***
10 years ago
Red Zone
Beyond Terrane
Chaos ensues everywhere when the full moon turns red. The moment when monsters crawl out of their lairs and kill every human they meet. Humans become helpless.
This catastrophic disaster doesn't just happen now; it happened hundreds of years ago when the earth split and monsters came out of the earth's core.
It was estimated that billions of humans had died while the number of monsters increased.
Terrane City, a paradise-like place built by survivors. They call it Sentinel, the most powerful authority group in the city.
They decide who deserves to enter and who doesn't; it's for the survival of mankind.
Is there another city? There may be, but none have the maximum protection as Terrane.
Moreover, with an area reaching more than the size of New York City, many people were willing to risk their lives and fate to live in the city.
"Attention, outsiders! This city is not enough to house all of you. You'd better go to Nova or Cradel to seek refuge!" declared a man wearing a white shirt with magic ornaments floating behind their back.
Outsiders were a category of people who lived outside the last seven human cities. They live nomadically, relying on resources from the forest.
Sometimes, if monsters attacked, they had to find a safe place for their new settlement. Every night, they were haunted by the uncertainty of their lives.
"Report, Mage Arnold," a man walked over, wearing only a white uniform and no magic ornament behind his back.
"What?" asked Arnold.
"The outpost detected a second-level monster wave heading towards this gate," explained the man, still looking down.
"A monster wave? Great," explained Arnold.
He looked straight ahead towards the outside of Terrane's eastern gate. From behind the trees, he saw black-colored monsters crawling over the ground, targeting the crowd gathered outside the city gate.
To Arnold, the city's protective magic wall would not be threatened by anything as long as the wave of monsters attacking were only 2nd-level monsters.
"Use the outsiders to hold back the monsters," Arnold emphasized.
"But... they're human. Doing so would be violating—"
"I don't care! It'll be easy for us to destroy the monsters if they're distracted!" interrupted Arnold as he radiated his magic aura.
The man swallowed his saliva deeply, then nodded in agreement. Orders were orders; he had to do it even if it was against human principles.
"Sir! Please let us in!"
"We will die here if you close the gate."
"Please take my children in. Let them live peacefully in the city."
They hoped. They prayed in their cries of despair. They were confident that the Integrity Sentinels would rescue them, just as the legends had told them.
Sam William, a 10-year-old boy who has the same hope as the outsiders. He held his sister's hand firmly, unwilling to let her go.
Their parents died protecting them. Sam must be strict as a leader for Rachel —Sam's sister.
His parents' last wish was that Sam and Rachel could go to Terrane and earn a decent living there. Sam would fulfil their last wish.
"Brother! My leg hurts," complained Rachel, a 7-year-old girl.
"Get on my back. We're gonna go to the south gate," Sam asked.
Sam was shocked to see that Rachel's leg had swollen, which made it difficult for her to walk, let alone in a crowd of people.
He carried Rachel on his back, then ran around for a few kilometers to reach the south gate. Several people saw Sam, and they started running to the same gate.
"Let's go to the south gate!" declared the man, followed by some of the crowd.
Arnold watched the flow of the crowd as it began to split up. He noticed that they were heading to the south gate.
The man didn't want to be scolded by the authority guarding the south gate. He ordered his men to form a magic wall to block their escape route.
BRUK!
Sam fell after his body hit an invisible wall. Rachel was knocked down and injured, but Sam grabbed her again and looked for a gap to escape.
"Damn Sentinels! He's trying to kill us here," Sam declared, glaring at the people above the city gates.
Rachel's head was dizzy, her body aching, and her feet swollen. She kept saying that she was afraid of the monsters.
"Close your eyes and just talk to me. Talk about something else," Sam ordered.
"I want to eat bacon," Rachel said. Sam chuckled as she continued to walk in a circle near the magic wall.
"Sure. You can eat all you want once we get to the city."
"I want to play snowball fight in the park near our old house."
"I want to slide on the playground."
"I want to sleep with Bonnie."
Sam heard it all. It broke his heart to hear them, hurting and sad at the same time. But, he was sure the city of Teranne had it all. Wasn't heaven like that?
"I'm sure it's all within the city," Sam explained, still running without stopping.
"Most of all, I want to be with you, Brother."
Hearing Rachel's last words made Sam unable to hold back tears. He quickened his pace, hoping to find the end of this magic wall.
Finally, Sam found the end and passed through. Arnold had been watching the two children. He didn't expect such a clever outsider to be able to find the weakness of the magic wall.
"Damn it!"
"Hurry up and kill them!" commanded Arnold, pointing at Sam.
Magic arrows were released from the Sentinel members' magic bows. Sam turned his head, seeing an arrow of light aimed at him.
"Damn it! They really want to kill us," Sam explained.
"Brother, I'm scared," Rachel said.
"Don't worry. I'm here."
"Hold on tight," Sam explained.
He zig-zagged every time an arrow of light was about to target him. Arnold became very annoyed as the outsiders' steps were agile. He ordered all the members to get down and attack Sam up close.
"Don't let him arrive at the south gate!" Arnold said.
Just as all the Sentinels were chasing Sam and Rachel, a flash of golden light shot out from the direction of the city and arrived right near Sam.
Sam widened his eyes, stopping in his tracks as a mysterious man in gold-colored magic armor appeared before him.
"Integrity Sentinel?" startled Sam.
Through the man's eyes, he saw that there was a great magic essence from the girl's body that Sam was holding.
He reached out his hand, snatching Rachel away from Sam to make Rachel even more frightened.
"Brother! Help me!" pleaded Rachel.
"Let her go!" insisted Sam, trying to fight back.
The man lifted Rachel up and let her fly with his golden magic, her body restrained by the magic chains of the Integrity Sentinel's power.
"Pure magic essence. Qualified physical strength. She was chosen to join as a city resident," the man explained.
"Me? Become a Terrane citizen?" asked Rachel.
"Thank goodness. We finally got in, Brother," said Rachel. Sam smiled and started to stop fighting.
Sam felt happy and relieved to see Rachel and himself worthy of joining as residents of Terrane City. But something happened that took them both by surprise.
"Bring this girl in," the man ordered, telling the sentinels to bring Rachel into the city.
"Wait! What about me?" asked Sam.
"You're Outsiders. You have no magic essence in your body. You are not worthy of Terrane!" stated the Integrity Sentinel man.
KICK!
The man kicked Sam hard in the face and body, sending him flying far into the forest.
Rachel saw what was happening. She screamed for her brother, hoping to break free from the Integrity Sentinel's magic shackles.
"BROTHER!"
"Let me go! I don't want to go!"
"BROTHER! HELP ME!"
Sam looked forward with blurry eyes, his body sluggish. The wound he received was fatal enough to threaten his life.
However, the real threat did not come from the Integrity Sentinel's attack but from the monster wave.
"Let Rachel ... go!"
Through his blurry eyes, he saw Rachel being taken away into the Terrane city with Integrity Sentinel and the rest of the Sentinels. Sam went limp, not knowing what to do.
The monsters' roars were becoming clearer from behind, numbering in the hundreds and bloodthirsty. Sam's situation was truly at risk.
SLICE!
A group of people in black uniforms appeared at the location where Sam was lying faint, five in total.
They defeated the monsters in a different way than the Sentinel members did.
"Mark! Johnson! You guys protect the boy," explained a man, coming in with a katana sword in his hand.
"Lydia! Take the boy with you," he said.
"Okay," said Lydia.
The woman with her hair in a ponytail came and carried Sam's body in her arms. Through her short examination, Lydia confirmed that Sam was alive but badly injured.
"Good, let's get out of here."