Where it All Began
"The Clover Kingdom was a place of peace and prosperity, many people populated it, searching for a new life within its borders, civilization soon came with it, as did the creation of rules and hierarchy. But the peace would not last for long, as with the increasing number of people came the increasing number of crime, it raged rampant in the kingdom for many years, at least, until a warrior mage named Ezekiel stepped up, he single-handedly rid the place of crime, but he wasn't just a strong mage, he was also a kind soul, he was righteous, observant, self-sacrificing, intelligent, and understanding, and under his watch, the kingdom that resided in the south was one without worry,"
Those were the words that comprised the summary of a book, and reading that book was a red-haired boy that didn't look over the age of six, his skin was a light tan which complimented his purple eyes, his clothes, however, were a bit run down, a clean, but an old-looking blue t-shirt and long gray pants.
The boy sat in a space between two stands, his face looking down as the people of the royal capital walked by him, none looking like they were aware of his presence, but the same was true for him as he only paid attention to the title of the book in his hand.
"Ezekiel, the Warrior Mage, what a great book, and what a great hero, when I grow up, I want to be just like him," the Boy said with a smile on his face.
"That's the 20th time I've heard you say that, you really need to find a second goal," a voice spoke as a shadow loomed over the Boy, he looked up and saw a girl who looked no older than ten staring at him, she had long purple hair tied in pigtails, striking amber eyes, a light skin tone, as well as an extravagant looking orange and white dress, and despite the words that came out of her mouth, a smile was on her face.
"Myra!" the Boy exclaimed cheerfully, closing his book and getting up at the sight of his friend, but then, from the corner of his eye, he noticed that the passerbys that would normally walk past his spot without batting an eye now quickly shifted their attention to them before looking forward again and going about their business.
"I'm guessing that it's mostly because of Myra, after all, she is a noble, the clothes she wears, the magic she gives off, the way she carries herself, it's all things that people find attracting," the Boy thought to himself.
"You look well," Myra said with a grin as she ruffled the Boy's short red hair. "I hope you're taking care of yourself,"
"I am, you don't need to worry," the Boy replied plainly.
"But I just can't help but worry, you're my friend, but you sleep out in the streets every night, my parents are nice people, but they're sticklers for the rules that say peasants can't enter their territory, let alone dine and sleep with them, it's all so annoying, commoners are people too," Myra expressed frustratingly.
"Wow, such passionate words from a passionate soul, one that desires change, to make the Clover Kingdom a better place, it's so inspiring," the red-haired male said.
The girl couldn't resist chuckling. "Have you been rereading your Ezekiel book again?" she asked.
The Boy nodded. "You guessed correctly, again, this was the first book I ever learned to read, and I've reread it every once in a while ever since,"
"That's true, but it's also the only book you've ever read, y'know, I got tons of books in the library at my estate, I can always bring you one," Myra suggested.
The Boy looked at his pigtailed friend. "Thanks, but no thanks, I'll eventually look into reading other books, but for now, I just want to stick with this one, it means a lot to me,"
Myra sighed. "Alright, if that's what you want, I'll respect it,"
"Well well well, if it isn't the little Ms. Beratoi,"
The two kids turned their heads at the sound of Myra's last name and smiled, two men were walking towards them, one had light skin and blond hair, the other had dark skin and black hair and was chuckling as he made the earlier remark, the two men then split up, one entering each of the two stands.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Radars," the Boy said, greeting the blond-haired man before turning to the dark-haired one. "And you too, Mr. Novela,"
Mr. Radars laughed. "Good afternoon to you too, kiddo, thanks for watching the stands for us, and hey, Novela, you know damn well that Myra doesn't like being called by her last name,"
"Yeah yeah, I know," Mr. Novela chuckled back before turning to the girl. "So, Myra, what brings you here today?"
She ruffled the little boy's head again. "I'm just here to make sure he's okay, thank you both so much for taking care of him,"
"No problem, but we really only provide clothes and food for him since that's what our stands sell, he can't come live with us either since the landlord of our home doesn't allow children," Mr. Radars replied.
"It's alright, I don't mind, I've been sleeping outside for as long as I can remember, I don't think I've ever actually slept in a building before," the Boy recalled.
"And plus, we're not the only ones taking care of him, you're helping too, Myra," Mr. Novela said to her. "It's good that he has a friend around his age, it reminds me of the first time you became friends, you remember, Radars?"
"You bet I remember, it was just about two months ago, Myra here had just turned 10, and for her birthday, she snuck out of her house to get a look of the capital, but of course, being just a kid in this bustling area, it didn't take long for her to get lost, she was literally on the verge of tears before our young kiddo over here found her, holding her hand and keeping her calm as he led her to our stands," Mr. Radars explained before laughing. "I swear, it was the most adorable thing I've ever seen!"
Myra looked down, her face turning red in embarrassment, as the Boy looked at her, he turned away as his face turned red too, but for a different reason.
"Uh, why must she look so cute when she's embarrassed? I...want to see that face more often, wait, what am I thinking?! What would Ezekiel say? I can't be like him if I think thoughts like this," he thought before he opened his mouth. "Don't feel bad, after all, if it wasn't for you getting lost, we would've never met, and I'm glad we met,"
Myra looked at her friend, her face still a bit red, but with the look of embarrassment gone, she then smiled warmly. "I'm glad we met too. Well, I should be off, bye Mr. Radars, Mr. Novela, and, um...you,"
Once she got to the last part of her farewell, a frown creased her face before she quickly walked away, the other three shared expressions of worry with the Boy deciding to go after her.
"Hey, Myra!" he called, it didn't take too long for him to catch up with her. "What's the matter, are you still bummed over what they said about you?"
Myra sighed. "No, it's not me I'm bummed about, it's you. Don't you ever feel uncomfortable, or bothered by the fact that, well...you don't have a name?"
The Boy looked down for a few seconds before looking up. "I don't really know, I never knew about my past, the earliest memory I have was when I was 3, I remember two people leaving me between Mr. Radars and Mr. Novela's stands. I assumed they were my parents, all they left me was this book about Ezekiel. I guess I'm okay not having a name, it's never really bothered me, but I wouldn't mind having a name,"
The frown of Myra's face disappeared and was replaced by a mischievous grin as she looked at the Boy. "It's good to know you're fine with it, but say, would you mind if I gave you a name?"
"An instant no," the Boy replied with a deadpan expression. "I may be 6 years old, but I'm no idiot,"
"Whatever, let's change the subject, instead of the past, let's talk about the future," Myra suggested.
"Okay, I'm not really sure of what I'm going to do in the future though, why don't you go first?"
"Alright then, once I grow up and get my grimoire, I'm going to join a Magic Knight squad," Myra replied.
"Oh yeah, I've heard of them, the five squads that protect the kingdom," the Boy recalled.
"Not anymore, I heard they added a new squad, they called it the Gray Deer, it's been getting quite popular, a lot of strong mages have joined already,"
The red-haired child looked at Myra. "Will you be joining that squad?"
"I don't know, I guess only time will tell," she replied before noticing her house in the distance. "This is where we part, if I can't see you tomorrow, I'll see you some other time," she walked over to him and wrapped him in a tight hug before breaking it and running to her house.
The Boy watched Myra until she was out of view, he then looked up at the sky, staring at it intently. "The future, aye? I wonder what it holds in store for me?"
9 Years Later
"Myra!" a voice called out.
A tall girl was walking, but turned around at the sound of her name, revealing her new features, her hair was no longer in a pigtails, but rather a medium-sized ponytail, she know wore a casual purple and royal azure dress under her Magic Knights' robe, which proudly showed the emblem of the Blue Rose Knights, as well as a pronounced D-cup chest.
She smiled. "Hey there!" she called back, the person who caught up to her was none other than the Boy, the size and style of his hair stayed relatively the same, but somehow, it gave him this mature look, he wore a white collared short-sleeved shirt and blue pants.
"I haven't seen you in some time, what has it been, two weeks?" the Boy asked.
"Yeah, sorry, I've been busy, y'know, more Magic Knight business," Myra replied.
"Don't worry, I understand,"
"That's a relief," she said, her gaze naturally falling down, before it reached something making her brow rise. "Two satchels?"
"That's right, Mr. Novela knew a guy who could give me some, I have one for my Ezekiel book," he began as his face grew more excited. "And I have one...for my grimoire!"
Myra smiled brightly. "Oh yeah, I've been so busy with my duties, I forgot you got your grimoire, let me see it,"
He wasted no time in doing so, his grimoire was a dark pink one, it was adorned with a few intricate linings, and a three-leaf clover was in the center.
"Cool," Myra gushed as she took out her own grimoire, which was a light gray one, an image of a high tidal wave was in the center, with a three-leaf clover in front of it. "But, what's that thing, behind your clover?"
The Boy knew what she was talking about, in the background behind the clover was a silhouette of a creature. "It's a wyvern, a kind of dragon, just like Ezekiel's wyvern arch enemy in the book," he replied.
"Oh, cool, so I have Water Magic, and you have Wyvern Magic,"
"Yup," he replied as they put their grimoires back.
"Now that you have a grimoire, you can join a squad," Myra told him. "I've been with the Blue Rose Knights for 3 years, I can put in a good word for you with my captain if you consider joining us,"
"I wouldn't mind joining you, it'd certainly give us a chance to spend more time with each other," he replied. "But I want to see what the other squads have to offer. So, where are you off to?"
"I got the day off, so I was going to go visit my parents," Myra responded.
The wyvern mage smiled at her. "I have an idea, before you visit them, why don't we visit Mr. Radars and Mr. Novela?"
"Sure, I would like to see them too," she replied with a smile.
The two were then silent as they walked to the stands, Myra was looking straight forward, but the Boy wasn't, his eyes glanced at her, slyly eying her face. "Myra looks so different, sometimes I fail to notice that she's changed, but one thing stayed the same...she's still beautiful, and she's grown up, in more ways than one," his eyes fell down to her chest, he blushed before quickly looking away. "Damn it, Ezekiel would totally call me a pervert if he was here,"
While the Boy was looking away, Myra's eyes shifted towards her male companion. "Nine years really did him good, I've been so distracted by my knightly duties, I never got the chance to notice how much he's changed," her eyes fell to his well-toned arms, his shirt was on the thin side too, letting her also see the outlines of his six-pack, her cheeks bloomed red as she gulped and looked away. "Since he's a commoner who lives between two stands that provide for him, the only things he could do was either read or exercise. Man, sometimes I miss the innocence that came with being 10 years old,"
"Stupid hormones," they both thought in unison.
"Should I tell her how I feel, I've sort of liked her since I was 6, she's the only girl I really know, the first girl I remember knowing," the Boy thought.
"Would it even work if I told him, my parents would go ballistic, a noble in a romantic relationship with a commoner, ugh, classism sucks," Myra thought.
The thoughts of the two mages wouldn't go on for any longer as they arrived at the two stands just as three customers walked away from it.
The eyes of the two men fell on the teens, smiles creased their faces. "There they are, our favorite Magic Knight and our not-so-small kiddo," Mr. Novela stated cheerfully, he and Mr. Radars didn't appear too different, save for the slightly longer hair.
"It's good to see you, Myra, it's been some time. I miss when you would visit more often, but I understand that you must be busy. So, come to buy any fruits or vegetables from my stand?" Mr. Radars asked.
"No, we just came here to visit you, how has everything been?" Myra replied before asking.
"Oh, everything's been great, life has been going as normal," the blond-haired man replied with a chuckle.
The Boy watched the two talking, a smile came to his face, but then that smile disappeared as he noticed something at the corner of his eye, to his back left, he noticed a little boy, he had dirty gray hair and wore ragged clothes, but he noticed a small smile on his face as he was looking down at a decent-sized bag of money in his hand.
But then, in what felt like a second, the bag was no longer in his grasp, both the boy and the wyvern mage turned to see a man dressed fully in black running away, with the bag of money in his hand.
"Hey, stop!" the two boys yelled in unison as they broke into a quick sprint after the thief.
Myra was startled by the sudden exclamation. "What the?" she turned and saw her friend a few yards away from her, her knightly instincts quickly kicked in and she ran after them, her grimoire already out.
The wyvern mage slowed down his pace to run at the same speed as the little boy, they turned heads to make eye contact with the other, the latter opening his mouth. "You need something, mister?"
"I saw that guy take your money, and I assume you'll need some assistance?" the older boy asked.
"That's all the money I have right now, I...don't really have a family, I've had to manage on my own," he replied. "So assistance would be greatly appreciated,"
"Good, say, what's your name?" the Boy asked.
"Manuel, yours?"
"I don't have a name, but regardless, we'll get your money back, for now, let's try to stop him from getting away," he took out his grimoire, which was enveloped in a rainbow-colored aura. "Wyvern Creation Magic: Alabaster's Duel Cage!"
At his call, an alabaster-colored wyvern came from his grimoire, flying at a high speed, many people looked up in wonder at the mythical creature as it let out a soft growl. It quickly overtook the thief and created a translucent white wall to stop him in his tracks, three more walls began forming to the left, right, and top of the first wall, in just a few seconds, a rectangular cage was formed, trapping only the thief and the two boys.
"What in the hell is this crap?" the thief wondered aloud.
"Hey, you got a lot of nerve stealing from a kid, you're giving that money back!" the wyvern mage exclaimed.
"Sorry there, but that's not happening," the thief responded.
The sudden appearance of the cage attracted many onlookers, one of them being the purple-haired water mage. "Hey, what's going on?!"
The two boys turned around. "Myra!" the Boy called running to the end of the cage. "Long story short, some thief stole this kid's money, so I'm going to take him down and return it,"
"I see, well, let me enter whatever this spell is so I can come help," Myra told him.
"Sorry, that can't happen, Alabaster's Duel Cage creates a cage that people can't exit or enter unless the spell is undone, and if I do that, he'll escape," the Boy explained.
"Damn, then I guess it's up to you and that kid," Myra said with a slight tone of defeat. "Hey, promise me that you won't let yourself get too hurt, if my memory serves correctly, this is your first-ever fight,"
"You got that right, but I promise, I won't let myself get hurt, or lose for that matter," the wyvern mage said with a grin before turning around and walking back to Manuel, the two watched the thief trying to bang on the cage. "You're wasting your energy, the only way to undo this cage is to either make me undo it, or beat me in a fight,"
The thief cracked his knuckles. "Then it seems I'm choosing the latter," he took his grimoire out.
The wyvern mage turned to the younger boy. "Manuel, you might want to step back a bit," his grimoire flipped to a different page. "Wyvern Reinforcement Magic: Xanthous' Bolster!" he exclaimed as a xanthous-colored wyvern appeared behind him, showering him in a rain of glitter-like magic. "There we go, now all of my spells will be at their strongest,"
"You may have cool magic, but I won't stand idly by, that's my money, I'll do the best I can to fight alongside you," Manuel said as a decent breeze blew around him.
"Wind magic? Okay then, let's do this, together,"
"If you're done talking, I think I'll begin, Flame Magic: Barrage Fire!" thief exclaimed, firing a barrage of small fireballs.
Manuel ran forward. "Leave this to me!" he extended his hands forward, sending a strong wave of wind forward, extinguishing the spell.
The thief grit his teeth. "Why you little,"
"Awesome work, Manuel, Wyvern Magic: Azure's Breath!" the Boy exclaimed as an azure-colored wyvern appeared in front of him, it opened its mouth, firing a blast of blue magic.
"Flame Creation Magic: Spiral Shield!" the thief declared as fire spun in a spiral pattern in front of him, just managing to stop the attack. "I better finish this fight quick, my objective isn't to win, but to just do enough that the cage of his disappears and I can make a break for it, I need to find a weakness," he thought, but then it came to him and he grinned.
"Flame Creation Magic: Ignited Daggers!" he exclaimed as three daggers of fire appeared in front of him, his eyes looked straight at the wyvern mage as he launched the daggers.
The older boy got ready to defend himself, but his eyes widened once he realized that he wasn't the target of the attack.
It was Manuel.
The little boy was shocked as the daggers came racing right at him. "Damn it, I can see the daggers, but they're moving so fast, I've never trained my body to react to quick attacks like this, I'm-," he was thinking, but it was cut short as he saw a sight that made his eyes widen further.
The wyvern mage was right in front of him, his right arm extended protectively.
"Wyvern Magic: Gunmetal's Godspeed," he thought as the gunmetal-colored wyvern appeared, quickly allowing him to flash towards the boy, but that resulted in the three daggers getting lodged in his right arm.
"No!" Myra called from outside of the cage.
Manuel knelt to the Boy. "Hey, mister, are you okay?!" he saw the daggers in the older boy's arms, blood trickled down.
The wyvern mage got up, the daggers still lodged. "Don't worry, I'm okay," he replied before wincing.
The thief laughed. "Feeling the pain? Those daggers inflict burns for as long as they're lodged in there, and they'll stay there until I get beat or undo it, a little taste of your own medicine, doesn't feel too good, does it?"
"Are you sure you'll be fine?" Manuel asked with concern.
"Yeah, but that just means we'll have to take him down immediately," the Boy replied.
"It wasn't my plan for you to protect the kid, but now you're at your weakest, so I'll take full advantage of it," the thief said as he extended his hands forward, a large ball of fire appeared before him, only growing in size. "You'll soon face the wrath of my strongest spell,"
"His strongest spell?" the wyvern mage muttered to himself, he then turned to his young companion. "Manuel, I have a plan," he explained it and the boy nodded.
"Now it's ready, let's see if you have anything to stop an attack this powerful, Flame Magic: Gigantic Fireball!" he exclaimed, firing the spell.
To his surprise, his two opponents merely grinned, the wyvern mage spoke up. "Wyvern Magic: Emerald's Wing Trail!" he exclaimed as an emerald-colored wyvern appeared, it flew towards the fireball, but then turned around, flying along the side of the attack, it spread its wings out, forming two lines, it then turned again, the fireball following the trail and being led back to its origin.
"Manuel, now!"
The boy wasted no time blasting wind, using it to speed up the fireball so its caster couldn't respond quick enough, causing it to slam right into the thief, sending him crashing into the cage, successfully knocking him out cold.
The daggers disappeared from the boy's arms. "Alright!" the two of them exclaimed as they high-fived, the wyvern mage ran over to the unconscious thief and took the bag of money, running back, he gave it to Manuel.
"Thanks a lot, mister," he said.
"No problem, and thank you too, your help was greatly appreciated," he said.
"That may be true, but if it wasn't for your cage spell, he would've gotten away, and then that plan of yours gave us the win, for that, I'll let you have the glory," Manuel told him.
"Glory? What glory?"
The wind mage jerked a thumb behind him, the Boy looked around, his eyes widening, people were cheering and clapping, he had been so focused on the fight, he didn't notice them.
"Oh, that glory, I see, and hey, you told me you've been managing on your own, do you live alone?"
"Uh, yeah,"
The wyvern mage then smiled before extending his hand. "Then why don't we change that, you can hang out with me and my friends, I don't have much, but that's better than being by yourself,"
Manuel looked at the hand and gratefully took it. "Sure, but we really have to do something about you not having a name,"
"Trust me, you're not the first person to tell that to me," he laughed before undoing his cage spell. "My first ever fight ended up in victory, how exciting-," he was cut short as Myra jumped in and hugged him tightly.
"You're okay, I'm so glad, and I'm so proud too!" she exclaimed, but then both of their faces went red and they quickly broke from the hug. "I mean...nice work, l-let me heal your arm, Water Recovery Magic: Healing Tune of the Waves," she began softly humming as she held his arm, a few seconds passed before they were healed, but the places where he was stabbed formed a scar.
"Thanks," he said before the onlookers then rushed to him.
"Did you see the way he beat that thief, pure genius!"
"What unique magic, I don't think I've ever seen anything like that!"
One man stepped up. "That was incredible, young man, if you were to join the Magic Knights, the kingdom would have a very useful mage fighting for it. Tell me, what's your name?"
"My name?" the Boy repeated, he was ready to tell the man that he had no name, but then, he realized something, he looked down and saw his hand involuntarily gripping his storybook, his eyes slightly widened as he replayed a snippet of the summary he read so many times in his mind.
"...But he wasn't just a strong mage, he was also a kind soul, he was righteous, observant, self-sacrificing, intelligent, and understanding," he thought. "Just like I was today...hey, wait just a minute," another thought came to his head.
"Righteous, observant, self-sacrificing, intelligent, and understanding. R...o...ss...i...u,"
He looked back at the man and opened his mouth. "My name is...Ezekiel," he began. "...Ezekiel Rossiu,"
Author's Note
Hey there, I hope you enjoyed my first TOFL AU One-shot and the origin of Ezekiel Rossiu, the very first Rossiu who was the Forerunner for greatness (I think you can all guess who his wife will be). I'll be releasing more TOFL AU One-shots in the future, so be on the lookout, with that, enjoy you day. Cya.