Rayen opened his eyes. "Grandma..." He looked around, he was in a strange room. It had potions on a table and different instruments on the walls. "The doctor's house? Grandma!! Where is grandma?!" He screamed. He had something on his neck. It was some herbs and a liquid.

"Don't touch it." The doctor appeared.

"Where is grandma?"

"Your grandma is... dead."

"What?"

"Since you were taking so long, the Elder went to see what happened. When he found you, she was already dead. You were unconscious and her corpse was above you."

"No..." Rayen tried to get up.

"Stay still. It will be better if you rest and move as little as possible."

"I want to see grandma."

"You should rest."

"Please..."

"Let him come." The Elder said in another room.

"Fine." The doctor sighed. "Come with me."

There were two corpses on the ground. One was the disfigured Lena, the other was the corpse of grandma cut in half.

"You killed Lena, right?"

"She attacked me first. It was self-defense."

"I see..." The Elder handed Rayen his knife. "Here is your knife."

"Elder!" The doctor was startled.

"It's fine, he isn't the type of person who will kill another for no reason."

"..." Rayen took the knife. "All my efforts were... worthless."

"Is that what you think? Are you going to give up?"

"No matter what I do, all my family will still be dead."

"Sigh... If you plan to be a mage, come talk to me tomorrow, after the funeral." He gave Rayen two books. "For now, think."

Rayen took the two books, looked at his grandma one more time and went back to bed.

Rayen sat on the bed and thought.

'All my efforts were worthless. They were worthless because I lacked the strength to make them true. Takuya was right. Without the strength to defeat our enemies, we will die. Because I lacked strength, grandma died. If I wasn't that weak, I would've been able to help Takuya. He wouldn't have died either. It's all my fault. All happened because I lack of strength. I need strength. Strength to protect the people I value. Strength to protect myself.

'No, not strength. Strength is just part of it. I need power. Power isn't only strength, it's knowledge too. I also lack knowledge. I need the ability to change the lives of the people around me. If I had succeeded in the experiments during these two years, nothing bad would've happened. I thought I knew about plants, but do I? All the failed experiments. All the times I needed to get a rare herb... Did I need to get a rare herb? For what? A real alchemist wouldn't rely on them. They are an asset, not a necessity. I made them a necessity due to my own lack of knowledge.

'I thought I could fight, I practiced everyday for years. But for what? In the end, Lena could beat me. I wasn't strong enough to defeat her. It was all my fault. She wasn't skilled, she wasn't that strong. I deluded myself. I had my life on the line, and I closed my eyes, accepting my destiny. What destiny? I still could have fought. I shouldn't have given up. I should have defied my destiny. It was all my fault.

'What do I really know? I don't know anything. I am just a kid. A kid pretending to be an alchemist. A kid pretending to be a warrior. Just a weak kid from an old dying village. But not anymore. I won't be a kid anymore. I don't want to fail anymore. I don't want to still be a failure. I need to change myself. It's my responsibility to change. From now on I will be what I decide to be. I will get to the top. I will get the power I need. I will get the power to defy destiny. That's what mages are. People who can defy destiny. People who aren't bound by the rules of the world. People who are truly powerful. That's what I will be.

'It will take long, it will take many, many years, but it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter how many decades I need. What matters is that I will get there. Step by step. Nothing will stop me. I will get the power to change the world. I will be a great mage. The strongest mage.

'I understand Takuya now. I now know what my path to power is. At least I think I know. What do I know after all? Only after achieving it can I say that I do. Only after that. There is no coming back. There is only forward.

'I can't just rest here. I shouldn't exercise for now, but I can gain knowledge.' Rayen looked at the books and started reading them.

He spent the rest of the day reading. The next day, the doctor checked him, his wounds had closed up and he was a lot better. After eating, they went to the village's cemetery.

There were thousands of wood tablets, many of whom were so old you couldn't read the names written anymore. They were people long forgotten, from the time when the village was thriving.

All the villagers were reunited in the middle, there weren't that many, less than two dozen people. Rayen haven't seen many of them in years, but he recognized them all.

"Hello." Rayen said to all of them.

"Hi, Rayen." Some said. Others just grumbled. They weren't happy that Rayen had killed Lena, but since it was in self-defense, they couldn't say anything. They also suspected Rayen of killing Takuya, even if the Elder said otherwise. But all they could do was that, grumble.

The Elder and the gravekeeper were in the middle, near the newly dug graves. There were three simply made wooden coffins on the ground. Rayen went with them. The Elder gave him two black roses. The Elder kept another one. It was going to be Lena who sent off Takuya, but now it was Rayen's duty. He was the closest person to him. It wouldn't be fit for him to send off Lena, since he killed her, so the Elder would do it himself.

"We are here to offer our last farewell to..." The Elder spoke the customary words.

Rayen didn't paid attention to them. They didn't matter, he had heard them thousands of times. They were just empty words. He looked at the graves nearby. 'Mom... Dad... Sis... Grandpa... Now Grandma will join you. In the end, I couldn't save her.' Rayen stepped ahead, it was his turn to say some words. First, for his grandma. "Grandma. I couldn't save you, but I will keep my promise. Thanks for all the things you did for me." He dropped a black rose into the grave with her name.

He walked to Takuya's grave. "I'm sorry, it was my fault. If I hadn't taken you into the forest, you will alive today. If I had found a way to awaken you, you wouldn't have died. I hope you will forgive me." He dropped another rose..

"Death comes for everyone," the Elder said. "This time, it came for three people of our village. Those who enjoy the privilege of being alive, must pay it with their lives. It's an inescapable destiny." The Elder threw a black rose to Lena. He looked at Rayen. "Lena may have committed errors, Rayen, but it's pointless to hold a grudge with the dead."

Rayen nodded. "I know. I don't hold any grudges with her."

"Good."

The rest of the villagers came and offered their last words to the deceased. The gravekeeper filled the holes with ground. Rayen cried for the first time since the dead of his parents.

After the funeral, people's lives continued like normal. Rayen spent half an hour looking at the graves, then he went to see the shopkeeper.

"Hello, Rayen."

"Hi... Do you have strawberries?"

"Well... I do. But are you sure? They don't grow here, so they are rather expensive."

"Yes, it's fine."

"Here." The shopkeeper put two on the table. "10 crystals."

"I will pay the full price." He put 16 small crystals, took the strawberries and left. "Goodbye. This may be the last time I see you, I'm going to become a mage now."

The shopkeeper sighed. "Goodbye."

Rayen went back to the cemetery. It was empty now. He put the two strawberries on his grandma's grave. "I'm sorry grandma. Toby doesn't exist, so this is all I can do." He took two sticks and put them on Takuya's grave. "We couldn't fight again. I would have beat you anyway." He looked at Lena's grave. "..." Then he went home.

His home was silent. Empty. He imagined his parents, his sister, his grandpa and grandma. Everyone was happy one time, the time when he was a little kid. Time passed, one by one they disappeared. They all died. Leaving him here. All alone.

He walked around the house one last time. Today was the last day he will be here. He still remembered when the house was in perfect condition. Now everything was dilapidated. Ever since his parents died, no one took care of repairing it. His grandma couldn't do it, and he was too young and concerned with getting money for food and medicine. He suspired as he walked to his grandma's bed. He remembered her last words. They may be a delusion, but they may also be true. He moved the bed. Below the bed was one of the many holes that filled the floor. He looked at it. The small space between the floor and the ground hid a small glass jar. He took it out.

"A glass jar, so the rats don't eat what's inside, uh. Grandma used to do that..." Inside the jar were many crystals, they were bigger than what Rayen was used to. Some of them were smaller, but emitted a golden light. "That's... A full crystal!" A crystal was worth a thousand small ones. There were eleven of them. The bigger green crystals were worth fifty or a hundred small ones depending on their size. Rayen never saw such a big fortune before. With this amount of money, he would have had enough to buy the medicine many times over. "If you had that much money, why didn't you told me before? I could have saved you..."

'I saved them for my grandson.' She had said it before.

"She... saved it for me. Instead of using it to live a few years longer without any problems, she wanted to give it to me..." He had a sad smile. "Thanks, grandma."

Rayen looked at his clothes. The ones he had were torn apart, too old or covered in blood. None of them fit for his new life as a great mage. "I need to buy more clothes." For the first time in his life, he wasn't lacking in money. But he knew that the money wouldn't last if he spent it lavishly. "Only one set." He nodded. "Well, maybe two..."

He went to the Elder's hut. The Elder had told him to come.

"Enter," the Elder said as he got close. "Are you feeling well?"

"Yes. I'm okay now. I plan to leave now."

"I understand, there is no time left. Remember that you will always have a place in the village. If you fail the test, you can come back."

"I won't. If I fail, I plan to travel around the world." Rayen took out the books and gave them to the Elder.

The Elder took them and nodded. "I will buy your house for 600 small crystals, that should be enough to enter a good academy."

"Is it okay?" Rayen knew that the house wasn't even worth 200 small crystals, much less 600.

"Yeah, don't worry. When I was a kid I also took the same resolution as you. I planned to become a mage or travel if I failed. I only have a magic capability of 2, so no one accepted me. I adventured around the world, risking my life, discovering many treasures and learning some magic. After over a hundred years, I came back home, to learn under the old Elder and become an Elder myself. Now, many decades later, I have little left from those days. Many people left, and I'm afraid none will ever come back. You don't need to come back either. The village is dying, once the Dokenra completely withers, beasts will invade us and kill us. There are only old people here, we have no hope. Most people won't leave, we will fight until the end.

"But you are different. You are the village's last youth. You don't need to look back. Carry the village's hopes with you and achieve great things, that's all we can hope for."

"Elder..."

"Take this as well." The Elder pulled out a dagger with an undulating blade from a strange chest and gave it to Rayen. The hilt was made from a metal alloy Rayen never saw before, it felt comfortably warm. It was decorated with strange patterns and four weird creatures. The Elder also took out a sheath which had similar patterns. "Aside from the books, this is the last treasure I have. It was given to me by the past Elder. Now I give it to you. Use it well."

"Thanks, Elder. I will." Rayen put the dagger on the sheath.

"Goodbye, Rayen."

"Goodbye..." Rayen left.

He walked around the village one last time, trying to remember it. The village may die, but it will live forever in his memories.