Bab 2: Where am I? (First Chapter)

Two hundred years later, Inside a cave in an unknown forest.

"Where am I?" A voice appeared in the darkness.

A figure could be seen, stretching his hands and yawning.

Looking at his surroundings he tried to see the area around him, but only darkness greeted him. The unusual silence raised his heartbeat.

"This place doesn't look familiar?" he murmured as he brought his hands before his eyes. Soon discovered he was not able to see them, but his proprioception sense told him his hand was just before him.

He was confused. Should he believe his eyes or his perception?

"Arghh..." a painful cry left his mouth.

He felt pain all over his body, due to not being used to sleeping on the ground. His leg looked to be injured as he was facing trouble to move them.

He tried looking for his smartphone in his pocket, and the area around him. Realization soon hit him; he discovered it was not with him.

"First, I should get out of here," he said struggling to look clearly.

He looked around for an exit and finally found a dimly lit area at his back; he moved toward that area. Carefully taking each step cautiously.

Soon he discovered light coming from the area just beside it; There was a narrow path that went to that area.

He approached the bright area, carefully crossing the narrow path. He finds himself outside in the open again.

He was greeted by bright sun rays directly entering his eyes, rendering him unable to see for a moment. He took his time slowly adapting to the light around him.

The moment his eyelids opened again, he discovered himself in an area full of trees and bushes. Sounds of cries and roars of Beasts also appeared from time to time.

It was then he felt a surge of pain from his legs; looking at it he discovered there was a big wound on his leg. As if he had stepped on a trap.

He tore his shirt and covered that part, bandaging it temporarily. Before taking a deep breath and sighing in relief.

"Much better," words came from his mouth as his eyes fell on his bandaged foot.

'Growl' he heard a sound, looking around he tried to find its origin but he was not able to discover anything that he could associate the sound to.

'Growll..'

Hearing it again he discovered it came from his body; It was then he realized he had not eaten anything. The realization resulted in sudden weakness all over his body.

"Let's find something to eat." he stood up, and started walking around to find something useful. His exploration continued for a while before a question came to his mind.

"How did I end up here?"

Putting stress on his mind, he started getting little flashbacks of what had taken place. He was traveling from his town Puna to a city called Mazar for a business meeting in his carriage last night.

His memory was foggy because he was drunk. It was something offered to him by one of the members saying it was light; nothing would happen. A vision of his camp being attacked appeared in his mind.

The guards loyal to him sacrificed their lives, in order to protect him from the ambush, which resulted in them being in a disadvantageous situation.

He had even begged them to take away all his money and goods but spare the lives of him and his men. The bandits laughed at him and looked at him with disdain as if they were looking at a weak rabbit. They ignored everything and focused on targeting him.

He was confused at that time. Why would these bandits suddenly ambush him and try to kill him? But he was not in a position to think about it as for him saving his life was the priority at that time.

He tried to escape as his guards faced bandits, but the bandits had come prepared and had set up traps all around their camp. He was caught in a trap when he was to escape in a hurry leading to his leg getting injured.

At that moment, he had given up; his guards fed their contract beasts Berserk pills, which made them super strong for a short time in exchange for their lives.

The Captain of his guards then helped him to escape. He remembered the last words of the Captain.

"Live a happy life, young master."

"This is as far as I can be with you."

"Be a good person, like your parents."

The scene of him smiling, looking up at the sky and speaking. "Forgive me, Master; I could not keep my promise. I am coming to meet you a little early." was still fresh in his memory.

The Captain of his guards called a guard and asked him to take him away before mounting himself on his contract beast Cloud Horse and charging at the bandit leader with his naked sword.

The guard approached Rishi with his contract beast. "Bidu, take away young master to a safe place, before returning to assist me."

The hound looked unwilling, but it followed the command of his master and took Rishi away.

Rishi, who was an arrogant and selfish person, became sad as he remembered the sacrifice of his guards. His eyes started to grow weary.

He hadn't cried in two years; the last time he cried was when his grandfather died. But at this point, tears were streaming from his eyes.

"Why me?" he screamed at the sky.

"Why is it always me." unwilling to accept his fate.

"Why do all these bad things always happen to me?"

He fell to the ground with his hands over his eyes.

"Should I just die?" he said as he remembered his past. which was something he wanted to forget.

He lost his mother early; only thing he knew about her was she passed after giving birth to him. Growing up he never got the chance to experience much talked about motherly love.

While never being fortunate to receive his mother's embrace throughout his childhood, the only thing that made him happy and satisfied with his life, was the care and love he received from his father. This world, however, could not see his happiness, as he received the news of his dad passing away when he was five.

His father's death made him lonely; he had given all his hope to live when his grandfather stepped, saving him from becoming someone filled with hatred and motivating him to live his life with kindness and principles.

He was starting to recover when something took place that broke apart his world of glass. It was a day he could never forget; he was happy to celebrate his tenth birthday with his grandfather.

It was then he received the news that he had passed away. His life took a hit after this incident, changing his life and transforming him into a ruthless boy at a young age that was filled with hatred.

As a birthday present, the residents of his town bestowed the title "The cursed one" on him. Rishi's misery made him embrace the darkness and become a notorious person, hated and feared by all the people of his town.