Some time passed. Owen was heedlessly reading a novel, precisely a light novel. Suddenly, he sighed softly while resting on his bed and returned his attention to his book. Currently, this book seemed to be the last volume because Owen, was slowly reading each sentence with eagerness and it was written on the cover, of course.
The protagonist of the light novel was proudly leading an army against the Demon king. For some reason, however, Owen was not happy with the arrangement. He does not like the way author forced the protagonist such responsibility with a rushed pacing.
The king and his ministers mindlessly trusted this sixteen-year-old warrior who had the power to kill the Demon King, to be the General of an entire Alliance Army.
However, after a while, it became an afterthought because he continued to read eagerly. It was after all, an extremely good novel.
However, today, reading was a bit difficult…
The air around him felt strangely uncomfortable. He lowed his book on his face and let it rest there for a few seconds before abruptly standing on his two feet.
He walked over to his wall-built mirror and examined the reflection that showed with his brown eyes. He looked normal, well, maybe in the healthy sense.
Owen`s brown eyes just looked cold to the point of making a conversation with him impossible. However, he did have long eyelashes that advanced his adult youth and generic black hair that strangely went his appearance.
Observing his appearance, he could not help but flex his muscles a little, like any young adult would.
*Scraping!
All of a sudden, he heard some scratching sounds from his door. The sound wasn't loud but enough to make someone cover their ears in annoyance due to uncomfortable shiver feeling it caused in their body.
However, for Owen, the sounds were all too familiar. A special little someone had arrived; his puppy, Verna.
Slowly, he walked across the room and I let the hyperactive puppy in. Verna, the puppy quickly hurried across the bedroom and tried to jump on my bed but failed considerably.
However, her determination was strong. She tried the second time and jumped successfully.
As a sign of victory, she started to roll delightfully on the sheets. Owen watched this all happen and shook his head slightly as a thin smile appeared on his lips. He looked at the opposite side of the door to see something and bitterly saw scrap marks on his lower door.
Owen sighed with defeat and closed his door.
Verna seemed to like scratching his door repeatedly when he is inside the room. For some, this would not matter, but for him, Verna was doing this action for two years. To say no damage was did on the door would be the same as saying that soil erosion didn't exist.
Like most days, he didn't yell at her to stop, because the puppy had only one defensive measure; cuteness.
"Verna, you are lucky I didn't have ninety-nine cuteness resistance yet…"
He followed his puppy and lightly patted her head before sitting on his bed.
"Owen, dear! Your dinner is almost ready, come to the living room when you are ready!"
Since Owen concentrated on his puppy, he shook a little to his mother`s abrupt call and quickly shouted back in kind.
"Ok! I will be there soon!"
He stood up and went to his changing closet, selecting which casual clothes to wear.
"Hm?"
However, before he could remove his school shirt, Owen looked at Verna with bemusement on his face. Currently, Verna was hidden inside the blankets, almost as if to escape the loud noises disturbing her sensitive ears.
The timid puppy moved her head out and let out a small bark. Owen just turned his head away, not minding her actions.
"I have to raise that cuteness resistance level…"
It couldn't help but muffle to himself with a hopeless expression. He quickly changed into his causal clothes and took a wristwatch from his desk. He looked at the watch and suddenly, he remembered to his friends were about to come and pick him up.
Knowing there will be they might be there soon; he went to carefully pick up Sunny to leave.
"Verna, its dinner time. Let's go to Mom."
When she heard the word dinner, Verna suddenly became hyperactive, excitement rushing in her blood for food in Owen`s arms.
"Careful!"
Owen asked hopelessly to contain her excitement. Knowing only food to could contain her excitement, Owen went straight to the door.
*Click! *
However, before he could leave the room, a small clicking sound entered Owen`s ears. He looked back with questioning eyes, only to find a pen dropped from desk. He shook his head in annoyance and ignored it but he could not move for some reason.
Silence, it was strangely quiet. There was no sound. However, for some reason, the sound of his pen dropping reverberated repeatedly in his mind. He`s breathing quickened and cold sweat ran down on his skin.
Noticing this strange demeanor of his body, he raised his hand to examine it and saw his hand slightly shaking. Owen looked at Verna but only excitement in her eyes.
Strangely enough, Owen`s mind was clear and calm but his body, the opposite. Without wasting time, he hurried to the door escape with Verna in arms
"Ghh!?"
Sadly, he was too slow to react. Abruptly, he felt a sharp pain in his stomach. The pain was agonizing, like something was trying to pull out one of his organs with its sharp claws. He let Verna back on the ground and clenched his stomach tightly.
Unable to handle the pain, he fell on the ground and shook uncontrolledly. For the first time in a long period, Owen felt fear
To make things even worse, his skin and my insides felt like they were on fire.
"Ahhh-hh! cough, cough, cough."
He attempted yelling at the top of his lungs but the air was stank out. He could not even breathe properly, making him grasp for air. Noticing no air coming in his lungs, he tried to calm himself down and closed in eyes.
He, then, continued his breathing though his nose and suddenly, air entered his lungs. He coughed a bit and noticed that the pain stabilized slightly which made him calm his mind a little. Regardless, the pain was still there, but not as bad as before.
Having such an opportunity, he looked around his for any that could help him. His phone was safely on his desk, across the room, while the door was closer to him.
Owen knew going for his phone was worthless, so he tried to get on his two feet and escape but shockingly, the pain only increased when he tried to stand up. Owen gritted his teeth and cursed under his breath. There was only one hope left; Verna.
He looked around the room and his eyes paused on her. However, hope was lost when he saw that Verna as also in the same state as him. Owen could not but question,
'What the hell is going on?!'
What kind of curse fell upon them both?
'Damn, the situation just turned severe…'
He said to himself mentally in pain.
How was his mother going to know if both of them were in the same room?
By the time she arrives o check on them, it will probably be too late.
Thud Thud Thud
However, to his expectations, knocks were heard from his door. His mother came to check up on him at the right time.
"O-Owen? Is everything ok honey?
Thanking the heavens for his guardian angel that is his mother. Owen looked at Verna. He knew talking was out of the question due the air leaving his mouth abruptly, so thinking for an alternative, he rolled his fingers into a fist and hit the ground hard.
*Bang!
"Owen! What was that?! I am coming in!"
Click!
The door was violently opened. Owen`s mother looked around with extreme concern on her face. Without saying a word, she rushed in our direction. Owen praised his mother for being to think than panic.
Moving hurriedly, she was just moments away from his son but something so unexpected happened right before their eyes.
As if reality was playing games, it placed out new cards to mess with everyone present…
Even that meant breaking the laws that governed their world. Pure whiteness. Everything just turned white. Suddenly, it was followed by a thunderclap, forcing Owen to cover his ears.
At first the light blinded Owen for a split second but when his sight became completely operational again, he honestly thought that this was nightmare. Blinking a few times with a ringing sound in his ears, he opened his eyes in shock.
In that split second, heavy downright pressure enveloped the entire room. No, most likely the entire building, because it was shaking uncontrollably. The air also changed around them, becoming visibly light grey as small black like dots formed and attached to every furniture in the room.
For Owen`s mother, she hit the ground hard and her face was full of agony and torture. Stressfully trying to yell, her body shook uncontrollable on the ground, gasping for air. It was clean, she was going through the same painful experience as Owen.
Her face became full of horror as tears rained down her cheeks. Knowing full well his mother could die, Owen took a deep breath through his nose and shouted as hard as he currently could.
"M-mom...B-breathe, throug-h your nose!"
Each word felt like a piercing dagger to his stomach but he continued regardless. He couldn`t possibly formulate his words properly through such pain, but luckily his mother quickly understood what he tried to say. She closed her eyes and breathed slowly.
Owen relaxed when he saw his mother`s expression relax slowly, trying to adjust to pain. The intense pressure was still performing on the room.
Owen analyzed his situation carefully. Before he could not move properly because of the pain but now, this pressure is pinning them down due to the possibly of his mother`s appearance in the room.
A hypothesis formed in his mind. Something was trying to stop him and Verna from leaving this room. Owen looked at the state of his mother. Some regret came in his heart but honestly, who could have predicted all of this?