My World

"Section 1... Ebandel Ruhman, isn't it?"

Said a young woman with a dedicated smile to the scrawny young man in front of him. Who only nodded in her direction.

The young woman let out a rueful smile and proceeded to type on the Tablet she held in her hands.

"Ready —said the girl, looking past the young man, towards the endless single-file line of people —your section is 127, on the west side of the field. You seem to know the rules, so please..."

A nod from the boy finished the young woman's words, who moved to the side, making way for him to enter through the massive metal door.

The young man, who had before been called Ebandel Ruhman walked down the long hallway, each of his steps generating a dry sound that traveled through the air and echoed.

Ebandel continued his walk, but time flew by and only stopped when he reached a fork, marked "West Side" in phosphorescent green.

Ebandel walked through the fork and, like before, at first there were only different forks and more corridors. But little by little people began to be seen.

People who did not leave their bodies' deplorable and almost inhuman state.

Some were missing limbs, some had visible diseases, others shared the state of Ebandel, dirt, and extreme malnutrition, so much so that the bones stuck to the skin were visible.

Ebandel did not seem to flinch and continued walking without looking at any of the people for more than a few seconds, maintaining a calm and Stoic look.

Little by little the corridor became so crowded that it prevented Ebandel from continuing his journey, time flew by, and he only managed to advance no more than 10 miles. By this time he was thinking of imitating the behavior of the others and leaning against the wall. But as he was about to do so, the sound of metal crashing spread throughout the corridor, until it reached him.

—Clang!

The crash woke everyone up and forced everyone to take a straight stance.

Cold sweat ran down everyone's face, and their eyes did not take their eyes off the fork in front of them.

The time that seemed to go on forever ran again as two men emerged from the hallway.

They both held firearms in their hands and disgusting smiles on their mouths, and looking at the color and type of clothing they wore was enough to send shivers down the spine of everyone present.

—Pi, pi, pi, pi, pi, pi, pi, pi.

A steady and annoying beeping sound approached at the same time as the two men, and nervousness filled the hallway.

"I told you," said one of the shoulders as he pulled a small device from his right pouch, "One of them is here."

The other man, who like the one who spoke appeared to be a soldier, looked away from the frightened people in the hallway and smiled at them.

"Shit," said a man in a whisper standing next to Ebandel, "they're stuck to wizards."

No one answered, but everyone seemed to know the meaning of this.

"You have 1 minute-said the soldier holding the device over his hands- if you come out before then, we won't torture you, isn't that a good deal?"

"Pfft - hahaha."

The laughter of his companion echoed as they all looked at each other, looking for the culprit that the soldiers were in front of them.

In all that crowd, Ebandel seemed to be calm, unperturbed.

But in his head, memories of his father ran like water.

"Ebandel... this is the only thing that will keep you alive, you have to take care of him and remember this is the only thing that will allow us..."

Those were his last words as he had Ebandel pick up a pair of black earrings.

Ebandel had seen his father carry those earrings for as long as he could remember.

Since he had made use of that pair of earrings his mana core had been locked. Since that moment his freedom had been taken away, since that moment he had had to live in misery, running away from bombs, guns, and soldiers.

From that moment he had vowed to become strong and kill anyone who got in his way.

But he had also realized something.

The world was cruel.

The world was only controlled by the strongest.

He had realized that no matter what he did, he would always live like a rat.

—Tap.

A loud step echoed as Ebandel approached the soldiers.

With each step, he took his calm expression disappeared and his face was colored in utter hatred and before he knew it he was running with his hands up.

"Hahaha, look at him, he's all brave! —said one of the soldiers as he pointed his gun towards Ebandel's well— Looks like we're going to have some fun."

—Baaaang!

—Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!

A roar and a horrible scream echoed as Ebandel fell to the ground with a thud.

"Hahaha! Come on I can't believe you thought it would be an easy death brat!"

Laughter rang out as the two soldiers approached Ebandel, pointing their legs at him.

Within minutes, dozens of kicks had landed on Ebandel's body, which had only long since stopped moaning.

In Ebandel's mind, his horrible life ran like a river and as he watched it pass again, he assured himself that if there was a second life, he would be what he had always dreamed of.

Be free.