Chapter 9: The New Arc

"Fired?" Atlas was speechless. He had a lot of plans for today, but this was something he didn't expect. He never thought that he would lose his job, especially for no reason at all. "Can you please tell me why I'm fired? I don't remember doing anything that could jeopardize my job."

"I don't know, son. They just told me that deliver this message to you, and that you should go to the Human Resource office so that they can give all the information that you need to know."

Atlas frowned at the man. He simply didn't understand why he was fired. He knew that the person in front of him didn't have anything to do with his life or his career in the industry. He was simply a messenger of bad news, a piece of news that he simply can't accept. And he wouldn't accept without consulting the company why.

He thanks the person and the man patted his back with a sad expression. The man knew that it was not easy to lose a job. So he was able to sympathize with the young man in front of him. "Good luck, boy, I hope they are able to provide you a proper answer to your question, and hopefully you're able to talk this out with them."

"Thanks…" He appeared hurt. It seemed that the world was just against him. Things didn't really go his way. It was simply bad luck, or so he thought.

…

"Sir, can you please sign these papers, here and here." Pointed woman in the office with black hair and petite body. The human Resource explained to him that they were overstaffed and that he was one of the people that they decided to remove from the company due to financial crisis. It was also pointed out that his continuous absence was one of the primary factors that he was chosen to be removed. He wanted to throw everything out of the window. However, he knew that their decision will never change, but nevertheless, he tried explaining to them that he had no one to take care of his siblings that's why there were times that had to work half a day, or even pass a day just to be with his sisters.

But greedy as they were, they appeared to listen to his reasons but never really took it to heart. The office worker simply sympathized and told him that he can still look for a better paying job and that she didn't have the power to overturn the decision of his termination.

Atlas just accepted the ruling and processed all the paper works.

After processing everything, he didn't have the luxury to mull over something like losing a job. He didn't let himself drown in his depression and went to look for a job. He went to the city and look try his luck. Maybe he might be able to look for something simple. After walking for 3 hours, he found himself in front of a small coffee shop.

"Hello, why would like to order?" The woman in the coffee shop asked.

Atlas pointed outside where there was a sign saying they were hiring. "I'm looking for a job. Where can I pass my application?"

"Oh, it's quite unfortunate but we just got our new hire just today. We're planning to have that removed."

"I see… thank you." Atlas went to breathe some air, he tried to repress the feelings that he had right now. But it is simply too much. He felt angry for some reason, he felt that the world was really against him. He saw people smiling and happy, and deep within he was uncontrollably angry that he wanted to destroy every single thing that his eyes could see.

'Calm down, boy. Don't let you anger get the best of you.' Hope chimed.

"Shut up! You know nothing!" He screamed, and all the people looked at him with disgust and thought he was insane for talking with nothing but the air around him. They moved away from him like he was some kind of disease.

'Come look around you, you've been through a lot. This is just a small challenge.'

"Small? Losing a job? Small?" He felt mocked. "You know nothing. How can I feed the girls with nothing? Should I just plunder this city and call it quits?"

"You know exactly what you're capable of. This is not like you, boy. As I thought you were not ready to go in that world."

"What do you mean it's not like me? What do you know? You're just nothing but a fragment of your existence. You know nothing about living without suffering. You know about hard I work to make things right for and for the kids." His eyes went red as he kept on shouting. The people around him were already taking their phones and taking a video of him like he was some kind of animal in a circus, while the others were calling the authority.

"This is not like you, stop this Atlas!" Hope shouted in his mind. Atlas clutched his head as pain surged into his mind.

"Ahhh! What did you do?! You damn feather!"

"I will let you see where this anger will lead you." The Earth shook and space trembled. Another break was taking place.

"This feeling, this sensation!" Atlas knew that monsters were about to come out of nowhere. It was exactly what happened yesterday. The space cracked, the clouds took form and ate the sun.

"I will let you see where you came from, and who your predecessors were." Hope chimed and enveloped Atlas with golden light. The last thing Atlas saw and heard were people crying for help as different kinds of monsters ravaged the city and engulf it with flames, blood, and darkness.

In his feather form, Hope hovered around Atlas like a small will-o'-wisp. It was a dazzling sight to behold. However, people were too busy to notice such an event as they were running away and screaming for help. "You won't remember your life, andyou will live and see his life through very own your eyes."

"Acquisition of heroes will begin!" Hope mumbled. "But will this be enough to stop what's coming?"

***

There was a small village within a forest called Peach Evergreen, and in that place lived a boy named Hei Long. At a young age, he had already known a lot of things—that a normal kid couldn't possibly imagine possible. His father started to train him every single day and night for him to become the most influential man in the village, and the neighbouring communities, which he didn't even get.

However, as a child, Hei Long had always questioned the necessity of the training he'd received from his great father. "Why do I have to this, Father?" Only to receive the same answer—"You will know when the time comes"?—over and over again. How he wished to play, and live a life like a normal kid in the village instead of training every single time. Having spent all energy he has, Hei Long snuck out of his room, went to the forest, slept in the most beautiful, and biggest tree, which was his most favorite spot in the wilderness.

But one day, the small village that he loved the most was struck by a calamity. Bandits had pillaged the whole village he had always cherished ever since he was a child. Everything he had was lost in a single night's raid, everything he thought he wouldn't lose, vanished in a single day—his father, mother, friends, and family, buried in the sea of time!

By the time he woke up and came back to his home, the only thing that he could see, through his own green eyes, was a black world—Despair!

At the moment of enlightenment, the boy named Hei Long was struck by a sudden cold, hard truth--his father, family, and friends would no longer rise from their graves, which he had erected himself. Filled with regret, longing, and hatred, the young boy decided to set forth for an adventure to gain power so strong that he wouldn't be able to feel despair, and sorrow ever again. But luck was not on his side, and days had already passed, and yet he was still searching for something that can grant him limitless power. If "it" even exist, he didn't doubt it... Days had turned to weeks, weeks turned to months, and months to years. So many years had passed he'd already lost the track of time. When he was at the last line of his flickering life, he suddenly realized that his wishes wouldn't come true-despair, rage, and helplessness overcame him. But then an old hunchback with a black cane on his hand approached him, and he stared down with his blood-red eyes at the man who was kneeling in the vast prairie.

"How much is your soul, boy?" he asked.

At that moment, hope was brought forth. The man's eyes lit up, he said, "Devil?"

It was then that the wheel of fate took a new turn--altering everything to make a new ending! From this world to the other!