In Awt, the city of Dalaa alongside the town of Toth, the northern region of Mannea—the motherland of the Lei Realm.

It was all sudden. The day drowned in a red mist. Ted witnessed it. The sun hid in clouds, at the same time when fear roared among the fleeting crowd. Never had he crawled on the floor with nails digging into the bricks, his will to live—to live abandoned than to perish beneath trampling feet. Bruises and cuts covered his body. The bones in his body trembled. Not once had blood and smoke rained like a brewing storm. Never had a dismembered arm splatter before him. This moment, set in a lively city with towering Domains, in a densely populated region with urban buildings, in a place of casual strolls, lingering food, and peaceful children, was when life became incredibly precious… incredibly fragile.

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Ted departed the Brick Domain, leaping from the elevated platform to Toth’s sloping street. With the afternoon breeze inviting him for a walk, his eyes looked around him. Graduated students walked past with their newly acquired Systems. They jumped in groups with words exchanging without concerns. Couples hugged their arms with heads leaning against each other. Emotions soared as the day glistened for these teens.

He went down the street north to Awt—a couple of miles from his position.

Everyone parted ways, but a particular group remained in the town square. Ted walked in their direction and spotted three people near a pole. One of them passed a donut to their troubled friend. Their heads were low, much different from others despite their achievements. All three gawked at a round object with brown dots sprinkled like constellations.

Paying no further heed to their presence, he walked faster and passed them. The freedom to swing his arms in the rhythm of his calm strides, the luxury of living in a docile town. Air refreshed his lungs as the sun basked him in warmth. The serene nature accompanied his journey down the narrow path. With every turn and gaze, Ted knew the life in Toth was worth remembering. Awt City experienced a different outcome of remembrance, far from serenity, but rather the opposite.

In Awt, the air was dense, suffocating. Smoke rose from recently established Domains of only twigs and a flimsy canvas. These tiny booths were the smallest among the multi-Triune Systematic Domains—towering like skyscrapers—but were also the most malodorous. The unguided became incompetent, letting their System recklessly spread the unpleasant scent of rotting food from the sidelines to the streets. The air became unbearable as men and women crowded without any ground in sight.

Ted walked among the crammed people, stifled by the proximity. An overweight man bumped into him. He staggered sideways, arms extending to catch his fall. His palms met a lady on her phone, speaking with obnoxious laughter. She snorted and shoved Ted away, returning to her call. He wavered back to his usual awkwardness amidst the crowded land. If he’d stop to reorientate himself, the man dressed in a suit would push him from behind. And if stepping too much forward, he’d collide with a stranger walking in the same direction as everyone else.

His legs never took a break. But he persisted, keeping his feet on steady throttle to get to his destination, the purpose of his arrival. After sluggish minutes of staying in the messy crowd, an intersection divided the people. They dispersed, and it got less packed. Ted felt himself breathing air, devoid of women’s perfumes or men’s stench.

But then another scent invaded his nose. He couldn’t recognize the smell—if he could even describe it as a scent. Despite the abrupt advent, he shrugged it aside, though he couldn’t keep that out of his head.

Stepping away from the dense end of the city, he walked to the lighter end. There, he saw children his age walk alongside their parents. They skipped gleefully and laughed. Their smiles shone brightly under the afternoon sun. An occasional loner walked down with their eyes resolute. They never seemed lost. In fact, no one was lost. Everyone was going somewhere.

Ted remembered his purpose for coming. He searched for a nearby child like him—anyone as young as him in their casual stroll. A close boy was spotted walking to a Domain. He took his leisure time traversing across the street. Ted waved his hand at him but failed to grab his attention. So he went closer.

His nose stung suddenly, sending a shiver down his body. There was that smell again. It was much stronger than before, a scent that bittered his throat ever so slightly, not a hurtful sensation but a disturbing one. His mind instructed him to stop walking, an urge to keep away from that sinister odor. It was coming from afar, and it was moving—approaching fast. His feet halted before his mind could process the nearing aura.

From the crowd, a figure emerged. A man closed in on the boy, his identity in full disclosure. The dark aroma, darker than smoke, surrounded him. He walked fast. Almost too fast. His legs were a blur—an indescribable speed that exceeded the speed of a sprint. It was by a mere second, crossing the street many times quicker than the boy. He positioned himself behind the unaware child. He grabbed onto his hair, yanking and lifting him from the ground.

The child groaned in pain, in fear. He reached for the man’s hand holding him captive. Civilians strolling had picked up the sudden cry. The eyes faced the scene unfolding: a man pulling the boy by his hair. The faces furrowed and voices erupted among them. Their feet marched one by one, growing haste to catch the man and set free the child.

And then a loud clap erupted. Ted’s ears rang, causing his face to scrunch. People around him bent low from the same ringing. Their eyes squinted and teeth clenched.

Upon the outburst, within the mixed crowd, a few men changed their course of direction. Their heads shot in different spots, with eyes low. They met their gaze at children scattered over the streets. The terrified gazes looked back. The men ran after them. Their bodies moved swiftly, becoming a blur with a trace of black essence tailing behind them.

Wearing everyday clothes that didn’t attract any suspicions, they seamlessly blended into the crowd. One time, they walked like any other bystanders. But now, their heads shifted and magic brewed in their quickened speed. Upon the mysterious clap, they appeared, altering the crowd forever.

An anonymous man went up to a concerned girl, snatching her arms tight as she squealed. Another man tapped on a father’s shoulder. Distracting him, the man dashed around and tugged the son away. Another one caught a boy in his mindless walk. Men emerged swiftly, camouflaged among the people, catching them off guard. Dozens of children were at their grasps, grabbing and holding them close.

In silence, with complete mute, they lifted their heads to the sky.

The people of Awt acted upon this sudden attack. The parents who felt the absence of their children desperately reached their arms at the captors. But it was futile. Their bodies transformed into sinister black fumes before a single finger could touch them. The outfits contouring their frames sank and mystified into dust. Their tan and calloused skin melted into dark powder. Their bodies transmuted into an extensive collection of smoke in the shape of a ball. And the children also got transfigured in this gloomy essence.

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The smothering black mist hauled in the air. As a group, they shot up from all parts of the city, leaving the ground and traveling higher in the sky. Like meteorites without flaming heads, they blasted far out until their sights were gone, carrying the children with them as their cries wallowed in the sky.

The people gasped and grew wary. Their feet retreated with hats being dropped, some getting tripped, doors becoming closed, and the atmosphere filling with screams. Uncaught children cried for their mother and father. Many believed it was over, being only a single attack. But more heads shifted to run after the children.

A daughter hugged her father, but a man dashed in the child’s direction. He grabbed her hair, tightening his hold as he formed into a large body of smoke, immersing the little girl in the same dark aura. As the father lost his daughter’s grip, he watched as the hazy figure hauled into the air, traveling in due course north as he shouted in hopeless abandon.

A distant mother hugged their son close and ran the opposite way. But in their desperate attempts to flee, they bumped against a man standing idly. The mother stumbled forward, and the son tripped. The man snatched the child’s wrist and pulled him apart from the woman. A dark looming dust of black concealed his cover as he ascended into the air, leaving the woman screaming her son’s name with a belting cry.

The civilians fled, grabbing any children they could and bringing them to safety. A few remained and resisted the attack. They charged toward the mysterious men before they could conceal themselves in a black cloud and run away. A sorrowful father who lost his daughter charged at one of them, landing a solid punch in the face.

There was a loud flare. Eruption sparked from his fist. The father groaned, an immense scorch stabbing his fingers. His legs gave up chasing after the man—transforming into ominous fumes and carrying the child away. He fell on his knees, grabbing his steaming wrist. There was a large display of crimson light shrouding his entire figure. The redness concealed from the tip of his toes to the very edge of his hair follicles. This scarlet gleam presented a large number that engulfed the father, seeming to affect his deepest self and dig into his trembling soul.

[–1]

More civilians defended the children from the men. They landed blow after blow. But with each hit, red sparks erupted on the skins. A large number hollered by the laws of the Lei Realm oversaw parents and the resisting adults, striking them to the floor as if to warn them of their actions.

Ted quickened his breathing. He never felt his legs becoming so insistent on running. They begged him to turn around and leave. His hands refused to grab anyone else’s, to find guidance from anyone. Darting around, people scrambled in many directions. But with one approach of a bystander hidden like any person, he’d become the next target. His heart pounded, the adrenaline pumping through his veins. In that instant, he perceived all as enemies.

He ran with all his might, pushing away the people oblivious to the events unfolding, trotting because others were escaping with their children. He shoved and shoved. His legs refused to stop, nor did his arms. When he heard a mother yelp as a man—blended seamlessly among the speeding flock—grabbed her daughter near him, Ted ran faster.

Ted pushed a slender woman aside. A young boy suddenly appeared in front of him. They collided and fell on the brick floor. The two grunted as they lifted their heads. The mother of the boy regained her balance and searched for him amidst the withdrawing crowd. She called desperately, her voice shaking. He watched the mother inching close; the son did the same. Ted spectated as he got up, but then he spotted a threatening man behind the mother. The man narrowed his eyes at the child. Ted’s heart swelled and his legs sprang up. Without a second to think, he grabbed the boy’s wrist and fled. They departed, leaving the mother screaming out her son’s name louder and louder. Turning around, Ted witnessed the man click his tongue and go another way. The woman’s cries made his heart ache, hearing her son cry in the same way as he resisted.

The child was clueless about the events. He kept tugging away from Ted and hollering for his mother. He begged to return to his parent. Yet Ted refused, continuing to bolt from the weeping city. His face was a total mess, tears welling up without relent.

Turning the corner onto the last road near the edge, he noticed a man in front of him. He watched the large figure turn and face the two. Ted guessed the guy was a kidnapper, like the rest. To his surprise, he was correct by the staring eyes. As the children ran towards him, the man acted swiftly. He reached his arm out to grab them, his eyes narrowed and body bending down. Ted yelped as he bent low, falling to the floor again. He escaped the oncoming arms, but not the boy. He got tugged by the collar of his shirt.

The man persisted. He went down also to snatch Ted. But the boy rolled to the side. With enough distance, he got to his feet and ran, leaving the child he tried to save. Disappointed, the man grunted at the cloudy sky. His body transformed into a mass of black smoke and flew north, and the child disappeared amidst the steam.

The cries of men and women grew louder. Their abductors hauled them into the air, cutting off the children’s voices. Sparks sounded left and right. A handful of people landing fists submerged themselves in a layer of red, a coding of a number sent from the divine laws. Cries turned into anger, and anger into violence. People refused the laws to hold them back. They resisted the pain and caught any enemies with their bare hands, bringing them to the floor and freeing any children.

People tossed glass bottles, some of them missed and shattered on the ground. Men cornered by rebels, booths collapsed. Chairs got heaved and crashed into many heads. Flowers got trampled and railings detached from the floor. The people of the heart didn’t care about the laws’ warnings. Even if they kept getting strikes with their bodies immersed in codes, even if they gathered five total strikes, and even if that consequently stripped their Systems forever, they fought for and protected the children.

But then the air thickened—the breeze halted—the sun hid in fright; the Awt City darkened in terror; from the moment the shadows loomed over the region, a loud explosion bellowed at the heart of the crowd, disintegrating hundreds in less than a fractional second, submerged in light brighter than the sun. A luminous flare blinded everyone near. Shockwaves burst forth and smacked on their chests, feeling as if their organs would explode. A high pitch anchored on their deafening ears. The detonation pushed the ground down, causing everyone to be lifted in the air. The earth trembled, shifting positions and removing the people of Awt meters from where they initially stood. All of them fell hard, piling like corpses with their bodies numb and stunned.

The remnants of the explosion left a mushroom cloud elevating higher and higher, the deathly mist hovering over the people. The explosion sent pieces of wood and frames into the air. Rocks and debris showered down from the proximate Domains, new or old alike—concrete, brick, twigs, everything. Windows shattered and rained as shards, plummeting down on the civilians. Flesh and dismembered bodies poured from the heavens, the victims near the explosion site.

People reoriented themselves one by one, their eyes peering at all the chaos before them. Glass blades fell and slit any skin they could touch. Cries erupted among them. Groans and weeps erupted from the deepest edges of their lungs. Mounting walls crashed and buried them in rubble. They stood up in desperation, feeling the air suffocating.

A growing resistance against the anonymous men became a full-out retreat. Everyone lost sight of reason, fleeing without the concerns of those they stepped on. The violence turned into fear. No one stopped to fight anymore, despairing of any more escalations that could end their lives and others.

Ted was far from the explosion site, but blood seeped down from his head. Falling on the ground roughly, his vision grew weary and unstable. His legs were numb. He wailed in pleading, standing up and watching people running—in his direction.

A sprinting woman collided with him. He fell back to the floor as an oncoming stampede of feet stepped on him. Ted felt the weight of all the evading men and women crushing him. He cried in all his pain, feeling his bones about to break. His head kept getting bashed onto the solid floor. Blood trickled from his ripped skin. Bruises swelled and cries squealed in weak whispers. His vision grew darker and darker, quieter and quieter.