A Promise of 500 Years
It was a beautiful world much different than the way it was just a few decades back. It was as if the very world had gone through a metamorphism in the few years. Greens covered the land. The sky sprawled endlessly from each angle. Streams flowed freely void of pollution. The world sparkled with beauty, yet it was strangely lonely.
There was no longer such a thing as an industrialized city. Thick forests covered the world. In the middle of one of these forests was a fortress, a big grand structure that was fit for a king. But just as its surroundings, the whole place was empty of people, save for a single room.
In this room, a young boy's spirit floated beside the bed where an old man laid. The old man was emancipated, nearing his death, and the boy was still in his teenage years. However, his golden-colored eyes were tired and weary from seeing unimaginable things. The man coughed in his death bed. It came out in an attempt to laugh. Apparently, this person wasn't afraid of dying.
"Who would've thought I would die of old age," he whispered in his labored breathing. His shaky voice was hard on the ear but he still continued, "I have done enough."
He sounded satisfied and the corners of the wrinkled lips creased into a smile. His breathing strained heavily and he took two loud coughs that shook his whole body. A few white feathered birds flew across the bedroom's window, in the green paradise created by the dying man himself.
The boy had remained silent for a while. In fact he hadn't said much for a long time. He simply lingered by the side of the one he was bounded to. Idle. Wordless. An eerie glow surrounded him as he was suspended in midair. A few words escaped his mouth.
"Rest in peace, Hao."
They were neither said in spite nor in sympathy. It sounded quite emotionless. The boy may have forgotten his voice which was filled with feeling. He may have forgotten his emotions.
A lackluster eye moved his way, under half closed eyelids. The smile disappeared from the face and was replaced by a frown. Muscles still functioning in the forehead formed into a crease. Hao strained, "Oh no, this is not the end for you."
"For now our souls will merely hibernate. Five hundred years later you will reincarnate with me."
He pulled his face into a smile with all his strength again before continuing.
"And watch me eradicate the humans again."
The dull eyes never leaved the boy's in a glare. Neither did Ren's own jaded ones pull away. Hao had successfully created his world of shamans. He took countless human lives, destroying cities and any form of civilization that he didn't like. Ren had watched him reduce the world's population by more than half. Now he was reassuring Ren that he will do the same, letting him experience it all over again. Like a dull sword, the pain finally hit him. Ren closed his tired eyes. Hao glared at him. With the last of his breath he hissed the single word.
"Suffer."
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