Two people were camping in the great forest around an improvised campfire; one of them was sleeping, and the other one was the guard duty. He was dozing off while on the guard duty since the forest is relatively safe. He was struggling to keep his eyes open, but his sleep disappeared when a sudden bright light emerged in the south to the camp; it illuminates the sky and the surroundings just like the sun during the day.

The person sleeping inside the tent woke up from the sudden illumination, he thought, The sun rose-

He yawns while he says " Sorry, sorry, I slept throughout the night- Aakash"

Akash kept his eyes towards the light, replies "Aha..No, it's not that, Naiel. It is still the night time"

"What? " Naiel said while he scratches his eyes, and steps out of the tent "Then, What is this bright...? " He looks in the south, at the source of the light-- "What is hell is that? "

"I don't have a single idea," Akash replied " You know, if it is an explosion caused by a wizard; It should have faded away by now"

"Yea, I agree, " As Naiel said that, The bright glow of light started to fade- As it begins to fade away, A thought emerged in Naiel mind. If this thing lasted for this long, I wonder, how strong the blast wave would be-

As that thought came in his mind, Naiel shouted " HEY! Cast the barrier...." But He was too late--

A Blastwave hits both of them; It ripped through the thick forest and flattened the trees as if they were nothing in the span of a moment.

The blast-wave had already passed by and Naiel found himself under a fallen tree, "Uh...?-What..." The tree had saved his life as it protected him from debris, Although, His eardrums were ruptured, and his right ankle was only connected to his body via his skin. A branch of a tree impaled in his left arm, above his elbow.

He slides the tree aside and tries to stand up on his feet but falls back to the ground as his ankle was not in the condition to support his weight.

"My leg...Damn it. I have to heal myself first"

He speaks a few obscure words, and suddenly, He was all healed. All of his injuries disappeared as if they never existed. Naiel then starts searching for Akash- After a few minutes of searching, Naiel found his friend Or his corpse.

Akash was buried under a few tresses, His skull was cracked open; From that only, one can tell; This person is dead. Nonetheless, Naiel tried healing Akash- As expected; it was a fruitless struggle.

The relationship between Akash and Naiel was not deep; Akash was an Adventurer hired by Naiel to escort him to the border of the Kingdom.

"At the least, I'll try to know what costed your life"

Thus, Naiel starts walking towards the direction of the explosion.

The Sun has emerged on the horizon and Naiel could see the place he was looking for- A vast crater left behind by the explosion. "If this was an art, I would've said, it's beautiful. But, I don't feel better to praise something, which took the life of that poor Adventurer "

Yellowish sunlight reflecting on the dark soil left in the crater, forcing small stones to shine brighter than a candle's fire- With a small figure standing in the middle, hidden in the shadow; The current scene in front of Naiel seemed to be stolen from some legends.

That guy who's standing in the middle of the crater, is he the one who caused the explosion? if he's the one---- Naiel is not a strong person by his strength, it is his mind that plays part in his battles, and sometimes, his pure devil's luck wins him the battles.

"......*Breath*" Nonetheless, He walks forth, after a deep breath, towards the man standing in the crater with intention of questioning this unknown person.

As Naiel steps on the soil of the crater, a smell tingles his nose- He looks down towards his feet "This soil... It can still burn my sandal? " The Sandal Naiel worn to cover his feet were made out of, mixer of leather and cloth- Leather could withstand some heat but the cloth had already started to give off a smell "......." When Naiel finished abusing a certain merchant in his mind, He started to move forward.

As Naiel walked forward, The sun begins to climb, slowly, and the shadow which hid the man in the crater started to fade. The closer Naiel got to this unknown person the more Naiel realize; The person who stands in the middle of the crater is but a young person- Not someone experienced enough to use Advance Level Magic, to be responsible for the explosion.

Naiel reached this unknown young person, the distance between them was shorter than twenty meters- I cannot walk any closer.

Naiel takes a deep breath and shouts "WHO ARE YOU!?"

The young man looks behind his back, sees Naiel standing- A frightened expression covers his face after seeing Naiel " I...Damn it! I never wanted to kill them! I'm sorry! I'm.....sorry... "

Not being able to hear his words clearly, Naiel asks "What...what are you saying, kid? Tell me, who are you! and what you are doing here!"

Although, Naiel couldn't see this young person's face clearly- The young man's eyes start to dwindles and his mouth opens half, wanting to say something, but struggle to speak anything as tears start pouring out of his eyes, he falls on knees and grabs his face with both of his hands- While scratching his face, He begins to scream with such loud voice it fills all of the surroundings. The debris on the ground left behind by the explosion starts to vibrate with the young man's agonizing scream - The mountains resonate and his scream echoed. The words of this young person might have not reached Naiel's ears before but his scream, it surely echoed in his ears. If Naiel had not covered his ears at the right time, this would've been the second time today where his ears drums get ruptured. What the hell is this kid!? Did fought his enemies with his screams alone until now? When the noise subdued, Naiel uncovers his ears- After being grateful he managed to survive something like that He looks at the young person- " Are you...Just who the hell is this kid!? " The young person was laying on the ground unconscious- "What I should do..." This kid...

****

I don't remember riding a horse, is this how it feels while riding a horse? Perhaps. Aha, my back hurts.

When I opened my eyes, the horse turned out to be a person, carrying me to somewhere- I freaked out. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? WHO ARE YOU, BASTARD!? "

The man lost his balance because of my struggle and we both fell---

"Damn, this annoying kid! Oi, kid! Who the hell are you?! " The man asks while he stands back up on his feet-

"That's what I want to ask you! Who are you, bastard!? " He was carrying me somewhere without my consent- He might even be trying to kidnap me!

"uh? I see, kid...So, that's how it is! but I ain't losing. You are the one who was standing in such a suspicious location, and screaming like some crazy maniac! What you were in doing that crater in the first place!?" That guy said and all of his words pissed me off except for the one -Crater- That word reminded me of everything that has occurred until the point I found myself here.

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"Ah...I did that...." Responsible for thousands of people's deaths "...No..."

"Kid...You are. Don't tell me..."

Childers, women, all of them...they died because of me

The burden of it felt like a mountain sitting on my throat. It started to suffocate me- I touched the soil with my hands to support myself since my legs had already given up on me.

"Oi! Don't you dare scream like before! I swear, I'll freakin' kill you before you do that"

I started to struggle to breath- My eyes started to widen and my mouth gasped for the air-

It was at that moment when I felt a burning sensation on my cheek-

"You insolent kid! Take this--[Slap] You think, you can scream whenever you feel like [Slap] Don't you freakin' think I'll let you go just cause' you are some kid [Slap]........."

That burning sensation lasted for quite a time while my head swung left and right like crazy- I don't remember when I lost consciousness again but I am sure, those slaps felt like gifts of gods since they helped me to get out of other horrible sensation of death.

When I woke up the second time, I was still riding a horse--That's a guy.

"Oh, kid, your breathing changed. You are awake? "

He calls me a kid but I am pretty sure we are of the same age...If I had not become a kid, again. His back smells like rotten eggs but I don't feel like complaining.

"Who are you...? " I asked the man while he's carrying me somewhere- I just hope he doesn't lock me up in some room and asks for money. I don't have anything.

".....You are stubborn, aren't you kid? I am just a wanderer who was traveling along with an Adventure...You don't have to worry, I am not a bandit" The man says " My name is Naiel, so now, tell me, who are you? Where did you come from and what were you doing in the middle of....you know, that?"

I sighed and closed my eyes for a brief moment- He's restraining himself to not talk about the crater, thinking something might happen to me.

"...Sorry but I am too weak to speak right now"

The man looks at me over his shoulder and says "Seriously? I would have thrown you off if you were capable of walking! Damn it, Just rest on my back for now"

I am too weak to speak...I am too weak to talk about the events that occurred to me- I am too weak to recall. To be honest I am scared. That sensation of death might come back if I talk, it might drag me down to the hell if I talk- I just wanna sleep, for a long time and let my mind and body rest.

That man didn't ask me any question further and kept walking forward under that bright sun while carrying me on his back- His strength is praisable. When I look around with my tired eyes I see a road we are walking along- The strange thing was when I blink we seem to teleport. The sun above our head also seems to teleport and makes sudden movements- The sun was about to set and to me, the whole day was like ten minutes.

When I opened my eyes again I was greeted by a crackling sound burning of wood and little heat on my face. I was laying down on the ground and the man who carried was playing with burning sticks from the improvised fire he seems to have made.

"Oh, kid! You are finally found your way to the realm of the living?" He said while looking at me- I sat up with itching and twitching eyes; Maybe, it was smoke from the fire that bothered my eyes.

"Where---Where are we? " I asked the man who referred to himself as Naiel-

"You should stop touching your eyes, you know, it's a bad omen [Purification]. And I am the one who's gonna ask questions now; Tell me, Kid, who are you? and What were you doing at that place?"

My eyes stopped itching and finally, I was able to focus on my surroundings. We were camping alongside a muddy road; There wasn't much else I could see in the illumination of that fire alone other than the road Although I am sure, we were surrounded by a forest since the strange growling sound of animal kept bothering my ears.

"About that- " I am not sure how should I answer Naiel's question " My name is Roselt Scarlet- I was in the kingdom called Mazelin before I suddenly found myself there. That's all I remember "

Naiel looks at me suspiciously for a moment and then he replies " Mazelin... Never heard of such a kingdom before. But I do have--Never mind. So, where is this Kingdom of Mazeling you speak of? "

"That's...." I don't know! "Well, I suddenly found myself there. So, I don't know"

Naiel suspicious seemed to have intensified with my answer- "Kid, are you playing some sort of games with me? " So, Naiel says " You know, this kind of answer ain't gonna cut it! *Sigh* So, where are you headed now? Gonna search for that Mazelin? Let me say this, I ain't gonna babysit you. From onward, you are on your own- His screams are too much for me" Naiel mumbles at the end.

His answer wasn't something I was expecting. Although I didn't plan to leech on this guy- from what little talk we had he seemed to be a good person and I am not much familiar with this land...I don't even know what kind of situation I am in anymore so, I was expecting him to help me.

"I understand. Thank you for s..... " As I was expressing my gratitude- Naiel interrupted me "KID! Can you hear that!? "

I stopped moving my mouth when Naiel said those words since He sounded serious.

" I can barely hear it but..." (Naiel)

I couldn't hear anything so, I tried to focus for a moment and let my ears take over. The rustling sound the wind made while moving among the trees and its dead leaf was all I could hear, There is the fire, too. But as I focused I started heard a ringin' sound amidst the rustle of the wind-

I wondered, what it could be- It doesn't sound natural at all. As I was thinking, a few disturbing words reached my ears- 'Help us' those words faint but they were clear as they could get. Someone was in distress and needed help

"Someone calling for help...." I said and Naiel stares at me

"For help...Are you sure? " (Naiel)

"I am. I don't know if what I heard was from a man or woman but those words were clear- 'Help us' There is more than one person for sure."

"You are capable of walking, right. Well, then, let's go" Naiel said without even thinking what kind of danger they are in and what if we get caught in that danger too

"Kid!? " I am sure Naiel noticed my hesitant to move- "You know if you try to act like disabled I am gonna throw you to a beast" (Naiel)

I wouldn't dare.

We both started moving towards the general direction those words came from- a little far from our campfire we could see collapsed trees, as we got closer, yells of a girl started to reach my ears and Naiel's walking turned in a sprint. I also started running as if my life depends on it although it was not my life that I, we were trying to save.

Under that thick forest, it was rather hard to keep up with Naiel so, I forced my legs to move faster, much faster and things started to get strange- The moon over our head which kept hidden by the tress, it started to shine with such brightness that it penetrated that thick forest and illuminated the path ahead of us.

Before I knew, I was running alongside Naiel- That was a shock.

"Kid! You are fast! " Naiel shouts while Running

I could see everything clearly in front of me, and for some reason, my feet leave the ground for a far longer period than they should-

"Oho! You are jumping like Rabbit! What kind of Secret running style is that?!" (Naiel)

"I think...I can run faster than this. I am gonna leave you behind, Naiel" I said to Naiel. He stares at me and says "then, what are you waiting for? Go ahead"

I closed my eyes for a brief moment and opened them again- Everything was clear- The darkness of night had faded away " See you there " Please, don't betray me, this feeling of mine

The next step that I took was something that gave me a similar feeling when I was Mazelin and tried to save that guy. When I took that step I flew to the sky, 100feet above the ground, I could see the entire forest, the forest stretched farther than I had previously thought- I could see a town on my right, perhaps it was the place Naiel was headed to- "This is not the time to think about that" I started to search for something in front of me, something which can be interrupted as out of ordinary- It didn't take long to locate what I was searching for, although, it wasn't exactly what I was hoping to see; a few bright flashes of lights appearing and disappearing and some sort of some small explosions causing a disturbance.

After looking for what I was searching, I started falling back to the ground- I breached myself for impact, I was ready for a few broken bones, surprisingly nothing happened when I landed back on the ground; A few seconds later Naiel caught up and we both started running

"Kid! weren't you going to that place? " (Naiel)

"I was. About a kilometer away ahead, there seems to be a gunfight. Maybe, the scream we heard was of someone who got shot"

Naiel looks at me with confusion "What are you even talking about, kid? Anyway, if you can run faster then go ahead of me and help them! "

"....I understand"

With a little strength, I started to run much faster and left Naiel behind. I don't exactly know how fast I was running but amidst the brutal wind I was facing at that speed my vision stayed sharp.

Before I knew, I was standing in the middle of, what it seemed to be a gunfight from above- I look at my right and saw a girl, she was barely standing while holding something similar to a stick in her hands- Her clothes were barely covering her skin. She stares in my eyes for a moment then glances behind over her shoulders, behind her was another young girl laying on the ground covered in the blood- Her right hand was missing and there was a sword stuck in the palm of her left hand.

"KID!? WHY ARE YOU STANDING..." Naiel's words reached my ears before a long sword pierced my beating heart. I was so stuck at observing the girl and her friend that I didn't notice the monster on my left.