. I may be hallucinating too. But if it was an illusion, then it is like I'm in illusion now created by those two. But it doesn't make sense, as I can control my body fluidly and even have my sense of pain. And it would make no sense to be in an illusion before meeting the two strangers. So case 1 does not fulfil the conditions for the equation. Well, that situation was too much of a cliche and even I don't believe it can happen. It's not like I'm some protagonist right??'

Kiel had fingers moving along on his chin while he sat down on a bench where a crowd of little kids of the same age as him were gossiping among themselves.

"That leaves me with assumption 3. And it even seems to fit everything. Yup, that would even explain why I was feeling my body sluggish at that time, without the urge to even control back my body. That would also explain why I was feeling a hollowness within me. Everything could be generalised. It's because- I WAS IN A DREAM!! That f.u.c.k.i.n.g thing didn't even happen. But then how is it possible? Wouldn't it mean…"

"Alright, Kids enough chit chat. Let's begin with what we all came here for."

Listening to the sudden voice coming straight from the opposite room, Kiel was driven out from his self-thoughts. 

"Magic: The acknowledgement of the world towards you!"