The world is a prison,
Even if someone dies,
The world keeps spinning,
Time keeps moving on,
Destiny keeps moving forward,
The world has no guilt,
The world has no heart,
The world is cruel,
Complaining to the world will only weigh down your heart,
There's always something better than complaining,
Therefore, do your worldly affairs as if you live forever,
Because that is much better.
***
In a time when the world was still one entity, before continents and countries existed, the world was a vast, boundless land inhabited by various creatures and races.
One day, a race emerged that possessed power above all others. They enjoyed oppressing weaker races and revelled in bloodshed, becoming known as the Demon race.
Among them, a creature emerged as their leader and was hailed as the Demon King. The Demon King was feared by all races, as he was a superior being with power beyond the limits of the world.
The Demon race began to establish their kingdom and enslave other races. They continued to expand their dominion, killing anyone who opposed them, including humans.
However, one day, a human rose up against the Demons. He became known as the Savior, as he rekindled hope in races that had lost it.
The Savior united the other races and formed an alliance, which grew larger and stronger.
The alliance established their own kingdom, ruled by the Savior. He gathered people with great combat power to his side.
One day, the Savior's group challenged the Demon King to battle and succeeded in pushing back the Demon race.
However, there was a problem: the Demon King could not be killed, as he was immortal.
Despite the Savior's group killing the Demon King multiple times, he always resurrected. Eventually, the Savior discovered a way to defeat the Demon King: by sealing him away.
But that wasn't all. Because of concerns that the Demon King would rise again someday, the Savior erected a barrier that split the world into two parts.
From then on, the Savior was hailed as the hero who defeated the Demon King, and the separated region where the Demons resided became known as the Demon World.
***
The Prosperous Era, Venti, 13th Ignitia, 1412
At Sherlly's house, in the room occupied by Kamishiro.
"Zen, is this your watch?" Sherlly's mother asked, showing him the watch.
Kamishiro, who was lying on the bed, sat up and looked at the watch.
"Yes, this is my watch. But how did it end up with you?"
"I found it while doing your laundry."
"I see. Thank you, I even forgot about this watch," Kamishiro said as he took the watch.
"Is this watch belongs to your family?"
"I don't know, maybe."
"Are you perhaps suffering from memory loss?"
"I think so."
"Okay, I won't ask anymore. I'll go now."
Sherlly's mother left and went back down to the first floor.
"This watch belongs to my family? I didn't even think of that possibility," Kamishiro said to himself.
He returned to the bed and lay down, staring at the watch.
"My body feels better. I should leave here tomorrow. I can't keep bothering them," Kamishiro murmured while holding the watch.
***
In the afternoon, Kamishiro and Sherlly were gathered with three girls and four boys. They were gathered near the forest where Sherlly and her friends and the children usually play.
"Friends, let me introduce you to him, he's Big Brother Zen," Sherlly introduced Kamishiro to her friends.
"Hello, nice to meet you," Kamishiro said, waving his hand.
"Then let me introduce my friends. They are my girl friends, Wendy, Rin, and Lily," Sherlly continued introducing her female friends.
"And they are the boys who often play with us. They are Dale, Ian, Al, and Ken," Sherlly continued introducing her male friends.
"So, what are we going to play?" Kamishiro asked.
"How about playing tag?" Lily suggested.
"Okay, then, Big Brother Zen is the devil, run!" Sherlly exclaimed.
"Run!" the other children shouted in unison.
Kamishiro gave in and was forced to join their game. He kept chasing them while laughing.
Whooooosh!
While playing, Kamishiro suddenly heard the sound of something passing quickly through the bushes. Kamishiro felt like he was being watched by something, but when Kamishiro looked towards the bushes, he didn't see anything. Since Kamishiro didn't want to think about it too much, he continued playing with the children.
***
Midnight, in Kamishiro's room.
"Darn! It's so noisy outside."
Kamishiro woke up because of the noisy sounds coming from outside.
Tick... tick... tick...
Bam!
Suddenly, sounds of dripping water and falling objects were heard from downstairs.
"I should go down."
Kamishiro went down the stairs, and the dripping sound became clearer. When Kamishiro reached the first floor, the room was dark without any lighting. The only illumination was the moonlight shining through the window.
At that moment, Kamishiro realized that the sound was not dripping water but dripping blood from the mouth of a demon wolf resembling the one in the labyrinth where Kamishiro first woke up in this world.
The wolf was chewing on someone's head. It could be Sherlly's or Kamishiro's mother's, but it was not clear due to the lack of light. Their bodies were covered in blood. Their faces were unrecognizable because they had been torn apart by the demon wolf.
Kamishiro's body trembled as they witnessed this sight. They even broke out in a cold sweat. Kamishiro covered their mouth with their hand, holding back their nausea, and returned to their room upstairs.
"What should I do?"
Kamishiro murmured in confusion. Kamishiro saw a very bright light shining through the window in their room. Kamishiro approached the window, and when they saw more clearly, they were shocked.
"T-This... impossible...!"
The view Kamishiro saw from the window was terrifying. The entire village was burning in a blazing fire. Not only that, but Kamishiro saw various demons attacking the village.
The demons ate the villagers, including children, teenagers, and the elderly, without regard to gender, whether male or female. There were about 50 or more demons. Some flew, some crawled, and some even walked on two legs. The demons caused great chaos in the village.
"What should I do? Is this just a dream? If this is a dream, please wake me up from this nightmare."
Kamishiro's mental state began to falter. They could no longer think clearly. Kamishiro didn't know what to do. They had no power, they were just an ordinary human, not even a hero.
The only thing that came to Kamishiro's mind was one thing, the desire to survive.
"I have to live. I have to escape from here."
Kamishiro ran down to the first floor. When they saw the corpses of Sherlly and their mother again, Kamishiro fell silent for a moment.
They thought about escaping through the window behind them. However, the window could not be opened when Kamishiro tried.
This is the only way. I can't pass through the window behind me. I have to go through it!" Kamishiro thought.
Kamishiro ran past the demon wolf. As they ran, the demon wolf immediately turned its attention to Kamishiro and began to attack them.
Kamishiro turned around and reflexively held back the demon wolf's attack with their left hand. Kamishiro's left hand was injured because of the demon wolf's bite.
As Kamishiro's blood began to flow, the demon wolf's bite became stronger and more difficult to release.
"Darn it!"
Kamishiro, who felt the pain, immediately kicked the demon wolf's stomach, making it bounce off the wall next to it.
Kamishiro, feeling the pain, immediately kicked the stomach of the demon wolf and made it bounce off the wall next to it.
After Kamishiro kicked the wolf, he immediately ran towards the forest because it was the only way out of the village he knew.
"Sorry.... Sorry.... Sherlly..."
Kamishiro's tears streamed down and were blown away by the wind. Kamishiro cried all the way. When Kamishiro looked back, he was suddenly surprised by the demons who were chasing him in droves.
The demons seemed to be murmuring something. But Kamishiro couldn't hear them because the distance between them was quite far. However, slowly the distance between them began to narrow.
At that moment, Kamishiro heard what they were muttering. "Zen... Zen... blood.... Zen.... we... want blood...."
"Why are they calling my name? No, how do they know my name?"
Kamishiro was surprised to hear that and he came to a conclusion. If it turned out that the demons were not targeting the villagers, but were targeting him.
Kamishiro felt even more pressured knowing this. He began to think that the death of the villagers was his fault. But that was an undeniable fact.
After running for a while, Kamishiro ended up with a dead end. The road in front of him was a deep gorge, even to the point where the end could not be seen.
Kamishiro turned back, but what he saw in front of him was a group of demons who were thirsty for blood and hungry.
"Blood.... blood.... blood... Zen... Zen blood..."
"All the villagers died because of me. Sherlly and her mother died because of me. So, I think this is karma."
Kamishiro slowly backed up towards the cliff. Kamishiro closed his eyes.
"Rather than being killed by those damn demons, it's better to die by suicide."
The demons rushed towards Kamishiro. But Kamishiro had already jumped into the cliff.