Kghhn-
Coughing, the boy ignored the tightness in his chest and the metallic taste in the back of my mouth. Turning the page of the book, he began reading the last page of his favourite novel. [Regressors Choice] was the name. It was a fantasy-style novel that focused on the main character, Ren Choyun. In the novel, it had the typical storyline and plot. Ren, the hero, has a typical tragic background, an outcast and ostracized by his peers and teachers growing up, becomes strong, makes some strong companions, fights against many enemies, and saves the world. It's such a common plot that could name about 3 or more novels exactly like it, and yet.. the boy loved this story. If he had to say one thing that makes [Regressors choice] different from the other novels…
'Piercing the demon god's heart cleanly with his remaining mana, preventing him from regenerating. Ren had finally managed to defeat the Demon god.'
Khoff pft-
Breaking into his usual fit of seemingly endless coughs hacking up blood, he weakly turned to the last page, his favourite part.
'Seeing the Demon god withering away with a look of terror and anguish on his face as he realised that this truly was the end, Ren managed to smile. His battered body, bleeding from his countless wounds, sore and heavy as lead, he wanted to laugh at his pitiful state but couldn't manage to make any sound come out. All he could do was look at the sun as it began to peak above the horizon slowly. Basking in the warmth of the rising sun as dawn approached. Behind Ren, the countless bodies of dead monsters and demons, as well as the corpses of his classmates and friends. Everywhere he looked as far as the eye could see, remnants of the long arduous battle could be seen. Yet in the end, he had won. Humanity has won.'
Plop , plop
Sniff
The light sound of water dripping onto the book could be heard as the boy lay down alone, crying for the millionth time in this novel, for the main character, and humanity. Having won a long and devastating war against their enemies but at the expense of so much. Ren and his friends died, I'm sure someone found them and laid them to rest, at least that's what he told himself. Ren had been his idol for a long time, it's been about 4 years now. He had heard of heroes who are born stronger than and smarter than the rest, with immeasurable talent and charisma..but he didn't care about those heroes. Because to him, Ren was the best. He was born healthy, which the boy envied, his mother however, died shortly after giving birth to him due to complications and no access to proper medical treatment and medicine. He grew up in an orphanage for a while until he was 6 years old when he got adopted by the head of the duke's family. The duke gave Ren money and status as well as a place to live, but that was it, he only seemed like a loving father on the outside but on the inside, he was neglectful and didn't care about Ren in the slightest. He often ignored any and everything regarding Ren, only showing interest when it affected his pride. When Ren got sick and nearly died at the age of 10 due to being mistreated and malnourished, the family head only got annoyed and disappointed at Ren for being "too weak", but when Ren somehow ended up getting scouted by the headmaster of the top academy for the strongest magicians and swordsman in the world, the head suddenly seemed to care more about and support Ren more, though, Ren didn't want or need his support by then, it just adds to his past in the boys' opinion. It was sad and also pretty upsetting. Especially since after being enrolled, people hated Ren, either making his life harder because he wasn't the real son of the duke and calling him an illegitimate bastard son, or calling him a spoiled talentless child who only got scouted because of his connections. Completely negating the fact that he had gotten scouted not because of his family but because of his own natural, hard-earned, talent and skill. No one started believing in Ren until he was around 14, he had by then started making a name for himself, and he was at the top of his class in everything that he did. Strength, combat, mana, and so on. As he got older, his life started to change more and more. He got the full package, and friends started to swarm around him, they were strong and smart and all different in their way, just like him, they were outcasted but for a good reason, because they were strong, and he was one of them, no longer weak and looked down on, he was now one of the strongest most respected not just by his classmates but by the teachers and many others as well. He and his friends got stronger, smarter, more beautiful, and overall stunning, and before we knew it, they had become the irrefutable best there was. However, with the power and notoriety came countless obstacles. From people displaying petty acts of jealousy and envy to massacres and completely devastating attacks against Ren and his loved ones. The story may have ended in the bad guys being defeated… but there was no happy ending in which the heroes get to live a long and happy life. Instead, Ren had to watch as those who had become closer to him than life itself died one by one, before him, while protecting humanity that had once rejected him, then, he died, alone, tired, and in pain, all for that same humanity, while smiling.
Haah
Kogh huff huff
With red puffy eyes, ripe from sobbing, and a tight, burning chest, a young boy laid his head down on the cold hard tiles of the ground. Curled into the fetus position. He was pale, his body was cold as ice and his dull black hair was long and unkempt, his hazel eyes with flecks of grey were unfocused and gradually becoming dull. His lips were chapped and cracked and his breathing was uneven and slow, the only sound that could be heard in the small cold room was the sound of his laboured breathing and his violent coughs. His body was now refusing to move, nor did he have the desire to move anymore after having read his favourite novel for the last time, all he could do was look up. A small window on the wall, rectangular shaped, barely big enough to even be called a window, it could fit a pencil case at most, it was the only thing the boy had left to look at, between the bars on the window, he could see the moon shining brightly, with the stars by its side, and he smiled bitterly.
' The moon is so beautiful.. and yet everyone ignores it and sleeps.. only waking back up when the sun comes. It's sad and lonely.. '
' The moon, no longer alone.. has stars to accompany it throughout the night. Just like Ren, no longer alone, made friends who stayed with him until their end. How beautiful, and yet so sad..'
The boy thought. He couldn't help but remember his own life as he lay on the cold ground, curled up inside of an abandoned box-like room, in the dark.
Since birth, the young boy had been ill. He was born with many complications, even having a hole in his heart, and dying from lack of oxygen. Somehow he survived and was able to get help, but some things couldn't be solved so quickly and easily, especially when his mother struggled to care for him and herself. His father had been. There to help as much as he could for the first two years of his life, so his mother didn't have to do everything alone but even still they struggled. After the second year, the father left after he was discovered to have been cheating, having a whole other family in secret, only a few years apart from his "first" child with the boy's mom. After the father left, the mother was made to take care of her sickly son alone, but with no help from her family, and not nearly enough money to take care of things on her own, she quickly became depressed and resentful, mad at the world for not helping, mad at the father for giving her such great responsibility to take care of on her own when she was already young and struggling on her own, and mad at herself for not being in a better situation. Soon, she started to hate her child, though her son was kind and full of love and affection for her, he was sickly, constantly needing medication and doctor visits, on top of that, as he aged, it became clear that he was greatly impaired compared to his peers. Being born so early and with tons of complications and health issues, he didn't develop as well as others. He didn't learn things as quickly and easily as others did either. By the time he was 4 years old, he still could barely even speak and had just started walking. He was clingy to his mother and got easily anxious and overwhelmed whenever he was around others, especially if she wasn't around. So without any money to support herself and her new load of responsibilities, she started to feel overwhelmed. Eventually cursing her sickly son. Soon, she began forcefully teaching him to survive without her, leaving him alone with nothing but a book, the same book that he reads to this day, the only book he learned to read after having to teach himself through much trial and error. By the time he turned 6, she had completely changed from a loving mother who was clumsy but full of life and love, to a cold and distant woman. She rarely attended school meetings about her son and whenever she had to come to school for any reason, she would always end up 'disciplining' her son later, any time she was called for anything regarding her son, she would get upset. Punishing him in many ways from hitting to starving and so on. The last memory of his mother that the boy has is from the last time he was able to attend school. He had caught a bad cold, it was winter and because he hadn't had proper clothes for the cold winter, on top of his already fragile body and health, he ended up getting sick, and by the middle of the day, had a bad fever, and was sluggish and weak, his teacher, worried about his well-being, called for his mother, and advised that he be taken to the hospital if needed and/or cared for at home. The boy only remembered seeing his mother's cold hateful eyes glaring down at him as she silently listened to the teacher's words. On the way home, he couldn't help but worry, even though his world was swaying and blurry, he couldn't think or see properly because of his cold, his fever made things worse, and yet all he could think about was his mothers' silent fury, as he thought about whatever punishment she would have for him. On the car ride home, however, she didn't curse at him or yell or question him and only silently drove him home. It was so quiet that he almost thought that everything was fine and that maybe she wouldn't be upset with him, After, he couldn't help that he had gotten sick, so of course she wouldn't be angry. That's what he had thought until they got home, and as soon as he had let his guard down, thinking that everything was fine for once...
Clap-
A loud clapping sound reverberated through the thin walls of the building, followed by a familiar stinging on his cheek, the boy wobbled and almost fell back, and his sight blurred as his eyes watered, he looked up while holding his cheek and saw his mother glaring at him hatefully.
"Just how much more are you going to make me suffer you stupid boy!" Those were the words that came out of her mouth. The boy felt his body weakly swaying as his world began to shake, he didn't know if it was because of the fever or because of his situation with his mother but it felt as if his very world would come crashing down at any moment.
"How many more times do I have to tell you not to cause trouble for me?! If you're going to die then just die already!" His mother continued spouting curses at him, in a fit of rage, she also threw things at him, anything she could see, glass, books, even her heels. Hitting the boy while cursing him for being a nuisance and sickly, the sick boy did his best not to cry as he tried to endure, blaming himself for his mother's suffering, and his own.
After a few moments of taking her anger out on her son, she silently got up and left the living room. The boy, his body heavy and sore from pain and sickness, lay motionless for a few moments as he slowly gathered his thoughts. Noticing his mother being unusually quiet and not coming back, he struggled to pick himself up and limped into the kitchen, where he saw his mother standing silently at the sink, facing the counter. As if noticing her son, she turned around, looking down at the beat-up and sickly child, her eyes which were usually full of disdain and resentment were now dull and lifeless as if she had given up on everything, she looked emotionlessly at her son.
"M- mother…?" The boy looked at her with wary eyes, full of confusion and worry, and soon, he noticed the knife in her hand. His body froze and he stopped, his heart pounded in his chest so loudly that he was sure she could hear it. His eyes shook as he looked up at her fearing the worst as she looked at him silently before speaking again.
"It's all because I had you... if not for you.. I wouldn't be suffering so much." The boy's heart dropped, seeing his mother's resigned state and eyes devoid of any emotion, and the knife that she gripped onto, he felt a mixture of emotions ranging from dread to confusion to frustration and then regret.
"P-please.. I-I pr- I promise I won't do it anymore.." the boy instinctively began pleading with his mother, his small bruised hands fiddling with the hem of his shirt as he spoke, looking into his mother's emotionless eyes searching for any sign of emotion, even anger, just anything would be better than whatever she was currently feeling.
"I- I won't get s-sick a-and I'll be a g-good kid! Pl-please.." through his stuttering, the boy slowly and fearfully moved closer to the woman and held her clothes, pleading at her feet, he fell weakly to his knees and bowed his head down as he begged, but the woman only stared as if looking past the boy.
He doesn't remember what happened after that too well, bits and pieces here and there but nothing that could explain why he was here. He remembers his mother saying something, he didn't know what, he remembers, sobbing, screaming, he remembers blood, lots of it, and then he remembers waking up in a hospital, then everything is a blur, he can't remember no matter how hard he tries, as if someone is purposely preventing him from remembering. He remembers being surrounded by a crowd of loud people with cameras and then the next thing he remembers is waking back up, at home, in a small apartment complex, a room with thin, walls and peeling paint, cold tile floors, and a leaky faucet, no hot water, No windows except for the small one with 3 bars that are about half a inch thick over it. He was now around 7 or 8 years old, and having run out of food and water, as well as medicine, the boy was currently lying down, and dying alone inside of an abandoned room. A room in an apartment that no one came to, for the sole reason that this room was said to be haunted. The room is haunted by the woman who got depressed, went crazy, and tragically passed away while trying to end her sons and her own life. Though of course, her son didn't understand or know what people meant, nor did he care. No one checked on him despite knowing that he was there, they simply pretended as though he didn't exist, saying things like 'he's cursed' or 'why try to help someone who's already at death's door?' And so on. The boy had nothing left, he was abandoned by his father and mother, and no one wanted to take him in, because he was sickly and unfortunate. He was forced to painfully endure until his last moments, alone, and cold, with his only solace being the novel that he held in his hands and the cold embrace of the moon's somber light kissing his face.
Closing his heavy eyelids, a warm tear fell from the sides of his face as the boy lost consciousness he started to no longer feel the pain in his body or tightness in his chest. He no longer coughed or felt afraid. He began to feel as though everything was slowly slipping away, as his body melted into the black void. For some reason, as his life came to an end all he could think about was his idol.
'I wish I could be your friend… Ren..' that was the end of the young boy's life.