Jan. 4th. 2017

~Yawn~

Peter groggily wiped the yellow crust off his eyelids and stepped into the bathroom. It was 6:00AM in the morning and today was his second day at the hospital. Slipping on a plain white T-shirt and black training pants after a cold shower, Peter walked towards Rem’s room.

Knock Knock

Knocking four more times, Peter finally gave up and aimlessly wandered through the hallways. Hearing people nearby, he followed the noise to the hospital’s mess hall. The moment Peter walked in, he noticed there were at least sixty people sitting, eating and smiling.

‘This…I know Mason told me about this, but these are just ordinary folks. Damn, they really had it good for the past 3 days, but… how long can they survive like this?’ Peter had a strange look on his face. On one hand, he was relieved that there were still ordinary people in the world. However he also doubted this peaceful and friendly environment would last long.

“Hey, are you new here?” A man with a SWAT vest approached Peter and shook his hand. “Yeah, I’m Peter.” The man and Peter stood next to each other on the line, each holding an empty tray in their hands.

“I’m Vladimir. By any chance, did you serve before?” Vladimir’s direct question caught Peter off guard because he had expected some small-talk first. Not letting his surprise show on his face, Peter flashed his killing intent. However, Vladimir thought Peter saw through him quickly dropped the act and explained that he was sent by Dr. Mabel.

“He told me to give you a job. Based on what he told me, you’re really strong so I will cut to the chase. Do you want to join the reconnaissance or patrol team?”

“I don’t mind doing reconnaissance, but I prefer doing it alone.” Peter curtly replied

“Well, if you’re as strong as the three guardians then that should be okay.” Vladimir smiled and wrote down Peter’s choice on a note board. Before Vladimir could leave Peter asked him, “What did my friends choose?”

“Anne Feylin and Rem Gold are both on patrol team. James Gold has a resident status.” Peter furrowed his eyebrows and applied a bit of strength on Vladimir’s shoulder. Vladimir felt his knees grow weak and let out a low growl.

“Why are you attacking me?”

“Why are you lying to me?” Peter immediately retorted

“I did not lie?” Seeing Vladimir’s confused look, Peter released his grip and asked for an explanation of patrol duty. “Patrols deal with all trespassers and invaders. We patrols are primarily responsible for defending the residents.” Vladimir hastily replied.

“What invaders?”

“The Seven Kings. They are a group of convicts and prisoners, who took advantage of the apocalypse to break out of jail. The Seven Kings are a reference to their seven leaders, each commanding over one hundred people. We are currently being attacked by Markis, the fourth king.”

Unable to refrain from laughing, Peter said, “Kings? Kings!? Haha bunch of clowns believe they are god almighty...” However, as soon as he joked about the group, the entire mess hall became eerily silent.

“Sir, I would not recommend taking this group so lightly. They have killed over a dozen of our guards and almost all our reconnaissance soldiers, who went beyond the 2 mile radius.” Vladimir sternly warned Peter.

‘If the members of the seven kings were like the ones we encountered in the tunnel, they shouldn’t be that much of a problem.’ Sensing the crowd’s hostility, he thought carefully about his next words. “What level are your guards?”

Vladimir’s depressed aura instantly disappeared and pride swelled from the bottom of his heart. “We guardsman are at least LV 10 and the guardians are LV 20!” Not only did Vladimir praise the guardians, but he also had a foolish yearning expression on his face. ‘Huh? LV 20 is considered high? Why are you proud of being LV 10? That’s even worse than a goblin!’

Keeping his criticisms in his heart, Peter asked, “Alright. Then I’m going to assume if I leave the 2 mile radius, the Fourth King’s lackeys will hunt me down. Correct?” The people in the mess hall flared up again when he mentioned the Fourth King. Vladimir calmed the enraged crowd and emphasized that Peter was one of the strongest fighters in the facility.

This earned Peter a mix of spiteful and zealous stares. ‘I guess anything about the Seven Kings is taboo around here.’ Grasping the situation, Peter asked Vladimir if he could meet Dr. Mabel. Unfortunately, Vladimir explained that Dr. Mabel only takes guests during a certain time.

After eating his breakfast alone in in the mess hall, he irritably packed his backpack with supplies and headed towards one of the hospital’s exit points. The main entrance was barricaded by book shelves, sofas and wooden boards. Upon reaching the 2nd exit, he was stopped by the guards stationed next to the exit.

“Halt. No one may leave the premise.”

Taking out his reconnaissance ID, which Vladimir handed to him earlier, the guards immediately moved out of his way and looked at him pitifully. ‘These guards really think their hot stuff around here eh.’ However, when he looked at the hospital from the outside, he couldn’t help inwardly praising the security.

The hospital’s card-boarded windows and lack of power gave the impression that it was abandoned. However, that was far from the truth. The trick was the hospital’s clever light arrangement, which made it impossible to see any light coming from inside the building.

Without a plan, Peter decided he would simply hunt and clear out the monsters nearby. After walking past the local safety radius mentioned on the Hospital’s map, Peter decided to clear the Imp nest holed up in a high school, which was .8 miles away. The map detailed all the monsters within a 2 mile radius of the hospital, but had no information about anything further.

‘Hmm…this route passes by a deli, which might have booze… but also passes through the worm territory… the other appears to be much safer… which route to pick, which route to pick.’

After weighing the pros and cons, Peter decided. “I will risk it… for you booze.” The further away he walked from the hospital the more uneven the roads became.

Krawwchi! Kraw kraw

Jumping over the ant hole, Peter came face to face with a pack of goblins that turned the corner a moment ago. Releasing his intense killing intent, Peter ruthlessly dove for the [Hobgoblin LV 26] and beheaded it in one strike. Seeing their leader die sent the goblins into a frenzy.

Kicking away the first red-eyed goblin, Peter followed up with a quick two strike. Without time to breathe, Peter swept his leg in a half circle, brushing aside three more goblins. The goblins in mid-air swiped their knives and blunt weapons before he regained his footing. Instead of regaining his footing, Peter did a front role and threw three lightning fast kicks.

In the middle of the pack of frenzied goblins, he began narrowly dodging their attacks. Unlike the goblins in the first day, these goblins had better teamwork. However, individually they were still too weak. Each time Peter dodged an attack, he took advantage of their slow reaction time and brandished his blade twice before the next goblin attacked.

Eventually he whittled down their numbers to six. The remaining six goblins finally understood that this human was out of their league and ran. ‘Shit!’ He threw two daggers at the farthest goblins and chased after the remaining four. Consumed by fear, the two nearest goblins jumped into the worm tunnels. Within seconds, the two goblins up ahead were easily overtaken and killed.

For the first time, Peter felt somewhat remorseful. He inwardly blamed James, ‘Always prattling about kindness and Jesus, now I can’t even kill a goblin in peace.’ However, the feeling continued to gnaw at his heart.

Within a few minutes, his heart began to beat erratically and his emotions swirled out of control. After fighting with the dragon over control, Peter realized that this wasn’t guilt, but a mental attack. Finding an inconspicuous roof to lie down, he stopped resisting and let his mind relax as the memories came flooding back.

~14 years ago~

“Peter!! Dinner is ready!”

“Coming, I’ll be there in a second.” Cleaning his silver Beretta 9mm and placing it back in the case, Peter rushed downstairs. ‘Sophia…Sophia…this house. No… Please, I don’t want to see this again.’ He was trapped in his mind, separated by a thin, but unbreakable glass wall. Knowing what was going to happen, Peter continuously slammed on the wall, hoping to catch the attention of the twenty three year old Peter.

Footsteps could be heard as Peter happily ran down the stairs. ‘This is where I slip.’ On the last two steps, Peter trips and falls face first.

“Dadddy! Are you okay!!” Pushing himself off the floor, he pats the little girls head and warmly smiles. “Of course I’m okay! Let’s go eat now Amy!” The little girl happily drags Peter to the table.

A five feet’ six inch woman with raven black hair, bright brown eyes, and fair white skin flashes a dazzling smile. ‘So…Sophia.’ Behind the thin glass, Peter continuously banged and prayed for time to stop at this very moment.

“Sophie! I smell your famous triple mesh-omelet!” The two lovers locked eyes before a little girl interrupted the two by banging her fork on the table. “Mommy! Stop looking at daddy! Amy is hungry!”

The two parents erupt into laughter and Sophia takes the omelet out of the oven.

‘…Please. Please no more…’ Weakly bashing against the glass wall, Peter finally kneeled and begged for mercy. As soon as Peter begged, a smoky image appeared in front of him. It was a woman with flawless skin, luscious curly black hair, aquiline nose and an hourglass figure. Without a question, this woman’s beauty would put to shame any supermodel or celebrity.

“Humph, looks like you do know how to beg for mercy. Child, although you crushed my remnant soul, I have already crawled into your deepest and strongest memory. We are now eternally connected.”

“You…you did this to me… I will fuckin kill you, you disgusting bitch!” Peter growled

“Oh ho, I was known as the fairest maiden in the human world several millenniums ago. But, I guess times cha—”

Peter released all his killing intent and spat, “What. The. Hell. Do. You want from me…” The woman brilliantly smiled and replied, “Aren’t you direct. Well, I can’t directly possess you anymore, but I also can’t disappear. I guess you could call it limbo. This memory is your weak link and what chains me to this world.”

Cutting the woman off again, Peter murderously asked, “Then how do I get rid of you…” Annoyed at being cut off twice the woman frowned. “Not with that attitude.” Then she mysteriously smiled, “But…if you really want to get rid of me, just destroy me once and for all.” Peter pulled his fist back and punched the woman.

Yet, before his fist could reach her, she suddenly transformed into a familiar little girl. “Daddy! Don’t hit me!”

“Amy…No you’re not Amy.” Peter uncurled his fist and stood in front, staring at the little girl. The dragon, disguised as Amy, surged with arrogance and jeered, “What’s wrong? Weren’t you going to kill me?”

Peter wordlessly stared at the little figure, but didn’t move. Feeling used, the dragon immediately transformed into Sophia, but the human still didn’t react. “Why…why did you let me die?” the dragon said in Sophia’s voice.

Yet, the human only listlessly stared into her eyes. Hoping Amy’s voice would be more effective, the dragon took the form of a little girl again. “Daddy! Why…why did you let me die?!” Peter could no longer stifle his tears, but refused to attack.

‘This human truly is pitiful. Humph, one more push is all it takes before he begs me again.’ Thinking along this line, the dragon decided to transform into Peter’s wife, Sophia. However, before she could say a word, Peter put both hands on her throat.

‘Why, why is he attacking me now?!! I had him!’ Flustered by Peter’s sudden attack, the dragon weakly said, “Why Peter? Why are you doing this to me?” Choking the life out of disguised dragon, his lips curled upwards and began laughing.

“You think you’re smart don’t you, you damn dragon. I loved my wife with everything I had, but no woman is perfect. Since you don’t understand, I’ll fill you in on the part you’re missing. In this meal, my daughter and I are poisoned and left for dead by that bitch. The poison didn’t affect me for some reason, but I had to watch my daughter die...in front of ME!”

The dragon realized it miscalculated, but could only helplessly thrash. “I looked everywhere for that wench, but I never found her. Yet, today you decided to come to me… it’s too bad you’re not real.”

Feeling regret, the dragon’s thought, ‘I made the wrong bet! If…If only I kept the little girl fo….rm... If… only I waited just a little long…er.’

KAcck!

“NOOOoooo!” As its soul disperse, the dragon disguised as Sophia nervously kicked, but to no avail. Feeling nothing in his hands anymore, Peter’s tears poured down to his neck as the burden he carried for the past eight years seemed to float away. For the first time in years, Peter felt at peace.