July 28, 2031. Five years after the great darkness.
In the town of Looc, within the city of Calamba, outside an abandoned school with a size equivalent to a large football field, a young man at the age of 17 can be seen staring at the dark, looming sky in a daze.
His thoughts were unknown as he stayed at his position for a while before silently shifting his gaze toward the clearing in the distance, where a small shrine stood.
The shrine's appearance, far from holy, was placed inside a small hut, supported by a platform, as its repulsive image was immediately reflected in his eyes.
Instead of a deity, ancestors, or revered figure, the shrine depicts an image of a crying infant.
However, instead of a normal infant, the infant on the altar was vastly different from the norm; rather than innocence, the face of the infant displayed an incompatible evil look, as if the world had wronged him.
In addition to its pure dark eyes and its fingers that were extremely sharp, as if they could cut through flesh without any resistance, a person will easily get a fright upon staring at it.
Unfortunately for the shrine, the young man had already gotten used to its presence; aside from eliciting some hatred within his heart, it could no longer affect his emotions.
"How ugly; no wonder your parents abandoned you. They probably couldn't stomach raising an ugly child like you."
Hurling insults toward the shrine like he usually does, Naib then slowly shifted his gaze toward the building in the distance.
Looking at the 4-story building with faded paint and a missing roof, in addition to the rusty railings, the young man couldn't help but let out a sigh of helplessness, coughing a few times before dragging the bag behind him inside.
"Naib, you seem lively today. Is it your payday already?"
However, before the young man could step onto the staircase, planning to return to his room, which was on the third floor of the abandoned school, a sudden voice tinted with glee sounded in the dark room right beside the stairs, startling him greatly to the point that it sent a shiver down his spine.
"What the f*ck is wrong with you? You want to kill someone by scaring them?"
Cursing out loud, Naib, despite not seeing the perpetrator, already knew the one who caused it.
Sure enough, upon looking at the door of the first room, Naib immediately spotted a pale-looking young man staring at him.
The man's brown eyes held a tint of darkness due to the hue of the surroundings, while his eyebags were much deeper than his. Other than that, Naib also spotted the familiar mole beside the man's sharp nose.
"You bastard, I thought you had work tonight? Why are you still in here?"
"Hehe, it's cancelled; I don't have work today since my boss finally received his karma..."
Looking at the grinning man named Jerome, Naib just shook his head before continuing upstairs, not that interested in the story that the other party would tell.
It could be said that he and Jerome can be considered quite close, already treating each other as siblings.
If he remembered correctly, the two of them met 5 years ago, around the time when the great darkness just started; due to an unfortunate event, their parents died on the first day of the great darkness, hence leaving them to fend for themselves. With similar fate, the two of them immediately got close to each other, ending up treating one as their own.
If not for the presence of each other, the two of them might be dead already, a fortunate thing if he must say.
"Sigh, I still think that it's a mistake meeting him..." Mumbling to himself, head shaking as if remembering something in the past, Naib soon arrived in front of his room.
Taking out a key from his pocket to unlock the door, Naib soon entered a dim classroom.
In an instant, the simple furniture within, a stack of books on the top of a wooden chair in the distance, and the board that still has writing on it, greeted his sight.
Moreover, since the place was an abandoned school, the room he considered his home can be said to be extremely small; aside from a bathroom located in the far corner, the room was simply an open space.
Basically, he is treating his sala as a kitchen and bedroom at the same time. Although it's uncomfortable, he has already gotten used to it.
"I'm home."
Uttering those words wearily, Naib dropped the bag he was dragging toward the floor before directly slumping toward the stained foam in the edge of the room — acting as his bed for how long — as he took the phone from his pocket.
Caressing the cracks within his phone, Naib again elicited a deep sigh of helplessness, wondering when his life would turn for the better.
Unfortunately, due to the great darkness 5 years ago that took his parents' lives, despite the rules already being fixed, Naib was forced to stop studying and work early to support himself; hence, he can only land a job with minimum wage.
With how high the prices of food and necessities now, which he can only barely afford with his monthly wages, Naib can't save much. Thus, even if he saves enough, he would surely not prioritize buying non-essential items.
Tsk...
Sighing again at how unfortunate his life was, Naib opened the tiktak app on his phone, scrolling casually due to boredom. Passing time while waiting for sleepiness to arrive.
...
Rustle!
Crack~
Time passed by; without even noticing it, 5 hours had passed in the blink of an eye.
In the dead of the night, outside the school building, the wind rustles dangerously while rainwater continuously pours from the sky, drenching the encompassing land.
Not far away, within the small hut housing the shrine, the small statue of an infant within suddenly stirred, trembling before releasing a deafening cry of hatred enough to shake one's soul.
Under its hateful cry, its metallic body seemed to crack a little, shaking violently before calming down the next second, as if everything that had just occurred was simply a product of an illusion.