A raven soaring high above through the endless sky, flying through the clouds and as it descends down towards the desolate battle field. One of its black feathers loosens up and drifts through the air. Amidst the ruined land, a single tree stood there firm fighting against the harsh fate of its land and near it was a young man sitting unconscious facing the sky surrounded by bodies. The feather fell onto the lap of a young man sitting in the field on his knees while his hands were suspended lifelessly. The young man, whose black eyes were devoid of light as if he was staring at the void of death itself.
He was wearing a black fabric which was tattered and torn from some places resembling marks of blade, one even at heart but no wound was to be seen.
A faint distorted but nostalgic and calming voice echoed in his ears. A Voice filled with a hint of grief and sorrow 'Rise Up Once Again… Save Her. Save us.'
His finger slightly twitches as the young man regains his consciousness. His ears start buzzing from static sound.
'The sky? Did I lose consciousness?' said the young man as he opened his eyes, seeing a colorless sky.
Everything was blurry and his focus started to slowly recover 'what happened? Did I pass out?'
Passing out was a luxury for him as he never once had lost his consciousness before, at least not in a long time. It was more like he could not pass out even when he wanted to as he always retained some consciousness. Some may call it a blessing and resilience of not giving up defying the soul itself but no matter what others say, the real horrors were known only by him, the feeling of wanting to pass out from the pain to take it easy but being hopeless to do so. After all, people only look at good forgetting the pain behind it.
But that is exactly why it was a mystery of how he passed out in the first place.
His ears rang as his focus recovered and his senses started to return. He breathed in and smelled a nostalgic and unique scent he has been able to smell since birth but no one else was ever able to smell it.
It was not cold outside yet when he took a heavy breath out and the air coming out of his mouth instantly turned into mist.
'I hate the cold…What was I doing?'
A sudden gust of breeze blew against him as he felt something cold on the left side of his face.
He hesitantly touched his face with his right hand middle and ring finger to inspect. It was sticky… and cold. He looked at his hand and was shocked in horror of realization 'Is this… Blood?'
The blood was colorless. He notices everything, the land, the sky, blood– everything was robbed of its colors and his hand had a grey-ish outline that was fading away .
His eyes widened as even his leg felt the same sensation… cold and sticky. Some things are better left unknown. At least that is how he tried to ignore it but his gaze shifted below, only to find himself in a puddle of blood.
'Blood? Am I– bleeding?' he noticed that he wasn't in any sort of pain except the headache, maybe the adrenaline was kicking in.
'What happened to me? Am I— dying?'
His focus came back as he started to experience a throbbing headache that was increasing with passage of time.
'It hurts, Why is everything colorless? My head— I feel like it might just explode at this rate—'
As he looked around and found himself in a barren plain with no sign of life or plants. It was a colorless, ruined land all around him, even the grass in the distance. His Head suddenly starts to experience throbbing pain constantly and it is increasing with the passage of time.
But he had no time to question the abnormality as his eyes caught a glimpse of something entirely different… Sight of his comrades , dead and lying cold around him with no sign of motion. His heart starts to beat faster every passing moment.
His hand started to shake as he whispered quietly 'Brothers? What is going—' as he tried to close his eyes but was interrupted as he felt something grabbing him. Neither strong nor too weak. Just enough to grab the attention.
He hesitantly looked towards his back only to find the mercenary leader, his master, Fariz, barely breathing and hanging onto his life in his shadow. He had black hair and was covered in blood.
'Master?' whispered the boy.
He felt a sudden sharp needle-like sensation in his head and he remembered— the reality. His memories started flooding onto his mind, He was on his first mission of scouting with the mercenaries.
He has been with the mercenary unit ever since his village was burnt down by an army. He had vague memories from his past, he couldn't even remember his name.
He was a cheerful kid who always had a smile on his face. Even his village started to call him "That Smiling Kid" or "The Kid" as his nickname. It became his second name and a title for his cheerful behavior.
One day he went out to collect forest woods to get praise from his parents and to show them that he is now grown up, wanting to prove he can go alone just like his older brother.
His father rejected the idea entirely as it was dangerous for someone of his age to go alone in the forest but the kid knowing no better sneaked out of his own, claiming "If I do it once, father will know how strong I am. I am not losing to my brother"
Of course someone of his age could possibly never pick logs and bring them home all of his own. He was not even able to carry the basket let alone carry something inside it. He decided to go off and just bring a single log as it will prove his worth.
But fate had other plans as he was dragging a log back from the forest and heard a sound from the bushes. Even the boy who knew no danger of forest realized something bad was going to happen.
Some pack of wolves who came too close to the village started to creep in. The boy instantly dropped the log and started running for his life as he yelled for help. Already exhausted from trying to carry a log that outweighed him, his young legs could only carry him so far before giving up. He slammed to the ground and the wolves were not even giving him a real chase as if they were toying with his life. He tried to run once again but his legs collapsed in a state of fear.
As the wolf started to creep closer to him, another sound from the wood emerged. The sound of footsteps… A human footsteps and in a split second the man pulled out his sword and beheaded the wolf pack leader making another wolf step back as they ran away.
On seeing the back of the man who saved him, it felt like there was nothing that could harm him. The boy who was about to burst into tears from fear started to smile and brightened up like a child who met their hero.
The boy invited him to come with him as his saviour but he rejected it with a stiff fake smile avoiding eye contact and he went away.
Confused but the boy let it be and ran back towards the village to sing the praises of his savior… or that was supposed to be the happy ending for his world.
A sea of raging flames welcomed him at the village… It was like the world itself was against him. Without a second thought, the kid dashed through the raging flames towards his house. A foolish action but no one can blame him, after all he was just a kid who wanted acknowledgement of his parents… which he never would be able to… as it was a fool's dream to ask for acknowledgement from the dead.
He just stood there watching his house on fire and a man whose drawn sword was penetrating the heart of his father… The sword was dripping blood from its tip. The very blood of his father who was sitting on his knees looking at the man dead in his eyes.
The man's presence was unsettling. Something unnatural. Something unordinary.
His father noticed the boy standing there looking at him. His father grabbed the sword tightly, not letting it go as he screamed loudly… almost like a war cry with the last strength he had.
The man coldly kicked him off the sword but his father still had not let go of the sword but with a single swipe, the fingers were cut clean off from the sword.
The kid stood there helpless. The world started losing its color as everything lost its shade except a weird golden-like outline being emitted around the man's body before the kid blanked out for the first time in his life.
After some time, when the flames went out. A mercenary group happened to be passing by when they noticed a kid barely holding onto his life among the rubbles of ruined houses. They noticed the kid was bleeding from his head. He surely would had died if they had taken a little longer.
On waking up, the kid was shaken and could not remember anything about his past. But one thing he remembered clearly was 'The kid' or 'The Smiling kid?', the fake titles given to him which overshadowed his identity and reality itself. Hence came his name 'The kid'.
The mercenaries always treated him like his own family. Whenever he felt lonely, they would come and cheer him up in different ways. He might not have had a normal childhood but he never felt alone with the company of the mercenaries but not all relationships are perfect and memories differ from reality.
The kid one day took up a sword trying to catch their attention or maybe just to earn praise but the harsh reality of him having no talent hits as he gets exhausted quickly every time he picks up the sword. After all, he was just an ordinary lost kid whose childhood was robbed by the world who now wielded a sword not for glory or fame but not to be left out. He was not a hero from the children's stories. Sword became both his way of fitting in and something to give me peace of mind and to protect people around him.
The leader was not only a leader for the boy but a teacher and father like figure in his life. Everyone trained with the people near their age group but the leader trained with the kid himself since there was no one near his age at the camp. The leader was always persistent about his training even when the kid thought of himself as useless.
The kid always wanted to partake in battle with the others but the Leader never let him, telling him fighting is not something kids should be worried about. The kid argued about wanting to be part of a unit and his excitement for it but in the end he was only allowed to partake in a few harmless hunts.
Something unique about his mercenary group was that it was always situated in a small village near the town named "Satus". Normally the mercenaries wander around places from time to time. They were even considered as "guardians" by the locals.
This was his first ever scout at which his master allowed him to take part without any objection, making the kid excited as if he was now ready to be useful.
They needed to scout out the area around void, also known as "Veil Between The Worlds" due to its unique look that looks like a veil hemisphere covering a land. It was a place where no normal life can exist due to its harsh environment which makes it look like it is from another land.
The kid went out with the group for the first time but even before they reached the void, they got ambushed and the smile he had on his face had disappeared. Now he watches the very mercenaries whom he used to laugh with are lying on the ground motionless with no memories of how it went down.
He notices the same outline but white colored, emitting from his own leader but visibly becoming faint and vibrating for every passing beat.
He thought to himself 'Am i hallucinating?' as everything was robbed of color, only the sparkling light from the master body remained. He is now visibly confused and his mind is clouded with thoughts.
His master made a shocked face but a little relieved as he said "Ha… Kid, I thought you were dead for sure. Kid?"
The kid was just sitting there, losing his will and hopes as he stared at his master. His eyes were dull and blank, devoid of light itself. His face was emotionless as if he stared into the depths of darkness itself.
"Damn it kid – don't you dare start losing your marbles now" His leader yells at him as he is gasping for air.
"Listen to me, Do not—" suddenly stops from pain. He takes a heavy breath "Just take this ring" as he forces some ring onto his hands.
"Do not forget about it— and never lose it. No matter what. Keep it close to you" As he coughs blood.
Upon seeing it, he snapped back and said 'Master, don't talk, you will be alrig—' but suddenly stopped after taking a quick peek at the wound.
"I know my body better than anyone, kid…"
The wounds were fresh, something that happened just some moments ago but bled out long enough to be fatal without a healer.
"My organs have been punctured. There is no hope left for me now, I have been fighting for so long and even now I have outlived time. I am barely alive on borrowed time."
'Don't leave me alone, everyone is dead. I-I will be all alone… again' As his face turns towards regret and despair.
"Kid, I am sorry but you must continue— alone, without us. Do not be held back by the dead"
'What is there to live for?' replied the kid with a cracking voice. 'There is nothing left for me to look forward to.'
"Then Live on, carry on our will— till you find yours. That sad face of yours, it doesn't suit you well, smile my boy, smile for one last time— for me."
The Kid looks at his master and looks at him smiling even at the face of death. The Kid puts on a forced smiling expression on his face as a tear flies down his face.
"Hey it isn't your fault. Kid." said the master. The kid looked towards his master who continued "That you can't use magic… Be free" His master smiled brightly as he drew his last breath. The expression of the kid turned blank, he smiled with dull eyes.
"Be free" the words hit him hard. As his master always repeated this same phrase. He never knew the meaning of his words. Even now he has no idea of what those words meant and might never for his master was already gone.
All the trauma on his mind came to him all of a sudden, it hit him as he was starting to lose his mind. His emotions were on peak, about to explode from inside.
'Fate can be so cruel— If it demands the blood of innocent for its thirst… then I shall quench its thirst with the blood of its own'
Yet he snapped back to reality once again upon seeing an butterfly. In this colorless world, a blue translucent butterfly emitting faint light from its wing appeared around the master's body and landed on his body. The light emitting from the body slowly faints away as if the butterfly sucked away the light onto its wings.
The Kid tried to grab one of the butterflies. Just as he grabbed it, it felt like he was holding onto nothing, emptiness itself. As he opened back his palm, the butterfly was turned into weightless dust.
He closes his eyes and looks up in the sky. It was cloudy. The wind racing against the face of a silent battle field. As if it was cleaning up the foul smell of death and blood for mother nature. It was taking it all away with it, even the glowing light of body and the butterfly that turned into dust and carried by the wind.
The excitement of his wanting to go to battles turned into hatred for it.
'What have we been fighting for? What is the purpose, if in the end one has to die— for the one they leave behind to grief? This is no war, this is madness. Madness with no end to it. What a world we live in'
He looked at his master for one last time and looked at the ring, the ring. It had a unique pattern of a rose with two veins around it which had two thorns on each and a total of four.
'Thank you, thank you for raising this kid and not abandoning him in the hands of this cruel reality.' as he just kept on staring at the sky mindlessly