The Third Prototype

Paul POV

My name is Paul, and I'm the guild master of Lhant village adventurer guild branch.

A couple weeks ago while I was fishing, I found a young man laid helpless beside the river. He looks like shit to be honest. All beat up, his clothes are ripped apart. A victim of robbery perhaps? I approach him to check if he's still breathing. Thank Lady Gaia he is. I pick him up and carry him into my house.

"Honey, I'm home" like usual, I greeted my wife as I enter my house. It is a tradition that I practice my whole life. Not saying it feels awkward to me

"Welcome home dea.... Who's that?" my wife stare at the boy in my shoulders

"I found him near the river, barely alive like this"

My wife sigh "Poor boy, put him in the spare bedroom while I prepare an ointment and a wet towel" she said with pity

I put the boy in the spare bedroom. My wife entered with an ointment and wet towel in hand. She cleaned the boy wounds and body effortlessly and she put the ointment where the wounds looks worse. As she clean the boy face, she gasped

"Hey Paul, don't you think...."
"Yeah, he looks like Edward"
"Could it be that he decided to return here?"
"Honey, you of all people knows that he is dead"
"But... We never did find his body and maybe... maybe...."
"Honey please" I said as I embrace her
She started crying "But honey, he looks just like Edward. What if he is Edward and trying to return here? What if...."
"ANNA, OUR SON IS DEAD" I shouted at Anna, reminding her that our son is dead
"WHAT IF HE'S NOT? LOOK, MAYBE THIS IS OUR SON. DON'T YOU SEE THE RESEMBLANCE. BESIDE, WHO'S FAULT IT IS THAT LED OUR SON TO DEATH?" she shouted at me back
"Anna please...."
"I'm sorry Paul, it just so hard....." Anna started crying again
"I know... Let's just ask him when he wakes up"
"Yeah let's do that"

A few weeks later, the boy finally woken up. He offer some gratitude and ask where is he. I answer and I also introduce myself and my wife. Just as I was about to ask for his name, his head ache and need more rest. My wife let him rest and drag me outside.

"What did you do that?" I asked
"Do what?"
"Letting him rest without asking his name"
"Let the boy rest Paul, he's been through a lot" she said back to me
"How do you know?"
"I mean he is our son right?" Anna face brightens up
"Anna..."

Helpless, all I can do is to wait for the boy to wake up and make him explain his situation to Anna

The next day, I find him admiring the view from our house. Our house is located near the edge of the village as such we have a great view. I got to admit, he really resembles my son. The way he like to admire the view from here. The way he smile, he looks just like him albeit an older version.

After Anna woke up, we ask the boy of his name and origin. He claims he forgot his name and origin. I didn't seemed like the boy lie either. Amnesia maybe?

As I contemplate his situation, Anna suddenly talk

"How about Ed, short for Eddy?"

Gawked, gobsmacked, confused and bewildered I look at Anna. This is not our son, I'm sure of it. So why does she do that?

"Ed for Eddy huh... I like it" the boy said merrily but I think the boy didn't hear Anna said another word, but I do

"And Eddy for Edward"

Oh Anna, when do you plan on letting our son go?

After that, I gave the boy, Eddy a tour of the village. The villager give me a weird look, seeing the boy as they thought our son Eddy comes back to life. The boy didn't seem to notice though as he's so engrossed in the scenery.

A scream from a woman interrupted us and I chase after the scream. As the guild master, I'm task to defend the town from evil (A/N: Yeah, maybe not). I reached the adventurer guild and see to my back that the boy followed me effortlessly. People don't follow me running at full speed effortlessly. I'm an Upper Grade 8 master after all. No ordinary person can unless they're at the same level as me.

I proceed to take care of the incident. After that, I look at the boy and found nothing on his face. People usually becomes afraid at me after watching me fight. A side effect from how powerful I am but not the boy. I looked at his eye and I'm perplexed. Those are the kind of eyes that have seen much. Is it possible that a boy his age see much of this life already?

I digress, I send the boy home as I clean up the mess in the adventurer guild. Before I know it, the sky's gone dark and I ask permission to go home. Yeah, even guild master need permission to go home when there's shit like this happening.

I went home and found the boy and Anna still talking. I look at Anna and I see her smile so vibrantly. I haven't see Anna smile like this in a long while

Later that night, I asked Anna about this afternoon and guess what she said?

She said "I know maybe he isn't our son, there's plenty of discrepancy between him and our boy. I checked earlier if he had affinity for mana and he checked out. I realize that he may not be our son. But, can I think of him as such? I mean...."

I hug her. I hug her so tight so she can never let go. I want her to share her pain and sadness with me. And just like that, we fell asleep.

The next morning the boy asked me if he can join the adventurer guild as an adventurer. I said sure but the minimal requirements is that you have to be at least Grade 1 mage or aura practitioner. Anna then do something unthinkable again. She told me to teach the boy. Anna really? I know you want to think of him as Eddy but.... She glared at me and I could do nothing about it. My master told me to not teach it to other people but it is my master daughter's that told me to teach the art to the boy. Well, you can't refuse Anna.

We went to the training ground and entered one of the room. I guide the boy on how to form your circle based on my own cultivation technique. As he was struggling to form his circle, I told him to force it if you can't.

Suddenly tendrils shoot out from the boy's body. The tendrils then shoots towards me, it stopped just before it reach me. It radiated pressure beyond anything I've seen, even my master never radiated this much pressure. The tendrils just move around me, and it observed me, like it have its own intelligence.

As it deems I am of no threat to the boy, it withdraws back to the boy like it protected him from harm. Just as I felt the boy is done creating his first circle, the tendrils went back inside the boy. Fucking scary.

He then asked me if he does okay. I paused for a second and told him that he did alright and bail on him after telling him to go home to Anna. After that, I ran through Lhant Forrest and straight to Lhant Mountain Range. I've got to tell master and hope that teaching the boy how to create his circle is not a mistake.