The Real Awakening - Chapter 0: Prologue

The thick, pitch-black smoke slowly unfurled to fill the room. The scorching flames rapidly spread outwards, engulfing everything before long.

In less than two minutes, the small warehouse made of wood was completely ablaze. The sharp crackling of exploding wood rang out repeatedly without end. The piercingly bright licks of fire abruptly escaped through the roof, avariciously licking the incessant rain in the night sky.

The might of the fire intensified as it continued to evolve, becoming impossible to curb.

All of a sudden, two deafening bangs resounded.

The solid window glass cracked under the burst of the scalding flames raging against it. However, the metal anti-theft bars that were as thick as one’s thumb remained firmly standing horizontally across the window, as though keeping the impregnability of a prison cell.

A slim, snow-white arm shockingly reached out from between the bars that were red from heat. It waved around frantically in the empty air, seemingly attempting to grab hold of something while also appearing to desperately plead for rescue. Then, the tender skin of the arm touched the metal bar and instantly recoiled backwards from the burn.

Behind the rolling black smoke was the blurry sight of a face.

A face of a girl that was indistinct behind the dense fumes.

She was currently screaming her heart out, shouting and crying. However, her hysterical shouts and sobs were entirely drowned by the endless sea of flames. Obscene tears slid down from her eyes non-stop as she clung to the window with all her strength. Her head shook back and forth in terror as her eyes remained fixed on an indiscernible figure outside the window.

The young man blankly stood in front of the warehouse, an area that had not been swallowed by fire. There, he numbly watched the girl’s distorted face of despair behind the metal bars. He remained rooted to the spot as he stared and stared until her hysterical cries gradually weakened, until her body slowly collapsed from the windowside and disappeared from sight.

The fire remained as fierce as before; both the roof and the walls of the warehouse began to show signs of collapsing.

Amidst the patter of the soft rain, the glowing flames against the black backdrop of the evening made his pallid face flicker between brightness and darkness. And the moment light and shadow intersected, he broke out into muffled laughter.

As the neurotic laughter continued, there was a clatter.

The gas canister in his hands fell down; the remaining bit of reflectionless gasoline trickled out from the round canister and flowed through the dirt to form a small puddle of pungent, clear liquid.

“Ha, haha…that’s what you all…that’s what you all deserve…hahaha…”

He quietly murmured these words while laughing out loud. However, the laughs gradually shifted into pained sobs.

Warm tears filled his eyes and spilled down his face.

The hand that had been carrying the gasoline canister never stopped shaking.

Finally, he wrapped his arms around himself to hug his shoulders as his legs went weak, falling onto his knees with a thud.

The freezing rain slipped through his collar, sliding down his neck and chilling him until he could not stop the shivers coursing through him.

“No…it wasn’t my fault…it wasn’t my fault…it wasn’t my fault…”

He trembled as he buried his head in his arms. Facing the warehouse now crumbling in the sea of fire, he completely fell apart and silently cried in anguish.