Three full days after the incident.

All schools are closed, the freshmen lecture date has also been rescheduled… So the boy and his two pals had yet to wait a little bit longer to experience life as college students outside of the city. That's why Daniel can only be found daydreaming alone in his room.

It's not that he can't go out, but most people do prefer to stay indoors for some obvious reasons… Simply put, people just think of it as if there is another pandemic that must be avoided by just doing nothing… Or realistically, they are just terrified of all the horrible things that are now considerably more probable to happen to anyone out there.

The same goes for the boy as he lay with his eyes wide and his ears echoing the constant stream of news from his smartphone…

News that sounds just like a fictitious narrative which appears frightening, as most of it tends to be negative rather than the other way around… About how approximately half of the world's population has received gifts from hell. And it seems like the number is slowly increasing; because it turns out that the lightning still sometimes strikes at random times, at random locations. And it wasn't just the sword they got from that incident, but their bodies' average physical ability surprisingly appears to have grown, yet only a little.

Unfortunately it is hard to say exactly how much of an increase there was that could be observed… But the easiest thing to notice, of course, is from no one but the athletes; whose talents were always documented numerically. It is said that all those who were struck by the lightning, had an average rise of 5% from their prior records.

And lastly, is how the wounds that the people who had been chosen by the same lightning, have seem to be able to heal a little bit faster than the average human being and even leave no marks whatsoever; or rather to say, they can heal wounds perfectly to the point of not leaving any scars. Where it was quite hotly discussed, thus opening up speculation that those people might even be able to regenerate their own missing or damaged organs and limbs.

All of that information was clogging Daniel's brain, making him a little fed up. But he didn't want to disguise his envy for those who had been chosen, at least not from himself.

Whether it was indeed a gift from the devil, or it was a sign of the end of the world itself, one thing he understood was that those who were chosen were now far much cooler than he could ever be. “And those dudes' swords are insanely beautiful, I just want it!” Daniel mopes to himself while envisioning the blade in his hand, which he hoists into the air.

Until slowly the arm began to lose its balance, bobbing and then giving up; as Daniel fell asleep soundly with the news broadcast on his smartphone still running.

Yet the previous day's issue becomes the topic of tomorrow.

One thing about the thunderstorm stacked on top of another newer fact, just how time flies as the days grow into weeks…

~~~~~

There was a noise that began to obstruct one's dream…

It sounded like a doorbell at first. But a few seconds later, the entrance was firmly banged many times; accompanied by even more sound of the bell…

Blonde hair, towering body, blue eyes in his forties… On a bed decked with colorful hawk and octopus knick-knacks, the guy awoke with his arms around a tiny girl. As the size of the bed itself was quite small for the man to fit in, he just sat on the floor with his head resting on his arm on top of the adorable little girl’s bed.

Then the man squeezed his brow to regain full awareness before his gaze dropped on his sleeping daughter's face… He smiled, stroking the long hair of her before then stood up, leaving the room closed.

~~~~~

The front house door was slightly ajar…

He looked around to see who had awakened him up. But his expression showed that he already knew who he was about to meet outside.

~~~~~

“I'm sorry to hear of your daughter's death.”

The white-haired old guy in his old-fashioned black suit was standing right in front of the dining room's glass wall… He offered his sympathies to the man who was facing away from him. Who was sitting casually, staring into his coffee cup waiting for the guest to begin a phrase that would explain why he had come to his private residence… As the lack of time he seemed to commit to a pointless topic, was the reason he did not respond to the condolences he had just received.

“Alright then…”

The old guy could be heard sighing, having given up on chatting to him in the manner of an old friend… So he had no other choice but to act as a colleague. As he continued his words, where he said, “I assume you already know about what happened to the head of the PEB two days ago…”

“Did they put me in charge of the investigation?”

“Investigation? No… Aubert, was found dead in a car accident… that's all there is to it. But this tends to be more related to his position. They're having a meeting, and apparently you were invited.”

“Why all of the sudden? Is it because of this stupid magic power in my hand?”

The homeowner appeared to be dissatisfied; he remained silent after that question he just gave for only a minute before finally continuing to complain as if he wasn't afraid of his own words, where he said, “Just a few days ago they even seemed serious about the excommunication, or even making me a research subject for the same stupid reason… So what is their purpose now?”

“The big table members wanted to try something new… Someone gave them an idea. And in my personal opinion, I believe you will agree with their decision at least just this one. Even better, you've been assigned to a key position, my friend. So why don't you try attending the meeting first? Find what fascinates you and most importantly, avoid making enemies of people like them. I mean, you know it better than me, so…” The old man's wrinkled hands thrust a large envelope onto the dining table as he finished his words. Walked for a while, away from the man with his coffee cup, where he Silently sighed; anxious about what he had done to his own friend.

So even though he knew that what he was about to say was not allowed to be said, the words still came out of the old guy’s mouth.

“Edward. Of all the people I know, and with all the terrible things we've done to fix this cruel world… You've suffered enough, my friend. So don't be afraid to do what you need to do for yourself. You deserve not to feel guilty.”

The man he was referring to, Edward, appeared to be deep in contemplation as his guest closed the front door so silently that it made no sound. Leaving him with wishful thinking and some kind of glimmer… Perhaps a hope for something he may actually get from the hands of those who arbitrarily controlled his life and death, the ones who may have planned something even more detrimental to himself. But even a glimpse of hope was more than enough for a guy like him to prove whether a second chance is indeed something he truly deserves.

So he then decided to make a bold decision.

~~~~~~

“No, you just don’t get it! I've even heard that some of them can emit fire from their palms and there's this video! Wait a minute… I'll send the link.”

“Deo, control yourself, you freak… Could you please ask your friend to be quiet for a moment, Daniel? Unless you two have stories that are a little more interesting for a girl like me to hear… Something that is not related to anime, games and Deo’s stupid conspiracies.”

“Yeah… I've also heard the exact same gossip from my sister already, so the topic doesn't interest me that much anymore. And I've seen the video, Deo. It's all just CGI, I’m telling you.” Daniel's half-conscious reply was made… Whose hand at the moment was also swiping a pencil over the paper, features a drawing of a magical sword that remains popular after a month has passed.

While near the same hand, lying on the table, was his beloved smartphone on the screen of which there was an app showing three boxes with their names written on, as well as three little circles to the left of each, One of which has a picture of a cute red butterfly made out of fire. Meanwhile the other two respectively contain a drawing of an antique pocket watch; and a black cross which is Daniel’s own profile picture.

It was a group voice chat app that the three of them had recently been using to communicate from their own different places… Though in reality, the majority of the time they spend on the app is just for listening to news whose truth is still unknown, as well as conspiracy theories which is not unexpected, given that they all emanate from who else but Deo, the all-hearing wanna be.

~~~~~