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The Meaning of Life

What is life? Why should we strive to live? What is the point of staying alive when everything disappears after death?

"Ugh... Another day, another Monday," I muttered wearily, gazing at the blue sky tinted with orange hues of sunrise.

The 17-year-old walking along the empty sidewalks is me, Noah Elísio. An orphan, in the final year of high school, with no friends or family; a social recluse.

Right now, I'm heading to school so early purely out of lack of choice, as my guardians, responsible for taking care of me, don't like seeing me in the morning having breakfast with their own children.

"Those bastards; not only did they take my inheritance, but they also make a point of reminding me I'm not welcome in that house!"

When I was 8 years old, my father died in a car accident. Months later, it was my mother's turn to leave the world, not by accident, but by the pain that consumed her mind, leading her to suicide. I was present at both accidents, and their last words still echo in my dreams.

"You have to live, son! Take care of your mother!" my father said, covered in blood, as he tried to pull me out of the overturned car before dying in the midst of an explosion.

"It wasn't your fault, it was mine. Please forgive me and be happy," my mother said, before fatally injuring herself.

"And to think that today marks 9 years since my mother's death."

After my father's death, my mother and I started living alone in a neighborhood away from the city center. Since she was an only child and my grandparents were already dead, she felt abandoned in the world, without support in life.

It didn't take long for her to commit suicide and leave me alone in the world.

Since then, I've been asking myself: What is the meaning of life? Does it really have any meaning at all?

We are born alone, and we die alone.

It's been years since I've been asking myself this question, and I've never really found a reason to keep living; on the contrary, I've only found reasons to die.

I didn't ask to be born, or for others to die for me, and I never wished for something like happiness; yet, all those I loved wished it for me without asking for my opinion or if I would be capable of achieving it.

I'm alive, with no one by my side, and I'm not happy; however, still, I've never had the courage to commit suicide.

"I think I'll visit their graves after school."

Most likely because of my parents' last words.

"Ugh... I'm really a hypocrite," I muttered, looking at the long way to school, full of other young people having fun early in the morning.

◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇

School, the social cradle of thousands of people. A paradise for outgoing youth.

"All right, class, open your books to page 139," said the teacher enthusiastically, with a big smile on her face.

I'm in the final year of high school, more precisely in the second term of the final year. I've been studying at this school since the beginning of the academic year, but so far, I haven't made any friends.

"All right, class, today we will talk about matrices. Who volunteers to come solve these problems?" the teacher asked all the students in the room.

Unexpectedly, a student raised his hand.

"Teacher, teacher," he called her attention, continuing, "how about Noah? I heard he got the highest score on all the tests last term."

"Damn. Why does this guy keep drawing attention to me!" I thought, feeling everyone's gaze on me.

The reason I haven't made friends with the people in this class so far wasn't because they didn't try to approach me, but rather the opposite. For some reason, I really don't like them and believe that, given the chance, they would harm me in some way.

"Come on, class, we can't force someone who doesn't want to volunteer to come to the front of the board," said the teacher, slightly embarrassed.

"No," I stood up, continuing, "I'll go."

I walked towards the board, feeling the serious gaze of every student on me, as if they were seeing their opponent heading to the battlefield.

"The answer is X=2 and Y=4," I said, writing on the board before returning to my seat.

"Well done, Noah. You got it right once again!" praised the teacher.

"Tsk... I knew the answer too," grumbled the student who tried to embarrass me.

After avoiding the students since the beginning of the academic year and consistently getting top grades in most subjects, I ended up earning the titles of "snob" and "show-off," and the students started to hate me and cultivate a certain disdain for me.

"Hey, Noah, don't take Arthur's words to heart. He's just hurt for not being considered the best in the class anymore," said the girl sitting next to me, obviously concerned about her classmate on the other side of the room.

"Right, I'll pretend that's the only reason," I replied curtly.

"Don't speak as if he's the only one treating me like this."

Despite everything, their rude behavior comforts me; it shows how right I was to keep my distance.

"All right, class. Do the exercises from pages 140 to 142, then we'll correct them in class," said the teacher, closing the book in front of everyone.

Suddenly, someone interrupted the class.

"Teacher, what's this below your feet?" shouted a student.

"Hmm...? What is this?" she replied, curiously staring at the ground below her feet.

Below her feet was nothing but the image of a neon circle of multicolored fluorescent glow, bringing with it several strange symbols around it and a mandala, a star with points, in the center.

The image was enchanting and extravagant, hypnotizing to the point of affecting even me. But for some reason, I felt uneasy.

"I've seen this somewhere before."

I was sure I had seen that circle or something similar somewhere.

"Guys, there's one here too," shouted another student, staring at the circle below him.

"One appeared here too!" said another student.

"Here too," said one more.

Slowly, the number of neon circles increased in the room, until, after 10 minutes, there was a circle below each of the 20 students and below the teacher.

"Where have I seen this before," I murmured, staring at my own circle.

With each passing second, the discomfort in my heart grew, as if something was telling me that if I stayed in that room, I would regret it for the rest of my life.

Of course, here's the continuation of the rewrite of the first chapter:

---

**The Revelation of Magic Circles**

"Are you worried about something, Noah?" asked my classmate, Selena, who was staring at me curiously.

"It's none of your business, Selena," I replied, still staring at my circle.

"Argh... You really never change, huh? You know how hard it is to try to defend you," she said, still staring at me, knowing she would be ignored.

"Where did I see something similar?"

As if to answer my question, an excited voice indirectly gave me the answer.

"Muhahaha... It's finally my turn, and I didn't even need to meet Truck-sama!!!"

"Truck-sama?" I murmured.

As if something clicked in my head, a vague memory of an anime I watched as a child reminded me of where I had seen that extravagant image of a magic circle.

"Guys, get out of the classroom! It's dangerous to stay here!" I shouted with all the air in my lungs.

Everyone looked at me curiously, as if they understood that I had discovered what it was.

"What's wrong, Noah? Do you happen to know what this is?" the teacher asked, pointing to the ground.

"Yes, I do," I replied, looking seriously at each of them. "But we don't have time for explanations now. I need you to trust me and leave the room immediately."

"And why should we listen to a snob like you?" Arthur retorted, the boy who tried to embarrass me.

"Now's not the time for this, Arthur," I exclaimed, visibly irritated. "We don't have time for arguments; I feel like the glow of the magic circles is increasing!"

"Muhahaha... As expected of my great friend, Noah! You also noticed the meaning of this!" Lucas, the other classmate who realized the significance of the circles, spoke gleefully.

"Friends? Since when are we friends?"

"You don't need to worry about these foolish worms; join me, and let's dominate the other world together!" he continued almost ecstatically. "Let's create a world where no one can ignore us or make fun of our nerdy hobbies and customs!!!"

"What is this schizophrenic talking about?" a student in the room questioned, clearly disgusted by Lucas.

"Noah, can you explain what your friend just said?" Selena asked me.

"We're not fri—" Before I could finish, a strong light emanated from under my back, completely blinding my vision and making me disappear completely from the scene.