World Pandora
~SWOOSH~SWOOSH!~
Large gusts of wind blew through the fields of GreenVale Village.
The sun had already set, and the 3 luminous moons had risen into the sky, illuminating the surroundings.
~STEP~STEP~STEP!~
As the surroundings grew darker and darker, a boy no older than 6 was running down a dirt pathway towards his small home.
The boy seemed to be experienced in running through this pathway, as he skillfully bobbed and weaved through the traffic of other villagers and any blockages from buildings.
The boy's platinum blonde hair was fluttering as his sky-blue eyes were wide with excitement.
"Ey youngin, make sure not to fall." One of the villagers who was operating a vendor stall said.
On his stall was the meat from various monsters that had been bought from Hunters traveling through the village.
"I definitely won't Mr. Winther," The boy responded, making a left turn and running for around 15 seconds before he arrived at a modest house surrounded by a beautiful garden of flowers planted by his mother.
"Mom, dad!" He called out, hurriedly moving towards the door.
~CREAK!~
Just as the boy was about to reach for the door handle, the door opened itself, and a woman stepped out.
A beautiful woman at that.
She had blonde hair with silvery whites streaks and emerald eyes.
She smiled after seeing the boy, who launched himself into her arms.
"Did you have fun, Albedo?" she asked, kneeling to his level.
A ball of water spontaneously appeared and swirled in her arms and she splashed it across Albedo, running the dirt off of him.
Then, without warning, a magic induced gust of wind surrounded him, drying him off.
"Yes!" Albedo said excitedly.
"Some more Hunters traveled by the village today. There was even one from the Demon Race. He had horns, a tail and retractable wings. He put on a magic show using fire for all of us." Albedo said with a smile.
"A Demon in GreenVale? That's rare, those Demons usually hunt nearer to the Demon Kingdom and rarely group with other races."
A deep voice echoed nearby and Albedo looked to the left, spotting his father with his sword covered in blood, a huge boar slung across his shoulder.
His father was tall, definitely a giant who was at least 7'0, with shoulder length silver hair, and eyes that mirrored Albedo's sky blue color.
There were battle scars traced across the mans shoulder and arms.
"I can't wait till I awaken my Magic. If only I could train to prepare now." Albedo said.
His mother just ruffled his hair lovingly, "You're only six, my little flame. Your body isn't read for pre-awakening training." She said.
"And you'll have plenty of time," his father added. "When you're ten, we'll start training you. Until then, enjoy life. Run, play, dream."
Albedo pouted but nodded. Deep inside, he knew they were right. But that didn't stop his heart from beating with wonder every time he saw Hunters passing through their small village.
Coming from Earth, a world without Magic, this world was a never-ending miracle to him.
Every day he would see something that could only be seen in movies or TV shows back on Earth, whether it was magic itself, or magic beasts, magical plants etc.
However, he had died and made his way to this world, and compared to other people who would be in despair after dying, Albedo only felt peace and happiness he had a 2nd chance.
He still remembered his last moments on Earth like it was yesterday.
He had died all alone and depressed, abandoned by those he thought were his friends.
As for family, they had all died in an accident years prior, leaving him with no emotional support.
He spent his life in a sequence of work and University, always swamped with work.
His only real escape were Novels and Manhwas.
Before he died, he had just finished reading his favorite Novel, ' 'Zephyr Academy: Onslaught of Champions'
Albedo had lived vicariously in that Novel for the entirety of his teenage years as his favorite escape from the despair that was the real world.
The novel was set in the world Pandora.
Pandora was standard novel fantasy world with races such as Elves, Humans, Dwarves, Demons and DemiHumans.
It also had Dungeons and Gates.
Dungeons were simply dimensions that endlessly refreshed monsters, whilst Gates seemed to be different world spaces entirely, are usually much more difficult than Dungeons, and need to be defeated quickly, or else the monsters would burst out and invade Pandora.
Once Gates are defeated, unlike Dungeons, they vanish entirely like they never ever existed.
The main villain of the Novel was the Abyss, a corrupted dark dimension that threatened to invade and dominate the world.
To ensure a steady supply of strong fighters to protect the world, Academies were created in every Kingdom to train the best talents using the best resources and facilities.
In the Novel, the protagonist was a commoner who was raised by a single mother that was killed by Abyssal Worshippers, people who, like their name suggested, worshipped and made sacrifices to the Abyss to gain power.
It was only him left, but he was thankfully saved by the Principal of Zephyr Academy, who saw his latent unawakened talents and took the protagonist as his disciple.
The protagonist didn't have any explicit cheats, but was just absurdly OP relative to those at the same power level.
Albedo had somehow transmigrated into this world. He had learned this after seeing the 3 moons in the sky, and hearing his parents talk about the Abyss and Gates.
Albedo had tried everything to find out whether he had a cheat, but nothing had appeared.
He had no jewelry an ancient powerhouse could be sleeping in.
A system didn't appear as of yet.
None of the items he had seemed to possess any special magical ability.
He seemed to be completely normal, but he was still excited to experience the world, at worst, it couldn't be much worse than his life on Earth, plus, he hadn't given up hope on a cheat.
As he was thinking of all of that, his father's voice snapped him out of his thoughts, "Hey, stop daydreaming, we need to eat dinner."
The smell of stew filled the air.
The house wasn't the biggest, but it felt cozy, with the walls adorned with pictures from his parent's adventuring days and old weapons.
Albedo barely made it through dinner before yawning widely.
"Alright, time for bed, little flame," his mother said, standing and wiping his cheeks with a cloth.
He nodded sleepily, "Goodnight, Mom. Goodnight, dad."
"Goodnight, son. Make sure to say goodnight to your baby sister, she's in her crib." His mother said and Albedo nodded.
He got up and dragged himself up the stairs, taking a short break in the first room to the left. There, he saw his baby sister, Gwendolyn.
"Giggle!" Gwen giggled and poked out a finger towards Albedo, who poked her finger back with a smile, giving her a goodnight kiss on the forehead before he left the room, heading to his bed.
He climbed under the thick hilts and quickly fell asleep, ready to wake up to another peaceful day the next morning.
But the next time he woke up, Albedo would experience anything but peace.
***
Later that Night!
Albedo was asleep in his bed when the ground started shaking slowly, but the intensity quickly increased.
Albedo ignored it, he was a deep sleeper, but as the shaking increased, Albedo quietly stirred, eyelids fluttering, confusion in his eyes.
"Ugh what is happening." He sleepily muttered.
But then.....
The shaking quickly became an explosion roar.
~BOOM!~
A wrathful explosion shook the air, ripping through Albedo's dizziness like a god's wrath.
~BANG~BANG~BANG~CLANK~
His room shook violently, and all the shelves immediately fell, sending everything tumbling to the floor. Books, cups, phones, everything crashed onto the ground.
The windows shattered inward, with glass like tiny knives crashing to the floor.
"F*CK!" Albedo said instinctively, as his own bed collapsed and he fell onto the floor.
"Ugh, what the hell is happening." He groaned out, looking at his arms that were covered in cuts from falling onto the glass, blood beginning to seep out.
He quickly got up and hugged a nearby wall, then slowly used that wall to exit into the hallway.
"MOM? DAD? WHERE ARE YOU?" He shouted out in between intermittent coughs, yet he heard no response as he walked through the halls.
"WAAAAAH, WAAAAH."
Then suddenly, the screams and cries of a baby tore through sounds of explosions, a sound that Albedo quickly recognized.
He stumbled his way down the hall and turned left, entering Gwen's room and spotting her crying out. Scattered glass and fallen shelves surrounded her as the crib was already destroyed.
Albedo ignored the scattered glass, getting some more cuts on the sole of his feet as he grabbed Gwen, holding her tightly in his arms.
"Shh, it's okay." He said, rocking her in his arms as he looked around, trying to calm her down.
He didn't know why he became so calm, probably something to do with his past life, but he analyzed the situation quickly and slowly tried to calm Gwen from crying whilst he walked back out of her room.
As he re-entered the hallway however,
~CRACK~BOOM!~
The floor beneath Albedo cracked, and then exploded, sending him crashing down to the ground floor, falling through the glass dining table.
"GRAHHH!" He groaned out in pain, the pieces of glass grazing his back, blood seeping out.
He was dazed, barely moving on instinct as he realized his grip on Gwen had tightened, making sure she wasn't injured much by the fall, at most shocked by the impact which led to her crying out once again.
Albedo slowly got up, looking around.
The house was in total ruins, walls caved in, glass and other things scattered everyone, and heat surged through the environment.
Fire. Smoke. Screams.
It was like armageddon.
Everything echoed around him all at once. He coughed and walked outside, waving his hand to push away the smoke and ash. He grabbed table cloth and wrapped it around Gwen as well.
As he exited the house, he spotted a horrific scene.
The sky was now covered in a hellish red, the moon's glow completely blocked by the rising flames of destruction.
Blood was scattered as far as the eye could see, the bodily limbs of persons as well.
Albedo swore he saw someone's intestines on the floor and he quickly threw up from the absolutely gruesome sight, his dizziness intensifying.
"AHHH~SAVE ME"
"HELPP, PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!"
"NO!"
The screams of the remaining villagers echoed, and drew Albedo's attention, and there, amidst the chaos, he saw them.
People cloaked in shadows.
Their bodies exuded a dark, malevolent aura that writhed like snakes.
They cut through the villagers with their weapons, and cursed them with their magic, it was a total massacre.
Albedo was almost shocked frozen when he heard someone calling his name.
"Albedo!"
His mother appeared from the smoke, blood on her cheek, her dress torn, her staff in hand. His father followed, his old greatsword already drawn, crackling with stored mana.
"Come here!" she cried, kneeling and pulling him close behind the pieces of a destroyed house that blocked the attackers from noticing them momentarily.
"Mama, what's happening?!"
"No time, sweetie. Listen to me. You have to run. You have to survive." Her hands trembled as she pulled a necklace from her pocket, a silver chain with a glowing blue crystal, "Take this. Inside it is everything you need. Our legacy from our adventuring days. This will be enough to survive."
"But I don't!"
"Albedo!" his father barked, kneeling and grabbing his son's shoulders. His voice was unshakable, "You must live. No matter what happens to us. You hear me? You and your sister."
Tears welled up in Albedo's eyes as the necklace was wrapped around his neck.
"Run toward the forest. Don't stop. Don't look back."
Another explosion rang out nearby. The air split as a bolt of shadow tore past them, striking their home, obliterating what remained into cinders.
"GO!" they both screamed, pushing him forward.
And he ran.
He ran with tears streaming down his face and Gwen in his arms, he clutched her tightly.
Strangely, despite seeing her mouth open, he couldn't hear her cries and screams, it must've been the necklace's magic.
Behind him, he heard them, his parents. Screaming. Fighting.
It went on for ages as he ran.
Explosion after explosion, clash after clash.
And then, silence.
He stumbled as he realized what that meant, barely clinging onto a tree.
The ground trembled, and from the corner of his eye, he saw one of the dark figures turning toward him.
The man, if he could be called that, had skin like blackened marble, and eyes that were pits of void. He raised his hand, gathering energy into a swirling orb of crimson death.
Albedo cried out, too weak to run, too small to fight. The spell lashed out, and Albedo turned, trying to protect Gwen.
CRACK!
Pain exploded in his elbow. He screamed as he crashed to the ground, rolling in agony.
The man stepped forward.
The world blurred.
And then,
A Flame
Not a regular flame, nor a Holy One!
A blinding crimson flame crashed down from the heavens, incinerating anything and everything it came in contact with to ash.
The attacker staggered back, raising an arm to shield his eyes.
The ground trembled.
Albedo felt it too, something pulling at him, wrapping around his body like invisible threads. The pain dulled. The air rippled.
The attacker reached out, and vanished into ash himself.
So did the world.
A moment later, everything was fire.
And when the flame vanished, so did Albedo.