There are countless possibilities in one's life.
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Just destroy apart everything that stands in your path.
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Break apart the fabric of reality.
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The original elements are to be reborned yet again
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For the one who can save us all.
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The Original Anomaly.
[Executing Sequence 901:3] [The Forbidden Time Line]
Must rise up once more.
…
[Hello World!]
A raven soaring high through the endless sky with one giant ice crystal surrounded by three smaller ones and connected by some shining lines.
The bird descended through the clouds, revealing an endless sea covering the far horizons and the water flowing backwards into cloudy sky as the sea was being reclaimed by the sky.
One of its black feathers shook loose and got carried away by the gentle wind and landed onto the sea.
Inside the sea, there was something shining within the depth less water. A young man whose body was shining bright white. Soon the light shrank, revealing the face of a young child with medium dark hair who seemed to have not even reached his puberty, sleeping and covered in darkness.
A mysterious left arm faintly shining appeared in front and touched him on his left cheek gently as something faintly whispered in a distorted yet deeply familiar voice which was both gentle and nostalgic.
'It`s time to wake up'
The arm burst into light and was absorbed into that child's body as the odd sounds of high pitched screams echoed before disappearing into complete silence.
His finger slightly twitches and bubbles burst out from his mouth.
He tried to swim, swing his arms around and even pointlessly struggled as he clawed his neck, grabbing onto his cloth in an attempt to tear them apart as he struggled to breath but his arms slowly lost their strength and started to float as the last bubble left his mouth.
Pop…
The teen's eyes wide opened as he found himself laying on the ground, staring at the gloomy sky as his ears rang.
A small puff of mist slipped past his lips as he felt chilling deep numbness within his bones even when it was mid summar.
'Its so cold…' was the first thought that came to his mind.
He just stared blankly whispering 'Sky?' in a cracking voice as his eyes reflected a grey sky.
'Did I pass out?' questioned the boy confused as he held onto his head.
Passing out was a luxury that he could never afford. Not once in his life had he lost his consciousness… at least not in a long time as his body refuses to let him pass out and always retains some awareness around him.
Some may call it a blessing and resilience of not giving up but the real horrors were only known by the boy. The feeling of wanting to pass out from the agony but being hopeless to do so. After all, people only see the result and not the pain behind it for they never know the experience of wanting to scream from pain yet unable to do so as they are left in the mercy of the world.
But this is exactly why it felt so wrong for him to be blessed and pass out like a normal person would.
His ears still rang and his focus slowly returned. He sniffed a nostalgic, unique scent. He has been able to smell since birth but no other person was able to tell it apart.
He held onto his head as he sat up with a faint headache. His vision still blurry as he blinked once, twice.
A sudden breeze blew against him as he felt something… wet on his left cheek.
He hesitantly touched it with his right arms middle and ring fingers. It was sticky and cold.
He pulled his hand back and stared at it. A colorless liquid?
The kid questioned 'is that— my blood?'
Only then did the boy realize, the land, sky, blood– everything was drained of their colors but he was able to see things so clearly.
But he could see more than just the world. His hand had a grey-ish outline while his comrades had none as they slept peacefully around him.
The boy patted himself and found sharp cuts on his clothes and one even near his heart yet no wound to be seen under it.
He wasn't in any sort of pain except a throbbing headache increasing with the passage of time, maybe the adrenaline was kicking in.
'Did I hurt myself when training…? Why is everything colorless?'. He pressed his palm against his ears, covering them and flinching his eyes trying to stop the ringing as his nose bled a drop of blood.
'My head— I feel like it will just explode at this rate—'
He slightly opened his eyes to look and the blurry vision cleared.
There stood a single tree firmly, surrounded by a barren plain and dead land around it stretching to some distance with no sign of life or plants. The tree stood alone, fighting against the harsh fate that was being enforced by the land.
And there he caught a glimpse of something… His ear stopped ringing as his eyes widened. The extreme pain he was suffering vanished in an instant from the shock.
Dub Lub.
He was able to hear his own heart beating faster every passing moment.
Right beside him laid a man stabbed in both arms, leg and heart.
He whispered quietly in a cracking voice 'Brothers?'
Maybe it was the world less which hid the blood.
His comrades— were not sleeping… just dead, lying cold around him. His heart ran beat at an abnormal rate as he stared at them– lying motionless.
The very same people who treated him like their own family after he became an orphan were now laying motionless around him.
It was like reliving his past once again… seeing everyone he knew die once again and the same colorless world once again as he remained powerless…
All of it appeared before him and took away everything he cared for.
'What. Why—?' said the boy not knowing what went on but got interrupted by something grabbing onto his leg. Neither strong nor too weak. Just enough to grab the attention.
He hesitantly looked towards it and his heart stopped.
It was his mercenary leader, his master, Fariz, barely holding onto his life in the shadow of his own student.
Fariz's Ivy green hair which used to shine like lustrous grass were now covered in his own blood and dirt as he slowly crawled towards the boy.
'Master?' the boy muttered in a faint and cracking voice.
He felt a sudden sharp needle-like sensation in his head and he remembered— the reality.
His memories started flooding onto his mind, He was on his first mission with the mercenaries.
He has been with the mercenary group ever since his village was burnt down. He had vague memories from his past, he couldn't even remember his name.
Before meeting the mercenaries. As a child, he was a cheerful, timid and shy kid who always had a smile on his face. Even his village started to call him "The Smiling Kid" or "The Kid" as his nickname. It became his second name and a title for his cheerful behavior.
One day he went out to collect forest woods to get praise from his parents and to show them that he is now grown up, wanting to prove he can go alone just like his older brother but naturally his father rejected the idea entirely as it was dangerous for someone of his age to go alone in the forest.
As the boy's body was far too weak compared to others his age but knowing no better, he sneaked out of his own to prove his point "If I do it once, baba will know how strong I am" as he chuckled "I will lose to my brother"
But of course someone of his age with such a weak body could possibly pick logs let alone bring them home all on his own. He was not even able to carry the basket let alone carry something inside it.
He decided to go out and just bring a single log as it will prove his worth but fate had other plans.
The young child was already sweating, taking heavy breaths from just dragging the log back to the village and just then, he heard a sound from the bushes. Even the boy who knew no danger of forest realized something was seriously wrong.
He remembered his father told him how the wolves don't come close to the village but what stood in front contradicted that. A pack of wolves sniffing their noses as they drooled for a feast. The boy instantly dropped the log and started running for his life as he yelled for help.
He ran but his body was already exhausted from dragging the log and his young legs could only carry him so far before collapsing and taking him down and slamming him onto the ground.
The boy tried to run once again but his legs froze in a state of fear.
The wolves were not even giving him a real chase and creeped in as if they were toying with his life.
But their arrogance was their downfall.
The sound of footsteps came from behind him and in a split second a man pulled out his sword and beheaded the wolf pack leader making another wolf step back and ran away.
Upon seeing the back of the man who had just cut the wolf with in a single strike, it felt like there was nothing that could harm him. The boy who was about to burst into tears from fear started to smile and brightened up like a child who met their hero.
The boy invited him to come with him as his saviour but he rejected it while completely avoiding eye contact and walked off.
Confused but the boy let it be and came back swinging a wooden twig around like a sword from story of legends and even copying the man who saved him.
As he went closer to the village, he found it was lightened up in the middle of night which made him worry "What have I done… I need to find an excuse. They all must be finding me…"
An idea struck to his mind "Oh yea, I can just blame it onto V– no, that is a bad thing—"
But as he came closer to the village, he paused as he stood outside. The twig on his hand fell out of his hand.
He should have returned to the village. Telling them about the savior. Got scolded for his stupidity and that was the happy ending for his world… or it was supposed to be.
What welcomed him was not the warmth and familiar faces but a sea of raging flame… The world itself had turned against him.
The twig which he was playing with dropped onto the ground and caught onto fire.
He ran. Without a second thought, the boy dashed through the raging flames towards his house.
It was reckless of him but who could blame him. After all he was just a kid who wanted acknowledgement of his parents— which he never would be able to…
As it would be a fool's dream to seek acknowledgement from the dead.
He just stood there frozen watching his house on fire and a man whose drawn sword was penetrating his father's chest… The sword was dripping blood from its tip. The very blood of his father who was on his knees, leaning backwards as he held onto the blade while looking at the man dead in his eyes.
The man… His presence was unsettling. Something unnatural.
His father noticed the boy standing there looking at him which made him grab the sword tighter with his left hand while not letting it go as he screamed loudly… almost like a war cry with the last strength he had.
The man coldly kicked him off the sword but his father's hand still had not let go of the sword. A single swipe and his index and middle fingers were cut clean off from the sword.
The kid stood there helpless as his heart started to beat faster every passing moment.
The old white ribbon his father used to tie his medium dark hair with was loosen up. As the ribbon— went up in flames.
He just stood there losing his sight as everything around him darkened. His mind went blank as his hearing was lost before he collapsed to the ground.
The world started losing its color as everything lost its shade except a weird golden outline being emitted around the man's body before the kid blanked out for the first time in his life.
The next time he opened his eyes was when a mercenary group that happened to be passing by noticed a kid barely holding onto his life among the rubbles of ruined Village as he was bleeding heavily from his head.
Upon waking up, he was shaken and could not remember much of his past except for what he saw before he passed out.
But one thing he remembered clearly was 'The Smiling kid', the fake titles given to him which now overshadowed identity. Hence came his name 'The Ked'.
The mercenaries always treated him like his own family. Whenever he felt lonely, they would come and cheer him up in different ways.
He might not have had a normal childhood but he never felt alone with the company of the mercenaries—
But now those very people laid around him motionless.
It was like reliving his past once again… seeing everyone he knew die once again and the same colorless world he once saw a kid before passing out years ago appears once again before his eyes as he woke up.
His master had a white outline unlike others but visibly fainting away every passing beat.
His master was just as shocked but relieved and even joked "Ha… I thought you were dead. Kid… Kid?"
The kid was lost in his own thoughts 'Maybe I am just dreaming… yea, when I wake up, I will be staring at the same ceiling…'
The kid was just sitting there, losing his will and hopes as he stared at his master. The light slowly left his eyes and his face was emotionless as if he stared into the depths of darkness itself.
"Damn it kid– don't you dare start losing your marbles now" His leader yells at him which jolted the boy back into reality.
Fariz spoke "Listen to me, I—" but stopped from pain and gasped "Just take this ring" as he forced a ring onto the boy's hands.
"Do not forget about it— Never lose it. No matter what. Keep it on you" and coughed up blood the next moment.
Upon seeing it, he snapped back and said 'Master, don`t talk, you will be alrig—' but suddenly stopped after taking a quick peek at the wound.
"I know my body better than anyone"
While the wound was fresh, it had already bled out long enough to be fatal. Without a healer, it was just a dream he would never get a grasp of. One could even wonder how he was even alive.
"I am amazed I am even alive…" he said in a weak voice "There is no hope left for this old man now, I have been fighting for so long and even now I am barely alive on borrowed time."
'Don't leave me alone, everyone is dead. I-I will be all alone… again' As his face turned emotionless, unable to express his own feelings.
"Kid, I am sorry but you must continue— alone, without us. Do not be held back by the dead"
'What is there to live for? There is nothing left for me to look forward to.'
Fariz looked at the boy's eyes which were dull yet still had a hint of faint light yellow-ish orange spark in them.
Fariz smiled as he said "Then Live on, carry our will— till you find yours. That sad face of yours, it doesn't suit you well, so smile my boy, smile for me one last time."
The Kid looks at his master and looks at him smiling even at the face of death. The Kid puts on a forced smiling expression on his expressionless face as not a single tear flies down his hollow eyes.
Fariz looked at his expressionless face to which he said with his dying breath "It's not your fault Kid— Everything has a time for it. So be free"
The kid looked at him as his expression turned blank and his smile vanished.
"Be free" those words hit him hard. A stupid phrase he kept on saying. He never knew the meaning behind him and even now he has no idea of what those words meant and never might… for his master was already gone.
His mind went blank and his eyes turned dull as they reflected no light back.
Thoughts of hatred and despair filled his mind. A flame was ignited inside his body…
'Why. Why do I survive… Why always me.?'
Just then a blue butterfly flew before his eyes. In this colorless world, a translucent blue butterfly emitting faint light from its wing landed upon his master's body and slowly the white outline started to fade away as the butterfly's wings glowed in pluses. The outline was being absorbed into the wings of the butterfly.
The Kid reached for the butterfly and just when he entrapped it in his palm— it felt like he was holding onto nothing, emptiness itself.
As he opened back his palm, the butterfly had already turned into weightless dust.
The other butterflies flapped their wind and flew into the sky as the wind carried the dust of the last butterfly with them leaving nothing behind.
The boy closed his eyes and looked up at the sky. It was cloudy. The wind was racing against the face of a silent battlefield. Cleaning away the foul smell of death and blood left behind for Mother Nature. Taking it all away, even the glowing outline of the dead and butterfly that turned into the weightless dust, leaving no one behind.
The kid who always was excited to partake in battle was now left all alone amidst it.
He looked at his master's resting body and whispered 'Thank you… for raising this kid and not abandoning him in the hands of this cruel world.'
Despite that his expression remained empty and eyes were usually blank.