Crows flew across hundreds of thousands of dead body as they squaked, as if ringing the death bell. Among the scattered horrendous looking corpses, not far from a huge piled bodies, a young man, clad in dark red armor that was drenched in blood, was leaning against his great shield that he called 'Ragra' which is also dark red in color.

Heaving a heavy sigh, he suddenly snickered and laughed mockingly. Then, he gazed towards the sky that was clearing from the dust and dark clouds. It was a very beautiful and bright blue in color. Then he said,

"I lived, bastards."

He sneered.

That's what they got for angering the greatest great shielder in the whole world. Their party just got back from winning the war against the demon Lord. And because of the King's selfishness in wanting the fame, he planned to kill their party by sending millions of battalion of soldier against the only four of them; Aran the Hero, Ruzka the Mage, Akel the healer, and him, Zoan the defender. Because of that, the whole continent was destroyed in a matter of just one week by their hands, although the three of them had fallen a few days before that.

While trying to shift his body to find a more comfortable lying down place, he noticed the corpses of his fallen comrades, all were drenched with blood from their enemies and their own. Although dead, their faces were smiling, as if they believe, that even in the last battle, Zoan will survive and continue their legacy.

Zoan snickered and scooted closer to their neatly aligned bodies, all were covered with clothes beforehand by Zoan. He sat, cross legged beside the body of Aran.

"Now what? I've destroyed the whole continent, now where should I go to?"

He said and lightly punched the cold body of Aran.

"Stupid hero. You should have at least live to see me winning this war. I'm the greatest defender, right?"

He said smugly and punched his chest only to cough some blood out. Then he childishly grinned and pointed towards Ruzka and Akel.

"The both of you too. C'mon, it's just a few million soldiers, not something to be killed by for. You guys are just too weak. That's right, too weak..."

He fell silent as he clenched his lips.

"...If I become stronger, will I be able to protect you guys?"

He monologued, trying to held back his tears. Then, he sighed.

He scooted near a build in walls of sacks made by the kingdom, as he waited for his death to come. Sometimes he grunted a bit, trying to suppress the pain from the stabbing that he got from the holy knight of the kingdom that also died by his hands not long after stabbing him.

He slowly closed his eyes, he could feel his feet cold.

Suddenly, a warm aura seeped inside his armor, as if embracing him. He then opened his eyes to see a figure of a woman in his early teens weeping beside him.

"Hey..."

He called, but the figure didn't listen and just silently seeped.

"Hey!"

He called, or more like he yelled. The figure jolted in surprise and their eyes met.

"Who..." Zoan's thick eyebrows furrowed. "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

Although fatigued, Zoan darted his eyes around warily, making sure no enemies were around that could harm him and this mysterious girl beside him.

The girl stared at him, a smile suddenly forming on her face. "You're so kind..." she said.

Suddenly the girl scooted near and raised one of her hands in front of Zoan's wound. "I couldn't save you, but I will revive you to a better place." Her gentle smile reflected inside Zoan's eyes.

Revive? What does that mean? "Wai-!" Before Zoan could discern anything, his surroundings went dark.

***

He woke up in a black space, devoid of any solid ground. As he floated, he thought he was alone, but her assumption backfired when something, or someONE appeared in his view. It was a crouching figure, that figure looked like the one the earlier girl did as she cried.

"Hey, you. Where did you take me?" The figure jolted from his loud voice.

It raised it's head, and to his surprise, it wasn't the girl from earlier. Instead, a woman his age was looking at him with surprised expression, tears still flowed down her slightly chubby cheeks.

"Who are you?" The unknown woman asked him.

Zoan let out a snide guffaw. "Shouldn't I be the one asking you that? What did you do to me?"

"Excuse me? I asked you first, okay? What a rude person." The woman turned her face away and pouted.

What is wrong with this woman? Zoan thought, unwittingly annoyed by this stranger in front of him.

He heaved a heavy sigh, trying to calm himself. Picking a fight won't be a good way to start looking for clues to this place, he must think with rational mind.

"Okay, scratch that. The name's Zoan. Who are you?"

The unknown woman peeked at him from the corner of her eyes. "Han Re A, that's my name."

Zoan nodded.

"So uh, got any clue where we are?" He asked.

The woman called Re A shook her head a no. "I don't know either." Suddenly she fell silent.

"...Actually I do know where we are."

"What?" Zoan shot her a shocked look.

"We're in-" Zoan's view got blurry all of a sudden before he could even hear what Re A was saying. While trying to fight the clenching headache that encircled tight around his head, Zoan once again fell into an endless darkness.