Anonymous point of view
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A father stands next to his son, watching fireworks light up the night sky.
"Did you like the fireworks, Jack?" the father asks his son.
"They were amazing and spectacular!" the son answers excitedly.
After the fireworks ended, my father took me by the hand, and we walked back to the hotel. My dad is a traveling merchant. My mom passed away four years ago when I was five, and today is my ninth birthday.
...
"Blow out the candles and make a wish, but don't tell anyone what it is," my dad says.
It's just the two of us celebrating my birthday in the room. I blow out the candles and make my wish: I wish I could have the ability to see fireworks anytime I want.
"Jack! Your body is glowing! Is this an awakening?!" my father suddenly exclaims with joy.
Without even realizing it, I had touched one of the candles and felt myself pouring something into it—a strange power. Then...
Boom! A very small explosion. I snap back to my senses.
The candle had exploded in my hand, but I wasn't hurt. My father told me my ability was to make things explode. I practiced a lot during our travels together.
A month after my awakening, I started to understand some of the rules. The first rule was that depending on an object's size or type, I could inject my power into it to make it explode, up to a certain limit. The second rule was that my power was limited. The amount of power I could inject into objects ran out quickly and recovered slowly.
As we rode in my father's carriage toward the next trade city, I asked him, "Dad, what is the world like?"
"The world has three continents, named after the three princesses who ruled them when the world was a single empire," he replied.
"Tell me more," I said.
"There was an ancient empire that ruled three continents, and it was divided between three princesses. The left continent, where we live, was named Rosalyn after the princess who ruled it. The middle continent was named Seran, and the right was Nova," my father explained.
"And how did the empire break apart?" I asked.
"The right continent, Nova, was destroyed and filled with monsters because the princess there made a pact with a demon. She died a horrific death, and everyone on the continent died with her. It became a land of monsters. Because of this, people lost faith in the empire. The left continent broke into kingdoms and principalities, while the middle continent remained under the empire's control. The empire suffered massive losses, and all this happened 500 years ago," he said.
"So that's what happened," I replied.
While we were traveling in the carriage, I spotted a picture of a girl in the newspaper my father was reading. She had blonde hair and blue eyes and was very beautiful.
"Who is this?" I asked my father.
"This is Princess Alice. People used to call her 'the Saint' because her abilities awakened at age six. But now everyone has found out that she had the ability to absorb powers and that she was secretly absorbing her younger sister, Princess Lucia's, Holy Power. Because of this, Princess Lucia's health was harmed, and she lost her sacred power. No one ever expected Princess Alice to be such an evil person," he explained.
Before I could reply, five masked people in black clothes suddenly attacked my father. He was stabbed five times and fell from the carriage, bleeding profusely. I couldn't comprehend what was happening. My mind stopped working. My blood ran cold, and a mix of anger, sadness, fear, and tension welled up inside me.
Suddenly, one of them hit me on the back of the neck, and I fell to the ground. Everything started to get darker and darker before I passed out.
"Dad," I whispered before I lost consciousness.
Then, I suddenly opened my eyes and found myself in a black void. My dad was in front of me, glowing with light.
"My son, when you wake up, I won't be with you. You will face difficult days, but you must live a life you can be proud of. Goodbye," he said, coming up to me before he started to fade away.
I couldn't speak or do anything. It was definitely a dream, but I was grateful that he came to say goodbye, at least.