My thoughts spilled through; the arid grasp of perception over my body, the forever-scorching flames having wrapped about my skin as a cloak and the semblance of the Earth beneath my very feet as I trailed off.

My eyes pierced through the blackened void stretching infinitesimally and the lambency of innumerable jewels adorned my gaze. With a piercing sensation from my chest prompting for my immediate attention, my back was enshrouded of the army of beings dyed by flames, incalculable and innumerable in their elite forces.

And as I gazed upon the openness of my palms, those unseen memories trickled off…

This… is me?

***

“I think that’s pretty much it.” Recalling the maidenly voice, Inoyva found the small backpack, small as his self be riddled with various items. Preferably light snacks. With the body of a 10-year-old he witnessed the bus’ doors open when detecting a corresponding command from the driver.

“Have a lovely day!” As the world would seem to thread the line of going backwards, he was reminded of the cherry feeling at his mother’s voice, wishing him a “lovely” day. Though the young lad could found no will in his body to answer, there was a certain glimmer at his expression brightening.

‘Again, I have to start another day in this…’ Inoyva ventured forth his gaze towards peers alike. In part, the loud and boisterous surges of sound released out their mouths were by far loud and obnoxious. While trailing off, he caught the empty seat at the corner of the eyes. Relatively closer at the center of the bus, however when outstretching an arm to clench a grip, another surge of sound caught his ear, “Sorry, but that’s taken.”

“What?” Inoyva made an expression displaying his utmost shock.

‘There is literally no one to take this seat and you expect me to believe that?’ A calm observation was made. No matter how much his eyes turned around the interior of the bus, he could not find that one reason to justify that sort of claim and it was not as if the person having taken the seat was to later picked up.

“What? Is there a problem?”

“Children are the epitome of evil,” is what most people perhaps found the least believable. However from within the face of the peer having halted his advancement, a smirk lied. He asked a question and that very second, the eyes of their fellow classmates turned sharply towards them.

“Isn’t that…”

Suddenly, various forms of murmurs erupted from within the confines of the bus. Those voices and words came with the contemplation of lengthy memories having been previously buried deep within the mind.

“…”

While playing as children you might have it, a sort of accident occurred.

“Slow down for a bit.” Taking splendor at the activity of leaping all around with the ball, the younger Inoyva flailed in further pursuit. However when directing the ball back towards that young maiden, he concentrated too much power, therefore, knocking her back with the small stone right beneath her foot acting as the last piece of the puzzle.

“Kyaah!”

Despite that not being in his intention, it caused a ruckus.

“You okay?!”

“I think she’s fine.”

“Is that blood?”

“I saw him throw the ball at her face.”

As he might have had it, Inoyva was somewhat already complacent in voicing his thoughts. Though from the shocked expression he exhibited and the surprising vibes he exuded, only sharp gazes and even sharper claims were thrown in his direction as several forms of insult.

“He bumped into her.”

“That jerk!”

I became too slow in saying that it was an accident. Well on the other hand, toddlers seem to judge a situation fairly one-sidedly than a logical adult would have it. However…

In the near distance, that one peer stood right below their teacher, vividly pointing his finger towards Inoyva...

“…”

Towards the confine of the bus, he could tell that this was the same situation waiting to unfold once again. ‘This type of mood in the atmosphere and their prying eyes… It’s no use trying to play it off as a casual joke. Just avoid it.’

Taking advantage of the opportunity the rebelliously glaring peer had provided, Inoyva would not be privy to such taunts. And his body and gaze turned at the sole seat he could find without the presences of any ill-mannered children.

Well, it was not as if he could find a sole seat there. Critically acclaimed, another one of the wallflowers that munched on the piece of bread, he made a brief scan of that person’s outward appearance and sat down, keeping to his self until end of the departure.

Inoyva sat down, removing the straps from his shoulders.

“I see that you still are a pig.”

Inoyva made the first call.

When looking towards it from people that just had met, an insightful brawl would occur. “I see that you are still cold as the gaze of yours.” Reacting in kind, the so-called pig exchanged the results of his brief scan.

The so-called pig held a stale piece of bread at the one hand, and a tablet at the other. The contents of the video having been playing were as gruesome that children should not have the chance to watch.

“What is that?”

“Yeah, I got it off from my brother’s laptop. He said it was an “enlightening moment.””

Inoyva placed heavy emphasis on that screen, as what caught the eye would be what piqued his interest. As the video played though, his face turned blue.

“…Ahhh…”

There were several moans coming off. Those moans coming off of men who spent their days in the infirmaries with ripped of hands and legs, to those having their sight impaired when one of the eyes had been injured, and to those who lost themselves to the wicked sensation of madness.

“It kind of looks weird as hell at first, but after some time, you eventually became used to it, is what I would like to say. I wanted to especially show it to you.” The pig made a verbal claim with faint displays of a smirk. What kind of lunatic would let his 10-year old brother watch a video of such content?

“What exactly is that?”

Inoyva shifted his gaze towards him.

“I remembered that you wanted to be a Knight when growing up. I was just showing you what actually happens on that battlefield you are so drawn towards.” It was not clear. If the spouted words from this so-called pig were carrying the intention of concern over the fact that Inoyva perhaps could venture the line of those individuals on that screen, or simply if he found ecstasy and reveled in the face of the ghostly pale expression he faced, everything was not clear.

“…As if I would be spooked off by just that!”

Inoyva would not make a half-*** claim with having the intention of turning his words into reality. That still, the result of watching that video was as harrowing as the sharp gazes only a near distance from him.

“If you say so...”

A ridiculing remark was reflected back at him.

“Anyway, why are you so hell-bent on getting eaten?”

“Why…”

Strangely enough, Inoyva’s expression turned dumbfounded. A sudden u-turn from what murderous and rebellious gaze he exuded from before. Even still looking like he was lost in thought, as he looked right in front of him like a lifeless corpses, something unusual surged.

What is this weird feeling?

As he looked upon the openness of his palm, he felt the slight surges of what he would call electricity. It was not like electricity in itself but the reaction was just as similar.

Inoyva regained his understanding only a brief second after that weird sensation, looking to the side of the so-called pig that waited for an answer, “The reason why I want to become a Knight is in order to fulfill a promise that I made. Well, in part made one-sidedly.”

He felt the strings of his heart suddenly playing out with buried “things” located there. The mood around had yet to brighten, however for the while, he could silence the so-called pig at the side.

“That promise could get you killed, you know?”

Casting their gazes towards the side, the moving images of the scenery outside, the pleasant tone of peers exchanging forms of conversation, there was something further which piqued his interest.

The first person to notice was Inoyva. Having focused on his hearing because of the murmurs in the bus, he felt as if the atmosphere all around them was suddenly altered.

A pale, fear-stricken face called out, that even the so-called pug grew a level of concern, “What is it?”

It was in that moment, BAM!

The bus flailed at the air. It was not necessarily jumping in surprise, but it felt as if the ground had just pushed them up, as if an earthquake had struck.

Quite a loud reaction was given off as the bus lost some balance and ultimately stopped in its tracks. Even still, it was not a headache-inducing task to direct it towards the correct manner.

“What was that?”

“An earthquake?”