'Ever since I was born, there was nothing special about me. The word 'Talent' probably was not meant for me, because I had nothing special to offer aside from gloominess and money. Money....which I possessed because of my father. My mother passed away due to cancer when I was 7 and since then nobody paid me any attention and those who did were only interested in my father's wealth or they just wanted money from me or my father. My father was always busy with his business and since I had no siblings, it felt very painful and lonely without the family's warm love. The more I lived a lonely life without family and friends, the more I realised that how much their love and attention was necessary for one or atleast for me. People only wanted money from me and they were even ready to act as my friend or family for the sake of it, So I just decided that even if I can't receive love and attention from anyone who sincerely cares about me then I can at least buy love and attention from those who just want money from me and don't care about me at all. When I started doing all of these things people thought I was weird but gradually they started approaching me for money and acted friendly which made me feel that I was needed or wanted.
The feeling which I experienced during those times with my friends was truly indescribable but alas nothing except change is permanent! Maybe I should just jump off.....After all.....it's just so difficult.... Everyone thinks.... I'm ill....or a creepy psycho....Nobody wants to understand my problems...'
4 November, 40,028
On a crescent moon's night, in a luxurious house's bedroom, a brown haired boy was lying in a relaxed manner on his comfortable bed and watching his favourite animated series on his smartphone. His face was full of joy and content turned to that of confusion when he heard a voice echoing in his head
"Human boy....state your name!"
it asked in a cold voice which seeked vengeance. The boy thought it was some evil spirit who had possessed him but it was no time to think about that because the voice echoed once more in his head but this time it seemed that it was losing patience
"Human boy, state your name!"
"I'm Harold, what's your name and please leave me alone!" the boy pleaded while desperately falling from his bed.
"Those who seek attention from strangers are truly alone, Harold." it said in a deeper voice.
"I shall kill all of you as your species did the same to us but I-" the mysterious voice was interrupted by something unknown.
After hearing this Harold slapped himself to check whether he was dreaming or not but unfortunately he wasn't. All of this was reality and if this was reality then what the hell just happened and why all of a sudden a random spirit would try to communicate with him? Was it a spirit in the first place or something else? Harold had no idea about what it was but one thing was sure that he was scared out of his wits but somehow he calmed himself down and slept, deciding to stay ignorant to all of this. However, things only got worse when he slept. He saw a vast grassland which was drenched in blood and innards of some unknown creatures. There were loads of corpses of these strange creatures, their faces full of shock, disdain and wrath. Among the corpses, one was moving slightly as if enlighting resistance and pure anger. That half dead creature said
"Zarius...you piece of shit...I may die here..." as he was uttering those words while desperately crawling, he coughed vigorously in pain and spat a mouthful of blood. Blood flowing down from his sides of mouth.
"...but in the end, We the benevolent Zardens shall prevail!" he added with a hint of agony in his voice.
'Are these grey humanoid creatures called Zardens? And why am I seeing this gruesome nightmare?'
Harold shook his head in confusion and looked around. He was standing in amidst of a grassland where a genocide was happening in front of his own eyes. The sight was too much for him, bloody Zarden corpses everywhere he looked and some humans standing among the fallen Zardens. Their faces full of disgust, joy and hatred, some were even kicking the Zarden corpses and spitting on them as if highlighting their long suprresed disgust and hatred towards the Zardens. All of them wore the same uniform and wielded varieties of weapons like swords, daggers, spears, wands, tridents etc. After seeing the disrespect towards the Zardens, Harold felt enraged even he needn't to, Harold couldn't contain his anger anymore so he just moved impulsively but was stopped by a hand which gently rested on his shoulder as if trying to say that it was all useless and he couldn't change anything that he saw. As the hand rested on his shoulders Harold turned behind, his anger was replaced by dread and little bit of curiosity. He saw eerie darkness when he turned towards the hand and in that darkness stood a lonesome figure staring at Harold with empty eyes. Harold's eyes widened when he saw the figure's face. "You're the same Zarden which showed resistance and boldly made that statement." Harold whispered with a shaky voice as he observed the looks of the young Zarden. He had grey skin, red iris, black pupils and sclera. He had sky blue hair and an elegant face. If he was a human he would've been very popular among the women. He looked like he was in his early twenties and wore a silky robe which seemed to be made out of satin, the design on his robe seemed to depict swords on it arranged in an unusual manner. The robe was tainted in blood and dirt and he had a strange mark on his face which resembled fire, at least that's what Harold discerned. He was significantly taller than Harold, it seemed like he was above 6 feet.
'This guy is good looking and tall too, I'm jealous!' Harold thought staring at him with a jealous look.
Harold was still scared of the Zarden who was standing few meters away from him but after hesitating for few minutes, Harold took a step forward but suddenly the Zarden's eyes weren't hollow anymore, there was a strong fire burning in them which representated strong willpower. The Zarden scowled and moved with ferocious speed almost as if he teleported beside Harold. Before Harold could even react the monstrosity grabbed his neck and lifted Harold up without breaking a sweat. Harold tried his best to resist his grip but couldn't do anything. In a few moments Harold realised that the Zarden's strength was incomparable to humans. The Zarden strangled him brutally with a deep scowl on his face. Harold knew that any type of struggle he did in order to escape this ordeal was useless but he couldn't do nothing so he gathered every ounce of strength in his body just to barely speak.
"Please...let go of....me....what h-have I done t-to... de-deserve this?"
Harold's voice barely reached the Zarden's ears which looked different than of a human. As if responding to his voice, he tightened his grip. Harold groaned painfully as the Zarden's eyes widened which were full of resentment and wrath. For some reason the Zarden just let go of Harold, Harold fell down trying to catch his breath and then dreadfully looked up, the Zarden was glaring at Harold which sent shivers down in Harold's spine.
"My name is Klubius also known as "the stalwart knight" or "the prince of devotion"..." Klubius kept his hand on Harold's shoulder which startled him and then Klubius added by whispering into his ear while a devious smile appeared on his face "...You are going to experience true hell from now!"
Harold seemed confused at first but then his eyes widened in horror as he looked at the Zarden when he saw his devious smile, he observed that the devil possessed sharp canines which could tear flesh easily. The Zarden stepped backwards and disappeared in the darkness.
After that Harold woke up in a panic and looked around. He found himself in his bedroom, he rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't dreaming anymore but he wasn't. Harold felt extremely tired and stressed even though he slept for 8 hours, he tried to reassure himself that everything was normal but deep down in his heart he knew that it wasn't. He tried to tell his friends about the nightmare and how he always suffered from a headache but none of them took it seriously instead they just joked about it. Harold knew that they were always interested in his money not in his well being but he still held a hope that they would care. When Harold refused to lend them money, they just made more fun of Harold adding disrespect remarks about him and his family. Harold was constantly having the same Zarden genocide nightmare everytime he slept which affected his physical and mental health significantly. When Harold contacted his busy father about this, he just arranged a series of appointments for Harold with expert psychiatrists. Harold obviously told them all of his problems but none of them believed him and said that he was imagining things too much. Medications were worthless when a Zarden dwelled inside you, nothing was working for Harold. Harold stopped attending school and then to end his suffering, he deemed only one option correct which was to end his painful life.
To be continued....