CHAPTER 1
In the middle of a dense forest, a small hidden cave entrance was protected by an invisible barrier. Deep inside, a poorly made hut built from wood scraps, branches, and dried leaves could barely be seen with the help of sunlight.
The hut looked eerie, with pests crawling in the woods, making numerous small holes and coating some parts of the house with a gooey, seaweed-green substance. It emanated a pungent, moldy odor that could be smelled throughout the cave. The house could pass for a rotting pile of branches because of its appearance and smell, only if there weren't a slightly open door illuminating its interior.
Like the outside, the inside looked decaying and would collapse at any second. No one would think that people lived there, as it was neither habitable nor hygienic.
Yet, a scrawny child sat before a makeshift table made of thick branches tied together with thin vines. Although it looked like it would fall apart with some pressure, it served its purpose as a table by keeping a murky bowl of soup in place.
"Eat the food while it's still hot," a gentle voice rang inside the child's mind.
It reminded him to eat, but no matter how often it repeated in his mind, the child didn't move. He stared blankly into the cold soup that seemed to have already turned sour, as tiny bubbles on the side could be seen. It wasn't hot anymore, contrary to what the voice inside his head said, and was instead cold like the body of the woman lying lifelessly beside the table.
Like him, the woman was skinny and pale. They were undeniably related, having the same deep black, untidy hair and bluish-violet eyes. The only difference was that the child's eyes were full of life.
It had been three days since his mother had weakly served him the bowl of soup before falling to the ground. The child tried to wake her numerous times, but the woman wouldn't respond. She kept sleeping continuously with her eyes open, as the child believed.
A grumbling sound echoed inside the hut. The little boy's stomach lamented again, making him glance at his mother on the floor before finally pulling the bowl toward himself.
"Mama, I'll eat first. I'll leave some for you," a weak, soft voice came out from the child. He then grabbed the bowl and ate the soup hungrily before stopping after two gulps when he felt his stomach churn.
The child clutched his stomach, wanting to vomit, but held his hand in his mouth to stop the soup from coming out. He didn't want to waste the precious food that his mother had prepared for him.
Tears welled up in his eyes, with the pain radiating in his stomach and lungs, but he held it in. He closed his mouth tightly with his thin hands until he could swallow the soup. But even after that, tears kept flowing no matter how much the child tried wiping them with his bony shaking hands. It just wouldn't stop. It couldn't.
He knew. He knew his mother wasn't sleeping.
The moment his mother stopped responding to his calls, her words rang in his mind.
"If a day comes when I don't wake up, leave me be and get out of this place. Use the things in the spatial sack to escape the forest and find the orphanage."
"Why won't you wake up, Mama?" the child curiously asked while playing with water. His innocent eyes looked at his mother cluelessly.
"B-because I'm sick," the woman answered with a weak voice. Though her expression remained stern, her voice gave away her pain.
The child gazed at his mother with concern, "Then should we get herbs?"
Staring at her son, she wondered if he could survive alone. Despite growing up in a dangerous environment, she felt like he was too kind for his own good. Shaking her head, the mother let out a sigh. Rather than fearing her looming death, she was more concerned about whether her child had what it takes to survive such a cruel world. "There's no cure."
"No medicine?" he asked slowly, his eyes slightly widened. He couldn't understand why there was no medicine when his mother could cure any ailments he had since he was young.
The mother patted her son's head and avoided his anxiety-filled gaze. "There's none…"
At that moment, even with his young mind, he knew what her mother meant. Recalling her somber face reminded him that he should leave and follow her words. But he couldn't. He was hoping that she would wake up soon. Wishing that, unlike the monsters they have slain to feed themselves, she would open her eyes and prepare him murky but warm soup. He prayed to the deities that he would hear her voice and feel her comfortable embrace.
But no matter how much he prayed, the opposite happened. Her body grew cold, her limbs stiffened, and her eyes lost luster and life. She was dead. And he knew.
The child knew nothing would happen, no matter how much he denied it. But what choice does he have? Even after her mother warned him, he was only a child. He doesn't want to leave the only person who gave him love all his life. He didn't want to leave the place he called home.
But the world had other plans. The little boy was still crying and trying to stop his tears when he heard a loud sound of cracking followed by the noise caused by the shattering of something akin to glass.
The child's tear-filled eyes widened as he looked at his mother's dead body. The barrier her mother created to protect and hide them from the monsters had shattered, revealing their locations to the monsters in no time. He had to leave. The monsters could sense life, and he could get trapped inside the cave where they built their home. Although the opening was small and could only fit the size of an average adult, the monsters could easily break the entrance and force their way in. Moreover, he didn't want the monsters to see his mother's body. She might be lifeless, but they might eat her if he didn't move away from her.
This pushed the boy to quickly get the spatial sack and run towards the makeshift door. He opened it, and the light brightened up the dim room more. When he looked back, his tears flowed, and weak sobs echoed in the cave. Although lifeless, his mother's head and open bluish-violet soulless eyes were directed at him. As if bidding him farewell for the last time.
With eyes blurred with tears, the scrawny child left, running outside the cave and towards the dense forest full of savage monsters.
The child ran fast for minutes without a break. He knew that he couldn't stop because, unlike before, when he had his mother's protection, monsters could constantly sense his location. He had to run out of the forest fast before a nearby monster could attack him.
He was already feeling the drain from constant running when he suddenly heard a livid screech. When he looked back, a monster four times taller than him with long, bony arms was 20 meters behind and was quickly decreasing the gap. A large mouth covered the monster's face with hundreds of sharp teeth. It was salivating while running on all fours towards the child as if it could see him without eyes.
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It was a Type 1 ordinary monster. If it were before, the child could attack the monster with all he had and even injure it, but not while running. It would take time and complete focus to use his ability. He needed to stop running to do that, but that was impossible, with the monster nearing him with each passing second. He focused on running, avoiding, and leaping over all the large trunks and roots.
He used all his strength to run and didn't stop, even with all the sharp branches wounding his entire body. He couldn't even afford to feel the pain and tiredness after hearing another screech not far behind the one chasing him. He dared not check what type of monster it was, as he didn't want to stumble and trip. He only focused on what was in front of him, which was why he failed to see another monster running silently on his right side.
Before seeing it, he felt the sharp wind on his entire body as he was flung away with a massive slap from a monster with a large palm. His whole body shook in pain while midair, feeling his bones break with the impact.
He couldn't even scream nor register what happened. All he saw next was the blinding light before the pain and darkness stole his consciousness.
***
A group of oddities was gathering herbs beside a large waterfall when they suddenly heard a distant screech followed by a roar.
"The monsters are fighting," a man holding a spear said as he looked toward where they heard the screech. It was coming from the forest at the top of the waterfall.
"We should hurry," another man said, quickly putting the yellow plant enclosed in a jar into his spatial bag. Unlike the child's sack, the man's spatial bag looked brand new and stylish, as he could wear it like a sling bag.
"We're going to be fine. Those abominations won't detect us," the only woman in the four-member group calmly said. Despite being in a forest brimming with monsters, she wasn't scared they would be attacked out of the blue.
"They can't, but they can still see us, so hurry up before we get unlucky, and one of those monsters decides to dip in the pool," another man said snarkily while shoving around a yellow plant.
Although the group was being protected by their individual barriers, it could only shield them from being detected by the monster's ability to locate life. Since it was only a low-level barrier, it wouldn't stop the monsters from seeing, hearing, or smelling them.
The woman rolled her eyes and continued to shovel slowly. She showed no intention of digging faster, as she could already feel her arms getting heavier. "How many more do we need?" she asked.
The spearman, their leader, counted all the plants they gathered, "Just five more and— huh? What is that?" he suddenly asked with narrowed eyes at something falling from the forest towards the pool below the waterfalls.
"Is that a child?" he asked, astonished at the small figure.
"What child? Huh?!" the woman exclaimed after seeing what their leader saw.
The other two group members looked as well and were left dumbfounded. They all watched as the child fell and submerged deep into the waterfall.
It took them a moment and another screech from a distant monster before they realized what had just happened.
"It's a child!" The woman exclaimed again while pointing at the waters and then looked at others with wide eyes.
"Hurry, get the child!" their leader said, and another man quickly ran towards the pool and dived deep. He was the fastest swimmer, so he quickly found the child getting pulled by the water pressure. He swam toward him and grabbed the child's shirt with one hand while using the other to swim.
When they resurfaced, he swiftly swam toward the other members. They pulled the child out of the water and laid him on the ground. Two members crouched beside him, and the woman hurriedly checked the child's pulse on his wrist.
Breathing a relieved sigh, she spoke. "Thank deities, he's breathing."
"I'm happy that he survived the fall, but can a child do that?" the other man, who was also crouching, asked as he scanned the child's whole body with contemplating eyes. It was his first time as a healer to see a child with so many wounds still survive a 200-meter fall. He felt the peculiarity of the situation but still composed himself and checked what he could do for the child.
"He's lucky," their leader said. Although it didn't solve their doubts, they could only rely on that thought.
"He's full of wounds all over his body. My healing abilities can't heal him completely. We need to bring him to the health facility."
The healer then concentrated his palm on the wounded body. After a few seconds, a light-green-colored aura that seemed like pristine mist came out of his hand and engulfed the child. It slowly seeped into the wounds, closing them in a minute.
"I don't have the ability to scan bodies, but I think he has a lot of broken bones. I could only close his wounds and stop the bleeding," he said as he weakly stood up after healing the child. It took him a lot of energy to close all the wounds. He wouldn't usually feel weak healing a small body, but the child has a few deep ones. He then grabbed a bottle from his spatial bag and drank it, restoring half his lost energy.
"Do you think he got lost?" the man who saved the child asked while drying himself.
"Well, that's the only possible reason. Who would bring a child in the middle of a forest brimming with monsters? Good thing he survived," their leader answered.
"I don't think he's lost. I mean, look at his clothes," the woman pointed out. That's when the other members saw the child wearing a cloth that could only pass as a rug. It was an oversized shirt full of dirt, holes, blood, and mud.
"You think he lived in the forest? That would be impossible." The healer remarked. He couldn't think how a mere child could survive a dangerous place when even an adult oddity couldn't.
Silence emerged after that. They all thought it was impossible but couldn't think of any other possibility.
"For now, let's quickly complete the mission and bring him to a doctor. We can only stay here for a short time. The child has no barrier, and he would attract monsters," the leader said and hurried the group.
With that, they moved swiftly while staying alert. After digging five more yellow plants and storing them in the spatial bag, they quickly left and rode a hover car parked outside the forest.
The transportation looked like a rectangular cube that was smoothed on all edges. The sides were rounded, making it look sleek and smooth outside. It was covered in sturdy glass, tinted black from the outside but clear from the inside. The group entered the car and modified the seats to face each other to have space for the injured child in the middle.
After traveling for half an hour, they reached the nearest health facility in the city center. They promptly brought the child inside, providing the hospital with all the information they knew about him. Subsequently, they left to report to their supervisor. When the supervisor learned about the child, he instructed them to keep the incident confidential.
Although uncertain about the reasons, the group speculated that the child might be one of the kidnapped children from a few months ago, most of whom were offspring of high-ranked oddities.
To the group, believing the child was a victim of kidnapping was preferable to entertaining the idea that he lived in a forest infested with monsters.
Later that day, the child groggily woke up in an unfamiliar place. Everything around him was white, and the only variation in color was the night view outside a window.
Panic set in when he realized he wasn't in the forest. Abruptly, he pushed himself to sit, and his anxious eyes scanned the room. His breathing grew heavy, and he felt more alarmed as he saw no apparent way out. About to stand and approach the window, he heard a quiet sound resembling a machine. As he turned, a portion of the wall on his right suddenly moved and slid aside, revealing a woman in white.
"Oh! You're awake! How are you feeling?" the woman asked, walking toward him. He became still as she approached, too stunned to do anything his mind suggested. She wore a white knee-length dress and a white cap with brown lining on its edges, smiling broadly as she waited for the little boy to respond.
Wide-eyed, the child stared at the woman with confusion. It was his first time seeing someone other than his mother, and he didn't know how to react. Despite hearing many stories about humans from his mother, he couldn't recall anything now that he was facing one.
"Are you still in pain? Do you feel sick?" the woman inquired, scanning the child with her eyes. After posing the question, he sat still, staring at her, unsure what to do.
Remembering his mother's instructions to answer when asked and to remain silent otherwise, he hesitantly muttered, using his weak raspy voice, "Name?"
The woman's face brightened. Nodding, she encouraged the child to speak more. "Yes, what's your name?"
His mother's thin but beautiful face suddenly surfaced in the child's mind. She loved calling his name. He had believed that, with her gone, he would never hear his name called again.
Yet, in that moment, he could vividly hear his mother's voice in his mind, calling him lovingly as she embraced him with her thin, warm arms.
"Hirayon..."
"My name is Hirayon."
R E H I L I Y A