“ Are you ok?” A woman around the age of 17 glared at Derrick,” You look tense…” She continued.

  Derrick’s eyes jolted open. Sunlight tripped his eyes. He turned his face to the right while sitting on a park bench.

  A woman wearing Luvinia’s national school uniform was glaring at him, her eyes wide, as if she were examining him.

  Greenery surrounded them. It was different from the world he lives in now. The air wasn’t brown, the sky wasn’t always dawn, it was blue.

  “ Uhh–I am fine!” Derrick exclaimed as a drop of sweat swirled down his cheek.

  “ I guess you’re just stressed!” She turned to her front to stare at the bright sun. She took a deep breath, and then a volcano of cough erupted.

  Derrick, without expression, handed his water bottle to her.

  After gulping half of the bottle, she turned and giggled while saying,“ The air is getting quite harsh…”

  “ So…I have an exam in a week!” Derrick calmly replied to her first question.

  “ Oh…which one?”

  “ Physics! Well, I am just too good at it, you know!” Derrick answered her.

  “ You know, you shouldn’t get so cocky.” She rubbed his hair while giving a mocking face.

  “ So…Mirai! What is going on with your life?” Derrick asked with a smile,“ Are you still single?” He asked mockingly.

  “ You know that it is rude to ask like that!” Her muscles twitched, veins popped out of her forehead, before she spanked the back of his head.

  “ Oww! What was that for!?”

  “ A payback!” She replied with a stern smile.

  “ Well…” She continued,“ We will be late if we keep on lagging here, come on!” She checked the time on her phone before standing up and leaving.

  “ Come on! You must be fast!” She screamed at her younger brother, who just kept on staring at her, before giving a slightly angered look.

  YEAR-2106 AD

  They both ran towards the shining sun through the bright roads of Luvinia. Nothing was different from the present, except the punches landing on Derrick’s face.

  Derrick and his elder sister, Mirai, were heading to see the launch of the new airship, which was being held in the central, rich region, where nobles and royals thrive.

  Somehow, Mana was a thing in this time; everyone knew about it. It looked like Omnipotence wasn’t in its effect yet. Derrick was from the middle-class region, and because of that, he couldn’t enter the central region without a pass.

  “ Do you have a pass to enter this region?” The guard of the gate asked Mirai with a stern look.

  Mirai had a confident face while browsing her pockets, before realising that her patch was empty. Her face dropped with disappointment.

  “ You’re such an embarrassment!” Derrick said with a slight anger as they walked around the wall.

  “ I did really forget the pass! But you had yours, so you should have gone!” Mirai replied, knowing the answer that Derrick would give.

  “ It’s no fun without anyone irritating you!”

  “Isn’t that a good thing now!” She commented while smiling. She then heard a noise. The noise of a few adults, screaming at each other. She turned back to look at the central wall. She saw a few people climbing up the tall barrier using their mana technique.

  Two adults, one who was surrounded by Mana, flying up, while the other had raised his arm high, pointing at the other person.

  She stood up, held Derrick’s hand, and ran towards the scene.

  Derrick was caught off guard,“ Hey! What’s the damn idea!?”

  “ You will find out soon.”

  “ Hey! Be careful, my technique can’t make you levitate for more than ten seconds!” The person helping the others climb said with a slight anger.

  “ It’s fine!” The other person yelled, before standing on top of the wall, looking at the long, sky-gazing castles, the Asgard and Olympus, black shade shadowed the whole rich centre.

  “ Hey, uncle!” Mirai called him. He turned back to look at the brother and sister with a slight confusion. “ Can you help us to go to the otherside of the wall!?” She asked with excitement while her cheeks were red.

  “ Uhh–you sure, kid?” The person continued, “ It’s pretty dangerous for a Middle-class like you without a pass there!”

  Mirai winked before saying,“ Ahh–don’t worry about that, we can manage!” Mirai pulled forward her little brother, who was a bit worried about this plan.

  The elderly man looked at the siblings from head to toe, judging them, then agreed with the plan while sighing,“ Sure! But don’t involve me in all of this after getting caught!”

  “ Oh…You don’t worry about it!” She smirked while swinging her left arm in the air, trying to wave away the worry of the old man.

  The old man extended his arm forward as a flow of Mana surrounded his fingers before turning into gas, and covering his whole body. The gas moved forward and engulfed the siblings. Both of them gazed at the spectacle with interest before levitating up to the sky.

  The process was pretty quick, as they reached the heights of the walls.

  Derrick’s eyes widened high, looking at the spectacle.

  A river, so blue, looking like an oil painting. Two castles, grim and dark, reflected on the surface of the water.

  The way we were caged! Just like lambs, who’ve been tamed-

  Derrick took a deep breath. A fresh, vapour-tasting wind entered his throat. He had never smelled a breath so pure before.

  The red gas didn’t leave their side; it instead dropped them to a secluded area, where no one would discover them.

  The inside of the walls could be seen. The red-dark castle glared at the curious siblings, not knowing their fate.

  Both of them ran across the roads curiously. People were way more fashionable.

  Everything looked like an upgrade.

  After half-an hour of walking, they finally reached the Neva River, where the airship was being inaugurated.

  They saw the huge airship opposite the river, just before the event began.

  Two men sat on the grassy bank. One was wearing a hat, while his hair was tied back. He was wearing Luvinia’s deputy uniform and also had a scar running across his right eye. The person sitting next to him was a bit chubby, with a long moustache, while wearing the same outfit as his friend.

  The man with the scar looked back, like he somehow knew that these kids were going to arrive. He gave a charming smile, inviting them to see the event with them.

  “ Hey, kids! Wanna look at this spectacle?” Asked the chubby one with a kind smile, but a deceptive one.

  Mirai wasn’t sure about this, but Derrick had fallen under his charm. He ran and sat beside him, followed by Mirai, who tried to stop this kid.

  The person with the scar introduced himself as Karma Trix. He was the deputy sheriff of the inner walls; his duties included handling major crimes.

  “ Don’t worry…” He said to Mirai after seeing her tense face,“ I won’t harm you!” He gave a smile,“ Well…I have a kid, and I wanted him to see this, but he won’t budge from his bed! He is so lazy! Well, you guys are here to entertain me instead of him, that’s fine, I guess!” He gave a charming laugh.

  “ Hello, kids, my name is Kruger!” The chubby one introduced himself with a slightly charming tone.

  “ Well…So, you guys came from the middle-class section? Do you guys have a pass?” Karma had already recognized that they were from the middle class from their clothes, hairstyle, etc. But the main thing here was that Derrick was speaking in an accent unknown to this land.

  Mirai felt like a heartbeat had missed. She quickly said,“ Uhh…Of course! We came here with a pass, right?” She looked at Derrick with a tense face, expecting him to say something.

  “ Uhh…yeah, we came here with a pass!”

  If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  Karma gave a side eye, like he understood something. At first, he wanted to play it off, but then a vision struck his nerve!

  “ You forgot your pass, didn’t you!” He said with a sudden serious face. Mirai’s body jolted as if terrified of her fate. Derrick’s face went pale, scared at what was going to happen with them.”

  “ What punishment suits better? Beating or parent lec-”

  Mirai screamed,“ Beatings!” While her eyes closed.

  Karma gave a side look before telling Kruger to do the deed. He wasn’t the type of guy who loved to assault kids.

  “ Wait!” Mirai screamed as Kruger gave a signal to Derrick,“ Let me have my brother's beatings too! It was my mistake for not bringing a pass!” She pulled out Derrick’s pass from his pocket as proof.

  “ I see…It’s ok, Kruger, take her somewhere far from here so that this poor little kid does not suffer looking at her older sister getting beaten up!”

  Derrick moved his hand, trying to stop Mirai from standing. Instead, Mirai brushed his hair, looked down with a smile,“ It’s ok…I will be ok.”

  “ Well…” Karma said as Kruger took Mirai far from the river,“ If you came here travelling so much, suit yourself looking at this event!” He gave a smile like everything was going to be ok.

  “ Well…how bad are the beatings?” A tense question.

  Karma’s smile disappeared as his eye lids set down in a depressed position. “ You care a lot about your sister, huh?”

  “ Of course I do! I just act like I don’t in front of her…”

  A sound of applause ringed his ears. The airship started moving with rainbow coloured flares flying high around it.

  Derrick’s mouth was open in excitement.

  Karma gave a side-eye, like he knew something.

  The foolishness of a child!

  ********

  Mirai was found dead, thrown in the river, the next day.

  The nurse’s voice cracked.

  “The autopsy… shows extreme violation. Signs of torture… burn marks…”

  Derrick’s world tilted.

  He didn’t blink.

  Didn’t breathe.

  Just stared — as if looking away would make it real.

  Derrick had no words. His mouth was hung open, his eyes were red like he hadn’t blinked for hours. His parents were crying and were in no shape to listen to this report.

  “ Which devil even did this?” The nurse asked herself with tears forming in her eyes, too. Who could have done something like this?

  KRUGER! His inner voice cracked in anger.

  He clenched his fist.

  How can foolishness fool you? I learned it that day!

  ********

  “ Never go to the rich place again without a pass! Can’t you teach some manners to your kid?” Kruger said with no expression on his face, like he had bihearted all of this. Derrick's parents, sitting opposite his table, had their eyes open, like they were about to bleed.

  Outside the sheriff's office, Karma stood there with a cigarette in his mouth.

  The top part of the cigarette fell onto the ground. Karma’s face was like that of a disturbed person. He had bitten through the cigarette in anger at his friend!

  ********

  “ Luvinia was created a hundred years ago, with the clear constitution of segregation of the people living in three parts, The inner, the middle, and the outer! We, the middle class, shouldn’t be going to the rich centre, that’s the rule of the const-”

  “ BULLSHIT!!!” Derrick screeched at his father’s history lesson.

  “ Why!?” His father questioned him while sitting, sobbing, on a chair with a book on a table in front of him, while Derrick sat opposite.

  “ YOU know that fatty bastard killed my sister, then WHY are you still giving me lectures!? You think that HER dying is because of her not carrying a pass, or was it to ENCOUNTER that Rapist!?”

  “ SHUT UP!” His father replied with tears forming in his eyes,“ Just once…” He continued while sobbing,“ Make us feel proud for giving you birth!”

  “ I am sorry, if it disappoints you, this world…is just that cruel!” He said, as tears dripped down his cheek, to the history book. “ I know!” He said while sobbing,“ It’s all my fault! It is my fault to be born poor!” His father said.

  Derrick, without any words, looked at him before tears formed in his eyes, too.

  The world is sure cruel. Now, I am dying, yeah! As they say, ‘Any human must go to Hell before Heaven’, I think now I am eligible to receive my Heaven! Am I though?

  ********

  Derrick walked on the road with a blank yet awake face.

  His vision felt dizzy, like he was drunk. Well, he was drunk. Drunk by the depressing words. Drunk by the repeated words said by Mirai in his brain.

  He carried a bag while wearing an LNS uniform.

  He felt an arm wrapping his nape. For a moment there, he remembered Mirai—the never-ending roasting. The never-disappearing happiness had suddenly disappeared.

  “ Derrick!” Dunn shouted with a smile while wearing the same uniform,“ Wanna go to the park and get an ice cream!” He winked, trying to encourage.

  Derrick’s expression didn’t change; instead, he gave a solemn look. The words finally took their place in his head.

  “ Sure!” He said.

  “ It’s a race then! Come fast!” Dunn ran at full speed.

  Derrick’s hand reached out, trying to grab Mirai’s silhouette on top of Dunn’s body.

  Maybe humanity still lives. It just isn’t enou–

  ********

  The blood poured down, washing his feet, like they were welcoming his defeat.

  There were four fighters.

  Kruger cleaned his knife, disgusted by Derrick’s parents' blood.

  “ Oh…You finally came!”

  “ Huh-” This was the only reply Derrick could give.

  His feet quivered with the fear boiling in his body. His hands gave up, his feet didn’t.

  He turned back and ran as fast as he could. Where would he run? That’s a question yet to be understood.

  In the middle of the woods, a bullet tore through his left leg. He fell on the muddy ground, his pants covered in mud.

  Kruger appeared in front of Derrick, who was still confused and was still quivering.

  “ Does the new renovation look good, kid?” He asked with a smirk while smoking a cigarette.

  “ Wh-Why?” Tears formed in his eyes as Mirai’s image flashed in his mind, as the good times flashed in his eyes.

  “ Cause it is fun! The lower caste, the commoners and peasants, should be treated like lambs. I know, it is quite disturbing, but it is always fun when the enemy suffers, isn’t it?” He spat the cigarette out of his mouth.

  Derrick didn’t give a reply; instead just sat there in the mud, sobbing.

  “ Well!” Kruger lifted his dagger, carving his chest,“ It’s your turn to be a lamb, now!”

  Derrick was shocked that this wound didn’t even faze him. Instead, his pupils quivered, as if a change was about to occur. His pupils took the shape of a shogun dagger.

  He blinked once, thinking he was going to die, but instead he heard the sound of a grunt.

  “ Shogun…clan?” A light, yet gut-wrenching sound haunted.

  He opened his eyes to see a sword passing through Kruger’s face, to just stop in front of Derrick’s eyes. Kruger spat out blood.

  A man wearing an eagle mask killed Kruger from behind with a sword.

  He lifted his sword as it sliced through Kruger’s skull.

  “ Huh?” The sound came from Derrick’s mouth.

  The Masked Man swung his sword, cleaning it from Kruger’s blood.

  “ You enjoyed it?” He asked without emotion as the other fighters got ready to fight this masked man.

  “ Remember, kid, this is how you use your Mana!” A red aura surrounded his fist.

  The fighters came forward before getting punched in the gut, spitting out blood.

  ********

  A hand reached down to Derrick. There were two eye sockets on the mask, showing the emotions.

  “ Why-” He asked while sobbing, his pupils not changing.

  “ So that you can always fight for justice!” A voice came through the mask.

  “ FIGHT! That’s the only way one can change this hell! You want freedom? Am I right? Then fight for it! Never Give Up, Derrick!”

  ********

  “ FIGHT FOR JUSTICE!!!” Aldred screeched through Hojoi’s grasp. Hojoi was still in disbelief. How can a person still not give up?

  Derrick was lost in his thoughts. Remembering the time he joined ‘Taka’.

  FIGHT! NEVER GIVE UP!

  That’s right…how could I forget? The outh I made with him then! With Dunn!

  He took a breath before thinking, while giving a joyful smile.

  Thank you, Aldred, but now…

  He stood up, formed his sword, and threw it towards Hojoi.

  Hojoi quickly formed Wind Dive and slashed through Derrick’s sword.

  Suddenly, Derrick appeared in front of him, jolting his body.

  Derrick prepared a mana punch, as black lightning formed in his hand.

  I call this move… It hit on Hojoi’s chest, bursting out Mana and Hybrid, Black Flash!

  How could I? He thought to himself, as Hojoi stood up against the wall while blood pumped out of his mouth.

  Mirai’s image formed in his mind. How could I fear death…WHEN SHE DIDN’T! Am I that weak!?

  You’re not weak! The Masked Man’s voice could be heard. You’re just scared!

  I will not be scared! Derrick quickly created a new sword.

  Hojoi’s sword clashed with Derrick’s newly formed sword. The Mana sword got cut in half and flew up.

  Aldred looked at the sight, his blurry vision turned clear. He quickly shouted with all his might,“ Derrick! LOOK OUT!”

  Derrick LOOK OUT! Mirai’s tone was heard as blood flew high till his eyes.

  “ Ahh!” Derrick child like voice screamed as he fell to the ground, getting a bruise. Mirai, instead of helping, decided to laugh and giggle.

  He remembered every good deed, everything. The time Taka overthrew Luvinia’s Monarchy in 2110 AD, the time when he gave up the life of fighting, and the time he became Aldred and Kyra’s Master.

  Oh…yeah! How could I forget you both? Yeah…I am sorry, Aldred, Kyra, but I promise, we will meet in the afterlife!

  He said, looking at both of them with a soft tone, with a kind and generous smile,“ Kyra…Aldred, now carry the next generation!”

  Hojoi’s grey sword pierced through Derrick’s chest, “Mr. Derrick, you truly are a warrior!”

  He felt it. The gut-wrenching pain he went through his whole life.

  I understand you…

  The blood sprayed out like a jet falling on Kyra’s face.

  ********

  “ AHH!” Derrick’s childlike voice screamed open his eyes to see a grassland. A peaceful land with no hierarchy. Was this Heaven?

  “ You finally woke up!” Said a familiar voice.

  Derrick’s child self lifted his head to see Mirai and his parents all smiling, standing proud.

  “ Derrick! We were always proud of giving birth to you!” Said by his parents, all tearing up.

  Derrick gave a childish giggle before asking,“ How long was I–

  “–Asleep?”