Bewildered was the perfect description of the facial expression the 6-year-old me was showing as I listened to the story my balding old teacher was telling us.
It is a story on how arrogant humanity has become due to the advanced technology and knowledge that they possessed, when a huge meteor hit the earth causing great suffering and natural catastrophes.
The impact disrupted the planet's magnetic field and sent tectonic plates into chaos. Continents collided, forming a single landmass the survivors would one day call "Pangaea Proxima".
Even in the midst of extreme weather, uninhabitable lands and 80% of humanity being annihilated, humans have evolved their genes in order to survive this calamitous world.
There was no order and everything was in chaos, until one man named Theilrith has united the remnants of humanity and established a new era, where a new society was formed and that is how the legend of Theilrith has began.
Quite an exaggerated story indeed, but I still believed it since it was in the history books, so it is most probably true.
A kid named Radge believed otherwise, as he began questioning the teacher,
"Teacher, but how can a single person unite the entire population?"
Where as the teacher answered,
"That's the fascinating thing about him. Can you imagine how powerful he must've been, for him to be able to rule over the world?"
The class went silent...
"The tremendous power he holds, was only used for the well being of others as he continued to lead everyone to greatness, and so the rest is history." He enthusiastically explains to the curious Radge.
Whereas Radge replies, "I guess the rest of the story resides in your receding hairline."
Everyone laughed at Radge's comment. He has always been the spectacle of the class and he always made the classroom more lively, although he can be insufferable, rude or annoying at times, with his blonde hair and blue eyes that looks like the ocean, he's rather small in comparison to most kids his age, but it never hindered him to shine the brightest, with his smile and outgoing personality.
Unlike me, a kid named Ethneil who has always been plain and to some uninteresting, with my snow-white hair, dull pure black irises and skinny body weighing no more than 22 kg (48 lbs), I've always been the quiet and timid boy.
Knock! Knock!
Someone opens the door.
"Sir, it's time for the kids to go home." Amanda announces as her smile radiates throughout the entire classroom.
She's the pretty assistant our teacher works with, and everyone likes Amanda. Quite disappointed our teacher Gregor tells his students and yes, I know his name sounds as old as he looks,
"Already? Well, pack your stuff kids and have a wonderful Holiday."
***
I was hurrying to pack my things up when suddenly, Leona my childhood friend approaches and asks me,
"Are you going somewhere?"
"Yes, Radge said he found an interesting place." I answered, as I put my bag on, when Radge abruptly interrupts us.
"Ethneil let's go bro, save your yapping for later." He says with clear signs of irritation and impatience.
"Alright, I'm coming. Geez!" I mutter.
I looked back at Leona trying to end our conversation,
"Sorry, I gotta go." I told her as I smile awkwardly.
"Can't help it since your friends are waiting for you, so I guess we'll talk later." She expresses, as she downheartedly smiled at me.
I wave my hand at her as I send her goodbye ending our conversation.
As Leona was packing her bag and getting ready to leave with a bright look on her face, a girl approaches her from her left side.
"Ooh, someone's got a boyfriend." A girl whispers on her ears, making her blush from ear to ear.
The sudden whisper gave her perturbed feelings. Looking behind her it was Amarha grinning like someone with ill intentions.
Quite annoyed and surprised, she angrily shouted at Amarha, "You scared me you meatball!"
Filled with joy from the pure entertainment she's getting, Amarha copies Leona with an exaggerated expression and high pitched voice, "You surprised me you meatball."
"Stop copying me!"
"Nya nya nya."
They began squaring up when a tall, brunette colored hair, with dark brown almond eyes and a straight thin nosed girl tried to stop them.
"..."
"You want us to stop fighting?" Leona asks.
The tall girl nods.
"Want us to go already because we're being too slow?"
"..." she answers her.
"Okay Ligaya, if you say so."
Leona then proceeds to let go of Amarha's head making her fall flat on the ground. Well not really flat since her belly had contact with the ground first.
***
In a flower field entryway, Ethneil standing in the middle with his friend Radge on the right side, Darron on the left and on Darron's left Ladrius, were crossing the Hardduelly bridge, when Radge reassures them excitingly and spontaneously,
"I'm telling you it's a really interesting place. No one seems to be guarding the area. It's the one near the seaside."
As soon as Ethneil understood which place Radge meant, he immediately questions him.
"Isn't that the restricted area? It's off limits so we're not allowed to trespass it, right?
"It is." Radge answers with a straight clueless face.
"Then why are we still going there? You're just asking for trouble." Darron adds to the conversation as his thick eyebrows nearly touches each other due to Radge's lack of common sense.
"It's fine. I've gone there a few times already and no one seems to be guarding the place." Radge confidently says.
Remembering Leona and her friends have nothing to do too, Ethneil asks,
"Then should I ask Leona to join us?"
Everyone starts staring at him in confusion. Darron finally breaks the awkward silence by asking, "I have seen you guys since probably kindergarten together. How long have the two of you been friends for?"
Ethneil tells them, "We've been friends before we could even talk, since our mothers are best friends and I've also been friends with Ladrius since then too, because our fathers went to the same school and ended up in the same division, so their parents are very close with mine."
With a new idea how to annoy Ethneil, Radge teases him with, "Oh, so that's why Ladrius has to always babysit you, so that you don't injure yourself and cry like a baby."
He then proceeds to laugh at Ethneil.
'There he goes again'
"That was only one time, it never happened again!" Ethneil defensively tells Radge.
Even with that defense, Ladrius couldn't contain his laughter and begins chuckling and so does the rest of them, other than the obviously annoyed and bothered Ethneil of course.
They soon went to ask Leona to go with them.
***
In a toscana colored, ancient spiral stone staircase inside a ruined tower, two men wearing cloaks are walking up the stairs.
The tower is very dark with 120 floors of five meters semicircular windows in height and two meters in width. There are thirty six of these windows that are encircling each floor of the entire ruin. At the very bottom there are twenty windows that are exactly four meters wide and seven meters tall in height. While at the very top of the ruin there are fifty five rectangular windows that are one and a half meters wide and are three meters tall. While the pillar in the center of the tower is a staggering 970 meters high and is twenty five and a half meters in diameter, beige limestone.
The spiral staircase around the pillar and the pillar itself seems to be unable to reach the last floor.
"Not everyone deserves to know the truth. Only we who are the chosen ones, have the right to these knowledge." A mysterious man wearing a cloak says, while holding a book with both his hand. Beside him is another man holding a torch and accompanying him in the dark.
"You know this book contains the truth the entire country is oblivious to, right?"
"Yes sir!" The man holding a torch diffidently answers him.
"Then I'll trust you to not get caught. Let's go, so we can proceed with the next plan."
The man holding a book took a key designed with a half circle and curved spikes on top of it. He opened the door making a creaking noise on the 100th floor and as they enter the room, on their right side, a bunch of old books in two shelves were presented to them at the right corner of the room. Next to the book shelves is a small wooden table with a lamp and under this lamp are two pieces of papers. On their left side there are coat-wall-hooks, a small old bed and a chair with books on it.
In front of them reveals an oak wooden table with a silver ink pen having a name "Tednons Foteesl" engraved on it and a used old candle.
He unlocked the drawer under the table and placed the book inside. After putting the book inside he then locks it.
"Let's go." He tells the man guarding outside as they leave the room.
***
In a jungle of mana beasts, trees of giants and flowers of exquisiteness, footsteps are to be heard.
"C'mon turtles, walk faster!" Radge tells them as he stands on top of a boulder surrounded by flowing water and rocks as he is currently halfway across the river.
"You're going too fast. You know how slippery these rocks are." Darron complains.
Ladrius and Ethneil are behind them. They are trying to help Leona and her friends land on the rocks safely.
"Why am I even getting dragged into this?" Amarha confused by the weird asks.
"Well you can't just leave me here, can you?" Leona tells her while holding Ligaya's hand, helping her cross it too.
"Besides Ligaya wanted to come with us, so if we leave while not asking you to go, then you'll complain about being ousted again."
Quite literally, Amarha can't seem to find a reason to complain, because Leona is completely correct.
'Ah, she got me there.'
"Why did Ligaya even agree? I've always thought of her as the indoor type of person." Radge asks like he always does.
"..." Ligaya answers his question.
Radge is totally discombobulated by her answer.
"She says, it's going to be fun to go on a short trip together before holiday starts." Leona translates to Radge.
Quite baffled, Radge tries to think about it but still confused he then proceeds to ask, "But how can you even understand what she's saying? Like she isn't even making a single sound."
"We've got a special way of communicating." Leona answers as she smiles looking at Ligaya.
As they all cross the river, Ladrius starts looking around and sees something from afar.
"Guys, I see the tower."
In front of them are a bunch of trees and behind it is what looks like a garden and a huge tower that stands out a lot.
Full of joy Radge runs ahead.
"Let's go, wohoo."
"Be careful, there might be beasts around here!"
Darron warns them, when something in the bushes next to Radge starts moving around. A sign that there is something hiding inside...