Renji smiled nervously with a slight blush on his face. "Uh, hi. What happened?"
"Well, while Sir Malik was carrying you, he said your arm miraculously grew back and your wounds slowly began to heal, but you stayed unconscious until now."
"Oh, I see. Well my name's Renji. What's yours?"
"Riley."
Renji gulped lightly with a slight blush on his face. He thought the name was cute. Out of his nervousness, he let out a light chuckle to which she responded by laughing with him.
Senji was in his room doing pushups, sit ups, and even pull ups on the door frame. He felt so alive, and this feeling was so powerful, that he couldn't wait to get back out the outside world. Just then, the room door opened. Madame Shuri was stopped when she was met with Senji's abdomen staring directly into her face.
"While I am very happy to see such defined abs, you are a bit too young for me."
Senji jumped down and blushed heavily as she walked in the room.
"So, Mr. Kimuri. How are you feeling?"
Senji flexed his muscles. "Well, all things considered, I feel great. I haven't felt this way before."
"Would you say, you feel, alive?"
"Well, yeah. Is that a bad thing?"
"Well, no. However, while you were unconscious, I had a scientist of mine do a full body scan and the results came back shocking."
Senji raised an eyebrow in confusion. "What does that mean? Am I dying?"
"No no, fortunately not. However, your veins are now fully filled to the brim with mana. The reason its shocking is because S Rank sorcerer's veins don't even fill up that high, they pass halfway which allows their life force to flow through as well. So if I didn't know any better, I assume your soul, as well as your mana pool, are now your very being."
Senji widened his eyes in shock. He looked down and flexed his muscles again. However, when he looked, his veins softly glowed white before fading away to his skin tone.
Madame Shuri narrowed her eyes. "Mr. Kimuri. The Kimuri family as well as the village has never had anyone or anything emerge with mana before. Yet, an S Rank beast was attracted to it, although that could've been because of the large quantity of mana crystals and energy that lays there. But why did it take generations for two people to emerge with mana, and in such a drastic awakening that they both nearly died to achieve it?"
"Both? You mean, my brother has it aswell?"
"Yes. Although his mana levels are substantially lower than yours. At the moment."
"What do you mean "at the moment?" I thought your mana levels are defined when you awaken?"
Shuri pulled up a chart with two human diagrams. "On this left diagram, you can see where the veins are fully closed, nothing blocking anything, and nothing being entered. That means you have a definite power, like you, sorta. However, on this right one, your brother has these things called "Mana Stabalizers" which are little bitty discs that are slowly broken the more mana a person takes in through either natural means or magic beasts. Your brother has these."
Shenji looked stunned. "Woah."
"Woah indeed. Well, get some rest. We shall recoup with you and your brother tomorrow where you two will enter Redu's Sorcerer Academy." Shuri said, getting up and leaving the room.
"Alright!" Senji exclaimed in excitement, jumping in the air and punching his fist upwards.
"Alright indeed."
"Huh? Who said that?"
"Oh right, we haven't met yet. I am inside your consciousness."
"Huh?! And why the hell are you hissing?!"
"Because I am a snake. My name is Orochi, and I am the twin of the great serpent, Gamamura."
"Gamamura? Who's that?"
"That is my twin brother you moron. Although, he is white and I am black. He is the snake within your twin brother."
"So are you the reason for my mana being the way it is?"
"Indeed. We were once rulers of the Earth, back in the cretaceous period. We both wrapped ourselves around the earth, and our body protected its core. However, the leviathan, a gigantic beast bigger than planets and long enough to stretch across the galaxy and possibly longer, attacked. We both did our best to stop this beast from devouring the planet, but we ultimately failed, and after ascending to the spiritual realm, the almighty creator came down and slayed the beast. However, we wanted to come back, so we decided to find suitable vessels for us, and we noticed you two. Twin brothers who simply wanted to be normal like society, and after seeing your sacrifice to save your village, you both impressed us enough to make you our vessels. However, I had to become you, so you wouldn't implode with my enormous amounts of mana."
"Wait. So you have a lot of mana but your brother doesn't?"
"No. He has even more than I, but he made it so your brother could slowly adapt to his power and be able to wield the universe breaking power we possess. I should have taken his advice, but no matter. Whatever you do, never let your emotions take over you."
"Why not?"
"Because I had to become you, you now possess all my mana. Meaning if you unleash that in a fit of rage, you will be responsible for the destruction of planet Earth."
Senji's heart suddenly made a huge thud. He was excited at first, but now he realized he would have to train extremely hard to control this amount of power. Orochi sensed his fear chuckled a bit.
"Wuss."
Renji simply stared at the ceiling of his room. He was just now meeting Gamamura for the first time, and the two were becoming best friends.
"So, you two supressed your powers to keep from destroying the planet?"
"Essentially, yes. But also to keep our emotions in control or else we would have coiled ourselves around the Earth's core and destroyed it from there as well."
"Woah. So all that stuff is real. Awesome."
Renji sat up and looked out the window. The world looked so beautiful, and now that the theory of "God" actually existing, the thought of someone capable of creating such beauty became much more than just a theory. It became a goal for him to now protect this beautiful planet. Just then, Madame Shuri walked into the room.
"How are you feeling, Mr. Kimuri?"
"Well, all things considered, I'm just happy to be alive."
"Well, we ran some tests and it seems you can increase your mana levels through natural means or by absorbing it from defeated monsters. And you're sure you're feeling fine?"
"Yes ma'am. Thank you for helping me and my brother. I send Malik my thanks as well."
Shuri smiled softly. "Well you're welcome. Have you met my younger sister?"
"Your younger sister?"
"Yes. Her name is Riley."
Renji nearly choked on his own spit. Shuri quickly caught on to why and smiled softly.
"Well whatever you do, don't make her upset. You should know how short people get when they get upset."
Renji scratched the back of his head, the blush evident on his cheeks. "Yes ma'am. I'll do my best."
"That's good to hear. Well, have a good evening, I'll see you and your brother tomorrow."
After she left, Renji layed down and placed the pillow over his head. He had never had a crush before, so this feeling was new to him.
"My my my, this young lady is very beautiful."
"You are a thousand year old serpent, why are you telling me this?"
"Well, she can't see me nor do I like the young girl, however, human love is something I am very fascinated in."
"Oh yeah? And you think you can help me?"
"Actually, I planned on watching and learning from you. No better place to learn than the source material."
"Yeah yeah, and wait, if I'm going to be summoning you, then couldn't she see you?"
"She would see my physical body, but I wouldn't be able to talk. You are the only person I could communicate with, outside of your brother and my own."
In a dark room, outside of Redu City, a man with black hair and firey glowing eyes, stood in the center of the room. Lights then lit up the room, and seven men sat in the dark, their shadows merely shown underneath the light in the room.
"Is this about the two boys who just awakened?" The man asked.
"Their awakening was irregular. Why did you not step in when you had the chance?! Those boys could've been killed!"
"Your lack of empathy and compassion could've had those boys killed had Malik and Shuri not been there!"
"I understand where you're coming from, but I have potential students. Now can I leave?"
"Jackson, those boys are new to magic. Anything could happen."
"And I'll risk my life to protect them should anything ever happen where they can't protect themselves. See you."
"Jackson! If this keeps up, your execution will be demanded by our leader!"
"I haven't died in three hundred years because of this damn curse, so tell them to come and execute me. See if they survive."
As he left the room, he looked up and saw the night sky was slowly starting to make itself known. As he continued to step forward, his feet emitted flames that spread and killed several magic beasts that hid in the dark around him. He looked up at the moon, and narrowed his eyes.
"Why me? Why did I have to be a vessel?"