Life Delusion

Chapter 1: The Exile

Aqua’s eyes snapped open. The first sensation that hit him was a sharp, throbbing pain behind his temples, as if someone were taking a hammer to his skull. He was standing in the Great Hall of the tribe, a place where the scent of burnt meat and heated stone usually lingered, now heavy with the metallic tang of sweat and cold, suffocating tension.

“Enough of this farce, Aqua.”

Zordrux, King of the Red Demons, didn’t bother looking up from his throne. His fingers drummed rhythmically against the armrest—a gesture of impatience that Aqua knew all too well. This wasn’t the first time they had stood on opposite sides of a dispute, but this time, the weight of the silence in the room was absolute.

“Father… you can’t be serious,” Aqua said, forcing his voice to remain steady. “The tribal laws exist for order, not for pointless purges. I only used the fire magic because—”

“You used black magic, Aqua,” Zordrux cut him off, his voice as cold as a whetted blade. “For years, we have upheld these laws. You chose to ignore them. Now, it is the law’s turn to ignore you.”

Aqua knew better than to argue. Logic was a foreign concept here, a casualty of the tradition they claimed to protect.

The heavy doors to the hall slammed open. Rose, her hair disheveled and her eyes burning with a familiar, reckless defiance, strode in. “If you’re going to exile my brother, then you’re exiling me too. I’m not staying here without him.”

Zordrux let out a long, weary sigh, closing his eyes as if the sheer irrationality of his children was more than he could bear. “Rose, stop this. Guards!”

Before Rose could formulate another plea, two hulking guards in heavy crimson plate armor emerged from the shadows. They grabbed her by the arms. She struggled, kicking and shouting, but the physical disparity between her and the tribe’s warriors was too vast to overcome.

Aqua just watched, the world crumbling around him. Minutes later, he too was shoved past the threshold of the territory. There was no ceremony, no final words. Just a cold, brutal ejection.

^ A few days later ^

The blizzard was relentless, a white wall that reduced visibility to nothing. Aqua stumbled through the mountain pass, his body numb and every step feeling like an insurmountable labor. Suddenly, a sound pierced the howling wind—a heavy, crunching noise, like claws sinking into deep snow.

He spun around. Two massive white bears, their eyes glowing with a predatory hunger, blocked his path. Aqua’s heart hammered against his ribs. He ran. He didn’t know where he was going, only that he had to move. But the mountain was treacherous; the edge of a ravine was hidden beneath a treacherous drift of snow. One wrong step, and the world tilted. He fell into the dark, silent abyss.

When he opened his eyes, he was greeted by an unfamiliar warmth. The scent of burnt wood and dried herbs.

“So, you’re finally awake.”

Aqua struggled to turn his head. An old man with red horns and black eyes sat by a small, dying hearth, watching him with an inscrutable expression. Aqua recognized him instantly: a demon exile, just like himself.

The old man rose without ceremony, gesturing to a small table in the corner. “I know what you’re thinking. Yes, I was exiled years ago. Now… let’s see what you’re made of. Get up.”

With the old man’s help, Aqua stood. He was guided to a strange stone orb resting in the corner of the hut.

“Place your hand on it. I’ve coated this orb in a layer of black magic. The amount of force you’re pushed back with will indicate your mana capacity. Just try to…”

Aqua placed his hand on the orb. He didn’t even have time to brace himself. A blinding crimson light exploded within the hut, and with the sound of cracking stone, the orb shattered into a thousand pieces. The shockwave slammed Aqua into the wooden wall behind him.

Silence filled the hut. The old man stared at the shards of the orb, his hands trembling. “Impossible… you were an exile. How could you possibly possess that much mana?”

“I… I didn’t mean to…” Aqua stammered, bewildered.

The old man scrambled up the ladder toward the loft, a sudden panic overriding his previous curiosity. He returned with a second orb, thrusting it forward. “Do it again. Now.”

Aqua, still shaking, placed his hand on the second orb. It flashed red, then green. Then yellow. Blue. Finally, it erupted into a blinding, pure white light that seemed to swallow the room whole.

The old man stumbled back, his face drained of all color, collapsing against the wall. “This… this isn’t mana. Aqua, you don’t have a mana core. Your energy… it’s raw. You have no limiter.”

Aqua started to ask what that meant, but the sound of the cabin door opening cut him off. Rose stood in the threshold, her face flushed red from the biting cold.

Without a word, she sprinted across the room and threw her arms around him. “I told you I’d come. I told you I wasn’t leaving you.”

For the first time in his life, the crushing weight on Aqua’s shoulders vanished. He wasn’t alone.

“The demons were fools to cast you out,” the old man muttered, still staring at the glowing white remnants of the orb. “But they’ve likely just unleashed the greatest threat their world has ever seen.”

He looked at Aqua, his expression grave. “Starting tomorrow, we train. If you’re going to survive with that kind of unbridled power, you need to learn to chain it. Otherwise, that power will burn you to cinders from the inside out.”

Months passed. Aqua trained tirelessly under the old man’s watch. Yet, the old man remained a cipher, never revealing his name or anything of his past. Rose trained alongside them, always pushing herself, often neglecting her own exhaustion to help Aqua. Years went by, and both siblings grew stronger with each passing day.

One day, the old man called Aqua to his side, his voice unusually soft. “Aqua… I’m not well. My time is coming to an end soon. Your power… it is far greater than even you imagine. After I pass, break off your horns, head to the city, and register at the Adventurers’ Guild. It is the only place you will be able to grow strong enough.”

“Old man, don’t talk like that,” Aqua protested. “You’re old, but you aren’t going to die anytime soon.”

For the first time, Aqua saw a genuine smile touch the old man’s face.

The very next day…

“Old man? Hey, it’s already afternoon. Aren’t you going to wake up?” Aqua shook him gently. There was no response. He shook him again, harder. Nothing. Aqua placed his hand on the old man’s wrist. There was no pulse.

Rose stood beside him, eyes fixed on the floor. She was devastated; the old man had been the only person to show them kindness in their darkest hour.

The following day, with heavy hearts, Rose and Aqua broke off their own horns—a symbol of their severance from their kin—and left the cabin for the last time. Rose took Aqua’s hand firmly, and they set off.

“Who is that boy standing by the window? It’s Louis… Louis? What kind of person is he? An idiot child. Has no friends. Never speaks to anyone, completely useless. I heard his parents abandoned him, and the government covers his expenses. Seriously, why should the government pay for a worthless brat like that?”

“Aqua? Aqua, are you paying attention? What’s wrong?”

“Oh… nothing. Just lost in a memory for a second.”

Rose smiled, though her eyes were inquisitive. “Was I in it? Or not?” She laughed lightly, brushing it off. “Anyway, we’re here.”

Aqua looked up. They had reached the staging area for the caravans. They approached the station master.

“Well, what do we have here? A couple, eh? Where are you headed?”

Aqua handed the man the coin purse the old man had left for them. “We want to go to the city.”

“Hmm, Alasia City. Good choice. Take that caravan over there. There are six others heading out in a few hours.”

Aqua and Rose made their way toward the designated caravan.

Miles away, in an unknown location at that very moment:

“Sir… Sir! He has awakened!” Everyone in the room turned to look at the messenger.

“He’s awake?”

“Yes, Sir. I’m certain of it. The mana signature he’s emitting… there is no doubt it’s him.”

“So, the Demon Lord has awakened… Incredible. This is our only chance. We cannot let it slip through our fingers. You know what must be done. We cannot let the gods get their hands on him.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Then go! What are you waiting for?”

“At once, Sir.”

Back in the caravan, Aqua and Rose sat side-by-side.

“So, aren’t you going to introduce yourselves?”

Aqua looked at the woman sitting across from him. Her armor covered her entire body, and her brown hair was tied back tightly. She looked like a skilled warrior. “I’m Aqua. And this is my sister, Rose.”

He saw a flash of surprise in her eyes. “Your sister? …I see. I’m Lily.” She gestured to the others. “That’s Rintaro, and that one is Mary.”

“Are you adventurers?” Aqua asked.

“Yeah. I’m a fighter. Rintaro’s the mage, and Mary handles the bow. We’re a D-rank party.”

Suddenly, the sound of an explosion shook the carriage, bringing it to a violent halt. Everyone scrambled outside.

“Goblins! Goblins everywhere!”

The creatures were swarming them from all sides. Lily drew her blade and charged, while Mary let loose arrows from behind. Rintaro began weaving a fireball spell.

Aqua moved to attack, but suddenly froze. A memory resurfaced.

“Don’t show your real power …. The world isn’t ready for that kind of strength. Whenever you use magic, pretend to chant an incantation. Keep in mind that your energy levels are off the charts, but remember, everywhere you go, never show power higher than D or C rank. But why? I can defeat anyone… why should I hide it? Who am I hiding it from?”

“You could, but what about your sister? Do you want to put her in danger? Think about her for a moment. She left her tribe for you—do you really want to make her a target?”

Aqua stood still for a moment, then stepped back. He closed his eyes, feigned a complex chant, and hurled a modest flame toward the goblins. Lily glanced back, her face etched with surprise—she hadn’t expected a boy his age to cast such magic—but without a word, she turned back to the fray. Aqua continued, casting various low-level flames, careful to keep his power perfectly calibrated to the level of a budding apprentice.

After the skirmish subsided and the adrenaline began to fade, the forest grew eerily quiet. Lily, wiping a streak of black ichor from her blade with a rag, walked over to where Aqua stood. She studied him with a sharp, analytical gaze—the kind of look a veteran trader gives to a promising new find.

“I didn’t think you were that strong,” she remarked, her voice cutting through the silence. “That last spell… the timing was impeccable. You said you were heading to Alasia City, right?”

Aqua felt a sudden spike of caution. He kept his expression neutral, careful not to let his eyes betray the vast, roiling power he was suppressing just beneath his skin. “We… we were just trying to survive,” he replied, keeping his voice hesitant, sounding like a typical traveler. “The old man who taught us said it’s safer to travel together.”

Lily nodded, satisfied with the answer. “He was right. Look, we’re two members short. We lost our magician and our scout in a dungeon dive a month ago, and the road to Alasia is getting dangerous by the day. I have an eye for talent, kid, and you two… you’ve got potential. How about it? Join our party. We split the earnings equally, and you get the benefit of our experience. What do you say?”