I do not own the characters.
Disclaimer: Tadatoshi Fujimaki
English is not my native language, for the grammatical error or the monotonous verbs i used, i deeply apologize in advance. *Bow*
This is the prologue that finally finished to be re-written. This hasn't been beta-ed.
People born and died every day. When there was a life being born with his or her unique soul as the beginning, there was also a life that reached the end following the written fate by God. That was called the life cycle.
Earth, the place where life and death of humans happened, varied with many kinds of human beings. Somehow though less than 1% of the population on earth, there were people born with extraordinary or special ability. Psychic Ability was not common in society, but people who have it did exist. Yes, you could say they were the gifted ones.
People who had these powers appeared at random, we never knew when or where they came from. Either they might have existed when the earth was created, or they appeared as part of a strange phenomenon that sometimes happened in this world. Gender, positions, ethnicity, education degree, or wealth was not a guarantee that a person could have psychic powers. Some were born from families who had a hereditary lineage with such psychic ability. Some were born without psychic ability even though one or both of their parents had it. And some were born with psychic ability even from normal parents who did not have it.
Long time ago, before people with psychic ability was unveiled, often encountered humans who had a high spirituality than most of other humans. They were blessed with the power of words. Like using a mantra. The spirits of words. They could usually be seen in everyday life, often in the holy and religious places where they were referred to as Spellcaster. They came from a family clan which had their own teachings about the knowledge of either forbidden or bad spell and its consequences of using such power. For the normal people, they were regarded as saints who should not be tarnished or tainted. People respected them and also sometimes asked for their help.
However, there was sacrifice to be paid. Using the power of words, could make the user got either mild to severe injuries outside and inside physically, depending on how great the power of the spell was. Using a spell to heal someone who has a severe illness; to make someone on the edge of death healthy again; to hurt people badly moreover cursing someone to death; to make someone fell in love with us were forbidden. There might be spells to grant impossible things such as changing fate, changing nature's law, changing the future or returning to the past. All of those impossible thing might be done with the power of words, but we never knew about anyone who was brave enough and dared to try it, because of course, the sacrifice must be very expensive or maybe those who had tried it had been already gone without a trace.
The more often a Spellcaster using mantras, the longer and more wounds to be healed. The more powerful the mantra was, it even could lead to death. That was why those with high spirituality did not recklessly use the power of words.
The power of these Spellcaster attracted the attention of the greedy people. They were competing to get the Spellcasters. In underhanded way, like threatening, kidnapping, killing, was what they might have done to get them. Of course, they did it so secretly, so then nobody was aware that one or two Spellcasters disappeared. They wanted the Spellcaster for fulfilling their ambition and their greed. At that time, Spellcaster lived not in peace indeed.
Then, the world war broke out. Bombs were launched anywhere. Thousands to millions of people were killed. Spellcaster was no exception. Becoming Spellcaster was inherited from one generation to the next generation, so this world war caused their population also much reduced. The ones to continue the lineage were dead. So their existence was almost diminished.
Nowadays if there were found people with high spirituality, they might be the descendants of Spellcasters who survived the war. But as time passed, the power of words were not often to be used like before the war. New generation to new generation were born. Some of them forgot or did not know at all about their ancestors. They forgot about their power of words. So that only a few of them that still had the knowledge of spells or mantras and the honed spirituality.
Until then, when there was time when the secret book record of someone from the past was founded. It explained that actually that there existed other populations on this earth. The record told that they were born with a certain power. They called themselves as Segen. It was stated in the record, that at the time when this journal had written, there was not much Segen founded. Segen were different from Spellcaster. The Spellcaster got the power of the words, then they had sacrifice to pay; but Segen could use their power as much as they liked without worrying about the sacrifice. Segen was considered as a strange human. They were regarded as someone who practiced black magic, or allied with witches, or demon worshipers, and even called them as devil incarnations because of their gifted power. The fear of human being who had special ability and was different from them—ordinary people—was hard to erase. They considered themselves weaker than the Segen. Therefore, they wanted the Segen to be exterminated immediately before the population of them increasing and could not be defeated. Hence, they instigated people to hunt the Segen with their enormous number. One by one, the Segen who was caught, was killed in public in the name of justice. So, in order not to get caught, then they—Segens—lived on the run by hiding their identity from most humans. They mingled with other humans. Hiding their ability. They pretended to be what was called a normal human like most human beings on earth.
Centuries had passed. Just as the laws of nature's balance and harmony; just like magnet and with positive pole negative poles, they always pull each other close; just like the sides of coin which had the front and back, could not be separated; so human's nature also had two sides—good and evil. Not all of Segens were good, precisely because they were also human beings. There were also bad and rebellious Segens who revolted and displayed their ability as they pleased, causing people to get hurt.
There were formed underworld organization where Spellcaster and Segen made alliances, to gather young Spellcaster or Segen any way illegally. It was like they were bad mafias with special ability. They had done experimentation, trading, enslavement on the young Segen or Spellcaster for ambition or personal greed. What they did was only evil.
Thus, there was also formed an organization outside of the governments that consisted of Segens and Spellcasters. This organization was formed for the purpose of regulating and punishing the Segen and Spellcaster that disturbed the world order. Using power in the public is prohibited and sanctioned by this organization's law. That's how to create peace. Saving young seed of Spellcaster and Segen was also one of the mission. This organization was confidential and only certain people knew it. Living by mingling in the society without discrimination is the motto of the organization. So their identity as Segen remained unknown to most populations in the world today. Some might ever witnessed their physic ability. Probably the stories about them was spread only ear by ear. Eventually, ordinary people tended to forget the fact of their—Segen's—existence. Although sometimes, we can found stories about Segens in children's story books. But the story was only considered as a fairy tale. There was the truth or only modification of the true story. No one bothered to find the truth. No one knows.
Living peacefully and happily with a loved one until getting old and death came to fetch was the dream of every human being. But life was not always according to the plan and what we expected. Fate was very strange.
As the saying goes, good people would generally meet another good people, so would bad people. Perhaps this was what we called destiny or God's plan, they—being the gifted one—would generally meet one and another. It was like being interconnected by red thread. We were only human, God had a plan. And perhaps this life journey that would be told was one of God's plan of destiny.
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20 years ago.
"Stay away from him!" the woman screamed hysterically towards the man in black suit with a touch of red as his tie.
The woman was holding a small figure—a boy—wrapped in a black cloth from head to toe, like he was being hidden from the world. The child was not dead—from the chest movement of his breathing that was still visible—, he was just unconscious. Either by instinct or not, from the black cloth covering him, a tiny hand stuck out and was clutching the woman's shirt. Yes, she was the mother of the child who was in her arms right now.
The woman fell down behind the man—her husband—who was now curling up in pain. Her husband's shirt was covered in blood from a stab wound in his left upper stomach by the man who was the leader of those bunch of black clothed people. The woman was full of old and new wounds all over her body. Apparently they were trying to escape before the black clothed men finally found them.
"How smart you are! Finding a place like this in the woods to hide yourselves. It was so hard to find you!" said the leader man, and he applauded slowly. "Don't be like that, you know, I do not want to hurt you." the man smirked cynically.
"You liar! You didn't even hesitate a second to stab him with the knife!" the woman shrieked.
"I actually didn't intend to, it was because you and your husband tried to escape, so I must tell you the hard way." he replied. "I know you have it. I just ask you to give it for me, that way we can get anything we want in this world, so give your approval, then whatever you need will be given to you." the man said as he slowly walked over to the woman and removed his left glove. The said leader man in the black suit then stuck out his hand to reach her.
"Crazy! You are insane! What you want is impossible! I did not expect you to be easily seduced by Satan's temptation. You got eaten by your own greed and ambition. You are not human! I will not ever give it to you!" The woman shouted up her voice as she brushed off the man's hand. A scratch was visible on his back hand. The man grew furious by her action.
"Search the entire house!" the male ordered impatiently. The leader man then tried to grab her hair when he heard she spoke.
"O spirit of earth, hear my calling, from the ground veiling the thorns, come up to the earth and become a cage for those with dirty hearts, make them prisoners of their sinful soul" said the blue-eyed woman and hastening her embraced on her child.
Instantly a green light appeared, and the earth trembled. From the ground came out a glimpse of wood like branch and a fairly large thorny stem that surrounded the men in black. Thorny plants were growing and wrapping its trunk around the body, legs, neck and others part of the body of those black clothed people. And they were being stabbed by thorns that grew longer and larger and larger. The leader of them also couldn't avoid the bondage of these plants.
"tch, this fucking witch!" The man cursed, trying to free himself from the clutch of the plants.
Not wasting any time given by the opportunity when they were immobilized by the plants, the woman immediately went to her husband and put her hand on the stab wound in her husband's abdomen while uttering a mantra. The woman moaned with the pain she felt instantly after using the mantra power, the inside of her body felt like burning, and then from her body even more new wounds appeared with blood gushing out.
"Just go... leave me here… ta-take him. a...way, save yourself… and our little angel, I'll just be a burden… ugh!" her husband was groaning caused by talking.
"No, don't give up," she said wearily. She tore off her sleeve dress and put it on top of her husband's wound. "This can hold it temporary, my power only reduces the pain" she bent her body then took her husband's arm and put it on her shoulder. "We should not give up here, we must run now, that will not be able to hold them here forever" she said then rushed to get the car keys lying nearby.
Grabbing the car's key, they hurried out of the forest. Praying. Hoping for time to stop for a while until they could get out of there. They ran in the dark of the forest. The small paths at night made it difficult for them to see what lied ahead. Bearing the weight of her husband and son made it even harder. She hoped the path they took, leading them to where their car was.
Thankfully, she found their car, the woman rushed to open the car, put her husband in the front seat, then put his son in the back seat of car. Turned on the engine and stepped on car's pedal as fast and hard as possible. She prayed that no one could catch them.
Until finally, the car stopped. They arrived in a small house which was an orphanage. "...mnn, mom? Where are we?" awakened from his sleep the boy asked his mother who was currently at the boy's side. "Mom, why are you crying?" he asked again while rubbing the corner of his eyes.
"I'm sorry my angel, I'm sorry... ugh, ufh..." the woman sobbed and cough. She felt like surely soon blood would come out of her mouth.
"Mom?" he called with a puzzled expression. There was a bit frantic panic of the boy's voice could be heard. His small hand reached his mother's face and wiped the tears away. "Don't cry mom…" he persuaded.
Then he looked for his father who was laying on the front seat, he could see that his father was breathing abnormally, so painfully.
"Dad?" the boy tried to shake his dad's body that laid weakly. His dad opened his eyes then looked at his mom. Understanding the meaning of his wife's gaze, he turned to look at his son.
"I am sorry…, we… can not go to... the amusement park... as... I... promised you... I'm sorry?" his dad said weakly not like the usual his cheerful dad. Not like his usual hero self.
'Why are they sorry?' thought the boy who was more confused. "No, It's okay, da—" he stopped talking when his eyes were unintentionally caught the glimpse of the ragged clothes below his father's hand which was on the top of his stomach. There was blood seeped a lot on it. Red. He looked at his own wet and sticky hands. Red. Then he looked back at his mother. And just realizing that there was blood staining on her mother's collar. Red.
Panic attacked him. The boy suddenly felt tightness on his chest and began to shed tears. Blood. For such a small child he knew it was blood, indicating his parents was injured. Hurt badly. And he knew that it was a very bad sign. He realized that so many wounds marred his mom's face and hands which were hand trying to wipe away his tears. The fresh smell of iron still oozed from her mom's injuries.
"No..." he moaned, then he remembered what had happened before, when his parents and him tried to leave the house, then a group of black clothed men came to his house, heard his parents yelling, then his father who was stabbed by the black clothed man and blood started flowing from the knife that stuck on his father's body. "NOOO...NOOOO!"
Red. Red. RED.
"Honey... it's alright..." his mother told him and hugged him. Hoping his son will be calm again. Trying to wipe the tears that wet her child's cheeks.
Blood. Blood. BLOOD.
Hyperventilation. He couldn't breathe. His eyes were blank which implied fear. As if he was seeing something on the back of his mind. His little hands clutched harder onto his mother's back.
His mother's voice sounded very distant as if she were speaking an unknown language. He couldn't grasp any of it. The words that sounded so clear and understandable were only when the woman said "… I'm sorry..." Then, he felt the cold fingertips of her hand touched his forehead while she uttered "… Forget it all"
"Aaaarrrghh!" the boy screamed in pain. Releasing his clutch from her mother's back and now holding his head.
Coughing out blood, for a while she heard her son earful screaming until then he no longer moaned and stopped like a doll. His eyes were blank and looked lifeless. The woman looked at her child and once again before finally hugged him and whispered in his ear, "Sleep, my dear son"
The boy slowly closed his eyes, his body then drooped limply into her arms with a low and steady breath.
"You have to know that i always love you, my angel" the woman kissed his forehead, stroked his hair gently while crying silently.
Thanks for reading! Hope you all can enjoy this prologue