1 The Beginning

Prologue

"Life's but a walking shadow,

A poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more:

It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 5

"All the world's a stage,

And all the men and women merely players;

They have their exits and their entrances,

And one man in his time plays many parts..."

As You Like It, Act 2, Scene 7

~Shakespeare

We are inside a role-playing game called 'life'. We can only stick to the roles we were assigned to at birth. It's called 'fate', and this world...is the'stage'.

The World

A blatantly rugged mountain range, Ekwensu Ogologos, stands at the center of a strange story, like a megalithic sentinel keeping a careful watch over the realms of the seen and the unseen.

The virgin crowns battle each other through the cirrus clouds toward the heavens. How far into the sky they go is unknown to this day.

Those fiercely inaccessible and dominant peaks inspire abyssal awe and pernicious curiosity among those who long for them so intently. But a constantly raging weather inhibits their prying eyes and ridicules their foolish courage. The rumored snow beasts and so-veiled-in-obscurity snow eagles find their sanctum among the mountain peaks of Ekwensu Ogologos.

However, no soul has ever dared to venture to validate those rumors. Who can tell?

At the foot of the mountain range is a very deep, dark jungle called Akunomori. Probably, this is the first reason why the mountain ranges are still untainted. The forest is like a continent. A brave explorer can experience the beauties of all the seasons if he or she dares to defy the wild forest and traverse it. Somewhere it rains, and at the same time, somewhere it is winter or summer. Not just that! It is the home of deadly beasts, reptiles, and creatures of the unseen realm. If these creatures don’t scare you, then perhaps quicksand, sinkholes, and deadly poisonous carnivorous plants would! This jungle isn’t for humans to venture into.

A beautiful river flows through the jungle—the Sunsunhan. She springs from one of the highest peaks of the Ogologos and rolls down like the beautiful long hairs of Rapunzel, as if waiting for her prince to climb up the mountain to meet her at the tower of the witch! As Sunsunhan flows down, piercing through the thick of Akunomori, she bathes and nurtures the lives of beasts and plants alike. Countless strands of Sunsunhan cut through the forest lands to make Akunomori even darker, denser, and more dangerous than ever. You could call Sunsunhan a mother figure to Akunomori.

The forest and the mountain ranges lie across such a wide land area that they cover significant parts of three different countries: the Kingdom of Nordurljos from the east to the north, spreading to the west; the Kingdom of Omortolok from the east to the south; and the Kingdom of Arkistan from the south to the west. This is the world where our story is set to unfold.

#The Incident

That year, spring and summer had been together for quite some time. They were not necessarily trying to be discrete, though! During the day, under a bright, mildly warm sun, the residents of Ayodale gleefully observed their romantic escapades. But their love nights felt unexpectedly cold!

However, today, something felt ominous!

The imposing and sinister Ekwensu Ogologos mountain range breathed a sudden cold zephyr that brought clouds, darker than the feathers of a black raven, to the sky over the city. The pleasant afternoon's dying glow quickly turned into a somber twilight. A downpour began like a bolt from the blue. An uneasy gloom hung in the atmosphere.

The unforeseen rain brought nothing but an utter inconvenience to the people of Ayodale! It was already rush hour. Now...this?

It was a serious predicament, as the cover at the bus stops was insufficient to hold the increasing number of commuters! Umbrella was not on anyone's priority list. A conflict of interest arose as people wrestled over the taxis amid the downpour.

Chaos ensued amid the dissonance of horns, screeching brakes, shouts, and the bustling crowd. There was no empathy to spare!

On a day like today, no one thought about paying any attention to the rooftop of the most famous high school in the city, Ogologos High.

The rhythmic resonance of the raindrops added an eerie vibe to the silence on the rooftop. A perfect place for something sinister to happen!

Thomas Baker felt being carried by his assailants to the edge of the seven-story-high rooftop. He did not have any strength left in his bloody and battered body. His mouth tasted like metal—his own blood. He was breathing through his mouth. The broken nose was sealed with coagulated blood.

The sudden cold rain gave him some relief from the painful wounds. Blood was washed away from his body with the rain, as if it were emancipating the sins of the transgressors through the pain of the crucified messiah! The scene on the rooftop felt like the reenactment of a biblical persecution.

Tom's breathing was shallow, and his life hung from a fragile thread. He was veering in and out of consciousness. With both eyes blinded, all he could see was darkness, and he felt only pain.

The assailants hung him from the rooftop railing like a wet rug. Tom could not move his dislocated, broken arms and was at the mercy of his assailants. He could faintly hear some arguing voices. He understood that this could be his last! The beating squeezed every ounce of energy from his body. He could not even flail!

He missed his favorite spring breeze that carried the fragrance of pine and juniper from the mountainside.

Suddenly, he felt a strong kick, and his body was flung into the air. His head hit the edge of the roof first. He felt it! He felt something snapping near his neck from his body weight.

His body bounced off the edge, and with that, it started its journey on the ground first. Midair, his body nosedived toward the ground.

The fall felt like an eon. His whole, pathetic life flashed before his eyes.

"So, it was true", he thought.

He heard somewhere, on the day of judgment, compared to the afterlife, that the time spent on Earth would feel like a two-and-a-half-minute-long video.

The only face he remembered in his last moments was his mom's, Mrs. Janis Baker. He wanted to touch that glowing brightness of love and kindness.

“Mom,” he wanted to say but couldn't. Tears came out, but they rolled down toward his forehead.

******

Tom never knew his life was bigger than he thought. The fates of many people were intertwined with his. The vacuum created by his absence would soon start sucking the lives of many people into it like a massive, deadly twister, and a dystopic display of oppression and misery would begin.