Three hundred years before, when Karyuz was still standing and it hadn't been attacked by Ashikunz yet, Zrelekai was one of the most influential people there.
Zrelekai was practicing in his own laboratory; this place was located in the main square of the city, and countless people used to pass in front of it.
"Hey Zrelekai!" said an old man happily. With one hand behind his back, he waved with the other. Zrelekai, who was looking into a microscope at something the old man didn't recognize, slowly tilted his head and looked outside the window.
"Oh, Mr. Stark! Long time no see," said Zrelekai as he removed his gloves and walked towards the window.
This old man was someone who, because of his age, didn't do anything the whole day, and he usually just wandered around the town.
"What were you doing?" As Zrelekai arrived near the window, he looked again at the chair Stark was sitting on. Not many days before, Stark had been in a really bad accident and could no longer move his legs. He and Zrelekai were already friends, and Zrelekai, after learning about the accident, had remained closed in his laboratory for multiple days until he was able to create a wheelchair for his friend.
"Oh, don't worry, it still works fine… this chair has helped me a lot," said Stark as he spoke in a reassuring tone. Zrelekai snapped back to reality and nodded his head.
"I'm glad it works," answered Zrelekai. As he looked past the old man, he realized that not far from his laboratory, some children were playing with a ball, the one they had asked Zrelekai to make for them yesterday. At the sight of that, he couldn't help but let out a big, warm smile.
"They're having a lot of fun…" said Stark as he turned around. "Still, I noticed you were working on something… what was that?" added the old man as he looked Zrelekai in the eyes again.
"I've been trying to create some meat… I was trying to study a normal piece, and then I'd compare it with one created by me… I hope I'll be able to succeed in this creation," said Zrelekai. Hearing these words, Stark's eyes lit up.
"Me-Meat?" he asked in surprise. Zrelekai proudly nodded his head.
"Man, that is amazing! If you succeed, can you even believe how useful it will be?" he said as he opened his hands while sparks appeared in his eyes. As Zrelekai looked at him again, he realized that some drool was coming out of his mouth too. 'He's thinking about how tasty it is going to be…' he thought as he clicked his tongue.
"Don't worry, Mr. Stark, soon I'll be able to create it," said Zrelekai. Stark, turning serious again, nodded his head. "I believe you're going to do it, my friend. Good luck." With that, the old man smiled warmly before starting to head back.
As Zrelekai watched the old man go away, he closed the window and returned to his laboratory, when suddenly he placed his hand on the table and started to breathe heavily. "Again… who knows when I might end up like this." Zrelekai remained with his eyes stuck on the table and began to breathe heavily.
'I want to keep making experiments…' Zrelekai returned toward the microscope. As he grabbed the meat made by him with his hands, he squeezed it, and realizing that it wasn't perfect at all, he threw it with all his strength toward the wall. The meat, which was slightly spongy, made a small bounce off the wall before falling to the ground.
'I'm already fifty… soon my life is going to be over.' Zrelekai sat down on the floor right below the table. 'Like Stark, who ended up like that when he was barely sixty… who knows when that thing might happen to me.' Zrelekai placed his head between his knees and started to sob.
'I don't want to end all of this… I just want to keep making experiments non-stop…' Ever since the moment Zrelekai had awakened his power, he had a dream: he wanted to make experiments non-stop, he wanted to discover something new, and he wished to explore and learn everything about the old world.
Since he was a child, he had always gone near the town's library, which contained countless books that explained how things in the old world used to work. With just some small breaks, he spent most of his childhood learning how to use his power.
'My power is the definition of something perfect…' Since he was a child, Zrelekai had always admired the old world and everything related to it; he believed it was perfect. 'And my power is perfect because it can bring this world back…' Zrelekai stopped sobbing, and with his open hand, he created a small piece of wood.
"When I was a child, I couldn't understand most things… I only began to really learn something when I turned seventeen…" whispered Zrelekai. "But a human life isn't enough to learn everything about the old world… it's practically impossible…" Zrelekai remained closed in his dark laboratory for a few more minutes before he decided to head out.
"Zrelekai, can you create a ball for us too??" asked a child the moment Zrelekai stepped out of his laboratory.
"Sure, guys." Zrelekai, who had now finished crying, nodded his head. After a few seconds, a ball appeared in his hands, and the same child who had asked him this question grabbed the ball.
"Let's go, guys!!" he shouted. The other children followed him screaming, and they began to run. Zrelekai, at the sight of that, let out a soft smile, but deep inside, he felt something strange.
'Most of the time, I've only used my power to help others…' Zrelekai remembered all those times in which he had helped Stark, these children, and other people with the creation of fruit to prevent people from dying of hunger.
Currently, it was around 6:00 p.m., and Zrelekai was walking alone through Karyuz's streets. 'Then the only use my power has… is to help other people?' Zrelekai began to think that the only purpose he was given this power was just to help everyone else, and not himself.
'Like, when I try to do some experiments by myself, there's always someone asking for something different…' Zrelekai remembered that not many days before, he was studying electricity and how a generator worked, but soon enough, the king of the city had arrived and asked him for something.
"Yes… I'm asking you to make some meat… more meat for everyone!"
Zrelekai still remembered that day. Meat was something that only the most important people could have, and the king had given a piece of it to Zrelekai just for him to create more pieces.
'And I couldn't even refuse that…' Zrelekai breathed heavily as he finally arrived at the entrance of the city. 'When will I be able to create something just for myself…'
Zrelekai's thoughts were soon interrupted by some people. 'Hey, if I remember correctly, today was the day when the group of Alterid had to return…' thought Zrelekai. As he walked closer toward the crowd, he noticed the Alterid entering.
The applause of the crowd soon became silent, as only two Alterids returned from the expedition, and exactly seven of them had gone a week ago.
"And more people have died…" whispered Zrelekai, not caring about the countless whispers coming from the crowd.
'The same can happen to me someday… and there is no way to return from death… why were we born as humans?' Zrelekai passed through the crowd, not caring about the people crying or the Alterids who were trying to raise the mood.
"We know it didn't go well… the enemies were just too strong…" whispered one of the Alterids. Near him was his friend, who had remained silent since all of their friends had been killed.
"But… but there were seven of you! How could it happen?" shouted a woman with tears flowing down her eyes. The Alterid speaking recognized her immediately; she was the mother of one of his friends who had been killed in the most brutal way. A Krukmongbee had smashed both its arms together onto his head, crushing him down completely.
The Alterid began to cry as he remembered his friend's blood splatting onto his face. "We…" The Alterid placed his fingers over his eyes, as he couldn't find the exact words. "There were just too many Krukins… we weren't ready enough…"
The whole crowd turned quiet, as no one knew what to say. Zrelekai was looking at this scene while walking, and he ended up breathing heavily again. 'Dying is just too common… I don't want the same to happen to me.'
Zrelekai stopped thinking about these dead Alterids. 'Now they can't look at Karyuz anymore… they can't enjoy the things they loved the most…' Zrelekai placed his hand over his chest and looked down. 'I don't want the same happening to me… I'll never accept stopping making experiments…'
Zrelekai then began to walk again, and after a few steps, he arrived in front of the entrance of the city. As he glanced around, he realized that there weren't any guards, as all of them were trying to calm the crowd.
'Well, we can normally go out… and I need to take a long walk.' Zrelekai, not caring about anything or anyone, simply came out of the town and began to wander near the river splitting Africa, the safest part, from the mainland, the lands where the Krukins wander.
'At least I've been able to create something for myself…' Zrelekai positioned his hand near his side and grabbed something covered by his long white coat.
"This pistol isn't perfect enough… but at least it can shoot… in case I get attacked, I can still defend myself," said Zrelekai with a smirk over his face.
'Still… I can't allow myself to die now… at least I want to live my life for as much as I can.' Zrelekai was now looking at the mainland.
"Maybe I'm going to find some important things there?" whispered Zrelekai with his hands in his pockets. 'And it's where all the people of the old world used to live…'
Zrelekai remembered talking with the Alterids that went on expeditions. All of them always said that in the old city ruins there wasn't anything; in fact, sometimes Zrelekai asked them to bring him some books from there, but they always said that it was impossible, as the Krukins had already destroyed everything.
'Maybe if I go there, I'm going to discover something new?' thought Zrelekai. "Soon it will be dark… it will be dangerous." Zrelekai looked at the sun and realized that since he came out of his laboratory, around an hour had passed, and soon everything would turn dark.
"Still… I want to go and see what's around there… only for a few minutes." Zrelekai took a deep breath before he was about to cross the river.
"Still, I should create a plank… it feels deep here," whispered Zrelekai. With his power, he created a wooden plank that helped him walk across.
"I'm about to walk on the mainland…" Usually, it wasn't prohibited for Karyuz's people to walk on the mainland all by themselves; there was no rule, as the people were simply smart enough to know that going there meant certain death.
'But I'm just going there for a minute or less… I'll return when—' Zrelekai was walking on this wooden plank when suddenly it began to shake until it completely shattered. "Huh?" whispered Zrelekai, as the last thing he could do before he fell with his body into the river.
Zrelekai tried to scream as hard as he could, but it was already too late; he had already fallen into the river, and the water had entered his mouth. 'I… I can't… breathe…' he thought. As Zrelekai wasn't someone physically strong, especially because he rarely came out of his laboratory, he soon fell unconscious, and his body was dragged away by the river.
After a few hours, the unconscious Zrelekai started to cough hard. "Cough, cough…"
Zrelekai was still feeling extremely dizzy, and his head was hurting more than anything. "What happened… ouch, my head!" Zrelekai tried to rise, but he immediately fell back to the floor.
'I remember going out of the city… and then…' Zrelekai, confused, tried to remember what happened. 'And then I fell into the river…' Zrelekai breathed heavily.
"I shouldn't have done it… I really risked my life there…" Zrelekai looked for a moment at the ceiling and realized that he had never seen this place.
'It's all dark… I can't see anything,' thought Zrelekai, as he was currently inside a room that was entirely black. 'I have to create a light…'
Zrelekai knew how to create a flashlight; in fact, in less than ten minutes, after resting enough, he was able to create this object to help him.
The first thing that he pointed his flashlight at made his heart beat extremely fast.