Inside the Refugee Camp, Kaen is resting with his mother when a frantic woman walks into their tent.
"Oh, thank goodness you both are okay! Have you seen my son Akuma?" The woman asks.
Before Kaen mother could say anything, Kaen gets up.
Kaen then walks up to the woman and hands over a locket that Akuma used to wear.
Around 12 hours ago,
"Man I'm so damn tired." Kaen says.
"Me too." A boy says.
"I'm not done yet though, catch me if you can Akuma!" Kaen says.
"Oh yeah? You'll be the one on the ground when I catch you easily." Akuma says.
A few hours later,
"Kaen!! Move!" Akuma screams.
Magic Arrows rain down from the sky onto Akuma as he protects Kaen from the arrows.
"Akuma, get up we have to go!" Kaen says in a panic.
"I-I- ca-can't m-move." Akuma says as he loses a lot of blood.
"Come on, you've gotta stand up now!" Kaen insists.
Akuma then takes off something from his neck.
"C-could you g-give this l-locket to m-my mom when you f-find her, p-please?" Akuma says.
"Give it yourself! Stand up let's GO! Kaen says as he tries to pick up Akuma.
But Kaen doesn't get any response from Akuma.
"H-hey...Akuma...?" Kaen says as he stutters.
Kaen stares at the corpse of his friend as tears roll down his eyes then takes the locket from Akuma's hand just had he asked.
In the present, Akuma's mother bursts into tears after she takes the locket.
"I'm sorry, I couldn't even do anything." Kaen says as he faces the ground, while a few tears fall from his eyes as he tries holding back tears.
"It's okay. He always did care for others more than himself." The woman says.
She then gets up and leaves the tent with the locket and tears on her face.
Meanwhile, the town was utterly wasted. Monsters seemed to be infested every corner of the place. It was inhabitable for humans right now.
"Hey! Give me a status report now!" A man says.
"Yes, Zakane sir! We sent more rescuers into the town but they've all gone silent." A man says.
"Damn it all, this might be even worse than we thought." Zakane says as sweat goes down his face.
Just as he was about to speak again.
Suddenly a loud distant explosion is heard by everyone in the camp.
"Zakane! We're detecting multiple powerful magic radiating from inside the town." A man says in shock.
"The hell?" Zakane thinks.
"Wha- What's happening?!" Zakane thinks to himself as he rushes to the Radio station of the camp.
"Try to engage in contact with them using the communication Zeoxite." Zakane orders.
"Yes sir!" The men say.
"We're now getting in contact with someone, sir." A man says.
"Hey, you! Can you hear me? Who are you?" Zakane asks.
"Yeah, I can hear you. Loud and clear, we're the backup you requested. A party of four. We'll handle this, however, I ask you to tell the people to move further away from the camp, just in case. The battles we've gotta fight aren't going to be pretty." A man says over the radio.
"I guess he must be some high-ranking adventurer, with a pretty powerful party, too." A man says to Zakane.
"You got it, we'll set up a camp just at the start of the mountain." Zakane says.
"Attention! All rescuers are to rush to the camp immediately. Due to unforeseen circumstances, we're having to set up camp a bit further ahead at the base of the mountain as a safety measure!" Zakane calls all the rescuers.
All the tents were quickly being removed and all the people were swiftly being evacuated.
Everyone was still hearing many explosions happen consecutively.
"Wh- What is happening?!" Kaen thinks.
Suddenly a massive explosion occurs just near the edge of town where the camp is placed, the shockwave from the explosion sends people and tents flying, including Kaen.
Fortunately, a few rescuers are able to catch all the people who went flying and Zakane catches Kaen.
Just then, another shockwave from another explosion heads toward the camp.
"Another one?!" Zakane thinks.
"Hope I've replenished enough magic for this." Zakane says.
Zakane then uses both of his arms and makes a sort of circle in front of him and pushes it forward, which then creates a transparent magic shield.
As the shockwave collided with the shield, it shattered the shield into pieces, but it was enough to stop the shockwave in its tracks.
Meanwhile, in town, the mages were having an intense battle against the monsters which was the cause of most of the explosions. Slowly but surely, however, the Monsters were being taken out with not much effort. The party reaches the center of the town from all four sides pretty much sealing in most of the remaining monsters. They then see a gigantic, almost human-like monster wielding an enormous hammer.
"Looks like we've got a mutated Ghoul on our hands. Alright party, let's clean this mess up. I'll take the big dude." Zion says.
He then flips around his spear using his right hand and gets into a fighting stance where he steps back with his right foot and puts his spear to his right side.
"Alright, Let's go!" Zion says.
"Yeah!" The Party replies.
"One hit is all it's gonna take." Zion says.
With incredible speed, he dashes toward the mutated ghoul. The ghoul strikes the giant hammer at a fast speed but Zion dodges it easily by stepping to the side. He then runs at the ghoul pointing his spear forwards. As he approaches the ghoul it tries to hit him away with its left hand but to no avail. Zion jumps up again and goes for the finishing blow to the heart, however, the ghoul puts his hand in front of the spear and manages to block the attack, then before the adventurer could react the ghoul uses its right hand to punch Zion knocking him back with great force. He was able to slow down his impact by planting his spear into the ground to slow himself down, minimizing injury.
"What in the hell? I've fought tons of these guys before. There are not supposed to be able to move this fast." Zion thinks.
"Guess I'll have to be somewhat serious then." Zion says.
He then takes his fighting stance again but this time, an emerald color magic started to release around him. He plants his feet firmly in the ground to the point it cracks, his spear gets fully enveloped in his aura. He then jumps, faster than the normal eye could see, and pierces straight through the ghoul with ease. The rest of the monsters were also killed by his party.
"Yo, can you hear me?" Zion says.
"Yeah, we're here." Zakane replies.
"Job's done, most of the town should be free of monsters now. I assume you guys can handle that much." Zion says.
"Yeah we'll handle it, thank you. I grew up in this town, it's where I've been my whole life. I couldn't even imagine abandoning it. You will be awarded for this." Zakane says.
"Thanks but I'll have to pass, we're already on our way out of town. See you around." Zion says as he cuts the communication.
"It's amazing there are still people out there like Zion." Zakane thinks.
A couple of days passed as adventurers who'd recovered went into town to see if any monsters were left and finally, after 3 whole days the town was completely cleared of all monsters and was safe for all again. The residents went back and immediately started to rebuild the now-decimated town while the medical team set up a proper medical camp way closer to the town to treat the injured, as going to the refugee camp was too far for most. It took 5 months of constant work to rebuild the town enough to start trade with other towns and settlements again.
Six years had passed; The incident that took place would come to be known as the 'Alverton Dungeon Breakout.' What most believe to be the worst breakout from a dungeon ever in history.
Kaen, now 16 years old, has grown up to be a fine teenager. He's trained harder than anyone to be strong so that no one would ever have to protect him again.
One night, Kaen comes home late after training.
"I'm home!" Kaen says as he walks in and closes the door.
"Oh, welcome home! I made some dinner." Kaen's mother says.
"I'll pass. I'm completely worn out. I think I'll just head to bed." Kaen says.
"Oh, well, goodnight then." Kaen's mother says.
Kaen goes upstairs, lies on his bed, and falls asleep almost Immediately.
In the middle of the night, Kaen remembers that fateful day.
"We're surrounded!" A voice echoes.
"We'll just have to fight through. No running back now!" Another voice echoes.
"Did they find us already?" The same voice echoes.
"Damn, these monsters don't let up." Voice echoes again.
"We'll hold them off. You both run!"
"Any minute, guys! They're about to bust in here!"
Horrifying screams echo everywhere.
Kaen wakes up screaming, breathless, and drenched in sweat. His mother rushes to his room to see Kaen sitting on his bed.
"Same dream again?" Kaen's mother asks as she walks up to his bed.
"Yeah, stupid damn nightmares! After all this time, it still haunts me." Kaen says.
"It's okay, it's only natural you experience this. Now go to bed." Kaen's mother says.
That morning, Kaen's mother calls him downstairs for breakfast.
"Yeah, I'm coming!" Kaen replies.
Kaen looks at himself in the mirror; he looks at his stomach. It was a scar from 6 years ago. He then wears his clothes:
An unbleached, rough cotton full-sleeved light blue tunic with cuffs.
An open collar.
Standard grey trousers.
Kaen then closes his room door and then proceeds to walk down the stairs. As he's walking down, he feels something off, he feels as if his whole body is becoming heavier and weaker along with a painful burning sensation inside.
"H-hey, m-mom. I don't feel so good." Kaen softly says.
As he says that, Kazano collapses and falls down the stairs. Kaen's mother then runs to him.
"Kaen! Are you okay!?" Kaen's mother asks worriedly.
"Wh-what's happening?" Kaen's mother thinks to herself.
"Hold on; I'll bring some help!" Kaen's mother says.
She then took Kaen to a clinic, where the doctor immediately recognizes what is happening.
"Doctor, how's Kazano doing?!" Kaen's mother asks worriedly.
"He's fine, but it's his time." The doctor says.
"What do you mean? Is he in danger?" Kaen's mother asks.
"Yes, a life or death situation. He's going through the sickness. He'll either awaken his powers or die." The doctor says sadly.
"For now, we have to keep him in an isolated room. He will have the sickness for 8 days at least, but..." The doctor stops.
"But what?" Kaen's mother asks
"I've never seen anyone burn up this much. Perhaps it isn't any ordinary fever he's having, whatever the case. He'll be in terrible pain." The doctor says.
"Can I at least stay by his side?" Kaen's mother asks.
"I'm afraid not. The sickness is very unpredictable. We just don't know what will happen to him. If he does awaken his powers, they could harm you very severely." The doctor explains.
The doctor quickly isolates Kaen in a secure room while Kaen was in agonizing pain. As Kaen is burning up, the heat keeps getting higher with time. As time passes, Kaen felt as if he was being boiled from the inside as if someone was pouring hot lava into him. Kaen would open his eyes only to find himself trapped in darkness. He was in this hellish state in excruciating pain for 8 whole days.
"Wh-where am I?" Kaen thinks.
"It hurts, why am I being put through this?" Kaen thinks.
He wonders.
"Oh right...It's probably because so many people died for my sake. I got them killed...my life wasn't even worth saving..I should've just died then..." Kaen thinks as he closes his eyes.
On the 8th day, something different happened to him, from not being able to see other than darkness and being burned. He was transported or seemed like he did. He opened his eyes to see a vast land as far as the eye could see. As his burning sensation was reduced but didn't vanish entirely.
"What in the hell is this place?" Kaen thinks to himself.
He then looks around to see everything burning down and buildings crumbling.
"Are these ancient houses? Why is everything burning? What the hell happened here? And who did all this!?" Kaen says in shock.
"Wait, Wasn't I in my house? What happened?!"
Kaen had too many questions.
As Kaen kept wondering about the place he was in and how he got there. He then senses something ominous behind him.
"What in the hell am I sensing?!" Kaen thinks to himself.
He feels it staring at him, Kaen felt like he was frozen.
"Oh man, I hate this." Kaen thinks to himself.
He takes a deep breath and immediately turns around and sees something in the air but he was suddenly transported back to the clinic.
"Where in the hell am I? And what happened to me?" Kaen asks.
End Of Chapter