Solus was setting down in the Imperium Continent. The workers were already returning to their houses to eat dinner and sleep early.
In the small streets of Brion City, a young boy was running away from a group of bullies. He cried as he tumbled down on the road.
The boys behind him laughed at him. “Hahaha! Look at that, what a loser!”
“You bully! Brother Zachariel will come here and save me. He will then beat you all!” The young boy cried.
“Hal, your big brother won’t be here by the time we’re over with you!” A burly boy approached Hal.
“You bastards! What do you think you’re doing to Hal?!” A fierce voice came from afar. They saw two figures running towards them. It was a boy and a pink-haired girl. The boy punched the burly boy, knocking him out while the girl charged over the other boys.
“The monster is here!”
“Run, don’t let him catch and eat you!”
The boys ran away, afraid of the arrival of the two kids.
“Come back here, I’m going to beat you up!” The young boy shouted at them.
He had short hair, a mix of black and white. His red eyes fiercely stared at the boys running away from them.
“Zachariel, this is so fun beating people up!” The pink-haired girl excitedly punched another boy that she knocked out.
“Hal, are you okay?” A sweet and innocent voice came behind Hal. It was the young Amelia, with her long blonde hair swinging as she took a step.
Hal looked at her. “Amelia, what are you doing here?”
“Saving you, of course! You’re really troublesome, you know? You can’t beat those guys so why did you start a fight against them?”
“Hmph! I just follow what my brother Zachariel told me, to never back down on any fight!”
Amelia hit his head with her small fists. “You idiot! At least be as strong as brother Zachariel before you do that!”
The young Zachariel turned to them. “Hal!” He lent out his hand and helped Hal get back up.
“Brother Zachariel, Sister Sabrina, thank you for saving me! I’m so sorry for bringing out trouble to you!” Hal cried, asking for forgiveness from his big brother.
“Hal! What are you talking about? We’re good brothers, okay? Your problem is my problem! This big brother will always be here for you!” Zachariel pumped his fists and raised them high up.
“He’s right! Don’t worry about it!” Sabrina followed through, crossing her arms like a proud warrior.
Hal and Amelia were astounded about their heroic aura.
“Brother Zachariel, you’re so cool! I want to be like you someday!” Hal excitedly said. Seeing that pose always boiled his blood.
“Brother Zachariel! I want to be your wife in the future. Marry me, okay?” Amelia hugged Zachariel as victoriously laughed when the twins praised him.
“No! I’ll be the one marrying him! Amelia, stay away!” Sabrina also hugged him, afraid that another predator would pounce on her prey.
“Alright, let’s go back now. It’s almost night soon.”
The three of them returned to the Strom Household while Sabrina went back to the Rossi Household.
The three went directly to the pond garden, where Anabella could be seen sitting on the benches, as she stared emptily at the pond in front of her.
“Mom! We’re back!”
A young voice snapped her out of her stupor. “Zachariel, Hal, Amelia, you’ve come back.”
They approached Anabella. She happily patted the heads of the three children.
The three children started to recount the events that happened that day. Anabella happily listened to them. After an hour of listening to their stories, Uncle Zwein came and said that dinner was going to be ready soon.
“Zachariel, Hal, Amelia, go get a shower now! I’ll listen more to your stories later, okay?”
“Yes, mom!” The three of them excitedly went to take a bath, their laughs echoing in the hallways.
Anabella returned to her downed expression, staring back at the pond with her dull eyes.
…
Later that night.
Zachariel strolled along the hallway and was about to return to his room when he heard a faint sound from his parent’s bedroom. The door was ajar.
Zachariel closed in and tried to listen to what was happening inside.
“Anabella, why are you acting like this right now?!” A middle-aged voice filled with anger resounded within.
“Gilbert, that kid is not my son! I can’t bear to take him under our custody!”
Zachariel heard it, and his world started to slow down. He was shocked by what he just heard right now.
`What is mom talking about? I’m not her… child?`
The argument inside the room continued.
“Anabella, even if he’s not our son, we still need to take care of him! Grandfather did so much effort just to bring him to you!”
“So, what, Gilbert?! I will never accept a monster like him as our son! You can go out declaring him as your so-called child, but I will never do it! I’ve had enough of acting in front of him with caring eyes! I don’t want to do this anymore!” Anabella shouted at the top of her lungs.
At that point, Zachariel heard the most painful words in his life. `Mom was acting all the time?` He remembered the times when his mother would feed him, listen to him crying, and would even sleep along with him in his bedroom.
`So it was just all just a pretense?`
He slowly retracted his hands from the door.
“Anabella!” Gilbert was getting angry now. What was wrong with his wife today?
“Gilbert, I don’t care even if he hears this right now! I won’t even care if he would leave the house and die somewhere in the streets! He deserves it! After all, he’s the one who-“
Gilbert slapped his wife. She was bringing out that matter now and even said that Zachariel should die somewhere else. He stared at her with hostility.
“You damned woman, how could you say that to a child?! We’ll stop this, right here, right now!” Gilbert turned away from his wife. He went outside the balcony of their room and took a deep breath. `Damn it, this is getting out of hand. Father, tell me what should I do?`
Anabella stayed on the bed, crying as she tried to reflect on her words and actions earlier.
“I’m sorry… I’m sorry…”
Meanwhile, Zachariel, who was outside, no longer heard what the two of them said after. His body had started trembling long ago.
His eyes were wide open. He felt like somebody was strangling him. He couldn’t breathe properly, and his voice was stuck in his throat.
He wanted to barge inside and ask his mother why she had said that. Did she really not love him? Was everything that they did back in the days all fake?
His world turned dark as tears flowed from his eyes. He silently walked away back to his room. He lost the courage to ask his mother, afraid that he might just hurt himself more if he heard her answers to his questions.
…
The next day.
The Strom household was disturbed about Zachariel’s new behavior. He became silent and cold to everyone around him.
Hal and Amelia cheered him up on their way to school. “Brother Zachariel, don’t worry! Me and Amelia will always be here for you so stop sulking down there!”
“He’s right brother Zachariel, try to smile a little bit for us, okay?”
Zachariel heard them and a part of him came back. He smiled a little, with the hope that even though his parents have forsaken him, the two of them will be always there for him.
“Yehey! He smiled!” The twins were happy and excitedly laughed as they went to school. Zachariel followed over.
…
It was break time and Zachariel went to the restroom to relieve himself when suddenly…
“Zachariel, come over here and listen. I’ve got something good for you.” One of the bullies called out to Zachariel in a very secretive manner.
“What are you trying to do, you bastard?!” Zachariel narrowed his eyes at this guy.
“Just come here. Look, I won’t do anything, all right?”
Zachariel head over and was stumped about what he just heard.
“Hal, do you really have to do this?!” A feminine voice was heard. It was Amelia.
“Amelia, we have always bothered brother Zachariel about our problems. It’s time to slowly depend on our own and stop bothering him!”
The two continued arguing, but Zachariel had already felt that his world had completely crumbled. He misunderstood what Hal had said, and didn’t hear anything after that.
`I trusted you all, and yet this is what I get in return!`
He thought that his parents loved him as he loved them. He thought that Hal and Amelia would stay with him as he stayed with them when they were in trouble.
`I considered your feelings even though I kept getting hurt all the time!`
He remembered the times when he would help Hal and Amelia out of trouble, even though the teachers and his parents would reprimand him later because of his behavior.
`And now, I’m being forsaken by the people whom I’ve trusted deeply as well?!`
His mind slowly drowned in hopelessness and his heart was about to break. He went back to the classroom and laid down on the desk, silently crying without anybody noticing.
`I am… worthless to them!`
`And they… are worthless to me!`
A cold feeling aroused within his heart, and he slowly lost his attachment to the world. The warmth that Solus has given to Pandragea no longer felt the same as before.
The world became black and white, his hearing became muffled, and the figure of the people slowly blurred out.
As the tears flowed from his eyes, they carried away his last hope for the entire world. As it splashed on the floor, it shattered the hope that remained in him.
“Zachariel!” A muffled but sweet and young feminine voice called out to him.
“Zachariel!” The voice became clearer.
