The moon glistened in the sky as clouds decorated the night sky.
Beneath the eerie light, a man with a hat could be seen walking on the street at midnight.
Each footstep gave off a mysterious aura as he steadily walked forward.
After walking for a couple of blocks he finally reached an apothecary.
This apothecary was in a rundown neighborhood, giving a faint dim light inside the store.
The outside of it was dirty and seemed to be almost abandoned
After quickly checking his surroundings, he carefully entered, not making even a slight sound.
The store was disturbingly quiet, a small lamp illuminated the store. The man walked up to the back of the store and quietly walked to the second floor of the store"
As he silently walked forward, he could hear two people conversing, a male and a female
"These days business is bad, dept is racking up and they might send people after me,"
"But do we have no option but run away?" A female voice asked.
"I'm sorry but there's really no other option..."
"...."
The man slowly approached the room, paying careful attention to his every move.
As he reached the room he kept listening as he started to prepare a skill.
"Look, once we leave; I will make this up to you. You don't have to worry; I promise we are going to be safe"
"..."
A short moment of silence filled the room
In that small moment of silence, the man decided to make his move
Suddenly the man crashed through the door, shocking the couple.
The mysterious man had already prepared a skill, creating a surge of fire, burning the girl alive. Her body dropped down to the floor as the man stood there in shock.
A mix of emotions flashed before his eyes, grief, anger, hatred. The mysterious man quickly appeared before the man, using the same skill.
The man fell onto the floor, his eyes made contact with his killer.
A final sentence was muttered out of his mouth.
"w-why are you doing t-this to us?"
The man stared back, not replying with a single word, as he watched the man burn.
A quick moment later a dreadful silence filled the room, the only thing that could be heard were the crackling noises of small fires left over.
The man checked the couple, checking that they have died, afterwards he quickly walked outside the room.
The man walked downstairs, and started to wreck the place, making it seem like a robbery had happened.
Afterwards he pulled out a glass sphere, a transparent sphere engraved with runes on it.
He quickly threw it on the ground, shattering the glass sphere on the floor
As the sphere broke, the tiny bits of glass that contained runes shinned with a faint light
Slowly the glass melted into a large amount of a mysterious liquid.
The man calmly walked towards the entrance, imbuing mana in his fingertips, he snapped his finger, a spark flew out towards the liquid.
The liquid quickly caught on fire, spreading to the apothecary causing the entire building to slowly catch on fire as well.
The man quickly sprinted away, hiding within an alley as he took off his hat, he removed his outer layer of clothing and burning it.
The ashes from his clothes quickly disappeared within the soft gentle breeze.
He took a glance back and heard faint noises in the back, with a large amount of smoke filling the sky.
He slowed down into a walk, the mysterious aura from before disappeared.
The man navigated through the city, heading towards the outskirts of town
In a dark and unassuming place had a small stone building. He walked up in front of it, checking his surroundings before heading in.
Entering inside, it was dreadfully silent, a seemingly abandoned building with a faint smell of rust.
he carefully walked towards the end of the building and eventually stood in front of a bookstand
He took out a book and behind it was a scratch on the wall.
A seemingly useless scratch was imbedded within the wall.
But out of nowhere the man poured some of his mana into the scratch.
A small rumbling sound could be heard as the scratch glowed faintly
A small entrance entranced appeared next to the bookcase, shifting the rocks to make an entrance just big enough for a person to walk in.
As he walked in, the wall behind him closed with a loud thumping sound.
The man walked forward confidently into the darkness, entering the deep abyss.
Footsteps echoed throughout the hall, giving off an eerie vibe.
Slowly the path started the head downwards, after walking for a bit, the space around him suddenly distorted as he entered a large room.
A massive dark and mysterious circular room could be seen. The walls of the room filled with different entrances, like the one he just entered in.
In the center of the table held 24 seats, all of them empty aside from one.
"So how did it go?"
The man in chair spoke in a low voice, his voice echoing throughout the room giving off a grand feeling.
"Nothing special sir, as we expected the person inside wasn't him"
"I see then, expected but it's still a shame"
The man sitting down gave a sigh before replying.
"Alright Cyrus, you can leave for now. Survey the area and report back to me if anything abnormal happens."
"Yes, sir"
Cyrus bowed with respect and headed back into the tunnel he came in from.
The rooms eventually became quiet, becoming empty aside from one person.
He wore a black robe and had a hood covering most of his face.
his eyes shinned with killing intent as he muttered to himself:
"How long can you hide for?"
The side of his mouth ever so slightly shifted upwards as he looked down a letter sent by a fellow member.
"It's only a matter of time before we catch you."
"Fated One"
.
.
In the deep forest, a small cave could be seen. Within the cave sat a person, quietly eating plants and washing it down with water
"I should be able to reach rank one within a week"
"As my body adapts, the speed of the refinement should be getting faster, this is quite nice, but I can't afford to slack off."
"I should have around 3 years before one of "them" comes into this town."
"But knowing them, it might be closer to 2 or even 1 year. I truly cannot waste time; I have to hurry up."
Saying this, Lorian quickly finished his meal as he laid down on the cold stone floor.
Breathing out slowly, he relaxed his body and closed his eyes.
Not long after, he once again began to drift away falling deep into his dreams.
.
.
[Attempt 1/100]
"Crack!"
A loud sound suddenly woke me up, jolting me awake as I opened my eyes and sat up.
My vision was still blurry as I rubbed my eyes, after a quick moment I looked around and saw the same view from last night.
Expect that this time the sun could be seen slowly rising, giving rays of light that allowed his to see better.
"Am I still here?"
I was shocked and terrified. The calm within me had disseated as a lingering sense of fear trickled up my spine.
"There's no way, this can't be real. Have I just really been randomly transported into a random place?"
Then something clicked inside my mind. What was the sound from before? The cracking sound that woke me up.
I looked towards the right and didn't see anything, so I looked towards the left.
"..."
I felt a wave of disgust washing over me. The sight was too much; I couldn't control my body as I threw up.
My eyes burned, my body shaking as my mind were in shambles.
"w-why?"
I don't understand, I don't understand it at all.
I closed my eyes trying to remove that scene from my head
But that sight, I just can't get it out of my mind.
The same memory repeated itself.
A boy stood upright, he had shaggy clothes and was paper-thin.
Next to him was a rock,
With blood on it.
Below him was another boy, but he wasn't moving, just a lifeless body that littered the floor, his head flowing out blood.
The boy standing had tears flowing out his face, dripping against the floor as he leaned towards the other boy's arm
I could see the pain on his face, the look of regret and sorrow.
He opened his mouth, closing his eyes as he did it.
I couldn't anymore
I didn't want to see what happened next.
"why is this happening, somebody, anybody tell me, just tell me already...."
Why are there so many kids here, why have they all been left behind here?
How could people around here let this happen, why are the kids here suffering so much?
Do the people here not care?
I needed to leave, I couldn't stay here anymore, I didn't want to stay here anymore.
I shakily stood up, turning towards the right and running out the alley.
The second I ran out, I suddenly ran into another man, I feel down not even moving the other person in the slightest.
I looked up at the man but saw he had an angry expression on his face
"A mere orphan dares to run into me and dirty my clothes?"
The man had an angry voice as he looked at me
Angrily the man quickly unsheathed the sword at his waist.
Suddenly the sword was mere inches away from me.
"Wait no please, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
"Don't do this, please I'm begging you"
I tried to beg, I tried everything I could, yet it felt as he didn't even hear me
A moment later a cold sensation cold be felt.
My vision turned blurry as a saw a pool of blood in front of me.
A cold yet burning pain could be felt across my abdomen.
Time seemed to have stopped as I withered on the ground, screaming in pain.
A moment later, I could feel myself dying. My body turning cold. My heart slowing down and my body becoming weaker. My breathing slowed down, memories about my old life on Earth flashed before my eyes.
I didn't want to die yet; I wanted to live and return back home but there was no avoiding this fate.
I took my final breath before closing my eyes, all traces of life leaving my body,
a moment later everything turned black....
[You have died.]
[Fate uses Heavenly Hourglass (EX)]
[The world begins to rewind.]