A young kid could be seen getting kicked by three other kids. He was curled up on the ground trying to protect his head.
Suddenly, a young girl appeared scaring the other kids away before turning back to to him. "Are you alright?"
"Uh... Yes..." The young kid answered.
"Why do you let them do that to you?" She curiously asked. Her cute demeanor contrasted with the way he aggressively chased the others.
"What can I even do?" He replied dejected.
"I don't know but my new mom said that I should change myself if I want to have a better life." She replied.
-----------------
"Hey Kron! Wake up! Class already ended!" Chris just walked in, shaking his sleeping classmate. "Oh! Are you dreaming of her again?"
Kron woke up, still feeling groggy. "Leave me be! I don't know what you are talking about!" He tried to continue sleeping, ignoring his classmate.
"Come on Chris! Stop bullying Kron!" Kim walked straight towards the two, pulling Chris away from Kron.
"Oh! are you jealous?" Chris chuckled, sitting on a nearby table just on the opposite side of the aisle from Kron. He then faced his sleeping classmate. "She's just on the other class. What are you waiting for? Honestly though, I don't see what you see with her."
Three more of their classmates appeared, walking together.
"Are you bothering Kron again?" Lee said, raising his eye glasses and looking sharply at Chris.
"Okay enough of that!" Ana interjected, stepping towards the center of the group. "Any plans for today?"
"Dinner? Or do you guys want to drink?" Chris said, forming a cup shape with his right hand.
"Uhhh... We are not allowed to drink yet..." Brian softly uttered, meekly looking at everyone.
"Come on! We are almost legal! Stop being a kid." Chris replied.
"It's bad to stay late right?" Kim dejectedly surveyed her classmates around her. "Its tomorrow isn't it?
Everyone's mood suddenly dropped. There was apprehension in everyone's eyes.
"Yeah-- I hope I don't disappear." Brian looked down, feeling dejected.
"Come on! Who would like to kidnap you!" Chris jested, shoulder-bumping Brian, trying to light up his mood.
"You do know that it has nothing to do with kidnapping right?" Ana said annoyingly, raising her eyebrows.
"Of course it does! Then how would someone suddenly go poof?" Chris answered.
"Stop arguing! The fact is that for the past 10 year, random people would disappear during April 16." Kim shouted.
"Correction! It is not only during the past 10 years. In fact, the record shows that it started more than 100 years ago. It is true though that the past 10 years has the most number of disappearances." Lee nonchalantly added.
"Then do you guys think that the prophecy circulating around the internet is true?" Ana asked with apprehension
"The hand stretches a finger. The clock needs to be reset. A door would open for the light." Chris recited before smirking at Ana. "You mean that? That's some bullshit."
Ana scowled, looking away from Chris. "Yeah. That one."
"What does that even mean?" Brian said. "How does that even connect to the disappearances."
"Its already the year 2,222 and people still believe in prophecies," Lee uncertainly replied, pausing for a second. " but I guess, this one is an exception."
Kim turned her head, looking at their sleeping classmate. "What about you Kron? What do you think? I know you are listening."
"Uhh... Me?" Kron yawned while confusingly looking at his classmates. "Well... I first thought what they would feed me if I was the one taken but its too much to think about. Anyway, I just hope that everyone here would be okay."
His classmates looked at him, feeling weirded out then suddenly laughed.
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April 15 2,222. A few minutes before midnight. Inside Kron's room.
Kron was browsing the internet for news with his tablet.
A patch of land was found dead in United Australia. It was believed that the cause was forest fires but the Department of Environment is still perplexed why they were not able to detect it.
An active volcano in the Independent State of Hawaii that was expected to erupt in a few years suddenly become dormant. It is unknown what caused this.
The New Philippines government is looking for the perpetrator of the suspected individuals who might have used dynamite fishing after finding dead fishes and crumbling Corals in Palawan.
"Its full of bad news. Is it related to the people who suddenly disappeared?"
Kron put away his tablet then closed his eyes. He was trying to think about the good things that happened today to lessen the anxiety that he was feeling until he felt asleep. When midnight struck, Kron woke up inside a dream. Everything was so bright. There was no one else except him and a large double door in front of him.
"Are you really that hopeful?" A voice asked.
"Who is it?" Kron asked, looking around, confused.
"Your life has been hard. Losing your parents early. Getting bullied young. Don't you think that the world has been cruel to you?" The voice continued.
"How did you know that?" Kron replied.
"Then do you wish for this end? Do you want everything that caused you harm to disappear?"
"My life has been hard but-"
"You could end this all here." The voice interjected.
"Maybe but all you have mentioned are things of the past." Kron shouted.
"Why? Don't you want all your pain to go away? Do you still think you have a future?"
"I already planned to change myself---I even made new friends this year."
"Friends? Didn't your previous friend left you."
"It's not his choice!"
"Friends? Are you sure that they won't leave you like your previous friend did?"
"It's not his choice!"
"Oh are you sure about that? How about the person you admired?"
"The person I admire?"
"So you have no idea. Then nevermind, you don't have much time."
"I don't have much time?"
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"Do you want to save this world?"
"What are you saying?"
"Just answer me. Even after all your hardships, do you want to save this world?"
Kron stopped as if he was hesitating but after a few seconds, his mouth opened. "I do!"
"Even if things would not go your way?"
"Yes!"
"Even if you will face more hardships?"
"Yes! "
"Remember what you just said!" The voice said before it finally disappeared.
-----------------
When Kron opened his eyes, he found himself inside a vibrant forest. The trees themselves looked like a piece of art. Each tree grew leaves with a color in the spectrum of a rainbow. The barks themselves are like canvas splashed with paint. The rivers and lakes sparkle with clean water, reflecting the vivid sky. The sky shone with just the right brightness to be able to appreciate the forest. It was like living inside a paradisal painting. Kron wanted to be immersed more with his surroundings but the numerous shouts he heard suddenly broke his state of reverie.
"Please Help!" A high pitched shriek came from a far.
"Get out of the way!" A man shouted behind Kron, bumping him to the side.
Kron fell to the side of a tree. He then subconsciously looked at the place where the man just came. He saw two more people running towards him and they looked desperate. They were full of scratches and their clothes were not in a fine shape. The answer to his supposed to question came out before he could formulate it. There was a creature far behind them that he has never recognized before. No fur could be seen in its body but its body reflected a glossy shine. Its body was like a sculpture made from red and violet polished pebbles. Still, make no mistake, it was no statue. It has hooves and legs like a deer but its head was like that of a tiger. Its mouth was wide enough to swallow an apple whole and 4 sharp fangs that are perfectly spaced could be seen hanging from its upper mouth. It was currently not paying any attention to them as it kept biting on a dead body but it soon took a glance at him.
Kron was terrified. He immediately stood up and ran away from it. He has no time to think as he knew that it might be him next. He tried to ran as fast as he can, trying to stay ahead of the people behind him. Just as he conjectured, the creature suddenly roared loudly. It was still far but he knew that it would soon come after them. They needed to escape. Unfortunately, it seems that there was no end in sight and the trampling of the creature was slowly reaching their ears. The worst thing was they are starting to get tired. Soon, one of them would be needed to be sacrificed next.
"Thud." The woman behind him tripped down. It was most likely due to exhaustion. Kron thought that it was just expected as women are normally physically weaker than men. The other man near her only glanced momentarily but as he heard the ruffling in the forest, he started to run again.
Kron stopped. He stared at the woman in the ground and looking at her, it was still just a young person like him. His conscience was making him think twice but his logic is telling him to run which prevented him to do anything. Soon, the other man was able to catch up to him. Just like him, he was also a youth who is probably in the 17 to 20 age range.
"Leave her be if you want to survive!" The young man shouted as he run past him.
Kron was about to turn his back again until he heard the woman cry for help again.
"Please! Don't leave me! I still want to live!" She started wailing while forcing herself to crawl.
Kron suddenly thought back to his life where he was always bullied for being weak. He then remembered his dream yesterday.
"The change should start with me!" He told himself.
As fast as he could, he dashed back towards the girl. He supported her to stand and helped her walk. A few minutes later, they encountered an elevated ground with vines hanging on it.
"Can you climb?" Kron asked. The plateau was not that high. It is just approximately 3 to 4 meters high.
"I could try." The girl replied.
"I'll help you up." Kron said.
Kron then carried the girl and helped her stand on his shoulder which made him a little bit embarrassed. In this way, the girl only needed to climb a little bit which she successfully did.
Afterwards, Kron climbed the vines up and as soon as he was near the edge, the girl reached out for him. They then tried to catch their breath for a while but after hearing another roar, they stood up.
Kron looked for a safe place and helped the girl sit behind a tree. "Stay here!" He told the girl.
He then started to look around. He saw vines crawling around, tree branches of different thickness, plants with different properties and rocks of different sizes. Unfortunately, he has no information of anything around him so he just picked up stones he could carry comfortably and picked up two of the thickest branch that he could wield. He then sharpened the edges of the branch to make it more useful.
"Here use this to defend yourself." Kron gave the girl some of the stones and one of the branch, in case she needed to protect herself.
The girl was looking at him weirdly. She was thinking if Kron is actually planning to confront the creature head on. She wanted to stop him but she knew that he was doing this for her and this might actually be her chance to escape. She accepted the tools he gave her but she was pondering hard on what to do.
It didn't take long and the creature was finally able to caught up to them. It didn't gave Kron a chance to prepare for traps or make other weapons. He started shaking but it was not his first time facing someone stronger than him; This enabled him to keep himself calm. He knew that was he was planning was insane but he had no choice.
He just needed to pull the creature away from the woman. He looked down from the plateau and saw the creature growling. He started throwing the stones he collected. He was planning to scare it like some other animals. His attack slowed down the animal but it was not able to stop it. Instead, it was angered which is the opposite of what he wanted to do. It then bended its legs, preparing to jump up the elevated ground.
He picked up the spear that he made then he started to run away, using the forest as his cover but he understood that he won't be able to run far away. The creature was faster and probably knows the forest more than him.
The creature successfully climbed up the elevated ground and started maneuvering around the trees. Using its sense of smell, it was searching for Kron.
With no other choice left, he picked up the largest stone that he could find, looked for an open field and waited for the creature to attack. "I need to hit this or I'm dead!"
12 meters. 10 meters. 8 meters. The creature was closing in. He could already see its head behind the trees. There was no leeway for him to fail.
"Not yet. Just a few more." Kron wanted to throw it with just enough distance to ensure that the power and accuracy was enough. After all, the stone he was carrying was not that light.
6 meters. 4 meters. "Now!". He told himself. He has never done this before but his instincts are shouting at him to just do it.
Kron extended his right arm back like a baseball pitcher then threw it with the greatest strength that he could muster. "Bam!" It was a direct hit and its impact was even stronger than he imagined. It hit the creature straight in its face causing a crack in its pebble like skin. Afterwards, the creature dropped to the ground, howling in pain. He was stunned for a bit by his own performance but he knew that it was still alive.
"I need to finish it!" He held the thick sharp branch that he found earlier.
He then ran towards the lying creature. He raised his makeshift weapon above his head then brought it down as fast as he could. He was aiming for the crack in the creature's head. Alas, it didn't went as he expected. The creature who was in pain stopped its cries and moved its head. It was smart enough to try dodging it. The attack only glanced at the side of the creature's head and its tough skin was too much for the branch to actually make any significant damage. As it lay on the ground, the creature's leg also contracted then rotated its body. It then gave a sudden kick. Kron was sent flying until he hit a tree.
The creature slowly stood up. Its eyes glowing red with anger. On the other hand, Kron has broken some of his bones. His body was full of pain. He cannot understand how it could kick hard in that position. It was more flexible than he thought. The creature started moving towards him but its injury made it weaker than before. Kron desperately looked for stones around him and threw it at the creature but it was to no avail. He was not in a good position to fight.
The creature was preparing to attack again. The only thing left beside Kron was a long tree branch. It has a sharp edge but it was not thick enough. He could probably break it with his own hands.
"I have no choice." Kron knew that there was not much that he could do. He slowly stood up with the help of the tree behind him. "I don't know if this would work. If only it was something harder. But I doubt it would make a difference."
He was now preparing to skewer the creature with the branch using its own charge. But before the creature could get near Kron, three flying stones tied together flew towards it. It was a a makeshift bolas made with vines and stones. It hit the front limbs of the creature, binding it together. It made the creature lose balance and tumble.
At the same time, Kron felt another surge of power. It was even more potent than when he threw the large stone. He knew that this was his chance. He attacked the creature with the sharp branch. What he didn't notice was that he was not holding a simple branch anymore. He was wielding some sort of a metallic stick with a pointed end. With the strength that he just got, the weapon he is now wielding and combined with the creature losing balance, made the attack a success. The attack pierced straight through its cracked skin. The crack grew bigger and its head just shattered, leaving just its thick skull and the stick piercing it.
"Is it dead?" Kron exhaled as he then remembered the help that he got. He looked towards the tree on the left. It was the tree where he left the girl and the girl was leaning beside the tree, watching him. Her face was also full of shock. Either because she was able to hit the creature or because the creature is finally dead. She has seen how strong it was, specially when it already killed one of them. Kron wanted to thank her and she wanted to thank Kron but then they noticed something from a distance.
They saw 4 more of the same creature. One of them was even bigger than the others and it has antlers compared to the rest. Even with his new found strength, Kron knew that he was outmatched. Both he and the girl was scared as the creatures suddenly charged but their fear only lasted a moment. A large man appeared in front of Kron and 3 other people followed him. The large man faced one of the creatures head on and with a single punch, he shattered the whole body of the creature. Seeing one of them die, the remaining creatures turned around and ran back.
"Who are you?" Kron subconsciously asked.
"We can have introductions later. For now, you need to head to safety." The man ordered two of his men to escort Kron and the girl to safety.
He then looked at the dead creature beside him. "They were actually able to kill one."
"That's not uncommon is it? They must have awakened now." His subordinate said.
"Enhanced strength is normal but look at this." The large man pointed at the thin branch pierced on the skull. "A thin branch like this can't pierce that."
With a single flick from the man, the branch immediately broke into two.
"Then could he have already-" The subordinate paused, feeling surprised.
"Maybe or it could have been the girl." The man replied. "We should look for more survivors."