Life didn't get easier, even in another world.

347 Misfortune

BOMMMMMMMMMMMMM

The loud roar echoed everywhere.

A blob of yellow and orange light expanded, bulged up, and got brighter and brighter. It was as if they were looking at the surface of the sun. A blinding light was cast from the small sun on the horizon. As all these happened, grayish-black gas and dust rose into the air. Countless mixtures of dark and bright circle-like blasts were shot out from the mushroom-like thing in the distance as dust and soil rose up to the air.

They couldn’t see what happened next. The only thing they knew was that their bodies were being crushed under the intense heat and the strong wind. They felt their eyeballs go completely dry, their hairs burn, and their bodies melt and crush under intense pressure.

He was no different from the rest of his group. He was also sprawled on the ground on the spot where he was digging to find treasure. He had only one thought in his mind.

‘I’m going to die-‘

He was going to die. He would definitely die. He didn’t know what was going on but he knew the sudden fear and dread that engulfed his body and the voice screaming in his ear that it was the end of his life. The end of his meaningless life.

ZZZZZZZ

At that moment, a voice beside the echo of the explosion and his inner screams entered his ears.

.....

ZZZZZZZZZZZ

It was like the sound of electric currents. It was similar to what he would hear from their small and old television when it crashed.

ZAAAPPPPPPPPP

He couldn’t help but lower his head towards the source of the noise. As the huge wave of heat and the wind was about to crash on his body, he turned his head to glance below him, where a strange red light, small crimson electric currents, were floating in the air, stuck to his body and the earth, and jumping around in between them.
“Huh...”

A gasp left his lips as his eyes locked on the strange object shining in front of him. There, an illusionary red ‘something’ was slowly moving up into the air in front of his face. It was a round, circular object with some pointy edges all over it. It was gaining color and shining more and more brightly, so much that his eyes hurt from directly staring at it.

“Huh...”

Another gasp left his lips once again. His eyes were sore, but he couldn’t look away from the red object. He stared at it for seconds, maybe minutes. He didn’t know how long it was, all he knew was that there was a red object before his eyes.

‘Wasn’t I... Wasn’t there an explosion...’


It was after an unknown amount of time that he finally managed to snap out of his daze by remembering something. Something important. Wasn’t he on the verge of death? Something huge blew up on the horizon and he and his group were about to get melted because of it...

But he was now staring at a red object... No... A red crown?

‘Am I already dead?’

It might be the afterlife... Maybe, he died without himself even noticing... Well, that wouldn’t be so bad if he was already dead. At least, he didn’t feel any pain or suffer at all in his death.

As he was having those passing thoughts, he moved up his body, which was sprawled on the ground and looked around. But as soon as his eyes caught the scene of his surroundings, he couldn’t do anything but freeze on his spot. His mind was unable to comprehend what had happened and he failed to contain his emotions.

With a racing heart and a trembling body, he watched how the whole plain had sunk down by at least 20 centimeters. He stared at the roaring fire in the distance and the huge cloud of dark dust in the air that was about to cover the sun. He glanced around, but there was nothing there. The few trees that they passed before coming to this place, the small animals, his friends, none of them were there as if he was now in a whole other place.

However, there was something that must’ve been there. Something huge and unimaginable was just behind his back. The thing, the structure, vanished as soon as his eyes caught on it, but he could still understand what it was.

It was a temple. A huge temple that seemed to be nothing but an illusion. The temple that appeared behind him was surrounded by red sparkles and electricity, something strange was making noises inside its yard, and he felt as if he could see some silhouettes inside. Figures of humans, humans that didn’t seem to belong to this time and place, humans that didn’t seem to be ‘humans’ anymore. Everything disappeared as soon as he glanced at them and the plain was back to its empty state.

It was a flash, but he saw it clearly. He read the name written on top of the temple.

The Temple of Dawn

‘The Temple of Dawn...’

He muttered those words under his lips as he moved up his hand to touch the heavy thing on top of his head. His hand brushed against the cold surface of a round, thick metal-like thing. The boy grabbed the thing that had suddenly popped up on top of his head and lowered it to his face.

What he saw in his hands was a crown. An old and damaged crown. A crown that was shining with mysterious symbols engraved on it.

The face of a boy was reflected on the metallic surface of the crown. The face was familiar, yet unfamiliar at the same time. It was his face, but not his.

“What the...”

He moved up his hand once again and grabbed a bunch of hair from his head and pulled them down. The boy froze once again after seeing the hair strands inside his palm. They were white! His hair was white!

ZZZZ

ZZZZ

Red electric currents were dancing on the surface of the crown and on his body. It wasn’t just some electric currents. He could clearly sense it. He could clearly sense the unfamiliar yet strong power in his soul. He could feel the energy that was far stronger than his mana.

“What in the...”

Tak

The crown dropped down to the ground.

“What in the world happened to me?”

The boy was confused, and frightened, but at the same time a little bit happy.

Happy cause it seemed that he had survived, that he was still alive.

Later would he realize that the happiness he felt at the moment was never a true pleasure. Later would he... would he wish countless times that this moment had never happened. That he didn’t survive the explosion. That he vanished into thin air just like his friends, his family, his village, and his whole world.

Later would the boy realizes that the accident that happened to him was not luck, but misfortune.

The misfortune of someone who was only seeking food, but ended up encountering a curse.