The Star of Annihilation
Chapter 0 - Prologue
Written by : eleven
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There were days before the fall when he thought he could feel humanity slipping through the cracks of despair.
BOOM! BA-BOOM!
As he constantly trudged along with the Magician Corps, he was nervous even when his leader said they would win the war and that the Empire was in talks of permanent treaties with the 7 Kingdoms and 3 Tribes.
BOOM - BOOOOOOM!
However, he had the right to be nervous. Afraid even.
SHOOOOOOOH- BOOM!
As he was sitting here, with his two legs blown off their kneecaps, bleeding profusely, he wondered if there was a way for us to have lived. No, I wasn't a martyr.
He was just a 4-Star War Magician who had relatively high mana sensitivity, but lacked mana reserves in comparison. His talent for feeling mana and passion for magic was something even he could acknowledge to be extraordinary and wouldn't be lacking to even the greatest Arch-Mages on the continent.
However, the reality was cruel at the fact that his overall life just didn't have the luck or environments to go higher. He didn't have the luck of having amazing teachers, and was self-taught from the start. He never had the chance to even attend an academy due to his status as a commoner.
He wanted to say that the Empire was a fair place to all. But it wasn't.
"Huu… Huuuuu…"
His breathing was heavy. It was a miracle that he was even alive right now. Though, he knew he didn't have much time left to live.
His red war robes were tainted unnaturally in darker spots than others due to the splatter of blood.
He closed his eyes faintly, trying to recall if there was anything he had regretted.
'Hah... Who am I kidding.'
He was human. Of course, he had decisions and choices he made that he regretted. Well, he was only twenty-two years old. His life was deemed forfeit due to some bastards at the top.
If humans had unified quicker with the other races, instead of squabbling over their petty pride, they might have had a chance at winning this war.
BOOM!
He opened his eyes to look at his surroundings around him once more.
The pounding of meteors striking the ground shook his vision just a bit, but there was nothing much to see anyways.
All that remained were mangled corpses of humans, elves, dwarves, demi-humans, undead, giants, even demons laid strewn about atop a red sea of blood that was called the ground.
He was lucky enough to have transcended his status as a commoner and reached 4 stars on his own. It was an incredible feat. But in front of them, he was merely a bug, like any other human. In front of them, it was impossible. Only if all the Archmages, Swordmasters, Great Shamans, and even the Grand Wizard had come together earlier and were in the forefront of the war, would they possibly have stood a chance.
But even those bastards were selfish and only moved for themselves once they had attained power. Though he could understand their reasons for being selfish when they had power, they didn't even bat an eye when the entire continent was faced with destruction.
Only when they realized that this would be a threat of extinction would they probably move, but..... he knew. He knew it better than anybody.
He could see it in the fluctuations of the mana. They were absolute.
And none of humanity would stand a chance.
"Haaaaa…. Haaaa."
He started to close his eyes as he reached inside his robe with his remaining strength and grabbed his pendant that his mother gave him before passing away.
It was his habit to rub it for good luck when he was nervous or afraid.
Drip. Drip.
Tears rolled down his eyes.
"Hic-... hahic-"
He looked at the bright emerald pendant as he heard the cries of his comrades being exploded to bits and pieces helplessly. He felt sad. He didn't want to die.
Yet, there was no reason to be afraid, was there? He would die, and hopefully, would never have to face the same nightmare again.
And if he did, he would definitely change it. So that we- No… he would not die. He wouldn't bow his head unnecessarily, nor would he stand for getting anything less if I did.
Humanity didn't deserve a second chance. He knew that much. But, maybe people like him did. He was sure they were out there. In fact, they were talents in the past that had died miserable deaths from schemers in the Empire like the so-called 'heroes'.
He suddenly looked up as he felt the mana fluctuate violently once more, this time, near him.
A magic circle could be seen in the red and ashy sky. The clouds of ash started to ripple and a huge meteor started to descend towards his location.
'Ah.'
He looked at the bright molten rock descending from the sky, burning with a blue and white shell of flames.
The fight until now was for naught.
Suddenly, as the meteor was about to crash, he saw something shimmering in the corner of his eye.
A bright glow started to emerge from his mother's pendant which gave an odd sense of solace to him before it all ended.
Boom.
* * *
Whirrrrrrrrrrrr
He blinked his eyes slowly to the whirring sound enveloping his surroundings.
'Wait, what?'
Was he really blinking his eyes?
Memories started to slowly flood back into him as he laid there in complete silence and darkness.
He had surely died.
Then, where was he? What had happened to him?
[...Best of luck, my descendant. I do not have much energy left, but I wish you well in your endeavors to change your fate. Live well.]
'What?'
He tried to open his mouth but he couldn't feel a thing in his body. No, did he even have a body right now? Surely he did if he could hear that voice, right?
Descendant? Change his fate?
He, Roy Stone, had no idea just how much that day would change his 'life'.
Chapter 0 - Fin