The old smartphone of a frail-looking young man with brown hair fell when a man with a large body bumped him.
"Hey, son. What happened? What's that sound?" The mother's voice came from the speakers--she spoke and startled because their conversation suddenly cut off when the phone fell in the hidden alley where the young man stopped first to talk with his parents about going to the Selection.
The buffed guy with the large body who bumped him seemed not to notice him because he and his tall companion with not that big a body hurried. The guy's companion noticed the bump but deliberately continued their walk due to focus on their destination.
"The heck is this.." The annoyed voice reflected the young man's mood, already not that good from the start, worsened by the bump from the buffed guy.
He bent down to pick up the phone with his right hand, but his eyes stayed on the person who bumped him. He noticed three small children struggling and seeming to escape from the grasp of adults around their thirties.
It's a kidnapping.
This immediate thought entered the young man's mind when his gaze passed over the buffed guy who bumped him.
He no longer picked up his phone--he cared nothing.
He ran straight and sprinted toward the buffed guy and kicked him hard and fully while the guy turned away, at the back of the knee to force him to kneel. When the guy knelt, taller than him but now reachable, he punched the back of the neck.
His punch connected and he wasted no moment. When it hit clean, he immediately reached his hand to the children to escape, and his plan involved running to the public to seek help from the crowd.
One adult with average build looked at him. He felt no intimidation from the young man despite seeing his large-bodied companion knocked out clean. He thought it amounted to just a fluke and sucker punch and immediately grabbed to seize the kidnapped kids. The three children held hands, but one child released his grip on another child. The young man noticed nothing--out of three kids, he saved only two.
They ran to the public because safety existed there and the two kidnappers would not think to chase the children in the public itself.
As they arrived at a public plaza, many people appeared. But the people busied themselves with their own focuses. Some held smartphones, some walked and thought only about commuting.
For sure, if the kidnappers chased them here still, a commotion would occur in the public itself.
The thought occupied the young man's mind when they stopped briefly in the public area to become safe.
He also noticed that out of three kids, he saved only two--it made him feel failure and worry about that one child.
"They … took Rielle," one child said while looking at the young man with a sad tone in her voice, and she looked about to cry but held it in.
"Don't worry, we'll save her. She's your little sister?" The young man reassured her even though he worried about the smallest child left with the kidnapper.
"Mm." The little girl replied, making it harder and harder for her to hold back her tears. But she felt somewhat reassured by the young man's words.
"My name is Manny, come on .. both of you hold into each of my arms," Manny replied as he wanted to rush and quickly get help from the police as soon as possible, since the worst things might happen to the youngest kid that the kidnapper got.
The little girl grabbed Manny's right arm. The little boy grabbed Manny's left arm.
"Your… arm..?" The little boy asked softly as he confused himself when he grabbed Manny's left arm--nothing existed there, just an empty sleeve from the jacket.
"Oh, I lost that one long time ago.. By the way, can you tell me your names while we're walking?" Manny replied as he hurriedly looked at the streets frantically and recalled where the police station stood while walking with the kids. The last time he visited the plaza happened when he was a kid. They rarely went to the main city of Ferrogra as they remained poor and lived in the poorest slum part of Ferrogra.
"My name is Jack," the boy replied with a low tone as he was already tired from the day and at the same time still worried about his little sister.
"I'm Jill, We are twins. Rielle is our little sister," the girl replied as she looked up at the young man's face and tried to communicate her shaking words to him.
They arrived at the police station.
They walked to the police at the front door and looked inside, and luck favored them because the police station stood empty--no one appeared there as a citizen--and they assumed the police could quickly assist them.
"What's the problem.. Kids?" The police at the front door asked them as he scanned his eyes over the kids with Manny.
"These kids got kidnapped there, I saw it and I grabbed them from the kidnappers and escaped."
Manny said with gestures pointing where the kidnapping happened.
"Where?" the police replied.
"There, at the alleyway there." Manny continued pointing where the alleyway hosted the kidnapping.
"Hurry up, please.. Save Rielle…" Jill asked the policeman with crying eyes and a tone that could break the policeman's heart.
"Going there right now… it's. They might not be there anymore. The kidnapper probably already took the kid somewhere." The policeman replied with a tone of hopelessness as he thought it might already prove too late to save the kid.
While they talked in front of the police station, at that moment a huge figure appeared flying up in the sky. A mechanical body of a humanoid object. It looked like a human figure. But huge, as big as a whole building from a city. It resembled a plane. Pure white, a figure of colossal and mechanical moving statue with a mystical look. A glistening stone-like white crystal covered its titan body. Its wings glowed up the sky, enhancing the sun's shine--light itself symbolized an idea supposed to give hope to the people looking at it.
Manny looked up at that figure. He knew nothing about what it was. His first time looking at something like this, he could not even believe the reality of what he looked at.
"..... A Mech God," the policeman, looking scared, talked in a low voice--whispered, but Manny heard it.
***
Three Mech Gods ruled the world for 200 years.
Aethagra
Solariaprim
Exilius
Those three countries produced their own Mech Gods 200 years ago. The rest of 36 countries tried to fight against these countries. Countless elite artifact holders died against the durability and magic power that these Mech Gods have.
The Mech Gods do not age. That explains their existence up till today, making them more dangerous with their combat experience against human artifact holders.
***
Manny looked at the people on the plaza. All the adults appeared restless, panicking, and terrified.
He understood that this grabbed everyone's attention, but he understood nothing about what made the adults act the way they did.
He looked up again and saw the "Mech God" figure going further away.
"Looks like it just passed by.. Haha," Manny tried to humor the visibly uncomfortable policeman to ease the atmosphere of the conversation.
"You haven't gone to school do you? To look so comfortable looking at a Mech God," the policeman said, annoyed with Manny's humor.
"Ummm. Yeah I haven't.. Anyways, Can you just do something about those kidnappers.?" Manny felt a little offended--he had not gone to school since his mom remained dirt poor, they lived in a poor secluded area where education proved impossible.
"Just leave the kids here in our custody, we'll take care of it. Also, we need your ID and we'll make a police report before you leave. Wait, you saw the appearance of the kidnappers right? You need to describe their appearance to us," the police answered to assure proper process for catching the kidnappers and saving the kidnapped child. While they walked into the police station.
"Yeah, I saw them. I can describe what they look like." Manny answered concisely and avoided saying something again that would offset the conversation like earlier. He wanted only to focus on giving the best information he could for the kid's safety and thought also of his plan to go to the Selection today. He took his wallet and handed his ID.
"It's your birthday today huh," the police said when he saw Manny's ID. The police handed back the ID to him while the police wrote Manny's name and birthday on the police report.
"Yeah.. I just turned 19, I'm supposed to go to the selection, but I still have time. I can go after this." Manny answered while he took the ID handed by the police back into his wallet.
"SELECTION??!!" The police said with a shocked expression. He looked at Manny's eyes with a pitying look. It looked like he pitied Manny a lot.
"Ha? Yes, why? What's with the selection? Isn't it just a job?" Manny gave a confused answer to the police.
"Ah, nothing… Let's just move on to the police report." The police answered Manny's question and changed the topic because he became uncomfortable again due to the information he learned.
After the police report minutes later.
"Don't worry. Rielle's gonna be fine. They will save her. I have trust in them." Manny reassured the twins about the situation of their little sister, referring and gesturing to the police inside the station.
The twins said no word to Manny. They just stared at him. They still looked worried but a bit relaxed than earlier.
Manny waited no longer for goodbye statements to the twins and left the police station.
Alright, now. I just need to go to the Selection.
As Manny tried to grab his phone and reached his pocket to check the time, his phone was not there. He remembered he dropped it earlier in the alley and did not even pick it up.
Aaaaaaaaaaahhh.. My old phone.. Goodbye to you.
He cared not that much, just said his final farewell. His phone aged old anyway. He thought he could just buy a new one after his first salary at work after he got accepted in the selection.
Hours later, darkness covered the surroundings--night started to enter. Manny arrived at Ferrogra's Military Facility where the Selection occurred. In his recollection, the selection opened 24/7 and anyone could come anytime. So he hurried not too much.
He talked to the military officer at the gate.
"I'm here for the Selection," Manny said to the military officer, accompanied by the growl of his stomach because he had not eaten all day.
"Eat first. Come, there's a free meal here. After you eat we will talk to you."
The military officer said because he noticed the growl of Manny's stomach. Along with standing and assisting Manny to the place where he could eat.
Manny spoke no more. Hunger gripped him so he really wanted to eat. He just followed where the military officer took him.
They arrived at the cafeteria. Someone gave Manny a full meal and he ate.
Only there did he taste food this delicious. He accustomed himself to eating only leftovers. While he ate, he realized the military officer who brought him to the cafeteria watched him. He didn't pay much attention if it seemed weird or not. Probably normal that someone watched him because this is a military facility, or someone waited only for him to finish eating to talk about the selection.
Wait.. If that military officer is here, who guards the front gate of this facility right now?
Well, he probably has a replacement..
Just inner thoughts entered Manny's mind while he ate. He held the fork in his right hand while he bit his sausage food.
Minutes later after he ate, he planned to stand up to talk to the officer staring at him. He got kind of uncomfortable about it.
Manny saw a woman wearing eyeglasses in a white lab coat with two other military officers behind her walking inside the cafeteria, approaching him.
"Sit." The woman told Manny.
Manny sat down and became confused about what happened.
The two military officers with the woman in white coat positioned behind.
"Are you ready for the Selection?" The woman asked Manny in a monotone voice. She sounded nothing like a human. Emotionless.
"Huh?? Ready for what? What is the Selection anywa…" Manny tried to ask what happened but someone cut him off when something injected suddenly into his neck and he lost consciousness.