A peculiar set of events: Part 1

"The world has many truths, but there is one truth that is above all other truths. The truth is the world doesn't care about its own rules and truths. It will do whatever it wants to and will do everything in its power to get what it wants. The truths that we know as unchangeable, in essence, shackles, to the world are nothing but a fabricated ruse to trick us in to following its plans and wants."

-Anonymous

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Location: Underground Mining Area 50 G

Time: Year 17 of the Era of Change

Era: Era of Change

"So, Steven tell me, what happened?" asked Xiang with a smirk while putting his hand on Steven's shoulder.

"Eh, I don't know what you are talking about!" said Steven with a frustrated expression as he was already carrying an unconscious woman and dog, and his comrade's hand on his shoulder was not helping him at all. Instead, it was pretty heavy and irritating as a result.

"Now come ya little rascal, we know ya are not telling us everything! Do ya think after being five years with you and going through many trials, we wouldn't be able to tell when you're lying?!" stated Thon in a mocking tone while chuckling.

"Sigh…Fine, I'll tell you what happened, but just don't let those not part of our group hear about this, as I don't think they would be ready for what I'm about to tell you, and we don't know if we can trust them at the moment." Said Steven to his comrades, as although he wanted to trust the other people that had joined him, they didn't have that luxury at this point in time.

"Agreed, Celine would you mind?" said Xiang while winking towards Celine

"Fine. You always make me do this anyways." Said Celine in exasperation

"I do not!" answered Xiang with his eyes widened in shock while putting his hands in front of his mouth.

"Oh, stop pretending!" said Celine rolling her eyes at Xiang, as she then proceeded to create two balls of purple energy in her hands that slowly expanded until it formed a transparent barrier around Steven and his comrades.

Following this, Steven explained to his comrades what had truly happened, although he still left out his encounter with the voices, as he was not sure how to explain to his comrades these conversations without sounding like he had gone insane. After his comrades got a more thorough explanation of what had happened, they motivated themselves even more to escape the Underground Mining Area as soon as possible, not to encounter anything else that might deter them from escaping.

"Steven, why is it always you who get us into trouble?!" remarked John with a sigh while shaking his head. Before Steven could answer, he saw his comrades nod their heads and stare at him with eyes saying, "you know he is right."

"Oh, stuff, you guys!" said Steven stomping off with great effort while carrying the little dog and women on his back. He proceeded to mumble to himself and absentmindedly walked forward until something forced him out of his grumpy mood. What Steven saw was horrifying. In front of him lay an uncountable number of bodies. These bodies were very young, mostly from children and teenagers. Their faces had expressions of fear, dread, and pain. They all lay in the pools of their blood. Seeing this, Steven shook with anger, with grief, with a feeling he had never felt before, a strong sense of disgust that consumed him to his very core.

"Why?! Who could have done this!? Done something this cruel!? To innocent children! Who would be so evil as to murder innocents so cruelly!" as he shouted this, Steven fell to his knees, dropping the women and the little dog next to him? Steven could not control himself. He was shaking uncontrollably as if he were having a fit. He suddenly heard a noise come from amidst the bodies, a light laugh, a sinister chuckle. Following this, a beautiful woman rose from the pools of blood, smiling menacingly.

"Why isn't it obvious little one? It is you who will cause this. What you are seeing is the future!" said the women while seductively smiling at Steven.

"No! I refuse to accept this! I will never…" as Steven wanted to refuse, he suddenly heard voices come from the bodies.

"You- You killed us- Why- why!!! It hurts!! WHY!!!" shouted a multitude of voices at Steven

"I'm sorry…I…I…please stop! Stop!!!" shouted Steven in anguish as he felt the voices crush him. He couldn't breathe, he couldn't see, he could only feel pain, so much pain that he thought he could lie down and die.

"STOP!!!!" shouted Steven once more while desperately trying to escape from this dreadful place. Unfortunately for Steven, though, they didn't stop. They only got louder and louder, screaming and crying in pain.

"Mom!!! Dad!!! It hurts!!! Why did you murder us!!!" shouted the voices continuously at Steven.

Steven felt dizzy and could barely process what was happening anymore. He was almost at the point where he was about to fall unconscious, that was until two small feminine hands touched his face. These hands were as cold as ice and as delicate as silk. The moment Steven felt them, he lifted his face and saw the person to whom the hands belonged. It was the beautiful women who had previously appeared from the pool of blood. At first, Steven wanted to escape immediately, yet he was stunned when he saw the woman's eyes. Her eyes were a pure blue azure colour radiantly shining. Steven couldn't understand how such beautiful pure eyes could come from such an ominous woman.

"Join me, Steven. With my power, you can prevent this. You can save them all! Kneel and make me your god! Make me your everything. Let me be your priority! Love me with everything! And I and everything I have shall be yours! Become mine, and I shall become yours!" said the women while staring into Steven's eyes.

Steven felt the women was staring into his very soul. It was as if he couldn't resist. He wanted to say no, yet the more he tried to say no, the more he felt like he had to say yes. He could save and prevent those children's deaths! He could do so much good in this rotten world. Yet, before Steven could fall any further into the sweet trap of temptation of the women, he felt a small hand touch his shoulder.

Waking up from this, Steven turned to look at who the small feminine hand belonged to. It was the hand from the woman he had been carrying for the last five years. Steven was shocked when he noticed the woman was staring at him, wide awake. Furthermore, her eyes were a sapphire red that seemed to burn away the burdens that were consuming Steven. Before Steven could do anything else, he fell unconscious.

"So, you have decided to get involved, eh? To stand in my way from getting what I want?! Be careful, for you shall rue the day you prevented me from acquiring the boy! He shall be mine! You cannot stop it! For it has already begun!" saying this, the women with azure blue eyes faded away, as well as the bodies and the pools of blood, as if they were all but an illusion, something that had not happened, not yet.

The woman with the red, azure eyes sighed as she saw this and shook her head, falling once more unconscious. After a while, Xiang and the others ran over to Steven while heavily panting.

"Damn it! Where the hell were you! One moment we saw you stomp ahead. The next you were gone! Don't ever do that again!" said Xiang while heavily panting and sighing in relief.

"I don't think he can answer us at the moment." Said Violet while walking over to Steven and seeing that he had passed out.

"Alright! Whatever! Let's wait for him to wake up, and then we will continue. As much as I would want to get out of here as soon as possible, we don't know what awaits us, so I would rather us take our time than rush to our doom." Said Xiang while plopping onto the ground, making himself comfortable.

Seeing this, the rest of the group could only shake their heads and do the same, as they knew it was much safer to stay together than to separate and face whatever awaited them on their path towards the exit of the dark depths they were in.