With this treasure of Nine Heavens! With this blood of the sacred deity of the Umingav tribe from the North! With this material string of the lifeline of Immortal Phoenix! With this purple void gem from the King of Hell's crown!!!

And Lastly!!!! I offer my entire life for this one miracle! My whole life's exigence! Washed with the blood of a million! 

BOOOM!!!! 

.... 

In a land far away from normal common sense, there exists a land of magic. A land of impossibilities where the wishes of any, and about any, could be fulfilled. There only existed one condition though: belief, and trial. 

In this land, anyone with enough belief, and one who has gone through enough trials, can get what they desire. However, this land wasn't available for all. 

Across the Sea of the Dead, there lied a land where no such magic could be found. No miracles, no martyrs coming back from the dead, and certainly no gods and deities.

Instead of magic, what existed there was civilization. Humans, their kingdoms, and their technology. The technology have advanced to be mostly reliant on steam. 

In the advancement of technology, the greed for more and its consequences had also increased exponentially. 

In the western region of the continent, the flames of war had spread. Every city, and every village was littered with corpses, and the coasts gone in flames. 

It wasn't just human society, the damage had gone to nature, and wildlife. The once exuberant, and colorful forests had turned to ashes, unavailable to all life. The once pearly and glistening rivers and streams had dried up. 

All life on this region had left nothing but dread to those who has seen it. 

It wasn't just the region that was affected. The news and sounds of alarm had been sound in every other kingdom, all of them tense with pressure and fear. 

*****************************

Whoosh! 

A little kid was lying on the ground. 

Currently, he was unconscious. His clothes resembling an old rag, face full of dirty mud.

An unconscious child in a dark alleyway. Any onlooker could see a bad thing happening to that child in the near future. Corpse seeking cats and birds circled around waiting to dive in for their newly found food.

Flicker flicker

His eyelids shook slightly, as if he was experiencing a bad dream. 

The next moment, his eyelids opened slightly, and then shut tight once again. 

"Ugh..." a low grunt came out of the boy's mouth. 

I seem to be in an alleyway. 

This cold hard pavement beneath me, and the narrow region I am trapped in - these seem to be the walls. 

But this environment... something feels strange. 

I don't know why, but something is off... strange... 

Why can't I remember anything? 

Wait, who am I?! 

The boy's pupil's dilated in shock. 

My body feels so heavy... 

The boy seemed to be around the age of puberty. He had black hair, and crystal-like eyes that currently seemed to be very confused and estranged. 

After great effort, he stood up from the ground, barefoot. It wasn't just the foot, all of the body was naked. A thin and pale body that seemed to be only bones with little fat underneath the skin. 

He looked around in alarm, waving his head.

Both sides were dark. But one side had a faint trace of noise. 

I will go that way, the boy thought as he started walking towards his destination with the noise. 

The ground was cold. And occasionally, a gust of wind would blow by, causing the boy to shiver. 

He walked and walked. Walked and walked.

...

The boy walked and walked. 

Until, he had seen other shapes of buildings. Rusty, old, and... abandoned. 

The sky was gloomy too, full of dark clouds. 

Atchoo! 

At some point, grumbles of an empty stomach could be heard. Strange musky liquid would also flow down the boy's nostrils. 

He was tired. All of his energy sapped out. He had explored the village. And although it was just the general gist, people don't seem to live here anymore. 

He further confirmed his suspicion by shouting in the middle of the streets.

No reply was heard. 

Along with the decreasing energy, also came the decreased focus of the boy. He would sometimes trip and fall. His knees and elbows had blood dripping out and scratched marks had appeared on his exposed skin. 

...

Where am I ?? 

I saw a ceiling as my eyes opened. A brown ceiling made of wood. The ground beneath me was rock hard, even though it seemed to be covered in cloth. As I tried to lift my fingers, I found a piece of thin blanket covering my body.

Looking around, I seemed to be in a room, lying on a bed.

Fortunately, I hadn't died of starvation or cold...

Hupp!!

I tried to get up, but couldn't. My body just wouldn't listen to my orders. 

A sense of panic took over the boy. Currently, he felt just like a rabbit that had been caged by the hunter. All he could do was await his destiny of being slaughtered. 

The panic was expected. After all, the boy still hadn't eaten any food. When the body isn't being fed with energy, it enters a panic mode. 

The boy's eyes shifted along the room quickly, and beads of sweat started appearing on his body. 

After a certain amount of time, finally some noise sounded. 

The brown door opened, revealing a person. The person was currently wearing a robe, thus not allowing the boy to see any of his appearance. His body proportions were pretty simple, not broad or anything. 

"*&^$#^&( ?" 

A strange sequence of voice came out the person's mouth. 

"What?" 

 I replied. 

The man didn't do anything. Didn't say anything either. Just stood there and raised his arm, scratching his head. 

The motion exposed his bare hand. It was very... boulder like. 

Hairy and full of power. It looked like it could crush a watermelon. 

His index finger scratched his head, and he once again spat out a bunch of strange syllables. 

"#%&$#@..."

"Jiaju te kuyot?" the boy tried to say the same words as the man. Since he didn't know what else to do, he also started scratching his head, in the same manner as the hooded man. 

")*^)_&^$"

"Uopeo grua dslw" 

After a few round of exchanges between them, the hooded man suddenly started laughing. 

XAXAXAXA!

SLAP! the man aggressively slapped the wooden furniture a few times. 

Creak creak...

Unexpectedly, the furniture started creaking, almost as if it was going to collapse. Though, one might say it was due to the aging of the furniture, and from not being touched by humans in a long time, one might also say it was due to the man's strength. 

"@#$%*(" the man approached the boy and started scrimming for something inside his robe. He then got a weird looking plant that somewhat resembled a plant's root. 

Snap! he broke the root in half easily, almost as if it was paper. 

Then he handed out one portion to the boy, "&(%$%^" he said, and pointed to his mouth. 

He then threw the other snapped half into his mouth, and chewed on it. 

One could now see that the man was around his fourties, and had a chin full of ginger beard. 

He looked like the warriors and vikings the boy saw when he was a child. They were some scary people... holding weapons on their backs, and would cut down the heads of animals and humans alike all with a smile on their face. 

The boy shivered in fear, and didn't want to eat the thing the man gave. However, seeing his fatigue, and this weak body that couldn't even stand on its legs, he had no choice but to weakly extend his arm and take it. 

The boy span the root in his palm, looking at each detail, the thin and spread out hairs, the strange brown skin, and the strangely curved around shape, even the strangely fresh yet dusty smell on it, before putting it in his mouth. 

Crunch crunch 

He bit down on the plant root, and as the juice of the root came out, the boy's expression slowly turned awful. 

His face crunched up, as he could feel the nasty sharp taste inside his mouth. It even seemed to be burning the inside of his mouth.

Blergh! 

I could no longer tolerate the taste and spat out a portion of the root onto his palm. Though, the juice had already moisturized the dry mouth and it now felt a little bit better. 

Looking at the munched up glob of root, coated with a bit of saliva, I thought-

Ah, it may be good for me to eat it. After all, all medicine and herbs are nasty tasting! 

Raising my palm, I threw the munched plant root inside my mouth. This was done with a lot of bravery. 

Chew chew

After a few chewing, I could only force the food down my throat. 

As if it was contagious, I could feel the hot sensation inside my mouth spread to my throat, to my chest, and eventually to my stomach. I could feel my body improving, and the energy being resupplied. 

"Thank you!" 

Showing appreciation to your benefactor had never been a wrong thing. I was just recently almost at the brink of death outside after all. Who knows, any savage wolf could've cut my throat up and eaten my inside had the man not found me...

Still, I couldn't lower down my tenseness around him. 

...Ah... 

The man had revealed a very kind smile on his face. Seeing it, I would only do right to trust him. 

In return, I should smile... 

Just as the thought originated inside me, my vision started going blurry. Everything seemed to become a little bit fuzzy, and a bit darker as seconds passed... 

...