"It felt very strange. I was 8 foot tall, my breath was steamy, I was trying to speak but it was just roars, like really loud monstrous roars and then I woke up" Aoki said.

"That's never happened before?" Tarou asked.

"No! It was a nightmare, and the worst part is that I was chained to...a tree" Aoki said, as he kicked a stone.

"Don't worry about it, yesterday was a messy day for you, it might be just a mental toll" Tarou said.

"Yeah, yesterday felt very,.. surreal, I'm still in disbelief, but not really"

Aoki said as Tarou and him walked down a steep road descending a hill, it was early in the morning, sunrise was just a few minutes ago, cyclists and joggers went past them as they curiously looked at Aoki, he noticed the same. Tarou was thinking about the dream he just mentioned, it is rather unusual, it most probably could be a sign, but he didn't want to worry unnecessarily.

"So, others really can't see you right? Because they'll just think I'm mad, we should do something about that" Aoki said.

People looked at Aoki speaking to himself, and also notices the gap he's maintaining beside him as if someone is walking with him.

"I'll teach you cloak magic soon" He replied.

"What!?..no, I was suggesting that you'd become visible, I mean, Can't you?" Aoki asked.

"No that's.., no I can't, not like this" He said, shaking his head sideways.

"Why not? It's not that shabby, you might want to drop the cloak though, by the way, what happened to your face?"

Aoki asked.

"It's a side effect of a spell, I can't do anything about it"

Tarou lied and sighed.

"Magic has side effects?" Aoki asked.

"Yeah, the impossible ones, like when I revived that friend of yours I lost 10 years of my life..."

Tarou realised as he finished the sentence that Aoki didn't actually witness any of that, it totally just slipped his tongue.

"Revived who?!" Aoki asked curiously slowing down behind Tarou.

Tarou was trying hard to change the subject and finally did.

"Umm.. no one, you know what?, let's answer some of your questions, you must have many"

Aoki was tempted to enquire further but he didn't think much of it, he then excitedly walked a few steps faster and turned towards Tarou while walking backwards. With a grin he asked.

"Ok, I've read most fantasies and I really want to know, how does it actually work? The magic?" Tarou was relieved as Aoki fell for it.

"So let's see, you might have a preconceived idea, yes it's a fantastical phenomenon but there's more to it, there are specific race of people who can perform intricate divisions of it, for instance we are Airentines, we fly and we have a specific set of magical ability on top of spiritual magic, likewise there are other race of mages who have their own magic styles, lithores and Aquarils" Aoki was a total nerd for such lore.

Tarou continued.

"First the basic principle. The multiverse is real and there are an infinite number of versions of earth, infinite versions of you and infinite versions of all that exists here. Only you and this world right here on this particular universe out of all those infinite versions  only you can perform magic, because this is the prime earth and you are the prime Aoki. All the other versions are at your disposal"

Aoki was a bit confused.

"Firstly, wow, secondly, what do you mean when you say that the other ME's are at my disposal?" He asked.

"Let me explain, The technique you call magic, is a product of channeling, we are channeling the required energy to perform magic from the rest of "yous" from the vast multiverse, that's how a mage can live thousands of years, we essentially collect their life force and perform magic and postpone Aging, there are limitations of course" he said.

Aoki was blown away.

"Absorbing life force?, that means if a mage dies, there are no more alternative versions of him in the multiverse except for the prime mage?, you are essentially killing yourselves for power?" He asked.

"If you put it like that, yes, considering the population of Heavensworth, it's genocide, but the value of a prime is infinitely greater than your countless duplicates, they exist only to act out the possibilities of your prime life, in the grand calculus of the multiverse, they are just mass of valuable energy wasted away for negligible purposes, so we use them, the morality is basically non existent, don't think about it, Its just a basic information" Tarou replied casually.

"Gods designed it in this way, it's the absolution, the creators of Heavensworth bestowed the greatest task upon us, to bring balance to the multiverse, avoiding all and any interactions between them, the eye of the supreme Province watches over us and guides us to protect the Prime verse"

Tarou added.

"What's supreme Province?" Aoki questioned.

Tarou was reminded of something as he heard that question, he didn't feel like answering it, but he had a wholesome smile in his face.

"You know what?, I'm not going to break it down to you all at once, process it bit by bit, you have more time than anyone else in this entire world, and by the way, today you'll learn the channeling technique" Tarou said.

"Fine, but I still can't put my finger on how I feel about the magic source" Aoki replied.

"You're overthinking it, the other Aokis will live and die as time goes, most of them die earlier than you, non the less, you're the superior one out of all of them, so don't give it too much thought" Tarou said.

Aoki tried to let go but still, that bothered him deeply.

Both just walked silently for some time, Aoki in utter contemplation and Tarou wishing to punch himself for mentioning the kiske incident.

"So I wore my uniform and got out of home, you are saying that school doesn't matter anymore, Where are we going exactly?"

Aoki asked by braking the silence.

"Tarou sighed and stopped walking, there's something else you should know Aoki" Tarou said.

"There's a lot of things that I should know but go on I'm listening" Aoki said.

"Let's go sit somewhere first" Said Tarou gestured at the diner across the street.

They crossed the road and entered the diner, it was fairly full, they sat at the end of the table line by the window, Aoki sat opposite to Tarou as he realised something and began ask Tarou.

"No! We won't be talking about my metabolism because that's" he sighed "for another day" Tarou said as he sat down.

Aoki's excitement was killed as he sunk down in his seat.

"So before we begin training, I need official confirmation, from my captain" Tarou said after clearing his throat.

"What do you mean, who's your captain, I thought you were alone, wait, is he here?" Aoki asked glancing at the menu first and frantically looking around as he finished the sentence.

"Aoki, you are a special case,... an exception an ...unusual exception" Tarou said Joining the tip of his fingers one by one as he rested his elbows on the table.

Aoki dropped the menu and leaned back.

"Yeah, I figured, that's why I'm sitting inside a diner on a Monday morning in my school uniform talking to an invisible man, and I fly, So we have established the speciality factor already" He said.

"Yes but, there's another layer to it" Tarou said he removed the pin that held his cloak around his neck, the cloak disappeared as the pin was removed.

"Elaborate" Aoki said at the same time pretending that he was unphased by what just happened.

Tarou was literally struggling to break this information to him, he was quite nervous.

"Okay where to begin...., yes, You and me and many other mages like us who can levitate, belongs to a race called Airentine as I was saying. Founders of the supreme province, All Airentines including other mage races live in Heavensworth. okay?" Tarou explained.

"So?, Are you saying that I'm not supposed to be here..?" He asked.

"Yes and no" Tarou replies.

"Wha?" Aoki asked without even completing the word.

Tarou kept both his hands down and said.

"What I mean is , you are a Half Airentine and half human, the problem is that, branching blood relation outside of the race is considered taboo and is forbidden under the decree of sorcerers, So you were disowned by the supreme Province, you were left to live with the other half side, with your mother"

Aoki was silent, his face changed as Tarou explained further and further. He looked down and stared at the empty tabel top.

Tarou continued.

"But according to the Grand selection, if a mage is born at the same instant a previous Tenjin died, that mage is offered the successorship, to become the new Tenjin, it's a birth right, and you were that mage, You were born at the same time Hinaro sama died, therefore you are rightfully a successor, but there was a lot of backlash at the supreme Province to bypass the traditional grand selection since it was you who got selected, but I was appointed non the less through a majority vote.

My captain advised me that its not likely that you will develop any powers because of you irregular lineage, he suggested me to return after 20 years of observation.

Tarou glanced at Aoki's bitter expression.

"but He was wrong" he added after a pause

Aoki looked at Tarou, his eyes filled up.

"Do you know my father, Tarou?"

He asked him looking straight in his eyes, neglecting everything he just said.

Tarou, was hesitant and said.

"Aoki I understand your feelings but that is not the point here, you must listen to..."

"do you or do you not?"

Aoki intervened and asked loudly.

Everyone at the diner was shockingly looking at Aoki who is sitting all alone, Aoki didn't care about any of that, Tarou noticed the attention he was getting and wanted to calm him down.

"I do!, I do. And I can't talk about it, it's a highly confidential matter and Aoki please you should just calm down"

Aoki got up and stormed off from the diner before Tarou finished his sentence, he rubbed his forehead, and sighed with regret.

A girl looked at Aoki walking out enraged,

She sipped on her drink, with a concerned expression, she was trying to hide from him as she covered herself in a hoody, but her purple hair was rather blatant.

Aoki walked fast and wiped off his tears with his sleeves.

After a few steps he felt like he stepped on something, something cracked under his shoe, he turned back and checked his heel to find nothing, but there was a crackling sound similar to a dried leaf, Aoki felt odd and continued walking, as he walked, the sheer sense of silence started to kick in, he looked around, he couldn't see a single living thing, no people, no vehicles moving on the road, only the parked ones remained, it almost seemed apocalyptic.

Aoki was confused, he called out for Tarou and looked back, he walked while looking all around to see at least a single person. He turned sideways looking back and stumbled on a parked car... He stood there, and tried to look inside the car, but then he turned breathless as he moved closer to the car window and wiped it with his hands and looked again, he was frightened.

He touched his face all over while looking at the window confused and scared, there was no reflection of him on the window, his fear escalated. He went and looked at the side view mirror, still nothing.

"Tarou, This not the way to change my mood, alright?, this is not funny!" He yelled.

"Oh I find this quite Humorous trust me" A voice from behind.

A man stood a few feet away from him, Aoki didn't notice him at all, he suddenly was there, out of nowhere, in the middle of the road, Aoki didn't respond to the man, he just looked at him.

He wore the same hooded cloak as Tarou with the same looking golden pin on his collar , the man removed his hood with a wide smile on his face, he had pointy teeth which didn't go well with his man bun and straight jaw line, he was a handsome looking person,

"Who are you?" Aoki asked after a gap of observation.

"ME?" he chuckled. "I'm a classmate of your sensei, Just came in to check on his homework" The man said as he walked closer.

Aoki was involuntarily moving away from the man's sight. He turned away from his direction and the man appeared right in front him.

Aoki froze right where he was, the man was very tall up close, he bent over closer to Aoki's face with a smile.

"You think a half blood bastard like you can end up becoming our Tenjin? Aoki Matsumoto? Correct?" The man said as his smile faded.

Aoki backed up to the car bending his knees a little.

"You could NEVER, not in a million life time can match what Hinaro sama was for us" The man brought his face closer to Aoki's who felt discomfort and fear.

"We should have stopped you from being born... In fact we should have killed your filthy mother along with you, that would have been fitting" The man said with disgust.

The man felt slight pressure coming from Aoki. He moved back, Aoki slowly raised up, right then the man's face was filled with imminent terror like he was going to die, That was because he saw a skull of a Ram with twisted horns in the place of Aoki's head, reflected on the car's window, the man disappeared from there to a building top near by, panting quite a bit. He kept his composure and said.

"Animalion Attribute ? How barbarous, befitting for a thing like you!"

Aoki was enraged, he glared at the man as he spoke.

Suddenly, there was this continues and repetitive, hitting sensation in Aoki's chest, like standing close to a huge heavy bass speaker, pounding over and over again, it increased slowly with each hit, everything was throb, the car next to him wobbled, the ground shook after a few more hits. Aoki looked at the man, he was confused as well, it didn't feel safe... That's when reality shattered like glass, there was an invisible dome around Aoki and the man, which began to break and fall apart, with one final bang there was a huge hole cracked open next to Aoki, through the cracks came in a gust of steam and within the fog two white lights were glowing.

Aoki looked curiously, the man smirked realising what happened, those two lights were the eyes of a golem made of ice. Aoki was amazed. Tarou walked out from behind the golem and placed his palm on it, the ice monster dispersed into tiny fragments and rained all over, the man flew down and landed, he chanted something while locking his both his index fingers and then detaching them, the dome completely disappeared turning everything back to normal. People, vehicles, birds, animals everything became visible.

"trapping kids in pocket illusions?, Didn't think Kenshi Osakii would stoop so low" Tarou said as he walked up to Aoki and stood in front of him.

Aoki rushed and looked into the mirror again, and was relieved.

"Please, you're the one who's ready to train a half blood disgrace like him... do you really think this misfit would be considered as combat master? Our Tenjin?" Kenshii asked, afraid to make eye contact with Aoki.

"It's better than having nothing kenshi" Tarou said.

"What?" He chuckled "You're proud of yourself now, aren't you? That you get to bring home the next champion, you are so wrong my friend" Kenshi said as he approached taking slow steps, Vehicles passed through him as he walked without flinching.

"What are you talking about?" Tarou asked.

"Let me guess, Your captain hasn't contacted you in years, has he?, That old alcoholic should step down already, he's such a piece of work" Kenshii joked.

"Hey Kenshi? Talk about my captain one more time, and I'll turn you back to a sperm!" Tarou warned.

"As always no filter" He said and laughed, but he was genuinely threatened.

"Let me get to the topic now. After you left when the half blood appeared on the radar, there were five more readings, Inside Heavensworth"  kenshii said.

Tarou looked at him in disbelief.

"Yes that's right, You and your half blood have the least chance of getting through now" Kenshii added.

"So that means you.." Tarou asked.

"ofcourse, me, Senjuko, Sonekishi, Garayo, even Prexy's got one, you are not even a competition among us, you and that thing will be omitted for sure" Kenshii added.

Tarou's eyes opened wide when he mentioned all the names.

Kenshi continued.

"But you know what, I want it to get in, because the next stage of selection is in the Arena of Glory"

"Yes the red gates shall be opened for the contest of apprentices"

That sentence triggered trauma in Tarou's head, almost like he was reliving a tragic past. He slowly lifted both of his hands and punched them together, his fists crystallized into ice instantly.

"You better stop this nonsense right now Kenshii. Stop joking"

Tarou said in a vengeful tone. Arena of Glory triggered him apprently, which was kenshi's intension and he was enjoying it thoroughly but, everything that he said was genuinely. Which made it more enjoyable for him.

"I swear on the eye of the supreme Province, I'm telling you the truth, I understand, you have some bad memories, during the Sidrigard massacre... But that was just Four kids, now it's six, this is diff..."

"SHUT. UP!"

Tarou screamed and punched the ground clock arms made of ice emerged from the ground all around them. They were all of different sizes, similar to the minute, hour and second arms of an old fancy clock. All were sharp ended, each arm detached from the ground and hovered up. Each arm pointed towards Kenshii from all directions.

"Say one more word I dare you"

Tarou said as his voice layered with a that of a female's. The red glow in his eyes shined brighter.

Aoki never imagined Tarou acting like that, he was taken aback by his reaction,he found Tarou scary for the first time.

Kenshi smiled throughout, all of his actions to trigger Tarou was purposeful, he created multiple layer of magical protection domes around him, and began to say something... As he opened his mouth one ice dagger pierced through the shields and went right in between his right hand and hip.

"I won't miss next time" Tarou warned with the same double voice. Aoki was terrified after witnessing such showcase of power.

Kenshii grinned wider, his right hand started burning, he touched the ice dagger and melted it, he dropped all the shields and walked forward.

"Im telling you the truth!, There are 6 successors this time, The Arena is the only option, guess this will be your second sacrifice offering there... if I'm not mistaken" Kenshi said with a similar double voice but both were male. He pushed Tarou to his threshold. 

Another big dagger was deployed, Kenshi lifted his burning hand and showed his palm to the charging sharp projectile, the ice dagger melted away entirely right in front of his arm, without even a touch.

Tarou made them all fly at him at the same time. While screaming in anger. There was a huge explosion of steam, glass windows of buildings shattered, people all around felt the heat, Aoki was the only one who could see what unfolded. for others the effect was visible, but not the cause or the source, the civilians moved away from the vicinity. Aoki went behind the car.

There was fog all around, Tarou made two Daggers spin like a fan. In an effort to clear the steam.

Kenshii slowly emerged from the fog. Two more figures looking exactly like Kenshii joined him on the left and right.

Tarou charged forward, kenshi revealed two whips in both of his hands, the ends of which were held by the two clones.

Tarou charged regardless.

The two clones ran around Kenshii in circles, both of them connected to him via the whip, Kenshii rotated his body in sync with the two clones, they ran faster and faster, eventually both started to pull away from Kenshii. The whip tightened, the speed kept increasing, Kenshii spun so fast that the two clones lifted off of the ground due to centrifugal force, Tarou couldn't approach them, the wind stopped Tarou from closing, he was kicked away by the spinning clones, this technique of Kenshii's created a Twister of fire around him.

Tarou was up on his feet soon which Kenshii noticed. He threw both the clones at Tarou with the built up force, they flew towards Tarou head first, one after the other.

Tarou blocked one with a quick ice shield and the second one got him, they clashed and rolled over far.

Kenshii joined them, all four of them engaged in a very fast paced one on four hand to hand combat. Tarou struggled but put his best foot forward.

Aoki was mesmerized by the explosive show, the shades of orange and blue blending into white was reflected in Aoki's pupils.

"It's just like always, one offends the other and they start fighting" A female voice from behind startled him.

That's when he noticed a woman in a grey cloak standing behind him. She had the same collar pin but in silver. Her black swirly hair caught his attention when she unveiled her head, she had a  vibrant face, keeping her eyes fixed in the fight she closed the distance to Aoki.

"You, you are one of them, you are from the Heavensworth place? Can you please stop him. Save Tarou" Aoki requested.

"Save Tarou? This match could be over in a second if he wished, you're looking at the man who threw away the offer to join The prestigious Attack team of the Supreme battalion"

Aoki was wondered why everyone spoke with such confidence as if he would understand what they're talking about, he didn't bother questioning her that time around.

"Can you them not fight... atleast?"

"No!, I'll be punished!, Tarou wouldn't mind, but kenshii, he will surely complain, that a spirit went against him during an expedition. But you on the other hand can"

"What? You're a ghost?" Aoki asked, creeping back.

"No silly, I'm a magical spirit, he didn't mention did he? Look over there. Tarou is a time mage, that's his attribute, but his spiritual magic is Ice, he has the ice spirit 'Neri' within him, Similarly, kenshii is an illusion mage his spirit is 'Khal' the fire spirit. And I'm a wind spirit. Mel. That's not the issue here" She explained. Aoki looked at her blankly.

"forget that, now listen to me carefully, You are a mage, a successor no less, but you don't have a spirit, and I don't have a host. So let's bond! What do you say?" She asked him, leaning closer.

'What!?, Why?!, how?, excuse me!, NO! I'm 17!, Don't I look so?" Aoki said backing away even further.

"God, I forgot you're a teenager" She said and sighed.

"Soul bonding means, you being able to use my powers to its full extent, way more than I alone can, Not what you think" Aoki didn't know what to do at this moment. He was conflicted.

He looked at Tarou and kenshi fighting, but then he realised that he had heard her voice somewhere before. Bits of memories flashed in his mind, he saw someone falling away from him and dying.

"AOKI!" Mel alarmed. Aoki snapped out of it. He didn't think much of it, he wanted to deal with the problem at hand.

"What do you want me to do, I don't know anything about this, is it okay to do this without tarou's permission?" He asked with concern.

"Just do what I say and we can stop them" Mel convinced. It was the perfect opportunity for her as was waiting for an ideal host. Her intention were unclear but she was desperate.

Aoki stood straight and faced Mel.

"Exhale and hold your breath" She said.

Aoki followed her instructions.

"Now repeat after me, In attendance of the sacred God's eye, I hereby provide my body as the host of the spirit and her powers shall be mine to command till our mind soul and body are one"

She dictated.

Aoki repeated and inhaled as soon as possible, he was breathing heavily after. When he looked up, Mel wasn't there anymore, Aoki's body slowly raised up and his eyes radiated the same green glow but brighter, Tarou noticed the same but this time the people around witnessed the miracle too.

"What is that Brat doing?" Kenshii asked.

There was a strong gust of wind pushing everything away from his vicinity similar to the eye of a tornado.

***

Mel woke up in a shallow water body, the water was dark and slightly viscous. She stood up and gazed at the sky which was grey with a green tint. She looked around curiously, there was just the same endless waters till the the horizon in three directions. She turned behind and noticed a dead tree and something was struggling behind it. Fear began to take hold of her. She walked slowly towards the tree, as she got closer she saw several twists of metal chain around the tree, something was tied up on the other side which was trying to break free, she walked around the tree and what she saw scared her like never before in her entire existence, she fell backwards and crawled away from it screaming and crying. That thing she saw was rumbling, it looked at her with its bright green eyes, and growled. She saw the distraction of worlds, galaxies obliterated which seemed like a bad future. She slowly fainted and drowned as the waters sunk her deep.

Mel was thrown out of Aoki's body. both blasted away in opposite detections. The wind stopped. Tarou ran towards them, to Aoki first and checked him, he was seemingly alright, he then went to Mel, she was freaking out as Tarou approached, she squirmed and look pale,  he fell on his knees and offered a hand which she squeezed tightly.

"Don't let the chains break" she said gasping uncomfortably and continued to whisper the same.

"What the hell is going on here" Kenshii asked as he reached Tarou. Suddenly a portal opened behind them. Their attention shifted.

"Perfect time for you to bail isn't it?" Tarou asked.

"I did not open that portal, I still have a few more hours left and I'm never the one to bail" Kenshii said.

"Just stop lying Kenshii, you could at least consider the situation" Tarou said.

"You would never trust me would you?" Kenshii asked.

Unexpectedly, an elf on a Pegasus emerged from the portal.

"we meet again time mage!"  He said with a sinister smile.