Chapter 1: 0. The Hungry Child

Just like any creation in existence, the earth is bound to die. By the end of the 22^nd century, earth, with its advanced technologies, has long since entered its dying phase, and humanity had already settled on Mars and on Jupiter’s moons. Most of them, anyway.

Left behind the wastelands of earth, along with its former glorious cities were those at the bottom of society. As the richer people eat their extravagant dishes and enjoy arts like usual, so do the poor and the outcasts who spend their time searching for any food, so long as it is edible.

On one of the ruins of great cities scattered through the dying planet, a young girl wearing simple clothes could be seen walking around, looking through dilapidated buildings and rubble, hoping to find food as she holds her hunger in.

The girl was short, just over 1.1 meters in height. Her hair was a tangled mess, with mud stuck on it. She looked around weakly, her hunger pangs stronger than it was yesterday. At her age, she did not understand why she and her mother is always hungry. She only knew that she had to do something about it. Her mother was born frail and sickly, but oddly enough, her mother would always survive, as if fate would not allow her to.

Holding her empty stomach, she continued walking, her legs shaking at her sapping energy. She wanted to cry, but she knew that doing so would make her thirstier than she was. She was just a young child, all she wanted to do was play all day and share stories with her loving mother. Her tired body kept wandering, her mind often switching in and out. Not good, her thoughts are starting to get fuzzy. She wants to lie down, she wants to rest, but her stomach would groan in pain when she does so, and her mother awaits. With will uncommon to that of a seven-year-old child, she continued walking, trying to ignore her shaking legs and fuzzy vision.

After a while, the girl sees something not far away from her. A hooded person walked in the distance, heading her way. The girl is afraid, she does not know the person. Could it be one of those bad bandits her mother warned her? She does not know. She wants to hide, but her legs had given up. She only wanted to get food for her and her sick mother, but now a bad person is heading toward her.

With fear and apprehension raging in her, she looked at the person closing in. The person seems to be tall, taller than even her mother. They had a broad body, just like her father, according to her mother’s stories. Maybe it was her father? The girl dismissed such thoughts. Father is gone, he’s in a better place, the young girl thought.

Her mother taught her that bad people will take young children like her and give her to bad people, which will hurt her. She does not want to be given away to someone else, she wants only her mother. Alas, she was getting weaker and weaker than she already was, and even her vision is starting to fail her.

The hooded person closes in, they are just a few meters away from her. She becomes afraid and sad. She will be taken away by the bad person, and she will no longer see her mother. Her mother would surely be sad. Nobody will take care of her mother, and she will feel the same pain she feels in her stomach, the girl was sure of it.

After a few seconds, the person stopped in front of her, looking down on her miserable state. Contrary to the girl’s expectations the person did not take her. They crouch down towards her, feeling her head and her pulse.

“She’s alive… thank goodness.” A soft voice unlike her mother’s reached the weakened girl’s ear. With the last ounce of her strength, she looked at the person.

His hood was drawn down, revealing his face. He had silky black hair and white skin, much unlike hers. His black eyes looked at her in both sadness and respect. He does not pity her; he only looks at her caringly. She tried to touch his face, but her hands were too weak to even raise themselves. The girl is sad, she cannot even touch the face of her angel. Her worries were long gone, she knows the person is a good person. He did not kick her and insult her, only good people like her mother do not do horrible things to her.

“Here.” The man took a bottle out of his pocket and led it to her mouth as he raised her body up.

The girl drank what was inside the bottle without much thought. She needs water, she is extremely thirsty. After quenching her thirst, she forcefully stopped drinking. With the little bit of strength she regained from the mysterious water, she weakly spoke.

“Please… give… mother…” her voice drowned out as her vision grew dark. She fell asleep in the man’s arms.