[5 Years ago, At the orphanage.]

When Ric was brought to the orphanage, he didn’t remember anything, not even his name. However, everyone discovered his name from the locket he was wearing. He was rude and didn’t care about anyone. Many children tried to approach him, including Ren, Jim and Arfen. Jim, Ren and Arfen were best friends; the three of them were like brothers, except that Arfen was physically weak, he used to get sick almost every time. But the teacher always cured him, regardless of how much time and effort it took.

Time went on, and everyone stopped bothering with Ric, except for Yota. Yota always stuck with him, regardless of whether Ric wanted it or not. Ric avoided him to the best of his ability, threatening Yota with a kitchen knife, climbing up a tree to avoid him, tying Yota upside down and leaving him for hours, throwing rocks at him (even though he got scolded later), and even beating Yota till blood came out of his nose. This went on for about a year, but Yota was persistent and forced Ric to give up and ask, “What’s your problem? You have been following me for a year already. Just what in the world do you want from me?!”

A gentle smile appeared on Yota’s face as he replied “Nothing, I just want to be your friend!”

Ric got annoyed and asked “Will you stop annoying me if I become your friend?”

Yota’s eyes widened, and he excitedly Nodded in agreement. Ric let out a sigh thinking “What a drag,” as he stated, “Ok, from now on we are friends, now stop bothering me and go on your way.”

Yota got excited and said “Yes! It’s a pinky promise!”

“what? what’s that?” Ric got confused,

“It’s a promise that shall never, ever be broken!” Yota exclaimed in a playful manner, raising his hand and holding out his pinky finger. “Come on! You do it too!”

“Sigh, Okay.” Ric and Yota crossed their pinky fingers, Yota waved them up and down while saying “We are friends, until the world ends!”

Suddenly, Ric felt a stinging headache as he saw a vision of a women saying, “We are friends, Until the world ends! Right Ric?”. Ric felt extreme pain, so much so that he passed out after screaming in pain. Children gathered to see what happened and soon the teacher also came and took Ric inside and examined his condition. He checked his pulse, looked at his pupils and asked Yota in a gentle manner.

“Come here Yota, tell me what happened?”

“I – I don’t know, we were just talking and he suddenly started screaming and fell down.” The 10 year old Yota was concerned and worried about Ric.”Did this happen because I asked him to be my friend?” tears welled up in his eyes, and he started crying “I- Iam sowwy, *Sob*I won do it again”.

The teacher patted and consoled the little Yota “There, there my child. Don’t worry. He just fainted and will wake up very soon.”

The teacher treated Ric with his magic, and after sometime, he told the children who were worried “Now, everyone! let’s go out and let Ric rest. He needs to sleep well so he regains strength and wakes up early.”

Everyone left, but Yota persisted in staying, blaming himself for what happened to Ric. Hours passed, and the curtain of night fell. Most of the children slept in their rooms, and Ric slowly opened his eyes. He got up and saw Yota sleeping on the couch near him. “This guy, how much time has passed? Was he here all the time?” Ric questioned himself. The teacher, who was standing near the door, said,

“He is quite a caring child, isn’t he?”

“And a persistent one too.” Ric replied casually as he started to get up.

“Hoho, that’s a part of his charm, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, whatever” Ric replied as he got up from the bed and started walking.

“So, you agree he is caring, right?” The teacher asked

Ric stopped and replied “I don’t care. I will be at the library” as he walked away from the room.

“Hoho, that child, saying that with a smile on his face” The teacher mumbled, a compassionate smile on his face.

Ric was walking in the corridor towards library while thinking “Hmm… Friendship, Well it doesn’t look like a bad thing”. Immersed in his thoughts, he arrived in front of the library and saw Jim and Arfen sitting together. He just entered without concern and took a book from the bookshelf and started reading. Jim also didn’t concern himself with Ric was annoyed by the fact that he was there. But Arfen was not like that; he was a caring guy who knew how it feels to be sick. So, Arfen asked him

“How is your health? *Cough*Are you fine now?”

“Yeah, thanks for asking.” Ric replied nonchalantly

Seeing Ric not caring about Arfen, Jim became angry and exclaimed “Arfen! Why are you talking to this rude idiot?” He looked at Ric and spat out, “Hey! Why are you here? Nobody cares about you! Go away!”

“You care enough to reply, isn’t that right?” Ric replied with a smug smile on his face.

“Why you!” Jim clenched his fists in anger before Arfen tried to calm him down “Relax Jim, it’s okay. *Cough* *Cough*” Arfen started coughing heavily, making Jim worried for him.

“Hey Arfen, are you okay? Why are you coughing so much?”

“If you know he is coughing, then go and get him some water” Ric advised Jim.

“S-shut up! I was going to do just that!” Jim roared at Ric and consoled Arfen “Arfen, I will be right back with some water, okay?”

“Y-yeah, Don’t worry, I am fine now *Cough*”

Jim left in a hurry, while Arfen and Ric were alone the library. Ric was busy reading and didn’t care about anything else. But Arfen was a curious child, so he asked, “Hey, which book are you reading?”

“This book is ‘Efficacy in healing magic,’ Written by Sven Edelgard.” Ric stated.

“Oh! Then can you exchange the book with me?*Cough* I-I like to read about magic and stuff”

“Hmm… but what’s that book you are reading?”

“*Cough*This is a history book, it talks about how this world got saved from the demons. *Cough*”

Ric looked interested and swapped books with Arfen, Meanwhile, Jim, who was looking for water, found a jug filled with water. He thought, “Arfen won’t be able to drink from this jug, I need to find a glass” Jim started looking for a glass in the unfamiliar kitchen, where he had barely visited.

Ric and Arfen started reading their respective books,

and after sometime, Ric reached at a paragraph that said “In the great war of humans and demons, A man appeared as a beam of hope for mankind. The hero who saved all of the humanity from the jaws of demons, he sacrificed himself for the world and killed the demon king. The liberator of humanity, Lorian Ironheart. He was born as a commoner…”

Ric got stinging pain in his head, The name Lorain Ironheart started echoing in his mind “Lorian… Ironheart? He… HE is my…Ugh!!” Ric grabbed his head in agony, as many memories rushed inside his brain, in one of his visions he saw a man with blonde hair saying “Don’t ever bow your head in front of anyone Ric. This is an advice from me as your…” Arfen got worried for Ric, who got up from the chair and was flailing around, as Arfen asked him,

“Are you okay Ric? *Cough* Why are you—“

“I will kill them!”

“What? *Cough* Who?”

“Those scumbags, who took everything away from me!!”

Ric raged! his eyes turned crimson red, as an immense amount of bloodlust was released, painting the sky and moon in red.