At the foot of the mountain of Zhou. A small village could be seen that almost spanned 30 kilometers in diameter.
Though the sun just rises from the east, all of the adults in this village are already busy doing their livelihoods, youths at young age could be seen happily playing and helping their parents. This scene brought warmth to everyone's hearts.
However, this day a sudden strange phenomenon happened in the sky of the mountain of Zhou. A cluster of dark clouds suddenly appears in the atmosphere, rotating at the peak of the mountain.
These clouds are casually spewing lightning, which is bright enough to illuminate the whole mountain, followed by the loud sounds of thunderclaps and strong winds that make the residents of the village hide inside their houses.
Surprisingly after a full five minutes, the dark clouds above mysteriously disperse which makes the villager heave a sigh of relief.
It appears suddenly and disperses as fast as it appears.
.....
More than two thousand meters away from this small village a small house encompassed by huge wild grass and tall trees could be seen, it gives off ancient feelings to anyone who sees the house.
Its roof has different sizes of holes enough for the person inside to observe the dark clouds above quickly dispersing.
On the cold floor, a youth could be seen lying on the ground. Its body is extremely thin and pale, making the youth's bone almost observable and not different from a corpse. Accompanied by the youth's messy hair that can easily reach its shoulder and tattered old clothes.
Its breathing is shallow and weak, that he might die at any moment.
Any individual who sees the current situation of the child can easily assume that this child is a beggar or an orphan... or maybe both.
A moment later, the youth's eyelids quiver, an indication that the youth is waking up.
Where am I?
Drake's first thought when he regained consciousness after opening his heavy eyelids, he immediately scans his surroundings in puzzlement.
He seems to appear in an old house, his surroundings are full of old furniture, and the wall is long covered by cracks and crevices, letting the small grasses grow inside.
And... And the sealing was full of holes, which made him see the dark clouds moving in all directions.
...
Sigh.
Drake closed his eyes, assimilating the knowledge and memories that mysteriously appeared inside his head.
"I see," he muttered in a low voice.
The youth's name is Ricardo Dalisay a 12-year-old child who lives near the village of Green Breeze.
When he was 8, a rare beast tide occurred that swept through the small village. This beast tide resulted in the deaths of many villagers including the child's parents and relatives, he only survived by luck.
Even though the youth survives his life becomes a living hell. At the start, someone decides to adopt Ricardo to serve as a house cleaner.
In the first few months as a house cleaner, Ricardo still managed to bear the hard workload in the house even with his young physique since he still could eat thrice a day and at the same time sleep for 8 hours per day.
However, the problem starts coming when the person who adopts him brings a woman/ a spouse into the house.
The woman started to make the youth's life like hell. At first, the woman decided to only give Ricardo a meal twice a day and also make his job harder which resulted in his body becoming thin and weak after a couple of months, making his job much harder and taxing to his body.
This action got noticed by the woman and the person who adopted Ricardo who didn't care about his condition, but the woman only scolded him for being lazy and gave him more jobs. This continues after a few months.
When Ricardo realizes that his life might be in danger if he stays here any longer, He decides to escape the house and gamble outside.
Without any surprise, Ricardo manages to escape without the woman's and the adopter's knowledge.
When the woman finds out that Ricardo escaped, she becomes angry to the point that she spreads rumors that Ricardo stole money and other important things in the house before he escaped.
She acts pitifully toward the neighbors and tells them that they feed and cared for Ricardo yet he stole money and escaped.
This leads Ricardo to have no choice but to get out of the village and live in the wilderness to find his food/sustenance to survive since no one is willing to help him.
But, life in the wilderness is dangerous for Ricardo who was only 9 years old at that time, he could only sustain himself by eating wild berries and fruits until he could no longer manage and died in this old house.
A moment later Drake opened his eyes carrying a hint of sympathy, understanding, and disappointment.
Ricardo's memory and experience could be described as miserable and commendable.
A child who survives in the wilderness alone for a couple of years is not simple in Drake's opinion.
"It's a pity," he could only pray for the child's soul to have a good life in his next life.
"Don't worry I will take good care of your body.
"As for the woman, I would not take revenge for you since nothing will change, it will only make your body to have sin."
Drake calmly said as he stood up carefully. Looked at his bone-like body and tattered clothes in dismay.
Tsk tsk, this body is weak even a normal standing takes a toll on this body.
"Don't worry your body will become strong soon." With that thought, he walked outside. Planning to hunt some small animals to reinforce this pitiful body of his.
As for what kind of animals, a simple rabbit or little feline could work!
Even beasts that died in less than an hour could also work!
...