1 Prologue: A Wilted Flower

The breathing of a young child broke the veil of silence covering the land, balls of rock covered in flames ravaged the lands, lighting up the night skies.

Screams of terror and cries of war raged out.

Yet here the child was hiding behind a rock, blood running down his left arm, his right held a silver blade.

He moved to the right peering out from his hiding place, locking his sights on the glowing blue crystal tower that humanity raced towards, beasts of shadows ran from the tower to confront the foolish bags of flesh.

The young boy gritted his teeth, suddenly darting out of his hiding place, running forwards despite the screams, despite the fire, despite the pain.

He could hear shouts of protest, but it mattered not, he knew his purpose, he knew where he must go.

This was his legacy. This was his life.

He wasn't going to let somebody else take it.

(Your world or mine. It matters not; one of them has to burn.)

Those words rang through the child's head as he ran, his lungs burned his eyes watered his ears rang.

Yet he kept running, his unwounded arm swinging and cutting down anything that dared enter his path, he had to make it he had to see it through.

That fact would never change.

That fact would never cease.

And then the beasts heard the battle cry.

The rally to war, the beasts responded in the only way they knew how.

Retaliation.

They made there charge running at the wounded child, one by one they fell.

But it would never be enough, the child... Died upon that very soil.

***

Crimson eyes.

Crimson eyes opened to see a wooden ceiling, a hand reached up to greet the world, only for it to fall flat back onto the bedside.

The head of those eyes turned to face a blaring sound from an object on the desk.

The fallen hand reached out and pressed a button silencing the nuisance.

He then slowly moved out of bed. The clock read 5:30 AM, it was early, but the child didn't mind.

If one wasn't awake early in the morning, then he couldn't put in his effort later.

He walked up to his closet and looked to his hung up clothes. He had many outfits of many variants.

Some looked nice, and others looked ugly. It didn't matter, for he mostly wore the outfit in the center.

A simple black t-shirt and blue jeans.

The child smiled, putting on that outfit and grabbing his red jacket from the coat rack.

He then opened the wooden door and walked into a hallway.

A simple wooden floor, with three other doors leading to a staircase.

The child walked forward and ignored all the doors walking down those stairs as silently as he could manage.

He turned the corner as soon as he could and made his way into the kitchen, he reached to the center of the room that held a counter and grabbed an apple.

It was sweet and crunchy as he bit into it; the juices poured into his mouth.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, powering it on.

As soon as it went past the initial boot up, it began ringing the child rolled his eyes, "Right on cue." He clicked the green button and put the phone up to his ear, "You know you might lose a friend with these early morning calls Chris." The boy commented, taking a bite out of his apple.

On the other end, a boy let out an audible sigh, "Every morning with this shit, and you know full well why I'm calling." Chris accused the young boy.

The boy rose a single brow, speaking with his mouth full, "Do I?"

Chris, of Course, groaned in irritation, "The group project! Do you have your part done?"

I swallowed my bite of the apple and rolled my eyes, "You mean there part? I feel the need to remind you I'm only working on this shit because I want to pass."

"Don't get smart with me! Did you do it or not?" Chris yelled in the mic, causing me to wince, pulling it away from my ear.

I sighed, putting it back up, "Course I did... I'll send it to you later I have to go." I stated that sentence Chris said something to interject, but I hung up quickly.

I sigh powering my phone off, I then walk back into the wooden hallway and look at a single door opening it.

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

The pure sounds of a heart monitor filled the room. On a small bed, a young girl no more than the age of eight laid sleeping.

The boy smiled solemnly, pulling up a chair to the bed, the curtains in the room are pulled back just enough to let the sunlight touch her skin.

"Happy birthday Lily." The boy uttered, "Wish you were awake to celebrate it with us..." the boy visited this room every day for the past three years, and yet her condition never improved.

The boy sighed, getting out of his chair and walking out the door, only for a hand to make contact with his forehead, "Bah, it's just you." An elderly woman spoke out, "What the hell are you doing up!?!" The lady questioned.

"What am I doing up?!? Why the hell are you going around slapping people in the morning, you old bat!" I countered only to promptly receive another slap to the cheek.

The woman put a hand on her hips and leaning looking into the open door, "...Nine years old, right?"

I blinked and nodded, "I'm going to head out for a bit, Granny." I started walking towards the front door.

"Huh?!? Your bus will be here soon. Where could you be off to?!?"

I waved opening the door, "Just grabbing a drink." it wasn't a lie, I made it part of my routine to walk to the gas station every morning to grab a coffee or a soda, perhaps it was overpriced, but it was close, and that's all that mattered to me.

Soon along those endless lines of squares, I made my way to the clean shine of the gas station doors and pulled one of them open.

"Oh! Mj good morning!" A man in a uniform greeted me eagerly, "Same as usual today?" He questioned as I made my walk to the back of the store.

"Course it is." I shot back, "Actually. Got any liquid cake?" I wondered.

The man frowned, "Liquid... Is somebody you know under Stasis?" He questioned as I brought my coffee up to the front.

I rose a brow, "Stasis?"

"You know... The disease that's been running around for years know where people just fall asleep outta nowhere and never wake up!" The man explained it to me.

"I'm aware of the concept, I just wasn't aware people were calling it Stasis..." I muttered as he rang up all my items, "I'm assuming that's a no on that cake then?"

"Fraid not, you'll have to make a stop by the supermarket to get something like that." The man handed me my drink and waved me off.

I sighed, opening my drink and taking a sip out of it, the bitter taste made contact with my tongue, causing my face to scrunch up in annoyance, but it helped me stay awake.

Then I made a turn.

...And light entered my vision.

Headlights?

A semi-truck entered my view, my eyes widened, and my body froze, it was out of control.

I could see the driver yelling something, but I couldn't hear it.

Death.

It all came to me at that moment if I didn't move, I was going to die. No

It didn't matter if I did or not, I was going to die.

. . . Am I Dead?

Prologue: A Wilted Flower

E.N.D.