Three full days after the incident.

All schools are closed, the freshmen lecture date has also been rescheduled… So the boy and his two pals had yet to wait a little bit longer to experience life as college students outside of the city. That's why Daniel can only be found daydreaming alone in his room.

It's not that he can't go out, but most people do prefer to stay indoors for some obvious reasons… Simply put, people just think of it as if there is another pandemic that must be avoided by just doing nothing… Or realistically, they are just terrified of all the horrible things that are now considerably more probable to happen to anyone out there.

The same goes for the boy as he lay with his eyes wide and his ears echoing the constant stream of news from his smartphone…

News that sounds just like a fictitious narrative which appears frightening, as most of it tends to be negative rather than the other way around… About how approximately half of the world's population has received gifts from hell. And it seems like the number is slowly increasing; because it turns out that the lightning still sometimes strikes at random times, at random locations. And it wasn't just the sword they got from that incident, but their bodies' average physical ability surprisingly appears to have grown, yet only a little.

Unfortunately it is hard to say exactly how much of an increase there was that could be observed… But the easiest thing to notice, of course, is from no one but the athletes; whose talents were always documented numerically. It is said that all those who were struck by the lightning, had an average rise of 5% from their prior records.

And lastly, is how the wounds that the people who had been chosen by the same lightning, have seem to be able to heal a little bit faster than the average human being and even leave no marks whatsoever; or rather to say, they can heal wounds perfectly to the point of not leaving any scars. Where it was quite hotly discussed, thus opening up speculation that those people might even be able to regenerate their own missing or damaged organs and limbs.

All of that information was clogging Daniel's brain, making him a little fed up. But he didn't want to disguise his envy for those who had been chosen, at least not from himself.

Whether it was indeed a gift from the devil, or it was a sign of the end of the world itself, one thing he understood was that those who were chosen were now far much cooler than he could ever be. “And those dudes' swords are insanely beautiful, I just want it!” Daniel mopes to himself while envisioning the blade in his hand, which he hoists into the air.

Until slowly the arm began to lose its balance, bobbing and then giving up; as Daniel fell asleep soundly with the news broadcast on his smartphone still running.

Yet the previous day's issue becomes the topic of tomorrow.

One thing about the thunderstorm stacked on top of another newer fact, just how time flies as the days grow into weeks…

~~~~~

There was a noise that began to obstruct one's dream…

It sounded like a doorbell at first. But a few seconds later, the entrance was firmly banged many times; accompanied by even more sound of the bell…

Blonde hair, towering body, blue eyes in his forties… On a bed decked with colorful hawk and octopus knick-knacks, the guy awoke with his arms around a tiny girl. As the size of the bed itself was quite small for the man to fit in, he just sat on the floor with his head resting on his arm on top of the adorable little girl’s bed.

Then the man squeezed his brow to regain full awareness before his gaze dropped on his sleeping daughter's face… He smiled, stroking the long hair of her before then stood up, leaving the room closed.

~~~~~

The front house door was slightly ajar…

He looked around to see who had awakened him up. But his expression showed that he already knew who he was about to meet outside.

~~~~~

“I'm sorry to hear of your daughter's death.”

The white-haired old guy in his old-fashioned black suit was standing right in front of the dining room's glass wall… He offered his sympathies to the man who was facing away from him. Who was sitting casually, staring into his coffee cup waiting for the guest to begin a phrase that would explain why he had come to his private residence… As the lack of time he seemed to commit to a pointless topic, was the reason he did not respond to the condolences he had just received.

“Alright then…”

The old guy could be heard sighing, having given up on chatting to him in the manner of an old friend… So he had no other choice but to act as a colleague. As he continued his words, where he said, “I assume you already know about what happened to the head of the PEB two days ago…”

“Did they put me in charge of the investigation?”

“Investigation? No… Aubert, was found dead in a car accident… that's all there is to it. But this tends to be more related to his position. They're having a meeting, and apparently you were invited.”

“Why all of the sudden? Is it because of this stupid magic power in my hand?”

The homeowner appeared to be dissatisfied; he remained silent after that question he just gave for only a minute before finally continuing to complain as if he wasn't afraid of his own words, where he said, “Just a few days ago they even seemed serious about the excommunication, or even making me a research subject for the same stupid reason… So what is their purpose now?”

“The big table members wanted to try something new… Someone gave them an idea. And in my personal opinion, I believe you will agree with their decision at least just this one. Even better, you've been assigned to a key position, my friend. So why don't you try attending the meeting first? Find what fascinates you and most importantly, avoid making enemies of people like them. I mean, you know it better than me, so…” The old man's wrinkled hands thrust a large envelope onto the dining table as he finished his words. Walked for a while, away from the man with his coffee cup, where he Silently sighed; anxious about what he had done to his own friend.

So even though he knew that what he was about to say was not allowed to be said, the words still came out of the old guy’s mouth.

“Edward. Of all the people I know, and with all the terrible things we've done to fix this cruel world… You've suffered enough, my friend. So don't be afraid to do what you need to do for yourself. You deserve not to feel guilty.”

The man he was referring to, Edward, appeared to be deep in contemplation as his guest closed the front door so silently that it made no sound. Leaving him with wishful thinking and some kind of glimmer… Perhaps a hope for something he may actually get from the hands of those who arbitrarily controlled his life and death, the ones who may have planned something even more detrimental to himself. But even a glimpse of hope was more than enough for a guy like him to prove whether a second chance is indeed something he truly deserves.

So he then decided to make a bold decision.

~~~~~~

“No, you just don’t get it! I've even heard that some of them can emit fire from their palms and there's this video! Wait a minute… I'll send the link.”

“Deo, control yourself, you freak… Could you please ask your friend to be quiet for a moment, Daniel? Unless you two have stories that are a little more interesting for a girl like me to hear… Something that is not related to anime, games and Deo’s stupid conspiracies.”

“Yeah… I've also heard the exact same gossip from my sister already, so the topic doesn't interest me that much anymore. And I've seen the video, Deo. It's all just CGI, I’m telling you.” Daniel's half-conscious reply was made… Whose hand at the moment was also swiping a pencil over the paper, features a drawing of a magical sword that remains popular after a month has passed.

While near the same hand, lying on the table, was his beloved smartphone on the screen of which there was an app showing three boxes with their names written on, as well as three little circles to the left of each, One of which has a picture of a cute red butterfly made out of fire. Meanwhile the other two respectively contain a drawing of an antique pocket watch; and a black cross which is Daniel’s own profile picture.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

It was a group voice chat app that the three of them had recently been using to communicate from their own different places… Though in reality, the majority of the time they spend on the app is just for listening to news whose truth is still unknown, as well as conspiracy theories which is not unexpected, given that they all emanate from who else but Deo, the all-hearing wanna be.

~~~~~

Whether it is human nature to change the details of a story after having it from one mouth to another, whether all of those stories have been made up from the start to attract people's attention, it seems that Daniel and Fanya are just the type of people who are immune to believing anything straight away. Or maybe they're just used to their friend, Deo, who is always talking about hoaxes and conspiracies… Or they actually believe to some extent, but are just trying to play calm for their own sanity. Leaving Deo alone who struggled to convince the two others to express their own concerns about the world and the future.

“But seriously, how can you not be worried by that stuff!? Okay… Then how about the news of the PEB bureau being disbanded the day after its chairman died mysteriously? You know that it's the world’s emergency bureau that's supposed to be in charge of securing the entire world after the thunderstorm, right? Which they failed miserably! Have you ever asked yourself why? I'm telling you, man… There is something bigger than just a magic sword that they are facing and no other explanation other than that!”

“I don't even want to lie, but I have zero knowledge about politics, buddy… I don't even know who WHO is, and what's a bureau to begin with. And are you sure, Deo? If you reveal too much to us, the Illuminati will come after you and we don't want that to happen, do we? You are our beloved friend after all.”

“Oh, you shut up… We don't even have to go far to discuss something international, take Our City Jail on Top of the Hill as an example. I'm sure you've heard at least once, that up until now, not even a single inmate who escaped from there has been brought back to their cells! Matter of fact, even the police were still unsure whether risking their lives just to look for them would be worthwhile or not.”

And Deo eventually succeeded…

The sound of the pencil scratching came to a halt as Daniel appeared to be interested in what the boy was talking. “Like all of them escaped?” He tried to confirm.

“Wait. So you really never heard of it? Well… I mean not all of them. But those who remained in prison were mostly those who were not carriers anyway.”

“Carrier? They have a title now?”

“Dude! That's something I've mentioned three times already!”

“Nah… You simply sound boring.” Fanya cut the two of them off in their talk as if she believed that Daniel and her were on the same side all along. But what she discovered was only the boy who remained silent long enough to cause her concern, so then she called his name.

“Daniel?”

“Huh? Yeah, I’m here… I just suddenly felt a bit sleepy, thanks to you, Deo.”

Daniel's response came as if he didn't even care about what his friend had just confirmed about the jailbreak, yet the boy’s palms were wet with sweat.

Forcing him to close the sketching book, then he threw it on the table as he daydreamed; attempting to shift his focus away from what was bothering his own peace of mind.

Until the echoes from the past, a woman's voice returned the boy to discomfort…

~~~~~

“I know how unjust that feels to you, Daniel… But your father, like everyone else, is only a human being and nothing more.”

“So don't hold it against him, or anyone for everything terrible that happens to you…”

“After all, you have no idea how devastated we are over such a cruel incident.”

“You just have to accept that you are the result of suffering.”

“And take my advice… Live with it, get used to it. I don't really care how, but if you don't want to suffer even more, that's the only way to go.”

His eyes seemed to be starting to open with the twilight color covering his skin. Perhaps he awoke due to the sound of his phone dropping to the floor from above his wooden study table, but he knew it wasn't because of any spirit being's malicious acts. Instead, it’s simply caused by the vibrations of numerous incoming calls that happened for a very long time, to the point of being able to move the object itself even past the edge of the table surface.

So he then propped himself up from the bed, grabbed his smartphone, watching how the night slowly approached as he managed to correctly guess the name of the person who had been trying to contact him while he was fast asleep.

“Sorry sis…” Daniel sighed as he realized a new crack was appearing on his smartphone screen, which may also explain why he couldn't contact his elder sister back with the thing that was unresponsive to his own finger's touch, whatsoever.

“But why am I still sticking with this damned smartphone, anyway… I mean, this thing can only bring me pain, now that I'm aware of it.”

The boy complained to who knows who, which somehow reminded him of the reason why he fell asleep in the first place. When he realized that the voices in his head had ceased plaguing him, moments after waking up, indeed... Yet he didn't appear relieved, not even a bit, since he still wanted something to help make him forget. As well as to make the boy feel somewhat less terrible for not contacting his elder sister back, because the circumstances actually prevented him from using the smartphone.

And this, only resulted in a hasty choice that he would make, where he said, “Fine. Maybe a problem or two won't hurt.”

Nevertheless it wasn't that hard for anyone to guess, for he surely went nowhere but to the internet café he hadn't visited in a month at the time.

~~~~~

Probably about eight o'clock in the evening… As supposedly, the streets were silent since the little town's neighborhood had been subjected to a curfew.

“I recall hearing on the news that this city had been classified as a safe zone.”

Unfortunately, what Daniel stated in his head did not match everything he had just missed while walking… Specifically multiple deep scratch marks on the building's walls and walkway flooring. No blood or even traces of a fight, but more towards people who are always amazed by the prowess of their own magical sword, to the point that destroying something with it becomes unbearable.

“Compared to what I've heard about the neighboring cities, I mean what's the worst that could happen to me?”

His idiotic thoughts persisted till he was directly in front of the internet cafe. While when he entered the building, the operator who had looked quite wary from the start, was suddenly surprised to see yet another familiar face enter the area which seemed to tempt even himself to run away.

“Are you also a carrier?”

The operator appeared to regret his own question when he handed the recipe paper to Daniel, who then widened his eyes a moment after the boy shook his head.

“Then why do you still dare to come!?” The man whispered irritably…

Especially after seeing Daniel smirk bitterly as he walked past him further into the dark space; the boy also bowed his head politely when he had to pass through a tight gap between juvenile delinquents who were leisurely filling the no-smoking room with cigarette smoke as well as their strong alcohol scent… At least Daniel didn't seem to be bothered by it, because he still switched the computer on and still launched the gaming program as he always did every time he went to that place.

Then the boy shook his smartphone, whose screen was frozen as usual… Meaning to notify his buddy Deo in case he wished to join. Where he struggled against the cracked screen as the vacant chair beside him seemed to have been filled by someone.

“Oh? It’s you!”

Daniel turned his labored gaze towards the source of the voice. It was the man who had talked to him before, on the day of the panic, shortly after the fracture in the sky disappeared and the thunderstorm had ended…

“Eh? So you're a real person?!”

“Come again?”

Daniel refused to explain to the man that up until now, he really thought he was just talking to his own imaginary friend back there… Something that he suspected might have been caused by stress and panic after the incident, which of course, was even stranger if he actually thought that way… So at the very least, as a final conclusion, Daniel just probably didn't even care to remember anything about those past events, which prompted his brain to have a bit of a scramble to sort out what information was real and what wasn't.

“Sorry for not having the chance to say it before, but… Thank you for that time you helped me get back on my feet.” Aimless speech; still it was truly Daniel's first instinct to express his own gratitude, as well as a small reparation for what he had just falsely accused him of.

Just how the boy's expression was likewise welcoming and filled with warmth; though a few seconds later, the same person could be seen plainly holding back a cough due to the cigarette smoke that had just traveled through his face and the man in front of Daniel, who could only fake a smile, talking while trying to appear oblivious to the disturbance they were receiving from the people sitting behind them.

As he said, “What are you apologizing for? I just did what I had to do, and that’s just it. Nothing more.” Then he chuckled.

Till the end, the two of them just persisted repeating themselves, trying to argue and force the other side to accept their respective appreciation, only before Daniel's mobile phone rang from an incoming call, a situation which the kid had been waiting for a very long time as an excuse to end their conversation.

~~~~~

“Did you just say that you were out of the house?! At an Internet cafe… That one internet cafe?!”

“Hell yeah!”

“Oh god… I never knew you were that stupid. Fanya will kill you if you still make it back alive, you idiot! There are too many conflicts out there, Daniel… Especially since you went late at night. Have you not heard that the place has now become a hangout for gangsters?”

“Oh… So these people behind me are gangsters?”

For a brief while, the sound from the smartphone was deafeningly quiet, since Deo appeared to lose his sanity the more he spoke with the boy, before then deciding on the best answer to the matter.

He said, “That’s it… I’m telling Fanya about this. I don't care if you wind up dying in that girl's hands or someone else, but that will all be your problem, mate. Not mine.”

“Oh Deo, you poor thing… Like, why are you always scared of such a weak, short girl like Fanya? I mean, seriously, what could she have done to make us cry anyway?”

It was clear how Daniel's voice sounded increasingly shaky the more he dared to utter his nonsense, until the moment came for Deo to give his friend the ultimate shove to tear down his pride when he said it over the phone, “You're the one she's going to kill, so you tell me!”

“Deo, listen… That just doesn't make any sense. How can I tell you if I'm dead?”

“Enough with your jokes… I’ll tell Fanya, Daniel. I swear to god, I’ll tell her after you hang up the phone.”

“Aight… No need to be a sissy now. I’m going home, you hear? Thank you for nothing, by the way. Really appreciate it!”

Daniel pushed his chair irritably, attempting to rise up with an unspoken sense of disappointment that he had towards his best friend. However, something keeping the chair from sliding backwards, led it to collapse instead, hitting the back of one of the gangsters' hands… Which happened to be holding a bottle of liquor.

The sound of breaking glass froze the entire room. Everyone's gaze fell to the puddle of alcohol on the floor, for only less than a second before then moving to where Daniel was standing.

~~~~~