"Our child is a bit eccentric, isn't he? "

Frank Williams commented while playing with his son as he ruffled his hair.

"I don't know about that, but I do know that he is a cutie. " Emma Williams said while hugging her child with a smile on her face.

Ron was witnessing all this with a defeated look on his face. Although he wished to escape his mother clutches , he was only a 7 year old child, not to mention his mother was a teacher and expert of mixed martial arts and other forms of combat sports, so there was nothing he could do about the situation.

" Well, not only is his IQ well above the norm, his comprehension and observation abilities also doesn't match that of your other regular 7 year olds."

Frank said while rubbing ron's head who was still trying to get out of his current predicament.

Frank was regarded as one of the best scientists of his generation. His contribution to the society led many people to held him in high regard.

He has been observing his son very closely for the past 2 years or so, and although he already had an inkling about his son's talent, the actual results surprised him.

"And not only that,but ron....how do I put it..maybe it's his....perception?....but his outlook on his surroundings and interpretation of the said is also very unique. "

" It's different from being talented or being gifted. It's as if he's perceiving things from a different angle, no, a different dimension, in fact. It's hard to put your finger on it, but,...if talent refers to your potential and skill in a given 'area' , than the 'area' where ron lies itself is ambiguous."

Frank spoke, his eyes fixed on his child. There was a smile on his face but his eyes displayed the confusion in his mind.

"Is that so? But, what do you mean by ambiguous?"

Emma asked curiosliy as she continued to hug her child and ron, as usual was still unable to find a way out his mother's hold.

"Hmm, I don't know, but what I mean is that it's unknown whether this area I spoke about is something real, illusory, hidden or something completely different."

Frank replied with a thoughtful look on his face. His expression was more serious than before.

Emma's expression also changed slightly, seeing the seriousness in her husband's tone.

At this point, Ron, taking advantage of the situation, finally managed to free himself from his mother and ran towards his room. He was closing the door when he heard his mother reminding him to wake up early tomorrow for his morning training.

Emma was a teacher of mixed martial arts for children under 16 years of age. She too saw how Ron learn things way too quickly compared to his peers. So she decided to teach him about self defense from an early page.

"Okay" Ron said while closing the door. As soon as he closed the door, he went toward his bed and slumped down on it.

"Holidays are so tiring" He muttered while burying his face in the pillow. Suddenly, he turned his head to face the ceiling.

'But it's still fun to spend time together with them given how rarely both of them are at home.' Ron thought as a smile subconsciously appeared on his face.

Just by listening to him, one can deduce the fact that Ron is quite mature for a child his age. Ron too was fully aware about his eccentricity but he never really cared. His parents taught him various things, endured all his shenanigans and also showered him with love and affection, asking nothing in return.

That's all that mattered to him.

Ron looked around the dimly lit room, his eyes particularly stopping on a fantasy book about transmigration and reincarnation and so on... He said to himself "I wonder if something like that really exist". While thinking about stupid things, he closed his eyes and gradually fall asleep.

In the hallway, Frank and Emma was still talking with each other while sipping on their tea. Suddenly, the tension around them started to increase as both of them looked at each other.

Emma was the first to broke the silence as she started asking her husband.

"Honey, Ron has always been a bit different but it's unlike you to speak so much about the topic, especially in the presence of Ron. You know full well that he understands each and every word coming from your mouth."

"Did something happen?"

Emma asked her husband with a slightly worried tone. Her husband wasn't acting like his usual self.

Frank toke a glance at his wife and started speaking too.

"You don't need to worry, noth-" He suddenly stopped as he sensed his wife stern gaze.

"Actually, something did happen but it's nothing we should care about. "

"What happened?" Emma pressed. She wasn't going to let her husband talk his way out of it.

Frank looked at his wife again and said with a sigh,

"Sigh, it's really nothing much. You know about the recent happenings, right? I just asked Ron about his opinion on it. His answer intrigued me a little. That's it."

Emma's expression changed once again as she heard the word 'happenings'. This time it was more serious than before.

"Honey, are you talking about the news that have been circulating around the internet? Does your institute manage to verify it?" Emma spoke hurriedly, a hint of anxiety evident in her tone.

"Things are looking quite grim this time around. Everyone originally thought that these are just some irregularities that will disappear over time but now it's clear that isn't the case. " Frank said with a serious look on his face.

"Drastic increase and decrease of temperatures at certain places, numerous small scale earthquakes, forests suddenly catching fire, way above the norm amount of movements of tectonic plates and so on. All of this is too much to simply brush of as irregularities. " Frank explained to his wife whose face was showing various emotions including that of fear, sadness, uncertainty and horror.

"Then perhaps, whatever is circulating around on internet is true? She asked with a grave look on her face.

" Well it's still a bit of exaggerated to refer all this as 'coming of doomsday', but the government of various countries do not have a convincing reply to calm down the unrest among the public. " Frank explained to his wife.

Seeing the relaxed look on his husband face, Emma too calmed down but there was still this lingering sense of dread she was feeling, thinking about everything that has been happening for the past few years.

At this point, Frank stood up from his seat and gave her wife a slight peck on her forehead, while also muttering, "Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to both of you."

A faint smile appeared on her face along with a drop of tear on her left eye as she muttered a soft "yes" while in her husband's embrace. Suddenly, she remembered something as she looked at her husband and spoke once again.

"You said you asked Ron his opinion on the recent irregularities, right?"

"What did he say?"

Suddenly, Frank's expression turned a bit odd after hearing her wife's question. He replied after thinking for a while...

"Well, let's leave it for some other day. I didn't understand anything from his reply in the first place. I just found it a bit interesting, that's why, my behavior was a bit odd and I was speaking more than usual."

Frank concluded with a wry smile on his face. Emma wanted to ask what exactly did he say, but in the end decided against it. She slowly closed her eyes as Frank lifted her up and carried her to their room in a princess carry. But, in their heart, both of them were hoping for their family's well being.

•••

In a old and dusty room, an old man was reading a book, resembling to that of a diary.There was an aura of ancient wisdom surrounding him,yet, for some reason, he appeared sad, as if he has accepted fate.

The room was akin to that of one during the medieval times with only a single bed and one table and chair pair on which the old man was sitting, with only a single lamp Illuminating the surrounding.

The Old man had a medium sized beard, his hair completely white. He wore a long white robe and his pearly-white eyes had an otherworldly clarity to them as if the essence of creation was withheld in them.

His gaze was focused on the diary before him, written in some unknown language. Suddenly, the words started floating in the air, glowing with a pale blue light. All the words started revolving around each other, getting compressed at the same time.

The pages started turning on their own as more and more words merged with each other. With time it turned, into a spherical ball of size of a fist, with it's color now a darker shade of blue.

The pages were still turning when the old man, who was witnessing everything unfold before him with a calm look on his face, suddenly sighed,

"sigh, I don't know what the end of it all would be".

He muttered with his gaze fixed on the small sphere of light before him.

"But I do wish to avoid the worst case scenario" He spoke, with a sad yet full of wisdom face.

"Alas, I can only hope that someone else will be able to fix all this mess" He said to himself while standing up.

At this point of time, the flipping pages finally slowed down as the last page was about to be opened up.

Suddenly, the atmosphere around the room changed as the final page revealed itself. There were no words written , with there only being a single.....shape? drawn on it.

The 'shape' was completely golden in color and it seemed to represent a certain creature, as two magnificent wings extended out of it's body.

The head on the top, coupled with long silhouette of hair fluttering in the air, was resembling to that of a crown on it's own, further highlighting the majesty of the figure.

But the most eye catching part were the flame like tails that occupied the majority of the page, making the figure appear divine.

And just like the words, the birdlike golden colored shape started floating in the air, seeking to merge with the blue sphere of light.

Just as it was about to integrate itself with the sphere, it froze for a moment.

The old man came closer to it and looked intently at it. He opened his mouth in an attempt to speak , but nothing came out of his mouth.

As if sensing the man's hesitation, the golden shaped bird drew closer to him and shone with brilliance. It didn't have a face but at that moment, it appeared to be..... smiling.

The old man was taken aback for a moment, but soon a faint smile appeared on his face. He looked at the golden creature and started speaking,

"I don't know if it's the right choice, but perhaps, it will be able to wash away some our regrets."

"Although it's not my area of authority... "

"I do wish you good luck in your endeavoring quest to find yourself a worthy mast- no, perhaps in you case, a worthy partner."

With that, the golden shape finally merged with the blue shere of light, vanishing within it. The Old man extended his hand as the sphere of light started floating on top of his hand.

Suddenly, the color of the sphere change as it's sarted radiating a faint yellow color. With time, the light changed from faint to blinding yellow, yet, the face of the man was calm.

The man started speaking once again,

"I don't know what to expect of this set of complications, but.... "

"To the one who will inherit my legacy, I implore upon you my only expectation."

"Even in the vast and limitless world, as you found yourself as crossroads, do not let it chain you down. My regrets begets my sorrow, do not make the same mistake as us. Your circumstances do not define you. Carve your path with your own will."

"That will be the sole request I have for my inheritor."

"My blessings will be with the both of you."

As the old man finished speaking, the light launched itself towards the night sky, venturing into the endless cosmos, in search for its new master.

The man had a faint smile on his face, as his body started fading, he too gradually, completely vanished from the spot, disappearing from the world forever.

•••

"Aaaaahhh... " A scream belonging to that of a child can be heard as Ron opened his eyes, huffing again and again

"Huff, huff, ... What was that?" Ron muttered as he stood up from his bed.

'A Dream' A thought crossed his mind but he was currently exhausted enough to not be able to think property about it.

'It felt kind of real for a mere dream' Another thought came to him but like the previous time he wasn't able to focus on it.

Silent pervaded the room as he watched the glowing yellowy white illumination from moonlight entering his room from the open window. He let go his thoughts as he moved towards the portable fridge in his room to get something to drink.

As he was drinking the energy drink, he suddenly felt strange. He turned his head as his eyes went wide.

There was faint red light coming from the window from where the moonlight was coming from before.

"Gulp.. " Ron gulped audibly but quickly gathered his thoughts as he moved towards the window to confirm his suspicion.

Sweat was tickling down from his body as he moved towards the window, the red light becoming ever so clear and darker than before.

He finally reached near the window as he peeked outside and what he saw next shocked the living daylights out of him.

The once serene and innocent looking moon, was now a deep shade of crimson red, emitting a feeling of sheer horror.

Ron stumbled on his feet as he fell backwards on his bump. He was scared. Scared of what was happening around him. No matter how much of a genius he was, he was still a 7 year old child. He quickly stood up and ran out of his room towards his parents room.

As he exited his room he saw his mother running towards him with a worried look on her face. She bent down on her kness and quickly hugged Ron,patting him on his head to calm him down.

"Don't worry, it will be okay" She said, trying to calm him down.

"What happened?" Ron asked anxiously, glancing toward his mother.

"I don't know, but your father is trying to figure it out by contacting his aides" Emma reassured him.

Both of them moved towards Ron's parents room. As they entered the room, what greeted them was Frank standing still on his place, watching the news ahead of him, a look of disbelief on his face. As they were trying to comprehend what was happening, a loud voice catched their attention.

The voice was coming from the T. V as the news reporter was shouting something with a pale face.

His words were as follows,

"To all of the mankind in the world, prepare yourself for the now occuring 'doomsday. '"

"All the various leader of mankind has declared a world wide emergency of the highest degree."

"The world is going through an unimaginable change."

"Natural disasters are occuring throughout the world and we have lost our source of light."

"Yes, you heard it right, the sun vanished suddenly and it's place has been taken by something else."

"This 'something' is shaped like a large red diamond, whose size is estimated to be greater than the sun itself."

The reporter was explaining all this while various photos of disasters occuring throughout the world were continuously appearing beside him. Out of all of them, the picture of a red diamond was particularly eye catching. But before the williams family can make any sense of what was happening, some more shocking piece of news was reported by the reporter.

Something unfathomable.....

"But what's more shocking is that this red diamond is emitting a completely new form of energy unknown to mankind."

"And this energy is covering and corroding our planet at an extremely fast pace."

"Researchers have named this energy as 'MANA'."

"And this new form of energy will soon enter our bodies as well."

"To every single human watching this news, the leaders and respective authorities will do their utmost to rescue as many people as possible, but humanity is currently facing a crisis which may very well erase our existence."

"It's our duty to conserve and protect ourselves in this crisis. Rather than thinking of giving up under the seemingly hopeless situation, we have to do our best to survive."The reporter said with a face full of resolve. He must be among the rare strong willed people, given how he was able to report this shocking news on a short notice.

He started speaking again.....

"Everyone, I will say it again... "

He took a small pause, and then said loudly,

"SURVIVE"