Year 1000, September 3.
Pant! Pant! Pant!
"Mother!" A small kid was running fast while calling his mother. He was happy, as if he had found something interesting.
"Ronan, what is it?" Angelica looked at her exhausted son, smiling. Even though they lived a life full of tragedy, never knowing when their turn to die would come, his happiness gave her hope in this cruel world.
"Mother, I was climbing a tree in the forest when I saw something shining. Out of curiosity, I tried to take a look, and then I saw this book. I don't know how to read, though, but Mother, you once told me that there's a group who travels around to teach people like us, like reading and survival tactics.
Maybe you can read this, Mother?" Ronan handed the book to his mother. He was excited to know what this book was.
Angelica looked at the book. Since her child was talking nonsense—saying the book was shining even though it wasn't—she played along with it. "Hmm. (The Prophecy). I will read it for you, so listen well."
"Wow, thank you, Mother!" Ronan was happy because his mother was smiling. She was sick because of the pollution in the area. They couldn't do anything about it because the Order would take them to a slavery auction and sell them if they tried to do anything the Order didn't like. They were corrupt; they did all kinds of evil things. They were demons in human form.
"In the far future, there is a man who will turn this entire world upside down. His name will echo throughout the world, and his statue will lay everywhere, standing strong, a symbolism of freedom… but that's just the beginning. . . . A child born of none shall shatter the crown."
"Mother, it's true! Someone will set us free! Then, we can do anything without fearing the Order, right, Mother? That's cool! Then I can play everywhere without worrying about the Order!"
Angelica looked at her son's smile, then looked outside the window. If something like that appears, then I wish he appears right now. I want you to live happily without worrying about those corrupt government officials.
"But Mother, what's the meaning of 'a child born of none shall shatter the crown'? I don't get it," Ronan asked.
Angelica looked at her son and then said, "I don't know either. It's vague. I don't get it at all. Maybe it is some kind of evil that will fight the hero of freedom?" Angelica laughed.
"Hero of freedom?"
"That's right, Ronan. We should call him the Hero of Freedom."
Boom!
The small house where the mother and son were talking shattered. Both couldn't be seen because of the dust. Then, a man wearing Golden armor walked through the shattered house and said something.
"As I thought, it's here. I felt the energy of the prophecy here, so it already chose its owner. It said that the Book of Prophecy has its own will to choose its master, but who would have thought it would be an old lady? HAHAHA! Luck is on our side. Die, old hag!" The man wearing the golden armor beheaded the unconscious mother, then took the book. Before leaving, he looked to his left and smirked.
Not long after the man in the golden armor left, someone pushed the stone aside and crawled out through the hole. He stood up, his eyes looking dead. He was dragging his limping body, then stood where his headless mother lay. He picked up the head and hugged it, crying while murmuring something.
"It won't take long, Mother. We will be with each other again, but before that, there's a debt that needs to be paid."
Year 2000, September 3.
In the forest, far from the capital of Labrosa, there was a kid reading a book. He was laughing. "Puwahahaha! Hero of Freedom, as if something like that exists! If something like that really exists, why am I still in this forest? I don't know how long it's been, but when the hell am I going to get out of here? All I have here is this book." This kid, or rather Kael, was whining because he had been in this forest since birth. He didn't even know how long it had been since he was stuck here, and he didn't even know why.
Every time he attempted to go outside this forest, he was teleported back to the middle of the forest. All he knew about the outside world was that it was cruel and dirty.
An empire that didn't care about its people—as long as they were ruling them, that's what mattered. They didn't care about people as long as they were eating well and living well. They even enslaved people, and if they didn't need them, they killed them in the most cruel way.
Based on what he read in the book, this world wasn't used to be like this. There was once a time where this world was at peace. It began when a meteor fell from the sky.
The people living in this world were scared of the so-called Order and other forces who enjoyed killing the innocent. They enslaved people; they raped, murdered, robbed, and more.
Even though Kael was stuck in this forest, he never ran out of food. This forest was full of food—there was meat, fruit, and water. But after finding this book, he started to dream of getting out of here. Today was the day Kael would try his best to get out.
Kael knelt, then prayed, "Oh, mighty Hero of Freedom, if you're real, please let me out of this forest. I've been doing this for three years straight without missing a single day, so please let me out." After doing that, he bowed three times. He was naked.
Kael thought, What the hell? There's still no response. Whatever, I will take a step outside this forest. If I'm still teleported back here, I will curse that son of a… Huuu, breathe, breathe, Kael. There's no point in cursing that hero.
As Kael took his step outside the forest, he felt something tingling in his head, then his arms, and then his feet, and then his body. His whole body ached as if in pain. He struggled. "Aghh, what's happening to my body?" After a couple of minutes, he was back to normal.
"I don't know what happened, but damn it, I will run now! I feel like I will die if I don't go outside the forest today!" Running straight out of the forest, not knowing whether he would be forced back or not.
"Today is my freedom!" Nearing the outside of the forest, he jumped then closed his eyes. Please don't take me back to this freaking forest! Please, please, I want to explore the world! Kael thought that he got sent back and opened his eyes slowly.
"Woah!" In front of his eyes was a green scenery, full of life, unlike the inside of the forest. Looking at this scenery was like ecstasy. It felt like Kael had really taken his freedom and his first step into the real world.
Kael ran straight ahead while jumping and shouting like crazy.
"Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!" While he was shouting freedom, he didn't even know that he was exposing his location. Then ten Giant Wormholes emerged. Their teeth looked scary, and their size was massive, launching an attack as if they had found a prey or food to stomp.
Kael looked at this as if it wasn't the first time encountering something like this. He flew straight at the Giant Wormhole that was trying to attack him and then clenched his fist before launching it forward. Just like that, the massive wormhole's body shattered like bubbles. He then kicked the air to change direction. It was so strong that two of the wormholes behind him were destroyed.
"Hmm, I don't really like the taste of this monster, but what can I do? I need to fill my stomach because my real journey began."
As he was talking to himself, he suddenly remembered something. "Oh, my book! I need to pick it up." He was ready to run back, then suddenly, something came to mind: If I went back, can I still go outside? "Never mind. I can just always find another book."
Then Kael now started his real journey, not knowing what awaited him.
Inside the middle of the forest, a black book was vibrating. Then all the black cover of the book started to fall, and not long after that, the book started shining like a diamond: (The Prophecy).