New Ability

The sky was covered in a dark fog, completely enveloping the earth below, leaving it in darkness and despair. The scent of blood and ash filled the air.

The battlefield riddled with corpses of men and beasts was completely destitute, as if everyone involved in this battle was lost in it as well.

No victors, and no survivors, at least that was what was meant to happen. From among the large pile of corpses, a young tender hand broke out, as if breaking the field's silence.

Gripping onto flesh and bone, the young body managed to drag itself out of the pile of decay, gasping harshly for air.

The act seemed to drain him completely of energy, and he couldn't help but fall back, using the rotting bodies as a makeshift mattress.

The dark sky offered no condolences, rather making the young man's mood even worse. He should have died, but here he was, alive in a world that no longer had a place for him.

His name was Minos, but this name wasn't one chosen at birth, rather, it was given by a figure Minos incomparably respected, unfortunately, that man had left this world a long time ago.

Minos was a warrior slave, a special slave raised by the Duboin family for the purpose of combat. To fight beasts and die for the family that raised him was his sole purpose, but naturally he was never willing to accept that.

But his futile attempts at resistance meant nothing in this world ruled by strength. The moment he turned ten, he was forced into multiple combat fields, sometimes fighting against men, and other times, against monsters.

When he was 15, having already fought hundreds of battles, he was forced into this one, but this wasn't like the others.

The demon beasts had rioted, causing a demon tide, a rare event that happened once every hundred years. With massive amounts of demon beasts surging out of the surrounding forests, all the warrior slaves dispatched by the Duboin family were slowly slaughtered, and after 4 days of fighting, nothing was left, except for Minos.

Minos looked towards the heavens, as if he was trying to see beyond the grey clouds, but he saw nothing. To the Duboin family, he was already dead, which in Minos's opinion, was a good thing. It meant, in a sense, he was finally free.

But this freedom left him clueless. An entire life being caged meant Minos didn't know what to do when control suddenly fell back into his own hands.

If he had one desire, it was to destroy this broken world. One where the elite families enslaved other humans, reducing them to cattle. He wanted to destroy the demon beasts that confined humans to this little region known as the Humanity Zone.

He wanted freedom not only for himself, but also for all the brothers who had fought alongside him, but they were already gone, and that was one wish he could never fulfill.

So instead, he wanted freedom for all other slaves. He wanted a humanity that was truly equal, from its weakest member to its strongest.

He wanted a lot, but his weak body, that had been severely injured over his four day battle, seemed to remind him that none of his dreams were possible. Just like him, this world would remain broken.

Minos wanted to cry, but he couldn't. The first and last time he had cried was when Ebron, his mentor, who had given him his name, died in battle. On that day, Minos had no strength, but still, his enslavers forced him to train, lacking any empathy towards him whatsoever.

It reminded him that his tears meant nothing, only serving to give those people who already looked down on him even more reason to despise him.

Knowing that, he never cried again, instead redoubling his efforts in training. However the true means of power were kept under tight lock and key, and Minos, as cannon fodder, naturally lacked any access.

Again, he found himself hitting a wall. He wanted strength, but was denied it. He wanted freedom, but was enslaved. He wanted to cry, but was mocked for doing so.

Minos kept looking at the sky as he thought this. He couldn't help but feel that maybe living wasn't a good thing. What's the point of life when all the things one could ever possibly want are rejected, when nothing ever comes to fruition.

Minos felt his body getting weaker, his wounds constantly spilling blood. As life drained from his body, he began feeling lighter and lighter, as if death wasn't so bad after all. His eyes began to slowly shut, about to take one final rest, and as they did so, Minos couldn't help but recall his past.

"Master Ebron, what's the meaning to life" A young Minos asked.

"Boy, that is a heavy question, and depending who you ask, you'll always get a different answer. To an ant, the meaning of life is serving the queen. To a bird, it's flying high in the skies. To a fish, it's to swim until its body can swim no more. And to you and me, the meaning of life is to fight." Ebron answered.

"But I don't like fighting, I prefer drawing, and sculpting! What should I do?" Minos asked naively.

Ebron couldn't help but laugh as he heard Minos's question. He rubbed the young boy's head before saying with a wide toothy grin, revealing his mouth that lacked a lot of teeth.

"Live, you should live until you can do what you want. Remember boy, no matter how desperate life is, hope will always exist, it's just a matter of whether you'll be alive to meet it."

As Minos's memory drew to that moment, he couldn't help but feel a new power form in his body. His heavy eyes quickly flung back open, and Minos used all his strength to sit back up.

Ebron was right, Minos wanted to live until he could meet hope. He didn't want to die such a pointless death, having not yet done a single thing of what he had dreamed of.

He slowly lifted his broken body from the pile of corpses, using his sword to hold himself steady. His spine straightened as Minos felt a new vigor fill him. Looking towards the dark skies, he couldn't help but feel like it wasn't that dark anymore.

But as he kept looking, he soon realized that wasn't by any means his mind tricking him. In fact, the sky truly was getting brighter.

With a sudden boom, a falling star separated the clouds, heading straight towards Minos, much to his shock. But before he could even have a chance to run, it smashed right into his head, and he could only let out one final thought before falling unconscious.

'I survived a war, just to die from a falling star. Life really is hopeless.'

Of course, what Minos didn't know was that hope had finally arrived, just not in a form he could have ever imagined.

…

A few hours later, Minos woke up, much to his own surprise. That star should have shattered his head, like a watermelon being dropped from a mountain, but with a quick inspection, he realized he was fine.

While he was a little confused, a strange surge of strength suddenly appeared in Minos's head, and he was sucked into a world exactly identical to his original one.

Minos was completely befuddled at this point. He had no idea whether this was real or not. In fact, him waking up originally might have been fake. Maybe the star actually did kill him, and this was all one big strange dream.

He inspected his body once more, but this time he actually did find something strange. On his right wrist, was a large number 0, that wasn't originally there.

What this number meant was still a mystery, but it at least let Minos know that this was in fact the dream world, and his previous one was real.

Despite knowing this was a dream, Minos didn't plan on wasting his time. He got up and started limping away from the battlefield.

He was currently injured and starving, so what he needed most was food and shelter. This open battlefield had nothing, so he headed towards the woods.

While the woods were also dangerous, at the very least they had food, which was critical to the starving Minos, so he decided to take his chances with the beasts he may face.

Arriving in the woods, Minos looked around for a bit before finding some wild berries that he had eaten in the past. Snatching a few off the bush, he downed them all in a single bite.

Having filled his hunger slightly, he needed a place to rest. Walking around for a little longer, he soon found a cave.

Unfortunately, the cave was currently occupied by a mother bear, and if anyone knew bears, then they'd also know that the mothers are absolutely ferocious.

Had he been in healthy condition, Minos could have run, or even fought back, but now all he could do was watch as the large bear claw smashed into him, ending his life immediately.

Minos gasped as he opened his eyes again, finding himself back on the battlefield. The same exact moment before he had arrived in that strange dream world.

He was certain he had died, but here he was again. The dream world seemed to be some reflection of his future, but it was far more intimate than just seeing the future, rather he could directly act upon the future.

Minos couldn't help but feel slightly exhilarated about this new power of his. With it, all those dreams he had thought an impossibility could be achieved.

Having used his power once already, Minos could already control it to a certain extent. With a single thought, Minos reappeared in the dream world, once again back on the battlefields.

However, this time the number on his wrist was 1 instead of 0, giving Minos a few ideas about what the number could possibly refer to.

'Is it a death counter? But what purpose does it serve?' Minos thought to himself.