Abandoned by the World, Bound by Strange Fate

Winter had passed, with spring taking its place. The chilliness of the rain that had washed down on earth the day before, still lingered in the air, but the warmth of the sun was pushing it away. The shadows were cold, but just a palm away, in the light of the sun, the warmth could be felt soothing the standing hairs caused by the chill.

Here in the capital of the Bransi Kingdom, Bransica, a young man had just turned 16. It was his birthday today.

Bransica housed hundreds of thousands of people. Right now, in this densely populated city, this young man—of average height but overweight—sat on a bench in a small park. The park was decorated with white, pink, and light green leaves slowly drifting away from the tree as the wind blew over from time to time.

This young man, his head down, shadows covering his face and his tired eyes, had a black line under his lower eyelids. He held a piece of paper with both hands slightly clenching it. His forearms rested on his thighs, and his clenched hands were positioned between his legs, his body bent forward. His gaze was focused on the line on the ground, formed by the worker ants.

.....

"Congratulations on graduating from the Bransica Career & Technical Education Awakeners Trade School. You have worked and studied hard these past 5 years, honing your knowledge and mastering the skills of your specialty, and for those who awakened, mastering your own abilities. Those who did not awaken their power, fear not, for I can assure you that our kingdom, Bransia, will gladly accept each one of you as an upstanding citizen of this kingdom. The skills and the experience you have accu—"The speech noise blurred as the young man retreated into his mind.

Ah... give me a break... What have I been working so hard for? This is insulting to listen to. Accepting us as upstanding citizens? You just want us to run the society for you, the gifted people. We will work hard so you guys get all the benefits. Carpentry, my ass. I just chose this school because it had the cheapest awakener dormitory prices. I couldn't care less about this school. What is so fun about carpentry that has you looking excited like this? You guys are going to be working like slaves, building and refining houses that will just get destroyed by the awakeners. They'll fight each other but bring all the damage to the surroundings, destroying and insulting our lives and the time spent building them. They think money and resources can fix everything, but they are greatly mistaken. It's the people, us the carpenters, who can fix the damage caused by your selfish fights. I hate the fact that I've learned about carpentry. I shouldn't need to know the pain of a craftsman. I didn't need to know that, but the price I'm paying to attend this school, I might as well use everything that I'm paying for—every resource, every corner of this place, every book. I have every right to use all of them. I'm the one paying for it, so I will, of course, use everything I'm paying for. It's not shameless; it's my given right... But I wanted to be one of the gifted, more than anything. I wanted to be the ones who can fix others' lives with money—the ones with real power.

This hazel-eyed kid, Han Anghert, had not awakened in the awakening years, ranging from 10 to 15 years old, and graduated from the awakeners school with a carpentry certificate. Although he was given the certificate, he was expected to find master carpenters and perform on-site training under them as an apprentice.

Han was orphaned by the civil war that had taken place a decade ago. He had been living in an orphanage until his 10th birthday. Shortly after his birthday, Han left the orphanage and found part-time jobs in small restaurants, working day and night as a dishwasher, cleaner, servant, waiter, and later on in kitchens and delivery work. He worked to fund his own life—education, housing, and food. He bought his own clothes and shoes, passing the little free time he had between work and school in the school library, taking advantage of the knowledge stored in these books, for he believed it was only right to use every resource available to him.

Han had realized early in his life, when he was living in the orphanage, how cruel the world is—especially for the ungifted. Being at the mercy of people with power, living life meant being at risk of death at any time. His goal and hope, the only light guiding him in his life since childhood, was to awaken a great power. This would eventually lead him down a life of ease, standing beside fate instead of in front of it. But that hope was, in itself, at the mercy of fate. Han never had the chance to shape his own destiny with his own hands. He was always at the mercy of fate—abandoned by his parents, the kids he thought he could make friends with grew distant from him, and the ones in the orphanage and at school seemed to abandon him as well.

Feeling betrayed by the world, he walked out silently after the graduation ceremony, walking past the kids laughing, smiling, crying, and chattering with their parents and friends—being praised and congratulated. Han had his head down, trying his best to ignore the unfairness of his world. He knew this was a possibility, but he hoped it wouldn't become his reality.

The pink leaves blew gently in the air. Han walked down the path with an unknown destination. Eventually, he reached the park and sat on the bench looking at the ground.

How cruel—his ceremony day was the same day as his birthday, the 11th of the fourth month. He knew his birthday because his parents had left him a necklace made of wood. It was shaped like a cylinder, with half of it flat. On the flat side, his birthday and full name had been carved.

Han had spent some of his free time in his dormitory room, frustrated by the contents of the book he was reading. His glance fell upon the necklace. He had held onto it even though he resented his parents for bringing him into this world. He did not like the design of the necklace—it was simply shaped and boring. No real detail, no real effort had been put into it. He felt as if the necklace determined his life's worth. Right now, it was a boring, simple, rough-edged necklace. Han did not want to admit defeat to his fate. Thus, he spent the next nights in the workshop making a pocket-sized, round-shaped jewelry box. He was done with this project after two days.

The jewelry box had enough space for the necklace charm. He took apart the charm from the fiber strand and placed it in the box. On the other side, still inside the box, he made a clock. He bought and took apart a few pocket watches, taking inspiration from each one, breaking apart the components, and teaching himself the mechanics behind them—the functions of each part. Eventually he learned, replicated and tweaked the clock inside the jewelry box to his own liking. The interior of the box had a stripe pattern, with deep brown-colored stripes. It looked smooth and well-processed inside the box. The surface felt smooth and glossy.

After placing the charm in the box, he closed it. The circular-shaped jewelry box, although it looked like a pocket watch, was not thin enough to be called one.

The box had an extremely detailed exterior, with all the details handmade by Han. Around the exterior was a long dragon, the tail underneath the surface and the head at the opening lock. The dragon twisted and bent in different ways throughout the surface decorations. In the background were engraved small flower leaves, colored brown and orange. The background color was white vanilla. The dragon's scales were colored blue, and the spaces between the scales were red. The dragon's head was at the opening of the box, holding an orb in its mouth. The lock mechanism used the orb to click the two sides together.

It was truly a magnificent piece of work—an art, a craftsman's art.

Han had sat down on this bench for a while now, watching the ants walk by one by one, carrying insects and grains. He was inspired by these hardworking ants. How could such lowly creatures—whose lives were at his mercy—go on and try hard to live in this world? Right now, Han felt his status was the same as them. He did not want to get even lower. He did not want to be lower than these ants beneath his foot. Therefore, he had to push forward.

He reached into the breast pocket of his shirt, beneath the black vest and uniform black pants, where he always kept his charm, wanting to check the time before his shift at work. When he took out the box, a middle-aged man, taking a stroll nearby, noticed it. The wind blew over, and his redirected gaze fell upon this piece of art held by Han. Immediately, he was stunned—eyes wide open. His muscular body pumped blood throughout his veins at incredible speed. This middle-aged man had sharp features, a slight beard patch, and green eyes. His eyes were glistening with passion. One could say he was handsome in the eyes of women. He immediately approached the young man.

"Excuse me, young man, I'm interested in the pocket watch you are holding. Where did you buy it?" he asked.

Han looked up to meet the man's eyes. He was stunned. Han was attracted to girls and was not interested in any guys. Never had he tried to make friends with other guys, yet he found the man to be extremely handsome—in a jealous way. If there were ten girls in a room looking for a partner and these two were the only guys in the room, all ten girls would choose the man over him. This jealousy, which he made up in his own mind, made him annoyed. Although the man hadn't done anything, Han was pissed at his own lack of features. What pissed him more, though, was the man's question. He was angry that the man would think the handmade artwork was bought and not self-made.

He replied, "Piss off, old man. It's a jewelry box, and it's called Chronaroth. And it's not for sale." He had been thinking of that name for a while but had been too embarrassed to actually use it. However, in the heat of the moment, he blurted it out as if it were nothing.

The man didn't budge, not thinking about backing down in the slightest.

"My apologies for not introducing myself. My name is Rupert Goldenleaf. I'm a master craftsman and carpenter. I have been traveling kingdoms in search of talents to recruit to my company. The jewelry box you are holding—Chronaroth—has such a delicate design that I must say it has piqued my interest. I wanted to find and reach out to the talented craftsman who crafted this masterwork to recruit him. I will compensate you for any lead you have, of course. How about ten thousand coins? Will that suffice for the compensation?"

Han was shocked and flattered one after another. Huh? Talented craftsman? Recruiting talents? Goldenleaf? Master carpenter AND craftsman? Doesn't seem like he's joking. Wait, ten thousand coins? No, wait—I'm the talent. So I get ten thousand coins and apprenticeship? The world is finally smiling at me.

"First of all, I need the ten thousand coins to be guaranteed. How could I trust you to pay me after I tell you the craftsman who created it?" said Han.

Rupert responded, "That is not a problem." He knew the craftsman himself? Rupert was in luck. He didn't need to run after leads now. Rupert reached into his suit and took out a high-quality pouch from the internal breast pocket of his suit. He handed over ten large coins.

"Will you tell me the details of the craftsman who created this now?" he asked.

Han, overjoyed at this opportunity, told Rupert all about his work and his background—everything about himself and his craftsmanship. Rupert stood there, listening, realizing he had hit a jackpot. A real young genius was sitting in front of him. Rupert recruited Han to his company, which he had only recently established in the Bransi Kingdom. This fated meeting, this fated event, changed the course of Han's life for the better.

For the next four decades, Han worked in this company, spreading his name throughout the capital for his genius works. He became a master carpenter after just three years of work under Rupert. After a decade, he took over the company branch in the capital and allowed Rupert to once more travel the lands. They became the biggest infrastructure company in the capital, and small branches were opened in towns near the capital, spreading influence all over the region.

Han Anghert became the richest and most successful carpenter in the history of the Bransi Kingdom.

But soon, the winter arrived, and the strings of fate once again started to toy with his destiny.