Chapter 2 - The End and the Beginning (2)

More than five hours had passed since the mysterious energy had enveloped Kane. He remained unconscious on the ground for several hours. His hair swayed gently with the wind, but the rest of his body was motionless. Suddenly, his right hand started to tremble, seemingly struggling to move. A few seconds later, Kane slowly opened his eyes. He was in a deeply terrified state.

‘’What the hell was that..?! What was that energy?! It felt as my body was being devoured by countless demons, which were happily shredding my internal organs apart! But yet, now that I am looking at my body and cloths… I actually feel fine! There isn’t even a stretch on my body!’’ Kane was wondering as he inspected himself.

He used his recovering strength to help himself to stand up, something he managed to succeed after a lot of effort. Then he looked up in the sky and saw the current position of the sun. It was only now that he realised he had been there for several hours!

‘’What! I have been unconscious for all this time!” He said in disbelief. He paused for a moment to think, before he continued whispering to himself.

“But… I wonder why has nobody come to check on me. Something seems quite off here. I am absolutely certain that Madam Lena wouldn’t give a toss about me. But what about Mr. Principal and the high instructors? They would surely come and investigate when a student have gone missing. Could it be that nobody from my class reported that I didn’t return back?’’

He slowly walked to the entrance of the stable, as he removed dust from his cloths. Before he headed back to the college, he sent a quick gaze to ascertain that the horses were still doing well.

Kane opened his mouth in surprise, and stared in disbelief. Don’t misunderstand, the five horses were still in the stable, they hadn’t run away. The only problem was that all five of them were dead!

‘’What the!?!? How did they die? What I am going to do now! If the college instructors learn of this incident, forget about Madam Lena, even the high Instructor and Mr. Principal will be mad at me!’’ Kane couldn’t help but panic. He felt his mind spinning. He kept pondering to figure how the hell the horses had died. Then a thought appeared into his mind like a sudden flash of lightning.

‘’Was it that mysterious energy? Did it kill the horses?’’

Quickly, Kane left the stables and hastened towards the College. But after running a couple of metres, he had the misfortune to experience another shocking scene. Ahead of him on the ground, laid the bodies of four male students. It didn’t take too long for Kane to recognise this group, it was Terry`s gang! They rested motionless on the ground, and were surrounded by countless wooden weapons. Terry was present amongst the group.

Kane hesitated for a moment, then he slowly approached Terry and touched his hand, examining his pulse. Kane could still see the massive scar on Terry`s face, the same injury that Kane had inflicted on Terry earlier today. Kane then let off Terry`s hand, then he stood and kept staring towards the group. He finally had a rough understanding of what might have happened here.

Most probably, after that earlier accident, Terry wanted to obtain revenge over Kane. Instead of leaving, Terry had brought over his gang, armed with wooden weapons. They wanted to beat Kane badly because of what he had done to Terry. But on their way here, they had mysteriously died.

Kane was clearly startled. It was now that he understood that this was some kind of calamity. He felt as the universe itself was playing a cruel joke on him. He charged, full speed ahead towards the college, and then headed straight to the Principal`s office. The Principal was the Head of the College.

‘’Mr. Norton!! Mr. Norton!! This is Kane Barker, an apprentice student of Green Book College!! Quick, please come out! Something terrible has happened!!!’’ Kane shouted several times like a mad man, with both of his hands banging violently on the door of the Principal`s office. After a while, Kane decided to release a powerful punch, and the door finally gave in. As the door opened, Kane lost his balance and dropped on the floor, but he quickly stood up again, and was about to apologize to the principal but…

Kane could clearly see that Principal Alfred Norton, also known as Chief Instructor of Green Book College, was no longer amongst the living.

‘’This… this can’t be! Please tell me I am dreaming… please someone tell me this is just a nightmare!!!’’ Kane shouted aloud to himself as he ran towards his classroom.

He was already imagining the scene he would be seeing upon entering his classroom, but he forced himself to disbelieve his own thoughts, and instead hoped for some kind of miracle. But in his heart, he had already accepted that his fellow students were probably death.

He finally arrived before the door of his classroom, then he opened it slowly. His former fellow students, and the detestable Madam Lena were there. All of them had shocked, agonized expressions. If someone had to see their faces, one would think that they just had a fierce struggle with a wild animal, before finally succumbing to it. Each and every one of them was death.

Kane`s eyes were now filled tears, and was visibly mentally broken. He immediately ran out of the college, and headed straight towards Hillfort Village. He didn’t even bother to check upon the other classes.

But from now on, things would only be taking a turn for the worse. Everywhere he ran, he saw all sorts of deceased life forms, including several bodies of humans and animals. Even the trees were showing signs of decay. Almost all trees in the area were already just branches without any leaves. It appeared that all life of planet Yuba had completely vanished in an instant.

Kane had for long been supressing a certain thought. Ever since he saw Terry`s gang death bodies, this thought had surfaced into his mind and never disappeared.

‘’Please, heavens. I beg you! Please father be safe!!!’’ Kane cried out to the heavens while running like a mad bull towards Hillfort Village, as tears kept flowing from his eyes. He silently prayed into his heart for his father safety.

Shortly after, Kane arrived at Hillfort village, then sped towards the Village Headquarters. He was out of breath and on the verge of another physical collapse.

As he entered the village, he came upon a scene that left him with a deep impression. The village was filled with hundreds of human corpses. All of these were people that he used to see around every day, and some who he used to interact with on a daily basis.

Before this day, Kane had never seen a corpse. He always lived in peaceful times and none of his relatives he had memories of had died during the course of his life. He never imagined that in just one day, he would be seeing countless amounts of cadavers.

Corpses covered the entire town, and it seemed like a scene taken directly from hell. But this wasn’t hell. This was Hillfort Village, one of the most beautiful villages in the Frederick Kingdom. Or let`s say, it used to be.

Kane, who was on the verge of going crazy, whispered into his own heart, ‘’I can’t believe all these people died?! How could that mysterious energy kill all these people without leaving any survivors? How am I still alive?’’

Several questions kept popping in Kane`s mind. But the answers for these questions weren’t that important right now. His priority was to find his father!

He finally arrived at the village headquarters. It didn’t take long for him to discover the dead bodies of the countless nobles, the several guards and even that of the Mayor. However, when he arrived at his father`s office, he noticed that the room was empty, and his father wasn’t there.

‘’What?! Could it be that my father had survived and fled?’’ A tiny amount of hope appeared in Kane`s eyes. He checked every floor of that building, searching in every room, but his father wasn’t there.

Seeing this, Kane hurried towards the Barker Household. When he arrived, he noticed the dead bodies of his aunt and her beloved son. Even though he wasn’t on good terms with them, he still felt sorry for them, and his heart ached. Kane was after all, a rather good hearted person.

He started searching the various rooms, until he arrived in front of the library. There he saw his father seated on a chair, with the rest back of the chair facing Kane`s direction. James head was partly visible. His father stayed there quietly and was holding a book in his right hand. Seeing this, Kane smiled as he believed that his father was still alive.

"Father! Are you ok?! Are you injured?! What the hell happened in the town?!’’ Kane asked several questions, whilst moving in the direction of the chair, and then he grabbed his father`s right hand.

…

…

…

Only three breaths had passed since Kane had touched his father`s hand. Immediately, the book dropped to the floor, breaking the silence for a breath. The deep silence quickly returned. Kane just stood there and looked expressionless. If you had to ask how he felt like now, it would be a mixture of denial, anger, depression and a general feeling of misfortune.

Today was the day that Kane`s last pillar of support, his darling father, James Barker, the only relative he had left in this world, had perished. After around five minutes of conflicting emotions, Kane finally let everything out, screaming in agony. He remembered how his father had taken care of him for all this time. The beautiful moments they had together. The countless memories of his father passed by in Kane`s mind like a gentle stream.

‘’Why… why… why is this happening to me!! Father! Why did you leave your only son alone on this cruel planet?! What about your promise you made to me… that you would never leave me alone… have you forgotten that I am your only treasure!!’’ Kane continued to sob painfully.

When one lost a relative, while it is a very painful experience, one would have to accept reality and move on. One could also count on the support of other relatives and friends. One could either calculate what one had lost and remain depressed, or calculate what one still had and move on. After all, nothing was permanent in this universe. That was the harsh reality of the life. The universe keeps changing, otherwise it will become stagnant.

Unfortunately, Kane was in an entirely different situation. Not only he had lost his father without even being able to do anything to save him; in just a few breaths, he had also lost everyone he knew! As from now on, he was basically a lone survivor in a barren land!

The remaining of the day slowly passed away and it was now night. But this night, Kane didn’t sleep, but instead spent the whole night crying.

The night passed very slowly, and it was finally early morning. In the Barker`s Family courtyard, several deep holes could be seen. In them, rested all the corpses of the Barker Family Household, including Kane`s father. Kane silently bowed as he completed the death ritual, and then began to bury all his relatives. The last corpse that he buried was that of his father.

Kane was now holding an amulet in his hand. It was made from pure gold, and had a red ruby engraved on it. It was the amulet that his father always carried with him. James had received this amulet from his wife Elena, and after she died, he had always kept it on himself, as a reminder of the good memories they had together as a couple.

It took Kane a whole five hours to bury all those people. When he was done, he rested on a stone chair in the courtyard, and began to reflect about his current crisis. Everyone had died, and the food stockpiles would only be lasting for a few months at most, before they would become inedible. To complicate matters, all animals had also perished along with the humans. Even the surrounding vegetation became rotten. There was no way of replenishing the stockpiles.

Kane stood up, and then spoke solemnly, ‘’Father, my relatives and all of you who had died today, I promise that I will not die until I find out what caused your demise and avenge you!’’ Then he left the village and headed straight to his favourite oak tree, on the nearby hill. There he would then decide his course of action.

It took only ten minutes for Kane to arrive next to the oak tree, with his right palm now resting on the bole of the tree. The sun was high, and the unbearable heat could already be felt. But things were very different now. They were no birds high up in the sky. There was no green grass around, just yellowish rotten grass. The majestic oak tree, was now just a dead trunk.

‘’Everything seems death here. I should depart towards the Capital of the Kingdom. Maybe I can find a clue there.’’ Kane said in a very weak disheartened voice. As he was about to leave, he suddenly heard two footsteps landing on the nearby ground, instantly followed by a wicked aura.

Kane quickly turned his gaze and instantly froze in shock. In front of him stood a man, roughly two metres tall. He was wearing a military like uniform, which was split in two. On the left side it was white, on the right side it was also white but it had lots of colourful symbols and diagrams drawn on it. He had the face of a bandit, with funky brown hair. As soon as his eyesight made contact with Kane`s eyes, the man suddenly burst out in laugher.

‘’Ha… Ha Ha… Ha Ha Ha Ha... This is unprecedented! There is actually a survivor!’’

Kane terrified, couldn’t help but ask, in a stuttering voice, ‘’who… are… you?’’

The mysterious man, sill laughing, chuckled evilly as he walked towards Kane, ‘’so… how about… you actually die now kid!?!’’

Kane tried to escape but at that very moment, he felt a wave of powerful energy penetrating into his body. It was somewhat similar to the energy he felt last time at the stables! But this energy was much stronger! He shivered as he felt his blood boiling, and his bones felt like they would start cracking at any moment. Then, out of the blue, Kane felt massive pain in the upper part of his right hand, as another wave of mysterious energy rushed out from his body. At the same time, the invading energy was immediately repelled out of his body.

"What?! How can this be? What… the… f…’’ The mysterious man screamed in surprise. However, these were the last words he uttered, as he vomited out a river of blood, then fell lifeless on the floor. Just like that he had perished.

Kane fell on his knees totally exhausted. He was deeply astonished, as he stared in disbelief of what has just transpired a few breaths ago.