Three months ago, in Aledia, a peaceful village within the western region, the people of Aledia, though not the most intelligent developers, had something much more important: values and tolerance.

Ren was a commoner in Aledia, living alongside his mom, dad, and sister. Life could not be better, Ren thought, but his joy and happiness, unbeknownst to him, would not last long.

It was a morning like any other. The only unusual occurrence of the day was the nightmares that Ren had in his sleep—nightmares of Aledia on Fire—and it was all due to one person, but Ren didn’t know who this person was as the dream seemed to present this person as someone he had never meant.

The dream contained horrific sights of many of his fellow people in complete agony and despair, but Ren thought to himself

“It’s just a dream—a really terrible dream, that’s all. It’s best I just forget about it.”

and so forget about it, Ren did, but was it really the best choice?

Later that morning, Ren was having dinner with his family when his dad cracked a joke, signalling huge sounds of laughter and amusement from everyone at the table except Ren.

Ren’s father, Kun, noticed the refusal to laugh from his son and so asked his son

"What’s wrong, Ren Why do you seem so unresponsive today?”

only for Ren to shrug it off as nothing before leaving the dining table to get some fresh air outside. In truth, Ren was still thinking about his dream, and no matter how hard he tried, he could not forget what he dreamt about. He was so close to his family and loved them very much that he could not imagine them or any other Aledian citizen being murdered, and he didn’t even know how to warn people without causing a complete riot or getting banished for witchcraft.

Many weeks have now passed since Ren’s nightmare, and he has had many more since then, each focusing on a different part of the village and the different ways it’d be destroyed—some burned, some bulldozed—just think of any way people and buildings could get destroyed, and Ren had probably seen it in one of his dreams.

Though Ren’s dreams had gotten more hectic and frequent, they don’t seem to reveal much detail about the catastrophe except for the fact that the attackers are numerous individuals and not one person, and they all seem to wear an attire that in the dream, Ren can’t see we’ll due to the dust and soot from all the destruction, but it was clear that all the evaders followed the orders of one man specifically, the same man who in Ren’s dream killed his father, but Ren was too afraid of tomorrow to say anything today.

The village of Aledia was hidden among a bunch of trees in the outskirts of the west. It was highly underdeveloped with no means of protecting itself as it had no guards, police,police or even a government of any kind. The village did not operate on any predetermined hierarchy but instead just believed in tolerance and was hidden smartly within a thick forest in such a way that if you’d never been to Aledia, locating it will most certainly be difficult, but there has never been a place free of conflict.

Twenty-five years ago, the city of Aledia was relatively unknown when an old lady accidentally stumbled upon it, and though asked immediately by the locals, she was allowed to stay in the village as long as she followed their rules, and the lady agreed. The old lady became a fortune teller, revealing information about the village’s future, which at first was welcomed by the Aledians until the prophecies of the old lady became more and more accurate and dark, as she would prophecy about famines, diseases,diseases and deaths, and they would all come to pass.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

The Illiterate Aledians soon decided that this lady was not predicting but rather was causing all the problems, and so they killed her. With the mutual consent of all the members of the village, they banned any sort of precognition or magic as a whole, and for this reason, Ren is unsure about the need to speak about his nightmare.

Kun knew that his son wasn’t in the best state, as he could tell from faraway that his son was hiding something, but he couldn’t tell just what he was hiding, and his tries to ask his son were all in vein until he tried just once more, telling himself he would not give up until his son told him what’s wrong, and we’ll after a series of failed attempts, his own wife, Nadia, said.

"Maybe the boy just needs time on his own; let him be," Kun replied.

“How can I let my only son grow further apart from me? I can’t let that happen," Nadia said.

“But in your quest to keep him close, you might just push him further away.“

and so reluctantly Kun decided to let his son have space, even though he knew in his heart something was bugging his son. He decided to let Ren figure it out himself, but unbeknownst to the couple, their door was wide open and Ren’s sister, Akane,Akane was eavesdropping.

Ren was in his bedroom later that day, imagining his nightmare when there was a thick, hard knock on the wall. Ren, thinking it’s probably his dad trying to get him to speak again, says

“I’m not in the mood, Dad. I'm really tired.”

Then the knocks stop, but Ren then hears a feminine voice speak, saying

“It’s not Dad; it’s your sister, Akane.”

Ren hops off his bed to unlock the door for her and says,

“Come in”

Akane then walks in. Akane was a dark-haired, intelligent fourteen-year-old lady as pretty as she was smart, and according to the order, Aledians was twice as mature as Ren and quite a loving soul.

Akane walks in with a handbag, and Ren asks what brings her to his room, but she answers in an irritated manner, saying

“So a girl needs a reason to spend time with her old brother.”

“No, of course not,“ says Ren.

Then Akane says, "Well, there is a reason.“

Then she throws a book towards Ren and says, “read”.The book was titled Stories of the West by Ian Grace and was a collection of short stories and folktales that were extremely popular in the west.

Akane asks him to read the story on page 30, so Ren opens the page, and there he sees a chapter of the book titled “The Elephant Who Hated.“.

The book was about an elephant who had accidentally broken a plate within a castle and so ran away to hide deep into the wilderness to hide, which was unlucky for the elephant at around that time. The king lion was assassinated, and due to the sudden disappearance of the elephant, the people assumed he was the culprit and hunted him down. The elephant was also having even more problems in the jungle, as wild animals and poisonous vines all wanted to have the neck of the elephant, and so the elephant was now hunted down by elements of the place he ran to and the place he ran from, and no matter how he hid, he was too big to completely hide.

After Ren was done with the book, Akane said

“What’s going on in your mind?" Big brother, you’ve always been there for me when I needed you, like when I was getting bullied by those jerk boys. You stood there for me and fought them off, so please, Ren, let me be here for you.”

It was at this moment that Ren cried and let it all out—everything that he dreamt about, but not just to his sister but to his parents too, and his dad was relieved to have found out what was worrying his son.

“We are Kageyama, and we won’t run but rather will stay here and fight to the end.“

signalling a loud cheer from everyone and a smile from Ren, something Kun notices, and thanks to the heavens, his son is back.

The night of that same day, Ren had slept and had another nightmare, but this time, the evasion leader's face was clearer than ever. Though Ren had no idea who the man was, the facial features of this man were unforgettable. A thick grey beard, 6’7 in height, completely bad and bloody red eyes, wearing the same white robes as the remaining, and having four scratch marks across his forehead. In this particular nightmare, unlike all the others, Ren is killed, and he is killed by the man with his hands, punching straight into Ren’s chest and causing Ren to collapse.

And now, in the present, rather than seeing Earn, Ren sees this man threatening to kill him, and the man holds out his left hand, and his hand becomes stronger and his nails sharper, with his right hand still engulfed in lightning. Then the man asks Ren in the most sadistic manner imaginable.

“Choose your death.”