Year 2030, at the slum of Tondo, Manila.
*Kring Kring
Relentless buzzing of a tattered phone disturbs a young boy who is deep indulged in his heroic dreams. Drools fall from his mouth, meeting with the already wet sheet of his wooden bed. He tardly stretched his arms in search of the loud phone.
His hand scrambled through the piles of photographs laying atop a detoriating wooden cabinet. As he took the phone from the edge of the cabinet, he lazily retreated his arm and greeted the broken screen of the phone with his bleak face.
*tick
It was a miracle how his tattered phone, with screen already taped on its body else it falls, still managed to activate its face recognition feature. As he unlocked, a wallpaper of a man cloaked in golden armor greeted him, awakening his determination deep in slumber.
It was the same man in the photographs atop the cabinet. He, who had no wealth to buy luxury, managed to buy this on-sell visuals of his idol.
*Bang
His smile was yet to die out when a loud bang from his worned out door, broke him from his fascination.
A 23-year-old woman stand in the doorway, looking at him with a deadpan expression.
"Seriously? So who was this boy who relentlessly urged me to drive him to Rizal Park early, but its already noon and he is yet to wake up, huh?! Get up, Alab!" uttered the girl as she crossed her arms.
At this remarks, the boy still in the bed widened his eyes from shock. His eyes scribbled through his phone, looking at the upper left where a buzzing "12:39" mockingly displays itself.
"Shit! Its already this late?!", yelled the boy, Alab, as he hastily depart his body from his bed, running towards the door.
"Sorry, sister, just give me 5 minutes!", muttered Alab as he shortly closed the door and run through his 3-apartment cabinet where limited pair of clothes were at.
Before 5 minutes was to run out, Alab opened the door again, greeting his sister with a proud smile.
"All prepared. Lets go!", muttered Alab as his sister could only heave a sigh.
"Alright, lets go. Else, I will be late to my second shift too."
Before closing the door, Alab steal a last glance at his 4×4 room, with only a cabinet and a bed furniture on it. Scanning the wall covered fully with printed pictures of that single man cloaked in golden armor, Alab pondered in his heart.
"Today, I will finally get to meet you! Golden Hero!"
------
On the Rizal Park in the Manila, Philippines. Alab hopped off his sister's motorcycle with the Suzuki mark on it already fading out.
Handing out the helmet to his sister, Alab excitedly jumped in place as he couldnt wait to meet the Golden Hero. In his hand, pictures pasted together to form a 2×2 visual of Golden Hero was relentlessly swaying from his excited hand.
Just one look and one could say that Alab is a fanatic.
"Thank you, Sister! This really makes my day! Thank you so much!", thanked Alab as he hugged his sister.
Patting his back, his sister replied.
"No problem, just make sure to meet him and get a fansign, okay? And dont forget to enjoy your day"
"Yess! Sure, sister!", muttered Alab as he exited his sister's embrace.
His sister then reached to her pocket as she took a 500 hundred pesos she had saved just for this day.
Giving it to the hesitant Alab, his sister insisted.
"Here, its for you. I was actually planning to save at least a thousand but there is just so much bill to pay. Dont worry, on your next birthday, I will make sure to save enough money for you to enjoy yourself to the fullest. Okay?", in a low voice, his sister, Alexia, muttered. Her eyes avoiding Alab's.
Alab saw this and couldnt help but feel warmth. After all, he knew just how much his sister had to do just to save 500 pesos. Her three part-time jobs were only paying 1000 a day combined. Not to mention that she still have a 4th year college class to attend to.
With a gentle and comforting smile, Alab muttered.
"You dont have to feel sorry, sister. You know that I only wish to see the Golden Hero for my birthday, right? And you already made me able to fulfill that. For that, I am already beyond grateful. This 500 pesos is just a bonus, HAHAHA. Thank you... Really", uttered Alab as he no longer rejected the 500 pesos.
Alexia couldnt help but flashed a relieved smile as she gently push Alab. She couldnt help but reminisced their parents. Their father leave them for his another family, while their mother excused that she needs time to heal but later on find a family of her own and leave them.
In the end, it was just her and Alab somehow surviving for 8 years now.
With that thought, her relieved expression, in a flash was washed off to her usual deadpan expression.
"You... Just go there! They could exit the portal any moment now", Alexia urged Alab. After all, its already the 7th day since the Golden Hero and his team had entered the portal.
"Yes, sister! Take care on your job and schooling!", Alab waved as he began to run towards the crowd of people behind him.
Before he could do so, Alexia stopped him.
"By the way... There is still a drool marks on your face"
"Shi--", shyly, Alab wiped his face.
----
Calming his ragged breathing from extensive squeezing in to the crowd of fellow Golden Hero fanatic, Alab panted for air.
'These people are too much... They didnt even bother let a 14-year-old squeezed in!', Alab muttered as he could no longer squeeze in in the herd of people before him.
His build was not of a large one. In fact, he was often mistaken a 10-year-old boy due to his small build. With a height of 120 cm and considerable fat clinging to his physique, Alab should find it easy to squeeze in in any crowd, but, that was in faced of normal crowd and not a total desperate fanatic ahead of him.
Alab could only twitch in pain as he got squeezed by large men around him, singing their hymn for the Golden Hero. In the end, Alab was delivered out of the crowd, back to the exact area he was dropped off by his sister.
*pant pant
Alab panted for more as he sat in the chair nearby, beside an old lady who also couldnt squeeze in the crowd.
'Now, Im like an old guy, huh', he thought.
Alab could only appreciate the sight of the Rizal Park congested with hopeful people. In the center beside the statue of Dr. Jose Rizal, a humungous portal as tall as a 3-storey building stood extraordinarily.
It mirrors the same color as a universe with luminaries gleaming at times. This scene should be bringing hope to people but everyone knew that with this portal came a catastrophe.
It was no saying when this dream-like sight could turn into a pandemonium.
On the street, Alab glanced at several stalls placed on the side, selling delicacies like dirty ice cream, fishball, and such.
There were also stalls that sell goods that used to exist only in novels. There were armor stalls, potions, and other hunter necessities.
Finally, Alab estimated that there was about a thousand people in the crowd ahead and was intensifying each second.
Yet to calm himself, Alab checked his face through his phone camera.
His forehead was dripping with sweat, running to his pointed nose down to his thin, rosy cupid bow lips. He checked for morning in his small circular eyes with blue pupil on the center.
After wiping his sweat, feeling satisfied and had calmed down, Alab stood once more, determined to once again try squeezing in in the intensifying crowd.
But, he was yet to take a step forward when the humungous portal ahead of that crowd, turned chaotic similar to a static TV screen.
People took a deep breath as they witnessed this familiar and celebration-worthy scenery.
The reporters who had been on the standby for days now, hastily get their cameras rolling.
Several black sedan drove off and stopped at the end of the crowd, right at the end of the barricaded path. Several men coated in black suit oozed out of the sedan as they formed two lines in the barrication.
But most notably, a white sedan being guarded by these black sedans. From this car, five to eight people cloaked in white-silk armor and a cross on their arms. Their auras mending the fatigue in the nearby people.
Alab heard a man in another golden light armor, talk to the men in black suit.
"Guard the healers. The Heroes could come out any second now, injuries should be anticipated. Be sure to get prepared to heal them."
With those words, the healers went in front of the now blue-colored portal whilst the men in black suit became more alert.
Alab watched several more sedans passed through and enter the main site. His eyes sparkled at the sight of the logo engraved in each sedan.
A head of a lion bathed in golden light, roaring as if to assert its dominance. It was the logo of the Golden Guild, led by the Golden Hero.
"Its them... I only watched them on TV and now...", Alab felt his heart urging to escape as he was literally a meter away from a parked sedan. The Golden Lion logo seemed to call him.
As if to fuel his fascination, a man cloaked with a brighter golden armor hopped off the sedan. Threads of golden hair blend with his hair darker than coal. His smooth skin finer than most women and his tall stature that made Alab looked up to him.
It was the vice-leader of the Golden Guild, Neil Young, also termed as the "The Lion's Brain Hero".
With mouth wide open, Alab unconsciously throw himself into Neil Young, after all, he was second on his most-admired hero list, just right below the Golden Hero. His body said there was no letting this opportunity pass.
*thud
In his way to meeting the hero, a less notably man in tattered clothes walked past him and hit him, causing Alab with smaller stature to stumble on the ground.
Alab saw the Lion's Brain Hero looking down at his pitiful state.
"Sh---", Alab could only curse as he covered his face and ran away, making sure that he would not be recognized by the hero for the second time he meet him.
Looking around, after making sure that he made enough space with the hero, Alab spotted the man who hit him. He was furious as his once-a-lifetime chance of interacting with the hero had now gone to waste. All because of this unsorry man.
"Mister... You just hit a person, arent you feel sorry?", Alab uttered, ensuring to compose himself.
The man had no chance to even look at Alab as behind them, two men dressed in police cape called out.
"Get away from that man. He is the criminal, Nathan Fury!", shouted the police officer, alerting the people around them.
"Fuck---", Nathan cursed before he looked around. On his back, a fragile boy was touching his shoulder. A scheme entered his mind.
"Stop there! Else, I will kill this boy!", shouted Nathan as he hastily pulled Alab. A knife pointed towards the dumbfounded boy's neck...