3 days before…
Igneous hit that boy until he almost killed him. He was from an enemy gang. They had disputed control of an area for almost a year. Los Jaguares were the strongest, but there were other gangs that dared to dispute power. Like the Chavos.
Igneous knew that if they didn't do something soon, the Chavos would be the next to dominate the area. So he decided to attack with everything.
He was kneeling on top of the body of Radix, leader of the Chavos. He kept hitting him, his hands were soaked with blood, and his knuckles were bruised from hitting so much.
"Please…," Radix begged, "please…"
It was a plea for Igneous to stop hitting him. He stopped. He looked around and saw the rest of the Chavos lying on the ground of the soccer field. defeated. Los Jaguares remained standing, erect with pride, for being the winners and the undisputed owners of the area.
Igneous got up and Kev handed him an old rag with which he wiped the blood off his hands.
"Just to be clear!" He yelled, "This is jaguar territory!"
The defeated gang got up from the ground, limping, staggering. One of them charged Radix, because the leader of the Chavos could hardly stand up.
The boy raised his head and puffed out his chest, proud. He was the strongest. He was the unbeatable. The one who had led Los Jaguares to their current glory.
He was…
"Igneous…," he heard her voice.
He turned around and saw her.
'Breeze…'
There was disappointment in her eyes. And fear and disgust…
She had never seen Igneous do those things. She knew he could fight very well, but she stayed out of conflict. That was the first time that she witnessed the cruelty of the leader of Los Jaguares.
"Breeze," he reached out and Wham! She slapped him.
"Why do you hit me?" Igneous roared, "I'm doing this for the gang! For you!"
She turned around and left.
Saying nothing was more painful than a scolding, than a claim.
Igneous and Breeze did not speak to each other for the rest of the day, nor the next day. The boy would soon regret that, because that would be the last time he would see her alive.
***
In the present…
They almost drowned. The river was very violent. Fortunately, they managed to swim to the shore. They crawled across the sand until they fell exhausted.
Coff, coff! The girl coughed and vomited water.
Igneous took a deep breath as if he hadn't tasted oxygen for a long time.
"We did it?" he asked.
"What thing?"
"Escape…"
The girl looked around.
"I think so."
The two remained for a long time lying on their backs. Contemplating the multicolored sky.
"The sky," Igneous spoke, "why is it like this?"
"What are you talking about? The sky has always been like this."
The boy didn't reply. He stood up and realized that he had no idea where to go now.
"And now?" he asked.
The girl also stood up.
"We've strayed too far," she answered, looking around, "I have no idea where we are."
Beyond the shore could be seen a dense black mist.
"What is that mist?" The boy asked, pointing ahead.
"Really, you don't know anything? We have to avoid it. It is dangerous."
"But it's everywhere."
"No, there are routes to avoid it."
"I don't think there's a route to avoid them here."
The girl swept the place with her eyes and seemed to understand that there was no way to get out of there without going through the mist. Only the violent river was free of mist.
"Dammit!" She wailed, "I need to think."
"Sure."
The girl sat on the sand, looking at the river, while Igneous moved away from her, without reaching the black mist.
The boy sat down, leaned his back against a rock, took out the red sphere, and spoke to it.
"System…"
"Tell me more about these powers," he asked.
"Brilliant! Will I have weapons?"
"My role?"
"Berserker? What's that?" He asked her scratching her head.
"Wow... Sounds good, but... what other roles are there?"
"System, I have noticed that my powers are fire. Are they all like this?"
"Do the elements have something to do with the roles?"
"Okay, okay, I got it!"
"Elemental Combinations?"
"Awesome! And where do I find people like that? "Rakna points? What's that?" Igneous asked, scratching his head. 'Wow, that's the experience points of an RPG video game,' thought the boy. "How many points do I have and how do I spend them?" He asked. "Great! I would like to increase my stamina capacity." "Yes, spend all points on stamina." [ INGEO – FIRE USER ATQ: 240 DEF: 150 MAGIC: 120 SPEED: 170 STAMINA: 200>>>212 ] "Now can I stay transformed longer?" "What?" Igneous snorted in frustration, "It's not fair! I thought that stamina would increase immediately." "But then I'm going to get better very slowly." Igneous scratched his head. "And what are those things? The shrines." "Wait, wait… Are you saying that I can become a god?" "This is incredible…" "What my heart desires?" "Anything I want..." Igneous thought of his lost brother and Breeze. The three together, happy, at peace. No worries, no war, no hunger, no deaths... The boy jumped to his feet. He was full of emotion and with fire in his eyes. "Very well!" He yelled, "System, show me the way to the first shrine! I'm going to free them all!" From the red sphere, a small hologram with a map was projected, in which a yellow dot was blinking. "Then we will go to Kamsara! whoops! Yes!" Igneous walked up to the girl, who had her eyes lost in the violent current of the river. "Hey, girl who isn't Breeze! Take me to Kamsara!" "What? That's where we were going from the beginning, ignorant." "Well then, let's resume our journey, let's go! What are you waiting for?" "Certainly, that's not that simple, idiot. Do you have any proposal to get out of here without going through the mist?" "Um... I don't know, let's go through the mist and that's it, how bad can it be?" "You really are a hopeless buffoon. I decline your suicide proposal, " said the girl, fixing her gaze on the river. "Why are you talking so weird?" He said frustrated. Igneous shuddered, he heard quick footsteps. "Someone is coming," he warned. People covered in metal armor appeared from the forest, which reminded Igneous of medieval soldiers from the movies. There were no less than twenty of them, and each one carried a spear. The soldiers surrounded him and Not-Breeze. "Demons!" The girl exclaimed, standing up and unsheathing her sword. Demons? What was happening? "I recommend that you put that sword away," a voice spoke from the surrounding soldiers. Who seemed to be the leader, pushed his way through the spearmen. He removed the helmet of his armor and revealed a face with green scales, and completely black eyes, without the white sclera. Igneous blanched at the sight of him. That person had two legs, two arms, and a face like any other human being. However, those scales... that color of skin... gave him an alien look. "Please come with me," he requested.