Difference

When the hooded old man heard what the woman said, he couldn't help but smile wryly as even he found what she said scary, even though he knew that she was just kidding. Seeing the young man being so frightened, his kindness couldn't sit still so he reproached the woman a little bit.

"Stop it May, the young man is already scared, now you are just rubbing salt in his wounds by saying something like that."

The woman named May laughed as she couldn't act serious anymore. Her laughter made her seem jovial and easy going, it was though as if she was just a lady joking simply about the weather. Yet what she said couldn't be any scarier.

'Why are you laughing? That did not seem like a joke!'

Zach tried to be impassive of all the things that happened to him but every time he looked at the hooded woman that had arms as thick as his torso, he couldn't help but shiver as he tried to understand how the hooded old man could think that what she said was a joke. And apparently she was called May, a very feminine name, a weird contrast to her bulky physique.

"Don't be nervous, just as what I have said earlier I only brought you here so that we can ask questions. Oh… I forgot to introduce ourselves. My name is Kale Clark, and I am the captain of the 'Ravens', and this lady is May Windsor, the vice-captain." The old man named Kale tried to ease the young man's nervousness as he introduced his and the woman's name.

'Question my *ss! You guys freaking look like Grim Reapers, the only thing left is a huge scythe!'

Although they tried to imply that they bring no harm, what was going on in Zach's mind was different, when he heard the word 'Ravens', he began to be more fearful as ravens were symbolized as death, and by looking at their attires, he didn't need to guess what they would do to him. Black robes that hanged down to their feet, and the hood that occasionally casted a shadow on their faces, they looked like the Grim Reaper portrayed by the bards in taverns.

'Well… I guess they don't look like they would kill me.'

'What can I do? That old man alone could easily overpower me with his grip, much less that woman.'

'I am going to be alright, it's not like I have something to hide.'

'Sigh… Why am I so unlucky today?'

"Okay… Ask away, just try to be quick." Zach showed a look of surrender while sighing once again, resigning to his fate.

"Let's go to our office first, we will ask the question there. There might be people listening to our conversation." Kale whispered, as he subtly looked around, trying to find someone suspicious.

"What do you mean 'in your office'? Who knows what you will do to me in that place!" Zach fearfully questioned as he backed away a little bit, scared of the thought of what might happen to him if he went with the old man.

"Don't worry, it's not in a hidden alley so what you are worrying about will not happen. In fact there are a lot of passersby there so you can shout for help if we would truly do bad things to you." Kale said as he ordered May to stay in the crime scene.

After that Kale walked away, Zach knew that he could not escape even though there was a lot of people here, as people in the slums were generally selfish and were afraid of authorities. So Zach sighed and followed Kale to his destination, hoping that it would just be quick and nothing would happen to him.

After about 5 minutes of silence and walking Zach found out that they were already at the walls separating the slums from the outer city area, where ordinary people lived. Zach seldom went here in this part of the city as people here were not kind to the people in the slums. Fortunately, he had just taken a bath and looked clean, or else the people here might have judged him already with squinted eyes and insulting whispers.

Although he was just a little bit away from the slums, he could already notice the difference. Even though there were clouds covering the skies, he could still notice the sunshine that was absent in the slums. He could smell nothing odorous of the sorts, there were no smell of the wastes and trash that was always present in the slums. The roads were made of stones, not like the roads in the slums that were only made from dirt and mud. The houses were more intact than the run down houses in the slums. People here were smiling, depression and the will to only barely survive was absent in their eyes, instead they were filled with happiness, hope, and ambition, befitting the name of the city, "Initius City", the city of great beginnings. It was like a totally different world from the slums that he lived all his life, the difference was like heaven and earth. How Zach wished he could live in this place, away from the pain and suffering in the slums.

Kale noticed the unconcealed envy in Zach's eyes and he couldn't help but pity the young man. However he knew that from now on, the young man's life would change. Kale knew that Zach's life would change but he didn't know if it was for the better or worse, so he didn't have the heart to console the young man, the only thing he could do was hope that after all of this, he could remain as pure as he was now.

After about another 5 minutes or so, they finally arrived at their destination. When Zach saw the place he was shocked, he assumed that it would be a dark and eerie building, but contrary to his expectations, it was just an ordinary building, it was just like any ordinary building in the area, the difference was just that there was an awe-inspiring symbol on the top of the building. A symbol of a huge Raven spreading its giant wings, as if to envelope the world with the span of its wings; the raven was looking down, as if it was flying high in the sky, and all the things below were its prey, and nothing can escape its grasps.

And when Kale went inside, Zach followed, only to see that what was inside was totally opposite to the intimidating and awe-inspiring symbol at the front of the building. It was just a normal office, and only two people were working there, piles of paper were stacked everywhere, making the name 'Ravens' underwhelming, as if a great name was wasted on just these normal office working people. And when those people noticed them going inside, they just looked at them briefly, greeted Kale, and then went to continue their work, as if greeting Zach and making small talk with them was a major waste of time.

"The man with the glasses' name is Jim Pickens, and that slightly chubby man is called Berg Wallace. If you are wondering why they are so busy, it is because of the incident earlier. They are investigating what happened and who did it, you will learn a bit more later,so let us proceed to my office first and then we can talk."

'Just get on with it quickly.' Zach nodded briefly to show that he understood and followed Kale to his office as he wanted it to be quick as he still has things to do later. Zach went inside the room and was intrigued as there was a lot of things in the room that he had never seen before.

"You can sit in that chair. I still have to search for some document first." Kale pointed at a chair in front of a desk and said. He then went inside a door in the side of the room.

Zach looked around the space and saw a photograph of what seemed to be Kale and his family. He wanted to make small take about it but chose not to because they were not that close. So he looked around to see what rich people had in their rooms. He saw a spherical thing on top of the desk. He sat down on the seat in front of the desk to see what was that object. Zach realized that it might be a "globe", an object depicting their planet. He saw on it a giant piece of land and written on it was the word "Pangaea", there seemed to be lines separating 4 Empires; in the northwest was the "Morvit Empire", the empire where Zach lives in; in the northeast is the "Shan Empire"; in the middle was "Juakitu Empire"; and in the south was "Barbaro Empire".

As Zach was marveling at how the world he was living looked like, he tried to touch the globe, and when he did, it spun slowly. He was scared, if he broke it, even if he worked all his life, he might not be able to afford to even buy one like this. So he tried to stop it spinning, he was relieved to see that he did not break the globe. When he laid eyes on it again, the piece of land was gone, in its place was a black tear in the middle of the ocean, it was as if it would devour his soul just by looking at it. Zach looked away and was surprised to find out that it was just his imagination.

'What the h*ck was that?'