1 Going forward

In a city filled with vehicles and people bustling about the streets, a figure flew through it.

Taking a closer look, one could see a little boy with short chocolate brown hair fluttering along with the wind as he rode on a hoverboard.

He had a pair of goggles on, along with a dark blue windbreaker and long grey pants to combat the wind and a pair of gloves to complete the set.

He avoided the street vendors and pedestrians skilfully. Slowly tilting to his right, he let the board glide along the building.

"Ay! Keir!" A robotic male voice was heard. He didn't have time to give a response, so he just waved his hand.

Keir was about to reach the roof when a middle-aged man suddenly popped out and grabbed him by the hood.

"Dad!" His voice cracked, "What are you doing here?!" He asked, quickly grabbing his hoverboard.

"You really think...I won't know?" He didn't pull Keir up and just continued holding his hood.

Keir shrugged while looking at the distance, answering, "Dunno what you're talking about."

"Keir.. look me in the eyes and say that again.." He said, only to be met with silence.

His father gave a deep sigh and slowly explained, "Keir, you know that's the forbidden land. You shouldn't even be snooping around.. you won't know if they-."

"You don't know either!" Keir cut him off, "What if it's just a big misunderstanding and they are actually amazing?" he glanced up at his father, pulling his goggles up to his forehead and exclaimed, "Imagine what we can all achieve with magic in our tech!"

His father's figure was reflected in his goggles, a man with long black hair reaching his neck, with a pair of goggles hanging on his neck. His face has more wrinkles for his age. His jet-black eyes stared into Keir's glittering dark brown ones.

The silence felt long and suffocated, with the two just staring at each other. Both are unwilling to back down.

His father slowly closed his eyes and sighed, "Let's get home."

Keir didn't reply and just stared down at the streets as he was hoisted up.

"Why can't I live here?" Keir asked, his grip on the board tightened, "Since both of you are so busy anyway?"

"How's the board testing?" His father asked instead, avoiding the question, "I saw that it managed to go faster."

Knowing his questions wouldn't be met with an answer, Keir sighed, "I can't get the code right.."

He answered while folding his board.

His father patted his head and advised, "Kiddo, don't forget to slow down and appreciate everything." 

Keir glanced up and met his father's gentle eyes and quickly darted his gaze away.

Keir nodded, causing his father to rub his head harder, "Oi oi!" He cried while trying to push the hand away, but that resulted in more force used, "Let go!"

"Never!" His father chuckled, seeing his son struggling to push him away, "Now let's go." He pulled his hand away, causing Keir to fall from the sudden change of weight.

"Why do you get to decide that!" He grumbled while getting up.

He laughed while explaining, "Cause I'm the best!"

"Best in lying!" He retorted, causing his father to laugh harder.

The corner of Keir's lips twitched as he chased after his father.

The two soon entered a forest filled with greenery. 

While Keir took a deep breath and stretched, he exclaimed, "I still love this place the best!"

His father smiled, "Course you do." puffing his chest out he boasted with his chin up, "Cause I planted it."

"Yeah.. sure you did.." He rolled his eyes, "Not planted by any bots or AI help."

He acted like he didn't hear Keir and continued walking forward.

Keir slowed down and watched the birds flying around the sky, with squirrels jumping from tree to tree.  

"Keir! Catch up, kiddo!" He heard his father calling, turning to see him wave. 

Keir gave a thumbs up in response, slowly increasing the pace.

The duo soon reached a wooden cabin with a garden visible by the left side. Various kinds of vegetables and fruits were in sight, but none were ripe yet.

It looked rather peaceful compared to the busy city.

"Alright, pack up. We need to leave soon." His father said while rubbing Keir's head, causing Keir to try and push it away, chuckling as his father pulled his hand away, "Go on."

"Mm.." Keir replied and jogged towards his room. 

His room was located on the second floor, where the stairs were just near the living room. 

Passing the living room, he quickly said, "Hey mom, we're back! I'm gonna pack my stuff!"

The couch sat a woman with a gentle fave full of wrinkles, her light brown hair was tied into a bun as her amber eyes stared at a book she was reading.

She glanced up and asked, "Keir, what would you like to eat for tonight?"

Keir, who was on the stairs, stopped and shouted his answer, "Meat!!"

His mother chuckled a little and closed her book.

Keir entered his room and placed down the board on the wooden table beside a blue box.

He took off his goggles and scarf, hanging them on a stand beside the door.

Keir's room was simple enough, with only a long wooden table and a bed opposite of it. Beside the table, there's another door to the bathroom.

He dove down and look under the bed, seeing his bagpack lying down there.

Pulling it out and opening it to see only a few pieces of shirts and shorts was inside.

'I should.. fold them..' He stared at it in silence, 'Nah.." He zipped it up and slid it beside the bed.

He unzipped his windbreaker to reveal a black sports shirt, 'The shirt technically wasn't outside.. since I wore a windbreaker.. can I wear it to sleep?' 

Pinching his chin, he finally decided, "Eh, it's the last day here anyway, I can afford a change of clothes." He spoke to himself, shrugging as he took off his windbreak and threw them on the table.

After changing his clothes into a plain white shirt with shorts, he lay down on the bed and stared up at the ceiling for a while.

He was unsure when he started developing this habit, but this had brought a strange sense of comfort to him.

Soon, he got up and went towards the table with a frown, muttering, "The adults are always hiding something.." 

Opening the blue box, he took out a plier and a screwdriver. After a while of tinkering, a hidden compartment was revealed. Inside was a microchip smaller than his pinky.

He grabbed it along with a headset from the box and slotted the chip into the headset. Adjusting his glove for a moment, he wore the headset and entered the virtual world.

What greeted him was a blue hologram to identify him with. After passing the security, a familiar homescreen welcomed him.

"I can never get tired of this." He said with a small smile, glancing all around him. 

Not wasting more time, he went into the setting to see the chip installed. After decoding a bunch of words, he entered.

The view before him looked like a view from the sky, small black dots in the distance and clouds covering the ground.

He tried zooming in, but the camera zoom function wasn't so strong since it was made by himself.

"Tch," he grunted, "I still got a long way to go in creation.."  Even so, he just stared at the small dots, thinking to himself, 'That's not the magician territory, so what is that?'

He sat down on the floor and crossed his legs, pinching his chin and staring at the image, like it would make a difference.

Not long later, a whiff of meat entered his nose, causing him to snap out of his daze.

He exited out of the program and was about to take off his headset when the homescreen image changed like a sideshow.

The home screen had an image of his father's face black with soot with him as a child with his face beaming, beside him was his mother with her palm on her face.

The corner of his lip lifted up, exiting the virtual world. 

He removed the headset and took out the chip, staring at it for a while. 

"Whatever that was…I've not heard anyone mentioning it before.." He clenched the chip in his fist, "Should I even be keeping this?" He mumbled out loud.

After thinking for a while, he sighed and said,"I might never get the chance to come back here again.." With that thought, he kept the chip in his hoverboard.

After covering up the compartment, he tested his hoverboard to make sure it's functioning.

He let out a sigh of relief, seeing the line glow blue. Powering it off, he left his room to be greeted with a stronger aroma than before. 

He felt like jumping around but held it in, "I'm growing up.. can't act like a little kid.." He reminded himself, "Self-control.."

After reassuring himself, he hopped down the steps.

'Self-control!!' He slowed down, 'I must be like dad, showing some form of self-control..'

He glanced up and saw his father hopping towards the kitchen happily.

'Eh?' His arms dropped beside him, seeing that sight.

"Keir! Dinner's ready!" Hearing his mother call, he dashed towards the dining room without a second thought. 

"Food!!" He exclaimed with his arms high up, entering the room to see plates with different kinds of meats. He began drooling seeing them, "Food.."

"Whatcha waiting for? Let's eat!" His father said, having his chopsticks already raised up.

He ran towards his chair and climbed up, bouncing as he took the chopsticks. Waiting for his parents to dig in first.

This was a rule in this household. The youngest must wait for the eldest to eat first.

In this case, it was his father.

His father dug in, followed by his mother and finally, with Keir devouring the food.

After dinner, the family watched a movie together.

During the movie, Keir slowly felt drowsy. He leaned against his father's arm and said softly, "Why must it be the two of you? Why not others?"

"We have the knowledge to save others." His father said while rubbing Keir's face.

Keir felt his eyes lid getting heavier, "Hm?" He tilted his head up, "But why?" 

His mother slowly stroked his head and explained, "Because we want them to get to see their family one last time."

However, Keir fell asleep halfway through her sentence.

The next day came and it started with a bang. Literally.

"I thought we were leaving at noon?!" Keir slammed the table, causing his parents to frown.

"Don't slam the table." His mother sternly reminded.

Keir gritted his teeth and swallowed his words, glancing down at the food.

"There was an attack by the magic side. We have to go back after breakfast." his father said, "Finish packing up or just leave those tools here."

Keir pushed the plate away, "I'm not hungry anymore. Go play hero for all I care." He slowly stood up and left.

His mother was about to raise her voice, but his father placed his hand on hers, shaking his head.

Keir plopped on the bed and stared at the ceiling.

"What's the point of playing hero for people you might never see again.." he started talking to himself, "What's even the point of fighting with them? Ain't we all humans?"

He darted a glance at his hoverboard, "Maybe I'm too young to understand.. like they had always said.."

The room grew silent again as he continued staring at the hoverboard.

"Agh, so many questions! So little answer!" he blurted out, sitting up straight, "No one tells me anything too, cause I'm just a kid.. but kids aren't dumb!"

He sighed heavily, getting up from the bed and strolling over to the door.

Heading out of his room, he went towards the railing and stared at the main door. 

He frowned, and his forehead furrowed as he leaned against the railing. 

He pushed himself away from the railing and ran down the hallway and into his parents' room, noticing it was left open. Peeking inside, he saw their luggage was missing.

He stood frozen wide-eyed, his hand briefly clenched a little.

"Seriously?.." He lowered his head, "Not even a goodbye…" 

He stood outside the room, staring at the soundless room.

Grinding his teeth, his fist clenched as he stomped into his room.

"Just another empty promise!" he kicked the chair away, "I shouldn't be surprised!"

He slammed the table and grabbed the hoverboard, holding it high above his head. 

His face was red, with tears slowly forming.

"I shouldn't be surprised…" His voice turned softer, "No surprise there, another lie.." 

He sniffed and lowered his arm. 

"No surprise.." He dropped the hoverboard, watching parts of it fly out.

He slowly sat down, knees tucked in, and stared at the hoverboard.

/"I will teach you how to build an awesome hoverboard!"/ 

It felt like a simple hoverboard to his father, but it meant more than that for Keir.

/"Great job! You learned how to code this by yourself? Seems like you don't need my help anymore."/

"You were supposed to teach me…but I guess you forgot.." Keir placed his forehead on his knee, "No surprise there.."

The afternoon sun started peeking in, illuminating the room in an orange hue.

He slowly lifted his head, expecting to be greeted by the sun rays. 

However, standing on the window was a raven, staring at him. 

'I didn't close the window..' He slowly got up and carried himself over.

The raven caw at Keir, causing him to flinch from the sudden noise. 

At the corner of his eye, he noticed his shadow wasn't on the wall. He directly turned his body to get a bettter look, when he saw another person in the room.

The person was kneeling down with head hung low. They were wearing a torn cloak that barely covered the armour underneath. 

Keir quickly took a few steps back, accidentally hitting a few pieces of his board along the way.

The sound caused the figure to raise their head. 

Keir was unable to see their face clearly due to the long hair in the way, but he could see a pair of glistened eyes. 

Before he could react to that, the crow caw again. 

He flinched again, and when his eyes opened, there was only his shadow left.

He snapped his head towards the window and saw the crow flying away.