I wake up, my eyes dry and burning from crying in my sleep. The cold air thrown at me by my ceiling fan is not offering much help. Even after sleeping for eight hours I’m tired, well that’s not unusual. In fact it’s better than the four hours I used to get.

  Climbing out of my bed I wobble over to the mirror hanging on my wall and look myself over.

  Skinny and weak, even more so than normal. I hate my own reflection, it’s truly my worst enemy. If I could punch the guy in the mirror and not hurt myself I'd do so in a heart beat.

  Turning to the wooden drawer in my room's corner I shuffle through my clothes. All black like I like, I’m not edgy or anything I just like the sleek clean look they give. Colorful clothes with crazy patterns have just never appealed to me much. Why am I explaining this? It’s not like I care what anyone thinks… right?

  The shirt I pull over my head and arms is of course black with the number 17 written across it in bold white letters. My brand of choice, of course. Not done yet I pull out a pair of black basketball shorts with a white stripe up the side and black socks. Looking in the mirror I sigh as I see myself. Painfully boring and average.

  In middle school I’d spend an hour in front of the mirror everyday before class styling my hair with pomades, gels and hair sprays even a blow dryer. I had a perfect modern pompadour, but once I got into high school I stopped caring and let it grow out. Ruffling my light brown hair I try to push it back some. but it falls back into its usual place. Parted down the middle with the fringe hovering just over my crystal clear blue eyes. My mom has blue eyes too but hers were more of a darker ocean blue- no, she had blue eyes. My mom is dead.

  My eyes growing even dryer I shake my head and spin on my heel towards my open bedroom door. The hallway is dark and I fumble for a moment to find the light switch. I'm still not used to this apartment. Or living alone for that matter, when you’re a virile young man the idea of living alone seems to be a dream come true. You can do whatever you want wherever you want whenever you want and no one can tell you otherwise. But now I realized that what my parents say- said about an empty house being the worst thing in the world were telling the truth.

  But maybe this is what I deserve. There are plenty of other people who should have survived way more than me. Fathers, mothers, police, firefighters, children hell even a dog should have lived instead of me. Dogs are equal to people in my mind, there’s no difference between a human and dogs life in my mind, there are police dogs, service dogs or the like which had more of a purpose then I ever did, but I’m the one who survived.

  I hate it- I hate this responsibility this- burden I’m facing. I didn’t ask for any of this, to be the one who survived the fall of Azhar. But now it’s been thrown onto me and I have to act like it doesn’t bother me at all and that this is just my new way of life? That’s messed up man, I wish Frairk survived instead. He could and would be able to do everything that I could except better, hell is surprised me it wasn’t him who survived. As a kid I saw him almost like an invincible superhero, he was always out of my reach, everyone compared me to him but I could never even catch his shadow.

  Well there’s no point in thinking about what could have been, now it’s my job to make things happen the way they should, right? I read that in a book once. I think it was in social studies or maybe philosophy. It’s a nice quote, sure but it's easy to say wise words like that compared to actually putting them into action. That's why I don’t like philosophers much, well most of them anyways. Some are alright but even they say a lot of stuff I just don’t agree with at all.

  After washing my face with cold water I take my morning piss and go into the kitchen. There I make a bowl of cereal, the kind I always ate as a kid. They stopped selling it in Saharis a few years ago. Something to do with tariffs; so when I saw it on Congo.com I nearly jumped out of my seat to order it.

  Speaking of which, living here in Afruenthos isn’t so bad. Compared to Azhar where every time I went outside the sun burned the hairs on my neck. The weather here is much nicer, at least in terms of heat. The humidity makes my clothes stick to my skin though which might be just as bad as the heat but it’s not like I can change that so I should just learn to deal with it. That’s another saying, one my mom said a lot. Not quite in those nice of words but the meaning was the same.

  After I finish my cereal I clean the bowl in the sink. The most important part and the one most people skip when doing dishes is cleaning them before putting them into the dishwasher. The dishwasher is a second rinse. This way you don’t have any food left over on your dishes. I’ve gone to people's houses who didn’t wash their dishes in the sink first and their bowls and utensils had food crusted all over them. That kinda traumatized me so now I make sure to wash my own dishes right.

  I don’t like doing dishes much in the first place though so I understand why some people would just throw them into the dishwasher and be done with it. I think I don’t like doing them because- what am I even talking about anymore?

  Putting the bowl and spoon in the dishwasher I put the cereal and milk into their respective places and brush my teeth. I made sure to buy an electric toothbrush with three different pattern settings so I can have sunlight reflectors. But I don’t want them too white so it looks weird. You almost want that slight yellow tint so they look real and human. But white enough to look clean, yeah that sounds about right.

  Since I’ve finished my morning routine I get ready to leave my apartment. It’s been about two weeks since I got here, it was rough at first. I cried and cried, I screamed so hard I coughed up blood. I thought I was gonna die, I lost a lot of weight since I didn’t eat anything at all. I tried but it all ended up in the toilet right afterwards, it tasted awful. Everything did, even water was like scum covered sewage.

  But I made it through, somehow. I think it was Jin and Hayai who really helped with that. They’re pretty cool guys all things considered, they have their own faults but I mean so does everyone right?

  If I had to describe them I think the only work I could possibly imagine for Jin would be STRONG, the strongest even. He’s like a lion or grizzly bear. You can just feel the power ooze from them by being near them. But he’s also pretty dumb so I guess it evens out nicely. Okay well not dumb as in stupid, no he might be smarter than anyone I’ve ever met (other than dad) in the literal sense but he’s also kind of… dumb? He has no social skills, yeah that sounds about right. He lacks common sense about interacting socially and believe me I’m not a genius in that myself so if I notice something wrong that means a lot. But maybe it’s because he’s so strong? My mom used to say people learn how the world works by getting their ass kicked; but if you never got your ass kicked then you wouldn’t know how to live life right? Looking at it through her lens it makes sense then.

  Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

  In comparison to Jin, Hayai is just straight up blunt and rude at times. Almost like a little kid, even though he’s older than me by a few years so I guess that makes him just immature. But I still like him anyways, he likes sweet things so the few times he’s come over to see me I tried to have soda and candy ready to eat and drink while we hang out. He’ll bring over a video game and we’ll play that while joking and laughing, it’s kinda nice. Reminds me of when I was little and my friends from school would come over to play. Good memories. I remember one time I even had a girl come to my birthday party with my other friends. We were all eight years old so nothing happened of course but sometimes It makes me sad to think that in my eighteen years of life that’s the only time a woman who wasn’t in my family has seen my bedroom.

  Oh, there’s also that El-Saber guy. Cool name but also kinda stupid means “Wise One.” in Eroba I think. I don’t know his real name since Jin or Hayai never told me but I never asked either. He’s the adoptive father of Hayai and the President of the Venator Society. An organization known around the entire world

  The Venator Society is sorta like a fancy university except a million times bigger and with a militia unit. They study and develop all kinds of things, medicine, technology, agriculture. Study history and mediate politics, help conserve wildlife and so much more. I met them once, or not really met them but I saw them on tv. Not these guys mind you this was back when I was a little kid. You see, despite being the capital of the world's most powerful country, the Venator Society didn’t have a base in Azhar for some reason. So when a Tyrannosaurus rex wandered around just outside of the city it was a big deal and made national headlines. So then the Venator Society flew in and took care of it. I don’t know what they did with the thing, I hope they didn’t kill it. They’re nearly extinct now anyways, and besides it was just living it’s life. No reason to punish it for something as unfair as that.

  Maybe I should ask Jin, no he wouldn't know about it. Or maybe El-Saber? But I don’t think he’d have time for that kinda question. Well I’ll find someone to ask about it eventually.

  Oh-! Something else I forgot to mention is Magic, yeah it’s real! Well.. everyone kinda knows it’s real in a way. We’ve all seen those videos online of some monk in a mounts monastery conjuring fire or some guy predicts the lottery ticket twice in a row. That’s magic isn't it? As a society most people chalk that up to luck, a hidden hand of trickery or some other excuse- but sometimes you just can’t explain how it works so deep down you just know it’s something else. Something Magical.

  At least I do, so it’s not too big of a surprise to me it’s real. Okay I’m lying I’M REALLY happy it’s real. I mean come on, Magic!? Like fire balls and aura blasts and- and oh man I wonder what kinda magic I can use!? I gotta be super strong right? Like that’s why I survived Azhar? I’m the chosen one or something? I hope so, I hope I’m super talented, otherwise…

  Anyways I asked Jin to show me some but I couldn’t see anything when he tried to show me. When I frowned he only smacked himself on the head and said something about not being able to use [Observation] so of course I wouldn't be able to see it.

  I thought he was calling me stupid for a second but he laughed and told me I’d learn it soon enough.

  Not satisfied, I pestered him some more until he did something I could see. Putting a can of soda on my kitchen table he walked a good 2 meters away and without lifting a finger lifted the can into the air with [Telekinesis] and crushed it.

  Of course I was amazed and thought it was really cool! That is except the part where the can full of soda mind you exploded into my living room carpet and couch. I got pretty angry and scolded him like I would if I did something dumb like that.

  I regretted it afterwards and wondered if he was gonna kill me but he seemed to take it in stride and apologized. He even conjured some hot water and wind to steam the carpet and couch clean!

  Though that night I had to spend a good hour on my hands and knees scrubbing the kitchen table, cabinets and tile floor so they didn’t make a popping sound every time you touched them or walked across the floor.

  Putting my shoes on I walk outside and lock my front door before making my way to the Venator Society tower. Well I’m actually already in the tower technically, just one of its many [Bio-Dome] like platforms. Where I need to go is the actual main tower part, or the office I guess it’s called. It’s about an hour walk from my apartment so I’m gonna be pretty sticky with sweat by the time I get there. But I guess the scenery is nice so maybe it events itself out.

  As I walk I think about life, or well how it’s changed lately. Of course I can’t help but miss my family, I’d cry if I thought I could. But I think I’ve used up my life time supply, my eyes get dry and burn but nothing comes out anymore.

  I think the one who I miss the most- at least in my daily life is my dog Bueno. He was a Beagle and Corgi mix we got from the pound only last year. He was a few years old and full of life and a desire to create chaos. Being a NEET like I was, we naturally spent a lot of time together, him at the end of my bed or cuddling with me as I slept.

  I’ll make sure to replace him with multiple women to honor him! That’ll make him proud huh? Hmmm, or maybe not, should I get another dog and name him Bueno 2.0?! Surely he’d bite me in heaven at that point.

  Eventually I arrive at the towers [office] and enter through the sliding glass doors. Drenched with sweat I pull my collar from my shirt with a deep breath as the air conditioning's cold air cools me. I could feel something in particular sticking to my thigh for the last ten minutes of walking and it wasn’t a pleasant experience in the slightest.

  “Mr. Sarumalder, It’s a pleasure to see you again.” A woman says as I walk up to the front desk. I don’t know her name but she has curly red hair draping down maybe a foot beneath her shoulders with lime green eyes and absurdly large boobs. “How can I help you today?” She asked with a smile.

  As I answer I try not to look at her boobs, but they’re out in the open almost as if she wants me to stare at them. But making eye contact with her only seems to make things worse so I look down at the floor; my face probably flushed red and twisting my shoe on the ground as if squishing a bug. “Yeah I’m here for a meeting with Jin and everyone else…” I manage to mutter out. Hot women are my weakness, my kryptonite you could say.

  With a smile she stood up, “Of course, I’ll show you that way.” Walking out from behind her desk she quickly starts to walk down one of the many present hallways and I chase after her. She runs ahead of me and even though I try to keep up it feels like I’d need to jog to match her pace. She clearly knows her away around too so I need to make sure I don’t lose her after one of the many corners we take.

  Not to mention I try not to stare at her butt as she walks, I would like it if someone stared at my butt from behind but alas I’m a guy so it’s futile.

  After some ten minutes we finally arrive at a large white metal door, wide enough for two horses to walk through comfortably and maybe four meters tall. “Here we are.” She says with a smile and wave. Walking past me and back the way we came she almost brushed against my skin and I smell the strong rich sugar cookie perfume she’s wearing.

  I wonder if she’s into me? I’m not very good at this kinda thing… no she can’t be. What is there to like? She’s probably just trying to be nice and I’m a creep who’s looking at her boobs and butt. God I’m the worst.

  “...”

  “...”

  Well there’s no point in standing here any longer hesitating so I reach forwards and open the door with a light push. The doors swing open and inside I see a bunch of people I don’t know. Each quickly flicking their heads to look at me with glares of suspicion and judgment.

  I feel my stomach cramp like I have to use the bathroom but I know it’s just my nerves. They probably already don’t like me huh? Who am I after all? They all look super important and I’m just some nobody.

  Jin looks at me with a goofy smile painted on his face and waves me over to an empty seat which I nearly skip over too; I'm so amped up. Sitting down quietly I smile and ready myself for the conversation about to commence.

  One which little did I know at the time would change my life in more ways than I could have ever anticipated both good and bad, but… mostly bad.