"Ughhhh" Matthew groaned as he stood up and was met by a long hallway that was engulfed by eternal darkness.
'Where am I right now' Matthew thought as he was turning his head to see anybody that can help him.
Matthew opened a door in the long hallway hoping to find anyone in this complete darkness.
When he entered the room, he was met with rays of light which made him close his eyes.
After what seemed like an eternity, Matthew opened his eyes only to find himself standing in the middle of nowhere which was full of white fog. He can see up to 300 meters clearly but no more than that.
"What right do you have to live?" asked a voice with rage to the left of his shoulder.
Matthew turned around quickly and saw a young teenager who was covered in a black fog who had blood dripping whose age seemed to be 15 and seemingly standing with one leg with the other leg completely cut out which was bleeding non-stop
"Kayden," said Matthew with pity on his eyes.
"Yeah it's me, you fricking cold-hearted traitor," said Kayden spatting out blood.
Matthew ran to him in a rush to see what happened to him with worries.
STAB!
Just when he was going to lift him, Matthew was nearly stabbed where his heart resides. Matthew grabbed Kayden's hand in an attempt to reduce the knife going too much into his own chest.
Matthew kicked Kayden with his knee in his stomach to make him lose balance and did a roundhouse kick in his chest to increase the distance between him and Kayden.
Kayden flew backward and spat out even more blood but Matthew wasn't fazed when he spat blood again.
"As expected from the 62nd brigade captain!" shouted Kayden laughing and saying" Well, your skills haven't rusted at all. I thought all you did was deliver fucking pizzas".
"You are not even the real one so why even bother talking with," said Matthew with a cold expression.
"All I asked was to just fricking cover me while I flank to the right but all you fucking did was to run away from the battle!"
Matthew did not respond and moved forward to put an end to this fake Kayden.
But he was stopped by a voice that was familiar to him, "If you would have just covered him while he was flanking, we by now will be living a happy life as a couple right now".
Matthew turned around to see a teary beautiful blonde girl who was in her 15 wearing the uniform of a female commander where men would kill to be with her but she was letting out killing intent towards Matthew.
"Do you know what is the action in my life that I regret the most?" asked the girl to Matthew as she kept walking closer to Matthew.
Matthew maintained silence as he had an idea of what she was going to say.
"THE FACT THAT I TRUSTED YOU TO TAKE CARE OF HIM ON EVERY FUCKING MISSION!".
She came running to Matthew with a knife that brought him nostalgic memories but he has no choice but to fight her.
Matthew tried to hit her in the neck to try and make her unconscious as he wished not to fight her but she grabbed his hand and swung the knife to his face, Matthew dodged it but ended up getting slashed in the top of his left soldier.
'Fuck, I almost forget she is Amelia, a commander who was the best in hand-to-hand combats' cursed Matthew.
Matthew jumped backward to increase his distance but he was met with a kick in his stomach which made his balance go haywire.
"Where did the great Matthew Layman, a man who was feared by every fricking commander and the royals of the Nergan Kingdom go?! asked Amelia sarcastically to taunt Matthew.
"He is already dead, at least for now," said Matthew calmly while regaining his balance grabbing Amelia's knife and hand leading him to lift her up and throwing her upside down.
When he was about to throw her down, she grabbed his neck with her legs making both of them fall down backward.
THUD!
Both of them groaned due to the fall but it was different for Matthew as he was struggling to release himself from the grasp of Amelia's strong legs which was strangling him to death.
Matthew looked around for the knife but it seems Amelia's hand was quick enough to pick it up and the look on her face was a smile, the same smile Matthew saw whenever she kills someone on the battlefield.
Matthew punched Amelia's legs with his right hand as his left was severely injured by the slash earlier, he was hoping that her legs will at least loosen up at least a bit but his efforts availed him nothing as her grip only got stronger.
As his last resort, Matthew put all of his strength in his legs as he tried to jump to at least make a change.
As he expected, she was startled by his try and slightly loosened her grip on his neck which made Matthew punch her leg with all his might which made her lose strength on her legs as Matthew made his release from her legs which seemed to be made up of steel.
As Matthew gasped for breath, he did not waste any more time and ran towards the place where Kayden was lying down seemingly pale and struggling to breathe due to the blood loss.
He took the knife from the pool of blood from Kayden's leg which was stopped bleeding.
Without any hesitation, he slashed Kayden's neck which made blood splatter on Matthew's face, and turned around to see the lifeless face of Amelia who was running towards him with her knife.
"YOU FUCKING TRAITOR" shouted Amelia and ran fastly towards Matthew with all her might hoping to kill him.
When they were close, Matthew swung his knife and so did Amelia both clearly aiming for each other's head.
When both of their respective knives were just millimeter's away from touching each other's heads...
"BROTHER!"
Matthew woke up from his hellish dream with his white shirt drenching with sweat. He checked his left shoulder and found that it was not injured.
'It was just a dream' sighed Matthew with relief as it was a situation he never wished to encounter. Ever again.
"Brother!" shouted Grace and hugged Matthew while crying.
"What happened, Grace?" asked Matthew while consoling her.
"You were uncomfortable in your sleep and was sweating furiously. I tried even waking but you just won't wake up!" said Grace crying.
"Probably I was just sleeping peacefully and you ruined my sleep," said Matthew but he was thankful that Grace woke him up from that nightmare.
"You know about me right? I will go to the doctor today to get some sleeping pills. Happy?"
"But every time, when I ask for the prescription you say kids won't understand but I know that you didn't even go to the doctor because you just ignore your nightmare."
"Ok Ok my genius cute little sister, I will take care of myself so just concentrate on your studies. Got it?"
"Your detention ends today, right?" asked Matthew with a serious face.
"Yes," said Grace while wiping off her tears and snot.
"Now get ready for school, you have already taken a long leave of 2 months because of detention but if any other kids mess with you, try to solve it by maintaining peace. Don't go beating up girls and boys again just because they talk about how poor you are. Learn to be carefree. Got that" said Matthew with a serious face which tells Grace to tell yes.
"I will not make that mistake again brother," said Grace trying to ignore the question.
"Yes or No?" asked Matthew with a cold expression and voice.
"Yes Brother I understand," said Grace with respect.
"After school, wait for me I will take you to a nice restaurant for dinner. Your choice" said Matthew with a chuckle
"All right!" Grace exclaimed with happiness as his brother was allowing her to choose.
The duo got outside of the house and saw the school bus arriving at the street end.
"Well, study well and make your brother proud and I have said this many times but don't reveal the fact that you got a 99% synchronization with the flicker birds to anybody, even to the ones who treat you kindly. A minute is enough for them to let the greed take over their body. Got that?"
"Yes yes, roger that," said Grace with a hopeless expression as his brother is always cautious and she does not hate it as she is mature enough to know how the world works.
Matthew patted her head kissed her on the forehead and bid her farewell as he kickstarted his bike to go to Milton pizzas to at least get that remaining salary for the last deliveries. he has done for the past few days.
After 15 min-------[At Milton pizzas]
Matthew walked into the Milton pizzas wearing a blue hoodie and trouser pants which made the girl workers look at him in a different way as they only saw him covered in smoke with the pizza outfit but now, the girls are looking at him in respect due to something else which Matthew here didn't realize.
When Matthew noticed the gazes of the people is so different from yesterday, he approached the man who cleans the floor daily.
"What happened, am I forbidden from entering here," asked Matthew worried that he may not be able to get that remaining salary after all.
"No boss, how could we disrespect you!" said the cleaner raising his voice to alert the others to change their gazes
"Yes boss, how could we disrespect you please apologize to us if we make you uncomfortable!" said the whole delivery guys in unison.
Matthew after thinking for a while showed an 'I figured everything out' expression.
"Am I on camera?" asked Matthew while laughing off the whole situation.
"Oh, you came Matthew" a voice came behind his back.
Matthew turned around and asked "What the hell is happening Assistant Manager? Is this some kind of prank, if it is I think you guys are taking it too far," said Matthew with a frown.
"You haven't heard? Manager Delma has quit this job due to the order of the higher-ups and he appointed you as the manager for this branch" said the Assistant Manager calmly assessing the situation.
'What the hell was Baldy even thinking to make me the manager of this place' thought Matthew.
He went to the Manager's room where Delma pissed himself which is unknown to Matthew. He started thinking if this whole situation is a prank but quickly dismissed the thought as the folks who work here are pride-filled humans who will never call a teenager "Boss"
He sat on the comfy chair where every day Delma would scold him for being late. He noticed a cover that was used for sending letters sitting on top of the table.
Matthew tore the top of the cover, took the paper inside with care, and started to read it.
'My Saviour Mr. Matthew Layman,
"You might be wondering why you landed in this position. Well, to repay the favor you have done to me, I took the liberty of making you sit in a comfortable position to earn money, and please do tell me if I have invaded your privacy. Don't think that I have appointed you as a manager just because you helped me, I asked around about you and each one of them(except some people)tell me you work hard for your sister but these alone did not earn your position. You have a clean past which of course I investigated...Sorry if I overstepped my boundaries but it was a must to whether to assign this job or not. I think I have repaid my favor to make you happy. Well, I wish you all the best in your life and if you need any more favors feel free to call me by the number on the card given on the cover. I will help you with my utmost abilities(except for starting a war).
Your's respectful
Celine Milton.
Matthew was still in a state of shock unable to comprehend the situation that is happening right now.
After what seemed like 1 hour, Matthew inwardly thought 'Who the heck did I even help'. Yes, Matthew did help her without any ulterior motives but this is too much for just helping her get home on his motorcycle.
'Well, by the tone of the letter she didn't find out that I fabricated my past to not let anybody find me but it's better to be cautious. I will give William a call later to make sure nobody dug too much'.
While he was thinking about whether to give William a call or not, the assistant manager's voice came through the room.
"May I come in Sir ?"
"Yes," said Matthew while keeping the letter and the card of Celine in his pockets.
The Assistant Manager came inside the room and stood in front of Matthew.
"Sir, an order of 350 pizzas has been issued to our branch sir. How should we proceed, sir?
"Well, don't we have a minivan to export big party orders?" questioned Matthew with doubt.
"Sir, that's not the problem here but the delivery location seems to be," said the Assistant manager who was called with his nickname AM which is short for Assistant Manager.
"What is the location that seemed to be a problem with? You talk like we have to deliver it to the dungeon" said Matthew with a chuckle.
"Ummm Sir" called AM
"What ?" asked Matthew.
"Believe me or not sir, but we have to deliver to a dungeon which is in the outskirts of the city."
"Seriously?"
"Seriously," said AM with seriousness on his face.
"AM, what will happen if we ignore this order?" asked Matthew
"Well, we will probably miss the chance to make a world record of delivering pizzas to a dungeon and 350 boxes it is," said AM calmly.
Matthew immediately told, " Call all the delivery boys to my room and leave the woman out of this."
"Yes sir," said AM and left the room by closing the door gently.
After 10 minutes, all the delivery boys came to Matthew's room and stood straight to show their respect.
"Well, you probably heard the situation due to the gossip but let me ask this straightforwardly. Which one of you is willing to go?".
No reply came from the boys as they were clearly afraid that their lives were on the line but he reproached the line again with a change.
"The one who goes will get 10% of everybody's salary this month excluding me ", said Matthew shamelessly.
Still, nobody volunteered and Matthew was worried as time was of the essence here.
With no choice left, Matthew said "I will go to the dungeon to deliver pizzas but all of your wages are cut by 25% and will belong to me. Is that fucking clear?"
"Yes sir," said the boys in Unison even though they don't like the condition as who they thought as ' a brat' is sitting in front of them as the new Manager whose position is respected in each branch as he is the one who handles the salary and bonuses.
"Now get the hell out and AM, tell the chefs to prepare the pizzas in 3 hours. This is the first order I am giving as your new Manager. Got it?."
"Yes sir!" exclaimed Am and left the room with excitement.
Matthew didn't know that this decision will trigger a series of events in his life that will completely change his life upwards down.
25th of May in 8001 of the Vampire calendar. Today marked a beginning of a new era in history as the 7 legendary flickers who will save the world from calamity were selected today.
But what they didn't know was the fact that some flickers were already awakened and were hiding in plain sight.