Mark awoke to a profound void. "What is this darkness swallowing the horizon? Has my time finally come?" He felt his body as he rose with heavy, staggering steps through that nothingness. Suddenly, memories of that ill-fated day surged like a waterfall of fire: images of blood, the screams of his comrades, and Amy's pale face. He collapsed to his knees, a scream erupting from his throat that tore through the silence of the place.
At that moment, the thick clouds parted to reveal a massive, blood-red moon, casting its crimson shadows over the Void Lands. There, a few paces away, he saw him—a motionless figure, head bowed, with eyes drowned in an eternal lifelessness. He looked like a corpse, save for the slight flicker of an eyelid. It was him; the one who had saved him.
The stranger slowly raised his head, and their eyes met. Mark recoiled instinctively, asking in a trembling voice:
— "Who are you?"
The stranger answered in a calm tone:
— "Who am I? That is a question I lost the answer to long ago. I no longer know who I am, but you may call me Ramo."
Mark rushed forward with his questions:
— "Tell me what happened! Who are you? And who was that monster who annihilated my unit and took Amy from me?"
Ramo replied coldly:
— "My story is long and bitter, and I am in no mood for reciting tragedies. What matters now is that your pulse hasn't stopped yet. Find yourself a new purpose in this vast, sprawling world."
Anger flared in Mark's chest:
— "And why did you save me anyway? You should have just left me there to rot!"
— "Consider it the repayment of an old favor," Ramo replied curtly.
Before Mark could ask about the nature of that favor, the silence was shattered by a terrifying snarl. A massive, bloated beast with distorted, grotesque human features lunged at Mark to tear him apart. Ramo shouted a single word: "Stop!"
The monster froze in its tracks as if turned to stone. Terror seized Mark and he turned to flee, but Ramo's voice rang out again:
— "Stop, Mark."
Mark's body suddenly stiffened; he tried to move his limbs, but they no longer obeyed him, as if the air around him had become a shackle of iron.
— "What have you done to me?" Mark cried out in panic.
Ramo approached him and answered:
— "I forgot to tell you—we are now in the Void Lands. A land that was once a proud nation thousands of years ago, before it was crushed by wars. It seems your masters in those small states have hidden the truth of what lies beyond the borders."
Ramo continued, explaining:
— "The home you think is the whole world was nothing but the Antarctic continent. Its ice melted due to the nuclear war against 'them,' and humans settled there because it was isolated, fleeing from a destruction of their own making."
Mark whispered in shock:
— "A nuclear war? Did Joseph and his kind have a hand in this?"
Ramo replied:
— "Humans are greedy creatures, possessed by an obsession for control. In the end, their mistakes burned everything. They are insatiable beings, cloaking their selfishness in glittering terms like 'the public interest,' while serving nothing but the monsters within. I loathe them... I loathe all of humanity."
Mark stared into Ramo's face and saw a strange contradiction:
— "You hate them? Then why are your eyes filled with tears as you speak?"
Ramo did not answer. He turned his back to walk away, but Mark followed him, pleading:
— "Please, tell me the truth! Are there others like Joseph? Who holds the reins of this world? Show me how to gain power like yours, so I can take revenge for Amy and the others."
Ramo stopped abruptly and turned with a piercing gaze:
— "Do you see? This is exactly what I was talking about. You start with words of kindness, compassion, and justice, but the moment you taste power, the masks fall to reveal the faces of greed and destruction."
Mark replied with desperate defiance:
— "I know our human nature, and I cannot promise I won't be as bad as Joseph—or worse. But even so, I want that power to uncover the secrets of this world... and to make them regret."
Ramo fell silent, his eyes drifting into a distant memory from 21 years ago...
> (Flashback)
> In the same Void Lands, Ramo sat in his usual position, submerged in his emptiness. Suddenly, he sensed the arrival of "strangers." A group of ten people in suits resembling spacesuits descended.
> He approached them with the stillness of death: "You will all perish here. Whoever surrenders first, I shall spare; the rest I will kill."
> In an instant, the humans stripped themselves of their dignity. They threw down their weapons and fought basely to be the first to surrender. In the blink of an eye, Ramo drew a blade from one of them and, in a swift motion, decapitated them all.
> But... he sensed two souls still resisting. He looked ahead to see only one woman. She had removed her mask, revealing a face haggard with exhaustion. She began firing wildly at him, but he dodged the bullets like an untouchable shadow.
He grabbed her by the throat and lifted her high. Even so, she continued to kick him and claw at his hands with her fingers.
Ramo asked in disdain: "Why didn't you surrender like the other cowards? Does this mean you crave death?"
She replied, gasping for breath: "Death is more merciful than living with the guilt of betraying my comrades."
— "Then why do you fight?"
— "I fight... for him." She clutched her stomach, tears streaming down: "I'm sorry, my son... You won't see the light because of me... I'm sorry."
Ramo was stunned. "A son?" He immediately released his grip on her neck. Are there still humans who put others before themselves? He screamed in madness: "No! Humans are evil!" As he clutched his head, a vision flickered—a woman holding him tenderly... "Mother?" Ramo fled the scene as if running from the truth.
(Back to the Present)
Ramo looked at Mark, a mysterious glint in his eyes, and said in a decisive voice:
"You want power, Mark? Very well... I will grant it to you."