Prologue
Piercing through the atmosphere of the planet Jiklan was a green stone. It glimmered in the darkest night of the planet as the sheer momentum emblazoned the stone in a globe of starry blue fire that attracted the wild creatures farthest from the point of impact and with the clearest of view.
Beasts across the entire planet began roaring, howling, and hooting. Sea Creatures even in the deepest depths of the ocean swam around in panic. A feeling of despair from the bottom of their hearts and instincts gripped them.
*Booom*
Despite the size of the meteorite being no more than an ordinary human's fingernail, the impact on the planet was catastrophic.
Ecosystems nearest to the impact were simply erased and the impact reached the nearest sea which soon filled the crater embedded with a tiny piece of emerald-like jewel.
However, the moment this jewel came into contact with the first drop of the sea, it simply disappeared. To the strongest masters present in the ever-existing void, however, the emerald was dispersed into the sea.
This catastrophe was merely the first of many following.
Devastating Meteor Showers, years of the pandemic that affected intelligent and unintelligent lifeforms equally, countless tides of monsters suddenly growing and mutating, and the most chilling of all.
The Heaven's Cage.
---
"Brother! Look! Red!"
Running across the small deck of a relatively ragged ship, a young boy with a bright smile pointed towards the shimmering red sphere through the sky covered by ocean. Unlike the calm blue sea with slight ripples and soothing waves across the infinite expanse of water, the thin boy looked extremely excited. His brown eyes glittered with innocence and hope.
"Vayu, not so quick!" A disgruntled male voice called out from behind. The older man, a teenager with similar looks as the young boy walked out while scratching the back of his head. The unkempt and bushy black hair ruffled to shake off quite a bit of dandruff as the teen in nothing but a pair of shorts and a tank top looked at the crimson 'sun'.
"Will you get back? A sea monster will eat your face off," the teen sighed and picked the child from the neckline of the undergarment over him before bringing him back.
"Red! Red!" Vayu still laughed, pointing his chubby fingers towards the sun with a bright smile.
"Red, up! Fish! Food!" He grinned and laughed.
After all, the rise of the sun meant it's time for breakfast!
"Yeah, yeah," the older of the two sighed deeply. In this ship, alone, how else could he find food for his younger brother if not by fishing?
But before he could turn back, he heard Vayu's loud giggle.
"Red! Blue! Food! Food!"
Crimson sun, Pale-Sky Moon. These two phenomena of the world marked the breakfast and dinner in this world and to Vayu who was still understanding the difference between breakfast and lunch, only the morning and late night's meal reigned Supreme!
Furrowing his brows, the youth turned back and saw a glimmering blue orb of light approaching towards their humble, floating abode.
The youth's expression changed instantly.
While Vayu happily smacked the ledge of the ship, he hungrily gazed at the blue orb but failed to notice the arcs of current that flickered within the orb. The youth in the tank top, however, did.
"Fuck!"
He growled and unceremoniously, he picked Vayu from the collar of the small clothing over his body and flung him inside the cabin of the ship. However many injuries his little brother will receive, at least, it won't be fatal... hopefully... for their future is probably marked with death either way.
*Zip*
It happened in an instant.
Vayu wouldn't even have struck the entrance of the cabin when the seafloor around the ship exploded as a thin electric arc flashed and pierced through the unsuspecting youth's neck.
Blood didn't flow, however, his neck from within was ravaged by a strange, asserting force. Mushing his vocal cords and burning his windpipe.
And it was no more.
As quickly as it appeared, the blue arc zipped through the ship and quickly dove into the sea, swimming away.
'A... fucking... Zappos... at least... Vayu...'
The youth's gaze constantly flickered, his body squirming with no air being able to pass through his mouth with the entrance of his lungs now probably boiling, and his body felt like a furnace at the moment.
Under the Crimson Sun hidden by the atmospheric sea, the youth counted his last within his head while the seawater previously drenching the board of the ship now glimmered ever so slightly.
Soft, green motes of light gently escaped the seawater and condensed together until a nail-sized green gem was formed with a crude exterior. Its appearance was extraordinary to the youth.
After all, it was condensed by the ever-present sea.
However, the moment this green gem appeared, it shot into the youth's face, drilling through the youth's forehead as he almost lost his consciousness, however, for some reason, he was being kept awake and made to feel the extreme pain.
'Mother... my drunk papa who is truly better off dead...
I'm coming to reunite with you two...'
The youth's thoughts, unlike his dying breath, grew quicker and more daring unlike a few moments ago where he wasn't even able to think properly.
Soon, his vision turned dark and he exhaled deeply, still unable to comprehend that his neck had been long healed.
Still, from the flash of electricity appearing in the widest expanse of the sea, the youth throwing Vayu across the board and into the cabin, quite skillfully at that as if this wasn't his first attempt at the art, his windpipe destroyed, and the strange green gem drilling into his forehead, a sum total of 6 seconds passed.
*Thud*
"Ow! Ow!" Vayu instantly screamed.
*Fwip*
Suddenly, the seafloor gently parted a circular patch to reveal an extraordinary man wearing a blue armor. His long blonde hair tied into a low horsetail and his striking grey pupils observing the condition of the ship.
Walking mid-air, the man slowly stepped on the ship and gazed at the breathing youth.
"A Sage Zappos failed to kill, how extraordinary," he remarked with a dispassionate tone and crouched to take out a small card from the youth's pocket.
He wouldn't have known that the youth wore his id within his pocket if not for the seawater drenching the unconscious youth and revealing the indentations that belonged to the structure of a civilian fisher id.
"Fisher Trilok... a rather strange name for a boy. Let's see—"
"Ow! Ow! Ow!"
The pained shouts rang again as the man turned his head towards the cabin. The soothing clacks of his armor rang alongside the gentle rhymes of waves in the sea and the atrocious cries of what seemed like an ill-mannered boy.
"Who? Bro!" The moment Vayu looked at the man, he screamed and tried to run into him. No, he wanted to quickly escape through gaps of the entrance only to be picked up by the amused warrior.
"Calm down," he stated softly and Vayu instantly felt a soothing and warm feeling within his body.
"Sigh... I'll be stuck finding a place for these two refugees..." although the man spoke as if he pitied being unable to complete his goals, a lazy smile stretched across his lips soon enough.
"Guran! Take the team and chase that damn Zappos already! I'll be visiting the nearest Community Ship for these two!"
As he shouted, dozens of flashes left the bottom of the ship and he gazed at the unconscious Trilok.
"Trilok and Vayu... more like Elder beggar and younger beggar... just look at the clothes you both are wearing," the man sighed while Vayu felt a little anxious seeing his brother in such a state but oversaturated with warmth, he just limped midair while remaining being picked up by the man.
"Their cabin... well... it's not that rich, but they probably stole from somewhere before escaping... or someone from their family did and now they live alone. Say, where's your father?"
The man inquired Vayu who stared blankly at the man.
"Fa... food?" He cocked his head sideways.
"No... oh, well!"
The man shrugged and picked the two boys off of their only property and started jogging mid-air.
"Hehe... a sage Zappos as the first contractual spirit for my little sweetheart... I'm just a super dad~!" The man sang his own praises the entire journey.