Weber walked around the market and the aroma of fresh or roasted fish, vegetables fresh from the farm were undeniable in the market stall.
"Hello, sir, " Weber said to a cabbage seller "three cabbages for $10 right?"
"What? No! That'll be $25." The man said with a glare.
Weber grimaced "I'm pretty sure it was $10 the other day."
"And I'm pretty sure you know about the war issues hitting us hard? Until something is done the price is only going up. You buying or not?" The man said, scowling.
Weber handed over the money and left.
"There goes dinner," he said with a sigh. He saw another vendor with freshly baked bread and he smirked. "I think I'll treat myself just a little this time—"
*Ring* *Ring*. Weber's phone snapped him out of his thoughts and he tightened his jaw as he he picked up the call from Josh.
"What? It's the weekend! I don't have time for exploring abandoned sights."
"Who's doing that? I was wondering if you saw the news." Josh said wearily.
"Haven't I said how I won't be checking the news for some time for my mental health?" Weber replied gnashing his teeth.
"A war is going on and you're not checking news? Bro, I can't afford a funeral for you if anything happens," Josh said chuckling.
"What is it? I was in the middle of buying stuff for dinner."
"Oh, that's why I called," Josh's tone got darker. "There might not be any food worth getting. I advice you get out of the market."
Weber squinted his eyes and furrowed his brows "What are you—"
Dozens of people stormed the market at once. Vendors were having their shops overrun by people stealing their goods and running away with it.
Weber quickly side stepped a large person running towards the bread vendor he was going for. His eyes widened as the scene went from quiet to chaos.
"Josh, I'll call you back," he ended the call and sighed. "It's too late, isn't it?" . Then Weber's eyes fell to his screen and he saw the headline:
Major Farm Land Captured By Enemy Country. Experts Warn Of Food Price Increase.
As he was about turning to leave the market, a person ran passed him quickly and the cabbage and other goods he carried were gone.
"No! Get back here!" He dashed amongst the dozens of people that were looting shops. "If prices surge even more, then I can't lose the little I have!" He said breathing heavily and feeling his legs more heavy by the second.
The person was too fast and he lost them.
"Darn it!" He cursed under his breath while panting and sweat pouring down his head.
"That bread is mine!" A person yelled, holding tight onto a load of bread from another person. Then the other person sent his fist into the person's gut and it hit the air out of them and two seconds later, another person smacked him on the head with a club and he ran off with the bread.
And it wasn't only them. There were many fights amongst people for little resources.
"Is the government really doing nothing? They invest so much in the war, but what has that done?" He said clenching his fists. "I have to leave, before it's too late."
Weber dashed away from the market square but felt his energy quickly drained due to the exhaustion from the earlier run.
And it was a large market stall. Then the sky turned red.
Weber's heart jumped as he rubbed his eyes. He wasn't seeing things. Several people from the sky fell at high speed and caved in the ground.
"I'm not even staying to wait and see!" He began running with the little energy adrenaline could help him with.
As the dust settled, three people in red cloaks, black shirts, trousers and boots stood up, their face hidden with black masks.
As people saw them, some began to flee while others fell to the ground in fear.
Weber whipped his head around and saw no sign of law enforcements.
The people in cloaks went down on one knee and in sync, put a hand on the ground, causing red hot chains to erupt from the ground and it flew to people that were close to them, wrapping itself and burning them to death while draining their life force.
Beads of sweat formed on Weber's head and his body was frozen and his legs shaky.
Then he saw the person that stole his goods from earlier running in exhaustion with their eyes wide open and little breath to run with.
Then Weber saw a chain heading for them. He gnashed his teeth and yelled "GET OUT OF THE WAY!"
"Hm?" The chain wrapped around their neck and their head was set on fire and their life force drained.
Weber's heart started beating rapidly and he felt a splitting headache all of a sudden.
"These headaches again...! No!"
As he took a step, his head would throb.
Weber was in the second year of college, but health had time after time threatened his performance academically. And now, it could cost him his life.
His eyes fell on a beaded metal bracelet that began glowing slowly that he always wore.
"Now I think about it, what is this thing? Why can't I remember where I got this?"
His eyes darted around the scene and there came two individuals with uniforms of white long sleeves and black shirts.
"Fools, now you come?" Weber glared at the officers.
Then the hooded figures stopped tormenting people and stared at the officers. Both sides were silent for a few moments. Then the terrorists raised their hands in unison and sent a large mana blast towards the officers.
The officers dodged by going up into the air and sending several blasts towards the terrorists.
But the terrorists were unaffected and just went through the blasts like it was nothing and they slammed the officers into the ground.
Weber gnashed his teeth. "Don't tell me it's only them that's available to help."
Weber's heart tightened as the officers were lifeless from one strike.
"We are the ones that will set this country right. The Ones of Rite"
"Terrorists. Just had to be terrorists." Weber clenched his fists as he was frozen in place, then his headache began reducing and the bracelet started to reach high and hot temperatures.
He immediately removed it and threw it to the floor and ran away.
Looking around, it was virtually only him, corpses or people that were already running. The smell burnt of flesh and screams were constantly heard throughout the market.
"No one should be around, so I just finish this however I can." Weber said and released his breath. His hair black hair turned silver and his iris turned white. He startled when he saw his reflection on a broken glass on the floor and his body felt light and more sturdy and stronger than usual.
"Now, I remember. That bracelet sealed some of my memories."
As Weber's memories came back flooding, he saw himself using mana arts in the past, but stopped for a reason he couldn't remember.
The terrorists surrounded him.
"Looks like I won't be able to have time to recall the past."
The terrorists were circling him.
Then one of them spoke up "At this rate, you must be the Captain that will be stopping us."
Weber titled his head. "I'm not sure what you're talking about."
"You'll see soon. And what type of technique makes you look ghost like?"
"Want to know?" Weber dashed to them at high speed, but he unintended dashed past them cause he was faster than he thought.
"We will be taking your body now. That will be enough to overthrow the government."
Weber didn't have enough time to recall everything, but he had only one option: Fight.