A new new journey

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𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝟳

𝙰𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚕 𝟺, 𝟹𝟶𝟶𝟷

It finally happened.

My neighbors are complaining over the walkie-talkies that they're running low on food and water.

Heh.

It was a good thing we stored supplies.

Did I mention that I wanted to watch more survival videos in a theoretical apocalypse?

Let me flip back the pages...oh, I only wrote it two days ago. Heh.

I don't mean to brag and say I can tell the future, but...heh.

Back in my days, all the rage was about "what if the apocalypse happens."

Back then, I was a rather...well...let's say 'devoted' apocalypse lover who would store supplies just in case something happened.

Of course, it became a hobby to buy many, many packs of water, canned food, and well-sealed beans.

Plenty of beans.

Even now, they are in just a small part of the house, in a secret room I made.

Now, I wish I could clap my younger self in the back. I just didn't expect an apocalypse to actually happen.

To think our once great country of Staan will fall.

Anyways...it goes without saying...well done young me.

You did old me proud.

Anyways, even before I began writing this part of the diary log, I told my wife to not tell anyone about this.

O course, I also helped share some of our food with others. And of course, they're the ones almost expired.

I began collecting many years ago, so it's to be expected that they will eventually expire.

Score free brownie points with other people.

Success.

Then suddenly, there was a knock on our door.

Dang, did they find out?

Shucks.

-A note written by yours about-to-be-dead truly, a lowly professor

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𝘊𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘩.

𝘊𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘩.

𝘊𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘩.

Trekking down the almost-knee high snow, two people in warm coats, beanies and a puffy hat, and gloves pushed their way through it.

The house behind them has long since blended into the snowy forest. All they could see were unending amounts of snow, snow, more snow, tree trunks, shadows, and fallen dead leaves and branches here and there.

Oh yes, the shadows.

They never seem to leave them alone. Especially a certain someone.

A boy wearing a gray beanie and his coat's hood on top of it walked with a long metal pipe. He used it like a cane, supporting his weight as he trekked through the somewhat heavy snow.

Along the way, he sometimes looked into the depths of the forest on his left.

Rows upon rows of tree trunks, snow, and the shadows hiding in the corners graced his eyes. It didn't help that the sky was dim and gray, barely casting light onto the blanket of snow.

𝘊𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘩.

𝘊𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘩.

𝘊𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘩.

The rustle of foliage, the cracking leaves and branches, the howling wind, the sound of the two trekking across the snow…

Halting his footsteps, his eyes darted to his right.

…nothing was there.

Nothing was moving. Except himself and his companion.

The boy blinked and rubbed his eyes.

"Hey, Jonah, I wanted to ask something," someone beside him said.

The white-haired boy looked at his new companion.

Walking nearly beside him, trekking with the support of a strange gnarly wooden staff, a blonde girl in a gray coat, wearing leather brown gloves, and a gray puffy cap looked at him.

"Hm? Yeah?" he murmured.

"You do realize you're leaving your beloved, lovely little sister to a stranger you just met with strange magic, right?"

Jonah felt his eyes twitching.

"Yeah, yeah I know," he sighed, and he continued walking forward.

The blonde girl suddenly stopped. The boy almost groaned as he stopped and looked behind him.

"Why?" she asked again. "Although we just met, I can tell you absolutely cherish her with all your heart. Please, answer this conundrum I have."

'This is the beginning stage of a red flag,' he thought.

The boy sighed, and a white mist exhaled from his mouth.

"Yeah, I know there is a risk that she might come in danger, but there's a bigger risk of coming in danger if she went along with me."

Jonah looked at one of his hands.

He only saw it covered by a warm glove.

"I...what I learned is that in any world, risks must be taken when the opportunity arises in order to truly gain something...and this is one of those opportunities."

The girl looked at him for a moment. Then, she opened her mouth.

"...even…even if she does something harmful to her-?"

"I know that!" Jonah yelled, and if there were birds nearby, they would be flying away chirping and squawking.

"I…I know that," he huffed.

At least he made sure to keep his voice down this time.

"If you want to know how I feel, well…it's not really a secret. I feel as though the world is spinning around me. I feel like throwing up every time. I feel something bad is going to happen. I feel so, so many things…"

The boy looked at his gloved hand again and gripped it into a fist tightly.

"Of course, there might be a chance that Anna might be a dangerous tyrant witch who can do dangerous and mean things…"

The blonde girl blinked, but Jonah looked up at the sky. Like always, it was only a bleak, gray sky.

"I just want to hope again. I don't want to be drowned in thinking that bad things will happen. That they will be sure to come. I just…want to depend on someone again. To put my trust, hope, and dreams to someone dependable. Just like my dad."

The boy sighed again, and another white cloud of mist was released once again. As he was looking above, the girl spoke.

"You know...you're different from what I thought, but it's more or less similar."

Jonah blinked.

"What did you think of me then?"

Avalow looked at him with blank eyes and grew a wide 'U' shaped smile.

"You really are a true human."

"???"

The boy squinted at the blonde girl, but she began walking ahead of him.

"Hey, what do you mean-?

"Well nothing. Anyways, that's not bad, I guess. I mean, what's wrong with looking forward to a better future?"

Jonah blinked again.

"...there's something wrong with looking forward to a better future in the first place?"

"...no. At least, I don't think so. Anyways, it's about time we start trying to get stronger, yes?"

"Right."

They started walking again.

After a few seconds, Jonah suddenly stopped. The blonde girl halted and turned to look behind her.

"Is there something wrong?"

"Hey...can I also ask you a question?" the boy said, a bit hesitant.

"Uh, yeah. Sure. I mean, yes you may."

"Why are you listening to Anna?" he asked. "If I remember correctly, you met her an hour earlier than us, right?"

Avalow nodded her head slowly, rubbing her chin.

"You want to ask why I, another stranger, am listening to her?"

"Yes, why are you listening to her then? Didn't you also say she was a potentially dangerous person-stranger?"

The blonde girl nodded.

"That's simple enough. Because just like you, I'm hoping to," she said with a serious face.

Jonah only shook his head, and they both began trekking further down the road once more.

Then he stopped again.

"Wait, why are we stopping every time we want to talk?"

Avalow also stopped her trekking.

"I think it was you who stopped in the first place. Also, didn't you just stop now-?"

"Well yes," Jonah said. "But I was asking about it earlier. You were the one who stopped and asked me-"

"Nuh uh-" the blonde girl shook her head.

"Uh huh."

"Nuh uh-"

…

In the house, a girl is sitting on the pillow, leaning back.

She blankly looked at the pale sliding door. A thin barrier that lets the dim light from the outside in.

A thin door between the outside and the inside.

'Why am I sitting here again,' Anna thought.

Was she thinking of something?

What should she do now?

What was she supposed to do?

Should she just lay on the ground and laze about listlessly while simultaneously absorbing and 'flowing' the mana inside her?

Between her and the door, a low-wooden table that was closer to her was just…there. On it, Amor fluttered his wings.

On the side of the table, a white-haired girl's head was placed on it.

Several seconds turned to minutes as all of them just…sat there.

Suddenly, Chaya scooted over to Anna.

She plopped next to the older girl, and she stared at the thin door just like Anna.

As they were staring at the door, the little girl heard a whisper in her left ear.

"Are you afraid?"

She slowly turned her head to the side,

It was dark and gray in the dim living room. The only light was outside the thin sliding door, which was growing dimmer by the second, and the blue butterfly, whose light was dim, dim enough that its soft light didn't reach a few inches far.

The light that didn't reach the shadowed face.

The little girl couldn't make out her eyes, mouth, or even eyebrows.

"Are you scared that your caring older brother is gone, and you're sitting next to a stranger who can use strange, 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 magic?" she whispered.

The blue butterfly's light on its wings slowly grew dimmer and dimmer, and the light from the outside subsided.

Chaya blinked.

She then looked down at her own small body. After a moment, she looked back up at shadowed face.

"I am nervous. I am scared, but…but I'm not afraid. In my heart, I have a feeling that you won't do anything that'll hurt me or my brother," she said.

Then she blinked again.

Anna's eyes looked into her eyes.

As clear as a well-filtered freshwater lake. As bright and pure as a blanket or snow in the early morning light-untouched and natural.

True purity and innocence.

It almost hurt her eyes.

Almost.

Just then, the dim light brightened just a tad bit, and the butterfly's light glowed a little brighter.

Anna just muttered "I see," and looked back at the door.

'I don't see.'

Why did she promise to keep her safe again?

Never mind.

First thing for survival is food, water, and shelter. All living mortal living beings are bound by those rules.

As one of those mortal living beings, humans need food, water, and shelter to survive.

There's already shelter here, and for water, people could melt the snow to boiling drinking water. It should be fine, for the snow outside will not stop for a long time.

'Now, how do I feed this girl?'

Instant ramen is not a sustainable resource, sadly. Why can't people just grow instant ramen?

So, what else…

'The dandelion leaves are probably dead because of the cold snow…' she thought. 'Perhaps if we forage beneath the snow and use a bit of magic, I can find the leaves…'

'I'll take the dirt along with the roots with me and plant them near my garden. I'll make it so that the soil would be at least above 50 degrees Fahrenheit…'

During the spring and summer, the dandelion leaves grew like weeds. Her gardening experience in the city is finally coming to use.

Even when it was winter, without the snow, they still grew.

She wanted to dig up the roots, but the grandma she was helping in community service said to just leave it.

Apparently, she eats those things.

Now, Anna knows.

And now, she's hoping those 'weeds' grew a lot.

If there are no dandelion leaves growing as of now, then she could only look elsewhere.

Other possible sources of food are those convenience stores and superstores, but if people are desperate for food, they would first think of them.

Next would be a food bank in the town.

Was there a food bank in this small town of Yume?

'I don't remember. I guess I'll have to ask Avalow and Jonah the next time they visit to gather as much as they can and bring it back here…'

Especially the beans.

The beans should be fine…they have a shelf life of a year, and if sealed probably ten years…

Yes, they can survive off of those.

Then that's it.

The two just sat there, side by side in the shadows, looking at the door where the dim light filters in.

'Well, what do I do?' Anna thought. Then she looked at her true friend.

'Amor, what should I do?'

Only the 'thought' of the warm feeling 'brushed' with her 'mind.'

That's not an answer, Amor.

Just then, a lightbulb clicked 'on' in her head.

"I'll teach you," Anna suddenly said. She immediately winced and pinched herself.

Chaya's head swiveled in a speed that could crack her neck.

"You mean you'll teach me magic?" she asked, her eyes sparkling like the distant stars in the sky.

"No, I'll teach you math, science, and language art skills."

She wouldn't admit that the little girl's face turned a complete 180 degrees almost made her feel pity.

Almost.

"Of course I'm not teaching you magic. I'll just tell you more about mana, and how it works."

The little girl's face brightened once more.

Then, it scrunched up.

"But...how will I learn? Although my big brother has one, I don't have a status screen. How does that work?" Chaya asked, tilting her head.

"When did anyone say you only need a status screen to grow stronger?" Anna said.

"A status screen is the reflection of a person's potential, and activating it just helps exponentially grow your strength. You can still grow stronger without it...albeit with some difficulty."

With that, she then started reciting almost everything word for word of what she was taught and that blue screen told her.

As best she can.

Anna was never a good teacher.

…

Many, many, many minutes passed, as the girl talked on and on about what mana is.

Just as she finished explaining why mana is blue again, the white-haired girl spoke.

"Um…Miss Anna, I want to ask something."

"Yes?"

"How do you use magic?"

Anna looked at Amor. The blue butterfly never moved once. Neither his wings nor antenna twitched.

"You construct it from the foundation with runes."

The girl blinked.

"Foundation? Runes?" Chaya asked.

"The foundation is an invisible plain only you can see inside your head," she said, a little forced. "Upon the foundation, you can begin the construction of your magic using runes. Inside each 'magic' is a rune. Runes are very, very small symbols. They're like codes, making up the entire reason why magic is magic."

"Without runes, your fireball will probably explode next to you or fly in a different direction. Without runes, your magic won't do the magic you want. You can't even create magic without runes."

"Like how you can simply click on an application, or how you go from one app to another. How about when playing a video game, your character can go to the left, or to the right? It all works because of the coding."

"To use magic is like coding. The more practice and repetitive use, the easier it becomes. It's also like copy and paste many, many times. The eyes will hurt trying to look at every line of code."

"Of course, there will be situations where each situation you encounter will be different, so you would have to 'modify' and 'adjust' your 'code' to make sure each one 'fits' in different situations. You can make a magic glowing rope dangly, firm, or dangly 𝘢𝘯𝘥 firm, but for each one you would have to use different, minuscule 'lines of code.'"

Anna nodded her head then.

"Do you get it?"

The little girl near her blinked.

"It's fine if you don't get it," she said. "Even I can't explain it properly, so I can only make a comparison with something similar."

Chaya nodded again.

Anna nodded back.

"That is that. You're free to do almost anything. Just don't go outside."

'The girl's smart, right? She should be fine alone,' Anna thought.

Even if she had only just met her for almost a day. Even if the girl was under nine years old.

It should be fine.

Then, Anna got up.

Well, she would've gone up and gone into the hallways so that the shadows could embrace her if it wasn't for someone interrupting her.

"You just need to give me food, water, and shelter, and that's it, right? So why are you teaching me?"

Anna looked at the girl once more. Her eyes were full of childlike wonder

She almost winced.

Someone made her want to say something. Anything.

Just so that the little girl would feel better.

"Because I…" she hesitated. "I want to."

Anna shook her head firmly.

"No, I 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 too. A teacher or guardian, even if they're unwilling, must teach his or her students with as much passion as they would want others to teach themselves."

"What do you mean?" the little girl asked.

Anna leaned closer to her. Her shadow overshadowed the entirety of the little girl's body.

Chaya only saw the taller girl's eyes.

"If someone teaches, they must do it with all their heart. Just telling the students what to do, and leaving it like that isn't enough. The person must stand by their pupil's side, watching and guiding them with almost every step of the way. By doing so, they would understand the pupil, and the pupil can truly learn, and grow, with his or her heart changing...for the better or worse. After doing so, the person will continue teaching, until he or she truly knows the pupil is ready."

"..."

Chaya looked down at her feet under the table. Her legs were laid flat against the ground as she was leaning back with both arms behind her.

"Did…did someone teach you like that?" she asked.

"...yes," Anna said, and she looked at the door.

The light outside lightened up just a tad bit. Perhaps the clouds covering the sun were thinner this time?

"I learned that from someone I cherished. A long time ago."

The two girls sat side by side, watching the sliding door. Perhaps it was a more beautiful snowy wonderland this time.

A blue butterfly fluttered his wings on the table.

It was a lot dimmer than before.

…

In the a forest filled with snow, a small blue light fluttered through the shadows and trees

Seconds after seconds, he dodged the low-hanging branches and tree trunks. Many, many times, he flew past them, and he kept going forward.

Finally, Amor found the trees around him opening up to a small clearing.

It's time to begin.

First, a connection must be established.

In his soul, a small opening was formed.

In his soul, a small world was born.

Small, tiny runes flowed as in his head, something was being constructed upon his foundation.

Like those toy bricks being stacked and clicked together, they began forming a circle.

It was the beginning of a blueprint.

Highlighting six points, Amor fluttered to each one in the clearing. Upon itching a point, he simply landed on it and fluttered off to the next.

Several more times he repeated this, until he touched the last point.

Then, he fluttered at the center, and with his blueprint being completed, he 𝘦𝘹𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘥 it into reality.

Tiny runes, unable to be seen by mortal eyes, flowed out of the blue butterfly like a stream of water set free.

Circling and dancing in the air, they spread to the six points, and began constructing a small, small hole.

Large, large amounts of mana left Amor's body, emptying the small vessel over and over.

From the small opening in his soul, mana flew out and replenished his mana bar over and over again.

Eventually, mana stopped flowing out of him.

Below him, a small circle, transparent and blue, was almost similar to the hole he made in his soul.

The amount of effort put into it was insane.

As soon as it opened, Amor sent a thought to the six points. Immediately, they fizzled and brightened up, making the world around them just a tad bit brighter.

Seconds passed…and then silence.

The lights grew dim, the fizzling stopped, and the world turned into a dim shade of gray.

Amor waited.

Then a sound that only those with the most sensitive ears bloomed. Tiny sounds of flapping wings grew, more and more louder.

As they grew louder, so did the circle begin to brighten.

The sound grew to a breaking point, and when it reached its peak-

𝘍𝘸𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘩!

Like a large amount of water breaking out of a dam, dozens, if not hundreds of blue lights flew out from the circle.

Tens, then hundreds, then almost thousands-many, many blue lights dot the forest around Amor.

Many, many blue butterflies surrounded the once lone blue butterfly.

Many, many clones, separate entities of himself, wills he had created long, long ago, swarmed around him.

Slowly, the sounds of flapping wings died out, and the circle dimmed down until it was gray and bleak.

With a thought, it crumbled and dissipated into particles of blue light.

With another thought, the once lone blue butterfly fluttered into the air.

And all of them followed him.

To the gray blanket that…blanketed the sky, tiny dots of blue flew up. Like a large swarm of locusts, they all formed into a large ball that stood out under the sky.

Higher and higher, they flew upwards. The winds began to howl louder, more aggravating and cold.

Still, they flew upwards, until they entered the gray clouds.

As the last of them entered the clouds, the glow of blue light was snuffed out.

Within it, Amor then began fluttering off to the west, and with him, many others followed along.

One butterfly flew off from the group and flew down towards a lonely house in the forest.

A small journey began.

...

More than a day had passed, and everywhere the swarm of butterflies went. They had long since left the town of Yume.

Along the way, the blue butterfly saw empty towns, blankets and fields of snow, and above all...

No humans.

There was a splatter of monsters here and there, wandering aimlessly, but they posed no threat as the swarm was high up in the sky.

It will never just be like this.

Peaceful and serene, flying through the sky with grace and serenity.

Monsters always grow quickly.

They always do.

…

Another day had passed.

And Amor's curse of thinking had bloomed even more.

'I wonder…if they're okay?'

He thought of his nephew and niece in law.

Many, many times, he had thought about them. From the moment he ate the fragment of his reincarnated soul, to the days where Anna lived simply in the house, to the days when fire rained down from the sky, and a permanent cold that is snow etched itself onto the world.

The curse that is stress and worry embedded itself into his heart, and so Amor had to do it.

For him and his granddaughter.

So, with his other selves, he flew to the west. To a not a town, but an actual city. The city where Anna once lived, and where her parents should be.

He prayed to the Lord God Almighty for them to be safe.

Just his family.

…

Another day has passed.

The swarm of blue light continued heading towards the west.

There was nothing else Amor could do but just indulge in his thinking. Even conspiracists would bow before him.

Then, it slowly happened.

At first, it was just a dot among the snowy plains, but gradually, it grew larger and larger.

It became outrageously different.

Focusing below him, he finally saw what was different.

It was a sea of red.

Thousands upon thousands of rank one monster moved like one hive mind towards the west.

Enough so that human ingenuity can't find a way to solve it.

Especially to ordinary humans with normal, modern weaponry and weaker rank two or even rank three monsters.

While he was looking at the sea of fire, he began to hear inorganic noises.

𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘮!

𝘗𝘩𝘦𝘦𝘸𝘸𝘸𝘸𝘸𝘸...

𝘙𝘢𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘢-!

Farther below him, dark ant-like creatures ran around here and there, and explosions randomly popped up in the sea of monsters.

The chance of a bullet hitting a small core was very slim, and the explosions only further grew the fire monster's mass.

If the blue butterfly had to say three words, it would be-

It was futile.

Still, the ant-like creatures continued to fight, but they were slowly being pushed back, moving at almost the same pace as the monsters.

They never stopped fighting for a better future. Even if they're squashed underneath the lumbering faceless fiery giants.

Then perhaps they would begin backstabbing each other to live or something.

Man, those seven fools would love this.

'Oh wait,' Amor thought. 'I'm one of those fools.'

Never mind that now.

Was this where the military was at this entire time?

Was this what they've been doing all this while in the past week?

What a hopeless fight.

It would all end in disaster for sure.

Now, if only his nephew and niece in law wasn't here, then he would've long left.

Amor looked farther out.

Through the cold winds and storms, a bigger dot laid before him in this snowy wasteland. From afar, A bleak dot, but there were many, many lights flickering on and off in the distance.

Lights that show they were alive.

A city, with tall gray buildings and skyscrapers dotting the horizon.

Then, the blue butterfly heard a voice.

"𝘛𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘴..."