(A/N): I think I should clarify before the story begins that this is a SI/OC fic, except that the character inserted is NOTHING like me. At all. Seriously. But they will have watched the Fairy Tail series and read the manga, so if you balk away from anything like that, you're free to leave now.
The whole premise of the story has more of a 'what am I going to do out there in this strange, new world?' than a 'I must surpass all of my enemies to protect my NAKAMA!' type of plot, not that there won't be plenty of that as well. Taking that into account, the OC in question does become rather OP right off the bat, as he eventually ends up being on par with some members of the Spriggan 12, but he won't end up being the strongest person in all of Earthland who can insta-oneshot-Gildarts-without-breaking-a-sweat-because-he-is-God, so don't worry about that.
So without further ado...
Chapter One: A Startling Awakening; Forest of Monsters!
There should be a particular word for the precise discomfort which is brought on by lying down, completely naked, in a dense undergrowth, surrounded by dark, looming trees. It is most unpleasant. That alone would have been enough to fray my nerves.
But that wasn't all, no, no. In addition to that, I was now a little kid. I mean, elementary-school-aged little kid. This meant that not only was any kind of muscle I'd developed completely gone, but I would also have to go through puberty again. There was nothing remotely amusing about this situation.
There was a book, though, which was nice. I liked books. It was old and dusty, with yellowed pages and a faded cover. Perhaps it would be able to help me get out of this creepy forest. Well, those had been my original thoughts, but as it turned out, the book was useless, complete hogwash of the highest caliber.
Arcane Compendium, it was titled. Supposedly, it was 'the last remaining archive for the many Lost Magics that have been forgotten as the Era of the Gods came to an end.' Wonderful, I was a naked eight-year old in a creepy forest, but at least i could learn ancient voodoo chants!
Perhaps there was some kind of hint hidden inside the book, though. Maybe it was some kind of riddle, a puzzle that when I solved would provide me the knowledge of where the hell I was and what the fuck had happened to me. Why else would it be here with me?
Before learning of powerful Lost Magics, it is important first to master the art of lesser and more common magics. The easiest among them for a beginning practitioner to understand is Illusion Magic.
Illusion Magic is a caster-type magic (magic used without the help of a focus or other physical item) that grants the user the power to create phantasmal images which can be perceived by those around them.
The most basic spell, Illumination, creates a ball of false light above the caster's hand. It can be cast by thrusting one's hands out and reciting the incantation "Lumen" while channeling one's magical energy with the intent of creating light. The gesture and incantation will become unnecessary as the spell becomes easier to cast.
For a beginning practitioner to access their magical energy, if they cannot already do so, it is necessary to engage in the following procedure. First—
I snapped the book shut and let out a sigh. It seemed it was just as useless as I'd originally thought. What was I going to do, just pick a direction and walk? That didn't seem like it would be very productive, but then what else could I possibly do? I stopped and pondered for a few minutes, but nothing else came to me.
Figuring that if I kept walking, I'd reach the end eventually, and that if I stayed here and waited, I would most likely die of starvation or dehydration, I made my decision. I clutched the 'Arcane Compendium' in both hands (it was a rather large book, and I was a puny-muscled eight-year-old), if for no other reason than that it seemed at least a little bit valuable with its age, and made off towards the trees in front of me.
But then a low, menacing growl stopped me dead in my tracks. It was definitely not human, and certainly predatory. Slowly, ever so slowly, I twisted my body around until my eyes were greeted with a pair of blood red orbs that sent my panic senses into high alert. In shock, I dropped the book and it tumbled to the ground with an unimpressive thump.
In an instant, a giant canine head came lunging at me, snapping its maw. The creature had to be twice as large as a horse! Without thinking, I shoved my hands out in an instinctual but futile gesture of self-preservation. My mind was in overdrive, adrenaline was rushing through my veins like never before. I don't know why, but somehow, for some reason, it just slipped out, barely louder than a whisper.
"Lumen."
A rush of something other than adrenaline blasted through my body in a massive wave. A sudden flash of blinding intensity forced me to avert my gaze and shut my eyes. As the light abated, I heard a spooked yelp and caught sight of the colossal wolf-beast running with its tail between its legs, letting out whines and whimpers all the while.
I collapsed to me knees and steadied myself on my hands, my heart racing. For a while, I simply sat there, panting out breaths until the adrenaline left me. I stared at the tome sitting on the ground with a newfound awe and respect. Somehow, through some great miracle of fate, the spell had actually worked.
/
Within seven days of finding myself in this place, it finally became clear to me that I would likely not be escaping out to civilization for a long while. Hunger had been enough to convince me that everything was real. There's nothing quite like the constant and ever growing pang in your stomach to remind you of reality.
The Compendium was my only means of survival, the magic inside of it the only thing keeping me alive. After coming to recognize that I at least had mastered some basic aspects of Illusion Magic, I flipped through the pages until I found Water Magic. Within a few hours, thirst was no longer a problem, though I could just barely make enough to drink from.
The greatest problem was definitely food. With enough skill in Water Magic to assuage my parched throat, I needed sustenance. Unfortunately, I hadn't the faintest clue what plants might be edible and the only fauna I'd seen was the giant wolf monster.
Presumably, there would be other, less dangerous animals here as well. It was a forest, after all. But even so, I needed a way to hunt and cook. The Compendium had plenty of combat magics in it, but the ones I made an attempt to use all seemed as though they would require more practice than I could give before dying of starvation. That was not acceptable.
Eventually, as day turned to night and my hunger grew ever more persistent, I improvised. The first part was to create a trap. A large pit covered in twigs and leaves would be enough. After that, all I had to do was find my prey.
In the end, a day later, I came across some furry creature that looked big enough to last a day or two. From there, it was a simple matter to chase it with illusionary predators and herd it straight into the pitfall. One sharp stick later and it was skewered.
That first catch, I had eaten raw, and I guarantee it was the last time I would ever eat raw meat again. I became quite ill the next few days, and ended up regurgitating much of the creature. I learned basic Fire Magic before my next meal, so cooking did not become such a problem. The taste wasn't even so bad with it cooked.
With a method for gathering food and water, my survival was not in threat of immediate danger, but I still needed shelter. Unfortunately, I couldn't seem to find a magic that would help me there. So I stuck to my original plan of walking until I found myself a way out of the forest.
I had climbed up to the highest tree I could find and looked around, but spotted nothing other than more leafy canopies all around, as far as I could see. Even after seven days, when I did so once again, it was no different. The trees were simply endless. That was when I realized that it would most likely be a long, long journey out of here, wherever here was.
/
It was two days after that, when I learned that the wolf-beast was not the scariest predator here, not by a long shot. A strange, reptilian beast, easily as large as a house and covered in deep red scales, was something I found, plowing through trees as it marched on.
And that wasn't all. Now that I'd apparently gotten deeper into the forest, or perhaps I only just noticed now because I was less focused on myself and more on my surroundings, but the entire forest was infested with monsters.
Those combat magics suddenly became much higher on my priority list. I most certainly did not wish to be caught unaware by a rampaging death monster without at least being able to shoot magic laser beams at it. So I threw myself into studying with fervor.
I learned how to wield Fire Magic as a weapon and how to turn water into a deadly sharp blade. I learned Wind Magic and Flight Magic, to give myself extra speed and agility. I focused on nothing but these magics for days on end, stopping only to give myself nourishment and hunt for food. Pit traps were no longer necessary.
I lost count of the days after seventeen, so focused as I was on surviving. I often imagined what it would be like to come out, back into civilization, with my new magic. Were there other wizards out there? Perhaps they lived in some kind of secret society like in Harry Potter?
But those ponderings never lasted very long before I returned to studying and practicing. It must have been a full month after all the madness had begun when I fought my first monster, so careful as I was to always avoid them.
It was a strange beast, as I recall, with hooves and goat-like legs, but with the upper body of a panther and a large, spiked tail. I threw waves of fire at it and tried to slice it with thin blades of water, all while bouncing around, propelled by Wind Magic. It landed a nasty blow to my side with a claw, but otherwise I won the battle in the end.
Not one to waste anything earned, now that I'd been put in this survival situation, I ended up cooking the entire beast and saving it for later. I wouldn't have to hunt for a month if the meat was still good at the end of it. Most likely, though, it would begin to rot before that.
After I felt I was proficient enough in the magic I knew to defend myself adequately, I moved on to the next two magics. The first was called Pressure Magic, aptly named for the ability to exert an invisible force, pushing everything around the caster downwards. The second was called Voice Enchant Magic, a form of Sound Magic which allowed the caster to alter and amplify their own voice. Hopefully, with the two combined, I would be able to scare off anything too strong for me to take, like I had with the wolf-beast on my first day here.
/
Every day, I continued to move forward through the trees, boosted with Wind and Flight Magic, whenever I needed a break from learning new magic. But after more time than I could remember, month after month, I was beginning to despair. There was still no end in sight.
I had learned so many magics, it was almost hard to keep track of them all– Illusion, Water, Fire, Wind, Flight, Pressure, Voice Enchant, Steel Make, Wood Make, Transformation, the list just went on and on. Of course, it would not be correct to say that I had mastered them all, but I could at least use them to some degree, and a few I held particular talent in, such as with Voice Enchant Magic.
But after all this, I felt I was ready to move onto something more, something I had attempted to learn numerous times and failed completely at every single attempt. I was going to learn what the Compendium called a 'Lost Magic'.
But the book listed so many of them. Quite a few would be impossible, such as the Dragon Slayer Magic, which apparently could only be taught by a real dragon, unless some alternative method had been created since the year X436, though it sounded very impressive.
I eventually decided on Invocation Magic, which would supposedly use great and powerful spells from higher powers. Unfortunately, every spell (and there were quite a few of them listed) had a paragraph-long incantation with specific gestures that were necessary in order to cast. Nonetheless, the effects described sounded rather interesting.
Unlike with most of the magics I'd learned, Invocation Magic was not something I could get down in a few days. It took two weeks, actually, to get so much as a spark from it. Fortunately, it came just before I had been about to give up on it. Even so, progress was like watching the flow of a molasses river.
After a month of practice, I could get a few spells to work at a level that was on par with my other magic, but it was still nothing special. Magnum Solaris was supposed to cause a massive conflagration, but so far only made a moderately sized fireball. It was slowly getting more powerful however, and I believed that in a few months it would be up to its description.
"Breather of life, Reaper of life, he who shineth at morning's come," I began again. "burn forth from the heavens in eternal glory. Oh, Horologia Solaria, I am the keeper of flames. Phoenix of heaven, Salamander of earth, Forge of man! Divine conflagration, ashes of the four winds, blaze evermore unto the Twilight. Forever shall the fire churn. Crash forth, Magnum Solaris!"
A rush of golden-yellow flames left my hands in a blazing torrent. It was easily as strong as the best I could make with ordinary Fire Magic, and it would only grow further with time. I let a grin cross over my face. Somehow, someway, I was finding my way out of these woods and into civilization, even if I had to learn every Lost Magic in existence to do it.