《Unfaltering Hero, Book 1: Magic and the Rules of a New World》


 Prologue: Shit Happens

    It was another typical day in Washington as gray clouds drifted lazily across the blue sky, hiding the bright rays of the sun from view. A light shower sprinkled over Seattle and only increased as the clouds grew thicker and dense. Sixteen-year-old Jae Fault walked to school; Greenwood High.


    Jae paused and looked at his rippling reflection within a small puddle. He had long dark bangs that waved over his mysteriously orange right eye, and a partially shaved head where white fuzz was growing, exposing a normal light blue eye. Jae¡¯s appearance wasn¡¯t normal, one side of his hair was a deep black while the other was pure white like the color of snow. Similarly, his eyes also contrasted in color. People had always made fun of him because of this, so he always shaved off the white part and covered his orange eye. To finish off his ¡°look¡±, from his black hair, stems a long ponytail that folds over his left shoulder.


    A small sigh escaped Jae¡¯s mouth as he stepped over the puddle and continued his way to school, contemplating another bad start to the week.


    ¡°Hmmm¡­ maybe if I change my appearance¡­ No I don¡¯t care what anybody thinks of me, take it or leave it, I won¡¯t change because I want to be accepted. I don¡¯t care¡­¡±Jae thinks to himself. Although he says this Jae knows a little part of him does, if he didn¡¯t, he wouldn¡¯t shave off his white hair and cover his different eye.


    Jae arrived to school and started walking to his first period class. The moment he entered through the door Jae could feel the class¡¯s atmosphere grow denser than Osmium. He could hear a group of girls snickering at the back, conversations drifted from modern music and Netflix to about Jae.


    ¡°Look the loser¡¯s here¡±,


    ¡°Wish he¡¯d just stop going to school so we wouldn¡¯t have to look at him...¡±,


    ¡°Does he really think that hair looks cool?...¡±,


    ¡°hehehe...¡±,


    ¡°C¡¯mon I dare you to ask him out¡­¡±,


    ¡°eww no...¡±.


    ¡°Glad everyone is as lively as ever.¡± Jae murmured to himself as he walked to his desk by the window.


    Jae sat down at his seat, just then Kyle and his group of lackeys came up to him.


    ¡°Hey trash!¡± Kyle said to Jae as if they were longtime friends. His lackeys laughed like they didn¡¯t hear him say that for about the billionth time. A flare of anger flicked in Jae. ¡°Hey you gay piece of shit, I''m talking to you¡±.


    ¡°Hmmm you sure toss the word gay a lot don¡¯t you? Are you trying to hint at something?¡± Jae retorted with a smirk on his face.


    ¡°The word gay seems to be your goto insult to express your hatred of someone, one can¡¯t help but to think that it is because you are secretly insecure about your sexual orientation, so to suppress your insecurities and fear of possibilities you express it in terms of bullying to combat and hide from the truth. You¡¯re afraid to submit to the idea of being gay so you call other people gay. Am I right?¡±


    Kyle¡¯s face was steaming red as he heard a few snickers from the other students that were watching the scene.


    ¡°You little bit-¡±


    ¡°Oh you¡¯re in denial¡± Jae interrupted.


    Kyle was about ready to start swinging, but instead a smile grew on his face and he instead said.


    ¡°How can I be gay when I fucked your mother last night, oh shit I¡¯m sorry, I forgot that she¡¯s dead, probably killed herself to get away from you.¡± Jae gripping his fist, was ready to throw a hook at his face, but the thought quickly vanished as Kyle started to walk away with the victory. Not ready to lose Jae cried out. Kyle turned his head but Jae had nothing to say. This only fed Kyle and his lackeys as they continued to their seats roaring with laughter.


    ¡°Damn¡­¡±Jae thought to himself. Embarrassment settled into his mind, but was quickly replaced by anger and sadness as he thought about what Kyle said. Jae looks out to the window, deep in thought. He thought about his parents, or rather lack thereof, he tried to remember who they were but just couldn¡¯t. He lost them at a very young age. All that was left is a small hope that his parent were good people and died an honorable way. The orphanage told him all sorts of stories, car crash, sickness, drug overdose, explosive diarrhea¡­ But the one he could not accept was that they abandoned him.


    This was a daily routine for Jae, so much so that it has reached a point of redundancy. Just an ordinary mundane life of a typical bullied teen. He felt sad for himself, but even that sadness felt distant.


    After a whole day of Kyle and his lackeys annoying the hell out of him, school was finally out. Jae packed his things and walked out of the school as fast as he could before Kyle and his group could find him. He passed the orphanage knowing all too well that life at ¡°home¡± was no different than school.


    For Jae life is pathetic. Again he looks at his own reflection, this time at a shop window. The more he stared the more pissed off he felt.


    ¡°Sure my life sucks, I''m bullied, I get beat up, I live in a shitstine that is my foster home. But what the hell am I doing about it. I''m just as pathetic as the situation I''m in. All this time I would say to myself that everybody else in this world were dots, duplicates of each other, living a monotonous fake charade that is life. But a dot is exactly what I see in my reflection right now.¡±


    He walked pass the familiar houses, familiar building, the same homeless beggar by the corner.


    ¡°Same, same, same, same, same¡­¡± Jae repeated in his head, teeth clenched, fists balled, knuckles turning whiter than the colonial south.


    The realization of repetition hit Jae harder than Korean parents when their child gets a B+.


    ¡°Dammit I''m a nobody¡± Jae said aloud.


    ¡°No one special, not an individual, I''m a normal teenager. Just a lonely bastard living a blank mundane life, doing the same mundane things¡­ Should I be mad about this, I mean don''t we all want to be somebody? Not just everybody...¡±


    A giant explosion shattered his train of thoughts and threw him off his feet. Regaining his hearing and eyesight, he stood, swaying.


    ¡°What the hell?¡±was his only thought before he saw massive chunks of debris, fires, and mass panic raging like a beehive just up ahead.


    ¡°What''s going on!?¡± Jae could hear people screaming. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    ¡°A terrorist attack!¡±,


    ¡°RUN!!!!¡±


    He saw people running away from the direction of the explosion. People were stampeding and trampling over one another. Jae got knocked onto the floor. He covered his eyes from all the dust and dirt billowing into the streets. People were screaming, crying out in pain and yelling. On the floor, Jae opened his eyes and saw a man trapped under a piece of golden arches from a McDonald''s sign. It looks like McDonald''s found a new way to kill someone.


    ¡°Help!¡± he cried ¡°Somebody please.¡± The man reached out for somebody to grab his hand, but was stepped on by a panicking lady fleeing like everyone else. Jae distraught with his next decision, began to think ¡°I need to get out of here, but that guy needs help.¡±


    BOOM! As if thunder was trying to set an all-time record, another explosion, this one shattering all glass within sight. Jae turned back and was ready to run, but his thoughts became mixed.Dammit I don''t have time to save him, there¡¯s more explosions and debris falling from the sky,but he couldn''t move. Why? why should I save him, I should just get away it''s not my responsibility, the world is a crappy place and people die, I just need to make sure I''m not one of them. BOOM¡­ I mean what''s the world with 1 less dot... BOOM¡­Why, why, why, why, why, why, why, why, fuck, fuck, fuck,fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck...


    ¡°SHIT FUCK! SCREW IT!¡± Jae¡¯s thoughts on an endless panic-rant stopped. Jae had screamed his complaint and was done.


    Jae stumbles over to the man.


    ¡°Are you alright?¡± he asked as he tried to lift up the sign. The man looked at Jae with gratitude.


    ¡°Yeah, I think I¡¯m fine it¡¯s just that my leg is pinned beneath this damn sign.¡±


    ¡°Give me a second, I¡¯ll try to find something to lift up the sign.¡± Jae darted off. It wasn¡¯t long before he found a pole from a road sign.


    On his way, above all the chaos and destruction ripping the Emerald City apart, he swore he could hear laughter erupting from somewhere nearby. Even though it perked his interests, he instead chose to ignore it for he had to help the man.


    ¡°Alright, this might work.¡± Jae said as he put the pole between the McDonald''s sign and a piece of debris.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to lever the sign on three, crawl out as fast as you can because I won¡¯t be able to hold it up for long.¡± The man only nodded, slowly.


    ¡°One, Two,¡± At three he used every ounce of his strength to lift up the huge sign. At the same time the man started to crawl out as fast as he could, and right as he got out Jae¡¯s arms slackened and his knees buckled. Jae sat heaving as the man got to his feet, hobbling.


    ¡°Thanks kid, we better get out of here while we still can¡± The man offered his hand. Before Jae could take it, a scream shattered the silencing city and through the crumbling cityscape. They both quickly turned around to find a woman on her knees cradling a small bundle in her arms as if it was the most precious thing in the world.


    A burly man was barreling towards her as she receded into a corner: Laughing, grinning and howling all the while.


    Jae looked back at the man who he just rescued, he heard it too.


    ¡°I know what you¡¯re thinking, and no we have to get out before he sees us¡± He said. Jae looked at him with a concerned face. Not just because the man should know better than anyone else of her position, but also because Jae knew he was right.


    ¡°Let''s go¡± The man said. Jae had his fist clenched and head down. ¡°C''mon!¡±cried the man, but his savior was already gone. Jae turned around, pissed off as he charged the terrorist who now was even closer to the woman then he was a couple seconds ago.


    Jae became enraged.


    ¡°There¡¯s no way I¡¯m going to let that guy hurt anybody else.¡±thought Jae to himself as he ran towards the man. Jae tackled him like a rhino. The man flew a few feet to the side.


    ¡°Run!¡± Seeing this, the woman quickly took the chance to get up on her feet and run as fast as she could from the spot, leaving Jae and the would be assailant.


    The criminal looked pissed, no, the word pissed couldn¡¯t even describe his expression, he was fuming.


    ¡°Damn brat, how dare you let my prey escape!?, I was going to have some fun with her. How are you going to repay me?¡± The man shouted in rage as he threw Jae off of him. Jae quickly rolled out of the way as he dodged a kick from the criminal.


    The goon was soon frothing at the mouth, neck veins bulging.


    ¡°How dare you dodge?!¡± At the sight of this Jae got up us soon as possible and prepared for impact.


    The criminal launched a punch at him, Jae tried to dodge but his luck just had to run out, as he slipped, the punch which was meant for his stomach, landed right square in the face.


    ¡°This is it, I¡¯m dead, just that one punch and I¡¯m already fading¡­¡±Jae thought.


    He was used to pain from bullies, but this guy¡¯s fist was on a whole new level. Just the force alone sent him airborne and several yards away.


    ¡°What is this guy, and what the fuck is with this insane strength?¡±thought Jae as he sailed through the air.


    He hit the ground and his whole body erupted in pain. As if he were being electrified. He stood but before Jae could even sort his thoughts, something hot and bright caught his peripheral.


    ¡°Wait, is his foot really on fire?¡±That was his last thought before the kick made contact with his chest. Jae felt a few of his ribs crack and break before his back kissed the concrete wall. Jae tried to get up but the pain in his chest was too great and it was becoming harder to exhale with every breath.Jae coughed up blood.


    ¡°Seems like one of the ribs punctured one of my lungs or something¡±The thug came out of nowhere, ¡°NO MERCY!!!¡± He shouted, and kicked him in the ribs again making Jae cry out in pain and coughing vehemently now.The goon laughed.


    ¡°How do you like that kid?¡± he said cheerily, as Jae cried out in pain before kicking him in the face. Sprawling him out as if he was to make a snow angel. Jae laid there for a couple second, trying to act dead. A big smile appeared on the attackers face. ¡°Get up!¡± and he kicked Jae as if he were a soccer ball.


    Acting dead obviously enthralled the goon with joy. He laughed loudly, and walked over to Jae. Jae laid there completely defeated. He spat on Jae then said.


    ¡°You pathetic piece of trash.¡± An image of Kyle popped into Jae¡¯s mind, and he grew angry.


    "dammit if I''m gonna die anyways, I won¡¯t die like this."


    Jae slowly stood up.


    ¡°Oh you''re up, that¡¯s a surprise¡± the goon said with a wide grin.


    ¡°BITCH!¡­ An aborted, crack fetus could hit harder than you¡­ you¡­ you¡­ ugly, lowlife degenerate scumbag!¡± Jae screamed while wiping his mouth.


    The man¡¯s smile instantaneously faded, ¡°You little piece of shit, I see you haven¡¯t learned your lesson.¡± he picked Jae up by his shirt and slammed him hard into the ground. Jae¡¯s head bounced of the cement like a rubber ball. His vision stinging, burning and pained from fresh hot blood pouring into his field of vision.


    The terrorist smiled, ¡°Who¡¯s the degenerate? Huh?¡± he said before throwing Jae up into the air and hitting him with a lightning bolt. Jae cried out in pain as he fell on the ground, his whole body felt like it was being stabbed by countless needles. His mind melted from the searing white hot pain. The bolt ripping the fabric of his being to shreds as if he never existed. The goon approach Jae¡¯s stinging body and discharged a continuous stream of a million volts of electricity into Jae to finish him off.


    ¡°AHHHH!!!!¡±he screamed.


    ¡°I see you¡¯re having fun!¡± a new voice sounded from behind the goon. The man turned around to find his teammates walking towards him.


    ¡°This guy is mine. Go get your own.¡± replied the goon as he continued to electrocute Jae.


    ¡°Oh you can have him, we just came to tell you that we should get going, the magic forces are a minute out.¡± warned a female terrorist.


    A new voice reverberated throughout the decrepit landscape.


    ¡°I think it¡¯s a bit late for that.¡± All the goons turned confused, but very frightened.At the source of the sound stood two people. One was female and looked like the younger of the two. while the other, a man, who looked like he was in his early thirties.


    In a flurry of movements, the duo wiped out the group of thugs within seconds.The two walked up to Jae as the woman knelt by his body.


    ¡°This kid is still alive but if he doesn¡¯t get treatment soon he won¡¯t be.¡± The man nodded, ¡°How bad is he injured?¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s too much to even list...¡± Alice replied as she continued to examine Jae¡¯s body.The deep voice belonging to the male spoke.


    ¡°Are you sure Alice? He was being beaten for god knows how long, before we located them, he shouldn¡¯t even be in one piece let alone alive.¡± He drifted his gaze back to the boy.Alice shook her head.


    ¡°I don¡¯t understand how he¡¯s still alive either but he is.¡± She knelt back down and hovered a hand over his chest, something didn¡¯t feel right for her.


    She stood back up.


    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s take him to base and heal him and look up his background just in case. Jack, go take him to the base while I check if there are any other survivors.¡±Jack picked up Jae as carefully as he could, so that he wouldn¡¯t cause him any extra pain and ran towards the car. The rest of the magic forces began to gather the rest of the victims to manipulate their memories, and make this magical incident seem more like a terrorist attack rather than several wizards from Jayu wreaking havoc on Earth. They worked fast and efficiently.


    Unbeknownst to Jae''s saviors, he was slightly conscious as they fought the thugs. What he saw left a question in his mind before he passed out.¡°Did they just use magic?¡­ ..Impossible¡­.¡±

 Arc 1: The Rules of a New World (1)

    Chapter 1: Alice


    I tried to open my eyes, but had to quickly close them as the bright lights nearly blinded me. I¡¯d be better off staring at the sun in all its glory. Bandages surrounded my body, enough for a new egyptian era of mummification. Blinking my eyes several times to adjust to the light, countless thoughts filled my head.


    ¡°Where am I? How did I get here? How am I still alive?¡± If not for the amount of pain I was feeling I would''ve thought I was in heaven, the room I was in was completely white. If not for that same pain that shot through my body I would of just layed there thinking of all the scenarios that could have possibly happened, for me being here.


    My body feels like shit, no the word shit wasn¡¯t even close to describing the pain I''m in right now. My body feels like it went through a garbage compressor. Then, take that, multiply it with can-a-syphil-aids (so horrific it can only be compared to if syphilis did it with cancer and got full blown aids.), folded over by avogadro''s number. I think you get my point.


    I observed the room around me. I must be in a hospital or something, where else could I be. However, I couldn''t clarify my conclusion, because my body won''t move. As soon as I would try, pain shot throughout my entire body and made me want to go insane. You¡¯re probably thinking that I¡¯m exaggerating the shit out of this, but if you were in my situation you would be saying the same thing.


    Just laying there, I couldn''t help but chuckle at my current situation, which caused even more pain to shoot through my body. To think that one day I would end up in this kind of mess. First, I was living a boring and one hell of a shitty life, and the next thing I know I¡¯m fighting some criminal who threw me around like a ragdoll. Now that I think about it how did I even live through all that? It almost feels like I wasn¡¯t human at all. I wavered the thought, the only thing special about me is my overwhelming ability to not make friends.


    What exactly happened. I remember a guy who beat the living shit out of me. Was that real, or a dream? I have no idea what exactly happen, I saved a woman and her baby, some guy who was trapped. There''s no way those things didn''t happen, but it''s more unbelievable if it did.


    If it was real, then I don''t regret what happened, even though my body hurts like hell. The problem is, if that entire scenario was a dream. I don''t care if I didn''t do something heroic. I''m just afraid that if the opportunity presents itself in the future before me, would I be able to step up, and jump in for real?


    I also remember that he had lightning powers. No impossible, that doesn¡¯t make sense, but... I remember the word magic.


    What¡¯s going on, magic doesn''t exist, that''s the crap you hear about in light novels, books, anime and all that other made up stuff to entertain people and to get away from the harsh reality. There¡¯s no scientific basis around magic, it can¡¯t be applied to the real world. Maybe the guy hit me so hard that I got a comatose like concussion and I really dreamed the entire thing. Hell, maybe lightning fist didn¡¯t even exist, there could have been an extreme accident that I got caught up in. Yeah like if there was a fire, and rubble smashed my head, and that''s why i''m covered in bandages, because my body is severely burned.


    There was little comfort to my constant rambling of possible solutions. However this isn¡¯t what an emergency room looked like, I know because back in middle school Kyle pushed me off a steep concrete staircase, and I cracked my head. Could this be a burn unit?


    My eye¡¯s grew wary from all this thinking. I didn''t want to go back to sleep, I wanted answers, but my body couldn''t take it. I needed rest, I needed to heal, I needed the sweet bliss that is sleep, to momentarily escape this pain. I closed my eyes and transcended through space and time.


    That night I dreamed that I was hero. I could shoot fire, had enormous strength, and ran at supersonic speed. More importantly I was kicking lightning fist¡¯s ass. It felt great, it was like nothing could stop me and for once I wasn¡¯t on the side that got their ass kicked.


    I woke up, this time feeling a thousand times better, my body still felt sore but nothing I¡¯m not used to. I layed there deep in thought again, I didn¡¯t even notice someone was in the room until I heard her speak.


    ¡°You''re finally awake, you''re probably feeling better than before, right?¡± asked the voice. This made me snap out of my train of thoughts and twist my head quickly in her direction. ¡°uh¡­ I feel a lot better than before.¡± I said. In front of me stood a very attractive women, who looked to be around in her mid-twenties. She had amber eyes that stared at me with wondrous curiosity. Her chestnut colored hair was tied into a ponytail, and rested over her shoulder. She was wearing a gray shirt with a black cardi over it, and a pair of light blue jeans that brought out and emphasized her legs. She was pretty...


    She must be a nurse I thought to myself, but why is she dressed so cutely, my face was red.


    ¡°You¡¯re red dear, do you have a fever?¡± the woman asked with a concerned voice. For some reason I felt guilty.


    ¡°No, No, No¡­ I¡¯m fine, I''m ok.¡± She stared at me unconvinced.


    Ignoring my sudden increase in testosterone, I examined her further, now that I think about it, she doesn¡¯t look like a nurse at all. In the first place, since when did nurses not where their uniforms in the hospitals.


    ¡°Where am I? Who are you?¡± I asked cautiously. I may be misinterpreting the situation, but this isn''t a hospital, nor is she a nurse.


    ¡°You''re in the care of Northwest Hospital Medical Center, and I''m your nurse Alice¡± That was definitely a lie.


    ¡°Ok why am I here, what happened to me?¡±


    ¡°You got caught up in a terrorist attack, and you¡¯re recovering from your injuries.¡± She had an answer for everything and her soothing voice made me want to believe her. However, she will have to do better to convince me.


    ¡°Who attacked us, why in an open marketplace, who else is hurt, what are my injuries, how long have I''ve been out, and why aren''t you in a nurse¡¯s scrubs?¡±


    ¡°Hehe, someone''s feisty. You must be very cranky just getting up.¡± she smiled, and got close. She seemed very touchy, feely. I''m not sure if it''s compassion, or a charade.


    ¡°But if you really want all those questions answered then fine,¡± I didn''t answer.


    ¡°A local boy with severe mental issues came to the area, placed bombs everywhere and shot up the place; 3 dead, 12 injured, 1 you. You sustained massive head trauma, 3rd degree burns along your arms, legs, and abdomen. Spinal damage, fractured, well everywhere and you''ve been out for 3 days.¡± she finished with embracing me in a warm hug.


    Sigh, maybe everything was my imagination. I mean the whole idea of magic, and lightning sounds pretty stupid now. I smiled in relief. ¡°Heh, hey you didn''t answer me why aren''t you wearing nurse scrubs?¡± a pitiful attempt to erase my earlier accusative questions. ¡°Oh honey, I just wanted to look sexy for when you would wake up. I know how you teenagers are with your hormones.¡±


    ¡°Ha, I think you''d accomplished that better, if you had just worn a nurse''s outfit.¡± We both laughed.


    ¡°Can you get away with how you''re dressed? Aren''t hospitals incredibly strict with that kind of stuff?¡± I asked in wonder.


    ¡°Nah it''s ok, we have casual fridays every week.¡±


    ¡°Oh but today isn''t Friday, it''s wednesday right?¡± Her face instantly switched tones.


    ¡°Oh, well umm¡­ I guess it would be Wednesday, my mistake.¡±


    ¡°Well that seems awfully dumb, how do you mistake the two da¡­ oh shit.¡± I threw the blanket over her head and made a sprint to the exit. My legs were still injured, and I could barely move, but I pushed forward purely by willpower and fear. I made it to the door, just as a hand grasped my collar, and yanked me into the air.


    Holy crap she was strong, she lifted me a foot off the ground.


    ¡°WHO ARE YOU!? REALLY?¡±


    ¡°Trust me, I''m a friend, so please stop struggling, you might get hurt.¡± I didn''t stop¡­


    She carried me as if I were a baby all the way to my bed. No matter how much I struggled it was hopeless, she was too strong. My mind drifted to possible scenarios. I grew hysterical and started to cry.


    ¡°Please don''t dissect me!!!!!!¡± I screamed in terror.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°What!?¡±


    ¡°Don''t cut off my fingers and toes, I can''t regenerate.¡±


    ¡°What are you talking about?¡±


    ¡°Don''t rape me¡±


    ¡°Please listen to what I have to say¡±


    ¡°Don''t probe my asshole, anything but that"


    ¡°Excuse me? Just listen to me for one second. I''m not trying to hurt you. I promise.¡±


    ¡°Sniff...sniff. No butt stuff?¡± I whimpered. She sighed, rubbing her template, feeling a headache coming up ¡°No butt stuff.¡±


    ¡°Ok, I''ll listen,¡± wiping tears from my eyes, I was back on my bed. Embarrassed about crying, I had my head turned down, but also thinking of a way to escape.


    "Look I''m sorry I lied. I just wanted some answers¡± Alice said sincerely. I¡¯m confused, angry, scared, and hungry. Not a good combination of feelings. Yeah I''m terrified but her wanting ¡°answers¡± pissed me off.


    I looked up and spat ¡°Answers? You want answers? No I want some answers, where the hell am I? Who are you? You said you were a friend, but I have no friends.¡±


    ¡°Come on that''s seriously pathetic¡± her face was sour. ¡°Ok fine, you''re in the right, I''ll answer some of your questions; You get four.¡±


    FOUR! I don''t know if I''m more shocked that she''s letting me ask questions, or that I only get four to ask. Where do I even start? Maybe I¡¯ll ask her where I am, why I¡¯m here, Who she is, and¡­


    ¡°YAWWWN!¡± a very hearty yawn escaped from Alice¡¯s mouth. She yawned? Who the hell does she think she is? ¡°Have you figured out your question yet?¡± She sounded way too nonchalant. Although she sounded calm, her eyes were restlessly focused on me, like before. I can''t tell if she''s watching my every move, or she really does want answers from me. But what answers, I don''t know anything. Wait from before...


    I looked at her straight in the eyes and asked.


    ¡°Yeah. Only one. That guy with lightning powers, those explosions, magic. All of those things happened right?¡± She simply answered.


    ¡°Yes.¡± Her answer was so blatant that I felt like I was just slapped in the face.


    ¡°Ok ignore what I said before, I still have more questions¡­ Is that why I¡¯m here? Because I saw what happened?¡±


    ¡°Yes¡± I was trying to stay firm and collected, but her answers were really starting to make me lose my composure.


    ¡°Can you stop doing that?¡±


    ¡°Doing what? And one question left¡± I hate this woman. I prefer her fake nurse persona.


    ¡°I want answers, not just you saying yes or no¡±


    ¡°Ok I¡¯ll try to be more elaborate on your last question¡± But not the others?


    ¡°Fine, what is this place, what am I doing here?¡±


    ¡°Ha, that was two, but I¡¯ll answer both. You''re here, not because you witnessed what happened two weeks ago, but because of your actions¡±


    ¡°TWO WEEKS!?!?!?!?!?!¡±


    ¡°Yeah, sorry I lied about that, but that''s aside the point. This place, this place is the Headquarters for the Magic Forces.¡± Magic Forces?


    ¡°And the reason why you''re here is because you¡¯re a wizard.¡±


    I stood up in shock


    ¡°Oh my god!... That¡¯s bullshit. I¡¯m not a stupid kid, you can''t trick me like that.¡± Alice pulled out a tiny seed and all of a sudden it started to sprout until it grew into a tiny flower. I sat back down, feeling the reality of the world I once knew totally shatter. Magic was real? That means everything wasn¡¯t a dream. That means I really saved those people back then.


    ¡°Wait I¡¯m a wizard, does that mean I can use magic too? In what context do you mean by wizard? And why did those other wizards come up and destroyed the place?¡±


    ¡°Jeez I thought kids these days knew how to count. It might be easier if I explained everything¡± Alice said this while shaking her head.


    ¡°Well no shit, if you''d just do that earlier, then we wouldn''t of had all this trouble¡± her nose twitched. She raised her arm and smacked me across the face


    ¡°Don¡¯t you have any respect for people older than you. Sigh¡­ Let me start from the beginning.¡± Holy shit that hurt, I thought as my hand rubbed my cheek which was a nice shade of pink.


    ¡°There are 2 coexisting worlds. Earth, where we are now, and Krayer, where I¡¯m from. The major difference between the two worlds, is that Earth, and the people on it, evolved without magic. Without magic, the people on Earth had to live very differently than the people on Krayer. A world more technologically advanced. On Krayer however, everything essential to human life is provided to us by magic, we have no need for the advanced technology earthlings have.¡±


    This was hard to digest. Although all of what she''s saying sounds to unreal, I witnessed magic several times already.


    ¡°Then why does no one here know anything about Krayer, yet you know everything about Earth¡±


    ¡°Several thousands of years ago, genius mages thought of a theory of other dimensions. Through hard work and determination, they proved themselves right, and created void magic, portals to this world. You would never know it, but Krayens have had a big impact on all of Earth¡¯s history.


    The Pyramids, Stonehenge, Greek and Roman Culture are all examples of our influence. We had too much impact on Earth, a lot of mistakes were made. Where one of the mistakes led to the sinking of an entire island; Atlantis. Do to all this, the three continents of Frayer held a meeting and agreed to ban all unauthorized travel between the two worlds. The only way you can travel between the two worlds is if you have the permission of a high ranking government official.¡±


    Holy shit, they sunk Atlantis! This was the only thing that I could concentrate on before realizing that she was still talking and I probably missed something important.¡°...,


    but artifacts and underground teachers make it so that void can still be used and learned.¡±


    ¡°Void? What¡¯s that?¡± She just looked at me like she wanted to beat the shit out of me.


    ¡°Are you even listening to me?! She asked in an annoyed and a bit of pissed off tone.


    ¡°Sorry, I just got lost in my thoughts when I heard that you guys were responsible for sinking Atlantis. What were you saying before all that artifact stuff?¡± She just looked at me annoyed before repeating herself.


    ¡°Like I said before, right now void magic is no longer to be taught, but artifacts and underground teachers make it so that void magic can still be used and learned.¡±


    I don''t know what to believe, I mean this story seems too elaborate to be fake. ¡°Ok so assuming this is all true, why would Lightning Fist come to earth.¡±


    ¡°I don''t know why in particular ¡®Lightning Fist¡¯ and his group came here, but it''s always one of a few reasons. Either to make a new life in another world, wreak havoc with their superior strength, or an attempt at world domination.¡±


    ¡°WORLD DOMINATION!¡± I cried. ¡° It''s usually the second reason.¡± hmm power hunger does makes sense. ¡°And that''s why we have the magic forces. To stop these magical incidents and make it seem like an accident in this world¡± Alice finished talking.


    ¡°Wouldn''t it be better if we did know, instead of being under the cloud, unbenounced to any of this.¡±


    ¡°The witch hunts, that was because of us¡±


    ¡°Oh¡± I replied not knowing what else to say.


    "Your human history is riddled with mistakes and problems because of Krayer, and it still is, the only thing we can do now is to protect it from the shadows.¡± That made them sound like Batman


    ¡°I guess that makes sense¡­, but still, nevermind.¡± I just ended my train of thoughts there realizing that there was no point in questioning this any further.


    ¡°Are you ok?¡± Alice asked.


    ¡°More or less, just trying take everything in. You said earlier, that the reason why I''m here is because I''m a wizard. How do you know?¡± She looked uneasy.


    ¡°I had my suspicions when I saw how much you endured in that fight. But I know for sure because of your mother.¡± I was shocked,


    ¡°My mom, you knew her?¡± Suddenly every suspicion I had didn''t matter, all that did matter was my mom.


    ¡°Yes, I did. She was a part of the magic forces, and I was her apprentice.¡± I''m speechless, I don''t know what to say. Alice realizing that waiting for a response was pointless, continued. ¡°I was lying before because I wanted to know more about you.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean? My mom¡­ what do you know about her.¡± Alice looked dazed, as if she were recalling old memories, well I guess she is.


    "Your mom, Diana was a wizard and she worked on earth with the magic forces, when I was your age I came from Krayer to apprentice under Diana to be just like her. Several years later, Diana met with a human male and left the organization to be with him. I haven''t heard from her at all since she left.¡± she paused to catch her breath.


    ¡°When I saw your records I saw your parents and knew who you must be. I lied to you because I wanted to see you in your natural habitat, and decide for you whether or not to tell you the truth. To see if it was better to let you rejoin society, or to know everything.¡±


    This was way too much, I didn''t know I had records, the orphanage didn''t tell me shit. I could have known my mother and father. Above all that, I''m also a wizard, my mom was a wizard. This place, Krayer, magic, Alice! Everything is so confusing. I feel like my body might implode with all this pressure. My heart feels like it''s being constricted by an anaconda. I felt the back of my eyes concealing tears.


    Alice cleared her throat.


    ¡°Ergh emm, so¡­ how''s your mother.¡± I couldn''t hold it anymore. I bursted into tears, water ran down my face harder than niagara falls.


    ¡°Woah what''s wrong!¡± Alice cried.


    ¡°Why are you crying?¡± She doesn''t know, she doesn''t know that my parents are dead.


    ¡°whimper, whimper¡± I couldn''t say anything except for hiccups and burps. Alice then threw her arms around like she did before, but this time it felt different, the hug before was fake, I can tell this one was real, I could feel the compassion radiate from her body.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know why exactly you''re crying, but you can let it all out on my shoulder¡±


    ¡°I¡­ I''m¡­ sorry¡± was the only words I could muster. ¡°Never be sorry for crying.¡± Alice said softly.


    ¡°That''s not it¡­¡±


    I don''t know why I was crying, actually I have never cried about not having parents before. Well maybe that is the reason why I was crying. Learning about my mom so suddenly was too shocking. After I subsided, I told Alice everything I knew about my parents, that being that they were either dead or gone, and I have no idea how or why. She was surprised by this, and it looked as if she were about to cry too. Alice and my mom must have been good friends. I still have no idea what to believe, but right now, the only thing I know is that I can trust Alice. Before she had asked me about my life, so I told her everything.


    ¡°From what I know from the orphanage, I was left at the doorstep when I was just a baby. They ¡®raised¡¯ me, but in the end I raised myself. Through school and the orphanage, all I can say about my life is that, it is a monotonous, boring, pitiful excuse of a life. Sometimes I dream that there is something special out there for me, but when I look at myself all I see is a failure.¡± I finished.


    Alice didn''t respond for a while. I thought she was asleep or something because she didn''t say anything. Right as I was about to call out to her, she exclaimed.


    ¡°Well that sucks, I guess you re-entering society is a no go.¡± I hated being this confused for so long.


    ¡°What do you mea¡­¡±


    ¡°I mean, your life seems boring and pathetic, so you should start a new one.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡± was all I could say because my head was spinning from confusion.


    ¡°I realize it was stupid of me to choose for you, I''ll let you choose to either, re-enter society with the price of losing your memories of everything magic, your mom, and the events that occurred, or keep your memories but stay in our facilities and maybe even join the magic forces.¡±


    ¡°Wait, wait isn''t there like a third option.¡±


    ¡°Well I guess we could kill you, but that''s pretty gory¡± Her voice is way too nonchalant. Alice¡¯s eyes had brighten up. ¡°Or I could take you to Krayer! You could learn how to use magic, and be an official wizard.¡± I let out a sigh, from thinking how shit really did get real.

 Arc 1: The Rules of a New World (2)

    Chapter 2: A Choice to Make


    I''ve been in the magic forces headquarters for about a month now, rehabilitating my body. I may have felt fine when I was conversing with Alice, but in reality my body was not completely healed. I would be fine in just a couple days to a week if I were receiving constant attention from the healing mages. But they only recovered me from a fatal state. The rest of my body would heal on its own, especially since wizards naturally used their own magic to grow cells more quickly. However, because I¡¯ve never used magic before in my life, my body seemed to heal at a normal human rate. Well that''s not true, Alice told me that my body reacted to the sudden change in environment and used magic to increase my durability, stamina, and agility, although to a very small extent.


    This fraction of M.F is located in Darlington, Washington. They have bases all over earth, waiting to jump into action. Being an Enforcer, entails that you travel to a whole new world, working for the government, and fighting criminals. Of course many Krayens aspire to be an Enforcer, but for me, Earth isn''t anything new, I don''t care about the Krayen government, and I''m too weak to fight anybody. It really shouldn''t be a hard decision, go to Krayer, and learn magic. But then again, I don¡¯t want to be too hasty. In the end, what¡¯s a life worth living if you constantly think about how you could have done things differently. That¡¯s why I''m going to put more thought into this decision, I don¡¯t want any regrets.


    Regrets? Isn¡¯t the only thing I regret in my life, me? I ask myself...If I go to Krayer, and I learn magic, how will I change. Maybe, I could be the protagonist in my own life. If I were the main character of a stereotypical isekai story, what would I do? I smiled at the idea of being a ¡°hero¡±. I have never done anything heroic in my life. Getting my ass kicked for those people, crossed my mind. I shook my head, there''s nothing heroic about what I did. A hero isn''t just a person with good intentions. Anyone could have done what I did. It''s time to be honest with myself, I''m not like Alice, or my mom. Strong wizards, with amazing abilities, having had awesome adventures in their lives. I will be just as lost as I am now if I go to Krayer. Plus if I stay on earth, I can find out more about my parents, and form friends with people within these headquarters.


    Speaking of friends, Alice came to visit frequently while I was here. I guess she wanted to know more about the child of the person she cared about. There wasn''t much I could tell her, but she had plenty to tell me. ¡°Diana was pretty much the greatest role model anyone could ever ask for. I¡¯m glad to have been her friend.¡± Alice¡¯s statements of my mother were comforting, however I wish I knew how I ended up in the orphanage.


    After learning the full name of my mother, Diana Fault, I scoured the internet in order to find out more about her. Nothing in past obituaries, nothing in the news, no articles about her death, nothing. To make matters worse, Alice didn''t tell me much about my father. Only that he took my mother''s maiden name, he''s from earth, his name was Sung-Bok Park, and was never told about magic. How could finding a piece of my past lead to so many more questions.


    One Tuesday morning Alice came for her usual visit.


    ¡°Hey Alice. What kind of magic did my mom¡­ Diana use?¡± Alice smiled. As she always does when reminiscing about my mother.


    ¡°She used fire magic. But not just that. Amongst wizard¡¯s fire magic is highly common and popular. However, the only limitations of magic, is in your mind.


    Diana¡¯s skill with fire was extraordinary, her basic magic power was as strong as any intermediate wizard, and her abilities extended more than just calling the flames. With her own mix of martial arts and casting spells, she was a phoenix dancing in the wind. A lot of times magic is influenced from your emotions, fire magic especially. The most amazing thing about Diana is her ability to keep a calm head, despite using such a ferocious magic. To sums things up, she was very hot.¡±


    ¡°Yo Alice?¡± I said with a smirk on my face. ¡°Yes Jae?¡±


    ¡°Were you gay for my mother?¡± Alice¡¯s face turned bright red. ¡°Wha-a-at are...¡±


    ¡°I mean it makes sense. The way you talk about her, how your face turns sour every time I mention my father, You¡¯re 37, yet still unmarried. You know gay marriage is legal in Washington now right?¡± Alice pulled my collar towards her. We were face to face.


    ¡°37 is still a ripe age to find a husband. ALRIGHT!?¡± Of everything I had just said, being unmarried had hit her the hardest. ¡°And no, I did not have an unrequited relationship with Diana. I just respect her highly.¡± Alice said, very up tightly. ¡°But, it must have been nice to live in a state that allows same sex marriage.¡± replied Alice with a smile on her face, trying to shoot my joke back at me, but at this point I was laughing to hard at her reaction to even care to what she was saying. Seeing my reaction just sighed and let go of my collar, saying something about teenagers which made me laugh even more.


    It took me a while to calm down because her face expression was just priceless. However, I finally managed to do it somehow and looked back at Alice. Whenever Alice talks about my mom, her eyes light up like Christmas lights. She must have really cared for Diana. She came to Earth when she was my age. This made her 37, super old for what she looks like. I mean when I first saw her I thought she was in her twenties. Alice reached Earth, knowing very little of it, but she met my mom. Diana taught her all about this world, along with being her confidant, friend, and backbone. They were mentor and student until my mom left magic all behind to be with my dad. I guess the reason why Alice gets bitter when talking with me about my father, was because my mom sorta left her.


    The times where I wasn''t talking with Alice, or researching about my parents, I was reading up on the events that occurred a month ago. The news didn''t cover the magic incident anymore. But from what I''ve been reading online, the accident Alice had described before seemed to be the cover up. A mentally unstable guy puts bombs everywhere, and killed a bunch of people. I keep wondering to myself, what happened to those people I saved. I saw my name with the people confirmed dead, but nothing about a sacrifice. Well not like it matters to me, I''m ¡°dead¡± now.


    Returning to society would be a lot more difficult now, before it was a matter of altering some memories of the people in the incident, then lying to the people outside. Two weeks ago, I wasn''t confirmed dead yet, so I could have sneaked back into society appearing heavily injured, and being hospitalized. But now I can''t just show up a month after the accident and say oops I''m not dead. It''s impossible.


    Alice had originally given me 3 options. To either re-enter society, stay at the headquarters for the rest of my life, or go to Krayer. Re-entering society is sort of a no go now. This left me with the two.


    Isn''t this exactly what I want. Escaping this monotonous world, and finding a new one. Exploring, going on adventures, even using magical powers. To be stronger, to find romance, to make friends and family through journeys. I could be the guy that saves the damsel in distress, be a hero. But those are just dreams. I''d be lying if I said those things would happen. Plus, right now, I don''t really want to leave. Sure I''ll be stuck in the confines of a building, never to leave again, the same feeling as being trapped in my old world. But let''s be honest, even with this chance, i''ll mess it up.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Alice had a knack for coming into my room when I was thinking.


    ¡°Yo. How you holding up?¡± Alice asked as she walked into my room.


    ¡°Pretty good, my body feels fine and I don¡¯t see or feel anything wrong with it.¡± I responded.


    ¡°I don''t mean that, it''s been a month, of course you''re fine. I mean, on your decision.¡±


    ¡°Do you have a power that tells you what I''m thinking?¡± I asked her trying to find out how she had got what I was thinking spot on.


    ¡°Nah. Call it woman''s intuition.¡± We both laughed.


    ¡°Hey you''ve been on your ass for a while now, let''s go outside and get some fresh air.¡± said Alice, grabbing my hand and leading me to who knows where. I really haven''t thought about it, but I haven''t moved much since being hospitalized, much less outside of this room. Left, right, right left. I was led outside of the M. F.¡¯s headquarters, and straight through the door was the night sky. There was no window in my room, so I hadn''t even realized it was night.


    The stars were shimmering above us, shining brightly in the sky. We were very far away from any major cities, and the stars seemed to shine brighter as to thank us.


    ¡°So tell me, what''s in that stupid brain of yours?¡± Alice started.


    ¡°Well aside from porn, deciding on crucial life choices has come across my mind pretty frequently. Sigh.. I don''t know Alice. I would like to go to Krayer, but someone like me would never be able to make the best out of it.¡±


    ¡°Do you really think that lowly of yourself? You''re too bright of a kid, to be this stupid. People that can''t find the value in themselves are the worst people of all¡±


    ¡°Yeah, everybody hates Hitler, because of his self esteem. Killing the Jews was only a small reason why he''s the most hated man in history.¡± I smirked at my own joke, but Alice wasn''t having it.


    ¡°You''re underestimating yourself. You have compassion, and would be dedication if only you had the conviction.¡±


    ¡°What are you getting at?¡± I looked at her confused, not knowing where she was going with this.


    ¡°I''m saying that, like these stars, even you can shine beautifully.¡± Alice finished her sentiment with a smile, and her arms crossed. I appreciate her remarks, but we''ve only known each other for 2 weeks. I admit I''ve talked extensively about my life with her, and i grew fond of her, but it''s not like she knows who I am.


    ¡°Alice, thank you¡­ but whatever image you have of me, I''m sorry but it''s all a facade. I know I''m her son, but I''m not my mother.¡± I didn''t intend to hurt her feelings, but Alice looked crushed. I began to apologize, but she smiled and said ¡°I know you aren''t. I also know that you''re amazing, and I believe in you.¡±


    ¡°Why do you trust me so much?¡± I was filled with doubt, but a part of me was thrilled to hear these compliments, and wondered in anticipation. She barely knew me, it¡¯s not like I did something to make her trust me so much.


    ¡°I pride myself in my judge of character.¡± I shook my head, but begun to laugh, we both were. It felt somewhat good, to have someone trust you. Even if she won''t give me a reason as to why, I''m still content with it. ¡°Thanks Alice.¡±


    Later that night I analysed my situation, and considered the variables. Why am I so hesitant to go to Krayer? Am I afraid, I won''t find what I want? What exactly is it, that I want? I thought back to my life at the orphanage. I was outcasted by the other kids for being different. At school, I was outcasted by the other kids for being different. And even in society, I felt like I was being outcasted by everybody, for being different.


    Alice Widell, I''ve only known her for a month, half of it in a coma, but she has been quick to accept me. I keep telling myself I want to be different, stronger, a better person than I am now. I still believe that, but it feels like I already accomplished that by being with her. I think all I needed was a friend. I''ve decided, who needs magic, I''ll stay here.


    Going outside made me realize that I actually miss moving around. If I''m stuck in the headquarters, I need some exercise. I got out of bed and walked out the door. I turned right, and continued down the hallway. As I walked down the path there were multiple rooms by my side. The rooms were either closed, empty, or had an injured body in them. This must be the emergency room area of the magic headquarters. There were very few people actually injured here, I guess magic incidents don''t occur enough to where this emergency room is as hectic as a real one. I was told that I was the only outsider that was ever brought into the headquarters. Non-wizards would normally never be brought in under any circumstances, but Alice did anyways. Well I guess I technically am a wizard, damn either Alice is a prophet, or this is the power of a woman¡¯s intuition.


    I continued down the corridor and a man was walking opposite my direction. He was wearing a white and blue suit. His skin was tanned, his body was well built, but not too much, it was more of a fighter¡¯s body that gained its muscles from training and fighting instead of bodybuilding. He was about 6¡¯3¡± tall, and had jet black hair styled up. He was staring menacingly at me as we crossed paths. Jeez, I know I''m not the best to look at, but still.


    ¡°You need something? Bro!¡± I asked, trying to sound tough to match his face, but my voice tapered in the middle and I screamed out ¡°bro¡± trying to raise my pitch back to normal. The man with menacing eyes just kept staring, unwavering. O.K. this is awkward, I started walking past the man, but he finally said something.


    ¡°Why are you still here?¡±


    ¡°Ummm, I''m rehabilitating here.¡±


    ¡°For a whole month? Why do you recover like a little bitch?¡± I was confused. ¡°What the hell do you want man?¡±


    ¡°If you can¡¯t do as little as take care of your own body, the magic forces won''t be able to use you for anything. A weakling like you has no value for us. You''d just be a magicless wizard, worse than a shark with no fin, freeloading off of Alice¡¯s kindness. Just leave.¡± The man walked away.


    ¡°Was he scary looking?¡± Alice asked, completely unsympathetic to my encounter with Mr. makes a shark metaphor, despite having eyes like one.


    ¡°Pshh, not even a little. The next time I see him, I''m gonna tell him off. That asshole thinks he so great for picking on a newbie. I¡¯ll show him, I¡¯ll be the best magic enforcer there is.¡±


    ¡°Sigh. So you¡¯re content with staying here on Earth?¡± Alice asked seemingly disappointed. Although, she tried to hide it, her tone was still a bit distraught.


    ¡°What¡¯s the matter? I know you wanted me to go, but I thought at least you''d be happy with whatever decision i''d make.¡±


    ¡°It is your decision, your right. I¡¯m sorry.¡± Her words¡­ they weren''t convincing.


    ¡°I''m not a kid, just tell me what you think, honestly.¡±


    ¡°O.K¡­ Then, just how do you expect to get stronger by staying here, no one here has the teaching capabilities to help you. You won¡¯t efficiently learn magic¡± I won¡¯t learn magic by staying here? The words of the man rang through my head, You¡¯d be a magicless wizard, worse than a shark with no fin¡­ I would be free loading off of Alice¡¯s kindness.


    ¡°Alice¡­¡±


    ¡°Yes, Jae?¡± she looked at me with analyzing eyes, probably trying to find out where this was going.


    ¡°Do you not want me to stay?¡± I asked her straight on, not even bothering beating around the bush.


    ¡°W-w-why would yo¡­¡±


    ¡°Please just answer.¡± I interrupted. Alice looked at me sadly ¡°I don¡¯t want you to stay.¡±


    In my mind I knew the answer, in my mind I told myself to accept it, but I just can¡¯t. Damn it why does everyone want me to go, my school, the orphanage, Alice...my parents¡­ Why does everyone hate me. They all leave me, what''s wrong with me. Dammit I''m all alone! I was so afraid of being weak, being the same as the assholes that taunted me, I didn''t realize that I''m actually afraid of being left alone, that and spiders. I''m lonely. I just wanted at least 1 friend to accept me for who I am.


    ¡°Jae, I don''t hate you.¡± Alice popped my train of thought. ¡°I also think that you''re special. So more than anything I want you to go to Krayer and learn magic.¡±


    This all makes sense to me now. I always wanted to change the world I was in, I wanted a change in pace. But really, I just want to be loved, I just don¡¯t want to be abandoned anymore.


    ¡°Psh. I get it, I''ll go to Krayer, I¡¯m sorry for annoying you.¡±


    ¡°Please¡­¡± An alarm went off. The doors burst open, standing there was the man with savage words. ¡°Alice it¡¯s time¡± he said.


    Confused I asked.


    ¡°Hey, what¡¯s going on.¡± wiping the last of the tears.


    ¡°There seems to be a magical incident. I¡¯ll be back.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m coming with you.¡± I said getting off the bed. The man retorted ¡°This isn¡¯t a game, you will die if you come. You understand?¡±


    ¡°Nothing you can say is going to stop me.¡± I replied with determination and stubbornness.


    ¡°Alice please tell this kid he can¡¯t come, he got lucky last time.¡± Alice was hesitant with her response.


    ¡°He can come.

 Arc 1: The Rules of a New World (3)

    Chapter 3: Welcome to Krayer!


    We were all sitting in the back of a van, the surroundings zooming past us. We were heading towards the sight of the incident, and breaking probably all the traffic laws on the way. There are currently four people in the van: Alice, Jack, our driver, and me.


    ¡°Okay Jae, you are just watching, under no circumstance are you leaving this car. Alright?¡± Alice demanded. She had allowed me to come, under the condition that I don¡¯t interfere.


    ¡°I know, I promise.¡± Alice was in the passenger seat, behind her was me, and next to me was the man who insulted me in the hallway, whose name I now know as Jack. Alice and Jack are partners, and they deal with these kind of situations, together.


    The tension in the air was thick, not only did Jack not want me here, I didn¡¯t appreciate his presence either. Alice looked back and saw my uncomfortableness.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong, scared now? Or what.¡± ¡°No, there¡¯s just an annoying smell in this car, it smells like an ass.¡± I responded.


    ¡°Ayayay, Jack isn¡¯t that bad of a guy, he just looks scary.¡± Jack said nothing, and continued to stare out the window.


    ¡°He tries to act like the cool, dark, brooding type of characters, but he¡¯s really nice. Who do you think carried you to the magic forces while you were knocked out.¡± I looked at Jack next to me.


    ¡°Gross.¡± I whispered.


    ¡°Not as gross as the piss in your pants.¡± Jack coughed.


    Boom! We were 15Km away, when we heard it. Boom! As we drove closer to the trouble, noises matching even the volume of explosions rang throughout the skies. It is the screeching, screaming, and panic. This is exactly like before, I''m getting some Post Traumatic Stress Disorder shit. It was hard to drive in the debris, it was dusty and there were things blocking the road everywhere. Our progress went from slow to a stop, as Alice and Jack unbuckled their seat belts. Swiftly, the pair got out of the car and began to leave. Before Alice left, she screamed.


    ¡°Hey Bob keep care of Jae, don¡¯t let him out of the car.¡±


    ¡°Yessir!¡± Just like that Jack and Alice were gone in an instant.


    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we follow them?¡± I asked.


    ¡°No. We are on standby. We don¡¯t move unless absolutely necessary.¡± Bob, our driver, opened all the windows, and started scouting all directions through the debris.


    ¡°What are you doing?¡±


    ¡°In the magic forces we all have roles, people like Jack and Alice, they¡¯re frontliners, being the most efficient with magic and having combat oriented magic, their job is to dive into the chaos looking for the trouble makers, and putting them to arrest. Sure, I can fight too, but because we don''t know what we are dealing with, I can¡¯t just go in. Jack and Alice are strong, in situations like these the strongest have to go in first, as they can handle most of threats. I''m just here as backup. My job is to find stranglers and fight them, we have this entire city surrounded, and the evil mages running away have to go through us.¡±


    ¡°Wow that¡¯s pretty amazing.¡±


    ¡°Hehehe not really the ones running away are usually the people already injured or the weaklings.¡±


    ¡°Dude have you ever heard of lying to make yourself sound cool, you should try it.¡±


    Hmm Alice, and I guess Jack, must be pretty amazing to be trusted enough to frontline. That guy I fought back then must have been really strong.


    ¡°Hey do you know anything about the last incident that happened?¡±


    ¡°What? Oh yeah the level 1 emergency protocol¡±


    ¡°What does that mean?¡±


    ¡°Level 1 means that a baby could of handled that situation.¡± A baby, a freaking baby. Fuck this shit.


    ¡°Why did you let him come along Alice¡± Jack exclaimed while running through the debris.


    ¡°Hahaha die!¡± A random enemy appeared from the left. Jack grabbed him by the collar and threw him far, further into the streets.


    ¡°I want him to understand why he has to go to Krayer.¡± Alice used her plant creation magic to make a giant rosebud bloom, projecting thorns hardened like steel, onto several enemies flanking.


    ¡°Why don''t you just force him to go.¡± Jack¡¯s shadow rose from the ground, and struck down the rest of the visible enemies.


    ¡°I don''t want him to begrudgingly agree to go. Plus¡­ well nevermind.¡± More thugs rallied from the corner. The petals that layered the giant rose welted off, than hardened creating 15 petal like blades. The petal knives teared through the remaining bad guys.


    ¡°I think the truth is, you''re the one that doesn''t want Jae to go. You see a mini, more feminine version of Diana in Jae. Don''t you?¡±


    ¡°He has to go¡­ Why do you care so much about what Jae does? You are the type of person that would shrug off his pet dying.¡± Alice retorted defensively. Jack stopped and subsequently made Alice stop too.


    ¡°Don''t say that.¡± Jack was serious.


    ¡°I''ll do anything for the ones I care about.¡±


    ¡°What does Jae have anything to do with you?¡±


    ¡°I don''t care about that asshole, I care about what he means to you.¡± Alice was stunned.


    ¡°Back when I first became your partner, you were angry about Diana leaving, but I could tell you still cared for her. If you had the same amount of respect towards his mom, as I do for you now, then even though when I look at Jae and see a little bitch, I believe in him too. I know you believe that Diana and Jae are the same, if that''s the case, then he will be a great wizard. I don''t see it, but if you''re saying it, then it must be true.¡± Alice was touched, so much so she couldn''t resist to hug Jack right there and now.


    ¡°Ahhh, I love you too, marry me Jack!¡±


    ¡°Get off of me!¡± Jack demanded while blushing.


    ¡°Mind if I join?!¡± A guy wearing blue jeans and a red tank top, stood before the two. Jack and Alice sent a flurry of attacks, but the tank top man dodged effortlessly.


    ¡°bwahaha. My name is Billy, I''ll defeat you right here and now¡± Jack moved first. He leaped towards Billy, his right fist reeled back. As Jack got close enough to punch, he feinted and back round kicked instead. Billy blocked the kick and countered.


    ¡°Hmm, I guess you''re supposed to be stronger than these guys.¡± Jack said, pointing at the people that Alice and himself, had already taken care of.


    ¡°Alice this might take a tad bit more effort.¡± ¡°Let''s go!¡±


    Back at the car Jae and Bob were waiting with vigilance¡­ well they are supposed too. ¡°I know we¡¯re supposed to stay on guard and all, but I came because of Alice.¡±


    ¡°What of it?¡± Bob asked.


    ¡°You promised Alice that you would stay in the car, and I promised my boss, to stay on guard. So neither you or this car is moving from this spot.¡± I understood that, but it didn''t mean I couldn''t complain. Nothing was happening, there were less explosions, all the civilians were gone, even the debris was clearing. They work fast I see.


    ¡°How often do these bad guys cross our path.¡± I asked boredly.


    ¡°These kind of thugs are always running away, with the border we created they won''t escape.¡±


    ¡°So you must fight a lot.¡±


    ¡°Hehehe, not really. For some reason, the goons don''t run down my path very often.¡±


    ¡°Wrong again man, this is where you''re supposed to make up some awesome story to impress the newbie, and expunge my boredom.¡± Who am I kidding a name like Bob, of course he''s boring. Damn, I really would like to see Alice in action, I bet she is amazing out there. At first when we got here, Bob was scouting frantically looking for trouble, but now he is laying back, eating a donut. I wonder if he had another one. My favorite, custard filled. Mid donut bite, Bob looked up from eating. He put down the donut, my eyes seemed to follow it.


    ¡°Someone''s coming.¡± Bob said.


    ¡°Get out of the car!¡± He reach back, and grabbed my wrist, opened his door, and flung me out from the back seat along with jumping out himself. He did this in a manner of 2 seconds, and I think he re broke my arm. A fireball 3 meters in diameter obliterated the car we were in and everything in it.


    ¡°Nooo, the donut!!¡± I cried. What the hell just happened.


    ¡°Damn, you wizard runts are all in my way. You surrounded the city, and the only way through seems to be by force.¡± It was female voice from the direction of the fireball. A woman was walking towards us. Bob stood up and went into a fighting stance.


    ¡°Stand back Jae, this is my fight.¡±


    The woman recited some incantations. A magic circle opened up, this time three smaller fireballs shot out at Bob. Bob jumps, tucks, and rolls out of the projectiles, landing on his feet. He, then retaliates by leaping out at her. He reveals a sword that seemingly came from nowhere, and wallops onto the woman with intent to kill. She sidesteps to the right, and kicked Bob hard on his chest. Wasting no time the woman shoots a rally of fireballs at Bob''s location, several dozens at a time. I have to help I thought. I looked for something to hit the woman with. An old grandfather clock shop was to my left. I turned and ran into the shop trying to find something useful. Bob parried most of the fireballs with his sword, but one hit his left shoulder, catalysing more fire to hit him. I came back holding a box knife, to Bob being pelted with fireballs. I ran full speed at the flaming woman, but the ground started shaking under me. Because I was running, I lost my balance and fell over. The flame girl, stopped her assault and was wobbling all over the place.


    ¡°An earthquake? Now?¡± The woman cried. The ground stopped, and it was Bob to move first. While the woman was distracted, Bob ran over to her and swung. She ducked, but Bob called forth the earth, and everything started shaking again. Because fire lady had ducked, the shaking ground made her footing slip. Bob took advantage, and sent a boot to her gut, but that wasn''t all. He went in with a flurry of melee attacks, punching and kicking her. The woman took a good amount of hits, before she could finally break his combo and jump out high into the air. Bob wasn''t done, as the woman was about to reach the ground, to close the gap he buried his sword in the asphalt, and it started shaking again. This time, the street¡¯s split into two. 1 of the sheets shot upwards 1 meter high, enough to hit the lady. This, not only smacked her, but stopped her motion, and she fell straight onto the floor. The aftermath left a giant crevice, with different leveling grounds


    ¡°What the hell was that?¡± I asked bewildered.


    ¡°Vibration magic¡± Bob answered. ¡°In this case, I created vibrations mimicking an earthquake, and I changed the pattern and intensity to smack that bitch. Thanks for your help, by the way. But you shouldn''t intervene, you could get hurt.¡± Help? Yeah right. All I did was create a liability for Bob. I felt embarrassed now. What the hell was I going to do with a box knife.


    Bob slung his sword over his shoulder, signaling that he was content with his work. However, the fire lady was getting back up, on her feet.


    ¡°Hey, hey. She''s getting back up. Casually, Bob summoned a cylindrical device, and tossed it towards her. As it bounced off her head, the device exploded in noise. The sound was deafening, but Bob snapped his fingers, and a magic circle formed under her. The sound stopped, but not for the woman. She had her hands cupping her ears, and she was screaming, although she made no noise. After about 20 seconds she passed out.


    ¡°I threw a sound grenade, and made it so the vibrations only bounced back onto the area around her. This multiplies the effect of the grenade.¡± Bob explained.


    The woman was out cold, but I still asked.


    ¡°Shouldn''t we restrain her or something.¡±


    ¡°Nah she won''t wake up for a while now, the rest will handle her.¡± Bob wasn''t even sweating, dealing with that woman was nothing for him.


    ¡°Hey there''s a Mc. Donalds down a few blocks over there. Wanna go snag some burgers?¡± This guy. We are in a crisis, and he wants burgers. I love this guy.


    ¡°Hell yeah.¡± I answered.


    We continued down the street.


    ¡°So do we gotta, like, walk back now?¡± Bob opened his mouth to answer, but stopped. Alice and Jack were walking towards us.


    ¡°Oh, shit. I''m in trouble, I let you out of the car.¡± Bob whispered.


    ¡°It isn''t like we could have done anything, the car blew up.¡±


    ¡°No, Alice is the scariest person in the world when it comes to disobeying her, I was gonna have us wait by the broken car, and apologized profusely, but now that I''m taking you to Mc. Donalds, she''s gonna kill me.¡±


    ¡°Oh come on she''s not mean...¡± Before I could even finished my sentence, a fist hammered its way over Bob''s head. I turned my head slowly, it was Alice, who was just standing 200 meters away from us a second ago.


    ¡°What did I say about leaving the car?¡± Alice asked maliciously.


    ¡°We were just gonna get Mc. Donalds.¡± I answered. Bob, who is on the floor now, looked at me desperately.


    ¡°Bob...¡± Alice hummed. ¡°Why, in this very dangerous situation, are you going out to get fast food?¡±


    ¡°You don''t understand¡­¡± Alice may have asked a question, but she didn''t want an answer. She was now pummeling Bob on the ground. Jack finally caught up. ¡°Come on Alice, I think that¡¯s enough.¡± He said. Jack looked at me and continued.


    ¡°I think we should punish Jae too. I''ll start.¡±


    ¡°Don''t hurt poor Jae, he was a victim of Bob¡¯s peer pressure.¡± Alice responded, pausing Bobs beating. What the hell is wrong with these people. I thought.


    ¡°Th-th-the car, it''s gone...¡± Bob fainted.


    "No excuses!¡± Alice raised her hands again.


    ¡°No no it''s true, we were in the car, but some lady came over and fought us. If anything Bob saved me.¡±


    ¡°Is this true?¡± No answer from the seemingly dead Bob.


    ¡°So what exactly happened?¡± asked Jack.


    ¡°Some lady attacked us, and Bob kicked her ass.¡± Alice propped Bob on her back and said.


    ¡°Well, let''s go, we need to find backup or something, we got a man down.¡±


    ¡°Wait, you''re the one who beat Bob...¡±


    ¡°So unfortunate to have one of our allies fall in battle. I won¡¯t let them get away with this.¡± Wow, I have literally nothing to say to that.


    ¡°Why are you guys back already?¡± I asked.


    ¡°We¡¯ve finished everything we needed to do.¡± Alice answered. It had only been 25 minutes since we''ve been here. Its unbelievable that there already done.


    We started walking around aimlessly, hoping to run into some of the other magic forces. Alice told me about what happened with the mission. Apparently, they were all weak and the two of them kicked all there asses. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    ¡°Hey Alice¡± Jack started to say.


    ¡°I know I sense it too, just wait.¡± Alice whispered into Jack''s ear. What''s going on with those two, I wondered.


    Oh, I''m on my ass. Wait, why am I on my ass? What just happened? Alice had pushed me over, and now she was crouching on the road, Bob still on her back. Jack was standing still, just a few meters by her. I looked to my left and saw a man standing with an impractically large mallet.


    ¡°Jae stand back.¡± Alice said. Jack stepped forward ready to fight, but Alice blocked Jack with her arm.


    ¡°Take care of Bob, i¡¯ll handle this.¡± Jack was confused, for Alice wasn¡¯t the type to go into things head first. He looked at Jae and felt like he understood.


    Alice, with lightning speed, rushed towards the goon. He raised his hammer above his head, and swung down onto the hasty woman. She easily sidesteps, but the hammer hitting the ground created a shockwave. To a normal person, the shockwave would have swept them off their feet, but Alice was unmoved. She closes the gap between the criminal, and shoryukened him, right in the jaw. The man was launched several feet away, and landed on his back, his hammer following. Steadily the man tried to get back up, but Alice landed the final blow, knocking him out.


    I was sitting back, impressed by Alice''s strength, but not surprised, I knew she was strong. ¡°Jae, can''t you see now. You need magic to become stronger.¡± Damnit.


    ¡°I know already. I told you. Didn''t I? I said i''ll go.¡± I said discontentedly. Alice just stared disappointed. She walked towards Jack, to reclaim Bob.


    ¡°Oh, I see. That kid right there can''t fight for himself.¡± The man said. He was back on his feet. How did he recover so quickly? All it took was a blink, and the next thing I know, his giant hammer was making its way towards me, at monumental speeds. Before I could even scream Alice was in front of me. No. I thought. In moments of intense, physical situations, it always moves too fast for me to react. Whenever the case, when my reaction time seems to be in question, time always seems to be moving faster. If I was more like Alice, I could have dodged myself. But no. She took the full force of the hammer on the side of her head.


    ¡°Alice!¡± I cried. The impact of the hammer had Alice on her knees. She was tipping over, but I slid over, to catch her. We were face to face.


    ¡°Hey Alice. Ar...ar...are you okay?¡± I stammered. She gently caressed my face.


    ¡°You have her eyes.¡± Alice addressing my right eye, her own closing. Everything hit me like a tidal wave. I understand now, I''ve been being selfish. This whole time I didn''t want to go to Krayer because I wanted to stay with Alice. I thought she wanted me to go because so far that''s what everyone in my life has wanted. But now, I think she might have wanted me to stay here even more than I had. In situations like these, when everything feels like it¡¯s your own fault, time seems to move slower. Agonizing guilt clouded my heart, all the while I was bringing my head up towards the man. I met his gaze, and all that guilt transformed into anger. The hammer disappeared from next to us, to being in his hands.


    ¡°Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh¡± I screamed. I got up, and sprinted straight at him. He swiped his hammer at me, but I ducked the swing by falling onto my knees and sliding towards him. When I reached his legs, I maneuvered behind him, and clasped my arms around his abdomen. I pulled upwards, and suplexed him onto the ground, head first. A move like this would never be this successful, if it weren''t for my opponent completely underestimating me.


    Our ending position was my back bending in a bridge position and hammer man over me, his head on the ground. Something about outsmarting bad guys, always seems to piss them off.


    ¡°Damn, you little bastard.¡± He cocked his leg forward, and kicked backwards hitting my shin with his heel. I lost my hold against him and fell flat. My back hit the concrete with a thud, and the man fell on me right after. He rolled off of me, got up, and stomped on my chest.


    ¡°Damn, stupid little kid. I¡¯ll kill you.¡±


    ¡°Is that a threat? You should know, the last thing in this world i¡¯m afraid about is dying. I already tried it like 12 times.¡± I gritted through my teeth. The man looked at me in utter confusion. I took my chance and punched him in the nuts.


    Jack was in the background, and saw all of what happened. He observed quiety by Alice, and had Bob on his back. His face was sour after witnessing Jae¡¯s dirty tricks.


    ¡°Why are you doing this?¡± Jack asked. The fight was continuing, the wrongdoer had already recouped his family jewels, and was wailing on Jae, however Jae was biting down on his calves.


    ¡°Was my acting really that bad?¡± Alice got up from the floor and sat down beside Jack.


    ¡°If you really would have gone down by just that, I would have questioned everything about you. You aren¡¯t so weak and pathetic, to be brought down by a little hammer.¡±


    ¡°Awww, you think so highly of me.¡± Alice smiled. She continued ¡°Don¡¯t you think Jae can look pretty cool.¡± Jack turned his head to her in disbelief. Just then, they could hear Jae shouting. Jae was screaming curses while trying to stand up. The thug punched Jae onto the ground, and teased him.


    ¡°Someone as weak as you, will never be able to defeat me, you pathetic lump of trash.¡± He kicked Jae so hard, that he rolled 3 meters away.


    Jae punched the ground, he tried to get up but couldn¡¯t find the strength too and fell down. ¡° No not yet!¡± I can¡¯t stop now. Jae thought to himself.


    ¡°Hahaha, that determination will get you nowhere, it means nothing to the actual world. The world rules in favor of the strong, not for people like you.¡±


    ¡°Just fuck off!!¡± Jae yelled at the top of his lungs. Everyone was taken aback by what Jae screamed.


    ¡°Why you little¡­¡±


    ¡°I know I won¡¯t ever be able to defeat you.¡± Now, everyone was silent, waiting for what Jae had to say next.


    ¡°I know i¡¯m inferior to you. I know i¡¯m weak. Everything that''s wrong in my life is because I wasn¡¯t strong enough to overcome them. I know! And¡­ and I know that I have to become stronger. But right now, I know that more than anything, i¡¯m going to fight you! I¡¯m going to fight you until I die, because i¡¯ll do anything to protect the ones I care about!¡±


    Alice turned her head back at Jack, a big smile was looming over her face.


    ¡°Well I personally still believe that you did this because you like watching little boys get their shit kicked in.¡± Jack said annoyed. ¡°Keke, you¡¯re such a tsundere Jack.¡±


    Jae¡¯s beating continued. ¡°Well it would be best to not have Jae die on us now.¡± Alice got up, as she did, rose petals started wafting throughout the air, coming out of seemingly nowhere.


    On the ground I laid, getting pummeled by the criminal. All the rehabilitating gone to waste, as my body was getting tossed around. Everytime I tried to get back up, systematically I was knocked back down. I thought of Alice. I get it. I don''t want to be lonely, and I don''t want to be abandoned. I want to have friends, but above that, I don''t want to use them. I don''t want to rely on others anymore, I want to be somebody that people can rely on. I want to be a hero¡­ a hero who fights for their friends. My mind was fading, I can''t think anymore, I''m gonna die.


    ¡°Your little speech means nothing.¡± The man summoned his hammer, and raised it over his head. Ah shit, I guess I''m really gonna die now. I raised my head to face my end.


    ¡°Come at me bitch.¡± We were eye to eye, and now we¡¯re eye to sky? Alice came flying, and smacked hammer man across his face.


    ¡°ALICE!¡±


    ¡°Yoyoyo, Jae. You O.K?¡± Alice asked.


    ¡°Are you?¡± She smiled.


    ¡°How cute of you.¡±


    ¡°huh?¡±


    ¡°Worrying about me instead of yourself. But don''t worry your pretty little head. I¡¯ll handle this.¡±


    ¡°Damn you, bitch. I¡¯ll kill you!¡±


    ¡°Kill, kill, kill. Is that all you talk about? Try saying love, and peace, and maybe even have a good day.¡± The thug looked outraged.


    ¡°I kicked your ass before, i''ll do it again.¡± Jack came to grab me and leaped away.


    ¡°Hey, we have to help her!¡± I screamed.


    ¡°No we don''t, she''ll be fine. You haven''t even seen her magic yet.¡± Jack complied.


    ¡°I thought she just had super strength or something. Oh wait, before she created a flower from nowhere. All these rose petals. Is it from her? How can flowers do anything?¡±


    ¡°Just watch.¡±


    Rose petals were dancing in the wind. There must be thousands. Alice raised her arms, hands open, palms up. Magic circles formed perpendicular to her hands. She held a sadistic smile reaching ear to ear. An evil aura emanated from her. The goon raised his hammer offensively and charged at Alice, putting all his strength into his next hit. Swish. Hammer man, who was running, ran right past Alice and just fell to the ground.


    ¡°Wait what happened?¡± I asked confused.


    ¡°Her magic. She can create any kind of plants, but she can also change the physical properties of them. Everyone one of those rose petals are deadly razors in Alice¡¯s command.¡± Holy shit, her magic is nothing like her personality at all.


    ¡°She¡¯s some sort of sadistic monster.¡± Jack was silent, but said in fear.


    ¡°I know.¡± Alice turned towards us. Both Jack and me flinched.


    ¡°So it¡¯s decided then, you¡¯re going to Krayer.¡± Alice said, still smiling.


    ¡°Yawwwn!!!¡± I wiped the fatigue from my eyes. It¡¯s 4o''clock in the morning, and i¡¯m up so that I can go to Krayer. I was instructed to be out of the building at 5, it¡¯s time to get up I guess. A quick shower, and some new clothes I was ready to go. Damn my heart is thumping faster than the hooves of herding buffalo. I¡¯m scared, really scared. I''ve never stepped outside of Washington in my life, and now i¡¯m going to another world. I wanted to learn more about the magic forces, Alice, my parents, but right now... right now I won¡¯t get anywhere unless I get stronger. This world isn¡¯t going to slow down for me, I need to catch up to it. In a world where you never know what¡¯s gonna happen, all you can do is remain consistent on what you¡¯ll do in its inconsistencies. I guess it''s time to find myself.


    I spent 3 additional months trying to recover my body, and learning the language of Jayu, which is the continent i''m going to. I¡¯m gonna miss this place, I may have only been here for 4 months now, but I easily get attached to things. Hell I¡¯ll even miss Jack¡­ and there he is, waiting outside.


    ¡°What are you doing here?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I come here every morning to take an outside shit. Why do think i¡¯m here?¡± He answered.


    ¡°I mean, where¡¯s Alice?¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s asleep.¡±


    ¡°I thought she was gonna take me.¡±


    ¡°Sorry kid, Alice doesn¡¯t wake up before 9:00.¡± What the hell, i¡¯m leaving and she¡¯s not gonna see me off. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± Jack said uncharacteristically nice. ¡°She probably doesn¡¯t want you to see her cry.¡± Jack had a shy smile. Woah that¡¯s the first, who would think that the only time I see Jack smile is when he thinks about people crying, or when he see¡¯s me leaving.


    We started by going right. The magic forces had three buildings. The middle one where I was staying, is more or less the housing area/ hospital. We were heading to the right building. The building was a lot smaller than the other 2, as big as 3-4 sheds. It¡¯s where the transport system is, so it doesn¡¯t have to be big.


    Jack and me had synchronized yawns.


    ¡°Why do we have to go so early, is there some sort of time zone thing.¡± I asked rubbing the tear from my eye.


    ¡°No, the time there should be the same as the time you leave here. The reason why Alice made us go this early is because she hates us both.¡± Why am I not surprised.


    ¡°Hey maybe she would have an easier time finding a mate, if she didn''t act so childishly.¡± It was a joke, but it seemed to lighten a lot of tension me and Jack had. Making fun of people was about the only think we both had in common.


    ¡°Ha, i''m telling her you said that¡± we both laughed, but no seriously I can never go back now.


    We¡¯re here. Jack opened the door, and I saw a single room. In it was a giant portal taking about half the space of the big shed. A couple people were lazily walking around, touching buttons, sleeping on the floor. So they all came because of Alice too. The portal looked like some sort of mayan calender, so primal looking.


    ¡°Admittedly, it¡¯s an old version. Newer ones are like the size of a cell phone.¡± Jack said. If memories recalled, void magic, magic that lets you transport between the worlds, was outlawed because of it¡¯s effects on Earth. Only very few people actually know how to use it, but criminals found ways to use void magic. There are multiple reasons how, but the biggest contributor is, corrupted void users creating void forming artifacts. So these kind of portals were created for the government to use them. The people here aren¡¯t gonna use void magic, rather they¡¯re gonna use their own magic energy to power the machine.


    In order to turn on the portal, the mages in the room drew up some sort of magical circle and started chanting some words.


    ¡°Jesus Christ, no wonder we thought you guys were some evil witches. This is some summoning satan kind of shit.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, again. Primitive technology.¡± Within the portal, a giant, gaseous, purple aura formed, spiraling slowly. If that wasn''t comforting enough the void spiral was as big as the entire portal machine. The intense void made the entire building shake.


    I started walking away. O.K. who needs magic anyways. Jack turned me around.


    ¡°Jae, before you go in there, do you remember what I told you.¡± ¡°Oh don''t worry, I''m not going anywhere near that gate.¡±


    ¡°Jae listen, after you go through the portal, you''ll be in Jeonsa, one of the countries in Krayer. I have one of my friends waiting at the access point, where all the criminals are dropped off. His name is Ezio, when you land, he¡¯ll find you. Just stay put.¡±


    ¡°Aghh! Fine I guess i''ll go.¡±


    The pressure while standing next to the portal was nothing like I ever experienced. Just one step, and I''m in another world. Just one small step for man, one giant leap for half breed Earthling-Krayorian. Before I go, I have to do one more thing.


    ¡°Hey Jack.¡±


    ¡°I know, i''ll tell Alice you''ll miss her.¡±


    ¡°Not just that, I want to thank you too. You helped me out a lot.¡± Jack smiled. He lifted his leg and kicked me through the portal. Before I dissipated, I heard him whisper


    ¡°You''re welcome kid.¡±


    I landed on the ground with a giant thud. It is just as dark now, as it was before. The sun was barely visible from the horizon, so it was still morning. I got to my feet and stood. No one was here, I was out in the middle of nowhere. A grassy Plains, no trees, no people or houses. This is where they drop of the people who conduct magical incidents. It''s a bit nice. I was tapped on the shoulder, I turned around and saw a man behind me. The man had purple hair and a fairly handsome face. However, his most prominent feature was his golden eyes, so sharp I could feel them stabbing into me. I scouted the entire area, yet he still sneaked up on me.


    ¡°My name is Ezio, and for now on, i''ll be taking care of you. Let''s go.¡±


    Ezio is one of Jack''s friends in Krayer. It¡¯s not that I doubt it, but Ezio is a lot younger than Jack, almost my age even. At first glance they seem a lot alike, calm, collected, and a bit cold. However Jack was intimidating, mean, joked around a lot, and a bit insincere at times. Ezio had a very serious vibe to him.


    ¡°How do you know Jack?¡± I asked trying to break the silence.


    ¡°He is very much like an older brother of mine.¡±


    ¡°Oh really, how did you guys meet?¡±


    ¡°When I was a kid, Jack¡¯s mother and father took me in, as their child.¡± I didn¡¯t really understand the context of his situation, and I felt like it was too early for me to ask. However, how he said he was adopted by Jack¡¯s family, just compels me to think his situation, isn¡¯t too far off mine.


    I thought the second I¡¯d arrive, my life would be instantly more exciting, but it''s a bit boring. We walked for what seemed like 2 hours in silence, and we started reaching civilization.


    ¡°Holy shit finally, we reached people.¡± I wasn''t exhausted of walking, I was exhausted because of the heavy atmosphere. Both metaphorically, and maybe literally. Why does it feel like the gravity is slightly more intense here?


    ¡°Did you really walk all the way there, just to pick me up?¡± I asked in genuine gratitude. This was a long walk for someone you didn''t know.


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°Hmm?¡± Ezio took off his shirt, revealing his ripped body. Oh come on man, don''t show off, but that wasn''t it. Behind him, next to his shoulder blades was a pair of purple wings. I don''t get to say this very often, but his literal wingspan was about 3 meters.


    ¡°Holy shit man. You''re an angel?¡±


    ¡°No. I am a beastman. Of the aviary type.¡± He said that like I knew what the hell he was talking about.


    ¡°So, you''re like half bird, half human?¡±


    ¡°Wrong. I am 47% Eagle, and 54% Human.¡± The math didn''t add together in my brain¡­


    ¡°That¡¯s¡­¡±


    ¡°I know what I said.¡± Ezio said, arms crossed, staring condescendingly, standing with more pride than I''ve ever had in my life. Girls that were walking opposite of us, had swooned, and called out to Ezio¡¯s shirtless body.


    ¡°...¡± Fuck this shit.


    ¡°Oh sorry, I didn''t realize anybody was watching us.¡± Ezio said while putting his shirt back on. His wings folded in on itself, so his shirt would fit. Sigh¡­ those girls didn¡¯t even realize I was standing next to the hot guy. Where¡¯s my popularity of association.


    ¡°Just a few more blocks, and we¡¯ll reach my apartment.¡± I was a bit tired for walking 3 hours, plus no food or water.


    ¡°Hey man, couldn¡¯t you have just flied us here faster.¡±


    ¡°Yeah sure.¡± Ezio answered.


    ¡°Wait, then why the hell did we just walk all the way here, and if you say some bullshit about jedi training, ima go back to that bazaar and buy some eggs for breakfast.¡±


    ¡°You just never asked.¡±


    "¡­"


    ¡°I wonder what i¡¯m gonna put in my omelette¡± I said turning back.


    ¡°You¡¯re earth money won¡¯t work for most of these food stalls.¡±


    ¡°Jokes on you, I have no money in general.¡± I turned back with my head facing down. I hate life.


    We reached Ezio¡¯s apartment, I came in, and collapsed with hunger.


    ¡°Need¡­ food¡­¡± I growed.


    ¡°O.K. i¡¯ll be back.¡± Ezio said, walking away. I could hear cooking sounds coming from his kitchen. I guess Ezio isn¡¯t that bad of a dude. His apartment blew my expectations of Krayer. Actually, being in Krayer blew my expectations of Krayer. Krayer is very, how you say homely? This whole city was like a combination of 13th century villages, and Victorian England. There are classic brick layered apartments, lined cottages, and even some stone buildings. The buildings weren''t made of steel/ wooden frames with concrete, like most houses in America.


    The roads were wide, and made of dirt. Protruding from the ground, were small crystal balls, that layered the side of the roads. Ezio and I, came into the city from the east. We started from grassy plains to farm fields, as we reached the outskirts of the city. I will go exploring tomorrow to see what the rest of the city is like.


    Ezio¡¯s apartment had a small table with a few things on it, a couch, and a fireplace. A very, very boring room. On the ceiling, there was a moderately sized crystal ball stuck onto the roof. I looked around his apartment. A wall separated his living room, and the kitchen. Further up, there is 2 doors. I checked both. Door number one had a small bed, and literally nothing else, but a nightstand and a candle. Along with another crystal ball on the ceiling. Door number two was the bathroom. The bathroom was huge, a lot bigger than any of the other rooms. Aside from the toilet and tub, there was a lot of walking space. The room is like a bath house inside his apartment. Again, these balls were everywhere, what the hell are these things.


    ¡°What are with all these balls?¡± I asked Ezio, while he was still in the kitchen.


    ¡°Those are jjijdas. This whole world is run by magic, and not everybody knows how to light up a room, create water, or make a fire. Jjijda crystals can take any elemental property. Input some of your own mana, and you can start a bath.¡± Ezio answered, still cooking. Oh I understand now. The crystal balls on the ceiling are like chandeliers. The ones on the side of the road, are street lamps, and the balls in his bathroom are faucets. I just realized that this world has no running water and electricity. I sat down on the couch. This means no internet or television. What the hell does Ezio do all day?


    A bit later he came out with a plate of scrambled eggs.


    ¡°AHHHHH¡± I screamed.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Ezio backed off and got into a combat stance.


    ¡°You cooked your children!"


    ¡°... What the hell are you talking about.¡± Ezio stood back up normally.


    ¡°Th-th-the eggs.¡±


    ¡°You said you wanted eggs, didn¡¯t you.¡±


    ¡°I-I-I don¡¯t know what to say.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, these aren¡¯t my children. They are only 47% my children.¡±


    ¡°...¡± My first night at Ezio¡¯s place, I didn¡¯t eat a thing.

 Arc 1: The Rules of a New World (4)

    Chapter 3: Rue


    Krayer is separated into 3 large continents; Arang, Eeglo, and Jayu. The Magic Forces are made up of people, from all over Krayer, but Alice, Jack, and I come from Jayu, specifically. Within Jayu there are 4 countries; Jeonsa in the north, Masulsa in the south, Dodug in the west, and Yasuja in the east. Although each country has it¡¯s own diverse qualities, economy, and political system, there are general facts that you need to know. Jeonsa, the country we are in right now, is known as the warrior country. Kings govern different parts of the country, and things like money and fame are granted to their knights. They protect the king''s land, its people, and can represent their kingdoms in arena fights. Across from Jeonsa is Masulsa, the magic country. Masulsa is home to the most powerful wizards. They rule with intellect over strength, opting for a magic council over a monarchy. In the west, there is Dodug, the thief country. A very distasteful nickname, but fitting. Many wizards that come from there are thugs, assassins, rogues, and mercenaries. The economy is also very poor, and the entire country is suffering through some dark age. Across from them is Yasuja. Yasuja is the beastman country, and is also where I was born. However, I moved away from there because of its aristocracy. Power is given to the people with the most money, and the country is thriving in it. The beastman race are full of elitist, and they look down on other people.


    ¡°Yawwnn! Ezio please. This is soooo boring.¡± So far it¡¯s been a week, and it¡¯s been pretty cool. Even though I haven¡¯t done anything ¡°magical¡±, I¡¯m learning about a new culture.


    ¡°Jae¡­ you need learn this.¡±


    ¡°It was interesting the first time you told me, but you''ve explained all about Krayer already. Like 5 times.¡± Ezio looked into his notes.


    ¡°Are you sure we covered this¡­¡±


    ¡°YES!¡± Don¡¯t get me wrong, Ezio is a pretty smart guy, and I respect him, but he''s a terrible teacher. He stutters a lot, covers the same material over and over again, and so far I haven¡¯t learn any magic.


    ¡°Sigh, I knew this probably wasn¡¯t going to work. It''s time for you to start school.¡±


    ¡°Noooo!!! Don¡¯t take me back to that hell!¡± I screamed, clawing my way out of his apartment. However I couldn''t get away, because with only his right arm, he had me suspended in the air. He then casually tossed me onto the couch.


    ¡°You obviously aren''t learning anything from me.¡± Ezio said. His arms were crossed, and he seemed serious. ¡°Look it¡¯s not like I want you to go to school, if I knew how to teach, I¡¯d do it.¡±


    ¡°Sigh. I guess it can''t be helped.¡± If I want to be successful, and going to school is the only way to do so, then I can''t complain.


    ¡°Plus teaching you is giving me a migraine.¡±


    ¡°Hey. You''re the terrible teacher.¡± I said defending myself.


    ¡°Well you¡¯re the one that has a first grade intellect of our world.¡± Ezio retorted.


    ¡°I already made plans. You¡¯ll be going to ¡®Magnostadt: School for Beginners¡¯¡±


    ¡°For beginners? Like a prep school?¡±


    ¡°No. Like the preschool.¡±


    ¡°What! You can¡¯t expect me to go to a preschool.¡±


    ¡°Why not? You have the knowledge of preschooler, why not start from preschool¡±


    ¡°B-b-but you can¡¯t¡± Ezio used his eagle like eyes to glare at me, there was no getting my way whenever he does that. I started to think of how embarrassing it will be, being practically the only adult learning with a bunch of kids. Despite Ezio¡¯s intimidating stare, I began to open my mouth to argue once more.


    ¡°Look, the teacher there, Ms. Claude, is going to teach you how to use your magic. Magic is integrated into our lives, since birth. It''s not too different than talking or walking, in that aspect. Teaching someone who has never been introduced to magic there entire life is like teaching a man, who has never met another soul, how to speak. An adventurer like me, isn''t suited to teach you magic.¡± He interrupted.


    ¡°Oh I get it now.¡± I smacked my hand with my fist, in enlightenment. Ezio began to nod his head. ¡°I need an educator to teach me. Someone as dumb as you would never be able too. I''m sorry Ezio, that I didn''t understand this sooner. You''re right, I need an actual teacher, to teach me how to ¡®speak¡¯.¡± I said in spite, with a twinge of sarcasm in my voice. Trying to hold in his annoyance with me, he continued to nod his head. ¡°Alright i''ll go, but i''m not happy.¡±


    ¡°Happiness, is but an illusion.¡± Ezio replied.


    It is now later in the day, after Ezio dropped the bomb on me. Since there wasn''t much to do inside his apartment, I often went outside to explore this new world. I scouted around the innards of the town, the perimeter, and some of the shops. This beautiful city¡¯s name is Xenial. Xenial isn''t very big, and also isn''t under the jurisdiction of any king. There are dozens of kingdoms in Jeonsa, with several cities within them. But small cities, like Xenial for example, doesn''t provide much resources to the bigger kingdoms, thus are left alone. For the most part.


    To the south of town, where Ezio and me came through, was a vast field extending to a much bigger city. The place I teleported to, is the same place the criminals are teleported to, and are led to the bigger city. There is a wall surrounding the perimeter of Xenial, and the only other exit is westbound. The west exit fed into a wide, long road, leading to a forest. I wanted to go out further but Ezio told me that monsters were farther out.


    I checked my pockets. I had a couple copper and silver coins that Ezio gave me. I guess I can go to the market and buy something cool. I hope I don¡¯t overpay. I don¡¯t really know the fair amount to pay, for things. I know a slice of pizza in Seattle is a dollar fifty, but how much can I get with a copper coin?


    Exploring the market, I saw a lot of cool things; weapons, jjijda items, and food. If i¡¯m going to be an adventurer, i''m gonna need some starter equipment. Eh¡­ I don¡¯t think I can buy any weapons with the amount of money I have, so let''s try something I can eat. I trailed through the market, until something caught my eye. It was a fruit that looks like a combination of a pumpkin and an apple. The pumple was small, and shaped like an apple, with the ridges and color of a pumpkin. That sounds like an amazing combination. I pulled out some copper coins and went up to the vendor.


    Having only learned Krayen language a short time ago, I had trouble asking the seller what I wanted. I looked at the sign, and tried to ask the vendor.


    ¡°I¡­ in¡­ incid?¡± I stumbled.


    ¡°What?¡± he asked.


    I tried to point at the pumple and repeatedly asked for one.


    ¡°Speak up kid. I don¡¯t got all day.¡± I was about ready to give up, until I heard a woman¡¯s voice behind me.


    ¡°Those are incidians.¡± she said. I looked back at her with gratitude. I was so grateful in fact, I ended up buying two.


    "Thanks for the food! The name¡¯s Rue. Your¡¯s?¡± She asked excitedly. We were walking away from the vendor now, me trying to bite into the incidian, her bringing out a knife. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    ¡°It¡¯s Jae. Jae Fault.¡± I said unhinging my jaw, trying to eat my new found fruit. I wasn¡¯t getting anywhere, so I looked over at Rue to see what she was doing. She was holding a knife over me, eyes staring up menacingly.


    ¡°Woah! What are you doing!¡± I yelled, jumping away, landing on my ass. She pulled the knife down, cutting into her incidian.


    ¡°Is something the problem?¡± she asked concerned, her head tilted slightly to the right, yellow eyes looking at me with worry.


    ¡°Oh sorry. Too many people in my life has tried to kill me recently. Heh, heh.¡± I didn¡¯t get a good look at her until now. She was relatively short to me, about 5¡¯7¡± to my 6¡¯1¡±. Rue had brown, boyish hair, yellow eyes, and is very skinny. To complement her slim figure, she also didn''t have any discerning features in her chest area. From top to bottom, Rue was wearing a white scarf over cloth armor, that covered her chest and upper torso. A right, leather glove that only cover her index and middle fingers, and climbed up her forearm. A belt with a multitude of weapons and satchels. Brown, baggy pants, with the end of the sleeves tied around her calves. She would look more like a rogue or assassin, if it weren''t for the massive long bow strapped to her back. She was fully equipped, and ready for combat.


    ¡°Let me guess. You''re an adventurer.¡± I got up to my feet, smacking the dirt from my butt.


    ¡°Yes. I''m here for a client. I was on my way there, then I bumped into you.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Sorry for startling you. The knife looming over my shoulder kinda scared me.¡± Still who cuts fruit by holding a blade higher than their height, I thought to myself. She looked at me, then her hand, then back at me.


    ¡°Oh, I''m so sorry!¡± she sang. ¡°I''m not really around a lot of people.¡± Rue was twirling her fingers, the incidian cupped between her hands. ¡°I wasn''t paying attention to my surroundings.¡± Her head was bowed down, apologetically. I wasn''t really mad, it was probably my own fault for misunderstanding the situation. It was definitely my fault for reacting the way I did. Her apologizing in such a cute way, made me blush. Even if I were mad, no one could stay angry at that face.


    ¡°Look, you were just cutting fruit, so I''m not angry or anything.¡± I still had my incidian in my hand. ¡°But if you feel bad, then you can make up for it, by teaching me how to eat this thing.¡± Rue smiled kindly.


    We were sitting at a water fountain, in the middle of the city. Understanding that this world doesn''t have plumbing or electricity, I knew it was powered by magic. Rue was teaching me how cut the incidian, It wasn''t a difficult procedure. She cut it in half, and to my surprise it was hollow, however the meat of it was an half an inch thick. Now it kinda reminds me of a cantaloupe. I dug in, and it was the best non-meat, probably healthy, thing I have ever eaten. It was sweet, and tangy, and the texture was almost cream like.


    ¡°This is great.¡± I exclaimed.


    ¡°Yup!¡± she responded, smiling. ¡°Still¡­ Something is sorta bothering me.¡± I took a break from eating, and turned my head in wonder. ¡°It''s kinda weird that you don''t know what an incidian is, much more you didn''t even know how to read the word.¡± It''s because I''m from earth, I thought. Wait is this something I should tell others easily. I wasn''t advised against it, and this world already knows of earth. It¡¯s not one of those scenarios where I will be blasted for heresy. Right? ¡°What''s more, your speech is broken, and you have really strange hair. Not only is your hairstyle really strange, it''s black, yet I see specks of white on the side of your head.¡±


    ¡°Look, I''m actually not from Krayer.¡± Rue stared in confusion. ¡°I''m from earth, the other world. I just learned this language a couple months ago.¡± At first she looked shocked, but her usual smile came back. ¡°The reason why my hair is two different colors is because I''m half Krayen, and half Earthling.¡±


    ¡°Wow! I''ve only heard of Earth, I¡¯ve always wanted to go.¡± I thought she was going to be sceptic, or upset with me. Instead, she was leaning forward, waiting for my next words. In fact she was so interested, I ended up telling her about how I ended up here, and I even showed her my eyes.


    ¡°So yeah. Now I''m trying to learn magic, and improve myself. I''m going to become stronger, not just because I have to, because I want to.¡± I finished.


    ¡°Your story is awe-inspiring. And don''t worry, you''ll make an amazing wizard. Your a half-breed.¡±


    ¡°?¡±


    ¡°All throughout history, half-breeds have always been acknowledged for being stronger than us normal wizards.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. It''s why the beastmen race are so special.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°Cross species birthrates are really low, so the outcomes are always amazing, like the beastmen for example. All throughout my childhood, the only thing I''ve ever been taught was to respect and honor the beastmen.¡± I thought back to Ezio¡¯s own words about beastmen, and grew confused. ¡°Oh no, i¡¯m late for my client. I have to go now. This is where we say goodbye.¡±


    ¡°Wait! Before you go¡­ Where are you from.¡±


    ¡°A small city in Dodug. Why?¡±


    ¡°Oh nothing. It¡¯s just that I really hope I can see you again¡­ Friend.¡± Oh shit. I called her a friend without thinking twice. I waited for her reply of disgust, but instead I was treated with a warm smile.


    ¡°O.K. friend. May we cross paths in the future.¡± She said running away into the streets. Happiness spread throughout my body. I can¡¯t believe she called me a friend back. I was overjoyed, but a creeping suspicion haunted my thought. I need to talk to Ezio.


    ¡°It¡¯s all propaganda bullshit.¡± Ezio was telling me. I made my way back to his apartment, and explained to him about Rue. I told him about what Rue had said to me, concerning beastmen. ¡°It¡¯s true that half-breeds typically are stronger than regular wizards, but beastmen are not half-breeds. Beastmen are just another race with different sub-animal types, not cross species. They are exactly like other wizards, just with a couple physical changes. Just because I can fly, and my vision is better than others, doesn¡¯t put me on the same level as half-breeds.¡±


    ¡°Rue told me about her being raised with this teaching.¡±


    ¡°Dodug is a very poor country. Yasuja, being a very rich one, has a lot of influence on it. It isn¡¯t surprising that beastmen hold a firm grip on what is being taught amongst the kids in Dodug. I bet some of those kids are being taught that Beastmen are gods.¡±


    ¡°That¡­ that¡¯s terrible.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s why I left.¡± Ezio finished. I felt terrible for Rue, and her country, they are all being told lies. My mind drifted to Earth and Krayer. It isn''t much different from that isn''t it.


    ¡°When I see Rue, i''m gonna tell her.¡±


    ¡°Hey, Jae.¡±


    ¡°Yeah?¡±


    ¡°The next time you see her, bring her to me, i''ll make sure to explain. Who knows what she¡¯ll do if you try telling her. Also, aside from all this, remember to wake up early tomorrow. You¡¯re starting school.¡±


    ¡°Nooooooo!!!!¡± I cried throughout the night.


    ¡°Hmmm¡­ hmm...hmmmmmm¡± Rue was humming to herself. ¡°Yay! I made a new friend. Heh, I don''t really have a lot of those. Well not human ones at least.¡± Rue was walking towards her client¡¯s address. Although she was born in Dodug, she learned advanced magic and moved to Jeonsa. Jeonsa may be known as the warrior country, but because it¡¯s the biggest of the four, it is the place most riddled with monsters, evil guilds, and quests. It is the perfect place for all adventurers. Rue had accepted the offer of an extremely vague quest, that paid extremely well, just yesterday.


    ¡°O.K. i''m here¡­¡± Rue¡¯s keen senses could already feel the intense aura radiating from the small cabin. At first she knocked on the door, but got no reply. Most people would walk away now, thinking their client wasn''t home, but Rue could feel some sort of pressure. She knew someone was there, she knew she had to go through the door.


    Inside the cabin, the floors were a mess, everything was dirty, and there was a horrific smell in the air. The room was dark and musty, Rue could barely see at all. At the back of the cabin, she could vaguely make out the silhouette, of a woman crying on a couch. Slowly Rue reached the crying woman, and asked...


    ¡°Ma¡¯am, I¡¯m here for your quest. You want me to catch someone?¡±


    ¡°Sniff, sniff¡­ My daughter!¡± the lady cried hysterically.


    ¡°You want me to find your daughter?¡±


    ¡°No¡­¡± The woman, who was hunched over crying, leaned backwards to reveal a naked bloodied corpse on the floor, at the side of the couch. Rue was obviously taken aback by what she just witnessed. ¡°I want you to find the person who did this to my daughter, and kill him!¡± Rue grimaced at the girl''s dead body, it must have been there for at least a week. The mother has been sobbing here, not so much as burying her daughter, all to enact vengeance on the killer. Although she was disgusted by the mother, Rue knew all too well how it feels to lose someone.


    ¡°I don¡¯t accept assassination requests.¡± Rue said darkly. She could feel the broken woman¡¯s feelings surge through her. ¡°Those are for dark guilds and mercenaries. I will find the killer, but I will take him to a nearby kingdom. Just because no King rules this land, many will still gladly take in another prisoner, especially a murderer.¡±


    ¡°Look at my daughter''s body!¡± the woman screamed. ¡°Surely she didn¡¯t strip herself.¡± Rue held back a tear. The usually joyous girl, was filled with anger. ¡°Please. I ask you just this once, walk the path of blood and revenge my daughter.¡± Rue looked back at the lifeless girl.


    ¡°What does the murderer look like¡­¡±


    ¡°I only saw, as he escaped my house. He has black hair, but I could tell he colored it. He was also speaking an incomprehensible language as he ran, he wasn¡¯t from here.¡± Rue couldn''t believe what she was hearing. She understood now, why Jae had been so scared when she pulled out a knife.


    ¡°I¡¯ll find him. I¡¯ll¡­ kill him¡± Rue felt betrayed. She truly thought she found a friend.