The crisp crack of thunder sounded throughout the entire city as a bolt of lightning etched itself into the rolling clouds. The winds howled in anticipation while the sun hid in fear. It seemed that the heavens were grieving that day as the sky was flooded with heavy raindrops that echoed throughout the bustling streets as they lost their lives.

In the backstreets of this bustling city, a young boy held the hands of his two parents. It seemed like he was having his own fun as he watched the drops of rain fall upon the ground. He seemed to enjoy this weather a lot, maybe it was the frightful lightning in the sky, or the heart pounding feeling he got when he heard the thunder, maybe it was the feeling of the ice cold rain touching his face… Yes, that was probably it.

The trio were walking at a slightly brisk pace as the boy’s parents seemed to have an apprehensive and sense of dread in their chests. Though they weren’t sure why it was happening and simply ignored it, it didn’t matter. What truly mattered was to spend time with their son, their only child, they had promised him after all. They wanted to have another child but due to certain circumstances they just couldn’t.

There was a slightly deep indent in the pavement ahead of them, causing a decently sized puddle to form. Seeing the puddle, the little boy’s eyes lit up as he let go of his parents’ hands and rushed towards the puddle to jump in it. He loved the splashing sound of water, he didn’t know why, but there was a surge of ecstacy in his heart whenever there was that familiar loud splashing sound.

As the two parents slightly smiled at this amusing sight, a figure with a simple plastic mask walked out of the alleyway behind them in a nervous and shaking manner. Driving what was in his hand behind into their backs they both stopped and had the hairs of their necks rise. The little boy hadn’t noticed this while the two parents already knew what was happening.

In a slightly muffled and trembling voice the masked figure mumbled, “B-both of you, take out your cash o-or else… I-I don’t want to but if I have to...”

His breathing grew heavy as he clenched his teeth and stared at the back of their heads. He didn’t care who they were or what they had, he had to take what he could. His daughter’s life was on the line here…

The father reached into his right front pocket as he stared forward at his son playing in the puddle, and took out all the money he had in his pocket with a trembling hand and he put it out behind him.

The masked man quickly put away what was in one of his hands and took the money, but his eyes shone as he saw a holo-watch on the father’s wrist.

His mumbling voice spoke again as his voice broke slightly, “G-give me the watch too.”

“C’mon man, I-I can’t, it’s for my work. If I give it to you, they’ll fire me…” The father couldn’t lose his job, especially not over this watch. His job would force him to pay back the full cost of the watch and fire him if his watch was lost. This model of holo-watch at the time was pretty new to the frontier planet.

“I said give it!” The masked man drove what he had in his hands into both of their backs again, as he gave a low shout with clenched teeth.

The father could only sigh in resignation as he slowly undid his holo-watch and handed it to the masked man. However, as soon as the masked man was about to reach for the watch, the heavens thundered in rage, causing the masked man to jump in fear and pull the triggers.

The little boy got a scare from the abnormally loud crash of thunder as he looked back at his parents… only to find a masked man standing where they once stood. The mask just had eye holes and an indentation for the nose, but the little boy couldn’t even see his eyes because of the shadows casted by the lightning in the sky.

The masked figure ran back into the alleyway with heavy wet steps as the little boy looked down at the ground only to find his parents in the middle of an ever growing puddle of blood.

His mind buzzed as a tingling sensation moved from his head to his feet, he couldn’t move. Every breath he tried to take was stopped by his next, he could only freeze and stare. Nothing coursed through his mind, his entire being just… paused.

And there he saw the frightful lightning, he felt the heart-pounding lightning, and the ice cold rain touched his face, as the water splashed for one last time.

Unknowingly when, his vision just went… black.

---Kezner’s Bedroom---

As the dim grayish blue light of the cloudy sky peaked its head onto Kezner’s body, Kezner trembled as a tear travelled down his face at a grave speed. A single tear was able to speak more words than any story and teach as much as any lesson. A single tear streaked down the heavens as it hit the bustling sidewalks of that morning. A single tear was enough for the tides of the sea of life to change course.

Taking another breath, Kezner awoke from his cultivation. For some reason, his sinuses felt slightly congested until he touched his puffy eyes, “Oh.”

---

The heavens’ waves rolled across the sea of mortals as it moved towards the ever-escaping shore of the divine. The rain fell and the mortals rose during a flood of sorrow as Kezner stared out of the window of his classroom. Entranced by the falling rain and having a few memories flood back, he didn’t notice his fellow students trickle in. The slushy footsteps reverberated throughout the hallways as students were drenched from the raging shower outside.

Gareth made his way into the classroom and approached Kezner, curious as to what he was doing, only to realize he was just staring out of the window like a buffoon. Everybody took notice of Kezner as there was a melancholic atmosphere around him, and anytime someone was near him, it would hit them like a bullet train, so everyone tried to sit as far away from him as possible.

“Yo, Kez, you good?” The soaked Gareth simply walked up to Kezner, as if he was unaffected by the depressing pressure. Kezner, on the other hand, didn’t pay attention to him and continued staring into the gray clouds, causing Gareth to be confused. Though he didn’t know Kezner for long, he knew that Kezner wasn’t the type to ignore someone, he just had a few social- erm, quirks.

Kezner slightly trembled as he shook his head and turned around to face Gareth, “I’m fine.” Only to turn his head back to face the window again.

Pulling up a chair by Kezner, Gareth also stared out of the window, “It’s pretty gloomy outside. I wonder when the sun will come back up, the rain sucks, it just gets you wet and it’s a pain to dry off when you get back home…”

Gareth continued to ramble on as the side of Kezner’s mouth twitched, “What a chatterbox.”

It seemed that when Gareth was by himself, he could stay as silent as a mouse, but the second he got acquainted with you, the silence sealing his mouth would break and his words would flood out.

---Gym Class - NCHS---

All fourteen students were currently standing in their respective lines except for Olivia, as she wasn’t assigned to any team currently. Surprisingly, Arlean the school celebrity didn’t show up, whether it was because she thought she was too good for them or something major occured, the school didn’t know, but what they did know was that she pulled out of the school and wouldn’t be attending anymore. None of the students took it to heart, her position allowed her to do so and nobody would bat an eye, it wasn’t their problem anyways, however, the principal’s heart was bleeding, he thought that she could boost the popularity of their school and get more students to join next year.

Anyways, Mr. Flanigan walked in with his usual stern face as he eyed down everyone, only to squint at the missing team leader. Releasing a snort, his anger was apparent, as to him, nothing excused anyone of their responsibilities, especially when others were on the line, and in this case, Arlean was skimping out of her position.

“Alright, since somebody decided to leave, a team is down a member, Olive or whatever your name is, you’re on that team but you can’t be the leader! You can vote for a new leader, but you only have a minute to do so!” Mr. Flanigan pointed at Olivia and the line of students with his index and middle fingers as he shouted in his usual barks.

“As for you”, he pointed towards Kezner’s team as a crafty look appeared in his eyes, “You will have to do twice the amount of exercise drills as the other team until the first assessment, the assessment will determine who’s on top, understood?!”

“Yes, sir!” Kezner’s team responded.

After a minute, Gareth’s lazy and twitching face was at the front of the second team’s line, he was now the team leader and had to face off against Kezner in the following assessment. Gareth didn’t really care much for the position of team leader, he just felt it was a ton of responsibility that he had to carry now, but his team insisted since he was the second strongest in their team, only under Arlean who had left the school.

“Alright, I want both teams to take five minute to come up with names, they’re essential for any team or group, especially for raising morale and working as a collective, it gives you all a core identity that stitches you together. The name could range from a color to an animal, anything really, however the team leader has the final decision. Your time starts now!” Mr. Flanigan barked.

The first four minutes felt like four seconds as both teams had internal arguments as to what name was best. Because of the first four minutes, Kezner had a pounding headache from all of this arguing, it was just a name wasn’t it? Rubbing his temples, he cleared his dry throat out of habit, accidentally getting everyone’s attention. When the six pair of eyes looked at him, they shone as they realized that they could have him be the final verdict.

Not knowing how to react to the six people screaming at his face to pick their favored option, Kezner was pretty nervous as he didn’t want to offend either side. The more he let them force their idea onto him, the more uncomfortable and anxious he got, so while internally panicking, he naturally wanted them to stop, accidentally giving out a bark, “Quiet!”

Mr. Flanigan raised an eyebrow at this sight then squinted and gave a nod while wearing a sly smile. This shout even attracted the other team’s attention as it reverberated off of the gym walls.

Kezner’s team paused as they realized Kezner’s face was wearing a frown as he looked at them, causing them to grow a little scared and take a step back. He not only looked slightly menacing with his stern and frowning face, they remembered the power he showed yesterday, they would easily give up on whatever cool team name they were vying for to not offend this enigmatic youth.

Taking a deep breath, Kezner’s face resumed its deadpan and neutral mask, while internally, he was trembling, “Listen, this arguing is getting us nowhere, since you can’t decide, I’ll choose for us.” Kezner’s monotone voice rang out in the dead silent gym as he thought about the name. A lightbulb went off as he wanted to relate it back to his Divine Energy, “Divine, hmm… Divine what? Divine Gray? No that just sounds dumb… Divine, Divine…”

“Times up, line up again!” Mr. Flanigan’s bark interrupted Kezner’s thoughts as he ordered everyone to line back up. Kezner on the other hand was slightly frowning as he hadn’t thought of a proper name. Pointing to Gareth’s team, Mr Flanigan asked, “What’s your team name?”

“The Godly Warriors!” Gareth responded in an enthusiastic manner as his teammates all gently nodded their heads in agreement, however Mr. Flanigan didn’t seem to appreciate such a name.

“Eh, whatever, if that’s what you want… Anyways, what’s your team name?” Mr. Flanigan asked as he pointed to Kezner’s team.

Kezner drew a blank as he was put on the spot as his teammates stared at him with anticipating eyes. He wasn’t the best at naming things and being rushed didn’t help. Although his mind didn’t know what to say, his body immediately responded in a slightly more dynamic tone, “The Divine!”

Mr. Flanigan couldn’t help but raise his eyebrow once more, “What happened to this kid? Did we beat him too hard?”

Kezner’s teammates had surprised expressions as they nodded to each other and murmured in agreement, they seemed to enjoy such a simple yet overbearing name. The Godly Warriors seemed slightly envious as they realized how garbage and cringey their name was compared to “The Divine”, “What Godly Warriors? Compared to The Divine, we’re beat!”

“Alright, for the rest of this period I will be putting you through basic exercises. It doesn’t matter if you’re a Body Cultivator or Soul Cultivator, at the end of the day, you have to be fit and healthy enough to be an infantryman. The Godly Warriors will do the amount required while The Divine will have to do double. For each person that doesn’t finish their daily amount, it will lead to a point deduction to the assessment at the end of week, understood?!” Mr. Flanigan proceeded to highlight the basic exercises required of every person per day. Although they were the basics like jumping jacks, push-ups, and pull-ups, for some people, it was pretty difficult while for others it came naturally.

“Yes, sir!” the class responded. However, if you listened carefully, you could hear one of half of them slightly groan out the words. They knew that Mr. Flanigan wasn’t going to go easy on them, they could only pray that they got out of this class alive.

---Governor’s Scout Cruiser - Governor Vanya’s Cabin---

“Ugh, Justone, isn’t there an easier way of clearing this whole mess up? I mean, I know it’s my fault, but still, there has to be a backdoor or whatever, right? I don’t think I can memorize this speech...”, Luna dangled her legs off of her bed as she kept rereading what Justone had sent her last night. Her head was in an unholy amount of pain as she kept seeing the same words over and over again.

“Young Lady, you need to remember this testimony word for word, and make sure you put in the proper amount of emotion into it. Remember-”, Justone responded until he was cut off again for the third time in the past five minutes.

“Remember this, remember that, I’m tired of it, I just wanna sleep!” Luna complained as she sighed as if she was aggrieved, however she didn’t stop reading, she knew that this entire mess was her fault and if Justone didn’t help her, her future prospects of the throne could easily be thrown out of the window.

Justone on the other hand could only sigh, as much as he was apprehensive in helping her again he decided to give her one last chance, but now that he did, their fates were tied for good now. Though he felt like he had made some progress as she properly listened and paid attention to his instructions now, he didn’t know when it would wear off. Being arrogant, snobbish, and entitled was engraved in her deeper than her own bones, once this whole fiasco ended, she would most likely start feeling complacent again and return to her unproductive attitude.

“Young Lady, this testimony holds your future, we’ve already appealed to have this case tried in the upper courts, as they seem to have given you a chance to defend yourself. However, you need to keep in mind that although these judges are less biased than the ones in the lower courts, they’re even more brutal when listening to your testimony. Any crack or fissure in your account of what happened could mean the end of your career.” Justone patiently explained. How he wasn’t interrupted for once was unknown to gods and devils alive, it must have been a miracle.

Luna, the snobby princess, could only sigh at the mess she made for herself as she was thinking, “All of this trouble could have been avoided if Justone only…”, however she paused as she thought back at it, “... it could have all been avoided if I weren’t acting like that to him.”

If Justone had heard her thoughts, he would have been a crying mess as he kowtowed to thank whatever deity intervened. Sadly he didn’t, “Okay, you can go rest for now, you’ll reach the Sector Courts in about 24 standard hours. I’ll go prepare the final preparations.”

---Zeklon Planetary Airport---

As Arlean held her few bags while putting on a strong and cold front, her mother was crying into Roge’s chest as she had to depart with her daughter, her only child. She was her mother, why was it that this was going to be the last time she would see her daughter? As much as she begged Roge to keep Arlean here with them, she knew that this was her only hope for her daughter to survive, she just couldn’t bear it. Arlean’s mother just felt suffocated and continued to choke on her own breath as she then pounced on Arlean to give her a hug before she left.

Arlean couldn’t even directly look at her mother or else her facade would break in less than a second. The bodyguards behind her, however, kept on their cold and stern faces as they were trained to never leak a drop of emotion from their faces. These bodyguards were leagues above the ones from the other day, the bodyguards from the other day were the equivalent to street thugs compared to these bodyguards, be it in strength or mannerism.

Roge could only keep a cold look as he watched this scene, he also wanted to hug his daughter and sob, but as the Family Head, he had to keep his detached and cold persona. Even if the sky was falling, he had to seem like he could hold it up, if he kneeled at the first sign of adversity, his Family would have fallen during his generation. So he had to keep his emotions locked as he had to put his Family ahead of his family.

“Goodbye, mom.”, Arlean’s voice was trembling as it slowly cracked with each syllable, however it only had her mother sob louder. Thankfully the airport was closed except for private flights, meaning that there was barely anyone there except for the staff, and even they were lacking in numbers.

“Arlean, do your best. Once you reach your destination, you’ll find your Uncle Urus, he’s a very close friend of mine, and he served alongside me in my short military career. He’s retired and currently living in the West Star Republic, but with his status, you shouldn’t face any problems there. Good luck.” Roge gently touched and caressed her lilac colored hair, similar to his, as his voice almost cracked as well. “As for you, you will do your best to keep Arlean safe, not a single hair must be damaged, use your own lives if you have to, understood?!”

“Understood, sir!”, the bodyguards saluted.

And with that, Arlean’s mother reluctantly detached from Arlean as her face was covered in tears and snot, and turned her body around while facing Arlean. Roge, on the other hand, quickly turned his body in a hurry as he walked away at a brisk pace.

Nobody could see the single tear drifting down his face. A single tear was able to speak more words than any story and teach as much as any lesson. A single tear streaked down the heavens as it hit the bustling sidewalks of that morning. A single tear was enough for the tides of the sea of life to change course.