"Please!!Please leave me!! I have a family! I hav-"
The words were never finished in the first place.
{The "Goblin Soldier" **Swung down**a direct hit *through* on the man's head}
CRACK
The man's head burst apart instantly,his body "collapsing" on the ground
the blood slowly started flowing to the ground in a cold way.The "Goblin" walks
over the corpse with dull eyes down to the city.
Another life gone in instantly.
Another day after the gates opened.
In this Time humans can either Fight...Or they could Fight back....It's their choice..until their last breath goes away...
********
Miles Away from the ruined street, a boy named Kai Ren was having a very different morning.
"Hmm!...man...i wish i could sleep some more....what time is it..."
WHAT!! 10 ALREADY!! AHH IT WILL BE TOO LATE!!
Kai jumps off the bed—and immediately introduces his little toe to the corner of the desk at maximum velocity.
"AAAGH—Ow ow ow ow OW — why is it ALWAYS the pinky toe?! WHY?!"
{He grabbed his foot, hopping on one leg}.
He dropped onto the edge of the bed, cradling his foot like a wounded animal, rocking back and forth.
"Every damn time—the same corner— THE SAME STUPID CORNER!!!!".
He took one deep breath through his teeth, let it out slowly, and tested putting weight on the foot.
Pain shot up his leg.
"Fantastic. Great. Perfect start".
He limped-ran to get dressed anyway.
Kai Ren started finding his clothes as fast he could since, it was already late for the resonance alignment, He brushed his teeth as fast he could without even washing his face peoperly and eats some half bacon sandwich which was like been made Yesterday....
But he left anyways as fast he could, as soon he reached outside the resonance hall. he saw many people gathered talking to each other, some people also whispering about the upcoming test and how it would go for them exactly....
Kai Ren suddenly pushed forward through the moving crowd and ran toward the entrance....As Kai takes a sharp turn in the right corner he didnt knew who's coming, He failed to notice the sound of footsteps which been coming through and the collision happens.
THUD!!
Their Shoulders collided with each other in a very devastating way....The impact nearly sent Kai Ren stumbling back, the man had barely moved from that impact...the man was really not happy about it, the black was looking at Kai Ren like a prey,But before the man could open his mouth or take a step forward, A woman dressed in a flowing white gown stood near the central platform, her— presence commanding immediate attention as she calmly announced the beginning of the Echo Alignment within the Resonance Hall. "Announcing"
"All candidates..prepare yourselves since the test going to start within 5 minutes...any late joining will not be tolerated and in penalty there will be punishment....."
Before the lady can walks away, the lady looked directly at Kai Ren with her green cat eyes....which looks like glowing for a second Kai Ren felt a strange chill run down his spine under that sudden attention.
"And don't think the punishment to be lenient....well then good luck on your test. "
As Kai Ren didn't exactly know how the test is going to be exactly and somehow he was a little afraid because he didn't want to fail in this test at any cost, Failing this examination was not an option—not today.
"The alignment will start in five minutes…"
Kai Ren thought, drawing a slow breath as his fists tightened slightly at his sides.
"This might be the toughest thing I've ever faced in my life… but I'll prove it to them. I'll prove that I'm strong too. "
As of that Kai Ren steped forward to the echo hall...where the fate of every student will be decide— whether they rise as a seeker hunter or they leave this place in a silence to the ordinary life they once knew. For many it was just a normal test, but for Kai Ren. It was something diffrent just thinking of going back to that miserable life...alone sitting in a home...in a corner...somehow something is hidding inside him which is telling him not to lose hope on the humanity....and not to lose hope on..."Echo".
He would not leave the hall today, atleast not with empty hands.
The ring had been given to him by his father long ago—a quiet reminder of the faith someone once placed in him..it was the most precious thing to him in the whole world.
The woman comes out of the black doorway...in pin silence and come in front of stage standing...with her gaze of students, her voice slicing through the noise like a blade. "The Resonance Examination begins now.No fanfare, no reassurance—just those six words
directly without any warning.
The first candidate stepped forward—a boy with a fierce expression carved across his face, cheekbones...standing forward with no hesitation, as the woman told him to stand on the resonance circle...as soon he stands upon the circle, Golden light erupted beneath him as dozens of them, maybe hundreds—burst from the stone floor like liberated ghosts. the scrolls wasn't just moving it was like the scrolls are alive and it scanning the whole surrounding.
Kai watched As in between the dozens one scroll comes out hovered directly before the boy's face for a breathless second before snapping open midair. the circle resonance circle mark showed on the scroll in glowing red crimson colored.
The scroll directly looked into the boy soul and—in one go the scroll echo power flowed into a singular way to the person's body...The boy's scream never left his throat—his jaw locked, tendons standing rigid as the scroll's power flooded him. Veins erupted beneath his skin, his neck got big, blood started coming out of his nostrils and eye lid..The scroll dissolved into ash, its echo now *inside* him, and the boy collapsed on the ground floor.
Many candidates come and given their best in the test, but of course not all students are going to pass, Those who failed the test would simply walk away and return to their normal lives without any further protest.
At last, Kai Ren stepped onto the Resonance Circle after the woman called his name. The moment his feet touched the engraved platform, the vast hall fell into a strange silence. The woman fixed her glowing green eyes on him, her gaze sharp enough to make his heart skip a beat.
"Clear your mind first think about like you are alone in this whole room....release every distraction...allow the echo to resonate within your soul to receive the power....now!! close your eyes feel the power!!."
As Kai closed his eyes, there was nothing—it was dark, no sound there's nothing he can feel inside him building up, it was like he was fully empty, The ring in his fist grew warmer, almost uncomfortably so, as if it were absorbing heat from his skin. He still try to focus on the heat "meaning" to get something even a F class echo, but in the last there was nothing no golden light nor any scrolls flying threw circle.
The Woman exhaled was soft...., almost imperceptible—but Kai heard it. The sound was like a sword stabbing in between his ribs, Kai opened his eyes slowly, woman was unemotional at that point, there was a silence in the whole hall, as the woman spoke.
"Kai Ren"
she said, and her voice lacked the crisp edge it had held for the others.
"I am sorry, Kai Ren,"
She said, her voice losing the sharp edge.
"No echo manifests for you. The examination is concluded."
She looked at the crowd, and said in a calm voice.
"Today's examination is concluded.the remaining students will continue their tests tomorrow."
The crowd was murmuring about him,not quite whispers—just the rustling discomfort of people relieved that atleast they are not in the same postion as him. Kai fingers tightned arount the ring, he had expected the failure, but the reality was much more worse than thoughts. The woman gestured towards the exit, her sleeve fluttering like a dismissal flag. No ceremony for the unworthy.
The streets stretched before him like a path carved through a dream—every step he was taking towards was like the road was never going to end. The usually warm underfoot from the day's sun, now felt like slabs of ice. Kai Ren walks threw street without looking, the ring was still clenched in his fist, the warm have been long gone. Above him, the moon hung dull and heavy, its light had faded or just Kai never noticed it all along until now.
No birds crossed the sky. No laughter spilled from the dimly lit windows lining the road. Even the air tasted slate, there was something he couldn't explain. The door creaked like a dying thing when Kai Ren pushed it open. The room was dark, Kai thought the house will even reject him— but it was different, Kai sat at the bed's corner looking at the sky towards the moon....in a deep rejection and regret for even trying to giving the test.
Somewhere far away, however, the resonance hall stood in complete darkness. After the woman dismissed Kai Ren as failure and dismissing students, the hall have already been emptied until even the great doors closed. The vast chamber was now silent.....There was nothing...."Until", a slight glow started in the resonance circle as it slowly started glowing more torches along the stone walls.The— runes on the resonance circle a faint shimmer stirred across the stone. A deep golden radiance emerged, rich and heavy, illuminating the empty hall with an ancient brilliance. Such a colour have never occured in a normal resonance examination. In the forgotten records of the Order, that light was said to belong only to the rarest kind of Echo—which occurred in "One Thousand Years" to only one person that mostly occurred in the legends.
The memory of it flayed him open anew—the way his boots had echoed too loud on the stone, the way the other candidates' whispers had slithered between his ribs like knives.
His breath fogged the glass as he leaned closer, forehead nearly touching the pane.
"One more try"
he lied to himself, he knew that it can't be true ever again, those who have already failed can't try ever again because the Order believed that if the Echo rejected someone once… it would reject them forever.
Then—heat. Not the slow warmth of shame creeping up his neck, but a sudden *rupture* beneath his skin. It started in his wrists, a molten thread weaving up his veins, branching outward like wildfire through dry brush. Kai choked nearly for not having enough air to breathe ended up digging, nails into the bed wooden pillar with all mighty force he have left.
"AAGH!! whats going on!!...my head....it's like my body is burning from inside...."
Every heartbeat pumped liquid fire through him, scorching pathways his blood had traveled a thousand times before. This wasn't pain. This was *recognition*—as if something dormant in his marrow had finally woken and found him lacking.
Kai Ren's eyelids fluttered open—too slowly, as if the act itself required tearing through layers of some unseen membrane.
"This...this isn't pain...i don't feel anything....it's like..something is calling me"
As Kai Ren closed his eyes for a brief moment, his whole body is being like going through a different dimension—falling through a void where Scrolls swam like silverfish in a black ocean, as soon he tried to touch one scroll, his hand snapped back instantly with a shock.
And as Kai touched the scroll once again with all force.
The scroll snapped into "Two" pieces, the power surged through his fingertips and anchored directly into his soul.