Memories Of The Past

Nir and Rain stand by the door to a classroom, seeing there’s a statue inside.

-”What in the world is that?” - Nir asks.

-”It looks like… The two gods’ statues…” - Says Rain. “Only it’s a statue of another man”.

-”This man… Haven’t we seen him before?”

-”It reminds me of Null a little bit…” - Rain admits. “But it barely even looks like him”.

-”I’ll try touching it”. - Nir announces.

They both enter the classroom and stand close to the statue.

-”Let’s do it together”. - Rain suggests.

-”Okay”. - He replies. “Ready?”

-”Ready”.

They touch the statue at the same time. They focus really hard for a few seconds, yet nothing happens.

-”That’s weird… I really thought something would happen”. - He says.

-”I didn’t really know what to expect… But absolutely nothing?” - She says in surprise. “Weird indeed”.

They exit the classroom and leave the school’s building through the huge hole in the wall. They find themselves very close to the fence surrounding the village. Unlike the tall fence by the entrance to the village - this short fence mostly indicates the borders rather than supplying a reliable defense. While even that fence can slow down a big army, it cannot fully stop even one person.

In the distance, they see Null running towards the forest.

They start running towards the fence and climb over it as swiftly as possible. They get to the other side and charge in full speed.

Null is only a few steps away from the forest. He’s looking back at them as he’s running. Then, he looks forward again, slowing down ever so casually as if he isn’t concerned with them anymore - and enters the forest.

-”Rain, I think we should slow down”. - Nir suggests.

-”Yea, I agree. There’s no question about it…” - Says Rain. “We will get ambushed”.

They slow their pace down, getting closer to the forest. As they reach it, they look far into the woods, seeing nothing suspicious. They enter the territory of the forest and look in all directions.

-”He was acting weird…” - Nir says. “Don’t you think?”

-”Definitely”. - She replies. “Be careful, a surprise-attack can happen any moment”.

Suddenly, a noise can be heard, as if someone is running swiftly towards them.

-”Something is coming!” - Nir yells. “Shield up!”

Nir draws his sword while applying the shield skill. Then, he gets hit out of nowhere, receiving it somewhat with his sword, but also getting protected by the shield skill.

Again, out of nowhere, something approaches and quickly hits Rain this time, shattering her shielding. -”Aaa!” - She yells in pain.

-”Rain!”

-”Don’t worry…” - She reassures him. “I managed to block most of it”.

She holds her hand in pain. She then focuses, making green lights appear as she heals herself.

-”Rain, can you use your night vision skill?” - Nir asks.

-”But it’s not night…”

-”Give it a shot, just stay prepared, we may get attacked again”.

-”Roger that”. - She replies as she focuses and uses her night vision skill.

They hear something approaching again.

“Nir! I can almost see it! From your right!”

Nir focuses and strikes with 10 hearts. Null is revealed but is unharmed, completely shielded.

-“Rain! Take aim!”

-”On it!”

Null just stands there, doing nothing.

Rain freezes, looking at him. Nir stares at his hearts, unable to move either.

“Nir… He has 5,001 hearts…”

-”A beautiful number isn’t it?” - Null speaks casually. “I would have carried more hearts, but I decided to get skills in order to defeat the empire. Little did I know how correct I was at the time”.

-”Null, you can be such an asset to the empire…” - Nir says. “You can even try to convince…”

-”SAVE IT! YOU TRAITOR!” - Null interrupts him in a sudden rage.

-”How did we betray you? By refusing to die fighting against the empire for no reason?” - Rain asks.

-”HOW CAN YOU BE SO STUPID?!” - He rages.

Nir and Rain look at each other, with disturbed faces. He was acting casual as if confident in his power, then started raging as if on the brink of explosion. They don’t understand what’s going on with him.

-”You forced us to participate in the village’s war…” - Rain tries to explain.

-”YOU…” - He takes a moment to calm himself down. “You two and your betrayal, have a historical mark heavier than the empire’s”.

-”What do you mean?” - Nir asks.

-”I cannot be burdened by those memories alone, seeing your stupid little human versions, unable to remember or comprehend…” - Null says. “Before I get rid of you… You will know EVERYTHING”.

-”Everything about what?” - Rain asks.

-”Everything about the world you abandoned”. - He says. He then starts explaining.

“The spirit has created the world. Then, it created two gods to rule it. The gods had infinite hearts. One day, they decided to have children, but they quickly noticed - their children did not have infinite hearts. The gods decided to share their powers with their children. And just like they could share their powers, their children could share their hearts with one another.

The two gods created the forest. They lived in the forest next to their children, albeit separated from them. They wanted to let them create something of their own. Eventually, a society was formed, in which people used the skills they received from the gods - to help one another while using their hearts as currency, slowly expanding outside the forest and eventually leaving it completely - letting the gods have it for themselves.

At first, everything was peaceful. The gods lived nearby and were revered by the people. But not by me… The gods were just like us. And yet… They had infinite hearts! While we had to work for each other… Until one day - we part from this world while they can stay. I resented them.

However… In this society, people could still kill others to receive hearts. Once certain people achieved more than others, some started becoming aggressive. They started killing one another. Quickly enough, they noticed that after they kill - they stop aging. They noticed their hearts count down instead of up, and they couldn’t transfer their hearts anymore. Their hearts started dictating the time they have left to live. In order to get hearts or give them away - they had to kill or to die themselves. They divided into groups and waged violence upon one another, murdering in a raging bloodbath.

Eventually, the once peaceful society…

Has become null.

I will never let myself forget that.

I waited… I knew if I just waited for them to kill each other, I could kill the last one of them and finally escape my destiny. I could be like the gods…

As I saw the last one standing, I reached from behind with a knife - becoming myself the last one standing.

Soon after, the gods came to visit - only to see what remained of their creation. They looked at me with disappointment… As if I made this happen… As if I was responsible!

Then… They turned around and went back to the forest without saying a thing, as I stood there on the sand, having nothing.

But I did have something… I had thousands of hearts.

The two gods stood by the forest. They raised their hands towards it and blessed it. Then, they used their infinite hearts to create their statues, and left. I prayed to the spirit, to not let me be alone in the world. And then - people started coming from another world to the forest. The people all shared they were about to die in their old world, and so they were grateful… And yet… Their hearts were transformed… They couldn’t transfer hearts.

I finally understood what the gods were planning. They left in order to be reborn in another world that the spirit has created. They wanted us to make a new society, then come back later, forgetting about all of us from the old one”.

-”Didn’t they bless the forest so you and those people will have something to start with?” - Rain asks.

-”The people who came from the other world couldn’t use their hearts as currency. And although their children did not have transformed hearts and were aging normally - they couldn’t transfer hearts either! They had less potential than us from the old society!”

-”Maybe they wanted to learn from the other world, while giving you a second chance?” - Nir suggests.

-”A second chance from what? They have made us this way!”

-”It sounds like they didn’t want you to be alone…” - Rain adds.

-”They ran away! From their own responsibilities! So I made sure to let the people know who they really were. But those fools… They didn’t blame the two gods… They adored them”.