1 A

Evening draws near as the chirping of the birds quiets down. Darkness shrouds everything yet fireflies fight back with their ever so flickering light. Within a remote mountain resides a humble abode made out of simple blocks of wood interlocking with each other in place.

If one were to peer into this simple place with the aid of any light then one would be able to see only two makeshift beds composed of leaves and dirt, a table of rotting wood and an item that stands out due to its sheer lustrous appearance.

This particular item is, in fact, an amulet colored by the deep, cold, moonless night that was somehow forged by the scorching light of sunrise giving it a contrasting yet harmonious look. Inside the amulet were two pictures, it was a picture of a boy and a girl.

This place was apparently constructed by this pair of brother and sister. The brother gave off a cheerful vibe as he wholeheartedly tried to construct this place by his own bare hands. On the other hand, the sister gave off a chilly aura and has a cool personality that didn't let this kind of place bother her in any way.

A soft, cold voice broke the silence of the night, "How long do we have to stay here?" This voice was without any emotion. There was no answer to her call but a few fireflies that entered through the gaping hole that they considered a window.

These fireflies barely lit up the place but it was more than enough to see the big, smile that he made. "Until I get the strength to protect you from this world! Don't worry, if you can count on anyone it would always be me!" As soon as he said this the flickering lights in the room lit up considerably. It was now bright enough to see the whole room.

A soft sigh could be heard but this no ordinary sigh, the room turned frosty as ice started to form on the surface of the room. Even the fireflies lost their lights as their bodies froze up.

"Come on, you don't need to be so angry! I never break my promises to you!" He thumped his chest feeling quite proud. He had the confidence to back up his words as well as the commitment.

"You don't have to... let's just go back." Her voice contained a hint of melancholy while still being quite cold. "Besides, I can take care of myself by this point. It would be embarrassing otherwise." The boy smile dimmed a little but still kept the proud expression.

Seeming to have no other comeback he immediately said, "Let's just think of this tomorrow. Goodnight!"

Dawn soon struck as blinding light woke him up. The boy rose up with vigor as he went outside. The sun barely rose but the previous dark night scene was now blessed with warm sunlight making yesterday nothing but a distant memory.

The boy then went out and grabbed a poorly made sword by the side of the small wooden house and brandished it. He then entered the forest with a goal in mind.

A while later, he came back with meat to last them for quite a while. He then went in front of the house where something the resembled a campfire resided. He snapped his fingers and a small flame lit up the wood. He sliced off a piece of meat and tried to cook it but burned it instead.

The smoke from the meat woke up the girl, she was still rubbing her eyes when she saw the odd scene in front of him. The boy then saw the girl and said, "Try this out! I made this with a lot of effort!"

Her expression somewhat changed, "You don't know how to cook and I bet you didn't prepare the meat properly." Due to their familiarity with each other that she knew what a lot about him.

"Hey, if it's cooked it's safe! Don't be embarrassed and try some since its just us here." He was still quite proud with a beaming smile on his face even though she insulted him.

She sighed and properly prepared the meat then cooked it herself. The boy was happy and took a bite, "I told you! It's delicious!"

She sighed once more and retorted, "You properly know that monster meat is poisonous to humans. Do you want to kill me?" She glared at him with a menacing look.

He felt daggers stabbing him as he awkwardly tried to look away with a wry smile. "I thought that considering... everything you could eat this." He still kept on eating even though he was being reprimanded.

She gave up and looked around the lush greenery surrounding them and took a few fruits. Some of the fruits looked quite normal while some looked quite odd, one had a dark color while another one was rainbow-colored. She took them all and put them near the boy.

"I'll have these instead." She took one that had white skin but had a red tint. As she was about to bite it, the boy screamed out in defeat. It seemed that she hit the boy's soft spot.

"I give! We'll go back after I had this meal... alright?" The boy was defeated fully, "You do know how rare everything in here is, right? Because if you don't then might I remind you that even a single one of these fruits could cause empires to fight just for a single bite. And this piece of meat is even more valuable. Can't you at least pretend to be pained?" He was about to burst out in tears seeing such valuable fruits wasted.

The girl slightly smiled, "It seems that threats are still as effective as ever." She waited for him to finish the meat but he ate extremely slowly which made her forcefully grab a fruit and squeezed it leaving the fruit wasted. The boy then finished the entire thing in one gulp as he stood up signaling the girl to come.

They walked together as they went into the forest. There was a path laid there was embroidered with colorful gemstones that had the same color the trees around them, emerald green. There were mystical and interesting creatures beside the path they were walking on and were not daring to step on the path.

They soon reached a beautiful arch that had ancient text and floating scriptures. It gave off a cool blue glow but as soon as they stepped on it, it seemed as if the void would break and everything would shatter like fragile glass. Darkness surrounded everything but they were both calm as if they were accustomed to this already. This darkness only appeared for a fraction of a second before it disappeared.

At a palace that seemed only fit for gods to reside in, a massive amount of military troops surrounded it with sheer number and strength. A general stood in front of his entire army as he roared with might and vigor, "We will wait until we kill those who rule with an iron first, those who say that a clenched fist is the strongest argument and those mighty that have chosen the wrong moral path. Until the day we rid ourselves of these 'Arcs' we shall never falter!"

Right after the general was finished with his speech the void above the palace shattered and two figures appeared. It was the boy and the girl who was now wearing majestic clothing and donned artifacts that could shake the very foundations of empires by themselves.

The general rose his arms and shouted with all his might, "MEN! READY FOR BATTLE! FOR GLORY! FOR FREEDOM! FOR SALVATION!"

The soldiers roared back, "FOR GLORY! FOR FREEDOM! FOR SALVATION! WE WILL NEVER FALL!" They all brandished their swords and readied their bows, all suited for combat with no regrets.

The boy seemed to age as his voice was now deeper and his expression wasn't as cheerful as before instead it was arrogant and defiant. And the girl also aged and had an even colder disposition which could manifest into reality by her command.

The man spoke deeply, 'It seemed that I lied before! I wasn't able to save you from the world after all!"

She didn't respond instead she had a conflicted look. "Listen..."

As they were speaking millions of soldiers were rushing into them, not caring if they lived or died. Hundreds of thousands of magical swords flew and collided with the cold ground, millions of arrows covered the azure blue sky, tens of millions of liters of blood formed from the battlefield, hundreds of millions of soldiers still continued to flow into battle like an ocean only allowed to flow through a stream all because of the unimaginable amount of bloodshed that would result if this didn't happen.

As they kept on fighting using every skill, advantage, and power they had to fight against this monstrous army she continued her train of thought, "... remember that single artifact that we promised to never touch..."

The boy was quite shocked to hear this confession from her, "Tell me you didn't! Then that must be why..." She saw his face and felt guilty holding it back all this time. While all of this was happening, they were fighting and were slowly losing strength throughout the battle.

She sustained quite serious injuries as she tried to speak more, "...I knew what was missing that entire time and only wished to continue to live in this dream..." She already quite bruised so he was protecting them both by himself. Using a desperate method, he managed to make a barricade long enough for them to talk.

"...but it seems this has to end, and an end my life will come too..."

From an outsiders perspective, it seemed that the man was bidding farewell to his beloved sister and she gave him something that he then held dearly and shattered the void and disappeared. Leaving behind the wails of losing a beloved one.

The general saw this as well and muttered under his breath, "He isn't as attached to everything as she was but he did treasure her wishes so we just might be able to end this."