PROLOGUE

The Slums.

The darkest place of the whole Kingdom of Ever, with dark and gloomy clouds appearing to never leave. It is located on Ever Kingdom's eastern side near the boundless forest where the boundary between the Ever Kingdom and the Adam Kingdom resides. 

It could be said that the Slums contain both the citizens from the Ever Kingdom and the Adam Kingdom, for it rests right on top of the boundary line separating the two kingdoms.

A place for the homeless, a place where the poorest people go to to live—where they get dumped.

People who are financially broke and can only afford to live in the Slums. People who are deep in debt, and have no jobs. People who are being chased and have nowhere else to go.

Those poor people live in the Slums. But there are not just those kinds of people.

Alcoholics, drug abusers, rapists, murderers and victims, debt collectors, thieves, etc., all kinds of bad as well as messed up people live there as well. A place overgrown with weeds and filled with dead seeds.

No matter how "good" one was in the beginning, they'll become blackened in the end by this place. They'll become wary of others, whether those people are from the Slums or not. They'll become cold and detached. They might even become criminals.

But of course, not everyone is like that in the Slums. Just like how there are bad eggs in good eggs, there can be good eggs among bad eggs. Even if they are in the minority.

For instance, some poor people just because they are poor does not mean they have no morals or sense of right and wrong. All that's different about them is that they don't have any spare money to spend, have only one or two sets of clothing, and insufficient meals where they often go hungry. They also have a great probability of becoming beggars, but just because they are deprived doesn't mean they are depraved. 

The Slums was a bad place to be, and being in the Slums means that a person is full of troubles or problems. It means they carry baggage.

But even worse than the Slums was the Underworld. The place that gathers all the criminals, the bad guys—the extremely broken.

Even if one attempts to glue those broken pieces together one will find pieces missing. The end product in the end would be incomplete and missing pieces of themselves.

They are beings who do terrible things for a living either because they had no other option or their inherent nature was originally suited for that kind of occupation.

The Underworld can be considered a kingdom of its own, just with its people spread out and all over the many kingdoms in existence. Although they are bad, but they do, in the end, have unity. Meaning that they have a head over them, someone who calls the shots. Even if some of the Underworld people might not listen to them, they will still acknowledge their "leader" and try not to get in their way as their "leader's" wrath is not something they can afford to receive, especially not when he can command the majority of the Underworld people to go after them.

In a way, the Underworld is actually weirdly united, so much so that as history turns, the Kingdoms are starting to see them more and more as a threat—but even more than that—an opportunity.

However, the Kingdoms have found their aspirations on the Underworld—which is connected to the Slums—harder to achieve than they'd initially thought.

☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️

In a small corner of the Slums, a sorrowful wail was heard. It entered the ears of many Slums inhabitants, yet none blinked an eye. They didn't look, they didn't even so much as flinch at the din. Not even one with a curious gleam in their eye. For curiosity was one of the top three forbidden acts in the Slums; they won't get into trouble, they will merely die. On top of that, it was a common occurrence. So common and effectuated regularly that its residents already imprinted it as part of life—part of everyday.

So common and quotidian that no one can elicit even a sliver of anguish and thoughts of unjust.

Close by, another gruesome scene was happening. Gurgling of red liquid, cuts and slashes of blades. Manic laughter echoed in a dark and mysterious alley, sending shivers to those walking by, making them forcefully move their tired and wary feet along at a quicker pace—not wanting to be the next victim.

No one possessed any thoughts of sympathy, for their own lives were their priority. They couldn't even protect themselves, let alone have the spare thoughts to think about others. 

None could shame another for their selfish thoughts of self-preservation.

If listened to carefully, woeful and anguish cries were resounding all throughout the alleys, the streets, and the Slums. 

A nasty but broken, a disgusting but pitiful, an immoral but not evil, place.

This was the Slums. 

It was what everyone expected of a slum.

Following the cries of the wounded, the hurt, the violated, and the wronged through alleys and streets and sidewalks and creeks, there held an unexpected silence.

In another part of the Slums, a part just as bad as the others, there was a corner enveloped in silence and peace despite the cacophony of movements and shouts in the distance.

There, in a tightly wrapped up cloth blanket stuffed into a worn-out weaved basket tainted with dirt and unknown substances, laid a baby.

A baby boy, still in his infant stage, was sleeping in the midst of vile clamors without being startled awake. The quiet around him did not feel eerie as it should, instead, what was felt was a peaceful warmth that spread in just that area of the Slums. Something very unfamiliar in the Slums' environment.

Slowly, the doe-eyes of the newborn only a few months old opened. His clear eyes held no fear, only the natural innocence of a life that was new to the world.

Slowly, he raised his thin little hand, his eyes looking straight up at the bright blue sky in wonder. Putting his tiny thumb in his cute little mouth, the baby sucked on it in glee. His eyes sparkled and lit up in joy, no fear or discontent can be seen in them, even whilst the lamentations bubbled and spread in the murky Slums---even whilst the violence and iniquities flared in the Underworld, drowning its people.

In ephemeral ignorance, the innocent little infant raised his other thin arm, palm facing up towards the clear sky void of any clouds. Slowly, the corners of his lips lifted up into a bright and dazzling smile, so pure and untainted, matching his pale immature face that had an unspeakable glow to it. 

A ray of hope was unknowingly planted and nurtured in a corner of the blustery Slums.