The sun shining brightly on the sky, a beautiful blue that could calm any heart and seduce the eyes of daydreamers, that could truly be a sight to behold if it wasn't for the clouds of smoke coming from the earth, industrial chimneys of hundreds of meters to the sky can be seen in almost any direction of the horizon, the shouts of the workers starting since the sun appeared, hammers, saws, pickaxes breaking rocks, all sounds telling the listener that the work never stops, the contrast between the peaceful above with the bustling below representing the desire of the human being to take control of his environment and paint every surrounding with his own colors.
The place where all these sounds come from is a peculiar one, if seen from the sky one could see it divides into two, a beautiful blue separating the two sides, a big river in the middle of the city, the sound of the work may come from both sides but if seen with focus one could remark that the right side won in shouts and smoke. The name of the two-sided place is Ariethis City, one of the most important settlements of Mesarthim, the blue country, almost every part of it is near a body of water, the old duke that rules this country is proud of this as he brags every time with the other rulers of the Bausmat continent.
Ariethis City is divided into two sides, West Ariethis and East Ariethis, the two sides are divided into four districts; the noble and political Northwest; the worker and trading Northeast; the strong and militarized Southwest; the dirty and chaotic Southeast. The old duke of Mesarthim may like the sea, but Count Velorum, ruler of Ariethis City is not too fond of the theme, he likes his river but just as a decoration that's why when talking about the four districts of Ariethis people often names them like, the Northwest Lion; the Southwest bear; the Northeast Ram; the Southeast Rat.
In the Southeast of Ariethis City, are the slums, no matter how much has grown Ariethis City since its founding, the slums were always there, as old as the noble district, and as far from it, gangs rule the zone, filled with pubs, brothels, gambling dens, if every city has to have it, then in Ariethis, it was decided that this was its place, but not all was a shady business showing humans darkest desires, in this district the population that got in lady luck bad side lives, many shelters for the homeless from war or those that lost everything against their fellow citizens, there are also orphanages, the small light in the dark side of Ariethis.
Most of those orphanages didn't have a name, they are called by the street at the side where they were built. That's the case with the orphanage of the gray way, the street in the gap that divides north with the south in the East Ariethis. Strange place for an orphanage, but considering the kind of place that is Southeast district, is probably the safest one, the founder of the orphanage was one of those human beings with kindness on his heart with equal size of his pockets, or maybe he was just a noble that when working on his image, didn't like to enter the deeper parts of the district.
In a window of the second floor of said orphanage, a small figure could be discerned, it was a thin young boy, no more than four years, a characteristic dark blue hair with a pair of bright blue sky eyes that seemed to shine with the reflection of the sun in the glass of the window. The young boy looked in a daze at the city outside the window, looking closely, one could see his lips moving, as if mumbling, but if anyone close were to hear the words that the four-year-old kid was saying, one should surely doubt what was heard.
''Fuck...'' Complex emotions were visible seen on the blue eyes of the boy.
''I mean, I knew from the start that I was going to other worlds, that, I understand it clearly. In fact, I'm quite glad that the first stop isn't an outrageous fantastical world where danger lurks at every corner, but a somehow familiar sight.'' The emotions of the boy reached a consensus and only two emotions were shown this time.
''...But, why as a newborn?'' Annoyance and helplessness were all left on his face. It was understandable, after all, the young boy was Zhou Heng that just moments ago was on his bed having enlightenment of the ways of the world and human selfishness, and as a consequence of a moment of impulsiveness, he jumped on the proposal of the shady system, and it really can't be said that it was just moments ago, after all, he already has lived on this world for more or less four years.
More or less, because even if he has a great part of his memories since birth the time that passed wasn't his main concern, it was dealing with the effects of having the memory of a 16 years old young man, transferred to a newborn child. He wasn't born with all those memories, they came little by little as if remembering or listening to a story. Thanks to that, in the orphanage he was often considered 'the strange boy that is always on a daze', he didn't have too much trouble doing anything in his daily life, it's just that his attention was directed on recovering his 'consciousness' as Zhou Heng.
All this process finally came to an end today, Zhou Heng was successfully born in this world, an orphan of an unknown background in Ariethis City. His face was surprisingly the same as when he was a little kid in his real life, considering that the roots of Ariethis are similar to the people of the South part of Aurora of his previous world he should be very distinct to most people here, but in fact, it wasn't that rare, there are many people with features like him in this world too, they are a bit marginalized on the high side of the city but nothing that bad on this part of Ariethis.
''With this experience, I understand now the importance of the records in the system...'' The young Zhou Heng narrowed his immature eyes while mumbling to himself with a high-pitched voice.
The records of the system were the first signal that the system came with risks, having experienced four years growing up as a child with a quasi-consciousness of an adult, he now understood many things of said part of the system, after all, the memories of the real Zhou Heng were transferred to this body using that function, also if every world that he decides to go, will need to experience the same start, then that means that every mission will take years to complete, taking that into a note, when he returns to his body, it will be like the fusion of brains from two persons, it would be very dangerous if all the memories of a grown-up Zhou Heng rushed without care to his main body, he lived in a daze for four years as a newborn so his new body won't suffer complications, what would happen when he finish the mission? could it be that he needs to wait for weeks in a memory crash to enjoy the fruits of his work?
''A whole new level of respect to the system...'' Zhou Heng sighed in amazement.
''Now that my consciousness returned, I can start preparing to accomplish the mission. System, give me my mission.'' For the four years of adaption, the system never said a thing, it seems that it has good regulations and only gives work to kids older than four years.
[Congratulations to the Host for successfully entering the world of 'Revealing Shadows']
[Current location, Bausmat continent, Duchy of Mesarthim, Ariethis City.]
[The mission to the Host is to find, defeat, and kill the Hero of Ariethis]
[The restrictions of the Host are the following:
- The Host can't leave Ariethis City.
- The Host must complete the mission before twenty years.
- The Host must kill the Hero personally, using non-living tools.]
Zhou Heng nodded at the system after reading the messages a few times, but a little frown appeared on his baby face when a doubt emerged after reading the mission.
''System, the mission says 'find', but I will receive at least the basic information of my target, right...?'' Zhou Heng asked with a hint of hope.
[Negative, the Host must find the Hero on his own.] His hope was betrayed.
''Then how I am going to know who the Hero is?'' Zhou Heng asked with a scowl, that on his immature face looked more like a pout.
[When the Host finds the Hero he will naturally know about it.]
''Could it be that he shines...?'' Zhou Heng whispered in helplessness, it seems that the system is a little sloppy or it trusts his host very much.
[Negative, the Hero doesn't emit any kind of luminous radiation.] The sloppy system surprisingly answered with diligence.
With twitching lips, Zhou Heng wondered if this was a plot from the being behind the system to incense negative feelings and forge him into a good villain.
''Can you give a hint on how to find it at least?'' Zhou Heng needed information, so he wanted to use the system, his best informant, as much as possible.
[The Host is a 'Villain' so he will have contact with the Hero no matter what, as long as he is in Ariethis City.]
Zhou Heng looked a bit at the word 'Villain' and decided to ignore it, for now, he is young now, he has a long life to think about his new occupation, so he put his focus on another word.
''Contact... that means, that we are fated with each other.'' Zhou Heng commented a bit sarcastic, before getting onto business. ''System, is the Hero a native from this world? Is he aware of my existence?''
[The Hero will always be a native of the world the Host travels.]
[The Hero is unaware of the existence of the Host, his status as Hero, but he may have means to know about the danger that may approach him.]
''What kind of means? Does the Hero of Ariethis have them?'' With a raised eyebrow Zhou Heng asked, that kind of information was very important to him in future clashes against heroes.
[Divination, Fate Treasures, Space-Temporal communication, means that may warn future crisis, but the Host can be relieved, that his identity as a Villain will remain hidden.]
[The world of 'Revealing Shadows' have little, to none of the previously mentioned means, so the chance that the Hero of Ariethis is warned about the Host is improbable]
''Good, but then that doesn't mean I can relax, after all, I'm fated to meet with the hero, so its better if I can control the contact, my biggest advantage is that I'm the one that is aware of the existence of the other, he is my target, but to him, I am currently a stranger.'' Zhou Heng said inwardly, redirecting his gaze to the window after reading the information of the system.
''Thanks... No matter what, this sight is beautiful.'' Zhou Heng smiled a little, his sight is no longer blurred, his new body has pretty good eyes, and he is grateful for that.