Chapter 1

## The Years of Destruction

Right in the middle of a reinforced alloy hall, was a spherical manifestation of twirling darkness about three meters tall. Its very existence seemed to sap away the light present in the hall, hence it was called the rift. Two concave mirrors were placed on each side of the rift, and a strange crystal cone was placed right in front of it so that its pointed side was facing the floor. Yet the cone stood, not adhering to any known laws.

On the other side of the room stood an officer, holding a young man of about sixteen years old, leading him trepidatiously toward the rift with fear and pity written all over his face. The boy had a tired look on his face, the image of the rift reflected in his crimson red eyeballs, that were void of any emotion save for suppressed fear, caged resentment, and stinging anxiety.

The rift was greedily absorbing the soft glow of light in the hall, radiating immense, bone-chilling cold in return. Neo was shaking slightly and gritting his teeth incessantly while the officer stood right beside him, jowls aquiver. It seemed he wanted to say something, but his voice trailed off, overcome by a sense of overwhelming nostalgia.

Neo didn’t pay it all any mind; his mind was far… far… away. Instead, his gaze darkened as he licked his bloody lips.

“This is as far as I can go, kid. You will have to handle the rest yourself. Good luck,” the officer said, leaving faster than he came, Neo was left to himself, a few meters away from the dreaded rift.

Neo stared at one of the mirrors, staring at the reflection of his bloodied, tattered, and disheveled self. A wry smile found its way to his crimson red lips.

“Here goes nothing,”

Neo thought, sighing as he walked over the strange crystal cone and into the abyss. Darkness enveloped Neo completely in an attempt to whisk his consciousness away from him.

Suddenly, the voice of the reaper sounded mightily in his consciousness:

“Welcome! Foolish mortal! To the domain of the reaper, the demon of death! Test for allegiance trial begins.”

Unexpectedly, a mighty flood of energy nicked away the little bit of consciousness Neo held onto, as it rummaged wildly through his memories, seemingly in search of something. Its movement was akin to that of a protean parasite seeking food. It uprooted memories that Neo had sworn to let go in its wake, making Neo relive it all… over… again.

Many years prior…

A crack like the roar of thunder penetrated Neo’s ear, followed by a massive shockwave that overturned Neo’s bed, sending him rolling across the floor. The sudden pang of pain jerked Neo awake. He opened his eyes to meet a new flood of information that made his brain seem to lag. Everything was… different.

The room was in a ramshackle situation. The metal alloy that seemed to hold the manor up was dented in many places, and the whole house was on the verge of falling apart. It seemed heaven had descended. But even though his brain couldn’t keep up with the stream, it could at least notice one obvious realization: danger was imminent.

This intuitive realization was quickly followed by the instinctively impetuous command to stay as far away from danger as fast as possible.

Even without recognizing the source or nature of the danger, Neo still thought it an unforgivable felony to stand back, relax, and make some analysis. To him at that moment, the only acceptable rule was to flee as far away and as fast as possible.

Neo quickly sprung to his feet and headed for the door. He twisted the knob with a quivering arm, yanked the door open forcefully, with the strength his six-year-old flabby muscles could muster, only to collide with something solid on his way out. Neo looked up only to find out that it was his elder brother, Theo. He had forgotten for a moment that he had a sibling.

Neo wanted to ask what was going on, but his brother’s grievous expression already answered the unasked questions.

Neo had since known his elder brother to be a very playful, boisterous, and rambunctious fellow, even to the point of outrageousness. He had always had the impression that his brother could never find anything serious or worth his earnest, humorless, and pensive consideration.

He was always the kind to fart loudly in public for the fun of it, to trouble and throw stones at the most vicious zoo animals. Cracking jokes at funerals was not beneath him either.

So seeing him looking serious was a rather disturbing sight. On a normal day, Neo would have been hell surprised, but now all he could feel was panic-stricken fear. Whatever could have made Theo deviate from his normal carefree attitude would have to be a grave matter.

The question finally found its way to his lips.

"What's going on?"

The words that came next landed on him like a mighty boulder, and he instantly paled.

"A rift opened outside the manor, Mom and Dad are trying to…"

Suddenly, another earsplitting crack echoed throughout the manor, halting Theo’s speech.

"Alright, let’s get going," Theo added, holding Neo’s arms.

As he led him down the alleyway to the basement, Neo grimaced. Neo had never been allowed near the basement, but Theo, in his numerous adventures, must have figured out a way to burst into the basement. Surely, he had.

Theo brought his eyes close to the basement door, and a green beam of light came out of an almost imperceptible hole in the wall, scanning his retina, granting him access.

The door hissed quietly and parted. Once Neo and his brother entered, it slammed shut behind them, totally isolating them from the chaotic mess outside. The room was dimly lit, and the space behind was shrouded in total darkness, as if dissuading people from going near it. There was a stockpile of boxes on the left side of the room. Neo was still busy worrying about his parents that he didn't notice Theo had gone to the stockpile behind him and brought out some snacks for both of them.

“Here,”

Theo said, handing some over to Neo. “There is enough to last us for weeks if need be,” Theo added.

Neo stared at his brother in bewilderment. He had a thousand and one questions, but he couldn’t conjure the perfect words to express them. As if reading his mind, his brother continued,

"Don’t worry, they are fine."

He said, donning a pale imitation of his usual playful smile. “They always are.”

*

Suddenly, Neo felt he was tossed away at imperceptible speed, as memories he could vaguely remember flashed across him like meteors. After what seemed like eternity, or probably a second, Neo was tossed into another painfully familiar memory, another day he would never forget even though he wanted to, even though he tried to.

Neo just woke up from his bed—actually, its texture was less of a bed and more of a rock—but Neo had already gotten quite used to it. A lot of things had changed since that night.

Their collapsed manor had been converted to a rift station. Neo's parents had mysteriously disappeared. There hadn't been any news, no compensation from the human alliance for claiming their manor either.

What’s worse, their relatives had been strangely distant. Everyone they knew avoided them like a highly contagious plague. They were both left alone. Even Uncle Bethel, the closest thing to a family after Neo’s immediate nuclear family, was nowhere to be found.

Theo had been a great elder brother; he had at least ensured their survival.

Walking out of the room, I found the surprise gift Theo had given me for my less-than-pleasant tenth year birthday the day before. It was a framed picture of our family, when it was still whole, that is.

Neo’s eyes suddenly widened. Something was wrong with the picture. He could have sworn it wasn’t like that the night before.

Granted, his brother had brought it in after claiming it from the investigation bureau late at night to surprise Neo with, but Neo was so sure his parents weren’t faceless when they took the picture. In fact, he had seen the picture many times before the fateful incident, at no point had his parents been replaced by two faceless creatures, with a slightly murky backdrop of black mist.

Neo glanced at the eerie sight with complicated emotions, and his stomach clenched.

Neo reckoned he needed to ask his brother. He was going to have an answer; he always did.

Neo walked into his brother’s room and couldn’t find him. With a grimace, he wanted to turn back, but some sound waves pricked his ear, signaling that his brother was in the restroom nearby.

Before Neo could make his way there, his brother opened the door, and their eyes met.

For the first time since the incident, Neo found that pained, counterfeit replica of his brother’s usual carefree smile plastered to his face once again.

Neo forgot his questions at once. Something had finally clicked in his mind. Many things, actually.

Crimson eyes, scarlet lips, pale skin—even a fool understood what those meant. Theo had heard the reaper’s call.

It wasn’t anything unexpected, actually. Neo had known it was imminent since the day his brother had clocked sixteen. But witnessing it happen was another thing entirely.

One thing Neo knew about Reaper’s call was that it leaves one with two choices: either you heed the call or you bleed to death. But with what Neo could see, it seemed his brother had chosen the former, not that Neo wold have wanted him to choose the later anyway.

“If you keep opening your mouth like that, you would soon have a stray fly buzzing down your throat,” Theo said, his usual jovial and slightly mischievous smile back.

“What… uh…?” Neo wanted to speak, but he couldn’t gather the right words.

“If you are worried about this,” Theo said, pointing to his crimson eyes, and then he continued. “You need not be. Think of it as a vacation. I will be back before you even know it,” he added, keeping his smile with no difficulty whatsoever.

Neo finally conjured the words as he spoke, his expression darting between worry and indignation. “Don’t tell me you were trying to sneak out of the house behind my back?”

“Yes! I’m not going to tell you since you have figured it out yourself. Busted!” Theo tried to laugh out loud, which he quickly regretted as some blood fragments splattered across the floor.

“How can he still laugh?” Neo thought, staring at his brother incredulously.

“Actually, you shouldn’t have met me this morning if not for the fact that I had to puke out a mass of blood that congealed in my throat overnight. Can you believe that?” Theo said, stuffing his small bag with cash and some snacks. He grabbed his communicator and headed for Neo.

He reached out and handed it to him.

“Here, I won’t be needing this,”

he sighed, then continued. “Take care of yourself okay, I promise I won’t take long. The kitchen is stocked with a month’s worth of meals, eat till you bloat if you can.” His smile beamed.

“And also, I have notified old man Henry of my absence; he would check on you often. I promise I will be back soon, a week max. If I take longer than that, feel free to call me a fucking dung-for-brains bastard when I come back.

Take care, kid,” Theo added finally, and ruffled Neo's ink black hair as he headed for the door, singing his favorite melody happily.

"~the grass is darker on the other side because some fucking idiot set it on fire~"

This might not have been a really sad memory if Neo didn’t know any better. But then he did. He knew his brother would never come back, not in a week… or in six years.