Chronicles of Aurelio - Book One

Famaris looked at me speculatively.  "It would be easier for me to interview you if you were at the school."  I nodded.  A person of interest am I?  "You do look about the right age for a Human."  Hm.  "And what age would that be?" I asked.  "Seventeen?  Maybe early twenties."  I grinned.  "I'm forty-three."  Famaris nearly choked.  "At least when I died," I added. "Forty-three?  How long do your people live for?"  I thought for a moment.  "The longest living person I've heard was around one-hundred-twenty-years-old.  People can regularly reach into the hundreds though if they take care of themselves and see their physician regularly... and listen to them and have good genes.  But on average maybe around late seventies and early eighties." "But you look so young!"  I nodded and said, "I theorized that I may have come into this world as either a younger healthier version of myself ...

In about a week's time I was as healthy and hale as I'll ever be.  I could take a deep breath without succumbing to coughing fits.  Though I did lose a considerable amount of weight.  One morning I woke up early.  It felt like sometime after midnight.  I had moved to the floor and gave Luz's bed back.  It was fine, I was used to sleeping on the floor.  Growing up I didn't have a bed until I turned 18 and found a job and moved out of my mom's place and and into my own.  I spared Luz a glance but she was still asleep.  She never snored.  Maybe Elves didn't snore.  I rolled my eyes.  Such perfect creatures.  I don't think she even smelled. I finally had clarity of mind which is ever so important to me.  During the winter I had a suspicion that my body wasn't the one I had "died" in.  I beg examining myself.  My large belly was gone, I was terribly overweight even before "landing" here.  Now it was flat....

And it went on like that for about a few weeks, maybe a month. My symptoms never seemed to go away.  I think I had pneumonia.  I've had pneumonia before and it sucks.  I was probably hypothermic then developed and infection in my lungs.  I was really scared. You see, I was a mid-level medical administrator for the past twenty-years.  Sure, I wasn't a provider but you do pick up knowledge.  And I knew pneumonia developed from an infection in the lungs, it's viral.  Our immune system during the course of our lives has developed antibodies to fight things we have come up against. Now I was here in this new world.  So maybe that meant new viruses.  New foes my immune system wasn't ready to fight against.  Did viruses even exist here?  Were they even simliar to the one back home? All I knew was that I was hurting.  I felt so weak.  I lost so much weight.  I never knew a minute where I didn't have a phlegmy cough....

⚡ Magic manifests differently for each being.  A nature based magic user's magic may manifest by falling leaves or the sound of wolf's howl. ⚡ Magic is fueled by emotion, energy, and life. ⚡ A magic user summons magic through will and intent. ⚡ The use of magic is only limited by the strength, skill, and imagination of the magic user. ⚡ Almost everyone can use magic. ⚡ Magic must be learned. ⚡ Magic users of skill are called mages mostly.  It depends on the region. ⚡ Proper use of magic must be learned.  But it can self-taught to a point.  Most mages must be taught how to use magic to prevent harming themselves and others.  There is a risk of "burn out" without proper education.  Burn Out usually ends up with the user killing themselves.  Survivors are ususally brain dead or reduced to the mind of a child and the ability to use magic lost forever. ⚡ There are different factions of magic users.  Most belong to guilds, noblemen, mercenary co...

I lost track of time.  I knew I would.  A memory stirred.  I had gotten lost on a hiking trail once after taking the wrong switch back.  What was supposed to be a four-hour hike turned into twelve.  I wasn't in the best physical shape and I was exhausted.  My feet were swollen and I had used up my water long ago. I was beyond tired but I refused to rest.  I thought if I rested then that would just add more time.  I didn't want to be stuck after dark and the sun was already making its descent.  During that tenth or eleventh hour my world shrunk down to the few feet in front of me.  Keep going, Leo.  I might be stupid; but I am tenacious.  Keep going... The next thing I remembered is stumbling into something that wouldn't yield.  Brush and plants I more or less just trampled or got bounced to the side of.  Trees and boulders I followed the shape of until I finally went past.  I couldn't do that with... this....

Rain continued to pour down over my body.  If I were in a more settled state of mind I would have been in awe at the force of it, the sheer amount of water falling from the sky and the cacophony of it hitting the earth and the trees.  But I wasn't in a settled state of mind.  My memories of the past... fifteen minutes?  Hours?  was fragmented and disappearing like dreams upon wakening. I remembered my chest was on fire and it felt like a great weight was upon it.  I remembered shouting; strangers and my sister.  The smell and taste of plastic; the high pitched whine of a machine.  I remembered someone hitting my back every few seconds.  ... Eight-one-thousand... nine-one-thousand... WHAM!  ... Eight-one-thousand... nine-one thousand... WHAM!  I don't recall how long I was being hit or how many times, but the last one exploded through my being.  I felt every muscle in my body spasm painfully.  Every joint in my skeleton...