1 A Normal Day

A voice...? As if someone was narrating words from inside his head.

"War. A common thing here in this world, where monsters roam as freely as birds in the sky. Cities in ruin, lost civilizations, lost techniques, lost weapon bearers, and crafters, some forever lost and some to be found."

"I failed again, and again... saving the one I am supposed to... My beloved Zia."

The voice grows tired and sounds like its life is nearing its end.

"I swear to Emeth that this time I will definitely..." the man coughed as he continued to say his last words.

"definitely save you, this time for I have found... IT!"

The dreamer seemed odd he looked like he was waiting for something else as if expecting something to show up without even knowing what it was. Then-

Morning comes, and the dreamer. His mother's aggressiveness awakened Zeal up.

"BOY, stand up right now! You're going to be late again at school!"

"NOO!" Zeal shouts as he thinks to himself that he messed up by saying so.

"Oh no."

he hurriedly packed his stuff and left the house to go to school.

His mother shouts, "ZEAL! up you bo-."

As his sister Xue says, his mother got cut off whilst calling for Zeal.

"Mom, he already left."

Heavy sighs from Zeal's mother, "that little brother of yours. How can he be so irresponsible, and he left like he was afraid of me."

She puts her arm on her waist as she says.

"I'm such a cool mom, hmph!"

Xue stares at her mom as she giggles.

"What's funny about that???"

She asks while putting on glare at Xue's face.

"Nothing, nothing, let's go eat breakfast."

At the school

Zeal barely arrives in time; he gets seated, and classes start.

After a few hours, Zeal observed the surroundings as usual.

"Hmm... a normal day again".

"The seats, the student present, the unbothering silence and... that glare that always bothered me from my professor.. what a good day it is."

The professor that glares at Zeal is his homeroom teacher, and he arrived the 2nd day of school replacing the professor that's supposed to be teaching his class. Ever since then, he wouldn't stop glaring at Zeal whenever he saw him.

Zeal is what you call a loner at school; he isn't alone because others dislike him; in fact, some of the girls in his class admire him.

According to one of his classmates, Zeal is like an unbothered wind, does things every day as the same as the other, and some quotes, "He shouldn't be bothered, he is so cool that way."

"Attention." says the professor in a calm but intimidating manner.

"You will all be participating in a group project that you will be submitting before Christmas break, so today is December 03, 2021, to be passed December 16, 2021. The group members and leaders are assigned on the board everything you need to know; I sent through your emails, be sure to read them and talk about this after school time is over".

RING RING*

"Which is now... class dismissed."

As the teacher leaves, Zeal stands up, walks towards the board to view the names of the groupings. While trying to find his name, suddenly, a figure shows up in front of him.

"Hey! you.." Zeal froze as if time stopped.

"Voice... wh- what.."

"hm? what are you talking about??"

The voice became more apparent as Zeal stared at the figure "Oh.. oh.. a person." Zeal was mortified.

"What do you mean a person? I am a person.. your C L A S S M A T E."

"Yeah, uh.. who are you?" Zeal asks while avoiding eye contact.

"WHAT!? We've been classmates for six whole months, and you didn't even bother knowing your own classmate's name???"

sighs were heard from her "well, whatever, I'm Aiz Cruz."

"Nice to meet you.. ? haha.. so.. what do you want from me?"

Aiz was frozen for a bit, stared at Zeal, stepped backward two times, sideward one time, and pointed at the board.

"You're my leader, and it seems like it's just the two of us!"

Zeal was so dumbfounded that he didn't get to reply.

"Ok, I'll be heading first.."

She gets closer to Zeal's face.

"Here's my number; let's meet up at this hour that's written on the paper to discuss things... cyaa!"

Zeal got a glimpse of the girl's scent and thought. "What a nice and fragrant smell.."

The girl Aiz hurriedly ran away. Zeal was too stunned to speak, so he just kept the paper, not bothered to even look at it and put it inside his pocket, and proceeded to prepare to leave.

"A normal day...? hmm.. "

Zeal heads home.

However, this phenomenon caused significant disturbance to the whole class; it was the first time someone actually came to talk to Zeal.

While walking home, he thought of the time he met Aiz on how familiar her voice was... He was so lost in thought that he ended up taking so many different routes; thoughts lasted until Zeal got home.

As he was walking towards his home, he noticed a pair of shoes that he didn't recognize. He proceeds to go through the back door stealthily.. and sees a figure in black inside their home with a gun on his HAND!!!

...

That is what Zeal thought, but in reality, he just goes through the front door unbothered by the unknown shoes and goes to greet his mother. To his surprise, it was his professor.

"Sir." as Zeal approaches his professor.

The professor nods and continues to have his conversation with Zeal's mother. Zeal interrupts as he calls to his mother, grabbing her to go to the kitchen and asking her.

"What's happening? Why is my prof here?"

"Oh, he came for me." his mother replies.

"Yeah, yeah, I know he glares at me all day at the school, but I didn't do any- say what?"

Zeal was confused and proceeded to ask her mother.

"What? for you??? what for?"

"Oh Zeal, he comes here often, but you came home this late when you are supposed to come home earlier.. he always visits me like this at this time of the day to tell stories, and we conversed with each-"

"Hold your horses.. what?? why don't I know anything about this?"

"I just told you, you're supposed to come home earlier, and since after you come home, you immediately go upstairs, you don't know him coming here."

"How long has he been coming here?"

"Like since four months ago???"

"4 months?!?!" Zeal couldn't believe anything his mother told him.

"Go upstairs and prepare to eat dinner; Mr. Heim will be joining us."

Zeal was too stunned to speak and just nodded. Zeal went upstairs to prepare and thought to himself, "Haha, guess this is still a normal day?" they ate together with Professor Heim. Every second of the dinner felt like hours for Zeal. Only the spoon and fork of them eating was the only thing heard throughout the whole dinner. Xue felt the awkwardness and giggles. The dinner was done; afterward, Prof. Heim prepared to leave, and Zeal's mother greeted her out.

Two whole minutes passed.

"WHY DIDN'T you TELL me anything about my prof coming to our house XUE!?" Zeal asked as his face near his sister's

Smack*

"You dare shout at me, huh?!?" Zeal was silent as he grew to be scared of his older sister. But it didn't stop Zeal from putting on a face and glaring at her.

Xue gets more provoked to smack Zeal.. but they both felt their mother staring at the two of them quarreling. They both immediately stopped and went to their rooms in sync.

"Seriously.. why don't I get to know anything happening in the house". Heavy sighs

"What a normal day." Zeal fell asleep.

Voices again from far away were heard, but this time as every second passed, the voices came clearer.

"Where am I." (Zeal)

"Who am I?"

"Oh.. am I dreaming again? Odd... I can move my arms well, but there is nothing here. Just pitch dark."

The voice grew more extensive, and Zeal heard, "It's a good healthy boy, ma'am."

"Congratulations, well, this is a new dream... I don't like changes, though." Zeal thought to himself.

"We'll name him Zeal.."

!!!!

Zeal was surprised, and his vision started to glow; he felt weird, anxious as he looked up to see himself being held on top of someone's lap. He saw one man and a woman in pain. The thought suddenly came to him that these two people were his mother and father. Zeal couldn't explain the sensation he was feeling at that moment.

He completely forgot that he was dreaming. A few hours passed, and Zeal came to his senses.

"I'm going to eventually wake up from this.. I should just wait and see what happens".

Ten hours had passed, the man and woman had fallen asleep, and Zeal was placed on a crib. The eyes of the baby Zeal were wide open, wondering when will he awake from this dream until.

A day passed.

Zeal was still there.. a baby in a crib all he has to hear are the murmurs of the man and woman...

He wasn't giving up the thought that it was still a dream; he was still hoping.

Another day passed.

He gave up, and thought.

"This isn't a normal day ANY MORE!"