(Scene change. One week earlier, in a different area...)
Hachi panted, his sword buried deep in the last monster's chest. It let out a final roar before disintegrating. He pulled his sword out, flicking the blood off.
He was in a very strange area. An abandoned high school. Around him was a pile of monster corpses. And two other people. They weren't Notug, nor were they HighG. He had been separated from his comrades after that horrific explosion.
The first person was a strange man. He wore a black mask with an elaborate pattern and a dark, tight-fitting suit. A long Katana was strapped to his back. He radiated a cold killing intent, and it was clear he hated Hachi.
The other was a girl. She looked quite short, with dark brown hair, wearing a blue hoodie and black pants. She looked just like an old friend of Hachi's. One who was gone. Hachi was very confused when he woke up here. When he tried to communicate, the masked man always cut him off, or simply pointed his sword at his throat. The guy was too strong. He moved like a ghost. Hachi had tried to attack him, but every blow was dodged with ease.
One time, when Hachi had the man's sword at his throat, the girl intervened. "Don't! Marno!" she said. "I can sense him... he has a connection to important people."
After that day, the masked man (Marno) didn't attack Hachi anymore. But living conditions here were harsh. They were constantly hunted by monsters. The man named Marno, he stopped trying to kill Hachi and started teaching him how to fight. He pointed out the weaknesses of every monster they encountered.
After a week, Hachi had clearly grown stronger. His skills became sharper. One evening, after clearing out a monster nest, Marno suddenly asked:
"Hey. What's your reason for joining 'Light Remnants'?"
Hachi, who was cleaning his sword, froze. Hearing that question, he became agitated. He said nothing, but gripped his sword hilt so tightly his knuckles turned white, as if he wanted to lunge and kill the masked man.
But he was too strong. Hachi could only grit his teeth, and the memory of why he joined the organization rushed back like a nightmare.
(Back to the present, with Notug)
It was freezing. I sat huddled on the palace steps, shivering in my thin cloak. The princess was mad at me, the king teased me, and now I was a homeless person in a palace.
I thought about the girl I had protected that day. I tried to remember her face. Useless.
But when I tried to recall the dream about the god Atodinho, I realized something.
That guy wearing Betinos robes. That cool-looking guy in the green robes from my first strange dream...
~ Could it be! The god from back then was the same person I met in my dream a few weeks ago! ~
I started piecing it together. The dream "You are the one who will save this world!". The revival at age 9. The god Atodinho said I had 3 lives. The 1st time was at age 9. The 2nd time... must have been when I was crushed by that monster at home, and I miraculously survived.
So... this is the 3rd time. I'm out of revives. If I get attacked now, I'll die for real. The cold seemed to seep in deeper.
I tried to remember the girl I saved. I only remembered she had white hair... and... a bracelet on her wrist.
I unconsciously raised my hand. And it seemed... I had one too. A simple, worn-out braided leather bracelet. When did I start wearing this? I don't remember who gave it to me.
Tired and cold, I fell asleep right there on the steps.
That evening, I had a dream. A dream even more terrifying than monsters. I saw myself, 9 years old, lying dead in that alley. The god Atodinho didn't appear. Then a light flashed. I saw my parents. They were crying. They had received news that I was dead. Just a few days later, they collapsed, and... passed away.
What was that world? A world where I had truly died? A parallel universe? Or was that the price of being revived? It was so strange...
— Thump! —
I woke with a start. A soft pillow landed right in front of me. I groggily "loaded" the situation. Hana was standing in front of me, holding a blanket. She wasn't looking at me, probably still mad about yesterday. She had thrown the pillow at me to wake me up.
I stood up, stiff from the night's cold. And then, I saw the bracelet on my hand.
Without thinking, I held the bracelet on my hand out to her and asked:
"Did you give me this bracelet?"
Hana, who was about to turn away, now turned back to look at me. She was stunned. She grabbed my bracelet, examining it closely.
She turned it over and over, looking for something on it. Then, she smiled. It wasn't the polite smile from yesterday. It was a radiant, gentle smile, as if this was always meant to happen.
And then, she threw her arms around me.
"You've probably realized!" she sobbed.
I froze. I... I hadn't realized anything. I just took a wild guess. But if I said that now, she'd hate me. I had to stay silent, patting her lightly on the back.
This morning was quite beautiful. The sky was clear, and her hug was very warm.
After a moment, Hana let go, her face flushed but her eyes full of happiness. She suddenly looked at me shyly.
"Right now... I still don't know your name. Everyone calls you Notug... but is that your real name? So..." she hesitated, "can you tell me?"
~ ... ~
Notug. Just a name I used in a game, and then it became my name. But my real name...
"Um... My name is Einov. But you can just call me Notug."
As soon as I said the name "Einov," she instinctively let go of me. Her expression changed from happiness to... utter shock.
"Eino... Eino-what!?"
I was confused. "Einov?"
She looked like she wanted to say something, but couldn't get the words out. She was trembling. Then, she grabbed my shirt and started dragging me along.
"Hey! Wait! I'm hungry!"
She didn't listen. She dragged me straight to her father's room, King HaiJa. He was drinking his morning tea.
"Father!" Hana shouted, pushing me forward. "I think I chose the right person!"
Her father raised an eyebrow, looking at my disheveled state. "Why?"
Hana said, her voice full of excitement:
"This is Einov! He's the one who saved me back then... and he's also the one Grandmother used to talk about!"
I just stood there, looking at them, and I didn't understand what the hell was going on. In just a few minutes, I went from being an outcast to... someone from a prophecy?
After they exchanged a look, her father stood up and walked over to me. His teasing expression was gone. He looked at me seriously, then leaned into my ear and said:
"Perhaps... this is the reason I see potential in you."
After hearing that, I just stared at him blankly. What reason? What potential?
Not that I really cared... I was probably just very hungry.
Side Story 1: Lucy
20 years ago.
War. War was everywhere. Cities fell, not to monsters, but to humans. Tanks crushed the roads. Combat robots fired into buildings.
Nowhere was safe.
Between the desolate border of Istrich (Luisz) and Qye (Fight Kingdom), a little girl was wandering. She was dressed in rags, her matted yellow hair hastily tied into two buns. She walked on a deserted road, littered with wrecked vehicles.
The girl sat there listlessly. No one helped. The bunkers were full or had been destroyed. Luckily, soldiers passed by occasionally, sharing what little leftover food they had with her.
Many days later, hunger blurred her vision. As she was about to collapse, a strange thing appeared. It wasn't a robot. It was a monster. Green, it looked like a frog, and had a strange wheel attached to its body. It was one of the escaped war experiments.
The monster lunged at her. The girl had no strength left to run.
Whoosh!
A flash of light pierced the monster's head. It collapsed.
A man in his 30s, wearing a jet-black suit, with pure white hair, approached. He looked at the little girl.
"Do you want to be my granddaughter?"
The girl hesitated, just sitting listlessly. She was too weak to answer.
The man seemed to know everything. "I know your parents were killed," (he just guessed, seeing her alone). "And... your name is Lucy, isn't it?"
She was surprised. How did he know? But she couldn't say anything. She hadn't eaten in two days.
He took her silence as agreement, picked her up, and carried her away.
When Lucy woke up, six days had passed. She found herself in a strange, messy room, with books everywhere. This was an underground base. She woke up, frightened, and tried to open the door to run outside.
The man, her savior, just watched in silence.
"Little girl... I didn't do anything to you. I just brought you home. My wife took care of the rest."
Lucy stopped. She looked at the man. She had a little trust, but she still had many doubts...
That man, he was the founder of Light Remnants, but he was killed in an event. And in the present, a friend of his is in control, while the controller at the organization Notug is currently joining is his younger brother, and his younger brother is just a minor official in the organization...