"Ever since your birth, you thought you had no purpose in life. Despite that, you followed your father's footsteps and dreamt of joining the Exilir Ultima when you grew older. Your Father hid you from the others as if you were something ignominious. Do you remember that day when you tried to introduce yourself to the others without your father's permission? Those eyes of fear and confusion must still haunt you, like you were something odious. Your only friend Arien accepted you for what you were and became your only source for happiness at the start. Now is he dead because of you? For what? Why did everyone declared you as Exilir's last chance? What purpose will keep you going now?"

"Huh? A dream again?" Hoshi mumbled as he woke up in a mysterious room enclosed by walls made of stone.

There were three paintings on the wall on his right, one had an old man with a white beard and grey robes, one had a beautiful woman wearing a red dress with long black hair and one had a young girl with white robes and white hair.

"(You can't be serious, it wasn't all a dream? That massacre was real. What are these paintings? Where am I? Someone took me in?)" Hoshi inspected his body and noticed bandages on his hands before getting off the wooden bed he was lying on.

"That boy, he doesn't look like one of us. I am thinking maybe I made a mistake." A deep voice came from outside.

Hoshi got alerted and hugged the wall so that he could listen.

"You did the right thing, he is just a lost child. Let him wake up, he will explain everything," an unusual shrill voice answered.

"What kind of voice is that? I have never heard anything like it," Hoshi whispered.

"Besides, this could be a gift from Cora. They know our condition," the shrill voice spoke.

"You think so? We are indeed the unlucky ones, but that wasn't exactly why I."

"What are they talking about?" mouthed Hoshi.

"Hey! Come on out! I know you are awake!" the man behind the deep voice ordered.

"(Was I talking that loudly? Damn it)."

Hoshi opened the door and came out in the main hall slowly.

"Had some sleep? Now then, I know it's abrupt but I have a few questions," a tall man with a darker complexion wearing a brown armor with red and yellow shoulder pads, having a beard without a mustache, short dark bluish grey hair, a long nose and blue irises interrogated Hoshi. The shoulder pads had another strange symbol on them. He was wearing black pants held by a belt with a faint yellow clip.

Hoshi confusedly stared at the man's hair as they were of an unusual colour for him.

"It's alright. Don't be scared we will not hurt you." The person behind the calm but shrill voice, had an unusually slim body, long black hair, slightly paler skin colour, smaller nose and she wore loose brown robes. Glancing at her, puzzled Hoshi to a high degree.

"Hey look at me. Who are you?" The tall man snapped his fingers.

"Why does that man look like that?" Hoshi pointed at the person behind the man.

"Hey that's my wife, why are you looking at her like that? Have you never seen a woman before?" the man questioned.

"A woman?" Hoshi paused in perplexity.

"What? Where are you from?" the man queried.

"What me.... Wait, is this not Exilir?" Hoshi's confusion increased.

"Exilir? Never heard of it. Is that a place on the mountains or something?" the man inquired.

"No, it's my planet's name. Or it was before they attacked and destroyed everything." Hoshi disheartened and began walking towards the front door.

"Wait. Aren't you hungry? I cooked breakfast," the woman humbly asked but the disheartened boy completely ignored her and exited the house.

"See, he is clearly not a threat and maybe has just lost someone important to him," the woman spoke.

"I guess you were right. Let me talk to him. He must have experienced something terrible and has lost all motivation." The man followed Hoshi.

Once outside, the small stone house was clearly visible in the middle of a deep forest. To increase the peculiarity, the ground was emerald colored and the dark cyan coloured trees had sharp branches with pointy blue leaves.

"Take a seat. I want to talk with you." He caught up with Hoshi and showed him a wooden bench just outside the house.

The downed Exilirian looked at him and agreed to sit down.

"So you said that you are from another planet?"

"That's right." Hoshi showed discouragement in his voice.

"Hmm I have read in certain books that there were other planets but I never believed it," the man recalled.

"....." Hoshi was still in distress.

"I forgot to introduce myself, my name is Hirishima and my wife's name is Sharon." Revealing his name had no effect on Hoshi's depressed mood.

"Don't feel disheartened. Tell me what happened," Hirishima gently inquired.

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"Why should I? What meaning is left in my life?" sorrowed Hoshi.

"Look, whatever happened to you can't be changed now. Whoever you have lost or whatever has been taken from you will not just return if you become depressed like this. Sometimes life isn't just fair and doesn't go our way, but does that mean our life has nothing left in it? No, we are the only ones who can look at our hardships straight in the eyes and tell them that I am not going down without a fight because my ambition is not that fragile. So go on ahead, ask me any question you want," consoled Hirishima.

"(He is correct. Father has placed his trust on me that I can make things right for my people. I can't just discard his teachings and faith that easily! First, I must gain information of my location). Where am I? Which planet is this?" Hoshi abruptly asked.

"Pandara of course. Our non spherical emerald coloured planet, shaped like an eaten apple," Hirishima casually answered.

"Pandara!? I read about that in one of my father's books. Can't remember what exactly," Hoshi alerted.

"I see, what happened to your father?" Hirishima asked.

"He is most certainly dead. He laid his life to ensure I escaped those monsters. But why?" Hoshi saddened once more.

"I am sorry to hear that. These Monsters you mentioned, were they black haired demons by any chance?"

"Yeah, how did you know?" Hoshi swiftly lifted his head.

"It seems we aren't the only planet they are terrorising." Hirishima sighed.

"You know about them? Tell me more," Hoshi blurted.

"Before I do that, I would like you to tell me exactly what happened with you and how you ended up here," Hirishima queried.

"I don't know if I can trust you. At this point I don't know what should I do," lamented Hoshi.

"(Looks like he has gone through something far worse than I thought). Maybe I can give you answers that you may need. But I need to know the full picture for that," persuaded Hirishima.

"Alright..." Hoshi recalled the attack and told the entire story.

"A portal opened by 10 boxes? Sounds very familiar," Hirishima pondered.

"Can you open it? I have to go back to rescue any survivors and learn the fate of my father! If there is a small chance he is alive, I must go talk to him!" Hoshi impatiently asked.

"Don't be hasty, those demons are incredibly powerful. They are spawns of the immensely powerful son of pure darkness, Xander himself. You need serious training to even stand a chance against even one of them. Besides, we haven't found a single one of those red boxes yet," Hirishima stated.

"Xander? Who is that?"

"He is our biggest enemy, he is a long black haired, tall and muscular man with a bloodthirsty desire to kill anyone with a bit of light in his heart. His power is far greater than anyone else can even imagine as he can create without any limit," Hirishima disclosed.

"That description suits one of the evil entities I have seen in my dreams. He was quite powerful with this dark purple aura around him. You seem to know a lot about demons, how is that?" Hoshi questioned.

"We have fought and defended ourselves from them for years, yet we never managed to do major damage to them despite the many deaths and losses we endured," Hirishima answered.

"Why do they attack you people? How are we safe now?" Hoshi inquired.

"The reason is unknown, we have fought them in countless battles but we know little to nothing about them. Most of them are brainless killers but some of them that we call Elite demons can communicate as well. We never managed to capture them as they can end their own lives in an instant. Although, it seems they are weak to a certain type of liquid as our settlement is present opposite to the grand river and they never cross it," Hirishima disclosed.

"A river?"

"Yes, the grand 'Murasakino' River. It is said that its water is absolutely pure of darkness. Even we can't drink from it as a single sip can cause you to quickly age a year in advance," Hirishima stated.

"I see. That Sounds like a lake at my planet, but milder. We have no proof but the books stated drinking from that instantly made anyone age 5 years in advance upon taking a sip. I guess that didn't matter as we can't die of natural causes," Hoshi recalled.

"What do you mean? You people are immortal?"

"Clearly not, we can be killed quite easily as most of us lack physical strength. It's just we don't grow old or catch any diseases," Hoshi dejectedly replied.

"I see, you however seem different."

"What makes you say that?" Hoshi queried.

"Last night, when the sky shone for just a split second, I was nearby. I quickly rushed to the scene to find you screaming and slamming the ground. As your anger grew more ferocious, a strange red aura strengthened around you. Afterwards, you managed to smash the ground like it was nothing. It looks like you have an incredible power sealed inside you," Hirishima conveyed.

"Now that you mention that, my father said the first thing I should do is unlock my strength. But I am not sure how," Hoshi concerned.

"Let's see, maybe old lady Tatsuki has some knowledge about you," Hirishima addressed.

"Tatsuki? Who is that?"

"She is the oldest and the wisest person I know, the last scholar of the Pandara's archives."

"Will she really know something about me and my origin? About the attack on Exilir? Is it even worth visiting her?" doubted Hoshi.

"You really question everything don't you? Trust me sometimes you just have to be optimistic. Even if she knows only one thing about you, it's still better than nothing."

"I don't know. My father believed I am someone who has the strength to create a better world for everyone. I don't know if that's true."

"Does that mean you are giving up? If you do that your father's and those Exilirians deaths will be all for nothing. They believed in you but you don't have to do the same for them. You just have to believe in yourself and what you can do for the world right now." Hirishima tried to motivate Hoshi.

"(Father once said,

"(Trees are closer to the sky than us but they weren't always like this. They grew, bit by bit, after soaking water from the rain and nutrients from the soil. No matter how much the climate changes or how many days they stay dry, they always grow up higher than us and touch the sky.

"(What can I do right now? Nothing much. But if I can unlock more of my strength, maybe I can make a difference. That's why I can't give up now!) Alright, let's go!" Hoshi's downed spirit seemed to have lifted as he swiftly stood up with determination.

"You seemed to have cheered up," Hirishima smiled.

"I have made up my mind, I will unlock my power and kill every last one of those heartless demons. I can't cry or run anymore as the last thing my father did was place his trust on me," Hoshi solemnly said.

"You're far stronger than I thought, mentally I mean. Before we go let's eat breakfast, Sharon is a great cook!" Hirishima got up and began walking back inside the house.

"That's fine but why are you helping me?"

"I umm. It's because I always wanted a.... It's because you could be great help in our war with the demons in the future, I can feel it. That's why it's my duty as an elite warrior to help you," Hirishima hesitantly spoke.

"Elite warrior?"

"I am part of our external defensive organisation, The Warriors. But if you can't tell, I have many years of service and I have earned the third last title, Elite Warrior. As you can see this symbol here on my shoulder pads represents that." Hirishima pointed towards his left shoulder which was a combination of yellow and red with a well defined symbol on it.



"You seem like you know a ton about close Quaters combat. I would need those skills to defeat these demons."

"Don't worry, I will polish that hidden gem in your body in no time!" Hirishima laughed.

"(Is this real? For the first time I feel like I have a purpose. It feels good. Rest easy father, Arien and my people, I will avenge all of your deaths and free this universe from these heartless demons!)" Hoshi revitalized.

"Hey are you listening?" Hirishima tapped Hoshi.

"Yes Sir!" Hoshi concurred as his spirits lifted and Hirishima took him back in the house.

End of chapter three.