CHAPTER #02 A NEW BEGINNING

Jack eyelashes fluttered and his eyes slowly opened. At first his vision was blurry and hazy then it started to get clear.

“whe…re a…m I” muttered jack as he looked around , what he saw was a dark room with a broken window. Dust and sand flowing in and out of it, there were bits and chunks of metals scattered all around the room, even the walls and the floor of the room were cracked, as the whole room depicted a post-apocalyptic scene.

As jacks saw all this his heart was in turmoil, his expression was a mixture of confusion and anxiety as he tried to remember who he was and how did he end up in this place… who am I , what is this place… dammit why can’t I remember a damn thing thought jack.

As jack was contemplating about his origins… the door to the room suddenly opened followed by an old man supporting himself with a rusted metallic stick. He had a head full of white hair and a white beard. His right arm and right leg were both metallic as they made robotic voices every time he moved.

He slowly made his way towards jack which made the later shrink back as he stared at the old man with eyes full of vigilance and suspicion.

“hey kid so you woke up huh” said the old man as he smiled and sat down at a corner off the bed … then he patted on his right side and said “c’mon kid come sit right here and don’t be afraid I won’t do anything to you, I just want to see your condition” motioned the old man towards jack.

Jack seeing the old man smile he had a mysterious feeling in his chest whispering that the old man had no malicious intentions towards him relaxed. He also felt something calling within him telling him to find the thing it had lost and when he looked at the old man he could sense that the thing was on him. So jack started to slowly move towards the old man and as he neared the feeling in his chest grew more intense. Jack sat down in front of the old man staring at him with his eyes

“Who are you and who am I, what is this place …” asked jack as his eyes were filled with anticipation for answers.

The old man seeing the anxiousness, confusion, worry and intelligence in jack sighed as he thought how an 11 year old kid can be like this it truly is a marvel.

“well what can I say even I don’t know who you are kid … I found you 11 years ago at a crash site you were just an infant then and you were in a deep sleep and you kept that why until today… I didn’t even had to feed you just kept on growing just like that” sighed the old man as he spoke.

After hearing the old man jack pondered for a bit then thought about the calling in his heart thinking that it may give him some answers

“You didn’t find anything. Anything that can relate to me” said jack while looking at the old man in anticipation

Hearing this old man thought for a bit then he took out a pendant it was completely black with a black lusterless gem. Anyone who saw this would say it was a scrap metal but jack knew that it was what he needed as he felt the feeling get so intense that it felt like burning. He could feel the thing inside of him jumping with joy as it had found what it wanted.

“This is the only thing I found that looked remotely related to you” said the old man as he handed the pendant to jack. Jack who was staring at the pendant suppressed his excitement as he went forward to receive it. As soon as the pendant touched jacks hand he felt the thing in his chest about to burst out unable to wait. Jack tried to bear the pain then said

“So that’s about me, what about you old man… who are you and what is this place” asked jack.

As the old man heard jack inquire about him, he fell silent for a moment and then he looked at jack and said

“Well kid you don’t have to know about me as I am a dying old man, so you can just call me Han, as for what this place is we call it the War Planet. A planet specifically used to fight wars”.

“War planet?” inquired jack as he saw old-man Han fell silent. Hearing jacks question old man Han let out a long sorrowful sigh as deep sadness could be seen in his eyes

“War planets are border planets; they are barren planets unsuitable for proper vegetation and residence as the various energies here are extremely sparse. This war planet belongs to the Arcana royalty while the neighboring war planet belongs to the Darmatian Royalty both are 3 star kingdoms and have dozens of planets under them” explained old man Han but then he saw that jack still had some confusions so he continued.

“There are various space pockets scattered around the universe each time a space pocket opens there will be various powers vying for it, so as to settle who has the most rights those various powers do a game called war and that war is held here on war planets” said old man Han with a sneer

“They think it’s a game but for us it is life or death” complained old man Han.

When jack heard about life and death he felt his heart go cold.

“What do mean by life and death… are you saying that it is us the residents of this planet are the ones who fight the war” blurted jack…

“Yes!” said old man Han as he sighed. Hearing old man Han confirm his words made jack shocked as he felt his scalp go numb.

“But don’t we have a say in it. Can’t we just not participate in this war” reasoned jack as felt his blood boiling and a feeling of arrogance started to well up in him… damn who does those people think they are if they came to me ill just kill every one of them thought jack as he looked back at old man Han for him to answer.

Aaahh what a tragedy , he doesn’t even know his name nor his origins but now he even has to fight a war… aah such a poor kid… but only if he is an evolver can he have a good life… but that only exists in 1 out of 1000 people thought old man Han as he looked at jack with eyes full of pity.

“No we don’t. They are the royalty. Whatever they say is law. And why is that… well that’s because they have power… kid in this world if you want to have the ability to command your own life and death you have to have strength to back it up… its kill or be killed” said old man Han sternly as he looked at jack to see what his reaction would be when jack puffed up his chest and said

“Well strength hmnf… just wait until I get stronger then I’ll see who the boss is… huh… but wait how do one get stronger”.

As old man Han saw jack an 11 year old boy huffing and puffing , waving his hand up and down and acting like a tyrant couldn’t help but laugh out loud…wow this kid has ambitions alright… well it’s good to have a brave heart… thought old man Han

“hey kid it’s good that you have ambitions but you have to keep in mind to not get overly arrogant as it will do you more harm than good… and as for how to get stronger there are only two ways, either that you are an evolver so you could evolve your cells and have great potential or you can eat drugs and supplements to force fully evolve yourself and limit your potential and lifespan” said old man Han as he looked at jack with eyes full of anticipation… well this kid sure is intelligent and he kept on sleeping up till now he must be something special… thought old man Han.

“well kid if you want to know whether you are an evolver or not you’ll have to wait for a week, as the patrol ship will do its monthly round at that time… while in the mean time you go ahead and tidy yourself up then I will take you to meet the other kids they will be very excited to see you” said old man Han as he got up and went towards the door… then he glanced back at jack one more time before leaving.

As jack saw old man Han leaving and everything that he had said he sighed… well now that the old man is gone let’s see what this thing does thought jack as he pulled out the pendant and started fiddling with it…

But soon he found out that no matter what he did he could not provoke any reaction from it, he could feel the thing inside of him wanting to merge with the pendant but he was helpless to do anything about it… Aaahh how the hell do you make this piece of scrap work thought jack in annoyed.

As jack was experimenting with the pendant he got a cut on his finger and blood started to come out of it and some of the blood touched the pendant… as soon as the blood touched the pendant a warm feeling arose in his chest and a complex golden runic pattern which gave of an extremely ancient feeling emerged on his chest, as soon as the pattern appeared the pendant gave off a radiant blue light then vanished. Damn thought jack where the hell did it go…