*Flashback/Dream*
It was a warm summer's day the grass was green and the sky a beautiful light blue, the wind carried the scent of fresh cut grass. There was a girl with dark curly brown hair and golden tan skin sleeping underneath a huge sycamore that seems to have been there for generations. "Hey Valentina, Wake up we have to go Ma is calling us." Another girl interrupts her, she also had golden tan skin but her hair was a sleek straight brown hair, and seemed to be her younger sister. The girl under the tree stirs from her peaceful rest, "*yawn* Hmmm, she is, isn't she well, let's go can't keep her waiting." she smiles softly towards her younger sister, she in return smiles back at her brightly. She get's up and walks away from the old tree.
They walk the girl's sister starts speaking to her about something but the older girl doesn't listen she is lost in her own world.
"Hey Valentina are you listening to me." she pouted to her curly haired sister, the other just shakes her head and laughs, "No, Not really I'm still half asleep." her younger sister just sighs and smiles wryly, "Man and here I am trying to bond with my big sister before she goes off to college and starts ignoring Ma, Pa, and I. Oh woe is me!" the older sister rolls her eyes as her younger sister proceeds to play faint.
"Don't worry kid I'll still remember you it'd be a miracle if I forgot you guy's"
They reach the car that seemed to be ready for a trip. "Yeah, of course who could forget someone as brilliant as me." she flips her hair, "But anyway, Ma and Pa will miss you, and I guess so will I, just don't forget to call us and come visit yeah." she looks at her sister with tears in her eyes, she see's their parents coming out of their house to say goodbye.
"Hey Mama, Papa I'm leaving now." she smiles to them in reminiscence of her younger sister a brilliant smile lights up her usually calm face.
They smile at her with tears in their eyes, her mother steps forward wiping her eyes of her tears, "Well, it's about time brat. I was waiting for the day you finally left." her older daughter laughed and smirked towards her mother, "Yeah I hope by the time I come back to visit you'll be able to cook a decent dish," "What you say brat?!", "I'll miss your awful cooking and you too Mama, Thank you for allowing me this opportunity." she hugs her tightly as if she wouldn't see her again,
She wouldn't.
"You better pass you damn brat." she smiled with tears in her eyes, her father steps forward to say something, "I'm proud that my daughter will be the first in the family to go to University, I'm proud of you my little princesa." I smile at him tears building in my eyes, "Papa you know I would rather be a factory manager than a princess at the very least their productive and do something worthwhile." he smiles at her, "Yeah but to me you would always be my little princesa, te amo mi hija, y te extrañare."
They wave to her as she drives away but as they get farther away she realizes that they are fading, "Wait stop the car." the driver doesn't listen, she keeps getting farther away and they keep fading away.
"Please stop the car!" they kept getting farther away.
"Please stop!" and farther
"Please!" and dimmer
"Don't leave me, please stay, don't go!" and farther still until she couldn't see them anymore, there was darkness surrounding her and she was floating.
'Why did they have to go? Why couldn't they stay, I can never see them again.'
Why…
*End of Flashback/Dream*
A young boy was alone in a forest, he wakes with a start as if startled by a danger unseen to others, his green eyes wide and unseeing, his body taut as if ready for escape and his black hair messy.
'I haven't had that dream for over 7 years not since they, died' his body relaxes slightly as he takes in his surroundings, he was still in his branch just as he was yesterday when he fell asleep, and he was still in the forest where he had ended up.
He looks up to the sky in contemplation, 'It's still pretty early but I can't fall back to sleep,' *sigh* 'Oh well, might as well find out what type of magic I'm going to have or at least find out how to activate it.' He jumps down from his branch, and lands on the ground with his feet but he fell down again, "Shit! My feet, why did I think that jumping down would be a good idea, I'm barely use to this body's limits!" he starts to rub the tingling sensation from his legs, and then reaches to his backpack to get out the book containing the information on the magic he is supposed to wield, he leans on the trunk of the tree he slept on and looked and the magical text's cover.
Darkest Shadows Manipulation
By: Unknown
"Huh, so I'm going to take a guess and say that I can manipulate shadows." The boy opens the book,
'One cannot experience light unless having experienced true darkness, One cannot know true darkness without first knowing light.' -Unknown
'Well that was deep, so let's see how do I acess magic then I can go from-' *gggGrrroOOWWwwlllL* he blinks in disbelief, "I can't believe I forgot to first eat, Wait WHAT THE HELL AM I GOING TO EAT!" birds fly frightened away from the yelling child.
"Ah wait, I can totally look for some edible plants, or fish, maybe even hunt for some food." he nods his head in agreement with his statement, "Okay first set up some fishing nets in the water, then look for some edible plants, after that start a fire so I can cook the fish. Then I can look into the whole magic thing."
*Time Skip*
Two hours later the boy had finished setting up a fishing net in the nearby stream, had picked some edible weeds, nuts, & berries, and had started a small fire & had sharpened some branches so he could skewer the fish with when he caught them.
"Okay, so everything that I need to survive, for now has been set-up and while the nuts and berries aren't what I would usually eat for breakfast it will be enough for now. Okay so time to read how to access my magic so I can start training." he nods his head in conviction, "Okay so let's see how to access my magic, the book must have it somewhere."
He starts skimming the magical text in search of learning a way to access his own magic.
"Aha here it is! Okay so let's see, what Mr. Unknown has to say about accessing your magic."
'Magic is the physical embodiment of the spirit. When the spirit of an organism, connects with the spiritual flow of nature, the spirit forms Magic as a product of that connection. It takes an enormous amount of concentration and mental ability to use Magic. But do not be discouraged for it is in the realm of possibility to achieve the use of magic for after all, if you are reading this text you have most likely been chosen to be the next user for the Darkest Shadow Manipulation. When trying to find your Magic, you will know. For it is the embodiment of your spirit you will feel most at peace, but tread with caution for many have lost themselves in finding the source of their Magic, it is why only those with a brilliant spirit can find it, and not be lost within themselves. Be careful, for it is a truly dangerous path to go down upon, especially for the magic you are about to learn. Remember, Do Not Lose Yourself or you will be forever lost. '
The young boy was looking at the magical text in disbelief, "I can't believe it, whoever this anonymous benefactor is he must've asked whoever was the first user of this magic to write a book for me to learn from." he sighs and looks up at the sky in contemplation, he looks down at his hands in debate.
His hand closes into a fist.
"Well, no use in wondering, I may as well not look a gift-horse in the mouth, says absolutely no one in this day and age, really. No seriously, I only said it because it's exactly the situation I'm in but when you say it out loud it sounds awkward." the boy shakes his head in frustration, "Now I'm talking to myself. Well it's nothing new but, I'm going to need to stop doing that in front of people or they'll think I'm crazy." he breathes in slowly and starts taking in deep and measured breathes.
One
In
Two
Out
One
In
Two
Out
Tension slowly starts to leave his body, the only sound heard in the area his breathing, crackling of the flames, and flowing of the river near him.
His mind slowly becoming empty and calmed with the repetitive action.
'Find my spirit. Find calm. Find it.'
The boy's nearby surrounding began to shift slightly with the power radiating from the young boy's body, he began floating slightly off the ground. An aura of darkness started surrounding him, but not one, someone would associate with evil, or unfriendliness, but one with a feeling of protection and power. It was an intimidating sight for anyone to walk into but, it also was an awe-inspiring sight.
But then.
It stopped.
The boy was breathing raggedly as if he had been fighting an arduous battle, "Holy Shit! That's what magic was, I'm almost completely drained of my energy and I didn't realize until the last moment." he then heard his stomach growl, "Well with me using up all my energy the only way to replenish it completely would be to eat and rest. So time for lunch!" He goes to check on his fish net and finds two rather small fish trapped in his net, "Well it's not much but with the nuts and wild berries it should be enough to have a full stomach." he smiles to himself.
"I guess what Mr. Unknown said is true, getting lost within my own magical power would lead to me being forever lost since I would likely die from magic depletion, but if I can't use my magic continuously right now I will need to train in other aspects. Most of the strong mages in Fairy Tail not only are they strong in terms of magical ability, but can also fight hand-to-hand as well. So I'll need to figure out a way to train my body, as well as my mind if I want to get stronger and be able to get a job as a mage."
The young boy closes his eyes and lays down in thought under the giant tree he had been sleeping in the night before.
'Think every anime I have ever watched has had at least on training episode or in the case of Hajime no Ippo multiple, but what would be useful to me and how can I put it to use in the forest. I have neither the traditional weights nor do I have a sensei to teach me…', "Man, this is gonna be difficult to learn by myself, but I'll manage somehow."
"Shit, I have to pee. How the hell am I gonna use a penis, wait if it's anything like the normal equipment I used to work with, it should just come out, Right?! Ah, It doesn't matter I have to go now."
The young boy rushes to go behind a bush to relieve himself.
"*sigh* Man that felt good and it wasn't even that confusing it kind of has the same use and purpose as my normal equipment, just that it's kind of a tube that's attached to my body that does it and not a hole."
The boy then goes to sit under the shade of a tree, it was only a few hours before nighttime. "Let's see. If I'm going to train my body as well as my magic, I'm going to need lot's of food for energy and I already have a base off the ground to sleep in. First, I'll need to test this body's limits, find out how fast it can go and how strong it is without any training. Second, find out the abilities and techniques that come with Darkest Shadow Manipulation. Third, come up with a training regime to follow that incorporates both magic and physical betterment. Those will be what I focus on in the months, that I stay in this forest and after that I will look for the nearest town and see how far it it to Magnolia, once I reach Magnolia I will find a place to rent out or buy, and then get a job. I want to join the Fairy Tail guild but I am not sure when I get there I'll see, and then decide." he nods in conviction, "Okay time to test myself in this body first I'll see how fast I can run a mile, for how long I can run for at top speed, then how much I can lift up at top strength and see how long I can keep it up. From there I'll have a basic understanding of thi- no my body's capabilities. I'll figure out a regime that is best suited to augment those 2 key points and then after that, I can read some more of the magic books, explanation on my type of magic to see if it has anyway of training it."
They boy then got up, and looked towards the sky, "From What I can tell, it's only about 4 hours till sun down so I'll still have some light by the end of these tests. I can find some berries, nuts, and edible weeds to eat before I go to sleep." , 'Okay so first I have to figure out how much is a mile, let's see the bokken that I have is about 40 cm and 91 cm is a yard and 1 mile is 1,760 yards so about 4,023 lengths of my bokken.' The boy goes looking for an open place to measure out the mile he needs, and finds an empty field a bit away from his base camp. he measures the mile and finds that making about 6 laps around the field would be enough for a mile.
"Okay so this is where I'll train, time," he looks down at the watch around his wrist and puts a timer to see how long it'll take him to do a mile.
"Time to test my limits."
He does.
"Okay so my mile time is about 7 minutes, for how long I can hold my sprint is about 3 minutes, the heaviest I can lift right now is about 30 lbs, and I can lift it for about 20 minutes before having to put it down. I'll need to work on my sprinting time and work on my strength, I will also need to work on my endurance for not just my magic but also for my physical capabilities. Let see, What else…. Oh yeah, I need to study the theory for Darkest Shadow techniques."
A determined fire was alight in his sapphire green eyes, his brow set in determination and mouth set in a wry grin as he got ready for the arduous months to come.
*gggGrrroOOWWwwlllL* The boy falls over suddenly, a sweatdrop adorning his head, "Well that ruined the serious mood, but I am hungry and it would be useless to train without having the energy or an empty stomach for that matter." He get's up and heads to his campsite and home for the next 7 to 8 months.
"I'll survive, and I will thrive. I may have been thrown here without a plan but I have been lucky to not have faced anything life threatening right off the bat. I can do this, I will reach my goals and I will become a master of the Darkest Shadow Manipulation magic. Yeah, that's good, Heh, I need to have something to work toward in order to not be lost and without purpose. I can't allow myself to wallow in self-pity it will do nothing to help me."
A jaw-cracking yawn emerges from his person, "Man I'm beat. I need to sleep and be ready for tomorrow and the months to come, it's gonna be hard but I'll do it , or else my name isn't Valentina, no wait, that's a girls name well I could always just call myself Valentine, it sounds more guy-ish I guess. Oh well, naming was never my forte, but that should work well enough." The young boy's eyes finally give in to the beckoning call of sleep and at last they close. Tomorrow he would train, and so he would begin the journey put to him, and he will face many hardships in the future but he will also make many valuable friends and gain wonderful memories.
So starts the journey of Valentine.
Let it begin.