The sky is full of bloody clouds and the rain started to pour. Its as if the sky has been murdered and it is crying for help.
At the middle of nowhere, a woman is running for her life and a masked man is chasing after her.
Run.
She continued running even though she was already out of breath. She run faster but its no use. Running is useless. She is catching her breath, but she still focused on the muddy trail ahead of her.
Her throat tightened; she was filled with fear and anxiety running away from the person chasing her.
"Just stop running already Alicia." She heard his voice and it is now getting closer and closer.
"Its no use! He will definitely catch up with me..." she shouted on her mind.
*boogsh
She lost her balance and fell onto the muddy trail. Covered with bruises and dirt, she tried to stand but her hair was grabbed from behind.
"Ahh! S-stop!"
She started screaming for help but she was welcomed with a slap.
"You just need to tell me where she is and I'll let you live."
She shook her head furiously and refused to speak. Whatever happens she will never let her be in danger.
" I...I would... rather.. d-die.."
"Useless brat. Don't worry, I'll grant your wish." He took out a knife and stab her directly in the heart.
"I know you're invincible to knives but I specially created this for you. I'll let your friends follow you in the afterlife." He said before leaving her fighting for her last breath.
"H...h..help.. m...me." she close her eyes and uttered. Pain and sorrow visible in her voice.
"Why are you so weak Alicia?"
Alicia knew this cold voice. She slowly opened her eyes and she saw a woman standing in front of her. She is wearing a black dress, blood red hair and her feet is not touching the ground.
"That knife has a poison. You're too careless, Alicia."
Alicia really started to feel numb and her surroundings started to turn black.
'Help me..' she shouted in her mind.
"P...pr..tect.. f... en..s.."
She gathered all her remaining strength to utter her last words before she lost her breath.
"They are the reason why you are in this situation and yet you still want to protect them? Why Alicia? Why did you chose them over me but you're seeking help to me? Aren't you afraid that I'll kill them? Are they really worth your last breath for?"
She touch her left cheek when she felt something from it.
"Why are my eyes sweating?"
She wiped the sweat from her eyes and glared at Alicia's dead body.
"What a selfish woman you are, Alicia. But Im more selfish than you. Do you really think I'll let you die and pass all your burden to me?"
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Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn Uranus and Neptune.
There are 8 planets in the solar system but will you believe it if I say that there is a 9th planet? Nope, it is not Pluto.
Vearth. That is the name of the planet in between Earth and Mars, having its own orbit and has the same appearance, size, time, day and year in Earth. It has 4 continents and one of them is Atlantica with 7 kingdoms and 30 countries.
How arrogant earthlings can be to think that they are the only beings in the universe? They only tend to believe what their naked eyes can see.
It remained undiscovered because it is not something a normal human can see even with their advance technology. It is not something ignorant people are allowed to see.
Only special people have the ability to see this and when I say special, what I meant is people with magical abilities called mages.
Mages are what you call to someone that possess abilities, or should I say in layman's term, power. Sounds like something that came from a fantasy book no? Well, that's obvious 'cause this is a fantasy book.
The ability that a mage possesses is the one that they are born with. There are four major elements in the world: fire, water, wind, and earth. All other magical ability are derived from these four. For examples, Smoke Magic is a branch of the wind attribute, and ice from the water attribute.
In Vearth, magic is everything and what we needed in our daily lives. It is also considered as a person's source of life. Even an ounce of magic is crucial to a Vertian, because if you run out of magic, you will die and turn to ashes. And also, a Vertian has a mana core inside their body. That is where their magical attributes came from. Once that mana core is destroyed, you will be dead. The mana core is distinguished in 6 different colors and from the weakest is black -> red -> orange -> yellow -> silver -> white, and each color is divided into dark, solid and light stages.
"We are now entering the town of Seria." I came back to reality as soon as I heard that.
Seria is one of the cities in Atlantica, it is near the center of the continent with the most tourists and visitors every year.
I looked outside the window of the car when we finally reached the town. Too many cars outside, tall buildings, houses, restaurants and malls. What a prosperous city, unlike the city where I came from. This place... is noisy. This is a place that I least wanted to go because of the crowd.
The car stopped at a parking space in front of a shopping mall. My brother took off his seatbelts and got out of the car.
"I'll buy something. If you want to stroll, you're free. Just come back here after an hour." I just rolled my eyes at him. I can do whatever I want to and I am too lazy to go out.
It's been 15 minutes since he's out and I'm getting bored just scrolling on my phone. When I look outside the window, a familiar figure pass by our car. An idea came on my mind just now so I too, stepped out of the car to call him but he's gone. I tsk-ed and went to the direction where the familiar figure go just now. I don't know where he is but maybe if I'll follow this direction, I'll bump into him eventually. I observed the surroundings as I walk. What a busy street this is. There are vendors at the side of the road.. mana powered vehicles.. food stalls.. so many to mention but a familiar place captured my attention.. its door bursts open and 3 students walked out, laughing. They are wearing a familiar uniform. Tch elites.
My feet walk on its own towards the coffee shop and push the glass door. Ahh.. what a familiar scent of coffee.
"Hello, welcome to Sandie's," a woman in her 30's smiled at me as if she doesn't recognized me but her eyes says the opposite.. "do you want to read or drink coffee, or read while drinking coffee?"
"Hello, I wanna read while drinking." I smiled back. "One Iced Americano, a yema cake and a créma de fruta." After she left me to get my order, I walked directly towards the shelves. I took a book and brought it on a table that I've chosen.
Ahh, lucky. The shop is packed with costumers but I managed to find myself a seat at the back as far away from everyone else possible.
I hate it when I went out in public and the public is actually really there. It's uncomfortable to join a crowd. Only after I sat down and was about to open the book I chose, ready to expertly treat everyone invisible, that I realized that there is someone sitting across, facing me, arms crossed and dressed in a red hoodie and a sweatpants. He looked like someone that didn't get a good night's sleep or someone doesn't said goodnight to him, maybe.
I didn't realize that I was staring until a pair pf blazing red eyes met mine, followed by the hottest glare- let me rephrase it.. what I meant is the harshest glare I ever received in my whole life. Well, that's hot tho. His coffee I mean.
He was still staring at me and raised an eyebrow as if he was asking "Why the hell are you staring me?" uhh that's just what I concluded by the way he stares. He continued to do that with that stoic expression then I wondered why was he staring at me? I almost conclude that maybe he liked me but then I remembered that I was the one that stared first. You're an embarassment to the family!
I came back to my senses when my order came and it was still the woman that took my order.
"Enjoy!" she forced a smile and looked at me with longing in her eyes, or I think it is just my imagination.
I ignored it and as soon as she left, I started eating the food and I finish it in only 5 seconds. That's how hungry I was. I took a sip.. uhh I think it's the wrong term again. I took a gulped on my coffee, halfway on almost finishing it. I think I'mma need more, this won't satisfy me, but maybe later I'll get two more.
I tried to focus as best as I could while reading but I can't because a pair of red eyes has fixed it's gaze on me. I looked up only to meet a pair of red eyes. Uncomfortable, I lower my head again and continued reading but I really can't focus on anything right now. I can't even understand what I am reading so I glanced over again.. he was still staring at me but this time.. that stoic expression he had earlier was gone and was replaced by an amused one. It really made me uncomfortable.. that's understandable if someone as handsome as him is staring at me.
I was disturbed when my phone vibrated from my pocket. I took it out and I saw a text message from my brother.
'Do you want a bracelet or a necklace?'
I rolled my eyes as I type a reply. 'A necklace, so I could strangle you with it.'
Sent. I really wanna strangle him everytime I see him. His voice and loud mouth is annoying, even his breath is annoying. Just everything about him annoys me. I put my phone back and gulped again on my Americano but the moment I looked up, the man in front of me wasn't there anymore. Disappointing. Frustating. It frustates me. I was just about to ask for his name!
Sighing, I took out my wallet and put bills on the table before going out, keep the change.
Somehow, I lost my appetite and I don't want to buy another coffee again.
Where did that man go? He just vanished into thin air.. did he teleport or something? I continued walking until I reached an alleyway wherein not a lot of people is walking. Ahh.. just when I thought of peace, I saw a bunch of students ahead of me, in the middle of the way. They are the students I saw at the café earlier and in front of them is a kid around my age, slumped on the cold floor and crying. Hah. Are they bullying her?
Whatever, I have nothing to do with them and I don't wanna get caught up in this childish plays. I'll just ignore them and walk off, is what I said in the back of my mind but.. they are on my way, so I can't. I looked around and saw passersby ignoring the scene as if it was nothing new. Others also went the other way for the sake of not getting caught up in the situation.
Fcking cowards.