Chapter 3: Theon Grey
"Ughh!!!" Leon groaned as his eyes slowly fluttered open. His vision struggled to keep up with the bright light that suddenly shone in his eyes, causing him to blink constantly, trying to adjust to the light.
"How long has it been..." He whispered to himself as his eyes finally adjusted to the light. "How long has it been since I saw sunlight!"
He lay on the ground, his breathing calm as he took in the scene before him. He was in a forest clearing, laying beside a small pond that shone beautifully, reflecting the sunlight.
The trees. The birds that chirped as they flew by. The calm winds that blew against his skin. The sound of the ripples of the pond. Then there was the soothing energy he felt flowing through his veins. All of it was soothing. It was peaceful.
Slowly, tears began to form in Leon’s eyes until he broke down, and the soft sounds the forest made were joined by his quiet weeping. "It’s been so long... I thought... I thought I would never see or hear such beautiful things again."
Leon lay on the ground for a few more minutes, adoring the scene and trying to collect himself.
He sighed softly, then groaned as he forced himself to sit up. "Why am I still in so much pain?" He whispered. "Almost makes it seem like I’m still in the Realm of Succession."
He looked at his body, then that is when he noticed it. ’Blood?’
His clothes were completely stained with blood, leaving him confused. "Now that I think about it, why am I here? Am I not supposed to be in the hospital or still on the road where that truck had hit me?"
He looked around, then he stared at his hands. "This..." His eyes widened. "Why are my hands so small? Did that realm send me back in time?"
Forcing himself up, he hurriedly crawled over to the pond to check his reflection.
On seeing it though, his eyes widened and he instinctively stumbled backwards. "Who the hell is this?"
The reflection staring back at him was a young male of about 16 or 17 years of age, with rough blonde hair that shone under the sunlight, making it look as if it was gold. His eyes— were a mesmerizing golden color. He wore two golden earrings that looked traditional and modern at the same time.
"Is this kid a delinquent?" He whispered to himself as he touched his face. "Honestly, he’s quite the handsome lad too."
"But still... Who the hell is he?"
Suddenly, Leon clutched his head and fell on his back as a cascade of images rushed into his head. They were memories.
Not his. But of the body he was currently occupying. He writhed in pain as he passed through each of the memories. Each emotion the body had felt. Happiness. Pain. Sadness. He experienced it all at once.
"What the hell is this?" He dropped on one knee, as he bit on his lip, resisting the urge to scream.
He lay on the ground for a few more minutes, convulsing and writhing as the images and information rushed into his head like a flood.
His breathing calmed down as the rush of information slowed to a stop.
Through those memories, a lot of his questions were answered. Firstly, he was no longer on Earth, but in a world that was much more scientifically advanced than Earth. Humans in this world also seemed to have supernatural abilities. This world was called Oris.
In this world, humans cultivated what was known as ’Essence’. Essence is the spiritual energy that flows through all living beings and the world itself.
That explained the weird energy he was able to feel flowing through his veins and around him as well.
Every being naturally produces essence, like how a body produces heat. Essence is what fuels supernatural abilities or even elemental control.
But of course, not everyone can control essence, as it is normally dormant in beings’ bodies. One needs to awaken their essence to be able to control it consciously. Once a person awakens their essence, their soul naturally condenses a ’resonance core’— a spiritual nucleus that governs their power and basically allows one to store, circulate and evolve essence consciously.
The stronger your core, the more essence you can control. The purer your core, the faster you evolve through the ranks.
It seemed talent mattered a lot in this world.
And the body he had reincarnated — was born without a single ounce of it. His name was Theon Grey, an orphan who knew nothing of his parents or how they had died. He was fortunate enough to awaken his essence, but sadly the purity of his resonance core was the Gray purity.
It was basically trash, and those who awakened such had no hope of moving up the ranks. Of course, all beings started at the lowest rank, which was F rank, and the ranking moved all the way up to SSS rank.
Someone with a Gray purity, though, only had the potential to reach E rank, with some, by sheer divine luck, reaching D rank.
Clearly, with this type of world setting, there would be discrimination against those who had no talent.
And Theon had faced that from the moment he awakened.
Leon sighed; he couldn’t help but pity the original owner of this body. "You must have gone through a lot," Leon whispered to himself. Then, he clenched his fist.
His eyes became cold and his body basically radiated killing intent. After going through those memories, he finally knew why he was in a forest clearing and why his clothes were stained with blood. Not anyone else’s blood. But his.
Theon was lucky enough to get into Starlight Academy. An Academy that trained young resonants to reach the peak of their potential. It had just been two weeks into resumption, and yet someone. No. A whole group of people ambushed and killed Theon, just because he wasn’t talented.
Leon couldn’t help but grit his teeth. His body shook as he clenched his fist, trying to control his anger. After he had gone through those memories, each experience Theon went through, he went through it as well. His pain. His sadness. His sorrow.
Theon wasn’t one to look for trouble. He was calm, quiet, always ignored, and endured each insult or beating thrown his way. He didn’t deserve such an end.
Each scene of him getting beaten, insulted, spat on, kept ringing in his head, causing his anger to fuel the more.
"Don’t worry." Leon clenched his fist until they went white. "I’m here now—"
His eyes glowed brightly. "And I promise to find and kill all those f**kers that did this to you!"
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