Chapter 1

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Year 423 of the Dawn calendar.

The first Sunday of June, the black and yellow lands were deathly quiet.

In a corner of this land, a rock shook slightly, revealing a meter long scorpion that crawled from beneath it. After the Battle of Dawn, 50% of the earth’s life forms became completely extinct. And those that were left had already evolved into far more dangerous lifeforms that were beyond recognition.

The surviving humans called these lifeforms ”Danger”.

As the scorpion searched for food, a colossal presence suddenly rose from afar, a presence so large that it resembled just like a mountain rising. And the shadow loomed over the scorpion, who had raised its head.

The shadow was so vast it seemed to had covered the entire horizon. Moving slowly, yet steadily forward, the shadow it cast was an floating island the size of Texas. This was one of mankind’s greatest inventions after the Battle of Dawn. The Babylon Floating Island, powered by the Demon Cube energy, constantly follows a predetermined, circumnavigational route throughout the world.

Only after the evening did the Babylon Island become a smudge in the sky. And at that timing, the Gobi desert became lively again. One of the scorpion-like Dangers headed to the west of the desert, towards a small mining town. Humans, were simply food in the eyes of the Dangers.

The small town only had a small population of a few hundred people. Houses were crude, with the only luxurious houses being the ones capable of perfectly sheltering from both the rain and the wind. The rest were simply huts made from a messy stack of planks and rusted metal sheets.

The outer perimeter of the town was a layer of barbed wires and sharp stake walls. These were just enough to stop the low levelled Dangers from entering the town. And in the night, there would be 3-5 hunters acting as guards, defending the exit of the town with torches.

In the wilderness just outside of the town were red, green and blue lights brightening the dark night. Suddenly, the crude sound of a gunshot reverberated from the town’s entrance, followed by a series of even more gunshots that echoed in the quiet night as most of the lights disappeared.

A man wearing a cowboy hat, a patched up flannel shirt, a torn pair of jeans and a pair of boots was packing up his double barrel shotgun, with smoke still coming from the barrel. He looked to be at his prime, with greyish blue eyes and a prickly light beard on his defined face.

“Fuck, there’s more and more Dangers around now.” The man softly cursed.

“Yeah right, Uzi. You’re the best hunter in town, the more Dangers there is, the more you earn. Aren’t you just elated.” A bald black man chuckled. He had an eye-patch and mechanical prosthetic leg that replaced his right leg from the knee down. The black man carried a second-hand sub machine gun, a weapon far more destructive than the shotgun in the cowboy’s hands.

“Shut up, Big. I’m serious.” The cowboy said with a furrow in his brows.

“Stop harassing Uzi, he’s in a terrible mood right now.” The last hunter, a man wearing a miner’s hat and a leather jacket, seemed to be rather nondescript. He was playing with a dagger that danced rather lifelike in his hands, creating a orange glow of light as it twisted around his fingers, reflecting the red glow of the fire.

The black man smacked his head and laughed , “Right, I almost forgot Lannie was due tonight.”

“That isn’t the worst of it, Big. The biggest issue here is that our boss Uzi hadn’t even gotten the chance to kiss her small lips, yet she’s already giving birth tonight.”

And then, an arrogant yet slightly pained voice rang out from the town’s entrance, followed by Uzi’s angered voice, “If you don’t shut up, I swear to god I’ll shove this barrel up your asses!”

But the threat made the two men laugh even louder. And just before Uzi made his move, a woman’s shrill voice screamed from within the town. The three hunters stood up immediately, looking into the town. The black man spoke, “I wonder which bastard got lucky enough to hook up with that Lannie minx. But that worthless bastard actually just abandoned a woman like that, what a fucking coward!”

The hunter playing with his dagger spoke, “What are your plans, Uzi? Lannie is no longer a girl, but a mother.”

“I don’t care who she is, I just want to take care of her!” Uzi’s voice had no hesitation as he spoke.

And in the dark night, at the outskirts of the town, a soft gentle sigh was muffled by the wind.

In the center of the town was a somewhat acceptable house made of metal sheets, it currently housed a small group of middle aged woman as they circled around a bed.

“Just a little more, Lannie. I can already see his tiny head.”

“With the power of god, please hold on.”

“Yes, just like that. Use your stomach, miss!”

Childbirth was just that difficult, but it was the very first hurdle a new life had to overcome. Luckily, this little life had a strong mother, and with a pained cry, a new life was successfully brought into the world.

“Look, it’s a boy.” A short haired woman carried the infant in a torn blanket, and she placed him onto his mother’s bed.

The tired young mother turned to her own flesh and blood, the still bloodied face of the child had a long sharp nose and a pair of bright red eyes that looked around at the world with a glint of curiosity. His lips were pressed into a straight line as a hint of stubbornness appeared on his face. Unlike regular babies, he didn’t cry or fuss, but was strangely quiet instead.

The women around them discussed amongst themselves, only to be disrupted by the short haired woman’s glare. She spoke gently to the mother, “Lannie, he’s your son. Have you thought of a name yet?”

The young mother nodded gently as she stared at the infant with a troubled expression, speaking with a voice as gentle as a Breeze, “Allen, his name is Allen.”

Hearing his mother’s voice, the expression on the infant’s face paused. He turned over, looking at the woman who had just birthed him. And finally, the thinly pressed lips turned up at its corners.

He smiled.

Looking at his childish smile, the mother felt the fire in her heart fade away.

On the June of 423 in Dawn calendar, Allen was born, and the first image he saw, was the tired yet beautiful face of his mother. What the others remembered, was an infant who did not cry, but none of them knew something. The newborn Allen, were born with memories!

The world continued to move forward at its own pace, pulled by the unrelenting teeth of time. The wealthy continued to party on the Babylon Island, the newly elected president, Mobit, had just finished his first celebration feast, not knowing that an unordinary life had just been born in a small unknown corner in the world.

Fate loved to leave small surprises when humans least expected it to.

Year 428 of the Dawn calendar, on the last Saturday of the end of Autumn, a banging noise could be heard from the small town.

That was an assembly signal for buying winter supplies. And as a woman carried a large bag of food into a small alleyway, a group of men who sat at the corner of the streets nodded and followed after her.

The sky darkened as the night came.

In the alleyway, the woman was already aware of her followers. Her pace quickened as the men decided to attack, but as they did, a shotgun barrel appeared from the shadows, stopping them in their steps.

Just like 5 years before, Uzi who was wearing the same cowboy outfit walked out from the shadows with his shotgun. A cigarette rested on his lips, burnt to its end. Uzi spat out the butt and spoke with a deep voice, “Fuck off!”

Facing the threat of a gun, the men slowly slid away into the darkness of the alleyway. Watching this, Uzi kept his gun and walked towards the woman, “Didn’t I come at the right time? Lannie.”

The woman took off her scarf, revealing a beautiful face underneath as she sighed, “I owe you yet another one.”

“Don’t be like that, I still want to get free treatments from you when I’m hurt.” Pushing his hat up with the barrel of his gun, a bright smile appeared on his face.

“Come, I’ll help you with that, it looks heavy.”

Taking the bags from her hands, Uzi walked with Lannie towards her home. Her house was a somewhat sturdy crude hut made of metal sheets, a structure barely enough to cover from the snow in winter. Just as they entered the house, a small figure smashed into Lannie’s embrace. Kneeling down and carrying him up into the light, a big five year old child was revealed.

He had a rare head of pale grey hair that shined in the light, just like millions of small fireflies.

The boy had a childish face, but his carved features were already beginning to show, it was obvious that this boy would grow up into a handsome man. But on this promising face now was a small bruise that made Lannie’s brows furrow, “What’s this?” She asked.

A hint of panic flashed in the boy’s eyes as he looked at Uzi helplessly. Seeing this, Uzi’s shoulder shook as he laughed, he couldn’t help. The boy could only bite on his lip as he owned up, “Moss next door called me a white pig, so I…”

He peeked at Lannie, who had a stern expression on her face. Seeing this, he could only continue hesitantly, “So I punched his face, then he shoved me on the ground and I accidentally hurt myself. But don’t worry mommy, I’ve already took care of him, he definitely wouldn’t bully me again next time.”

Uzi whistled, “Not bad, Allen. Isn’t Moss a year older than you?”

“More accurately, he’s older than me by 13 months!” The boy corrected.

Glaring at Uzi to shut up, Lannie sighed as she patted the boy’s hair, “Allen, not everything can be solved with violence. Furthermore, if it was someone you couldn’t win against, what would you do then?”

The boy’s red eyes turned as he spoke, “I can run away, and when I’m a little older and stronger, I’ll come back and beat them up!”

He continued triumphantly, “But mommy, I haven’t met someone who could beat me yet. Uncle Uzi taught me very well.”

Uzi’s face froze as Lannie turned towards him, he grimaced, “I only taught him a bit of self defence, really.”

“I, I just remembered I have something to discuss with Big, I’ll leave first.”

Lannie shook her head at his escaping figure, “Come on, let’s have dinner.”

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