Proofread by: wannabeproofreader and daylius

“Boy wake up. That is enough sleep”

Once again I woke up to the voice of an old man which was, to be honest, annoying. Reluctantly I opened my eyes and there lay before me a man in his eighties or so in casual clothes and a white overcoat. The man was grinning at me, the face made it even more annoying.

“Boy, your parents are here. Go meet them and tell them your goodbye’s” when the man said these words I stared at the man, confused, wondering if he had gone insane after years of research. As if lightning struck me I stood stunned. My memories of yesterday were slowly blooming inside my small mind and then I understood perfectly what the old man was saying.

“We have all your stuff here, of course they’re brand new. Freshen up, eat something then come to my tent. Ask one of the soldiers, they will show you the way to my tent. You have 30 minutes to finish preparing”. The old man then walked out of the tent leaving me alone in the tent.

I stretched my body and then got up from the bed. When I looked around, I saw things a normal person would have in his room like a wardrobe, a nice bed, a TV set and some others. What surprised me was to the left of the tent was a door like thing. Well a door with a zip to be precise. I walked towards it still half awake and yawning. I pulled the zip down and was once again stupefied. There was a bathroom beyond the zip. A complete bathroom with wash basin, shower and even a bathtub. The surroundings were covered by the same tent as my bed was.

“Who are these guys?” I smiled inwardly and proceeded to the refreshment process. As the old man had said, I completed everything in 30 minutes. Wearing one of the shirts and jeans from inside the wardrobe I walked outside of the tent. The morning sun, as if to say hello, shined brightly lightly blinding my eyes. I hid my eyes from the morning sun with my left hand and then walked forward to one of the soldiers to ask for directions to the old man’s tent. The soldier wished me good morning which I returned politely. When I asked for the directions, he accompanied me to the tent then bid me farewell with a good luck.

I took a deep breath and then I walked in, ready to face the wrath of the two gods of my life, my mother and father.

“Hi mom, hi dad” I initiated the conversation. Both dad and mom turned their heads to look at me. Mom ran towards me and hugged me hard, already weeping like a baby. I hugged her back and patted her head. My father on the other hand was calm, he approached me slowly, his eyes looking into mine all that time. I froze, a fear was developing inside me.

“Anna move” dad dragged mother to the side and then looked at me.

Slap, slap, slap, slap

And so I was hit a number of times till my face was as red as an apple. I stood still, endured the pain, holding back my tears.

“You will come back home with us young man and you are grounded for the rest of your life”

“No dad. I am going to look for Nao”

Slap “Naoki is dead you idiot” Slap slap slap.

“I do not want to hear your opinion, you will do as I say”

“No dad. I cannot. I am going after Nao”

“Again with that. You saw it too did you not, the body and yet you say you are going after her? Where are you going to search for her? In hell? Heaven? Have you lost your ability to think too?”

“Nao is not dead. The damn door took her”

“The door took her? And you want me to believe that?”

“I know what I saw. I don’t need anyone else to believe. You are not my real father and mother after all” I lashed out, my anger building up. I froze, I slapped myself a hundred times in my mind. Cursing myself for the stupid things I said. My father once again lifted his hands. I closed my eyes in wait for the pain on my cheeks but nothing happened. Suddenly I was hugged, hugged by strong arms.

“Why? Why Zeph? Are you not happy with us?” father was hugging me hard, he was now sobbing. I hugged him back too, tears already running out of my eyes.

“I am sorry dad, I am sorry. I love you both but please trust me I saw it clearly.”

My father remained silent and kept hugging me, my mother too approached us and hugged us both. A few minutes later both of them stood back. Father looked at me intensely for a while then walked towards the door.

“Zeph, come back with her, come back alive. I will not forgive you if you die. Even if we are foster parents, we love you as a real father and mother. Anna let’s go”

“Dear, our son. I can’t-”

“Anna, our son has made up his mind. We must support him. Let us go”

My mother began weeping profusely. My heart ached seeing the woman who had taken care of me as her own child for fifteen years crying in front of me. My body felt as if it was on fire, my tears ran out uncontrollably. I looked at my weeping mother without saying a word.

‘Ah I made mother cry because of my selfishness.’

“I am sorry mother, but I have to go. I promise I will be back” saying so I walked out of the tent not wanting to see my parents being torn apart by my selfishness.

---***---

“Boy it is time. Come with me”

I nodded at the old man and walked outside of my tent along with him.

“You will need some weapons. Which do you prefer? A gun or sword?”

“I have never used either of them before. But I think guns will be useless since I won’t be able to refill my ammo so a sword will do. And if possible a bow please”

“Why a bow? Isn’t a gun better?”

“Not likely. The bow is very deadly if you know how to use one.”

“And do you know how to?”

“Yes, I have been taking lessons for some time, so I prefer a bow. Besides I can recollect the arrows which I use and so I literally will not run out of arrows”

“Suit yourself. Well then let us head to the weapon storage unit. This way boy”

“You have a weapon storage here? Why?”

“It is a military encampment boy, don’t ask stupid questions”

“Ah that is not what I meant. Why do you have bows and arrows in the weapon storage? The military does not seem to use them”

“Ah, that is what you meant eh. Well the swords and bows are for people like you who try to enter the door.”

“There have been others?”

“Of course. Did you think you were special or something?”

“Oh! So what did they find out?”

“We do not know”

“You do not know? What is that supposed to mean”

“It’s supposed to mean that we do not know what is beyond the door. Not even one of those who entered has returned, not even one.”

“Not even one. No way”

“Do you still want to venture forth?” Burn asked looking deep into my eyes, searching for an answer.

I could not help but smile for some reason “Old man show some faith in me. Who do you think I am?” I said giving a heroic pose which made the old man chuckle.

“Very well boy. You will be given a sword and a bow with 20 arrows. A state of the art battle suit, a first aid kit, a video recorder and food for a couple of weeks”

“Battle suit? Like those in anime and manga?” my eyes were shining, I was too excited at the fact that I will be given a battle suit.

“No no. Nothing flashy like that. A transparent nano material battle suit. In fact it is one of a kind and you are the first one to use it. The suit will absorb damage to a limit and also strengthen your body parts making you three times stronger than your normal body. You will be wearing the battle suit inside your casual clothes. Your clothes too are something unique, something reserved for the military, sturdy, and stretchable. Made from special artificial fibers the clothes and suit are virtually indestructible. Well a nuclear attack will destroy it, you will die if something like that happens so no need to worry about the clothes then. It has a built in HD video recorder in various places which are practically indestructible. This cameras will record everything and store it in a hard disk which is inside the sole of the boots you will be given. There are no wires so do not worry about messing up the connection. The first aid kit is stored in the side pockets. It has a few bandages, cotton rolls and a medicinal spray. They are more than enough to treat a minor fracture. That too is state of the art technology, use it wisely. The clothes will have holsters for a sword and retractable bow and a quiver for the arrows. That is all we can give you. The rest up to you boy. Here we have reached the storage area. Come in”

The old man gestured me to enter another tent which was much larger than the other tents and also heavily guarded. When I stepped inside my eyes almost popped out. Stacked on a number of tables and shelves were hundreds and thousands of guns from handguns to shotguns to sniper rifles, everything the army needed. Towards the end of the tent were swords, a large number of them in different sizes, colors and types. My mind was going blank but I kept it intact with much difficulty. Looking around and admiring the guns I walked towards the swords. Even though I did not know anything about swords there were things I knew like choosing a sword of correct size and weight. Too light and the sword won't deal much damage against tough opponents, too heavy and I won’t be able to wield it. So I tried out swords which seemed to be the correct length for me. There were wide varieties of swords like the long sword, the broadsword, the rapier, the sabre, the talwar, the katana and so many others I had never seen. Choosing a sword when you don’t know anything about swords is nearly impossible and so I asked the old man to ask someone to choose the best sword for me.

The old man came forward, looked at me and then looked around. Then he took a sword from the collection and passed it to me.

“For your height a long sword will do though your strength may not be enough to wield one”

“Then why give this to me?”

“You have the battle suit that will do those things for you, so no worries”

“Now as for the bow, we only have one bow here. A retractable recurve bow, once again one of a kind. You know that there are no retractable recurve bows. This one was made for some special purpose which was then dropped. So what should the arrow length be?”

“30 inch carbon arrows”

“Very well. Well then here is the bow, arrows and the sword. The battle suit and the clothes have already been delivered to your tent. Go to the tent and get ready.”

I nodded and walked to my tent to get ready.

---***---

My mind was on cloud nine. The me right now was nothing short of a hero from a fairy tale with a sword and arrow quiver on my back. The retracted bow resting in the holster on my waist. The battle suit was the coolest of them all. Just like the old man had said the suit was transparent, like a second skin. When I wore the top portion of the suit, it felt like the suit was merging into my skin and becoming my new skin. The pants also felt the same. Once I wore it completely a power surged through my whole body making me feel like a hero who just unleashed his inner power. No no, don’t go labeling me as a chuuni, I am a healthy middle schooler with a healthy mind. Once I wore my clothes which was a shirt and pants along with black boots, I walked out of the tent.

Outside the tent, the old man was already standing while waiting for me with a half burnt cigar curled between his thick lips.

“You look handsome. Too bad there are no girls here. Let’s go boy. Hell awaits you”

---***---

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