The unpredictable

It’s a warm, golden afternoon. The sun hangs low in the sky. Leaves rustle gently in a breeze carrying the scent of grass, earth, and blooming flowers. A few clouds drift overhead—slow, pillowy, and barely moving. John is on his way. One day, as he leaves home for his ship crew job, he notices the weather feels slightly off. The sky is covered in dark clouds, and there’s an uneasy stillness. But he brushes it off and continues on his way, taking his seat on the ship as it prepares to depart from the port. This ship is headed to Japan for a Taiwan Out in the open sea, all the crew members suddenly hear a strange, booming sound. Out of nowhere, a massive wave appears. Panic spreads. People shout and scramble across the deck as the ship rocks violently. John spots a girl falling out of the ship. Without hesitation, he runs toward her and grabs her hand just in time, pulling her back to safety. But in the chaos, another powerful wave crashes over the deck. The ship tilts hard. In a split second, John’s head strikes the Pillar the And he collapses. Just before his eyes close, he sees something: a sky lit up with blinding light, as if it’s glowing from within. A beam of light shines down through the clouds. Then, everything goes dark. In a quiet house, the sound of a baby crying echoes through the room. “Who’s there? Where am I? It feels like… I’ve died. Maybe this is a dream after death. But it feels so real…” He looks down—tiny hands. “These are baby’s hands… my hands? Am I… a baby?” He’s stunned. People around him keep calling out one name—“Richard! Richard!” “It sounds like… my name is Richard .” He looks up and sees a man and a woman smiling at him. The woman is holding him gently in her arms. He said in mind “oh oh it's so big” “They must be my mother and father…” “I fall asleep again. And when I wake up, I see my mother and father crying. Why are they crying? I’m right here…” Then it hits him—he’s been unconscious for three months. His parents had lost hope, thinking he would never wake up again. They feared some unknown illness had taken over. “My mother’s name is Zenith Dimagiba. My father’s name is Pual Dimagiba.” One day, Zenith shows him a colorful bot toy. As soon as he sees it, something stirs inside him. A memory. A flash of that terrible day returns to him. He panics and falls off the bed. He hits his head hard. Pual rushes to him, places his hand gently on Richard’s head, and whispers something soothing. Suddenly, the whole room begins to glow. The light spreads all around. Richard feels the pain in his head vanish—completely gone. Not from medicine… but from something else. Something magical. “This isn’t Earth…” Richard whispers. “This is a magic and swordworld.” I never imagined, not even in my dreams, that a world like this could exist! This place is filled with swords and magic. My mom here is incredibly beautiful—so beautiful that if I wasn’t a baby, I might’ve even caught feelings for her. Maybe I don’t feel that way just because she’s my mom. It’s been six months since I arrived here. I’ve started to understand the language a little. I might look like a small child, but my memory power is unusually strong. It’s still hard for me to believe that I’ve been reborn. The place I live in is called Wolfland. Ever since Pual showed me magic, I’ve been excited to learn it. Right now, I’m about ten months old. Slowly, I’ve begun to understand the local language, although I still don’t speak in front of everyone. The area I live in is beautiful. Though I’ve been reborn, I miss using computers—there’s no gas or electricity here. Despite that, this life feels better than my previous one. In my past life, I was constantly depressed. I used to live in Minnesota, Tokyo. I didn’t have many close friends—just one best friend named David. I was often bullied, and my previous life was miserable. Zenith was a master swordswoman. One day, I wandered into a room in the house and discovered a chest. It didn’t have many books, which made me think either books here are extremely expensive or maybe Zenith and Pual just aren’t into reading. When I looked at the book, I couldn’t understand much at first. They were magic books. But Zenith slowly started teaching me. It’s been a year now. I’ve started to understand things better. I’ve learned that magic is something you're born with, and it comes in many forms—like healing magic, defensive magic, and attack magic. According to the book, there are two main ways to use magic: by chanting spells or using a magic circle. But nowadays, everyone uses chanting. There are only a few books here—back in my old life, I had more than a thousand. Magic has different levels, and using it is a lot like meditating—you have to feel it and connect with it. The more you practice magic, the stronger and better it becomes. Zenith believes I can learn all this quite easily, and maybe she’s right. There are many types of magic — like gravity magic, sun magic, earth magic, snow magic, fire magic, thunderstorm magic, black hole magic, power of change magic, and wormhole magic. Richard’s dad was a magic teacher who used to teach in a neighboring kingdom. His mom was a hunter. Richard and his friend Paul are both a bit mischievous and reckless. Richard’s parents decide to send him to a magic school. He already knows magic up to level two. When Richard arrives at the school, he notices something strange — there’s no blackboard, no uniforms, and nothing feels organized. He gets bored in class because he already knows everything the teacher is teaching. Some students start bullying him. Richard can’t take it, so he uses his wind magic to throw them into the air and teach them a lesson. But the teachers and those students’ parents complain to Richard’s mom and dad. Eventually, they manage to sort things out, and Richard stays at the school. Later, Richard spends time in the school library, reading books. Through them, he learns more about the magical world and the deeper secrets behind the powers he’s just starting to explore. In the same school where Richard studied, there was a girl named Sylphy. They first met when Richard was being bullied by some students, and Sylphy stood up for him. From that day, they became best friends. Near Richard’s house, there was a hill—not a big mountain, but more like a small hill—with a temple on top. Close to it stood a huge tree. After school, they often sat there, talking and spending time together. From that spot, they could see the whole kingdom. The view was beautiful—especially in the evenings, when the cool breeze blew, the soft rays of the sun spread across the land, and the sky turned pink, making the scene look magical. Sylphy taught Richard many things about magic. After school, they practiced magic together. She was far better than him. For her, creating water or fire balls was easy, but for Richard, it was difficult. From the books he had read, Richard believed magic could not work without spells. But Sylphy could use magic without saying any words. When Richard asked her how, she explained: “Spells aren’t really necessary. I already knew how to use magic without them. You just have to say the spell in your mind, feel the power, and imagine it.” She even taught him to use magic without speaking spells. Magic, to Richard, felt a bit like a video game. For example, when you cast a water ball spell, it appears, but you still need to aim it carefully before releasing it—just like firing a bullet from a gun. Sylphy’s parents were food sellers. As time passed, Richard and Sylphy grew closer, and even Paul noticed their bond. Slowly, they began to fall in love with each other. At this time, Richard was only six years old. Sylphy was a half-elf. One day, she told Richard, “You know, I had a dream last night—I was flying high in the sky, riding a giant bird.” In this world, countless monsters existed. There were also dungeons—mysterious places filled with creatures of many kinds. Dungeons themselves had different difficulty levels. The lowest rank was Level D, followed by H, K, M, and G—the highest and most dangerous of them all. Inside every dungeon lurked not only monsters, but also a powerful Boss. When adventurers defeated these creatures, they could obtain rare treasures like mana crystals, ruins, redstones, and other valuable items. From such materials, people forged weapons, mana staffs, armor, explosives, and many more powerful tools. Dungeons were like portals to another realm. But if the dungeon was not cleared within a certain time—meaning the Boss wasn’t defeated—the monsters inside could break free into the outside world and bring chaos. To prevent such disasters, a Guild managed the dungeons. For the first time, Sylphy and I decided to challenge a dungeon. When we arrived, we saw many adventurers gathered in teams, preparing to enter. I told the receptionist that we also wanted to try. But she shook her head and said, “You’re too few. Even for a Level D dungeon, you need a minimum team of three.” Disappointed, we were about to leave—when we noticed a boy standing there alone. He didn’t have a team. That moment, he decided to join us, and together we finally formed our own party. Sūta (★ the third member of the Nevermore team) was also excited to go. We were all very happy and looking forward to the trip. Even Sylphy could not wait anymore. We were going after two days, but from today we had already started preparing. This was our first raid. For now, we only got the lowest level “D” portal. We did not have enough money to buy good weapons. Sūta lived near my house too. We had given our team the name Nevermore. Scene Change (Scene 1: Tokyo City sky — dark clouds cover the sky, and Sylphy falls down) Sylphy falls from the sky into a thick fog. Behind her, two boys’ voices are heard: “Did you hear that sound?” “No, I didn’t hear anything.” (Sylphy crashes.) Sylphy stays unconscious until evening. When she wakes up, she looks around and says, “Where… where am I? My name… my name… I can’t remember my name!” She becomes very scared. A boy passing by sees her. He says, “My name is Tyler Galpin.” Tyler notices her outfit — a torn black cloak, a silver belt, and boots that looked like they belonged in a game, not in real life. Surprised, he says, “You are wearing very strange clothes.” Sylphy cries and says, “I don’t know my name. I don’t know where I came from.” Tyler thinks for a moment and then says, “It is very late now. Tomorrow morning we will go to the police station and report it. But for tonight, if you don’t mind, you can come to my house.” At first Sylphy says nothing, but then she agrees to go with him.