“Mom look.... Someone’s lying by the river.” A little girl tugged at her mother’s clothing. A middle-aged woman turned around with a basket full of apples. She went a bit closer to get a better look. To her surprise, she saw a boy with beautiful brown hair, lying unconscious on the river bank.

  “Oh my...” She gasped. She handed her basket to her daughter and almost ran towards the boy. The woman checked her pulse. She was glad to know that he was still alive.

  “Son.... Son..... Are you alright.” She gave some light taps on her cheeks. The boy gave out a soft groan and slowly opened his eyes.

  “Hello....” The woman smiled at him. “Do you remember who you are?” She asked him, helping him to sit up slowly.

  “Azoth.... My name is Azoth Rydam. The boy spoke up, expressing the pain in his body.

  “Rydam..... Like the Noble?” The little girl peeked from behind her mother.

  “Lily... Not now...” The woman scolded her. “Hello Azoth, I’m Sira. If you are able to walk, we can help you recover.... Our village is nearby.” The woman concluded.

  Azoth wasn’t sure if he should follow them or not. But he didn’t know them. What if they were lying. What if they weren’t as nice as they looked. These thoughts bothered him. However, he was too tired and his body was burning with pain, so he kept these thoughts aside and decided to go with them. Azoth got up slowly and with the help of the woman, he limped towards the direction of the village.

  The village wasn’t touched by the spiritiz technology. People used manual spiritiz labour to do their everyday work. It wasn’t as prosperous as the metropolises of different regions, but the people were happy with their lives.

  A villager, who was carrying some vegetables with him, looked outside the gate and saw three individuals heading towards the village.

  “Hey, Sira and Lily are back...” The villager called out to others.

  Another villager, who was nearby, walked towards the gate, and saw them supporting a wounded boy. “It seems like they’re bringing someone with them. He looks unwell.” The second villager concluded.

  Meanwhile the mother and daughter had arrived at the village, with Azoth. Sira explained the situation to the village chief, who gave her permission to take Azoth to the healing saint. Azoth was almost unconscious. Before collapsing completely, he heard Sira say something. “Just hold on a bit longer, son. The healing saint can cure anything. He’s been a blessing to our village since the day he had arrived. Just a bit longer. And you’ll be recovered in no time.” Azoth closed his eyes as he fell into Sira’s arms.

  When he regained his consciousness, he found himself resting on a mat, inside an unknown house. He looked at his body. All of his wounds had closed. The excruciating pain he felt earlier had gone now. Azoth got up from the mat and left the room. He wanted to see a familiar face. While exploring the house, the young boy stumbled upon an old man, who was meditating in the garden. Azoth didn’t want to disturb him, so he turned around and was about to leave.

  “How do you feel.” A heavy voice stopped him.

  Azoth turned around and saw that the old man had opened his eyes and was looking straight towards him. He felt as if the old man was looking straight into his soul, judging his character.

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  “I feel perfectly fine.” Azoth replied confidently.

  “Hmm...” The old man now approached him. “What’s your name boy?” His deep voice shook Azoth’s entire being.

  “Azoth... Azoth Rydam.” His answer was short.

  “I’m Raz... Pleasure to meet you, young Azoth.” The old man smiled at the boy.

  It was their first time, meeting each other, but Azoth could feel that Raz was strong. Raz turned around and went towards his garden. While tending to the flowers, he looked at Azoth, and said a peculiar thing. “You won’t be able to manifest your element.”

  Azoth was taken aback by this. Regardless of his reaction, the old man continued. “You have a huge pool of spiritiz energy which makes it difficult for your element to merge with your spiritiz concentration.”

  Azoth didn’t know what to say. He looked disappointed.

  “However....” Raz approached him once again. “I can help you bring out the true power of your raw spiritiz.”

  Azoth was surprised by this. He was also confused. He had been taught that raw spiritiz is useless in battles. It holds no destructive power. He had been led to believe this by experience. But now, the old man contradicted his belief. Could he really help him get stronger. Could he really help him overcome his flaw. These thoughts surrounded Azoth.

  “Can you really help me..” Azoth looked at Raz with a whole lot of doubt on his face.

  “I can, if you let me..” Raz looked serious.

  Azoth kneeled down before Raz. “Teach me.... Please.... Help me get stronger.” Azoth sincerely wanted to learn from the old man.

  Raz helped him to get up. “It’s getting late. Rest for now.” He led Azoth to the room he was in, previously. Azoth laid down on the mat. Raz sat beside him, and put his hand on his brown hair. “Sleep now.....” A glow of light covered the entire house. It could be seen from the village. But Azoth wasn’t disturbed by it. Some magical force had already sent him to the land of dreams.

  Next morning, Azoth woke up early. He was feeling refreshed. He went to the garden to find Raz. Azoth entered the garden and saw that Raz was meditating. He waited patiently until the old man opened his eyes.

  “Proper meditation is the key to a strong spiritiz concentration.” Raz said as he got up on his feet. He showed Azoth how to meditate properly. It took the boy, no time, to learn it. He perfectly imitated his teacher. The only thing that bothered him was that he had to do it everyday for the next two weeks. But Azoth didn’t complain. He knew it would all make sense later. On the last day of his meditation practice, Raz told Azoth to feel the raw spiritiz around him. Azoth had no idea what he meant, until he felt a warm presence surrounding him, everytime he concentrated properly. “I feel it.” Azoth told Raz.

  “Now, try to command it.” Raz instructed Azoth.

  It took Azoth almost seven months to do what Raz told him. He had successfully made a connection between his inner spiritiz energy and the spiritiz energy that surrounded the atmosphere. He could easily control it now, but, during this one year, that he had spent in the village, he hadn’t learn any new spell. All he did was connect and control spiritiz.

  One day, while training, Raz visited him. He observed the boy carefully.

  “Stop...” He suddenly disrupted Azoth’s concentration.

  “Look...” Raz pointed his fingers towards the ground and swung his palm upwards. A huge wall emerged from the ground. Then suddenly it withered into dust. Azoth looked at Raz in surprise.

  “By connecting my spiritiz with the terrain, I created the wall. And by controlling the it, I dispersed the spiritiz energy from the wall, taking away the life from my creation.” Raz looked at Azoth, indicating him to do the same. Of course, Azoth’s primary attempts ended in failure. After trying for months, he finally succeeded in doing what Raz did. Raz was impressed by his progress. He taught Azoth multiple variations of his creation technique. Azoth mastered it completely within the next year. Azoth had grown taller and cut his hair short within these years. He had become quite handsome for a thirteen year old.

  One day, while training, Raz came up to Azoth and gave him a task. “Go to the Great Forest and kill fifty spiritiz beasts. Also I want you to exterminate at least one asura.” Raz turned around and went inside. Azoth had a strange feeling. It felt like it was the last time, he would ever see Raz.