Broken Earth Kingdom. Capital of the kingdom, Flowing City. Cloud Cutter Castle. In a secret martial arts training hall.
Under the soft and warm light of hundreds of Luminous Spheres, two beautiful female humans stood facing each other. One seemed to be seventeen years old, and the other twenty five. However, their external appearances did not match their actual ages since both were cultivators of Complex Energy.
Rose Alch silently looked up at her mother, Angela Alch. There was shyness in her posture and fear in her clear green eyes. This could not be helped, after all, she was in front of The Broken Earth Kingdom's Queen, the publicly acknowledged strongest human of the world!
The aura such existence naturally exuded alone was enough to paralyze and suffocate entire armies of mad murderers and heartless fiends.
"Why are you interrupting my training?" A cold, emotionless voice asked.
Rose Alch shivered, shocked by how intimidating these simple words were when coming from her mother. Yet, she did not back off, instead, gathered all her courage, and said with a resolute and resounding voice: "I came here to request permission to go to the Land of Monsters."
*Clap*
Angela Alch's hand landed on her forehead, concealing her eyes. A faint smile that did not seem like a real smile at all appeared on her face. "Don't tell me, you cannot stand the pressure of your position as princess anymore, due to your weakness; and in the end, you've decided to throw away your life?"
"I-I know that the probability of dying there is very high, but being in a place where there is no Complex Energy and is full of dangers perhaps could help me to break through this bottleneck that has been keeping me powerless for the past twenty years." Rose Alch firmly clenched her small hands into fists, adding a shadow of red to her white skin.
After which, the hall turned silent.
As the seconds ticked by, Rose Alch bit by bit felt increasingly anxious and her heartbeats became faster and faster. Still, thanks to her well-trained Awakened Skill, her mother could not hear any sound coming out of her body.
Finally, Angela Alch turned around to give her back to her nervous daughter, and said in an enraged tone: "It's very clear to everyone that you’re laughably weak, but it seems like you're also severely stupid!" She, in less than an instant, turned her head to shoot with a single eye a hopping mad stare at Rose Alch and stated: "You're no longer worthy of the surname Alch. From now on, you’re no more Rose Alch but just Rose. Get out of here, and do whatever you want!"
Receiving such a sentence, Rose involuntarily breathed in a mouthful of cold air and remained completely motionless. Before coming, she had not had much hope in her mother giving her permission to leave. Unexpectedly, it happened now that, even if she did not want to anymore, she had to leave, and it would have to be forever.
However, after thinking about her situation just a bit more carefully, Rose heaved a silent sigh of relief, and could not help but raise the right end of her pink lips. To Rose, her freedom was a blessing, and not just any random blessing, but a very necessary one to someday be able to achieve her dreams.
"I understand... I'll immediately start to arrange my stuff. I'll leave tomorrow morning." At this point, Rose paused as hesitation flashed through her eyes. In the end, knowing that this could be her last chance to talk to the person in front of her, she decided to continue: "Mother, thank you. I promise that I'll always remember gratefully all you've done for me and everything you've given me."
Once the words left her mouth, determination shone through her entire body, and, unhurried, she walked out of the secret training hall.
Now unaccompanied, Angela Alch coolly settled down in the lotus position, closed her eyes, and began to train.
It was at this moment that the space around her abruptly became utterly chaotic. It expanded and contracted as if in the presence of thousands of black holes. In no time, there even appeared countless rifts, portals toward myriads of unknown places.
It was a spectacular and colorful sight the likes of which artists sought to bow down to!
However, a second later, all at once, the rifts closed, the colorfulness disappeared, and the entire space returned to its silent state.
*Sigh*…
Angela Alch let out a weak sigh as she opened her eyes, eyes now filled to the brim with sadness.
This woman who could dry seas and topple mountains as easily as turning her palm could not help but feel helpless and powerless facing this unavoidable fate.
It was time for her daughter to spread her wings and fly away.
Not finding any other way to get rid of this overflowing sensation of emptiness, she muttered: "My dear Rose, surpass yourself: the only one who can stop you. And remember, it doesn't matter what your dreams may be, you can outshine anyone who was before you, you can accomplish anything…"
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Southwestern Region of the Broken Earth Kingdom. The main port city of the kingdom, Blue City. In a private office.
There were dozens of bookshelves scattered around the room, making it look like a labyrinth. There were also many piles of books on the floor. And at the center, there was a big black wooden desk.
A little being that looked like a six-year-old girl was sitting at that big desk. She had long snow-white hair, almost down to her ankles. Her big eyes were silver in color; they along with her smooth, pale skin created the cutest face under the heavens.
Her name was Aly Blue.
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Right now, she was working diligently on a blueprint, drawing the design of an incredibly complex battleship. To the awe of anyone, the movements of her seemingly delicate hand were lightning-fast and had micrometer precision. It was completely correct to say that every machine designer engineer would refuse to believe that this level of mastery belonged to someone just fifteen years old.
Unfortunately, even though she was doing what she loved the most to do, in these dark hours, she appeared to be the saddest person in the whole world, her dejected expression vividly representing the premonition of a flood of sour tears.
And yet, only after completing her work did she put her pen down.
Then, still afflicted by such a gloomy mood, she walked toward the exit door.
But halfway through, all of a sudden, she felt dizzy and weak. Stumbling forward, she eventually fell.
*Punm*
A dull sound echoed out the moment her petite body hit the hard, cold floor.
Aly Blue bit down her lips so hard blood stained her perfectly white teeth. And as she began to whine in agony and despair, thick tears came bursting out of her now bloodshot eyes.
(I know! I know! This is the consequence of my own choices! But is there really no hope?! I am still too far away from reaching my aspiration, but I have just a few months remaining of life! What can I do with so little time?! It's just not enough! It doesn't even come close to be enough!) She inwardly screamed at unresponsive, indifferent deities.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
The northern border of the Broken Earth Kingdom. Lurep Village.
The morning's first rays of light flooded down through the only window of a poorly decorated room. They shone onto a trembling opened hand, on which lay a small glass vial half-filled with some yellowish liquid substance.
Suddenly, as the devil's soft and malevolent whispers, an ominous voice reverberated through the room: "Hehehe… I can't stop myself from shaking... It can't be helped, after all, very soon, I'll be able to tear his heart apart…! Hehehe… At that critical moment, I must control myself! I must not let out any moan of pleasure while feeling his bloody flesh in my hand! Otherwise, I'll be set up for big trouble…!"
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Somewhere. In a sealed room.
*Drip*... *drip*... *drip*...
Drops of blood constantly fell to the ground from a table which was glowing softly with a mystical dark blue light.
On this table there were thirty-seven swords, they also were emitting a mystical light, but this was white.
All of these fantastical swords were piercing the body of a naked male who looked like a human.
Some swords were nailed in his arms, others in his legs, and the rest of them in his trunk.
The face and body of this mysterious being seemed to be no more than eighteen years old. However, his abyssal deep violet eyes looked older, much older; not even the word 'ancient' could describe them right.
Oh, his eyes, so mature, so overly mature they had turned into two rotten things, so long ago… Oh, his eyes, unrivaled with others in their abilities to harbor loneliness, pain, sadness, melancholy... anger, and hatred… Oh, his eyes, always desperately shining with the light of something that had gone so far beyond the madness it became impossible to understand… Oh, his unreasonable eyes, those wise yet silly eyes… now the greatest at producing poets... and mesmerizing souls.
Without warning, the mysterious being closed his eyes, turning down most of the light and the beauty of the room. He then slowly began to breathe in oxygenless air. This simple action caused him to start bleeding like a fountain, but he did not stop. After a few seconds, just as he finished breathing in, his melodic voice resounded out:
"He comes crawling and solo
to barren the morrow
of its day and night,
to spare no soul
from the endless sorrow
and the somber night.
"There are no hopes,
no mercy remains
for nothing forestalls
the cruelest fates,
proof and witness was
his vain self-sacrifice.
"When the gentle sky bares its fangs,
all dreams shatter in its cracks
for madness, fear, and hate;
this is the immortal's fate:
to be the loneliest fiend
at world's final end."
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Cloud Cutter Castle. At the top of a high wall.
Two goblins were seeing Rose's silhouette becoming smaller and smaller into the distance.
"So it's true. Rose Al– No, I should say only Rose now, she has finally been discarded by her family because of her uselessness." A young voice said, in a mocking tone.
"It's like you said, young master Ben." This time, it was a mature voice. "*Sigh*... what a pity, to think that such a monstrous talent who shocked all the Four Great Families of the Broken Earth Kingdom has ended up in such a sorry state."
"Ha! Pity?! It was a gift from the heavens what stuck her at the First Level Basic Awaken stage! If she had continued to grow in strength at that rate back then, the enemy kingdoms would have acted and the delicate balance of the war would have been broken. That would have begun an all-out slaughter with a completely unpredictable outcome!" Annoyed, Ben rebuked his subordinate's light words.
"Young master's wisdom is what truly deserves to be called a gift from the heavens. Please, excuse me for speaking without thinking, young master Ben." The butler did not hesitate to acknowledge his mistake and seek forgiveness. He was very afraid of angering this young master of his.
Ben slowly nodded, satisfied with such bootlicking. After pondering his options for a while, he instructed: "Send Dani Zelu, tell him: Follow her from afar to avoid being noticed by any protector the queen might have sent." It was at this point that a sinister smile accentuated the ugliness of his green face and his black eyes flickered with malice. "If Rose has no protector, it'll be obvious that the queen has forsaken her. In that case, there won't be any problems if I kidnap her and turn her into my toy!"
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Walking toward the North Port of Flowing City, Rose marveled at how wonderful it felt to be free. Her mood was so great she even enjoyed the loud bustle caused by the civilized races and the domesticated monsters around her.
Never could she have guessed that to see all twelve civilized races strolling side by side in harmony on the wide streets of Flowing City could be this satisfying. Looking at each one of them, she thought: (Elf, elemental elf, war elf, human, shadow human, monster human, deliaf, goblin, dullahan, harpy, gargoyle, and gorgon. All of them!)
She did not know what kind of future the road ahead would lead her to nor did she know how many trials and tribulations she would have to face. To add it up, she was now alone against the world with just a backpack with three changes of clothes, some medicines, and a few blue coins.
But in spite of all of this, her built-up emotions made it hard for her to keep a slow pace, so much so she involuntarily began to speed up. And soon, she found herself running!
(There's no need for pretenses anymore!) Understanding this, she dismissed all of her unnecessary thoughts and started to run harder, to run faster and wilder than ever before.
As a dazzling smile bloomed on her beautiful face and her curly red hair danced freely in the wind, her heart pounded with enthusiasm, full of impatience to explore the world she had only seen in books and dreams.