360 AAAAAA
The moonlight was blanketing the dark city like smooth silk. The light was silently oozing in through the window, illuminating the tiny room with only a bed and a chair. Sitting on the chair was a young boy with light-brown hair and hazel eyes. He was hugging his knees, staring at the wall with a blank gaze, lost in thought.
“I really want to see his family...”
After a few minutes, Kairen mumbled those words under his lips and heaved a sigh. It had been a few days since he was residing in this place. He was given a small room in the residential part of the building, something that was considered a luxury in this place. Most of the other people lived together in a cramped hall. Kairen could live in this tiny room only because he was someone related to the previous commander, Aaron Stayton.
“How should I ask about them...?”
In the past few days, aside from worrying about Reynold not coming to take him away from this place, Kairen had been thinking about Aaron’s family the most. He had a wife and possible children here. Kairen wanted to see his brother’s family, but he didn’t know of a way to find them or ask about them. Kairen couldn’t talk much or ask many questions, afraid that people might find him suspicious, so he still didn’t know much about this world. The most suspicious and weird thing here was the huge holes floating in the sky. People called them “gates” and stayed away from them. From time to time, monsters would emerge from inside those gates and attack the city, but the people here could defend themselves against them. Kairen had previously heard Aaron mention something about a gate, but he never explained much about them.
“It’s all that fool’s fault! If only he had talked more about his time on Earth, I wouldn’t be in so much trouble now!”
Blaming things on someone else was always the most comforting thing for Kairen, so he once again acted as his habit and pushed all the faults onto his brother, making himself feel a little bit better. After that, he once again started to consider the ways to find where his brother’s family lived.
“But there is no way Aaron would abandon his family and live in another world without any resistance. Even if I was in that other world, he could suggest that we go back to our world together, not live in that place...”
Various thoughts raced in his mind as he imagined different scenarios for his brother’s family life and possible situations.
.....
“Maybe I’ll find some answers if I read the papers and ask people... He was famous here so it’s possible that people know about his family life...”
That was the final conclusion he made and the only thing he thought of doing while waiting for Reynold. Of course, if the redhead didn’t come to pick him up in a week, he’d start searching for a way to go back himself.
. . . . .
“Aren’t you one of his relatives? Why are you asking about his family from me?”
A middle-aged man stroked his bearded chin as he gazed at Kairen with a somewhat suspicious and envious look. He was washing some dishes while Kairen was drying them up with a clean towel. They were both working in the kitchen today.
Kairen was used to the envious and sometimes angry gazes of the others. It was because he was being treated better than them for no good reason, only because he claimed to be one of the distant relatives of Commander Stayton. Some people would even threaten him or make fun of him. Kairen didn’t mind any of them. He also believed that he was getting unjust treatment and if he was in their shoes, he’d hate the dude who got the best kind of treatment only for his relationships as well. Asking this kind of question was akin to him confessing that he was either lying about his relationship with the commander or he was so distant that he didn’t even care about the news regarding the man. Either way, Kairen didn’t care. His curiosity has gotten over his reasoning.
“I’m a distant relative and haven’t seen him since he got married. I’d like to pay a visit to his family before I leave this place.”
“Is that so?”
The man glanced at Kairen somewhat suspiciously, but he didn’t say anything at the end. After a brief moment of silence, he shrugged his shoulders and let out a chuckle.
“You’d know about their death if you’d only read some newspapers. Where have you been living all this time? Underground?”
‘No, I was actually living in another world.’
The thought flashed in Kairen’s mind almost immediately after hearing the man’s words before his attention went back to the first sentence the person had said.
“Their death?”
Kairen blurted out in surprise, caught off guard and unable to hold back his shock. For a few seconds, he stood there blankly, not knowing what he should do or what he was supposed to say. It was only after a few seconds that a thought surfaced in his mind and without even considering it, he told whatever he thought of.
“Don’t joke around about such matters!”
For some unknown reason, that was the first thing he thought of, that the man was giving him wrong answers due to his anger or envy, or maybe to test Karien to see if he was really related to Aaron. Such things weren’t uncommon here. Kairen was ‘tested’ a few times already by different people.
In his response, the middle-aged man shrugged his shoulders with a smirk.
“If you don’t believe me then go read some old newspapers!”
With that said, the man turned his back to Kairen and resumed his work.
“Wha...”
Frozen on his spot, Kairen stared at the man’s back with the same empty gaze.
‘They’re dead? Dead? Aaron’s family is dead? Why would they... How? Because of the monsters? But Aaron is so strong...’
His mind raced with various questions as he considered different possibilities, but before he could reach any conclusions, a sudden, deafening noise rang out in the area.
BAAAAAAANGGGGGGGGGG
The whole building shook and screams rose up. Following that, an alarm rang out with a loud voice.
“W-what?”
The middle-aged man, who was busy washing the dishes, jolted up and turned to the window with a panicked expression. Kairen was no different from him. He hurriedly threw away the plate in his hand and approached the window.
Up in the dark sky, a huge portal was floating, unmoving. The portal had been there for a long, long time. It was the same portal Kairen saw when he first entered this world. The people here called these objects, ‘gates’. The huge gate emanated some noise and light while floating, illuminating the surroundings a little bit. Under the radiance of the gate, a huge shape was outlined. It looked like a body, like a paw, a paw so big that it reached the ground while the rest of the body was still hidden on the other side of the gate.
It was a monster. A gigantic monster was emerging from within the gate!