Chapter 2: Chapter 1 - The End Is The Beginning

The sky was covered with pale-grey winter clouds, with dim sunlight soaking Loche City’s tall buildings.

In the center area of the city, a U-shaped old school building stood. Tall trees lined on the sides of the street in front of the school, though currently the trees were bare, and the street and school building’s roofs were covered with snow.

This school was the Loche High School, the best high school in the whole city of Loche.

It was just another ordinary Monday, the first day of another ordinary week. Students of the Loche High School were currently scattered all through the school complex. Some were watching the mini concert organized by their schoolmates, some were busy lining in front of bazzar stalls, some were chatting happily with their friends... while two girls were just sitting in an empty classroom, playing with their phones – which looked like glowing papers.

One of the girls had long, lustrous black hair combed neatly behind her back. As her head made some slight movements, the bangs on her forehead would shift softly. Her clear black eyes were staring lazily at the continuously changing screen of the paper-like phone on her left palm. Under the soft morning light, her garnet pendant hung from the silver string around her neck glinted mysteriously. She was very beautiful, though it was a pity that she wore an ice-cold indifferent expression.

While the other girl was admittedly not as beautiful as the other girl, she was still a beauty. With her silk-like long dark-brown hair and her pair of enchanting greyish-blue eyes, along with a faint, unique aura around her.

The two girls both wore a set of Loche High School’s winter uniform – white shirt with Loch School’s logo, black tie, black coat with silver buttons, black short skirt, a pair of white socks, also with Loch School’s logo, and a pair of black shoes.

The blue-eyed girl stole a glance at her friend, then said, “Um... Yuriel, are we really not going to watch the concert?”

“Nope. Absolutely no, Jennie.” the black-haired girl, Yuriel, replied for the fifth time of the day.

“Whyy?” her friend whimpered. “I’m bored to death here!”

“It’s peaceful here, Jennifer. How can you be bored to death here?” Yuriel chuckled, not lifting her gaze from her phone.

Jennifer stared at Yuriel strangely, “Tell me, Yuriel, are you the reincarnation of a monk?”

“A monk?” Yuriel rolled her eyes. “I’m a girl.”

“A nun, then?” Jennifer raised her dark-brown eyebrows.

Yuriel wanted to say something, but then her phone vibrated. She looked at the lit screen and saw ‘unknown number’ was calling. Instantly, her facial muscles became rigid.

“Who’s that?” Jennifer asked curiously.

“Probably just a spam call.” Yuriel shrugged, about to decline the call request.

“Wait!” Jennifer held her friend’s wrist, her eyes glinting mischievously, “Answer it.”

Yuriel, being Jennifer’s best friend, instantly knew her intention to create mischief. However, only she knew that it wasn’t any spam call...

“Forget it,” she sighed. “If you’re bored, you can just go down.”

“I’m not going.” Jennifer pursed her lips, secretly studying the eyebags under Yuriel’s beautiful round eyes.

“Just go...” Yuriel waved her hand and said somewhat tiredly.

Jennifer was silent for a moment, but in the end chuckled wryly aand stood up, “Fine, fine... I was staying here to accompany you, but it seems that you don’t need me.”

“I didn’t mean–”

“No need for excuses,” Jennifer said casually as she walked toward the doorway. “I know you need a me-time.”

Bam!

Yuriel sighed, staring at the closed door which had just been slammed close by her best friend. She knew that Jennifer was just upset because she didn’t tell her her problem, so she didn’t put her best friend’s action into her heart. As she thought about her problem, the left corner of her lips curled upward a little into a self-mocking smile.

For a few moment, Yuriel sat there as still as a statue, her eyes occasionally flashing with a strange light as she mussed in silence.

Unknowingly, her irises turned red, her vision becoming blurry with tears. Murderous intent spread out of her, making the surrounding tables and chairs tremble under the pressure. Clenching her fists, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. The murderous intent slowly faded away.

“Alright, I’ve made up my mind, so I cannot back down.” Yuriel muttered to herself.

She reopened her eyes, the gaze radiated so intense and sharp. Firmly grabbing her phone, she dialed a number.

“Great Elder.” she greeted.

“Hello, Young Miss.” an aged old man’s somewhat tired voice replied.

Yuriel fell silent for a moment, and the one adressed as ‘Great Elder’ didn’t disturb. After a while, she took a deep, ragged breath.

“Great Elder, how much time do my parents have left?”

This time, it was Great Elder’s turn to fall silent. Like him, Yuriel didn’t disturb him. They both maintained this silence for a few minutes.

“Young Miss, Clan Master and Mistress...” Great Elder’s hesitant voice trailed off.

“Just tell me.” Yuriel said.

Great Elder took a deep breath. “Your parents only have twenty-six days left.” he finished.

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For the third time, the two fell silent. Twenty-six days... that was all the time Yuriel’s parents have left? Suddenly, Yuriel muted her phone’s microphone. Her irises lit up with an eerie red light, and the previous murderous aura blasted out of her, turning desks and chairs into splinters.

After calming down, she unmuted her phone, “There’s plenty of time.”

Great Elder didn’t say anything. Or rather, he couldn’t. He didn’t even know what to say.

“Great Elder,” Yuriel broke the silence. “Is there really no way to cure them?”

Sighing, Great Elder said, “Young Miss, you know that the Soul-Drowning Poison is impossible to cure.”

“Great Elder...” Yuriel softly said. “Please, tell me.”

“Young Miss...” Great Elder’s voice was audibly trembling.

“I beg you, Grandpa Peng.”

As he heard Yuriel call him with that nickname he hadn’t heard for a long time, Great Elder couldn’t help but silently cry.

“There is a way.” he finally said after composing himself. “To cure the Soul-Drowning Poison, one’s mental power needs to be at the Immortal level. So... We must find help from one of the Four Generals.”

“The Four Generals?!” Yuriel was utterly shocked.

Forty-five years ago, when Earth was in the danger of being hit by a neutron star, four god-like beings emerged, taking the full blow of the neutron star, saving the entire world. After that, they disappeared. These four heroes were called the Four Generals.

And now, Yuriel had to seek help from one of them? No one even knew if they were even still alive!

“Alright, thank you, Great Elder.” she said. “See you.”

Without waiting for Great Elder to answer, she ended the call. She then dialed another number – the number that had just called a few minutes ago.

“Finally! You’ve made your decision?” a young man’s voice immediately sounded impatiently from the other side.

“Of course,” Yuriel smiled strangely. “My decision is... to kill you.”

She didn’t give her interlucotor time to reply, instead ending the call and power-off-ed her phone.

A cold laughter resounded in the classroom.

This day, Yuriel’s calm days had officially come to an end, but the journey of the Crown of Cosmos had just begun...

The laughter resounded on and on, and gradually came to a stop.

Yuriel, now wearing a calm and composed expression, made her way out of the classroom, through Loche High School building’s corridors, and arrived in a bathroom near the main gate. A casual white T-shirt, jacket, and black trousers appeared in her grip, which she changed into.

These days, technology was greatly advanced. Scientists had invented more and more things, and one of these inventions was the spatial storage technology. This technology made it possible to create a few cubic meters space inside precious stones like diamonds and crystals. The one Yuriel had was a garnet stone one, which hung from a white-gold necklace as a pendant. As such, people could nowadays walk around without carrying bags, but could suddenly take out a car stored in the precious stones embedded on their rings, necklace, bracelets, or earrings. Just imagine – you could put anything into the space inside a small, tiny stone and carry it everywhere – how convenient! This was why people now considered spatial stones as a necessity.

Finished changing, Yuriel walked out of the bathroom, toward the main gate as she put on a black mask to hide the lower half of her face, hoping the guards wouldn’t recognize her. Well, they didn’t, but got suspicious instead.

“This young lady, I don’t think I’ve seen you enter.” a guard said, blocking Yuriel’s way.

Yuriel blinked innocently, her eyes twinkling with humor. She knew it was going to be like this, so didn’t lose her composure and quickly altered her voice using a method of her clan.

“Of course you haven’t seen me,” she said, giggling a little, in a crisp voice that was half an octave higher than her normal voice. “I went in through the side gate.”

The guards laughed good-mannered-ly and let her go out.

Walking out of the Loche High School’s gate, Yuriel headed toward a nearby café, avoiding the surveilance robos as much as she could while being non-suspicious-looking.

The café had a simple décor, warm-themed, and had an elegant yet casual atmosphere. A soft jazz music hung in the cool air which softly blew, carrying with it the distinctive aroma of bitter-sweet coffee.

Yuriel did a quick scan of the wooden chairs in the café and casually picked a spot that only showed her back to the surveilance camera. She ordered a caramel late and enjoyed the café’s calming aura as she waited for her order.

A few minutes later, a servant-robo came with a cup of piping hot copper-brown liquid. Yuriel enjoyed the drink. From time to time, her eyes would flash with worry and contemplation. After all, the idea of finding one of the legendary Four Generals was practically impossible, but Yuriel had to do it... She couldn’t help but worry.

Soon, her cup was empty. Yuriel tapped on the table and payed for her order using her friend Jennifer’s bank account. She did this deliberately, in order to throw her scent off. After paying, she went to the bathroom once again to change into another set of clothes. She also took off her mask and put on a brown sunglasses instead. She then styled her bangs to the side and tied her long black hair into a low ponytail. All these were done in less than three minutes.

Avoiding the CCTVs, Yuriel strolled out of the café and walked in the reverse direction of her house. She kept on walking, further and further away from the school building complex. Passing by many shops, she arrived in a busier area, which had many tall buildings of different styles and architecture.

She strolled through the vast snow-covered garden on the ground, with hover cars speeding on the Cloud Lanes above her head.

After a few more minutes of walking, she made a turn around a large tree into an inconspicuous little café located at the ground floor of a mall building. This time, she didn’t order anything and went straight to the bathroom to change her clothes and style yet again – this time also changing her shoes into a pair of leather hover-boots – flying boots.

Cool air greeted her as soon as she entered the mall through the other door at the other side of the café. She walked casually, passing by shops and cafés lined along the busy corridor. Following the current of humans, she went into a florist’s little shop. She looked around for a while, then exited the mall through the shop’s other door, which led outside.

Like that, she repeated her actions as she ‘accidentally’ passed by busy areas – shopping malls, hospitals... All the way until she reached the center of the central area of the Loche City.

A huge, pristine-white dome-shaped building stood in the middle of a clearing. It was a huge Flash Station.

These days, other than riding hover-vehicles and walking, Flash Arrays were one of people’s most common means of transportation. Flash Arrays were another technology of the New Era. These arrays’ only function was to transport everything above them onto their twin Flash Arrays. They were installed in Flash Stations, completely replacing the Old Era’s subways and trains.

And the enormous dome-shaped building not far from Yuriel was precisely a Flash Station.

Yuriel heaved a breath, stopping a few hundred meters away from the building. She sat on a bench – which she cleared off the snow covering it first – on a hill side free from surveilance cameras and drones.

She sat facing the Flash Station, gazing at the huge holographic screen above the building of the Flash Station. It featured the latest news, particularly featuring the nearby area. It was currently discussing the weather – how it would snow heavily later, whether there would be a blizard tomorrow or not...

Then, the weather forecast news ended.

“...for the third time of the month. Right now, Tie Li is reported hiding near the Loche City’s Central Flash Station. Citizens, if you see him, please immediately report to this number...”

Looking at the screen, Yuriel revealed a smile.

There he was.

Tie Li.