Life had never been fair to Kevin.
At a very young age, he had already lost both his parents in an accident during one of their travels in order to seek out a cure for his terminally ill younger brother.
After that, none of his relatives wanted to take him in, if anything they only fought over what his parents had left behind. Even the ones who eventually took him in treated him like nothing but a burden, making him do chores and ordering him around like a servant.
When he finally came of age, he left and with the little his parents had left for him, he rented a small place of his own and took on a part-time job. It started with one job, then another, and another, until eventually half his time in a day was spent working multiple part-time jobs.
But all this wasn't for himself; it was to pay for his younger brother's treatment, since his relatives saw him as a waste of money.
_____
The annoying sound of the alarm went off early in the morning,
Kevin groaned as he slowly opened his eyes, staring at the ceiling before reaching for the alarm and turning it off. His body felt heavy due to the little amount of rest he had gotten but at this point in his life, it was completely normal for him.
"...Morning already" He muttered to himself before forcing himself up and heading for the bathroom.
The bathroom light flickered as he turned it on. He brushed his teeth in silence before stripping and stepping into the bath.
After a while, he stepped out, dried himself but paused just as he was about to exit the bathroom, then stared at the small broken mirror in front of him
He looked completely awful; Pale, messy hair, and dark eyes caused by so many sleepless nights. For a moment, he tried to smile but it didn't last. The expression faded almost immediately and without a second glance, he turned and left.
He got dressed in simple clothes and grabbed his bag. Before leaving, he paused slightly at the door, staring at a photo of his parents, which was taken back when they were still alive.
"…I'm heading out." He muttered
____
The sky was completely dark, and rain drizzled lightly as he made his way to the bus stop. People gathered under the small shelters that were normally placed at each bus stop, some looked annoyed, some had their eyes locked to their phone screens, while others chatted with themselves.
When the bus arrived, he quickly got on.
The ride was surprisingly calm, Kevin rested his head lightly against the glass as he watched the rain slide down
The ride dragged on for a few minutes. When he got off, the rain only worsened.
Kevin reached into his bag and pulled out a small foldable umbrella, he opened it and continued walking toward campus.
_____
The school grounds were lively despite the weather.
Students moved in groups, talking loudly, laughing, and complaining.
"…Did you see him?"
"…I heard he just transferred…"
"…He's seriously in our department?"
Whispers floated around him as he walked past but Kevin couldn't care less, if anything he was only still in school in hopes of graduating and getting a job that pays more than his current part-time job in order to keep supporting his younger brother
He entered the lecture hall and took his usual seat near the window. Setting his bag down, he rested his chin on his hand, staring outside as the rain tapped heavily against the glass.
"Alright, settle down." The professor walked in, placing his materials on the desk. "There's a quick announcement before we begin." He paused for a bit making sure he had the attention of all the students before he proceeded "We have a transfer student who will be joining us today."
Soft murmurs spread instantly.
"Could it be him…?"
"No way, he's in our class?"
The door opened and as soon as the person walked in all eyes immediately shifted to him. He was tall, easily around six feet with a clean, well-built frame. His white hair was one of his features that stood out immediately, soft and slightly tousled. His face was absolutely flawless, sharp with balanced features that looked almost unreal.
But what drew the most attention were his eyes, they were clear, really beautiful, and almost hypnotic.
He slightly bowed as he introduced himself "Nice to meet you all. My name is Gu Shen… you can call me Shen. I hope we get along."
The reaction was immediate.
"Is he a model or something?"
"Do you think he has a girlfriend?"
The girls whispered excitedly, some not even trying to hide it. But the transfer student stood calmly almost like he was used to these types of reactions
Kevin glanced at him once, then looked away.
"Take a seat anywhere you'd like." The professor gestured.
The transfer student nodded and walked further into the room, for a brief moment, his gaze passed over Kevin then moved on.
____
Class continued as normal for the next few hours. When it finally ended, the room filled with noise again. Most of it centered around the new student.
Kevin packed his things quickly and stood up as he had to get to his part-time jobs.
Walking through the hallway, he moved at a steady pace but his mind was somewhere else when suddenly, he collided with someone.
"Ah—sorry." The other person spoke first.
Kevin stepped back slightly. "It's fine… I wasn't paying attention to where I was going." Then he looked to see it was Shen, surrounded by some of the prettiest girls in school
Almost all of them rushed over immediately.
"Shen, are you okay?"
"Did he hurt you?"
One of them even shot Kevin an annoyed look.
"Hey, watch where you're going."
"I'm fine, don't worry…." There was a brief pause before Shen spoke again with a calm voice while extending his hand for a handshake "You're in this department too, right?"
Kevin adjusted his bag. "Sorry… I'm kind of in a hurry," he said as he walked past Shen, and within seconds, he was out of their field of view.
"Seriously… who does he think he is?"
"Did you see that? He just walked off like that?"
"So rude."
One of them crossed her arms, frowning. "He should be the one apologizing properly."
But Shen wasn't paying attention, if anything his eyes were still fixed on the direction Kevin had disappeared.
_____
The rest of the day went quickly for others but for Kevin, it felt like ages. One minute he was behind the counter at a convenience store, scanning items and dealing with impatient customers, then before he knew it, he was at a factory, lifting, moving, repeating the same motions over and over again.
There was barely any time to rest and catch his breath, even his co-workers felt a bit concerned for him.
By the time night came, he was completely exhausted but unfortunately, he wasn't done.
He still had one last shift.
The bar was loud, voices overlapped, glasses clinked and music played faintly in the background.
"Another one!" A customer called out.
Kevin turned, preparing the drink without a word, the man sitting there had clearly had too much already.
"You're quiet…" He laughed, taking the glass "Life's tough, right?"
Kevin placed the drink down. "Your order." Then went back to cleaning the used glass
The man chuckled. "You don't talk much."
But there was still no response from Kevin. But even then, the man kept going; complaining, laughing, and talking even though Kevin didn't reply or show a bit of interest.
Eventually, the man stood up, completely unsteady. "Good stuff…" He muttered, dropping money on the counter along with a huge tip.
"…Thanks," Kevin said with a slight bow and the man waved him off and walked out.
A few seconds later, Kevin noticed something left behind.
"…?"
On the table, there was a device sitting there. He picked it up and saw it was a phone although it looked different from any of the ones he was familiar with
"…He forgot this." He said looking left to right to see if the man was still at the bar but he was already gone.
Without wasting time, he stepped outside.
The streets were crowded, and people moved in every direction which made it almost impossible to locate the man.
After a short search, Kevin returned back to the bar and went straight to the manager's office.
_____
"Someone left this."
The manager glanced at it briefly then shrugged. "Happens all the time, you hang on to it."
"…What?"
"If he comes back tomorrow, give it to him." The manager spoke casually. "You're the one who saw him, right?"
Kevin paused for a bit before he finally agreed. He picked it up again without thinking much about it, and he placed it into his bag before returning back to work.
Inside the bag, the device lit up and strange ruins appeared on the screen
[ᚷᛟᚱᚨ ᛞᛖᛚᛟᚾ ᚲᚺᚱᚨ]
[ᛋᛖᛚᛖᚲᛏᛟᚱ: ᚹᛖᛁᚾ]