<A/N: Some of you may be confused by the sudden transition. However, please ignore the chapters labeled 'The Kidnapping Incident' as they weren't necessarily part of my plan for this story. I added it on a whim to test something out, but I'm deciding to delete them. Instead, that part will just be mentioned as it contains way too many spoilers for future events in my opinion.>

 

The sound of howling winds burst my ear drums like thunder. The influx of air made my mind go numb, but I tried to retain conscious. I felt weightless. Powerful wind slapped me hard in the face. It felt like my weak body was being torn to shreds.

My eyes creaked open and all I saw was a mass of blue. There was one green dot in this blue and I could easily tell what I was seeing even when my thought process was being slowed down. The sea was beneath me and that green dot was an Island.

My insides were churning and I could feel something trying to escape from my mouth. I wanted to keep it in, but there was no controlling my body. The dark green coloured substance flew out of my mouth.

Just as I thought things couldn’t get worse, suddenly, there was a large explosion and a powerful force that hit me in the back, making me cough out.

BOOM!

The plane exploded. I looked to my left and I could see Daichi falling through the sky, completely unconscious as well as a woman in tattered clothes. Her golden hair flailed through the wind as she maneuvered through it in an attempt to get to me. This woman was Venil.

She held Akesha in her arms. The special barrier Yellen had made for her was still active, so she slept calmly. I tried to reach out to them. If I could summon a tiny bit of wind, I could get us to safety or at least help us land safely.

I tried to use my mana, but I couldn’t. I felt too weak. My whole body hurt badly. My eyes were closing, my vision getting dimmer.

‘Ah! I-I can’t think straight… damn… this… useless… body… Daichi… Akesha…’

When the pain had surpassed this body’s pain tolerance and I ran out of oxygen, I passed out, plummeting through the sky to my certain.

But wait… I bet you’re wondering what the hell just happened, right?  

For that, we’re going to have to take this back by a couple of hours. To last night specifically when we first got onto the plane.  

You see, after the 'kidnapping incident', my mother received a call from her parents.

What kidnapping incident you asked? Oh, nothing much. Just Daichi, Mira and I getting kidnapped by a bunch of creeps to be dropped off in the middle of nowhere to die. I tried to use my nether core to free myself, but that didn't end well. The core ended up simply trying to consume me whole. In the end, mother and the others saved us and I wasn't of any help. 

Back to the point, my grandparents whom I hadn’t given any thought about. Then again, if I had parents, it was only logical to assume I had grandparents as well.

Anyway, there was an entire argument over the phone and from the looks of things, Yellen lost. She came to us with a solemn expression and told us that we’d be moving to our grandparents.

That news was so sudden we weren’t sure what to do, but Yellen had the servants pack up our stuff quickly and before we knew it, we were sitting on a car on our way to our grandparents.

They lived in the country Eusar on the Demon continent, Ysandil. The demon continent was split into 3 parts. Eusar, the country of elves, Vesir, the country of demons and the plains filled with just monsters. The rogue netherworlders took up half of the entire continent whereas the elves took a third of the continent, leaving the demons to have a sixth.

That was naturally due to the demons having the tiniest population although they were easily the most diverse, ranging from orcs to succubi to even trolls to some extent.

This was part of the treaty they signed when they chose to help humanity. If anything, it would seem that they got the short end of the stick, having to live on a continent that was fifty percent a Netherzone. Although they were trying to clear it up.

A netherzone wasn’t so easy to deal with since once it happened and the land was terraformed, it caused any “normal” animal that stood on it to become infected and transform into a mindless rampaging monster.

To truly destroy a netherzone, one would have to destroy the very earth or to find the source of the nether energy that was corrupting the ground. It was usually the strongest monster in there, or something being heavily protected. One simply needed to destroy this source, but doing so for one that could cover half a continent definitely wasn’t an easy feat at all.

Even an Island sized netherzone would be next to impossible for most people to clear, let alone half a continent.

Even with these odds, the elves and demon had made a fair amount of progress in their conquest. I had to give it to them, they were strong.

Anyway, once we got to the airport, we were introduced to someone.

Golden blonde hair, blue eyes that dazzled like a jewel and features that were simply to breathtaking to be human. An elf in a business suit with both arms in front of her.

We got down from the car and walked towards her with Yellen taking the lead. The moment we got five feet within her, she bowed at a perfect 90-degree angle and a groan escaped my mother’s mouth.

“Lady Yellen. It has been a while since we last met.”

She lifted her head to meet Yellen’s gaze, but mother didn’t look too pleased.

“Stand up. You know I don’t like all these formalities.”

At mother’s command, the elf lifted her head then turned her eyes to Akesha, Me, Daichi then back to me. She settled on me with a satisfied smile and Daichi stood in front of me, glaring at her.

“I presume these are your children?”

“Yes. Daichi Ryo, Ibuki Ryo and Akesha Ryo. Please take good care of them on the trip.” Mother pushed us forward towards the woman. “Come on, say ‘hi’ or something.”

She urged us, but Daichi didn’t speak. Realising that he wasn’t going to move, I decided to speak first.

“Hello.”

I waved my hand at her. Both eyes of hers widened for a moment, but they quickly shrunk back and she went down on one knee to give me her hand.

“Hello there, lady Ibuki. My name is Venil, a retainer of Hou-”

“Oi, Venil.”

Mother’s cold voice cut Venil off and they both glared at each other for a moment, before Venil decided to alter her statement.

“I just work for your grandparents. I’ll be in charge of your trip to Eusar since your mother will not be able to join us on the trip.”

She just said something surprising.

“What do you mean?” Instinctively, my eyes changed their target to Yellen. She was scrolling through her phone with a blank expression. “Mom?”

I called out to her, before she then looked at me. Her straight lips slightly curved upwards and she patted me on the head.

“Mommy won’t be able to follow you this time. Daichi, take care of your sister.”

I was suddenly put in the care of my brother. Yellen’s voice didn’t contain its usual cheeriness, but a much more indifferent unknown tone. This felt very odd.  

“Mother, is there a reason you can’t come?”  

Daichi innocently asked, however I was getting a bad feeling about this. Yellen went down on her knees and grabbed both of us. We then looked into her eyes, but instead of their usual glow, all I saw was the look of despair.

Her eyes were so depraved of life, as if all hope was gone. Nothing mattered to her anymore.

“Listen here. You’ll be staying with your grandparents till it’s safe. Do not disappoint me.”

With that, she got off the ground and handed over Akesha who was now encased in a yellow orb. A barrier created out of mother’s mana.

Daichi’s body shook lightly after having experienced mother’s spine-chilling gaze. Even I had to admit that I was finding it hard to breathe while looking into her eyes. So, I grabbed his hand and he looked at me.

In the end, I had to remember that Daichi was still just a child. In a sense, he was the younger brother I never had. Yellen giving him that kind of glare was uncalled for.

Afterwards, Yellen walked back towards the car and left without saying any final goodbyes. The last thing we saw was the car’s backlights flashing before our eyes.

“Now then, shall we go?”

Venil asked with a calming voice. Daichi was still staring off into the distance, so I dragged him into the plane. Apparently, it belonged to our grandparents, so it was reserved for just as and its workers.

The flight begun and Daichi was still looking out the window, but mother’s car was long gone. Akesha was sleeping peacefully in the barrier that had been provided for her whereas, Vinyl sat across me, looking at me keenly.

The mood in the plane felt odd, so I took out my phone, about to watch YourTube when I was informed that the internet wouldn’t be working during the trip.

With a sigh, I dropped my phone and looked back at Vinyl.

“I heard that you awakened your core at the tender age of six. Is that true?”

“I can’t remember.”

“Is it true both you and your brother took care of a netherbreak when your mother was in labour?”

“That was mostly Daichi. I just froze the enemies that got too close.”

“Oh? So you’re a mage, then?”

I looked at her, not wanting to give her any confirmation. In this world, no one had ever possessed more than one core before. As such, I’d kept this tiny bit of information to myself. The only one who knew this was Mari, but I’d warned her to keep it a secret.

At first, I got a bad feeling about it, but she was too smart. She pointed out that I used magic to create an ice sword in class then I used force to beat her up. At her age she could already tell the difference in both powers. A bright future awaited her.

It made me feel that she was somewhat competent and so I decided to trust her with the information that I possessed two cores. For all I knew, I judged her character wrong and she would spill to her guardian to gain recognition or something, but if it came down to that, I could simply disappear for a while.

“Tell me about you, Vinyl. I’m more interested in that.”