AD 3333, Earth "Mother!" Kai cried cheerily. "Look! I solved it!" The 11-year-old child had an exhilarating smile on his face, and his brilliant hazel pupils were embedded in his eyes like two gems. Shoulder-length white hair flowed behind him as he ran to his mother, carrying sheets of paper. The one, who this child called his mother, created a stark contrast when compared to him. She was thin, her face was pale, and the dark patches under her eyes told a tale of great tiredness. Despite these features, she looked extremely beautiful somehow. Her face shared the enchanting character of the child, and her pupils were hazel as well, just a tinge darker. Long, light blond hair fell over her shoulder like sunlight. "Let me see," Edith Stormborn said, rubbing her son’s head and glancing at the papers. "Oh! You really did it, Kai. This gene sequence... Wonderful! You saved us years of research." Her words were cheerful, but there was a sadness hidden behind her smile as well. ... Over 1300 years had passed since the virus Oxycron had struck the planet out of nowhere. In just a few years, it had wiped out most of the human population. By the time the last infected case had passed away, the population was dwindling on its last legs. The following decades saw an incomprehensible surge in the world’s oxygen levels. The previously assumed fact that the virus didn’t affect the animals faced its first challenge when the survivors of the pandemic found a mutated mosquito the size of a human head. The plants kept breaking their height limits, and animals kept becoming larger and larger. It was obvious at a glance that some unknown phenomenon was involved in this absurd evolutionary surge, defying the scientific laws as known by the humans. It was almost said that the Earth had forsaken the human species. Those who had survived were nothing but a part of the food chain, destined to go extinct. When all seemed lost, Hope finally arrived. Humans, at the cost of a pyrrhic victory, learned to harness the strength of those enhanced beasts in the form of their Blood Essence by assimilating it into themselves and obtain the power of that beast. Unfortunately, the beasts kept becoming stronger, and the planet kept becoming harsher, forcing the humans to work upon becoming more powerful. Yet, no matter how they tried, all failed to assimilate over one Blood Essence into their bodies as if there was a heavenly limit onto it. Thus came the period of great scientific revolution, giving emphasis on research and development based around the Multiple Blood Essence Assimilation. Humans also began experimenting with selective breeding, trying to pass on their assimilated Blood Essence’ characteristics and give birth to the most astute minds with every next generation. And the one who led the humankind in all this, remaining at the pinnacle of both scientific and mystical stage, was the House Stormborn. After hundreds of years, two individuals, possessing the greatest minds of all times, rose from this House - Alan Stormborn and Edith Stormborn. Even when they were kids, the entire human race had burdened their shoulders with the heaviest hope. A hope, not to end their misery or finish the Multiple Blood Essence Assimilation program, but to give birth to a child. Because... that child... was destined to be a Messiah. ... Hearing his mother’s words, Kai Stormborn beamed. "Hehe!" he laughed childishly. "Can I look at it now, mother? Please." Edith shook her head and sighed. "Well..." she said, stretching the word, "OK, why not? But... you can’t tell anyone." Kai took two successive breaths, holding back the joy in his eyes. "I promise," he said, trying to look solemn, but his childish expressions betrayed him. "I won’t tell anyone." Edith giggled. "Come then," she whispered, putting Kai down. They were in a huge lab, with dozens of people in white coats. Every time they passed by a glass wall, Kai jumped to see into the room, hoping to glimpse the humongous tied beasts. "Kai?" Edith turned around, raising an eyebrow. Color rose to Kai’s cheek, making him blush, and he ran to catch up to her. It was a long corridor. Many scientists crossed them, greeting Edith with great respect on their faces. More kept taking secret glances at Kai, pointing at him, whispering about him. An even greater respect gleamed in their eyes as they looked at him. However, this respect had quite a dark shadow about it. It was rotten, and it reeked... ... of fear. This 11-year-old boy was a living nightmare. A monster who devoured knowledge like the ancient Taotie. At the age when other children learned how to speak properly and write, Kai had already burned his way through Evolutionary Biology and Evolutionary genetics. When the other children learned of this planet’s troubled history and their ancestors’ heroic deeds, Kai had left many leading scientists behind in the fields of Viral and Bacterial evolution, Molecular and Genome evolution, and Genetics of Speciation. And when other children learned how to hunt, Kai had already published papers on Analysis of Quantitative Trait Variation, Host-Parasite Co-Evolution, Sexual Selection and Sexual Conflict, and Natural selection in the Wild. Edith Stormborn narrowed her eyes at greedy and fearful gazes, pressing Kai towards her. Soon they arrived in front of a giant metallic door. Edith put her left hand over it and closed her eyes. A formless power churned about her and the door shone with a white-golden light. With a click, it vanished, melting into thin air. Edith and Kai entered the House Stormborn’s private lab, and the moment they crossed the threshold, the door reappeared. It seemed like they had entered another world. It looked more like a natural rainforest with overgrown vegetation and less like a lab. The mother and son walked into the forest leisurely and soon found themselves facing another glass wall. But this one was special. It was hundreds of feet high and was running for thousands of meters from left to right. Kai looked up at his mother with great anticipation. Edith smiled and once again put her left hand on the glass. Suddenly the glass rippled. Then they waited. Hisssssss! "It’s coming!" Kai cried, putting his both hands on the rippling wall of glass. "There!" From the forest, a magnificent red serpent, over 300 ft in length, and with yellow-slitted eyes slithered out, hissing and puffing. The giant serpent flicked out its forked tongue, observing Edith, and then it looked at Kai. Its head came down in front of him, just resting over the leafy ground. "Red! Did you find my father?!" Kai suddenly blurted out. "You must have sensed him, right? I calculated it. Your genome structure is ideal for World Sense." Edith was shocked as she heard Kai’s words. Her shock soon turned into a great painful and saddened expression, her eyes reflecting the little figure of Kai. Alan Stormborn, the world’s leading scientist, had disappeared right after his son’s birth, shocking all. The giant red snake hissed, shaking its head. Kai looked quite flustered. "Oh!" he breathed out, looking down. "Never mind, then." Edith crouched near him and lifted his chin. "A man can lose everything, son," she told him, "but not the hope in his heart. Your father will come back. I know him." Kai’s eyes were misty. "But why did he leave?" he asked, his breath heavy. "How will you work alone, mother? It’s killing you." Knowledge didn’t mean bliss for everyone. "You tested my blood again, didn’t you?" Edith asked, smiling. "No, I am not mad at you, Kai. But you are wrong. I am not alone. I have you. You are my hope. You are this world’s hope." ... "I am Kai," the 12-year-old Kai introduced himself shyly. In front of him stood a 14-year-old boy with profound black eyes and short black hair. There was no joy on his face. Nor was there any shyness, hatred, or, as a matter of fact, any perceivable emotion; only dead calmness. "He is Brock from House Valeheart," Edith interjected. "Members of Valeheart House sacrificed themselves courageously for humanity’s survival in the last beast tide. He will live with us from now on. I know you two will be good to each other, just like two brothers." Kai smiled at that. His entire childhood had gone without having any friend. To have Brock live with them, he could have hoped for nothing better. ... "Brother," the 13-year-old Kai ran to Brock, "check this out." In Kai’s hands was a disc, projecting a hologram. The hologram showed a red mass that looked more liquid than air and it kept churning into itself, coiling, wreathing, and slithering. "Is that?" Brock asked calmly, eying the hologram. "The Essence Bead!" Kai declared proudly, smiling. "Using father’s old research, mother seemed to have figured it out, I think. See? She is awesome." The Essence Bead was the culmination of centuries-long project, which could theoretically let humans assimilate over one Blood Essence within their bodies. Brock looked into Kai’s eyes. "She is awesome," he nodded. "But wasn’t it you who helped her all this while with the Cohesive Genome Theory?" Kai scratched his head with a shy expression. "It’s nothing..." ... "No... why... why is this happening... mother..." The 14-year-old Kai’s lips trembled. His eyes were bloodshot and tears fell down his chin like trails of shooting stars. In his lap was Edith, her chest pierced and bloody. Blood was seeping out from her eyes, ears, and mouth, the smile on her face widening with every next moment. Tired. She was too tired. Edith’s hand touched Kai’s heart. "... hope..." the word came out of her mouth like a breeze. "... live..." And she said no more, her hazel eyes looking at Kai with great pride. Kai’s face became blue. He felt suffocated, choking on words, his face and body covered in the blood of his mother. "I knew she would come here," Brock said, stepping into the room, wielding the spear which was once the weapon of Alan Stormborn. "Where is it? Give it to me, Kai. I don’t want to kill you, too." Kai’s hand trembled as he closed his mother’s eyes. Knowledge truly wasn’t bliss for everyone. With a broken motion, Kai lifted his face and stared into those dead eyes. He was breathing like a beast, his body shaking, and veins popping up all over his body. "She gave you a home... I... gave you a brother..." Kai muttered, as though the entire world had said it. "Brock... Brock... "... I... WILL... KILL... YOU!!!" ... In the sewers under the city, Kai crawled on his hands and legs. He was nothing but skin and bones. Gone was the luster and the childish shyness on his face. Everything about him screamed of death. For how many days had he not eaten something? He didn’t know it himself. Only his eyes were alive. Kai grabbed his stomach and rolled over, clenching it hard to bear the pain of hunger. The surrounding darkness was getting darker in his eyes, the filthy smell becoming sweeter. Was dying so bad? He would just need to close his eyes, and it would be over. Yes. Perhaps he wouldn’t feel so cold then. Kai’s eyes drooped, his breath misting, vanishing at last. ... live... The eyes shot open. A fuming breath entered his lungs as he feasted on the promise of revenge. He must not die. Not today. ... "There he is," the voices echoed in the sewers. "Found him at last. Who knew he was hiding here like a rat?" Kai saw them coming, beastly phantoms surrounding their figures like blankets. "Red..." he hissed, his voice low. "Teach me... teach me... to live..." "Kill him!" "Die, you bastard!" "Where is it? Hand it over!" The crowd pounced on him, wielding weapons and powers of a hundred different kinds. And Kai... slithered. ... "... live... I... must... live..." Kai chewed the rats, gnawing on their bones. "... I... must... kill..." "Hey! Someone’s there!" a shout reverberated. Kai’s mouth kept moving, his eyes lost, and his ears ringing with eerie words. A gentle smile kept blurring in and out of existence in his mind. When the reinforcements came, they found Kai surrounded by scores of bodies. His entire figure was drenched in blood, and the sound of chewing nauseated all the listeners. "He... He... He killed them all?!" "This... This demon!" Kai paused. He lifted his face, his eyes gleaming like a beast as he counted their numbers. The piece of tasty flesh dropped out of his fingers. He plunged his hands into the filthy blood lake around him and took out the first weapons they touched. The two sabers in his hands reeked of death as he stood up. "Keke..." Kai’s lips twisted. He slithered towards them, one step after another. Nothing about his appearance looked humane anymore. "Kekeke..." the low psychotic laugh sent a shiver running down their spines. Kai lifted his hands, an unseen phantom of a giant red serpent appearing behind him. "He’s gone mad... Kill him!" "Kill!" "Attack from all sides!" Heads flew, eyes got stabbed, and flesh was torn off their bodies like lambs getting butchered. Wounds were exchanged, but lives were only taken, seized by the Blood Demon.