Volume One: Two Sides of the Same Coin
A Terrifying Scene
The sun spread its rays across the land like a mother embracing her children, distributing its warmth over the barren earth below.
In the midst of what could only be described as a desolate wasteland stood a small village. A few people wandered the dusty alleys between small straw houses. From time to time, a few children appeared nearby, all sharing one trait — frail and weakened bodies.
The children could barely walk, and the adults were no different.
Minutes passed, and a middle-aged man collapsed dead.
The same scene repeated with two young men and an elderly man.
Backtracking to about a month earlier...
This small village had once been self-sufficient. However, due to intermittent nightly attacks by monsters, the villagers were forced to give up all their meat stores to keep them at bay. They would place a large amount of meat outside the village gate at night and hide.
When the monsters arrived — luckily — they ate the meat, destroyed a few homes, and then went away, allowing the villagers to survive, albeit barely.
These monsters were known as the Darklings. They were beasts that came into existence after a massive meteor fell on the planet — a world now referred to as The Flourishing Planet.
Strangely, the Darklings did not only appear at night. A different species would show up during the day, which humans had named the Lightborn.
Even stranger was the fact that the Darklings vanished completely during the day, and no one knew where they went — just as the Lightborn disappeared completely at night.
It was a mystery humanity had never solved.
But while the whereabouts of the Lightborn and Darklings remained unknown, humans did discover the reason behind their appearance — a mysterious artifact now called the Origin Stone.
With it, humans began awakening supernatural powers and sensing a previously unknown energy: Origin Energy.
Yet the most important factor in using Origin Energy was talent.
Talent was measured by the rate at which a person could absorb Origin Energy, and was categorized by stars , One star: weak , Two stars: average ,Three stars: rare ,Four stars: unique , Five stars: legendary
The three great powers of the world were the Radiant Star Empire, the Original Blade Empire, and the Empire of Dawn. Each of their emperors was at the legendary level, maintaining the balance of power among them.
Days passed after the incident, bringing us to the present day.
The village's supply of vegetables had run out. Their crops had been burned by the monsters, and their poultry and livestock devoured.
They were, quite literally, out of options.
Cloud, one of the few children in the village still holding on, sighed.
At fourteen years old, he had managed to survive by scavenging.
Cloud was an orphan. After losing his parents to the monsters — who died protecting him — he was raised by his aunt Mary, who treated him like her own son.
She lived a good, humble life until she, too, succumbed to a mysterious illness no one understood.
The village doctor, lacking proper tools and equipment, could only offer herbal mixtures to ease her pain. She passed away after five years of suffering.
Now Cloud sat alone, hidden from the rest of the villagers, in the southern part of the village behind a small straw house.
"The food is gone. Death is only hours or days away... We can't survive on just water," Cloud muttered with a sorrowful expression.
The only reason he was still standing was because he had secretly stolen a piece of meat while the others were carrying it to the village gate.
Standing up and taking a few sips of water, Cloud then whistled with all the air in his lungs.
After about twenty seconds, a brown falcon appeared in the sky near the village, descending swiftly onto Cloud's extended arm.
While petting the bird's head, Cloud smiled and said, "Looks like you've eaten well. You're full of energy today."
But unexpectedly, the falcon flew away the same way it came.
"What's wrong with you today? Why are you acting strange?" Cloud shouted, chasing after the bird, his heart sighing.
The falcon flew ahead, but every time it got too far, it would stop and wait for Cloud, then continue again.
After a while, Cloud slowed down to catch his breath, visibly exhausted, but still pushed on — this time walking.
After about five more minutes, he came upon giant rocks shaped like inverted chess pieces. Cloud slowed his pace.
As he approached, he saw the falcon fly into a narrow gap between two large stones.
Looking inside, the area widened slightly with several rocks, each about a meter high, blocking the path.
The falcon hopped over the rocks as Cloud squeezed through the gap thanks to his thin body — he had clearly lost all his strength.
He climbed over the rocks blocking the way and noticed the falcon disappearing around a slight bend in a massive boulder.
As he turned the corner the bird had taken, what he saw next made him collapse, horror etched across his young face.
There, in front of him, lay two rotting corpses — a man and a woman.
Even though he had witnessed the deaths of many villagers recently, the children had never seen the bodies, as the adults always buried them.
Cloud, still just fourteen, was utterly terrified.
He took a few steps back, forcing himself not to vomit.
After all, he hadn't eaten anything since yesterday — only drank a little water — so he didn't want to throw up.
The falcon stood on the man's corpse as Cloud slowly retreated in horror.
He turned and walked back toward the bend, reaching the rocks and sitting down on top of them.
"What should I do… Should I go back to the village?" he whispered, still pale with fear, wondering what he should do next.
As long as it took to burn a stick of incense, Cloud had made his decision.
End of Chapter.