Blank – Prologue
"How far would a Man's hatred go? Would it stop with revenge? Would it stop with success? Would it stop… until there is nothing left?"
You hear a calm voice, calling you, no, the voice is just talking but you… feel so drawn towards it, it is a powerful voice yet soothing. But you feel fear, fear of your own live, there is something intangible around you that makes you tremble in panic; every single cell of your being is screaming to run away, to escape for survival. However, you are rooted to your place, without the capability of mustering any strength to move.
"It could stop before starting anything, at the same time it could go without a limit, if there is nothing to stop that hatred, the Man would go on, and on, and on. Even if there is nothing left, even if his objectives had been accomplished, even if the sweet revenge has been delivered to his hands. That was how this world ended, at least the era of the humans in the world"
Black, everything is black around you, you know that the man that is talking to you is just some feet away, but you can't see him. Wait, you have your eyes closed; you feel silly that you just realized but you don't blame yourself, you barely manage to keep yourself from screaming in fear. You slowly open your eyes, they hurt, no, the light hurts them.
"A man, a single human, killed most of the human population. Just some mere 5 digits of human survived after a fifty thousand years' era. Not only that, the whole world was polluted, animals and Divine Beasts died by the millions, a lot of species went extinct, a lot of flora perished, and even to this day a portion of the world is yet to be cleansed"
You blink constantly as you try to fade the blurriness out of your sight. Only to see Blank, a white and extensive view covers your sight, it is infinite and vast that you can't even phantom if there is any end to the whiteness. There is no light at all, it is just white, blank, empty. You look at your feet to see no shadow following you, you look at the sky and there is more whiteness, you look at your hands and you jump in fright. They are black, fully black, as if you were a Shadow.
"It is… not my fault" you perceive some regret in the voice "But I am not innocent at all, that Man was one of my descendants, a very far descendant of mine. Even with this power of mine I couldn't stop him at all. Even with these hands I was powerless to do anything at all, even now, at the brink of another era-changing phenomenon, there is nothing I can do… even so, I will try my hardest"
A sigh calls for your attention, bringing you out from your stupor and you see Him. He looks like a young man in his thirties, he has a sandy brown skin that shines like glitter in the vast blankness of this space, a white and spiky hairdo crown his head, but it is different because it is extending sideways… and those eyes, those profound and clear amber eyes are so hypnotic yet intimidating. You can't see him to the eyes directly without having a headache, there is so much power in his gaze that you know if you keep staring you could die.
"As I told you, there will be another disaster, not a world whipping disaster as the last one, but the new humanity is still in its young years, not more than a thousand years of civilization have happened since humanity came back to the surface… and yet they are in danger once again" you feel sorrow, not because you are sad, no, the man exudes such an aura of sorrow that it infects you "Great changes are about to happen, the human order is changing slowly bringing up to a fatidic end to freedom. 15 years. In less than 15 years all of you will die, and then most of humanity will die by their own hand"
He closes his eyes in suppressed anger, clenching a fist that is covered in a black glove, he is wearing a dark-brown trench coat that sweeps the floor as he moves, a black shirt and brown pants, with some weird shoes that you can't distinguish… also he has a collar with the sign of yin yang…
Dying, he said that you will die in less than 15 years, you are… not scared at all. You already guessed that your days were counted, you don't have a good life at all, a lot of people with conditions like yours have already died, but you are not alone. You look to your side and manage to see 9 more Shadows with glowing eyes.
"You are… more composed than I expected, this is bad, my predictions are so out of place that the future will be so unpredictable…" the man bites his thumb with a troubled expression, or at least he tries to convey it. In reality, his facial expressions are also blank, there is no change in his neutral countenance "I present myself. You can call me… X, just X"
You are still focusing in the words of X, but you are curious, curious about the other people that is sharing this blank space with you. They are also completely black, but there is something that distinguish them from mere Shadows, that glowing eyes of them are so alluring and impactful on you, that you think that you will remember them for all of your live.
Light Blue.
Black and Red.
Pink.
Silver.
Purple.
Deep Brown.
Deep Blue.
Green.
Pale Yellow.
Their gazes are so colorful and vary a lot, some of them are confident, others look insecure; some of them are full of hope and determination, others are full of doubts and despair; some of them are interested in this curious man in front of all of you, others seem to be wary… and one of them looks… bored.
You question yourself if your eyes are also glowing, will they be similar to him? To X? You also have amber eyes, but they are full of insecurities and doubt, you can even dream of having such powerful eyes. You shake your head in denial, you are nothing, and you yet, you are comparing yourself with the heavens.
"I looked at your destiny, not your fate, destiny and saw a lot of things on it, dreams, nightmares, ups and downs, wars, death, life. You were not the only options that I contemplated, but you were the ones with the strongest destiny, yet you fell when you were trying to develop" he looks at his open hand "I can look at the possible future of a person, but all of you fail to see the era changing, yet you have the power to change, the power to protect" he looks at you with determination in his pupils "That is what I want you to do, to protect any piece of humanity that you can. The future is bleak and you can't change these Fate, but you can change your own Destiny. I will give you power and information, so you can change it, in exchange I want you to protect the people, I want you…" he closes his eyes and whispers "To protect the humanity that I love so much, even if it could become twisted and destroy itself, just like that Man did"
You are not sure if you can believe him, he shouldn't have any reason to lie to you, you are a nobody with a famous Last Name, he is an existence that you can't comprehend at all. Your whole being tells you that he is superior, that he can do things that you can only dream about, that he is just how a 'god' should be. Yet he is requesting you to save humanity.
A trace of wrath flares at you when you think about humanity, humans have only been so unfair to you, so hateful, so…
You shake your head, trying to compose yourself.
"As you know, humanity is not only at war with itself, the Beasts also abhor humans. This is natural, Divine Beasts indoctrinated them to distrust humans, as the Qi in the world condensed the animals evolved to what you know about 'Beasts'. But you need them, cultivators need to Bond with the Beasts so they can process the wild Qi in the environment. I was the one that gave humanity the power to cultivate Qi, I also was the one that restricted humans from cultivating on their own, this was the only way so they could soothe their differences. But now, I can give you the power to cultivate without the need of the beasts, only to you, and some other early advantages. But as I said, they are only early advantages. You will have to forge your Destiny from the moment we part"
Power, Destiny, these are some words that you can't grasp, they are so far from you, but with X help, you can change your life… you are so tempted even if you don't care about your fate.
"You are only 10 years old, yet I'm forcing you with such responsibilities. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, but this is the most that I can do" he glares, you think that he is trying to give you a 'sincere' look, but it looks more like a frown "There is not turning back, you will thread across the darkness of the world, you will shed blood, you will sweat, death waits for you at every corner; having power is nothing but a curse, it is not a blessing at all. Even knowing all of this, will you accept my request?"
He is… looking at the ten of you with a tender facial expression, is so weird to see something like that, he looks like a father watching his child go, but you don't know him at all, you don't even know 'what' is him.
Silence lingers in the blank space, the ten of you don't raise your voice at all, most of them are in contemplation, and a few of them look like they are waiting for someone else to answer.
"I accept, there is nothing to doubt about it. The future is in our hands, isn't it?" a cheerful and clear voice comes from the Shadow with the Light Blue eyes "I can't turn my head from such a disaster"
"I do accept" a calm and composed voice also answers X's question "This is my biggest challenge in my life, I just can't not take on it"
"Hehe! I have always been a lucky one" the Pink eyed Shadow laughs with confidence "If there is light on my hearth and luck at my side I can deal with anything, I agree!"
"What a bother" a tired voice comes from the Silver Eyed Shadow, he looks like he is resting "All of you are crazy for agreeing, I mean come on! I don't want any power; I just want a peaceful life… but you said that we will die… So there is no way I won't agree"
"Fate… Destiny. Are we really shackled by those concepts" a contemplative voice rings in your ears, the Shadow with Purple eyes calls up next "I can't… accept this fate. I have to do something, X, I agree with your request!"
"Can I do it?" a worried voice intrudes, the Shadow with Deep Brown eyes points at itself "Are you sure that you are not mistaken? I don't think that I am up to the task… but everyone else is agreeing! I-I-I can't cower in fear!"
"Power, future..." the Shadow with Deep Blue eyes calls in yearning "There is no way that you could know the future! Even if it is set in stone I will fight, Who knows? Maybe I will stop that disaster from happening. Of course I agree!"
"This is… an unexpected outcome" a surprised voice comes from the Green eyed Shadow "Seriously, this wasn't in my plans, but still… it is alluring. I agree, I will need a lot of power if I want to… ehem, survive"
"You all are so full of yourselves, take things seriously!" a strict voice scolds at everyone, the Shadow with Yellow eyes seems to be a rigid person "There is no reason for me to reject your kindness, Mister X, I will wholeheartedly agree with your request. It is my duty to protect the other after all"
And then, everyone looks at you. You are the only one left, you are the last one to agree or disagree. You are not ready to answer, you are no one, you are less than nothing, you are a hindrance, you should be dead. You lick your lips, feeling your mouth completely dry. You want to cry, as you always do, you cry for everything.
"Come on, there is nothing to worry about, I won't blame you. I trust you" X just looks at you with something that looks like a smile, but it is not.
He trusts you, that sentence resounds in your head, someone trusts you. He must know about how incompetent you are, about how humble your roots are, yet he is trusting you.
"S-sir" you stutter "I don't know if I can make it, I don't know if I will even survive one more year. Even so I will do my best to fulfill your request"
You look at him with determination, yes, you will do it. He trusts you.
"Thank you. Saying anything else will sound empty, so I can only thank all of you. Now… brace yourselves.
"What…?" you only manage to spat when it hits you.
Pain.
So much pain.
You convulse in the floor, feeling so much pain in your body, it invades your whole being, it gets into your skin, your muscle, your bones, your organs. It feels as if you were being burned alive, as if your skin were to be destroyed constantly, no, not only your skin. Slowly the destruction encroaches your body; your skin explodes in a mist of blood only to reveal your red meat that are your organs, only to reconstruct itself.
Your muscles are next, and you feel it with your whole being, you don't know how you are still conscious.
And now your bones, followed by your organs.
There is only one thing left that is your brain.
And your brain ex-
-x-
10 chosen ones.
5 sins.
A demon.
This was the day that your life changed, and the day that your destiny changed for you to meet true despair. As the tenth Dao, the tenth Path. X will always blame himself for the decision that he took this day.