Strangers From Another World -1 Prologue

It was New Years Eve. In a certain country, in a certain city, a celebration of this occasion was held in what was said to be the fourth largest mall in the world. A great many parents along with their children gathered there to celebrate, to have the time of their lives before another year went away.

"I'm anxious darling, I am afraid for them," said a mother to her husband as she watched her children going off doing their own things.

"So am I, but there's nothing we can do. We can only trust in them and that we've raised them well enough," said the father, trying to comfort his wife.

"Oh, I wish we could tell them, I'm so afraid that they won't be prepared."

"I know, dear, I know. But we can't, the secret must be kept, that is our covenant. If even one of us let it slip, if even one of them caught wind of it, it can only mean doom for our children."

Both parents were keeping their calm, their emotions in check in spite of the anxieties, as much as they could. If they were to let their emotions run wild, no doubt that they'll be crying and wailing at the cruel fate that awaits them and the choices that they had to make along the way.

This has been the seventeenth year since the world began to secretly pick out children at birth to bear the [Gifts], so that they may carry the fate and future of mankind upon their shoulders.

***

At another part of the mall, on the second floor, there are two children, one boy and one girl. The boy was fifteen and the girl thirteen. They were separated from their group of friends and so decided to head off to the second floor for a better view in hopes of spotting their merry group. They both looked out towards the plaza from the railing, both secretly not wishing to return to the rest and be left alone. They had both intentionally allowed themselves to be left behind and now they are together, thinking that the other had been accidentally left behind.

"There, Annaliese, I see them!" said the boy to the girl, pointing towards his friends, another boy and another girl.

"Well you should get going then Eugene," said the girl, her melancholia grew now that they've found their group.

"You don't sound so thrilled. Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm fine. I just want to be alone for a bit," Annaliese answered accordingly, not showing anything on her face though she was annoyed by Eugene's questioning and preferred that he leave her alone.

"I see. Then I guess I'll hang around here as well," Eugene said as he gazed at his two friends from afar. The other boy was his best friend and the other girl was Annaliese's older sister, and though the two weren't dating just yet, he knew he'd just be the third wheel should he rejoin them.

"Are you sure? He'll steal my sister away from you at this rate," Annaliese, wanting to be left alone said so while knowing Eugene has feelings for her sister.

"There's nothing to steal," said Eugene, smiling, though fl.u.s.tered on the inside, surprise that someone had actually saw through the feelings he though he hid so well. "She and I... It wouldn't work out. I think they'll make a better pair."

"That kind of talk will make you a loser you know," Annaliese said with a huff, unhappy that Eugene did not take the bait. She wanted to be alone, she wanted to sulk, but she doesn't want anyone she knows seeing her.

As for her reason for wanting to be left alone, it was because she quite liked the other boy, Eugene's best friend, but today it became all too clear that he already had eyes for someone else, her sister specifically, whom Annaliese was rather compet.i.tive with.

Why is it always her, Annaliese thought to herself, why is she always better? Why can't I ever beat her?

"You can't just give up, Eugene," she said, for her own sake, yes, but also because she hates seeing someone giving up without a fight.

"There's nothing to give up on, Ananliese. Nothing was happening between she and I and it never will," he replied nonchalantly.

"Really, never?"

"Never."

Annaliese sighed without restraint, her exasperation exceeded her need to keep up appearances. "Why are you even here for, Eugene?"

"I'm here because my best friend invited me to hangout."

"Yet here you are, doing anything but."

"Well, I mean, I don't want to be a bother."

"Then you shouldn't have come."

"You're rather harsh, you know that."

"That is because I don't like liars."

Eugene smiled bitterly, and at length he sighed.

"The truth is, Annaliese, I just needed to get out of the house."

"Why?"

"My old man, he gets drunk, and he can get rather ill humored when he's drunk."

Immediately, Annaliese became grim. "Did he beat you?"

"What!? No, nothing like that," Eugene was taken aback by the sudden seriousness. "He'd never hurt me, but he does make a lot of noise and break a lot of stuff. I'm not fond of loud noises."

"I see..."

The mood became somber between them, enough to drown out the merry making of the other youths gathered here for the New Years Eve's celebration. Then, the people around them started counting down.

"Oh, is it-" Eugene started yawning. "Is it that time already?"

"There goes another year..." Annaliese muttered without joy.

"Don't be like that. Isn't there anything you're looking forward to? Like getting taller?"

"Not really. There's hardly anything exciting about gaining height."

"You're not like the other kids around your age, are you?"

"No, I guess not."

The countdown ended amidst their conversation, and they did not realize that the year was over until the fireworks went off.

They haven't a single idea. How trivial the problems they face back then would seem.

***

"There goes another year, dear," said the father to the mother.

"I wonder how much time do we have left with our children," said the mother, hating that time had to pa.s.s so quickly.

"Never enough, dear, never enough, but we'll have to make the most of it," he said, gazing up at the loud fireworks that are almost drowning out his voice.

"Yet there they went with their friends, leaving us behind."

"It'll be good for them to spend some time away from us. They'll learn to be independent from us faster. They'll need it."

The mother nodded, begrudgingly agreeing with her husband, hating that it had to be like this, and even as the fireworks lit up the night sky in their colorful splendor, exploding into a myriad of pretty patterns, they brought her absolutely no joy.

"Darling!" the mother suddenly shouted. But her husband did not reply, because he had seen it as well.

The moon, the pale moon hanging high up in the night sky, it had suddenly vanished, seemingly devoured by darkness.

"The children!" the mother yelled, rushing towards the plaza where she last saw her children, hoping to find them, hoping to see them for one last time. However, she would never see them again.

That day, a little over half the children from all over the world, the youngest at the age of five and the oldest at the age of seventeen, vanished from this world.

***

End of Chapter 0