When I opened my eyes again I found myself among a crowd. I looked around only to see people in black dresses under the moonlight. But everything around me was blurred, I couldn't really pick out anything.
The atmosphere was gloomy. No one talked. I decided to wait for something to happen but the silence was never disrupted. So I moved my body. However, to my surprise, I didn't have control over my own body. I tried over and over but it was all in vain.
*Thud*
All of a sudden, I hear something falling on the ground. I snapped my eyes towards where the sound came from. The blur had gone and my vision was back. I could now see clearly where I was.
I was in a small graveyard. There were around 20 graves each of which were surrounded with colorful flowers. It was midnight and the moonlight was the only light source of this dark night.
I skimmed over the crowd around me. However, as soon as I realized who was the crowd around me, I regretted it. All these faces were very similar to me. I knew all of them. How could I forget?
I examined the faces one by one. I was getting uneasy as time passed. But my blood completely drained from my face once I made eye contact with a pair of grey eyes. They had a striking resemblance to my eyes. I immediately realized who she was.
They were all looking at the tomb in front of them. I figured out the falling sound was created because the lid of the tomb had fallen off.
Suddenly, my body started to move without my own will. I was gradually approaching the open tomb. I tried to stop myself but I was still unable to control my body.
5 Meters
3 Meters
1 Meters
And I was finally near this terrifying tomb. My throat dried. I unwillingly peeked into the tomb to see what was there.
But what I witnessed was the most dreadful thing I had ever seen. I recoiled in horror and fell on the floor.
There was a corpse of a man in the tomb. But the condition of the corpse was terrible. His head was crushed, he had only one eye instead of two, the ribs and legs were all broken into pieces. It was bloody.
I remained motionless because I was stunned. Yet I soon felt a hand on my shoulder which made me flinch. I turned my head back to see who was that. I came eye to eye with those 2 grey eyes again.
Her eyes stared at me intently. Her face held a mix of emotion.
There was no doubt, she was my mother from my former life.
She suddenly started to shout at me. Despite the familiarity of her voice, her words weren't friendly or caring at all.
"You left us! You turned your back to us! You failed us!"
Although she assaulted me with her sharp-edged words, I couldn't really speak out. I didn't know if the reason I wasn't able to open my mouth was because I didn't have control over my body or I was freaked out.
Either way, I just kept listening to her shoutings. I hoped it would end soon. But it just got worse.
"You traitor! We have given all we had and you just repaid your debt by killing yourself! Is that how you thank your parents!
"I wasted all my life and money just so that you could live a good life! Say something, don't just stand there!"
The other people were only watching and not intervening. Among the crow I could see my dad, friends and lover. They weren't shouting like my mother but their faces told me what they thought.
I closed my both ears eyes. However, I could still clearly hear everything.
"Why did yo-"
'Huh?'
I slowly opened my eyes only to see the empty graveyard. Everyone including my mom had vanished from existence. There was no clue that indicated a crowd was here just a moment ago.
A sigh of relief escaped from my mouth. But I regretted it the next moment as I felt something terrifying behind me. I broke out in clod sweat. Realizing the direness of the situation I started to panic.
I turned around with a quick movement. As soon as I turned, I froze at the sight of the corpse, which should have been in the tomb. It shouldn't have been able to move, or even get out of the tomb with those shattered legs.
His face was crushed to the point that nobody could grasp whose corpse this was. However, I could still identify the body, as it was my 'old' body.
A tiny grey fog came out of his mouth, which was missing the lower jaw. The fog stopped before my face. Then a deep voice resonated inside me.
"We are a disappointment."
The moment it said those words, the fog disappeared. The world started to crumble down. Everything was shattering into nothingness. The ground I was standing on burst opened.
As the world was falling apart, I started to hear another voice in my head.
"Theodore! Wake up! Theodore Miller!"
Following this, something hit my head. My eyes opened and I stood up from my seat with a quick movement. I looked around only to see Professor Tyler glaring at me. I assumed what hit my head was a piece of chalk.
Everyone else was silent, waiting for what was going to happen. I could say I was in trouble just by looking at how dark professor's face was.
"Theodore, what do you think you were doing in my class? I suppose that you know everything about history, seeing how well you were sleeping. Is that right?"
I didn't say anything in case the professor misunderstands and the problem becomes more troublesome. Also, my mind was still occupied by that vivid dream.
"I see... I am taking your silence as yes."
The professor walked to the black board and proceeded to write something.
"So you really trust yourself that much. Then do you mind answering this question?"
'Who was the strongest warrior of humanity who had gone to the final battle?'
I evaluated my options and decided that showing off some of my knowledge was better than saying that I didn't know.
"The strongest warrior's name was Leon Ford. He was the first awakener among humans. He was also the one of first one to break through (S)-Rank among all the races. He defended humanity from going extinct in the face of demons' ruthless attacks towards the human territory. He built the foundation of today's society and is the founder and the first prime minister of the Black Salamander, the exact authority in the entire human territory. Today's noble households were determined by him a long time ago."
As I finished my talk I looked around. Some students were kinda amazed, some were uninterested. My answer was not so good or bad. It was just satisfactory. Professor Tyler seemed like he was disappointed that I was able to give such an answer. He had failed to humiliate me.
"Okay... Your answer is fine enough."
Before getting into more trouble I just sat down. Professor Tyler let it pass too and the class proceeded like nothing happened.
As I went over what I said, I realized that both the Protagonist of the novel 'Rise of The Greatest Swordsman' and the first awakener of humanity was named Leon. I thought it was just a weird coincidence. I was pretty confident there was no relation between them.