A boy woke up from his slumber.
As he slowly regained consciousness, the severity of the pain felt in every corner of his body also increased.
Not opening his eyes yet, he tried to scan his body; his condition was gradually becoming apparent.
His legs and right arm have terrible muscle aches, and he cannot feel any strength in the left arm. He tried to move his left finger; to his relief, he was able to do so, albeit in agony.
His awareness of his situation grew as his mind sharpened. At the moment, he was certainly lying down on something solid, in a very awkward position, with his shoulders up to his head, hanging and swaying. What's more, they were rattling and moving so fast that he was swinging back and forth while being hit by wind and dust on the face.
The boy began to lift his heavy lids. Soon, the light slowly entered his eyes. He blinked a couple of times more to alleviate the dizziness caused by the combination of the brightness and the sight of his surroundings, which were in chaotic motion.
It dawned on him that his head was precariously hanging from the open doors of a moving "vehicle," whatever it was, and he was lying on its floors.
However, before he could even curse at his befuddling state, he jolted and forced himself awake, for when he looked at the side, a huge protruding rock was heading towards him; no, his head was going towards the rock's edge at breakneck speed.
'Gahhh!'
Fortunately, he was able to lift his head right on time, avoiding having his skull smashed open by the skin of his teeth.
He scurried despite the pain and slid himself onto the floor, but before he could completely hoist himself up, a man stepped on his chest, preventing him from moving further.
"Hup!"
"Stay down!"
'Crazy --! At least let me inside!'
But he came to discern why he can't and why the bastard keeps on moving, stepping on different parts of his body. That's because he was defending himself from attacks coming from outside.
The vehicle, which was huge and could carry multiple people, has its wall opposite the door partially destroyed. And outside were several men mounted on some "beasts", continuously bashing through the gaps with swords and spears.
He would have been in utter admiration at the unfamiliar sights if not for his strange circumstances.
"Hey! Hurry up!"
"I'm on it! Secure the kid!"
With the words of some guy driving the "vehicle", the man in a black outfit grabbed him by the collar and hurled him onto the corner seat, away from the destroyed wall.
"Hold tight."
At the man's signal, their ride tilted and went faster as it changed its course. His wooden surroundings rattled, and the boy, with his usable hand, grabbed on to the corner of the seat as if his life depended on it. It became steady after a couple of minutes, when they were already at a safe distance from their pursuers.
"Damn, these persistent bastards."
The boy got the chance to properly look at the man.
He was a tall and fit person clad in an all-black outfit, including the cloak with a hood that covered almost the entirety of his head. It doesn't take a genius to realize that the man was a criminal, and that he was somewhat a victim by the way he was being treated.
His thought process is still in the middle of adapting. More than anything, he was disturbed by the incongruity of the sizes of the objects around him. But he was too preoccupied with everything in front of him that he haven't, even at the very least, examine his own body.
When he calmed down a bit and would have started to ponder his situation, the man, misinterpreting his expression, spat at him.
"Hey, kid, I don't like the way you stare. You either shut your eyes down or I'll pluck them out for you."
Instantly, he rolled his eyes away from the man to look outside the windows; they were still moving at a dizzyingly fast speed.
Questions continued to pile up in his head.
'What sh*tty situation I woke myself into ---'
His half-expectations may have been too much.
Just as he was about to finally contemplate, a dangerously clattering sound was heard. Things then happened so fast as cracks began to form inside his current means of transportation; it was expected given its fragile materials and how wild it was forced to run.
There were blue-white sparkling lights between the created gaps, and at an instant, the entire rear wall of the vehicle broke and collapsed, sending away everything connected to it, including the man in black.
Clack --!
"Arrghh!"
'Sh*t! Shi ---!'
Creak, creak.
The boy found himself in danger of being blown away the same way. He was tightly grasping on to the frame with his remaining working hand, but the entire seat seemed about to give way.
To add to his distress, he had to duck as someone from the front of the vehicle was briskly trying to get a hold of him through the small compartment window.
Outside the collapsed wall were three strong-looking men clad in steel armor chasing the vehicle while riding their beasts, one of them had the struggling black-robed man skewered by a spear.
The armored man at the fore of the group spoke in a monotone that wasn't so loud; it was fascinating that he understood.
"Young master, jump; I'll catch you."
He was looking at the boy, who also has his own struggles.
'Is he referring to me? To jump?'
However, there was no one else besides him. And more than not comprehending his words, it was more like being taken aback by the preposterous suggestion.
'Do I look like an idiot?!'
At their current speed, jumping off was suicide.
"Heuk!"
Apparently, staying at the vehicle was also suicide.
The vehicle went sideways so fast and furiously that he instantly felt his stomach churn. At the current rate, forget jumping; he's going to be swept away once his hand slips.
"Jump."
The armored guy spoke again, but this time he noticed the threatening undertone.
When the one from the other side of the wall almost clasped his long hair, he was left with no other choice.
At the very least, he understood that the group that got him into their possession had no sound intention.
Though he isn't sure whether it was a choice between the devil or the deep blue sea, he let go and jumped towards the armored man, who in turn really did catch his body with one arm.
'Urgh!'
The action added to his pain. But more than just minding his ribs getting hit by the steeled arm, the absurdity became more apparent when he got closer.
'Why are these people so huge?!'
"The young master has been retrieved. You chase after that guy. Make sure everything is cleaned up."
"Yes, Sir!"
After settling the goggle-eyed boy in front of him, the armored man then turned his horse around.
"Whaaa!"
"Ahh!"
Bang!
There were sounds of torment and destruction from behind, but he could no longer watch, even if he wanted to. They proceeded the opposite way, and the beast galloped as they rode in silence.
Not as complicated as when he's holding on for dear life, staying mounted was a challenge of his own with only an arm to support. Every time the boy flinched in pain due to his injuries, the man's giant hand would steady him while not making any sound.
Well, at least, the treatment was much better, though his body ache grew worse as time went on.
He felt hot fluid wet the left side of his head, a bit of it obstructing his vision, but he couldn't check on it, focusing on keeping his balance on the unfamiliar mount and observing the unfamiliar views.
At long last, they began to decelerate when a group of people came to meet them. The beast stopped eventually, and he silently allowed the man to help him unmount from the beast that was twice his size.
"Young master!"
From behind the group rushed a slender, middle-aged man in a butler uniform, who gasped upon seeing his condition.
"Goodness, you're bleeding!"
"Huh?"
'No wonder I feel dizzy.'
He must have sustained the head injury before he woke up.
When the butler finally reached him, he was lightly grabbed on both shoulders and turned sideways while being inspected from every angle.
Like the armored man, the butler was also huge up close; it was only when the guy knelt down that he was at eye level.
After a while, probably realizing that he was fine except for the head injury and a few gashes and bruises all over his body, the now teary-eyed butler finally let out a relieved sigh.
"I'm really glad you're alright."
'Well, me too.'
Perhaps the thought of safety gradually extinguished his adrenaline; he was also relieved.
"Urgh."
But then his vision suddenly shook, making him nauseous. Thankfully, the butler held him the moment he noticed him stagger.
"Young master!"
A series of curses rolled around in his head, but they were not addressed to the butler, who carefully carried him on his arms as his consciousness faded. As he felt his body being moved somewhere hurriedly, he slowly became dead to the clamor happening around him.
For some reason, his sense of pain seems to be magnified. But at the same time, he was also extremely tired.
He was in so much pain that he wanted to faint, but he couldn't because he was aware of his pain.
While his body was still coming up with a decision on what to do, the face of one on whom he could lay all the blame came to mind.
If he had woken up a bit later, he could have avoided the mess he's been through, but he stopped his disgruntled thoughts. In the first place, it's a body that would have instantly died of a broken skull if the intrusion was even a beat behind, but still.
'Right, there's no such thing as bad timing.'
He remembered the mysterious being, whose star-like eyes exuded depth and an infinite amount of wisdom and truth.
There is no coincidence, but there's an intricately laid-out plot.
Then there's intervention.
'Do you want to right your wrong?'
His last thoughts before eventually passing out in agony were about his last conversation with the white-haired existence, whose smile on his familiar face is as sweet as the devil.
'Motherf…'
Inside the body of the boy, a fact that was not known to him at the moment, was actually a young man by the codename of Argus.