The sun was already shining high in the sky and its rays illuminated the house, passing through the windows filtered by the fine silk curtains. The birdsong was a sweet melody as we woke up.
Ryouma stretched and yawned after spending half the morning sleeping, but who could blame him after everything that had happened to him these past two days.
Besides, vacations were meant for sleeping in.
"Good morning, Ryo, sleep well then!"
"Huh!! What are you doing in the kitchen, Joy?"
Ryouma came downstairs after changing to see Joy sitting down at the table with her usual relaxed expression.
"Oh, I'm waiting for you outside, but your mother suggested I come inside."
"Is this my breakfast?" Ryouma asked, pointing at the empty plate at the table.
"Oh, that! Yes, it was!"
Ryouma sighed.
"Now that you're awake, let's go," he said, clinging to Ryouma's shoulders.
"Where?"
"I'll show you my work."
"What!?"
Joy often talked about her work in general to complain to Ryouma. The latter knew nothing about the type of job his friend did, except that it was dangerous and didn't pay enough for the risks involved. However, he did not know exactly what his activities consisted of.
"Wait a minute. Didn't you say you'd explain to me what happened last night? I don't want to listen to your complaints about your job for the umpteenth time. I'm not interested."
This was not the time to talk about such trivialities. Ryouma waited for Joy to keep her word and explain the events to him as promised. He was looking forward to it, he who had not been able to close his eyes all night until he fainted from exhaustion.
"It is my intention to keep my promise, and the answers you want will be given to you once you get there."
Ryouma would find the truth he was seeking there. So, there was a connection between Joy's work, the two kidnappers, and perhaps even the other world. All this made him nervous. He had a feeling that he was at a major turning point in his life, that if he followed his friend, his life would change completely and that it would be irreversible.
There were many things that could turn a life upside down, such as a revelation, an encounter, an incident, things we wish we had never known, or cases where we wish we had lived in ignorance all our lives because it was too hard to face reality. And even more so when we faced the terrifying unknown.
The unknown had always engendered a primitive fear, like that of being plunged into darkness and knowing nothing of one's surroundings. Anxiety about things one does not know or understand.
No matter what lay ahead, Ryouma was determined to learn everything about these mysteries. The unknown didn't scare him, but what terrified him more was losing people he cared about because of his ignorance. He remembered how distraught he had been when Haruna was kidnapped and how he didn't understand anything. He absolutely didn't want the same situation to happen again.
"Okay, let's go!"
His decision was made and there was no going back.
"So, what are we waiting for... Goodbye, Mrs. Kirishima, and thank you for everything," Joy said before leaving with her friend.
Ryouma sets out in search of answers.
***
"Is this where you work?" Ryouma asked, impressed, looking at the immense building before him.
It was the headquarters of a company owned by a multinational corporation, Legacy Corporation.
Legacy is a sprawling, independent, privately held multinational corporation with operations spanning every continent. It is recognized worldwide for its technological innovations and cutting-edge research. The company operates in many strategic areas, including Technology & IT, Pharmaceutical & Biological, and Energy.
Over the decades, it has established itself as one of the world leaders, to the point of directly influencing the economy, energy policy and even certain medical orientations.
Its name, “Legacy”, which means heritage, symbolizes both the knowledge accumulated by past generations who founded the company, and the legacy that the present generation will pass on to those of the future to build the future.
"More or less!" Joy replied.
"Ahh, you couldn't be clearer. I hope my answers won't be as vague as this one." Ryouma sighed.
The huge building Ryouma and Joy entered was one of the company's subsidiaries, Legacy Tech based in Japan specializing in technological innovation with headquarters in Tokyo.
Security was very high, however they entered without being checked. Everyone seemed to know Joy. The officers had left him and Ryouma with a simple body search, and the receptionist he was now talking to.
"Hey, Hayashi!"
"Shut up! Can't you see I'm on the phone!" the woman on the phone replied angrily. "I'm not talking to you, morons!" she shouted into the receiver's microphone to the person on the other end of the line.
"Well, always so welcoming. Say, is the boss here?" Joy asked.
"Yeah, go ahead, the boss is waiting for you!"
"Thank you, Hayashi!"
The receptionist wasn't even paying attention to them anymore, too absorbed in her phone call that had been going on for hours.
Ryouma seemed troubled by this exchange, but it was natural for them since they knew each other. The woman was unpleasant and spent all her time on the phone during her shift.
"What, what do you want now?"
He heard the woman's voice yelling at another visitor. This receptionist was not friendly.
"But where could I have ended up…"
The elevator opened to let Ryouma and Joy board, and after the doors closed, Joy pressed the button for the 13th floor and started the machine.
"Before we get to the boss's office, I have to ask you something," Joy said suddenly.
Ryouma looked at him and nodded.
"Ryo, where have you been all this time we've been looking for you everywhere?"
It was no surprise, it was the same question he had asked yesterday. What was different, however, was the way he phrased it. Last time he had expressed it in an aggressive and insistent manner, but now he was calm and collected.
"I was sleeping when I suddenly woke up in another world, and suddenly monsters appeared and were chasing me. I almost died there a number of times, luckily I managed to escape just in time each time. Finally, I don't know by what miracle, I found myself back on Earth. When I think about it, it all seems absurd."
"I see, so that was it."
Joy didn't seem surprised or incredulous, which would normally be the case. He was even much too calm when he heard his friend's statement. Ryouma didn't seem surprised by the latter's reaction either. In the back of his mind, after witnessing it, He thought his story wouldn't have the desired effect. Which proved that Joy knew more about the whole affair.
Ryouma felt the heavy silence that had settled between him and Joy since the events of the previous day. It was weird being so nervous around someone he'd always been comfortable with and easy to deal with. What had happened made him doubt his friend, who he really was. He had known him for a long time and yet, In one evening, her vision of him had collapsed.
In the end, you can never know who people really are.
No, that's not true. Joy was still the same to Ryouma. He fought to save him and Haruna. If he weren't there, who knows what would have happened?
I don't know for sure who he really is, but one thing is for sure... he's a friend and not an enemy.
"Don't be so nervous, man. Just relax a little, everything will be clearer in a few moments," Joy reassured, flashing her ever-present, fearless smile.
Ryouma nodded with a smile. His friend was still the same, no matter what happened.
The elevator took them to the 13th floor and opened its doors onto a long corridor, at the end of which was an office.
A spacious room, decorated with sumptuous furniture. A large desk in front of a glass case offered a breathtaking view of the city from above. There was no one sitting behind the desk.
"Hello! I was expecting you."
An old man in a black suit sat in the armchair on the left side of the room, with a woman standing straight beside him.
"Come sit down!" he suggested.
The two young men took their places in front of the old man. Joy sat on the long leather sofa, her arms stretched out over the backrest, while Ryouma, nervous, sat with his hands on his knees, looking at the old gentleman.
The man was in his sixties, with a few white streaks visible on his head and wrinkles on his face. He had an impressive build for a man of his age, especially his musculature. He was built like a bull, and his imposing aura could easily intimidate more than one. The only reassuring thing about his image was the smile he gave.
Ryouma knew a thing or two about smiles for someone who wanted to sympathize with others after rejecting them for so long. The most crucial step was the smile. It's a simple facial gesture that reinforces people's feelings towards you. The smiles were many and varied, there were the facade smiles for politeness, for courtesy, others that were forced to mask conflicting feelings, tight smiles, nervous smiles... and among all these, there were those who were sincere, who expressed their true emotions.
The smile the old gentleman gave Ryouma and Joy was sincere and comforting, like a grandfather looking at his grandchildren. Ryouma felt more comfortable because of it.
"Let me introduce myself. I'm Shin Takeda, the general manager of the Legacy Tech subsidiary. This is my assistant, Akio Fujimoto." He introduced himself, bowing, and his assistant did the same.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Ryouma Kirishima." said Ryouma, bowing in turn.
"I know, Joy has told me a lot about you. You came here looking for answers, didn't you? You must have a lot of questions, you can ask me anything you want."
Ryouma was about to bombard the headmaster with questions like the tidal wave flowing through his head right now, but he recovered and thought about the best way to proceed. There was this question he had always wanted to know his whole life, a question that had a direct bearing on everything that had happened in the last few days.
He took a breath and took the amulet out of his pocket and placed it on the coffee table between him and the director. The director's eyes widened as he looked at it, and he wasn't the only one, his assistant seemed surprised too.
"I want to know what it is," Ryouma asked.
"Can I?"
The headmaster asked to take the amulet in his hands, which Ryouma naturally accepted.
The director examined the relic from every angle.
"It's real," he said.
"I think so," the assistant confirmed.
The director placed it back on the table.
"May I ask where you found it?" he asked first.
“I had it with me since I was little, it came from my biological parents… who I never knew, actually.”
"I see, that's why you didn't know any of this."
"So you know what it is, right?"
"Indeed, what you have is an artifact that can only be used by heirs."
"The other two guys from yesterday also mentioned it. But what exactly is an 'heir'?"
"The heirs are beings from another world."
It came as a shock, but Ryouma had expected this kind of response. This, however, left room for many more questions, and before he could ask another, the director stopped.
"Before I continue and you understand better, I must tell you a story that was told to me by my father himself, who heard it from him. The story of a fabulous world, called 'Eldrath'," the director declared dramatically.
"You'll understand why I decided not to tell you anything, because the boss does it better than anyone," Joy whispered to Ryouma.
Ryouma imagined the scene as a grandfather telling a fairy tale to his grandchildren, but it was nothing like a made-up story.
The assistant, who had slipped away quietly, returned bringing drinks. She served the two boys orange juice and green tea in a traditional porcelain cup. She had prepared it in anticipation to accompany the long story the director was about to tell.
Director Shin Takeda had the attention of everyone in the office. He cleared his throat and began the tragic story of the end of a world.
***
Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, there was a fabulous world called Eldrath.
Eldrath was a universe that defied imagination, a world that could only be seen in dreams. There were an infinite number of wonders, fascinating landscapes and extraordinary beings.
It was populated by countless intelligent races, all different from one another. Some lived on dry land, others ruled in the skies, some still inhabited the depths of the oceans, others evolved on parallel planes, and a few lurked in the shadows, far from the light.
While many lived in harmony, some warlike races constantly fought for supremacy and dreamed of dominating the entire world. Wars raged for millennia without ever ending. Gradually, conflict became the norm. Yet a fragile balance was maintained thanks to the power of the Ten Great Races, which ruled over all others.
But one day, everything was turned upside down.
Without warning, monstrous creatures appeared out of nowhere. They invaded towns and cities, attacking all forms of life. These nightmarish abominations, impossible to comprehend, swept over Eldrath like a tide of darkness.
The threat was such that the races had to put aside their hatreds and conclude a truce. An alliance was formed, and thanks to it, the invaders were repelled... for a time.
But it was no use. The assaults continued relentlessly, each wave larger and more terrifying than the last. These creatures emerged from the earth, the sky, the seas...
We didn't understand where they came from. Some of them were as huge as mountains, others as tiny as insects. They had acquired strange powers and abilities that could twist reality, changing night into day or drying up rivers with a single scream.
Some infiltrated their victims' bodies, others their minds, spreading chaos across the world. A few could even regenerate infinitely, making any victory illusory.
The only certainty they had was that these creatures shared a commonality: similar patterns that bound them into a single species. They came to be called the Scourges of Chaos.
In less than a year, more than 60% of the population had disappeared. The survivors retreated to the last alliance-protected strongholds, but even these bastions were faltering. All hope seemed lost.
So, the Council of Elders made a cruel decision to abandon Eldrath to ensure the survival of their species. With their knowledge and magic, they created a portal to another world, a distant world, untouched by the Plagues.
Each race sent a delegation of ten chosen ones to cross this passage and carry with them the memory of their people. These chosen ones were the heirs who carried on their shoulders the survival of their race and the guardians of the memory of those who had died. This burden was immense.
The departure was heartbreaking. The heirs walked through the gate, their eyes filled with tears, while behind them, Their loved ones and their remaining people fought one last time, knowing they would not return. Those who remained behind had no other fate than to disappear with Eldrath.
Soon after their departure, the last stronghold of the alliance fell. And with it, the entire world.
Thus ended the sad fate of Eldrath. The story of a lost world.
But as one story ended, another was just beginning: the story of the heirs.
The crossing between worlds lasted barely a few seconds. The heirs were caught in a space-time spiral bursting with light, before setting foot on an unknown land.
The heirs had arrived in the new world, but they were not prepared for what happened to them. Their bodies began to change and all of them suddenly underwent an unexplained transformation.
All members of the different species lost what distinguished them from other races, what represented their pride, what made them a race apart. As if, in order to be reborn in this new world, they had to abandon what they once were.
All now shared a similar body, symmetrical, proportionate, with two arms, two legs and without any particular brilliance. An ordinary body that had nothing special about it.
Thus, the ancient races of Eldrath merged into a single species, which would be known, in the distant future, as "Humans."
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