Town's Story Books
97 years after the Invasion. In the mountains, beside a town that looked like it was from the medieval period.
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"Huh? Why is this black orb following me!?" a scared voice echoed in an unknown large cave.
"I have to run away. I have to survive. I have too-, Aarghh!?" When Khuan looked at his arm, his skin is already turning slowly into pitch black color. It seems like the black orb is on the way in eating his hand.
"Please stop, stop!" He shouted with all his heart as he felt that his right hand is slowly becoming numb. Out of nowhere, a majestic chest can be seen. Becoming desperate, he fearfully ran into it.
"Huh? Chest? Please, I hope there is something that could save me!" Finally, I am going to be saved. I am not going to die here. I need to survive, whatever it takes, I need to survive. He ran into the chest believing it could save him.
"What? A book?"
- -
- Earlier -
[Sound of woods burning]
"Once upon time, Debhia was still called as Earth. The number of humans back then was about 5 billion. It was full of machines and people have freedom, royalty equipments back then were also available for commoners to use." an old woman's voice can be heard in a small camp with fire burning at the center.
"Woaaah! Granny, is that true? People like commoners have equipments like the royalties too?" said an energetic voice of a child.
"Kniana, not only that. There were no monsters too, people back then were living in peaceful surroundings." said the old woman.
"Woaaah, that must be really nice Granmy Cyn." said Kniana, the little girl who is enthusiastically listening to her Granny's stories. Granny Cyn is their grandmother.
"That's not true. Kniana, stop imagining things. What Granny said are lies. How can there be no monsters back then? That's impossible." a voice from an approaching man can be heard. "And even if it's true, the things about commoners having the royalties' equipments? That's too unbelievable."
"Brother Khuan, that's not true! Granny never lies, everything she says is also present on the town's story books." shouts the little girl while crossing her hands, she looks very cute.
"That is why it is called story books! Those stories are only for children, it's for brats like you." Khuan pointed his index finger on the forehead on her little Sister. "Besides, Granny also said the there were no magic nor mutations, even skills books and artifacts were not present back then. If it is true, then that would be lame."
That is right, back then, magic, mutations, skill books, and artifacts were said to be non-existing. However, now, those things are common among people. It was also said that there were seven continents back in the time. It is very far from the current map, because now there are only three continents. First is, Sriben, the continent where mutated people lives. Second, Britidian, a continent where alchemists lives. And lastly, Engroxia, this is where we live. It is where magicians dwell. Each continent were named after the names of their founder families. These families were the ones who fended off the monsters and protected the people who dwelled in their territories.
"Even if there were no magic, I still want to live back in that time. I want to taste ice creams, lollipops, candies, and cakes. Those foods which only royalties can eat are said to be delicious. I want to try them." said Kniana while drops of saliva can be seen exiting her mouth.
Correct, these kind of foods are only available for royalties. After the Invasion, humanity lost their lands. They hid in the mountains, caves, rivers, and coastal areas, living like the old primitive ways. By doing so, they lost their privileges to live in a modern setting, lost their technological advancement, machines, and more. Although, some tried to retrieve some of these tools and machines in the cities in the hopes of starting over again. Unfortunately, all of them failed. In the end they never came back.
Only after 50 years when the founder families found a way to fight back with the monsters. However, after retrieving these places, all of the building, houses, machines, tools, and equipments were already destroyed beyond repair. And even if some of it can be repaired, the people can not do it. They are the sons and daughters of the first batch of survivors. They grew up living like the primitive ways in the mountains and coasts.
So, people started abandoning these equipments and machines. Only some knowledge written on books were saved. Like bakings, making of ice creams, and simple architectures. Technology was totally forgotten and they lived like the ways of the medieval period.
"You can taste those soon my granddaughter, don't worry." Granny Cyn said while combing her hair to comfort the little child.
"If only mother and father didn't fought those monsters. Their deaths were in vain. The people they saved did not even thanked them." a low but full of anger statements were released from the mouth of Khuan.
Their mother and father tried to save the family of the Mayor of their town when a monster invasion occurred 4 years ago. However, after saving them, the youngest daughter of the Mayor stomped on them so that she can climb the walls towards the Safe House. Even after the monsters were eliminated, they didn't even thanked nor showed gratefulness to Khuan's parents' sacrifice.
Granny Cyn and Kniana became silent. They were also angry because of that incident. If only they didn't save those ungrateful bastards.
"Okay, okay. Stop frowning. I'm going to the upper mountains, I have been requested to find herbs by a wealthy family. I'm going to hunt animals too so that we can have meat tomorrow. Bye Kniana, sleep early and don't stress Granny." Khuan kissed the forehead of her sister and reached the hand of his Granny to bless.
"Bye, I'm going."
"Take care Grandson, beware of monsters."
"Bye-bye Bro! Take care!"
Khuan took a deep breath. He is now 21 years old, he is the only one working for this family after his parents died 4 years ago. Although they are only three, it was still hard serving food on the table. He often hunts magic beasts and accepts request from people to earn money. Despite being in this state, he is still happy and grateful. He loves her Granny and her little sister, so he will do everything for them.
"Fire Ball" A weak fire ignited from Khuan's palm. Yes, is a magician. Magicians awakens when they turn 16, but he's already 21 so his awakening happened 5 years ago. However, despite being a magician for almost 5 years, he is still considered as V Rank. It is the lowest rank in the Magician's Rankings Scale. Ranking flows as V Rank, W Rank, X Rank, Y Rank, and Z Rank. Z Rank is the strongest rank there is.
He looked at the weak fire on his palm. It really is small. It's almost as if he never improved since he was awakened. After thinking for some time, he looked at the mountains and walked ahead.
After walking for almost 2 hours, he finally reached his destination. It is usually takes 1 hour to reach the mountains but because it is night, it took him 2 hours.
"Okay, it is time to work hard."
"Yosh! For Granny and Khiana!"
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After almost 4 hours of working, he already stopped. He is already done with his quota and even got lucky in finding some weak magic beasts.
The moon is already shining at its brightest. It seems like it is already midnight. He reached his neck and touched a necklace. It is deep green in color and oval in shape. It was his parents' gift for him when he awakened back then. He was 16 years old when he received this gift to be precise.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath of the mountain air. He was about to sleep when suddenly,
'Boom! Boom! Boom!'
Ear-piercing explosions can heard. He tried to find the source when realized, it was above him, in the skies. Multiple meteor-like objects were falling from the sky at a very fast rate.
'Monsters!' He suddenly became nervous. This place is in the Safe Zone. So why are there monsters here? All of the sudden, loud vibrations and explosions resounded the whole place. The monsters have already reached the town.
He became startled and shocked when he realized that some of the explosions were near their house.
'Granny! Kniana!'