1 Year Before
"Elemental Life Energy, also known as ELE, is the backbone of the world, making up everything. It provides power to everything, organic and inorganic." "More importantly, it allows for enhanced combat and the use of elemental attacks. ELE mainly comes from the "Core," an intangible sphere located within the lower abdomen. People who use cores to fight are called "Core Wielders," and they are separated into 2 types: Channelers and Emitters. Channelers can imbue objects with ELE to fight, while Emitters use their bodies as mediums to emit energy. Ethereals are beings made up of ELE, so naturally, they don't fall into either category, as they can manipulate their bodies to fight."
"So...." I say confused.
"Did you get ANYTHING from that?"
"Absolutely nothing." I smirkingly say.
Ricardo sighs, "Ay dios mio!(Oh my god!) "You'll never be able to get into a good school like this."
"Who says I need a good education?" "I'm going to live the rest of my days out as a shut-in and die with no girlfriend."
"Yeah, well, you can't let yourself live like that forever, kiddo."
"Like you would know what living is like, you'll be a dead man walking soon enough if you keep going out there... you'll end up dead just like everyone else," I say while getting up from the kitchen seat, slowly limping towards the door. "But hey, if you keep acting like that, living like that, we'll see who manages to outlive the other." Opening the door, I see my grandfather's corpse with the same charred black skin that reminds me of that day when I lost him. "Oh..." It's one of these dreams. I sigh as my eyes open to the sight of a blinding sun. "AH!"
"Calm down, there's no one here to ambush you." I get up, dusting myself off and looking around. Those punks managed to get away; I would've kicked their asses if I hadn't gotten surprised, that is.
"Why, no need to thank me, man. It's all in a day's work!" Confidently, I say as I brag
"What?"
"What do you mean, 'What?" I just saved you from some street thugs."
"Yeah, right." He says, slowly getting up, spitting some blood out of his mouth. "It's clear you gotta lot of growing up to do, kid. You should know when to pick your battles." Leaving me with an obvious piece of advice, he walks off.
"Hey! Where are you going?" I say chasing after him. He dashes around the corner at breakneck speed, surprisingly, as I ask, "WHAT'S YOUR NAME!" and despite my forwardness, he doesn't answer, vaulting over several trash cans, which brings up the question, "Why didn't he just do that in the first place?" I lose sight of him as his parkour skills are way out of my league. As I finally approach the end of the alleyway, I end up in the city. "Woahhhhhh!" Even though I haven't been out long, the sights have changed from as far back as I can remember. There's a couple of new food stalls and even more buildings, but most importantly, there's a statue, one that stands out to me more than anything else in the world. "Tch, it's him."
"Hey! Come to look at the statue?"I recoil in shock as the question catches me off guard.
"Who? Me?"
"Do you see anybody else standing around here?"
"W-Well, I uhh..."
"That statue was made 2 years ago in honor of the 20th anniversary of the Great Raider Era. It was spearheaded by none other than Ricardo Zephyr, after whom the statue is modeled."
"I mean, yeah, that's basic history, though."
"But to me, he's much more than that; he's my hero. I remember 20 years ago, when I was just a kid, he saved my family and me from a bunch of those monsters. I can remember the warmth he gave off that day, providing us a sense of security like no other. He's a living legend that one. But how about you, kid? You seem really familiar with him. Is he close to you?" I can't hide my gaping expression as my face has a look of pure shock plastered all over it.
"THIS GUY!" "A HERO?" WHAT KIND OF HERO LEAVES THEIR FAMILY BEHIND?" I say releasing years of anger through my words. Although I see people starting to gather around and make a crowd staring at me. Did I say something wrong? These jackasses might not know him well enough, but he's an awful deadbeat who doesn't deserve praise for shit.
"Hey, kid, you good?" The man seemingly asks, making me notice that my face was in a scowling shape this whole time. I walk off, trying not to attract more attention than I already have, but as soon as I start to leave, I hear a blaring alarm. "BOUNDARY BREAK DETECTED. ALL CITIZENS EVACUATE TO THE NEAREST RAID CENTER."
"What? A boundary break? It's been so long since I heard one of those alarms." An old man with his granddaughter says.
"What's a boundary break? Grampa?" The little girl asks. Boundary Breaks don't happen often, not with the expansion of the raider initiative that is. Although all citizens are informed of what to do starting from ages 10 onward. They happen so rarely that most schools don't bother to teach protocol, if I remember correctly. Quickly, people start panicking and stampeding through the plaza to get to the nearest center, and I follow the crowd just up until I see him. That's the same guy I was chasing! I wonder why he's just standing there, and there's a strange light. I stop and let the crowd pass me by, bumping into some people until they're mostly past, trying to get a better view. I walk up to him, seeing a por-.
"COME." A reverberating voice says to me as I gaze upon the fluorescent lights shining off the portal. I walk slowly towards it, whether by instinct or choice, I haven't the slightest.
"COME. NOW." All previous thoughts and feelings vanish as my body races towards the portal.
"Hey. Hey! HEY!" The guy from before says, grabbing onto me as he tries to stop me from entering, to no avail.
"Ah shit," I say as my body slowly contorts as we descend into the portal. Little did I know, this was the beginning of my story.