Inside a large black room, two chairs faced each other with a burning candle between them. The atmosphere was cold, and the air was extremely heavy. Sitting on one of the chairs was a man with brown hair, wearing a formal suit. He spoke in a calm tone:
"Do those nightmares still come to you?"
The other man replied—his hair white, his clothes long and white, his pale face marked with deep exhaustion:
"Yes… they still come to me."
The brown-haired man sighed, his voice carrying disappointment:
"Well… I can't help you with this… unless you tell me what happened on that day."
"Well… I think… there's no problem with that."
…..
"The sky was clear, the clouds white like silk, the wind strong, and the grass green. I was lying on the green grass when I heard:
'Eugene… Eugene… come on, wake up!'
I opened my eyes and said, with sleepiness in my voice: 'Ren… what is it?'
'Come on! Sunset is getting close.' Ren's voice was filled with urgency.
My eyes widened slightly as I said in a surprised tone: 'And what about it?'
'You idiot! Today is my mother's birthday,' he said angrily.
'Oh my God… I forgot to buy a gift.' My facial expression was a mix of shock and tension.
'So what are you waiting for? Let's go buy a gift for my mother!' His tone was full of haste.
'Alright, alright… but wait! Why are you coming with me to the market?'
'What… I… I want to go with you to help you choose the gift.' His voice was filled with tension and embarrassment.
'Hahahaha! Don't tell me you forgot my mother's gift too!'
'What's the problem with that? It's normal to forget. I'm not an archive of information, okay.' He clenched his fist while looking at Eugene.
'Alright, let's stop making fun of each other and go buy the gift.'"
After fifteen minutes, inside the market of the village of Eliso, located on the borders of the Monian Empire, the market was crowded. The smell of bread filled the place, the sounds of trade echoed in every corner, with a long stone road and buildings colored red and blue.
Ren came out of a bookstore holding a cookbook and said:
"Hey, Eugene! Look, I bought a cooking book. What did you buy?"
"…Eugene… Eugene! Where did you go?!"
Ren began searching for him, running among villagers and merchants, until he found him staring at a book.
"Eugene! Hey! Sunset is getting close, we need to hurry!"
"Ren! Look! It's a book about cultivators! How much I dream of becoming a cultivator in the future!"
"What?! You, a cultivator? Hahaha! Eugene, you don't have the talent, the genes, or even the money to become a powerful cultivator! Besides, my mother forbids us from becoming cultivators—she says it's a dangerous, terrifying, and bloody world!"
"Yes! That's exactly why I want to become a cultivator! To gain power, money, fame, and freedom! Besides, it's not necessary to have talent or money to become a strong cultivator!" Eugene's voice radiated enthusiasm.
"Din! Din! Din!" The sound of the sunset bell rang.
"Ah! Oh my God! We're late!"
"Come on! Let's hurry!"
He entered the nearby shop and bought a set of cooking utensils. Then Ren and I rushed back, and I was imagining my mother's reaction to the gift and the delicious food. But it seemed fate had another opinion.
The sky began to turn black like a black hole, and the clouds gathered at the center of the sky.
"Ren! Why did you stop? Come on, let's hurry!" I looked at Ren, and that was when I saw his face filled with fear and tension. He pointed at the sky with a trembling finger and said:
"Eugene… look!"
When I looked, it was the first slap life ever gave me: strange golden symbols, purple lightning, all gathering with the clouds in the middle of the sky. Before I could understand what was happening, a powerful beam shot down from the sky, striking the exact center of the village.
…Silence.
Life slowed to a crawl.
BOOOOOOM!
In moments, everything disappeared.
Fire spread. Screams. Bodies. Blood. Flames… all of it was the symphony of that day.
What is this… His facial features were like someone who had lived in a perfect dream and suddenly collided with a bitter reality.
I only realized what was happening when I saw Ren rushing toward—
He pushed me away.
And I was falling from the edge of the mountain cliff.
A massive rock was hurtling toward me. Ren's face was a mix of fear and sorrow, tears filling his eyes.
…What… no… Ren… my mother…!
Tears gathered in my eyes like a volcano on the verge of eruption.
Before I hit the ground,
a bird in the sky, like a strange-winged sparrow,
looked to the left amid fire and destruction.
And then I saw a man wearing a long black suit, bearing an emblem of a headless man with six wings.
All I remember is falling and my head crashing against a rock on the ground… then silence, as if I had died.
….
I opened my eyes to find myself in a dark room, my hands bound with chains, sitting on an iron chair. I don't remember what happened after I saw that mysterious man with the emblem of the headless figure.
"Ahhh! My head hurts so much! Wait! Where am I? And where is Ren?!"
At that moment, a heavy metal door opened, its creaking sound filling the room. A person wearing investigator's clothes and a hat entered, sat on the chair opposite me, placed a file on the table, and said in a calm, cold tone:
"Eugene… we need to talk for a bit."
Fear… tension… disbelief… pain… sorrow… emotions like a merciless icy storm struck my frozen heart, extinguishing every particle of hope inside me, creating a painting whose title was:
Eugene's Heart
End of Chapter One