Growing up he hated his name, yet it was the only unordinary thing in his life. He often wondered if he would merely be a cog in a machine and live his days mundanely.

That would be too boring.

He practiced martial arts and learned bits of everything, becoming a jack of all trades. But he kept this private only appearing mediocre at best around others. Someone who often seemed meek and was bullied regularly by the other kids.

The time he finally decided to put his talents on display was when he was recruited into a shady business. He knew where he was putting his cards down at when he joined while he was in high school. He went by the name Eric here, letting himself have and ordinary name in this new unordinary lifestyle. He excelled in the fieldwork he did for the syndicate. Eventually graduating high school and becoming independent to work for the syndicate fulltime. 

The group even funded his college tuition, he was a tool they would use. A tool that nearly broke when he was 22, when mission went awry, and an explosion nearly took Eric's life. He could no longer do fieldwork, and he knew far too much.

They offered Eric a chance to leave. A trap to test his loyalty. Eric thought he knew what he had gotten himself into years ago, but it hit him that this had to be his life now. If he left, the syndicate would have him killed.

So, he stayed. Even before his injuries fully healed, he was working behind the scenes with intelligence work. Investigating, planning, and eye that had to see everything as he connected with various field agents, including Anne, someone he was classmates with during grade school who had also joined the syndicate in high school.

His force alone made things go smoothly. With changes in the Syndicate's upper echelon, Eric made things precede too smoothly. He still this young and was already far too dangerous. A tool that would step beyond its own reach in a matter of time.

Unexpectedly, Eric was ordered to return to the field. It had been years since he was injured, so there were no issues for him to head out. It was what should have been a relatively simple job. It was just himself and Anne to root out a small gang that had been stirring up trouble. 

Except the two found themselves betrayed. This job was a set up. They tried to fight their way out, but the floor in the building they were in collapsed beneath them.

Eric lost consciousness as he fell. And when he woke up, he was outside, on a mountain with no signs of human activity. Anne was present and woke at the same time.

Before the two of them could process what happened. They mountain they stood on shook. They were standing on the chest of a rock giant.

Eric finally felt like he's found the interesting and unordinary life he wanted. And as long as it stayed interesting, he didn't care what he did in this hostile place.

Eric accepted Xy's offer on a whim. He and Anne didn't know enough about magic or this world, and Eric would rather agree to the elf's strange preposition to make Eric a king someday over them getting slaughtered by the guards of the Elven empire's capital. Eric planned to play along with Xy's plans and learned a lot about this world. Eventually Xy caught on to Eric's disinterest in being some all-powerful ruler, but it seemed to make the elf more determined to teach Eric.

Eric felt a goal like being an emperor who stood above all others was a boring goal. He'd rather constantly have to fight his way out of the mud and grim again and again. The stars would look brighter that way. Eric wasn't blindly optimistic enough to think one could climb forever, a summit would be reached eventually.

((in the midst of these two interacting, they develop feeling for each other, although calling it love or romantic might not be the most accurate way to describe them. Although everyone else seems to see them in that light.)) ((possibly caused by them seeing the other as some sort of enigma, as they are pretty similar in abilities, yet hold opposite mindsets.))

((Xy has a tendency to get really physically close with Eric, particularly when Xy is teaching Eric.( this occurred even before any sparks started flying between the two of them)))