It's a hot and sunny day of May. A man in his early twenties is standing in his room, which isn't very flashy. The walls are filled with decorative items, but most of them are cheap deals. Although there are some quite expensive pieces, which however successfully blended in with the other ones due to the dirt and the miracle of sluttish time.
Aki's face, sweaty and pale as a ghost, trembled as he spoke. As soon as the call ended, he ran down the streets to the city hospital, only to find his mother lying on the bed.
The doctor said,"She was working in the fields when she slipped and tumbled into a thorny bush," he said, his voice low and urgent. "The thorns are poisonous. If we don't amputate her left leg, the toxin could spread and paralyze her entire body."
Time seemed to warp over the next two days, each hour stretching and snapping like a flickering film reel. The surgery went as well as it could, but it left his mother irrevocably changed—she'd never walk again without a wheelchair, and she'd need constant care. Their once-routine lives splintered into something unfamiliar. With his mother unable to work, the weight of supporting the family crashed onto his shoulders. He'd have to find a job, not just to cover their daily expenses, but to keep his little sister in high school.
Up until now, he was barely dodging the questions and expectations of his folks through some flimsy excuses. But it looked like he couldn't do it anymore.
Although it wasn't about finding a job—he could get one easily. The issue was something else.The deal was that currently he was tangled up in another pressing matter which he preferred to get resolved before unfolding another phase of his life.-
He had vague fragments of a father in his memory—blurred, unfinished, like a dream slipping away. He couldn't find any picture of him in the house. He never even saw his mother going to his father's grave and so he wasn't dead either. He even tried asking mom a several times but his mother awkwardly dodged the topic, her voice faltering like she was hiding a crack in her soul."
But now it was not like there was anything he could do about the situation and hence sent a joining letter to many places. And as expected from the prodigy, he got a straight yes from almost each of them.
Among them the job paying the most with the comfort of work from home was of a manager in a big bank.
But the letter which drew his attention was rather strange and the language was so informal that it almost felt like someone is writing to his family. The content wasen't simple even. -
"
Dear Aki Ryujin,
It has been ages since we talked. Though I knew that one day I will be reading the application you sent. I hope you will get along with me and will forgive me for the past. I hope you are looking forward for this job.
Thank You
"
When he was a kid, his grandfather had once told him a story—a strange one, but Aki never forgot it.
'Every life-holding planet,' his grandfather had said, 'has a crystal at its equator called a Gem. It's no ordinary rock—it breathes mana into the world. It fuels life, makes oceans swirl, keeps the winds moving, and hearts beating. Where there's no Gem… well, people live in artificial structures. Life there? Worse than hell.'
He had paused then, looking distant. 'No one knows how Gems are made. We can't recreate them. That's why they're rare. And that's why they need protection. Each planet has a force—a special army—called the Guardians. They guard their Gem like dragons over treasure. Sometimes, they even raid others.'
He was getting a gut feeling that if he joins the guardians he would get a step closer to his goal. Yes, there was no guarantee. But he decided to listen to his guts this once and hence E-mailed his confirmation about joining it. He got the timing and also that a car would come there to pick him up.
He left the house in safe hands of the maid that looked after them when they were rich. His mind, once clouded, now burned with purpose. Whatever the Guardians had in store—he was ready.
Next day a car came to pick him up. It was surprisingly a long black limousine with a logo of guardians on it. He read that approximately 2,000 people joins the guardian training every year and it didn't made sense of sending 2,000 limousine to each and every new applicants.
Thinking it he sat on the car and they started for the training camp. They went through the coast, the mountains, the plains and he saw a big mansion in front of which a similar limousine was parked. A girl came out and sat on her limousine and they set for the same destination following him.
He asked the driver, if they send a limousine to each applicant. The driver replied, that girl is the daughter of the 'warden' highest ranked gurdian of the planet and he is also the commander of the army and this car can only be used by him and his family. I think you are an exception. The rest applicant comes by their own means we just send them the location.