02 - Was it Real?

‘What exactly happened?’

Jason looked around. The road and the calm river brought many memories from his past.

‘Past? Or is it present?’

He fell into a daze as he walked along the footpath.

The memories of his last hours flooded his mind. The memories of his death, and the memories of the end of humanity.

The events that took place ran through his mind like a movie. 

…..

‘This is not aid!’

Jason trembled, feeling the power of the green light that passed over their heads.

He tried his best to remember a spell with a green colour that had such terrifying energy, and he got none in his memories. 

This was too fast to be a response from allies.

…

“Wait! Don’t break the formation.”

The young leader yelled at the old man, Jason, feeling helpless. 

“What do we do?”

The woman asked in a panic. If they caused a commotion, they would easily attract their enemy drones. 

“Let’s go after him.”

For some reason, the young man also felt that something was wrong. The moment they sent the distress signal, this light came. It was as if the other party was ready to send them a reply. 

He had no other reason to believe this was something else. Not unless the Cervians brought some new technology. The moment this old man reacted to it in panic, he also felt something was wrong. 

Just as he was about to rush forward, he felt a slight tremor. A blinding green light rose from the distance, creating a massive dome of light. He felt the pressure of the wind crashing against his face.

His hearing became numb, and there was a buzzing sound inside his head. 

“Run away!”

He barely heard the familiar voice of old Jason as he ran toward them through the trees. Behind him, a cloud of dust covered the sky, swallowing everything in sight. 

He tried to turn, but the wave of pressure swallowed him, pushing him off the ground. 

His surroundings became pitch black with darkness.

…

“Ah….”

A painful moan came from the scattered debris and fallen trees. 

A hand pushed away the dust and branches, followed by a small tree. 

Jason, who was now covered in dust, emerged from the destroyed ground. 

He felt his body was battered beyond tolerance, and there was unbearable pain on his side. 

There was a sharp broken branch sticking out of his ribs. 

‘Shit.’

He cursed in his heart, gritting his teeth to bear the pain, but he knew better than to pull out the branch. He didn’t even remember the healing potions in his pouch.

He pushed himself up from the ground, but he stopped halfway. 

He felt the problem in his body. The missing arm was not the reason for it. It wasn’t the pierced organs. It was the missing spell protection. 

Both the concealment and the frost armour were no more. The spells concealed him and lowered his body temperature to hide from their enemies. 

Concealment was actually an apprentice-level spell. Even he had the ability to cast it. The Frost Armour was a bit advanced and only a Novice Wizard with an affinity for the Wind sphere could cast it. Still, both of these were low-level spells. The spell would be more powerful and long-lasting the higher the power of the Wizard. 

During dangerous missions above the surface, usually, the highest level wizards on respective affinities would cast the spells and enchantments for the best safety. 

As for the Ice spell, it was cast by a Master Wizard of the Wind element. However, the basic concealment spell was cast by one of the six Grand Wizards of the entire Yuriel. More like the last living Grand Wizard after twenty years of war. The Angel of Death, Archana. 

There were several ways for a spell to be dispelled, but he could only think of one reason at the moment. 

The Angel of Death was unable to provide magic power to the concealment, any longer. 

He hurried his movements, ignoring the pain. He used his hand to tighten the muscles around the wound as tight as possible, hoping to reduce the pain a bit. 

‘God help us.’

He never believed in any god, but he prayed. The devastation in the surrounding was unimaginable. The flourishing forest was no more. Instead, there were scattered stomps of broken trees in the entire area. 

He didn’t have to drag his battered body too far. Not long after, he came to the edge of a steep cliff. He almost fell down, because there was no cliff here a day ago. 

In front of him was a massive crater that expanded over several kilometres. 

The mountain that was supposed to be above their underground city was gone, and he saw a large pit of molten lava where it was supposed to be.

The last sanctuary of humanity was gone. His lip quivered and his vision became blurry. The tears ran down his wrinkled face. 

Everything was over. Their last hope, the last Grand Wizard of the planet Yuriel, was gone. 

He heard a slight sound of rubble moving behind him.

Two people pushed their way out of the ground. It was the young leader and the woman. 

He knew the woman was at least a Novice Wizard. She could have protected the young leader, but not the other two members of their team.

The young man ran toward him, and he looked devastated. 

Jason didn’t say a word and allowed the young man to realise the truth.

He silently observed the two people.

“No. No!!! Why???”

The young woman broke into tears.

Jason felt something within him. He looked at the young man, who was stunned by the devastating sight. He finally understood the reason he lived for so long. The reason for him to struggle to survive another day.

Because he was grateful.

He was grateful to the Angel of Death for taking them in when they were like infants in this world. For not throwing them away when the invasion started. For not using the humans from Earth as cannon fodders, when many other factions did that. 

Even in the end, she treated people like him from Earth as equals. He knew the Angel of Death was among the few who genuinely cared about her people. Because of that, he thought about living another day to support her goal. Struggle to protect the people she wanted to protect.

‘Sigh.’

He finally realised why he was here all this time. Why he didn’t give up when he lost his arm?

“Hey, kid.”

He talked to the young man. Leader or not, this young man was still a Greenhorn to Jason.

“Go with this girl and run. There might be other resistance left somewhere. Go and try to live.”

“And? What are you going to do?”

The young leader looked broken, like the girl, but he still held his head up with rationality. After all, death became a common sight over the years. 

“I will stay and delay the drones. But I can’t do it for very long. I am just a Master Swordsman.”

“Do you really believe there are others left? Unless they are mind-controlled slaves? I think this is our end, old man. We lost.”

There was no hope left in those eyes. 

They both knew it was the correct answer. They might be the last free humans left in the world. 

“I… I can’t. I will kill them all. All of them.”

The woman looked devastated and broken. She was muttering with unfocused eyes. 

They heard the sound of the drones from afar. 

The young leader looked at the old swordsman. 

“What is your real name, old man? Where are you from?”

“I am Jason… Jason Hope. I am from Earth.”

“It is an honour knowing you, Jason Hope.”

The young leader nodded at the old man, who was actually an alien to their world.

“It is an honour. Let’s meet again if we ever have a chance.”

Jason knew the young leader made his decision. As for the female wizard, she was already casting all her defensive spells like crazy. There was nothing left for them to run for. It was time to say goodbye. 

‘Funny, I didn’t remember the last time someone asked my name.’

He was just another old warrior. 

He smiled, taking out two bottles from his pouch. The magic bag was still intact after the devastation. As for healing, there was no time.

He didn’t hesitate to swallow the two liquids at once. 

The one was a berserker potion that allowed him to go into overdrive on his body. The other was a poison that would surely kill him in twenty minutes. He wasn’t going to be one of the slaves who was working in the mines without a mind. 

He smiled at the young man once more, before turning at the hundreds of drones flying toward them. 

It was finally his time to die with a smile. Time to end everything once and for all. He suddenly wondered what it would look like; the world after death. 

‘If I ever have a chance. I will pay back everyone who ever helped me. Thank you, Angel of Death, for giving me a reason to struggle for so long. Hope you are in a good place.’

He pulled out his trusted sword and charged at the horde of drones without hesitation. The magic power condensed around his sword, creating the aura of a Master Swordsman. 

He dodged the darts with anaesthetics and plunged his sword into the first drone. A blue light pierced through the metallic drone before slicing off a few others behind it.

He knew this was a useless battle. The Cervians could replace these drones with ease. Also, the culprit responsible for their end wasn’t the Cervians. 

It was the signal they sent to outer space. Their call for help was the reason for their end. The allies they thought would help them to survive actually turned on them. 

If Cervians had such technology, this war would have ended a long time ago. The drones might probably be here looking for clues about the devastation, not looking for survivors.

‘I just wish I ever had more time….’

His vision kept becoming worse and worse, but he didn’t stop swinging his sword. He couldn’t avoid all the darts on him, and he didn’t notice the lights on all the drones turning red as they detected him as a threat. 

He didn’t see them firing their lasers at him, and he didn’t feel them piercing his body. He didn’t feel his right hand shattering into pieces, and he lost his sword. 

He kept his smile till the end, even when his broken body finally embraced the cold ground.  

…

“Mommy, that uncle is crying.”

“Hush. Let’s go.”

‘Huh?’

Jason saw a woman dragging her son away from him.

He realised he was standing on the side of the road in a daze. He felt the wetness on his cheeks. His last moment was a vivid memory in his mind. 

‘Was it real?’