Dark clouds covered the night sky. The clouds were the kind of grey that would make any quarry rock proud as if they were so pleased to echo the earth.

They rumbled with lightning flashes once in a while. The winds were also picking up and a storm was approaching.

In a narrow street of a small city known as Worlen, a shivering child laid on bare cold stone. He was lying in a fetal position, his arms hugging himself tightly.

The child's head rested on a small cloth bag.

He was shivering badly and sweating. If someone had been present there and had put the backside of his hand on the child's forehead, he would have found it burning hot.

This was Jacob. After he had the sudden realization of having no home anymore, he started wandering the streets aimlessly.

Initially, he had decided to search for work in an inn to solve his problem of taking refuge. But the incident took place and his pouch got stolen by a thief.

After that, the rest of the day passed in a blur due to sadness and loss. He forgot about the matter of finding an inn as a refuge altogether.

After his sudden realization a few hours ago, he quickly thought of different ways in order to find a roof over his head but they were all unfeasible. He could ask for help from his employer, Algo. But they had already done so much for him. He could not overburden them.

He knew that they would accept his request for refuge. They were nice people after all. But it was too much to ask from some strangers he met barely a day ago. This was akin to begging and he would not disgrace his mother with this.

He could go search for a job in the nearby inns. But he knew that the time of seeking employment had long passed with the evening. They would not employ him at that time of the day except if he begged. But he would never do it.

He would rather die than beg someone for help. That was against the teachings of his mother. He was an upright independent person. He would never beg anyone for help. That was a sign of weakness and was disgraceful to the core at that.

As for renting a room in an inn, that was impossible. The cheapest room in an inn required more than one bronze coin in order to be rented for a night. He only had one bronze coin in his possession. He was dirt poor right now.

He could also not return to the clan. He had made a decision and would never backtrack.

After thinking about all that, he started wandering the streets aimlessly. He had no destination in his mind. The only choice he had was to sleep on the streets with no roof over his head. But he wanted to delay that, hopeful that he would find a way out.

Unfortunately, his delay was all for nought and no way out came. Instead, he had caught a common cold and his nose became runny. His throat also went sore.

After that, he resorted to searching for a suitable narrow street to spend his night. After some time, he found a suitable spot and laid down. Night had already come by that time.

He tried to sleep but could not do so due to the hard cold cobblestone under him instead of a soft bed stuffed with hay. In addition to that, he was also sick. As a result, he could not fall asleep. Soon he started feeling too much cold.

Jacob could not help but shiver due to the unbearable cold he was suffering from. The cold was also increasing with time and winds were starting to pick up.

He could see light flashes and hear rumbles in the dark sky above him. There was a high chance that it would rain.

As Jacob lied in his fetal position shivering due to his fever, his thoughts slowly sank into an abyss of depression and self-blame. He picked up the self-blaming thoughts that he had left alone earlier due to being interrupted this morning due to that kind merchant.

Truly. What a fool I am. Did I really think that others would not steal or kill just because I abhor it? Haha. What foolishness. He started laughing self-depreciatingly and self-mockingly. After a few seconds, he stopped doing that and started sobbing softly.

Mother. Forgive me. I am unworthy of your love and hard work. Please forgive me. I am unworthy of everything you did for me. I am so naive. What a trash I am. What sects and adventures? What flying in the skies? It is pure nonsense. I deserve to die instead. His thoughts started becoming darker and darker. His state of mind was slowly headed towards a threshold of no return.

He was thinking about how he had wasted his mother's money by a stroke of foolishness and ignorance. He started considering himself unworthy of the hard work Rosa had put in for him. He also started belittling himself to the lowest levels in his mind.

I was so happy just a few months ago. Maybe not that much after mother's departure. But I was slowly improving. Now, I have lost everything. Just what did I do to deserve this? Why is this world so cruel to me? It is as if the entire world is against me and my happiness.

A few minutes after wallowing in his misery, Jacob started shifting the blame toward the world slowly. His mind had started turning to the dark side gradually.

The dark side of humanity was also rearing its head in his mind with great splendour. The ugliness of humanity was slowly spreading throughout his subconscious. It was slowly putting all of its trump cards on the table one by one.

It knew that it was now or never. It thought that the good was lying somewhere in a dark corner of the subconscious, choking on its spit and dying, diseased and infected.

Such were its vile thoughts. It was evil after all. It thought that even if the good was biding its time and was about to strike back, it still had a final trump card and a very strong one at that. It struck when the iron was still hot.

Those two. It was them. It was them who took everything from me. What did I do to them to deserve all this? Just because their parents could not control them, I have to suffer now. What about their parents? Don't they have to suffer for what they did to me? Or were those two acting according to the will of their parents.

Jacob's expressions twisted with hatred and anger due to the injustice and hardship he was suffering from.

Stolen novel; please report.

This was the final trump card of the evil side of his subconscious. And it was proving extremely effective so far.

Doesn't it mean that both of their parents are responsible for this? Same for Rokas. Couldn't he teach James how to control his sons? All of them are guilty. What a fool I am. It is not me who deserves to die. It is them. They all deserve to die. I will kill them all. How dare they promote evil? I will also kill that thief for taking away my future. I will also kill his parents and grandparents. I will annihilate them all. I will destroy all the evil of this world.

Jacob's expression twisted further and the hate in his mind for the world and its inhabitants reached unprecedented levels. He was bordering a state of frenzy.

The evil thoughts in his mind escalated in a matter of minutes. He was on the verge of becoming a vengeful ghost whose only purpose was revenge and destruction.

Due to the youngness of his mind and suffering life-changing tragedies one after another in a span of a few months, his mental state had become unstable. He had also implicated the innocent in his hit list.

He had limited knowledge and limited experience. He was again assuming things just like he did in the clan when thinking about the causes of the attack. He was about to turn into a vengeful devil whose only purpose in life would be killing people along with their ancestors due to slight injustice or evil.

Jacob was maturing himself rapidly in a span of a few days. That was extremely damaging to his mind. The tragedies he had suffered were not light. A few months ago, he lost the only person he had in this world.

Even the old experienced people cried after losing their loved ones. Some of them didn't even recover from that and just waited for their miserable existence to end.

Similarly, an attempt at one's life was also not a light thing, especially at such a young age. Most of the population did not even suffer from that in its lifetime.

It was quite traumatic and had the capability of changing one's personality and mindset. One could become a coward. Similarly, one could also become paranoid.

Losing one's future due to someone's greed was tragic in its league. One second you are happy and hopeful, the next, you have nothing left and everything is gone. It was hopelessness and a bleak future after that.

This tragedy was very special and needed a unique mindset to recover from. Otherwise, the affected would become a husk waiting for death with no motivation at all.

Jacob was at a crossroads now. One path led to a life of slaughter and villainy. The other path led to a life of adventure and compassion. The path of villainy looked wide and open. It was clean and had nothing to impede him.

The other path looked very narrow and thin. It was full of thorns to impede his path. He had to choose now. His choice now would decide what type of life he would have in the future. The evil path looked so easy and fulfilling now. He could choose the life of revenge and death easily.

He may be able to return to the same crossroads in the future and choose the other path. But the damage would already have been done by then. And it would weigh on his mind until the end.

Metaphorically, if his subconscious was considered a green forest of vitality, the evil feelings like hate, anger, and cruelty were like dark monstrosities of corruption, decay and death. Wherever they passed from, they converted all the greenery into a corrupted land of death and decay

They were slowly corrupting the green forest of Jacob's subconscious. They were more than halfway in their evil purpose. They wanted the entire forest to become corrupt and wanted a villain to be born. A ruthless being of corruption and death that would annihilate entire nations for his goals.

It was at that time that something awakened in Jacob. It was at that time when the good side struck. It struck with such extreme force that all the evil along with their corruption got annihilated in a matter of seconds.

A tsunami of light emerged from the uncorrupted part of the forest and washed away all the corruption along with the monstrosities in its path. The tsunami of light had many faces on it.

In those faces were the faces of the servants and friends Jacob knew in the clan. They also included the faces of Algo and Algin. The biggest face that could be seen was the smiling face of his mother.

It was a tsunami of good and kindness. It was vitality itself. Wherever it passed, the decayed or dead trees and plants came alive with vibrant vitality. Even the uncorrupted part of the forest became much more vibrant and green than before. Just as the tsunami was destroying those vile abominations, good thoughts started coming into Jacob's mind and they picked up force very quickly.

It was as if a small pebble thrown from the peak of a snow mountain snowballed into an unstable avalanche in the blink of an eye.

But I am still well. I still have time. I have not lost everything. I still have hands and feet. And most importantly I still have my head over my shoulders. Mother had always taught me to never give up. Should I give up now due to some people? Never. It is a sign of cowards and lazy people. I am none of those. Jacob's twisted expression slowly softened and his anger cooled down.

So what if those people beat me or steal from me? It isn't the end of the world. And why am I blaming Rokas and James for this? What has gotten into me?

No idea about James but Rokas is a nice person. How can he be a part of this? If he was such a bad person, wouldn't have mother left him a long time ago? He even came to visit me a few times. The same could not be said for James but I have never heard about any of his wrongdoings from others. I should not blame others without any proof.

As for those two, they already got a strict punishment from their father. I should refrain from blaming the parents for what their children did from now on. Unless they have an active role in it. Silly me.

Bad people exist everywhere. Good and bad are the two sides of a coin according to mother. Where there is light, there is darkness. Good and bad exist everywhere. Just like uncle Algo and his son. They are so nice to me. Opposing them is the thief that stole the money from me. Same for my mother and other uncles and aunties in the clan. And my friends. Aren't they all good to me? Opposing them are those two dimwits who attacked me.

By now, Jacob's face was no longer twisted. It was relaxed. Soon, a small smile blossomed on his face as he kept thinking about good things. Little did those good people know that their show of warmth and compassion to a troubled orphan in his times of need would save them from utter annihilation in the future.

I should not lose my cool over a bunch of bad people. This is below me and my teachings. It is we who decide the state of the world. I cannot be like those people who have perverted their nature due to hate and greed. I cannot be a disgrace to my mother. I have to chase my dreams just like she said. Her will is my command.

Thinking about his mother, Jacob's smile widened and the past scenes of him and Rosa being together passed through his mind.

I must search for an inn tomorrow morning. It is too uncomfortable here. I cannot even fall asleep. And this runny nose, annoying. Ah, it is too cold. I should have brought the blankets. But they wouldn't have fit into the small bag easily. Even if I had somehow put one of them into my bag, my plan would have been busted right at the gates.

The blankets would have expanded the cloth bag to the limit due to their large volume. So it was a big no for Jacob when he was putting his things into his bag.

As for how to earn my money back, I would think about that in the future. I have to find an inn first. I am earning one bronze coin daily. I will try searching for better jobs where I am truly needed after a few days. I can not put the burden on uncle Algo any longer than a few days. After thinking about his short-term goals, he tried to fall asleep.

Even after a few minutes of shifting back and forth in his fetal position, he still could not fall asleep. Gah. Why can't I fall asleep? I cannot even swallow now. It hurts.

The winds were very strong now. And the lightning flashes in the dark sky were increasing in frequency. After every four or five seconds, a loud thunderclap could be heard. It was not helping Jacob in his little quest of falling into sleep either.

Soon, the first raindrop hit the ground and it started drizzling.

Great. It is raining now. Here goes my hope of getting a nap for tonight. Looks like I will have to stay awake tonight. As the first drops of rain fell on Jacob, he thought with an annoyed expression.

Little did he know that he would not survive the night if nothing is done to his current state. He was having a fever and was losing his body heat quickly due to cold and rain. As a child, his sense of survival in nature was not that great.

After a few minutes the drizzle turned into heavy rain and Jacob lost his consciousness.