AUTHOR’S POV

 

Ladies and gentlemen, dear readers, everyone who has clicked the link to this chapter: whether intentionally or unintentionally, everyone who has come here after reading the previous chapter(s), and everyone who doesn’t have any idea what the hell is going on here, I regret to inform you that because of a reason the narrator for this chapter will be me not the protagonist who has been the narrator for most of the previous chapters.

I certainly hope that no one left this chapter after reading the ‘I regret to inform’ part

Huh!? Wait… wait hold on! Don’t leave before reading!!!

Ugh… I won’t waste any time now and try to increase the word count!!! So please don’t go!

 

So the scene changes from me trying to convince my readers to stay to a man laying under the shed of an abandoned house with a lost expression on his face, his half-closed eyes looked too tired and lifeless, and his expressionless face as if it had withstood the withering of time and survived but has lost its soul in the process

The man I am talking about right now was no doubt the pathetic protagonist of this third-rate excuse of a web novel that I started writing around a month ago.

The pathetic protagonist,( in short P.P.) was as usual doing nothing but wasting his time laying under the shed of a house trying to save himself from the grumpy sun floating highly and mightily in the sky as if it was looking down on everyone dwelling on the ground.

It was just another shitty day, even I, as the author was feeling that way since my air conditioner’s condenser had gone bad and it would take around 5 more days for it to get completely repaired

 

“What a shitty day,” Said the P.P. Alex with a sigh

'Exactly my thoughts' I thought

The way Alex was acting, it was as if he really was going through something bad in life

Well, actually he ‘was’ going through something really bad

I mean his entire mind was thrown into a state of chaos after talking with that hunk of a Boss Man, uh… you guys might not be able to get what happened so let me start from the start

 

The scene changed once again,

This time it was…

A FLASHBACK!!! (Thundering sound in the background)

*Cough cough* enough with my theatrics, I suppose (I hope no one has left)

“

The scene changed to last night when the boss man suddenly told Alex about his plans to go to ‘HEAVEN’

Alex, for a moment, thought that he had heard wrong, he had such a ridiculous expression on his face that for a moment it seemed to even me, the author, as if he had passed out of shock

The other people present there all looked at Alex but none of them made fun of him, I guess they must have gone through the same experience

 

Coming back to the topic,

It took Alex quite some time to get back to his senses

He looked at the hunky boss man seriously and said,

“No, I don’t want to die”

 

The boss man as if he expected him to answer that way just smiled and said,

“No young man, you misunderstand. We, the ‘HEAVEN SEEKERS’… ”

The old man tried to clarify what he said but the boy didn’t give him any chance to as he just held out his hand and said,

“I didn’t misunderstand. I know what going to ‘HEAVEN’ means, a lot of people from my homeland tried to go there but until now no one has succeeded”

If anyone is wondering where Alex’s homeland is then trust me I don’t know, although you can also choose to not trust me and think that I am deliberately hiding it thinking about divulging the information in the later parts of this novel (I don’t know if it would ever reach to that point though)

Well anyway, Alex continued with his talking,

“You want to go to the last unexplored continent of the world, the ‘HEAVEN CONTINENT’, right?” Alex asked the boss man with a slightly shaken and angry voice, something that even I had not witnessed until now

 

The boss man looked at Alex for some time and then nodded his head, thereby confirming his speculation, and then started talking,

“Yes, that’s correct. That is why I am gathering a team of people who would accompany me on my journey and thus, I would like you to join me”

Boss Man said and extended his hand to Alex,

Alex on the other hand just critically looked at him and said,

“Are you thinking about taking that little girl with you too?”

 

The little girl that Alex was talking about was none other than Cerise

The boss man didn’t even turn his head or even utter a word, he just kept on staring right into the eyes of the young man, Alex

This brief period of silence was enough of a confirmation for Alex to know the answer

 

Alex just shook his head and said,

“No”

The disappointment was visible on the boss man’s face but he didn’t give up

“Can you tell me your reason?”

He asked Alex in a very deep voice to which Alex just responded by closing his eyes and shaking his head

Thereby silently registering his denial

 

The boss man gave a deep sigh and got up,

“I see, I am sorry for putting you in a situation, and that too after you saved my precious family. I am very sorry, I won’t ask you to come along with us but please know this; our doors will always be open to you. Please stay here for the night as a token of our gratitude for saving little Cerise”

He said in a deep voice and left

 

Alex, although had his mind in ruins, decided to stay at the abandoned workshop for the night

 

Several bedsheets were laid on the ground and Alex along with Arielle, Cerise, and the others except for the boss man were laying on the ground.

There was an awkward silence in the hall, everyone had stopped talking after the conversation happened between Alex and the boss man Victor Griffith

 

“Uhm… why does everything feel so heavy?”

Someone said in an innocent voice,

It was Cerise

She had a worried expression on her face when she said this, honestly, she is sooooo adorable!!!

“Shh… it’s an adult thing Cerise” said her mother trying to hush her daughter

 

“An adult thing? Is it something similar to what that lady did to Big brother Alex?” Cerise said in an innocently curious voice

“Ugh…”

Her curiosity perked up the interest of everyone present there, on the other hand, Alex just gave an embarrassed moan which increased everyone’s curiosity even more

 

“What are you talking about Cerise… umph!!!” Alex tried to hush her up but his mouth was hurriedly closed by Arielle and the other woman, he tried to break free from their restraint but when Joey climbed on top of him he stopped. Even the powerful Alex must have realized that it was no use trying to resist

Cerise got flustered watching this scene but sudden words of encouragement from one of the men led her to say her mind

“Go on Cerise, tell us. Don’t mind those ruffians~”

Cerise made up her mind and said,

“There was that woman at the auction hall, when she saw Big bro Alex she suddenly started k-k-kissing and l-l-licking him across his body, I was so embarrassed that I closed off my eyes”

A red-faced Cerise said hiding her face behind her two small palms

 

Everything got awkward once again,

Arielle and the other woman let go of Alex at that moment and Joey got off of him as soon as he could

The entire hall was buried under a deep palpitating silence

The only voice that resounded through the deep silence was Joey’s who was cursing his own pathetic life. Apparently, he was jealous of Alex getting to do ‘those’ things even when he was confined as a slave for auction

 

But this atmosphere didn’t last for too long as Arielle said the next words,

“Hey Alex, why are you not willing to come with us? Sure, we are not all buddies or anything but it’s not like we need to be that close to start journeying together in the first place”

Alex remained silent, not even bothering to show any reaction

Not minding his silence at all Arielle continued,

“You know, it is said that if you reach heaven you can get whatever you want in life. It is said that you can even revive your loved ones who have been dead for some time. Don’t things like these attract you? All of us are going to that place because we want something we might never be able to have in life. I know for sure that none of us here have any noble motives for going there but who cares. Don’t you want something in life, Alex? It would be a lot of fun if we all travel together, you know”

Alex couldn’t take it anymore and tried to get up but Arielle held him by his arm and stopped him from going

“I know that we are not familiar and I might be crossing a line by saying this, but you look lonely. No one can live his life being completely alone, it’s impossible and I am sure you know that as well. Then why not come with us? Trust me it would be great. You are a man who lacks any purpose in life so if you travel with us then you might be able to find one for yourself, it’s not such a bad thing”

Arielle said everything she could and let go of Alex’s hand

 

Alex had a complex look on his face,

He knew what Arielle had said was the truth and that if he decides to travel alongside these people then he might be able to live a better life but there was something that was stopping him from making that decision, something inexplicable, it was as if he had a lump in his throat, no, it was as if someone was choking him, that's why he wasn’t able to even speak anymore

“If you like, you could tell us your reason and after that, we would never ask you to come with us,” Arielle said in a determined voice

Alex looked back at her and then looked over everyone there laying on the ground. Everyone was looking at him with expectant eyes, even little Cerise was looking at him with her eyes full of tears

“It’s a stupid reason… not anything worth knowing”

Alex said these lines and left the place

 

END OF FLASHBACK!

”

***

 

I am terribly sorry for stretching out such a cliché flashback but it was something that I had to do, I hope no one left this story until now

 

Coming back to the topic,

Alex was laying under the shed of an abandoned house thinking about his conversation from the previous day

He was very disturbed and he was trying his best to fall asleep but, try as he might he wasn’t able to do so.

If it were any other person they would have been blaming themselves for going to a place like that but not Alex, he didn’t regret going to that place, although he did stay there for a little while, he strangely felt at home amongstall these people, even though he didn't really have much contact with him

“I wonder if I should have agreed with them”

Alex said with a sigh but then he shook his head,

“No, I… ”

He was about to say something but before he could he was interrupted by someone

 

It was someone that Alex knew,

“Here you are, criminal!!! I am taking you with me! Go on men, arrest him!!!”

It was the guy named… what was his name again…? Uh yeah… it was the guy named Angelo Maximilian

I'm pretty sure that you guys must have no idea who the hell I am talking about, and trust me even I, forgot his name myself, I actually had to go through the previous chapter to find out his name, shame on me

You see, he was that guy who had a crush on Arielle but he made a big mistake by disrespecting Alex, and Alex, being the chad mc he is took his revenge by stopping Arielle from acting up when he was getting beaten up by a no-name small fry

It was a pretty good moment, I would have loved to see that moment get adapted into a comic, anime, or maybe a live-action movie so that I could thoroughly enjoy it, but I guess that’s not going to happen in the near future

 

Coming back to the topic,

Angelo was leading a band of soldiers behind him, all trying to capture Alex so that he could have his revenge. Seriously, this guy is too much

 

Alex lazily got up trying to maintain his no-fucks-given attitude and said in a bored voice as if he was the protagonist of this novel or something,

“What do you want?”

Angelo got angry with the level of ‘disrespect’ Alex was showing him by not addressing him by any honorifics and tried to speak but the moment he saw Alex’s eyes he stopped

Deep blue ocean like eyes, Angelo had a hunch that this entire charade might end up ruining him

Alex continued speaking,

“Listen to me you low-class bitch, I am in a bad mood so go away, neither do I have the strength nor the patience to deal with you right now. Why don’t you go somewhere else and try to impress a girl or something? Go and play your childish games somewhere else don’t piss me off right now, understand?”

 

After saying that Alex got up and walked away,

Looking at him from behind he looked like a cool protagonist of a Xianxia novel who had just publicly face slapped an arrogant young master and walked away leaving everyone shunned.

But, all of this was nothing but a façade

And how do I know about this? Well, that’s because I am writing this stuff right now whilst slurping down a cup of instant noodles. A bit of sincere advice to everyone who’s reading this, please don’t end up like me

 

The protagonist of this novel, just like me was nothing but a hollow shell of a human who was filled with nothing but useless pride and liked to show off whilst maintaining an air of indifference. A top tier scumbag, if I do say so myself

But yeah, that was all there is to him, even though he said all those things to Angelo it was actually all a ruse so that he could escape successfully. As soon as he turned around in one of the alleys he picked up his speed and started running towards the city gate

The last thing he wanted was to pick up a fight with an entire city’s worth of soldiers

 

He had thought that he got successful…

“Wait!!! Catch that criminal!”

But before he could rejoice he saw himself getting chased by the entire city’s guard force

 

“Catch that white-haired man!!!”

“Catch that white-haired man!!!”

“Catch that white-haired man!!!”

Soon the entire city of Argus got drowned in these words,

Now everyone was looking for a white-haired man

 

Alex was getting restless as the time passed on, even he knew this time that he messed up

“Agh… I should have joined those guys!”

Alex finally said the thing he had on his mind, yes, he really wanted to join the crew. Don’t ask me why though, I don’t know anything more than this

 

Alex was blaming himself for being so stupid and not joining those people but now he can’t do anything about it

‘Looks like I can’t get away now’

With this thought in mind, Alex stopped and readied his sword

He saw Angelo coming straight at him

Alex didn’t know why Angelo had been coming after him but he surely wasn’t going to miss a chance to beat him up,

‘Since I am going to get caught anyway, why not go out with a bang’ is what he thought and gave a genuine smile

Angelo, who was leading the forces noticed the smiling expression on Alex’s face, he didn’t know why but he felt like going back now. He had an ominous hunch that he is going to suffer a lot if he continues to chase after the boy named Alex who let him get beat up.

But this scenario was already like a drawn sword, even if he wanted to back down now, he couldn’t

Just thinking about this made Angelo want to cry and bash his head with a wall

 

Finally somehow gathering his courage Angelo gave a loud yell and lunged at Alex

“Yaaaaaaahhhhh!!!

Alex just responded with an indifferent shrug and was about to strike him down when,

 

Something fell from the sky on top of Angelo

No, it was not ‘something’, it was ‘someone’

"Bam!!!!"

Dust rose in the air, Alex stopped running and for a moment it seemed to me as if the time has momentarily stopped

A silhouette of a girl emerged out of the dust cloud

“Hey yo Alex, been a while hasn’t it?” asked the one who fell from the sky

Even the ever so composed Alex had a stupefied expression on his face for a moment but he regained his poker face after just a moment of astonishment. He tried his best to maintain his poker face but the thin smile he had on his face gave away his excitement and happiness

“What’s the matter? It seems like you are smiling”

Once again it was the the person who fell from the sky, you know what, I will call her the "Descended One" from now on

Alex just shook his head, this time not bothering to hide the smile on his face, and pointed his finger at the feet of the Descended One

No, he was actually pointing his finger at the one who was under the Descended One's feet

A terrifying thought crossed the Descended One’s mind,

Following his finger, the figure who ever so gloriously had descended from the sky just a few moments ago looked at her feet with a somewhat anxious expression on her face and then,

“Eeeeekkkk!!!!!”

Jumped away after giving a surprised yelp

 

“Hahahahaha Arielle looks like you messed up”

Alex said while laughing his ass off, he was laughing so loudly that I am pretty sure the entire city must have heard him

Coming back to the topic,

The Descended One was none other than Arielle and yeah, the thing under her feet, as some of you might have figured out, was none other than Angelo, the poor guy who was just about to have the biggest moment of his life by fighting against Alex. He had already accepted his death the moment he had attacked Alex

But looking at him now, even I, as the author, am feeling bad. Why did I create such a character? What did he do to deserve all of this pain and humiliation? Did I do a good thing by even making someone like him who's just there as a comic relief?

Ugh... now I feel bad, really bad

 

Alex looked over at the spot where Arielle had descended so gloriously

At the spot there lay nothing but a squashed bug-like figure, the figure looked like a squashed cockroach that had been mercilessly stepped on by a 100-kg human

Even the cold and cruel protagonist of this novel was now feeling bad for the fate of his cheap and dirty opponent

But before he could go ahead and check him up, he found himself getting dragged away by Arielle

 

“Arielle, we need to check if that guy is okay or not!” Alex said hurriedly while looking backwards

But Arielle didn’t stop, she just kept running and said

“Hahaha, that’s so funny Alex, why would you want to check if a cockroach is dead or not? This is not your house you know”

Did she just call that guy a cockroach? How dare she!?

I wasn’t the only one who was angry and confused, the protagonist of this novel, my mental representation was feeling the same thing. He was so angry that he glared at Arielle and then in an angry voice said

“Huh? What are you talking about!? Isn’t that guy Angelo!?”

 

But he had underestimated Arielle, no, even I had underestimated her. Arielle already knew that she had crossed the point of no return so she said

“Sh-shut up, that’s nothing but a squashed bug”

While trying to hide the almost panicked expression on her face

She kept on shaking her head and repeating 'A squashed bug' like some kind of a mantra under her breath the entire time

‘I see, so she is denying the reality. Well, I guess that’s all we can do now’ thought Alex while making up his mind

 

“Captain! Captain don’t die!”

Loud shrieks and cries could be heard everywhere in the surroundings

The number of people chasing after Alex had just increased by two times, all thanks to Arielle

The two of them encountered many difficulties ahead of them but they kept on running and then they, at last, reached the meeting point, the old abandoned workshop

 

Alex suddenly found himself getting dragged upwards, at first he wanted to resist, but after hearing Arielle say, “Don’t resist!”, he let himself get captured

The scenery changed,

There was extreme darkness all around Alex, but this situation only lasted for a minute as he suddenly found himself in a place full of light, surrounded by the couple of faces he had seen just yesterday

 

“Welcome aboard, new recruit, Alex,” said one of the people

“Took you long enough, punk,” said one of the other people with a slightly annoyed voice

“Hmph, I guess we will at least have one more sensible person amongst us, Joey had really dumbed us all down in the recent months, don’t you guys think so?” Said Arielle with a slightly amused voice to which everyone present there agreed by nodding their heads much to Joey's dismay

 

Joey was about to say something more when suddenly a certain someone came and introduced himself

“Welcome aboard, my name is Victor Griffith, the captain of this team. Please introduce yourself”

He said in a gentle voice and looked over at Alex with a smile on his face

Alex got up from the ground, patted the dust off his clothes, and then with a bow he said,

“I am Alex Azriel, please take care of me”

 

“Arielle Walter, nice to meet you!” said Arielle, the girl who squashed Angelo like a bug

“Joey Green,” said the green-haired boy who had attacked Alex just a day before

“Maya Aria, a pleasure to meet you,” said a woman with a smile on her face and gave a wink to Alex

“Kirk Hendricks, hope we can get along,” said the man with spectacles, his face forming a thin smile

“Ren Auror, welcome to our team,” said the stoic looking man with a rare smile on his face

“C-cerise Love, w-welcome big brother Axel,” said Cerise in her cute voice

Everyone including Alex started laughing when they heard her misspell his name out of fear of messing up the introduction

Cerise got red with shame and hid behind her mother

“It’s Alex dear, not Axel, please forgive her for misspelling your name little Alex, I am Cerise’s mother Olivia Love. Hope we can get along” A woman in her early twenties said with a smile on her face. She addressed Alex in the same loving way as she had addressed Joey yesterday

 

Alex looked at all of them once again his entire chest was filled with a very heavy feeling and to be honest, it seemed to me as if he would start crying but then suddenly,

A painful but important memory surfaced in his mind

Alex didn't even know when but beads of tears started rolling down his eyes

Shaking his head, Alex looked at everyone standing before him once again

His is face widened with a smile and the tears glittering in his eyes seemed the perfect combination to the words he said afterwards

“Nice to meet you all too!”