n

n

n“AT LEAST SHE’S STILL ALIVE FOR YOU TO HATE!” I shouted once again, and Cy dropped to his knees.

nI’ve never told these three about my experiences in that hellish tower where I was forced to see my mother become more deathly sick every day.

nThat was torture worse than any other beatings I received from Leo, the guard I had manipulated until his death.

n“SO SHUT UP! SHUT THE HELL UP!” I shouted before elbowing Findir out of the way and then proceeding to help up the two injured old people.

nI might’ve not told them about my experiences, but they could definitely tell, just from the genuine anger and lingering sadness within my voice, that I had experienced something out of their imagination.

nYes, you can imagine your parents, siblings, and family dying, but when it comes to the real deal, it hurts so bad you want to die.

nIn my previous life, I didn’t care much for my parents but still grieved for their death… and you know why?

n“Because I’m only human. I’m not a monster, demon, or god… Those assholes don’t give a ** about others, so let out your anger and sadness but don’t direct it towards us. You can ask the other two to help you, but I’m so not helping you,” I said before clicking my tongue and punching Cy’s wooden house so hard that it shook.

n…

nAfter bringing the old couple to the hospital with the help of Aisa, we were forced to hand them over because they had severe wounds that needed to be treated immediately.

n“It’s good a thing you brought them here so quickly. Any later and they would’ve had a 100% of dying from internal bleeding,”

n“But, are they going to survive?” Aisa asked the nurse who came to give us the occasional report on their status.

n“It looks like they will, but we can never be too sure-“

nAll of a sudden, the idle chatter from inside the ER exploded into a burst of panicked and stifled words, which mingled with the slight beeping of a machine.

n“Ah, please excuse me,” The nurse said before quickly dashing back inside the room.

nOnly a few minutes had passed, and the explosion of chatter and beeping had died down, causing the both of us to sigh in relief.

nThe nurse soon came walking out of the ER again with a sorrowful face.

n“Unfortunately, they didn’t make it,” She said, and just as she said that I heard a large thump from down the hallway.

nIt was Cy who had fallen to his knees and silently cried, yet no tears flowed due to him running out of them.

nFindir, who was right beside him, just rubbed his back, trying to help him calm down.

n“I’m sorry, dude….”

n“Are any of you four their family? We need somebody to sign a few things otherwise we won’t know what to do with them. But, since the upcoming war has ravaged tons of families, you don’t need to pay for the medical bills. The Longin family will take care of it,” The nurse said with a warm smile, and Cy, as he got up, slowly nodded before following her down the hallway.

n“Can we trust her?” Findir asked as he next to me on the bench, completely exhausted.

n“Yes. The Longin family is a family that hasn’t taken a side. Think of them as a safe point for any bystanders….” I replied.

n“And how do you know all of that? I’ve never even heard of that family before?” Aisa asked.

n“He’s an information and studying machine. Of course, he knows stuff you don’t know,” Findir replied before sighing as a few nurses wheeled out the dead bodies, which were covered by layers of cloth.

nThere were a few minutes of awkward silence before Aisa suddenly spoke up.

n“So, what do we do now? I doubt the school will be open due to the war,” Aisa asked yet another question.

n“We should probably leave. I’ve finally managed to convince my family to leave, and I’m sure your grandpa won’t have any qualms about leaving as well… And Orion….”

nFindir’s voice trailed off slightly as he soon remembered what I had previously shouted.

n“I’ll tell you about it some other time. But I’m still staying here. I have things to do and accomplish even if it costs an arm or a leg,” I muttered, and the other two just chuckled a bit before sighing.

n“Well, I wish you good luck,” Findir said, and Aisa suddenly wrapped her arm around my neck and pulled me in.

n“GOOD LUCK! Don’t die just yet!” She shouted.

nWe all decided to have a nice lunch at one of our favorite pizza places and discussed literally everything.

nI even told them about how I stole one of the licenses in Arthur’s group and eventually used it to help me level up in secret.

n“You **ing cheater. No wonder why you improved so fast,” Findir laughed.

n“Well, I’ll be using everything I can get. You just didn’t capitalize enough on your childhood,” I smirked arrogantly.

n“Hey, at least we enjoyed our childhood. You, on the other hand, were just studying the entire time, so who do you think is the real winner?”

n,m We continued our conversation until deep into the night when we were finally kicked from our table, and so, we said our parting goodbyes before returning to our homes… except for me since I had no home.

nWe were still going to keep in touch via texting, and I guess calling, and facetime is also an option, but seeing each other in real life was still nice.

nI wandered the dead streets of this city, feeling the tension between every single family slowly rise and the impending doom of other cities wanting a piece of the pie… began to slowly creep in.

nClink… Clink… Clink

nSuddenly, I heard the hollow sound of cans shuffling inside a supermarket.

nThen, the shuffling stopped, and the hard footsteps of somebody running towards the exit began to quickly approach me.

n“Oh, Orion, what are you doing here?” Lance asked with a bagful of canned goods.

n