The Beginning After The End (Early Years Book 1)

The Beginning After The End

Volume I. Early Years

By
TurtleMe

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Prologue:
 
Start

Chapter 1:
 
The Light At The
End of The Tunnel

Chapter 2:
 
The Encyclopedia of
Mana Manipulation

Chapter 3:
 
Head Start

Chapter 4:
 
My Life Now

Chapter 5:
 
Let The Journey
Begin

Chapter 6:
 
Up The Mountain

Chapter 7:
 
How I Wished

Chapter 8: Questions

Chapter 9:
 
Ones Held Dear

Chapter 10:
 
Road Ahead

Chapter 11:
 
To and Fro

Chapter 12:
 
Meeting

Chapter 13:
 
Q & A

Chapter 14:
 
What’s To Come

Chapter 15:
 
Next Step

Chapter 16:
 
Companion

Chapter 17:
 
Family

Chapter 18:
 
Peaceful

Chapter 19:
 
Proclamation

Chapter 20:
 
Everybody Wins

Chapter 21:
 
For Them

“The Continent of Dicathen is
comprised of three major Kingdoms: The Forest Kingdom of Elenoir in the North,
The Underground Kingdom of Darv nearing the southern borders, and The Kingdom
of Sapin, located towards the eastern border of the continent.  There also
exist the Beast Glades, where much remains a mystery. Not much of the Beast
Glades is traversed because of the abundance of beasts that are hostile to travelers
as well as each other.  Yet, every year, countless expeditions are made
because of the temptations of the rewards one can reap……….”

“
flip
”

“…….The
Kingdom of Elenoir is the birthplace of the Elf race, located deep in the
Forest of Elshire where a layer of mist is naturally produced, deterring all
but the elves, who, with their acute senses, can navigate freely…”

“
flip
”

“……Kindgom
of Darv is a network of underground passages and enormous caves that can span
up to several kilometers, whereupon the Dwarvin race reside.”

“
flip
”

“…
.The
Kingdom of Sapin is easily the most populated region as well as the biggest
kingdom in the continent.  While this Kingdom is primarily made up of
humans, there are many merchants from the Dwarvin race, trading commodities of
many...”

“
flip
”

“…While the Beast Glades contain
countless monsters and creatures, it also contains wondrous treasures for those
who dare seek them.  There are records brought by adventurers and
mercenaries of dungeons and lairs of powerful entities that can make even the
most generous priest into a greedy
..
”

“
flip
”

“…
.Between
the forest of Elshire and the Kingdom of Sapin lies the Grand Mountain range
which spans across roughly 90% of the continent, separating the North and East
from the West and South ...”

"
flip
"

“While the Kingdom of Darv and
Sapin hold a symbiotic relationship for resources, at most, the Elves seclude
and act aggressively towards every other...”

“
flip
”

Closing the worn covers of what
seemed to be an encyclopedia of this world, Arthur rubbed the bridge of his
nose with his pudgy fingers, downcast, while emanating a gloom that was almost
tangible.  He let out a sound half sigh that only seemed appropriate with
his toothless mouth…

“PHUUUUUK…”

I never believed in the whole
“light at the end of the tunnel” bullshit where people, after experiencing
near-death experiences, wake up in cold sweat exclaiming, “I saw the light!”

But here I am currently at this
so-called “tunnel” facing towards this bright light, when the last thing I
remember, I was sleeping in my room (while others call it the royal chamber).

Did someone assassinate me?

I don’t remember wronging anyone.
 But then again, being a public figure of power can give others all sorts
of reasons to want me dead.

Anyways….

Since it doesn’t seem like I’m
going to wake up anytime soon and I’m slowly gravitating towards this bright
light, I might as well go along with it.

Seeming to take an eternity to go
towards this light, I half expected some choir of children singing an angelic
tune, beckoning me towards heaven.

Instead, my vision of everything
around turned into a blur of a bright red while sounds assaulted my ears.
 When I try to say anything, the only sound that comes out seems to be a
cry.

I hear muffled voices becoming
clearer and I make out a, “Congratulations Madam, congratulations Sir, he’s a
healthy boy.”

…Wait

I guess normally, I should be
thinking along the lines of “Shit, was I just born? Am I a baby now?”

But strangely, the only thought
that seemed to pop up in my mind was “So the bright light at the end of the
tunnel is the light coming through into the female vag…”

Haha... lets not think about it
anymore.

Assessing my situation like the
kingly king I am, I noticed, first of all, that wherever I was born into, I
understand the language.  That’s good.

Next, after slowly and painfully
opening my eyes, my retinas were bombarded with different colors and figures.
It took a bit of time for my infant eyes to even start working. The doctor, or
so it seems, in front of me had a not so appealing face with long greying hair
on both head and chin.  I swear his glasses were thick enough to be
bulletproof.  The strange thing was, he wasn’t wearing a doctor’s gown nor
were we even in a hospital room.  I seemed to have been born in some
satanic summoning ritual room because this room was lit only by a couple of
candles and we were on the floor.

I look around and see the female
who pushed me out of her tunnel.  Calling her mother should be fair.
 Taking a few more seconds to see what she looks like, I’ll have to admit
she’s a beauty, but that might be my half blurry
eyes
.
 Rather than a glamorous beauty, I would better describe her as lovely, in
a very kind and gentle sense with distinct auburn hair and brown eyes.  I
can’t help but notice her long eyelashes and perky nose that makes me want to
just cling to her.  She just permeates this mother-like feel.  Is
this how babies are attracted to their mothers?

I peel my face away and turn right
to barely make out the person who I assume is my father by the idiotic grin and
teary eyes when seeing me.  Immediately he says “Hi little Art, I’m your
daddy, can you say dada?”  I glance around to see both my mother and the house
doctor (for all the certification he seems to have
),
roll their eyes and my mother manages to scoff, “Honey, he was just born.”

I take a closer look at my father
and I can see why my lovely mother was attracted to him.  Besides the few
loose screws he seemed to have by expecting a newborn to articulate a
two-syllable word (Where I’m just going to give him the benefit of the doubt
and think he said that out of the joy of becoming a father), He was a very
charismatic-looking man.  
With a square jaw line cleanly
shaven.
 His hair, having a very ashy brown color, seemed to be
kept short, while his eyebrows were strong and fierce, extending in a
sword-like fashion meeting to a V shape.  Yet, his eyes had a gentle
quality, whether it was from the way his eyes drooped a little at the end or
from the deep blue, almost sapphire, color his irises radiated.

By the time I finished checking ou…
I mean observing my parents; the wannabe doctor excused himself saying, “Please
continue resting for a couple of days Mrs. Leywin, and let me know if anything
happens to Arthur, Mr. Leywin.”

The following couple of weeks after
my journey out of the tunnel were a new kind of torture for me.  I had
little to no motor control over my limbs except waving them around and even
that got tiring quickly.  I realized that babies don’t really get to
control their fingers all that much.  I don’t know how to break it to you
guys but when you place your fingers on a babies palm, they don’t
grab it because they like you, they grab it because, like getting hit in the
funny bone, it’s a reflex.  Forget motor control, I can’t even excrete my
wastes at my discretion.  It just… comes out.  Haa…

A positive was that I was breastfed
by my mother.

Don’t get me wrong, no ulterior
motives whatsoever.  It’s just that breast milk tastes a lot better than
baby formula okay and has more nutritional value okay? Er… please
believe
me.

The Satanic demon-summoning place
seems to be my parent’s room and from what I figure, this place that I’m stuck
in is, hopefully, a place in my world that is the past, where electricity isn’t
yet invented.

My mother quickly proved my hopes
wrong when she one day healed a scratch on my leg when my idiotic father bumped
me against a drawer.

No…Not like, band-aid and a kiss
heal, but a full blown, shining light with a faint hum from her fucking hands
heal.

Where the hell am I.

My mother, named Alice Leywin, and
my father, named Reynolds Leywin, at least seem to be good people, hell if not
the best.  I suspect my mother is an angel because I’ve never met such a
kindhearted, warm person.  While being carried on her back by a baby
cradle-strap of some sort, I went with her to what she called a town.
 This town of Ashber is more of a glorified outpost, seeing that there are
no roads, no buildings.  We walked on the main dirt trail where there were
tents on both sides with various merchants and salesman/woman selling all sorts
of things, from common, everyday needs to things I thought couldn’t help but
widen my eyes at, like weapons and armor and rocks… shining rocks!

The strangest thing that I can’t
seem to get used to
are
the people carrying weapons
like it was part of their apparel.   I witnessed a man of around 170cm
carrying a gigantic war axe larger than him! Anyway, mother keeps talking
to me, probably to try to get me to learn the language faster, while shopping
for the day's groceries, exchanging pleasantries with various people passing by
or working in the booths.  Meanwhile, my body is turning against me once
again, and I fell asleep… Damn this useless body.

Sitting on the lap of my mother who
was caressing me in her bosom, I was intently focused on my dad currently
casting a chant for a good minute, which sounded like a prayer to the earth.
 I leaned in closer and closer, almost falling off my human seat while
expecting some magical phenomenon, like an earthquake spitting the ground or a
giant stone golem emerging.  After what seemed like an eternity (trust me,
for an infant who has the attention span of a goldfish, it was.) Three
adult
, human-sized boulders came out of the ground and
slammed against a nearby tree.

What in the name of…that was it?

I flailed my arms up in anger and
regret but my idiot father interpreted that into a “WOW” and had a big grin on
his face saying, “Your daddy is awesome huh!”

No, my father was a much better
warrior.  When he put on his two iron gauntlets, even I felt compelled to
drop my underwear (or diaper) for him.  With agile movements that were
surprising for his build, his fists carried the force to break the sound
barrier, but were fluid enough to not leave an opening.  In my world, he
could be classed as an elite, leading a platoon of a hundred soldiers, but to
me, he was my idiot father.

For what I learned about this
world, it seemed to be a fairly straightforward world of magic and warriors
where power and wealth decided your rank in society.  In that sense, it
wasn’t too different from my world except the lack of technology and the slight
difference between magic and Ki here.

In my old world, Wars became an
almost obsolete form of settling disputes between countries.  Don’t get me
wrong, of course there were still battles on a smaller scale and armies were
still needed for the safety of the citizens.  However, disputes concerning
the wellbeing of a country were based on either a duel between the rulers of
the their country, limited to making use of Ki and close combat weapons, or a
mock battle between platoons, where limited firearms were allowed, for the
smaller disputes.

Therefore, Kings weren’t the
typical fat man sitting on throne ignorantly commanding others, but had to be
the strongest, smartest man to represent his or her country.

Enough about that
though.

The currency in this new world
seemed pretty straightforward from the exchanges my mother had with the
merchants.

Copper being the lowest form of
currency, then Silver, then Gold.  While I have yet to see anything
costing as much as a Gold coin, normal families seem to be able to live fine
off of a couple copper coins a day.

100 Copper = 1 Silver

100 Silver    = 1 Gold

Everyday involved honing my new
body, mastering the motor functions residing deep within me.

Then one day everything changed…