Chapter 3: Echoes of the Past. pt.2

As Li Wei sat with his siblings and father, their laughter and voices filled the air, a rare comfort in a world that will soon fall into chaos. His mother stepped in from the kitchen, her beauty untouched by the apocalypse, radiating a gentle strength.Her presence alone offered a glimpse of peace, of normalcy that seemed long forgotten.

Li Wei’s gaze softened, yet the happiness he felt was tinged with sorrow, for he remembered all too well how fragile their lives had been during the apocalypse. Memories came flooding back ... memories that made his heart ache and his fists clench. He remembered that dark day when everything began to crumble.

Their base had come under attack by the relentless Zombies. His father, a man of strength and honour, had thrown himself in front of them, shielding his family from the merciless onslaught. Li Wei’s father had paid the ultimate price, leaving behind a legacy of sacrifice and love, but his death shattered something within their family. Li Wei could still hear his mother’s anguished cries, see her clutching his father’s lifeless body, refusing to let go. The image haunted him ... a powerful reminder of the fragility of life in these dark times.

Not long after, his eldest and third brothers, whom he admired deeply, left for a dangerous mission to gather nuclei. The glowing, iridescent stones were now the currency of their world, valuable yet deadly to obtain. Days passed, and then weeks, with no word of their return. When news finally came, it wasn’t the reunion Li Wei had hoped for. They had been killed, ambushed by the Zombies that were far stronger than they could handle. The grief was unbearable, and the silence that followed their deaths seemed to stretch on forever. Li Wei’s heart sank deeper into despair, guilt gnawing at him as he felt utterly powerless. While his brothers had braved the unknown, he had remained behind, too weak and untrained to help. A useless burden, that’s what he felt like, though his family never said it aloud.

Then came the final blow, one that would change him forever. His second brother, the last of his siblings, was taken from him in a senseless act of violence. He had defended their mother against a group of rogue ability users who had grown drunk on their power. Li Wei had watched helplessly as his brother was stabbed, his body collapsing to the ground, lifeless and still. Rage and sorrow consumed him, but he was powerless to avenge his brother, left only with the hollow ache of loss.

Desperate for justice, Li Wei went to the base leaders, clinging to the hope that they might intervene. But he was met with cold indifference. “Young Master Li,” one of the leaders sneered, “we’re in the last days. Ability users are the force of this base; they protect the common people. If you’re looking to blame someone, look in the mirror. You’re weak, unawakened, and that’s no one’s fault but your own.”

Their words struck him like a physical blow, the cruelty slicing through him. The harsh reality set in – his family’s suffering meant nothing to those who held power. It was a brutal awakening, a slap in the face that shattered any illusions he had held. For the first time, he saw himself through their eyes: powerless, irrelevant. And as he stood there, trembling with rage and grief, he realized that he had no one left but his mother.

With a heart heavy with sorrow, he vowed to protect her. If he couldn’t awaken like the others, he would become strong through sheer determination. He enlisted in the military, joining the ranks of unawakened soldiers. The training was gruelling, a test of endurance and will, but he clung to his purpose – to shield his mother from harm. Yet life, it seemed, had one final cruelty to deliver.

Only three days into his training, his mother passed away. She had succumbed to the grief that had been consuming her, her heart broken by the loss of her husband and sons. Li Wei was now truly alone. His mother, the one person he had left to live for, was gone, and with her went the last of his hope. He was no longer the sheltered young man he once was. In a blink of an eye, he had been stripped of everything he held dear.

Nights were the worst. Li Wei would lie awake, haunted by memories of his family, the hollow silence pressing in on him. The loneliness was unbearable, and he would cry himself to sleep, his body trembling with the weight of his grief. Each morning, he forced himself to rise, whispering the same words over and over: “Get stronger and Survive.”

Days turned into weeks and weeks into months. Slowly and painfully, he built himself up, turning his pain into resilience. He trained harder than anyone else, pushing his body to its limits. He knew that he would never awaken an ability, but he vowed to make himself a force to be reckoned with, a survivor in a world that had taken everything from him.

But even as he rebuilt himself, fate wasn’t done testing him. Believing he had found companions he could trust, he opened up to a few fellow soldiers, hoping to find some semblance of friendship of family. But they, too, betrayed him, using his trust.

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***