"What a shitty day... not a single one has been caught till now," a young boy of 14 years said, sitting on the bank of a river stream that passed beside his home.
He had been trying to catch a fish as he was hungry and craving roasted fish.
Even though he cursed, his voice was not one of annoyance; it felt like he was stating it as a simple sentence.
Just as he was about to give up, he felt something stir inside him. This was a totally unexpected feeling, like he was getting agitated for no reason.
He thought there was something wrong with him but couldn't figure out what exactly.
Just as he was thinking about what to do next, he heard a pleasant voice.
"What are you doing?"
He was surprised and turned to look back. A girl who looked quite similar in age to him was standing behind him, her beauty even at this age mesmerizing to look at.
Her voice was filled with genuine curiosity rather than a question.
He didn't know her name, but looking at her pure white hair, he had a good guess about her family.
"Fishing," he replied with a short answer, as if it were totally obvious, given he was holding a fishing rod and sitting beside a river.
"Hm? What's that?"
He was stunned at her question.
He sighed and looked back this time with more attention, which he had wanted to avoid as he was still feeling a little restless, and he didn't know the reason either.
Not to mention, this girl was too beautiful to look at, and he felt self-conscious.
"You don't know what fishing is?"
The girl shook her head.
He looked at her for a few seconds and pointed toward the river.
"You do know that the river contains fish, right?"
The girl nodded.
"Good. What I'm doing is trying to capture these fish in the river using bait."
"Why?"
"To eat, of course. Why else?"
"Your family doesn't give you food?"
He looked at her speechlessly.
"It's not like that. I just felt like eating a roasted fish, that's all. And why are you asking so many questions? Not to mention, why have you even come here in the first place?"
The girl became a little flustered at his sudden questions, but it didn't take long before she calmed herself.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude. I was just curious. As for why I came? I was bored of gathering, so I went out for a walk. By coincidence, I saw you and came here to see what you were doing."
Eh? Just because she saw me? What the hell? I'm pretty sure there were other people along the way she came from.
"Fine, whatever. Now you should go back; your family might become worried about you."
"Why?"
"Hm... Are you slow on the uptake? You do know your identity, right?"
"What's my identity got to do with it?"
"Listen, right now we're outside. Although this area belongs to the Tenebran family, it's still dangerous for you to be here."
"Is that so?"
The girl nodded a little, but that was all; she didn't try to go back.
"Okay, let's say it is dangerous here. Tell me, what's your name?"
He sighed inwardly. It looked like she didn't care if it was dangerous here. He had thought that since she was only 14 years old and, seeing how clueless she was about everything, mentioning danger would be enough to send her back.
"Vaelen."
The girl nodded.
"Nice to meet you, Vaelen. My name is Lysara."
"Nice to meet you too. Now tell me, what do you want?"
He was sure now that she had no plans to go back and was hell-bent on sticking around him.
It wouldn't be a problem; in fact, he could have entertained her since she was a guest at his family, but right now he was really feeling a strange agitation, which he couldn't figure out the reason for yet.
But it looked like he had to deal with them together now. His day really couldn't be shittier than this.
"What I want to do, huh... Well, for starters, I want to watch you fishing."
"Be my guest."
The girl smiled and sat beside him.
"So, just putting that rod with thread works?"
"There's also bait, which fish love to eat. It's on the hook, which is attached to the thread. If a fish eats it, the hook will get embedded in their mouth, which will make the rod vibrate."
"I see. Can I try it?"
Vaelen shrugged his shoulders. He hadn't been able to catch anything anyway, so it wouldn't matter if he let her give it a shot.
Lysara took the fishing rod from his hand and became attentive. Only 30 seconds passed when she felt the vibrations.
Vaelen's eyes widened. What the hell? He had been sitting here for half an hour and hadn't caught anything, but this girl... He cursed his own luck.
"Pull it!"
Lysara didn't need him to say anything as she had yanked the rod hard enough to pull the fish out of the water. It fell between them.
Vaelen immediately caught it with his hand, and oh boy, it was his favorite fish. He quickly removed the hook and put it into the bucket nearby.
"That was fun... hehehehe!"
Lysara laughed sweetly. This was the first time she had gone out anywhere other than her house, so it was really fun for her to try this thing called fishing.
Vaelen was quite mesmerized by her smile but shook his head and sighed.
His pride was gone. A girl who didn't know anything about fishing caught a fish in 30 seconds, while he, who had been doing this for almost two years, hadn't caught a single fish, even the worthless ones, in 30 minutes.
"We're done. This fish is big enough for us, if you want to eat, that is."
"Of course."
Vaelen nodded and wrapped everything up.
He moved toward the location where he had set up a place to roast the fish perfectly.
The agitation in his heart still hadn't subsided.
He shook his head, took out a lighter, and started a fire while placing the fish at enough distance to roast it perfectly. He had already seasoned the fish.
Lysara watched everything with utter curiosity.
"Well, now we have to wait for it to cook. Tell me, is this your first time going out of your family?"
"Yup."
"Figures."
"Huh... why?"
Vaelen looked at her with a dumbfounded expression but didn't continue.
"No reason."
"There's definitely one, or you wouldn't be saying that... Is it my curiosity?"
No, cluelessness, he thought but didn't say it out loud.
"Yes, it's your curiosity..."
"Why do I feel like you were going to say something else?"
"You can assume whatever you want."
"Whatever."
The agitation he was feeling had started to increase, and now he was a little scared.
"By the way, why has your family come here? As I remember, our families aren't close anyway."
"They were discussing the second phase. It's about to start this year, you know."
Ah, yes, that is also a big concern for humanity right now.
"I see."
"Hey, tell me something. Can you feel it?"
"Feel what?"
The girl looked at him.
"I don't know. The moment I saw you, I felt agitated, so I decided to confirm it, and yes, the closer I got, the greater this feeling was. It was like my instincts were telling me to move far away from you."
Vaelen's eyes widened. Come to think of it, this agitation started the moment before she arrived near him.
So she was the reason for it, and now his instincts were really tingling.
Wait a second. She is from the Luminara family, and he was from the Tenebran family. Light and darkness never felt good together; this was the reason their families weren't overly on good terms with each other to visit casually.
But he was also sure that they would have never felt this kind of agitation, or else it would have been mentioned somewhere. Let's say it's a unique case.
But why were they getting this agitation when they hadn't even Awakened yet?
"Whatever, and yes, the feeling is mutual. Then why the hell didn't you leave after confirming it?"
"I don't like giving in to my fears..."
"Geez... and here I was thinking there was something wrong with me."
"Hehehe..."
"Stop laughing, would you? I was really scared, for God's sake, and why the hell did we even feel this? It's not like we've Awakened yet."
"True, I don't know either. Anyway, is it done?"
"No, princess, wait at least five minutes more."
Well, knowing the reason at least removed his initial worries.
They talked more before the fish was ready. He took it off; he had already cut the fish in half before, so he just handed her one part.
Lysara moved her hands forward, but in the exchange, their hands touched a little. It wasn't a big deal, but the problem was their instincts, which were screaming at them to move away from each other.
The moment their hands touched, they both felt a burst of it. They moved a little farther away instinctively, but that touch was enough to create a chain reaction in their bodies.
Vaelen's eyes darkened to an extreme black; his whole body felt cold, a sensation that couldn't be defined by mere coldness.