Year 708 of the Holy Calendar…
The sky above the slums was shrouded in dark clouds, making the already gloomy environment even more oppressive.
Thunder! Thunder! Thunder!
The sound of thunder echoed across the surroundings as bolts of purple lightning moved within the dark clouds like raging flood dragons.
Suddenly, accompanied by a deafening thunderclap, heavy rain began to pour down, forming puddles all over the filthy streets of the slums.
The nauseating stench that blanketed the entire area intensified even further, and some of the dilapidated houses, already in terrible condition, began to flood with dirty water.
The people living in those houses were already accustomed to such conditions. They simply huddled in corners to shield themselves from the rain, watching the murky water pour into their homes with sadness in their eyes.
In one such house, a woman who appeared to be around twenty-eight or twenty-nine years old, but looked closer to her late thirties due to the gray strands in her hair and her rough, worn skin, huddled in a corner with a thirteen-year-old boy.
Because their house was located at the lower end of the street, rainwater flowed down from above and entered through the gap beneath the door.
The roof of the house was patched together crudely in several places, and water leaked through it, droplets falling across most areas of the room.
Ryan looked at his mother, who was trying to scoop out the water flooding their home through a small hole at the side of the wall, and pursed his lips before picking up another bowl to help her.
The woman noticed the boy's actions and smiled faintly.
"You changed your mind so quickly. Didn't you say you wouldn't help me…?" She said, poking the young boy's cheek with her finger. "Listen, Ryan, men who are fickle and change their minds too quickly are not popular with women. I'm afraid if you keep acting like this, you'll never be able to marry, and I'll never get to see my grandchildren in my lifetime."
Black lines seemed to appear on Ryan's forehead as he heard her words, and the speed at which he scooped out the water increased slightly, as if he were venting his frustration on it.
"Hey, hey, are you angry? Angry because I told the truth?"
Ryan took a deep breath and looked at her with annoyed eyes.
"Can't you just scoop out the water silently?"
The woman was not intimidated by his glare. Instead, she puffed out her chest.
"What are you so angry about? You look like you're about to bite me to death. Go on, bite me if you dare."
Ryan was so irritated by her words that he genuinely felt like biting her.
The woman laughed smugly when she saw his angry yet somewhat helpless expression.
Teasing her child and watching him react like an angry rabbit was one of the few joys left in her life, so she made no effort to hold back.
Just as she continued teasing him, she noticed that a wooden patch at the bottom of the door had broken due to the strong flow of water, and the rate at which water entered their home suddenly increased.
"Ryan, quickly give me that piece of spare cloth to block the gap, or you'll have to sleep in a swimming pool you've only heard about in stories!"
Ryan snapped back to his senses upon hearing her words and when he saw the gap at the bottom of the door, he quickly put down the bowl in his hand and rushed to pick up the spare cloth.
The woman also stood up, lifting the hem of her faded skirt above her knees to keep it dry, and walked toward the door.
Just as she reached it and squatted down to examine the gap—
Thunder!
A thunderclap far louder than the previous ones exploded, and in the very next second—
Bang!
With a deafening crash, the wooden door shattered into countless splinters. A man, covered in blood and crackling with sparks of lightning, was hurled inside, slamming directly into the woman who had just crouched near the door.
Ryan, who had just picked up the cloth, was startled and quickly turned around, only to see a blood-covered man kneeling on the ground, arcs of lightning flickering around him.
"Thief! How dare you steal from me!" An enraged voice roared from outside and through the destroyed doorway, Ryan saw another man, his entire body engulfed in lightning like a god of thunder, charging toward their house.
"Fu*k… this bastard is completely insane…" The injured man cursed and without even sparing Ryan a glance, he dashed out at a speed far beyond that of an ordinary human.
The man wreathed in lightning immediately chased after him, ignoring Ryan as well.
Ryan stood frozen, shocked by the sudden turn of events. He only regained his senses after both men disappeared from his sight.
Suddenly, a thought struck him, and his face turned deathly pale.
'Why is it so silent…?'
Thinking of his mother, an unprecedented fear gripped his heart.
He slowly turned his head toward where she had been standing, and his breathing became difficult when he saw her lying face-first on the ground, completely motionless, her face submerged in the dirty water.
"Ma..." He called out in a trembling voice, his entire body shaking.
"Ma, don't scare me…" He said, his voice unsteady as he staggered toward her.
Having grown up in the slums, Ryan had witnessed many dangerous situations and experienced various kinds of fear.
But the fear he felt at this moment was entirely different from anything he had ever experienced before.
It became hard for him to breathe, and it felt as though his mind had stopped functioning properly. Each breath felt heavy, as if he were inhaling lead instead of air, while an invisible weight pressed down on his chest like a mountain.
Reaching her, Ryan extended his trembling hands to turn her body over.
But the moment he touched her head and turned her face toward him, his mind went completely blank, and he collapsed to his knees.
Earlier, when the man had crashed through the door and collided with her, his elbow had struck her neck while she was squatting.
Due to the immense force of the impact, her neck had snapped instantly, killing her on the spot.
Ryan knelt there with a look of disbelief, holding her lifeless body, unable to comprehend what had just happened.
Just a few seconds ago, he had been talking happily with his mother. Yet in the next moment, they had been separated forever, never to meet again.
"Why…" Tears streamed down Ryan's cheeks as he stared at the woman who had been teasing him just moments ago. "Why is this happening?"
The anguished cries of a young boy, filled with sorrow and despair, echoed through the relentless rain.
As his tears fell into the murky water around him, creating ripples, a small, fingernail-sized crystal, perhaps dropped by the man earlier, or carried in by the flowing water, began to shine faintly.