March 28, 2022
A boy looks happy. The holiday season has arrived, and he can't wait for this moment to arrive. When he enjoys the beauty of life without struggling with tasks that make his mind tired.
When he was a child around the age of eight, he thought that the world would always be peaceful. No problems, no fuss, no fights. People will always live side by side, laughing merrily, and always be happy.
One of his childhood memories is when he went on a trip with his family. Instead of choosing crowded tourist spots, his parents prefer to go to the mountains and camp with all three of their children.
The eldest brother sat on the seat on his right, and the five-year-old sister took the mother's lap. Like it or not, he had to sit next to his eldest brother. Right behind his father who was driving.
Suddenly the car he was riding in stopped. There was a traffic jam snaking for some reason right in front of his father's car.
It was then.
He heard a man's scream, not an ordinary scream but a scream of anger. His father got out of the car to find out what had happened.
The boy's smile slowly disappeared.
Seeing the expressions of his father and several men that changed drastically made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.
"What really happened?"
Did it feel his gaze? The man stared into the boy's eyes from the front window. As if enchanted, the boy became afraid. Right all over the man's body, the boy saw a red-black aura. He averted his gaze instinctively and stopped breathing. Both his hands and body trembled, and his heart pounded crazily.
Even as he was swallowed up by terror that no boy his age was able to withstand, the boy raised a question.
Why wasn't that man looking at him?
The boy took a deep breath and looked out the window again. It was then.
"Bam—!"
That man punched the window which was right beside his eldest brother. The windows cracked. The man had been far away, but he had approached the car before the boy noticed. But why was this man ignoring his father, other people, and coming to him, suddenly?
The man punched the car windows and revealed his terrifying gaze. The boy didn't understand what had transpired. Still, he flinched and shrunk back.
He really wanted to escape from that car.
"I'm scared. I want to get away from here"
"No, No….!"
That boy got out of his car. He was too scared to look back. He left his car. Just as the boy was about to burst into tears, a warm hand carefully covered his eyes
"It must have frightened you a lot."
The voice was as silvery and gentle as a spring breeze. Just that single sentence made the boy feel relaxed and relieved. The boy jumped into the woman's embrace without checking to see who it was.
"There, there, everything's okay. The scary man isn't here anymore…."
Pats, pats. The woman gently patted the boy's back, and his stifled breathing became relaxed. Only then did the boy raise his head to take a look.
Suddenly, the woman's hands stopped. She drew closer to the boy, studying him carefully. Then, she gasped in surprise. The woman trying to take the fear away from the boy. He tried to talk about something else.
"Oh my goodness..."
When the boy tilted his head in confusion, the woman smiled.
"Your eyes are beautiful."
"My eyes?"
"Yes, they're beautiful. I like to see a rainbow right in your eyes
The boy stared at the woman curiously, but she only smiled in return. Then, she let out a sigh, as if she found something to be a big loss.
"If only we met earlier. No, perhaps it's better that you unaware."
Before long, the commotion ended. The man has been secured, but the boy showed no sign of leaving. The woman also hesitated, as if she wasn't ready to leave the boy.
The woman whispered into the boy's ear.
"What's your name?"
"Za-Zane….Gyan Zane"
"Zane, huh? That's a good name."
She then met the gaze of the blushing boy.
"Hey, once you grow a bit older... and we somehow meet once again, will you come to me?"
"To you, sis?"
"Yes, I'll be there if you ever need my help."
Although the boy couldn't understand what she meant, he still nodded his head in her embrace. Soon, the sound of his mother and younger sister looking for him rang out.
As the boy held his mother's hand and came to his car again, he looked back longingly. The woman was smiling sadly as if she won't meet the boy again and waving her hand, all the way until the boy disappeared.
Time passed, and the boy became an adult. He had grown until the special memories from that day turned faint.
When he older, he began to be curious about something.
What happened to him? How is it that every time he sees someone threatening him, he sees a red aura around their body?
On the other hand, the more he grows the more he accepts the fact that the world is not as peaceful as he imagined.
In the end, he could not get the answer, but he began to figure out the conditions where the red aura appeared and disappeared.
This boy didn't think too much about this mysterious power until something out of the ordinary happened in the world he lived and he knows his destiny.
***
June 14, 2033
After the earth was devastated by a chemical bomb explosion that changed everything. Making half living creatures die, some become infected humans who turn into zombies and strange flesh-eating creatures and other living things become terrible mutants.
"But I'm penniless…!"
"Baam—!"
Five boys were seen surrounding a person of his age. Suddenly a punch stabbed into the solar plexus of a nineteen-year-old boy. His body immediately fell to the ground and curled up from the intense pain.
"Now you dare reply to my words, huh? How dare you!"
"If he doesn't have money what if he is required to retrieve the mana stone that is in that unguarded underground tunnel, Gilbert? I think it can be a good replacement for money"
Gilbert smiled at the words of one of his men.
"That is true. It's worth a try"
One of the boys named Gilbert grabbed Zane's collar from behind and pulled and dragged him to the mouth of the tunnel.
"Get in there, bastard!"
"If you want to live, grab the mana stone quickly and come back here. Do it before "they" eat you alive"
Zane knows what one of the bullies means. He shuddered, but there was nothing he could do now. He wanted to die, but he was also afraid to die. Zane was forced to enter the completely dark tunnel.
The farther he entered the dark tunnel, the more difficult it was for him to see what was around him. The cold and damp air seemed to prick his skin. When he looked back, now the mouth of the tunnel was no longer visible.
"I went in too deep, huh?"
It was as if he didn't care how dangerous the place was, all he cared about was finding the mana stones that Gilbert and his men wanted and quickly getting out of the tunnel.
The deeper Zane went, he realized the closer he was to his goal. Manastone glows in the dark. The stone has a high price. Not because it has an emerald green color that emanates from the stone but can also be used as a basis for making new weapons that can kill mutants or infected, these mana stones are also of high value because they are in a dangerous location.
"Aren't those mana stones? Finally, I got it!"
Zane ran towards the mana stone without thinking twice. However, a few centimeters before he reached for the object, he heard several roars that made his heart beat fast.
"Mutants? Infected? Dammit!"
Unfortunately, he couldn't see clearly what creature was approaching him now. When he tried to turn around,
"Stab—!"
"Zrash—!"
He felt a sharp arm penetrate his chest and stomach. Zane didn't even have time to react. A rain of blood started pouring out of his body in a torrential manner. At the same time, the roars in the passage grew louder.
"Sob—!"
"I still want to live"
Things happened very quickly. Zane's eyes closed for a split second.
"Ugh, mother, brother, sister, sorry if I am so cowardly," Zane said as fresh blood came out of his mouth.
…
"I still want to live, if that happens I'll make sure she won't be disappointed again"
"You want to be revived, don't you? If so, live and survive right now!"
Grr—!
Zane got back up. But the look in his eyes looked different. For some reason, the wounds on his body immediately closed, even though the clothes he had been wearing looked tattered and had holes in his stomach and chest.
[What's that roar?]
[What creatures are they?]
[Are they the knights who came back to life? Impossible! To hell with it all, if they're dead, they have to die again]
"Flare—!"
"Swoosh—!"
Zane's eyes widened. He looked shocked by what had just happened.
"It's not a Flare, it's a Fireball. What has happened to me? Ugh, fuck all this!"
"Flare—!"
"Flare—!"
"Flares—!"
Zane seemed to launch his fire skill. Luckily, the magic skill managed to kill several mutants that attacked it. However, soon his body felt heavy and weak, and his eyes began to close.
"Ugh, don't tell me I'm going to faint after I throw those weak flares three times? No kidding! Damn it, are they going to catch me?!"
Zane was lying in the tunnel, even though his eyes were still open he could no longer move his body.
"We found him!"
"Kill all those Mutants!"
Several people were seen wearing hard armor, holding shields and electric swords, seemingly destroying the mutants. Behind them were two people approaching Zane.
"What are you doing here, Zane?" said a girl who looked younger than Zane.
"It doesn't matter now, Lila. You have to get him out of here. I'll take care of the rest" a man who is slightly older than Zane told the girl.
[Who is Zane? I'm not Zane, I'm Arnold the greatest Archmage. What are they talking about? Why are their clothes so weird anyway?]
The girl seemed to nod her head, she followed the man's words and took Zane out with her.
"Hold on, Zane. A little more we will heal you with medical troops "
Zane seemed to respond to the words of the girl named Lila before closing his eyes tightly.
"Forgive me who is so weak"
[Sir, I'm sorry. I'm sorry if you get a body that doesn't match what you want]
The figure who called himself Arnold didn't have time to reply to the words that sounded in his head. Suddenly, he also lost consciousness.