「 CHAPTER 5: The Birth of a New Beginning 2/6 」
After realizing we're in the world of Legacy, I immediately opened another window,
"「 STATUS 」." Before I go and embark on my journey with Cad, I at least need to find out If I'm strong enough to fight.
The Status window finally showed up, but this time, it was not enveloped by flames. The flame disappeared along with the pamphlet while I was smiling like a maniac.
I went to see what my stats were, and my heart suddenly dropped, my eyes began to tremble, sweat from my head darted, and my hands began to shake. What I saw from that window was something I had never expected.
I have stalled for too long, and I suddenly remembered Cad. I sprinted as fast as I could to the location where the scream came from. But by the time I came there, everything was resolved.
They had the crazy guy tied up and dragged out by the other students, assuming they were also part of the Guardian Elites, but when I went to investigate where the scream came from, I saw the true horror and fear of this reality.
Bodies, severed limbs and organs of students were scattered, and blood was all over the place. Many students died and the place became a blood bath. I felt disgusted, my stomach churned from the sight and the smell of blood and dead bodies. I quickly got away from the scene, but I remembered that Cad had gone to rescue the woman. Despite being disgusted by the sight of gore and the smell of blood, I simply endured and ran to find Cad.
It was starting to rain, my feet were soaked with blood, and there were corpses everywhere, this was... a massacre. I kept running and running from the river of blood, I didn't pay attention to my surroundings as I focused on finding Cad.
I was losing stamina, my breathing got heavier and my vision got blurry, I needed to rest. I went up to a hut to rest up, I leaned against the wall and sat down. I took a deep breath and made myself calm down.
My vision got clearer and my breathing stabilized, I closed my eyes to steel my nerves but, suddenly, I felt a touch on my left shoulder.
My body began to tremble while my mind began to think about every possibility of what it was. I was shaking from fear and prayed that It wasn't what my mind was saying. I opened my eyes and looked to my left, and what I saw, broke my heart.
As I looked to my left my heart immediately shattered, tears, came pouring out from my eyes like a waterfall and my breathing got heavier, as I saw Cad's dead body sitting right beside me, his head resting on my shoulder.
I couldn't move, my body was trembling and my heart felt like it was being stabbed by hundreds of knives. My brain could not comprehend what happened--it refuse to comprehend what had happened.
After a moment, Cad's body fell on my lap, I couldn't contain my emotions, and as soon as his body dropped to my lap I burst into tears and screamed my lungs out as my memories of Cad started flashing.
I grabbed his body and hugged it, I kept screaming, I didn't care if my lungs gave out or my throat got injured. I cried and screamed until two members of the Guardian Elites heard me and came rushing to where I was.
As soon as they opened the door, shock could be seen in their faces, they called the rest for help. They took Cad's body from my arms and made me sit on the bed. I heard two professors talking and said.
"What is the report?"
"24 students died, 4 severely injured and 2 with minor injuries."
After hearing what they said my eyes widened and trembled, rage coursed through my body, and I thought to myself
"24 students!? 24 fucking students died!? from the hands of that man!?"
From rage, I bit my lips till they bled, clenched my fists it pierced my skin. My vision was slowly fading, my feet and hands felt cold, my breathing got even heavier and before I knew it, I passed out.
...
...
...
I could hear clashing waves of water much like an ocean while I was lying down on the darkness once more. The dark waters had once again slowly consuming my body, but my body did not react nor did I feel scared, I simply did not care.
I heard water slowly entering my ears and muffling everything until I was completely consumed by the dark waters.
I didn't drown, but I just drifted along the water. I was just looking up and there was nothing, it's all darkness.
I let the water take me wherever it wants to take me. My head was clear, I was calm and I felt... empty inside.
I closed my eyes hoping that I'd fall asleep and when I woke up I'd be in the real world. I closed my eyes and felt the water getting lower and lower until I touched the ground again. I didn't open my eyes because what difference would it make if I would just see nothing else but darkness?
I waited in the darkness for my body to wake up, I suddenly heard a strange noise.
*SPLASH*
It was the sound of water splashing, but, why? The splashing stopped and the last ripple of water I felt in my head. I thought to myself that maybe someone or something, was in the darkness with me.
But I ignored it, and didn't open my eyes. There was a long pause of silence, It became very quiet. A voice echoed in the empty large space, It was clear and comforting. "Butter dog, dog with a butter." It was the voice of Cad.
I felt overjoyed and opened my eyes as soon as I heard his voice. But the moment I opened my eyes, I saw a familiar lantern, In a familiar room, I was back in the clinic hut.
*CLACK*
I heard footsteps, I felt Deja vu but this time, it wasn't the sound of running footsteps eager to see me.
The footsteps stopped after they reached my door, and A man came out the door, It was the School Head. I had wondered, why such an important and busy person came to see a regular student like me who just passed out.
"I heard that, Cad, was your friend."
"No, he wasn't just a friend, he was a brother to me!"
The man sat on the bed and looked at the door. And he looked at me with such a pitiful look.
"I am sorry, for your loss. If only we could've responded much faster we could've--"
"No, don't apologize, It was my fault. He asked me to follow him to rescue the woman in danger, but I didn't follow him.
"He died because of me."
"The guy responsible for the death of your friend, he's still alive."
The hatred and rage inside me ignited and grew even larger, but I stayed composed to not lose control over myself.
I may feel ignited by rage and hatred, but I still feel empty.
"Don't do anything to him yet, I'll deal with him myself."
"I see, then you must understand the consequences after, you deal with him. If you kill him, I will have to exile you from the Camp. We can't have murderers in the Camp."
"And If you don't, then It's only a matter of time 'till he escapes and starts killing more people, our Guardian Elites isn't much of a strong force."
I looked at him dead in the eye and said,
"I will kill, him. I don't care about consequences, as long I kill him, then nothing else matters."
"Well, if you insist young man. Oh! but if you're gonna do it, be discreet okay?"
The man got up, patted my shoulders, gave me a wink, and left the hut.
...
...
...
2 days after the incident, I decided to confront the man who slaughtered those people. He was imprisoned in the old school ruins reconstructed by the principal as a jail.
He was being guarded by two members of the Elites, I sneaked up behind the two distracted guards and knocked them out using a sleeper choke hold I learned from my experience doing martial arts.
His prison was well-made and sturdy and they used metal rods as bars for the window. As I slowly approached the man from the darkness, he chuckled.
"I've been expecting you, you know? kekeke" as he let out a small chuckle.
"Why? I don't even know who you are" I replied.
"Of course, you don't know me! that's what's fun about it!"
"But do you know who knows me? Your brother! Karten!"
"Karten? That blond-haired American wanna-be? What did he ever do to you?"
"Oh! he did a lot of things! He and I were friends once- Until he betrayed me!"
"That backstabbing bastard used me for my money! And after he's all done with me
he spreads rumors about me around the school! I got so mad and went crazy!"
"And one night, I saw his girlfriend walking home alone."
"And I did unspeakable things to her! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"You're sick!" as i spit on him.
"But why'd you do it? Why did you kill those innocent people!?"
"WHY DID YOU KILL MY BEST FRIEND!?!?" My anger and rage took over, my breathing got heavier and my vision was slowly turning dark.
Instead of answering my questions, he started laughing. He sounded like a freak, a maniac laughing.
"You must've leveled up a lot from that killing those people huh?" I asked him as I stare into his eyes coldly.
"Oh yes! Wonderful experience points! I was level 4 before, and now I'm level 10! HAHAHA!"
"You're pathetic."
And as I turned my back on him, he just kept laughing and laughing like there's no tomorrow. I'm level 1, our level gap is too large. I need to get stronger.
.
.
.
The next day I gave word to the School Head that I was off to the wild and he need to put more reliable guards on the prison. I left the camp with nothing but a bag with food and water inside.
I started to wander around the dark and scary forest of tall trees trying to find something that could help me get stronger.
「 END OF CHAPTER 5 」