The Fruit of Becoming
Beyond the familiar world lies a place of ancient forests, extraordinary creatures, and mysteries that have survived countless generations.
For Theodor, a boy who has spent his life wondering where he belongs, entering Elderwoods Academy is the beginning of everything he ever dreamed of. Here, magical beasts become companions, friendships are forged through shared adventures, and even the smallest discovery can lead to something extraordinary.
Yet his journey takes an unexpected turn when he awakens an ancient serpent sealed within stone, a creature whose immense power is matched only by its unwillingness to be controlled.
Far from the Academy, beneath a sky that has never known peace, another child is growing stronger. Raised among merciless creatures in a land where survival belongs to the strongest, Layla has never known the comfort or friendship. While Theodor discovers a world of wonder and companionship, she is learning that strength is the only thing she can rely on.
Neither knows of the other. Neither understands the secrets surrounding their existence. But their stories are only beginning, and the world they are about to discover is far more mysterious than either could imagine.
Chapter One: The Shelter at the World’s Edge
“To the seekers of wonders—dedicated!”
“What do you truly know about magic? About the kind that breathes wonder into every corner of the universe? What do you know of beasts born from the very fabric of the world itself?
And what if I told you there is a place where magic and beasts are woven together so tightly that you can no longer tell where one ends and the other begins?
But this isn’t just a tale of marvels. It is the story of a boy whose name, one day, will echo in your own heart.
I was there from the very beginning. I saw his first steps, heard his first cries. I knew his fears and his hopes, even though he never suspected my presence.
Who am I? For now, that doesn’t matter. Just listen. I will tell you everything as it truly happened.”
Rain hammered against the roof of an old building on the outskirts of a small Canadian town—Shelby, a place so forgotten that its name had long since vanished from most maps. The houses, as if surrendering themselves to time, were draped in green moss. Narrow streets, drowning in streams of rainwater, made the whole town look abandoned. Only the dim glow of streetlamps pushed through the evening curtain of rainfall, casting blurred silhouettes into the wet, trembling air.
A sudden green flash split the sky, and a small creature appeared in the air, wrapped in a warm, shimmering aura. Its head was shaped like a bulb, or perhaps like a perfect droplet of water. Its two enormous blue eyes studied the world with naked curiosity, and its tiny body was supported by long, slender limbs that resembled arms and legs. Two large, translucent wings spread across its back. They glowed with a gentle, steady light. Two faintly curved horns gave the creature an odd, almost otherworldly charm.
Despite its diminutive size, it held a woven willow basket with a newborn baby swaddled in a warm blanket. The child slept, quiet, peaceful, and unaware that destiny circled above him on glowing wings.
Black hair spilled softly across his forehead, and his eyelids trembled in sleep, catching faint echoes of whatever shadows wandered through his dreams.
The green glow shielding them from the raging weather was fading fast. The creature darted through the storm, wings slicing the air in sharp, frantic movements. It was searching desperately, knowing that every passing second weighed heavily on the fate of the infant it carried.
Exhausted, it suddenly halted. Its gaze locked onto an old, faded sign: Miss Suzy’s Home.
Warm light spilled from behind worn curtains, glowing like a beacon of safety in the darkness.
After a brief, weighted hesitation, the creature lowered the basket onto the orphanage porch. The moment carried a quiet gravity. Its anxious expression made that clear. Strength was leaving its tiny body, yet it knew this was the right choice.
Beneath the rusted awning, the basket stayed dry. The warm glow from inside and the soft crackle of a fireplace promised safety, shelter . . . a future.
The green aura around the creature dimmed, thinning into the night. It cast one last look at the sleeping child—a gaze filled with tenderness and silent farewell. And then it dissolved. A thousand emerald sparks scattered into the stormy air, fading one by one until nothing remained, as if the little guardian had never existed at all.
That quiet, rain-soaked evening, Miss Suzy—a silver-haired woman of respectable age—was finishing her nightly rounds through the orphanage. Her wrinkled face wore its usual stern expression, yet beneath that façade lived a gentleness so deep it defined her very nature. She moved from room to room by candlelight, checking doors and windows, making sure every child was asleep and that the house rested in peaceful silence.
As she came down the stairs, she felt a sudden weight land on her shoulder—Miranda, the large black cat whose sleek fur shimmered in the lamplight. Her eyes, sharp and intelligent, held an almost human awareness. Miranda let out a soft purr and brushed her cheek against her owner’s, as if reminding Miss Suzy of the duty that awaited her at the door.
“Now what is it, Miranda? Hungry again?” Miss Suzy muttered, her tone grumbly but warm.
But before the cat could answer with another purr, something outside caught the old woman’s eye. For a heartbeat, through the thin veil of rain, she glimpsed a shadow flicker in the darkness. brows tightened. Instinct taking over, she reached for a lantern and headed toward the door.
Opening the door, she froze—forgetting how to breathe for a moment. Under the awning sat a basket with a baby inside. His tiny hands trembled in sleep, and his face held an uncanny calm, as if this moment had been written for him long before he arrived. Beside him lay a neatly folded sheet of paper.
“Oh, just what I needed,” the old woman began to grumble, but her voice trailed off as her eyes caught the neatly written words on the note.
“His name is Theodor,” she murmured under her breath.
The old woman’s breath caught as the child opened his eyes. A vivid, luminous violet flashed in their depths, rooting her to the spot. At the same moment, Miranda, still perched on her shoulder, let out a sharp hiss, though it sounded more like astonishment than fear.
She lifted the basket, glanced up at the night sky, and spoke softly: “Alright then, little one. You’ll live with us now.”
And as she closed the door, the boy’s past remained outside—a secret that would never again find its way back to him.
But he was not the only one. That same night, another story was beginning elsewhere.
***
At that very moment, somewhere in an unknown land scorched to ash and drowned in darkness, a world lay frozen in its own agony. Roars and mindless battles rolled across a sinister, blood-red sky, while the bitter stench of death and a choking dust filled the air, turning every breath into torment.
This place breathed chaos and despair. High above, a black creature cut through the sky—its beak sharp as a dagger, its claws hooked and lethal. One eye was colorless, dead and blind, while the other bore several scars from old wounds. Its massive shadow sent shivers through the barely-living things crawling far below. Clutched in its talons was a bundle made from the hides of unknown beasts. Inside lay a girl, an infant with long dark hair. Her vivid violet eyes stared out at this nightmarish world with an impossible calm, as if even such horror could not disturb her.
Chaos ruled unchallenged. Colossal beasts with burning eyes and claws like hooked blades clashed in savage fury, ripping into one another for the last scraps of prey. Their roars and wails fractured the blood-stained sky. No gentle woodland creatures existed in this forsaken land—only the spawn of darkness and hunger. Above it all, the ever-glowing crimson sky bathed the wasteland in a light that made every shape, every shadow, feel like a breathing nightmare.
The creature carrying the infant slowed its flight, hesitating, uncertain whether it should go any farther. Its wings trembled with nerves, and its claws tightened around the bundle as if praying that leaving the child here wouldn’t become its final, unforgivable mistake. At last, it descended, landing before a dark cave that seemed to breathe silent terror. Even the most violent beasts gave this place a wide berth.
The creature gently set the bundle down and let out a rough, rasping sound—a farewell exhale, nothing more. Its body shuddered when a low, almost inaudible rumble rolled out from the depths of the cave. The vibration grew, deepening, warning the intruder that staying here any longer would be nothing short of suicide. Not daring to linger, the creature beat its wings and vanished into the crimson sky.
For a moment, everything fell utterly silent. From the depths of the cave, an enormous tail with scales black as obsidian slid into view. Its movements were slow and eerily graceful, like a predator savoring the tension of the moment. The tail curled around the bundle, lifting it slightly, as if examining its fragile contents. The girl did not cry. She didn’t even flinch. Her vivid eyes glowed with a steady, unblinking intensity, a sharp contrast to the absolute darkness yawning inside the cave.
The tail snapped back, yanking the bundle into the impenetrable darkness. For several long minutes, nothing but the low rumble echoed from within—then even that faded, swallowed by the cave’s silence. All that remained as proof of what had happened were the deep gouges of massive claws scorched into the barren ground.