Chapter 3: The Sunset Brings Forth The Dark

A dream was it? It seemed as though this life was a dream. It was too good to be real and yet it was. Before the unconscious mind could ponder anymore about this, Jared woke up. He looked around his room, expecting to find himself in the dull room he once called his. However, the room was still the same with posters on the walls and cabinets. A sigh of relief left Jared's mouth as he got out of bed. He checked the clock above his door which read 9:30am. For summer break, that's really early in the morning for him to be awake.

Heading out of his room and down the stairs, Jared could smell the wonderful aroma of food coming from the kitchen, it seems breakfast was almost ready, calling him to come sit at the dinner table. Jared sat at the dinner table, his father, reading the daily newspaper next to him*.

"Good morning Kireru, up and early eh?" his dad laughed

"Good morning.. Dad. Hope you slept well?"

Jared could feel the awkwardness within him taking effect. What could he possibly talk about with his dad. He never once had a chance to talk to his parents about anything, especially small talk. Before Jared could speak, his mother placed down plates on the table, the plates having french toast neatly placed on them.

"Breakfast is served!" she bubbled. As they began to eat, Jared's dad looked at him and as if he were testing him, asked

"So Kireru, how was your date with Mina yesterday?"

Jared blushed as he looked at the french toast on his plate. With a soft voice he spoke

"It was good.. We didn't do much other than.. Well, eat lunch together and walk around ya know.." his dad smiled upon hearing this and continued to eat

"I see, glad to hear son"

The family continued to eat in silence before it was broken by Jared's mom who was cleaning up her plate

"Kireru, can you be a dear and head to the groccery for me? I'll give you a list of things we need" *Jared slowly nodded as he finished up his breakfast. As he put the plate in the sink, his mom handed him a groccery list accompanied with a warm smile. He of course, returned the smile before heading upstairs to get ready. Looks like today was gonna be a productive day for him. He was hoping to maybe play some of the video games that this other world had, hoping that they would be better than the games he played in his world. But nonetheless, he still was happy to do anything in this world. Everything was a new experience to him, and like a curious child at a toy store, he wanted to experience everything.

After getting dressed and heading out the door. Jared walked around, looking for the groccery store. He wasn't from this world so he wouldn't know where it was without asking. Yet his shyness got the best of him, making him unable to ask for* directions. As Jared walked around aimlessly, he got smiles from the people around him, some even called out his name, greeting him good morning. Jared felt nervous yet happy at the same time. He was never noticed this much by people, especially in a positive way. Everyone usually noticed him when they wanted to make fun of him, never to acknowledge him.

A man approached Jared, he seemed to be out of breath from running.

"Kireru..." the man huffed "There you are..."

Jared looked at the man worried and curious, extending his hand, but not touching him

"Are you alright, what h-happened?"

The man took a couple of moments to regain his breath before answering

"Nothing happened, I just came to ask if you could stop by sometime, the kids really enjoyed playing with you at the park last week"

Jared rubbed his head, flustered with the knowledge that he was able to interact with children

"R-really? You think so..? I guess I can stop by sometime later" *The man smiled and waved before heading the other direction. As Jared walked away as well, he suddenly remembered he needed to know where the groccery was, but as he turned around, the man was already gone.

As Jared walked around, he came to the conclusion that he must be known throughout the town by everyone as someone friendly and helpful. That was the vibe he was getting from the people. If that was the case, it should be safe then to ask people for directions to the groccery with no problems at all*.

Jared slowly approached an old man who was sitting on a bench, watching the birds as they flew above him, chirping happily.

"U-um... Excuse me sir... Do you know where I can find the groccery?" The old man looked at Jared and smiled

"Of course Kireru, I guess even the young can be forgetful" the man pointed to his left.

"Down that road, take the first right and you'll find the grocery"

Jared politely nodded and went on his way to the groccery. He seemed surprised that the old man knew him, but then again this town wasn't very big, so being well known wouldn't be such a big deal.

As Jared entered the groccery, he turned his head, examining the place as he walked in. He saw the electric appliance aisle where TVs were displayed, all of them set to the news channel.

"Reports show that the Alveste Empire has no intent of allowing the Peoples Republic of Earth to continue pushing into its borders. Deployment of the Walker Corps to the Alveste Empire Borders was done to ensure that the PRE do not breach. More about this from Commander Jiugo"

The camera shifts over to a man in black camouflage fatigues

"The Empire wishes to enforce its borders and citizens within its borders, not just the main land itself. To do so, we here of the Walker Corps will defend these borders. We will also be conducting operations to counter the enemy offensive"

*The TV began to show a slideshow of pictures of what seemed to be mechas. Giant humanoid machines that made armored warfare even more complex. It seemed as though in this world they were called Walkers. In Jared's world, Mechas were born out of science fiction, through games, cartoons and even books. It seemed that this world was more advanced when it came to their military.

The Walkers were a tactical matte dark grey. Their figure was very sleek and curved. They looked agile and maneuverable, rather than clunky and slow. Where there heads and fsce should be were goggles plating that imitated a mask to cover the areas where the nose and mouth should be.

Jared was intrigued by this, after all, the game he played in his world, Saber Saga, was a game about Mechas. He even saved up his own allowance to head to an arcade where they had a machine that allowed you to sit in a mecha cockpit. Despite the short time he spent in it, he had fun since it was related to Saber Saga.

"I can't throw away this opportunity in life to actually become a pilot of that. I've got a new start here, I need to savor it" Jared thought to himself.

With that he went on to do the gorcceries, humming to himself as he continued to wonder about everything and anything.

30 minutes had passed before Jared finished buying the grocceries. He had checked everything off the list and with the bags in his hand, he set off to return home. The sun was shining bright and the clear blue sky was more blue than ever. It was peaceful and serene, nothing could be better. From afar, Jared saw Mina wave to him. She shouted his name and started to walk towards him.

As Jared waved back, his vision went black. His ears were ringing as dust and rubble were blown into his face. Jared opened his eyes, he could see smoke rising into the air, clouding the blue sky above. Jared struggled to push himself up, looking over to where Mina was last seen, but there was no one there, no one except for bits and pieces of human remains. Blood stains covered the street while craters lined the entiretyof it. Jared looked behind him and what he saw caused his eyes to widen. There were missles headed for the other parts of the town. Explosions going off everywhere as the sounds of gunfire errupted.

Jared smacked his ears, getting the ringing to die down. He was too shocked to move, franctically turning his head around as he watched the people run around in panic. Without noticing, the old man from earlier grabbed onto Jared's leg.

"Kireru please! Help me!"

The old man was missing the lower half of his body and was clearly not going to make it no matter what. Jared jerked his leg in fear and tried to move, yet found himself unable to. Where would he go? A curse of being so well known and dependable is the pressure put on you when you don't know how to help someone. The old man desperately crawled towards Jared before bleeding out, the blood pooling at Jared's feet.

"No... This can't be... I just got here... I just met the supposed love of my life... Why is everything around me crumbling to pieces again"

Jared's mind felt as though it would explode from the chaos around him. He stumbled back into a wall as the ground started to shake slightly. He could hear giant footsteps from afar and remembered from the news. The Walker Corp*. As the footsteps grew closer, the sounds of gunfire and screaming grew louder as well. Jared remembered at that moment, his parents. He had to get back home and check if they were okay.

As Jared ran to his house, a voice yelled out to him from the front. A squad of soldiers raised their guns at him.

"Halt citizen! If you value your life you will surrender without struggle and come with us!"

Jared froze up and fell to his knees. That's right, he valued his life. He was given a second chance to live, he might as well survive. Its not like he got attached to his new parents anyways. He barely got to spend time with them, better to let them go now than to get attached. However, seeing Mina smiling happily, the fact that she was smiling because of his existence and yet in the next moment, she's now a splatter of blood on the concrete. No matter how hard he tried to keep his mind off of it with "Its okay, I'll make it out alive, everything will be alright" his heart throbbed with pain that he had almost forgotten about. Pain that he endured for so long that by now, shouldn't even hurt him.

Why were the Walker Corp here? What did this town do to the Alveste Empire to make them launch an assault on this peaceful town. The world around Jared started to slow down. He could see the Walkers moving around, firing the rockets mounted on their shoulders, firing their machine guns at buildings and civilians. There were soldiers roughing up civilians and gunning them down. Whilst Jared looked around, the soldiers rushed him, forcing him on the ground. Before he had a chance to speak up, he was handcuffed behind his back and knocked unconscious with the butt of a rifle to his head.

As the chaos ensued and the town was torn apart by the Walkers and soldiers, Avela frowned at the sight she saw from her orb. She hadn't planned to make her move on Jared yet. She stood up from her throne and noticing the man behind her she spat in disgust.

"So Lenja, you plan to take my toy and turn him into one of your cogs for your war machine?"

The man stepped out of the shadows, putting on a smirk

"Oh Avela, did you really think you could hide your latest possesion from the god of war? The Alveste Empire, my devout followers will be sure to take care of him. I do see potential for him, especially in the... What did they call it again, the Walker Corp?"

Avela laughed before staring him dead in the eye. "You will regret interfering with my things. You don't know who you're messing with Lenja, this boy... He isn't normal, and he's beyond your control"

"Oh please, like you could control the boy. If I, the god of war, can't control him, then how will you be able to"

Avela sighed "Brute force doesn't solve everything Lenja, but I won't persist. Do what you will, but know that you have been warned"

Lenja laughed with a booming voice as he stepped back into the shadows. Avela then sat in her throne, watching Jared as he lay unconscious with the soldiers. His mind was resolute. If this world was going to rob him of what he'd been given, then it might as well rob him of his past. No longer was he to know himself as Jared. He was now, Kireru Yatosuke. The unknown champion of Mistress Avela.

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