Volume One: Two Sides of the Same Coin
A Terrifying Scene
The sun spread its rays across the earth like a mother embracing her children, distributing her warmth over the barren land below.
In the midst of this desolate land stood a small village. Only a few people wandered through the dusty alleys between the tiny straw houses. Occasionally, a few small children would appear nearby, all sharing one thing in common—weak physical frames.
The children could barely walk, and the same could be said for the adults.
Minutes passed, and a middle-aged man collapsed dead.
The same scene repeated with two young men and an elderly man.
Let us go back to about a month ago.
This small village once had everything it needed to be self-sufficient. However, due to the intermittent nightly attacks from monsters, they were forced to give up all their meat supplies to keep the creatures at bay. They placed a large quantity of meat outside the village gate at night and hid.
When the monsters arrived, they fortunately devoured the meat, smashed a few houses, and then left—allowing the villagers to survive, at least partially.
These monsters were called the Darklings. They were born from the impact of a massive meteorite that crashed onto this planet, now known as the Prosperous Planet. Strangely, these monsters didn't only appear at night; another species emerged during the day, named by humans as the Lightbringers.
The odd part was that the Darklings would disappear during the day—yet no one knew where they went. Likewise, the Lightbringers vanished at night.
It remained a mystery unsolved by humanity.
However, while their whereabouts remained unknown, the cause of their appearance was discovered: something now known as the Origin Stone.
Because of it, humans awakened supernatural abilities and learned to sense the original energy—an energy they had never known existed.
But the most crucial factor in harnessing this energy was talent. Talent was measured by how much original energy a person could absorb, and it was ranked in stars: one star for weak talent, two for average, three for decent, four for good, and five stars for legendary talent.
The three great powers of the world were: the Radiant Star Empire, the Original Sword Empire, and the Dawn Empire. Each of their emperors held legendary-level strength, maintaining the balance between the empires.
Days passed since the incident, bringing us to the present. The village's stock of vegetables had run out. Their crops had been burned by monsters, and their poultry and sheep devoured. They were, quite literally, out of options.
Cloud, one of the few children in the village who was still holding on, sighed. At fourteen years old, he had managed to fend for himself.
Cloud was an orphan. He had been raised by his aunt since he was a young child, living a decent and peaceful life—until she passed away from an unknown illness.
The village doctor was helpless due to a lack of tools and equipment. All he could offer were herbal mixtures to ease the pain. After five years of suffering, she passed away.
Her name was Mary. Never married and childless, she treated Cloud as the son she never had after his parents died protecting him from monsters.
Now, Cloud sat alone in a secluded part of the village, specifically on the southern edge, behind a small straw house.
The village's food supplies were gone. "We're only hours or days away from death. We can't survive on just water," Cloud said, his expression full of despair. The only reason he was still holding on was because he had secretly stolen some meat while the villagers were transporting it to the gate.
He stood up, took a few sips of water, then whistled with all the air in his lungs.
After about twenty seconds, a brown falcon appeared in the sky near the village and descended directly onto Cloud's outstretched arm.
As he stroked the falcon's head, Cloud smiled and said, "Looks like you're full. You seem really energetic." Unexpectedly, the falcon took off again, flying the same way it came.
"What's wrong with you today? Why are you acting strange?" Cloud shouted and followed the falcon, who was already far ahead, sighing internally.
The falcon would stop when it got too far ahead, as if waiting for Cloud to catch up, then take off again.
After some slow jogging, Cloud paused to catch his breath. He was clearly exhausted, yet kept going—this time walking.
About five minutes later, he came upon massive rocks shaped like upside-down chess pieces. He slowed down.
When he reached the front of the rocks, he saw that the falcon had entered a narrow passage between two stones. As he peeked in, he noticed the space opened slightly beyond the entrance, with a few rocks about a meter high blocking the path.
The falcon hopped over the rocks. Cloud, skinny from hunger, squeezed through the narrow gap. It seemed he had lost all his energy. He climbed over the rocks blocking the way and noticed the falcon had vanished behind a slight curve in the giant stone.
When he turned the corner to follow the falcon, what he saw made him collapse to the ground, a look of terror etched onto his young face.
He had found the decayed corpses of a man and woman. Despite having seen many villagers die in recent days, the children had never seen the bodies—they were always buried quickly.
Cloud, still only a fourteen-year-old boy, was completely terrified.
He staggered back a few steps, forcing himself not to vomit. After all, he hadn't eaten anything since yesterday except a bit of water—he didn't want to throw up.
The falcon perched on the man's corpse, while Cloud backed away, horrified. He turned and slowly walked toward the turn he came from, returning to the rocks that blocked the path and sat atop them.
"What should I do? … Should I go back to the village?" he said, still visibly shaken, thinking hard about his next move.
By the time it would take an incense stick to burn, Cloud had made his decision.
End of Chapter