Memoirs of A Second Life

Right of Passage

Two more years had passed since I was borne into this world. The day of my 10th birthday is fast approaching, and I could tell that the Van Astrea household is busy for the preparations. There were maids coming in and out of the garden, picking fresh fruits and vegetables that will be served for the feast. Today, my father, had taken me deep into the mountains.

He said that we will be staying here until the eve of my 10th birthday, and that his father did the same for him in the past. To me, Azlan had always been a peculiar one, but I never realized he'd be so strange as to bring his child into a dangerous mountain. Lianna said that there are reasons we remain within the safe premises of the town, and one of those reasons was the fact that these mountains had all manners of wild beasts and monsters that lay in hiding.

We had been walking for hours on end, and we were almost at the summit of the mountain when Azlan smirked at me and noticed my apprehension. He patted my back and said, "Shake it off, boy! You're a man now. You'll need stronger balls than that if you ever wanna make it out of this mountain alive!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked in reply. 

Just when I was waiting for my father to respond, he held out a glowing crystal pentacle at the palm of his hand. He grinned at me, mischievous as an imp. Seconds later, a bright light came from the pentacle, and it forced me to close my eyes.

"See you back at the house, Altair! Good luck on your right of passage!" Azlan remarked.

"What?! Father, you douchebag! Come back!" I shouted, shielding my eyes from the blinding light.

When I was finally able to open my eyes, Azlan was nowhere to be found. I was all alone in the dark mountain, and I could hear nothing but the eerie sound of hooting owls and chirping cicadas. Leaves rustled along as the chilling night breeze seeped into my skin.

Much to my distress, Azlan had abandoned me at the peak of the mountain, and judging from what he said last, he probably wanted me to get down from this mountain by the break of dawn.

"What an asshole!" I remarked, clutching the hilt of my treasured dagger with my right hand, and firmly holding the staff Master Teo had gifted me this morning.

The staff was made out of sturdy black oak wood, and it had a crystal ball at its very tip, much like Master Teo's. However, mine was blue in color, contrary to the red one that she had. She said that this staff would make it easier for me to cast spells and channel my mana, and that it would prove useful for the journey ahead.

At the time, I had no idea what she meant by "journey ahead", but now, I'm disappointed that she permitted for this to happen. I'm certain that only Mother and Lianna were against this idea!

"Bah! No time to waste now. I should just go down the mountain before something terrible shows up," I muttered with disdain.

Thus, with renewed spirit, I traversed the mountain path back to the town. However, I soon realized that it was now too dark for me to see or remember the exact path we took going up here. Now I understand why Azlan was being so distracting earlier. It was to keep me from putting markers on trees, stones, or the ground.

"That good-for-nothing father of mine!" I roared.

All of a sudden, I heard the low guttural growling of an unfamiliar beast. It was coming from the rustling bushes just ahead of me. I could see its piercing yellow eyes from beneath the darkness, and I was certain that it was ready to make me its dinner.

The black beast pounced from out of the bushes, and revealed its hulking visage. Its dark fur glistened under the moonlight, it was quicker than a cheetah, and resembled a puma. But before it could reach me, I held out my staff and shouted, "Forma!"

A rock wall appeared in front of the black beast, halting its advance. However, it managed to scale up the wall using its long, sharp claws. The beast was now standing at the top of the wall, but I knew it would've been able to do so.

 I quickly jumped back, and formed several formations of rock using the same spell, and some of those rock formations were like stalagmites, protruding upwards within the blink of an eye. One of the stalagmite formations managed to graze the beast, but instead of slowing it down, it only angered it further.

The black beast rushed forward, but I was not going to let myself become its dinner! I slammed the foot of my staff to the ground, and held out my dagger forward. "Lamina de Rajada!" I shouted with determination.

A violent gust of wind squalled in the form of invisible blades. The beast sensed the presence of the sharp gusts of wind. It was quick enough to dodge most of it, but fortunately, one of the wind blades slashed across its right hind leg. The beast bellowed in pain, roaring at the top of its lungs.

"Rajada!" I cast another spell, and blew it away to create some distance between us.

I readied myself for another attack, but the beast was weakly keeping itself standing. It was growling meekly this time, and slowly backing away from me. I figured that this was my chance to take the beast down, but then I heard the worried purrs of nearby pups.

From beneath the bushes, three little black beasts emerged and nuzzled their heads against the injured black beast. It seemed that these beastlings were the large one's children. Upon witnessing their interaction, I could no longer bring myself to deal the coup de grace.

Gently, I tried to approach the beasts. I dropped my weapons to the ground to make them understand that I meant them no harm. The large beast was still on guard against me, but one of the beastlings came out of hiding and vigilantly approached me. I squatted down to caress its head, and make it known that I was no threat to them.

This time, the second pup came to me and caressed its head as well. Looking into their eyes, it made me think that they were pleading me to help their mother. As I drew closer to the large black beast, weakly lying on the ground, the third pup stood at the ready, growling at me. Despite how afraid it obviously was, it bravely tried to defend its mother.

In order to placate it, I took out an apple from the lunch pack that Lianna had given me this morning. I broke the apple into three halves and gave the pups one each to distract them for the time being. Once they were focused on the food in front of them, I slowly approached their mother, which was clearly too wounded to move a muscle now.

I knew that this was my fault, so I couldn't bear to see it in pain. I put my hand just above its head and chanted the words to a healing spell. "Cura," I muttered under my breath. Light engulfed my palm, and it covered the black beast. From what I could see, the warm light somehow comforted the beast and alleviated her pain. Then, I took out a piece of meat from the lunch pack and fed it to the beast.

She was hesitant to take it at first, but perhaps she was really hungry now and accepting food from me was her only choice. I then emptied my lunch pack but kept one strip of meat for myself and a piece of apple just in case I needed it later. And as I sat on the ground and watched this family of beasts munch down the food, I felt a warm sensation in my heart. When the little beastlings finished eating, one of them approached me with a strip of meat in its mouth. I remembered that this one was the one that protected its mother.

The pup dropped the strip of meat on my lap, purred, and nudged me to take it. "Is this for me?" I asked.

I first dusted it off before taking a bite of the meat. Judging from the little beast's reaction, I could see that it was happy that I accepted its peace offering. After seeing the third pup interact with me, the other two approached me with offerings of their own. The first one had a half-eaten guava in its mouth, and the other had a chicken leg.

Their mother just sat patiently from right across me, licking the areas of her wounds. It would seem that she somehow trusted me with her children now. Then, the mother beast approached me, lowering its head before me and lightly tapping my hand.

"Are you saying you want me to pat your head?" I asked her. Truthfully, I was afraid of how large the beast was compared to myself. I was only 147 centimeters in height, and based on my assumption, the beast was 214 centimeters in terms of sitting height, and 153 centimeters in standing height.

The mother beast growled softly, seemingly saying yes.

So, I proceeded to pat it, and I swear I could hear it purr lightly. "You know, aside from those gigantic paws and deadly claws, you're pretty cute," I remarked.

"Say, do you know how to get out of here?"

Right after I said that, I realized how silly it was of me to expect that a beast would understand that question. However, the mother beast got up and started walking a few paces down the mountain. She then looked back at me, as if expecting me to follow.

"Oh, do you want me to follow you?" I asked.

The mother beast snorted softly, walking on ahead. Her little pups followed along and I soon did, too. It was fortunate that these beasts could see in the dark, because casting a spell to conjure light would alert other monsters and beasts of our location.

The purple moon was riding high just above me, shining down at the apex of the mountain. As we traversed down the mountain, I could feel the weak breeze of the night, passing through me. It felt strange and chilling when I first came here, but now that I had spent hours within the mountain, the wind felt comforting to me.

From time to time, while the beasts were pouncing left and right, traversing the mountain road, they would look back at me, as if ensuring that I was right behind them. I smiled every time they did that, and I was lucky that I was agile enough to follow the path they were taking.

For a normal boy, perhaps one like that "Marlowe Hoover", going down this path would probably have killed him already. "I bet Farina is already waiting for me at the foot of the mountain," I said to myself.

More hours passed, and the sky had now turned into a clear, persimmon color. From the amount of light there was, I gathered that morning was about to come. The mother beast roared and her pups emulated her action. And when they stopped moving, I looked ahead to see why they did. It seemed that we were now just less than a kilometer from the foot of the mountain.

Now that we were here, the mother beast approached me. She licked my face, and it made me giggle. I could tell that she was saying "Thank you".

"I'm the one who should thank you! Take care!" I said as I watched her walk up the mountain again.

Two of the pups followed the mother beast right away, but one of them remained at my side. I crouched down to pat its head and said, "Hurry along now, little one. Your mother is waiting for you."

The little pup purred worriedly, lightly grazing me with its paws. "I know, little one. I'll miss you too."

Then, I picked it up and embraced it. "I'm going to name you Bright. Hehe, it's a bit ironic, no?"

I heard it purr affirmatively, and it nuzzled its little head against my cheek. It seemed that Bright liked the name I gave him.

With that, I set Bright down and watched him follow his mother. I waved my hand and turned around, going on my way. I couldn't dally any longer, for the sun was about to wake from its slumber. No matter how idiotic my old man was, I wasn't going to let him down, although in truth, I just wanted to rub it in his face that I made it down the mountain unscathed.

When I reached the foot of the mountain, I saw Farina, Lianna, Master Teo, Esfir, and Azlan waiting for me. Based on their reactions, I could tell that they were proud of me.

A tear fell from my right eye subconsciously.

I'm... happy.