The apocalyptic fire had been finally put out. The whole town thriving with people, smiles and greenery was nothing but a gray wasteland now. Only ash and ash filled the vision. Dotting the wasteland were multiple black figures. They were the ruined remains of houses. Near the periphery though, there were signs of physical impacts which was not something from a fire.
Even in the centre of the big town, a gigantic heap of rubble could be seen with dust and smoke coming out from it. Some distance away, there were about a thousand people gathered together. Among them, there was a boy in his teens looking at the pile of the rubble, his face transfixed in shock.
"I...I need to go there!"
"No! Wait! Gruffold you can't!"
As he was preparing to rush off towards the direction of the heap of rubble, he was stopped by a few people.
"What do you fools mean by I can't! Mom and dad are waiting to be rescued. Just because you won't save them doesn't mean I won't!"
"Gruffold try to understand!"
Trying to bring the struggling boy under control, the people too hold of his hands. They too, just like others couldn't bear to watch this scene and averted their eyes while making bitter faces.
He continued shouting in a teary voice, "I understand everything. You don't care for even those who endanger their lives to save you!"
They once again contorted their faces. Gruffold was deluding himself and it was clear for anyone to see.
"They are already... ALREADY GONE!! DEAD!!"
The last few shouts seemed to linger in the air thick with smoke.
Gruffold finally slumped down, losing the strength in his legs. His eyes were widened and his mouth was being covered by his hand, restraining pained sobs. He didn't try to resist the tears flowing down his cheeks.
"Awuhhh.... ww...whai...why....WHY!!!!"
He continued shouting to nobody in particular. However nobody knew how to comfort him. So, they decided to leave him alone for his sorrow to trickle away slowly.
Soon after an hour a rescue team arrived, to inquire into the incident.
A man with a masked face approached Gruffold, who was crouching by some rubble, his pale face smeared with despair.
"Hey boy, you look down... Tell me what happened."
He seated himself beside Gruff.
The boy gave him a weird look but didn't start talking.
"Don't worry I have valuable information. You won't regret it. You want a payback right? I will give it you."
Gruffold looked at the man sitting beside him again. But the words 'information' and 'payback' caught his attention. He wanted to know more, so he opened his mouth after some internal conflict.
"It was the fire dragon with two heads, Flarolzo. That catastrophic monster attacked us and our town. Our adventurers managed to fend him off, many dying in the process. Before leaving, it shot burning flames at us and escaped. It sneered and went and after starting a conflagration. That damned beast..."
His words were dripping with hatred. But it was not abnormal.
"Will you believe if I said that humans could've been strong like that thing too?"
"Heh?! You really think I'll buy your words?"
"I never insisted to. However let me ask a thing. You see everything about yourself on a screen, don't you? You use it to keep track of everything, your skills, stats and whatnot., or you don't?
"Of course I do. In fact, everyone does so."
"I guess you are right. But once nobody did."
"...."
Gruff kept silent. He was actually interested in the story of the suspicious masked man.
"These writings are a part of a spell called
"The... System?"
He knitted his eyebrows upon hearing those words. He had heard from one of his dad's friends that this whole planet was governed by something. That suspicious man's words seemed to match up.
"Yes. The System. Its an extremely complex spell. It's not magic but something similar and way more advanced. It's called Ervass. Sounds weird right? People also refer to it as conjuration."
"But why the hell are you telling me all this. Can I bring my dead parents back with it?"
"Who knows? Maybe you can. It has unlimited potential. But, don't you want to take revenge?"
His eyes widened on hearing the 'Maybe'. Ignoring that, he focused on the 'revenge' part more.
"I sure do. But let me ask you? Who are you? And judging by the way you are talking, you sure know a lot about this conjuration stuff. I only heard it once in my entire life, from an archmage and my father's mentor. Even that person didn't know that it was called Ervass or shit and the fact that the System's an Ervass."
"Actually I'm aware of the truth of the world."
Yet again, Gruffold's curiosity was piqued by the man's words.
He was about to say something but the man resumed.
"
He breathed deeply before resuming,
"Sadly there exist traitors. They seek power. For that, they are ready to sell off even their own planets. In this planet too, there are such. They tap into the system and steal its collected energy. The system gets nearly voided of its energy reserves because of the pillaging. However it cannot adapt to the changing circumstances. It continues giving the minor power up to the stronger ones first just as programmed. The energy reserves being low, the it dries up after giving them the power up. The weaker creatures are deprived of their much-required power up.
In a rare chance the weaker ones get the boost, the stronger ones by that time already receiv enough boosts to bring everything back to round zero. No change in power balance at all. It's because of them the weak continue to suffer. The traitors receive quite some wonderful bonuses after destroying a system and then the whole planet."
He finished his explanation.
Gruffold was seething with anger at the people he hadn't even met. The man looked at Mino in the eye, before continuing,
"You have what it takes Gruffold. You can be a hunter, who puts an end to these traitors, these trashbags who aren't worth anything. Here, if you want to slowly rebuild the path towards recovery of your planet, take my hand. Don't be afraid, other people have chosen this path before too. The plague caused by those traitors can't be exterminated all at once. It will continue generation after generation. But more importantly if you join me, you'll get your revenge you so much desire."
The man offered him a hand.
The final words were like honey to his pained soul. His entire mind which was burning in rage was finally given a way to vent that fire out. He had a million questions revolving around his mind, but he didn't voice out any of them. He couldn't afford to make this mysterious man upset at any cost. He firmly gripped the hand he was offered, it was only ray of hope.
Gruffold was already consumed by the desire of revenge. There was no stopping him. His heart was not one roughly patched up, but one forged with fire.
They shook hands. Then the man spoke out slowly,
"Gruffold. You are such a brave boy. If only there were more people like you... I'll answer all your questions now."
He then looked at a specific direction. After that, he said,
"Let's go then Gruffold, follow me. Your journey as a hunter begins now."
*Scrrrrr*
With a ripping sound, the space in front of them tore open, revealing a room.
"It's just a spatial rift. C'mon hop in."
Gruff unhesitatingly jumped into it, followed by the mysterious man.
Later the rescue team searched the entire surroundings searching for a young boy and finally declared him missing when they couldn't find him.
However what really had happened was only noticed by a single girl. It was none other than Fiel. But when she was glared at by that man chatting with Gruffold, she felt that she would die from that gaze alone. Fear etched into her heart, she did not open her mouth, not even to her brother.