A New Beginning

I feel the heavy muscle strain from the time-freeze skill.

But, thanks to my rigorous training, I remain standing.

“Training my body really made a difference.. I don’t feel as much pain as before.”

No time to admire myself. I have to respond quickly and find the warp gate’s location.

I jumped up and landed on the roof of our home.

“Where could it be now..”

I searched the area for a large concentration of demonic mana.

“Bingo!”

I sense a massive warp gate swirling in the middle of Tama Lake, inside Sayama Natural Park.

Thousands of drowning souls—grey, shadow-figured demons—claw their way out of the water, stepping over each other to hunt anything in sight, even the park's animals.

Magic Guilds hasn't been alerted yet.

I used my father’s phone to set the emergency alarm off, which will alert the Magic Guild Association for sudden warp gate appearances.

But, I cannot wait around here till they arrive.

‘Hess eiw aau…’

“Hmm?”

I hear whispering voices, echoing from my pendant. It had been responding to my every kill.

“This has to mean something.. Could it be..?” I have an hypothesis. But, I would need a worthy opponent to test it.

I activated the pendant—capable of a 10 seconds time-freeze with manageable strain on my body.

Coming down from the roof, I touched the rubber from my family car.

Closing my eyes, I jumped off to the sky. High above, reaching the clouds.

‘Fast-Step’

From the momentum of the jump, with the ‘Fast-Step’ skill, I rush across the lake’s surface.

There, amidst the frozen horde of drowning souls, I found a unique demonic entity, standing atop the gate.

It was observing everything calmly, rather than crawling its way out of the gate to attack like the rest of the demons.

I got near the demon and took out my clock pendant.

“This is only a guess but, it doesn't hurt to try..”

I pressed the pendant against the demon’s chest.

The world dissolved into a timeless void. For a moment, I was startled but I knew that this is one of the pendant’s powers.

“I had a theory that it might react differently to a demon’s touch.. It turned out to be true.”

What I couldn't guess was the demon had transfigured, and reverted to its uncorrupted form in this void.

“..”

The demon had become a stunning middle-aged woman in elegant, revealing brown and white robes.

“I’m Virgilia. At your service..”

“Hello-”

“At least, that’s what I would like to say, but you have to earn your worth, Hero. I challenge you to a Dual.” Virgilia, cutting my greeting off, replied with a smile.

“A duel?” I replied back.

“A duel of wits. I’ll ask you one question. If you win, I’ll serve you. If you lose, you’ll serve me.”

This turned out to be more complicated than I had hoped for.

I was never book smart..

Not that I was street smart either, but the last thing I would've hoped for is a challenge to test my intelligence by an ancient entity.

“I accept the duel. Go on, Virgilia.”

Virgilia held out her hands for a brief moment and grabbed her own neck, in a theatrical manner before setting her eyes on me.

“What is the fate of the unloved and uncompassionate, if they never knew the warmth to begin with? Tell me, Hero.”

“Uh..”

‘What is the purpose of the unloved.. If they never knew the warmth..’

If they never knew the warmth, the consequences and the bright side, they couldn’t have been able to change themselves.

Fated to be unloved.. uncompassionate to the world. Indifference of people.

I had experienced it all in my previous life. I never knew a ‘better’ way to live than go with the flow of life to save my own skin.

“Even the ignorant fools, fated to live unloved by the world, can choose to seek the light.. if given a chance to know it’s embrace.” I answered.

Stunned by my answer that grants redemption rather than judgment, Virgilia smiled.

“I admit defeat. Hero.”

The void shattered. We returned back to the living world.

The clock pendant absorbed her soul inside.

“I’ll serve you at your side, Hero. First, release me now by calling out my name. I’ll handle the gate.”
Virgilia’s voice echoed in my mind.

I don’t know if that’s a good idea.

But, I trust my instincts. Touching the pendant, I yelled out her name.

Releasing from the pendant’s captivity—uncorrupted and glorious, stood Virgilia.

“Good. You can rest easy now.” replied Virgilia and did her hand poses.

She really loves to be dramatic.

With her hand flowing around freely in dancing motion, she acted like a ‘magnet’, manipulating the thousands of drowning souls to return into the gate.

The warp gate destabilizes under the forced reversal of mana flow and collapses in on itself.

“You’re really amazing, aren’t you?” I asked.

"Of course, I am. Who do you think I was, Hero? I’m the great poet Virgilia of Agustian era.”

She must be someone who actually lived long ago in Rome. I have heard of a name like hers before in some books.

“I pledge my loyalty to you for guiding me from the darkness, Hero.”

“..”

“My soul needs to find the warmth that I seek. Until then, I’ll stay by your side and aid you in your battles.”

I can’t deny her wish. I’m the one who reverted her soul back to human.

“Suit yourself.”

Somewhere between the accident and the flow of life, I had stopped being someone who survived by living in solitude.

I had just made a choice that would pull every force in this world toward me. Demons, Guild mages and the legends of a bygone era are yet to come in search of me.