Code of Life: Chapter 2-Leylar by Juli4312 on DeviantArt (original) (raw)

When Julian came to, he noticed a comfortable warmth covering his bruised body. Turning on his side, he noticed something pushing against his skin. Something rough yet… comfortable. In a corner of his mind, he heard the small distinct sound of wood burning. The trademark smell soon invaded his nostrils, causing Julian to groan uncomfortably. The burning aroma caused his slumber to vaporize as Julian’s eyes slowly fluttered open. He felt his head pounding as his mind became clearer. Shadows were dancing on the wooden walls as Julian pushed himself up. He grunted when he felt the pain in his arm. Thankfully, it seemed only heavily bruised!

The first thing he saw was a massive deer head nailed to the farthest wall. Beside it were some bear skins and even a small goat skin, all nailed neatly into thick beams of wood that lined all walls and ceilings around the boy. He saw the small sword he used earlier resting on a small beside stand, made of the same rough wood as the walls. The hearth spread a comfortable warmth throughout the room. Julian noticed light taking a sneak peek through the thick blinds hanging from copper rings. He walked over to the light, not noticing he was only in his briefs and undershirt.

Poking his head through the blinds, he got immediately smashed on his nose by ice-cold glass. While he rubbed his poor nose, he tried to make out what he saw through his teary-eyed gaze. At first, the only thing Julian saw was white, as far as his eyes could see. But as he wiped more of his salty tears out of his blue eyes, he could make out more. Bungalow-like buildings were disorderly lined around a frozen fountain. Several fires were surrounding the handful of homes, dancing in the slight gust that seemed to hang around. Behind those were a truly uncountable amount of pine trees, freshly coated with a healthy dose of thick snow. Julian could faintly remember what happened before he passed out… The girl… The snowstorm and…. The horse? The boy snickered. Could make for an interesting fairy-tale, he thought to himself before slow creaking rose him from his thoughts.

He turned towards the wooden door, turning on its old, rusty hinges. Not knowing what was lurking behind the door, Julian slowly shuffled over to the sword on the bedside stand. Just when his left hand curled around its leather handle, he saw a flash of blonde cross his vision. He froze when a beautiful girl slowly walked inside, carrying a ragged wooden plate with some bread and a wooden bottle with a sloshing fluid inside it. She looked at the floor, mumbling something before her brown eyes looked at the now-empty bed.

“Uhm… Hello? Can I…. help you?” Julian awkwardly began, drawing a loud shriek out of the girl. The blonde girl quickly turned around, her braids quickly following her. Her leather, wool-lined boots made a dim sound on the creaking wooden floor panels while Julian ruffled his hair. Did he really sound that scary? He knew he wasn’t a ladies man by any stretch of the imagination, but it wasn’t that bad… At least, that’s what Julian liked to think! There was a short silence before someone or something stumbled outside the room Julian’s room was in. It wasn’t long before a big, burly man stormed inside the room, followed by a muscled woman carrying a hatchet made of the same white material as the sword on the table.

Julian quickly jumped backwards, seeing the two axes dangling from the man’s sizeable belly as he stared daggers at Julian. The black-haired boy tried grabbing the sword behind him, mentally preparing himself to battle. Although he knew he hadn’t the slightest of chances with such a burly team standing in front of him, weaponized with axes they are clearly comfortable with, if the nonchalant balancing of the hatchet in the woman’s hands was anything to go by. But soon, the man’s stormy face broke open in a wide smile, even his long copper-coloured moustache and beard seemed to follow the flow of his face. The woman effortlessly twirled the hatchet around and let it rest on her right shoulder. The man stormed towards Julian, his arms wide while the two iron axes dangled fervently from his wide hips. Julian gripped the sword tightly around his back, still afraid. But when the man threw his strong arms around him, and all air in Julian’s lungs disappeared, he was more occupied to try and find a way to escape this man’s deadly hug.

“Hahahaha! Glad to see you alive, Young’un! I were worried we lost a capable warrior, I were!” The man spoke in a broken language, his belching voice easily piercing Julian’s poor eardrums. The black haired boy clawed at the man’s raffled shirt, trying to tear his way to freedom.

“C-Can’t… breathe…!” Julian’s voice sounded like a mere squeak right about now. The sword fell on the ground before a soft yet stern hand on the unknown’s man shoulder slowly pulled him back. A creepily smiling woman stood behind him, juggling her weapon easily in her left hand.

“That is enough, honey… What did I tell ya about your outbursts, huh?” Her smile was unsettling at the least. The man looked quite terrified as he immediately let Julian go, falling on the ground and gasping for air. The man mumbled something to the boy before quickly taking a step back.

Julian coughed, trying to calm himself while air filled his hungry lungs again. A hand covered in hardened skin, proof of hard labour, hovered right in front of his. With teary eyes, Julian thankfully grabbed it and got hoisted back on his feet. He shrieked, surprised at the force behind the steel grip.

“Thanks, Uhm, Miss…? Julian started, but the woman just started laughing loudly. It took a little while until she calmed herself. She dropped her hatchet on the floor, creating a hole in the floor when she did.

“No miss ain’t here, boy! Call me Aalo’tar, or Aalo if that first one is too hard for ya!” She snickered before taking a look at Julian’s body. What she saw surprised her. Not even well-developed muscles! Just small arms , weak-looking knees and then there was this weird metallic contraption seemingly welded on the skin around his right eye... How did a boy like this defeat such a monster? Julian raised his eyebrows while Aalo checked him out.

“Uhm…. See anything you like?” Julian answered, remember a line of a pick-up book he once found… The woman snickered, shaking her head. Her short brown hair remarkably fitted her dark green eyes and the rough bear-skin jacket she wore .Tough , beaver-skin boots with wool spilling out them ensured her toes wouldn’t freeze off when she went outside. Julian sighed, only now noticing he was half-naked!

“Holy cow, where did my clothes go?!” Julian yelled before the man reached behind his back. A small package fell right in front of his feet. Pieces of cloth stuck out through the many holes. Bending over ,Julian grabbed the package and greedily teared it apart. Kind of like opening presents at Christmas! Inside it were his clothes, stitched together with rough thread and slight bloodstains on them.

“I’ve washed yer clothes in the river this morning, hope ya appreciate it!” The man said while Julian put on my clothes. The sheath of his small sword soon dangled from his hips. The boy absentmindedly nodded. The bloodstains made him look like some kind of crazy killer!

“Yeah, it’s appreciated…!” The boy replied quickly. Could he trust these people? They helped him but…

“The name’s Gryffar , by the by!” He said, unhandily shoving one of his massive hands almost in front of the cautious boy. The boy smiled gently , and apprehensively shook the man’s massive hand.
“Anyway? Where the hell am I? How did I get here anyway?!” The woman ushered Julian to hold his questions for now. She proposed to move somewhere with more space, as the small room didn’t really fit three people. Julian agreed to that, as the dimly-lit room was way too small to house three people at once!

“So, what were yer questions again, boy?” Aalo’tar asked when she fell into a rough-leather covered couch, possibly handmade! One look outside told Julian everything he needed to know: it seems he had arrived in some small mountain village, judging from the far-off mountains and the thick snow outside…

“Yes… Let’s start with that. Where am I?” The two adults looked at the boy crossing his legs. It was clear he didn’t trust either of them but they didn’t seem to care. Or they didn’t show it, at least!

“Ye are on the continent Ipeiros, and in the small village of Oreino. But I can;t imagine anyone not knowing where we are, not counting the village name…. where are ye from?” The woman responded. Julian grunted. It seems he was further from home that he thought! So, what should he answer…?

“I come from a land far, far away… I come here… Well, to study things, you know!” The boy decided to be as vague as possible. During his 19 years alive, Julian became quite proficient in lying to other people’s faces. Maybe not the most endearing quality, but it saved Julian’s hide more than once in the past!

“So yer is off to the capital?” Aalo asked, pointing towards the sword dangling from Julian’s hip. Julain had no idea what they were talking about. He pulled it out of its sheath , looking at it again. When he was getting snowed on, he didn’t notice the deep grooves in the blade, running along with the metal. That couldn’t be good for the metal…

“What makes you think that?” Julian asked, letting his finger run over the cold edge of the sword. Razor-sharp. Aalo and Gryffar looked at me like the boy in front of them was mad. Aalo grabbed her own hatchet, showing it to him. The weapon had the same deep grooves running all over the white metal!

“Ye have a Leylar as well, and if ye look to study those things, ya should be going to the capital city, methinks!” The woman explained. Julian threw a glance at the sword… A Leylar, was it? That didn’t ring any bells in his head… Julian frowned, feeling the visor on his right eye throb slightly when he looked at the short blade.

“Okay… So… How would I get there? I mean, how would I get to the capital quickly?” He asked. The two adults looked at each other, not exactly sure how to answer that. Julian leaned back in the couch, looking outside. The boy could see a high mountain range stretching further than his eyes could see. No roads to speak of, and certainly no cars !

“How do you guys travel, anyway? I don’t see any cars, busses… Heck, not even motorcycles!” Aalo’tar and Gryffar looked at me like Julian had gone crazy. Suddenly, he felt uncomfortable. Like the feeling you get when you saw something unspeakable…

“W-What is this… car-thingy ya speak of?” Gryffar started, making Julian look at him like he was some kind of alien. Was he serious? No cars, no motor-powered vehicles? The boy ruffled his black hair while thinking of an answer…

“Well… The country I come from has those…. No matter, how can I reach this capital you speak of?” I asked, trying to get this conversation elsewhere. Aalo and Gryffar didn’t seem convinced, but decided to let it drop… For now. Then, they turned to the boy.

“Well, normally , ye would go along the mountain road back to the nearest station and take the LeyRail there but…” Julian raised his eyebrows. There was always a catch, wasn’t there?

“Ye don’t have money on ya, do ye?” Gryffar responded. Julian facepalmed himself. This world seems to work the same as the one he came from… Money still makes everything move, even here! So the boy had to device a solution for that! But no matter, that should not be that hard… Otherwise, Julian had to just sneak on a… LeyRail or whatever it was called!

“Right, ye can get some money from us… for a ticket to the Capital’s academy but that will be the end of it….” Aalo slowly said, tasting the words in her mouth. Hearing that answer, I raised my eyebrows.

“H-Huh? Why should you ever do that?” Julian responded. There should not be any reason for them to help a stranger… Gryffar pointed behind him with one of his muscled fingers. There stood a trembling girl, peeking slightly behind the door. The young boy tried waving out to her, but she shrieked and quickly ran away. She really was scared of him, wasn’t she? Julian sighed. He didn’t look that scary… Or that was what he’d like to think!

“Well, ya saved Lisla’s bacon earlier by slaying that monster, ya know!” Gryffar said. Julian nodded slowly, letting them praise him. Sometimes, the unspoken words were the most dangerous… The boy wanted to ask more questions, but a loud metallic banging coming from further up ahead cut through the silence. Julian turned to the two people sitting right in front of him.

“What is that sound?” Aalo immediately grabbed her hatchet and ran outside. Gryffar turned to his guest, his hands tightly clasping around his axes’ handles.

“Another batch of monster appeared! And judging the bell, there must be lots of them!” He said, running into a small room and ramming a big, green button that was connected to a glowing light-green line rushing into the ground. It looked like some radioactive electricity cable, if Julian had to compare it to anything. After that, he stormed out of the house with his axes dangling dangerously in his hands. Julian saw the terrified girl shivering as she stared at the sword dangling from my hips.

“P-Please… help them…I-I can’t … don’t … w-want them get hurt… P-Please…” Her soft voice sounded so delicate, it sounded unbelievable it was the same girl that Julian found bantering around in the forest earlier…He gulped, took a good look at his weapon and then back to her. Nodding once, Julian quickly turned around, his long coat flapping behind him as his shoes slipped over the fresh snow. After he stumbled outside , Julian noticed several pair of feet running under a wooden bow and behind a small hill. His right hand tightly grasped the handle of his sword, making the right visor slide over his right eye once again. Where did that thing come from , anyway?
“Battle Sequence: engaged. Readying Elenchos… Loading… Elenchos Ready!” There was that mechanical voice again! Was Julian finally going mad?

“Did I snort something again…? *sigh*” He said before feeling a tingling sensation spreading over his right palm.

When he looked back at his sword, Julian saw weird insignia’s appear in the cavity right in the middle of the white metal. It looked like a triangle mashed together with a circle, emanating an eerie green glow. Seconds later, something clicked and shoved the outer shell of the weapon outwards. The delicate tinkling noise of cogs rolling filled the air as a longer blade rolled forward and locked itself unto the weapon. Now, it was about 1 metre long! The green stuff surged through it, seemingly sucked out through Julian’s hand. It felt really weird, like how it feels when you put your hand on a vacuum cleaner. However, Julian couldn’t say it felt entirely uncomfortable! Guided by the signals appearing on his visor, Julian ran over the hill. Men and women were fighting desperately against 10 of the same monstrous horses he fought and barely lived against earlier… Most women were carrying weapons made of the same , green-glowing material. Some long swords, some hatchets and some long poles that they used to ram their enemies with. The man used normal steel weapons: broadswords, heavy axes and the like!

Immediately when the weird, purple-pulsing horses come into view, his right-eye visor went completely haywire. Ten pulsing, white dots appeared on my visor. All pointing to every horse’s back, which seemed to be their weak point… The columns, eagerly growing and shrinking, appeared as well. It made Julian dizzy to look at all those jumping graphics.

“Get out of my face! Give me only the statistics of the nearest one!” Julian yelled to no one in particular. Maybe it was because the visuals reminded him so much of his coding environment, or maybe it was just the rush of adrenaline coursing through the boy’s veins that made him utter such words, but the visuals immediately changed. The thing on his right eye obeyed his words! Now, only the nearest horse had a dot on its back!

“Much better!” Julian mumbled before storming off to the first horse. It noticed his yelling and quickly turned around, covered in blood of the unfortunate souls it rammed through. Behind it stood a huffing Gryffar, his axes cracked from battle with the bladed horn of the eight-legged horse. Its rage-fuelled eyes tried to burn holes through the charging boy. Julian took a deep breath, his hand clenching Elenchos tightly in his fist. His gaze met with the horse’s , causing it to head towards him, swiftly ramping up speed!

But this time, Julian was feeling much better than before! The boy rolled to his left, dodging the drudging hooves before slashing at the beast. While the cold snow bit in his arms, the blade created a deep gash on the horse’s flank. Clear, purple liquid sprayed all across the snow as the horse let out a terrifying scream. But that was not all his strike yielded him!
“Information updated: Trajectory-calculation implemented.” The mechanical voice announced.

“…Excuse me? And what does that mean exactly?” Julian mumbled to himself before seeing the answer appearing on his visor. While the monster was rearing up again, simple white arrows appeared, leading from the horse to its target. A sneaky smirk appeared on Julian’s lips.

“Well, well… Now this is a visual representation!” Julian yelled while the back of his mind was slowly coming to understand the process behind this visor and the sword. The more they hit enemies, be it being hit or dishing out pain, the more information he got! Like a painful, always-learning AI!

Julian smiled, slowly raising his sword again. While he has never fought in his life, this didn’t feel even half bad! The horse reared its head again, directing its razor-sharp horn directly at me. It grazed the ground with its hooves, its muscles stretching and loosening while purple liquid continued to spill forth from its unsettlingly purple skin.

Then, it surged towards the boy once again. But now, translucent arrows appeared on the visor covering his right eye. It seemed to predict where the horse would move… Now that is what he would call a neat feature! Julian rolled out of the way before slashing at one of its hind legs. The horse staggered, not having all of the balance it needed. It stumbled before falling over on its side. Its screams were horrifying : deep, screaming like someone slashing at its throat while the sound sounded like someone screaming underwater… Julian felt a shiver running across his back. The boy carefully walked over to the crippled monster. Gulping audibly, he grasped the sword with both of my hands and rammed it straight into the horse’s back!

However, instead of bleeding out like any normal creature would do, it dissolved in deep purple particles that were soon carried away by the wind. Julian faintly remembered something happening to the horse from earlier as well…

“Error: unknown external variable.” The mechanical voice announced. Before Julian could even react, a massive body rammed him. Another horse had noticed its friend getting taken out, and wanted revenge right now.

“OOHMPH! This software is buggy as hell!” Julian mumbled, rubbing his back while he slowly pushed himself upwards. He coughed loudly before scoffing and readying his sword again. Before long, he managed to take out another horse. Helped by Gryffar who managed to severely wound the monster once he finally got back up!

“All right! We did it!” He yelled out childishly.

The screams up ahead snapped me out of Julian out of his little victory ruse. After checking Gryffar’s situation and confirming he was not in any life-threatening situation, he rushed after the screams.

Fighting together with people he had never seen, people he shouldn’t care about and yet he did… It was a different feeling altogether. Together, the villagers and Julian took out four horses, their bodies dissolving into thin air. However, while all of that was happening, some of the monsters managed to gallop their way towards the village. They were about to enter the defenceless village to ravage it, but got suddenly stopped dead in their tracks.

“Stop them!” Julian yelled loudly, quickly turning around. Some villagers followed me, one of them was Aalo who screamed loudly.

“Special skill: Tomahawk Throw!” She yelled loudly. Julian could feel my mouth fall open when I saw the handle of the hatchet shorten to only a foot long. Aalo took a deep breath and threw her weapon directly into one of the horse’s flanks, directly incapacitating it! That was a marvellous throw, Julian had to admit that! We soon arrived at the infiltrating horses and finished the wounded one off, letting its dust fly off in the distance. From the other side, five hooded figures appeared from out of the woods. They all seemed to have the same insignia embroidered on their left shoulder.

One of them immediately threw off her cloak, revealing short blonde hair that was tied in two short ponytails. Her attire was simple . A black shirt and dark green skirt that reached just above her stockinged legs. A leather strap ran between the valley of her small breasts, holding a set of vials filled with vividly coloured liquids. Her dark green eyes looked at three horses in front of her. She pulled a long thin bar out of a dark-brown leather holder on her back.
“Special Skill: Triple Shot!” She yelled, pulling back air like you would pull back an arrow on a bow. The stick she held curved like a real bow, and began pulsing in the same green colour as Julian’s sword. Three arrows formed right on her fingers, before immediately getting fired. One hit its mark, piercing straight through one of the horse’s heads. It quickly fell unto the frozen ground. The other one pierced one of the legs of an enemy, making it impossible for it to move properly. The other got lost in the forest behind Julian.

Julian nodded shortly at the newcomers before stepping in and stabbing the horses back into becoming purple mist. The newcomers gasped loudly when they saw him do that. The last two horses decided they wanted no part of this, turned tail and rammed two people on their way out. The field behind the village was dotted with corpses, all people who tried to defend their homes from these sickly purple creatures… The boy rubbed his temples. What the hell were those monsters…? Why were they here… And—

“Ungh…!” Julian grunted, holding his left leg as he dropped to the frozen ground. That horse rammed him harder than he thought!

“Oh! Are you alright?!” A high-pitched male voice appeared out of one of the hooded figures. Swiftly, the figure moved over to the panting Julian and grabbed some sort of wide, grooved baton. The masked figure’s light brown eyes gently stared at Julian’s knee while the baton gently grew in size. It emanated a kind , light green light that soothed the pain almost immediately. Now that was one hell of a painkiller, Julian thought.

“T-Thanks…” The figure only nodded before returning to the group.

Julian suddenly felt a cold hand on his shoulder. Still under the influence of adrenaline, he quickly stepped forward and turned around. The pain in his knee was already gone! Readying his sword, Julian pointed it at the unknown hand. Luckily, it was just a man. He let out a breath of relief and once he had calmed down, Julian put the sword back into its sheath. It became its small, demure form once again, the green glow flowing back into the boy’s hand. The man who touched the black-haired boy pulled back his hood, revealing short, ruffled, silver hair along with complementary beard. The villagers around Julian spontaneously fell unto the knees, their heads bowed in something akin to reverence.

“What’s your name, boy?” His deep voice carried quite far, even if he didn’t yell. Julian looked back at the old man. The boy rolled with my eyes, when he heard him call him with that degrading nickname. Julian sighed, letting it slide for now.

“The name is Julian, old man. Who are you though?” He replied. Shocked gasps rose from the kneeling people around the black-haired boy. What was so special about calling him an old man? Even his travelling companions seemed to hold their breath. Julian raised an eyebrow while gazing directly into the man’s hazel eyes. They seemed to look directly through him, not at him…. Kind of creepy, to be honest. The man was hunched over, leaning on a staff made out of the same white material as Julian’s sword and Aalo’s hatchet.

“…Hmmm… The name is Boreas Fletch. First general in Oreino’s army… I must say, Julian… That is a very unique Laylar you carry there… What is your registration number?” This time, it was Julian’s turn to be surprised.

“Excuse me? Registration number? I don’t know what you are talking about… I come from a land far, far away and I… *ahem* found this weapon lying around on my travels here…”That drew even more gasps of everyone. Julian squirmed uncomfortably on the spot. What were these people all so shocked about?!

“Well, well… That I may live to see the day that there is an unregistered weapon just lying around…” It was clear that he didn’t believe a word of what the boy said. Julian put the weapon back in its sheath while the old man turned around and ordered the woman who shot the arrows to come closer.

“Alice, come over here, will you?!” The man ordered. The girl sighed, putting the stick-bow back in its holder and walking over to the old man.

“Send a message ahead to the academy. We will be having a new student for the second semester! Message the Research facility of Oreilon that they have to ready their check-up instruments once again for a new student and an… unqualified weapon.” He finished that sentence by a cold glare at the weapon slowly dangling along my left hip.

“H-Hey! Why the hell do I not get a say in this?! It is about me, I may as well, right?!” The man’s answer was cold and calculated.

“You could, and then you would be imprisoned under the charges of owning AND using an unidentified Leylar. Would probably get you in jail for over 20 years…” He said, rubbing his beard in the process. Julian gulped. Kind of harsh, he thought. But the boy had no intention of seeing the inside of a prison cell from up-close, thank you very much!

“W-Well… *ahum* I’ll take you up on your generous offer then…” The boy weakly replied .He looked back at Aalo and the villagers. They seemed bruised, but none worse for wear. Even Gryffar was already walking. Lumping his right leg along with him, yes, but walking nonetheless. Aalo walked towards me, nodding gently.

“It seems yer little problem of getting to the capital has been solved, Julian… Good luck out there…” She said, walking past me while dragging her husband along. Julian nodded slowly before quickly catching up to them.

“Thank you for all you’ve done for me, Aalo and Gryffar. I will repay you once I can, I swear I will!” The two smiled, before waving gently and slowly trudging into their home again. Their daughter happily hugged them, and then looked at Julian with a big smile. He kept his promise… And that felt good! Julian wanted to walk towards them, thank them for saving him that freezing night but Ragrus’ hand forced me to turn to him. Several strong horses stood lined up along the trees… Julian grunted.

“Alice, you take the newbie on your horse's back!” Despite the girl’s protests, Julian hoisted himself on the horse after several attempts. The girl glared at him, not even introducing herself personally to the boy. She dumped her stuff in his lap before mounting the horse in an agile way. Julian had to duck to dodge the 2 inch heels of her black leather boots. She scoffed, seemingly disappointed she didn’t knock her passenger clean off her horse. What was her problem? Julian noticed that the only people wearing such white metallic weapons were Boreas, Alice , the kind boy and another woman. She had a rolled up whip hanging dangerously from her left hip. Some dark purple tresses of hair peeked out from underneath her hooded cape. Without any warning, the girl called Alice It seemed to take ages before we arrived at a very small city. The buildings weren’t higher than two stories, and some roads were not paved. Which shouldn’t be a problem, seeing most of the people walked to their destination. What Julian did notice, however, were several green-glowing lines criss-crossing all over the city. Weird, copper cabinets seemed to hover above them and delivered people left and right. It seemed to work on some magnetic principle, like the Japanese monorail-system. But with carriages instead of a whole train. Interesting… The girl who rode Julian here smirked when she saw his open mouth.

“Hmph! You men are all the same!” The boy quickly closed his mouth. This new world thrilled him , if he had to be honest! New things to learn, new things to see… And monsters…! Julian gasped when the horse suddenly stopped, causing him to flick forwards. Alice pushed her passenger backwards with a flustered look, causing him to slip of the horse. Julian grunted as he picked myself up from the ground. Boreas gave a man a small leather purse, presumably to pay him for keeping the horses. They left the horses and made their way directly to a rather large building. Several green lines ran back and forth, pulsing with life.

“What are these lines anyway?” Julian asked, poking one of the lines. They seemed to be covered by some kind of glass. Didn’t seem very safe to me…

“What? You mean to say you’ve never heard about Leylines… Uhm… Julian, was it?” An unfamiliar voice answered behind him. Julian turned around, looking directly into the gaze of the whip-wielding woman. She took off the hood of her cloak, revealing her long, wild, dark purple hair. Her dark purple eyes looked at him. Her voluptuous figure was breath-taking, with curves in all the right places! The leather clothes she wore accentuated her marvellous figure, leaving a diamond-shaped cut-out right above her cleavage. Her smooth skin revealed a beauty mark right above the right side of her lip. Thigh-high boots with no heels topped it all off. She’s absolutely beautiful, Julian thought.

“Y-yeah, that is me! … S-So these things are called Leylines, was it? They are quite interesting , I never encountered them back on E—in my home country…” The girl gasped.

“W-What? No Leylines?! I can’t even begin to imagine what life would be like!... By the name, my name is Clarissa Reval, pleased to meet you!” She extended her hand, adorned with small cuts along her smooth skin. Julian slowly nodded, shaking her hand before getting called by Boreas standing at the top of the stairs leading into the building.

“Hey, you two! The LeyRail is going to depart, get your asses over here!” He yelled, not even waiting for their responses before turning around and disappearing through a big steel door. Clarissa and Julian looked at each other before nodding and quickly scaling the stairs. Once inside, he noticed the others were already boarding their LeyRail-carriage. Clarissa showed a ticket to one of the clerks guarding the entrance. Julian wanted to follow her, but got roughly pushed back by the clerk while he made a simple gesture with his hands… He wanted a ticket, right…

“Oh, he’s with us! You can let him pass!” Clarissa yelled over her shoulder. Julian smiled thankfully before joining her in the last carriage. The others were already there. He took a seat to Clarissa’s left side, much to Alice’s chagrin who now sat in front of him. Soon, the carriage shuddered and began moving. They reached top speed in no time, trees and mountain getting gradually switched out by gentle hills and high grass. Somewhere in the middle of it all, Julian fell asleep. Not because he didn’t sleep enough, he was just… feeling so tired…

Clarissa looked at Julian’s sleeping form, who was slightly drooling on the window. She dug a napkin out of her pocket and gently dipped his mouth clean. Alice looked disgusted.

“Come on, Clarisa! You really shouldn’t help that guy!” She said. The only thing Clarissa did was calmly put the napkin away while brushing some strands of her dark purple hair out of her face. She raised an eyebrow.

“Alice, not all men are like him, you know… I mean, take a look at him! He is nowhere near a gruffy, buff-looking, stupid oaf like that man, right?” Clarissa seemingly knew what she was talking about. Alice scoffed, slowly nodding. She hated all men with a passion…
When Julian awoke, the train slowly came to a stop. The fields had been replaced by concrete buildings, scratching the sky with their high peaks. The boy felt soft hands gently touching his cheeks. Pushing himself away from the window, he looked straight into Clarissa’s calm eyes. That was a very nice view to wake up with, he thought. Julian coughed slightly while she straightened her clothes with a simple pat on her hips.

“The others went ahead to the dorm, we really should get going soon!” She said. It took a bit to get Julian’s mind working again, which was not helped by Clarissa’s marvellous figure… *ahem* . Julian quickly nodded and pushed himself to his feet. Following Clarissa, Julian walked out of the station. The same Leylines from earlier criss-crossed into the city, quickly disappearing from sight. Similar carriages, like the ones from the previous city, crossed the street and raced to their destinations. These looked a bit fancier, however… More detailed artwork plastered across them.

Julian looked everywhere! This place was new for him! He felt his curiosity flaring up the more he walked through the city. I got lost more than once and Clarissa had to almost hold my hand the entire duration she guided me to this… research facility. The two of them finally arrived, and Julian had to admit that he was impressed. It was a massive cone-like structure, made of some greyish material. Green leylines permeated the entire building. Just like veins in a human body! The leylines pulsed over and over, making it look more like a heart than anything else.
“Come on, your appointment with Doctor Merill is scheduled to begin any minute now!” Clarissa said, pointing at the small entrance behind her. Julian walked past her, the door sliding open automatically. He only now noticed that the small room behind him was actually a lift! The boy shuddered when the lift creaked before racing up at a terrifying speed! It stopped after 3 seconds, but Julian’s stomach felt like it just got forced into a hyperactive rollercoaster for 24 hours! He groaned , slowly stumbling out of the lift.

“Ah, there is my test subject!” A mature voice sounded to Julian’s left. When he turned around on the tip of his heels, he saw a flash of bright green, long hair. A mature-looking woman walked towards him, adjusting her glasses. Her long white lab coat only revealed the right side of her body as that part was seemingly burned off by something… It revealed a ankle-high, 2 inch boots and a black, silk garter peeking from underneath her tight, black skirt. She looked ravishing while her cold gaze looked at Julian’s body, but mostly at the sword dangling from his left side.

“U-Uhm, Yes, I suppose that’s me!” Julian quickly answered, seeing she wanted to hear an answer. She clicked her tongue, throwing one glance at the small stack of papers she cradled in her right arm before throwing her head to the right. Clarissa pushed Julian forwards before taking a cup filled with a dark-blue liquid and sitting on one of the comfy couches strewn in the big entrance hall. Julian gulped, quickly following the Doctor. After a short while, he stopped trying to keep track of where they were. Lift in, lift out… Stairs up, stairs down… Julian was getting tired before the two of them finally arrived at a closed door. Doctor Merill brushed a metallic plaque against the electronic eye buried in the white wall, walking inside.

“Welcome to my lab, boy!” She said, turning around and dumping the bundle of papers on her already filled desk. Grabbing a simple metallic card that she rammed into a device with a black screen. The device hummed, devouring the card before the black screen flickered and began showing all kinds of different graphics…

“Now… I heard your name is Julian, correct?... Perfect, can you strip for me, please?” She didn’t even wait for his reply! At first, Julian thought she was joking! But one glare from the doctor made sure there was no misunderstanding. He placed his weapon on a chair behind him and began stripping down to his boxers. He could hear Doctor Merill typing away on the device. Turning around, the boy felt her gaze scrutinizing every inch of his skin.

“Not especially muscled… No special enhancements…” Julian grunted while she continued to crush him mentally.

“Now then! Come over here, Julian, and let me do some check-ups on you!” The boy nodded while she grabbed the usual stuff: wooden sticks to do some research on his mouth, stethoscope and the like… When she was done, she grabbed his weapon. Her eyes searched for something and when she couldn’t find it, she placed the sword on some kind of monitor. A light blue stripe of light slowly went back and forth, scanning every inch of the weapon. Julian heard Merill clicking with her tongue as she began typing away on the device. He took a sneak peek over her shoulder. Everything was ‘Nihil’, as the computer said. Everything from ‘Type’ to ‘Limiter’. He couldn’t even make sense of most of the words. However…

“What the heck is this garbage?!” The Doctor looked perplexed at the symbols appearing on her screen. Julian’s mouth fell open. Every coder recognized that stuff: It was hexa-code, or that is what he’d like to call it. Symbols produced by the computer as it did stuff, going from numbers 0-9 and from A-F for 10-16, to make it complicated! Julian couldn’t read it with the speed it appeared on the screen but…He threw a sneak peek at the sword shimmering eerily with a light green glow… If this thing produces the same stuff as a computer… Then it should be as manipulatable as a computer! The boy felt a pang in my heart when he thought back at his old days, coding away to create the best games humankind has ever seen…

“Now then, go take a place right on that platform and grab those two bars beside you in a tight grip!” With a simple movement of her fingers, Merill deleted the hexa-code. Julian wondered if he could get to that code… Julian stood right beside two bars with some kind of metal cylinders on top of them. Gingerly, he slowly grabbed them and felt a slight shock rushing over his skin.

“Don’t worry, everyone gets shocked when they touch those things! Now, I want you to keep clinging to those handles, Julian!” She said, flicking a couple of switches. They began glowing in a light blue light. The boy saw several empty bars appear on a screen right beside his head. It seems an exact replica of that screen appeared right beside Doctor Merill’s head. He grunted and clasped the handles tightly in my hands. Suddenly, the bars on the screen began growing more and more. Soon, they exceeded beyond the screen! The lamps in the lab began flickering fervently while Doctor Merill began furiously bashing into the machine’s keyboard.

“Wait, stop! Stop! I SAID STOP, DAMMIT!” She yelled before forcefully grabbing Julian’s wrists and quickly pulling him away from the device. The boy stumbled behind her. The lights got restored back to their bright setting while the Doctor scratched her head.

“What the hell… I’ve never even read about readings like this…” She said. Julian took a sneak peek over her shoulder, seeing that parameters of Ley-capacity and Ley-output were both off the scales. He didn’t know if that was a good thing however… The boy casually re-dressed once again. While he was waiting for an answer, the boy looked at the sword on the small pedestal. The blue light was still running back and forth its shimmering surface.

Several minutes later, Merill swivelled towards him.

“Well then, Julian… I have no idea how you do it but… It seems your body generates an extreme amount of Ley-force… Now, expelling excessive Ley-force is not abnormal, however your body continues to regenerate it from.. somewhere inside you. You don’t feel tired or anything?” Julian shook his head. He felt rather fine, actually.

“Weird… I want you to come here each month. Personally. To me. I don’t want anything else messing with my new test subject!” She said excitedly, turning around. An unsettling glimmering appeared in her dark green eyes... The door slid open while Merill crossed and uncrossed her legs. The garter, made from shimmering silk, peeked enticingly from underneath her strict skirt. Julian gulped while trying to keep his thoughts to himself, turned around and started to search his way back to the entrance hallway. After what felt forever, the boy finally found Clarissa again. Several cups with the same dark-blue liquid were placed on the glass table beside her, as well as a mountain of booklets.

“Ah, there you are! It’s not nice to keep a lady waiting, you know!” She said, throwing her dark-purple hair behind her. Nevertheless, she smiled. The sun had already set by the time they left the building. Now, Julian was at a loss what to do. He had no place to stay, let alone any money to rent a room somewhere! The boy grunted, but Clarissa seemed to guess his troubles.

“Oh, don’t you worry about a place to stay! The headmaster says you can stay with me until they have found a suitable replacement!” She said, guiding me towards one of the big apartment blocks on the outskirts of the city. Despite Julian’s protests, which she ignored, they arrived in front of a 4-storied building. It was entirely made of something similar to bricks. Clarissa gently ushered the boy into the building and on to the first floor. She pulled open a door and pushed him inside. She completely ignored Julian's protests!

A nicely furniture, cosy room awaited on the other side of the wooden door. A cosy pair of beds on the right-hand side, a nice couch near the window and what Julian presumed to be a bathroom hiding behind a door on the far left corner! He slowly nodded. I could get used to this, he thought. Clarissa stretched a bit, her bosom jiggling slightly when she did. Julian quickly shook his head, trying to keep his imagination in check. To no avail.
Oh boy.

Seeing the orange sun falling behind the horizon, Julian actually felt rather tired so he just chose a bed and flopped down on it. The boy decided that he would rather go along with Clarissa's … demands than make a scene! He wondered what his life would look like here… He had no intention of going back. Yes, he missed his friends his home but… This place… It was vibrant and it mystified him!

“Oh yeah, remember to wake up early tomorrow! Sir Fletch wants to hold an emergency meeting and you need to be there, he said!” Julian grunted. Waking up early won’t ever become his forte though…