And then the next day came.
And as timed, a rift opened once again.
And letting out the only survivor of the massacre. The son of the father. Arius.
The disintegrated house where the rift originally stood had long collapsed, leeaving only a cavernous drop to the ground. As he fell, tears of sorrow flew into the air and when he hit the grime like ground, the tears rained on him.
He had saw it. He had seen everything. From the fallen building, to the estranged woman and even the unbearable suicide of his father, and even the faithful last words.
'I'm sorry.' Leaving everything to a melancholy slumber.
Everything around him was in debris. Arius crawled towards the pile of wood. The fallen ash like wood, left a sickly residue on his knees but he didn't care.
He simply couldn't find his parents— along with his little sister. He had seen where there were. He had seen a catastrophic attack that wiped out half of the buildings. Witnessing the strengthened floorboards crack and fracture. How her feet fell, her flitting hair that twirled as she fell and even then did she clutch his younger sister with an affectionate fervor. He remembered where they died and wanted to be with them.
Whilst in the rift, his poor eyes never left where there were, even when pillaring smoke erupted from the wood as the whole town began burst into flames. To cleanse there sins and hide the truth, they had burnt the whole town together. The ashy smoke drifted into the air, as more and more began to obscure his view from the rift, leaving him helpless and sorrowful.
His desperate banging against the mana wall, continued. All whilst his knuckles bled from the constant overuse and his skin torn.
And when the smoke finally dissipated, there bodies were gone.
And now he tred, he dug and he sobbed as he simply couldn't find where his parents were. There bodies had now seemingly faded away into the abyss.
No older than 9, he couldn't help but let all his bottled up emotions burst from the glass container that it was held in. He screamed, he howled all whilst the fluttering words of anger reached nobodies ears.
His fist banged across the dirt - trodden ground with a violent fury, but it was just him in this desolate massacre. He could call no one for help, he wanted to tell everyone about it. But no one was around him. In the collecting time of one, two and then five minutes later did he realize that it was pointless. His anger burned away into a state of level-headedness.
Around him was more of the debris as it seemed as the whole town had been struck with vengeance. He thought of calling the police or even someone for help, but he didn't have a phone.
'Your too young, maybe when your older.' Was what they had always said towards the notion of an idea.
The simple memory of that made his anger flared up again but he clenched his fists with much force that his his palms began to bleed.
'Never. Never again.' He thought as he trusted Awakened Union and with all of his heart. Arius had aspired to be a member of the Awakened Union to awaken his ability on any faithful day like everyone else and to train with an absolute resolve. But now it felt like a desolate cause. They were responsible for the death of so many, ones that belonged to his family and he could never ever condone there actions again.
Trembling in anguish, he knew that his ability had yet to be unlocked. He felt weak knowing that he couldn't have possible achieve with his desolate and yet moral hands.
'What could I do?' He thought in an angered manner.
But his everyflowing train of vindictive and hurtful thoughts was interrupted by a presence behind him— a monstrous one.
"Do you seek revenge?"
His voice ever so clear but Arius felt his words had a delectable poison laced with it.
Arius looked up to see who he was. It was a shadowy figure of a man, his wiry gray hair seemed to be aged by time and worn by use. His eyes in an way appeared to crescent slits and his mouth bore one of a serious frown.
The man's attire felt old and venerable as he wore an eerie black dress coat with ornament gold buttons ever alternating on the sides. Around his neck was white puffy cravat and he wore black loose pants. Buttoned on the breast pocket of his trench coat was a flickering badge of an owl. Its dark putrid beady eyes stared back at his— he had seen it before. On his side, was a gun, that wasn't fashioned in a way that housed simple steel bullets but something more.
His moon like eyes met Arius's and Arius's eyes met his. On the outside, it appeared that only silence flew by like a macabre rapids but on the inside, there lived only a single vital thought. The thought burned with an every glowing effulgence as it flickered once or twice before glowing still.
'No.'
And after the midst of the ever so ticking of time, did Arius make his decision. He pursed his every so dry and cracked lips, before freezing for a moment or two, with a rapid hesitation— sucking his lipds back in. He looked back down again.
Rethinking of what he wanted to say. The man's hands was drenched in a sinful and chaotic nature, that almost contrasted his outwards calm and composed stance. Almost what his parents had described the behavior and stature as an official 'elder.' Someone who was one of the seven strongest awakeners in the world that carried the burden of balance of the world on there shoulders.
It was no doubt that he was venerably powerful, his demeaning figure said it all, which made it all too weird for someone like him to going against the union that he was supposed to protect.
Something too about the badge that he wore seemed familiar, like Arius had seen it on TV. And it was definitely not in a kindred way. Arius looked down on his lap before thinking once more.
On the ground where even a magnificent flower had surmised from a jagged crack in a boulder. Its wilted pink petals that still stood strong almost reflected dutifully towards his mother's coral hair. And in a fleeting moment his thoughts laid into a resilient rest and said.
"Yes. "
The man's lips twitched for just a moment, before extending a pale pallor - like hand. Without even thinking, Arius took it. It was icy to the touch but he didn't mind.
Standing up, he dusted the debris and the grime off his knees, and looked back one last time. Surveying the aftermath of a massacre that had just took place before his eyes. Before out of nowhere a powerful portal twisted and warped out of space and time. its azure texture swirled in a circle as the man grabbed Arius's wrist, before pulling him along onto a new life.