2. A memory from the past

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Rising Sun city

It was an old mansion at the city's edge, away from the hustle and bustle of the busy main street. It's owners, the Visecrows, were ones famous aristocrats in the old days, and were even able to form a buisness empire in the days of industrialisation.

Though that glory didn't last long as the coming generations of Visecrow were not the best at running a buisness, and so the family fell to the ruins. Until the apocalypse arrived, because that's when the former generation of Visecrow, Jonathon Vicecrow, rose to the ranks and built the name back.

And so the mansion was used as the Vicecrow orphanage. This was where Christopher Visecrow, current air to the vicecrow lineage, to whom kids called Mr. Chris, lived with the children.

"Hey brats, I am back!"

Announcing his presence Mr. Chris opened the gates as he entere the yard. The kids came running, smiling and laughing all the way, as they latched onto his clothes.

Run over by the kids unable to even reach the main door, there was no hint of annoyance to be seen in Mr. Chris' expression. As he sat in the yard and started playing with the kids, he was smiling from beginning to the end, it was a genuine smile at that.

Ranked 10th in the world, one could see no arrogance of the fact on Mr. Chris. He interacted with everyone wearing a smile on his face, which seemed kind and genuine.

He was a gentleman in a true sense, from his mannerisms to his speech, each and every of his actions exuded a sense of artistry. He was neither too humble nor too arrogant, a perfect gentleman through and through.

But if that gave someone a wrong impression of him being a pushover, they would be dead wrong. Once a guild tried to take the kids from orphanage hostage, to force him to cooperate. The grass on their grave is now waist tall, dead wrong indeed.

"Did you guys behave while I was away?"

"Yes Sir"

"Is that so? Nova, did any of them give you hard time?"

Mr. Chris asked looking at a young man, his name, Nova.

Nova was, what one would refer as a frail child. 17 years old, he had beautiful white hair and fair skin, and deep blue eyes resembling Mr. Chris himself.

He was the oldest of the lot and quite a responsible one too. Maybe that's why despite being frail, Mr. Chris would entrust babysitting the children to him whenever he left. Or it could be simply because Nova was well respected among the children as their 'big brother.'

Well the children at the orphanage were practically a family. Mr. Chris being the head, Nova was definitely the second in charge of the household, outranking even the caretaker of the orphanage.

"Huh, Where's Kai?"

Noticing Kai's absence, Mr. Chris asked the children his whereabouts.

"He is sitting in the study hall reading the books. He will come to greet when the others are done, or so he said." Nova replied.

"Well he's as unsociable as ever, isn't he?"

It came as no surprise to Mr. Chris, after all he was the one who picked up Kai after his parents' death.

Makai, nicknamed Kai, was also one of the kids at the orphanage. Aged 14 he was with the orphanage for past three years, the most recent addition among the children his age.

At the age of 11 he had to go through the trauma of losing his parents to a monster attack, a sad but common story. He was picked up by Mr. Chris after finding out that he was being mistreated at his previous orphanage.

Being put into the fray of unknown kids, unable to trust them, he started distancing himself from others. After three long years he has only opened up to Mr. Chris, Nova and couple other kids.

"Hey Mr. Chris, how was your trip this time?"

"Yeah, tell us about your great adventure."

"Yeah! yeah! tell us! tell us!"

"What monsters did you face? how did you defeat them?"

"Give us the details."

"Alright kids, let's go inside first. Let me freshen up before we talk further."

Mr. Chris said as he stood up and started walking towards the orphanage door.

Opening the door they entered the main hall, leading the way was Mr. Chris while Nova was at the very back, walking slowly due to his weak constitution. As they walked halfway through the hall Mr. Chris seemed to have sensed something, he tried to put up the fastest and strongest barrier he could muster, but it was already too late.

As the temperature of the hallway rose at an alarming rate, there was a bright flash of light followed by an ear piercing sound.

[BOOM]

----

[Gasps]

"Am I, still alive?"

"What... happened?"

I can't see anything. What... happened, how did I survive?

I thought I was dead for sure.

I remember hearing something before, what was it again?

Regaining his consciousness, he tried to open his eyes only to find total darkness in front of him. Losing his vision and not being able to know his situation, he panicked.

Ugh... I can't move my body properly.

What happened to me? What about everyone else? What was that explosion?

Ugh... My head hurts.

Being unable to move, he tried to remember what happened, as his head started to hurt. Focusing his thoughts to scan further into his somewhat fuzzy memory, the only thing he remembered clearly was the blinding flash he saw before hearing the ear piercing explosion.

Let's focus on the situation at hand first. What's happening right now? Where am I?

It seems like... a bed, table,... hmm... IV drips? A... hospital ward... maybe?...Did we get saved? What about others, did they survive?

In an attempt to grasp his situation he tried to feel his sorroundings. A soft bed underneath, a table beside it, IV drips attached to his arms and wrists, he was lying on a hospital bed.

Upon being hit with this realisation a ray of hope once again lit up in his gloomy heart, as the possibility of others surviving crossed his mind.

----

[Knock, knock]

"Mr. Nova I am entering the room."

He heard what seemed to be a middle aged man's voice, bringing him back to reality as he realised how foolish that thought was.

How stupid, and after I clearly saw it with my own eyes too. How could they possibly survive after that. Maybe, I am just being hypocritical.

"Oh! Mister Nova, you are awake."

"How do you feel, anything uncomfortable?"

"How are you keeping up with the loss of sight?"

As he contemplated with his thoughts, the doctor entered the room. He had Dark complexion and sloppily done hair, a pair of glasses rested on his nose bridge, while a white coat hung over his strong build. His looks definitely didn't carry the aura of a doctor.

Opposing to his looks though, his actions were definitely worthy of a doctor's position. Asking questions to Nova he seemed genuinely worried, as can be seen from his voice that carried a touch of gentleness while his face showed concern.

His hands moved skillfully as he activated a device, making a magic circle appeare over the bed Nova was lying in. As a white gleam of light passed through his body examining his condition, a series of data was recorded on the screen placed on the table.

"Well, there doesn't seem any cause for immediate concern. We will inform you of the rest after we ready the report. Till then, you should get sufficient rest, inform the nurse in charge if there's anything you need."

Finally after conforming there were no altercations from the treatement, the doctor stood up ready to leave the ward.

"W... wait... doctor, what about... everyone...?"

After being silent for all this time, Nova finally gathered his courage to face reality as he asked the doctor to confirm everyone else's situation, tears filling his eyes as his voice went shaky and he couldn't even complete his sentence.

Listening him talk doctor knew that Nova was already aware of the situation, but was still trying to find that lost hope. Taking a final glance at him, he said with his expression unchanged, "sorry for the loss young man, but you were the only survivor found at the site."

After saying that he left the room for Nova to sort out his emotions alone.