Grief, sadness, hatred, depression and anger are all part of a human.
Luminous attempts countless times to evoke something from his Shining Rod. Darkness and stillness begins to engulf the forest. His small light orb emits a faint blue glow to help him see. It is an unnatural silence but he did not notice.
After a long time, he finally sits on a fallen log nearby, and sighs. He holds his dear weapon nearer to his face to examine it closely. Nothing is wrong, nothing is cracked. It is as if someone put a seal on it to prevent him from using it. He also feels parts of him are missing. Empty, there is a void in his heart.
He had never felt like this before.
Is it because of the time gap between then and now that his power loses its place in the world? It is a possibility. Perhaps his time has pass. This is a new era, for new heroes and legends. He is but a ghost of the past who had survived somehow.
I do not belong in this time. He thinks bitterly. It is the truth to him. However sad and depressing the thought is, he feels that it helps him to accept his current situation. He must live on with his remaining life. He did not notice that his body has been absorbing the darkness around all the time. The light orb flickers because of the instability but Luminous dismisses it as his weakened Light. In reality, the Darkness in him is gaining a stronger footing in his soul and his Light is the only limiter preventing a dangerous outburst. The barrier of Light at the outer edge of the Darkness is also the reason why he cannot detect the presence of Darkness. He is left ignorant, only able to recognize the weak Light that is protecting him.
Luminous returns to Lania's home and is welcomed warmly. He decides that he will stay here to help out. With determination, he puts away his Shining Rod in a tall cupboard, and closes it.
He is no longer the Mage of Light.
Waking up in his room, he sees a familiar rock ceiling with a steel latern. He looks left and right, all the furnitures are at the correct place. Yes, this is his room in Magatia.
What a terrible dream, he thinks and leaves the bed to go to the washroom down the corridor. He washes his face with cold water and stares at his own face. A pair of sky blue eyes looks back at him dreamily. This is how he looks like, no strange heterochromia eyes. He rubs his temple to feel better.
"What are you doing?" A very familiar voice asks and he knows who it is.
"Rubbing my temple." He answers matter-of-factly not looking back.
"I can see that." The low and smooth voice continues. "I meant, what are you doing here?"
"What do you mean?" He turns his head around to meet a pair of crimson eyes glowing in the darkness and he gasps. "Black Mage!" Instantly, he pushes their distance away with Blinding Pillar. The Black Mage jumps a few feet away and lands lightly on the cold stone floor. He remains passive.
Something is strange about the Black Mage. He is not the person Luminous expected to see. Wait, who is he expecting to see? Luminous maintains his defensive pose. His Shining Rod is still in the room, so he is deprived of the ability to use his spells. How careless of me.
The Black Mage gazes at him for a few moments before saying, "You know if you die here, I will take over. It is easy for me to kill you, right here, right now." His tone is calm and clear.
"What is stopping you, then?" Luminous asks boldly, but he is actually unnerved and rather confused.
"What, you ask? It is better that you do not know." Endless darkness extends around the Black Mage, engulfing the corridor and slowly, the whole house. Luminous's legs melts when they touched the black void, it feels like he is in lava. His teleport does not work, nor does his light orb reacts to him. He shouts in agony as half of his body melts away.
He is completely powerless.
"This is just a dream." The Black Mage says and smiles evilly at him.
He jerks awake suddenly. Lania who was sleeping beside asks sleepily, "Oh, good morning Luminous.. Had a nightmare?"
Luminous's hands are shaking, and his left eye is throbbing. He takes a few stuttering breaths before saying, "Yes, I-I did..." He gets down the bed and walks unstably down the stairs. Penny gives him a questioning look from the chair he was sleeping on, but Luminous quickly opens the door to look at the rising sun.
That was a dream.
That was a dream.
That was a dream.
He constantly says that to himself. The Black Mage is sealed for hundreds of years. That was just a nightmare.
After a while, he manages to calm down. Lania comes up to him. "Luminous, are you okay?" She asks worriedly.
"I am fine now, it was just a terrible nightmare." Luminous assures Lania and laughs. "I must have looked really childish."
"No, I understand! Everyone has nightmares sometimes," Lania says. "I get them too!"
"Thank you." Luminous raises his hand to pat her head.
Lania giggles when Luminous pats her head. "Hey, I'm not a cat!"
"Haha, alright." Luminous stops patting. "So, what are our plans for today? I said I will be going to town, what about you?" He changes the subject, trying to direct the focus on something else.
"Oh, I will go to collect some mushrooms and berries. It will take a whole day just to find the best ones but I know the perfect spots!" Lania smiles brightly when she says that, like it is her proud achievement.
"That is amazing." Luminous compliments her. He definitely does not know which berries and mushrooms are edible and which are not. "I will try to get back before sunset. I am really looking forward to your cooking."
"Hehe, I'll cook up something good today. Here, this is what I have left from last time." She hands Luminous some Mesos and a pouch. "There is not much but I think it is enough to get some decent stuff."
"Okay, I will make good use of it." Luminous keeps the Mesos in the pouch. Secretly, he is planning to hunt some monsters down for meat to sell and have by themselves.
Luminous sets off to the town after having breakfast with Lania and Penny. He concentrates on the task at hand and tries not to be distracted by his disturbing dream last night. This is the reality he is in.